A Gentleman Player; His Adventures on a Secret Mission for Queen Elizabeth

by Robert Neilson Stephens

  CHAPTER XVI.

  FOXBY HALL.

  "O most delicate fiend! Who is't can read a woman?"--_Cymbeline._

  The forenoon on which this fray and separation occurred was that ofSaturday, March seventh, the fourth day of the flight. Marryott'scompany now consisted of his two original followers, his two prisoners.Ned Moreton, Tom Cobble, Oliver Bunch. John Hatch, and a few more of therobbers. What wounds had been received were bound up as well aspossible, with strips torn from clothing, and were so stoically enduredas not to impede the forward journey. The able-bodied rode by thedisabled, giving them needful support.

  Marryott had travelled some two hundred miles from Fleetwood house inthree and a half days, accomplishing an average of nearly sixty miles aday, despite all delays and the slow going of the coach. Now that thestorm had come up, to make the roads well-nigh impassable, it would takea rider at least three and a half days to return from Hal's presentplace to Fleetwood house. Thus, even if the pursuivant should overtakethe fugitives at any moment, seven days were already gained for SirValentine. Another day and a half would, under the storm-causedconditions of travel, procure him the full ten days.

  Now, before the beginning of the storm, Roger Barnet, had he gone at thespeed for which the men of his office were then proverbial ("like flyingpursuivant" is Spenser's simile for swift-moving angels), would haveovertaken a traveller hampered as Hal was. But it happened--so prone iscircumstance to run to coincidence, as every man perceives daily in hisown life--that Roger Barnet, too, had his special hindrances. That partof the chase which had culminated in his almost catching Hal at thehostelry near the Newark cross-road, had been delayed at the outset bythe delivery of the queen's letters. And in the subsequent pursuit, whenHal's several impediments had given the pursuivant the bestopportunities, Master Barnet had suffered most annoying checks.

  Of these, there were those that Hal had conjectured; but, in addition,there was a bodily accident to no less a person than Master Barnethimself. In that very village of Clown, where Hal had been detained bythe constable, an exhausted horse had fallen at the moment when thepursuivant was dismounting from it, and had so bruised the pursuivant'sleg that he had been perforce laid up at the ale-house for some hours,unable to stand, or to sit his saddle. For his own reasons, of which ahint has been given earlier in this narrative, he had not allowed hismen to continue the chase without him; but he had resumed it at thefirst moment when he could endure the pain of riding.

  Of this interference of fortune in his behalf, Master Marryott knewnothing, as he and his riders toiled forward through the blown clouds ofsnow. He took it on faith that the pursuivant, obliged by duty andenabled by skill, was following through similar clouds somewhere behind.He would not, at this stage, give a moment's room to any thought opposedto this.

  The travellers covered thirty miles or more, through unremittingsnowfall and increasing wind; passing Rylston, Cumiston, Kettlewell,Carlton, Middleham, and Harmby,--names, some of which have lost theirold importance, some of which have given place to others, some of whichhave quite vanished from the map,--stopping twice for food, drink, andto rest the horses. In the inhabited places, the riders were too muchobscured by snow, the people outdoors were too few, for MistressHazlehurst to place any hope in an appeal for rescue. Nevertheless, tohearten his men up, and to leave the deeper trace for Barnet to follow.Marryott went through these places at a gallop, with great noise ofvoices and horns. Strange must have been the spectacle to gapingvillagers drawn to casements by the advancing clamor, when this mad bandof riders--one of them a woman--dashed into sight, as if borne by thewind like the snow clouds, rushed by with blast and shout, anddisappeared into the white whirl as they had come!

  All through the afternoon Mistress Hazlehurst was silent, close-wrappedin cloak and hood. She accepted with barely uttered thanks the ale andfood that Master Marryott caused Kit Bottle to bring her from the rudeinns near which they stopped. Hal showed his solicitude, at first, inbrief and courteous inquiries regarding her comfort; then, as these wereanswered either not at all, or in the coldest monosyllables, in glancesover his shoulder. Was her inertia, he asked himself, a sign that shehad given up the battle?--or a sign that she was nourishing some newplan, sufficiently subtle to fit the new circumstances?

