HONOURABLE DISGRACE.
January of 1646, according to the division of the year, arrived, and
with it the heaviest cloud that had yet overshadowed Raglan.
One day, about the middle of the month, Dorothy, entering lady
Glamorgan's parlour, found it deserted. A moan came to her ears from the
adjoining chamber, and there she found her mistress on her face on the
bed.
'Madam,' said Dorothy in terror, 'what is it? Let me be with you. May I
not know it?'
'My lord is in prison,' gasped lady Glamorgan, and bursting into fresh
tears, she sobbed and moaned.
'Has my lord been taken in the field, madam, or by cunning of his
enemies?'
'Would to God it were either,' sighed lady Glamorgan. 'Then were it a
small thing to bear.'
'What can it be, madam? You terrify me,' said Dorothy.
No words of reply, only a fresh outburst of agonised--could it also be
angry?--weeping followed.
'Since you will tell me nothing, madam, I must take comfort that of
myself I know one thing.'
'Prithee, what knowest thou?' asked the countess, but as if careless of
being answered, so listless was her tone, so nearly inarticulate her
words.
'That is but what bringeth him fresh honour, my lady,' answered Dorothy.
The countess started up, threw her arms about her, drew her down on the
bed, kissed her, and held her fast, sobbing worse than ever.
'Madam! madam!' murmured Dorothy from her bosom.
'I thank thee, Dorothy,' she sighed out at length: 'for thy words and
thy thoughts have ever been of a piece.'
'Sure, my lady, no one did ever yet dare think otherwise of my lord,'
returned Dorothy, amazed.
'But many will now, Dorothy. My God! they will have it that he is a
traitor. Wouldst thou believe it, child--he is a prisoner in the castle
of Dublin!'
'But is not Dublin in the hands of the king, my lady?'
'Ay! there lies the sting of it! What treacherous friends are these
heretics! But how should they be anything else? Having denied their
Saviour they may well malign their better brother! My lord marquis of
Ormond says frightful things of him.'
'One thing more I know, my lady,' said Dorothy, '--that as long as his
wife believes him the true man he is, he will laugh to scorn all that
false lips may utter against him.'
'Thou art a good girl, Dorothy, but thou knowest little of an evil
world. It is one thing to know thyself innocent, and another to carry
thy head high.'
'But, madam, even the guilty do that; wherefore not the innocent then?'
'Because, my child, they ARE innocent, and innocence so hateth the very
shadow of guilt that it cannot brook the wearing it. My lord is
grievously abused, Dorothy--I say not by whom.'
'By whom should it be but his enemies, madam?'
'Not certainly by those who are to him friends, but yet, alas! by those
to whom he is the truest of friends.'
'Is my lord of Ormond then false? Is he jealous of my lord Glamorgan?
Hath he falsely accused him? I would I understood all, madam.'
'I would I understood all myself, child. Certain papers have been found
bearing upon my lord's business in Ireland, all ears are filled with
rumours of forgery and treason, coupled with the name of my lord, and he
is a prisoner in Dublin castle.'
She forced the sentence from her, as if repeating a hated lesson, then
gave a cry, almost a scream of agony.
'Weep not, madam,' said Dorothy, in the very foolishness of sympathetic
expostulation.
'What better cause could I have out of hell!' returned the countess,
angrily.
'That it were no lie, madam.'
'It is true, I tell thee.'
'That my lord is a traitor, madam?'
Lady Glamorgan dashed her from her, and glared at her like a tigress. An
evil word was on her lips, but her better angel spoke, and ere Dorothy
could recover herself, she had listened and understood.
'God forbid!' she said, struggling to be calm. 'But it is true that he
is in prison.'
'Then give God thanks, madam, who hath forbidden the one and allowed the
other, said Dorothy; and finding her own composure on the point of
yielding, she courtesied and left the room. It was a breach of etiquette
without leave asked and given, but the face of the countess was again on
her pillow, and she did not heed.
For some time things went on as in an evil dream. The marquis was in
angry mood, with no gout to lay it upon. The gloom spread over the
castle, and awoke all manner of conjecture and report. Soon, after a
fashion, the facts were known to everybody, and the gloom deepened. No
further enlightenment reached Dorothy. At length one evening, her
mistress having sent for her, she found her much excited, with a letter
in her hand.
'Come here, Dorothy: see what I have!' she cried, holding out the letter
with a gesture of triumph, and weeping and laughing alternately.
'Madam, it must be something precious indeed,' said Dorothy, 'for I have
not heard your ladyship laugh for a weary while. May I not rejoice with
you, madam?'
