And O that pegis weste is slymme,
And his ee wald garr the daye luke dymme;
His broue is brente, his brestis fayre,
And the deemonde lurkis in hys revan hayre.
Alake for thilke bonnye boye sae leile
That lyes withe oure Kynge in the hie-lande shiele!
_Old Rhyme._
I winna gang in, I darena gang in,
Nor sleep i' your arms ava;
Fu' laithly wad a fair may sleep
Atween you an' the wa'.
War I to lie wi' a belted knight,
In a land that's no my ain,
Fu' dear wad be my courtesye,
An' dreich wad be my pain.
_Old Ballad._
One cold biting evening, at the beginning of November, Patrick Chisholm
of Castleweary, an old yeoman in the upper part of Teviotdale, sat
conversing with his family all in a merry and cheerful mood. They were
placed in a circle round a blazing hearth fire, on which hung a huge
caldron, boiling and bubbling like the pool at the foot of a cataract.
The lid was suspended by a rope to the iron crook on which this lordly
machine was hung, to intercept somewhat the showers of soot that now and
then descended from the rafters. These appeared as if they had been
covered with pitch or black japanning; and so violently was the kettle
boiling, that it made the roof of Pate Chisholm's bigging all to shiver.
Notwithstanding these showers of soot, Pate and his four goodly sons
eyed the boiling caldron with looks of great satisfaction,--for ever and
anon the hough of an immense leg of beef was to be seen cutting its
capers in the boil, or coming with a graceful semicircular sweep from
one lip of the pot to the other.
"Is it true, callants," said Pate, "that Howard is gaun to make a
diversion, as they ca't, in the west border, to draw off the warden frae
the Cheviots?"
"As muckle is said, an' as muckle expectit," said Dan, his first born, a
goodly youth, who, with his three brethren, sat in armour. They had come
home to their father's house that night with their share of a rich prey
that the warden had kidnapped while just collecting to send to Roxburgh
under a guard of five thousand men. But Sir Ringan, getting intelligence
of it, took possession of the drove before it was placed under the
charge of those intended to guard it.
"As muckle is said, an' as muckle is expectit," said Dan; "but the west
border will never turn out sae weel to us as the east has done. It's
o'er near the Johnstones, and the Jardines, and the hurkle-backit
Hendersons."
Pate looked from under his bonnet at the hough of beef.--"The Cheviot
hills hae turned weel out for the warden," continued Dan; "Redhough an'
his lads hae been as weel scrieving o'er law and dale as lying getting
hard pelts round the stane wa's o' Roxburgh, an' muckle mair gude has he
done; for gin they dinna hunger them out o' their hauddin, they'll keep
it. Ye'll draw an Englishman by the gab easier than drive him wi' an
airn gaud. I wad ride fifty miles to see ony ane o' the bonny dames that
a' this pelting an' peching is about."
"Twa wanton glaikit gillies, I'll uphaud," said Pate, looking at the
restless hough; "o'er muckle marth i' the back, an' meldar i' the
brusket. Gin I had the heffing o' them, I sude tak a staup out
o' their bickers.--Whisht, I thought I heard the clanking o' horse
heels.--Callant, clap the lid down on the pat; what hae they't hinging
geaving up there for?"
The clattering of the horses approached, but apparently with caution;
and at length a voice called at the door in an English accent, "Hollo,
who holds here?" "Leel men, an' for the Scots," answered Dan, starting
to his feet, and laying his hand on his sword. "For the knight of
Mountcomyn, the Scottish warden?"--inquired the horseman without. "For
the same," was the answer. "It is toward his castle that we are bound.
Can any of you direct us the way?"
"Troth, that I can," said old Pate, groping to satisfy himself that the
lid was close down on the pot, and then running to the door; "I can tell
you every fit o' the road, masters: You maun gang by the Fanesh,
you see; it lies yon way, you see; an' then up the Brown rig, as
straight as a line through Philhope-head, an' into Borthwick; then up
Aitas-burn,--round the Crib-law,--an' wheel to the right; then the burn
that ye come to there, ye maun cross that, and three miles farther on
you come to the castle of Mountcomyn.--Braw cheer there lads!"
"I am afraid, friend," said the English trooper, "we will make nothing
of this direction. Is it far to this same castle of the Scottish
warden?"
