_Grundo._ And what did they there talk about?
_Julia._ I'faith, I hardly know, but was advised
'Twas a most cunning parley.
_Grundo._ I do well credit it.
_Old Play._
"I would rather talk to him in that old tapestried hall," thought Robin,
"than in this narrow chamber. There I could have a run for my life; but
here, Heaven help me! I am fairly in for it."
"The room is passing close, the air is heavy," were the Protector's
first words: "follow me to the palace-roof, where there can be no
listeners, save the pale stars, and they prate not of man's doings."
Robin followed Cromwell up a narrow flight of steps, so narrow that the
Protector could hardly climb them. They were terminated by a trap-door
leading to the roof; and there these two men, so different in station
and in stature, stood together on a species of leaden platform, which by
day commands a most beautiful and extensive view of the surrounding
country;--at night there was nothing to be seen but the dim outline of
the distant hills, and the dark woods that formed the foreground.
Scarce a sound was heard, save of the breeze wailing among the many
turrets of the proud palace, and now and then the tramp or challenge of
the sentries at the different outposts, as they passed to and fro upon
their ever-watchful guard.
"I believe your real name is Robin Hays?" said the Protector.
"Your Highness--it is so."
"And you are the son of one Mary or Margery, proprietor of an hostelry,
called the Gulls Nest?"
"The son of Margery Hays, as your Highness has said, who, God be
thanked! still lives in a quiet corner of the Isle of Shepey, and of her
good husband Michael, who has now been dead many years."
"I take it for granted that you know your own mother; but it is a wise
son who knows his own father. Impurities are, praised be the Lord! fast
fleeing from the land; but they were rife once, rife as blackberries
that grow by the roadside. Yet this is nought; what business brought you
here?"
"Your Highness knows: I came with the Rabbi Ben Israel."
"Parry not with me," exclaimed the readily-irritated Cromwell.--"I
repeat, why came ye here?"
"Your Highness is acquainted with the reason of my coming."
"I _do_ know; but I also choose to know it from yourself. Why came ye
here?"
"Just then to seek out one who has fallen into your Highness's clutches;
with favour, I would say, under your Highness's care," replied Robin,
who felt himself not over comfortably situated.
"His name sir--his name?"
"Walter De Guerre."
"And who advised you he was here?"
"I found it out; I and another of his friends."
"You mean Hugh Dalton?"
"I do, please your Highness."
"You have some secret communication for this Walter?"
"Your Highness, I have not; yet, if he is here, I humbly entreat
permission to see him; for, as it is your pleasure that we be detained,
I am sure it would be a comfort to him to meet some one who has his
interest firmly, humbly at heart."
"Why came he to England?"
"I believe, that is known only to Hugh Dalton."
"Where got ye that Spanish dagger?"
"Please your Highness, from a sailor at Greenwich, a pensioner."
"You had other business in London than seeking out this Walter?"
"Please your Highness, I had."
"What was its nature?"
"Your Highness must pardon me--I cannot say."
Cromwell, during this examination, had walked backward and forward on a
portion of the roof, bounded at either end by a double range of turreted
chimneys: at the last reply of Robin Hays he suddenly stopped and turned
short upon him, paused as if in anger, and then said,--
"Know you to whom you speak? Know you that the Lord hath made me a judge
and a ruler in Israel? and yet you dare refuse an answer to my
question!"
"Your Highness must judge for me in a righteous cause. From infancy I
have been cherished by Hugh Dalton: if my lowly mind has become at all
superior to the miserable and deformed tenement in which it dwells, I
owe it to Hugh Dalton--if I have grown familiar with deeds of blood,
still I owe it to Hugh Dalton that I saw deeds of bravery; and to Hugh
Dalton I owe the knowledge, that whatever is secret, is sacred."
"Honour among thieves, and rogues, and pirates!" exclaimed the
Protector, chafed, but not angry. "Your Dalton had a purpose of his own
to serve in bringing over this scatter-pate Cavalier, who has too much
blood and too little brains for aught but a cock-throw. Young man, I
know the doings at your Gull's Nest Crag--I have been advised thereupon.
