Two years after it happened my husband and I did ride over the same
course of my crow's flight from Drayton Manor to Royston Chase. And
it was matter of some surprise to me, and of more to Ned, ambling in
cold blood over the fields and viewing the leaps that I and Roan
Charley did that day take in company, that I had not only the courage
for such feats but also the fortune to come through it all without
misadventure.
I must indeed suppose that I did myself choose my path and guide in
it the gallant little horse; but, were I to trust merely to the
memory of feeling, I should believe that I sat in the saddle like one
in a dream, while Charley, with the inward knowledge of some homing
pigeon, galloped straight for the place where lay all my hopes and
fears. 'T was but twice that I had any sight of my escort--first,
turning in my seat as Charley reached the level of the meadow-land
below the hill that falls away from the home paddock, I beheld them,
close massed in a body, rounding the bend of the fence away to the
right above me, and just about commencing the descent; and once
again, after the roan had leaped into, and well-nigh miraculously
scrambled out of, an ugly and broken gully that lies near half-way
between Royston and my father's house. For as Charley heaved his
body with a tearing, scratching, and clinging most wondrous cat-like
upon the safe ground of the further bank, I looked back once more and
spied them bearing off to the left for lower ground and easier
passage; but by this they were a straggling rout covering much
ground, so hardly already had the pace and distance with the
differing weight of riders told upon the various mettle of the
horses. Indeed, the next two miles did tell not a little even upon
Charley, being a rising stretch of ploughed land in condition very
grievous for his smallness of hoof; but coming thereafter to grass,
he was mightily refreshed, and cleared two fences and a little bank
of earth with bushes atop in his old gay and light-hearted manner.
And after this we were not long in coming to the road, which being in
good condition for the season and weather that it was we made the
remaining miles at a very pretty pace.
Now the front of the house at Royston Chase stands but a little back
from the road, behind great gates of wrought iron, hung upon mighty
pillars of carved stone. These stood wide as I galloped up, but the
way was barred by two soldiers, of mien immovable as the brazen gates
of Gaza. By their black cloaks of fur I knew them to be of that
Swedish Regiment of Horse in which Captain Royston held His
Highness's commission. They were, however, dismounted for sentry
duty--an office for which I could but think them ill chosen when I
perceived that not one word of the English language did they
understand, and would neither let me pass through the archway into
the inner court of the house, nor, when I had come to the purpose of
moving further down the road and leaping both hedge and ditch into
the orchard, would they let me depart. For one of them did lay a
great hand on Charley's bridle, saying something to his fellow in a
manner easy of comprehension, though the words were to me without
meaning. And I truly believe that I was in that moment very near to
discovery of my sex. For answer to his jest I struck the fellow
across the face with my loose gauntlet, at the same time with great
quickness using both spur and rein, so that Roan Charley in a single
movement reared himself almost upright and swerved aside. This,
coming right upon the blow he had received, caused the trooper to
loose my rein; which before the other could seize we were away at the
best pace we could make.
Now, some three hundred yards down the road seemed the lowest part of
the bank and hedge enclosing the little field that here divides the
beautiful orchard of Royston Chase from the highroad. But even at
this point, I thought, the leap was hard for a horse that had already
done so much; wherefore I had determined to pass on to that little
cross lane that leads from the road to the gate at the lower end of
the orchard. But even as I was so resolving I heard behind me the
cries and hoofs of mounted pursuers, and in front, coming from the
very lane I had purposed using, a patrol of three men of this same
Swedish regiment. And so jump we must, or altogether fail, it
seemed, in that for which we had ridden so far and so fast. Charley,
too, seemed to understand, and for a few strides we both steadied
ourselves, taking deep breaths of air and watching the hedge for a
thin spot. And I have always thought 't was Charley that found it--a
spot where the growth of bramble on the bank's top was so scarce as
to let the narrow edge of the earth mound be clearly seen. But
whether the will were mine or his, the doing of the matter was
Charley's alone, and very well, for a tired horse, was it done.
