"Yes, sir, yes," said the King of England lolling upon his left leg,
and sticking out his right hip, as if he had dislocated the joint, at
the same time thrusting one hand into the wide open pocket of his
black velvet hose, "yes, sir, ye had better gang your way back. As
ye've staid awa sae lang, I think ye may stay awa a while mair. We'll
just conseeder o' the matter--haud your tongue, Steenie, nane o' yer
clavers; I've said the word!"
The Duke of Buckingham, who had stepped forward, as if to speak, drew
back again with a very significant and uncourtier like look of disgust
and impatience; but Buckingham by this time rested the ladder of
ambition rather upon the favour of the Prince than of the King, and
feared not every now and then to express his dissent somewhat boldly
from the Monarch's views.
James's words were addressed to Algernon, Earl of Hillingdon, who
stood before him in the midst of a circle of courtiers and flatterers
somewhat surprised at the cold, careless, determined manner of the
young peer.
The Monarch ended his sentence; but then, seeing that the young lord
did not withdraw, he added somewhat sharply: "God's life, man! you
shall know our pleasure when it is time."
"I hope your Majesty's pleasure may be to do me justice," answered
Algernon Grey; "but, by your gracious permission, I must add a few
words before I go. Famous lawyers, bearing high offices in your royal
court, have pronounced this marriage null by reason of the age of the
contracting parties. Ecclesiastical judges, appointed by yourself,
have come to the same conclusion. Your Majesty hesitates, from some
scruples, to suffer the sentence to be pronounced; but let me add,
that I must by some means soon learn whether this contract, entered
into in my infancy, is a marriage or not. If not, I have nought to
say; for all parties are free. But if the law pronounces it a
marriage, I must, without loss of time, move my peers for a divorce,
on account of the lady's adultery with a person high in your royal
favour."
"Hout, tout!" cried the King, with his sallow face flushing, and his
thick lips quivering, while his large tongue rolled round and round in
his mouth, as if he had a plum, or some other extraneous substance
therein; "By God! you shall have neither one, nor the other. What! are
we not oursels the supreme head both of the church and the law, God's
vicegerent in this puir kingdom of England! Awa wi' ye, sir; and let
me hear nae mair. Tak the man awa;" and with a blasphemous oath he
added: "ye'll drive me daft."
Prince Charles advanced to his father's side and tried to calm him;
while the Duke of Buckingham took the Earl's arm and led him gently
from the King's presence.
"Go, Hillingdon, go," he said; "and do not enrage him more. We will do
the best for you.--You have said too much already, my lord."
"Not more than was needful to say, Duke," replied Algernon Grey,
somewhat sharply; but then, feeling that irritation had made him
ungracious towards a man who had exerted himself strenuously in his
behalf, he took Buckingham's hand, adding, "Pardon me, your Grace, I
thank you a thousand times for all that you have done; but it moves
me, I do confess, to see a pitiful, unworthy, ungentlemanly upstart,
like this Lord Marston, have power to pervert the course of justice
and impede the operation of the law. This is a bitter disappointment
to me altogether; and your Grace must pardon something in a man so
circumstanced."
"I do, I do," answered Buckingham; "and I counsel you but for your own
advantage. Leave the kingdom as soon as may be, and trust to me and
his Royal Highness." He paused an instant; and then, laying his hand
on Algernon's arm, he added, with a proud and significant air, "This
man is my enemy, as well as yours! Is not that sufficient?"
"Methinks, it ought to be," said Algernon Grey; "but in this strange
world, where merit and unworthiness, wisdom and folly, seem
alternately to succeed, as if upon the chances of the dice, one may be
permitted always to doubt what will come next. However, I will follow
your Grace's advice; and, repeating my thanks, withdraw."
"The sooner the better," replied Buckingham; "for the Tower is near at
hand; and your best friends might find it difficult to keep you out,
if the King be wilful; or to get you out, if once in."
Thus saying, he turned away; and Algernon Grey retired from the
palace, and proceeded to his house on the bank of the river, in what
is, and was then called, the Strand.
"Pack up everything for instant departure, Tony," he said, speaking to
his old servant, who opened the door of his bed-room for him. "Let the
barge be ready in half an hour, and call a wherry up to the stairs at
the end of the garden. See that all the men be warned that they will
have to embark to-night on board the 'Mary Anne,' for Rotterdam."
