THE LINDEN-GROVE AND LADIE ALFTRUDE.
The restored Lord of Brunn, having done so much in a few days, made
full report thereof unto the good Lord Abbat and the great prelates and
Saxon thanes that had made the isle of Ely and the Camp of Refuge their
homes. Right joyous was the news; and prudent and unanimous were the
counsels which followed it. The Abbat of Crowland and the Prior of
Spalding, and such of their monks as had gone with them or followed
them to Ely to escape from the oppression of Ivo Taille-Bois, now,
without loss of time, returned to the banks of the Welland.
The abbat and the prior were soon comfortably re-established in their
several houses; the rest of the expelled monks came flocking back to
their cells, and the good Saxon fen-men began to renew their
pilgrimages to the shrines. Many pilgrims too came from the countries
bordering on the fens; and while some of these men remained to fight
under the Lord of Brunn, others going back to their homes carried with
them the glad intelligence that the Camp of Refuge was more
unassailable than it had ever been, and that a most powerful Saxon
league was forming for the total expulsion of the Normans from England.
Besides his own dependence and the chiefs of his own kindred, many
Saxon hinds, and not a few chiefs of name, began now to repair to
Hereward’s standard. There came his old brother in arms Winter of
Wisbech, who had never touched the mailed hand of the conqueror in sign
of peace and submission; there came his distant relative Gherik, who
bore on his brow the broad scar of an almost deadly wound he had gotten
at Hastings; there came Alfric[141] and Rudgang, and Sexwold and Siward
Beorn, that true Saxon soldier who had formerly been a companion to
Edgar Etheling in his flight, and who had come back from Scotland
because he could not bear to live in ease and plenty while his country
was oppressed. Not one of these Saxon warriors but would stand against
three Normans on foot! Hereward afterward gave proof, and more times
than once, that he could keep his ground against seven! As for the
hungry outlandish men the Conqueror was bringing from all the countries
in southern Europe, to help him to do that which he boasted he had done
in the one battle of Hastings, they were not men to face any of our
lusty Saxons of the old race; but they fell before them in battle like
reeds of the fen when trampled upon. But the skill and craft of these
alien men were great: many of them were drawn from Italie, though not
from the same part of that country which gave birth to Girolamo; and
therefore were the services of the Salernitan the more valuable; and
therefore was it that the young Lord of Brunn had need of all his own
strategy, and of all the inborn and acquired qualities which made him
the foremost captain of that age.
Ivo Taille-Bois, whom some did call the devil of the fens, was not in
the manor-house of the Ladie Lucia, near unto Spalding, when Hereward
first came to claim his own, and to turn out his false monks. Being
weary with living among bogs and marshes, and having occasion to
consult with the Norman vicomte who held command at Stamford, Ivo had
gone to that town, some few days before the feast of the Nativity, and
had carried with him his Saxon wife and her infant child, leaving none
in the moated and battlemented house save a few servants, and some ten
or twelve armed Normans. The house was strong and difficult of access;
but if it had not been for the respect due to the Lady Lucia, the
kinswoman of his own Ladie Alftrude, Hereward, on his gaining
possession of Spalding, would have made a rough attempt upon it: and
such was the temper of the Saxons within the house, that doubtlessly
they would have played into his hands. For several days the Normans
remained wholly ignorant of the great things which had been done in the
succursal cell, at Brunn and at Crowland, for they could not venture
outside the walls of the manor-house, and even if there had been no
danger in their so doing, the inundated state of the country, and the
cold wintry weather, offered few temptations to rambling. At length the
passing of many skerries across the fens, and the frequent passage of
larger boats, crowded with people, on the broad and not distant
Welland, and the triumphant shouts that were occasionally heard from
the banks of the river, caused the men-at-arms to suspect that some
insurrection was a-foot. They thanked their stars that the moat was so
broad, the house so strong, and the store-house so well stored, and
they went on sleeping like dormice, or like squirrels, in the topmost
hollow of an oak, whose root is deep under the wintry waters. They
could not trust any Saxon messenger to Stamford; and therefore it was
not from his garrison in the manor-house, but directly from Alain of
Beauvais and others of that unholy crew, that the fierce Ivo learned
