paid several visits to Hampton Court, to see their father who was in
confinement there. Once, not long since, they had spent two nights with
him in that Palace, to their great and mutual happiness.
Now they had been removed to the Palace of St. James's, then on the
outskirts rather than actually in London itself, and surrounded by
pleasant gardens, in which the Royal children took exercise in fine
weather. They were very kindly treated by the Earl and Countess, and all
the servants of the household were instructed to show due and befitting
respect to the children of the King. So, in one sense of the word, their
life was not an unhappy one; but the shadow lying over their father's
fate, and the knowledge of their own inability to go to him or to go
anywhere, save at the will of their captors, made life somewhat bitter
to all, and roused a fierce sense of revolt in the heart of young James.
It was during the children's sports that they were permitted most
liberty; and certainly James had found a clever place of concealment
this evening, for neither brother nor sister nor attendants could find
him; and it was only when Elizabeth called his name aloud from the
different corridors, and the great bell for supper clanged, that the boy
made his appearance, dusty and half covered with cobwebs, and laughingly
told Harry that he had found a fine hiding-place up near the roof, and
would show it him another day.
The spring days were beginning to lengthen out now. A little while ago
it had been dark when they rose from supper, now it was growing lighter
every day. There was that promise of spring in the air that makes glad
the hearts of all young things. But it is hard to be a captive, penned
within walls and gates, when nature itself seems calling aloud upon men
to rejoice and to come forth into the gay free world without.
"If it goes on much longer, Elizabeth, methinks I shall go mad!" spoke
James one day, when he and she were alone together.
Then it was that, with bated breath and beating heart, Elizabeth
whispered into her brother's ear the thoughts and plans which had given
her so many sleepless nights of anxiety.
"Jamie, have you ever noticed when we have passed Benyion's cottage, the
great key that hangs beside the door? That is the key of the outer
garden leading down to the river. I have seen him use it many times as
we have walked in the gardens."
"Yes, I have seen him unlock that gate too. What of it?"
"Jamie, if you had that key some evening at dusk, and if we had hidden
out yonder in our hollow tree some of my clothes, made to fit you, so
that none could suspect you were a boy, could you so arrange that
Colonel Bamfield should be awaiting you at the river side with a wherry
to take you to some vessel bound for Holland? I have still left a little
of the gold that our father entrusted to me. And I am told that
seafaring folk will brave much for gold. Colonel Bamfield could arrange
all that."
"But how, how could I gain that key and use it at such an hour?"
questioned James, in an eager whisper. "How could such a thing be? Are
we not followed and watched everywhere?"
"Yet have you not eluded all watchful eyes times without number in your
games with Harry? Have we not often searched the house for an hour, and
then have had to call you to come to us? If you can elude watchful eyes
in play, why not in earnest some day, whilst they think the play is
going on, and will make no marvel of missing you for an hour or more?
The days are getting long. Let us have our game after supper instead of
before. Let us so play night by night for a week or more, that they will
not dream we have any motive in the change. Let our friend the Colonel,
if he is to be trusted, make his plans. Then, upon a certain night, when
all is in readiness, and the boat is lying waiting for you, we will play
our hide-and-seek with a difference, and whilst brother and servants are
seeking for James within the house, and even the gardens--he will be far
down the river, making for the vessel that is to carry him hence."
"But the key, Elizabeth, the key!" cried James, in great excitement;
"how can I gain possession of that?"
"Listen, Jamie," answered Elizabeth, "I have thought of that. You must
begin to pretend to have exhausted the hiding-places of our portion of
the house, and you must ask to-day that the house steward will let you
conceal yourself in his pantry. Then the next day get leave of the cook
to hide somewhere in the kitchen. Another day be bolder still, and get
into the hay-loft, where the coachman will be proud and merry to hide
you. And then when the day comes that you ask the gardener for the key
of his cottage, to hide you there awhile, neither he nor any other who
hears will think it aught but a merry jest. Then as Harry will every day
be an hour and more in hunting you, that should be time enough for you
to change your attire and slip away through the gate; and if Colonel
Bamfield only do his part, you should be out of reach ere the pursuit
has fairly begun."
