CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The small town of Beverley was as full as it could hold. It does not,indeed, seem at any time well calculated to hold a great many; but itis wonderful how elastic towns and even houses are when theinhabitants have a good mind to make room for others. It was, orseemed to be, as full as it could hold, however, as I have said, whenabout noon a body of some three hundred horse, followed at thedistance of a quarter of a mile by a mixed troop of gentlemen andladies, with a small party escorting some thirty-five or fortyprisoners and two or three wagons, entered the place and marched upthe principal street. A number of gay Cavaliers were lounging about atthe doors of inns and private houses; some companies of train-bandswere seen in the more open spaces, and guards appeared at the doors ofthe town-house, from the windows of which several heads were leaningforth, gazing listlessly upon the scene below. All was gay andpleasant confusion; for the party of the parliament took care to keepout of sight, and the royalists, exulting in the arrival of the king,were doing their best to show a hearty welcome to his court. Thoughsomewhat less than two thousand cavalry, and a small infantry force,consisting entirely of train-bands, with half-a-dozen light pieces ofartillery, certainly did not show much like an army, yet hope andexcitement magnified the numbers; and the good townsmen of Beverley,as they reckoned up, with the exaggerating powers of imagination, morenoblemen than they had ever seen in the parish before, and calculatedthe troop which each could bring into the field if he were willing,never doubted that, if the king had been so pleased, he might havebrought a much larger host to the siege of Hull, and believed thatmany more would actually follow.
In this supposition, indeed, they were encouraged by a number ofhouses being already marked out as quarters for different persons whohad not yet appeared. Amongst the rest, a handsome brick building, ina garden, on the side of Hull, had been assigned to the expected partyof Lord Walton; and as soon as the head of the troop I have mentionedappeared, a man who had been waiting by the side of a saddled horse,at the door of the town-house, sprang into the saddle, and riding upto the commanding officer--our old friend Major Randal--informed himof the direction he was to take.
This old officer halted his men to let the party behind come up, andtwo or three gentlemen on foot advanced and spoke with him for amoment or two, while such exclamations as--"Indeed burned to theground do you say?" "What! Langley Hall burned down? I saw a lightover that way as I was marching. About nine, was it not?"--were heardas they conversed.
"Pooh!" cried Randal, as one of the gentlemen, for want of otheramusement, asked him to describe all that had taken place; "I am notgood at telling stories, my lord. Ask Barecolt there; he has alwaysone ready, and if not, he will make one. But here come Lord Walton andthe Earl of Beverley, with the ladies from the Hall, and we must goon. March!"
The troop followed, and on the whole party went to the quarterswhich had been provided for them; the soldiery billeted in certainale-houses and cottages in the vicinity, and the higher personages inthe house which has been mentioned.
The bustle of arrival was soon over; all orders were given, allarrangements made; and the ladies and gentlemen in whom we are mostinterested were assembled in the hall of the house--a large andhandsome room, lined with dark carved oak, and possessing fourwindows, which looked out into a garden, well arranged according tothe taste of that day, and surrounded by high walls.
In the march from Langley Hall, as may be supposed, much had been toldto Lord Walton, but it had been confined to the events that had takenplace since his departure from York, and there was another subjectupon which he was anxious for information. As he stood talking withLady Margaret, while the Earl of Beverley and Miss Walton gazed forthfrom one of the windows, the young nobleman's eye fixed upon ArrahNeil, who, seated in a choir at some distance, her look full of deepbut tranquil thought, was caressing the large dog, which, from hervery first arrival at Langley Hall, had shown so strange a partialityfor her.
"Tell me, my dear aunt," said Lord Walton, interrupting what the goodlady was saying in respect to a proposed visit to the king; "tell mewhat is all this about that sweet girl. Annie says she has a strangetale to relate, and Captain Barecolt has already roused my curiosity.Has anything more been heard since I went to York?"
"Nothing, Charles; nothing," replied Lady Margaret. "A strange tale,did Annie say? I have heard nothing of it, and yet I cannot cast frommy mind the belief, that if that poor dog could speak he would tell usas strange a tale as one could wish to hear. Oh! those dumb witnessesof all the many acts done, as we think, in secresy and solitude--ifthey had but a voice, what dark and fearful things would be trumpetedto the ear! 'Tis as well that they have not. But let us go and askher;" and, walking up to Arrah, who looked up at her approach, shelaid her hand kindly on her shoulder, saying, "Annie has told Charles,dear child, that you have something strange to relate to him. You hadbetter speak soon, my Arrah, for no one can count upon these soldiersfor a minute. They go hither and thither like the winds and clouds."
