"My son, what hast thou done to thyself?"
Edred was stumbling across the courtyard, supported by Julian, his
face streaming with blood and muffled in a great kerchief. He was
unable to speak himself, but Julian spoke eagerly for him.
"I trow the fault is half mine. It was done in tilting. I was
careless, and saw not that Edred's guard was down. I fear me I have
something hurt him. I trust it is not the eye. Look to it quickly,
sweet mother. It was a nasty blow."
"It is not of serious nature," muttered Edred through his
wrappings; "it will be well right quickly."
The mother hurried the two boys into a small room of her own where
she kept medicaments of various kinds, and where all wounds of a
trifling character were washed and dressed. Julian hurried to fetch
her all she needed; and just at that moment Sir Oliver came hastily
in looking for his wife.
"How now, Edred?" he exclaimed. "Hast thou been in the wars again?"
for Edred was something famed for getting hard knocks and ugly
scratches in his mimic encounters with his more skilled and
dexterous brothers. "Why, boy, but this is a worse business than
usual. I am sorry for it, for I had something purposed to take thee
with me to Windsor on the next morrow, as well as Bertram, and show
thee to the king, and give thee a glimpse of the world of court.
But if thou be in such plight as this, thou wilt scarce be fit to
go."
"I must await another time," muttered Edred, in the same indistinct
way, and Julian added with an air of chagrin:
"It was a villainous mischance. I would I had been more careful. I
am always having the ill luck to hurt Edred."
"Nay, the fault is mine!" exclaimed the other boy.
"And now thou wilt be hindered from seeing the king and his fine
court."
"Perchance thou wilt go in my stead."
"Nay, that will I not. An thou stayest at home for fault of mine, I
will stay to keep thee company.
"Now, gentle mother, prithee see if he be much hurt. I cannot rest
till I know."
The lady was ready now to make her examination, and gently removed
the rude wrappings the boys had made for themselves. Edred's face
presented an ugly appearance as these were taken away. He had a
great gash across his brow, which passed dangerously near to the
eye, and had laid open the cheek almost as far as the mouth, and
knocked out one back tooth. The knight looked concerned at the
magnitude of the damage, and spoke rather sharply to Julian.
"Thou must have a care with these weapons of thine, or thou wilt do
thy brother a fatal mischief one of these days. See, boy, had that
blow of thine swerved but the half of an inch, thy brother would
have lost the sight of an eye forever--nay, he might have lost his
life; for an injury to the eye oft penetrates to the brain, and
then the skill of the leech is of no avail.
"Good wife, is thy skill sufficient for these hurts? or shall we
send to seek a surgeon's aid?"
"Methinks I can do all that is needful. They are ugly scratches and
painful, but not over deep. The lad will not be scarred, methinks,
when the wound is well healed. See, it looks better already after
the bathing.
"Run, Julian, for the roll of lint and the strapping in yon
cupboard.
"The boy will be a sorry spectacle for a few short days, but after
that I trow he will feel none the worse."
"It is but a scratch," said Edred, speaking more freely now, though
with a mumbling accent, as though his lips were swollen, which,
indeed, one of them was. "I scarce feel it, now it is bathed. Do
not look so grave anent the matter, my father."
Sir Oliver, relieved to find matters no worse, went on his way; and
Lady Chadgrove proceeded to bind up and plaster the bruised face
with the skill and dexterity of which she was mistress. She had no
attention to spare for Julian, or she might have been surprised to
note that he secreted for himself a certain amount of the dressing
she had used, and looked on very intently whilst she applied the
remainder to his brother's face.
When her ministrations were accomplished, Edred was greatly
disguised. His face was almost entirely swathed in linen, and one
eye was completely bandaged up. Julian laughed aloud as he saw the
object presented by his brother; and Edred would have joined in the
laugh if he had had free play with his facial muscles.
The mother looked gently scandalized.
"Sure, it is no laughing matter, Julian. I am not wont to make much
of these boyish mischiefs. Lads must learn to give and to take hard
blows as they grow to manhood. Yet I would that thou wert something
more careful. Thou mightest have killed thy brother, or have caused
him life-long injury, today."
Julian looked grave enough then; but Edred caressed his mother
gently, saying:
"Nay, chide him not. He is the best of brothers. It was as much my
fault as his."
