_THE PRISONER OF THE CASTLE._
I scarce know how many days had passed after these things before there
happened that which was to me more terrible than all.
The military executions in Taunton were over. Many soldiers remained,
but the people ceased to go in terror of their lives--for the moment.
An awful sense of coming judgment hung over us. None knew who would
be arrested for complicity in the plot, and haled before the terrible
judge who was coming shortly. But for the moment there was a slight
lull, and the wheels of life revolved just a little more in their
accustomed grooves.
Sorrow and mourning and fear prevailed in too many homes, however.
Master Hucker was a prisoner awaiting his trial. Master Simpson had
fled none knew whither, and his sister feared him dead. Both the gentle
brothers Hewling had been taken, and were in London for the time being,
though it was said that they would be sent down to Taunton to be tried.
More homes than I can mention here were desolated by the events which I
have been striving to record, and I felt almost heart-broken now when
I went to my friends the Simpsons; for Lizzie's face was pale and
tearful, and even gay Will Wiseman, ever of a joyous courage in olden
days, looked gloomy and troubled. He had loved his master well, and was
faithfully serving him now in his absence, and acting almost like a son
to good Mistress Simpson, the sister. But they lived in daily fear of
hearing of his arrest; and sometimes Lizzie, weeping with my arm about
her--for we were like brother and sister in love--would say,--
"Sometimes I think I would almost rejoice to hear that he were dead! It
is such a fearful thing to think that he may even now be brought before
that terrible judge who is coming, and have to suffer the awful death
of traitor. Oh, if we only knew him safe--even if it were in the safety
of a soldier's death!"
For the prisons were filling fast with fugitives and suspected persons,
and none knew who might be the next to be haled off, there to linger
until the Special Commission headed by Judge Jeffreys sat to judge and
condemn those who had been concerned in this matter. Many judged those
happy who had met a soldier's death, or had been hanged by the soldiers
in the first onset. To linger in suspense in a dismal dungeon, often
laden with irons, and subjected to cruel privations, only to be brought
at last before that merciless man in whose hands the issues of life and
death were to rest, seemed harder than a short shrift and a long rope
at the hands of Kirke and his men. I know I often thought (shivering
lest I might be recognized and sent to prison) that if that were so
with me, I should live to wish I had perished on the fatal field of
Sedgemoor. But my uncle stood high in favour. No word had been breathed
against him. Colonel Kirke had called him an honest knave, and a credit
to his trade; and the Snowes had always held a good repute in the town
for loyalty and order, wherefore I was let alone.
But to return to the point from which I started, how may I tell the
grief and terror I was thrown into by a sight I saw during the days of
that lull which came betwixt the departure of Colonel Kirke and the
arrival of Lord Chief-Justice Jeffreys?
I was coming through the streets toward my home, when I perceived a
small knot of soldiers, who seemed to be bringing in a prisoner in
their midst. Now this had become so common a sight that I might not
greatly have heeded it, had it not been that I saw Mr. Blewer riding
with the soldiers, his face wearing its most evil smile of malevolent
triumph.
At that sight I looked again at the party, and as I did so my heart
stood still within me. There in the midst of the soldiers, partly
held and partly tied upon his horse--for he was almost fainting from
sickness and his wounds--was none other than my lord the Viscount;
and the party were heading straight for the Castle, into which they
presently disappeared with their captive.
I had followed, speechless and like one in a dream; but when the portal
closed behind them and I was left standing without, I heard a voice in
my ear saying in accents of mock sorrow,--
"Alas, good Dicon, that one so young and fair and highly born should be
a rebel! The best grace the young lord can hope to win from the great
Lord Justice is the axe instead of the halter. His would be a pretty
head to set up over the gateway here! Alack! what will Mistress Mary
say? Methinks she had a maid's passing fancy for the fair face of our
young warrior."
The speaker was Mr. Blewer. With a sense of sickening loathing I
turned away from the man and rushed homewards, putting the saddle upon
Blackbird as quickly as I could, and scarce drawing rein till I stood
before the house of my uncle Robert in Bridgewater.
I found my aunt in tears, and I had no need to put a question before
she burst out with the tale.
"Dicon, we could not help it. We breathed no word of his being here;
and when the soldiers had done their hanging and had gone--at least
some of them, and the rest were more for carousing and feasting than
anything else--we felt able to breathe once more. But there was an
evil-faced man for ever prying about, habited like a clergyman, but
with little of the nature that befits that office. He asked so many
questions from one or another about a maiden he had seen here, that
we could not hide from him that Mistress Mary Mead had been a guest
here for a while; but not a word did we breathe of the young lord
upstairs--I give you my word we did not!"
