HOW I LEFT FLEET PRISON
"Tell me all you know concerning her," he said. I told him quickly,
feverishly, for I was eager to hear what he knew. I noticed, however,
that he paid but little heed to our meeting near Folkestone, nor to my
account of my journey to Bedford to set her at liberty. But when I
described our meeting with the king he was all attention.
"The blackguard," he said presently, between his teeth.
"Who?" I asked.
"Charles Stuart," he said; "but pay no heed to me. After all, the king
is king."
"But where is Constance now?" I asked. "I have been told that her
father was hanged at Tyburn. Where is she?"
"What is she to you?" asked my father.
"She is everything to me," I replied.
"You fancy you are in love with her?"
I did not reply, for my father spoke, I thought, scornfully.
"I will admit that the maid is a brave maid. It is not often one hears
of such daring, such resolution," he said presently.
"Ay," I replied, my heart all aglow. "She took her sister's guilt upon
her own shoulders. For months she defied all pursuers, and when at last
she stood before the king, she refused to do his bidding, refused to
betray her sister's hiding-place. But what happened to her afterwards?
Tell me, father, for pity's sake."
"You do not know? You have heard of nought that took place after the
night when you behaved like a fool before the king, and were sent
hither?"
"I have heard nothing."
"It was the best joke I have heard of for years," laughed my father.
"Verily I believe it was that which made Charles hang old John Leslie.
He hath let more guilty men go free; besides, Sir John was a harmless
old fool, with nought against him save that he was over-religious."
"But tell me, father; tell me," I pleaded.
"Well," said my father, "no sooner did she leave his Majesty's presence
than it seems that she began to look around for a means of escape. It
seems also that during the time she appeared before the king,
half-a-dozen young gallants lost their hearts over her, and she being a
quick-Pwitted maid singled out the biggest fool of the whole batch. I
suppose that during her midnight audience with the king these young
fools waited around the corridors in the hope of having speech with her.
How she did it I don't know; but she managed to gain audience with the
young fool I have mentioned, and in five minutes he became wax in her
hands. She persuaded him to bring her the gay and full outfit of a young
Court gallant, and offered to run away with him."
"And then?" I cried, for my father stopped in the middle of his recital
to laugh, as though he were telling a good joke.
"Then the next night, while the king was at supper, she managed to
escape with this silly loon. It seems that they went away under the
trees, both of them dressed like gay cavaliers, until they came to a
spot where two horses where waiting for them. Then they both mounted,
the maid I am told having the firmer seat of the two, and galloped away
together. By this time night had come on, and then before this
addlepate, Charles Fitzroy by name, knew where he was, he found himself
alone. The girl had galloped away with his horse, and his fine attire,
leaving him to get out of his scrape as best he could."
Again my father stopped to laugh.
"But how do you know the truth of this?" I cried.
"Oh, it was easy to know," replied my father. "Young Master Fitzroy rode
around through the night, calling vainly for his lady-love until
daylight, and presently happened upon another love-sick swain who had
also been away love-making. Master Fitzroy was so overcome with grief
that he actually told the other all that had happened."
"But was he not punished by the king?"
"As to that," replied my father, "he knew enough not to return to brave
the king's anger. He ran away to Holland, and the king having been much
beholden to Fitzroy's father hath not sent after him. Nevertheless,
Charles was very angry. He was much struck with the maid's beauty;
moreover, from what I can hear, his discomfiture hath been much laughed
at by the wits of the town. Oh, the maid was clever, there can be no
doubt of that, and verily she hath made me believe, almost in spite of
myself, in the virtue of women."
"But you said you know where she is now," I said, for although my heart
rejoiced at what I had heard, I longed much to know how she fared after
these long weary months of my imprisonment.
"Did I say that?" said my father. "Then I said too much; but methinks I
may be able to tell you that which may set you thinking."
"What?" I cried feverishly.
