“But true religion, sprung from God above,
Is like her fountain, full of charity,
Embracing all things with a tender love!
Full of goodwill and meek expectancy;
Full of true justice and sure verity,
In heart and voice free, large, even infinite;
Not wedged in strict particularity,
But grasping all in her vast active spright;
Bright lamp of God! that men would joy in thy
pure light.”
--Henry More, 1642.
There was something indescribably desolate in the blank silence of the
tiled house when Waghorn unlocked the door, and fumbled in the dusk for
the tinder-box. No human being shared his dreary home, no animal kept
him company or enlivened his solitary hours. It was undoubtedly owing
to his loneliness that his tendency to gloomy fanaticism had, since his
father’s death, so greatly increased. The one joy left him appeared to
be this morbid and exaggerated desire to root out all that he deemed
wrong, and to punish all those who withstood his fiery zeal.
Without pausing to eat or drink, he kindled his lantern and stole
quickly out into the street. Early hours were kept in those days, and
all seemed still in the village; stepping cautiously, he soon descried
in the dust the prints of horse-hoofs, and was eagerly following them
up to see whether they turned in at the Vicarage, when Zachary suddenly
emerged from the gate.
“Good e’en to you, Waghorn,” said the clerk, in a more friendly tone
than he usually employed towards the wood-carver. “Ha’ ye lost summat,
that ye go groping like the woman that dropped her tenth bit o’ silver?”
“Ay,” said Waghorn, “that’s just what I have done, but I shall find what
I seek yet, never fear.”
Zachary with apparent good nature swept his broad foot energetically
to and fro among the dust, effectually wiping out all trace of the
hoof-prints.
“Better search by daylight,” he suggested. “And come now to the ‘Bell’
and have a pint o’ home brewed.”
Waghorn deemed it prudent to accept the invitation, for he desired to
get into Zachary’s confidence, and hoped that some day he might gather
from the garrulous old man the information he eagerly sought. But on
this particular night the clerk was on his guard, and the fanatic gained
nothing by his plot.
Meanwhile, in the tower room, Dr. Harford, to his great joy, found
his son in far better case than he had dared to expect. Hilary’s good
nursing and the patient’s healthy life and sound constitution had
triumphed over all the other drawbacks, and although some weeks must
pass before he really recovered, all danger to his life was practically
over.
The Vicar and Hilary listened with intense relief to the doctor’s
verdict.
“The question now is, whether we shall try to remove him,” said
his father. “It seems unfair to let you any longer run the risk of
sheltering a rebel. Yet I scarce know where we could take him; we should
never get him to Hereford without his being made prisoner.”
“Sir, don’t think of moving him. ’Tis hard, indeed, if the church
tower may not afford him sanctuary,” said the Vicar. “If, indeed, there
be any risk in the matter, I gladly take it.”
“And how about his nurse? What hath she to say?” asked the physician,
looking into the girl’s beautiful face.
“Sir,” said Hilary, blushing vividly, “I am his betrothed wife, and only
this very day we were saying that we wished the Vicar would wed us.”
Gabriel took her hand in his, and looked with eager hope at the kindly
antiquary who had done so much for him.
“In the orchard as I lay in even worse plight, sir, you made no
objection to my suit, and if, indeed, you will make us man and wife
before I go, I should be for ever your debtor.”
The Vicar and the physician glanced at each other.
“This comes, sir, an’ I mistake not,” said Dr. Harford, “from your words
in the churchyard when Waghorn would have had the cross pulled down. I
have heard that those who hearkened to you could never forget your plea
for love, which is the bond of peace.”
“In truth, sir,” said the Vicar with a twinkle in his eye, “I trow it
comes from the quiet days in this tower of refuge, when my niece had
in your absence to nurse the wounded. Very gladly will I wed you, my
children, and some fine morning we will steal across to the church
before the villagers are astir. In the meanwhile I can read your banns
in here each Sunday, with Durdle and Zachary for congregation.”
Then Dr. Harford told of his interview with Cromwell, and of the
suggestion for Gabriel’s future.