  During the afternoon, Kit Bottle rode often among the men from Rumney'sband, talking with them, and seeing how the wounded bore themselves.

  As the riders passed in sight of Middleham castle, whose wind-beatenwalls, with their picturesque background of Nature's setting, were nowscarce visible behind the driven nebules of snow, Kit brought his horseclose to Hal's, and said, in a low voice:

  "Some of those fellows have ugly little cuts. They would fare betterunder roof, and on their backs, than on horse, in this weather."

  "But where may they be left?" asked Hal. "What yeoman or hind would takethem under shelter? And the inns where their robber-skins would be safe,look you, are those where Rumney is a favored guest. If he should comeand find them, how many three-farthing pieces would their lives beworth, think you?"

  "Thou speakest by the card there, God wot! But I have in mind a shelterwhere these honest knaves can lie safe, and where we all may snatch anhour or two of comfort. This Oliver Bunch hath turned himself inside outto me. The lands where he was under-steward, before the family fled toFrance for their necks' sake, are five or six mile ahead of us. Themansion, he tells me, is closed tight, and empty. Whether confiscationhath been made, I know not; but, be the place the crown's, or some one'selse by gift or purchase, there it now stands for our use, without e'enbailiff or porter to say us nay. 'Tis called Foxby Hall."

  "If it be so tight closed that others have not entered, for thievery orshelter, how can we get in?"

  "With a key that this Bunch hath hid in a safe hole in the wall. Itopens a side door. He hath kept his secret, for love of his old placeof service, till this hour."

  "He is a very worthy rascal, truly. Well, let us make the better hasteto this house, that we may have the more time to tarry in it. FoxbyHall, say you? I like the name; it hath a sound of hospitable wallsamidst the greenwood."

  Speed was made, therefore; and about five o'clock, while the snow stillfell unceasingly, the riders came to a place where, on one hand, theroad was flanked by varied and well-wooded country, and where, on theother hand, there ran for some distance a wooden fence, beyond whichthere were at first fields, and then the stately trees of a park. Thefence was finally succeeded by a stone wall, at a point where a similarwall ran back at right angle with the first. The wall along the road hadin its middle a broken-down gate. Before this gate Oliver Bunch stopped;and, with a look at Kit Bottle, pointed through it.

  When Hal drew up his horse, and looked into the grounds to which thegate afforded entrance, he saw, some way up a thinly-wooded slope, aturreted and gabled building. From its main front, which was parallelwith the road, two wings projected forward. These three parts enclosedthree sides of a square: the fourth side was bounded by a littleterrace, which descended toward the road, and at whose foot ran asecond wall, quite low, across part of the grounds.

  The main front, which had two gables, was partly of stone, partly ofwood and plaster. The wings, more recent, were of brick; they wereflanked by turrets, and their ends were gabled. The windows of the mainfront were high, narrow, and pointed at the tops; those of the wingsalso were high, but they were wide and rectangular. There was a porchedGothic door in the middle of the main front; and one of the wings, inits inner side, had a smaller door. A basin for a fountain was in thecentre of the square. Tall trees grew on the terrace.

  "It hath an inviting look," said Master Marryott. "But 'tis far from theroad. Were Barnet sighted, we could scarce get to horse and reach thegate ere he arrived."

  "An't please your worship," put in Oliver Bunch, deferentially, "thehouse hath a way through the park, to a gate further on the road. 'Tis ashorter way to the north than the road itself is, sir, for it runsstraight from the stables, while the road
goes somewhat roundabout."

  "Then seek your key, good Oliver Bunch; and heaven grant it be safe inits hiding-place!"

  The fat household servant of former days slid from his horse withunwonted alacrity, and disappeared through the gate, gliding thencealong the inner side of the wall. He soon returned with sparkling eyes,holding up the key.

  "Lead Oliver's horse, Kit," said Hal. "Let him show us the way, afoot.Yon turret window hath a long view of the road. We can keep watch therefor Barnet."