'You shall, my good girl: hearken: I will read:--'My dear Heart,'--Who
is it from, think'st thou, Dorothy? Canst guess?--'My dear Heart, I hope
these will prevent any news shall come unto you of me since my
commitment to the Castle of Dublin, to which I assure thee I went as
cheerfully and as willingly as they could wish, whosoever they were by
whose means it was procured; and should as unwillingly go forth, were
the gates both of the Castle and Town open unto me, until I were
cleared: as they are willing to make me unserviceable to the king, and
lay me aside, who have procured for me this restraint; when I consider
thee a Woman, as I think I know you are, I fear lest you should be
apprehensive. But when I reflect that you are of the House of Thomond,
and that you were once pleased to say these words unto me, That I should
never, in tenderness of you, desist from doing what in honour I was
obliged to do, I grow confident, that in this you will now show your
magnanimity, and by it the greatest testimony of affection that you can
possibly afford me; and am also confident, that you know me so well,
that I need not tell you how clear I am, and void of fear, the only
effect of a good conscience; and that I am guilty of nothing that may
testify one thought of disloyalty to his Majesty, or of what may stain
the honour of the family I come of, or set a brand upon my future
posterity.'
The countess paused, and looked a general illumination at Dorothy.
'I told you so, madam,' returned Dorothy, rather stupidly perhaps.
'Little fool!' rejoined the countess, half-angered: 'dost suppose the
wife of a man like my Ned needs to be told such things by a green goose
like thee? Thou wouldst have had me content that the man was honest--me,
who had forgotten the word in his tenfold more than honesty! Bah, child!
thou knowest not the love of a woman. I could weep salt tears over a
hair pulled from his noble head. And thou to talk of TELLING ME SO,
hussy! Marry, forsooth!'
And taking Dorothy to her bosom, she wept like a relenting storm.
One sentence more she read ere she hurried with the letter to her
father-in-law. The sentence was this:
'So I pray let not any of my friends that's there, believe anything,
until ye have the perfect relation of it from myself.'
The pleasure of receiving news from his son did but little, however, to
disperse the cloud that hung about the marquis. I do not know whether,
or how far, he had been advised of the provision made for the king's
clearness by the anticipated self-sacrifice of Glamorgan, but I doubt if
a full knowledge thereof gives any ground for disagreement with the
judgment of the marquis, which seems, pretty plainly, to have been, that
the king's behaviour in the matter was neither that of a Christian nor a
gentleman. As in the case of Strafford, he had accepted the offered
sacrifice, and, in view of possible chances, had in Glamorgan's
commission pretermitted the usual authoritative formalities, thus
keeping it in his power, with Glamorgan's connivance, it must be
confessed, but at Glamorgan's expense, to repudiate his agency. This he
had now done in a message to the parliament, and this the marquis knew.
His majesty had also written to lord Ormond as follows: 'And albeit I
have too just cause, for the clearing of my honour, to prosecute
Glamorgan in a legal way, yet I will have you suspend the execution,'
&c. At the same time his secretary wrote thus to Ormond and the council:
'And since the warrant is not' 'sealed with the signet,' &c., &c., 'your
lordships cannot but judge it to be at least surreptitiously gotten, if
not worse; for his majesty saith he remembers it not;' and thus again
privately to Ormond: 'The king hath commanded me to advertise your
lordship that the patent for making the said lord Herbert of Raglan earl
of Glamorgan is not passed the great seal here, so as he is no peer of
this kingdom; notwithstanding he styles himself, and hath treated with
the rebels in Ireland, by the name of earl of Glamorgan, which is as
vainly taken upon him as his pretended warrant (if any such be) was
surreptitiously gotten.' The title had, meanwhile, been used by the king
himself in many communications with the earl.
These letters never came, I presume, to the marquis's knowledge, but
they go far to show that his feeling, even were it a little embittered
by the memory of their midnight conference and his hopes therefrom, went
no farther than the conduct of his majesty justified. It was no wonder
that the straight-forward old man, walking erect to ruin for his king,
should fret and fume, yea, yield to downright wrath and enforced
contempt.
Of the king's behaviour in the matter, Dorothy, however, knew nothing
yet.
One day towards the end of February, a messenger from the king arrived
at Raglan, on his way to Ireland to lord Ormond. He had found the roads
so beset--for things were by this time, whether from the successes of
the parliament only, or from the negligence of disappointment on the
part of lord Worcester as well, much altered in Wales and on its
borders--that he had been compelled to leave his despatches in hiding,
and had reached the castle only with great difficulty and after many
adventures. His chief object in making his way thither was to beg of
lord Charles a convoy to secure his despatches and protect him on his
farther journey. But lord Charles received him by no means cordially,
for the whole heart of Raglan was sore. He brought him, however, to his
father, who, although indisposed and confined to his chamber, consented
to see him. When Mr. Boteler was admitted, lady Glamorgan was in the
chamber, and there remained.