"O no, naething but a step, some three Scots miles."
"And how is the road?"
"A prime road, man; no a step in't a' wad tak your horse to the brusket;
only there's nae track; ye maun just take an ettle. Keep an ee on the
tail o' Charlie's wain, an' ye'll no gang far wrang."
"Our young lord and master is much fatigued," said the trooper; "I am
afraid we shall scarcely make it out. Pray, sir, could you spare us a
guide?"
Dan, who was listening behind, now stepped forward, and addressed them:
"My masters, as the night is o' darkness, I could hardly ride to
Mountcomyn mysel, an', far or near, I couldna win there afore day. Gin
ye dought accept o' my father's humble cheer the night--"
"The callant's bewiddied, an' waur than bewiddied," said Pate: "We haena
cheer for oursels, let abe for a byking o' English lords an' squires!"
"I would gladly accept of any accommodation," said a sweet delicate
voice, like that of a boy; "for the path has been so dreadful that I am
almost dead, and unable to proceed further. I have a safe-conduct to the
Scottish court, signed by all the wardens of the marches, and every
knight, yeoman, and vassal is obliged to give me furtherance."
"I dinna ken muckle about conducks an' signatures," said Pate, "but I
trow there winna be mony syllables in some o' the names if a' the
wardens hae signed your libelt; for I ken weel there's ane o' them whase
edication brak aff at the letter G, an' never gat farrer. But I'm no
ca'ing ye a leear, southron lord, ye may be a vera honest man; an' as
your errand may be something unco express, ye had better post on."
"It sal never be casten up to me neither in camp nor ha," said Dan,
"that a stranger was cawed frae my auld father's door at this time o'
the night. Light down, light down, southron lord, ye are a privileged
man; an', as I like to see the meaning o' things, I'll ride wi' ye mysel
the morn, fit for fit, to the castle o' Mountcomyn."
The strangers were soon all on their feet, and ushered into the family
circle, for there was no fire-place in the house but that one. They
consisted of five stout troopers, well armed, a page, and a young
nobleman, having the appearance of a youth about seventeen or eighteen
years of age. Every eye was instantly turned on him, there was something
so extraordinary in his appearance. Instead of a steel helmet, he wore a
velvet cap, shaped like a crown, striped with belts, bars, and crosses
of gold wire, and manifestly more for ornament than use. His fair
ringlets were peeping in curls out from below his cap, and his face
and bright blue eyes were lovely as the dawn of a summer's morning.
They were not well seated till a noise of the tread of horses was again
heard.
"The warld be a-wastle us!" cried old Pate, "wha's that now? I think
fouk will be eaten up wi' fouk, an' naething for folk's pains but dry
thanks;--thanks winna feed the cat--"
He was stopped in his regretful soliloquy by a rough voice at the door:
"Ho, wha bauds the house?" The same answer was given as to the former
party, and in a minute the strangers entered without law or leave.
"Ye travel unco late, maisters," said old Pate: "How far may ye be for
the night?"
"We meant to have reached the tower of Gorranberry to-night," said one
of the strangers, "but we have been benighted, and were drawn hither by
the light in your hole. I fear we must draw on your hospitality till
day."
"Callant Peter, gang an' stap a wisp i' that bole," said Pate; "it
seems to be the beacon light to a' the clanjaumphry i' the hale country.
I tauld ye aye to big it up; but no ane o' ye heeds what I say. I hae
seen houses that _some_ fouk whiles gaed by. But, my maisters, its nae
gate ava to Gorranberry,--a mere haut-stride-and-loup. I'll send a guide
to Bilhope-head wi' ye; for troth we hae neither meat nor drink,
house-room nor stabling, mair about the toun. We're but poor yeomen, an'
haud our mailin for hard service. We hae tholed a foray the night
already, an' a double ane wad herrie us out o' house an' hauld. The
warld be a' wastle us! I think a' the mosstroopers be abraid the night!
Bairns, swee that bouking o' claes aff the fire; ye'll burn it i' the
boiling."
The new comers paid little attention to this address of the old man;
they saw that he was superannuated, and had all the narrow selfishness
that too generally clings to that last miserable stage of human
exisence; but drawing nigh they began to eye the southron party with
looks of dark suspicion, if not of fierceness.
