Belike I had dropped asleep, outwearied with what had befallen me, mind
and body, but I started up suddenly at the sound of a dagger-hilt smitten
against the main door of the house, and a voice crying, "Open, in the
name of the Dauphin." They had come in quest of me, and when I heard
them, it was as if a hand had given my heart a squeeze, and for a moment
my breath seemed to be stopped. This past, I heard the old serving-woman
fumbling with the bolts, and peering from behind the curtain of my
casement, I saw that the ways were dark, and the narrow street was lit up
with flaring torches, the lights wavering in the wind. I stepped to the
wide ingle, thinking to creep into the secret hiding-hole. But to what
avail? It might have served my turn if my escape alive from the moat had
only been guessed, but now my master must have told all the story, and
the men-at-arms must be assured that I was within. Thinking thus, I
stood at pause, when a whisper came, as if from within the ingle--
"Unbar the door, and hide not."
It must be Elliot's voice, speaking through some tube contrived in the
ingle of the dwelling-room below or otherwise. Glad at heart to think
that she took thought of me, I unbarred the door, and threw myself into a
chair before the fire, trying to look like one unconcerned. The bolts
were now drawn below; I heard voices, rather Scots than French, to my
sense. Then the step of one man climbed up the stair, heavily, and with
the tap of a staff keeping tune to it. It was my master. His face was
pale, and falling into a chair, he wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Unhappy man that I am!" he said, "I have lost my apprentice."
I gulped something down in my throat ere I could say, "Then it is death?"
"Nay," he said, and smiled. "But gliff for gliff, {16} you put a fear on
me this day, and now we are even."
"Yet I scarce need a cup of wine for my recovery, master," I said,
filling him a beaker from the flagon on the table, which he drained
gladly, being sore wearied, so steep was the way to the castle, and hard
for a lame man. My heart was as light as a leaf on a tree, and the
bitterness of shameful death seemed gone by.
"I have lost my prentice another way," he said, setting down the cup on
the table. "I had much a do to see Kennedy, for he was at the dice with
other lords. At length, deeming there was no time to waste, I sent in
the bonny Book of Hours, praying him to hear me for a moment on a weighty
matter. That brought him to my side; he leaped at the book like a trout
at a fly, and took me to his own chamber. There I told him your story.
When it came to the wench in the King's laundry, and Robin Lindsay, and
you clad in girl's gear, and kissed in the guard-room, he struck hand on
thigh and laughed aloud.
"Then I deemed your cause as good as three parts won, and he could not
hold in, but led me to a chamber where were many lords, dicing and
drinking: Tremouille, Ogilvie, the Bishop of Orleans--that holy man, who
has come to ask for aid from the King,--La Hire, Xaintrailles, and I know
not whom. There I must tell all the chronicle again; and some said this,
and some that, and Tremouille mocks, that the Maid uttered her prophecy
to no other end but to make you fulfil it, and slay her enemy for the
sake of her 'beaux yeux.' The others would hear nothing of this, and,
indeed, though I am no gull, I wot that Tremouille is wrong here, and
over cunning; he trusts neither man nor woman. Howsoever it be, he went
with the story to the King, who is keen to hear any new thing. And, to
be short, the end of it is this: that you have your free pardon, on these
terms, namely, that you have two score of masses said for the dead man,
and yourself take service under Sir Hugh Kennedy, that the King may not
lose a man-at-arms."
Never, sure, came gladder tidings to any man than these to me. An hour
ago the rope seemed tight about my neck; one day past, and I was but a
prentice to the mean craft of painting and limning, arts good for a monk,
or a manant, but, save for pleasure, not to be melled or meddled with by
a man of gentle blood. And now I was to wear arms, and that in the best
of causes, under the best of captains, one of my own country--a lord in
Ayrshire.
"Ay, even so," my master said, marking the joy in my face, "you are right
glad to leave us--a lass and a lameter. {17} Well, well, such is youth,
and eld is soon forgotten."
