CHAPTER XXVII.
In my time I have seen a boy do wonders. Robin, the red tinker, had a boy Would ha run through a cat-hole. --THE COXCOMB.
Amid the universal bustle which filled the Castle and its environs, itwas no easy matter to find out any individual; and Wayland was stillless likely to light upon Tressilian, whom he sought so anxiously,because, sensible of the danger of attracting attention in thecircumstances in which he was placed, he dared not make generalinquiries among the retainers or domestics of Leicester. He learned,however, by indirect questions, that in all probability Tressilian musthave been one of a large party of gentlemen in attendance on the Earlof Sussex, who had accompanied their patron that morning to Kenilworth,when Leicester had received them with marks of the most formal respectand distinction. He further learned that both Earls, with theirfollowers, and many other nobles, knights, and gentlemen, had takenhorse, and gone towards Warwick several hours since, for the purpose ofescorting the Queen to Kenilworth.
Her Majesty's arrival, like other great events, was delayed from hourto hour; and it was now announced by a breathless post that her Majesty,being detained by her gracious desire to receive the homage of herlieges who had thronged to wait upon her at Warwick, it would be thehour of twilight ere she entered the Castle. The intelligence releasedfor a time those who were upon duty, in the immediate expectation of theQueen's appearance, and ready to play their part in the solemnities withwhich it was to be accompanied; and Wayland, seeing several horsemenenter the Castle, was not without hopes that Tressilian might be of thenumber. That he might not lose an opportunity of meeting his patronin the event of this being the case, Wayland placed himself in thebase-court of the Castle, near Mortimer's Tower, and watched every onewho went or came by the bridge, the extremity of which was protected bythat building. Thus stationed, nobody could enter or leave the Castlewithout his observation, and most anxiously did he study the garb andcountenance of every horseman, as, passing from under the oppositeGallery-tower, they paced slowly, or curveted, along the tilt-yard, andapproached the entrance of the base-court.
But while Wayland gazed thus eagerly to discover him whom he saw not, hewas pulled by the sleeve by one by whom he himself would not willinglyhave been seen.
This was Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, who, like the imp whose namehe bore, and whom he had been accoutred in order to resemble, seemedto be ever at the ear of those who thought least of him. Whatever wereWayland's internal feelings, he judged it necessary to express pleasureat their unexpected meeting.
"Ha! is it thou, my minikin--my miller's thumb--my prince ofcacodemons--my little mouse?"
"Ay," said Dickie, "the mouse which gnawed asunder the toils, just whenthe lion who was caught in them began to look wonderfully like an ass."
"Thy, thou little hop-the-gutter, thou art as sharp as vinegar thisafternoon! But tell me, how didst thou come off with yonder jolterheadedgiant whom I left thee with? I was afraid he would have stripped thyclothes, and so swallowed thee, as men peel and eat a roasted chestnut."
"Had he done so," replied the boy, "he would have had more brains inhis guts than ever he had in his noddle. But the giant is a courteousmonster, and more grateful than many other folk whom I have helped at apinch, Master Wayland Smith."
"Beshrew me, Flibbertigibbet," replied Wayland, "but thou art sharperthan a Sheffield whittle! I would I knew by what charm you muzzledyonder old bear."
"Ay, that is in your own manner," answered Dickie; "you think finespeeches will pass muster instead of good-will. However, as to thishonest porter, you must know that when we presented ourselves at thegate yonder, his brain was over-burdened with a speech that had beenpenned for him, and which proved rather an overmatch for his giganticfaculties. Now this same pithy oration had been indited, like sundryothers, by my learned magister, Erasmus Holiday, so I had heard it oftenenough to remember every line. As soon as I heard him blundering andfloundering like a fish upon dry land, through the first verse, andperceived him at a stand, I knew where the shoe pinched, and helped himto the next word, when he caught me up in an ecstasy, even as you sawbut now. I promised, as the price of your admission, to hide me underhis bearish gaberdine, and prompt him in the hour of need. I have justnow been getting some food in the Castle, and am about to return tohim."
