We must now turn to follow the course of the Earl of Gowrie, who
hurried to horse as soon as he could force himself to part with Julia,
the 28th of February, and he spared not the spur till he had reached
Carlisle. The distance was not far short of a hundred miles, although
knowing the country well, till he reached the borders of Cumberland he
took the shortest cuts towards his destination. Nevertheless, by
twelve o'clock on the following day, he had reached the city of the
British chief, and halted there for three hours, to rest those horses
which were capable of going on, and to purchase three or four others,
to supply the place of those which were knocked up. The journey was
then resumed, at a slow and orderly pace; and the earl once more
approached the frontier of Scotland, on the western side. Such rapid
progress as he had made during the last thirty hours was not at all
suited, of course, to the habits of good Mr. Rhind; and that worthy
gentleman was left behind, with a request that he would tarry for a
day or two at Dunbar, and then proceed slowly to Edinburgh, preserving
perfect silence as to the events which had lately taken place; which,
it must be remarked, puzzled him greatly, as the earl was not inclined
to enter into lengthened explanations on the subject. On the
discretion of the servants who accompanied him, the earl thought he
could depend; and he consequently satisfied himself with giving them
merely two commands--namely, to avoid mentioning to any one their
previous journey to Dunbar, and if asked what had become of the lady
who had accompanied them to England, to state that he, the earl, had
sent her to a place of security some way before they reached Carlisle.
This having been done, they rode on towards Langholm, where the earl
proposed to pass the night. On his arrival, however, at the only inn
which that place contained, he found the court-yard in a bustle with
numerous horses and servants, and perceived also two or three of the
king's guard loitering about. The announcement that the place was
quite full, therefore, did not surprise him; and, in answer to his
inquiries, the host informed him that the Lord Lindores had just
returned with his suite, after having visited the border that morning.
Gowrie smiled at the name of one of the especial companions of the
king; and finding, in answer to a quiet inquiry, that the noble lord
had arrived from Edinburgh late the night before, he was confirmed in
the suspicion, that the object of Lindores' coming had been to claim
the wardship of Julia in the king's name.
Innocent of all offence himself, however, he did not scruple to send
up a message to the courtier nobleman, requesting that he would spare
him a part of the accommodation of the inn; but one of Lord Lindores'
servants had been beforehand with him in communicating his arrival,
and before the host, whom Gowrie charged with his message, could leave
his side, the gentleman to whom it was to be delivered was seen
descending the stairs, which, as was then very customary in Scottish
inns, came down at once on the outside of the house, from a covered
gallery above, into the court-yard. His dress and appearance were
sufficient to indicate his rank, although Gowrie had not seen him from
his boyhood; but Lord Lindores, forgetting his prudence, advanced at
once towards the young earl, holding out his hand, and saying, "Ah, my
noble Lord of Gowrie, how goes it with your lordship? Welcome back to
Scotland after a long absence."
"Many thanks, my lord," replied Gowrie, shaking hands with him. "My
absence has indeed been long enough for old friends to forget me. But
I find your lordship has engaged the whole house; can you not spare me
a room or two?"
"I should be sadly wanting in courtesy else," replied the other, whose
eye, during the whole conversation, had been wandering over Gowrie's
followers. "We will put some of the men into the cottages or houses
near. What will you require?"
"Only a room for myself," replied the earl, who was somewhat amused by
the puzzled look upon his companion's face--"only a room for myself,
and an ante-room for two or three of my servants. The rest must shift
as they can. We will not put you to inconvenience."
"That will be soon arranged," replied Lord Lindores; "and as my supper
will be ready in a few minutes, your lordship must honour me by
partaking thereof. I will just speak a word or two to some of my men,
telling them to seek lodgings elsewhere, and rejoin you in a moment."
Gowrie remained near the foot of the stairs till his return, with an
air of the most perfect indifference; but he did not fail to observe
what seemed eager question and answer pass between his brother peer
and one of the men who had been in the court-yard when he arrived.
"Now, noble earl, permit me to show you the road," said Lord Lindores,
returning; and he led the way up stairs to a small guest-chamber,
prepared for the evening meal, but which was also ornamented by a
truckle bed. After some ordinary compliments, Lord Lindores fell into
thought for a moment or two, and then looking up, he said, "Had I not
thought that your lordship would not arrive in Scotland till
to-morrow, I should have prepared better for your accommodation; for,
to say the truth, I was led to expect the pleasure of seeing you on
the border if my business detained me here a day or two."
"Indeed! How so?" demanded Gowrie, looking up; for he, too, had fallen
into thought.
