This interlude carried some confusion into the proceedings of the hunt,
thus suddenly surprised by the apparition of Michael Turnbull, an armed
and avowed follower of the House of Douglas, a sight so little to be
expected in the territory where his master was held a rebel and a
bandit, and where he himself must have been well known to most of the
peasantry present. The circumstance made an obvious impression on the
English chivalry. Sir John de Walton looked grave and thoughtful,
ordered the hunters to be assembled on the spot, and directed his
soldiers to commence a strict search among the persons who had attended
the chase, so as to discover whether Turnbull had any companions among
them; but it was too late to make that enquiry in the strict fashion
which De Walton directed.
The Scottish attendants on the chase, when they beheld that the
hunting, under pretence of which they were called together, was
interrupted for the purpose of laying hands upon their persons, and
subjecting them to examination, took care to suit their answers to the
questions put to them; in a word, they kept their own secret, if they
had any. Many of them, conscious of being the weaker party, became
afraid of foul play, slipt away from the places to which they had been
appointed, and left the hunting-match like men who conceived they had
been invited with no friendly intent. Sir John de Walton became aware
of the decreasing numbers of the Scottish--their gradual disappearance
awakening in the English knight that degree of suspicion which had of
late become his peculiar characteristic.
"Take, I pray thee," said he to Sir Aymer de Valence, "as many
men-at-arms as thou canst get together in five minutes' space, and at
least a hundred of the mounted archers, and ride as fast as thou canst,
without permitting them to straggle from thy standard, to reinforce the
garrison of Douglas; for I have my own thoughts what may have been
attempted on the castle, when we observe with our own eyes such a nest
of traitors here assembled."
"With reverence, Sir John," replied Aymer, "you shoot in this matter
rather beyond the mark. That the Scottish peasants have had bad
thoughts against us, I will be the last to deny; but, long debarred
from any silvan sport, you cannot wonder at their crowding to any
diversion by wood or river, and still less at their being easily
alarmed as to the certainty of the safe footing on which they stand
with us. The least rough usage is likely to strike them with fear, and
with the desire of escape, and so"--
"And so," said Sir John de Walton, who had listened with a degree of
impatience scarce consistent with the grave and formal politeness which
one knight was accustomed to bestow upon another, "and so I would
rather see Sir Aymer de Valence busy his horse's heels to execute my
orders, than give his tongue the trouble of impugning them."
At this sharp reprimand, all present looked at each other with
indications of marked displeasure. Sir Aymer was highly offended, but
saw it was no time to indulge in reprisal. He bowed until the feather
which was in his barret-cap mingled with his horse's mane, and without
reply--for he did not even choose to trust his voice in reply at the
moment--headed a considerable body of cavalry by the straightest road
back to the Castle of Douglas.
When he came to one of those eminences from which he could observe the
massive and complicated towers and walls of the old fortress, with the
glitter of the broad lake which surrounded it on three sides, he felt
much pleasure at the sight of the great banner of England, which
streamed from the highest part of the building. "I knew it," he
internally said; "I was certain that Sir John de Walton had become a
very woman in the indulgence of his fears and suspicions. Alas! that a
situation of responsibility should so much have altered a disposition
which I have known so noble and so knightly! By this good day, I scarce
know in what manner I should demean me when thus publicly rebuked
before the garrison. Certainly he deserves that I should, at some time
or other, let him understand, that however he may triumph in the
exercise of his short-lived command, yet, when man is to meet with man,
it will puzzle Sir John de Walton to show himself the superior of Aymer
de Valence, or perhaps to establish himself as his equal. But if, on
the contrary, his fears, however fantastic, are sincere at the moment
he expresses them, it becomes me to obey punctually commands which,
however absurd, are imposed in consequence of the governor's belief
that they are rendered necessary by the times, and not inventions
designed to vex and domineer over his officers in the indulgence of his
official powers. I would I knew which is the true statement of the
case, and whether the once famed De Walton is become afraid of his
enemies more than fits a knight, or makes imaginary doubts the pretext
of tyrannizing over his friend. I cannot say it would make much
difference to me, but I would rather have it that the man I once loved
had turned a petty tyrant than a weak-spirited coward; and I would be
content that he should study to vex me, rather than be afraid of his
own shadow."
With these ideas passing in his mind, the young knight crossed the
causeway which traversed the piece of water that fed the moat, and,
passing under the strongly fortified gateway, gave strict orders for
letting down the portcullis, and elevating the drawbridge, even at the
appearance of De Walton's own standard before it.
A slow and guarded movement from the hunting-ground to the Castle of
Douglas, gave the governor ample time to recover his temper, and to
forget that his young friend had shown less alacrity than usual in
obeying his commands. He was even disposed to treat as a jest the
length of time and extreme degree of ceremony with which every point of
martial discipline was observed on his own re-admission to the castle,
though the raw air of a wet spring evening whistled around his own
unsheltered person, and those of his followers, as they waited before
the castle gate for the exchange of pass-words, the delivery of keys,
and all the slow minutiae attendant upon the movements of a garrison in
a well-guarded fortress.
