CHAPTER VII
_The Episode Called The Castle of Content_
1. _I Glimpse the Castle_
"And so, dearie," she ended, "you may seize the revenues of Allonby withunwashed hands."
I said, "Why have you done this?" I was half-frightened by the suddenwhirl of Dame Fortune's wheel.
"Dear cousin in motley," grinned the beldame, "'twas for hatred of TomAllonby and all his accursed race that I have kept the secret thus long.Now comes a braver revenge: and I settle my score with the black spawn ofAllonby--euh, how entirely!--by setting you at their head."
"Nay, I elect for a more flattering reason. I begin to suspect you,cousin, of some human compunction."
"Well, Willie, well, I never hated you as much as I had reason to," shegrumbled, and began to cough very lamentably. "So at the last I must makea marquis of you--ugh! Will you jest for them in counsel, Willie, andlead your henchman to battle with a bawdy song--ugh, ugh!"
Her voice crackled like burning timber, and sputtered in groans thatwould have been fanged curses had breath not failed her: for my auntElinor possessed a nimble tongue, whetted, as rumor had it, by theattendance of divers Sabbats, and the chaunting of such songs as honestmen may not hear and live, however highly the succubi and warlocks andwere-cats, and Satan's courtiers generally, commend them.
I squinted down at one green leg, scratched the crimson fellow to it withmy bauble, and could not deny that, even so, the witch was dealinghandsomely with me to-night.
'Twas a strange tale which my Aunt Elinor had ended, speaking swiftlylest the worms grow impatient and Charon weigh anchor ere she had done:and the proofs of the tale's verity, set forth in a fair clerklyhandwriting, rustled in my hand,--scratches of a long-rotted pen thattransferred me to the right side of the blanket, and transformed themotley of a fool into the ermine of a peer.
All Devon knew I was son to Tom Allonby, who had been Marquis of Falmouthat his uncle's death, had not Tom Allonby, upon the very eve of thatevent, broken his neck in a fox-hunt; but Dan Gabriel, come post-hastefrom Heaven had with difficulty convinced the village idiot that HolyChurch had smiled upon Tom's union with a tanner's daughter, and thattheir son was lord of Allonby Shaw. I doubted it, even as I read theproof. Yet it was true,--true that I had precedence even of the greatMonsieur de Puysange, who had kept me to make him mirth on a shifty diet,first coins, then curses, these ten years past,--true that my father,rogue in all else, had yet dealt equitably with my mother ere hedied,--true that my aunt, less honorably used by him, had shared theirsecret with the priest who married them, maliciously preserving it tillthis, when her words fell before me as anciently Jove's shower before theArgive Danae, coruscant and awful, pregnant with undreamed-of chanceswhich stirred as yet blindly in Time's womb.
A sick anger woke in me, remembering the burden of ignoble years this haghad suffered me to bear; yet my so young gentility bade me avoid reproachof the dying peasant woman, who, when all was said, had been but ill-usedby our house. Death hath a strange potency: commanding as he doth,unquestioned and unchidden, the emperor to have done with slaying, thepoet to rise from his unfinished rhyme, the tender and gracious lady tocease from nice denying words (mixed though they be with pitiful sighsthat break their sequence like an amorous ditty heard through the strainsof a martial stave), and all men, gentle or base, to follow Death's gauntstandard into unmapped realms, something of majesty enshrines thepaltriest knave on whom the weight of Death's chill finger hath fallen. Idoubt not that Cain's children wept about his deathbed, and that thecenturions spake in whispers as they lowered Iscariot from theelder-tree: and in like manner the reproaches which stirred in my brainhad no power to move my lips. The frail carnal tenement, swept andcleansed of all mortality, was garnished for Death's coming; and I couldnot sorrow at his advent here: but I perforce must pity rather thanrevile the prey which Age and Poverty, those ravenous forerunning houndsof Death yet harried, at the door of the tomb.
Running over these considerations in my mind, I said, "I forgive you."
"You posturing lack-wit!" she returned, and her sunk jaws quiveredangrily. "D'ye play the condescending gentleman already! Dearie, yourmaster did not take the news so calmly."
"You have told him?"