James suddenly flung his arms about his sister's neck.
"Oh! Elizabeth, Elizabeth! and you have thought of all that?"
"I think of nothing else whilst we are playing hide-and-seek night by
night."
"And suppose they find out that you were privy to the scheme all the
while, what will they do to you, Elizabeth!"
She looked into his eyes, a brave smile on her pale face.
"Think not of that, Jamie; in sooth I care little what they do to me. If
you only get safe away let them take me to the Tower, or whither they
will. Little Harry is too young to care greatly, so long as we are
together; and I do not think they will take him from me, even though
they do more straitly confine us."
"But you--what would you do in that grim place?" asked James, with
something of a shudder.
"I think all places are alike to me now," answered Elizabeth, with her
strangely spiritual smile, pathetic on the face of one so young; "God
will take care of us there as well as here. Do not fear for me, Jamie.
We must strive to do what our father wished. I shall be happy indeed in
knowing that you are safe and free. For my part, I am content in feeling
myself near to him, and in knowing that if he is a prisoner--so am I."
Who would have thought, to watch the merry games of the Royal children
during the bright spring evenings that followed, what tumultuous
thoughts were surging within them, and what a daring plan had been
hatched in the brain of that delicate young girl, who so patiently
hunted the house, evening by evening, with her little brother, in
search of that clever hider, James.
The servants were by this time devoted to the children, who treated them
with that invariable high-bred courtesy that never failed the hapless
Stuarts, whatever else they might lack or fail in. Coachman, steward,
cook, pantler--all were ready to assist the young Duke to some new
hiding-place, night by night. They enjoyed the game almost as much as
the children themselves. Indeed, they seemed to take a pride in
lengthening out the search, though in the end some whispered hint would
be given to the little brother if his energies showed signs of flagging,
and he would start forth hot upon the scent that would eventually lead
him to the hiding-place, if James did not spring out upon him first.
The Earl and Countess were well used to the shouts and cries of little
Harry as he ran hither and thither through the house. The Earl generally
visited his young charges early in the evening, often just after supper,
and then he left them to their games till about nine o'clock, when he
attended first the younger Prince, and then the elder to their rooms,
and paid them the compliment of superintending in person their toilet
for the night.
At last came the long-awaited Friday, the twenty-first day of April. The
twilight lingered long now, and the game of hide-and-seek was regularly
played after supper, lasting generally till the bedtime of the Duke of
Gloucester.
[Illustration: He stopped short on seeing the Countess.
_Page 125._]
The Countess of Northumberland visited Elizabeth and her brothers this
evening, and sat awhile with the Princess after supper. Little Harry was
playing in a corner of the room; but the Countess looked rather
anxiously into Elizabeth's face, and remarked how white it was.
"But I am not sick, I thank you, Madam," said the girl gently. "Belike
it is but the first of the springtide heat. I pray you not to send the
doctor. He does but give me physic which I know not how to swallow. I
shall be better anon--in a few days, I trust."
At that moment James came running into the room, as though to speak to
his sister. He stopped short on seeing the Countess; but then, coming
forward, joined in the conversation, and chatted merrily enough. None
noted the quick glances that passed between brother and sister, nor the
strange wistfulness that brooded in Elizabeth's eyes.
Suddenly James started up, as though just bethinking him.
"Why, Harry, we must have our game; shall I hide again? Then give me
five minutes' grace, and come after me!" He looked at Elizabeth, and
said, "Wilt thou go with him? Or art thou tired to-night, sister?"
"In sooth, I think she is aweary," said the Countess; and James put his
hands on Elizabeth's shoulders, boy fashion, and snatched a kiss from
her lips.
"Then go to bed, sweetheart, and one of the servants shall attend
Harry," he said; "but he will not be content without his game of play."
The boy was gone, and Elizabeth was thankful that little Harry now
claimed the attention of the Countess; for she felt as though every drop
of blood had ebbed from her face. What would be the next thing that she
heard of her brother?
She could not be persuaded to remain in her room. She roamed all over
the house with Harry, whilst the Countess went back to her husband.
