With a pale face, and trembling limbs, Arabella entered the apartments
of the Countess of Shrewsbury, and, unable to speak, in her alarm she
laid Sir Thomas Overbury's note upon a small round table before her,
and pointed to it with her finger.
"What is the matter, child?" asked the Countess, taking it up.
The moment she saw the contents, however, she became agitated.
"Good faith!" she cried, "this is wise advice, Arabella; you had
better take it. Who brought this note?"
"One of my girls," faltered Arabella.
"Well, well," said Lady Shrewsbury, "a morning's sail upon the Thames
will do you no harm; and no one can say you have not a right to amuse
yourself with a water-party for an hour or two. Quick, girl; do not
tremble, but get some few clothes together. Let your gentlewoman go
down to the stairs with them. You and I will follow; and a barge in
two or three hours will carry you to your husband's ship."
"But Seymour--Seymour!" cried Arabella; "I fear more for him than for
myself."
"Leave that to me!" answered the Countess. "I will send off a
messenger instantly to warn him.--You get ready,--quick!"
In a few minutes Lady Shrewsbury joined her niece in her own room. Ida
Mara, with one small box in her hand, was already at the door when the
Countess entered.
"Where are the two maids, Ida?" asked Lady Shrewsbury.
"In the waiting-room, madam," replied Ida Mara.
"And the door shut?" said the Countess. "Quick, then, go down; and we
will follow you in two minutes."
Without reply, the girl quitted the chamber; and Lady Shrewsbury,
turning to her niece, kissed her cheek, whispering, "Take courage,
take courage, Arabel. I trust all will go well. 'Tis but a little
hurry."
The next instant, however, Ida Mara returned, with a pale cheek, and
the tears in her eyes.
"There is a guard at the foot of the stairs," she said, "who would not
let me pass. He has orders, he told me, to stop every one, and turn
them back."
Arabella sank into a seat, and covered her eyes with her hands, while
the Countess gazed down stedfastly upon the ground, in deep thought.
At length she exclaimed,--
"Call the girl hither, Ida, who came in a few minutes ago."
The fair Italian obeyed at once, and in a moment or two a
pretty-looking maid, somewhat vain and coquettish in her dress and
appearance, presented herself before the Countess.
"Now, answer me truly, girl," said Lady Shrewsbury. "To whom did you
show the note that was given to you a few minutes ago for your
mistress?"
The girl's cheek turned crimson, and she was silent.
"Answer me," exclaimed the Countess, sternly; "answer me. Your face
betrays you!"
The girl burst into tears. "He took it out of my hand," she said. "I
stopped a minute to speak with him; and he took it out of my hand."
"What is his name?" demanded the Countess, in the same tone.
"Maxwell," faltered the girl.
"From whom did you receive the note?" asked the Countess.
"From Sir Thomas Overbury," was the reply.
"Get thee gone, trait'ress," cried Lady Shrewsbury; "get thee gone!
and pray to God to pardon thee, for thou hast done much evil. Now,
Arabel," she continued, "take off your walking-dress, as I will mine,
and let us consider how we must act. You will soon be summoned before
the Council, be you sure. I will go with you, as is befitting. Were I
you, I would not deny the marriage; but, if they charge you with it as
a crime, be bold, dear girl, refuse to plead before any such tribunal.
Say, if you have offended, you have a right to public trial by your
country, and boldly declare that the laws of the land do not justify a
King in punishing, without the sentence of a jury."
"It will but make him furious," replied Arabella.
As she spoke, the door opened unceremoniously, and a keeper of the
council-chamber appeared.
"Madam," he said; but no sooner had he uttered the word, than he broke
off, and, turning to some one who was behind him, exclaimed, "You need
not go on, the Countess is here."
"Well, sir," said Lady Shrewsbury, "what now?"
"I am sent, madam," replied the keeper, "to summon you and the Lady
Arabella to appear before his Majesty in council, which I do by virtue
of these presents, under his Majesty's hand."
"Well--on, then! we are quite ready to accompany you," answered the
Countess, unmoved. "Come, Arabella, put on something to guard you from
the wind, as we have to go all along these courts and passages. His
Majesty, I presume, does not intend to make privy councillors of us;
if he did, I might give him some good advice. Give me that mantle,
Ida. Now, sweet niece, put your arm through mine. You are a timid
creature; and it is well that you should have something stronger
beside you."
Thus saying, she led the way to the royal apartments, followed by the
officers who had been sent to summon them.
In the ante-room of the council-room, however, they were detained;
and, at the end of a few minutes, Arabella was called in alone. During
nearly half an hour, Lady Shrewsbury remained alone; and when, at the
end of that time, the door opened, and Arabella came out, with her
fair face deluged in tears, the door-keeper pronounced aloud, "The
Countess of Shrewsbury!" That lady, however, paused to speak for a
moment to her niece.
"I have acknowledged all," said Arabella, sobbing, "and am ordered
back to my own chamber, and thence into custody of some persons to be
appointed by the King."
"The Countess of Shrewsbury!" exclaimed the doorkeeper again, and,
kissing her niece's cheek, Lady Shrewsbury advanced, and presented
herself at the end of the council-table.
There was a very full attendance at the board, and every countenance
was grave, and even sad, while that of the King was stern and heated.
Sitting on one side of his chair, he leaned over to the other, lolling
his tongue out of his mouth, as he was much accustomed to do when
excited.
"Now, madam," he said; "now, madam, answer my questions. Soul of my
body! we shall have nothing but rebellion in the land. Answer my
questions, I say."
"Anything that your Majesty asks in reason," replied the Countess, "I
am willing to answer."
"Well, then," said the King, "tell me, have you been conniving at the
marriage of your niece, a lady of the Blood Royal, with one William
Seymour, the second son of a pitiful family?"
