THE RECOMPENCE.
Oh, what a moment it was when, after seeing the wreck of the mill
drift by, Richard of Woodville again held Mary Grey to his heart! He
cared not who witnessed his emotions, he thought not of the crowd
around, he thought not of her father's presence, or of the letter he
had received on the preceding night. All he remembered, all he felt,
was, that she was saved; and the knowledge of the dreadful death that
had just overtaken those who had perished by their own obstinacy,
added to the joy of that overpowering feeling, notwithstanding the
horror of their fate.
Bearing her rather than leading her, her lover brought Mary to the
shelter of the trees; for though the storm had somewhat abated, the
rain was still coming down heavily; and there, while the tears poured
fast from her beautiful eyes, one or two of the stout English archers,
who had known her well at Dunbury, came quietly up and kissed her
hand. The Count of St. Paul and his men stood looking on; Sir John
Grey gazed upon the lover and the lady with a silent smile; and they
themselves spoke not for many minutes, so intense were the emotions of
their hearts.
At length, however, after a few low words of explanation with the
Count of St. Paul, the old knight advanced to Woodville's side and
took his hand, saying, "What, not a word to me, Richard?"
The young knight put his hand to his brow, and gazed at Mary's father
in surprise, so different seemed his tone from that of the letter he
had received.
"The surprise of seeing you here, noble knight," he answered, in a
confused manner; "the joy of having been brought, as it were, by
Heaven's own hand to save this dear lady, when I least expected to
meet with her--all confounds me and takes away my words."
"Surprise at seeing us!" repeated Sir John Grey, in a tone of
astonishment. "When you least expected to meet with her!--Have you not
received my letter by the post of the Count of Charolois?"
"One letter, sir knight, I did receive," replied Woodville; "but it
gave me no thought that I should see you here."
The knight gazed at him for an instant, with a look that seemed
expressive of doubt as well as wonder. "Here is some mistake," he
said. "I trust, my young friend, this catastrophe has not shaken your
brain. But one letter have I written, and therein I besought you to
meet us at Givet or at Dinant."
Richard of Woodville replied not, but beckoned to his page; and when
the boy hurried up, took from him the gibeciere which hung over his
shoulder. With a hand hasty and agitated, he unfastened the three
buttons and loops which closed it, and drew forth a paper, which in
silence he placed in the hands of Sir John Grey.
The knight took it, gazed on the superscription, examined the seal,
and then turned to the contents; but instantly exclaimed, as he read,
"This is not mine! This is a fraud! I never wrote these words. The
outside is from my hand; the seal, too, is seemingly my own; but not
one of these harsh terms did I indite."
"Then I thank God!" replied Richard of Woodville, grasping his hand
eagerly. "Nay, more, I thank the man who wrote it, though it may seem
strange, noble knight. But perchance, had it not been for this and the
despair it brought with it, I might have listened to the kind friends
who would fain have persuaded me not to risk my life, or, as they
thought, to lose it, for men who were strangers to me."
"What, then," cried Mary, rising from the ground on which she had been
seated, "did you not recognise us?"
"I knew not when I left the shore," replied Richard of Woodville,
"that there was one being on that miserable islet, whom I had ever
beheld before. I merit no guerdon, dear one, for saving you, for I
knew not what I did."
"A thousand and a thousand thanks, Richard," she answered, laying her
fair hand upon his arm; "and far more thanks do I give you, than if
you had perilled more to save me knowingly; for by such a deed, done
for a mere stranger, you show my father that his child has not spoken
of you falsely."
"Nay, dear Mary, I doubt it not," replied Sir John Grey; "by calumny
and malice, all men may be for a time misled; but henceforth, my
child, no one shall do him better justice than myself. You judged from
acts that you had often seen and known; I had none such to judge by.
But should he need defence hereafter, let him appeal to me. This must
seem strange to you, my good lord," he continued, turning to the Count
of St. Paul; "but we will explain it all hereafter. All, at least,
that we can explain--for here is something that we must inquire into
as best we may. This letter has been forged for some base end; but by
whom, or for what, remains a mystery, though perhaps we may all
suspect."
