IN FEAR OF THE KING
When Frances came downstairs, she and I started home, walking first down
Gracious Street, and then through Upper Thames Street toward Temple Bar.
It was no time to scold her, since I was sure that she knew quite as well
as I could tell her the folly and the recklessness of what she had just
done. I also believed there must have been an overpowering motive back of
it all, and that being true, I knew that nothing I could say would in any
way induce her to repent at present or forbear in future. I might bring
her to regret, but regret is a long journey from repentance. If her heart
had gone so far beyond her control as to cause her to seek Hamilton, as
she had done that day, it were surely a profitless task for me to try to
put her right. If she, who was modest, honest, and strong, could not
right herself, trying as I knew she had tried, no one else could do it
for her.
Even my silence seemed to be a reproach, so I tried to think of something
to say which would neither bear upon what she had done nor seem to avoid
it.
After a moment or two, Betty, that is, thoughts of her, came to my
relief, and I said: "If Betty were at court, she would rival the best of
the beauties. There's a charm about the girl which grows on one. I have
known her since she came from school in France, over a year ago, and the
more I see of her the better I like her. She has grace of person and
manner, is well educated, tender of heart, honest, and has wonderful
eyes."
"And dimples," suggested Frances. "You might win her, Baron Ned. I should
like to see you do something foolish to bring you down to my level."
There was a distinct note of sarcasm in her voice, and I felt sure that
if I remained silent there was more to come. I was not disappointed, for
presently, after two or three false starts, she continued:--
"I do not care to hear your comments on what I have just done. I know
quite as well in my simplicity as you in your wisdom the many good
reasons why I should not have visited the Old Swan to-day. I knew before
I started, but I should have gone had the reasons been multiplied a
thousand fold in number and cogency. Therefore, I do not care to hear
your comments on the subject. I should have gone just the same had I
feared that death awaited me. I had but one purpose in life, and for
weeks have had but one--to see him. If I was willing to put aside the
love of my father and all other considerations dear to me, nothing that
you can say will do you any good or be of advantage to me."
"My dear Frances," I replied, "I find no fault with you. I am sorry
you had to do it, but I know it could not be avoided. You were helpless
against an overpowering motive. I am sorry for you, yet I admire you more
than ever before, because of your recklessness. I have always thought you
were cold, or at least that you were wise enough to keep yourself cool,
but now I know that beneath your beauty there is a soul that can burn, a
heart that can yearn, and a reckless disregard of consequences that on
occasion may make a blessed fool of you. It is such women as you who keep
alive the spark of Himself which God first breathed into man. I do not
blame you. I pity you, and am lost in wondering what will come of it
all."
After a long pause, she spoke, sighing: "Although you may not understand
what I mean, there was a great deal of right as well as wrong in what I
did. I owed to his love, which I knew to be true, an acknowledgment of
mine, but more, I had wronged him grievously, and it was right that I
should make what poor amends I could. But right or wrong, I did what I
had to do, and I do not intend to blame myself, nor to hear blame from
any one else. I am perfectly willing that the whole world should know
what I have done--that is, I should be were it not for father."
"Again I say I do not blame you," I returned, "though I wish sincerely
you had not gone."
"Why did you follow me, and how did you know where I had gone?" asked
Frances.
I told her of my visit to her father's house and how, upon my failure to
find her there, I went to the Old Swan.
"I thought it would be better that you should leave the Old Swan with me
than alone," I said. "It would have been better had you taken me with
you."
"Would you have gone with me, knowing my errand?" she asked.
"Yes, gladly," I answered. "When a woman deliberately makes up her mind
to do a thing of this sort, she does it sooner or later, despite heaven,
earth, or the other place to the contrary. I should have gained nothing
by opposing you; I could at least have given color of propriety by going
with you."
We walked up Thames Street till we came to the neighborhood of Baynard's
Castle, where we took boat and went to Whitehall, each of us in silent
revery all the way.
While I was paying the waterman, Frances ran up the stairs to the garden,
and when I followed I saw her talking to the king, so I stopped ten or
twelve paces from them and removed my hat. Being in their lee, the wind
brought the king's words to me, and I imagined, from the loud tone in
which he spoke, that he intended me to hear what he had to say. Perhaps
he suspected that I had helped Frances in her morning's escapade.
"I am greatly disappointed, my angel, my beauty," said the king, "that
you have taken this morning's excursion."
So he knew of her "excursion," and doubtless had instigated the visit of
the sheriffs to the Old Swan.
"What has your angel done this morning to displease her king?" asked
Frances, with a laugh so merry that one might well have supposed it
genuine.