"As you know," went on my father, "the bishops and clergy of the
Episcopal Church have prevailed on the king to pass stringent laws
concerning these prating Puritans. In truth these men of God have so
hedged them around, that a Nonconformist is nearly as badly placed as
were Protestants during the reign of Mary. They are not allowed to
preach, or to pray, except according to the bishops' will. In fact they
are hardly able to live at all, for they be hunted like foxes and rats
from one place to another. It is true they ought to subscribe to the
Prayer-book, and take all the oaths which the king prescribes, but you
see they will not. Thus they are fined and imprisoned by the hundreds."
"I have heard this," I cried; "but what hath it to do with the
whereabouts of Constance?"
"I am coming to that," replied my father; "and the less you interrupt me
the sooner you will know all I have to tell. As a consequence of these
laws, there be hundreds of families without homes or friends, whom God
must indeed pity. They have no shelter but the hedgeside; no food but
what is free to the rabbits and the fowls of the air. Many of them were
parish ministers, and since the Act of Uniformity and the other Acts
their condition hath been piteous. Of course they be fools, for why
cannot they swallow their scruples and be done with it? But they will
not. The clergy refuse to be episcopally ordained, and they will
continue to preach, and hence the trouble. Well, it seems that a Master
Leslie, who was own cousin to Sir John, was one of these Presbyterian or
Independent ministers who refused to be ordained by a bishop, and thus
he was cast into the lanes, with a wife and six children. For a long
time I suppose he had no shelter but the hedges, for the farmers were
afraid even to give them a hiding place in their barns. At length,
however, a farmer was brave enough to give them shelter in an outhouse;
at any rate, he did not inform the vicar or the magistrates about them.
Some say he even brought them food, but concerning that I have no
certain knowledge. About a fortnight ago, however, the magistrates heard
of them, and sent the constables to take them, on what pretext I don't
know. It seems that just as the constables were entering the barn they
saw a woman come out, and one of them swears it was Mistress Constance
Leslie."
"Where was this?" I cried.
"At a parish about three miles from Bedford; I have forgotten the name."
"And how long ago?"
"I have just told you; it was about a fortnight ago."
"And was the constable sure it was she?"
"He can take his oath to it, he saith; he also rushed after her to take
her, but she escaped in the darkness. Some say she tripped the constable
up, and blew out the candle in his lantern. However, it may be all a
mistake, especially as since that time the whole district hath been
searched, and nought hath come of it. Especially hath search been made
at Goodlands, the place which belonged to Sir John Leslie, but not a
sight of her hath there been."
"And what hath become of Goodlands?" I asked, with a fast beating heart.
"Oh, it still appertaineth to the Leslies. It seems that the king is
still determined to capture the pretty Constance, and so he hath done
nought by Sir John's estates except to appropriate the rents. He
believes that sooner or later the daughters will claim their property,
and by this means he will be able to lay hands upon them. I am told that
at present one of Leslie's farmers lives in the house."
I did not speak concerning this, nevertheless my heart beat high with
hope. I had heard Constance say that when she was once in her father's
house at Goodlands she had no fear of searchers. Was it not possible
that she had escaped thither, and was still in hiding? I knew that her
heart would go out in sympathy with the distressed clergyman who had
been driven from his parish, and his vicarage, and that she would seek
to bring him food and comfort. What more likely then than my father's
story was true. But as I have said I was silent, for I knew that he
would not be likely to think of her as I did.
"That is all there is to tell," he said presently, and I saw that his
eyes rested searchingly on me, as though he would read the thoughts in
my mind.
"What are you going to do?" he continued at length.
"I am going to find her," I said.
"And then?"
"I do not know," I replied, for although I was sure I had seen the light
of love in her eyes that night when we stood in the presence of the
king, I was afraid she had forgotten all about me during the long weary
months I had been lying in prison.
"But what would you?" he asked.
"I would wed her," I replied.
"What, wed the daughter of a regicide!" he cried. "Wed a woman with a
price set upon her head! Destroy all your chances in life, and that for
no benefit to you save to satisfy a mad fancy!"
"What would you do if you were in my place, father?" I asked. "If
Constance were my mother and you were my age, what would you do?"
For a moment my father's lips quivered, and then I knew that although he
had become more cynical than of old, his heart was still warm towards
the memory of my mother, and towards me his only son.