"I see what maks ye sae frightet at our entrance here," said the first
Scots trooper, ye hae some southron spies amang ye--Gudeman, ye sal
answer to the king for this, an' to the Douglas too, whilk ye'll find a
waur job."
"Ken where ye are, an' wha ye're speaking to," said Dan, stepping
forward and browing the last speaker face to face: "If either the ae
party or the ither be spies, or aught else but leel men, ye shall find,
ere ye gang far, whase land ye are on, an' whase kipples ye are under.
That auld man's my father, an,' doitet as he is, the man amang ye that
says a saucy word to him I'll gar sleep in his shoon a fit shorter than
he rase i' the morning. Wha are ye, sir, or where do you travel by night
on my master the warden's bounds?"
"Sir," answered another trooper, who seemed to be rather a more polished
man, "I applaud your spirit, and will answer your demand. We go with our
lord and master, Prince Alexander Stuart of Scotland, on a mission to a
noble English family. Here is the king's seal as well as a pass signed
by the English warden. We are leel men and true."
"Where is the prince?" said Dan: "A prince of Scotland i' my father's
house? Which is he?"
A slender elegant stripling stept forward. "Here he is, brave yeoman,"
said the youth: "No ceremony--Regard me as your fellow and companion for
this night."
Dan whipped off his bonnet and clapped his foot upon it, and bowing low
and awkwardly to his prince he expressed his humble respect as well as
he could, and then presented the prince to his father. The title sounded
high in the old man's ears, he pulled off his bonnet and looked with an
unsteady gaze, as if uncertain on whom to fix it--"A prince! Eh?--Is he
a prince o' Scotland? Ay, ay!" said he, "Then he'll maybe hae some say
wi' our head men--Dan--I say, Dan"--and with that he pulled Dan's
sleeve, and said in a whisper loud enough to be heard over all the
house,--"I say, Dan, man, gin he wad but speak to the warden to let us
hae a' the land west the length o' the Frosty lair. O it wad lie weel
into ours." "It wad, father, and I daresay we may get it; but hush just
now." "Eh? do you think we may get it?" enquired the old man eagerly in
the same whispering tremulous voice, "O man, it wad lie weel in; an' sae
wad Couter's-cleuch. It's no perfect wanting that too. An' we wad be a
great deal the better o' twa or three rigs aff Skelfhill for a bit
downfa' to the south--See if ye can speak to the lad."
Dan shook his father's hand, and nodded to him by way of acquiescence.
The old man brightened up: "Whar is your titty Bessy, Dan? Whar are a'
the idle hizzies? Gar them get something set down to the princely lad:
I'se warrant he's e'en hungry. Ye'll no be used til siccan roads as
thir, Sir? Na, na. They're unco roads for a prince.--Dan, I say, come
this way; I want to speak to you--I say," (whispering very low aside) "I
wadna let them ken o' the beef, or they'll just gang wi't. Gie them milk
an' bread, an' cheese, an' a drap o' the broo; it will do weel aneuch.
Hunger's good sauce. But, Dan,--I say, could ye no contrive to get quat
o' thae English? I doubt there will be little made of them:--They're but
a wheen gillie-gaupies at the best, an nae freends to us.--Fouk sude ay
bow to the bush they get bield frae."
"It's a' true that ye say, father; but we surely needna grudge an
Englishman a piece o' an English cow's hip.--The beef didna cost you
dear, an' there's mair where it cam frae."
The old man would not give up his point, but persisted in saying it was
a dangerous experiment, and an unprofitable waste. However, in spite of
his remonstrances, the board was loaded with six wooden bickers filled
with beef broth, plenty of bear-meal bannocks, and a full quarter of
English ox beef, to which the travellers did all manner of justice. The
prince, as he called himself, was placed at the head of the table, and
the young English nobleman by his side. Their eyes were scarcely ever
turned from one another's faces, unless in a casual hasty glance to see
how others were regarding the same face. The prince had dark raven hair
that parted on a brow of snow, a black liquid eye, and round lips,
purer than the cherry about to fall from the tree with ripeness. He was
also a degree taller than the English lord; but both of them, as well as
their two pages, were lovelier than it became men to be. The troopers
who attended them seemed disposed to contradict every thing that came
from the adverse party, and, if possible, to broach a quarrel, had it
not been for the two knights, who were all suavity, good breeding, and
kindness to each other, and seemed to have formed an attachment at first
sight. At length Prince Alexander inquired of his new associate his
name, and business at the Scottish court, provided, he said, that it did
not require strict secrecy. The other said, he would tell him every
thing truly, on condition that he would do the same: which being agreed
to, the young English nobleman proceeded as follows:
"My name is Lord Jasper Tudor, second son to the Earl of Pembroke. I am
nearly related to the throne of England, and in high favour with the
king. The wars on the Borders have greatly harassed the English
dalesmen for these many years, and matters being still getting worse
between the nations, the king, my cousin, has proposed to me to
marry the Princess Margaret of Scotland, and obtain as her dowry a
confirmation of these border lands and castles, so that a permanent
peace may be established between the nations, and this bloody and
desperate work cease. I am on my way to the Scottish court to see
the princess, your sister; and if I find her to be as lovely and
accomplished as fame speaks her, I intend to comply with the king's
request, and marry her forthwith."
