Among all the children of Drayton village who watched eagerly for the
door to open into the Purefoy Chapel on Sundays, when the Squire's
family were at home, none watched for it more intently than blue-eyed
Cecily, the old huntsman's granddaughter. Cecily's parents were both
dead, and she lived with her grandfather in one of the twin lodges
that guarded the Manor gates. Old Thomas had fought at the Squire's
side abroad in years gone by. Now, aged and bent, he, too, watched for
that door to open, as he sat in his accustomed place in the church
with Cecily by his side. Old Thomas's eyes followed his master
lovingly, when Colonel Purefoy entered, heading the little
procession,--a tall, erect, soldierly-looking man, though his hair was
decidedly grey, and grey too was the pointed beard that he still wore
over a small ruff, in the fashion of the preceding reign.
Close behind him came his wife. The village people spoke of her as
'Madam,' since, although English born, and, indeed, possessed of
considerable property in her own native county of Yorkshire, she was
attached to the Court of Queen Henrietta Maria, and had caught
something of the foreign grace of her French mistress.
But it was the two children for whose coming Cecily waited most
eagerly, as they followed their parents. Edward Purefoy, the heir, a
tall, handsome boy, came in first, leading by the hand his dainty
little sister Jocosa, who seemed too fairy-like to support the
stately family name, and who was generally known by its shorter form
of Joyce.
Last of all came a portly waiting-maid, carrying a silky-haired
spaniel on a cushion under each arm. These petted darlings, King
Charles' own special favourites, were all the rage at Court at this
time, and accompanied their masters and mistresses everywhere, even to
church, where--fortunate beings--they were allowed to slumber
peacefully on cushions at their owners' feet throughout the long
services, when mere human creatures were obliged at any rate to
endeavour to keep awake.
Cecily had no eyes to spare, even for the pet-dogs, on the eventful
Sunday when the Squire and his family first appeared again at church
after an unusually long absence. For there was little Mistress Jocosa,
all clad in white satin, like a princess in a fairy tale, and as
pretty as a picture. And so the great Court painter, Sir Anthony
Vandyck, must have thought, seeing he had chosen to paint her portrait
and make a picture of her himself in this same costume, with its
stiff, straight, shining skirt, tight bodice, pointed lace collar, and
close-fitting transparent cap that covered, but could not hide, the
waves of dark crisp hair. When Cecily discovered that a string of
pearls was clasped round the other little girl's neck, she gave a long
gasp of delight, a gasp that ended in an irrepressible sigh. For, a
moment later, this dazzling vision, with its dancing eyes, delicate
features, and glowing cheeks, was lost to sight. All through the
remainder of the service it stayed hidden in the depths of the high
old family pew, whence nothing could be seen save the top of the
Squire's silver head, rising occasionally, like an erratic half moon,
over the edge of the dark oak wood.
Not another glimpse was to be had of the white satin princess; there
was no one to look at but the ordinary village folk whom Cecily could
see every day of her life: young George Fox, for instance, the
Weaver's son, who was staring straight before him as usual, paying not
the smallest heed to the entrance of all these marvellous beings.
Fancy staring at the marble tomb erected by a long dead Lady Jocosa,
and never even noticing her living namesake of to-day, with all her
sparkles and flushes! Truly the Weaver's son was a strange lad, as the
whole village knew.
A strange boy indeed, Joyce Purefoy thought in her turn, as, passing
close by him on her way out of church, she happened to look up and to
meet the steady gaze of the young eyes that were at the same time so
piercing and yet so far away. She could not see his features clearly,
since the sun, pouring in through a tall lancet window behind him,
dazzled her eyes. Yet, even through the blurr of light, she felt the
clear look that went straight through and found the real Joyce lying
deep down somewhere, though hidden beneath all the finery with which
she had hoped to dazzle the village children.
Late that same evening it was no fairy princess but a contrite little
girl who approached her mother's side at bed-time.