all that had happened upon or round about his wife’s domains. Some of
the herd were seized with fever and delirium—the effects of fear and
fatigue and wet clothes—and they did not recover their senses for many
a week; but Alain and such of them as could talk and reason, related
all the horrible circumstances of their expulsion and flight, of the
onset of the devils of Crowland, and of the close and self-evident
league existing between Beelzebub and the Saxons. All this was horrible
to hear; but Alain of Beauvais pronounced a name which was more
horrible or odious to Ivo Taille-Bois than that of Lucifer
himself:—this was the name of Hereward the Saxon—of Hereward the Lord
of Brunn, which the men of Crowland town had shouted in their ears as
the Norman monks were flying along the causeway. Partly through the
tattle of some serving-women, and more through the confidence of his
wife, who did not hate her Norman lord quite so much as she ought to
have done, Ivo had learned something of the love passages between
Hereward and the Ladie Alftrude, and something also of the high fame
which Hereward had obtained as a warrior: and he gnashed his teeth as
he said to himself in Stamford town, “If this foul game last, my
brother may go back to Normandie a beggar, and I may follow him as
another beggar, for this Saxon churl will carry off Lanfranc’s rich
ward, and besiege and take my house by Spalding, and the devil and the
Saxon people being all with him, he will disseise me of all my lands!
But I will to the Vicomte of Stamford, and ask for fifty lances to join
to my own followers, and albeit I may not charge home to Spalding, I
can ride to Ey and carry off the Saxon girl before this Hereward takes
her. Great Lanfranc must needs excuse the deed, for if I take her not,
and give her to my brother, the Saxon rebel and traitor will take her.
I was a dolt and wife-governed fool ever to have let her depart from
mine house after that christening feast. But haply now my brother is
here! The instant we get her he shall wed her. We will carry a ring
with us to Ey for that purpose!”
While Ivo Taille-Bois was thus making up his wicked mind in Stamford
town, the good Lord Hereward was advancing with one hundred brave
Saxons from his fair house at Brunn to the fairer and statelier house
of the Ladie Alftrude at Ey, having dispatched Elfric the ex-novice
before him to make his way straight, and to appoint a place of meeting
with his ladie-love, and a place of meeting between his friends and
retainers, and her retainers and the friends of her house. Now from
Brunn[142] to Ey is a much longer distance than from Stamford to Ey;
but while the Normans were obliged to keep to the roundabout roads and
to make many preparations beforehand (for fear of the fenners), the
Englishmen, aided by skerries, and whatever the country people could
lend them, struck directly across the fens. And in this wise it befel
that Lord Hereward got a good footing within the Ladie Alftrude’s
domain many hours before Ivo Taille-Bois and his brother could get
within sight of the manor-house of Ey. On the bank of a river which
flowed towards the Welland, and which formed the natural boundary of
her far-extending lands, the hundred chosen warriors of the Lord of
Brunn were met and welcomed by fifty armed men of the Ladie of Ey, and
by fifty or sixty more brave men from the neighbouring fens, furnished
with long fen-poles, bill-hooks, and bows. While these united warriors
marched together towards the manor-house in goodly array, and shouting
“Hereward for England!” the young Lord of Brunn, attended by none but
Elfric, who had met him by the river, quitted the array and strode
across some fields towards the little church of the township which
stood on a bright green hillock, with a linden grove close behind it.
It was within that ivied church that the heir of Brunn and the heiress
of Ey had first met as children; and it was in that linden-grove that
the bold young man Hereward had first told Alftrude how much he loved
her. And was it not within that grove, then all gay and leafy, and now
leafless and bare, that Hereward had taken his farewell when going to
follow King Harold to the wars, and that the Ladie Alftrude had
reconfirmed to him her troth-plight? And was it not for these good
reasons that the Saxon maiden, who loved not public greetings in the
hall, amidst shouts and acclamations, had appointed the linden-grove,
behind the old church, to be the place where she should welcome back
Hereward to his home and country. The church and the linden-grove were
scarce an arrow-flight from the manor-house. The noble maiden was
attended by none but her handmaiden Mildred. When the young Lord of
Brunn came up and took the Ladie Alftrude by the hand, that noble pair
walked into the grove by a path which led towards the little church.