"What has she done this morning?" repeated the king. "She has been to
visit the man who seeks the king's life. That is what she has done."
He had hit the nail squarely on the head at the first stroke, but whether
his accuracy was a mere guess, or the result of knowledge, I did not
know. I trembled, awaiting the outcome of my cousin's conference.
At first Frances appeared to be horror-stricken, and her surprise seemed
to know no bounds, but after a moment of splendid acting, her manner
changed to one of righteous indignation, touched with grief, because the
king had so wrongfully accused her.
"Your Majesty horrifies me!" she exclaimed, stepping back from the king.
"Is there a man in all England who would seek his king's life?"
"There is," returned his Majesty. "And you have been to visit him."
Frances denied nothing. She was simply stunned by grief and benumbed by a
sense of outrage put upon her by the king. So after a moment of
inimitable pantomime, she answered, speaking softly:--
"I fear a gentle madness has touched your Majesty's brain, else you would
not so cruelly accuse me. You have so many weighty affairs to trouble you
and to prey on your mind that it is no wonder--"
"Did you not set out this morning with the avowed purpose of going to
your father's house?" asked the king.
"Yes, your Majesty," she answered soothingly, almost pityingly. "What
then?"
"Did you go there?" asked Charles.
"No, your Majesty."
"Where did you go?"
"Am I a prisoner in Whitehall that I may not come and go at will?" she
asked indignantly, knowing well the maxim of battle that the best way to
meet a charge is by a countercharge. "If so, I pray leave to go home to
my father, where I shall not be spied upon and suspected of evil if I but
go abroad for an hour."
Her grief had changed to indignation, and she turned her face from the
king, drying the supposed tears and exhibiting her temper in irresistible
pantomime. The king was but a man, so of course Frances's tears and her
just anger routed him. A brave man may stand against powder and steel,
but he must flee before fire and flood.
Immediately the king became apologetic: "I do not suspect you of evil,
but of thoughtlessness, my beautiful one," he said, trying to take her
hand, but failing. "Nor have I spied upon you. I heard that you had gone
to the Old Swan to see Hamilton, whom it is said you love."
Pantomime to show great grief and a deep sense of cruel injury, but the
tears ceased to flow because of the fact that she was past tears now.
"I'll leave Whitehall this day!" she said, shaking her head dolefully. "I
am not strong enough to bear your Majesty's unjust frown. I have tried to
do right, tried to please you and the duchess--everybody, and this is my
reward! I know little of Master Hamilton, having seen him only a few
times in all my life. If I had no other cause to shun him, his character
would be sufficient."
Again the handkerchief was brought to the eyes effectively, for the
purpose of giving the king a little time in which to see how grievously
he had wronged her. It required but little time for him to realize how
cruel he had been, and in a moment he said pleadingly:--
"Your king asks your forgiveness. I do not suspect you of having gone
to see Hamilton. I am convinced that I was wrong. But won't you tell
me, please, why you visited the Old Swan? It is a decent tavern, I
understand, but a public place of the sort should not be visited by one
such as you unescorted."
"Your Majesty is right, and I thank you for the reprimand," returned
Frances, drying her eyes. "But Pickering, who is the host of the Old
Swan, has a daughter, Bettina, who is a good girl, far above her station.
She is my friend. I went to see her this morning to drink a cup of
wormwood wine with her. Now you know my reason for going."
Wormwood wine was considered a toper's drink.
Her confusion and modest hesitancy in confessing to the wormwood wine
were so pretty and so convincing that the king laughed and seized her by
the arm affectionately:--
"Ah, at last it is out!" he cried. "I have discovered your sin! I knew
you must have one tucked about you somewhere. Wormwood wine! Absinthe!
The drink of our depraved French friends! Who would have suspected you of
using it?"
"Yes," murmured Frances, glad to be found guilty of the wrong sin.
"Ah, well, we'll have it together here at home," said the king, "so that
you need not go abroad for it hereafter."
"No, no, I shall never again drink wormwood," protested Frances. "Betty
Pickering tells me it causes vapors in the head, horrid waking dreams,
and in the end incurable spasms."
"Your resolution is well taken," returned the king. "We shall seek a
harmless substitute."
At this point in the conversation his Majesty looked toward me, whispered
a word to Frances, and they walked down the garden path to the fountain,
while I waited at Bowling Green for Frances's return. When she came back,
she told me in detail all that passed between her and the king.
After they had left me, the king began to talk, and Frances seldom
interrupted him save to draw him out, knowing that a talking man sooner
or later tells a great deal that he should have left unsaid. This is
especially true if a shrewd listener reads between his words.