'Forgive me, mother mine, I did pick just a few cherries from the tree
above the moat,' she whispered hesitatingly 'I was hot and they were
juicy. Then, when you and my father crossed the bridge on our way to
church and asked me had I taken any, I,--no--I did not exactly forget,
but I suppose I disremembered, and I said I had not had one.'
'Jocosa!' exclaimed her mother sternly: 'What! You a Purefoy and my
daughter, yet not to be trusted to tell the truth! For the cherries,
they are a small matter, I gave you plenty myself later, but to lie
about even a trifle, it is that, that I mind.'
The little girl hung her head still lower. 'I know,' she said, 'it was
shameful. Yet, in truth, I did confess at length.'
'True,' answered her mother, 'and therefore thou art forgiven, and
without a punishment; only remember thy name and take better heed of
thy Pure Faith another time. What made thee come and tell me even
now?'
'The sight of the broken spear in church,' stammered the little girl.
'That began it, and then I partly remembered....'
She got no further. Even to her indulgent mother (and Madam Purefoy
was accounted an unwontedly tender parent in those days), Joyce could
not explain how it was, that, as the glance from those grave boyish
eyes fell upon her, out of the sunlit window, her 'disremembering'
became suddenly a weight too heavy to be borne.
Jocosa Purefoy never forgot that Sunday, or her childish fault.
* * * * *
The visits of the Squire and his family to the old Manor House were
few and far between. The estates in Yorkshire that Madam Purefoy had
brought to her husband on her marriage were the children's real home.
It was several years after this before Cecily saw her fairy princess
again. The next glimpse was even more fleeting than their appearance
in church, just a mere flash at the lodge gates as Jocosa and her
brother cantered past on their way out for a day's hunting. Old
Thomas, sitting in his arm-chair in the sun, looked critically and
enviously at the man-servant who accompanied them. 'Too young--too
young,' he muttered. His own hunting days were long past, but he could
not bear, even crippled with rheumatism as he was, that any one but
he, who had taught their father to sit a horse, should ride to hounds
with his children.
Cecily had some envious thoughts too. 'I should like very well to wear
a scarlet riding-dress and fur tippet, and a long red feather in my
hat, and go a-hunting on old Snowball, instead of having to stop at
home and take care of grandfather and mind the house.'
After she had closed the heavy iron gates with a clang, she pressed
her nose between the bars and looked wistfully along the straight
road, carried on its high causeway above the fens, down which the gay
riders were swiftly disappearing.
But, in spite of envious looks, the gaiety of the day was short-lived.
During the very first run, Snowball put her foot into a rabbit-hole,
and almost came down. 'Lamed herself, sure enough,' said the
man-servant grimly. No more hunting for Snowball that day. The best
that could be hoped was that she might be able to carry her little
mistress's light weight safely home, at a walking pace, over the few
miles that separated them from Drayton. Joyce could not return alone,
and Edward would not desert his sister, though he could not repress a
few gloomy remarks on the homeward way.
'To lose such a splendid dry day at this season! Once the weather
breaks and the floods are out, there will be no leaving the Manor
House again for weeks, save by the causeway over the fens!'
Thus it was a rather melancholy trio that returned slowly by the same
road over which the ponies' feet had scampered gaily an hour or two
before.
When the chimneys of Drayton were coming in sight, a loud 'Halloo'
made the riders look round. A second fox must have led the hunt back
in their direction after all. Sure enough, a speck of ruddy brown was
to be seen slinking along beneath a haystack in the distance. Already
the hounds were scrambling across the road after him, while, except
for the huntsman, not a solitary rider was as yet to be seen anywhere.
The temptation was too strong for Edward. The brush might still be
his, if he were quick.
'We are close at home. You will come to no harm now, sister,' he
called. Then, raising his whip, he was off at a gallop, beckoning
peremptorily to the groom to follow him. Not without a shade of
remorse for deserting his little mistress, the man-servant obediently
gave Snowball's bridle to Joyce, and set spurs to his horse. Then, as
he galloped away, he salved his conscience with the reflection that
'after all, young Master's neck is in more danger than young Missie's,
now home is in sight.'