Probably the respect to the king's messenger which had influenced the
marquis to receive him, would have gone further and modified the
expression of his feelings a little when he saw him, but that, like many
more men, his lordship, although fairly master of his temper-horses when
in health, was apt to let them run away with him upon occasion of even
slighter illness than would serve for an excuse.
'Hast thou in thy despatches any letters from his majesty to my son
Glamorgan, master Boteler?' he inquired, frowning unconsciously.
'Not that I know of, my lord,' answered Mr. Boteler, 'but there may be
such with the lord marquis of Ormond's.'
He then proceeded to give a friendly message from the king concerning
the earl. But at this the 'smouldering fire out-brake' from the bosom of
the injured father and subject.
'It is the grief of my heart,' cried his lordship, wrath predominating
over the regret which was yet plainly enough to be seen in his face and
heard in his tone--'It is the grief of my heart that I am enforced to
say that the king is wavering and fickle. To be the more his friend, it
too plainly appeareth, is but to be the more handled as his enemy.'
'Say not so, my lord,' returned Mr. Boteler. 'His gracious majesty
looketh not for such unfriendly judgment from your lips. Have I not
brought your lordship a most gracious and comfortable message from him
concerning my lord Glamorgan, with his royal thanks for your former
loyal expressions?'
'Mr. Boteler, thou knowest nought of the matter. That thou has brought
me a budget of fine words, I go not to deny. But words may be but
schismatics; deeds alone are certainly of the true faith. Verily the
king's majesty setteth his words in the forefront of the battle, but his
deeds lag in the rear, and let his words be taken prisoners. When his
majesty was last here, I lent him a book to read in his chamber, the
beginning of which I know he read, but if he had ended, it would have
showed him what it was to be a fickle prince.'
'My lord! my lord! surely your lordship knoweth better of his majesty.'
'To know better may be to know worse, master Boteler. Was it not enough
to suffer my lord Glamorgan to be unjustly imprisoned by my lord marquis
of Ormond for what he had His majesty's authority for, but that he must
in print protest against his proceedings and his own allowance, and not
yet recall it? But I will pray for him, and that he may be more constant
to his friends, and as soon as my other employments will give leave, you
shall have a convoy to fetch securely your despatches.'
Herewith Mr. Boteler was dismissed, lord Charles accompanying him from
the room.
'False as ice!' muttered the marquis to himself, left as he supposed
alone. 'My boy, thou hast built on a quicksand, and thy house goeth down
to the deep. I am wroth with myself that ever I dreamed of moving such a
bag of chaff to return to the bosom of his honourable mother.'
'My lord,' said lady Glamorgan from behind the bed-curtains, 'have you
forgotten that I and my long ears are here?'
'Ha! art thou indeed there, my mad Irishwoman! I had verily forgotten
thee. But is not this king of ours as the Minotaur, dwelling in the
labyrinths of deceit, and devouring the noblest in the land? There was
his own Strafford, next his foolish Laud, and now comes my son, worth a
host of such!'
'In his letter, my lord of Glamorgan complaineth not of his majesty's
usage,' said the countess.
'My lord of Glamorgan is patient as Grisel. He would pass through the
pains of purgatory with never a grumble. But purgatory is for none such
as he. In good sooth I am made of different stuff. My soul doth loath
deceit, and worse in a king than a clown. What king is he that will lie
for a kingdom!'
Day after day passed, and nothing was done to speed the messenger, who
grew more and more anxious to procure his despatches and be gone; but
lord Worcester, through the king's behaviour to his honourable and
self-forgetting son, with whom he had never had a difference except on
the point of his blind devotion to his majesty's affairs, had so lost
faith in the king himself that he had no heart for his business. It
seems also that for his son's sake he wished to delay Mr. Boteler, in
order that a messenger of his own might reach Glamorgan before Ormond
should receive the king's despatches. For a whole fortnight therefore no
further steps were taken, and Boteler, wearied out, bethought him of
applying to the countess to see whether she would not use her influence
in his behalf. I am thus particular about Boteler's affair, because
through it Dorothy came to know what the king's behaviour had been, and
what the marquis thought of it; she was in the room when Mr. Boteler
waited on her mistress.
'May it please your ladyship,' he said, 'I have sought speech of you
that I might beg your aid for the king's business, remembering you of
the hearty affection my master the king beareth towards your lord and
all his house.'
'Indeed you do well to remember me of that, master Boteler, for it goeth
so hard with my memory in these troubled times that I had nigh forgotten
it,' said the countess dryly.
'I most certainly know, my lady, that his majesty hath gracious
intentions towards your lord.'
'Intention is but an addled egg,' said the countess. 'Give me deeds, if
I may choose.'