Harry's bedtime came at last; it was dark outside, save for the light of
the moon; the Earl came out, and asked where the boy was, and learned
that he was still seeking his brother.
"Then I must needs help find him too," said the good-natured nobleman,
taking Harry's hand, and as the child seemed somewhat weary of the
search, he looked inquiringly at the servants.
Then one came forward, and whispered that the Duke was hiding in the
gardener's cottage, of which he had begged the key; and thither they all
proceeded, Elizabeth commanding herself to laugh and chat with Harry,
and wonder where next Jamie would hide, and how many more strange
places were still left for him to find.
Harry ran gaily into the cottage, when somebody had forced open the
locked door for him, at a sign from the Earl, whose face had suddenly
clouded over. But ransack as they might, not a trace of the fugitive
could be found.
With a stifled exclamation of dismay the Earl dashed down to the
water-gate, which he found open. Then the truth flashed across him, and
he bit his lips in perplexed confusion.
"Conduct the Princess and the Duke to the house," he said, "we must make
further inquiries into this matter!"
Then Elizabeth knew at least that James had escaped from the Palace,
though she could not know for many days whether he would succeed in
making good his escape to Holland.
She sought the privacy of her own rooms, and, falling upon her knees,
gave thanks to God for His great goodness in watching over them thus
far.
Every day she expected to hear that some severe punishment was to be
inflicted upon her--perhaps even death itself, so little did she
understand the laws of the land--for the part she had taken in her
brother's escape. But strange to say her own complicity in the plot was
never suspected at that time. Her very calmness and courage, which
enabled her first to plan the clever scheme and then to go through her
own part so tranquilly, averted all suspicion from her.
Even the Earl, when all the facts of the case were known, was exonerated
from blame. He had before told the Parliament that he declined absolute
responsibility with regard to the Royal children, unless he made actual
prisoners of them--a thing he was not prepared to do; and although there
was some angry discussion in the House, and several stringent measures
were recommended by certain extreme men, yet in the end humane counsels
prevailed, and the Princess Elizabeth, together with her little brother,
were permitted to remain beneath the kindly care of the Earl and
Countess of Northumberland.
James escaped after a few perils, and got safe over to Holland; but the
hasty kiss he snatched from his brave young sister upon that April
evening was the last he ever gave or took from her.
The girl Elizabeth never recovered the shock of her father's death two
years later, and though she lingered for more than a year, winning the
hearts of all about her by her sweetness of disposition and the
wonderful courage and fortitude she exhibited in the midst of so many
trials and sufferings, she passed peacefully away to a world where pain
and partings are no more, and where the sorrowful and weary are at
rest.
Little Harry was with her to the last, receiving at her hands such few
poor possessions as remained to her. A while later, by an unwonted freak
of generosity on Cromwell's part, the boy was permitted to join his
mother in France.
CHARLOTTE HONEYMAN
"Pirates! Oh, Charlotte, how romantic! How do you know? Are you sure?
Oh, how I should love to see a real live pirate!"
Charlotte smiled a little grimly.
"I'm not quite so sure of that, Adela; I rather think if you were to
encounter him you would wish he were anything but a live pirate--you
would much prefer him dead!"
"What a horrid idea, Charlotte!" and Adela shivered slightly. "But do go
on! Tell me some more! I thought there were no pirates left now.
Smugglers one knows abound; but pirates!"
"I truly hope that there are not many such wretches in the world as the
man Gow seems by all accounts to be," said Charlotte, who, as the
daughter of the High-Sheriff of the island and county of Orkney spoke
with a certain amount of authority. "If half the tales they tell of him
are true, such a monster in human shape has seldom walked the earth. He
and his mate Williams have been a pair; but he found his subordinate one
too many for him, made him a prisoner, and handed him over to some
English man-of-war, under charge of various crimes, and the wretch has
probably been hanged ere this. But Gow yet goes scot-free!"
"And is his vessel in one of our bays?" asked Adela, in a tremor of
excitement.
"If the man's story be true, who came and asked speech of father last
night. He told a wonderful and a terrible tale. Father has gone off
to-day to make some particular inquiries into the business. He seems to
think very gravely of it."
