Captain Royston's troop was of that portion of the army which, after
the pomp of entry into Exeter, had been quartered at Honiton. There,
waiting at an equal distance from his own home and the city of
Exeter, and unable to get so much as an hour's leave of absence, he
fretted not a little at his situation, seeing that the further
advance might be undertaken at any moment, and he be carried on the
martial tide past both those havens his soul was longing after (but
it was one in especial, if what he now saith must be believed). Upon
the afternoon of that same Sunday whereon Dr. Burnet preached in the
cathedral Captain Royston was surprised by a summons to report
himself without delay before His Highness at headquarters. The order
was brought by M. de Rondiniacque, a young Huguenot gentleman who had
been transferred from a lieutenancy in Ginkel's Regiment to the
personal staff of the Prince, on account not only of the charm of his
manners and the quickness of his parts, but also, it seems, for the
esteem in which his family was held by the veteran Count Schomberg,
who, with hundreds of other French gentlemen of high birth and the
proscribed religion, had left his country and attached himself to His
Highness of Orange. M. de Rondiniacque and Captain Royston had long
been fast friends, and both were glad of the ride together, and of
such conversation as could be had in fifteen miles of wet and mud,
travelled with the hard riding M. de Rondiniacque's orders enjoined.
Arrived at the Deanery about seven o'clock of the evening, they were
summoned at once to His Highness's presence, where they found beside
the Prince none but Mr. William Bentinck.
In regard to the conversation that here took place, I am the better
able to give some account of it that I have two narrations to draw
upon--Captain Royston's, namely, and M. de Rondiniacque's.
As they entered the room, His Highness, seated at the table, was
uttering the last words of a conversation, apparently of some
earnestness, with Mr. Bentinck, of which, however, the only words
that reached their ears were these: "No, William, no! Where I must
trust so much I will trust all. The lad is true, and my interests
are his."
These words, spoken in the French language, which the Prince used
always with greater fluency and a nearer approach to exactness than
the English, showed to Captain Royston with some clearness not only
that the talk had been of him, but also that Mr. Bentinck's words,
which he had not heard, had been in the nature of a warning. Knowing
well that this faithful friend and servant of His Highness had never
looked on him with the same favor shown him by the Prince, Captain
Royston was as little surprised by the slight he guessed as troubled
by the antipathy he knew. And he, being too proud of nature to seek
its reason, I was moved one day many months after, and in happier
times, to enquire it myself of Mr. Bentinck, who very freely and
kindly told me that they had been in Holland no little troubled with
an inroad of gallows-birds and broken men seeking asylum under the
cloak of persecution suffered for opinions political or religious.
Hearing some talk of a man slain in anger, he had rashly (as he said
to me he now perceived) classed Mr. Royston with these, and had on
two occasions declared himself opposed to his advancement; all which,
I can well see, had in it the makings of a very pretty quarrel but
for the haughty indifference of Captain Royston, leading him, as it
would often do, to contemn and eschew explanation in his own behalf.
The Prince now turned sharply to Captain Royston, and at once
informed him that he was chosen for a service of great secrecy. "And
I believe, sir," said His Highness, "that I have chosen well. For I
know you, Captain Royston, to be a brave man, a bold horseman, and
acquainted with this countryside, and believe you a gentleman of
honor."
His Highness here pausing as one that asks a question, Captain
Royston said very simply that the last head of His Highness's opinion
was as true as the two former, as he would know if he saw fit to use
him in a matter of delicacy.
On which the Prince continued: "I do not doubt, Captain Royston, that
something at least of the difficulty of my position in this disturbed
country has been long clear to you. Victory in a pitched field over
a proud and unconquered people, to whom I come as a friend invited,
will hurt my cause no less than defeat. It is not every man that
will act as this old Sir Michael Drayton, who, his mind once
determined, is eager to take risk among the first." And here,
perceiving the pleasure in Captain Royston's countenance to hear his
old friend thus singled out for praise, His Highness enquired did he
know that gentleman, and, being answered eagerly that he did, cast
upon Mr. Bentinck a little glance of triumph, as a man looks who
says, "I told you so." Then, "You have friends of the best,
Captain," he continued. "And as it is not given to all to act with
the courage of your friend, while there is scarce one but wishes me
success in some measure, 't is a plain duty laid upon me to use all
means to draw them to me, and so secure a peaceful issue. I have
this night received a letter from one high in King James's favor,
ennobled by his master, and holding in his army high rank, while he
also exercises through his wife much influence upon our sister, the
Princess Anne; and so, indirectly, upon her uncles, my Lords
Clarendon and Rochester, her cousin-german, Viscount
Cornbury--and--and--is it possible," he added, with an odd smile,
"that I forget her husband, Prince George of Denmark? Now, in this
letter," said His Highness, tapping upon the table with a paper he
held folded in his hand, "in which there is much of his attachment to
the Protestant religion, but more between the lines, as I read it, of
the high price he would have for a firm continuance in that faith,
this noble officer proposes coming to terms with us. We shall
doubtless have him sooner or later, but sooner is my purpose, for the
sake of his following. He has left the royal army, now stationed at
Salisbury, and while his escort in two divisions, each of which
supposes my Lord C---- to be with the other, is on the way to the
capital, he himself with one companion has by this," said the Prince,
glancing at the clock, "with forced riding, reached the town of
Sherborne, where, under the style of 'Captain Jennings,' he will lie
this night at 'The King's Head.' How far, Captain Royston, is this
town of Sherborne from our present position?"
