CHAPTER XXXIV.
Tan household of Lady Margaret Langley was increased, during the dayfollowing the adventures related in the last two chapters, by thereturn of two stout servants, whom she had sent upon various errandsto a considerable distance from Langley Hall; and in the evening thesteward and his man came back, as they termed it--though, in truth,they both ordinarily lived in a house and cottage about two milesoff--to the dwelling of the good lady. The hind, too, arrived, andtook up his lodging in the house; and the shrewd servant, William, wasbusy amongst the farmers and tenants, talking with one, whisperingwith another, winking at a third. Langley Hall in truth became quite agay place; for, in addition to the militia-men from Beverley, everymorning saw five or six good yeomen, sometimes eight or nine,attending Lady Margaret's orders and directions about farming matters.Captain Hargood felt somewhat uneasy; for these visiters, all stoutmen and generally armed, became so numerous that he saw it was not atall unlikely that in process of time he might be outnumbered in theHall. He perceived that, should such be the case, at any unexpectedmoment he might easily be overpowered, if the disposition which he hadat first made of his men continued; for, scattered over that large,rambling mansion, in order to watch what was taking place in everypart at once, there were not to be found more than two or three of themilitia together at any one given point; and it was by no means aneasy or rapid process to gather them from their several quarters intoone body for the stairs and passages, the rooms and ante-rooms, thelobbies and galleries, the halls and corridors, were so intricate andin such number, that it was a good half-hour's march from one end ofthe house to the other; and the shutting of a door or barricading of apassage might in a moment isolate any one party from the rest. Hecould not help fancying, too, that Lady Margaret felt the advantage ofher position, and that there was something more than chance in thisinflux of tenantry; and thus the feeling of security with which he hadtaken possession of Langley Hall soon disappeared, and he became veryuneasy indeed.
In after periods of the civil war, when the bold and decided tone ofthe parliament had spread to the whole party, and the simple justiceor petty commissioner, knowing that any violence against a malignantwould receive countenance and applause from those who had the power ofthe state in their hands, ventured every excess against their enemies,Captain Hargood would have overcome the difficulty at once by marchingoff Lady Margaret and the principal members of her household toBeverley or Hull. But the Roundhead party, in remote provinces, hadnot yet acquired full confidence either in its strength or in itsleaders; and steps afterwards taken as a matter of course were now noteven thought of. His only resource, therefore, was to reinforce hisnumbers, if possible, and to make such changes in the disposition ofhis men in the mean while as would guard against surprise.
During the hours, then, at which the hall was thronged with thetenants and farmers, he gathered his men together into one part of thehouse, and there kept them till he found that the visiters who alarmedhim were departing. But this was all that Lady Margaret desired; and,the unpleasant espial being removed from about nine in the morningtill about one o'clock, ample time was afforded for very easycommunication with the Earl of Beverley, both to cheer him by thesociety of his friends and supply him with all that might be necessaryto his comfort.
As only one of the party could venture to be absent at a time, it mayeasily be supposed that Annie Walton was the person most frequentlyfixed upon, as she was certainly the one best fitted to console theweary hours of the earl in the strange sort of captivity to which hewas reduced; and many and many a happy hour, during the next fourdays, did the two lovers spend together.
Of the present they had but little to say. No news of any importancereached the Hall, and the brief laugh excited by the success of LadyMargaret's stratagem for driving the militia-men into one particularportion of the house soon passed away. It was upon the past and uponthe future, then, that their thoughts and conversation principallyturned; but, though the mind of Annie Walton certainly rested moreoften and more anxiously upon the coming years than upon the past, yetthe apprehensions that she entertained regarding them, the too intenseinterest they excited, and the agitation which the contemplation ofall that might take place produced, naturally led her to seek reliefin the softened influences of the past; and she would willingly dwellwith her lover upon all the thousand little events of early days,showing him, without reserve, all the secrets of her own pure andguileless heart, and seeking playfully and yet eagerly to discoverthose of his.
Nor did he much strive to conceal them, although there were, ofcourse, some things that he would not say; but whenever he saw thatshe was deeply interested, and that mystery might create doubtsinjurious to her peace, he was as frank and free as she was: sporting,perhaps, a little with her curiosity, but always satisfying it in theend. He did not, indeed, amuse himself or her, to use the words of asweet old song that one time cheered my infancy, by
Tales telling of loves long ago,
although she was curious to know whether the heart, the possession ofwhich she so much valued, had never been given to any but herself; andindeed could hardly believe that, amongst all the scenes through whichhe had passed, amongst the fair and beautiful with whom he hadmingled, and in all the varying events in which he had taken a part,some one had not been found to love and be beloved, by one whom shefelt it difficult to imagine any woman could behold without feelingthe same sensation towards him that she experienced herself.