Knowing he could not with sureness clear both ditch and bank in a
single spring, and feeling that his mistress did leave the manner of
this last and most difficult passage of his hard run wholly to his
clever legs and wiser head, my little horse, as if he had been twice
the age he was, most soberly took his leap from the roadside, and
landed with his four hoofs bunched cat-like in a cluster on the
summit of the bank in that place where I have said the growth of
brush and bramble was thin. Here, for the space of two heart-beats,
he poised himself, in which time he judged so well both his own
flagging powers and the wider and unexpected ditch on the further
side, that he was able with a second leap to land us safely and
gently beyond it on the rain-softened earth of the ploughed field.
Now, even in the brief moment when Charley swayed on the top of the
bank and gathered himself for that second spring, I had time (so
swiftly works the mind in the tension of danger to be forestalled) to
note two things: that my pursuers on their heavy chargers had balked
the leap; and that in the orchard, across the little ploughed field
and beyond the low fence, were many people, walking to and fro among
the fruit trees; and I knew from their carriage, from the sheen of
armor, and the gay colors of the various habits, that they were no
common soldiers; and as Charley foundered wearily but with great
courage through the heavy plough my heart was high with the thought
that fortune had brought me the straight road to my end. And then we
reached the fence, which proved higher than I had thought; yet did my
brave nag pass that too, very cleverly bursting with his knees the
highest rail, which he was too tired to overtop, and though he took
the grass among the trees beyond with a little stumble, it was his
first and last mistake, from which quickly recovering, and, as it
seemed, well aware that his work was done, he stood like an image of
stone, with forelegs stretched in front and nose near down to his
knees.
And then I thought the whole world did heave and turn and swim before
my eyes, and all that I saw through the mist of its convulsion was
two long, shadowy arms reaching from opposite quarters for Roan
Charley's bridle; all I thought, that little was the need to hold a
horse that had turned to stone; all I heard, the sound of a voice far
off, that said: "The Prince of Orange; there is a plot; look to his
safety; search the house, the grounds, or they will slay him." And
then slowly the earth settled again to its place, the mist began to
clear, and I knew the voice for my own. And I saw, as one that wakes
from a dream, that he who held my bridle on the near side was Captain
Edward Royston, and straightway I was within a little of so
addressing him, but bethought me in time, and, looking round, asked
where was the master of the house.
Upon which he replied: "I am Captain Royston; what is to do?"
"Sir," I said, very solemnly (yet, for all the gravity of the case, I
was at pains to keep back a smile when I so addressed him, and saw
that he knew me not), "Sir, His Highness is in danger. Madam your
mother has been by force taken from home, but is now in safety; the
servants that you find in your house are evil men, and of the plot."
Then he that held my horse on the off side, whom I afterwards knew
for that great person that for discretion I shall still call "Captain
Jennings," took his hand from the bridle.
"The lad speaks truth," he said; "a word with you, Captain." With
that he drew Ned aside, and while they spoke together ("Captain
Jennings" telling, I think, how he feared unjust suspicion of his own
connivance if aught befell His Highness) I marked that six Swedish
troopers did approach, threading their way through the trees from the
gate in the lane that I have above mentioned. Also, between them and
me, but nearer by no little distance to where I still sat upon
Charley's back, I saw a man stand leaning against the wall of the
granary that stands in the orchard, and thus hidden from the
advancing soldiers that were still, as I supposed, in pursuit of poor
me. And this man, whether from description or from something high
and noble in the aquiline countenance of him, I knew at once for
William, Prince of Orange. Now, even as I gazed in idleness of
wonder on the man I held greatest in the world (for did not Edward
Royston serve him with reverence and ardor?), I saw that a little
door in the granary, on His Highness's left, was slowly, slowly
moving back upon its hinges, and a moment later I had one glimpse of
a fat face and a red head peering from the narrow slit of that
opening. I thought of Farmer Kidd's tale, and again of Madam
Royston's, and straightway drew my sword and clapped heels to my
horse. Roan Charley, for all his fatigue, responded very gallantly,
and in three of his long bounds we had been beside the Prince, but
for a fellow, long, lean, and black-coated, that drew a pistol from
under his breast, which he fired in my face in the same moment as he
leapt at Charley's head, whereby he undid himself, for, as the horse
reared in terror, I, in as much, struck spurs in his sides, and
Charley leaping forward, we rode clean over our assailant, whom I
struck at wildly with my sword as he fell. Charley must have found
foothold upon some part of his body, for I remember still with a
thrill of sickness the softness under foot.