I had risen, for the wried, and yet sly, malice of my aunt's face wasrather that of Bellona, who, as clerks avow, ever bore carnage anddissension in her train, than that of a mortal, mutton-fed woman. ElinorSommers hated me--having God knows how just a cause--for the reason thatI was my father's son; and yet, for this same reason as I think, therewas in all our intercourse an odd, harsh, grudging sort of tenderness.
She laughed now,--flat and shrill, like the laughter of the damned heardin Hell between the roaring of flames. "Were it not common kindness totell him, since this old sleek fellow's fine daughter is to wed thecuckoo that hath your nest? Yes, Willie, yes, your master hath knownsince morning."
"And Adeliza?" I asked, in a voice that tricked me.
"Heh, my Lady-High-and-Mighty hath, I think, heard nothing as yet. Shewill be hearing of new suitors soon enough, though, for her father,Monsieur Fine-Words, that silky, grinning thief, is very keen in amoney-chase,--keen as a terrier on a rat-track, may Satan twist his neck!Pshutt, dearie! here is a smiling knave who means to have the estate ofAllonby as it stands; what live-stock may go therewith, whethercrack-brained or not, is all one to him. He will not balk at a drachm ortwo of wit in his son-in-law. You have but to whistle,--but to whistle,Willie, and she'll come!"
I said, "Eh, woman, and have you no heart?"
"I gave it to your father for a few lying speeches," she answered, "andTom Allonby taught me the worth of all such commerce." There was a smileupon her lips, sister to that which Clytemnestra may have flaunted inwelcome of that old Emperor Agamemnon, come in gory opulence from thesack of Troy Town. "I gave it--" Her voice rose here to a despairingwail. "Ah, go, before I lay my curse upon you, son of Thomas Allonby!But do you kiss me first, for you have just his lying mouth. So, that isbetter! And now go, my lord marquis; it is not fitting that deathshould intrude into your lordship's presence. Go, fool, and let me diein peace!"
I no longer cast a cautious eye toward the whip (ah, familiar unkindlywhip!) that still hung beside the door of the hut; but, I confess, myaunt's looks were none too delectable, and ancient custom rendered herwrath yet terrible. If the farmers thereabouts were to be trusted, I knewOld Legion's bailiff would shortly be at hand, to distrain upon a soulescheat and forfeited to Dis by many years of cruel witchcrafts, closewiles, and nameless sorceries; and I could never abide unpared nails,even though they be red-hot. Therefore, I relinquished her to the villagegossips, who waited without, and I tucked my bauble under my arm.
"Dear aunt," said I, "farewell!"
"Good-bye, Willie!" said she; "I shall often laugh in Hell to think ofthe crack-brained marquis that I made on earth. It was my will to make abeggar of Tom's son, but at the last I play the fool and cannot do it.But do you play the fool, too, dearie, and"--she chuckled here--"and haveyour posture and your fine long words, whatever happens."
"'Tis my vocation," I answered, briefly; and so went forth intothe night.
2. _At the Ladder's Foot_
I came to Tiverton Manor through a darkness black as the lining ofBaalzebub's oldest cloak. The storm had passed, but clouds yet hungheavy as feather-beds between mankind and the stars; as I crossed thebridge the swollen Exe was but dimly visible, though it roared beneathme, and shook the frail timbers hungrily. The bridge had long beenunsafe: Monsieur de Puysange had planned one stronger and less hazardousthan the former edifice, of which the arches yet remained, and this wasnow in the making, as divers piles of unhewn lumber and stone attested:meanwhile, the roadway was a makeshift of half-rotten wood that even inthis abating wind shook villainously. I stood for a moment and heard thewaters lapping and splashing and laughing, as though they would hold itrare and desirable mirth to swallow and spew forth a powerful marquis,and grind his body among the batte
red timber and tree-boles and deadsheep swept from the hills, and at last vomit him into the sea, that acorpse, wide-eyed and livid, might bob up and down the beach, in quest ofa quiet grave where the name of Allonby was scarcely known. Theimagination was so vivid that it frightened me as I picked my waycat-footed through the dark.
The folk of Tiverton Manor were knotting on their nightcaps, by this; butthere was a light in the Lady Adeliza's window, faint as a sick glowworm.I rolled in the seeded grass and chuckled, as I thought of what a day ortwo might bring about, and I murmured to myself an old cradle-song ofDevon which she loved and often sang; and was, ere I knew it, carollingaloud, for pure wantonness and joy that Monsieur de Puysange was notlikely to have me whipped, now, however blatantly I might elect todiscourse.