Joyce, left alone, dismounted, in order to lead Snowball herself on
the uneven road across the fens. It was difficult to do this
satisfactorily, owing to the pony's lameness, and her long, clinging
skirt, over which she was perpetually tripping. Therefore, looking
down over the hedgeless country for someone to help her, it was with
real relief that she caught sight of a tall youth close at hand, in a
pasture where sheep and cattle were grazing. All her life Joyce was
accustomed to treat the people she met with the airs of a queen.
Therefore, 'Hey! boy,' she called imperiously, 'come and help me!
quick!'
She had to call more than once before the youth looked up, and when he
did, at first he made no motion in response. Then, seeing that the
pony really was limping badly, and that the little lady was obviously
in difficulty, and was, moreover, a very little lady still, in spite
of her peremptory tones, he changed his mind. Striding slowly towards
her, he rather reluctantly closed the book he had been reading, and
placed it in his pocket. Then, without saying a single word, he put
out his hand and taking Snowball's bridle from Joyce he proceeded to
lead the pony carefully and cleverly over the stones.
The silence remained unbroken for a few minutes: the lad buried in his
own thoughts, grave, earnest and preoccupied; the dainty damsel, her
skirt held up now, satisfactorily, on both sides, skipping along, with
glancing footsteps, as she tried to keep up with her companion's
longer paces, and at the same time to remember why this tall, silent
boy seemed to her vaguely familiar. She could not see his face, for it
was turned towards Snowball, and Joyce herself scarcely came up to her
companion's elbow.
They passed a cottage, set back at some distance from the road and
half hidden by a cherry-tree with a few late leaves upon it, crimsoned
by the first touch of November frost. A cherry-tree! The old memory
flashed back in a moment.
'I know who you are,' exclaimed Joyce, 'even though you don't speak a
word. And I know your name. You are Righteous Christer the Weaver's
son, and you are called George, like my father. You have grown so big
and tall I did not know you at first, but now I do. Where do you
live?'
The boy pointed in the direction of the cottage under the cherry-tree.
The gentle whirr of the loom stole through the window as they
approached.
'And I have seen you before,' Joyce went on, 'a long time ago, the
last time we were here, on Sunday. It was in church,' she concluded
triumphantly.
'Aye, in yon steeple-house,' answered her companion moodily, and with
no show of interest. 'Very like.' His eyes wandered from the thatched
roof of the cottage to where, high above the tall old yew-trees, a
slender spire pointed heavenward.
Joyce laughed at the unfamiliar word. 'That is a church, not a
steeple-house,' she corrected. 'Of course it has a steeple, but
wherefore give it such a clumsy name?'
Her companion made no reply. He seemed absorbed in a world of his own,
though still leading the pony carefully.
Joyce, piqued at having her presence ignored even by a village lad,
determined to arouse him. 'Moreover, I have heard Priest Stephens
speak of you to my father,' she went on, with a little pin-prick of
emphasis on each word, though addressing her remarks apparently to no
one in particular, and with her dainty head tilted in the air.
Her companion turned to her at once. 'What said the Priest?' he
enquired quickly.
'The Priest said, "Never was such a plant bred in England before!"
What his words meant I know not--unless he was thinking of the proverb
of certain plants that grow apace,' she added maliciously, looking up
with a gleam of fun at the tall figure beside her. 'And my father
said....'
Colonel Purefoy's remark was not destined to be revealed, for they had
reached the tall gateway by this time. Old Thomas, seeing his little
mistress approaching, accompanied only by the Weaver's son, and with
Snowball obviously damaged, had hobbled to meet them in spite of his
rheumatics. Close at hand was Cecily, brimful of excitement at the
sight of her fairy princess actually stopping at their own cottage
door. The tall youth handed the pony's bridle to the old man, and was
departing with evident relief, when a clear, imperious voice stopped
him--
'Good-bye and good-day to you, Weaver's son, and thanks for your aid,'
said Jocosa, like a queen dismissing a subject.