"Everything else seems clear enough," said the Count, with a smile;
"though I understand but half you have said, yet I guess well, here
has been love, and, as so often happens with love, love's traverses;
and, in the end, the happy meed which attends due knightly service to
a fair lady. As soon as my noble cousin appears, though by my faith he
is somewhat long in coming--"
"I see his train, my lord, or I am blind," said the old man-at-arms,
called Carloman. "Do you not perceive a long black line winding on
there down from the hills, near a league distant, like a lean
serpent?"
"No very sweet comparison for a Prince's train," exclaimed the Count
of St. Paul, laughing; "but faith, I see it not. Ah--yes--I catch it
now. 'Tis he, 'tis doubtless he. Then when he comes, sir knight, we
will on to Charleville, where, having dried our dripping clothes, we
will tell the tale of this day's adventure over a pleasant meal: and
will inquire how this deceit has taken place. Has yon young novice
nought to do with it?" he continued, dropping his voice; "he holds
aloof; and though he seems to murmur something to his rosary from time
to time, yet, good faith, I put but small trust in the honesty of
mumbling friars."
"No, no," replied Mary Grey, with a smile, "I will answer for him."
"Ah, ha!" cried the Count, laughing loud, with the rude jocularity of
the day, "look to your lady, Sir Richard, or you may lose her yet. She
answers for the honesty of a monk! By my fay, sweet lady, I would
rather beard John the Bold in his house at Dijon, than do so rash a
thing."
"But I can answer for him, too," replied Sir John Grey, gravely; "for,
though he be now my clerk, he was not with me there, and so had no
occasion to deceive me, even had he been disposed. But yonder,
assuredly, comes the Count. I can see banners and pennons through the
dim shower; but how we are to journey on with you to Charleville I
hardly know, my good lord: for all but what we have brought in our
pouches--horses and clothes and arms, and many a trinket, have gone
down in that poor mill."
"I saw no horses in the stream," said Woodville.
"They were in the court on the other side," replied one of Sir John
Grey's men; "and it had a stone wall. The water was up to the girths
when we got into the second story, and I saw my poor beast, with
bended head and open nostrils, snuffing the tide as it rose whirling
round him. He soon drowned, I fear."
"'Tis but a league to Charleville, or not much more," said the Count,
answering the English knight; "we will dismount some of our men, and
make a litter for the lady and her maidens. Hark ye, Peterkin, ride
back like light to the castle. In the Florence chamber you will find
store of your lady's gear. My good wife is not here, sir knight; but
she has left much of her apparel behind, which, though she be somewhat
fatter than this fair dame, God wot, will serve to clothe her for the
nonce. Ride away fast, boy; bring it to Charleville, and lose no time.
Now to build a litter. Lances may serve for more purposes than one;
and green boughs be curtains as well as canopies. Quick, my men,
quick; let us see if ye be dexterous at such trades."
In about half an hour an advanced party of the Count of Charolois'
band approached the bank of the river; but it was still so swollen,
that though the Count of St. Paul and the two English knights went
down as far as they could, and the rain by this time had well nigh
ceased, the distance across, and the roaring of the stream, prevented
their voices from being heard at the other side. While they were still
striving to make the men comprehend that the bridge had been carried
away, and that they must ride farther down the river, the young Count
himself and the Lord of Croy, with a number of other knights and
noblemen, appeared; and by signs, as words were vain, the Lord of St.
Paul explained his meaning to them. He himself with his own party
waited for about a quarter of an hour longer, till the hasty litter
was prepared for Mary Grey; and then, with some on foot, and some on
horseback, they moved on towards the point of rendezvous at
Charleville.
It was a happy evening that which they passed in Charleville, for
there is nought which so heightens the zest of pleasure as remembered
pain; nought that so brightens the sense of security as danger past.
