It is my mistress!
Since she is living, let the time run on
To good or bad.--CYMBELINE
Mericour found the welcome at Hurst Walwyn kindly and more polished than
that at Combe Manor. He was more readily understood, and found himself
at his natural element. Lord Walwyn, in especial, took much notice of
him, and conversed with him long and earnestly; while Berenger, too
happy and too weary to exert himself to say many words, sat as
near Cecily as he could, treating her as though she, who had never
contradicted in his trust in Eustacie, were the only person who could
worthily share his infinite relief, peace, and thankfulness.
Lord Walwyn said scarcely anything to his grandson that night, only when
Berenger, as usual, bent his knee to ask his blessing on parting for the
night, he said, gravely, ‘Son, I am glad of your joy; I fear me you have
somewhat to pardon your grandsire. Come to my library so soon as morning
prayers be over; we will speak then. Not now, my dear lad,’ he added, as
Berenger, with tears in his eyes, kissed his hand, and would have begun;
‘you are too much worn and spent to make my dear ears hear. Sleep, and
take my blessing with you.’
It was a delight to see the young face freed from the haggard, dejected
expression that had been sadder than the outward wound; and yet it was
so questionable how far the French connection was acceptable to the
family, that when Berenger requested Mr. Adderley to make mention of the
mercy vouch-safed to him in the morning devotions, the chaplain bowed,
indeed, but took care to ascertain that his so doing would be agreeable
to my Lord and my Lady.
He found that if Lady Walwyn was still inclined to regret that the
Frenchwoman was so entirely a wife, and thought Berenger had been very
hasty and imprudent, yet that the old Lord was chiefly distressed at
the cruel injustice he had so long been doing this poor youth thing.
A strong sense of justice, and long habit of dignified self-restraint,
alone prevented Lord Walwyn from severely censuring Mr. Adderley for
misrepresentations; but the old nobleman recollected that Walsingham had
been in the same story, and was too upright to visit his own vexation on
the honestly-mistaken tutor.
However, when Berenger made his appearance in the study, looking as
if not one right, but weeks, had been spent in recovering health and
spirit, the old man’s first word was a gentle rebuke for his having been
left unaware of how far matters had gone; but he cut short the attempted
reply, but saying he knew it was chiefly owing to his own over-hasty
conclusion, and fear of letting his grandson injure himself by vainly
discussing the subject. Now, however, he examined Berenger closely on
all the proceedings Paris and at Montpipeau, and soon understood that
the ceremony had been renewed, ratifying the vows taken in infancy. The
old statesman’s face cleared up at once; for, as he explained, he had
now no anxieties as to the validity of the marriage by English law, at
least, in spite of the decree from Rome, which, as he pointed out to his
grandson, was wholly contingent on the absence of subsequent consent,
since the parties had come to an age for free-will. Had he known of
this, the re-marriage, he said, he should certainly have been less
supine. Why had Berenger been silent?
‘I was commanded, sir. I fear I have transgressed the command by
mentioning it now. I must pray you to be secret.’
‘Secret, foolish lad. Know you not that the rights of your wife and your
children rest upon it?’ and as the change in Berenger’s looks showed
that he had not comprehended the full importance of the second ceremony
as nullifying the papal sentence, which could only quash the first on
the ground of want of mutual consent, he proceeded, ‘Command, quotha?
Who there had any right to command you, boy?’
‘Only one, sir.’
‘Come, this no moment for lover’s folly. It was not the girl, then? Then
it could no other than the miserable King--was it so?’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Berenger. ‘He bade me as king, and requested me as the
friend who gave her to me. I could do no otherwise, and I thought it
would be but a matter of a few days, and that our original marriage was
the only important one.’
‘Have you any parchment to prove it?’
‘No, sir. It passed but as a ceremony to satisfy the Queen’s scruples
ere she gave my wife to me to take home. I even think the King was
displeased at her requiring it.’
‘Was Mr. Sidney a witness?’
‘No, sir. None was present, save the King and Queen, her German
countess, and the German priest.’
‘The day?’
‘Lammas-day.’
‘The 1st of August of the year of grace 1572. I will write to Walsingham
to obtain the testimony, if possible, of king or of priest; but belike
they will deny it all. It was part of the trick. Shame upon it that a
king should dig pits for so small a game as you, my poor lad!’
‘Verily, my Lord,’ said Berenger, ‘I think the King meant us kindly,
and would gladly have sped us well away. Methought he felt his bondage
bitterly, and would fain have dared to be a true king. Even at the last,
he bade me to his _garde-robe_, and all there were unhurt.’