And then the pair went away together, and did not pause until they
had reached their own room, when they suddenly seized each other by
the hand and commenced cutting extraordinary capers, indicative of
a secret understanding and triumph.
"It could not have turned out better," said Edred, speaking stiffly
with his bandaged face and swollen lips.
"I fear me thou dost suffer somewhat."
"It is naught. I scarce feel it, now mother has bound it up. And
thy stroke was wondrous skilful, Julian--brow and eye and mouth all
scratched."
"The praise should be thine for standing thus rigid to let me thus
mark thee. Hadst thou flinched, as many another would have done--as
I should have done, I trow--it could not have been done a tithe as
well. Wrapped and bandaged as thou must be these next days to come,
not a creature could know thee. Everything can be carried out
according to the plan. Not even our father will suspect aught. The
only fear is lest thou shouldst take a fever or somewhat of that
sort, so that they say thou must not ride forth a few miles with
our father when he fares forth to Windsor at the dawning of the
next morrow after tomorrow's dawn."
"No fear of that," answered Edred boldly. "I am not wont to trouble
a sickbed. I have had knocks and blows as hard as this before. Art
sure thou hast enough of the linen and the strapping to serve the
purpose? And dost think thou canst apply it rightly? It will be thy
hands, not mine, that must do all that. I shall be far away when
the moment comes. Art sure that thou canst do all as it should be
done? Thou and Bertram will have all the last arrangements to carry
through. How my heart will be in my mouth until I see thee and my
double approaching in the gray light of the morning!"
"I trow we shall not disappoint thee!" cried the boy excitedly;
adding after a moment's pause, "Methinks in the matter of artifice
both Bertram and I can beat thee, albeit thou art the best of us in
other matters. What a boon that that fat, slothful, ignorant monk
no longer shares this room! That might have been a rare trouble.
But since he loves well the soft bed of the guest chamber in lieu
of these hard pallets, he is not like to trouble us again. They put
their trust in the spies around the house. Let their spies do their
worst, I trow we shall outwit them yet."
And the boys took hands again and renewed their impromptu triumph
dance. Their hearts were brimming over with satisfaction and hope.
They had had a tough problem to think out during the past days, but
now it seemed in a fair way of solution.
When the prior had left Chad after the banquet prepared for him, he
professed himself perfectly satisfied that the missing Brother
Emmanuel was not concealed upon the premises yet for all that,
since the Lord of Mortimer had declared himself still dissatisfied,
and because the escape of the monk was difficult to credit, nothing
having been seen or heard of him abroad, he judged it wise still to
keep his watch upon the place, that all might be satisfied that no
precaution had been left untaken.
Sir Oliver had briefly, and with a slight accent of scorn, agreed
with all the prior said, and had professed himself perfectly
agreeable to the arrangement. He had nothing to hide either in his
own comings and goings or in those of any member of his household.
So long as his movements were not interfered with or his liberties
infringed, the whole forest might be alive with spies for all that
he cared. He had not known of the first watch set upon his house,
and he was indifferent to the second. He should be soon leaving
home to seek the king, and all he demanded was that the sanctity of
his house should be duly regarded in his absence. Of course the
prior fully agreed to that. Indeed, after the rigorous and
exhaustive search that had been already made, there was no reason
why any further entrance should be made into Chad.
But although Sir Oliver had heard this mandate with indifference
and contempt, it had filled the hearts of the boys with dismay. In
a week's time the vessel would sail that was to carry Brother
Emmanuel away to foreign soil, and out of the clutches of his
present enemies; and if this guard around the house were to be
maintained all that while, what chance had they of smuggling their
fugitive away and down to the coast, as they had set their hearts
on doing?
But inasmuch as necessity has ever been the mother of invention,
and the lads were not only bold and fearless but ready of resource,
they had laid their heads together with some good effect, and now
the first and one of the most important steps of the little drama
had been carried to a successful conclusion.
The next day was a busy and bustling one at Chad. Upon the morrow
its lord and master rode forth to Windsor with his eldest son and
the best of his followers. There was a great burnishing of arms and
grooming and feeding of steeds. Every man was looking up his best
riding dress and putting it into spic-and-span order, and the whole
place rang with the sound of cheery voices and the clash of steel.