The blood mounted slightly into the cheek of Arrah Neil, and she said,after a slight hesitation, "I must tell him alone, dear Lady Margaret.I would fain tell you too, because I know you would advise and help mewell; but they made me promise that I would only tell him and Annie."
"Nay, my child, I seek not to know," replied Lady Margaret; "I havehad too many sad secrets in my life, and desire no more. And yet,Arrah, and yet," she added, "there might be a tale for you to tell;but it is a dream--wild, idle dream: no more of it! Go with him intothe gardens, my child, and tell him what you have to say."
Arrah Neil rose timidly, and raised her eyes to Lord Walton's face ashe stood beside his aunt; but, grave and somewhat stern, as hesometimes seemed to others, to her he was always gentleness itself,and taking her hand he drew her harm through his and led her towardsthe gardens.
Lady Margaret seated herself where Arrah had been sitting, and,bending down her head over the dog, continued talking to him in a lowmurmuring voice for some minutes. Annie Walton and the Earl ofBeverley remained conversing in the window, and their eyes soon restedupon Lord Walton and Arrah Neil, as they walked up and down one of thebroad gravel-walks. The face of the young nobleman was grave andattentive; but from time to time he raised his look to his faircompanion's countenance, and seemed to ask some questions, ArrahNeil's gaze was most frequently bent upon the ground, but neverthelessat different periods of their conference she glanced for a singleinstant eagerly at the face of Charles Walton, as if seeking todiscover what impression her story made upon him, and then withdowncast eyes again went on with her tale.
Annie Walton felt for her; for there was something is her heart thatmade her sure the telling of that tale to the ear that heard it wouldbe matter of no light emotion to poor Arrah Neil. She would have givenworlds to see her brother smile, to know that he spoke gentle wordsand kind encouragement; but he turned up and down the walk, againand again, with the same thoughtful air, the same high and loftybearing--not proud, not harsh, but grave and calm. And yet it wasbetter as it was, for Arrah Neil knew him well and loved him dearly ashe was; and any deviation from his natural character, any softer, anymore tender movement, might have agitated her and rendered herincapable of going on with tranquil clearness. At length, however,when it seemed all at an end--the story told as far as she could tellit--the whole truth known as far as she knew it herself--Lord Waltonsuddenly paused, and casting his arms suddenly round her who had beenthe object of his house's bounty, pressed a warm kiss upon her glowingcheek. Then taking her hand in his, he drew it within his arm againand led her back towards the house, her face crimson and her limbstrembling with deep emotion.
The Earl of Beverley turned to Annie Walton with a smile.
"God's blessing on them," he said, "and on all hearts that love!"
Miss Walton started. "You do not understand it, Francis," she replied.
"Yes, dear one, I do," said her lover; "I have long seen it. I knowCharles Walton well, and
the share that generous enthusiasm and calmreasoning prudence have in his nature. He has loved rashly, andchecked his love. Some great obstacle is gone, and love has now thesceptre. He is not a man to debase that which he loves, or I shouldhave feared for poor Arrah Neil; but he is not one either to sacrificewhat he thinks right, even to his heart's dearest affections; andtherefore, dear Annie, I have grieved for him. But, my beloved," headded, speaking even lower than before, "between us there is no suchbarrier as has always existed between them. A period of repose mustsoon come, and then, surely----"
Annie Walton cast down her eyes and the colour mounted in her cheek;but ere the earl's sentence was concluded Lord Walton and his faircompanion re-entered the hall, and she turned towards them withoutreply. Her lover gently detained her, however, gazing into her facehalf-reproachfully; and she murmured in a low tone--
"I am always ready to fulfil my promises."
"Thanks, dear one! thanks!" answered the earl; and turning to LadyMargaret, he released her hand, seeing that her brother beckoned hertowards him.
"You know all she tells me, Annie," said Charles Walton, as his sisterjoined him and Arrah at the other side of the room; "but this must bekept secret for the present. We must have the further proofs ere wesay aught to any one."
"Even to my aunt?" asked his sister.