"Nelly Gwynn tells me that you love George Hamilton," said the king, "and
in my eyes, that is his greatest crime."
Already his Majesty had told a great deal.
"I am surprised at Mistress Gwynn's imagination and her lack of
truthfulness," returned Frances. "I told her I hated him, and she herself
heard me deny that I knew him when he offered to speak to me two months
ago or more at the Old Swan. Mistress Gwynn kissed him. I refused to
recognize him. I should say that the evidences of affection were against
her rather than me."
"She says, also," continued the king, "that you believe Master Hamilton
killed Roger Wentworth; that you recognized him the night of the
tragedy."
"I said nothing of the sort," answered Frances, emphatically. "I saw but
one man's face distinctly. Here at court I have often seen the man who
killed Roger Wentworth, and I shall tell you his name if you insist. He
is near of kin to your Majesty."
The king knew that she meant his son Crofts, so he hastened away from the
subject.
"Yes, yes, I have suspected as much, but I beg you, Frances, to spare me
the pain of hearing the truth."
"Yes, the truth is a frightful thing," sighed Frances. "Why cannot the
world be made up of pleasing lies? But tell me, does your Majesty mean to
say that the wretch, Hamilton, seeks your life?"
She was seeking information.
"He does, he does," returned the king. "While he was sick at the Old
Swan, one standing outside his door heard him declare his intention to
kill the king. When I heard of the threat, I summoned his physician, one
Doctor Lilly, who, being questioned, admitted that while in a delirium
Hamilton had made threats against the king's life, but that he, Lilly,
had supposed the French king was meant. Lilly is a good faithful subject,
and I often use his astrological knowledge, which is really great, but in
this case I suspect he is trying to shield Hamilton, believing, perhaps,
that the threats meant nothing because they were made in delirium."
"It is horrible to think upon," answered Frances, shivering. "But he has
gone to France, and, thank Heaven, your Majesty is safe. Perhaps he has
gone to kill King Louis."
"How do you know he has gone to France?" asked the king, much interested.
"I had a letter from him. He imagines he is in love with me," answered
Frances, speaking in the letter of truth and with a fine air of calmness.
She had received a letter from George in France, but it was before his
return to England.
"Ah, indeed!" exclaimed the king. "Your news contradicts your avowal that
you are not in love with him."
"Shall I be in love with all who say they are in love with me?" asked
Frances, glancing up to the king.
"God forbid!" he answered. "I would have you in love with but one--one
who loves your voice, your beauty, your goodness."
"Your Majesty may at least rest easy so far as Hamilton is concerned,"
she returned.
"But I am glad that he is out of the country, and shall see to it that he
doesn't come back," said the king.
His Majesty had talked too long, for Frances had learned that his
suspicions of her love of Hamilton were not allayed, despite his pretense
to the contrary.
"I care not where he be so long as he doesn't trouble me," answered
Frances, sighing.
"But if it is not one it is another," said the king, ruefully. "I hear
that the Duke of Tyrconnel is mad for love of you."
This was a welcome opportunity to Frances, and she quickly used it. "Yes.
At least, he says he is. What does your Majesty advise? Shall I marry him
or not?"
"By all means, not!" returned the king, with strong emphasis. "He would
take you from court. Do you return his love?"
"Well--" answered Frances, drooping her head and pausing to allow the
king to fill the blank.
"But you shall not marry him," insisted the king.
"But you would not have me live a maid? Think of the humiliation of
having graven on my tombstone: 'Mistress Frances Jennings, Age 85.' I'm
going to marry the richest man that asks me."
"Odds fish! that's Tyrconnel!" exclaimed the king.
"I'll find a pretext for sending him to the Tower at once."
"If you do," returned Frances, laughing, "there is Little Jermyn. He will
be rich and an earl when his uncle dies."
"I'll send him along with Tyrconnel," declared the king.
"And there is--" began Frances, laughing.
But the king interrupted her, "I'll send every man to the Tower that
wants to marry you, if I depopulate the court."
"But here comes old Lady Castlemain," said Frances, turning to leave the
king. "I can't quarrel with her, because I can't swear with her. May I
take my leave, your Majesty?"
"I am sorry to grant it, but good-by," returned the king.
"Good-by, your Majesty, and thank you," returned Frances, grateful for
much that the king did not know he had told her. Then she came to me and
told me what the king had said, not omitting her conclusions based on
what he had left unsaid.