The good man looked in his lord's face, and for a moment was inclined
to ask,--"Has all been settled to your satisfaction?" but the
expression of Algernon's countenance was answer sufficient; and,
without a word, he retired to make the arrangements required. It is
strange the influence of the character of a master upon servants and
dependants. There be some men, who, without any effort to conciliate
or win regard, seem to command it; and their joys or sorrows diffuse
themselves around, as it were in eddies, to the utmost limit of those
who know them. A few words from the old servant, as he communicated
his lord's commands to the rest of the household, spread gloom over
the whole; and the attendants went about their preparations with a sad
and sorrowful air, as if each had received some personal
disappointment.
At the end of half an hour, Algernon Grey issued forth from his
chamber with several written papers in his hand. They were merely
orders, which he was more inclined to write than to speak. The greater
part of his attendants were to accompany him to Germany; but were to
wait where they were an hour or two for the return of his barge, which
was now ready to convey him, with six or seven whom he had selected,
to a vessel about to sail for the mouth of the Rhine. The rest were to
remain in London till they heard farther. Some stores of arms, not yet
ready, were to be sent after him to Germany in another vessel.
Especial care was ordered to be taken of his tenantry, and of two or
three old pensioners of the family; and, according to a laudable
custom of that time, which the law of Elizabeth had not altogether
abrogated, a certain sum was to be distributed in weekly alms to any
deserving poor.
Several of his principal servants delayed his departure for a short
time by asking directions in various matters which he had not
remembered; but ere an hour and a half had passed, after he had
quitted the palace, he was floating on the broad bosom of the Thames;
and, in about half an hour more, had embarked for Rotterdam. His
followers showed zealous punctuality in joining him without delay.
Baggage and arms were embarked safely; and, with the first tide that
night the ship dropped down the river. The passage could hardly be
called fair, for it blew a gale from river-mouth to river-mouth; but
the wind was favourable, and speed was all he cared for.
Often he asked himself, however, why he should so eagerly press
forward; what but pain and grief lay before him; what he had to
communicate to her he best loved, but doubt, uncertainty, and
disappointment; and yet the thought of seeing her again, of holding
her hand in his--of gazing into those beautiful and speaking eyes--of
reading there love, and hope, and confidence--of gaining new trust for
the future from her very look, drew him onward, and formed at least
one bright spot in the future, which all the cares and sorrows that
surrounded him had no power to cloud. Then, again, at times, he would
revolve all that had taken place in England since he had again visited
his native land; and he would ask himself, with doubt, whether all had
been fair in the conduct of those who professed themselves his
friends, and pretended to support his cause. Whether Buckingham was
sincere,--whether Prince Charles himself had not been deceiving him?
and then he would accuse himself of mean suspicions, and try to cast
them from his mind. There was one point, indeed, on which the more he
thought, the more he doubted. Had the Lady Catherine's family, though
affecting to urge the nullification of the marriage, really exerted
themselves to the utmost? They were powerful; in high favour at court,
and he could not but remember that the contract between the lady and
himself, while both were mere children, had been first proposed by the
very uncle with whom she now lived,--a man not very pure in morals,
and ambitious in character. Ere he reached the shores of Holland, he
resolved to take one step more, to write to the Lady Catherine
herself, and, telling her he had done all he could to set her free
from an engagement she detested, leave her to move her own relations
to exert themselves more strenuously than before. He would trust the
letter, he thought, to his old servant and the page,--the one having
many friends in the household to which he was sent, from whom he was
sure to learn much of the past; the other being of a character almost
too remarking, who would form a very sure notion of the disposition of
all parties at present. He gave them no orders, indeed, to inquire or
to observe, but simply sent them back to England with the letter, as
soon as his foot touched the shore, desiring them to obtain an answer,
and hasten to join him at Heidelberg.