Listen! there has been hardly a malecontent for months in the country
who has not there found shelter. Were I inclined to pardon vagabonds, I
might bestow the mercy with which the Lord has intrusted me upon poor
misguided wretches; but Dalton has been a misguider himself. With my own
good steed, and aided by only three on whom I could depend, I traced two
of those leagued with Miles Syndercomb to their earth, at the very time
when Hugh Dalton was lying in his Fire-fly off the coast.--What waited
he for there? That Buccaneer has imported Malignants by dozens, scores,
hundreds, into the Commonwealth; and now the reever expects pardon! for
I have been solicited thereon. Mark me! the Lord's hand is stretched
out, and will not be withdrawn until his nest be turned up, even as the
plough uprooteth and scattereth the nest of the field-mouse and the
blind mole; and mark yet farther, Robin Hays--there is a book, in which
is written the name of every one concerned in those base practices; and
opposite to each name is a red cross--a red cross, I say--which
signifieth the shedding of blood; and as surely as the stars above us
know their secret course along the pathway of the resplendent heavens,
so surely shall all those traitors, reevers, buccaneers, upsetters,
perish by the Lord's hand--unless it pleaseth the Spirit to infuse its
moving power into some of their hearts, so that one or more of them may
point the secret entrance into this cavern, where there is great
treasure, and whereby blood-shedding and much trouble may be spared. If
such an influence was happily exercised--was, I say, happily exercised
over the minds or mind of any one of this accursed crew, he might not
only be spared, but rewarded with much that the heart of man longeth
after." Cromwell paused, and fixed his eyes on the Ranger, who spoke no
word, and made no gesture of reply.
"Could not such be found?" he continued, addressing Robin more pointedly
than before.
"A person found, did your Highness ask, who would betray his comrades
unto death, and give up his master's property to destruction?"
"No, I meant not that: but think ye, is there not one, who, convinced
of the wickedness of his past ways, would lead blind Justice on the
right track, insomuch that plundered property might be restored to its
rightful owners, and the cause of the Lord and his people be forwarded
many steps?"
"May I speak to your Highness as a man, or as a servant?" inquired
Robin.
"Even as a man--I am neither a king nor a tyrant."
"Then, with all respect, I say that such men may be found; but they
would be unworthy pardon, much less reward. May it please your Highness,
a Buccaneer is, to my mind, only one who takes advantage of troubled
times to secure unto himself the most power and the most property that
he can. The sea is as free to him as the land to--to--to any other man.
His is no coward's trade, for he risks his all, and is neither an
assassin, nor a traitor, nor a rebel, nor a----"
"Peace, atom, peace!" interrupted Cromwell; "I did not want to hear your
reasons on the legality, and justice, and mercy of the Buccaneer; I only
gave you to understand (and I know ye to be quick of comprehension) that
I wished for information touching this retreat--this maze--this
labyrinth--this embowelling of nature, formed in the cliffs--ay, and
that in more than one place, along the Kentish coast--that so I might
erase one red cross at the least. Mark ye, knave--your own name is in
the list, though I may regret it, seeing that there is a mixture of
honest blood in your veins, and a sprinkling of wit in your head, which
might lead to some distinction. Worse men than you have risen to high
places."
"Your Highness mocks me! Wit!--high place! With this mis-shapen body
tackled to a world of wit--a place as high as any of those turrets that
cut the midnight air, still should I be a thing for men to scorn! Your
Highness bitterly mocks me!"
"I mock no one; it is ill Christian sport. But at your own
pleasure--within the space of fifteen minutes you may go forth from this
our house, conduct a chosen few to the Gull's Nest Crag--point out its
ways--give us the necessary information as to the other smuggling
stations--telegraph the Fire-fly into smooth water, and the next sun
will rise on a rich, ay, and a well-favoured gentleman!"
"With a damned black heart!" exclaimed Robin, whose faithful spirit beat
so warmly in his bosom that he forgot for an instant in whose presence
he stood, and gave full vent to his feelings, which doubtless he would
not have done had he seen the expression of Cromwell's countenance--that
awe-inspiring countenance which had full often sent back the unspoken
words from the open lips of bolder men who looked upon him.
"With that I have nothing to do," said the Protector calmly, after
taking another turn along the platform: "but you mistake the case--it is
only justice, simple justice."
"My Lord Protector of England," said Robin, whose thin, disproportioned
figure, as it moved in the dim light, might have been taken for a dark
spirit summoned to some incantation--"My Lord, with you it may be
justice: you believe the Buccaneer deals not only in the free trade, but
imports persons who endanger your Highness's life and the peace of your
protectorate. I believe, from my soul, that he never bore off or brought
over one of the Syndercomb gang, or any that had evil intent against
your person. There are others who deal in that way; and now, when he is
soliciting your mercy, it would speak but little for his wisdom if he
went on provoking your vengeance. My Lord, Hugh Dalton has a daughter,
and it is to save her name from ever-continuing disgrace, that he pants
for honest employment. And may it not offend your Highness, for one so
ill-read as myself in aught that is good or godly, to remind you that
the Bible somewhere tells of those who were received into pardon and
glory at the eleventh hour. As to myself, could your Highness make me
what my heart has so panted after, but as vainly as the carrion-crow
might seek to be the gallant falcon of the chase--could you give me a
well-proportioned figure--make me one who could repel an injury or
protect a friend--stretch out this dwarfish body to a proper
length--contract these arms, and place the head right well upon a goodly
pedestal--then give me wealth--rank--all a man's heart covets in this
most covetous world--weigh these advantages against a portion of Hugh
Dalton's life;--the scale turns in the air, my Lord--there's nothing
in't!"
