HORSE, HAWK, AND HOUND.
On the morrow, a goodly company rode forth over the drawbridges of
Hereford Castle, with clatter of prancing horses and barking of dogs
and jingle of hawks' jesses; falconers carrying the birds, and huntsmen
leading the well-trained dogs, spaniels, cockers, and here and there a
wolf or boar hound, in case larger game should be started; a party of
men-at-arms to protect them from wild beasts, outlaws, and Welsh, with
a few knights in harness to head them, and the ladies and gentlemen of
the hunt themselves.
In the place of honour amongst these rode the Earl of East Anglia,
mounted on his splendid Spanish barb Oliver, whose fine points had
drawn forth praise from that lover of good horse-flesh, William the
Conqueror himself, when De Guader had ridden the steed in his presence;
a bright red-roan with fox-coloured mane and tail, fine of limb, but of
greater strength and endurance than the heavier Norman warhorse, and
full of spirit and docility.
By his side ambled Emma Fitzosbern, on a white palfrey, bearing on her
wrist a noble 'tassel-gentle,' whose broad shoulders and large nares
and long black spurs proclaimed him of the bluest blood of hawk
aristocracy.
'Certes, he is a glorious tierce,' said Emma, looking with admiration
at the hawk, 'and seemeth well re-claimed, though, knowing me not, he
is by nature shy.'
'I hope well he may sustain the reputation accorded him by those from
whom I had him,' said the earl, 'and prove his worth by deeds when we
reach the waters. He comes straight from Denmark, and is accounted
equal to any King Sweyn at present hath in his mews. He will bind a
mallard with his beak, nor needeth he any lure save the voice of the
falconer. None exceed the Danes for skill in training a hawk.'
The Earl of Hereford, who had been riding ahead with his countess, fell
back and reined his horse beside his sister's palfrey, that he might
examine and criticise this much-extolled bird. But his criticism also
took the form of admiration.
'If he performs as well as he looks,' quoth he, 'I would think him
cheap at a hundred marks.'
When they reached the marshy ground to north-west the castle, at which
they had been aiming, the spaniels soon put up a heronshaw, and Emma,
who had no mean skill at falconry, slipped off the hood from the Danish
hawk, and cast him deftly from her little fist into the air at what was
called the _jette serre_, that is to say, as quickly after the quarry
had taken flight as possible.
The heron soared into the air on his strong wings, with his slender
legs stretched straight behind him, till he was almost lost in the
clouds, but the tassel-gentle pursued him swiftly, scaling the air by
small circles ascending higher and higher like the steps of a spiral
staircase.
Emma clapped her hands in delight.
'By the mass! a magnificent mount!' exclaimed Hereford, and his praise
was echoed amongst the ladies and gentlemen round, nor did the
falconers refuse their meed of honour to the foreign bird, jealous
though they might be for the fame of their own particular pets, whom
they had tended since they took them from the eyrie at the stage of
eyass-down, and lured and re-claimed with daily care and patient skill.
'The tassel-gentle hath the uppermost,' cried Emma, after a few seconds
of eager watching.
'Thine eyes are as keen as the hawk's!' cried De Guader. 'At that
height I could not tell one from the other.'
But Emma saw truly. In a moment more the tassel-gentle stooped upon his
quarry, and the struggling birds came tumbling from the sky together,
leaving a long trail of fluttering feathers to mark the course of their
passage through the air.
Hereford pressed forward to the spot at which they promised to touch
earth, and was ready to despatch the heron ere he could do mischief
with his long wings, measuring upwards of five feet from tip to tip. He
shook the hawk's hood, and the well-trained bird flew at once upon his
wrist. Bravely had he maintained his reputation by deeds.
Other hawks were then flown at various game, mallard and crane and
bittern. Sometimes the quarry escaped; on one occasion a falcon failed
to win the upper hand, and the heron at which she was cast transfixed
her on his long beak and killed her, at which misfortune there was much
ado. Others acquitted themselves well, but none rivalled the prowess of
the Danish hawk, and when the gay company had turned their horses'
heads homewards, and had leisure to discuss the matter, he was
acclaimed by all the hero of the day in falcon-world.
'Since thou hast a good opinion of the tassel-gentle,' said De Guader,
who had reined his horse again to the side of Emma's palfrey, 'and art
pleased to say that I gave no overdrawn picture of his high qualities,
I pray thee, noble demoiselle, to pleasure me by taking him for thine
own from this day forward; for, in sooth, I obtained him from Denmark
for no other purpose, having heard of the death of thy favourite
falcon. See, he takes to thee by instinct, and sits thy slender wrist
as if he knew it as that of his own lady.'