"I am sure of it, good aunt; I know you had learned to love him right
well. None could fail to do so who came into his presence."
"Indeed thou speakest sooth, Dicon," she answered. "I waited on and
tended him myself; and never have I seen a gentler and more perfect
gentleman, so patient, so grateful, so anxious to avoid giving any
trouble--as though we grudged what we did for him--and he paying for
all like a prince! I loved him as a son, if I may say it. And yet that
evil man, by hook or by crook, and by dint of ceaseless spying and
prying, got scent of his being here; and to-day there came a troop of
soldiers with an order to search the house for a rebel who was known to
be sheltering here in disguise. Dicon, when that befell us, what could
we do? To have resisted would not have saved the poor young gentleman,
but would have brought all the rest of us to the gallows."
Her tears broke forth afresh, and I could almost have joined with her
in weeping, had it not been that my heart so burned within me in hot
indignation against the miscreant who had spied and betrayed us. As it
was, the tears would not come to my relief, and all I said was,--
"Did he come with them?"
"Ay, he did! They knew not the face of the young lord; and even when
the monster had found him, they would scarce have taken him, so weak
and ill as he yet was, as white as a lily, and not able to rise. But
yon brutal minister--whom I would I could see beneath the hangman's
hands!--he swore at them that they were traitors and rebels themselves
an they took him not. So he was forced to rise and dress, and was set
upon a horse, though no more fit than a new-born babe; and whether
they get him to Taunton alive the Lord only knows! Oh may He take a
speedy and a bloody vengeance for all the deeds of blood and horror
that have been committed in this city in these last days!"
But I could not linger to listen even to sentiments so congenial. I had
learned what I had come to learn, and now possessing myself of all my
lord's property, and of a considerable sum of money which my good aunt
was keeping for him--he had contrived to get supplies sent him before I
left--I took horse again, Blackbird having been well fed and as willing
as ever, and was in Taunton once again ere set of sun.
What to do next I knew not. At home I was resolved I would not breathe
a word of this matter. Mine uncle was striving to forget all other
feelings in the one of loyalty to the powers that be. From him I
should get nothing but a warning to have nothing to do with rebels and
prisoners. From his own point of view he might be right, but I could
not rest so long as my lord lay in durance vile, and with nothing
before him but the mercy of a judge who was pledged to show no mercy.
Yet I was so distracted by sorrow and fear that I could think of
nothing alone; and after tossing upon my bed that night in a restless
misery, I suddenly came to a resolve.
"Mistress Mary will counsel me!" I cried, sitting up and pressing my
hands to my hot brow; and even as I took the resolution to see her so
soon as the day should have come, I grew calmer and more hopeful, and
was able to snatch a few hours of much-needed sleep before I had to
rise to my day's work.
Miss Blake's maidens had some of them come back to her, but there
was little of regularity in the hours kept, and many pupils had been
altogether removed by cautious parents. I was a welcome guest now
whenever I appeared within those doors, and my request to-day to see
Mistress Mary at once soon brought her down to me into the little
parlour, her eyes full of anxious questioning.
I fear me I broke the evil tidings to her but clumsily, for she went so
white that I feared she would swoon away; but recovering herself with
all speed, she clasped her hands together and cried,--
"Dicon, we must save him, we must save him! It was I who led him into
this peril and strait. Thou and I together, good Dicon, must win his
release. Dicon, he must be got out of yon Castle! He must not stand
before that relentless judge! We must save him! we must save him!"
"Mistress, I will die to save him if I can," I answered; but she gave
me one of her own beautiful smiles as she answered,--
"Nay, good lad, thou must live to save him. Dicon, there is no time to
be lost. We must think what can be done!"
It was this that I had come for, and greatly was I surprised by the
ready wit and shrewdness displayed by Mistress Mary when we sat down to
talk. Methinks she must have spent many hours thinking and pondering
upon such chances as these, for she seemed to have a plan already in
her head, and she quickly set it before me.
"Dicon, by what thou sayest, I think that they will not dare to cast my
dear lord into a dungeon, sick as he is. He is known in Taunton, and
the soldiers and keepers there are not monsters like Colonel Kirke's
Lambs. Our towns-folk are humane men, and a soldier is but a man after
all though he follow a bloody trade. And then money, Dicon, will unlock
many a door, and it has pleased Providence to make me rich."