Frances and I walked over to the park, where we stood for a time watching
the Duke of York and John Churchill playing pall-mall, but the day
growing cold, we soon continued our walk over to the Serpentine, where we
found Tyrconnel and several other gentlemen riding. Tyrconnel dismounted
and, leading his horse, came to us. He took no notice of me, but bowed to
Frances, saying:--
"I hear it from the king himself that Mistress Jennings has been calling
on her friend, George Hamilton, at his lodgings in the Old Swan."
"And if so, is it a matter of which you have any right to speak?" asked
Frances, smiling.
"I have a right to withdraw the proposal of marriage I so foolishly
made," he retorted.
"Yes, my lord," answered Frances, laughing softly. "But you need not be
angry if I am not. How fortunate for me that I had not accepted." Then
turning to leave and looking back at him: "May we not still be friends,
my lord? You have friends at court who are as bad as I, even if what you
say be true. You say it is true; the king says it is true; therefore it
must be true. Two men so wise and honest could not be mistaken in so
small a matter, nor would they lie solely for the purpose of injuring a
woman. No, it must be true, my lord, and I congratulate you on your
timely withdrawal."
We had not taken fifty steps till Tyrconnel gave his horse to a boy and
came running after us, infinitely more eager to retract the withdrawal
than he had been to withdraw his proposal. He protested by all things
holy his total disbelief in the scandalous story, and begged Frances not
to remember what he had said in jealous anger.
"Be careful, my lord. Do not make another mistake," said Frances,
laughing in his face. "I did visit the Old Swan this morning, and the
king told me less than thirty minutes ago that Master Hamilton lives
there. It is said by those who claim to know that he is in France, but
they must be wrong, and I must have seen him. The king says I did, and
he can do no wrong. I neither deny nor affirm, though I fancy that my
real friends will not believe me guilty of the indiscretion."
"I do not believe it," protested Tyrconnel. "I know you are all that is
good."
"Thank you, my lord," returned Frances. "If I am good, I remain so for my
own sake. As for the gossips, they may think what they please, talk about
me to their hearts' content, and go to the devil for his content, if he
can find it in them."
Seeing that Tyrconnel wanted to speak with Frances alone, I drew to a
little distance for the purpose of giving him an opportunity to press his
suit, in which I so heartily wished him success.
It is uphill work making love to a woman whose heart is filled to
overflowing with love of another man, and I was sorry for poor earnest
Tyrconnel as I watched him pleading his case with Frances. He was not a
burning light intellectually, but he entertained a just estimate of
himself and was wise enough not to take any one of the daintily baited
hooks that were dangled before him by some of the fairest anglers in
England. But manlike, he yearned for the hook that was not in the water.
I followed Frances and Tyrconnel back to the palace, and when they parted
at the King's Street Gate, he asked me to go with him to the sign of the
King's Head and have a tankard of mulled sack and a breast of Welsh
mutton right off the spit.
Tyrconnel's speech was made up of an amusing lisp grafted on the broadest
Irish brogue ever heard outside of Killarney. It cannot be reproduced in
print; therefore I shall not attempt it. But it was so comical that one
could never rid one's self of a desire to laugh, be his Lordship ever so
earnest. As a result of this amusing manner of speech, his most serious
words never produced a thoughtful impression on his hearers. It is said
that the king once laughed when Tyrconnel, in tears, told him of the
death of his Lordship's mother.
Arriving at the King's Head, Tyrconnel chose a table in a remote alcove
of the dining room. After the maid had brought us the mulled sack and had
gone to fetch the mutton, his Lordship began earnestly, but laughably, to
tell me his troubles, and I did my best to listen seriously, though with
poor result.
"I want to marry your cousin, baron," he said. "Yes, yes, go on. Laugh! I
don't mind it. I know you can't help it. But listen. I want to marry her
because she is beautiful and because I know she is good. But if she is in
love with Hamilton, as report says she is, I should not want to inflict
my suit upon her. I know that at best I am no genius, but I am not so
great a fool as to seek an opportunity to make myself appear more stupid
than I am. Of course she can never marry Hamilton, but a hopeless love
clings to a woman as burning oil to the skin and is well-nigh as
impossible to extinguish. Therefore I beg you tell me. Shall I beat a
retreat and take care of my wounded, or shall I continue the battle?"
"I should not trouble myself about the wounded," I answered, reluctant to
evade the truth, for he was an honest soul, very much in earnest.
"But do you speak honestly?" he asked, mopping the perspiration from his
face with the tablecloth. "She laughs when I speak seriously, but I have
hoped that it was because of my damnable manner of speech rather than my
suit. Tell me, what do you think about it? Is she in love with Hamilton?"