“An you could spare your niece, sir, it would perchance be no bad plan
for our bride and bridegroom to journey to London, for possibly the
Governor of Canon Frome may yet give some trouble. Hath anyone heard
whether he recovers?”
“Farmer Chadd heard that, though still kept to his bed, he mends apace,”
said the Vicar. “Your plan seems an excellent one, sir, and though I
shall sorely miss Hilary, it would take a load off my mind to know that
she was in safety.”
“Then by the earliest opportunity I will write to my mother at Notting
Hill Manor,” said the physician. “I well know that her house will be at
your disposal, and that you, sir, would be an honoured guest there.”
The Vicar gave a courteous little bow, then turned with a mischievous
glance to the invalid.
“Nothing will please me more than to meet Madam Harford, yet don’t
make yourself uneasy, Gabriel, I shall not ride with you on the wedding
journey, but shall visit you later on, when you are settled down into
the prose of everyday life.”
There was a general laugh, and before long, the Vicar suggested that
they had better return for the night to the Vicarage, leaving Dr.
Harford to talk matters over with his son.
Far into the small hours the two discussed future plans, and it was
arranged that the Doctor should not again risk drawing attention to the
hiding-place by a visit, unless actually sent for. Early in June, when
the arm was likely to be quite sound again, he proposed to ride over at
night, bringing Gabriel’s mother with him, that she might be present at
the private marriage, and see her son before he left the west. In
the meantime he impressed on the wounded man the need of the greatest
caution and secrecy, and then, stifling the anxiety he could not but
feel, bade him farewell just as dawn was breaking, and saddling his
horse, rode quietly back to Hereford before anyone else in Bosbury was
stirring.
Waghorn, with a grim smile on his sleeping face, dreamt of the bonfire
he would make of the great Prayer-book in the church. The Vicar
wandered in a happy valley where wonderful remains of pre-historic times
delighted his astonished eyes. Hilary had visions of standing beside
Gabriel in the porch, where in those days weddings were celebrated, and
softly breathing the “I will,” which should make her indeed his wife.
And Gabriel, in wakeful happiness, lay watching the light as it stole
softly through the narrow window of his hiding-place, musing over the
words the Vicar had daily used when he visited him:
O Lord, save Thy servant; which putteth his trust in Thee.
Send him help from Thy holy place: and evermore mightily defend
him.
Let the enemy have no advantage of him; nor the wicked approach to
hurt him.
Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower; from the face of his enemy.
Such a strong tower, such a helper and defender, must be, in his degree,
prove to his promised wife; and he looked the future in the face far
more soberly than in the first days of their betrothal long ago, but
with a calm manliness which augured well for their new life.
The Vicar’s anxieties, though lessened by Dr. Harford’s reassuring
report as to Gabriel’s health, were by no means over. He went about
continually with the uneasy consciousness that Waghorn was not only a
dangerous fanatic, but actually a spy, and, as Hilary had discovered
in the orchard, a spy who had not scrupled to aid such a man as Colonel
Norton.
One evening, when as usual he had repaired to the tower at dusk, taking
with him the food Gabriel would need during the night, he found himself
a prey to the most unwonted nervousness. He unlocked the door and
summoned Hilary from her day’s watching in the tower room, waiting with
restless impatience while she bade her lover good-night and crept down
the ladder.
But the sight of the girl’s happy face cheered him, and he greeted her
with a smile.
“I believe you revel in these ghostly crossings of the churchyard,” he
said, wrapping her long cloak more closely about her. “I will be with
you anon when I have had a word with Gabriel.”
He watched her till she had disappeared in the Vicarage garden, then
paid a visit to the invalid, who was far from sharing Hilary’s enjoyment
of her risky journeys to and fro, and always liked to hear that she had
gained the Vicarage in safety.
“When I think of all that you are doing for me, and of the danger of
discovery, it makes me eager to be gone,” he said, watching his kindly
host as he placed within reach all that he could need.
“Nay, I’m in no haste to get rid of you,” said the Vicar, with a smile.
“You forget that I shall be left a lonely old bachelor when you and
Hilary fare forth on your wedding journey.”
“It seems unfair, sir, that I should rob your home of its brightness,”
said Gabriel.