Sang I:
_"Through the mist of years does it gleam as yet-- That fair and free extent Of moonlit turret and parapet, Which castled, once, Content?
"Ei ho! Ei ho! the Castle of Content, With drowsy music drowning merriment Where Dreams and Visions held high carnival, And frolicking frail Loves made light of all,-- Ei ho! the vanished Castle of Content!"_
As I ended, the casement was pushed open, and the Lady Adeliza came uponthe balcony, the light streaming from behind her in such fashion as madeher appear an angel peering out of Heaven at our mortal antics. Indeed,there was always something more than human in her loveliness, though, tobe frank, it savored less of chilling paradisial perfection than of avision of some great-eyed queen of faery, such as those whose feet glideunwetted over our fen-waters when they roam o' nights in search of unwarytravellers. Lady Adeliza was a fair beauty; that is, her eyes were of thecolor of opals, and her complexion as the first rose of spring, blushingat her haste to snare men's hearts with beauty; and her loosened hairrippled in such a burst of splendor that I have seen a pale brilliancy,like that of amber, reflected by her bared shoulders where the brightwaves fell heavily against the tender flesh, and ivory vied with gold inbeauty. She was somewhat proud, they said; and to others she may havebeen, but to me, never. Her voice was a low, sweet song, her look that ofthe chaste Roman, beneficent Saint Dorothy, as she is pictured in ourChapel here at Tiverton. Proud, they called her! to me her condescensionswere so manifold that I cannot set them down: indeed, in all she spokeand did there was an extreme kindliness that made a courteous word fromher of more worth than a purse from another.
She said, "Is it you, Will Sommers?"
"Madonna," I answered, "with whom else should the owls confer? It is avenerable saying that extremes meet. And here you may behold itexemplified, as in the conference of an epicure and an ostrich: though,for this once, Wisdom makes bold to sit above Folly."
"Did you carol, then, to the owls of Tiverton?" she queried.
"Hand upon heart," said I, "my grim gossips care less for my melody thanfor the squeaking of a mouse; and I sang rather for joy that at last Imay enter into the Castle of Content."
The Lady Adeliza replied, "But nobody enters there alone."
"Madonna," said I, "your apprehension is nimble. I am in hope that awoman's hand may lower the drawbridge."
She said only "You--!" Then she desisted, incredulous laughter breakingthe soft flow of speech.
"Now, by Paul and Peter, those eminent apostles! the prophet Jeremy neverspake more veraciously in Edom! The fool sighs for a fair woman,--whatelse should he do, being a fool? Ah, madonna, as in very remote timesthat notable jester, Love, popped out of Night's wind-egg, and by hissorcery fashioned from the primeval tangle the pleasant earth that sleepsabout us,--even thus, may he not frame the disorder of a fool's braininto the semblance of a lover's? Believe me, the change is not so greatas you might think. Yet if you will, laugh at me, madonna, for I love awoman far above me,--a woman who knows not of my love, or, at most,considers it but as the homage which grateful peasants accord theall-nurturing sun; so that, now chance hath woven me a ladder whereby tomount to her, I scarcely dare to set my foot upon the bottom rung."
"A ladder?" she said, oddly: "and are you talking of a rope ladder?"
"I would describe it, rather," said I, "as a golden ladder."
There came a silence. About us the wind wailed among the gaunt, desertedchoir of the trees, and in the distance an owl hooted sardonically.
The Lady Adeliza said: "Be bold. Be bold, and know that a woman lovesonce and forever, whether she will or no. Love is not sold in the shops,and the grave merchants that trade in the ultimate seas, and send forthargosies even to jewelled Ind, to fetch home rich pearls, and strangeoutlandish dyes, and spiceries, and the raiment of imperious queens ofthe old time, have bought and sold no love, for all their traffic. It isabove gold. I know"--here her voice faltered somewhat--"I know of a womanwhose birth is very near the throne, and whose beauty, such as it is,hath been commended, who loved a man the politic world would have noneof, for he was not rich nor famous, nor even very wise. And the worldbade her relinquish him; but within the chambers of her heart his voicerang more loudly than that of the world, and for his least word said shewould leave all and go with him whither he would. And--she waits only forthe speaking of that word."
