UNDER THE GREENWOOD.
At the end of a month, news came from England that Sir Baldwin of
Béthune had returned there, bearing the news that the king had been
arrested at Gortz, only two days' journey north of the Adriatic--that he
had been recognized, and at once captured. He had offered no resistance,
finding indeed that it would be hopeless so to do. Sir Baldwin had been
permitted to depart without molestation. He believed that the folk into
whose hands he had fallen were retainers of the Archduke John. This
news, although sad in itself, was yet in some degree reassuring to the
duke and his wife; for they felt that while the followers of Conrad of
Montferat would not hesitate to put King Richard to death should he fall
into their hands, the Archduke John would not dare to bring upon himself
the indignation of Europe by such treatment of his royal captive.
Cuthbert at once determined to return to England to see Sir Baldwin, and
to ascertain what steps were being taken for the discovery of the prison
in which King Richard was confined, and for his release therefrom; and
also to establish himself in his new dignity as Earl of Evesham.
Therefore, bidding adieu to the duke and duchess, he started north. The
duke furnished him with letters of introduction to the princes through
whose countries he would travel; and again crossing the Rhine, he
journeyed through the territories of the Dukes of Cleves and Brabant,
and reached the mouth of Scheldt without interruption. There taking
ship, he sailed for London.
It was a long and stormy passage between the mouth of the Scheldt and
London. The vessel in which Cuthbert had shipped was old and somewhat
unseaworthy, and several times in the force of the gale all on board
gave up hope for their lives. At last, however, they reached the mouth
of the Thames, and dropping up with the tide, reached London eight days
after their embarkation. The noble charger which the King of Saxony had
presented to Cuthbert had suffered greatly, and he feared at one time
that the poor animal would succumb to the effects of the tempest.
However, after entering into smooth water it recovered itself, and on
landing near the Tower he found that it was able to support his weight.
Cnut and the archers were, like Cuthbert, delighted to have their feet
again upon English soil; and although London did not now strike them
with the same wonder which it would have done had they first visited it
before starting on their journey--for in many respects it was greatly
behind some of the continental cities--yet the feeling of home, and the
pleasure of being able to understand the conversation of those around
them, made the poor fellows almost beside themselves with joy. Beyond
the main political incidents Cuthbert had heard little of what had
passed in England since his departure; and putting up at a hostelry, he
inquired of the host whether Sir Baldwin of Béthune was in London, or
whether he was away on his estates. The landlord did not know. There
were, he said, but few nobles at court, and London was never so dull as
at present. As Cuthbert did not wish his coming home to be known to John
until he had learned something of the position of affairs, he dispatched
Cnut to the Tower to inquire privately of some of the officials about
the place whether Sir Baldwin was there. Cnut soon returned with the
news that he had not been at the court since his return from the Holy
Land, and that he was living at his castle down in Dorsetshire. After
some hesitation Cuthbert resolved to set out to see his friend, and
after six days' travel he arrived at the castle of the knight.
Sir Baldwin received him with immense joy. He had not heard of him since
they parted at Zara, and he feared that a fate similar to that which had
befallen King Richard had overtaken Cuthbert, even if he were still
alive.
"Have you seen aught of the king, our master?" the good knight inquired.
"Nothing," Cuthbert said. "I know no more than yourself. Indeed, I hoped
to have learned something from you as to the king."
"I was separated from him at Gortz, and while he was taken a prisoner to
the archduke, I was allowed to pursue my way. I had many difficulties
and dangers, and was some weeks in finding my way back. Nothing was
known of the king when I returned. Indeed, I was the first bearer of any
definite news concerning him since the day when he sailed from Acre.
Three weeks ago, as you may have learned, the news came that he is now
detained in captivity by the emperor, who demanded his delivery by the
Archduke John, into whose hands he first fell. But where he is no one
exactly knows. The news has created an immense excitement in the
kingdom, and all are resolved to sacrifice any of their treasures which
may be demanded in order to satisfy the ransom which the recreant
emperor has placed upon the king. Shame is it indeed that a Christian
sovereign should hold another in captivity. Still more, when that other
was returning through his dominions as a Crusader coming from the Holy
Land, when his person should be safe, even to his deadliest enemy. It
has long been suspected that he was in the hands either of the emperor
or of the archduke, and throughout Europe the feeling of indignation has
been strong; and I doubt not, now that the truth is known, this feeling
will be stronger than ever."