This speech affected the prince so much that all the guests wondered. He
started to his feet, and smiling in astonishment said, "What, you? you
marry m--m--my sister Margaret? She is very much beholden to you, and on
my word she will see a becoming youth. But are you sure that she will
accept of you for a husband?" "I have little to fear on that head," said
the Lord Jasper Tudor jeeringly; "Maids are in general not much averse
to marriage; and, if I am well informed, your lovely sister is as
little averse to it as any of her contemporaries."
The prince blushed deep at this character of his sister, but had not a
word to say.
"Pray," continued Tudor, "is she like you? If she is, I think I shall
love her,--I would not have her just like you neither."
"I believe," said the prince, "there is a strong family likeness; but
tell me in what features you would wish her to differ from me, and I
will describe her minutely to you."
"In the first place," said the amorous and blue-ey'd Tudor, "I should
like her to be a little stouter, and more manly of frame than you, and,
at least, to have some appearance of a beard."
All the circle stared. "The devil you would, my lord," said Dan; "Wad ye
like your wife to hae a beard, in earnest? Gude faith, an your ain war
like mine, ye wad think ye had eneuch o't foreby your wife's." The
prince held up his hands in astonishment, and the young English lord
blushed deeper than it behoved a knight to do; but at length he tried to
laugh it by, pretending that he had unwittingly said one thing when he
meant the very contrary, for he wished her to be more feminine, and have
less beard."--"I think that will hardly be possible," said Dan; "but
perhaps there may be a hair here an' there on my lord the prince's chin,
when ane comes near it. I wadna disparage ony man, far less my king's
son."
"Well, my noble lord," said the prince, "your tale has not a little
surprised me, as well it may. Our meeting here in like circumstances is
the most curious rencounter I ever knew; for, to tell you the plain
truth, I am likewise on an errand of the same import, being thus far on
my way to see and court the lady Jane Howard, in order that all her wide
domains may be attached to my father's kingdom, and peace and amity
thereby established on the border."
"Gracious heaven!" said young Lord Tudor, "can this that I hear be true?
You? Are you on your way to my cousin, the lady Jane Howard? Why, do you
not know that she is already affianced to Lord Musgrave?"
"Yes, it is certain I do; but that is one of my principal inducements to
gain her from him; that is quite in the true spirit of gallantry; but,
save her great riches, I am told she has little else to recommend her,"
said the prince.
"And, pray, how does fame report of my cousin Jane?" said Tudor.
"As of a shrew and a coquette," answered the prince; "a wicked minx,
that is intemperate in all her passions."
"It is a manifest falsehood," said Tudor, his face glowing with
resentment, "I never knew a young lady so moderate and chastened in
every passion of the female heart. Her most private thoughts are pure as
purity itself, and her--."
"But, begging your pardon, my lord, how can you possibly know all this?"
said the prince.
"I do know it," said the other, "it is no matter how: I cannot hear my
fair cousin wronged; and I know that she will remain true to Musgrave,
and have nothing to do with you."
"I will bet an earldom on that head, said the prince, "if I chuse to
lay siege to her."
"Done!" said the other, and they joined hands on the bargain; but they
had no sooner laid their hands into one another's than they hastily
withdrew them, with a sort of trepidation, that none of the lookers on,
save the two pages, who kept close by their masters, appeared to
comprehend. They, too, were both mistaken in the real cause; but of that
it does not behove to speak at present.