"Be bold?" said I.
"Ay," she returned; "that is the moral of my tale. Make me a song of itto-night, dear Will,--and tomorrow, perhaps, you may learn how thiswoman, too, entered into the Castle of Content."
"Madonna--!" I cried.
"It is late," said she, "and I must go."
"To-morrow--?" I said. My heart was racing now.
"Ay, to-morrow,--the morrow that by this draws very near. Farewell!" Shewas gone, casting one swift glance backward, even as the ancientParthians are fabled to have shot their arrows as they fled; and, if theairier missile, also, left a wound, I, for one, would not willingly havequitted her invulnerate.
3. _Night, and a Stormed Castle_
I went forth into the woods that stand thick about Tiverton Manor, whereI lay flat on my back among the fallen leaves, dreaming many dreams tomyself,--dreams that were frolic songs of happiness, to which the papersin my jerkin rustled a reassuring chorus.
I have heard that night is own sister to death; now, as the ultimate torncloud passed seaward, and the new-washed harvest-moon broke forth in ared glory, and stars clustered about her like a swarm of golden bees, Ithought this night was rather the parent of a new life. But, indeed,there is a solemnity in night beyond all jesting: for night knits up thetangled yarn of our day's doings into a pattern either good or ill; itrenews the vigor of the living, and with the lapsing of the tide it drawsthe dying toward night's impenetrable depths, gently; and it honors thesecrecy of lovers as zealously as that of rogues. In the morning ourbodies rise to their allotted work; but our wits have had their season inthe night, or of kissing, or of junketing, or of high resolve; and thegreater part of such noble deeds as day witnesses have been planned inthe solitude of night. It is the sage counsellor, the potent physicianthat heals and comforts the sorrows of all the world: and night provedsuch to me, as I pondered on the proud race of Allonby, and knew that inthe general record of time my name must soon be set as a sonorous wordsignificant, as the cat might jump, for much good or for large evil.
And Adeliza loved me, and had bidden me be bold! I may not write of whatmy thoughts were as I considered that stupendous miracle.
But even the lark that daily soars into the naked presence of the sunmust seek his woven nest among the grass at twilight; and so, with manyyawns, I rose after an hour of dreams to look for sleep. Tiverton Manorwas a formless blot on the mild radiance of the heavens, but I must needspause for a while, gazing up at the Lady Adeliza's window, like a hendrinking water, and thinking of divers matters.
It was then that something rustled among the leaves, and, turning, Istared into the countenance of Stephen Allonby, until to-day Marquis ofFalmouth, a slim, comely youth, and son to my father's younger brother.
"Fool," said he, "you walk late."
"Faith!" said I, "instinct warned me that a fool might find fit compa
nyhere,--dear cousin." He frowned at the word, for he was never prone toadmit the relationship, being in disposition somewhat precise.
"Eh?" said he; then paused for a while. "I have more kinsmen than I knewof," he resumed, at length, "and to-day spawns them thick as herrings.Your greeting falls strangely pat with that of a brother of yours,alleged to be begot in lawful matrimony, who hath appeared to claim thetitle and estates, and hath even imposed upon the credulity of Monsieurde Puysange."
I said, "And who is this new kinsman?" though his speaking had brought myheart into my mouth. "I have many brethren, if report speak truly as tohow little my poor father slept at night."
"I do not know," said he. "The vicomte had not told me more than half thetale when I called him a double-faced old rogue. Thereafter weparted--well, rather hastily!"
I was moved with a sort of pity, since it was plainer than a pike-staffthat Monsieur de Puysange had bundled this penniless young fellow out ofTiverton, with scant courtesy and a scantier explanation. Still, thewording of this sympathy was a ticklish business. I waved my hand upward."The match, then, is broken off, between you and the Lady Adeliza?"
"Ay!" my cousin said, grimly.
Again I was nonplussed. Since their betrothal was an affair of rankconveniency, my Cousin Stephen should, in reason, grieve at thismiscarriage temperately, and yet if by some awkward chance he, too,adored the delicate comeliness asleep above us, equity conceded his tasteto be unfortunate rather than remarkable. Inwardly I resolved to bestowupon my Cousin Stephen a competence, and to pick out for him somewhere awife better suited to his station. Meanwhile a silence fell.