'Thou art too generous, Sir Earl,' replied Emma, the quick blood
flushing cheek and forehead,--partly through delight, for she was a
keen huntress, and appreciated fully the joys of possessing such a
bird; but more through confusion, for she felt that she could not
accept such a gift from a suitor whom she intended to reject, and that
virtually to take the beautiful creature would be to answer Ralph's
weighty question of the night before--for in those days a good hawk was
of more value than diamonds. To make matters worse, her brother was
watching her pitilessly, with a quizzical smile in his eyes, and
evident curiosity as to what she would say.
But fortune was kinder than her friends. The company was riding at the
moment through a belt of woodland, and, just as Emma was casting about
in her mind for an answer to Ralph's speech that might postpone her
difficulty, and toying somewhat lovingly with the bird, a lank grey
beast trotted silently across the pathway a few yards ahead of the
foremost horseman.
The dogs gave tongue and the men also.
'Wolf! wolf!' cried the huntsmen, and half-a-dozen knights of the
_meinie_ who carried hauberk and lance dashed forward in pursuit.
All was excitement and commotion. Steeds chafed and curveted, and kept
their riders from requiring answers to inconvenient questions, and Emma
Fitzosbern felt grateful exceedingly to the fiery Oliver for the
trouble he gave his master, and the excuse which his antics afforded
her to slip behind to the side of her bower-maiden, Eadgyth of Norwich,
who was following on a sober-minded brown palfrey, being but an
indifferent horsewoman, and always desirous of a quiet mount.
De Guader gave Oliver the rein and galloped forward.
'I am in sore distress, Emma,' said Eadgyth, as she joined her, 'for my
foolish Freya has rushed off after the rest of them, as if a gazehound
could pull down a wolf, forsooth! I much fear me she will be hurt.'
Almost as she spoke, the knights returned, one holding aloft the wolfs
head as a trophy; but another, a young Norman in De Guader's following,
Sir Aimand de Sourdeval by name, carried a wounded hound in his arms.
'It is Freya!' exclaimed Eadgyth, and, riding forward towards the
knight, she asked if her favourite was much wounded.
'Nothing dangerously, sweet donzelle,' replied Sir Aimand, looking up
with a bright smile, and evidently pleased to have so cheerful an
answer to give, both for the hound's sake and the lady's. 'A bite in
the forearm, nothing worse, though it lames her. I will bind it, with
your permission, when we reach the castle; I have a salve reckoned most
healing for the wounds of hounds, and I hope it may prove its worth in
the healing of thine.'
Eadgyth thanked the young knight for his courtesy with much sincerity,
for she had brought up the greyhound to her own hand, and the creature
was full of gentle ways and pretty tricks, which her mistress had
taught her, besides being exceptionally beautiful, with a satin skin as
white as milk and a body as lithe as any eel's.
It was a great relief to Eadgyth also to note how tenderly Sir Aimand
handled her favourite, so that the hound lay quite passive in his hold,
and she felt content to leave her to the knight's tender mercies.
When they reached the castle, Emma Fitzosbern found herself still
carrying the tassel-gentle on her wrist, and thought with a half sigh
that it would be hard to relinquish him, even if she were quite
prepared to renounce all that she must take with him. Nor did De Guader
give her opportunity to restore the bird to his keeping.
Later in the day, when the May sun was drawing nigh to the summits of
the Welsh hills, Emma, her riding garb exchanged for a silken robe of
pale blue, embroidered with pearls and silver and edged with vair, very
brave to look upon, swept down the long alleys that led from the
ladies' bower to the orchard, in company with her young sister-in-law,
the Countess of Hereford, and Dame Amicia de Reviers, a venerable lady,
who had been Emma's 'guide, philosopher, and governante' since the
daughter of Fitzosbern had first opened her grey-blue eyes upon this
wicked world, and who now found her aged infirmity soothed by the love
and trust of her whilom pupil.
Hereford is, and was, a famous apple country, and in those days it was
celebrated for both cider and grape wine. Just then, in the sweet
spring weather, the orchard was a pleasant place in which to while away
an hour. The insecurity of life making the protection of stone walls
imperative, prevented any extensive cultivation of garden flowers, and
gardens within castle precincts were necessarily circumscribed. But the
orchard was somewhat more free, though lofty walls surrounded it, over
which the trained branches of the vines spread in orderly growth, and
were putting forth tufts of tender bronze-green leaves at every spur.
Gillyflowers bloomed between their roots, and their wild yellow
brothers found space for their impudent needs on the crown of the
walls. Across the centre of the orchard ran a chattering brook, along
the banks of which kingcups made a golden line, and over which a little
bridge with toy battlements was built. The pear trees were covered with
snow-white flowers and the apples with rosy buds, and under the netted
shadows of their straggling boughs the rich green turf was gemmed with
primroses and daisies and buttercups; while merles and mavises sat
amongst the blossoms, striving which should sing the sweetest songs.
From the meadows and pastures beyond the walls came the lowing of cows
and the mellow voice of the cuckoo.