His appeal was hard to resist, but I answered evasively in the spirit if
not the letter of a lie: "Thus much I know. My cousin has seen very
little of Hamilton--so little that it appears almost impossible for one
of her sound judgment and cool blood to have fallen in love with him. I
can swear that she has not, nor ever has had, a thought of marrying him.
She had better kill herself."
"Ah, that's all true enough," he answered. "And now that he is in
disgrace, with a noose awaiting him on Tyburn, it is of course impossible
for her to marry him. But you see, my dear fellow, she may love him.
Nelly Gwynn says she does."
"Yes," I replied. "Nelly set the story afloat. Her tongue is self acting.
But she had no reason to do so save in her imagination and her love of
talking. Half the troubles in life are caused by your automatic talkers."
I then told him of my cousin's visit with Nelly to the Old Swan, laying
emphasis on Frances's refusal to recognize Hamilton, but saying nothing
of the fight that followed.
"I am glad to learn the truth, if it is the truth," lisped his Lordship,
musingly.
"If you would know the real danger to Frances, you must look higher,"
I said, cautiously refraining from being too explicit. "There is one
whom my cousin scorns, but from whom she is in hourly peril. There is no
length to which he would not go, no crime, however dastardly, he would
not commit to gain his end. I watch over her constantly, and although my
fear may be groundless, still I believe that her only safety is to marry
at once and to leave court with her husband."
"But you say she despises him?" he asked.
"Yes, she even hates him. Still she is in great danger; perhaps in danger
of her life. We all know that crimes have been committed by this person--
crimes so horrible as to be almost past belief. You remember the parson's
daughter who jumped from a high wall and killed herself to escape him."
"You are her guardian, baron. Let me be her watchdog," said Tyrconnel,
leaning eagerly across the table toward me. "And if I am so fortunate as
to win her love by constant devotion, she shall be my wife."
I offered my hand as a silent compact, and we finished our mutton almost
without another word.
Two days after my interview with Tyrconnel, George Hamilton's _News
Letter_ appeared, containing a vicious attack on the king, which angered
his Majesty greatly and seemed to arouse anew his suspicion that Hamilton
was not in France, some one having told him on a mere suspicion that
George was the editor of the _News Letter_. His Majesty accused Frances
of falsehood in having told him that she had not seen Hamilton and that
she believed he was in France, but she becoming indignant, he again
apologized.
Frances's account of the king's state of mind alarmed me, and I
determined to see George as soon as possible and advise him to leave
England at once. I was delayed in going, but on a cold, stormy day at the
end of a fortnight I found my opportunity, and took boat for the Old
Swan, not minding the snow and sleet, because I was very happy knowing
that I should see Betty. I had of late done all in my power to keep
away from her, but the longing had grown upon me, and I was glad to have
an honest excuse to visit Gracious Street.
I have spoken heretofore of my engagement to marry Mary Hamilton, and
my passion for Betty may indicate that my heart was susceptible, if not
fickle. But aside from Betty's Hebe-like charms of person and sweetness
of disposition, there were other reasons for my falling off respecting
Mary. While she had promised to marry me, still there was a coldness,
perhaps I should say a calmness, in her manner toward me, and a
cautiousness in holding me aloof which seemed to indicate a desire on her
part for a better establishment in life than I could give, if perchance
a better offered. My suit had not prospered, though it had not failed,
since she was to be my wife provided she found no more eligible husband
within a reasonable time.
Dangling blunts the edge of ardor; therefore I soon found myself noticing
beauty elsewhere and discovered none that could be compared with that of
Betty Pickering of the Old Swan. It is true she was, in a sense, a
barmaid, and equally true that I had no thought of marrying her. Still it
was significant even at that early time that my mind reverted to the fact
that Edward Hyde, Lord Chancellor of England and Earl of Clarendon, had
married an innkeeper's widow, whose daughter became the mother of two
queens.
While this was true, still I respected Betty less than I admired her and
far less than she deserved, never entirely forgetting her station in life
nor ceasing to recognize the great distance between us.
When I entered the Old Swan, Betty greeted me with a smile amid a nest of
dimples, and led me upstairs to her parlor, so that we might talk without
being overheard. I sat down on a settle, and Betty took her place beside
me. Her hands rested on her lap, giving her an air of contentment as she
turned her face toward me and asked:--
"Have you come to see Master Hamilton?"
"Yes," I answered, "and you."
"And me?" she asked, looking up with a curious little smile. "In what way
may I serve you?"
"By sitting there and permitting me to look at you," I answered.
"Oh, is that all?" she asked, laughing softly.
"And by smiling once in a while," I suggested.
"Who shall smile? You or I?" she queried, glancing slyly up to me.