"Come," said he to an old knight, who was peevishly blaming the
lieutenant-governor, "it was my own fault; I spoke but now to Aymer de
Valence with more authoritative emphasis than his newly-dubbed dignity
was pleased with, and this precise style of obedience is a piece of not
unnatural and very pardonable revenge. Well, we will owe him a return,
Sir Philip--shall we not? This is not a night to keep a man at the
gate."
This dialogue, overheard by some of the squires and pages, was bandied
about from one to another, until it entirely lost the tone of
good-humour in which it was spoken, and the offence was one for which
Sir John de Walton and old Sir Philip were to meditate revenge, and was
said to have been represented by the governor as a piece of mortal and
intentional offence on the part of his subordinate officer.
Thus an increasing feud went on from day to day between two warriors,
who, with no just cause of quarrel, had at heart every reason to esteem
and love each other. It became visible in the fortress even to those of
the lower rank, who hoped to gain some consequence by intermingling in
the species of emulation produced by the jealousy of the commanding
officers--an emulation which may take place, indeed, in the present
day, but can hardly have the same sense of wounded pride and jealous
dignity attached to it, which existed in times when the personal honour
of knighthood rendered those who possessed it jealous of every
punctilio.
So many little debates took place between the two knights, that Sir
Aymer de Valence thought himself under the necessity of writing to his
uncle and namesake, the Earl of Pembroke, stating that his officer, Sir
John de Walton, had unfortunately of late taken some degree of
prejudice against him, and that after having borne with many provoking
instances of his displeasure, he was now compelled to request that his
place of service should be changed from the Castle of Douglas, to
wherever honour could be acquired, and time might be given to put an
end to his present cause of complaint against his commanding officer.
Through the whole letter, young Sir Aymer was particularly cautious how
he expressed his sense of Sir John de Walton's jealousy or severe
usage: but such sentiments are not easily concealed, and in spite of
him an air of displeasure glanced out from several passages, and
indicated his discontent with his uncle's old friend and companion in
arms, and with the sphere of military duty which his uncle had himself
assigned him. An accidental movement among the English troops brought
Sir Aymer an answer to his letter sooner than he could have hoped for
at that time of day, in the ordinary course of correspondence, which
was then extremely slow and interrupted.
Pembroke, a rigid old warrior, entertained the most partial opinion of
Sir John de Walton, who was a work as it were of his own hands, and was
indignant to find that his nephew, whom he considered as a mere boy,
elated by having had the dignity of knighthood conferred upon him at an
age unusually early, did not absolutely coincide with him in this
opinion. He replied to him, accordingly, in a tone of high displeasure,
and expressed himself as a person of rank would write to a young and
dependent kinsman upon the duties of his profession; and, as he
gathered his nephew's cause of complaint from his own letter, he
conceived that he did him no injustice in making it slighter than it
really was. He reminded the young man that the study of chivalry
consisted in the faithful and patient discharge of military service,
whether of high or low degree, according to the circumstances in which
war placed the champion. That above all, the post of danger, which
Douglas Castle had been termed by common consent, was also the post of
honour; and that a young man should be cautious how he incurred the
supposition of being desirous of quitting his present honourable
command, because he was tired of the discipline of a military director
so renowned as Sir John de Walton. Much also there was, as was natural
in a letter of that time, concerning the duty of young men, whether in
council or in arms, to be guided implicitly by their elders; and it was
observed, with justice, that the commanding officer, who had put
himself into the situation of being responsible with his honour, if not
his life, for the event of the siege or blockade, might, justly, and in
a degree more than common, claim the implicit direction of the whole
defence. Lastly, Pembroke reminded his nephew that he was, in a great
measure, dependent upon the report of Sir John de Walton for the
character which he was to sustain in after life; and reminded him, that
a few actions of headlong and inconsiderate valour would not so firmly
found his military reputation, as months and years spent in regular,
humble, and steady obedience to the commands which the governor of
Douglas Castle might think necessary in so dangerous a conjuncture.
This missive arrived within so short a time after the despatch of the
letter to which it was a reply, that Sir Aymer was almost tempted to
suppose that his uncle had some mode of corresponding with De Walton,
unknown to the young knight himself, and to the rest of the garrison.
And as the earl alluded to some particular displeasure which had been
exhibited by De Valence on a late trivial occasion, his uncle's
knowledge of this, and other minutiae, seemed to confirm his idea that
his own conduct was watched in a manner which he did not feel
honourable to himself, or dignified on the part of his relative; in a
word, he conceived himself exposed to that sort of surveillance of
which, in all ages, the young have accused the old. It hardly needs to
say that the admonition of the Earl of Pembroke greatly chafed the
fiery spirit of his nephew; insomuch, that if the earl had wished to
write a letter purposely to increase the prejudices which he desired to
put an end to, he could not have made use of terms better calculated
for that effect.