All was bustle and confusion in the little town, which was not then
fortified; every inn was full, every house was occupied; but it was
willing bustle and gay confusion. From one hostel to another, parties
were going every moment, and the door of that at which the young Count
of Charolois had taken up his quarters, was besieged both by the
townspeople and his own friends and followers. The tale of the swollen
torrent, and the mill swept away, was told to the noble Prince by the
Lord of St. Paul and Sir John Grey; and when Richard of Woodville, who
had lingered a little with Mary Grey, appeared, the Count grasped his
hand with a generous warmth, which was very winning in one so high,
calling him frequently his friend; and then turning to Sir John Grey,
he demanded, "Said I not, noble knight, of what stuff he was made?"
"You did him but justice, my good lord," replied the knight; "and I do
him full justice now. Well has he won his lady's hand, and he shall
have it."
"Come!" cried the Prince, starting up; "I will go offer her my homage,
too. But why should we not see the wedding ere we part, Sir John?"
"Nay, nay, my lord," answered the English knight; "I have grown proud
with restored prosperity; and my child must go to the altar in my own
land, and with my own old followers round me."
Oh, slow age, how tardy is it to yield to the eager haste of youth!
But Sir John Grey added words still less pleasant to the ear of
Richard of Woodville. "When I return from the Court of the Emperor, my
noble Prince," he continued, "I speed back at once to Westminster. I
trust that your expedition will then be over; and Sir Richard here may
follow me with all speed. Once there, I will not make him wait."
Such was the first intimation Woodville had received of the course
that lay before him and Sir John Grey; for the previous moments had
passed in words of tenderness with her he loved, and in long, but not
uninteresting, explanations with her father. He had hoped that their
paths would lie together; and, without inquiring what motive should
carry Sir John Grey with the Count of Charolois into the Duchy of
Burgundy, he had arrived at the conclusion, that the knight's steps
were bent thither as well as his own. It was a bitter disappointment,
for imagination in such cases is ever the handmaid of hope; and
Richard of Woodville had fancied that, in the course of the long
expedition before them, many an opportunity must occur for urging upon
Sir John Grey his petition for Mary's hand. Now, however, they were
again about to be separated, with wide lands between them, and with
the certainty of months, perhaps years, elapsing ere they met again.
It is strange, it is very strange, and scarcely to be accounted for,
that people advanced in life, and experienced in the uncertainty of
all life's things, seem to have a confidence in the future which the
young do not possess. They delay, they put off without fear or
apprehension; they calculate as if with certainty upon the time to
come; while eager youth, on the contrary, at the very name of
procrastination conjures up every difficulty and obstacle, every
change and chance, not alone within the range of probability, but
within the reach of fate. Perhaps it is, that the old have acquired a
juster appreciation of all mortal joy; perhaps it is, that the keen
edge of anticipation being dulled in themselves, they cannot
comprehend the impatience of others: that, knowing how little any
earthly gratification is really worth, they think it but a small
matter, not meriting much thought, whether the hand of the future
snatches the desired object from us or not, whether the butterfly,
enjoyment, be caught by the boy that chases it, or escape.
So it is, however: Sir John Grey seemed not even to understand or to
perceive the pain he was inflicting upon the lover; and, as Woodville
knew that it would be of no use to argue, he made up his mind to enjoy
the present as much as might be, and then with Mary's love for his
guidance and encouragement, to seek honour and advancement in the
fields before him.
After a few more words he accompanied the Count of Charolois, with the
principal nobles of his train and Sir John Grey, to the hostel where
the English knight had taken up his abode; but, as they entered, the
eyes of Richard of Woodville fell upon the figure of a poor
disconsolate looking boy, who stood near, with his arms folded on his
chest, and his eyes bent down upon the ground, without being once
lifted to the gay and glittering group that was passing in; and
pointing him out to the Lord of St. Paul, the young knight said, "He
was one of those saved from the mill, my lord; and, if I mistake not,
he is of kin to some of the men who perished."
"Come hither, boy," said the Constable; "who art thou?"
"I am Edme Mark, my lord," replied the boy, looking up with tearful
eyes; "and all my friends are dead."
"Then are you the miller's son?" inquired the Lord of St. Paul.
"No, sir, his nephew," the boy answered, in the jargon of his country.
"Faith, then, we must do something for you," rejoined the nobleman.
"Will you ride with me and be my _coustelier_, or with that knight?"