'Alas! the king hath but little in his power, and the less that his
business is thus kept waiting.'
'Your haste is more than your matter, master Boteler. Believe me,
whatsoever you consider of it, your going so hurriedly is of no great
account, for to my knowledge there are others gone already with
duplicates of the business.'
'Madam, you astonish me.'
'I speak not without book. My own cousin, William Winter, is one, and he
is my husband's friend, and hath no relation to my lord marquis of
Ormond,' said lady Glamorgan significantly.
'My lord, madam, is your lord's very good friend, and I am very much his
servant; but if his majesty's business be done, I care not by whose hand
it is. But I thank your honour, for now I know wherefore I am stayed
here.'
With these words Boteler withdrew--and withdraws from my story, for his
further proceedings are in respect of it of no consequence.
When he was gone, lady Glamorgan, turning a flushed face, and
encountering Dorothy's pale one, gave a hard laugh, and said:
'Why, child! thou lookest like a ghost! Was afeard of the man in my
presence?'
'No, madam; but it seemed to me marvellous that his majesty's messenger
should receive such words from my mistress, and in my lord of
Worcester's house.'
'I' faith, marvellous it is, Dorothy, that there should be such good
cause so to use him!' returned lady Glamorgan, tears of vexation rising
as she spoke. 'But an' thou think I used the man roughly, thou shouldst
have heard my father speak to him his mind of the king his master.'
'Hath the king then shown himself unkingly, madam?' said Dorothy aghast.
Whereupon lady Glamorgan told her all she knew, and all she could
remember of what she had heard the marquis say to Boteler.
'Trust me, child,' she added, 'my lord Worcester, no less than I am, is
cut to the heart by this behaviour of the king's. That my husband, silly
angel, should say nothing, is but like him. He would bear and bear till
all was borne.'
'But,' said Dorothy, 'the king is still the king.'
'Let him be the king then,' returned her mistress. 'Let him look to his
kingdom. Why should I give him my husband to do it for him and be
disowned therein? I thank heaven I can do without a king, but I can't do
without my Ned, and there he lies in prison for him who cons him no
thanks! Not that I would overmuch heed the prison if the king would but
share the blame with him; but for the king to deny him--to say that he
did all of his own motion and without authority!--why, child, I saw the
commission with my own eyes, nor count myself under any farther
obligation to hold my peace concerning it! I know my husband will bear
all things, even disgrace itself, undeserved, for the king's sake: he is
the loveliest of martyrs; but that is no reason why I should bear it.
The king hath no heart and no conscience. No, I will not say that; but I
will say that he hath little heart and less conscience. My good
husband's fair name is gone--blasted by the king, who raiseth the mist
of Glamorgan's dishonour that he may hide himself safe behind it. I tell
thee, Dorothy Vaughan, I should not have grudged his majesty my lord's
life, an' he had been but a right kingly king. I should have wept enough
and complained too much, in womanish fashion, doubtless; but I tell thee
earl Thomond's daughter would not have grudged it. But my lord's truth
and honour are dear to him, and the good report of them is dear to me. I
swear I can ill brook carrying the title he hath given me. It is my
husband's and not mine, else would I fling it in his face who thus
wrongs my Herbert.'
This explosion from the heart of the wild Irishwoman sounded dreadful in
the ears of the king-worshipper. But he whom she thus accused the king
of wronging, had been scarcely less revered of her, even while the idol
with the feet of clay yet stood, and had certainly been loved greatly
more, than the king himself. Hence, notwithstanding her struggle to keep
her heart to its allegiance, such a rapid change took place in her
feelings, that ere long she began to confess to herself that if the
puritans could have known what the king was, their conduct would not
have been so unintelligible--not that she thought they had an atom of
right on their side, or in the least feared she might ever be brought to
think in the matter as they did; she confessed only that she could then
have understood them.
The whole aspect and atmosphere of Raglan continued changed. The marquis
was still very gloomy; lord Charles often frowned and bit his lip; and
the flush that so frequently overspread the face of lady Glamorgan as
she sat silent at her embroidery, showed that she was thinking in anger
of the wrong done to her husband. In this feeling all in the castle
shared, for the matter had now come to be a little understood, and as
they loved the earl more than the king, they took the earl's part.
Meantime he for whose sake the fortress was troubled, having been
released on large bail, was away, with free heart, to Kilkenny, busy as
ever on behalf of the king, full of projects, and eager in action. Not a
trace of resentment did he manifest--only regret that his majesty's
treatment of him, in destroying his credit with the catholics as the
king's commissioner, had put it out of his power to be so useful as he
might otherwise have been. His brain was ever contriving how to remedy
things, but parties were complicated, and none quite trusted him now
that he was disowned of his master.