The truth was, that the old archer, Gilbert Greenleaf, had, without the
knowledge of the young knight, gone to Pembroke's camp, in Ayrshire,
and was recommended by Sir John de Walton to the earl, as a person who
could give such minute information respecting Aymer de Valence, as he
might desire to receive. The old archer was, as we have seen, a
formalist, and when pressed on some points of Sir Aymer de Valence's
discipline, he did not hesitate to throw out hints, which, connected
with those in the knight's letter to his uncle, made the severe old
earl adopt too implicitly the idea that his nephew was indulging a
spirit of insubordination, and a sense of impatience under authority,
most dangerous to the character of a young soldier. A little
explanation might have produced a complete agreement in the sentiments
of both; but for this, fate allowed neither time nor opportunity; and
the old earl was unfortunately induced to become a party, instead of a
negotiator, in the quarrel,
"And by decision more embroil'd the fray."
Sir John de Walton soon perceived, that the receipt of Pembroke's
letter did not in any respect alter the cold ceremonious conduct of his
lieutenant towards him, which limited their intercourse to what their
situation rendered indispensable, and exhibited no advances to any more
frank or intimate connexion. Thus, as may sometimes be the case between
officers in their relative situations even at the present day, they
remained in that cold stiff degree of official communication, in which
their intercourse was limited to as few expressions as the respective
duties of their situation absolutely demanded. Such a state of
misunderstanding is, in fact, worse than a downright quarrel;--the
latter may be explained or apologized for, or become the subject of
mediation; but in such a case as the former, an _eclaircissement_ is as
unlikely to take place as a general engagement between two armies which
have taken up strong defensive positions on both sides. Duty, however,
obliged the two principal persons in the garrison of Douglas Castle to
be often together, when they were so far from seeking an opportunity of
making up matters, that they usually revived ancient subjects of debate.
It was upon such an occasion that De Walton, in a very formal manner,
asked De Valence in what capacity, and for how long time, it was his
pleasure that the minstrel, called Bertram, should remain at the castle.
"A week," said the governor, "is certainly long enough, in this time
and place, to express the hospitality due to a minstrel."
"Certainly," replied the young man, "I have not interest enough in the
subject to form a single wish upon it."
"In that case," resumed De Walton, "I shall request of this person to
cut short his visit at the Castle of Douglas."
"I know no particular interest," replied Aymer de Valence, "which I can
possibly have in this man's motions. He is here under pretence of
making some researches after the writings of Thomas of Erceldoun,
called the Rhymer, which he says are infinitely curious, and of which
there is a volume in the old Baron's study, saved somehow from the
flames at the last conflagration. This told, you know as much of his
errand as I do; and if you hold the presence of a wandering old man,
and the neighbourhood of a boy, dangerous to the castle under your
charge, you will no doubt do well to dismiss them--it will cost but a
word of your mouth."
"Pardon me," said De Walton; "the minstrel came here as one of your
retinue, and I could not, in fitting courtesy, send him away without
your leave."
"I am sorry, then," answered Sir Aymer, "in my turn, that you did not
mention your purpose sooner. I never entertained a dependent, vassal or
servant, whose residence in the castle I would wish to have prolonged a
moment beyond your honourable pleasure."
"I am sorry," said Sir John de Walton, "that we two have of late grown
so extremely courteous that it is difficult for us to understand each
other. This minstrel and his son come from we know not where, and are
bound we know not whither. There is a report among some of your escort,
that this fellow Bertram upon the way had the audacity to impugn, even
to your face, the King of England's right to the crown of Scotland, and
that he debated the point with you, while your other attendants were
desired by you to keep behind and out of hearing."
"Hah!" said Sir Aymer, "do you mean to found on that circumstance any
charge against my loyalty? I pray you to observe, that such an averment
would touch mine honour, which I am ready and willing to defend to the
last gasp."
"No doubt of it, Sir Knight," answered the governor; "but it is the
strolling minstrel, and not the high-born English knight, against whom
the charge is brought. Well! the minstrel comes to this castle, and he
intimates a wish that his son should be allowed to take up his quarters
at the little old convent of Saint Bride, where two or three Scottish
nuns and friars are still permitted to reside, most of them rather out
of respect to their order, than for any good will which they are
supposed to bear the English or their sovereign. It may also be noticed
that his leave was purchased by a larger sum of money, if my
information be correct, than is usually to be found in the purses of
travelling minstrels, a class of wanderers alike remarkable for their
poverty and for their genius. What do you think of all this?"
"I?"--replied De Valence; "I am happy that my situation, as a soldier,
under command, altogether dispenses with my thinking of it at all. My
post, as lieutenant of your castle, is such, that if I can manage
matters so as to call my honour and my soul my own, I must think that
quite enough of free-will is left at my command; and I promise you
shall not have again to reprove, or send a bad report of me to my
uncle, on that account."
"This is beyond sufferance!" said Sir John de Walton half aside, and
then proceeded aloud--"Do not, for Heaven's sake, do yourself and me
the injustice of supposing that I am endeavouring to gain an advantage
over you by these questions. Recollect, young knight, that when you
evade giving your commanding officer your advice when required, you
fail as much in point of duty, as if you declined affording him the
assistance of your sword and lance."
"Such being the case," answered De Valence, "let me know plainly on
what matter it is that you require my opinion? I will deliver it
plainly, and stand by the result, even if I should have the misfortune
(a crime unpardonable in so young a man, and so inferior an officer) to
differ from that of Sir John de Walton."
