This was the letter that I read in my parlour that night, as the man in
his livery stood beside me, dusty with riding. I have it still (it is in
the mass-book that stands beside my desk; you can find it there after I
am gone to give my account.)....
"REVEREND AND RIGHT WORSHIPFUL SIR JOHN CHALDFIELD,--
"There is a young man here named Master Richard Raynal, who tells us
that you are his friend. He desires to see you before his death, for he
has been set upon and will not live many days. His grace has ordered
that you shall be brought with speed, for he loves this young man and
counts him a servant of God. He is with Master Raynal as I write. I fear
this may be heavy news for you, Sir John, so I will write no more, but I
recommend myself to you, and pray that you may be comforted and speeded
here by the grace of God, which ever have you in His keeping.
"Written at Westminster, the Wednesday after Corpus Xti.
"Yours,
"......."
I asked the fellow who brought the letter whether he could tell me any
more, but all that he could say was that he was in the court outside my
lord cardinal's privy stairs--where the people were assembled to see
Master Richard come out, and that he had seen a confusion, and blows
struck, and the glaivemen run in to help him. Then he had seen no more,
but he thought Master Richard had been taken back again to the palace,
and heard that he had been sore wounded and beaten, and was not like to
live.
* * * * *
I will not tell you, my children, of my ride to London that night, save
that I do not think I ceased praying from the instant that I set out to
the instant when I came up as the dawn began behind Lambeth House, and
we went over in the ferry. I cried in my heart with David, _Fili mi,
Fili mi; quis mihi tribuat ut ego moriar pro te, fili mi, fili mi?_
["My son, my son! Who would grant that I might die for thee, my son, my
son?"--2 Kings xviii. 33.] And I prayed two things--that God might
forgive me for having allowed the lad to go, and that I might find him
alive. More than that I dared not pray, and I know not even now if I
should have prayed the first.
It was a wonderful dawn that I saw as I crossed over, with a mist coming
up from the water as a promise of great heat, and above it the high
roofs and towers like the lovely city of God, and over all the sky was
of a golden colour with lines of pearl across it. It comforted me a
little that I should come to Master Richard so.
Even at that hour there were many awake. There was one great fellow by
the ferry, that was looking across towards the palace; and I think it
must have been he who had taken Master Richard over for love of saint
Giles and saint Denis, but I did not know that part of the tale at that
time, and I never saw him again.
In the court and passages, too, that we went along there were persons
going to and fro. One told me afterwards that never had he seen such a
movement at that hour since the night that the King's mother died. They
were all waiting for tidings of the lad, and they eyed me very narrowly,
and I heard my name run before me as I went.
At the last we came to a great door, and we were let through, and I was
in the King's bed-chamber.
It was a quiet room, and I will describe it to you now, although I saw
little of it at that time.
* * * * *
In the centre, with its head against the wall, stood a tall bed, with a
canopy over it, and four posts of twisted wood, carved very cunningly
with little shields that bore the instruments of our Saviour's passion.
On the tapestry beneath the canopy, above the pillow, were the arms of
the King, wrought in blue and red and gold. The hangings on the walls
were all of a dark blue, wrought with devices of all kinds, and they
were hanged from a ledge of wood beneath the ceiling such as I have
never seen before or since. The ceiling was of painted wood, divided
into deep squares, and in the centre of each was a coat. The floor was
all over rushes, the cleanest and the most fragrant that I have ever
smelled. I think that there must have been herbs and bay leaves mixed
with them.
I saw all this afterwards, for when I came in the curtains were all
drawn against the windows, save against one that let in the cool air
from the river and a little pale light of morning, and two candles
burned on a table beside the bed. The room was very dark, but I could
see that a dozen persons stood against the walls, and one by every door.
But I had no eyes for them, and went quickly across the rushes, and as I
came round the foot of the bed, I heard my name whispered again, and the
King stood up from where he had been kneeling.
I have already described to you his appearance at that time, so I will
say no more here than that he was in all his clothes which were a little
disordered, and that his head was bare. He had been weeping, too, for
his eyes were red and swollen, and his lips shook as he put out his
hand. But he could not speak.
I kneeled down and kissed his hand quickly and stood up immediately.
Master Richard who was lying on his left side, turned away from me, so
that I could not see his face, but I knew he was not yet dead, else he
would have been laid upon his back, but he was as still as death. His
head was all in a bandage, except on this side where his long hair hung
across his cheek, and his bare arm lay across the rich coverlet, brown
to the elbow with his digging, and white as milk at the shoulder.
When I saw that I kneeled down too, and hid my face in my hands, and
although I felt the King lay his fingers on my shoulder I could not look
up. But it was not all for sorrow that I wept; I was thanking God
Almighty who permitted me to see Master Richard alive once more.
I do not know how long it was before I looked up, but all the folks
were gone from the room save the King, and Master Blytchett, the
physician, who sat on the other side of the bed.
I went round presently to the other side, the King going with me, and
there I saw Master Richard's face. I cannot tell you all that I saw in
it, for there are no words that can tell of its peace; his eyes were
closed below the little healed scar that he had taken in the monastery,
and his lips were open and smiling; they moved two or three times as I
looked, as if he were talking with some man, and then they ceased and
smiled again. But all was very little, as if the soul were far down in
some secret chamber with company that it loved.