"Oh, you, by all means," I returned. "There is no beauty in my smile,
while yours--"
"Come, come, Baron Ned," she interrupted, looking up to me pleadingly.
"My smiles are honest, and that is all that is needful in my case. So
don't try to make me believe they are anything more. Don't make a fool of
me by flattery."
"Don't you like flattery, Betty?" I asked.
"Yes, of course I do," she returned, smiling and dimpling exquisitely.
"But it is not good for me. You know I might grow to believing it and
you."
"But it is true, Betty, and you may believe me," I answered, very
earnestly, taking her hand from her lap.
She permitted me to hold her hand for a moment, and said:--
"I am so desirous of keeping my regard for you and of holding your regard
for me that I am tempted to tell you I fear it will all change if I find
you inclined to doubt that I am an honest girl."
"I do not doubt it, Betty," I answered. "I know you and respect you, and
you shall have no good cause to change your regard for me, if you have
any."
"Frequently gentlemen are rude to me in the tap-room, and I submit rather
than make trouble by resenting it, but you have always been respectful,
and--and I have appreciated it, Baron Ned. Father says I need not go to
the tap-room hereafter, but may direct the maids in the house, now that I
am growing old--near twenty."
"Twenty?" I asked. And she nodded her head proudly.
"Yes."
"I thought you were still a child," I remarked.
"No, no," she returned, looking up to me open-eyed and very serious. "I
am a woman."
"Yes, a beautiful child-woman--the most beautiful in all the world," I
said, grasping her hand and holding it a moment till its fluttering
ceased. "And I am jealous of every other man who comes near you."
I saw that my remark had offended her, so I continued earnestly: "I meant
it, Betty; I meant it. I was not jesting."
Betty sighed, looked quickly up to me, half in doubt, half in inquiry,
and was about to speak, but closed her lips on her words and leaned
forward, her head drooping eloquently. Her gentleness, her sweetness, and
her beauty were so tempting that I could not resist their charm. Again I
caught her hand, and it trembled in mine as she tried faintly to withdraw
it. I tried to check myself but failed, and I put my arm about her waist.
Then, after a mighty effort to stay my words, I said pleadingly:--
"Ah, Betty, I love you. Please, please, Betty, believe me, and--and--just
one kiss."
"No, no," she cried pleadingly, trying to draw away from me. "It
could not be honest between us. You are a nobleman--I, a barmaid. Your
friendship is very dear to me. Please let me keep it, Baron Ned, and
let me keep my regard for you. Let there be at least one man whom I do
not fear. You know there can be nothing honest between us, and if it
be possible that one so lowly as I can deserve your respect, let me have
it, Baron Ned, let me have it. Let me keep it, for it is the dearest
thing in life to me."
There was such deep entreaty in her voice that it touched me to the
heart, and I drew away from her immediately, saying:--
"I do know there can be nothing honest between us, Betty, and knowing it,
have suffered. What I have said to you is little compared to what I feel
and to what I would say. I can't help it that I love you, Betty, but you
shall never have cause to fear me. Do you believe me and do you trust me,
Betty?"
For answer she held up her lips to me. What she had refused on my
request, she gave of her own accord, saying:--
"There, Baron Ned. Now, if you really respect me, you will know that
I trust you, for I am not a girl to do this thing wantonly. Perhaps I
should not have done it at all, but you must know that I could not help
it. If you care for my friendship or are concerned for my happiness, I
beg you never tempt me to repeat my folly. There is no other man, but now
you must know after what I have done, that there is one--yourself. But
there can be nothing but friendship between us, Baron Ned, and oh, that
is so much to me! Let me have what happiness I can find in it!"
"But I love you, Betty, and I know that you love me," I answered, unable
to restrain my tongue.
She did not speak, so I asked, "Do you not, Betty?"
"No," she answered, shaking her head dolefully. But I knew she did not
tell the truth.
Presently she asked. "Do you want to see Master Hamilton?"
I answered that I did, and she said I might go to the printing shop,
where she was sure I should find him.
She rose and started toward the door. I called to her, but she did not
stop, so I ran after her, saying:--
"Have I offended you, Betty?"
"No," she answered, drooping her head. "But I am very unhappy, and I want
to be alone so that I may cry. You know it is much harder to forego the
thing one wants but may not take, than it is to do without the thing one
wants but cannot take. Yearning for the impossible brings longing, for
the possible anguish."
And I remained silent, almost hating myself.
I went to the tap-room with Betty, and the courtyard being vacant for a
moment, I ran across and down the steps to see Hamilton.