Emma carried the tassel-gentle on her wrist, and a page followed her
with a lure and dainty morsels wherewith to tempt the proud bird's
appetite; and when the countess and Dame Amicia sat down upon a bench
in a small arbour near the stream, she went forward to the bridge, and
bade the page set down his burden upon the wall. Then, leaning on the
parapet, she amused herself by casting off the bird for short flights,
and luring him back, teaching him to recognise the sound of her voice.
The other ladies, who were in view of the performance, applauded when
he obeyed her quickly.
Yet Emma had not fully accepted the gift of the bird, or decided what
her course should be. She was in great perplexity. In the morning,
jubilant with exercise, the glow and excitement of the chase upon her,
all difficulties had seemed light save that of renunciation, and the
qualified permission which Father Theodred had given her, to follow her
own heart in the matter, seemed to move all obstacles from her path.
Now, in cooler mood, her anxious spirit conjured up visions of
distress.
To defy the king was both sinful and dangerous. If she dwelt more on
the danger than the sin, she must not be judged by the standard of
later days. The idea of kingly divinity had scarcely blossomed into
flower in the chaos of those dark ages. Every powerful noble was a
sovereign on his own estate, and his followers fought his battles with
little scruple whether against king or peer. The feudal king-lord was
but first among peers, and very few noble houses could display a
scutcheon free from the blot of treason.
Vows of fealty and the sanctity of knightly honour notwithstanding, the
turbulent barons thought less of it than a modern politician of
changing his party. Indeed, they watched all kingly encroachments on
the power of their order with jealous eyes, and deemed it a duty to
stand by each other. Not till Warwick, 'the Kingmaker,' was laid low on
Barnet field, did the kingly ideal become paramount.
So Emma thought more of the blood that would flow if William were
defied, than of the heinousness of the defiance. Earl Ralph and her
brother would both be involved in trouble and sorrow. And all for her
foolish face! Oh, why had she not been born some plain, poor damsel,
over whose fate none would concern themselves?
She would not be a centre of strife and confusion! No, she would retire
into a convent and lead a life of penitence and prayer; and Ralph would
find another bride whom William would not grudge him.
But this pious resolution was accompanied by a deep sigh, and a look of
wistful longing at the hawk, as he came fluttering his strong,
sharp-pointed wings to her call. Perhaps he typified worldly joys to
her at the moment.
Just then two goodly gentlemen came striding across the greensward to
the arbour by the bridge, and Emma's heart gave a great leap, for she
felt that the time had come when, for weal or woe, she must make her
choice.
And the Earl of Hereford went into the arbour and sat down by his wife,
but the Earl of East Anglia came straight on to the bridge where Emma
stood. 'The tassel-gentle acknowledges the authority of his own liege
lady,' Ralph said, with a meaning smile, as he stopped beside her and
leaned his arm on the low parapet of the little bridge.
'I fear he learned not his loyalty from his master,' Emma replied,
looking in his face with earnest eyes.
'Nay, flout me not, dear lady,' pleaded De Guader. 'Give me an answer
to my question of yesternight. It is not like thee to prolong my
torture.'
[Illustration: Emma FitzOsbern accepts the Tassel-gentle.]
'Indeed, I know not what to answer thee,' said Emma in sad seriousness.
'My heart is torn with doubt. I cannot bear,' she said, laying her hand
upon his arm, as if to restrain his eagerness for combat, 'to be the
cause of strife. And strife it must mean, if thou shouldst marry me
against the king's will. William is not the man to take such defiance
smoothly.'
'Nor am I, nor is Hereford, the man to take his insult smoothly,'
answered Ralph, with blazing eyes. 'See'st thou not, the strife must
be? The insult is given, and can only be wiped out with blood!'
'Ah!'
'See'st thou not, my dove,' asked De Guader, taking the hand she had
laid upon his arm in both his own, 'thy decision has nought to do with
the strife? Indeed, thy refusal to have me now would but make mine
anger against William the more bitter, as I shall in that case owe him
the loss of my happiness as well as the affront to mine honour. No, the
point is this: I cannot urge thee to share strife and sorrow with me,
though,' and his eyes flashed fresh fires, 'the saints might favour me
that I won thee but higher honours in the end. If thy heart fails thee,
Hereford will send thee over-sea to thy brother in Normandy, where thou
canst dwell in peace and safety, while we fight our quarrel out. Fight
it out we must! 'Tis not William's first insult, but it shall be his
last.'
'Nay, if I cannot stay the strife, I will share it!' cried Emma,
touched to the quick. 'Thou dost me wrong to deem, even for an instant,
that I shrink for my own welfare's sake! 'Tis not in the nature of a
Fitzosbern!' Then, turning to the hawk, she said, 'Thou may'st know me
for thy liege lady, my brave tassel-gentle! I take thee, and thy master
with thee, but I fear he is by far less well reclaimed than thee!'