"But now that it is known," Cuthbert said, "I suppose there will be no
delay in ransoming the king."
"There will be no delay in raising the ransom," Sir Baldwin said. "But
the kingdom is very impoverished by war, by the exactions of Prince
John, and by those of Langley, who held it for King Richard. He was a
loyal servant of the king, but an exacting and rapacious prelate.
However, I doubt not that the rents of the English nobles will soon be
charged with sums sufficient for the ransom; and if this avail not, not
one of them will grudge their silver flagons and vessels to melt down to
make the total required. But we must not flatter ourselves that he will
obtain his liberty so soon as the money is raised. Prince John has long
been yearning for sovereignty. He has long exercised the real, if not
the nominal, power, and he has been intriguing with the pope and Philip
of France for their support for his seizing the crown. He will throw
every obstacle in the way, as, we may be sure, will Philip of France,
Richard's deadly enemy. And now about yourself, Sir Cuthbert; tell me
what has befallen you since we last met."
Cuthbert related the adventures which had befallen him, and heard those
of Sir Baldwin.
"You have not, I suppose," the latter remarked, "as yet seen Prince
John?"
"No," Cuthbert replied, "I thought it better to come down to ask you to
advise me on the position of affairs before I attempted to see him."
"You did well," Sir Baldwin said. "When I arrived, I found that the
proper officials had, according to King Richard's instructions, draw up
the patent conferring upon you the lands and title of Earl of Evesham,
before leaving Acre, and had received the king's signature to it. This
was attested by several of the nobles who were with us and who returned
safely to England. Prince John, however, declared that he should not
give any heed to the document; that King Richard's power over this realm
had ceased before he made it; and that he should bestow the earldom upon
whomsoever he chose. As a matter of fact, it has been given to Sir
Rudolph Fleming, a Norman knight and a creature of the prince. The king
has also, I hear, promised to him the hand of the young Lady Margaret,
when she shall become of marriageable age. At present she is placed in a
convent in Worcester. The abbess is, I believe, a friend of the late
earl, and the girl had been with her for some time previously. Indeed
she went there, I think, when her father left England. This lady was
ordered to give up her charge to the guardianship of Sir Rudolph; but
she refused to do so, saying that it would not be convenable for a young
lady to be under the guardianship of a bachelor knight having no lady at
the head of his establishment, and that therefore she should retain her,
in spite of the orders of the prince. Prince John, I hear, flew into a
fury at this; but he did not dare to provoke the anger of the whole of
the clergy by ordering the convent to be violated. And indeed, not only
would the clergy have been indignant, but many of the great nobles would
also have taken their part, for there can be no doubt that the
contention of the abbess was reasonable; and there is among all the
friends of King Richard a very strong feeling of anger at your having
been deprived of the earldom. This, however, has so far not found much
vent in words, for as it was uncertain whether you would ever return to
claim your rights, it was worth no one's while to embroil himself
unnecessarily with the prince on such a subject. God knows that there
are subjects enough of dispute between John Lackland and the English
barons without any fresh ones arising. The kingdom is in a state of
disturbance. There have been several risings against Prince John's
authority; but those have been, so far, suppressed. Now that we know
where King Richard is, and hope for his return ere very long, it is
probable that peace will be maintained; but should treachery prevail,
and King Richard's return be prevented, you may be sure that John will
not be permitted to mount the throne without the determined resistance
of a large number of the nobles."
"But," Cuthbert said, "John is not the successor to the throne. Prince
Arthur of Brittany was named by King Richard from the first as his
successor. He is so by blood and by right, and John can have no pretense
to the throne so long as he lives."