"I would ask you then. Sir Knight of Valence," answered the governor,
"what is your opinion with respect to this minstrel, Bertram, and
whether the suspicions respecting him and his son are not such as to
call upon me, in performance of my duty, to put them to a close
examination, with the question ordinary and extraordinary, as is usual
in such cases, and to expel them not only from the castle, but from the
whole territory of Douglas Dale, under pain of scourging, if they be
again found wandering in these parts?"
"You ask me my opinion," said De Valence, "and you shall have it, Sir
Knight of Walton, and freely and fairly, as if matters stood betwixt us
on a footing as friendly as they ever did. I agree with you, that most
of those who in this day profess the science of minstrelsy, are
altogether unqualified to support the higher pretensions of that noble
order. Minstrels by right, are men who have dedicated themselves to the
noble occupation of celebrating knightly deeds and generous principles;
it is in their verse that the valiant knight is handed down to fame,
and the poet has a right, nay is bound, to emulate the virtues which he
praises. The looseness of the times has diminished the consequence, and
impaired the morality of this class of wanderers; their satire and
their praise are now too often distributed on no other principle than
love of gain; yet let us hope that there are still among them some who
know, and also willingly perform, their duty. My own opinion is that
this Bertram holds himself as one who has not shared in the degradation
of his brethren, nor bent the knee to the mammon of the times; it must
remain with you, sir, to judge whether such a person, honourably and
morally disposed, can cause any danger to the Castle of Douglas. But
believing, from the sentiments he has manifested to me, that he is
incapable of playing the part of a traitor, I must strongly remonstrate
against his being punished as one, or subjected to the torture within
the walls of an English garrison. I should blush for my country, if it
required of us to inflict such wanton misery upon wanderers, whose sole
fault is poverty; and your own knightly sentiments will suggest more
than would become me to state to Sir John de Walton, unless in so far
as is necessary to apologize for retaining my own opinion."
Sir John de Walton's dark brow was stricken with red when he heard an
opinion delivered in opposition to his own, which plainly went to
stigmatize his advice as ungenerous, unfeeling, and unknightly. He made
an effort to preserve his temper while he thus replied with a degree of
calmness. "You have given your opinion, Sir Aymer de Valence; and that
you have given it openly and boldly, without regard to my own, I thank
you. It is not quite so clear that I am obliged to defer my own
sentiments to yours, in case the rules on which I hold my office--the
commands of the king--and the observations which I may personally have
made, shall recommend to me a different line of conduct from that which
you think it right to suggest."
De Walton bowed, in conclusion, with great gravity; and the young
knight returning the reverence with exactly the same degree of stiff
formality, asked whether there were any particular orders respecting
his duty in the castle; and having received an answer in the negative
took his departure.
Sir John de Walton, after an expression of impatience, as if
disappointed at finding that the advance which he had made towards an
explanation with his young friend had proved unexpectedly abortive,
composed his brow as if to deep thought, and walked several times to
and fro in the apartment, considering what course he was to take in
these circumstances. "It is hard to censure him severely," he said,
"when I recollect that, on first entering upon life, my own thoughts
and feelings would have been the same with those of this giddy and
hot-headed, but generous boy. Now prudence teaches me to suspect
mankind in a thousand instances where perhaps there is not sufficient
ground. If I am disposed to venture my own honour and fortune, rather
than an idle travelling minstrel should suffer a little pain, which at
all events I might make up to him by money, still, have I a right to
run the risk of a conspiracy against the king, and thus advance the
treasonable surrender of the Castle of Douglas, for which I know so
many schemes are formed; for which, too, none can be imagined so
desperate but agents will be found bold enough to undertake the
execution? A man who holds my situation, although the slave of
conscience, ought to learn to set aside those false scruples which
assume the appearance of flowing from our own moral feeling, whereas
they are in fact instilled by the suggestion of affected delicacy. I
will not, I swear by Heaven, be infected by the follies of a boy, such
as Aymer; I will not, that I may defer to his caprices, lose all that
love, honour, and ambition can propose, for the reward of twelve
months' service, of a nature the most watchful and unpleasant. I--will
go straight to my point, and use the ordinary precautions in Scotland
which I should employ in Normandy or Gascoigny.--What ho! page! who
waits there?"
One of his attendants replied to his summons--"Seek me out Gilbert
Greenleaf the archer, and tell him I would speak with him touching the
two bows and the sheaf of arrows, concerning which I gave him a
commission to Ayr."
A few minutes intervened after the order was given, when the archer
entered, holding in his hand two bow-staves, not yet fashioned, and a
number of arrows secured together with a thong. He bore the mysterious
looks of one whose apparent business is not of very great consequence,
but is meant as a passport for other affairs which are in themselves of
a secret nature. Accordingly, as the knight was silent, and afforded no
other opening for Greenleaf, that judicious negotiator proceeded to
enter upon such as was open to him.
"Here are the bow-staves, noble sir, which you desired me to obtain
while I was at Ayr with the Earl of Pembroke's army. They are not so
good as I could have wished, yet are perhaps of better quality than
could have been procured by any other than a fair judge of the weapon.