"Ay, to her more than all," answered Lord Walton; "but I will soonfind means to clear up the whole. This man, O'Donnell, must be seen ifpossible. But here comes a message from his majesty. I trust we shallsoon be in Hull, and then we shall have ample means of obtaining allthe information that may be required."
The royal officer, as Lord Walton expected, brought him and the Earlof Beverley a summons to the presence of the king, to whom theirarrival in the town had been immediately notified; and, hastening tothe house, they found the unhappy monarch surrounded by the nobility,who were crowding to his standard. The scene was very different nowfrom that presented by the court at Nottingham. Hope and expectationwere in all faces, and even the melancholy countenance of Charles borethe look of satisfaction it so seldom assumed.
Commissioned by Lady Margaret Langley, the first act of Lord Waltonwas to present to his sovereign all the plate and jewels which hadbeen brought from Langley Hall--an act which was imitated during thecivil war by many of the noble families of the day; for loyalty wasthen a sentiment amongst a great number of the British nation, andattachment to the throne was not a matter of trade and calculation.
"My aunt commissions me to say, sire," the young nobleman continued,"that did her strength or her sex permit, no one would fight morezealously than herself in defence of your throne; but as she can bringyou nought else, she brings you this small offering of good-will, tothe value, she esteems it, of about ten thousand pounds, which will atleast aid in the maintenance of your troops."
"I accept it as a loan, my lord," replied Charles, "which would besoon repaid if many more of my subjects would show such devotedloyalty. However, as a loan or as a gift it commands my sinceregratitude; and if God should bless my cause, as I trust he will, thisis one of the acts that will not be forgotten."
The monarch then turned to other subjects, and with graceful courtesyinquired into the destruction of Langley Hall, and expressed his deepregret that, for attachment to his cause, a lady so far advanced inlife as Lady Margaret should have been exposed to such inconvenience,alarm, and danger.
The audience of the two noblemen was long; and to Lord Beverley inparticular the king addressed numerous questions, making him repeatover and over again the substance of his conversations with Sir JohnHotham, and pondering over his replies, as if seeking to confirm inhis own breast the hopes he feared to entertain. At length, however,the monarch put the question plainly to the earl--
"What is your own sincere opinion, my lord? Will Sir John keep hisword?"
"If I must speak plainly, sire," replied the earl, "I can but replythat I think he will if he can: nay, I am sure of it. But I have somedoubts as to his power of doing so;" and he proceeded to explain thatan evident jealousy was entertained of the governor of Hull by theparliament; that his own son was in fact merely a spy upon him in theplace where he appeared to command; and that before his (LordBeverley's) departure he had heard of the arrival of severalparliamentary officers, and that others were expected, whose presencein the town might act as a check upon Sir John Hotham, and prevent himfrom executing that which he intended.
Such a view of the case gave the king subject for further meditation;and at length he repeated twice--
"It were much to be wished that through a confidential person we couldfind some means of holding communication with the governor."
The Earl of Beverley was silent for a moment or two, for he had beendreaming happy dreams, and felt painfully reluctant to put theiraccomplishment to hazard by placing himself in peril of what seemedalmost more terrible than death--a long and indefinite imprisonment.When the king repeated nearly the same words, however, and he feltthat their application was to himself, he bowed with a grave andresolute air, saying--
"If your majesty thinks that my return to Hull can be for yourservice, I am ready to undertake it."
"It will be greatly for my service, my noble friend," replied Charles,"though it grieves me to place you in a situation of such danger,after all you have suffered in this cause."
"Well, sire," replied the earl with a sigh, "it will be better for meto set out immediately; for, in order to maintain the character Iformerly assumed, I must come upon Hull upon the other side, and it isalready late. I fear, moreover, my communications with your majestymust be through York, so that a good deal of inevitable delay willtake place."
The further arrangements between the king and his loyal subject weresoon made; and after spending one more brief hour with her he loved,Lord Beverley was again in the saddle, to execute the perilouscommission he had undertaken.
In a brief conversation between himself and Lord Walton, the latterbesought him to seek out the person named O'Donnell, and to gain fromhim every information he might possess regarding the early history ofArrah Neil. A note was added in Lord Walton's own hand, begging theIrish merchant to confide fully in the bearer; and undertaking thecommission willingly, the earl rode away towards the banks of theHumber.