"That is so," Sir Baldwin said. "But unhappily in England at present
might makes right, and you may be sure that at King Richard's death, be
it when it may, Prince John will make a bold throw for the throne, and,
aided as he will be by the pope and by Philip of France, methinks that
his chances are better than those of the young prince. A man's power, in
warlike times, is more than a boy's. He can intrigue and promise and
threaten, while a boy must be in the hands of partisans. I fear that
Prince Arthur will have troubled times indeed before he mounts the
throne of England. Should Richard survive until he becomes of age to
take the field himself and head armies, he may succeed, for all speak
well of him as a boy of singular sweetness of disposition, while Prince
John is detested by all save those who flatter and live by him. But
enough for the present of politics, Cuthbert; let us now to table. It is
long since we two feasted together; and, indeed, such meals as we took
in the Holy Land could scarcely have been called feasts. A boar's head
and a good roasted capon are worthy all the strange dishes that we had
there. I always misdoubted the meat, which seemed to me to smack in
flavor of the Saracens, and I never could bring myself to inquire whence
that strange food was obtained. A stoup of English ale, too, is worth
all the Cyprus wines, especially when the Cyprus wines are half-full of
the sand of the desert. Pah! it makes my throat dry to think of those
horrible meals. So you have brought Cnut and your four archers safely
back with you?"
"Yes," Cuthbert said, smiling. "But they were, I can assure you, a heavy
weight on me, in spite of their faithfulness and fidelity. Their
ignorance of the language brought most of my troubles upon me, and Cnut
had something of the nature of a bull in him. There are certain things
which he cannot stomach, and when he seeth them he rageth like a wild
beast, regardless altogether of safety or convenience."
In the evening the two knights again talked over the course which
Cuthbert should adopt. The elder knight's opinion was that his young
friend had best formally claim the title by writing to the king-at-arms,
and should also announce his return to Prince John, signing himself "Sir
Cuthbert, Earl of Evesham;" but that, in the present state of things, it
would be unwise for him to attempt to regain his position, should, as
was certain to be the case, Prince John refuse to recognize him.
"You are very young yet," Sir Baldwin said, "not eighteen, I think, and
can afford to wait, at any rate, to see whether King Richard returns.
Should he come back, he will see all these wrongs are righted; and one
of his first cares would assuredly be to cast this usurper out of his
stolen dignities. How old is the Lady Margaret?"
"She is fifteen," Cuthbert said. "She was three years younger than I."
"I wish she had been younger," Sir Baldwin said. "At fifteen she is not
by custom fairly marriageable; but men can strain these points when they
choose; and I fear that the news of your coming will hasten both the
prince and Sir Rudolph in their determination to strengthen the claim of
this usurper by marriage with the heiress of Evesham. The Lady Margaret
and her friends can of course claim that she is a royal ward, and that
as such the king alone can dispose of her person and estates. But
unfortunately force overrides argument."
"But surely," Cuthbert said, "they will never venture to take her by
force from the convent?"
"They venture a great many strange things in England now," Sir Baldwin
said; "and Worcester is perilously near to Evesham. With a clump of
twenty spears, Sir Rudolph might break into the convent and carry off
the young lady, and marry her by force; and although the Church might
cry out, crying would be of little avail when the deed was done; and a
handsome present on the part of Sir Rudolph might go far to shut the
mouths of many of the complainants, especially as he will be able to say
that he has the king's sanction for what he did."
"Methinks," Cuthbert said, "that if such be the case it would be
perilous indeed to wait for King Richard's return. Assuredly Sir Rudolph
would not tarry until she attained the age of seventeen, and it may well
be that two years may yet pass before King Richard comes back. It seems
to me the wiser part will be that I should give Prince John no notice
that I am in England. As you say, such notice would be of no avail in
recovering my lands and title, but it would put the prince upon his
guard; and assuredly he and his minions would press forward their
measures to obtain possession of the person of the Lady Margaret;
while, on the other hand, no harm can come of my maintaining silence."
"I think that you are right, Sir Cuthbert. It were indeed best that your
enemies should suppose you either dead or in some dungeon in the Tyrol.
What would you then do?"