Hereafter my recollection of the _mêlée_ that ensued has little
clearness; all was noise and confusion, the band of conspirators
having burst out from their hiding in the granary in desperate effort
to achieve their wicked end even in that eleventh hour and very
moment of discovery. And even then they might have found success but
for Roan Charley and his rider, which is to me ever a joy to
remember; for, though I recall little and confusedly what befell
around me, I know that after the fall beneath Charley's hoofs of that
rascal (the same that Ned had supposed a very civil servant of his
mother), we reached at once the door in the wall of the granary; but
not in time to prevent the sortie of three men with sword and pistol
in hand (the rest, I believe, came forth by a door on the other
side). With two of these His Highness was very speedily and coolly
engaged, while the third was aiming a clean downward cut at his head
with a great sword whose gleam seems yet burned in upon my eyes as I
write and remember. And then, in some manner, Charley and I were
upon him, and my blade received the stroke meant for His Highness's
unprotected head. And after that I thought something did break (as
indeed it did, being the blade of my brother Rupert's sword). I
heard the shouts and the running feet of friends closing round, and
then all was darkness and nothing.
The next I knew was a burning in mouth and throat, and awoke to find
myself swallowing some liquid, very foul and ill-savored, held to my
lips by a gentleman I did not know. I afterwards learned the liquor
was Dutch, and called _schnapps_, the man none other than the great
Count Schomberg, late Marshal of France, and once high in favor of
His Majesty King Lewis; but now chief in command under His Highness
of Orange, having abandoned the highest of military honors and the
favor of the greatest King upon earth for the cause of religion.
So, opening my eyes and looking round, when I had done with coughing
over that vile liquor, I saw not only that a numerous company stood
around, but also that here and there upon the grass among the trees
lay several men, in strange and twisted attitudes such as I had never
before seen; and something told me that these were dead; and I knew
that I was upon a little field of battle, and straightway was like
again to have swooned, when one behind me said in the French language
and kindly tones, but in manner of speech more guttural than men of
that nation do mostly use: "Poor lad! 'T is like enough this is his
first sight of blood."
Which words, calling to my mind how I was habited, and the whole
memory therewith of the part I played, did somehow stiffen my courage
and arouse my spirit, so that I said, with what of hardihood I could
bring into the words: "Indeed, I ask your pardon, gentlemen all. 'T
was the fatigue, I do suppose, of riding fifteen miles at such a
pace, and to the back of that my great fear for the life and welfare
of His Highness of Orange. I pray you, tell me," I continued,
looking round among the company, "whether His Highness be unhurt?"
And then one came from behind me, and spoke to me in that same voice
that had but now pitied me in the French idiom for my first sight of
blood-shedding. And when I saw him I knew him for the great Prince I
had ridden to defend. This time, however, he spoke in English, using
that language certainly with little ease and frequent errors, which
yet I shall make no essay to reproduce in this my narrative, lest I
should thereby bring something of ridicule into an address ever
princely and dignified, and, on this occasion at least, full of grace
and courtesy. Much, I know, has been said and written of the
harshness of his manner, the bitterness of his tongue, and even of a
certain Dutch boorishness in behavior, of all which I saw nothing at
our first meeting.