For a little time Captain Royston pondered, and then replied that the
distance was something over fifty miles.
"And how long," asked His Highness, "would it take you to ride to
Sherborne by night, Captain Royston?"
"The roads are very bad, and heavy with the rain, Your Highness,"
said Captain Royston; "but with a fresh horse from here, a remount
from the stables of my troop at Honiton, and a third that I shall
doubtless find at my own house of Royston, I will do it in ten hours.
If the clouds should break, the moon might help me to better it by an
hour."
"And how far is this house of yours, Captain?" asked the Prince.
"Royston Chase and the hamlet of Royston, Your Highness," he
answered, "lie midway between Chard and Crewkerne: as the crow flies,
some three and thirty miles from Exeter, and half as much, or
thereabout, from Sherborne."
"Is it at present inhabited?" says His Highness.
"By my mother and a few old servants," said Royston.
"Is the lady of your mind in politics?" continued His Highness; and
being answered that she was, he then asked Captain Royston to do him
the honor to be his host on the following day. "I shall go to Chard
with Count Schomberg and a troop of cavalry," he said, "to inspect
the outposts that lie there, and ostensibly to take notice of the
country for purpose of strategy. About two hours after noon we shall
arrive and ask hospitality of madam your mother--it may be for the
night. Meantime you, Captain Royston, will have conducted Colonel my
Lord C----, with all secrecy and discretion, and by hidden paths and
byways when possible, to your house, where we can privily accomplish
that personal meeting he so much desires, and contrive, I doubt not,
to fix the price of his treachery. Mr. Bentinck, sir, considers that
I err to trust you so far with my secret purposes. But I intend
employing an English gentleman in a service as much to the advantage
of his country as of myself, and I would not have him think it is my
habit to deal with traitors. While, like yourself, Captain, I vastly
prefer the open field to the dark ways of intrigue, yet, in this
case, though I am, as the world knows, no Jesuit, I hold the great
end in view to justify the means we are to employ. And, when all is
said, the private motives of his lordship are no more concern of ours
than--than--" he said, pausing with a smile, "than his Protestantism.
He is a good soldier, and, if I am any judge, bids fair to be a great
one; so I would have him an instrument on the right side."
His Highness then gave to Captain Royston a pass under his own seal,
very comprehensive in its terms, laying also before him a like paper
sent by Lord C----, bearing the signature, "James R." M. de
Rondiniacque has since told me of the lofty manner in which dear Ned
would have declined this last. But His Highness insisted with some
sharpness, saying: "You will take no escort, Captain, and these
scruples are petty. And," he added more kindly, "let us hope that
its use, if needed, will prove, after all, in the interest of His
Majesty, my uncle. It shall not be our fault, sir, if it do not."
Now since the attempt of one Gerrard and others upon the life of the
Prince, Mr. Bentinck had endeavored with a subtlety of precaution
truly wonderful to protect his friend and master from such vile and
hidden enemies. For, however strongly the instigator might be
suspected, the instigation was never proved, and the instruments had
control of agencies to the full as cunning and secret as any that Mr.
Bentinck, with all his servants and correspondents, could bring to
bear. Before Captain Royston, therefore, had gotten himself to
horse, this gentleman took occasion to draw him apart, and, laying
aside for the moment his wonted ungraciousness of demeanor, warned
him privately and kindly that, many bad men being about, and the
neighborhood of so large a force offering much opportunity of
disguise and concealment to the evilly disposed, it was before all to
be desired that no word of His Highness's purposed visit to Royston
Chase should go abroad. Captain Royston very civilly thanked him,
saying that he was of a like opinion; that not even to that
distinguished gentleman to whom his mission was would he impart the
name of his destination; but only to madam his mother, should he have
the fortune to speak with her that night while changing his horse,
would he tell so much as should ensure His Highness a fitting
reception.
I am not to give a particular narrative of that tedious, rapid, and
cautious ride, for the most part in the dark, from Exeter to
Sherborne, but only to touch upon such incidents therein as may serve
to throw a little light upon the events that ensued,--events of which
the result came so near the tragical that even now a shuddering will
accompany their memory.