"Oh, very simply," replied the other lord. "His majesty, when sending
me yesterday to inquire into some of the affairs upon the border,
informed me that he had had a letter from your lordship, and, as you
were returning by Carlisle, I should most likely meet you somewhere
here. He bade me greet you well on his part, and say that he was
anxious for your arrival."
"His majesty is ever gracious," said Gowrie, drily; "I trust to kiss
his hand the day after to-morrow at the farthest."
"He taught me to believe, my noble lord, that I should find a fair
lady in your company," said his companion, assuming a jocular look and
tone; "the most beautiful of the beautiful, I understand; a gem that
you have brought us from southern lands."
"Oh, no," answered Gowrie, in a light and easy tone; "his majesty has
been misled. Such a lady as you describe did travel part of the way
hither under my convoy; but I left her behind before I reached
Carlisle."
"Indeed!" said Lord Lindores, with a look of mortification and
surprise. "But perhaps the journey was too fatiguing, and she will
follow you?"
"Oh dear, no!" answered Gowrie, with a laugh. "She is very well where
she is, I doubt not, and will remain there for some time."
"On my life," cried the other, resuming his jocular tone, "I think
your lordship is jealous of us poor lords of Holyrood."
"To be sure I am," answered Gowrie, at once; "and fully resolved I am
not to bring her to that court till I bring her as my wife. You see,
my good lord, I am frank with you; but you will own that there is
cause to fear that I might lose my bride, if I carried her amongst
such gay cavaliers as the Lord of Lindores."
His companion, who had already seen the middle age, laughed gaily; for
I know neither age nor circumstance in which vanity will not do its
work. He seemed perfectly deceived, however, and indeed was so,
concluding that Gowrie, from some cause, suspecting the king's
purpose, had left his fair companion on the other side of the border.
He was not well satisfied, indeed, with the result of his mission, for
he had calculated upon gaining considerable credit with the king by
skilfully executing a somewhat delicate task. Their meal passed over
gaily, however; and Lindores, who was somewhat of a bon vivant, had
taken care that the table should be supplied with better wine than
could be procured at Langholm. Of this he partook abundantly, and
hospitably pressed his guest to do the same; but Gowrie was upon his
guard, and contrived to avoid the glass, without his companion
noticing that such was the case. In the meantime, Lindores, imagining
that each large double bottle was shared equally between him and the
earl, drank more than his due proportion, and passed through most of
the stages of inebriety, from loquacity to drowsiness. In the former
stage, however, the wine being in and the wit out, he laughed joyously
at the thought of the king's disappointment, and told his companion,
as a profound secret, the end and object of his journey to the border.
On the following day early, the earl and Lord Lindores set out
together for Edinburgh; but Gowrie thought fit to stop for the night
at Selkirk, while his companion pushed on somewhat farther, in order
to bear to the king the news of his disappointment in person. He
arrived in the capital at a somewhat early hour the next day, and
proceeded at once to the palace, where James's ill-humour knew no
bounds.
"That is just like those Ruthvens," he said, in the presence of Sir
Hugh Herries and John Ramsay, who were in the king's closet when
Lindores told his story. "They are all as wise as serpents, but not as
innocent as doves; and this lad is at the head of them. If he were not
at heart a rebel to his own liege sovereign, wherefore should he leave
the lass in England? Does it not give our good aunt Elizabeth a hold
upon him, which no foreign sovereign should have over one of our
subjects? Can she not twist him thereby what way she likes? Maybe his
treason is already consummate, and he has left the girl behind him as
a pignus or pledge for his carrying it out to our destruction. We must
deal softly with him, nevertheless," he continued, seeing that his
words had sunk deeply into the minds of those around him, and having,
perhaps, the example of Henry II. before his eyes--"we must deal
softly with him, till we find occasion against him; mind that, lads,
and let not one of ye cross him, so as to make the matter into a
private quarrel. He has many friends and great wealth, so we must go
gently to work with him till the time comes."
Notwithstanding his injunctions to others, the king could not
altogether restrain his own demeanour, but remained sullen and
irritable all day. He inquired twice whether the earl had arrived in
Edinburgh; and when told that he had come to the house of one of his
relations, whither a number of the old friends of his family flocked
to meet and congratulate him, he exclaimed, "The fickle fools! They go
as blithesome to a burial."
The following morning, as he was seated with the queen, receiving some
of the nobles of the court, with the Duchess of Lennox, Gowrie's
sister, on one side of Anne of Denmark, and Beatrice Ruthven behind
her chair, some loud shouts, uttered in the streets of the town, made
themselves heard even in the royal apartments.