"That's right--that's right, my dear Dickie," replied Wayland;"haste thee, for Heaven's sake! else the poor giant will be utterlydisconsolate for want of his dwarfish auxiliary. Away with thee,Dickie!"
"Ay, ay!" answered the boy--"away with Dickie, when we have got whatgood of him we can. You will not let me know the story of this lady,then, who is as much sister of thine as I am?"
"Why, what good would it do thee, thou silly elf?" said Wayland.
"Oh, stand ye on these terms?" said the boy. "Well, I care not greatlyabout the matter--only, I never smell out a secret but I try to beeither at the right or the wrong end of it, and so good evening to ye."
"Nay, but, Dickie," said Wayland, who knew the boy's restless andintriguing disposition too well not to fear his enmity--"stay, my dearDickie--part not with old friends so shortly! Thou shalt know all I knowof the lady one day."
"Ay!" said Dickie; "and that day may prove a nigh one. Fare thee well,Wayland--I will to my large-limbed friend, who, if he have not so sharpa wit as some folk, is at least more grateful for the service whichother folk render him. And so again, good evening to ye."
So saying, he cast a somerset through the gateway, and lighting onthe bridge, ran with the extraordinary agility which was one of hisdistinguishing attributes towards the Gallery-tower, and was out ofsight in an instant.
"I would to God I were safe out of this Castle again!" prayed Waylandinternally; "for now that this mischievous imp has put his finger in thepie, it cannot but prove a mess fit for the devil's eating. I would toHeaven Master Tressilian would appear!"
Tressilian, whom he was thus anxiously expecting in one direction, hadreturned to Kenilworth by another access. It was indeed true, as Waylandhad conjectured, that in the earlier part of the day he had accompaniedthe Earls on their cavalcade towards Warwick, not without hope that hemight in that town hear some tidings of his emissary. Being disappointedin this expectation, and observing Varney amongst Leicester'sattendants, seeming as if he had some purpose of advancing to andaddressing him, he conceived, in the present circumstances, it waswisest to avoid the interview. He, therefore, left the presence-chamberwhen the High-Sheriff of the county was in the very midst of his dutifuladdress to her Majesty; and mounting his horse, rode back to Kenilworthby a remote and circuitous road, and entered the Castle by a smallsallyport in the western wall, at which he was readily admitted asone of the followers of the Earl of Sussex, towards whom Leicester hadcommanded the utmost courtesy to be exercised. It was thus that hemet not Wayland, who was impatiently watching his arrival, and whom hehimself would have been at least equally desirous to see.
Having delivered his horse to the charge of his attendant, he walkedfor a space in the Pleasance and in the garden, rather to indulge incomparative solitude his own reflections, than to admire those singularbeauties of nature and art which the magnificence of Leicester had thereassembled. The greater part of the persons of condition had left theCastle for the present, to form part of the Earl's cavalcade; others,who remained behind, were on the battlements, outer walls, and towers,eager to view the splendid spectacle of the royal entry. The garden,therefore, while every other part of the Castle resounded with the humanvoice, was silent but for the whispering of the leaves, the emulouswarbling of the tenants of a large aviary with their happier companionswho remained denizens of the free air, and the plashing of thefountains, which, forced into the air from sculptures of fatastic andgrotesque forms, fell down with ceaseless sound into the great basins ofItalian marble.
The melancholy thoughts of Tressilian cast a gloomy shade on all theobjects with which he was surrounded. He compared the magnificent sceneswhich he here traversed with the dee
p woodland and wild moorland whichsurrounded Lidcote Hall, and the image of Amy Robsart glided like aphantom through every landscape which his imagination summoned up.Nothing is perhaps more dangerous to the future happiness of men of deepthought and retired habits than the entertaining an early, long, andunfortunate attachment. It frequently sinks so deep into the mind thatit becomes their dream by night and their vision by day--mixes itselfwith every source of interest and enjoyment; and when blighted andwithered by final disappointment, it seems as if the springs of theheart were dried up along with it. This aching of the heart, thislanguishing after a shadow which has lost all the gaiety of itscolouring, this dwelling on the remembrance of a dream from whichwe have been long roughly awakened, is the weakness of a gentle andgenerous heart, and it was that of Tressilian.