I fell on my knees at his feet, and kissed his hands, and I believe that
I wept.
"Sir," I said, "you have been to me as a father, and more than it has
been my fortune to find my own father. Never would I leave you with my
will, and for the gentle demoiselle, your daughter--" But here I
stinted, since in sooth I knew not well what words to say.
"Ay, we shall both miss you betimes; but courage, man! After all, this
new life beseems you best, and, mark me, a lass thinks none the worse of
a lad because he wears not the prentice's hodden grey, but a Scots
archer's green, white, and red, and Charles for badge on breast and
sleeve, and a sword by his side. And as for the bonny Book of
Hours--'Master,' I said with shame, 'was that my ransom?'
"Kennedy would have come near my price, and strove to make me take the
gold. But what is bred in the bone will out; I am a gentleman born, not
a huckster, and the book I gave him freely. May it profit the good
knight in his devotions! But now, come, they are weary waiting for us;
the hour waxes late, and Elliot, I trow, is long abed. You must begone
to the castle."
In the stairs, and about the door, some ten of Sir Hugh's men were
waiting, all countrymen of my own, and the noise they made and their
speech were pleasant to me. They gave me welcome with shouts and
laughter, and clasped my hands: "for him that called us wine-sacks, you
have given him water to his wine, and the frog for his butler," they
said, making a jest of life and death. But my own heart for the nonce
was heavy enough again, I longing to take farewell of Elliot, which might
not be, nor might she face that wild company. Howbeit, thinking it good
to have a friend at court, I made occasion to put in the hand of the old
serving-woman all of such small coins as I had won in my life servile,
deeming myself well quit of such ill-gotten gear. And thereafter, with
great mirth and noise, they set forth to climb the hill towards the
castle, where I was led, through many a windy passage, to the chamber of
Sir Hugh Kennedy. There were torches lit, and the knight, a
broad-shouldered, fair-haired man, with a stern, flushed face, was
turning over and gazing at his new Book of Hours, like a child busy with
a fresh toy. He laid the book down when we entered, and the senior of
the two archers who accompanied me told him that I was he who had been
summoned.
"Your name?" he asked; and I gave it.
"You are of gentle blood?" And I answering "Yes," he replied, "Then see
that you are ready to shed it for the King. Your life that was justly
forfeit, is now, by his Royal mercy, returned to you, to be spent in his
service. Rutherford and Douglas, go take him to quarters, and see that
to-morrow he is clad as beseems a man of my command. Now good night to
you--but stay! You, Norman Leslie, you will have quarrels on your hand.
Wait not for them, but go to meet them, if they are with the French men-
at-arms, and in quarrel see that you be swift and deadly. For the
townsfolk, no brawling, marauding, or haling about of honest wenches.
Here we are strangers, and my men must be respected."
He bowed his head: his words had been curt, no grace or kindness had he
shown me of countenance. I felt in my heart that to him I was but a pawn
in the game of battle. Now I seemed as far off as ever I was from my
foolish dream of winning my spurs; nay, perchance never had I sunk lower
in my own conceit. Till this hour I had been, as it were, the hinge on
which my share of the world turned, and now I was no more than a wheel in
the carriage of a couleuvrine, an unconsidered cog in the machine of war.
I was to be lost in a multitude, every one as good as myself, or better;
and when I had thought of taking service, I had not foreseen the manner
of it and the nature of the soldier's trade. My head, that I had carried
high, somewhat drooped, as I saluted, imitating my companions, and we
wheeled forth of the room.
"Hugh has taken the pride out of you, lad, or my name is not Randal
Rutherford," said the Border man who had guided me. "Faith, he has a
keen tongue and a short way with him, but there are worse commanders. And
now you must to your quarters, for the hour is late and the guard-room
shut."