At the door of the Deanery a fresh and powerful horse awaited him.
He was as far as Honiton accompanied upon his road by M. de
Rondiniacque, who was entrusted with an order to the colonel of the
Swedish Cavalry. As they rode from the Close, his companion pointed
out to Captain Royston a fellow that stood at the corner with his
back to the wall.
"'T is the same we saw at the ale-house, half-way from Honiton," said
M. de Rondiniacque. He then turned his horse and enquired of the
sentry that paced the Close a little higher up, did he know that
short, stout, and red-haired fellow, or anything of his business; to
which the soldier answered that he was something in the way of a
sutler, or perhaps a dealer on commission in supplies, to the various
messes. And, while M. de Rondiniacque was thus out of ear-shot
conferring with the musketeer, the man at the corner betrayed to the
eyes of Captain Royston some perturbation of countenance. As the
friends continued their road to the left from the mouth of the Close,
Captain Royston, turning in the saddle, perceived this loiterer, whom
he suspected for a spy, to be already making off swiftly in a
contrary direction.
The tedium of the first ten miles was well beguiled by the gaiety of
M. de Rondiniacque, and marked by no incident but the sudden passing
at full speed of a fine horse mounted by a bold but, as appeared in
the brief glance, an ill-seated and inexperienced horseman. A sudden
gleam of the moon shining upon this figure as it disappeared round a
corner of the road a little in advance of the two officers, M. de
Rondiniacque observed that he believed 't was the same fellow with
the red head they had already twice that evening encountered. A
little later Captain Royston took note that, whoever the reckless
rider was, he had either checked his pace or much increased the
distance between them, since the sound of his flight was no longer
heard. And so for the time the matter passed out of their heads.
The last five miles of the road to Honiton, being in fair condition,
were accomplished at a good pace, checked only by an accident of a
very trifling sort. Captain Royston, ever a man of great knowledge
and consideration in horseflesh, his beast having stumbled and partly
fallen among some loose stones in a dark part of the way, dismounted
to examine what injury the animal had taken. Waiting beside him, M.
de Rondiniacque continued, in tones audible enough, their
conversation, which had reference to the Prince's intended visit to
Royston, the words he used chancing to indicate both time and place.
Before remounting, Captain Royston observed that the disposition of
the stones of considerable size which had caused the mishap appeared
rather of design than accident, and as he bade his friend hold his
peace the ears of both could clearly distinguish a rustling among the
bushes that here divided the sunken road from the adjoining fields.
I have been thus particular over the early portion of Captain
Royston's midnight ride because it afterwards appeared they had been
spied upon to some purpose.
Arrived at Honiton, and learning that the badness of the road that
leads through the hamlet of Royston was through the long wetness of
the weather grown extreme, he resolved upon taking another, with the
chance of a remount at the house of a gentleman well known to him,
who lived at a point fitly dividing the remnant of his journey. So
he sat him down while his best charger was a-saddling to write a
brief letter to my Lady Mary, in which he did but cautiously inform
her that his "honored master" would visit her on the morrow with a
good company in attendance, and signed himself her "obedient E.R."
This letter entrusted for conveyance to Royston Chase by the first
light to a trooper of great fidelity, Captain Royston set out on his
way to Sherborne by a road somewhat longer, indeed, than he had
purposed using, but promising greater expedition and security at this
hour and season. Reaching "The King's Head" at Sherborne about six
of the morning (it being that same Monday upon which the exercising
of Sir Michael's little squadron of horse did begin), he was at once
introduced to "Captain Jennings" in his chamber, who, having dressed
and eaten, was soon mounted, so that, riding with the light, and
freshly horsed, but with some expense of time for caution and the
using of byways, they were safely housed at Royston Manor an hour
before noon. Nor is it wonderful that poor Ned, having ridden at
least eighty miles upon five horses, with no sleep in thirty hours,
and scarce a mouthful of food for fourteen, after noting with regret
that there was not one among the servants whose face he knew, did
fall asleep upon his bed in all his travel-fouled clothes. Awaking,
like a true soldier, an hour before His Highness and the escort
should arrive, and asking of the servants why he had not seen his
mother, he received from a very civil fellow, who seemed above the
rest, a letter written by my Lady Mary in characters much shaken with
some emotion, wherein it was set forth that, rather than compromise
her loyalty in receiving His Highness, she had left the house free to
her son, but herself, with the two old servants that were left of
those he knew, had fled to the King's camp at Salisbury. Although
vastly put about by this ill news, and, as he thought, great
discourtesy of his mother, he put the best face upon the matter, that
he might in no manner seem to belittle her in her dependents' eyes,
and set about preparation of hospitality. Lady Mary was ever a
notable housekeeper, and it was no long matter to load tables and
dress beds, the less that it seemed much had been already begun
before her unkind departure.