Three months later, when our troubles were well past, Mr. William
Bentinck did tell me one afternoon that we walked in St. James's
Park, how to this great but somewhat phlegmatic nature the excitement
of danger was a kind of stimulant necessary to the bringing forward
the lighter and most pleasing qualities of his character; that he had
never seen him gayer, more kindly, nor lighter of heart and
countenance than in the press of a losing fight, himself dismounted
and fighting hand to hand with an advancing enemy, merrily jesting
the while his left hand wielded with deadly effect the sword that his
right arm was too sore hurt to hold. And I do suppose it was to this
quality in him that I owed the sweet and noble charm of his first
reception of me.
"Young gentleman," said His Highness, stretching out to me his hand,
"it seems that I owe my health and perhaps my life to your timely
presence and your sword." And I, here falling upon one knee to
receive and kiss his hand, perceived that in my right I still held
the hilt of Rupert's toledo, with the three inches of blade that
remained to it. "And I hope," continued His Highness, as I let it
fall upon the grass, "that the sword has taken all the hurt to
itself."
"I thank Your Highness," I answered, as I rose, "I have taken indeed
no hurt at all, and should ask your pardon for so unsoldierly
swooning in your presence. But indeed 't is the first time I have
seen sword drawn in anger, and I had ridden near fifteen miles at
extreme speed to warn Your Highness of the plot that was toward."
"And from this good fellow I hear not only of that great and rapid
riding, but that you come from my friend, Sir Michael Drayton," said
the Prince, indicating with his glance Christopher Kidd, who stood
by, loosing the girths of his steaming horse--the only one of my
company that had yet overtaken his leader. "Are you then Sir
Michael's son?--or, perhaps, his grandson?"
"Neither the one nor the other, sir," I said, glad that he did so
form his question; "but I do use to live at Drayton Manor, and Sir
Michael is my nearest of kin that lives." And I was glad that
Captain Royston was beyond ear-shot, being busy among the prisoners
taken, whom very shortly he left in the hands of their guards, and
approached the Prince, saluting as he came.
"There are five slain upon the ground, Your Highness," he said, "and
seven taken in the act, of whom six bore arms; one of these is even
now, I suppose, at the point of death, and one other, I think, has
made good his escape, he being the thirteenth, which makes, as far as
we are informed, the full tale."
"See that no more slip through your fingers, Captain Royston,"
replied His Highness, with something of severity; adding more freely
that he was indebted to them all for prompt and vigorous defence of
his person; then, perceiving that Captain Royston lingered with
further matter in his mind, he asked him what it was.
"With Your Highness's permission I would speak briefly as Edward
Royston of Royston, rather than as one holding Your Highness's
commission," he said; and, the Prince nodding assent, he went on to
express in words very simple and well chosen, the dismay he had felt,
and the extreme regret and shame he had suffered, that so wicked an
attempt on His Highness's life had been made on his land and under
the very walls of his father's house.
Now when the Prince had noted the honesty of his handsome and open
countenance, and perceived the simple candor of his address, his
heart--by no means the easiest, as I was soon to know, of such
access--was a little touched; for, with much benignity, laying a hand
on Ned's shoulder, he said very kindly that his satisfaction with the
officer was only equalled by his obligation to the host; in proof
whereof he then expressed his purpose to entrust to Captain Royston's
keeping for the coming night the persons of himself and the seven
prisoners. His conference with "Captain Jennings" being but
commenced, he purposed after dinner to continue in conversation with
that gentleman until a conclusion should be reached; to send him on
his way with two troopers as far as Sherborne that same evening; and
to return himself to Exeter the following morning, going somewhat out
of his way, did nothing intervene to forbid, in order to paying a
visit to the venerable Sir Michael Drayton, to whom, said His
Highness, he felt himself in much obligation.