  The worthy Bunch, gazing fondly at the deserted mansion amidst thetrees, hastened up the gentle incline of land, followed by the riders.All looked with curious eyes upon the house as they ascended. Thehorse-path, after passing through an alley of neglected hedgerows,skirted the terrace, and led across one side of the square court to theGothic main door.

  Bidding the riders halt there, Bunch traversed the other side of thecourt, and vanished behind the angle of a wing. For some minutes thecompany waited in expectation, Hal watching Mistress Hazlehurst as hergaze slowly ranged the exterior of the house. At last an unchaining,unbarring, unbolting, and key-turning were heard from within the door.Then it swung heavily inward, with a creak, and Oliver Bunch appearedwith a welcoming face.

  "Anthony, you will look to the stabling of the horses," said MasterMarryott. "Oliver Bunch, be so kind to show him where that may be done.Tom Cobble, take you charge of the boy, and follow me into the house.Master Moreton, have the able fellows help in the wounded. CaptainBottle, find you the turret window of yonder wing, and watch there tillI send word. Come to this door, Anthony and Oliver, as soon as thehorses be in shelter; I shall have commands, regarding their comfort andour own. Madam, I pray you dismount and enter!"

  Hal had swiftly, on finishing his orders to the men, untied the cordthat bound him to his prisoner, and had leaped to the ground, holding inone hand the loose ends.

  She accepted his hand mechanically, in descending from the pillion, andthen preceded him into the hall of the mansion.

  This was a large, lofty apartment, with a timber roof, a greatfireplace, walls hung with old tapestry and armor, and a stairwayascending along the rear. In a corner some trestles and boards remainedas evidence of the last feast upon which the woven, many-colored huntingparty in the arras had looked down.

  Marryott sat beside Mistress Hazlehurst, on a bench by the emptyfireplace, and watched Moreton and Hatch help the wounded men to a pileof rushes at one side of the hall. By the time that Anthony and Oliverhad returned, Hal had made plans for the next few hours. He hadtravelled so rapidly since morning, that he thought he might make thismansion his stopping-place for as much of the night as he should takefor rest. Beginning the nightly halt at five, instead of at eight, hemight set forth again at twelve instead of at three; unless, of course,an alarm of pursuit should send him to the saddle in the meanwhile.

  This plan would obviate the difficulty he had anticipated of finding asuitable night's lodging for his prisoner. As the next day would be thefifth and last of his flight, that difficulty would not recur afterto-night. He saw, with elation, the end of his mission at hand; and atthe same time, with a feeling of blankness and chill, the end of hisfellowship with Mistress Hazlehurst. But meanwhile there was theimmediate future, for which he thus arranged:

  He learned from Oliver Bunch that there was an inn some distance beyondwhere the park path joined the highroad. To that inn he sent AnthonyUnderhill for provisions. Going and returning by the park way, which thetravellers would use in a hasty flight, the Puritan would meet them incase of such flight during his absence.

  Marryott then set his men to fetching logs and making fires: one in thegreat hall, for the benefit of the injured robbers; one in an upperchamber that he chose, upon Oliver's description, for MistressHazlehurst's use; and a third in the large room from which this chamberhad its only entrance.

  Guided by Oliver, Hal conducted his unresisting prisoner up the stairs,thence through a corridor that made a rectangular turn, thence into thelarge room, and to the threshold of her chamber. He gave permission,unasked, that Francis might wait upon her, but stationed Tom Cobble inthe large room with instructions to follow the page wherever the latterwent outside her chamber, and to restrict his movements to the houseitself. Having heard these orders and made no comment, MistressHazlehurst beckoned the page to follow, and disappeared into thechamber.

  Hal had chosen as his own resting-place the large outer room. It was inthe same wing with the turret to which he had sent Kit Bottle to keepwatch. Perceiving that the great embayed window of the room gave as gooda view of the southward road as the turret itself could give, Halsummoned Kit, and sent him to stay with the robbers in the hall below.The captain might sleep, if he chose; he had kept vigil the previousnight. Hal would now watch from the window, until Anthony's return; thenthe Puritan should go on guard.