"What are the fools skirling at now?" cried the king; "is it another
Tolbooth fray?"
"Not so, your majesty," replied Lord Inchaffray, who had just entered;
"as I rode hither a moment ago, the young Earl of Gowrie was passing
up the street with a large number of noble gentlemen, his friends; and
some hundreds of people were running after his horse's heels, shouting
and wishing him joy on his return."
James's brow darkened immediately, and lolling his tongue in his
cheek, with a bitter and meaning smile, he said, loud enough for
several persons to hear, "There were as many people who convoyed his
father to the scaffold at Stirling."
The Duchess of Lennox instantly turned deadly pale, and fell, so that
she would have struck her head against the queen's chair, had she not
been caught in the arms of her sister Beatrice.
The court was immediately thrown into strange confusion; and the king,
as if totally unconscious that the illness of the young duchess was
produced by his own act, exclaimed, "De'il's in the woman! What's the
matter with her? The rooms not so hot."
"But your majesty's words were sharp," said Beatrice; "my sister is
not accustomed to hear the death of a father she loved made sport of."
"You are saucy, mistress, I think," said the king, frowning upon her.
"And your majesty unkind," said Beatrice, boldly; but Anne of Denmark
interfered, and caused some of the gentlemen present to assist in
conveying the duchess to another room.
James himself felt in some degree, it would appear, that he had acted
in a cruel and discourteous manner, for he said, in a low but somewhat
apologetic tone, "Fegs! I forgot she was the earl's daughter. One
cannot always remember, in this good land of ours, who is of kin to
those who have had their heads chopped off."
He then turned to other subjects, seeming soon to forget altogether
what had occurred; and when, a few minutes afterwards, Gowrie himself
was introduced, unconscious of all that had taken place, the king
received him with the utmost cordiality and kindness, displaying
remarkably, on this occasion, that detestable hypocrisy which he
considered one of the essential parts of kingcraft. If anything, his
manner was too condescending and gracious, approaching to a degree of
familiarity more repugnant to the feelings of the young earl than
haughtiness could have been. After having given him his hand to kiss,
he pinched his ear, called him a truant, and insisted upon examining
him in what he called the humanities, much to the annoyance of most of
the gentlemen of his court, many of whom understood neither the Latin
nor Greek languages, and some of whom did not understand their own.
The earl's replies gave his majesty satisfaction, at least apparently;
and he went so far as to pronounce him a good scholar and a credit to
the country.
This gracious speech he followed up by commanding him to come to his
breakfast on the following morning, and there he commenced a
conversation with the earl, who was standing behind his chair, the
coarseness of which, in point of language, prevents it from here being
written down, but the nature of which may be divined, when I state
that it referred to the murder of David Rizzio, and the fright which
that horrible event had occasioned to the unfortunate Mary when about
to become the mother of the very monarch who spoke.
Gowrie felt that the choice of the subject was intended as an insult
to himself, from the part which his grandfather had borne in that
lamentable transaction; but he repressed all angry feeling, not alone
from respect for the royal authority, but also because he had a deep
internal conviction that the conduct of his ancestor on that occasion
could not be justified, and that the king had a fair subject of
reproach against his family, which, upon every Christian principle and
every honourable feeling, should have been restrained to silence,
considering all that had passed since, but which might naturally be
remembered, if not rankle, in a weak grovelling mind. He made no reply
whatever then, and left the conversation to seek another course, when
suddenly, to his surprise, Colonel Stuart entered the room, and was
greeted by James as an invited guest.
The spirit of his race now rose in his bosom. He saw before him,
invited apparently to meet him there that morning, the man who, when
his father, after an imperious order from the king to quit the realm
within fourteen days, lingered for a few hours longer at Dundee to
settle the affairs of his family, and to hire a ship to carry him
abroad, pursued him to the very port where he was about to embark, and
brought his head to the block. His patience could not endure any more,
and drawing back a step, he said, "I think, your majesty, it may be
better for me now to retire."
"Come, come, my Lord Gowrie," said the king, "I will not have you look
down upon Colonel Stuart. He is a worthy gentleman, and has done this
crown good service. Neither will I have you seek quarrel with him in
regard to passages long gone."
"Sir," answered the earl, with a low bow, "I will never seek that man,
but it is not fit that he should cross my path. As to seeking quarrel
with him, _aquila non capit muscat_. I now beseech your majesty to
pardon me for retiring;" and he withdrew slowly from the royal
presence.