He led me to our common sleeping-place, where, among many snoring men-at-
arms in a great bare hall, a pallet was laid for me, and my flesh crept
as I remembered how this was the couch of him whom I had slain. Howbeit,
being well weary, despite the strangeness of the place, after brief
orisons I slept sound till a trumpet called us in the morning.
Concerning the strangeness of this waking, to me who had been gently
nurtured, and the rough life, and profane words which I must hear (not,
indeed, that they had been wholly banished from our wild days at St.
Andrews), it is needless that I should tell. Seeing that I was come
among rude neighbours, I even made shift to fall back, in semblance, on
such manners as I had used among the students before I left Scotland,
though many perils, and the fear wherein I stood of Brother Thomas, and
the company of the maid Elliot, had caused me half to forget my
swaggering ways. So, may God forgive me! I swore roundly; I made as if I
deemed lightly of that Frenchman's death, and, in brief, I so bore me
that, ere noon (when I behoved to go into Chinon with Randal Rutherford,
and there provide me with the rich apparel of our company), I had three
good quarrels on my hand.
First, there was the man-at-arms who had kissed me in the guard-room. He,
in a "bourde" and mockery, making pretence that he would repeat his
insult, got that which was owing him, and with interest, for indeed he
could see out of neither of his squint eyes when I had dealt with him.
And for this cause perforce, if he needed more proof of my manhood than
the weight of my fist, he must tarry for the demonstration which he
desired.
Then there was Robin Lindsay, and at his wrath I make no marvel, for the
tale of how he came late to tryst, and at second-hand (with many such
rude and wanton additions as soldiers use to make), was noised abroad all
over the castle. His quarrel was no matter for fisticuffs; so, being
attired in helmet, vambrace rere-brace, gauntlets, and greaves out of the
armoury, where many such suits were stored, I met him in a certain quiet
court behind the castle, where quarrels were usually voided. And now my
practice of the sword at home and the lessons of our smith came handily
to my need. After much clashing of steel and smiting out of sparks, I
chanced, by an art known to me, to strike his sword out of his hand.
Then, having him at an avail, I threw down my own blade, and so plainly
told him the plain truth, and how to his mistress I owed my life, which I
would rather lose now at his hand than hear her honour blamed, that he
forgave me, and we embraced as friends. Neither was this jest anew cast
up against either of us, men fearing to laugh, as we say, with the wrong
side of their mouths.
After this friendly bout at point and edge, Robin and Randal Rutherford,
being off duty, must needs carry me to the Tennis Court, where Tremouille
and the King were playing two young lords, and that for such a stake as
would have helped to arm a hundred men for the aid of Orleans. It was
pretty to see the ball fly about basted from the walls, and the players
bounding and striking; and, little as I understood the game, so eager was
I over the sport, that a gentleman within the "dedans" touched me twice
on the shoulder before I was aware of him.
"I would have a word with you, sir, if your grace can spare me the
leisure."
"May it not be spoken here?" I asked, for I was sorry to lose the
spectacle of the tennis, which was new to me, and is a pastime wherein
France beats the world. Pity it is that many players should so curse and
blaspheme God and His saints!
"My business," replied the stranger, "is of a kind that will hardly
endure waiting."
With that I rose and followed him out into the open courtyard, much
marvelling what might be toward.
"You are that young gentleman," said my man, "for a gentleman I take you
to be, from your aspect and common report, who yesterday were the death
of Gilles de Puiseux?"
"Sir, to my sorrow, and not by my will, I am he, and but now I was going
forth to have certain masses said for his soul's welfare": which was
true, Randal Rutherford having filled my purse against pay-day.
"I thank you, sir, for your courtesy, and perchance may have occasion to
do the like gentle service for you. Gilles de Puiseux was of my blood
and kin; he has none other to take up his feud for him in this place, and
now your quickness of comprehension will tell you that the business
wherewith I permit myself to break your leisure will brook no tarrying.
Let me say that I take it not upon me to defend the words of my cousin,
who insulted a woman, and, as I believe, a messenger from the blessed
Saints that love France."