"I will let you see," said the prince, recovering himself, "that this
celebrated cousin of yours shall not be so ill to win as the castle of
Roxburgh; and I'll let Musgrave see for how much truth and virgin
fidelity he has put his life in his hand; and when I have her I'll cage
her, for I don't like her. I would give that same earldom to have her in
my power to-night."
The young Lord Tudor looked about as if he meditated an escape to
another part of the table; but, after a touch that his page gave him on
the sleeve, he sat still, and mustered up courage for a reply.
"And pray, sir prince, what would you do with her if you had her in your
power to-night?"
"Something very different from what I would do with you, my lord. But
please describe her to me, for my very heart is yearning to behold
her,--describe every point of her form, and lineament of her features."
"She is esteemed as very beautiful; for my part I think her but so so,"
said Tudor: "She has fair hair, light full blue eyes, and ruddy cheeks;
and her brow, I believe, is as fine and as white as any brow can be."
"O frightful! what a description! what an ugly minx it must be! Fair
hair! red, I suppose, or dirty dull yellow! Light blue eyes! mostly
white I fancy? Ah, what a frightful immodest ape it must be! I could
spit upon the huzzy!"
"Mary shield us!" exclaimed young Tudor, moving farther away from the
prince, and striking lightly with his hand on his doublet as if
something unclean had been squirted on it. "Mary shield us! What does
the saucy Scot mean?"
Every one of the troopers put his hand to his sword, and watched the eye
of his master. The prince beckoned to the Scots to be quiet; but Lord
Tudor did no such thing, for he was flustered and wroth.
"Pardon me, my lord," said the prince, "I may perhaps suffer enough from
the beauty and perfections of your fair cousin after I see her; you may
surely allow me to deride them now. I am trying to depreciate the charms
I dread. But I do not like the description of her. Tell me seriously do
you not think her very intolerable?"
"I tell you, prince, I think quite otherwise. I believe Jane to be fifty
times more lovely than any dame in Scotland; and a hundred times more
beautiful than your tawny virago of a sister, whom I shall rejoice to
tame like a spaniel. The haughty, vain, conceited, swart venom, that she
should lay her commands on the Douglas to conquer or die for her! A fine
presumption, forsooth! But the world shall see whether the charms of my
cousin, Lady Jane Howard, or those of your grim and tawdry princess,
have most power."
"Yes, they shall, my lord," said the prince: "In the mean time let us
drop the subject. I see I have given you offence, not knowing that you
were in love with Lady Jane, which now I clearly see to be the case.
Nevertheless, go on with the description, for I am anxious to hear all
about her, and I promise to approve if there be a bare possibility of
it."
"Her manner is engaging, and her deportment graceful and easy; her waist
is slim, and her limbs slender and elegant beyond any thing you ever
saw," said Lord Tudor.
"O shocking!" exclaimed the prince, quite forgetting himself: "Worst of
all! I declare I have no patience with the creature. After such a
description, who can doubt the truth of the reports about the extreme
levity of her conduct? Confess now, my lord, that she is very free of
her favours, and that the reason why so many young gentlemen visit her
is now pretty obvious."
High offence was now manifest in Lord Jasper Tudor's look. He rose from
his seat, and said in great indignation, "I did not ween I should be
insulted in this guise by the meanest peasant in Scotland, far less by
one of its courtiers, and least of all by a prince of the blood royal.
Yeomen, I will not, I cannot suffer this degradation. These ruffian
Scots are intruders on us,--here I desire that you will expel them the
house."
The Prince of Scotland was at the head of the table, Tudor was at his
right hand; the rest of the English were all on that side, the Scots on
the other,--their numbers were equal. Dan and his three brethren sat at
the bottom of the board around the old man, who had been plying at the
beef with no ordinary degree of perseverance, nor did he cease when the
fray began. Every one of the two adverse parties was instantly on his
feet, with his sword gleaming in his hand; but finding that the benches
from which they had arisen hampered them, they with one accord sprung on
the tops of these, and crossed their swords. The pages screamed like
women. The two noble adventurers seemed scarcely to know the use of
their weapons, but looked on with astonishment. At length the prince,
somewhat collecting himself, drew out his shabby whanger, and brandished
it in a most unwarlike guise, on which the blue-eyed Tudor retreated
behind his attendants, holding up his hands, but still apparently intent
on revenge for the vile obloquy thrown on the character of _his cousin_,
Lady Jane Howard. "Tis just pe te shance she vantit," said the Scot next
to the prince.