In and out and backwards and forwards throughout the day passed the
three boys, watching everything, asking eager questions of all, and
expressing keen interest in the whole expedition.
Edred was of course a great figure. His face was all swathed up.
One side was completely concealed by the wrappings, and as he found
the light trying to even the other eye, his plumed hat was drawn
low down over his brow, so that no one would have guessed who he
was but for the fact that his mishap was well known by this time to
all the household.
Even after supper the restless boys could not keep still. Edred and
Julian had won their father's consent to riding some few miles with
him on the morrow towards Windsor, and they ran off as soon as the
meal was concluded to visit their steeds and see that their saddles
were in order. After they had done this, they sallied out by one of
the smaller gates to take an evening stroll in the wood, calling
out to the custodian of the portal that they should return by the
great gate.
They wandered away some distance into the wood; but when they
returned it was only Bertram and Julian who entered the gate and
went up to their sleeping room. However, as nobody at the larger
entrance had seen the three sally forth, no remark was occasioned
by the return of only two; and it was supposed that Edred would
have retired early, since he was in somewhat battered plight, and
had to recover strength for the early start upon the morrow.
When they reached their room that night, Bertram and Julian
carefully locked the door behind them--a precaution they did not
often take; and when they took from the great chest their own best
riding suits, they also took out Edred's and looked it well over.
"It will fit him to a nicety," said Bertram. "He and Edred are
almost of a height, and both slim and slightly built. His pale
face, so much as may be seen beneath the white linen, will look
mightily like Edred's in the gray light of the early morn. This hat
has a mighty wide brim--well that Edred affects such headgear.
Pulled over his eyes, as he wore it yesterday, there be scarce a
feature to be seen. We have but to say he is something late, take
him his breakfast to eat up here, and get him on to horseback
whilst all the bustle is going on, and not even our father will
know him. He may ride past the spies with head erect and fearless
mien, for there is not one of them but saw Edred this day, and will
know at a glance who rides betwixt us twain with the white linen
about his head!"
Sir Oliver had decided rather late in the day to take his lady with
him. She was in great favour always with the queen, and of late
they had heard that the health of that gracious lady was something
failing. It would be a graceful attention on the part of the
mistress of Chad to visit her and learn of her welfare, and it was
known that the queen had considerable influence with the king, and
he might well give more favourable notice to Sir Oliver's plea were
his wife to urge it upon him in response to what the lady might
tell to her of their recent troubles with their haughty neighbour.
So that there was even more stir and excitement than usually
attended an early morning's start. The sun was not yet up, and the
gray dimness of the coming summer's day enshrouded the great
courtyard as Bertram and Julian descended to it with a slim figure
between them clad in a riding dress similar to their own, the
slouched hat drawn over the face, which face was well wrapped and
muffled in white linen, as Edred's had been the previous day.
The lady of the house came out with a look of preoccupation upon
her face. She noted that the boys were already in the saddle, and
smiled.
"Always in such haste," she said, as her own palfrey was led up.
"But, Edred my son, why didst thou not come to me to have thy hurts
looked to this morn? I was expecting thee."
"Sweet mother, I bound them for him today!" cried Julian eagerly.
"Methought I must learn to be his leech since thou wast going with
our father, and we knew that thou wouldst have much to do and to
think of. Methinks I have not done amiss. It scarce looks as neat
as though thy skilful fingers had had the care of it; but he says
it feels not amiss, and that is a great thing."
"Ay, verily; and I am glad thou hast skill enough for his needs.
"Be cautious, Edred my son, that the cold gets not to the hurts.
Draw up the collar of thy mantle well over that left cheek of
thine, and do not talk whilst the air bites so keenly. When the sun
is up all will be well; but be cautious in the first chill of the
dawn."
The brothers went towards their companion, and rearranged the
collar of his riding cloak so as still more to conceal his face.
The hands of the younger lad were trembling somewhat; there was a
quivering of the muscles of the face which betokened some repressed
emotion. The muffled rider did not speak or make much movement. He
obeyed the injunction of the lady of Chad to the letter.
Sir Oliver now appeared, and lifted his wife upon her palfrey. He
gave a look to see that his sons were mounted, and his servants
standing ready to follow his example when he sprang to the saddle.
Then his charger was led up, and he mounted and gave the word, and
the little cavalcade moved out through the gate and into the still,
dim forest track, watched intently by more than one pair of keen,
sharp, suspicious eyes.