Cromwell folded his arms in silence, while Robin, who had been much
excited, wiped the night-dew from his brow, and sighed heavily, as
having rid himself of that which weighed upon his conscience.
"One word more, young man--those who hear the Protector's wishes, and
in some degree can draw conclusions as to his projects--if--mark ye
well--if they act not upon them, if they agree not with them, they are
seldom of long life."
"I understand your Highness."
"To your cell----"
Overpowered and heart-stricken, for he hoped to have been granted speech
of the Cavalier, Robin obeyed the mandate, and the Protector of England
passed alone along his palace-roof.
"Ever in the ascendant!" he said, casting his eyes on the star of his
nativity, that shone brightest among the countless multitudes of night.
"High, high, highest, and most powerful," he repeated, gazing upon his
favourite planet with that extraordinary mixture of superstition and
enthusiasm which formed so prominent a part of his most singular
character. "I never saw thee brighter" (he continued) "save upon
Naseby-field, when I watched thy pathway in the heavens, while hundreds
of devoted soldiers couched around me, waiting the morrow's fight.
I prayed beneath thy beam, which, as the Lord permitted, fell right
upon my breast, glistening upon the bright and sturdy iron that
openly, and in the sight of all men, covered it then--pouring into
my heart courage, and confidence into my soul! Would that I might
sleep the sleep of death upon that same field, that you might again
watch over this poor body which now panteth for repose! Yea, there,
under the turf of Naseby, shall my grave be made; there shall I sleep
quietly--quietly--quietly--with thee to keep watch above the bed in
which this poor body shall be at peace, when the ever-restless spirit is
with Him whose right hand led me through the furnace, and made me what I
am. Shine on still, bright star, even to the fulness of thy splendour;
yea, the fulness of thy splendour, which is not yet come. Ah! well do I
remember how you lingered in the grey dawn of morning, eager to behold
my glory--my exceeding triumph upon that eventful field; and thou hast
seen me greater than I dreamed of, great as I can be--or if I can be
greater, to thee all is known, yea, all of the future as well as of the
past is known to thee."
And as he walked along, and again and again traversed the leaded space,
his step was as the step of war and victory; but suddenly it lingered,
and came more heavily, and his foot was more slowly raised, and his
eyes, that so lately drank in the rays of his own star with so much
exultation, fell upon the spot where the little deformed prisoner, even
Robin Hays, of the Gull's Nest Crag, was incarcerated. Again he spoke:
"Complimented by the subtle Frenchman, feared by the cunning Spaniard,
caressed by the temperate Dutch, knelt to by the debased Portuguese,
honoured by the bigoted Pope, holding the reins of England--of
Europe--of the world, in these hands--the father of many children--have
I so true-hearted a friend, as to suffer the scale of his own interests
to turn in the air, my life weighing so much the more in the balance?
Truly my heart warmed at his fidelity; it is worth all price, yet no
price that I can offer will purchase it. In my youth a vision said I
should be greatest in this kingdom. Greatest I am, and yet I may be
greater; but will a name, the name at which I scorned, increase my
power? He from whom I took that name was more beloved than I. Oh, 'tis a
fearful game, this game of kingdoms! crowns, ay, and bloody ones, bloody
crowns for foot-balls! while treachery, dark, cunning, slippery
treachery, stands by with many a mask to mock and foil our finest
sporting! God to my aid! Now that success has broken down all
opposition, I am in the face, the very teeth of my strongest
temptations; forbid, O Lord! that they should conquer me, when I have
conquered all things else! God to my aid! One foot upon the very throne
from which I--not I alone--praise Heaven for that--not I alone, but many
dragged him----!" Again for a brief time he stood with folded arms, his
back leaning against a turret; and afterwards his step was quick and
agitated, and much he doubtless meditated upon the crown which he well
knew a strong party of the parliament would tender for his acceptance;
and then he paused and muttered as before. "My children princes! May be
wedded to the mightiest! But will they? Stiff-necked and stubborn! There
is but one who loves me--only one on whom I doat, and she, like all
things loved and lovely, fading from before mine eyes, as the soft mist
fades from the brow of some harsh and rugged mountain, which is
shrouded, and softened, and fertilised before the proud sun climbed the
highest arch of heaven!--Ah! the sentry at the outward gate is sleeping.
Let him rest on, poor wretch. I cannot sleep. And there's a light in the
apartment of my Lord Broghill: perhaps he writes to his friend Ormond.
I had him there; how pale he grew! I have them--know them all! could
crush them in this hand; yet God knows I would not; it has had enough to
do with that already."
And then sobs, sobs that came from the Protector's heart, burst from his
lips, and he fell into one of those passions of tears and prayers to
which of late he had been often subject. It soon subsided, and the man
so extolled and admired by the one party--so abused and vilified by the
other--so feared by all--retired in silence and in sorrow to his couch.