For some time their hearts were too full to allow of speech: and when
they could speak no ear could hear them, and no mortal eye see them.
With Elfric and the maid Mildred it was not so. They stopped at the
edge of the grove, and both talked and laughed enow—though they too
were silent for a short space, and stood gazing at each other. It is
said that it was the maiden who spoke first, and that she marvelled
much at Elfric’s changed attire.
“Master novice,” she said, “where are thy gown and thy cowl? When last
I saw thee thou wast habited as a wandering glee-man; and now I see
thee armed and attired even like a man-at-arms. What meaneth this? Is
thy war-dress to serve only for an occasion, like thy menestrel cloak?
Tell me, art thou monk, menestrel, or soldier? I thought thy noviciate
was all but out, and that thou wast about to take thy vows.”
“No vows for me,” said Elfric, “but vows to serve my country, and
vows to love thee, oh Mildred! I was not meant to be a
cloister-monk—albeit, if the Normans had not come into the fen
country, and I had never been sent on the business of the Spalding
cell to the house of thy mistress, and had never seen thee, fair
Mildred, I might in all possibility have submitted quietly to the
manner of life which had been chosen for me. But these accidents
which have happened have made me feel that I love fighting better
than praying, and loving much better than fasting. My superiors have
all come to the same conclusion, and have liberated me, and have
given me to the brave and bountiful Lord Hereward to be his page and
sword-bearer, and whatsoever he may please to make me.” Maid Mildred
tried to check her tongue, and to look composed or indifferent; but
not being well practised in the art of concealing her feelings, she
set up a cry of joy, and then falling on her knees she inwardly and
silently thanked heaven that Elfric was not to be a monk, or one that
could not be loved by her without sin. Perhaps the ex-novice
understood what was passing in her mind; and perhaps he did not: for
when he raised her up by her hand, and kept her hand closed within
his own, and looked in her bright blue eyes, he said, “Mildred, art
thou glad, indeed, at this my change of condition? Art thou, indeed,
happy that I should be a soldier, fighting for the good English
cause, and a sword-bearer constantly in attendance on the brave and
bountiful Lord of Brunn, to go wherever he goeth, and to dwell with
him in mansion and hall, when the battle is over and the camp struck;
or wouldst thou have me back in the house at Spalding, and a monk for
all my days?”
“It seemeth to me that when devout and learned men have opined that
thou art fitter for a soldier than for a monk, it is not for a weak
unlettered maid like me to gainsay it. In sooth thou lookest
marvellously well in that soldier jerkin and baldric; and that plumed
cap becomes thy merry face better than the hood. Thou carriest that
sword too by thy side with a better grace than ever thou didst carry
missal or breviary. But—but—alack and woe the while!—soldiers get
killed and monks do not! Elfric, thou wert safer in thy cell.”
“No, Mildred, these are times when war rages in the convent as in the
tented field. No house is safe from intrusion; and where I was, Norman
should never intrude without finding at the least one bold heart to
defy him and oppose him. A young man of my temper would encounter more
danger in the cloisters than on the field of battle, and would perish
unnoticed by the world, and without any service to his country. But as
a soldier and follower of Hereward our great captain, I may aid the
liberties of the Saxon people, and if I fall I shall fall, the sword in
my hand, fighting like a man, with the broad green earth under me, and
the open blue sky above me! I shall not die pent in cloister like a rat
in his hole! and men will remember me when I am gone as the slayer of
many Normans.... But turn not so pale, be not discomfited, my merry
Mildred, at this thought of death! Of the thousands that go forth into
battle the greater part always return, and return unscathed, whether
they have been victorious or vanquished; but if victorious, the less is
their loss. Death turns aside from those who fear him not, or are too
busy and too earnest in a just cause to think about him. The brave live
when the cowards perish: the dread carnage falls upon those who run
away, or who are deaf to the voice of their leader. Our cause is just,
and will be protected and blessed by heaven. We fight only for our
own—for our own country, our own king, our own ancient laws and
usages, our own church. The Lord Hereward is as politic as he is brave;
he is famed even beyond seas as one of the greatest of commanders; and
with such a cause and such a leader, upheld and followed as they must
be by all honest and stout-hearted Englishmen, we cannot fail of
victory. And when these Norman robbers shall be driven forth of the
land, and good King Harold restored, there will be no more war, and no
more danger.”