"I trust when I come back," remarked the knight to his lady, "that
yon spies will have grown weary of their bootless watch, and will
have taken themselves off. It is but the malice and suspicion of
the Lord of Mortimer which causes the prior to act so. Alone he
would never trouble himself. He knows that Brother Emmanuel is not
at Chad, and has not been these many days. Wherever he be, he has
escaped the malice of his foes this time. Heaven send that he may
long escape! He was a godly and a saintly man, and no more heretic
than thou or I. If the Church will persist in warring thus against
her own truest sons, then indeed will she provoke some great
judgment upon her own head. A house divided against itself can
never stand, and she above all others should know that."
The spies had been some time passed before Sir Oliver spoke these
words, and when he did so they were only loud enough to reach the
ears of his wife and of his sons, who rode immediately behind him.
Two of these turned their heads for a moment to look at him who
rode between them, but his face was far too well concealed for its
expression to be seen.
A few miles further on and a pause was made. Julian suggested that
he and Edred should be turning back; whilst the mother, who thought
that Edred was scarce fit for the saddle yet, seconded the idea
with approbation.
They were passing through a very dark part of the forest, where the
trees grew dense, and where on one side the sandstone rose up in a
wall, quite keeping out the level rays of the rising sun. It was
almost as dim as night in this overgrown spot.
Julian sprang to his feet, and went and dutifully kissed the hand
both of father and mother, and the bandaged lad with the concealed
face followed his example, touching both hands reverently and
gratefully, and murmuring some words of farewell that were only
indistinctly heard in the champing of bits and stamping of
impatient horse hoofs. Then whilst the mother still laid many
charges upon Julian to be careful of his brother, and bent a few
anxious regards upon the injured lad himself, Sir Oliver gave the
signal for riding on again, as they had a long day's journey before
them; and the little cavalcade vanished quickly into the forest,
leaving the two companions and their respective steeds standing
alone in that dim place.
When the last of the horses had quite vanished, and the sound of
their steps was no longer to be heard, Julian flung his cap
suddenly into the air, and uttered a long and peculiar cry.
Almost immediately that cry was answered from some place near at
hand, and in a few minutes more a figure strangely like the one
standing at Julian's side emerged from the sheltering underwood,
leading by the rein a small forest pony, such as were much used in
that part of the country. With bandaged face, hat drawn over the
brows, and collar turned up to the ears, the newcomer was the very
counterpart of the motionless figure in the path, save that the
latter wore the better dress. Julian burst into a great laugh as
the two stood facing each other; but for Edred the meeting was
fraught with too much of thankful relief for him to be able to join
in his brother's hilarity, and after standing very still for a
moment, he suddenly bent his knee, and felt a hand laid upon his
head in mute blessing.
Then Brother Emmanuel removed the wrappings from his head, and
looked from one brother to the other with a world of gratitude in
his dark eyes. But it was a time for action, not words, and that
mute, eloquent gaze was all that passed at present.
"We have a servant's dress ready in the hut hard by," said Edred
quickly; "and then we must to horse again and get to the coast as
fast as may be. Yon sturdy little pony good Warbel has provided
will serve us as well as any stouter nag, and look more in keeping
with the humble part thou must play this day, Brother Emmanuel.
Come, let us change our dress quickly. I love not to linger in this
forest, even though we be five good miles from Chad."
Julian took care of the three horses, whilst Edred and the
disguised monk made their way through the thick growth of
underwood.
When they reappeared it seemed to the boy as though the monk was as
greatly disguised now as he had been with the wrappings of linen
about his face. Certainly none but a spy on the watch and on the
right scent would recognize in this serving man the young
ecclesiastic of a few weeks back.
There was a stubble of beard upon his lips and chin which was in
itself a marvellous disguise. He wore a loose riding dress, with a
slouch hat and a high collar to the cloak which shaded and changed
the outline of his features. There was nothing of the monk in his
look, save perhaps in the steady glance of his eyes, where a bright
intelligence and keen devotion beamed.
Julian flung his cap into the air again as he cried joyously:
"Why, not even the lord prior himself would know thee now. Sure,
thou mightest almost have ridden past the spies themselves thus
habited. We may push on in open daylight now, and none will heed
thy presence."