I asked presently if he had received his Maker, and the King told me
Yes, and shrift too, and anointing--all the night before when he had
come to himself for a while and called for a priest. He had spoken my
name, too, at that time and they had told him that one was gone to
bring me and at that he seemed content.
Master Blytchett told me soon that I could be gone for a while, to take
some meat, and that he would send for me if Master Richard awoke. But I
said No to that; until the King bade me go, saying that he, too, would
remain, and pledging his word that I should be called.
So I went away into a parlour, and washed myself, and took some food,
and after a while the old clerk that had written the letter to me, came
in and saluted me.
I was desirous to know how all had come about, so we sat there a great
while in the window seat, with the door a little open into the
bed-chamber, and he told me the tale. I did not speak one word till he
had done.
This was how it came about.
* * * * *
Master Richard was sent for from his cell to the parlour of my lord
cardinal, but my lord was not ready for him, and he had to stand a
great while in the court to wait his pleasure. The rumour ran about as
to who it was, and a great number of persons assembled from all parts,
some from the palace, and some from the streets. These had so cried out
against the young man, that the billmen were sent for from the
guard-room to keep him from their violence. This priest had looked out
from a window at the noise, and seeing the crowd, had entreated my lord
to have the prisoner in without any more delay. So he was brought in,
and one was left to keep the little door that led to the privy stairs up
which he came.
It was then that this priest had seen him face to face, and I will try
to write down his words as he told them me.
"I came into the parlour," he said, "through the door behind my lord's
chair, as Master Raynal was brought in by the other door.
"I have never seen such a sight, Sir John, as I saw then. He was in his
white kirtle only, with the five wounds upon his breast, and he had on
his sandals. But his face was as that of a dead man: his eyelids were
sunk upon his cheek, and his lips hung open so that I could see his bare
teeth.
"There were two men who led him by the arms, and he would have fallen
but for their assistance, and I immediately whispered to my lord to let
him sit down. But my lord was busy and anxious at that time, for he had
but just come from the King, who was no better and would take no meat
nor speak at all. So he paid no heed to me, and presently began to ask
questions of Master Raynal, urging him to confess what it was that he
had done, and threatening him with this and that if he would not speak.
"But Master Raynal did not speak or lift his eyes; it seemed as if he
did not hear one word.
"My lord told him presently that if temporal pains did not move him,
perhaps, it was that he desired spiritual--for my lord was very angry,
and scarce knew what he was saying. But Master Richard made no answer.
I will tell you, Sir John, plainly, that I thought he was but a fool to
anger my lord so by his silence, for it could not be that he did not
hear: my lord bawled loud enough to awaken the dead, and I saw the folk
behind, some laughing and some grave.
"It would be full half an hour after noon before my lord had done his
questions, and lay back in his chair wrathful at getting no answer,
though the men that held Master Raynal shook him from side to side.
"Then it was that the end came.
"I was observing Master Raynal very closely, wondering whether he were
mad or deaf, and on a sudden he lifted his eyes, and his lips closed. He
appeared to be looking at my lord, but it was another that he saw.
"I cannot describe to you, Sir John, what that change was that came to
him, save by saying that I think Lazarus must have looked like that, as
he heard our Saviour Christ's voice calling to him as he lay in the
tomb. It was no longer the face of a dead man, but of a living one, and
as that change came, I perceived that my lord cardinal had raised
himself in his chair, and was staring, I suppose, at the young man too.
But I could not take my eyes off Master Raynal's face.
"Then on a sudden Master Raynal smiled and drew a great breath and cried
out. It was but one word; it was the holy Name of JESUS.
"I perceived immediately that my lord cardinal had stood up at that cry,
but then he sat down again, and he made a motion with his hand, and the
men that held Master Raynal wheeled him about, and they went through the
crowd towards the door.
"My lord cardinal turned to me, and I have never seen him so moved, but
still he could not speak, and while we looked upon one another there was
a great uproar everywhere--in the court and in the palace.
"I stood there, not knowing what to do, and my lord pushed past to the
window. He, too, cried out as he looked down, and then ran from the
room, and as I was following there broke in one by the door behind the
chair.
"'Where is my lord cardinal?' he cried; 'The King has sent for him.'
"Well, the end of the matter was that they brought Master Raynal back
again, wounded and battered near to death. The crowd that had been
attendant for him had set on him as he came out--they should have sent
more bill-men before to keep the road, and the King met him in the way
(for he had come to his senses again), and turned as white as ashes once
more, crying out that his own craven heart had slain one more [If this
king was Henry VI, the reference may be to Joan of Arc. But Henry was
only a child at the time of her death. At the best this can be only
conjecture.] servant of God, but I know not what he meant by that.
Master Raynal was taken to the King's bed-chamber, and my lord came
after. And the King has been with him, praying and moaning ever since."
Then I put one question to the priest.
"My lord cardinal?" I said.
"No man but the King has seen my lord cardinal since yesterday."
* * * * *
We sat a while longer in silence, and then Master Blytchett came in to
see me.