He himself at length became sensible of the necessity of forcing otherobjects upon his mind; and for this purpose he left the Pleasance,in order to mingle with the noisy crowd upon the walls, and view thepreparation for the pageants. But as he left the garden, and heard thebusy hum, mixed with music and laughter, which floated around him, hefelt an uncontrollable reluctance to mix with society whose feelingswere in a tone so different from his own, and resolved, instead of doingso, to retire to the chamber assigned him, and employ himself in studyuntil the tolling of the great Castle bell should announce the arrivalof Elizabeth.
Tressilian crossed accordingly by the passage betwixt the immense rangeof kitchens and the great hall, and ascended to the third story ofMervyn's Tower, and applying himself to the door of the small apartmentwhich had been allotted to him, was surprised to find it was locked. Hethen recollected that the deputy-chamberlain had given him a master-key,advising him, in the present confused state of the Castle, to keep hisdoor as much shut as possible. He applied this key to the lock, the boltrevolved, he entered, and in the same instant saw a female form seatedin the apartment, and recognized that form to be, Amy Robsart. His firstidea was that a heated imagination had raised the image on which itdoted into visible existence; his second, that he beheld an apparition;the third and abiding conviction, that it was Amy herself, paler,indeed, and thinner, than in the days of heedless happiness, whenshe possessed the form and hue of a wood-nymph, with the beauty of asylph--but still Amy, unequalled in loveliness by aught which had evervisited his eyes.
The astonishment of the Countess was scarce less than that ofTressilian, although it was of shorter duration, because she had heardfrom Wayland that he was in the Castle. She had started up at his firstentrance, and now stood facing him, the paleness of her cheeks havinggiven way to a deep blush.
"Tressilian," she said, at length, "why come you here?"
"Nay, why come you here, Amy," returned Tressilian, "unless it be atlength to claim that aid, which, as far as one man's heart and arm canextend, shall instantly be rendered to you?"
She was silent a moment, and then answered in a sorrowful rather than anangry tone, "I require no aid, Tressilian, and would rather be injuredthan benefited by any which your kindness can offer me. Believe me, I amnear one whom law and love oblige to protect me."
"The villain, then, hath done you the poor justice which remained in hispower," said Tressilian, "and I behold before me the wife of Varney!"
"The wife of Varney!" she replied, with all the emphasis of scorn. "Withwhat base name, sir, does your boldness stigmatize the--the--the--" Shehesitated, dropped her tone of scorn, looked down, and was confused andsilent; for she recollected what fatal consequences might attend hercompleting the sentence with "the Countess of Leicester," which werethe words that had naturally suggested themselves. It would have beena betrayal of the secret, on which her husband had assured her that hisfortunes depended, to Tressilian, to Sussex, to the Queen, and to thewhole assembled court. "Never," she thought, "will I break my promisedsilence. I will submit to every suspicion rather than that."
The tears rose to her eyes, as she stood silent before Tressilian;while, looking on her with mingled grief and pity, he said, "Alas! Amy,your eyes contradict your tongue. That speaks of a protector, willingand able to watch over you; but these tell me you are ruined, anddeserted by the wretch to whom you have attached yourself."
She looked on him with eyes in which anger sparkled through her tears,but only repeated the word "wretch!" with a scornful emphasis.
"Yes, WRETCH!" said Tressilian; "for were he aught better, why are youhere, and alone, in my apartment? why was not fitting provision made foryour honourable reception?"
"In your apartment?" repeated Amy--"in YOUR apartment? It shallinstantly be relieved of my presence." She hastened towards the door;but the sad recollection of her deserted state at once pressed on hermind, and pausing on the threshold, she added, in a tone unutterablypathetic, "Alas! I had forgot--I know not where to go--"
"I see--I see it all," said Tressilian, springing to her side, andleading her back to the seat, on which she sunk down. "You DO needaid--you do need protection, though you will not own it; and you shallnot need it long. Leaning on my arm, as the representative of yourexcellent and broken-hearted father, on the very threshold of the Castlegate, you shall meet Elizabeth; and the first deed she shall do inthe halls of Kenilworth shall be an act of justice to her sex and hersubjects. Strong in my good cause, and in the Queen's justice, thepower of her minion shall not shake my resolution. I will instantly seekSussex."