Edred had now put on the riding dress which Brother Emmanuel had
hitherto worn, so that on their return the same pair might be seen
to re-enter the house. The disguised monk mounted the forest pony
and followed his young masters, who pushed on quietly to the coast,
feeling a greater and greater security with every mile they put
between themselves and their home.
It was the day for the sailing of the sloop that would carry the
monk away to a safe retreat. They were not afraid of losing the
boat, for it was not to sail till nightfall; but their impatience
acted like a spur, and drove them steadily forward; and save for
the needful halts to refresh themselves and their beasts, they did
not tarry or draw rein.
It was growing towards the westering of the sun when they beheld
the great sea lying before them far below, and Edred's eyes glowed
with joy as he saw the white-winged shallops flitting hither and
thither on the wide expanse of blue water, and pictured how soon
Brother Emmanuel would be sailing away out of the reach of peril.
Truly God had been very good in hearing and answering prayer. Edred
had, by some instinct for which he could not account, addressed his
prayers of late less to the blessed Virgin and more to the Son of
God Himself--struck, perhaps, by the words he had heard from the
lips of the heretic peddler about the "one Mediator, the man Christ
Jesus." He now turned in his saddle and waited till Brother
Emmanuel came up. It was too solitary a place for them to care to
keep up the appearance of master and servant.
Riding thus side by side, Brother Emmanuel talked with the boys out
of the fulness of his heart. His week of captivity had been spent
in deep and earnest thought, and some of these thoughts were
imparted to the boys in that last serious talk. He bid them hold in
all reverence and godly fear that Church which was the body of
Christ, and those ordinances which had been given at the beginning
for the perfecting of the saints, and which were God's ways of
dealing with man. But he warned them in solemn tones of the fearful
disease which had attacked the body, and which threatened a fearful
remedy before that body could be cleansed; he warned them also of
the perils which beset the path of those who should live to see the
coming struggle. There would be men who would vow that whatever the
Church said and did must be right because the Church was the body
of Christ, not knowing that even that body can become corrupt
(though never the Head) if the will of man be put in the stead of
the will of God; and these would cling to the corruptions as
closely as to the ordinances of God, and become bitter persecutors
of those who would arise and seek to cleanse and renew the body by
God-given remedies. But again there would be men who would arise
and deny that there was a body, would condemn the very name of the
Church, and avow that what the Lord wanted was not a body, but a
number of individuals each seeking light and salvation in his own
fashion. That would be a fearful evil--an evil which would rend the
body into a thousand schisms, and bring down at last the heavy
wrath of God, who has from the beginning taught men that the body
must be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing before it can be
fit to be the bride of the Lamb.
The young monk earnestly strove to show the perils of both these
ways to the boys who rode beside him, and his words were earnestly
listened to, and, by one at least, laid seriously to heart, to be
remembered in after days almost as the words of prophecy, and
destined to have a lasting effect upon his own future career.
From that day Edred renounced all thought of the monastic life,
feeling that such a life would but trammel his conscience and
stultify his judgment. He resolved to live his life in the world,
whilst seeking to be not of the world. How that resolve was kept
there is no space in these pages to tell.
Slowly and quietly the three friends jogged down into the little
fishing and trading hamlet that lay at the base of the cliffs. In
the small bay lay one or two sloops and frigates, and it was not
hard to find the owner of the one which was to sail that night and
carry Brother Emmanuel away. Julian found the man, and made all
arrangements; whilst Edred saw that Brother Emmanuel made a
sufficient meal, and sat talking with him to the very last,
drinking in new thoughts and aspirations with every word, and
striving, in the joy of knowing his beloved preceptor to be safe,
to still the ache at heart which this parting involved.
The sun was just setting as the boat bearing Brother Emmanuel to
the sloop pushed off from shore. The skipper resolved to set sail
forthwith, and the boys stood watching whilst she shook out her
canvas to the favouring breeze, and glided like a white-winged sea
bird out from the shelter of the bay and into the wide ocean.
There were smarting tears in Edred's eyes despite his joy and
relief. But Julian had room only for the latter feeling, and waved
his cap with an air of exultant triumph as the sails expanded more
and more and the little vessel went skimming its way over the
shining sea.
"He is safe, and we have saved him!" he cried with flashing eyes.