‘And wherefore obeyed you not?’
‘The carouse would have kept me too late for our flight.’
‘King’s behests may not lightly be disregarded,’ said the old courtier,
with a smile. ‘However, since he showed such seeming favour to you,
surely you might send a petition to him privately, through Sir Francis
Walsingham, to let the priest testify to your renewal of contract,
engaging not to use it to his detriment in France.’
‘I will do so, sir. Meanwhile,’ he added, as one who felt he had earned
a right to be heard in his turn, ‘I have your permission to hasten to
bring home my wife?’
Lord Walwyn was startled at this demand from one still so far from
recovered as Berenger. Even this talk, eager as the youth was, had
not been carried on without much difficulty, repetitions, and altered
phrases, when he could not pronounce distinctly enough to be understood
and the effort brought lines of pain into his brow. He could take little
solid food, had hardly any strength for walking or riding; and, though
all his wounds were whole, except that one unmanageable shot in the
mouth, he looked entirely unfit to venture on a long journey in the very
country that had sent him home a year before scarcely alive. Lord Walwyn
had already devised what he thought a far more practicable arrangement;
namely, to send Mr. Adderley and some of my Lady’s women by sea, under
the charge of Master Hobbs, a shipmaster at Weymouth, who traded with
Bordeaux for wine, and could easily put in near La Sablerie, and bring
off the lady and child, and, if she wished it, the pastor to whom such a
debt of gratitude was owing.
Berenger was delighted with the notion of the sea rather than the land
journey; but he pointed out at once that this would remove all objection
to his going in person. He had often been out whole nights with the
fishermen, and knew that a sea-voyage would be better for his health
than anything,--certainly better than pining and languishing at home,
as he had done for months. He could not bear to think of separation
from Eustacie an hour longer than needful; nay, she had been cruelly
entreated enough already; and as long as he could keep his feet, it was
absolutely due to her that he should not let others, instead of himself,
go in search of her. It would be almost death to him to stay at home.
Lord Walwyn looked at the pallid, wasted face, with all its marks
of suffering and intense eagerness of expression, increased by the
difficulty of utterance and need of subduing agitation. He felt that the
long-misunderstood patience and endurance had earned something; and he
knew, too, that for all his grandson’s submission and respect, the
boy, as a husband and father, had rights and duties that would assert
themselves manfully if opposed. It was true that the sea-voyage obviated
many difficulties, and it was better to consent with a good grace than
drive one hitherto so dutiful to rebellion. He did then consent, and was
rewarded by the lightning flash of joy and gratitude in the bright
blue eyes, and the fervent pressure and kiss of his hand, as Berenger
exclaimed, ‘Ah! sir, Eustacie will be such a daughter to you. You should
have seen how the Admiral liked her!’
The news of Lord Walwyn’s consent raised much commotion in the family.
Dame Annora was sure her poor son would be murdered outright this time,
and that nobody cared because he was only HER son; and she strove hard
to stir up Sir Marmaduke to remonstrate with her father; but the good
knight had never disputed a judgment of ‘my Lord’s’ in his whole life,
and had even received his first wife from his hands, when forsaken by
the gay Annora. So she could only ride over the Combe, be silenced by
her father, as effectually as if Jupiter had nodded, and bewail and
murmur to her mother till she lashed Lady Walwyn up into finding every
possible reason why Berenger should and must sail. Then she went home,
was very sharp with Lucy, and was reckoned by saucy little Nan to have
nineteen times exclaimed ‘Tilley-valley’ in the course of one day.
The effect upon Philip was a vehement insistence on going with his
brother. He was sure no one else would see to Berry half as well; and as
to letting Berry go to be murdered again without him, he would not hear
of it; he must go, he would not stay at home; he should not study; no,
no, he should be ready to hang himself for vexation, and thinking
what they were doing to his brother. And thus he extorted from his
kind-hearted father an avowal that he should be easier a bout the lad
if Phil were there, and that he might go, provided Berry would have him,
and my Lord saw no objection. The first point was soon settled; and
as to the second, there was no reason at all that Philip should not
go where his brother did. In fact, excepting for Berenger’s state of
health, there was hardly any risk about the matter. Master Hobbs, to
whom Philip rode down ecstatically to request him to come and speak to
my Lord, was a stout, honest, experienced seaman, who was perfectly at
home in the Bay of Biscay, and had so strong a feudal feeling for the
house of Walwyn, that he placed himself and his best ship, the THROSTLE,
entirely at his disposal. The THROSTLE was a capital sailer, and carried
arms quite sufficient in English hands to protect her against Algerine
corsairs or Spanish pirates. He only asked for a week to make her cabin
ready for the reception of a lady, and this time was spent in sending
a post to London, to obtain for Berenger the permit from the Queen,
and the passport from the French Ambassador, without which he could not
safely have gone; and, as a further precaution, letters were requested
from some of the secret agents of the Huguenots to facilitate his
admission into La Sablerie.