At this point he was interrupted by a very dreadful groan from the
wounded prisoner, and--"I fear, Captain," he said, "there is one of
our prisoners will soon be in stronger keeping than even your fine
house and great loyalty can give him. Let us see if anything may be
done to lighten his pain." Whereupon His Highness drew near the
dying man, who had been moved a little apart from his fellows.
Captain Royston and Mr. William Bentinck, who, with displeasure
clearly marked upon his countenance, had followed the Prince's words
to his host, joined him by the side of the dying man, of whom my
view, as I stood modestly behind, was plainer than I could wish.
Indeed it was a dreadful sight that I take no pleasure to recall.
His Highness, bending down very tenderly, wiped the bloody foam from
the tortured lips; the wandering eyes fixed themselves upon the face
of the man they had watched to slay, and then: "The priest--the
priest!" said the dying man.
"Poor fool!" muttered Count Schomberg in French; "he fondly hopes a
priest might yet bring him to heaven."
"The priest--the priest!" repeated the sufferer, but more faintly.
"A priest may at least smooth his passage from earth," said the
Prince, very pitifully, when one stepped out from among the
prisoners, saying: "I am a priest. If he needs the comfort of the
Church----"
But the dying man interrupted his words. With a last effort he
raised himself a little, and said in a stronger voice, but broken
with gasping sobs: "It was the priest--it was he that brought me
here--brought me to this. God's curse upon him!" And so he died.
But I marked that his eye had not fallen upon him that offered the
comforts of religion. This man was tall and dark, of a countenance
marked by great nobility, and expressive of a great sorrow, of which
I could not readily determine whether the cause were constant or
occasional, so suitable did it appear to the lines of a face at once
ascetic and severe. There was that in his eyes, dark and deep set,
moreover, that drew my gaze in a manner I could by no means account
for--which is indeed little wonderful, seeing the man was my mother's
son and my father's, and I knew it not. To myself I had just said
that the man was not wicked, and but suffered for his evil company,
when the Prince addressed him in tones very different from those I
had hitherto heard him use: "You keep ill company, Sir Priest," he
said.
There was a little pause ere the priest replied, while the two men
gazed, each unyielding, in the other's eyes. Then: "That I am not of
the company you find me in," said the priest, "is less strange than
to find a Prince of Your Highness's descent and marriage alliance
consorting with rebels and traitors. In good sooth, I took less
pleasure in these misguided and hapless wretches," he went on,
speaking with a scornful kind of pity, "than it appears Your Highness
does make shift to find in his uncle's rebel subjects. But I will
tell Your Highness, more for the satisfaction of my carnal sense of
honor than in hope or wish to obtain credence of him, that I had no
part or lot in this attempt at wicked murder. Your friends," he
added, waving his hand in indication of the officers standing by,
"will doubtless tell you that I neither struck blow nor carried
weapon. For myself I will add that I knew not the purpose of their
gathering."
"I do not believe you," said the Prince.
"I do not expect belief," said the priest, unruffled in his calm.
His Highness turned from him in a disgust I thought very
discourteous, and at once directed Captain Royston to see them all
under lock and key. And so the prisoners were hurried off to the
house, and I stood wondering had I ever before set eyes on this
naughty priest, when the Prince approached me, saying, as if nothing
had interrupted our conversation: "I am sorry you have broke your
sword, my pretty lad." And as he spoke there gathered around us some
half-dozen of the officers and gentlemen that were there--Count
Schomberg, to wit, and Mr. Bentinck, with him that we addressed as
"Captain Jennings," and one that I was soon to know as M. de
Rondiniacque, and some others. "But that loss," His Highness
continued, "is easier repaired than the cleaving asunder of my poor
brain-pan had been, which was like enough to come about, gentlemen, I
take it, but for the lad here and his horse and sword."
"It is very true, Your Highness," said M. de Rondiniacque; then
addressing me, he observed, courteously enough, but with something of
raillery in his tone, that, if the guard I had used was not
altogether of the schools, it had yet saved His Highness's life as
surely as could the interference of a _maître d'escrime_.