I looked at him in some amazement. He was a young man of about my own
years, delicately and richly clad in furs, silks, and velvets, a great
gold chain hanging in loops about his neck, a gold brooch with an ancient
Roman medal in his cap. But the most notable thing in him was his thick
golden hair, whence La Hire had named him "Capdorat," because he was so
blond, and right keen in war, and hardy beyond others. And here he was
challenging me, who stood before him in a prentice's hodden grey!
"Sir," I said, "I could wish you a better quarrel, but not more courtesy.
Many a gentleman seeing me such as I am, would bid me send, ere he
crossed swords with me, to my own country for my bor-brief, {18} which I
came away in too great haste to carry with me. Nay, I was but now to set
forth and buy me a sword and other accoutrements; natheless, from the
armoury here they may equip me with sword and body armour."
"Of body-armour take no thought," he answered, "for this quarrel is of a
kind that must needs be voided in our smocks"; he meaning that it was "a
outrance," till one of us fell.
Verily, now I saw that this was not to be a matter of striking sparks
from steel, as Robin and I had done, but of life and death.
"I shall be the more speedily at your service," I made answer; and as I
spoke Randal and Robin came forth from the "dedans," the sport being
over. They joined me, and I told them in few words my new business, my
adversary tarrying, cap in hand, till I had spoken, and then proclaiming
himself Aymar de Puiseux, a gentleman of Dauphine, as indeed my friends
knew.
"I shall wait on you, with your leave, at the isle in the river, where it
is of custom, opposite the booths of the gold-workers," quoth he, "about
the hour of noon"; and so, saluting us, he went, as he said, to provide
himself with friends.
"Blood of Judas!" quoth Robin, who swore terribly in his speech, "you
have your hands full, young Norman. He is but now crept out of the rank
of pages, but when the French and English pages fought a valliance of
late, under Orleans, none won more praise than he, who was captain of the
French party."
"He played a good sword?" I asked.
"He threw a good stone! Man, it was a stone bicker, and they had lids of
baskets for targes."
"And he challenges me to the field," I said hotly, "By St. Andrew! I
will cuff his ears and send him back to the other boys."
"Norman, my lad, when were you in a stone bicker last?" quoth Randal; and
I hung my head, for it was not yet six months gone since the sailors and
we students were stoning each other in North Street.
"Yet he does play a very good sword, and is cunning of fence, for your
comfort," said Randal. So I hummed the old lilt of the Leslies, whence,
they say, comes our name--
Between the less lea and the mair,
He slew the knight and left him there;--
for I deemed it well to show a good face. Moreover, I had some conceit
of myself as a swordsman, and Randal was laughing like a foolbody at my
countenance.
"Faith, you will make a spoon or spoil a horn, and--let me have my laugh
out--you bid well for an archer," said Randal; and Robin counselling me
to play the same prank on the French lad's sword as late I had done on
his own, they took each of them an arm of mine, and so we swaggered down
the steep ways into Chinon.
First I would go to the tailor and the cordwainer, and be fitted for my
new splendours as an archer of the guard.
They both laughed at me again, for, said they very cheerfully, "You may
never live to wear these fine feathers."
But Randal making the reflection that, if I fell, there would be none to
pay the shopmaster, they both shouted with delight in the street, so that
passers-by turned and marvelled at them. Clearly I saw that to go to
fight a duel is one thing, and to go and look on is another, and much
more gay, for my heart had no desire of all this merriment. Rather would
I have recommended my case to the saints, and chiefly to St. Andrew, for
whose cause and honour I was about to put my life in jeopardy. But
shame, and the fear of seeming fearful, drove me to jest with the
others--such risks of dying unconfessed are run by sinful men!
Howbeit, they helped me to choose cloth of the best colour and fashion,
laughing the more because I, being short of stature and slim, the tailor,
if I fell, might well find none among the archers to purchase that for
which, belike, I should have no need.