"And where is this terrible pirate vessel now?"
"We do not know exactly. The seaman who came to seek for a magistrate
does not know the coast, and could not describe the place accurately. It
is not very near to our homes, thank heaven! We do not want pirates for
our neighbours!"
"Oh, but pirates only rob at sea, not upon land," exclaimed Adela; "we
need not be afraid. I should love to see what a pirate ship looked like!
Does it carry a black flag? And do the men wear crimson sashes round
their waists, and black crape masks upon their faces?"
Charlotte laughed a little. From her position as the daughter of the
Sheriff she knew a little more of the grim realities of crime than did
the younger and romantic Adela, whose pretty head was stuffed with a
good deal of nonsense. Sheriff Honeyman was very fond of his "little
child," as he still called Charlotte, notwithstanding the fact that she
had blossomed out into maidenhood of late years, and had left her
childhood behind. She was always ready for a clamber along the cliffs
with him, or a ride across the bare country on her sure-footed little
pony. He talked to her with unusual freedom for those days of his own
affairs, and was often amused by her shrewd comments and questions, as
well as by her little airs of worldly wisdom and fragments of meditative
speculation.
He noted in her with approval, too, an intrepid spirit, and a readiness
of resource in moments of emergency, which she had inherited from him.
He was sometimes caught in storms when his daughter was with him, both
on land and on the sea, and he always admired her fearless spirit on
these occasions, as well as her presence of mind and quickness to think
and act.
Charlotte had no sister, and her brothers were all away either at school
or college; but she was not lonely, for she had always plenty to occupy
and amuse her, and for companionship there was ever Adela to be depended
on; for Adela was an only child, and was devoted to Charlotte, who
seemed to her to be like brother and sister in one.
Adela was the daughter of Mr. Fea, a wealthy gentleman (as wealth was
accounted in those days and in those parts) of the island. He owned
considerable tracts of land there, and he and Mr. Honeyman were
intimate friends as well as near neighbours. In his youth he had been a
poor man, but of late years things had greatly prospered with him, and
he was accounted only second to Mr. Honeyman in importance in that
district. As the two girls were walking up and down, and talking eagerly
together over this matter, Mr. Fea himself appeared coming towards them.
Adela at once darted off, all eagerness to tell the news.
"Oh, papa, papa, what do you think! Charlotte says that there is a
pirate vessel sheltering in one of the bays of our islands, and that we
may all be murdered in our beds any day!"
Adela's face was quite glowing and beaming with excitement, and her
father could not forbear a laugh, in which Charlotte joined.
"Well, my dear, that thought seems to give you wonderful pleasure! As
the old proverb says, 'there is no accounting for taste!'" Then, turning
to Charlotte, he asked: "But what is the sober sense of all this, my
dear? What news has come to your father about pirates?"
"It is this, sir," answered Charlotte, turning to him quickly: "a poor
seaman came early this morning and asked speech of my father, and when
he was admitted he told a most terrible tale. Do you remember there
living once in these parts a man of the name of Gow, who afterwards took
to a seafaring life?"
"Gow? To be sure I remember him," answered Mr. Fea at once. "He and I
were once at the same school--a hot-tempered, rather dangerous lad, of
whom nobody spoke well. We were none of us sorry when he shipped himself
off to sea. I have never heard of him since."
"Well, the man who came to speak to papa told him that Gow had been mate
in a vessel called the _George Galley_, where he was a seaman. They had
a very good captain and officers; but Gow got up a mutiny on board, shot
the captain and some of the officers, got the well-disposed sailors shut
up helpless, took possession of the vessel, and changed its name to the
_Revenge_. Since then he has been scouring the seas, making the seamen
who did not join in the mutiny do the work of the vessel under threat of
cruel punishment or death, taking prizes, robbing and sinking small
vessels of many nations in the most reckless way, and now, by stress of
weather and through lack of water, they have put in here, where they
hope the news of their many misdeeds will not be known. They know
themselves to be in sore peril, for they have committed such
depredations on the high seas that their doings have become notorious,
and they are being watched for in many ports and on many oceans. But
here Gow thinks he may be safe for awhile, and, perhaps, even yet he
may elude justice, for he seems one of those men who carry charmed
lives."