"But can you do aught? I tell you it is only through the influence of
the king's brother that I have obtained your liberty. If his Majesty
discovers that you have in aught tried to help this woman he will have
no mercy. Doubtless he is easygoing as far as the State is concerned;
for that matter his best friends see that he is ruining the country over
which he pretends to reign. But he is bitter in his private hatreds. See
how he hath treated those who had aught to do with his father's death.
Not one shred of mercy hath he shewn. All are hanged, or imprisoned,
save those who have escaped across the seas. You, Roland, have thwarted
his will, and he believes that it is because this maid cares for you,
that she fled from Windsor that night. I tell you he will have no mercy,
and even although I have found the weak side of Duke James of York, I
could do nothing for you."
"Still I must find her if I can."
"But you can do no good. If she hath a hiding-place you will only
endanger her by trying to find her."
"No; I will not endanger her," I cried. "Besides, I know not what she
may be suffering; I do not know what difficulty she hath in evading
those who would place her under the king's power."
"You know her hiding-place?" said my father.
"No, I do not know it," I replied; "I can only guess."
"I tell you Goodlands is watched closely, and the whole countryside is
watched. If she is anywhere in the district then----," and my father
shrugged his shoulders, French fashion, as he ceased to speak.
"Then she needs me all the more."
"Oh, you fool, you fool!" said my father, and yet I thought his voice
was kind and caressing.
"Look here," he went on presently. "I have influence with Duke James of
York, who I verily believe will soon be king. Charles will not live to
be an old man. He cannot. No man can live long who spends his days and
nights as he doth. And let me tell you this: Duke James doth not think
unkindly of you, if Charles doth. Even now I can put you into the way of
advancement, for Duke James hath much power. If you give up all thoughts
of this woman I can even yet promise you a career. The duke thought you
a dashing youth with a ready wit and a strong arm. But if you do what
is in your heart to do, I can see nothing for you but the prison or the
gallows."
"Neither," I cried boldly, for what he had said had made me brave and
hopeful.
"What then?"
"I know not. But I will go and help the woman I love. If she will wed
me, no man in England will be so happy as I."
"How will you live?" said my father with a sneer.
"I will escape to New England, even as some of our forefathers did," I
cried. "Some of her forefathers are also there."
"And if you did this what would you do?"
"I am not a fool, even although you say I am," I cried. "I am young, and
at her side I shall be strong. Men no better than I have had a career in
other lands, and I will be in no whit behind them."
My father smiled sadly. "Well, come with me to the old home, and then we
can think of these things together," he said presently.
"If mother were where Constance is, what would you do?" I asked again.
At this my father became silent for a time, then he burst out.
"Have you any of these Puritan beliefs?"
"Which would you rather I became?" I said. "A Puritan, or like unto the
swashbucklers which I am told throng the king's court?"
"But hath this woman converted you?"
"I do not know," I replied; "but I would be worthy of her. Whom would
you have me wed, father, a woman such as she is, or one of the women
whom Charles loves to have around him."
"The women of Charles' Court!" he cried, and he seemed to be speaking to
himself rather than to me. "Great God! I have thought since I returned,
that there doth not remain a pure woman in London. The example of the
king hath corrupted the country. Morality is laughed at, while the
preachers wink at things which five years ago were regarded with holy
horror. And yet no man can find favour in these days unless he licks
Charles' boots and praises his way of living. I did not realize it
while I was in France, but since I have returned I have seen what I
thought might come. England is turned into a pigsty, and those who would
live for faith and purity are treated like vermin!"
"Then what would you have me do father?" I asked.
He was silent for a time, then he said quietly--
"You will be able to walk out of here to-morrow a free man. I have seen
to that. It is not far from here to the _Virgin Queen_, where our old
servant Caleb Bullen lives. Caleb will expect you, and you may find out
when you get there what I would have you do."