"As good as your own, sire," replied Lady Shrewsbury, calmly, "only
not quite the head of the house."
"Heard ever man the like of that?" exclaimed the King. "As I am a
crowned King, I will commit her to the Tower."
"For telling the truth, sire?" asked Lady Shrewsbury; "that is a new
offence; I have not seen the proclamation to that effect."
"Madam, madam," said Lord Salisbury, "be careful what you do. Think
what a thing it is to incense his Majesty, who in a moment can commit
you, if you show him a contempt."
"If I show any contempt of a legally appointed court," replied the
Countess, "I know in what danger I stand, my Lord; but his Majesty
himself told me to answer his questions, and then asked if I had
connived at the marriage of my niece with the second son of a pitiful
family? I reply, No; the family into which she has married is as good
as his own, being descended from a long line of English nobles, and a
Princess of that blood, which alone gives him a title to the throne."
"Then you acknowledge conniving at the marriage?" said the Earl,
quickly, in order to stop the vehement and probably indecent torrent
that was hanging upon the King's lips.
"I acknowledge nothing, sir," replied the Countess. "That my niece may
be married to Mr. Seymour, I do not deny; but I am to learn if that be
a crime in her."
"We will soon teach you that it is a crime, woman!" exclaimed the
King. "Did you, or did you not connive at it, I say?"
"I will decline to answer that question," answered the Countess.
"Take care, Lady," said Lord Ellesmere, the Chancellor. "To refuse,
unreasonably, to answer interrogatories of the Privy Council, is a
contempt."
"I do not refuse unreasonably, my Lord Chancellor," replied the
Countess. "I have strong reasons for not answering."
"Speak them, speak them," said the King; "there can be no just reason
for not answering the King in Council."
"I have two reasons," replied the Countess, with a look of scorn;
"both of which are good and valid in the English law, whatever they
may be in Scotland. First, that being told by his Majesty the marriage
of my niece is a crime, I am then asked whether I connived at it. Now
the common law of England requires no man to criminate himself."
"Hout, tout," cried the King, "away with her and her common law. How
should we ever have got to the bottom of the frightful and diabolical
Papist plot, if the prisoners had not criminated themselves?"
"More fools they," replied the Countess of Shrewsbury. "But next I
have to say, that I will answer no questions in private. If I am
accused of a public crime, I will have a public trial, where my guilt
or innocence may appear. There I will answer all questions, and
perhaps tell more than those who sit in high places may like to hear.
I claim a public trial, I say. I appeal to my country, and claim my
privilege as a peeress, to plead my cause before my equals in an open
court. I will have no private interrogatories, which are but tricks
and entanglements unknown to the law of England."
"Lady, lady," cried one of the Councillors, "you are very rash. It is
a well-established principle, that a refusal to answer questions
before the Privy Council, touching matters wherein the interest of the
state is concerned, is a contempt of the King's prerogative."
"Show me a case," exclaimed the Countess. "You say it is well
established--produce an instance where it has been so adjudged; then
do with me as you will."
"If there be not a precedent," cried the King, while the Lord
Chancellor spoke to some of the Councillors near him, "if there be not
a precedent, it is high time we should make one; and you shall be the
first, my bonnie Dame."
"If your Majesty be fond of making precedents," said the Countess,
still undismayed, "I hope your successors may be found to reverse
them; for the dearest inheritance of an Englishman is the equal
protection of the law; and I would lose lands and honours, rather than
give up that right to any monarch that ever sat upon a throne."
"It is the opinion, sire, of all the Councillors here present," said
Lord Ellesmere, "that to refuse to answer is a distinct contempt of
your royal prerogative; and although your Majesty, in your sense of
clemency and justice, may be inclined to refer the question to the
Judges for their decision, yet in the meantime it is perfectly
competent for the Council to commit the lady, for safe custody, to the
Tower till such decision be pronounced."
"Will you answer, Lady?" asked the King; "once more I ask you, will
you answer, that you may not have occasion to accuse our royal mercy?"
"I will not, sir," answered Lady Shrewsbury. "Your Majesty's mercy
will stand upon its own foundation, and God grant it has a good one."
"Then commit her," exclaimed James, addressing the Clerk of the
Council; "draw out the warrant, sir!"
"And mark, Master Secretary," said Lady Shrewsbury, "let it be put
down on the record of this day that I claim my privilege of Peerage,
demanding open trial if I be culpable; and that, professing myself
willing to answer all lawful questions in a public court, I decline to
reply to secret interrogatories, unaided by any counsel or advice. And
now God be my defence!"
"Away with her, away with her!" cried the King. "Take her away in safe
custody to her own chamber, till the warrant is ready. Let her have
time to prepare what is needful, and then send her with a guard to the
Tower. We have not often been so bearded in our Council, and 'tis fit
that she should be made an example."
"Many such examples would do the Court some service," replied the
lady; "and with that I humbly take my leave of your Majesty."[7]
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[Footnote 7: The Countess was deceived in her expectations; for the
Judges confirmed the dictum, that a refusal to answer questions
proposed by the Privy Council in affairs of state is a contempt of the
King's prerogative. The best authority upon the law of evidence that
we possess, Mr. S. M. Phillips, does not even except cases in which
the person by his answer might criminate himself; although it is
remarked, in his notes upon the State Trials, that in such a case the
council would, probably, in the present day, allow the general
principle of the law to maintain, that no person is compellable to
criminate himself, or supply any information which would have that
tendency. I need hardly tell the reader that the accounts of this
celebrated scene vary in many particulars; but all agree that the
Countess refused to answer in private, appealing to a public court.]
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Thus saying, she withdrew, escorted to her own apartment by two of the
ushers, who treated her with all respect, but stationed themselves at
the door till a formal order for her removal to the Tower arrived.