Mildred felt comforted, and they spoke no more of war. Elfric related
all his wondrous adventures, and described all that he had seen in
foreign lands when he was in quest of the Lord of Brunn, the maiden
listening to him with wide-open, wondering eyes. Next he told her how
ingeniously he had played the devil at Crowland, and driven away the
Norman shavelings; and at this Mildred laughed out right merrily,
saying that she would like to have seen it, and yet would not like to
have seen it, and asking him what sort of vizard he had worn, and what
had been his complexion as a devil. Elfric told her that he would
appear to her, and frighten her as a devil some night soon, if she did
not give him one kiss now; and so Mildred laughed a little, and blushed
a little, and said nay a little, and then let the bold youth take what
he asked for. It is weened and wotted by some that there had been
kisses under the hood before now; but now the cucullus had given way to
the cap, and there was no harm in it. All this talk and dalliance by
the edge of the linden-grove occupied much time, yet the Ladie Alftrude
and the Lord Hereward did not reappear; and much as Elfric loved his
master, and Mildred her mistress, they did not think the time long, nor
wish for their reappearing. Both, however, spoke much of the bold lord
and the fair lady, and in settling their matters for them (as
handmaidens and pages will aye be settling the loves and marriages of
their masters and mistresses), they in a manner settled their own lots.
The Lord of Brunn and the Ladie Alftrude, so long torn asunder, must
soon be united for ever by holy church—that was quite certain; Elfric
would never quit his lord—that was quite certain; Mildred could never
leave her lady—that was equally certain; and from this they derived
the consequent certainty that he, Elfric, and she, Mildred, must
henceforward have a great deal of each other’s company. Further than
this they did not go; for just as Elfric was about to propound another
proposition, Lord Hereward and the Ladie Alftrude came forth from the
grove, and took the direct path towards the manor-house, smiling each
upon the youth and upon the maiden as they passed them. The ladie’s
countenance was happy and serene, although her eyes showed that she had
been weeping; the Lord Hereward had a clear, open, joyous face at all
seasons, but now he seemed radiant with joy all over him: and as thus
they went their way to the near house, followed by the young soldier
and the young handmaiden, there were four of the happiest faces that
ever the sun shone upon.
When they came to the good old Saxon house, where lowered drawbridge
and open gate betokened the Saxon hospitality and the absence of all
fear about Norman intruders, there was a universal throwing of caps
into the air, with another loud and universal shouting of welcome to
the Lord of Brunn; and every man, woman, and child there, whether a
relative or retainer of the one house or of the other, whether a vassal
to the young lord or to the young lady, coupled the names of the twain
as if they were to be indissolubly joined, and still cried, “Long life
to Lord Hereward and the Ladie Alftrude! Long life to the Ladie
Alftrude and to Lord Hereward! God bless the bravest and fairest of the
Saxons!” The impatience of these good people had been great, for great
was their curiosity and great their appetite: they had all been longing
to see, side by side, the long-separated and re-united pair, and the
feast had been ready in the hall for the space of one hour or more.
It proved a much merrier feast than that given by Ivo Taille-Bois at
the christening of his son; and if Elfric had sung well there, he sang
much better here. Sundry kinsmen and kinswomen of the Ladie Alftrude,
who had long journeys to make, and who had not been able to arrive
before, arrived during the festivity; and, during the same season of
joy, sundry scouts and messengers came in, and spoke either with the
Lord of Brunn or with his sword-bearer; for Hereward in the act of
being very merry could be very wise, and he could think of fighting at
the same time that he was thinking of love: he had sent scouts into
many parts, and other good Saxons that were living near Cam-Bridge, or
Huntingdon, or Stamford, or other Norman stations, were now beginning
to send messengers to him with all the information that could be
procured, and with all the good suggestions they had skill to offer,
for all good men fixed their hopes upon him. After communing for a
short time with one of these trustworthy messengers, Hereward gave a
merry peal of laughter, and said aloud, “So this Ivo Taille-Bois is
coming hither to seek my bride! He shall be welcome! Let him come.”