He kissed me affectionately as he bade me good-bye; indeed, it seemed to
me as though he were taking a long farewell. But I knew not what was in
his mind, neither did I ask questions, for my father was never a man who
made known his secret thoughts with readiness. And yet the feeling which
had possessed me at first concerning him had passed away. He had grown
more and more like he was during my boyish days as our interview
proceeded. Nay, more; I thought he had sympathized with me as I spoke to
him, even although he was angry that I had not behaved with more worldly
wisdom.
When I left the prison on the following morning I heard the
Nonconformists comforting each other by singing hymns, and by prayers,
so that while I could not understand many of their scruples my heart
went out to them in sympathy. I noticed, too, that my gaolers paid me
much respect as I left, and I judged that my father had somehow made
them think of me as different from those whom they usually guarded.
As I walked up Ludgate Hill towards St. Paul's Cross no one paid heed to
me, and yet as I caught sight of myself in one of the windows as I
passed by, I scarce knew myself, for I had grown a beard several inches
long, while my face was as pale as the face of a dead man.
When I entered the _Virgin Queen_ old Caleb Bullen started back like a
man frightened.
"Great Lord! Is that you, Master Roland?" he cried. "If it had been
night I should e'en have taken you for a ghost."
"If you will give me some breakfast, I will prove to you that I am no
ghost, Caleb," I replied.
"Ay, but that hath been ready this last half-hour, Master Roland," he
replied. "Your father gave orders concerning it last night. In truth, so
particular was he about it, that I cut a new ham, the very best I have,
and six eggs have I had fried for you. But come this way, Master
Roland," and he led me into the room I had occupied long months before.
"My father," I said, to Caleb, "is he here?"
"Not one word will I speak about him till you have had something to
eat," said Caleb. "Faith, Master Roland, but it makes my flesh creep to
see you. No, no, I will speak no word, not one word until you have eaten
half a pound of ham. It was a good pig, Master Roland, twenty score
weight, and fed on good barley."
In truth, although I was anxious to know what my father had said to him,
the smell of the ham was so appetising that I fell to eating without
further parley, while Caleb stood by watching me as though he was
deriving great comfort by doing so.
"It does me good to see you, Master Roland," he said presently. "Why,
you are looking better already. Another rasher now, Master Roland, just
one more rasher."
"Not another particle, Caleb," I said with a laugh, for a hearty meal
had made me feel like a new man. "Now tell me, is my father here?"
"No, Master Roland."
"Where is he? Do you know?"
"No, I do not, but he left this for you," and he brought a bag and
placed it on the table before me.
I heard the jingle of money, and on opening the bag I found a large
number of gold pieces. As I judged, there must have been a hundred
pounds. But it was not of this that I paid so much heed. Besides the
gold pieces I found a letter, and this was what my father had written:
"God bless you, my son--my only son. I do not think you have
disappointed me much, though for a time I was sorely angered. After all,
a youth cannot help loving at some time, and if the woman he loves be
good and true, his love should not be laughed at. In my young days we
said that the more danger there was in the rescue, the more was the
rescue worthy of a brave man. I grieve much that we cannot spend some
days together in the old home, but that I must leave to you. Black Ben
is in the stable of the _Virgin Queen_. I knew you would like to have
him, so I obtained him, although with difficulty. In this bag are a
hundred pounds; you may need them. Rest a day and a night before you
begin to do what is in your heart. You will need all your strength. I
can do nought for you, but your mother would, I know, have you do what
is in your heart. So would I. If you succeed, and have need to come to
the old home, see that you take many precautions. But whatever may
happen, be sure that your father loves you."
My eyes were full of tears when I finished reading this, and I knew then
that although he often spoke words which seemed hard and bitter, his
heart was full of love towards me.
I rushed out to the stable, where Black Ben welcomed me with a whinney.
In truth, I thought he trembled with joy as he saw me.
"I have more work for you, my beauty!" I said, whereupon he rubbed his
nose against my arm.
"Great God, help me!" I prayed, as I thought of what lay before me; and
into my heart came a great resolution to do what was in my heart to do.
I longed much to start on my journey that day, but I was too weak.
Nevertheless, at an early hour next morning, I rode through Barnet on my
way to Bedford.