"I have money, too, laid aside." I answered eagerly, "and every penny
of it shall go towards freeing my lord!"
Again she smiled sweetly, but checked me by her gesture,--
"Nay, faithful Dicon, thy money will not be wanted for this; but thy
shrewdness, thy cleverness, thy good-will, shall serve us instead.
Thou art under no suspicion, therefore go boldly to the Castle and
ask leave to bring to my lord such things as he needs. Prisoners, as
thou knowest, live at their own charges, and thou canst represent
thyself as sent by his friends with the things needful for him. Then
by bribes thou canst win leave to take these things to him thyself.
This carnage and slaughter has sickened men's souls within them, and
they are readier now to listen to the promptings of mercy than they
were awhile back. Make friends with him who has charge of my lord; make
him see that it will serve his purpose best to let thee come and go at
will. Doubtless with one weak and ill as my lord, there will be more of
mercy and less of strict watch kept than where the prisoner is hale and
strong. Be it thine, Dicon, to do all this; and having thus done, come
yet again to me and bring me word, and we will talk of what shall be
the next step."
I left the house with many a golden guinea of Mistress Mary's in my
pouch, for she would have none even of my lord's money for this; she
would do it all herself. And forthwith did I set myself to the task I
had before me, rejoicing that I was able to find so good an excuse for
my first visit to the Castle. For it came into my head (my wits being
sharpened by all this) to ask my aunt if she could not spare a pair of
good fat capons for the Governor there. And this being thought a happy
notion by mine uncle, who was, as I knew, all in a fever to keep in
the good graces of the authorities, I was quickly laden with a basket
containing various good things, and amongst them a bottle of rare good
wine, which, however, never found its way to the Governor's table.
For before I got to the Castle I took and hid this bottle about my
person; and when I had delivered my message and my load, I began
talking first to the porter and then to one and another of the guards
who came and went, and who were willing enough to stop and chat about
what was going on in the town, and how soon the trials were likely to
begin; until at last I came across the man who had the keeping of my
lord the Viscount, and him I asked to speak aside for a moment.
He had a little slip of a place at the end of a long corridor, where he
kept watch; and when I produced my bottle of wine, his eyes sparkled,
and we were friends at once. He told me of the prisoners he had in his
charge, and of Lord Vere, who had been brought in wounded and sick
but the day before. He asked me if I thought His father would send him
those things that he needed, as it would go ill with him if he had
not some care; and when I (concealing my exultation under a mask of
indifference) said I would ask, and also asked if I might see Lord Vere
and learn from him what he chiefly needed, the man made no objection at
all, but led me along the passage to a certain door which he opened.
I went in with my finger upon my lips, which sign my lord instantly
perceived, and spoke not as though he had any special knowledge of me,
though most people in the place knew my name by this time.
He answered my questions, and told me what he most needed. I asked if
his wound were severe, and he answered that it was mending, though the
ride yesterday had inflamed it and brought back some of the fever.
But he looked less feeble than I had feared; and I took great heart
at seeing that he was not in a dungeon, but in a small and fairly
commodious chamber. The warder told me that the dungeons were full; and
I told him I was sure I could get him money from my lord's friends if
he could make shift to keep him there. The man winked at that, and said
that so long as he was sick he would not be moved; and I winked back
and said he had better keep him sick, and he would get money.
Next day I was there again with such things as my lord had asked for.
I did not seek to go into the room that time, feigning no especial
interest in him, but stayed chatting with the warder, and I gave him a
broad crown piece as an earnest of more to follow if the prisoner were
well looked after. Next day I brought some things I professed to have
forgotten, and another bottle of wine for the man; and this time he bid
me go in to see how well he had cared for the patient, that I might
tell the same to his friends. And as he was anxious to finish the wine
before his fellow came to relieve guard, he locked me for a short while
into the room with my lord; and I spent every moment in eager talk, and
in examining the place, that I might know whether there was any hope of
getting him safe away out of it when he was strong enough for flight.
I soon saw that this little chamber was in the south side of the
building, a little to the left of the gateway as you stand facing it,
and situated about half-way betwixt that and the round tower at the
corner. From the window, which was heavily barred, there was a drop
of perhaps forty feet into the enclosure behind the wall which lay
all round the Castle. But this wall was neither very high nor very
closely guarded; and I had a wild hope that it might not prove an
insurmountable difficulty if once we were free of the Castle itself. A
dark night would have to be chosen, and many things would have to be
thought of first; but I did not despair either of bribing the jailer to
secrecy, or of making him an accomplice in the flight. Then let us but
once get quit of the Castle, and I knew of a safe place of retreat for
my lord till all hue and cry should be over.