He cleared his throat; swore softly to himself; took a brief turn on thegrass; and approached me, purse in hand. "It is time you were abed," saidmy cousin.
I assented to this. "And since one may sleep anywhere," I reasoned, "whynot here?" Thereupon, for I was somewhat puzzled at his bearing, I laydown upon the gravel and snored.
"Fool," he said. I opened one eye. "I have business here"--I openedthe other--"with the Lady Adeliza." He tossed me a coin as I sprangto my feet.
"Sir--!" I cried out.
"Ho, she expects me."
"In that case--" said I.
"The difficulty is to give a signal."
"'Tis as easy as lying," I reassured him; and thereupon I began to sing.
Sang I:
_"Such toll we took of his niggling hours That the troops of Time were sent To seise the treasures and fell the towers Of the Castle of Content.
"Ei ho! Ei ho! the Castle of Content, With flaming tower and tumbling battlement Where Time hath conquered, and the firelight streams Above sore-wounded Loves and dying Dreams,-- Ei ho! the vanished Castle of Content!"_
And I had scarcely ended when the casement opened.
"Stephen!" said the Lady Adeliza.
"Dear love!" said he.
"Humph!" said I.
Here a rope-ladder unrolled from the balcony and hit me upon the head.
"Regard the orchard for a moment," the Lady Adeliza said, with thewonderfullest little laugh.
My cousin indignantly protested, "I have company,--a burr thatsticks to me."
"A fool," I explained,--"to keep him in countenance."
"It was ever the part of folly," said she, laughing yet again, "to beswayed by a woman; and it is the part of wisdom to be discreet. In anyevent, there must be no spectators."
So we two Allonbys held each a strand of the ladder and stared at theripening apples, black globes among the wind-vext silver of the leaves.In a moment the Lady Adeliza stood between us. Her hand rested upon mineas she leapt to the ground,--the tiniest velvet-soft ounce-weight thatever set a man's blood a-tingle.
"I did not know--" said she.
"Faith, madonna!" said I, "no more did I till this. I deduce but now thatthe Marquis of Falmouth is the person you discoursed of an hour since,with whom you hope to enter the Castle of Content."
"Ah, Will! dear Will, do not think lightly of me," she said. "Myfather--"
"Is as all of them have been since Father Adam's dotage," I ended; "andtherefore is keeping fools and honest horses from their rest."
My cousin said, angrily, "You have been spying!"
"Because I know that there are horses yonder?" said I. "And foolshere--and everywhere? Surely, there needs no argent-bearded Merlin comeyawning out of Brocheliaunde to inform us of that."
He said, "You will be secret?"
"In comparison," I answered, "the grave is garrulous, and a death's-heada chattering magpie; yet I think that your maid, madonna,--"
"Beatris is sworn to silence."
"Which signifies she is already on her way to Monsieur de Puysange. Shewas coerced; she discovered it too late; and a sufficiency of tears andpious protestations will attest her innocence. It is all one." I winkedan eye very sagely.
"Your jesting is tedious," my cousin said. "Come, Adeliza!"
Blaise, my lord marquis' French servant, held three horses in theshadow, so close that it was incredible I had not heard their trampling.Now the lovers mounted and were off like thistledown ere Blaise put footto stirrup.
"Blaise," said I.
"Ohe!" said he, pausing.
"--if, upon this pleasurable occasion, I were to borrow your horse--"
"Impossible!"
"If I were to take it by force--" I exhibited my coin.
"Eh?"
"--no one could blame you."
"And yet perhaps--"
"The deduction is illogical," said I. And pushing him aside, I mountedand set out into the night after my cousin and the Lady Adeliza.
4. _All Ends in a Puff of Smoke_
They rode leisurely enough along the winding highway that lay in themoonlight like a white ribbon in a pedlar's box; and staying as I didsome hundred yards behind, they thought me no other than Blaise, being,indeed, too much engrossed with each other to regard the outer world verystrictly. So we rode a matter of three miles in the whispering, moonlitwoods, they prattling and laughing as though there were no such monsterin all the universe as a thrifty-minded father, and I brooding upon manythings beside my marquisate, and keeping an ear cocked backward forpossible pursuit.