"My certy, man, we'll get a paick at the louns now," said the second.
"Fat te teel's ta'en 'e bits o' vee laddies to flee a' eet abeet 'er
buts o' wheers? I wudnae hae my feet i' their sheen for three plucks an
a beedle," said the third.
"Thou's a' i' the wrang buox now, chaps," said the fourth. These were
all said with one breath; and before the Englishmen had time to reply,
clash went the swords across the table, and the third Scot, the true
Aberdonian, was wounded, as were also two of the Englishmen, at the very
first pass.
These matters are much sooner done than described. All this was the
work of a few seconds, and done before advice could either be given or
attended to. Dan now interfered with all the spirit and authority that
he was master of. He came dashing along the middle of the board in his
great war boots, striking up their swords as he came, and interposing
his boardly frame between the combatants. "D--n ye a' for a wheen
madcaps!" cried Dan as loud as he could bawl: "What the muckle deil's
fa'en a bobbing at your midriffs now? Ye're a' my father's guests an'
mine; an', by the shin-banes o' Sant Peter, the first side that lifts a
sword, or says a misbehadden word, my three brethren and I will tak' the
tother side, an' smoor the transgressors like as mony moor-poots."
"Keep your feet aff the meat, fool," said old Pate.
"Gude sauff us!" continued Dan, "What has been said to gie ony offence?
What though the young gentlewoman dis tak a stown jink o' a' chap that's
her ain sweet-heart whiles? Where's the harm in that? There's little
doubt o' the thing. An' for my part, gin she didna"--
Here Dan was interrupted in his elegant harangue by a wrathful hysteric
scream from young Tudor, who pulled out his whinyard, and ran at Dan,
boring at him in awkward but most angry sort, crying all the while, "I
will not bear this insult! Will my followers hear me traduced to my
face?"
"Deil's i' e' wee but steepid laddie," said Buchan the Aberdonian; "it
thinks 'at 'er preeving it to be a wheer 'e sel o't!"
Dan lifted up his heavy sword in high choler to cleave the stripling,
and he would have cloven him to the belt, but curbing his wrath, he only
struck his sword, which he made fly into pieces and jingle against the
rafters of the house; then seizing the young adventurer by the shoulder,
he snatched him up to him on the board, where he still stood, and,
taking his head below his arm, he held him fast with the one hand,
making signs with the other to his brethren to join the Scots, and
disarm the English, who were the aggressors both times. In the meantime,
he was saying to Tudor, "Hout, hout, young master, ye hae never been
o'er the Border afore; ye sude hae stayed at hame, an' wantit a wife
till ye gathered mair rummelgumption."
The five English squires, now seeing themselves set upon by nine,
yielded, and suffered themselves to be disarmed.
When Tudor came to himself, he appeared to be exceedingly grieved at his
imprudence, and ready to make any acknowledgment, while the prince
treated him with still more and more attention; yet these attentions
were ever and anon mixed with a teazing curiosity, and a great many
inquiries, that the young nobleman could not bear, and did not chuse to
answer.
It now became necessary to make some arrangement for the parties passing
the night. Patrick Chisholm's house had but one fire-place in an
apartment which served for kitchen and hall; but it had a kind of _ben
end_, as it was then, and is always to this day, denominated in that
part of the country. There was scarcely room to move a foot in it; for,
besides two oaken beds with rowan-tree bars, it contained five huge
chests belonging to the father and his sons, that held their clothes
and warlike accoutrements. The daughters of yeomen in these days did not
sit at table with the men. They were the household servants. Two of
Pate's daughters, who had been bustling about all the evening, conducted
the two noble youths into this apartment, together with their two pages.