Days and even weeks flew by all too fast for us; for my lord recovered
but slowly, and until he was sound once more it would be hopeless to
think of such a thing as escape. A long ride of twelve miles into
Ilminster was the first use he must make of his liberty; and if he had
not strength to accomplish that, what use to get him out of prison?
July had merged itself into August, and August was waning towards
September, and men spoke with shuddering dread of the coming Great
Assize, when the fate of all prisoners would be settled, and yet only
by very, very slow degrees had my lord struggled back to health; and
even now, for lack of air and his wonted exercise, he was wan and white
and thin, albeit now able to leave his bed, and walk to and fro for an
hour together in his chamber.
Meantime with the jailer I had become great friends, and he was quite
fond of my lord likewise; moreover, he whispered to me that the
Governor was greatly interested in the young man, that he was very
friendly with Lord Lonsdale (who had been in London all this while,
and had not sent a message to his son), and that he was very sure he
would be glad, and indulgent to those concerned, if the young nobleman
should make good his escape before the bloody work of Jeffreys should
commence. The warder told me this with bated breath, and a look in his
eyes which gave me my cue; so I told him that I knew I could get him
twenty guineas forthwith from one who loved the Viscount, and twenty
more if the thing should succeed, to help me to get him safe out of the
Castle before the Judge should come.
At this the man's eyes glistened, and he said that I might count upon
him. He would have done it for less, seeing that the young lord was
so gentle and kind to all, but for that sum he would take care that
nothing miscarried; and I went to Mistress Mary triumphantly with my
news.
But I found her less exultant than I was myself when she knew all; and
she said with anxious eyes,--
"To get him safe out of the Castle is much, good Dicon, but it is not
all. The city is full of soldiers, and these be not kindly men such
as they in the Castle. Some are Colonel Kirke's Lambs, and others the
fierce soldiers of Lord Feversham. They watch with terrible sharpness
those who come and go, and they keep watch by night as well as by day.
Two riders faring forth at any hour of the night will scarce get clear
of Taunton streets; and to be caught and taken back to prison will be
worse than to wait there for what may betide."
I listened aghast to Mistress Mary, recognizing at once the truth of
her words, and feeling my heart sink into my very shoes. All this
while I had never thought of aught but getting my lord safe out of the
Castle; and now, when this seemed to be a thing possible at last, I was
confronted by another and perhaps a worse danger.
"Could he not be hidden away?" I asked.
"Mr. Blewer would find out he was escaped, and raise all Taunton after
him," answered Mistress Mary, "and such places as thou or I know,
Dicon, would first be searched."
She was silent then a great while, and I had no heart to speak; but
suddenly she raised her head and looked me full in the face with
shining eyes.
"Dicon," she said, "I see how it must be done!"
"Oh how, fair Mistress?"
"It must be done, not in the dead of night, but at break of day. He
must ride forth with thee when the town is beginning to stir."
"Mistress Mary," I cried aghast, "all the town will know him!"
She smiled, and touched my hand with her slim white fingers.
"Foolish boy!" she said softly; and then after a pause for thought she
added, "Dicon, wilt do as I say?"
"To the death, Mistress!"
"Then at sunrising to-morrow morning be at this door with Blackbird and
Lady Jane, and we will forth into the fresh morning air together. Then
will I tell thee more."
"I will not fail you, Mistress," I said; and I went home in a great
perplexity.
With the first grey light of dawn I was before the house with the
horses, and Mistress Mary came forth clad in a long grey riding-dress
and a grey cloak and hood. This hood she wore drawn well over her face,
as indeed it was the fashion of maidens to go in the streets, with so
many bold soldiers swaggering about.
We rode quietly down the roads, the soldiers looking at us, and
sometimes challenging us; but there being naught about us to excite
remark or suspicion, we were suffered to go on our way.
We rode some miles almost in silence, and as we were returning Mistress
Mary said, "Dost understand, Dicon?"
"No, Mistress, not yet."
"Come every day at dawn for me so. We ride forth thus day by day till
every sentry in Taunton knows us. Then some morning there shall another
rider sally forth with thee in this grey habit and cloak, and this
hood well drawn over his brows. He shall ride this steed and on this
saddle--though his own good horse shall be waiting at some appointed
place. And who will seek to stop you then, or even give a passing
glance? Say, good Dicon, dost thou see light now?"