  Tom Cobble sat, half asleep, on a chest at one side of the door toMistress Hazlehurst's chamber. Marryott reclined on the window-seat,looking now through the casement at the snow-covered, rolling,grove-dotted country; now at the blazing, crackling logs in thefireplace opposite; now at the tapestry, which sometimes stirred in thewind that entered by cracks of door and window. The room was wellfurnished, as indeed most of the house was, for its occupants, whateverthe cause of their flight from the country, had valued haste aboveproperty. They had not even taken all their trunks; for one of thesestood in the room as a piece of furniture, in accordance with the customof the time. This apartment had probably served as a ladies' room. Ithad a case of books; a table on which were some scattered playing-cards,and a draughts-board with the pieces in the position of an unfinishedgame; and another table, on which lay an open virginal, a viol, andsmaller musical instruments. The chairs were heavy and solid. Overheadwas visible the timber work of the roof.

  Marryott went and examined the viol, and, returning to the window-seat,drew from it a few tremulous strains. As he was adjusting the strings,he heard a sound at the end of the apartment, looked up, and saw, to hissurprise, that Mistress Hazlehurst was returning. Francis followed her.Her face showed the refreshing effect of the cold water with whichOliver had supplied her room. Hal watched her in silence.

  Motioning Francis to sit by the fire, she crossed to the music-table,sat down before it, and touched the keys of the virginal. The responseshowed the work of weather and neglect upon the instrument; but aftertwice or thrice running her fingers up and down the short keyboard, sheelicited the notes of a soft and pensive melody.

  After a while of silent listening, Marryott gently took up the melodyupon his viol. For an instant he was fearful that she might break off atthis, but she played on, at first as if not heeding his uninvitedparticipation, and at last accommodating her own playing, where theeffect required, to his.

  From one tune they went to another, and then to a third and fourth. Atfirst it was she that led in the transition; but, at length, havingventured with some trepidation to pass, of his own initiative, from onepiece to another, he had the delight of being immediately accompanied byher. There was in her first note, it was true, an instant's dragging, asif she hesitated under the protest of certain feelings, but finally theyielding was complete, the accompaniment in perfect accord. Thereafterit was he that led, she that followed.

  What might he infer from this? Aught beyond the mere outward appearance,the mere indifferent willingness to join in a musical performance forthe sake of the aural pleasure? Or was there signified an inner, perhapsunconscious, yielding of the woman's nature to the man's? Was hisdomination over her, begun, and hitherto maintained, by physical force,at last obtaining the consent of her heart? Marryott dared not thinkso; he recoiled in horror from the thought, when he saw himself, withher eyes, as her brother's supposed slayer. And then, still viewinghimself with her eyes, he was fascinated by that very situation fromwhich he had recoiled. It was, of course, as she must regard it, atragic situation; in that circumstance lay both its horror and itsfascination.

  But did this situation ex
ist? When he remembered that the mereattraction of the one woman for the one man, or the one man for the onewoman, ofttimes annihilates all opposing considerations, he knew thatthis situation was not impossible. To be loved by this woman, evenacross the abyss of blood she saw between them! The idea possessed andrepossessed him, though again and again he put it from him as horrible,or improbable, or both. Perhaps he spoke his thoughts in the notes hedrew from his viol; perhaps she spoke thoughts of her own in thelanguage of the virginal; perhaps they spoke unconsciously to eachother's deepest hidden comprehension; neither could outwardly analyze animpression received from the other's playing, or certainly know whetherthat impression had been intended.

  The day faded. The snow fell between the window and the trees of thepark; fell as thick as ever, but more slowly and gently now, the windbeing at less unrest. The firelight danced oddly on the tapestry, theshadows deepened in its brighter radiance. Not a word was uttered. Onlythe viol and the virginal spoke.

  This strange concert was interrupted, at last, by the return of Anthonyand Oliver, with a supply of cheese, spice-cakes, and apples, a bottleof wine, a large pot of ale, and a bag of feed for the horses. Marryottcaused the wine and a part of the food to be brought to the room inwhich he sat. The ale and other provisions were served to the men in thehall. Anthony, after supping, and seeing the horses fed, was to keep theusual vigil on the road, as approaching horsemen might not be seen fromthe window after dark, and as the Puritan had slept the previous night.