The tall figure looked down upon the patronizing little lady, as if
from a remote height. 'Mayest thou verily fare well,' he said, almost
with solemnity, and then, without removing his hat or making any
gesture of respect, he turned abruptly and was gone.
'A strange boy,' Joyce said to herself a few minutes later as she
stood on the stone bridge that crossed the moat in front of the Manor
House. 'I did not like him; in fact I rather disliked him--but I
should like to see him again and find out what he meant by his
"steeple-house" and "verily."'
Cecily, left behind at the Lodge, very happy because her fairy
princess had actually thrown her a smile as she passed, was still
following the distant figure on the bridge with wistful eyes, as Joyce
busily searched her pockets for a few stray crumbs with which to feed
the swans in the moat. The scarlet riding-dress, glossy tippet, and
scarlet feather in the big brown hat were all faithfully reflected in
the clear water below, except where the swans interrupted the vivid
picture with dazzling snowy curves and orange webbed feet.
More critical eyes than Cecily's were also watching Joyce. High up on
the terrace, where a few late roses and asters were still in bloom,
two figures were leaning over the stone parapet, looking down over the
moat. 'A fair maiden, indeed,' a voice was saying, in low, polished
tones. The next moment the sound of her own name made the girl look
up. There, coming towards her, at the very top of the flight of
shallow stone steps that led from the terrace to the low stone bridge,
she saw her father, and with him a stranger, dressed, not like Colonel
Purefoy, in a slightly archaic costume, but in the very latest fashion
of King Charles's Court at Whitehall.
'My father come home already! and a stranger with him! What an unlucky
chance after the misadventure of the morning!'
Throwing her remaining crumbs over the swans in a swift shower, Joyce
made haste up the stone steps, to greet the two gentlemen with the
reverence always paid by children to their elders in those days.
Somewhat to her surprise, her father bent down and kissed her cheek.
Then, taking her hand, he led her towards the stranger, and presented
her very gravely. 'My daughter, Jocosa: my good friend, Sir Everard
Danvers.' 'Exactly as if I had been a grown-up lady at Court,' thought
Joyce, delighted, with the delight of thirteen, at her own unexpected
importance. Her father had never paid her so much attention before.
Well, at least he should see that she was worthy of it now. And Joyce
dropped her lowest, most formal, curtsey, as the stranger bowed low
over her hand. To curtsey at the edge of a flight of steps, and in a
clinging riding skirt, was an accomplishment of which anyone might be
proud. Was the stranger properly impressed? He appeared grave enough,
anyhow, and a very splendid figure in his suit of sky-blue satin,
short shoulder cape, and pointed lace collar. He was a strikingly
handsome man, of a dark-olive complexion, with good features, and
jet-black hair; but strangely enough, the sight of him made Joyce turn
back to her father, feeling as if she had never understood before the
comfort of his quiet, familiar face. Even the old-fashioned ruff gave
her a sense of home and security. She would tell him about the
morning's disasters now after all. But Colonel Purefoy's questions
came first. 'How now, Jocosa, and wherefore alone? My daughter rides
with her brother in my absence,' he added, turning to his companion.
'Father,--Snowball,...' began Joyce bravely, her colour rising as she
spoke.
'Talk not of snowballs,' interrupted Sir Everard gallantly, 'it may
be November by the calendar, but here it is high summer yet, with
roses all abloom.' He pointed to her crimsoning cheeks.
They quickly flushed a deeper crimson, evidently to the stranger's
amusement. 'Why here comes Maiden's Blush, Queen of all the Roses' he
went on, in a teasing voice. Then, turning to Colonel Purefoy, 'By my
faith, Purefoy,' he said, 'my scamp of a nephew is a lucky dog.'
Joyce's bewilderment increased. What did it all mean? Was he
play-acting? Why did they both treat her so? The stranger's
punctilious politeness had flattered her at first, but, since the
mocking tone stole into his voice she felt that she hated him, and
looked round hoping to escape. Sir Everard was too quick for her. In
that instant he had managed to possess himself of her hand, and now he
was kissing it with exaggerated homage and deference, yet still with
that mocking smile that seemed to say--'Like it, or like it not,
little I care.'