"I would return to my old home," Cuthbert said. "My lady mother is, I
trust, still alive. But I will not appear at her house, but will take
refuge in the forest there. Cnut, and the archers with him, were all at
one time outlaws living there, and I doubt not that there are many good
men and true still to be found in the woods. Others will assuredly join
when they learn that Cnut is there, and that they are wanted to strike a
blow for my rights. I shall then bide my time. I will keep a strict
watch over the castle and over the convent. As the abbess is a friend
and relative of Lady Margaret's, I may obtain an interview with her, and
warn her of the dangers that await her, and ask if she be willing to
fulfill the promise of her father and King Richard's will, in accepting
me as her husband when due time shall arrive, and whether she will be
willing that I should take such steps as I may to deliver her from the
persecution of Sir Rudolph. If, as I trust, she assents to this, I will
keep a watch over the convent as well as the castle, and can then either
attack the latter or carry her off from the former, as the occasion may
appear to warrant. There are plenty of snug cottages round the forest,
where she can remain in concealment in the care of some good farmer's
wife for months, and we shall be close at hand to watch over her. With
the aid of the forest men, Sir Walter took the castle of Sir John of
Wortham; and although Evesham is a far grander pile than that, yet
methinks it could be carried by a sudden assault; and we know more of
war now than we did then. Prince John may deny me the right of being
the Earl of Evesham; but methinks before many months I can, if I choose,
become its master."
"Be not too hasty in that matter," Sir Baldwin said. "You might capture
the castle with the aid of your outlaws; but you could scarcely hold it.
The prince has, ere now, with the aid of those faithful to him and his
foreign mercenaries, captured stronger holds than that of Evesham; and
if you turn his favorite out, you would have a swarm of hornets around
you such as the walls of Evesham could not keep out. It would therefore
be worse than useless for you to attempt what would be something like an
act of rebellion against Prince John's authority, and would give him
what now he has no excuse for, a ground for putting a price upon your
head--and cutting it off if he got the opportunity. You might now
present yourself boldly at court, and although he might refuse to
recognize your title of earl, yet, as a knight and a Crusader who has
distinguished himself greatly in the Holy Land, he dare not interfere
with your person, for this would be resented by the whole of the
chivalry of England. Still, I agree with you that your best course is to
keep your return a secret. You will then be unwatched and unnoticed, and
your enemies will take their time in carrying their designs into
effect."
Two days later Cuthbert, attended by his faithful retainers, left Sir
Baldwin's castle, and traveled by easy stages through Wiltshire and the
confines of Gloucestershire up to Worcester. He had been supplied by Sir
Baldwin with suitable attire for himself and his followers, and now rode
as a simple knight, without arms or cognizance, journeying from one part
to another. All the crosses and other crusading signs were laid aside,
and there was nothing to attract any attention to him upon his passage.
Cuthbert had at first thought of going direct to the convent of
Worcester, and asking for an interview with Lady Margaret; but he
reflected that it might be possible that some of the myrmidons of Sir
Rudolph might be keeping a watch over that building to see that Lady
Margaret was not secretly removed to some other place of refuge, and
that the appearance of a knight before its doors would excite comment
and suspicion. He therefore avoided the town, and journeyed straight to
the forest, where he had so often roamed with Cnut and the outlaws.
Here he found that matters had but little changed since he was last
there. Many of those who had fought with him in the Holy Land, and who
had returned by sea, had again taken to the forest, joined by many new
men whom the exactions of Sir Rudolph had already goaded into revolt.
Cnut was received with enthusiasm, and when he presented Cuthbert to
them as the rightful heir of Evesham and the well-known friend of the
foresters, their enthusiasm knew no bounds. They at once accepted him as
their lord and master, and promised to obey his orders, and to lay down
their lives, if necessary, in his cause, as they knew that it was he who
had formerly obtained the pardon of the forest band, and who had fought
with them in their attack on Wortham Castle.