The Earl of Pembroke's whole camp are frantic mad in order to procure
real Spanish staves from the Groyne, and other ports in Spain; but
though two vessels laden with such came into the port of Ayr, said to
be for the King's army, yet I believe never one half of them have come
into English hands. These two grew in Sherwood, which having been
seasoned since the time of Robin Hood, are not likely to fail either in
strength or in aim, in so strong a hand, and with so just an eye, as
those of the men who wait on your worship."
"And who has got the rest, since two ships' cargoes of new bow-staves
are arrived at Ayr, and thou with difficulty hast only procured me two
old ones?" said the governor.
"Faith, I pretend not skill enough to know," answered Greenleaf,
shrugging his shoulders. "Talk there is of plots in that country as
well as here. It is said that their Bruce, and the rest of his kinsmen,
intend a new May-game, and that the outlawed king proposes to land near
Turnberry, early in summer, with a number of stout kernes from Ireland;
and no doubt the men of his mock earldom of Garrick are getting them
ready with bow and spear for so hopeful an undertaking. I reckon that
it will not cost us the expense of more than a few score of sheaves of
arrows to put all that matter to rights."
"Do you talk then of conspiracies in this part of the country,
Greenleaf?" said De Walton. "I know you are a sagacious fellow, well
bred for many a day to the use of the bent stick and string, and will
not allow such a practice to go on under thy nose, without taking
notice of it."
"I am old enough, Heaven knows," said Greenleaf, "and have had good
experience of these Scottish wars, and know well whether these native
Scots are a people to be trusted to by knight or yeoman. Say they are a
false generation, and say a good archer told you so, who, with a fair
aim, seldom missed a handsbreadth of the white. Ah! sir, your honour
knows how to deal with them---ride them strongly, and rein them
hard,--you are not like those simple novices who imagine that all is to
be done by gentleness, and wish to parade themselves as courteous and
generous to those faithless mountaineers, who never, in the course of
their lives, knew any tincture either of courteousness or generosity."
"Thou alludest to some one," said the governor, "and I charge thee,
Gilbert, to be plain and sincere with me. Thou knowest, methinks, that
in trusting me thou wilt come to no harm?"
"It is true, it is true, sir," said the old remnant of the wars,
carrying his hand to his brow, "but it were imprudent to communicate
all the remarks which float through an old man's brain in the idle
moments of such a garrison as this. One stumbles unawares on fantasies,
as well as realities, and thus one gets, not altogether undeservedly,
the character of a tale-bearer and mischief-maker among his comrades,
and methinks I would not willingly fall under that accusation."
"Speak frankly to me," answered De Walton, "and have no fear of being
misconstrued, whosoever the conversation may concern."
"Nay, in plain truth," answered Gilbert, "I fear not the greatness of
this young knight, being, as I am, the oldest soldier in the garrison,
and having drawn a bow-string long and many a day ere he was weaned
from his nurse's breast."
"It is, then." said De Walton, "my lieutenant and friend, Aymer de
Valence, at whom your suspicions point?"
"At nothing," replied the archer, "touching the honour of the young
knight himself, who is as brave as the sword he wears, and, his youth
considered, stands high in the roll of English chivalry; but he is
young, as your worship knows, and I own that in the choice of his
company he disturbs and alarms me."
"Why, you know, Greenleaf," answered the governor, "that in the leisure
of a garrison a knight cannot always confine his sports and pleasures
among those of his own rank, who are not numerous, and may not be so
gamesome or fond of frolic, as he would desire them to be."
"I know that well," answered the archer, "nor would I say a word
concerning your honour's lieutenant for joining any honest fellows,
however inferior their rank, in the wrestling ring, or at a bout of
quarterstaff. But if Sir Aymer de Valence has a fondness for martial
tales of former days, methinks he had better learn them from the
ancient soldiers who have followed Edward the First, whom God
assoilzie, and who have known before his time the Barons' wars and
Other onslaughts, in which the knights and archers of merry England
transmitted so many gallant actions to be recorded by fame; this truly,
I say, were more beseeming the Earl of Pembroke's nephew, than to see
him closet himself day after day with a strolling minstrel, who gains
his livelihood by reciting nonsense and lies to such young men as are
fond enough to believe him, of whom hardly any one knows whether he be
English or Scottish in his opinions, and still less can any one pretend
to say whether he is of English or Scottish birth, or with what purpose
he lies lounging about this castle, and is left free to communicate
every thing which passes within it to those old mutterers of matins at
St. Bride's, who say with their tongues God save King Edward, but pray
in their hearts God save King Robert the Bruce. Such a communication he
can easily carry on by means of his son, who lies at Saint Bride's
cell, as your worship knows, under pretence of illness."
"How do you say?" exclaimed the governor, "under pretence?--is he not
then really indisposed?"
"Nay, he may be sick to the death for aught I know," said the archer;
"but if so, were it not then more natural that the father should attend
his son's sick-bed, than that he should be ranging about this castle,
where one eternally meets him in the old Baron's study, or in some
corner, where you least expect to find him?"