"Not for all that is under heaven!" said the Countess, much alarmed,and feeling the absolute necessity of obtaining time, at least, forconsideration. "Tressilian, you were wont to be generous. Grant me onerequest, and believe, if it be your wish to save me from misery and frommadness, you will do more by making me the promise I ask of you, thanElizabeth can do for me with all her power."
"Ask me anything for which you can allege reason," said Tressilian; "butdemand not of me--"
"Oh, limit not your boon, dear Edmund!" exclaimed the Countess--"youonce loved that I should call you so--limit not your boon to reason; formy case is all madness, and frenzy must guide the counsels which alonecan aid me."
"If you speak thus wildly," said Tressilian, astonishment againoverpowering both his grief and his resolution, "I must believe youindeed incapable of thinking or acting for yourself."
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed, sinking on one knee before him, "I am notmad--I am but a creature unutterably miserable, and, from circumstancesthe most singular, dragged on to a precipice by the arm of him whothinks he is keeping me from it--even by yours, Tressilian--byyours, whom I have honoured, respected--all but loved--and yet loved,too--loved, too, Tressilian--though not as you wished to be."
There was an energy, a self-possession, an abandonment in her voiceand manner, a total resignation of herself to his generosity, which,together with the kindness of her expressions to himself, moved himdeeply. He raised her, and, in broken accents, entreated her to becomforted.
"I cannot," she said, "I will not be comforted, till you grant memy request! I will speak as plainly as I dare. I am now awaiting thecommands of one who has a right to issue them. The interference of athird person--of you in especial, Tressilian--will be ruin--utter ruinto me. Wait but four-and-twenty hours, and it may be that the poorAmy may have the means to show that she values, and can reward, yourdisinterested friendship--that she is happy herself, and has the meansto make you so. It is surely worth your patience, for so short a space?"
Tressilian paused, and weighing in his mind the various probabilitieswhich might render a violent interference on his part more prejudicialthan advantageous, both to the happiness and reputation of Amy;considering also that she was within the walls of Kenilworth, and couldsuffer no injury in a castle honoured with the Queen's residence, andfilled with her guards and attendants--he conceived, upon the whole,that he might render her more evil than good service by intruding uponher his appeal to Elizabeth in her behalf. He expressed his resolutioncautiously, however, doubting naturally whether Amy's hopes ofextricating herself from her difficulties rested on anything strongerthan a bli
nded attachment to Varney, whom he supposed to be her seducer.
"Amy," he said, while he fixed his sad and expressive eyes on hers,which, in her ecstasy of doubt, terror, and perplexity, she cast uptowards him, "I have ever remarked that when others called thee girlishand wilful, there lay under that external semblance of youthful andself-willed folly deep feeling and strong sense. In this I will confide,trusting your own fate in your own hands for the space of twenty-fourhours, without my interference by word or act."
"Do you promise me this, Tressilian?" said the Countess. "Is it possibleyou can yet repose so much confidence in me? Do you promise, as you area gentleman and a man of honour, to intrude in my matters neither byspeech nor action, whatever you may see or hear that seems to you todemand your interference? Will you so far trust me?"
"I will upon my honour," said Tressilian; "but when that space isexpired--"
"Then that space is expired," she said, interrupting him, "you are freeto act as your judgment shall determine."
"Is there nought besides which I can do for you, Amy?" said Tressilian.
"Nothing," said she, "save to leave me,--that is, if--I blush toacknowledge my helplessness by asking it--if you can spare me the use ofthis apartment for the next twenty-four hours."
"This is most wonderful!" said Tressilian; "what hope or interest canyou have in a Castle where you cannot command even an apartment?"
"Argue not, but leave me," she said; and added, as he slowly andunwillingly retired, "Generous Edmund! the time may come when Amy mayshow she deserved thy noble attachment."