To Cuthbert's great delight he heard that his mother was in good health,
although she had for some months been grievously fretting over his
disappearance and supposed death. Cuthbert hesitated whether he should
proceed at once to see her; but he feared that the shock of his
appearance might be too much for her, and that her expressions of joy
might make the retainers and others aware of his arrival, and the news
might in some way reach the ears of those at the castle. He therefore
dispatched Cnut to see her, and break the news to her cautiously, and to
request her to arrange for a time when she would either see Cuthbert at
some place at a distance from the house, or would so arrange that the
domestics should be absent and that he would have an interview with her
there unobserved.
Cnut was absent some hours, and on his return told Cuthbert that he had
seen Dame Editha, and that her joy on hearing of her son's safe arrival
had caused her no harm, but rather the reverse. The news that King
Richard had bestowed upon him the title and lands of Evesham was new to
her, and she was astonished indeed to hear of his elevation. Having
heard much of the character of the pretending earl, she had great fears
for the safety of Cuthbert, should his residence in the neighborhood get
to his ears; and although sure of the fidelity of all her retainers, she
feared that in their joy at their young master's return they might let
slip some incautious word which would come to the ears of some of those
at the castle. She therefore determined to meet him at a distance. She
had arranged that upon the following day she would give out that she
intended to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Dunstan, which lay at
the edge of the forest, to thank him for her recovery from illness, and
to pray for the safety of her son. She would be carried thither in a
litter, and her journey would excite no comment whatever. She would take
with her four of her most trusted retainers, and would on her arrival at
the shrine send them to a distance, in order to pay her devotions
undisturbed. Cuthbert was to be near, and the moment he saw them depart,
to enter.
This arrangement was carried out, and the joy of Dame Editha at again
meeting her son was deep indeed. He had left her a lad of fifteen. He
now returned a youth of nearly eighteen, stout and strong beyond his
age, and looking far older than he was, from the effect of the hot sun
of Syria and of the hardships through which he had gone. That he should
win his spurs upon the first opportunity the earl had promised her, and
she doubted not that he would soon attain the rank which his father had
held. But that he should return to her a belted earl was beyond her
wildest thoughts. This, however, was but little in her mind then. It was
her son, and not the Earl of Evesham, whom she clasped in her arms.
As the interview must necessarily be a short one, Cuthbert gave her but
a slight outline of what had happened since they parted, and the
conversation then turned upon the present position, and upon the steps
which had best be taken.
"Your peril is, I fear, as great here as when you were fighting the
infidels in the Holy Land," she said. "Sir Rudolph has not been here
long; but he has proved himself a cruel and ruthless master. He has
driven forth many of the old tenants and bestowed their lands upon his
own servants and retainers. The forest laws he carries out to the
fullest severity, and has hung several men who were caught infringing
them. He has laid such heavy burdens on all the tenants that remain that
they are fairly ruined, and if he stay here long he will rule over a
desert. Did he dream of your presence here, he would carry fire and
sword through the forest. It is sad indeed to think that so worthless a
knave as this should be a favorite of the ruler of England. But all men
say that he is so. Thus were you to attack him, even did you conquer and
kill him, you would have the enmity of Prince John to contend with; and
he spareth none, man or woman, who stand in his way. It will be a bad
day indeed for England should our good King Richard not return. I will,
as you wish me, write to my good cousin, the Lady Abbess of St. Anne's,
and will ask that you may have an interview with the Lady Margaret, to
hear her wishes and opinions concerning the future, and will pray her to
do all that she can to aid your suit with the fair young lady, and to
keep her at all events safe from the clutches of the tyrant of Evesham."
Three days later a boy employed as a messenger by Dame Editha brought a
note to Cuthbert, saying that she had heard from the Abbess of St.
Anne's, who would be glad to receive a visit from Cuthbert. The abbess
had asked his mother to accompany him; but this she left for him to
decide. Cuthbert sent back a message in reply that he thought it would
be dangerous for her to accompany him, as any spy watching would report
her appearance, and inquiries were sure to be set on foot as to her
companion. He said that he himself would call at the convent on the
following evening after nightfall, and begged her to send word to the
abbess to that effect, in order that he might, when he presented
himself, be admitted at once.