Joyce had often seen people kiss her mother's hand, and had thought,
as she watched the delightful process, how much she should enjoy it,
when her own turn came. She knew better now: it was not a delightful
process at all, it was simply hateful. A new Joyce suddenly woke up
within her, a frightened, angry Joyce, who wanted to run away and
hide. All her new-born dignity vanished in a moment. Scarcely waiting
for her father's amused permission: 'There then, maiden, haste to thy
mother: she has news for thee'--she flew along the terrace and in at
the hall door. As she fled up the oak staircase that led to her
mother's withdrawing-room, she vainly tried to shut her ears to the
sounds of laughter that floated after her from the terrace below.
Madam Purefoy was seated, half hidden behind her big, upright
embroidery frame, in one of the recesses formed by the high, deeply
mullioned windows. Thin rays of autumn sunshine filled the tapestried
room with pale, clear light. There was no possibility of mistaking the
colours of the silks that lay in their varied hues close under her
hand. Why, then, had this skilful embroideress deliberately threaded
her needle with a shade of brilliant blue silk? Why was she carefully
using it to fill in a lady's cheek without noticing, apparently, that
anything was wrong? Yet, at the first sound of Joyce's light footfall
on the stairs she laid down her needle and listened, and held out her
arms, directly her daughter appeared, flushed and agitated, in the
doorway, waiting for permission to enter.
Mothers were mothers, it seems, even in the seventeenth century. In
another minute Joyce was in her arms, pouring out the whole history of
the morning. By this time Snowball's lameness had faded behind the
remembrance of the encounter on the terrace.
'Who is that man, mother? A courtier, I know, since he wears such
beautiful clothes. But wherefore comes he here? I thought I liked him,
until he kissed my hand and laughed at me, and then I detested him. I
hope I shall never see him again.' And she hid her face.
Before speaking, Mistress Purefoy left her seat and carefully closed
the casement, in order that their voices might not reach the ears of
anyone on the terrace below. Then, taking Joyce on her knee as if she
had been still a child, she explained to her that the stranger, Sir
Everard Danvers, was a well-known and favourite attendant of the
Queen's. 'And it is by her wish that he comes hither for thee,
Mignonne.'
'For me?' Joyce grew rosier than ever; 'I am too young yet to be a
Maid of Honour as thou wert in thy girlhood. What does her Majesty
know about me?' she questioned.
'Only that thou art my daughter, and that she is my very good friend.
Her Majesty knows also that, in time, thou wilt inherit some of my
Yorkshire estates; and therefore she hath sent Sir Everard to demand
thy hand in marriage for his nephew and ward, the young Viscount
Danvers, whose property marches with ours. Moreover, seeing that the
times are unsettled, her Majesty hath signified her pleasure that not
a mere betrothal, but the marriage ceremony itself, shall take place
as soon as possible in the Chapel Royal at St. James's, since the
young Viscount, thy husband to be, is attached to her suite as a
page.'
'But I am not fourteen yet,' faltered Joyce, ''tis full soon to be
wed.' A vista of endless court curtseys and endless mocking strangers
swam before her eyes, and prevented her being elated with the prospect
that would otherwise have appeared so dazzling.
Her mother stifled a sigh. 'Aye truly,' she replied, 'thy father and I
have both urged that. But her Majesty hath never forgotten the French
fashion of youthful marriages, and is bent on the scheme. She says,
with truth, that thou must needs have a year or two's education after
thy marriage for the position thou wilt have in future to fill at
Court, and 'tis better to have the contract settled first.'
Education! To be married at thirteen might be a glorious thing, but to
be sent back, a bride, for a year or two of education thereafter was a
dismal prospect.
That night there were tears of excitement and dismay on the pillow of
the Viscountess-to-be as she thought of the alarming future. Yet she
woke up, laughing, in the morning sunlight, for she had dreamt that
she was fastening a coronet over her brown hair.