In any ordinary falling out of affairs they would ride unhindered toTeignmouth, and thence to Allonby Shaw; they counted fully upon doingthis; but I, knowing Beatris, who was waiting-maid to the Lady Adeliza,and consequently in the plot, to be the devil's own vixen, despite aninnocent face and a wheedling tongue, was less certain.
I shall not easily forget that riding away from the old vicomte'spreparations to make a match of it between Adeliza and me. About us thewoods sighed and whispered, dappled by the moonlight with unstablechequerings of blue and silver. Tightly he clung to my crupper, thatswart tireless horseman, Care; but ahead rode Love, anterior to allthings and yet eternally young, in quest of the Castle of Content. Thehorses' hoofs beat against the pebbles as if in chorus to the Devoncradle-song that rang idly in my brain. 'Twas little to me--now--whetherthe quest were won or lost; yet, as I watched the Lady Adeliza's whitecloak tossing and fluttering in the wind, my blood pulsed more stronglythan it is wont to do, and was stirred by the keen odors of the night andby many memories of her gracious kindliness and by a desire to servesomewhat toward the attainment of her happiness. Thus it was that myteeth clenched, and a dog howled in the distance, and the world seemedvery old and very incurious of our mortal woes and joys.
Then that befell which I had looked for, and I heard the clatter ofhorses' hoofs behind us, and knew that Monsieur de Puysange and his menwere at hand to rescue the Lady Adeliza from my fine-looking youngcousin, to put her into the bed of a rich fool. So I essayed a gallop.
"Spur!" I cried;--"in the name of Saint Cupid!"
With a little gasp, she bent forward over her horse's mane, urging himonward with every nerve and muscle of her tender body. I could not keepmy gaze from her as we swept through the night. Picture Europa in hertraverse, bull-borne, through the summer se
a, the depths giving up theirmisshapen deities, and the blind sea-snakes writhing about her in hideoushomage, while she, a little frightened, thinks resolutely of Crete beyondthese unaccustomed horrors and of the god desirous of her contentation;and there, to an eyelash, you have Adeliza as I saw her.
But steadily our pursuers gained on us: and as we paused to pick our wayover the frail bridge that spanned the Exe, their clamor was very near.
"Take care!" I cried,--but too late, for my horse swerved under me as Ispoke, and my lord marquis' steed caught foot in a pile of lumber andfell heavily. He was up in a moment, unhurt, but the horse was lamed.
"You!" cried my Cousin Stephen. "Oh, but what fiend sends me thisburr again!"
I said: "My fellow-madmen, it is all one if I have a taste fornight-riding and the shedding of noble blood. Alack, though, that I haveleft my brave bauble at Tiverton! Had I that here, I might do such deeds!I might show such prowess upon the person of Monsieur de Puysange asyour Nine Worthies would quake to hear of! For I have the honor to informyou, my doves, that we are captured."
Indeed, we were in train to be, for even the two sound horses werewell-nigh foundered: Blaise, the idle rogue, had not troubled to providefresh steeds, so easy had the flitting seemed; and it was conspicuousthat we would be overtaken in half an hour.
"So it seems," said Stephen Allonby. "Well! one can die but once." Thusspeaking, he drew his sword with an air which might have been envied byCaptain Leonidas at Thermopylae.
"Together, my heart!" she cried.
"Madonna," said I, dismounting as I spoke, "pray you consider! Withneither of you, is there any question of death; 'tis but that Monsieur dePuysange desires you to make a suitable match. It is not yet too late;his heart is kindly so long as he gets his will and profit everywhere,and he bears no malice toward my lord marquis. Yield, then, to yourfather's wishes, since there is no choice."
She stared at me, as thanks for this sensible advice. "And you--is it youthat would enter into the Castle of Content?" she cried, with a scornthat lashed.