I had tried to see Frances that morning at Whitehall, but failed, being
told that she had gone to visit her father. I had stopped at Sir
Richard's house, but Frances was not there, and I half suspected I might
find her with Hamilton.
I found Hamilton at his printing-press, and after I had told him of the
risk he ran by remaining in London, he said:--
"I have been making an honest living from my _News Letter_ and am sorry
to give it up, but I fear trouble will come very soon if I continue to
publish it. The king has a score of human bloodhounds seeking me. It is
rather odd, isn't it, to hear a man of the house of Hamilton talking
about making money by work, but of all the money I have ever touched,
that which I have made honestly from the _News Letter_ has been the
sweetest. The work has been a delight to me, even aside from the fact
that it gives me an opportunity to abuse the king. Lilly tells me that
the king asked him to consult the stars concerning my threats against the
royal life. The result was favorable to me."
"It is strange that the king should be duped by a palpable humbug," I
remarked, supposing that George would agree with me. But, no! He turned
on me almost fiercely:--
"Lilly is not a humbug! Of course he humbugs the king, but everybody
does. I have known him to do some wonderful things by the help of his
astrological figures, conjunctions, constellations, and calculations."
"Nonsense! All humbug, I tell you!" I asserted, somewhat disgusted.
"No, it is not all nonsense," he insisted. "A poor woman lost a sum of
money ten days ago. Lilly set a figure and told her where to find it."
"And of course she found it?" I inquired incredulously.
"Yes, she found it," returned George. "And Lilly would not accept a
farthing for his service. Two months ago a child was stolen from its home
in Devonshire, and the parents came all the way to London to consult
Lilly."
"And of course they found the child?" I asked.
"They did. It was with a band of gypsies who made their headquarters at a
place called Gypsy Hill, Lambeth," returned Hamilton, provoked by my
scepticism. "He learns some very curious truths from the stars."
"The stars!" I exclaimed contemptuously. "He is a shrewd observer of men
and of things about him, and when he guesses right, I venture to say he
finds his inspiration much lower than the stars."
"Perhaps he does," returned Hamilton. "Of that I cannot say. But this I
know. He can put two and two together and make a larger sum total than I
have ever seen come from any other man's calculations. He is learned in
every branch of knowledge, and I respect his wonderful conclusions,
asking no questions about his methods."
"Very well, I'll not dispute with you if you admit that he receives even
a part of his knowledge from substellar sources. But while we are alone I
want to ask you, and I want you to tell me the truth: has Frances been
here to-day?"
"No! Tell me, for God's sake, tell me quickly! Why do you ask?" he
exclaimed, turning to me in alarm. "Of late I have been haunted with the
fear that she is in danger of violence from the king. He is capable of
committing any crime--has committed many, as we all know! Why do you ask
about Frances, Baron Ned?"
"Because she is not at Whitehall nor at her father's house, where the
duchess said she was going. She never goes any place else, and it only
now occurs to me to be alarmed."
"Only now?" he demanded angrily. "What have you been doing? I supposed
you were watching over her. A fine guardian, upon my word! Where is she?
Carried off by the king, of course! What else have you expected from our
friend at Whitehall? If harm comes to her, I'll kill him!"
He threw off his printer's cap and apron, hastily cleansed his face and
hands, put on the gray beard and wig, took his broad hat and long coat
from the chest, and started toward the door, bidding me follow.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To Whitehall," he replied. "You to learn, if you can, where Frances is;
I to form my plans what to do in case you do not find her. You must go to
the river ahead of me and take a boat. I'll follow in another. We should
not be seen together. You stop at Sir Richard's house, and if she is not
there, go to Whitehall. Then come to me at the house of Carter, the
Quaker. You know where it is--just off King's Street, not far from the
Cross."
I followed Hamilton's suggestion. I did not find Frances at Sir Richard's
house, so I hastened to Whitehall, where I learned that she had left
shortly before noon, saying that she was going to spend the afternoon and
night at home. It was near the hour of three o'clock when I had started
up the river, from the Old Swan, and a snowstorm was raging which became
violent before I reached the palace.
While I was talking to one of the maids in the parlor of the duchess, a
page came to me and whispered, "A lady is waiting for you at Holbein's
Gate, and wishes you to go to her as soon as possible."
I suspected that the lady was Frances, so I hastened to the gate and
found, not my cousin, but Betty. I knew her the moment I saw her, despite
the fact that she wore a full vizard and a long cloak. I also knew that
nothing less than a matter of great urgency would have induced the girl
to call for me at the palace.