* * * * *
The wedding festivities a few weeks later left nothing to be desired.
Day after day Joyce found herself the caressed centre of a brilliant
throng that held but one disappointing figure--her boy bridegroom. 'He
has eyes like a weasel, and a nose like a ferret,' was the bride's
secret criticism, when the introduction took place. But, after all,
the bridegroom was one of the least important parts of the wedding:
far less important than the Prince of Wales, who led her out to dance,
and whom she much preferred: far less important also than the
bridegroom's cousin, Abigail, a bold, black-eyed girl who took
country-bred Joyce under her protection at once, and saved her from
many a mistake. Abigail was already at the school to which Joyce was
to be sent. She herself was betrothed, though not as yet married, to
my Lord Darcy, and was therefore able to instruct Joyce herself in
many of the needful accomplishments of her new position.
The school days that followed were not unhappy ones, since, far better
than their books, both girls loved their embroidery work and other
'curious and ingenious manufactures,' especially the new and
fashionable employment of making samplers, which had just been
introduced. But when, in a short time, the Civil Wars broke out, their
peaceful world collapsed like a house of cards. The 'position' of the
young Viscountess and her husband vanished into thin air. One winter
at Court the young couple spent together, it is true, when the King
and Queen were in Oxford, keeping state that was like a faint echo of
Whitehall.
All too soon the fighting began again. In one of the earliest battles
young Lord Danvers was severely wounded and sent home maimed for life.
His days at Court and camp were over. Summoning his wife to nurse him,
he returned to his estate near Beverley in Yorkshire, where the next
few years of Joyce's life were spent, to her ill-concealed
displeasure.
Her husband's days were evidently numbered, and as he grew weaker, he
grew more exacting. Patience had never been one of Joyce's strong
points, and, though she did her best, time often dragged, and she
mourned the cruel fate that had cast her lot in such an unquiet age.
Instead of wearing her coronet at Court, here she was moping and mewed
up in a stiff, puritanical countryside.
After the triumph of the Parliamentarians, things grew worse. It would
have gone hard with the young couple had not a neighbour of theirs, of
much influence with the Protector, one Justice Hotham, made
representations as to the young lord's dying state and so ensured
their being left unmolested.
Justice Hotham was a fatherly old man with a genius for understanding
his neighbours, especially young people. He was a good friend to
Joyce, and perpetually urged her to cherish her husband while he
remained with her. Judge then of the good Justice's distress, when,
one fine day, a note was brought to him from his wilful neighbour to
say that she could bear her lot no longer, that her dear friend
Abigail, Lady Darcy, was now on her way to join the Queen in France,
and had persuaded Joyce to leave her husband and accompany her
thither.
The Justice looked up in dismay: a dismay reflected on the face of the
waiting-woman to whom Joyce had entrusted her confidential letter.
This was a certain blue-eyed Cecily, now a tall and comely maiden, who
had followed her mistress from her old home at Drayton-in-the-Clay.
'She must be stopped,' said the good Judge. 'Spending the night with
Lady Darcy at the Inn at Beverley is she, sayest thou? And thou art to
join her there? Hie thee after her then, and delay her at all costs.
Plague on this gouty foot that ties me here! Maiden, I trust in thee
to bring her home.'
Cecily needed no second bidding. 'She will not heed me. No mortal man
or woman can hinder my lady, once her mind is made up. Still I will do
my best,' was her only answer to the Judge; while 'It would take an
angel to stop her! May Heaven find one to do the work and send her
home, or ever my lord finds out that she has forsaken him,' she prayed
in the depths of her faithful heart.
Was it in answer to her prayer that the rain came down in such
torrents that for two days the roads were impassable? Cecily was
inclined to think so. Anyhow, Joyce and Abigail, growing tired of the
stuffy inn parlour while the torrents descended, and having nothing to
do, seeing that the day was the Sabbath, and therefore scrupulously
observed without doors in Puritan Beverley, strolled through the
Minster, meaning to make sport of the congregation and its ways
thereafter. The sermon was long and tedious, but it was nearing its
end as they entered. At the close a stranger rose to speak in the body
of the Church, a tall stranger, who stood in the rays of the sun that
streamed through a lancet window behind him. His first words arrested
careless Joyce, though she paid small heed to preaching as a rule.