“Ay, and not only that, but rouse in me a certain dissatisfaction with
my lot,” said the Vicar, his eyes twinkling. “I have serious thoughts of
entering upon the holy estate of matrimony myself, an I can prevail on
Sir Richard Hopton to accept my proposal for the hand of his daughter.”
“Hilary’s friend, Mistress Frances?” said Gabriel, with keen interest.
“Ay, but say naught about it till I learn my fate,” said the Vicar. “The
lady, for aught I know, may refuse me as decidedly as Hilary refused
Squire Geers, of Garnons.”
The recollection of this made them both laugh, and in much better
spirits the Vicar quitted the tower, locking the door and putting the
key in his pocket as he groped his way across the graveyard to the
garden gate.
It was now dark, save for the stars which just revealed here and there a
white gravestone or the dim outline of bush or tree. Suddenly the Vicar
became conscious of the presence of some living creature; though as
yet he could see nothing he felt that he was not alone, and, pausing to
listen intently, he distinctly heard the sound of breathing.
“Who goes there?” he said, in a hearty voice which belied his real
anxiety.
“’Tis I, sir, Peter Waghorn,” said the fanatic, gloomily.
“What, man! still longing to cast down the cross?” said the Vicar. “I
had hoped you had come to see that we look on it with no superstition.
But I know well ’tis a hard matter for all of us to see with
each other’s eyes. I should make a rare bungle did I try my hand at
wood-carving, and you would make nothing at all of the pre-historic
tooth which I am carrying from my museum room in the tower to show to
Mistress Hilary.”
It was too dark for him to see the expression on Waghorn’s face, and he
remained in ignorance of the man’s intentions. Did he suspect that they
used the tower to shelter Gabriel? Or did he merely keep a watchful eye
on the Vicarage? Either surmise was disquieting. Dr. Coke fell back on
his usual kindly sympathy, hoping to reach the heart of this strange and
complex character.
“Come in and see me some night,” he said, genially, “for I have some
rare old oak which you would be interested in. I’ve a great mind to get
you to carve me a corner cupboard for my study, an you think the wood
will serve.”
“I will come, sir,” said Waghorn. “But before you order the cupboard
belike you had best be sure in your own mind that you’ll be staying on
at the Vicarage. Good-night to you, sir.”
With this vague and most discomforting speech the wood-carver quitted
the churchyard, while the Vicar made his way home to ponder over the
dark saying with growing uneasiness.
On the following Saturday morning he was busy with his sermon when a
knock at the door and the furious voice of the parish clerk recalled him
from the study of St. Paul’s words about charity to the difficulties of
the present.
“Sir!” cried Zachary, crimson with anger, his face making the most
strange contrast to Waghorn’s grim pallor. “Look what this pestilent
fellow hath done now! ’Tis the Prayer-book, sir, from the church--he’s
slashed and torn it to bits!”
The Vicar looked with indignation at the ruthlessly-torn pages, and
hastily rising, paced the room, wrestling with a burning desire to
kick the fanatic out of the house. When he had conquered himself, he
returned once more to the writing-table.
“By what right do you destroy the parish property?” he said, gravely.
“I am a parishioner, and do intend to see the law of the land obeyed,”
replied Waghorn.
“I have yet to learn that the law of the land orders the tearing up of
books,” said the Vicar.
“It orders the disuse of the Book of Common Prayer, and that’s the same
thing,” retorted Waghorn.
“Not at all,” said the Vicar. “If Parliament ordered you to cease from
carving wood, it would not be lawful for me to come and burn your tools.
Leave us, Zachary; I must discuss this matter alone with Waghorn.”
With keen anxiety he recalled his encounter in the dark with the spy,
and wondered how much he really knew.
“I warned you, sir,” said the wood-carver, “that you might not be
staying on at the Vicarage.”
“Hath Parliament, then, abolished me, as well as the Prayer-book?”
inquired the Vicar, with a humorous gleam in his grey eyes.
“It will turn you out unless you use the Directory as the law orders,”
said Waghorn, grimly, handing him a copy of the document. “There be
those at Gloucester that will see it is enforced; you must not look
again to have a half-hearted officer, like Captain Harford, sent.”