The snow, which had been falling all day, was now coming in horizontal
sheets, laden with sleet. The wind was blowing half a gale, and the
weather was turning bitterly cold, yet Betty had come to seek me, despite
weather and modesty. Eager to hear her errand, I led her toward Charing
Cross, and when we were away from the gate, asked:--
"What brings you, Bettina? I know it must be a matter of great urgency
that has induced you to venture forth in this terrible storm. What can I
do for you?"
"Nothing for me, Baron Ned," she answered, taking my arm and huddling
close to my side for protection against the storm.
"For whom, then? Tell me quickly," I asked.
"I fear Mistress Jennings is in trouble," she answered. "Soon after you
and Master Hamilton left the Old Swan, a girl came to me in my parlor and
told me that as she was passing a coach standing in front of Baynard's
Castle two hours or more ago, a lady called to her from the coach window
and told her to tell me that Mistress Jones was in great trouble; that
she had been seized by two men who were carrying her away. She said the
lady was bound hand and foot, and that immediately after she had spoken,
two gentlemen came from Baynard's Castle, entered the coach, and drove
toward Temple Bar. The girl said she followed the coach till she saw it
turn into the Strand beyond Temple Bar; then she came to see me."
"Did the girl say at what hour she saw the lady, Mistress Jones?" I
asked. "She probably did not catch the name Jennings."
"She said it was two hours or more before she saw me," answered Betty.
"That would make it perhaps between one and two o'clock. I ought to have
questioned her more closely, but I feared to delay telling you, so I left
her in my parlor and came to see you as quickly as possible."
"Brave Betty! Sweet Betty!" I exclaimed, rapturously. "I could find it in
my heart to kiss you a thousand times as a reward for your wisdom."
"And I could find it in my heart to be content with other reward," she
answered, though her words took a different meaning from the gentle
pressure she gave my arm.
"But tell me," asked Betty, "do you know where Mistress Jennings is?"
"She is not to be found," I returned. "Beyond a doubt the lady in the
carriage was my cousin. You say it was perhaps one o'clock when the girl
saw her?"
"Yes."
"It is after three now, nearly four, and will soon be dark. We must
hasten."
We fairly ran to the Quaker's house, where we found Hamilton, who,
forgetting his sacred calling, lapsed into the unholy manner of former
days and used language which caused Betty to cover her ears with her
hands. We did not, however, allow his profanity to delay us, but hastened
to the Cross, expecting to take a coach for the Old Swan. But none was to
be found, so we went to the river, where we were compelled to take an
open boat with a steersman and one oarsman. We made poor headway, having
to beat against the wind and the tide, so George and I each took an oar.
After a time the man at the steering oar said that he would row if George
or I would steer the boat, but neither of us knew the river and therefore
could not take his place.
Betty said that she knew the river, having kept a small boat since she
was strong enough to lift an oar, so she took the steering oar, and with
four sweeps out we sped along at a fine rate. I shall never forget that
water ride. We seemed to be pulling uphill every fathom of the way. The
black, oily waves, with their teethlike crests of white, rose above our
bow at every stroke of the sweeps, and when I looked behind me it seemed
that we must surely be engulfed.
The snow, driven by the wind, swirled in angry blasts, and the damp, cold
air chilled us to the bone. Our greatest danger would be when we came to
land at the Bridge stairs, for the tide was pouring in through the arches
of the Bridge and was falling in a great cataract just below the foot of
the stairs. One false stroke of Betty's steering oar when we came to
land, and our boat would be swamped. But she clung to the oar and brought
us safely to the stairs within a fathom of the breakers.
We ran up Gracious Street and found the girl waiting in Betty's parlor.
But Betty had told us all there was to be learned, so we gave the girl a
few shillings and sent her home.
"What shall we do?" asked Betty, feeling that she had earned a right to
couple herself with Hamilton and me by the pronoun "we."
"I'll go to see Lilly," said Hamilton. "He lives in the Strand, not far
from Temple Bar."
"Why do you wish to see him?" I asked.
"He will tell us where Frances is and how to find her. Will you go with
me?" asked Hamilton.
"Certainly," I responded, though I considered the visit a waste of time.
"May I, too, go?" asked Betty, with the double motive, doubtless, of
helping and seeing. Lilly, engaged in his incantations, would be an
inspiring sight to her.
"No, no, you may not go with us," answered Hamilton.
Betty's eyes looked up to me entreatingly, so I took up her cause, and
suggested:--
"Lilly may want to question her about what the girl said."
"You are right," returned George. "Wrap yourself up well, Betty, and come
along. We'll take a coach to Lilly's."
A porter soon brought us a coach, and Betty, having explained to her
father where and why she was going, climbed in with George and me, and we
were off.