More than the words, something vaguely familiar in the tones of the
voice and the piercing gaze that fell upon her out of the flood of
sunlight, awoke in her the memory of that long ago Sunday of her
childhood, of her theft of the cherries, of her 'disremembering,' and
then of her mother's words, 'You, a Purefoy, to forget to be worthy of
your name.'
Alas! where was her Pure Faith now? The preacher seemed to be speaking
to her, to her alone: yet, strangely enough, to almost every heart in
that vast congregation the message went home. Did the building itself
rock and shake as if filled with power? The real Joyce was reached
again: the real Joyce, though hidden now under the weight of years of
self-pleasing, a heavier burden than any childish finery. Certainly
reached she was, though Lady Darcy preserved through it all her
cynical smile, and made sport of her friend's earnestness.
Nevertheless Lady Darcy went to France alone. Lady Danvers returned to
her husband--too much accustomed to be left alone, poor man, to have
been seriously disquieted by her absence. For the remainder of his
short life his wife did her best to tend him dutifully. But she did
leave him for an hour or two the day after her return, in order to go
and throw herself on her knees beside kind old Justice Hotham, and
confess to him how nearly she had deserted her post.
'And then what saved you?' enquired the wise old man, smoothing back
the wavy hair from the wilful, lovely face that looked up to him,
pleading for forgiveness.
'I think it was an angel,' said Joyce simply--'an angel or a spirit.
It rose up in Beverley Minster: it preached to us of the wonderful
things of God: words that burned. The whole building shook. Afterwards
it passed away.'
Little she guessed that George Fox, the Weaver's son, the Judge's
guest, seated in a deep recess of the long, panelled library, was
obliged to listen to every word she spoke. Joyce never knew that the
angel who had again enabled her to keep her 'Faith pure' was no
stranger to her. Neither did it occur to him, whose thoughts were ever
full of weightier matters than wilful woman's ways, that he had met
this 'great woman of Beverley,' as he calls her, long before.
Only waiting-maid Cecily, who had prayed for an angel; Cecily, who had
recognised the Weaver's son the first moment she saw him at the inn
door; Cecily who had found in him, also, the messenger sent by God in
answer to her prayer--wise Cecily kept silence until the day of her
death.
* * * * *
George Fox says in his Journal:
'I was moved of the Lord to go to Beverley steeple-house, which was a
place of high profession. Being very wet with rain, I went first to an
inn. As soon as I came to the door, a young woman of the house said,
"What, is it you? Come in," as if she had known me before, for the
Lord's power bowed their hearts. So I refreshed myself and went to
bed. In the morning, my clothes being still wet, I got ready, and,
having paid for what I had, went up to the steeple-house where was a
man preaching. When he had done, I was moved to speak to him and to
the people in the mighty power of God, and turned them to their
teacher, Christ Jesus. The power of the Lord was so strong that it
struck a mighty dread among the people. The Mayor came and spoke a few
words to me, but none had power to meddle with me, so I passed out of
the town, and the next day went to Justice Hotham's. He was a pretty
tender man and had some experience of God's workings in his heart.
After some discourse with him of the things of God he took me into his
closet, where, sitting together, he told me he had known that
principle these ten years, and was glad that the Lord did now send his
servants to publish it abroad among the people. While I was there a
great woman of Beverley came to Justice Hotham about some business. In
discourse she told him that "The last Sabbath day," as she called it,
"an Angel or Spirit came into the church at Beverley and spoke the
wonderful things of God, to the astonishment of all that were there:
and when it had done, it passed away, and they did not know whence it
came or whither it went; but it astonished all, priests, professors
and magistrates." This relation Justice Hotham gave me afterwards, and
then I gave him an account that I had been that day at Beverley
steeple-house and had declared truth to the priest and people there.'