I said: "Madonna, bethink you, you know naught of this man your fatherdesires you to wed. Is it not possible that he, too, may love--or maylearn to love you, on provocation? You are very fair, madonna. Yours is abeauty that may draw a man to Heaven or unclose the gates of Hell, atwill; indeed, even I, in my poor dreams, have seen your face as brightand glorious as is the lighted space above the altar when Christ's bloodand body are shared among His worshippers. Men certainly will never ceaseto love you. Will he--your husband that may be--prove less susceptible,we will say, than I? Ah, but, madonna, let us unrein imagination!Suppose, were it possible, that he--even now--yearns to enter into theCastle of Content, and that your hand, your hand alone, may draw the boltfor him,--that the thought of you is to him as a flame before which honorand faith shrivel as shed feathers, and that he has loved you these manyyears, unknown to you, long, long before the Marquis of Falmouth cameinto your life with his fair face and smooth sayings. Suppose, were itpossible, that he now stood before you, every pulse and fibre of himracked with an intolerable ecstasy of loving you, his heart one vasthunger for you, Adeliza, and his voice shaking as my voice shakes, andhis hands trembling as my hands tremble,--ah, see how they tremble,madonna, the poor foolish hands! Suppose, were it possible,--"
"Fool! O treacherous fool!" my cousin cried, in a fine rage.
She rested her finger-tips upon his arm. "Hush!" she bade him; thenturned to me an uncertain countenance that was half pity, half wonder."Dear Will," said she, "if you have ever known aught of love, do you notunderstand how I love Stephen here?"
But she did not any longer speak as a lord's daughter speaks to the foolthat makes mirth for his betters.
"In that case," said I,--and my voice played tricks,--"in that case, mayI request that you assist me in gathering such brushwood as we may findhereabout?"
They both stared at me now. "My lord," I said, "the Exe is high, thebridge is of wood, and I have flint and steel in my pocket. The ford isfive miles above and quite impassable. Do you understand me, my lord?"
He clapped his hands. "Oh, excellent!" he cried.
Then, each having caught my drift, we heaped up a pile of broken boughsand twigs and brushwood on the bridge, all three gathering it together.And I wondered if the moon, that is co-partner in the antics of mostrogues and lovers, had often beheld a sight more reasonless than theforegathering of a marquis, a peer's daughter, and a fool at dead ofnight to make fagots.
When we had done I handed him the flint and steel. "My lord," said I,"the honor is yours."
"Udsfoot!" he murmured, in a moment, swearing and striking futile sparks,"but the late rain has so wet the wood that it will not kindle."
I said, "Assuredly, in such matters a fool is indispensable." I heapedbefore him the papers that made an honest woman of my mother and amarquis of me, and seizing the flint, I cast a spark among them that setthem crackling cheerily. Oh, I knew well enough that patience would coaxa flame from those twigs without my paper's aid, but to be patient doesnot afford the posturing which youth loves. So it was a comfort to wreckall magnificently: and I knew that, too, as we three drew back upon thewestern bank and watched the writhing twigs splutter and snap and burn.
The bridge caught apace and in five minutes afforded passage to nothingshort of the ardent equipage of the prophet Elias. Five minutes later thebridge did not exist: only the stone arches towered above the roaringwaters that glistened in the light of the fire, which had, by this,reached the other side of the river, to find quick employment in thewoods of Tiverton. Our pursuers rode through a glare which was that ofHell's kitchen on baking-day, and so reached the Exe only to curse vainlyand to shriek idle imprecations at us, who were as immune from theiranger as though the severing river had been Pyriphlegethon.
"My lord," I presently suggested, "it may be that your priestexpects you?"
"Indeed," said he, laughing, "it is possible. Let us go." Thereupon theymounted the two sound horses. "Most useful burr," said he, "do you followon foot to Teignmouth; and there--"
"Sir," I replied, "my home is at Tiverton."
He wheeled about. "Do you not fear--?"
"The whip?" said I. "Ah, my lord, I have been whipped ere this. It isnot the greatest ill in life to be whipped."
He began to protest.
"But, indeed, I am resolved," said I. "Farewell!"
He tossed me his purse. "As you will," he retorted, shortly. "We thankyou for your aid; and if I am still master of Allonby--"
"No fear of that!" I said. "Farewell, good cousin marquis! I cannot weepat your going, since it brings you happiness. And we have it on excellentauthority that the laughter of fools is as the crackling of thorns undera pot. Accordingly, I bid you God-speed in a discreet silence."
I stood fumbling my cousin's gold as he went forward into the night; butshe did not follow.
"I am sorry--" she began. She paused and the lithe fingers fretted withher horse's mane.