"If he has no lawful object," replied the knight, "it might be as you
say; but he is said to be in quest of ancient poems or prophecies of
Merlin, of the Rhymer, or some other old bard; and in truth it is
natural for him to wish to enlarge his stock of knowledge and power of
giving amusement, and where should he find the means save in a study
filled with ancient books?"
"No doubt," replied the Archer, with a sort of dry civil sneer of
incredulity; "I have seldom known an insurrection in Scotland but that
it was prophesied by some old forgotten rhyme, conjured out of dust and
cobwebs, for the sake of giving courage to these North Country rebels,
who durst not otherwise have abidden the whistling of the grey-goose
shaft; but curled heads are hasty, and, with license, even your own
train, Sir Knight, retains too much of the fire of youth for such
uncertain times as the present."
"Thou hast convinced me, Gilbert Greenleaf, and I will look into this
man's business and occupation more closely than hitherto. This is no
time to peril the safety of a royal castle for the sake of affecting
generosity towards a man of whom we know so little, and to whom, till
we receive a very full explanation, we may, without doing him
injustice, attach grave suspicions. Is he now in the apartment called
the Baron's study?"
"Your worship will be certain to find him there," replied Greenleaf.
"Then follow me, with two or three of thy comrades, and keep out of
sight, but within hearing; it may be necessary to arrest this man."
"My assistance," said the old archer, "shall be at hand when you call,
but"--
"But what?" said the knight; "I hope I am not to find doubts and
disobedience on all hands?"
"Certainly not on mine," replied Greenleaf; "I would only remind your
worship that what I have said was a sincere opinion expressed in answer
to your worship's question; and that, as Sir Aymer de Valence has
avowed himself the patron of this man, I would not willingly be left to
the hazard of his revenge."
"Pshaw" answered De Walton, "is Aymer de Valence governor of this
castle, or am I? or to whom do you imagine you are responsible for
answering such questions as I may put to you?"
"Nay," replied the archer, secretly not displeased at seeing De Walton
show some little jealousy of his own authority, "believe me, Sir
Knight, that I know my own station and your worship's, and that I am
not now to be told to whom I owe obedience."
"To the study, then, and let us find the man," said the governor.
"A fine matter, indeed," subjoined Greenleaf, following him, "that your
worship should have to go in person to look after the arrest of so mean
an individual. But your honour is right; these minstrels are often
jugglers, and possess the power of making their escape by means which
borrel [Footnote: Unlearned.] folk like myself are disposed to
attribute to necromancy."
Without attending to these last words, Sir John de Walton set forth
towards the study, walking at a quick pace, as if this conversation had
augmented his desire to find himself in possession of the person of the
suspected minstrel.
Traversing the ancient passages of the castle, the governor had no
difficulty in reaching the study, which was strongly vaulted with
stone, and furnished with a sort of iron cabinet, intended for the
preservation of articles and papers of value, in case of fire. Here he
found the minstrel seated at a small table, sustaining before him a
manuscript, apparently of great antiquity, from which he seemed engaged
in making extracts. The windows of the room were very small, and still
showed some traces that they had originally been glazed with a painted
history of Saint Bride--another mark of the devotion of the great
family of Douglas to their tutelar saint.
The minstrel, who had seemed deeply wrapped in the contemplation of his
task, on being disturbed by the unlooked-for entrance of Sir John de
Walton, rose with every mark of respect and humility, and, remaining
standing in the governor's presence, appeared to wait for his
interrogations, as if he had anticipated that the visit concerned
himself particularly.
"I am to suppose, Sir Minstrel," said Sir John de Walton, "that you
have been successful in your search, and have found the roll of poetry
or prophecies that you proposed to seek after amongst these broken
shelves and tattered volumes?"
"More successful than I could have expected," replied the minstrel,
"considering the effects of the conflagration. This, Sir Knight, is
apparently the fatal volume for which I sought, and strange it is,
considering the heavy chance of other books contained in this library,
that I have been able to find a few though imperfect fragments of it."
"Since, therefore, you have been permitted to indulge your curiosity,"
said the governor, "I trust, minstrel, you will have no objection to
satisfy mine?"
The minstrel replied with the same humility, "that if there was any
thing within the poor compass of his skill which could gratify Sir John
de Walton in any degree, he would but reach his lute, and presently
obey his commands."
"You mistake, Sir," said Sir John, somewhat harshly. "I am none of
those who have hours to spend in listening to tales or music of former
days; my life has hardly given me time enough for learning the duties
of my profession, far less has it allowed me leisure for such twangling
follies. I care not who knows it, but my ear is so incapable judging of
your art, which you doubtless think a noble one, that I can scarcely
tell the modulation of one tune from another."
"In that case," replied the minstrel composedly, "I can hardly promise
myself the pleasure of affording your worship the amusement which I
might otherwise have done."
"Nor do I look for any from your hand," said the governor, advancing a
step nearer to him, and speaking in a sterner tone. "I want
information, sir, which I am assured you can give me, if you incline;
and it is my duty to tell you, that if you show unwillingness to speak
the truth, I know means by which it will become my painful duty to
extort it in a more disagreeable manner than I would wish."
"If your questions, Sir Knight," answered Bertram, "be such as I can or
ought to answer, there shall be no occasion to put them more than once.