"You are a good Protestant, M. de Rondiniacque," said the Prince,
"and therefore, I make sure, read your Bible well and often." And at
this the little company laughed as at an excellent jest. "You will
no doubt have observed in the course of that reading that the pebble
and the sling of the son of Jesse were sufficient to the overthrow of
a most mighty man of war, even as this youth's sword came between my
person and death, while the _maître d'escrime_ was not in the way."
His Highness here turned again to me, detaching at the same time his
own sword from his side. He then drew it from its sheath, and,
laying that upon the grass, wiped the blade very carefully with his
handkerchief. And I do think the significance of that action would
have made me well-nigh faint with sickness, with that poor fellow
that had died in cursing some priest lying so near and so still, had
not His Highness straightway handed me the hilt of the weapon that
slew him.
"I prithee, good lad, take this in place of that which is broken," he
said.
And then I forgot the dead man, and grew first hot and then cold for
the great kindness shown to me. I dropped upon my knee, and--"I
humbly thank you, sire," I said, "for so great an honor."
He reached out his hand to raise me.
"Kneel not to me, boy," he said; "nor call me sire. I am no king.
But I hope you will keep the sword. 'T is a good blade."
"'T is the same," said Mr. Bentinck, "that His Highness did use at
the siege of Maestricht, the day he received the musket-ball in his
arm."
"You speak truth, friend William," replied the Prince. "That was an
unlucky siege. I hope the sword will not bring you my ill-fortune,
young gentleman; for I am at times an unlucky soldier. But, indeed,
it is Count Schomberg here must bear the blame of Maestricht."
"Did he run, sir?" I asked with simple curiosity, as I gazed in
wonder at the famous veteran.
"Ay, that he did," said the Prince, with a smile of much amusement,
and also with something, I thought, of bitterness in the little lines
about his lips; "for he was on the other side and ran after me. King
Lewis has done me one good turn. His breach of faith with the
Huguenots has made us friends. Is it not so, Count?" With which
words he stretched a hand to the late Marshal of France; and then,
turning again to me, he raised and gave me the scabbard of the sword,
saying as he did so: "If you ever need good office of me, lad, bring
me that sword as pledge of the boon you would have, even as we read
in the romances was the custom of the princes of olden time. I have
said it is a good blade, and I will buy it back with anything that
lies in my power."
"Your Highness makes too much of my poor service," I said, as I
thrust the sword in its sheath. "I did but what lay on me as a duty."
"I could wish all men did so much," he answered. "Will you have a
commission in my army?"
"Commission!" said Mr. William Bentinck, with a kind of grunting
laughter. "Commission! Why, 't is only a boy!
"I am no boy, sir," I replied. "But, indeed I doubt I am not man
enough."
"Ah, well," said His Highness, "there is time enough. Princes, my
good lad, are of all men the most exacting. Where we have
encountered one act of good service we have ever an eye to receive
more."
But here an orderly officer approaching from the house cut short this
interview, no little to my satisfaction, although standing apart I
could not but hear his report, which he said he had been bidden by
Captain Royston to deliver to His Highness. It seems that, upon the
noise of the fighting in the orchard coming to the ears of the
troopers that were off duty and dining in the great kitchen of the
house, they had turned out helter-skelter and run to our assistance,
thus leaving for some minutes house and stable unprotected. When all
was over, and the men settled again to duty and leisure, it was found
that one horse was gone from the stable, another man's cloak, and the
helmet of a third; the conclusion being, in short, that the escaped
conspirator had passed that way, and was the thief. Which matters
did afterwards prove not only true, but of much import to the
fortunes of Drayton and Royston.
And thereafter came Captain Royston himself from the house to bid His
Highness and following to dinner. To which His Highness bidding me
with the rest, we left the orchard, and through the gardens drew near
to the house.