I said: "Madonna, earlier in this crowded night, you told me of love'snature: must my halting commentary prove the glose upon your text? Look,then, to be edified while the fool is delivered of his folly. For uponthe maternal side, love was born of the ocean, madonna, and the ocean isbut salt water, and salt water is but tears; and thus may love claimlove's authentic kin with sorrow. Ay, certainly, madonna, Fate hathordained for her diversion that through sorrow alone we lovers may attainto the true Castle of Content."
There was a long silence, and the wind wailed among the falling,tattered leaves. "Had I but known--" said Adeliza, very sadly.
I said: "Madonna, go forward and God speed you! Yonder your lover waitsfor you, and the world is exceedingly fair; here is only a fool. As forthis new Marquis of Falmouth, let him trouble you no longer. 'Tis anEastern superstition that we lackbrains are endowed with peculiar giftsof prophecy: and as such, I predict, very confidently, madonna, that youwill see and hear no more of him in this life."
I caught my breath. I
n the moonlight she seemed God's master-work. Hereyes were big with half-comprehended sorrow, and a slender hand stoletimorously toward me. I laughed, seeing how she strove to pity my greatsorrow and could not, by reason of her great happiness. I laughed and wascontent. "As surely as God reigns in Heaven," I cried aloud, "I amcontent, and this moment is well purchased with a marquisate!"
Indeed, I was vastly uplift and vastly pleased with my own nobleness,just then, and that condition is always a comfort.
More alertly she regarded me; and in her eyes I saw the anxiety and thewonder merge now into illimitable pity. "That, too!" she said, smilingsadly. "That, too, O son of Thomas Allonby!" And her mothering arms wereclasped about me, and her lips clung and were one with my lips for amoment, and her tears were wet upon my cheek. She seemed to shield me,making of her breast my sanctuary.
"My dear, my dear, I am not worthy!" said Adeliza, with a tenderness Icannot tell you of; and presently she, too, was gone.
I mounted the lamed horse, who limped slowly up the river bank; veryslowly we came out from the glare of the crackling fire into the cooldarkness of the autumn woods; very slowly, for the horse was lamed andwearied, and patience is a discreet virtue when one journeys towardcurses and the lash of a dog-whip: and I thought of many quips and jestswhereby to soothe the anger of Monsieur de Puysange, and I sang to myselfas I rode through the woods, a nobleman no longer, a tired Jack-puddingwhose tongue must save his hide.
Sang I:
_"The towers are fallen; no laughter rings Through the rafters, charred and rent; The ruin is wrought of all goodly things In the Castle of Content.
"Ei ho! Ei ho! the Castle of Content, Rased in the Land of Youth, where mirth was meant! Nay, all is ashes 'there; and all in vain Hand-shadowed eyes turn backward, to regain Disastrous memories of that dear domain,-- Ei ho! the vanished Castle of Content!"_
* * * * *
MAY 27, 1559
_"'O welladay!' said Beichan then,'That I so soon have married thee!For it can be none but Susie Pie,That sailed the sea for love of me.'"_
_How Will Sommers encountered the Marchioness of Falmouth in theCardinal's house at Whitehall, and how in Windsor Forest that noble ladydied with the fool's arms about her, does not concern us here. That ismatter for another tale.
You are not, though, to imagine any scandal. Barring an affair with SirHenry Rochford, and another with Lord Norreys, and the brief interval in1525 when the King was enamored of her, there is no record that themarchioness ever wavered from the choice her heart had made, or had anyespecial reason to regret it.
So she lived and died, more virtuously and happily than most, and foundthe marquis a fair husband, as husbands go; and bore him three sons anda daughter.
But when the ninth Marquis of Falmouth died long after his wife, in theNovember of 1557, he was survived by only one of these sons, a juniorStephen, born in 1530, who at his father's demise succeeded to the title.The oldest son, Thomas, born 1531, had been killed in Wyatt's Rebellionin 1554; the second, George, born 1526, with a marked look of the King,was, in February, 1556, stabbed in a disreputable tavern brawl.
Now we have to do with the tenth Marquis of Falmouth's suit for the handof Lady Ursula Heleigh, the Earl of Brudenel's co-heiress. You are toimagine yourself at Longaville Court, in Sussex, at a time when AnneBullen's daughter was very recently become Queen of England._