At first, indeed, she did not venture to question, but merelysuggested with playful smiles the confession which she strove toextort. Then, when he spoke of beautiful scenes in other lands, or ofbright and happy moments in former days, she would laugh, and askwhether there had not been some one near to give light to the lightand add sweet to the sweetness; and he would reply sportively, "Oh! amultitude, dear Annie! I can assure you that in those days every womanwas fair to my young eyes, and every smiling jest was full of wit."
But when she pressed him closer still, and inquired whether, amongstthe many, there had not been one brighter than them all, who had foundmeans to eclipse the loveliness around and make herself the beloved,the earl would draw her closer to him, and, gazing on the lids of herdowncast eyes, would answer, "Nay, Annie, but I must have yourconfession first. Have you never loved before? Has no one, ere I knewyou, brushed off with a touch the bloom of that dear heart before itwas ripe for me?"
"Never, never!" she cried. "Never, Francis! I have had no one to love.Little as I have seen of the world, few as were those who havefrequented our house since I was a mere girl, it was not likely, thatI should meet with any who should either care to make themselvesagreeable to me or have the power of doing so. I can assure you that,had it not been for my brother Charles, till I met with you I shouldhave thought men very dull things indeed. We had, it is true, morethan once, a crowd of roystering Cavaliers, and, more frequentlystill, half-a-dozen prim Puritans, staying in the house or in theneighbourhood; but the first were all too gay for me, the others alltoo sad; the one set too fond of their fine clothes and their finehorses, the others too fond of their own selves, for them to care forme or I to care for them. One man, indeed, asked my father for my handwhen I was a girl of fifteen; but my father saved me the trouble ofsaying no, by valuing me at too high a price to part with me. But withyou, Francis, it is very different: you have mingled with the brightdames of France and the beautiful ones of Italy and Spain; and Icannot even hope that you should have escaped heart-whole, to lay yourfirst affections at the feet of poor Annie Walton, a country girl,well-nigh ignorant of courts, and of all the graces that you must haveseen elsewhere."
"I have seen none like her, Annie," said Lord Beverley, in a tone ofdeep earnestness; "and I will tell you in truth and sincerity, I neverloved till I did see her. I may have admired; I may have been pleased;but there have been things in my fate and history which came dimlybetween me and all others, like those glasses which star-gazers use toloo
k upon the sun without having their eyes dazzled; and even, dearestAnnie, when that thick veil was over me the moat, I was still thegayest, jesting with the light, laughing with the gay, and drainingthe bowl of pleasure to the dregs, even when the draught was mosttasteless to my lips."
"Indeed!" said Annie Walton, gravely; "that seems strange to me."
"And yet it is true," replied the earl: "nay, more--it is common,Annie. Every man has his own secrets in his heart, and each his ownway of hiding them--one in a dark, gloomy pall, one in a gay andglittering veil; and the latter was my case, sweet one. But perchanceyou have never heard the tale of what happened to my house in oldertimes. My mother's brother was an Irish lord of a high and noblenature--wild, daring, and somewhat rash. For some poor and triflingfault he was pursued, unjustly, I believe--at all events, with unjustseverity--in courts he did not recognise, to the confiscation of hisproperty. He laughed such laws to scorn, however, defied them to takehim from his mountain-holds, and added attainture to the judgmentagainst him; but he had strong enemies even in his native country.Troops were led up through passes that he thought secure, by men whoknew them but too well. His castle--for it was a house wellfortified--was attacked and stormed, he being absent from it at thetime; and my poor sister, a young child I loved most dearly, then butwaiting for an opportunity of returning to her own home, perished inthe flames, for they burned his dwelling to the ground. He himself wastaken on his return, and, with indecent haste and many illegalcircumstances, was condemned and executed."
"Good heaven!" cried Annie Walton, a wild fancy suddenly presentingitself to her mind. "Can it be that Arrah Neil is your sister? Thereare several strange things regarding her, and I may tell you she isnot what she seems."
"No," answered Lord Beverley; "oh, no, my beloved! that could not be.My sister would now be seven or eight years older than poor Arrah,and, besides, the body was not so disfigured that it could not berecognised. She died beyond all doubt. In grief and indignation myfather and my mother appealed to the king of England, strove to removemy uncle's trial to some more fit and competent tribunal before hissentence was pronounced, showed the evident illegality of many of theproceedings against him, petitioned, prayed--in vain. He died as Ihave said, and then to remonstrances they added complaints andreproaches, withdrew from the court, and uttered words which wereconstrued into high offences; fines and punishments followed uponthose whose hands had aided to uphold the monarch, and in bitterdisgust at man's ingratitude, in abhorrence of his falsehood andindignation at his injustice, I quitted England, wandering over manydistant lands, and resolving never to return. I sought forgetfulness,Annie; I sought pleasure, amusement--anything which, if it could nottake the thorn out of my heart, might at least assuage the pain.--But,hark! there is the signal that you must return," and with one briefcaress they parted.