The voyage up the Rhine, in those days, was slow and difficult; but
for some way the strife which was then actually going on in the Low
Countries, deterred him from landing; and it was only when he reached
the first state of the Protestant Union that he disembarked with his
followers, and took his way forward on horseback. Many difficulties
and impediments delayed him on the road; and rumours continually
reached him of the movements of contending armies in the Palatinate,
some true, and many false. He gathered, however, from all accounts,
that the temporary prosperity which had visited the arms of the King
of Bohemia had by this time passed away; that Mansfeld had retreated
into Alsace; that the Prince of Orange had been recalled to Holland;
that greater discord than ever reigned among the united princes, and
that Horace Vere and his troops, nearly confined to the town of
Mannheim and its immediate neighbourhood, could effect little or
nothing, against a superior force led by one of the first generals of
the age. Tilly, with the united Bavarian, Austrian, and Spanish
armies, ranged and ravaged the Palatinate without check. Frankenthal,
indeed, resisted still; but there was no power in the open field to
protect the villages from oppression, or to maintain the smaller towns
against the invader. Every report he received was more or less gloomy;
and by some it was stated that Heidelberg itself was menaced, while
others represented that the city was already invested.
All these accounts but served to make the young Englishman press more
eagerly forward. The men, as well as their horses, were wearied with
the rapid advance; but they did not complain, for they all
comprehended the feelings in their lord's bosom; and there was
sufficient of chivalry, even in the lower classes of that day, to make
them think it would be hard that he should be kept from the lady whom
he loved, simply because they were tired. Thus, on the ninth day after
they had reached Rotterdam, they entered the dominions of the Elector
Palatine; and, after a weary march through the plains of the Rhine,
with no intelligence but vague rumours amongst the peasantry, they
reached, towards nightfall, a large village about eight miles from
Mannheim, and somewhat more from Heidelberg. During the last day's
journey, sad traces of the ravages of war had been apparent at every
step. Villages burnt, houses and churches in ruins, and here and there
a dead body lying unburied within a few yards of the road, had marked
the devastating course; but the village that they now approached
seemed to have escaped better than most of those they had met with;
and a barricade drawn across the end of the little street showed that
it had been prepared for defence by one or other of the contending
parties. A number of the peasantry, armed with heavy arquebuses,
presented themselves to the eyes of Algernon Grey just within the
barricade; and a loud call to halt and keep off was almost instantly
followed by two or three unceremonious shots, which, luckily, did not
take effect. Bidding his men retire a little, the young Englishman
rode on alone, and was suffered to approach the barrier; but, though
he spoke to the peasants in German, begging shelter and repose for at
least a few hours, his foreign accent created suspicion; and, with a
sagacious shake of the head, the leader of the peasantry told him that
they knew better.
"Well, my brave man," answered Algernon Grey, "you seem to be
frightened by a very small number; I have not thirty men with me in
all; and, if I were an enemy, it would be much more dangerous for me
to trust myself within your place than for you to let me in; however,
if I must ride on to Heidelberg with weary men and horses, it cannot
be helped; but you are not serving your Prince, I can tell you; for I
am one of the King's officers, and was with him in Prague."
"Heidelberg!" said the peasant; "I doubt that you will get in. Whom do
you want in Heidelberg?"
"Either Colonel Herbert or the Baron of Oberntraut," answered the
young Englishman.
"The Baron of Oberntraut!" said the good man, eyeing the other from
head to foot; "you may find him without going to Heidelberg--perhaps
sooner than you like, if you be what I think."
"Whatever you may think," answered Algernon Grey, "I cannot find him
sooner than I should like."
"Well, then, I will send for some one to show you where he is,"
replied the peasant. "It is not far; and he has two hundred good
Reiters with him." Thus saying, he turned to the people who surrounded
him, and whispered a word or two to a light, active lad. The latter
instantly laid down his arquebuse, and ran full speed up the village.
"The Baron is in the place, my good friend," said Algernon Grey at
once. "I understand it all; so you can have no objection to open your
barrier and let me in alone to speak with him."
But the worthy peasant was a very cautious man; and he would not
venture even upon so safe a step till, in about five minutes,
Oberntraut himself was seen coming down the street on foot; the next
moment Algernon's hand was grasped in his. The men were brought into
the village and obtained some scanty refreshment; and in the mean
time, while night fell rapidly, the two gentlemen walked up and down
before the church in eager conversation. Algernon Grey now learned
that Tilly, reinforced by a large detachment from the army of the
Archduke, had been for the last three days drawing nearer and nearer
to Heidelberg, evidently with the intention of besieging that city.
"He has not men enough to invest it entirely," said Oberntraut; "but,
alas! there are too few in the place to defend it long against the
force he has."
"Then I will go on to-night," answered Algernon Grey; "under such
circumstances every arm is something."