"We must even enlist the Pucelle in our guard, for she might wear this
apparel," quoth Randal.
Thus boisterously they bore themselves, but more gravely at the
swordsmith's, where we picked out a good cut-and-thrust blade, well
balanced, that came readily to my hand. Then, I with sword at side, like
a gentleman, we made to the river, passing my master's booth, where I
looked wistfully at the windows for a blink of Elliot, but saw none that
I knew, only, from an open casement, the little jackanapes mopped and
mowed at me in friendly fashion. Hard by the booth was a little pier,
and we took boat, and so landed on the island, where were waiting for us
my adversary and two other gentlemen. Having saluted each other, we
passed to a smooth grassy spot, surrounded on all sides by tall poplar
trees. Here in places daffodils were dancing in the wind; but otherwhere
the sward was much trampled down, and in two or three spots were black
patches that wellnigh turned my courage, for I was not yet used to the
sight of men's blood, here often shed for little cause.
The friends of us twain adversaries, for enemies we could scarce be
called, chose out a smooth spot with a fair light, the sun being veiled,
and when we had stripped to our smocks, we drew and fell to work. He was
very quick and light in his movements, bounding nimbly to this side or
that, but I, using a hanging guard, in our common Scots manner, did
somewhat perplex him, to whom the fashion was new. One or two scratches
we dealt each other, but, for all that, I could see we were well matched,
and neither closed, as men rarely do in such a combat, till they are
wroth with hurts and their blood warm. Now I gashed his thigh, but not
deeply, and with that, as I deemed, his temper fired, for he made a full
sweep at my leg above the knee. This I have always reckoned a fool's
stroke, as leaving the upper part of the body unguarded, and avoiding
with my right leg, I drove down with all my force at his head. But, even
as I struck, came a flash and the sudden deadness of a deep wound, for he
had but feinted, and then, avoiding me so that I touched him not, he
drove his point into my breast. Between the force of my own blow and
this stab I fell forward on my face, and thence rolled over on my back,
catching at my breast with my hands, as though to stop the blood, but, in
sooth, not well knowing what I did.
He had thrown down his sword, and now was kneeling by my side.
"I take you to witness," he said, "that this has befallen to my great
sorrow, and had I been where this gentleman was yesterday, and heard my
cousin blaspheme, I would myself have drawn on him, but--" And here, as
I later heard, he fainted from loss of blood, my sword having cut a great
vein; and I likewise lost sense and knowledge. Nor did I know more till
they lifted me and laid me on a litter of poplar boughs, having stanched
my wound as best they might. In the boat, as they ferried us across the
river, I believe that I fainted again; and so, "between home and hell,"
as the saying is, I lay on my litter and was carried along the street
beside the water. Folk gathered around us as we went. I heard their
voices as in a dream, when lo! there sounded a voice that I knew right
well, for Elliot was asking of the people "who was hurt?" At this
hearing I hove myself up on my elbow, beckoning with my other hand; and I
opened my mouth to speak, but, in place of words, came only a wave of
blood that sickened me, and I seemed to be dreaming, in my bed, of Elliot
and her jackanapes; and then feet were trampling, and at length I was
laid down, and so seemed to fall most blessedly asleep, with a little
hand in mine, and rarely peaceful and happy in my heart, though wherefore
I knew not. After many days of tossing on the waves of the world, it was
as if I had been brought into the haven where I would be. Of what was
passing I knew or I remember nothing. Later I heard that a good priest
had been brought to my bedside, and perchance there was made some such
confession as the Church, in her mercy, accepts from sinful men in such
case as mine. But I had no thought of life or death, purgatory or
paradise; only, if paradise be rest among those we love, such rest for an
unknown while, and such sense of blissful companionship, were mine. But
whether it was well to pass through and beyond this scarce sensible joy,
or whether that peace will ever again be mine and unending, I leave with
humility to them in whose hands are Christian souls.