If they are such as I cannot, or ought not to reply to, believe me that
no threats of violence will extort an answer from me."
"You speak boldly," said Sir John de Walton; "but take my word for it,
that your courage will be put to the test. I am as little fond of
proceeding to such extremities as you can be of undergoing them, but
such will be the natural consequence of your own obstinacy. I therefore
ask you, whether Bertram be your real name--whether you have any other
profession than that of a travelling minstrel--and, lastly, whether you
have any acquaintance or connexion with any Englishman or Scottishman
beyond the walls of this Castle of Douglas?"
"To these questions," replied the minstrel, "I have already answered
the worshipful knight, Sir Aymer de Valence, and having fully satisfied
him, it is not, I conceive, necessary that I should undergo a second
examination; nor is it consistent either with your worship's honour, or
that of the lieutenant-governor, that such a re-examination should take
place."
"You are very considerate," replied the governor, "of my honour and of
that of Sir Aymer de Valence. Take my word for it, they are both in
perfect safety in our own keeping, and may dispense with your
attention. I ask you, will you answer the enquiries which it is my duty
to make, or am I to enforce obedience by putting you under the
penalties of the question? I have already, it is my duty to say, seen
the answers you have returned to my lieutenant, and they do not satisfy
me."
He at the same time clapped his hands, and two or three archers showed
themselves stripped of their tunics, and only attired in their shirts
and hose.
"I understand," said the minstrel, "that you intend to inflict upon me
a punishment which is foreign to the genius of the English laws, in
that no proof is adduced of my guilt. I have already told that I am by
birth an Englishman, by profession a minstrel, and that I am totally
unconnected with any person likely to nourish any design against this
Castle of Douglas, Sir John de Walton, or his garrison. What answers
you may extort from me by bodily agony, I cannot, to speak as a
plain-dealing Christian, hold myself responsible for. I think that I
can endure as much pain as any one; I am sure that I never yet felt a
degree of agony, that I would not willingly prefer to breaking my
plighted word, or becoming a false informer against innocent persons:
but I own I do not know the extent to which the art of torture may be
carried; and though I do not fear you, Sir John de Walton, yet I must
acknowledge that I fear myself, since I know not to what extremity your
cruelty may be capable of subjecting me, or how far I may be enabled to
bear it. I, therefore, in the first place, protest, that I shall in no
manner be liable for any words which I may utter in the course of any
examination enforced from me by torture; and you must therefore, under
such circumstances, proceed to the execution of an office, which,
permit me to say, is hardly that which I expected to have found thus
administered by an accomplished knight like yourself."
"Hark you, sir," replied the governor, "you and I are at issue, and in
doing my duty, I ought instantly to proceed to the extremities I have
threatened; but perhaps you yourself feel less reluctance to undergo
the examination as proposed, than I shall do in commanding it; I will
therefore consign you for the present to a place of confinement,
suitable to one who is suspected of being a spy upon this fortress.
Until you are pleased to remove such suspicions, your lodgings and
nourishment are those of a prisoner. In the meantime, before subjecting
you to the question, take notice, I will myself ride to the Abbey of
Saint Bride, and satisfy myself whether the young person whom you would
pass as your son, is possessed of the same determination as that which
you yourself seem to assert. It may so happen that his examination and
yours may throw such light upon each other as will decidedly prove
either your guilt or innocence, without its being confirmed by the use
of the extraordinary question. If it be otherwise, tremble for your
son's sake, if not for your own.--Have I shaken you, sir?--or do you
fear, for your boy's young sinews and joints, the engines which, in
your case, you seem willing to defy?"
"Sir," answered the minstrel, recovering from the momentary emotion he
had shown, "I leave it to yourself, as a man of honour and candour,
whether you ought, in common fairness, to form a worse opinion of any
man, because he is not unwilling to incur, in his own person,
severities which he would not desire to be inflicted upon his child, a
sickly youth, just recovering from a dangerous disease."
"It is my duty," answered De Walton, after a short pause, "to leave no
stone unturned by which this business may be traced to the source; and
if thou desirest mercy for thy son, thou wilt thyself most easily
attain it, by setting him the example of honesty and plain-dealing."
The minstrel threw himself back on the seat, as if fully resolved to
bear every extremity that could be inflicted, rather than make any
farther answer than he had already offered. Sir John de Walton himself
seemed in some degree uncertain what might now be his best course. He
felt an invincible repugnance to proceed, without due consideration, in
what most people would have deemed the direct line of his duty, by
inflicting the torture both upon father and son; but deep as was his
sense of devotion towards the King, and numerous as were the hopes and
expectations he had formed upon the strict discharge of his present
high trust, he could not resolve upon having recourse at once to this
cruel method of cutting the knot. Bertram's appearance was venerable,
and his power of words not unworthy of his aspect and bearing. The
governor remembered that Aymer de Valence, whose judgment in general it
was impossible to deny, had described him as one of those rare
individuals, who vindicated the honour of a corrupted profession by
their personal good behaviour; and he acknowledged to himself, that
there was gross cruelty and injustice in refusing to admit the prisoner
to the credit of being a true and honest man, until, by way of proving
his rectitude, he had strained every sinew, and crushed every joint in
his body, as well as those of his son. "I have no touchstone," he said
internally, "which can distinguish truth from falsehood; the Bruce and
his followers are on the alert,-he has certainly equipped the galleys
which lay at Rachrin during winter. This story, too, of Greenleaf,
about arms being procured for a new insurrection, tallies strangely
with the appearance of that savage-looking forester at the hunt; and
all tends to show, that something is upon the anvil which it is my duty
to provide against. I will, therefore, pass over no circumstance by
which I can affect the mind through hope or fear; but, please God to
give me light from any other source, I will not think it lawful to
torment these unfortunate, and, it may yet be, honest men." He
accordingly took his departure from the library, whispering a word to
Greenleaf respecting the prisoner.