In the meantime, poor Mr. Adderley had submitted meekly to the decree
that sentenced him to weeks of misery on board the THROSTLE, but to his
infinite relief, an inspection of the cabins proved the space so small,
that Berenger represented to him grandfather that the excellent tutor
would be only an incumbrance to himself and every one else, and that
with Philip he should need no one. Indeed, he had made such a start into
vigour and alertness during the last few days that there was far less
anxiety about him, though with several sighs for poor Osbert. Cecily
initiated Philip into her simple rules for her patient’s treatment in
case of the return of his more painful symptoms. The notion of sending
female attendants for Eustacie was also abandoned: her husband’s
presence rendered them unnecessary, or they might be procured at La
Sablerie; and thus it happened that the only servants whom Berenger was
to take with him were Humfrey Holt and John Smithers, the same honest
fellows whose steadiness had so much conduced to his rescue at Paris.
Claude de Mericour had in the meantime been treated as an honoured guest
at Combe Walwyn, and was in good esteem with its master. He would have
set forth at once on his journey to Scotland, but that Lord Walwyn
advised him to wait and ascertain the condition of his relatives there
before throwing himself on them. Berenger had, accordingly, when writing
to Sidney by the messenger above mentioned, begged him to find out from
Sir Robert Melville, the Scottish Envoy, all he could about the family
whose designation he wrote down at a venture from Mericour’s lips.
Sidney returned a most affectionate answer, saying that he had never
been able to believe the little shepherdess a traitor and was charmed
that she had proved herself a heroine; he should endeavour to greet her
with all his best powers as a poet, when she should brighten the English
court; but his friend, Master Spenser, alone was fit to celebrate such
constancy. As to M. l’Abbe de Mericour’s friends, Sir Robert Melville
had recognized their name at once, and had pronounced them to be fierce
Catholics and Queensmen, so sorely pressed by the Douglases, that it was
believed they would soon fly the country altogether; and Sidney added,
what Lord Walwyn had already said, that to seek Scotland rather than
France as a resting-place in which to weigh between Calvinism and
Catholicism, was only trebly hot and fanatical. His counsel was that M.
de Mericour should so far conform himself to the English Church as to
obtain admission to one of the universities, and, through his uncle of
Leicester, he could obtain for him an opening at Oxford, where he might
fully study the subject.
There was much to incline Mericour to accept this counsel. He had had
much conversation with Mr. Adderley, and had attended his ministrations
in the chapel, and both satisfied him far better than what he had seen
among the French Calninists; and the peace and family affection of the
two houses were like a new world to him. But he had not yet made up his
mind to that absolute disavowal of his own branch of the Church, which
alone could have rendered him eligible for any foundation at Oxford.
His attainments in classics would, Mr. Adderley thought, reach such a
standard as to gain one of the very few scholarships open to foreigners;
and his noble blood revolted at becoming a pensioner of Leicester’s, or
of any other nobleman.
Lord Walwyn, upon this, made an earnest offer of his hospitality, and
entreated the young man to remain at Hurst Walwyn till the return
of Berenger and Philip, during which time he might study under the
directions of Mr. Adderley, and come to a decision whether to seek
reconciliation with his native Church and his brother, or to remain in
England. In this latter case, he might perhaps accompany both the youths
to Oxford, for, in spite of Berenger’s marriage, his education was
still not supposed to be complete. And when Mericour still demurred with
reluctance to become a burden on the bounty of the noble house, he was
reminded gracefully of the debt of gratitude that the family owed to him
for the relief he had brought to Berenger; and, moreover, Dame Annora
giggled out that, ‘if he would teach Nan and Bess to speak and read
French and Italian, it would be worth something to them.’ The others of
the family would have hushed up this uncalled-for proposal; but Mericour
caught at it as the most congenial mode of returning the obligation.
Every morning he undertook to walk or ride over to the Manor, and
there gave his lessons to the young ladies, with whom he was extremely
popular. He was a far more brilliant teacher than Lucy, and ten thousand
times preferable to Mr. Adderley, who had once begun to teach Annora her
accidence with lamentable want of success.