"I would rather go with him," cried the boy, pointing to the young
Englishman, "for he saved my life."
"Well, then, take him with you, Sir Richard," said the Lord of St.
Paul. "You want to swell your band."
"Good faith, I have need, my lord," answered Richard of Woodville;
"for the three men I left behind me when I came from Ghent, have never
rejoined me."
"I saw some Englishmen with the Count's train in the court of his
hostel," replied the Lord of St. Paul. "I knew them by their flat
cuirasses, and their long arrows."
"Ah, I marked them not," answered Richard of Woodville; "but I will go
and see.--Come hither with me, boy," he continued; and, followed by
the lad, he retrod his steps in haste to the inn where he had found
the Count. In the court he saw nothing but Flemings and Burgundians;
but in the stables, tending their horses, he found the three men whom
he sought, and who now informed him, in the brief and scanty words of
the English peasant, that they had escorted Ella Brune to Bruges, and
there had left her, she having assured them that she was safe, and
required their protection no farther. They had then immediately
returned to Ghent; for they had never received the written order which
their leader had sent to them; and, having obtained speech of the
Count of Charolois, had accompanied him on his expedition, according
to his commands. Richard of Woodville mused over this intelligence for
some minutes; and then, after placing the boy Edme in their hands,
with orders to take care of him, he hurried back to her he loved.
For three or four days Sir John Grey took advantage of the escort of
the Count of Charolois, on his journey towards the Imperial Court,
purchasing horses and clothing where he could find them, to supply the
place of those lost in the torrent. During that time, as may be
supposed, Richard of Woodville was constantly by Mary's side, and it
passed happily to both: nor did any incident occur worthy of record
here, till they reached the town of Bar, where they were destined to
part. The last conversation that took place between them ere they
separated, was in regard to Ella Brune, led on by a half jesting
question addressed to Mary by her lover, if she had really never felt
jealousy or doubt when so many suspected.
"Neither, Richard," she answered. "I could not suspect you; and
besides, I had myself told that poor girl, that I would never doubt or
be jealous; and I blamed you to her, Richard, for not taking her, when
first she sought to go."
"She seems to have the gift of winning confidence, my Mary," replied
the young knight; "and a blessed gift it is."
"'Tis only gained by deserving it, Richard, and not always then,"
answered Mary Markham: "but one cannot well doubt her, either. When
one sees a clear stream flowing on abundantly, we judge that the
source is pure; and all her thoughts gush so limpid from the heart, we
cannot doubt that heart to be unpolluted too."
"Would that we knew where she is, my Mary," said Richard of Woodville,
thoughtfully. "I fear for her much, left in the same land with that
base villain, who has so persecuted her, and of whose dark wiles there
seems no end."
"She is safe, she is safe," exclaimed the lady; "I have heard of her
since she departed. She is safe, and with friends able and willing to
protect her, I know; but I fear, indeed, that what you say is true in
regard to that traitor, Simeon of Roydon. Do you doubt, Richard, that
this forged letter from my father was some contrivance of his?"
"And yet," answered Woodville, "we can by no means trace it to him.
The messenger declares he brought the packet as he received it. The
Count says he placed your father's and his own together, and gave them
to his page, who, in turn, vows he carried them straight to the
messenger."
"It is strange, indeed," said Mary; "but as to poor Ella, she is safe;
and wherever I am, I will do my best to befriend her, Richard."
They were alone; and he pressed her to his heart with feelings far
brighter, far tenderer than mere passion; for beauty is but the
expression of excellence; and when we find the substance, oh, how much
more deeply we love it than the picture! The fairest features that
ever were chiselled by the hand of nature, the sweetest form that ever
woke wild emotions in the breast, could never have produced in the
heart of Richard of Woodville, the sensations that he then felt
towards Mary Grey.
Ere long they parted; and while she with her father wended on towards
the Court of the Emperor--Sir John Grey, acting as a sort of precursor
to the more splendid embassy soon after sent by Henry V.--the young
knight followed the Count of Charolois to Dijon and Besancon, and
aided to raise that force with which John the Bold soon after took the
field against the rival faction of Armagnac, then all-powerful in the
Court of France.