He had reached the outward door of the study, and his satellites had
already taken the minstrel into their grasp, when the voice of the old
man was heard calling upon De Walton to return for a single moment.
"What hast thou to say, sir?" said the governor; "be speedy, for I have
already lost more time in listening to thee than I am answerable for;
and so I advise thee for thine own sake"--
"I advise thee," said the minstrel, "for thine own sake, Sir John de
Walton, to beware how thou dost insist on thy present purpose, by which
thou thyself alone, of all men living,--will most severely suffer. If
thou harmest a hair of that young man's head--nay, if thou permittest
him to undergo any privation which it is in thy power to prevent, thou
wilt, in doing so, prepare for thine own suffering a degree of agony
more acute than anything else in this mortal world could cause thee. I
swear by the most blessed objects of our holy religion; I call to
witness that holy sepulchre, of which I have been an unworthy visitor,
that I speak nothing but the truth, and that thou wilt one day testify
thy gratitude for the part I am now acting. It is my interest, as well
as yours, to secure you in the safe possession of this castle, although
assuredly I know some things respecting it, and respecting your
worship, which I am not at liberty to tell without the consent of that
youth. Bring me but a note under his hand, consenting to my taking you
into our mystery, and believe me, you will soon see those clouds
charmed away; since there was never a doleful uncertainty which more
speedily changed to joy, or a thunder-cloud of adversity which more
instantly gave way to sunshine, than would then the suspicions which
appear now so formidable."
He spoke with so much earnestness as to make some impression upon Sir
John de Walton, who was once more wholly at a loss to know what line
his duty called upon him to pursue.
"I would most gladly," said the governor, "follow out my purpose by the
gentlest means in my power; and I shall bring no further distress upon
this poor lad, than thine own obstinacy and his shall appear to
deserve. In the meantime, think, Sir Minstrel, that my duty has limits,
and if I slack it for a day, it will become thee to exert every effort
in thy power to meet my condescension. I will give thee leave to
address thy son by a line under thy hand, and I will await his answer
before I proceed farther in this matter, which seems to be very
mysterious. Meantime, as thou hast a soul to be saved, I conjure thee
to speak the truth, and tell me whether the secrets of which thou
seemest to be a too faithful treasurer, have regard to the practices of
Douglas, of Bruce, or of any in their names, against this Castle of
Douglas?"
The prisoner thought a moment, and then replied--"I am aware, Sir
Knight, of the severe charge under which this command is intrusted to
your hands, and were it in my power to assist you, as a faithful
minstrel and loyal subject, either with hand or tongue, I should feel
myself called upon so to do; but so far am I from being the character
your suspicions have apprehended, that I should have held it for
certain that the Bruce and Douglas had assembled their followers, for
the purpose of renouncing their rebellious attempts, and taking their
departure for the Holy Land, but for the apparition of the forester,
who, I hear, bearded you at the hunting, which impresses upon me the
belief, that when so resolute a follower and henchman of the Douglas
was sitting fearless among you, his master and comrades could be at no
great distance--how far his intentions could be friendly to you, I must
leave it to yourself to judge; only believe me thus far, that the rack,
pulley, or pincers, would not have compelled me to act the informer, or
adviser, in a quarrel wherein I have little or no share, if I had not
been desirous of fixing the belief upon you, that you are dealing with
a true man, and one who has your welfare at heart.--Meanwhile, permit
me to have writing materials, or let my own be restored, for I possess,
in some degree, the higher arts of my calling; nor do I fear but that I
can procure for you an explanation of these marvels, without much more
loss of time."
"God grant it prove so," said the governor; "though I see not well how
I can hope for so favourable a termination, and I may sustain great
harm by trusting too much on the present occasion. My duty, however,
requires that, in the meantime, you be removed into strict confinement."
He handed to the prisoner, as he spoke, the writing materials, which
had been seized upon by the archers on their first entrance, and then
commanded those satellites to unhand the minstrel.
"I must, then," said Bertram, "remain subjected to all the severities
of a strict captivity; but I deprecate no hardship whatever in my own
person, so I may secure you from acting with a degree of rashness, of
which you will all your life repent, without the means of atoning."
"No more words, minstrel," said the governor; "but since I have made my
choice, perhaps a very dangerous one for myself, let us carry this
spell into execution, which thou sayest is to serve me, as mariners say
that oil spread upon the raging billows will assuage their fury."