The one bed was neatly made down with clean clothes, and the other in a
more common way. "Now," said one of the landward lasses, "You twa
masters are to sleep thegither in here,--in o' this gude bed, ye see,
an' the twa lads in o' this ane." The two young noblemen were standing
close together, as behoved in such a room. On the girl addressing them
thus, their eyes met each other's, but were as instantly withdrawn and
fixed on the floor, while a blush of the deepest tint suffused the
cheeks of both, spreading over the chin and neck of each. The pages
contemplated each other in the same way, but not with the same degree of
timidity. The English stripling seemed rather to approve of the
arrangement, or at least pretended to do so; for he frankly took the
other by the hand, and said in a sweet voice, but broad dialect, "Weall,
yuong Scuot, daghest thou lig woth mey?" The young Caledonian withdrew
his hand, and held down his head: "I always lie at my master's feet,"
said he.
"And so shall you do to-night, Colin," said the prince, "for I will
share this bed with you, and let my lord take the good one." "I cannot
go to bed to-night," said Tudor, "I will rest me on this chest; I am
resolved I sha'n't go to bed, nor throw off my clothes to-night."
"Ye winna?" said May Chisholm, who visibly wanted a romp with the young
blooming chief,--"Ye winna gang til nae bed, will ye nae, and me has
been at sic pains making it up til ye? Bess, come here an' help me, we
sal soon see whether he's gang til his bed or no, an' that no wi' his
braw claes on neither." So saying, the two frolicsome queans seized the
rosy stripling, and in a moment had him stretched on the bed, and,
making his doublet fly open all at one rude pull, they were proceeding
to undress him, giggling and laughing all the while. Prince Alexander,
from a momentary congenial feeling of delicacy, put his hand hastily
across to keep the lapels of Tudor's vesture together, without the
motion having been perceived by any one in the hurry, and that moment
the page flung himself across his master's breast, and reproved the
lasses so sharply that they desisted, and left them to settle the matter
as they chose.
The prince had, however, made a discovery that astonished him
exceedingly; for a few minutes his head was almost turned,--but the
truth soon began to dawn on his mind, and every reflection, every
coincidence, every word that had been said, and offence that had been
taken, tended to confirm it: so he determined, not for farther trial,
but for the joke's sake, to press matters a little further.
When quietness was again restored, and when the blush and the frown had
several times taken alternate sway of the young lord's face, the prince
said to him, "After all, my lord, I believe we must take share of the
same bed together for this one night. It is more proper and becoming
than to sleep with our pages. Besides, I see the bed is good and clean,
and I have many things to talk to you about our two countries, and about
our two intended brides, or sweet-hearts let us call them in the
meantime."
"Oh no, no, prince," said Tudor, "indeed I cannot, I may not, I would
not sleep in the same bed with another gentleman--No--I never
did--never."
"Do not say so, my dear lord, for, on my word, I am going to insist on
it," said the prince, coming close up to him, his eyes beaming with joy
at the discovery he had made. "You shall sleep by my side to-night: nay,
I will even take you in my bosom and caress you as if you were my own
sweet dear Lady Jane Howard." Tudor was now totally confounded, and knew
neither what to say for himself, nor what he did say when he spoke. He
held out both his hands, and cried, "Do not, prince, do not--I beg--I
implore do not; for I cannot, cannot consent. I never slept even in the
same apartment with a man in all my life."
"What, have you always slept in a room by yourself?" asked the teazing
prince.
"No, never, but always with ladies--yes, always!" was the passionate and
sincere reply.
Here the prince held up his hands, and turned up his eyes. "What a young
profligate!" exclaimed he, "Mary shield us! Have you no conscience with
regard to the fair sex that you have begun so wicked a course, and that
so early? Little did I know why you took a joke on your cousin so
heinously amiss! I see it now, truth will out! Ah, you are such a youth!
I will not go a foot further to see Lady Jane. What a wicked degraded
imp she must be! Do not kindle into a passion again, my dear lord. I can
well excuse your feigned wrath, it is highly honourable. I hate the
knight that blabs the favours he enjoys from the fair. He is bound to
defend the honour that has stooped to him; even though (as in the
present instance I suppose) it have stooped to half a dozen more
besides."
A great deal of taunting and ill humour prevailed between these
capricious and inexperienced striplings, and sorely was Tudor pressed
to take share of a bed with the prince, but in vain--his feelings
recoiled from it; and the other, being in possession of a secret of
which the English lord was not aware, took that advantage of teazing and
tormenting him almost beyond sufferance. After all, it was decided that
each should sleep with his own page; a decision that did not seem to go
well down at all with the Yorkshire boy, who once ventured to
expostulate with his lord, but was silenced with a look of angry
disdain.