"Let men say what they will, but he was no heretic. I fear not but
that we have done right in the sight of God, even though we may not
whisper in the confessional this deed, nor receive priestly
absolution therefor."
"God will give us His pardon if we have done amiss," said Edred
thoughtfully. "But I have no fear that He regards this deed as a
sin. It was done in His name, and as such will He receive it."
"Yes, verily; though perchance it were better to leave such words
unsaid. And now we must to horse and make all speed back to Chad.
As it is we shall not reach it till after nightfall, and they will
something wonder at our delay."
"They will but think we went far and rested long for thy sake. We
have travelled leisurely today to keep the horses fresh. We can
travel back in the cool right merrily. It is but twenty miles. We
can take the most of it at a hand gallop."
The boys and the horses were alike refreshed and ready for a gallop
through the cool evening air, rushing on as fast as the nature of
the road would let them, they reached Chad in three hours, and rode
beneath the gateway just as the old seneschal was wondering how
much longer he must wait before he closed the gate for the night.
The spies saw them ride in, as they had (to their thinking) seen
them ride out; and all unconscious that the prey had escaped their
vigilance, continued their weary and fruitless watch with the
pertinacity which in so many like cases had given them success at
the last.
One bright evening some three weeks later the bugle at the gate was
loudly blown, and Edred and Julian came flying out to welcome their
eldest brother, who had ridden hither with some dozen servants to
bring news to his brothers at home.
"We have had marvellous good hap. The king received us right
graciously, and heard our story with kingly friendliness and
goodwill. He is none of your bigoted, priest-ridden monarchs; and
although he hates true heresy, and would destroy it root and
branch, he cries shame that all enlightened men who would cleanse
the Church from some of her corrupt practices should be branded by
that evil term. The great and worthy Dean Colet was called in, and
he knows well the pamphlet Brother Emmanuel wrote, and says it is a
work which should be read and taken to heart by all. That such a
man should be dubbed a heretic is vile and wicked; and right glad
were all to hear that he had escaped the malice of his enemies, and
fled where they could not reach him. I did not dare even then to
tell all the tale, but I said how we had laid our heads together
and had helped him to escape. The king and the queen themselves
praised me for our courage, and called me a good lad and a brave
one not even to trouble our father with the knowledge of a secret
that might have made ill work for him.
"My Lord of Mortimer had not been idle. He had been before us in
seeking the king; but as good chance befell, he had a quarrel with
young Henry, the king's fiery son; and the prince was mightily
offended, and made his sire offended likewise. Wherefore Mortimer
was something in disgrace even before we got there, and when our
story was told he was called up before the king and prince. And all
our old forest rights have been restored to us--nay, have been
widened and increased, and that at the expense of Mortimer. Ye
should have seen his face when that mandate was brought forth and
duly signed and sealed with the royal seal and delivered to our
father! And the prior has been warned to take his spies from Chad,
and the prince has promised to come and visit us, and to enjoy a
week's hunting in the forest."
Bertram's breath gave out before he had well finished outpouring
his story, and the pause was filled by a great huzza, led off by
Julian, and taken up by all the company, who were hearing scraps of
like information from the men-at-arms who had conducted home the
heir.
"Our parents are constrained to remain awhile longer at court; but
I hungered to bring the news to Chad, and to hear the end of the
story."
Bertram here dismounted, and taking his brothers by the arm, led
them up to their own room, which was always their favourite haunt.
"I see that thy face is well-nigh recovered, Edred; but it stood us
in marvellous good stead. Tell me, how fared you when you parted
from us? All went well?"
"Excellent well in all truth. Not a soul accosted us by the way. We
saw him take boat to the sloop, and saw the sloop sail out of the
bay. In truth, it seems like a dream now that it is all passed. But
it was a fearful time whilst it lasted."
"Yet it has led to good. We are higher in favour with the king than
ever, and I trow it will be long ere our haughty neighbour dares to
raise his crest against us."
Bertram paused smiling, and laid his hand upon the masked door
which had kept its secret so long.
"And if it be that our gracious prince doth in very truth visit us
here, methinks that to him and to him alone will we tell the whole
of the strange story, and disclose to him the trick of the secret
chamber at Chad!"
The End.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Secret Chamber at Chad, by Evelyn Everett-Green