"Your men may indeed give assistance," said the young Baron; "mine are
only accustomed to the open field and their horses' backs; therefore
they can be of more service without than within. I will give you
escort, however, as far as Neunheim; for the way is not without
danger."
"Where does Tilly lie?" asked Algernon Grey. "It would take a large
force to close all communication with the town."
"The last news showed all his foot at Rohrbach," answered Oberntraut,
"and his horse scattered about by Wiesloch, Russloch, and Wieblingen.
There are few parties, if any, on this side of the Neckar; but they
cross from time to time, especially at night; so that it will be
better that I and my people should go with you. We may, perhaps, gain
some advantage by the way."
In the latter expectation, however, Oberntraut was disappointed. The
whole forces of the Bavarian general remained on the other side of the
Neckar; and Algernon and Oberntraut, with their several forces,
reached Neunheim without seeing any human beings, except a few of the
unfortunate peasantry, who fled across the fields as soon as they
heard the sound of horses' feet.
Furnished with the pass-word, Algernon Grey presented himself at the
gates of the bridge, and was immediately recognised by the officer on
guard, who had seen him before at Prague. The news spread amongst the
soldiery of a reinforcement having come to the aid of the garrison;
the word passed from mouth to mouth over the bridge and into the city.
Some of the boys and the students, who were loitering about, took it
up; a little crowd collected, gathering as it went, and accompanied
the English party with loud cheers to the gates of the castle.
The sounds reached Agnes Herbert, as she sat sad and lonely in her own
chamber; and, with the presentiment of love, a glow spread over her
cheek; a thrill passed through her whole frame; and, leaning her head
upon her hand, she wept under the struggle of hope and fear. Some time
passed by, however; and every thing remained quiet and sad; for
Algernon Grey had been, in the first instance, led to the apartments
of the governor Merven, which lay in a distant part of the castle.
Hope gave way to apprehension: "I have deceived myself," she thought;
"it is not he! The place will be invested; and he will not be able to
force his way in;" but at the end of half an hour, there were rapid
steps heard coming along the corridor. She knew her father's foot; but
there was another, too, the tread of which was hardly less familiar to
her ear. Joy overpowered her more than sorrow had ever done. She could
not rise--she could not move from her chair; but, with her eyes
raised, her hands clasped, her bosom heaving with the quick, short
breath of expectation, she gazed towards the door. The next moment
there was a light knock; she had hardly strength to say, "Come in;"
but, whether he heard the words or not, Herbert threw it open and drew
back to let her lover pass in first.
What a painful thing is the struggle between the natural feelings of
the heart and the conventional modes of life! Had Agnes given way to
what she felt, she would have sprung to Algernon's arms and poured
forth her love upon his bosom; but she dared not; and, rising with
timid grace, her cheek flushed with emotion, and eyes in which the
tears would scarcely be restrained, she glided forward, with her fair
hand extended.
He took it and pressed his hands upon it warmly, tenderly, eagerly;
but she remarked at once that there was a melancholy shade upon his
brow, a look of sadness in his eyes. What could it mean? she asked
herself. A letter, received ten days before, breathed nothing but hope
and joyful expectation; it had told of difficulties overcome, of all
obstacles removed, of a clear course towards love, and union, and
happiness. Whence could that sadness proceed, then? It must arise from
the dangerous position of the town; from the thoughts of the
approaching siege; from a knowledge of the weakness of the garrison;
from the apprehension of danger to those he loved; from any thing--any
thing, Agnes was willing to believe, but new obstacles, fresh barriers
having risen up between him and her. Every thing but that was light to
her. Perils she feared not; privations she was ready to endure; but
upon the thought of disappointed love she dared not suffer her mind to
rest even for a moment.
No time, however, was given for explanation; for, after a very few
words had been spoken, Herbert took her lover's arm, saying, "There,
my dear child, I was resolved that you should see our friend safe and
well; but now I must go to visit the new redoubt I am throwing up
behind the Alte Schloss; for it must be carried on night and day; and
he has promised to go with me."
Thus saying, he turned to the door; but Algernon Grey lingered yet for
a moment, saying, in a low voice, "I must find a moment to speak with
you alone to-morrow, dearest Agnes. Matters do not proceed so quickly
as I could wish, but all will go well, I trust."
The door closed upon them, and Agnes Herbert sank into her seat again,
and sadly covered her eyes with her hand. Oh, how often in life is the
long looked-for moment of joy alloyed by bitter disappointment!