Dr. Coke glanced with a sigh at the mangled prayer-book, wondering why
it had become hateful to so many men.
“It must be that they identify it with the harsh dealings of Archbishop
Laud and Bishop Wren, and others who tried to enforce a system rather
than to follow Christ,” he thought to himself; and then he carefully
read through the Directions which had been issued as to public worship.
If he refused to obey he must leave his people as sheep without a
shepherd just at a time when their distress was greatest, owing to the
war and the constant harassing of the Canon Frome garrison. He must also
imperil Gabriel’s life by moving him from his present place of refuge.
Dearly as he loved the liturgy he could not hesitate as to the right
course of action. The thought of having to pray in public without a book
was a nightmare to him, but with a moral courage that gave a curious new
dignity to his manner and bearing, he said, quietly:
“I shall give my father all the facts of the case, and for the present
shall endeavour to follow the directions here given. Chapters shall
be read from each Testament. Prayer, and especially the Lord’s Prayer,
shall be used. There shall be thanksgiving and singing of psalms. The
Communion shall be frequently celebrated, and children shall be baptized
only in church. Here are all the essentials of Christian worship, and
though I sorely grieve to lose for a time the book that is far dearer
to me than you guess, I see that for the present distress it is the only
way.”
“And the surplice--that rag of popery--it must go also,” said Waghorn.
“Oh! Is it a rag of popery?” said the Vicar with a smile. “I had a
notion that it was meant to represent the fine linen which is the
righteousness of the saints. But though to my thinking ’tis a seemly
garb, and I like things done as St. Paul advised, ‘decently and in
order,’ yet doubtless I can minister as well in my black doublet and
hose.”
“Much better,” said Waghorn, emphatically.
The Vicar sighed.
“Maybe ’tis a more appropriate garb,” he reflected, “for a man that
well-nigh flew into a towering passion at sight of a torn Prayer-book.”.
“We will discuss the matter no more,” he said, presently, “but to-morrow
in church let us try to meet in all sincerity as fellow-worshippers.
Now I will show you the piece of oak we spoke of, and you shall take the
measurements for the corner cupboard.”
There was no sleep that night for Dr. Coke, but, as Durdle often
remarked, he was one of those whose looks did not pity them, and no one
seeing the ruddy face and the long white hair had a notion what the
man was undergoing when he took his place in the reading-desk on Sunday
morning.
“Dearly beloved brethren,” he began, “owing to the present troubles in
Church and State, it is not to-day in my power to use the Book of Common
Prayer. I would remind you, however, that greatly as many of us love our
liturgy, and helpful as we find it, God may be worshipped by us all in
spirit and in truth, though our prayers be but halting and imperfect. I
ask you, therefore, to kneel and to make after me, sentence by sentence,
supplication to our Heavenly Father.”
The startled people knelt, and very earnestly repeated the brief
petitions for a more perfect faith, for a wider hope, for a more
self-sacrificing love. They prayed for peace and for the needs of soul
and body, and then with a gasp of relief the Vicar began the Lord’s
Prayer.
The ordeal was over, and with a most thankful heart he gave out the
Hundredth Psalm, which was valiantly played by flute and fiddle and
heartily sung by all the congregation.
After which, with the reading of che lessons, more psalm-singing and a
sermon, the service came to an end.
“Well,” remarked Farmer Chadd, “Vicar may not ha’ spoken with the tongue
o’ angels as the text said, but he certainly did make folk see what
charity means.”
“Ay,” said Farmer Mutlow, “and though I’m with him in preferrin’ the
Prayer-book, yet I will say it cheered my heart wonderful to pray for a
good apple year, and above all to ask straight out for a blessin’ on the
hops. Parson he knows well enough what plaguey uncertain things they be,
and though the liturgy lumps ’em all in with ‘fruits o’ the earth that
in due time we may enjoy them,’ yet I always did hold with prayer for
each child by name, and if for children why not for crops?”
“Quite right, neighbour, quite right,” said Farmer Chadd. “We’ll ask him
to say a word for the hops every Sunday.”