  "Will you sup in your chamber, or with me at this table?" Hal asked hisprisoner.

  Without speaking she pointed to the table on which Oliver Bunch had setthe eatables. It was that on which the cards and draughts-board were. Asthe viands, with the glasses and plate that Bunch had furnished,occupied only the table's end next the fire, the draughts-board was notdisturbed. Captor and captive sat opposite each other, as they had satin the inn near the Newark cross-road. Tom and Francis, having lighted acandle-end brought by Oliver, stood to wait on them; but Hal, handingthem a platter on which was a good portion of the supper, bade them goto another part of the room and wait on themselves. He gave them also aglass of the wine, reserving the rest, with a single glass, for hisprisoner and himself.

  The meal went in silence. Darkness fell over the outer world. The candleadded little light to that of the fire; hence much of the room wasshadowy. Only the table near the fire, where the two sat, was in theglow. Marryott would have spoken, but a spell had fallen upon him likethat which had locked his lips on the first day of their travelling.Sometimes he sighed, and looked at her wistfully. When his eyes methers, she would glance downward, but without disdain or dislike.

  What was in her thoughts? What was her mind toward him? He sought answerin her face, but in vain. When it came to drinking from the same glasshe used, she did so, in obedience to custom, with no sign of antipathyor scruple.

  Supper over, Marryott idly turned to the cards lying near at hand. Threeof them faced upward. He grasped these, and held them between thumb andforefinger in the light. It was strange. They were the knave of hearts,the queen of spades, the eight of clubs,--a fair man, a dark woman, abattle. Mistress Hazlehurst gave him a glance signifying that she notedthe coincidence. He reached for one of the cards that lay facedownward, thinking it might foretell the issue of the battle. It was thenine of clubs,--more battle. He smiled amusedly, and looked at her; buther face told nothing. He turned to the draughts-board, which wasportable, and carefully drew it nearer without displacing any of thepieces. There were four of each color left on the board. At first glanceone could not see that either side had advantage. Hal observed, underhis lashes, that Mistress Hazlehurst's look had fallen, with slightcuriosity, upon the board. He made a move, with one of the white pieces,and waited. She continued gazing at the board. At length she placed adelicate finger on one of the black pieces, and moved. Hal soon replied.Thus was the game, left unfinished by players now self-exiled to foreignlands, and who little imagined at this moment by what a strangelymatched pair it was taken up, carried on.

  And, after all, it ended as a drawn game.

  Mistress Hazlehurst, perceiving that one piece of each color was left onthe board as a result of an exchange which she had thought would leavetwo blacks and one white, gave a little shrug of the shoulders; thenrose, and walked toward her chamber.

  Marryott swiftly seized the candle, and offered it to her, saying:

  "We set forth again at midnight. I will knock at your door a littlebefore."

  She took the candle, and went from the room; but on her threshold sheturned for a moment, and said, softly:

  "Good night!"

  Marryott stood in a glow of incredulous joy. Her tone, her graciouslook, the mere fact of her uttering the civility, or of her volunteeringa speech to him, could not but mean that she had softened. Had she cometo doubt whether he was indeed her brother's slayer? Or had her heartcome to incline toward him despite the supposed gulf of bloodshed thatparted them? Either conjecture intoxicated him; the first as with aninnocent bliss, the second as with a poignant ecstasy darkly tinged withhorror and guilt.

  Francis and Tom had fallen asleep where they had sat at supper. Anthony,as Marryott knew, had long since ridden out to keep his cold and lonelywatch. Kit and the other men in the hall were asleep, for the sounds oftheir supper merriment had ceased to come up from below. The horses werein the stables, resting, in readiness for a swift departure. The firecrackled; the wind, having risen again, wailed around the turrets andgables of Foxby Hall, and the snow beat against the window. Marryotttook a large book from the case, put it on a chest as a pillow, wrappedhimself in his cloak, and lay down with his new and delicious dreams.From waking dreams, they soon became dreams indeed. For the first nightin three, he slept.