"Pooh-pooh, my dear; I don't believe in that sort of charmed life. Those
fellows always come to the gallows at last. But how did this man dare to
come with such a story? Gow will cut his throat if ever it comes to his
ears."
"Yes; but he is not going back to the vessel. He escaped from her to
give notice to the authorities, and papa took him away with him, and has
promised him protection and help, though he will be wanted to give
evidence when Gow is brought to trial, as we hope to bring him. Papa has
gone off to take counsel with some others, and will not be back till
to-morrow; but the man said there was no fear that the _Revenge_ would
leave her moorings in that time. Gow was resolved to come ashore and
enjoy himself, and there were several more sailors who hoped to escape
from the ship, and to find their way to the mainland, there to give
notice of the pirate vessel."
Mr. Fea was keenly interested in this story. He was a law-abiding
citizen, with a horror of bloodshed and violence, and he made up his
mind that he would do everything in his power to assist in the capture
of the pirate ship. It irked him to think that an Orkney man should have
sunk to the level of Gow, and the very fact of having known him in his
early days made him the more anxious to bring him to justice. It was a
horrible thing that such men were still ranging the seas, plundering and
murdering; and that honest seamen were forced to serve in such vessels
on pain of instant death!
"I will see your father as soon as he returns," said Mr. Fea, "and we
will talk together as to the best method of making the capture. A pirate
sloop is not an easy prey to tackle; but we must see what can be done by
strategy or by force."
Adela's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Oh, papa, will there be a battle? Shall we be able to see it? Will
there be danger and fighting, and all that sort of thing?"
"I hope not, my dear; at least, not too much. There is always a little
risk in these affairs; but I hope most sincerely we may get off without
bloodshed. I should think that Gow was already sufficiently notorious,
without wishing to draw down upon himself the further ire of the
representatives of the law. Perhaps if he finds himself overmatched, he
may yield without much of a struggle."
Mr. Fea was not in any way alarmed for his own or his neighbours'
houses, even though there was a pirate schooner lying hidden in one of
the many indentations of their coast. It seemed to him, from Charlotte's
story, that Gow had run in here in the hopes of lying safe and quiet for
a short spell, and that his aim and object would be to avoid stirring up
any sort of inquiry about himself and his vessel. He appeared to desire
to enjoy himself on shore for awhile, and he certainly would not be able
to do that if he incriminated himself by any acts of violence there. So
again telling Charlotte that he would be over the next day to see her
father, and would meantime think of some plan as to what might be done
to entrap the pirate and his crew, and gain possession of the vessel, he
took his daughter with him, as he turned to go to his house, and
Charlotte sped over the few dividing fields, and reached her own home
just as the dusk was beginning to fall.
She and her mother took their supper comfortably together. Mrs. Honeyman
was an elderly lady, of considerable spirit and strength; but she was
very hard of hearing, though a little sensitive about this failing, so
that she was content often not to understand exactly what was passing,
rather than ask for an explanation.
Charlotte did not mention the pirates to her; for she thought if she
shouted out the story, that some servant would be certain to hear, and
take alarm, and there might be a sort of panic in the house. The butler
knew, as Mr. Honeyman had given him a few extra instructions about
locking up the plate at night; but he did not wish his household
needlessly alarmed; the more so as he was not able to be himself at home
till the next day.
After supper, it came into Charlotte's head that, in her father's study
there was generally on this day a considerable amount of gold, ready for
the payment of the weekly wage to labourers and people of the place on
the morrow. It occurred to her that she would do well to take her
father's cash-box up to her own room that night. Ordinarily, there was
so little fear of robbery here, that many people forgot to lock their
doors at night; but perhaps, with a crew from a pirate vessel lurking
somewhere near, it would be better to be on the safe side.
So after supper she went away quietly, took the heavy cash-box out of
the drawer, and carried it up to her room. She had in her keeping, in an
old-fashioned bureau, a good many family heirlooms in the shape of
jewels, some of them of great value; and beside these there were some
precious family documents greatly prized by her parents.