CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Gaps are sometimes pleasant things. With what interest the eye tracesa gap in a deep wood; how it roams up the glade, marking a treeout-standing here, a clump of bushes there, the rounded swell of theturf, the little sinking dell! And now imagination revels in the void,filling up every breach in the line with a continuation of its own,seeing the fancied woodman's hut peeping out from behind this mass offoliage, peopling the coverts with dun deer, and raising up forms oflads and lasses to wander through the chequered shade.
I must have a break in the history of those upon whom the principalinterest of the tale has been concentrated, and can only furnish a fewbrief lines, to guide the reader's imagination aright. We left themin the spring of the year, when skies were soft, though warm, when theshower mingled with the sunshine, when the leaf was in its greeninfancy upon the branch, and all nature was rejoicing as if filledwith the sweet early hopes of youth. It was now summer, ardent summer;the sky was full of golden light, the woods afforded deep shade; thecorn was turning yellow on the ground; and the cattle lay in the hotnoonday, chewing the cud, under the shadows of the trees. Thelonged-for summer had come. It was fruition.
Lord Calverly had followed the advice he had received, and presentedhimself to the king to make what excuse he best could. He dared notindeed tell the whole truth, and merely said, that his niece,unwilling to fulfil the contract with Lord Fulmer, had fled he knewnot whither. Richard, however, divined more than he acknowledged; buthe dealt leniently with him. There was no fine, no confiscation, noactual imprisonment. He merely required that the old nobleman shouldremain constantly at the court till his niece reappeared, after havingsatisfied himself that Lord Chartley was not cognizant of her flightnor aware of her place of refuge.
Suspicion and policy were busy in the king's mind at that hour; forreports reached him, from his numerous spies in France and Britanny,which showed that storms were gathering on the horizon; and signs, notto be mistaken, told him of discontent and disaffection amongst thepeople of his own land, while phantoms of shadowy conspiracies flittedacross the scene before his eyes, and left him in doubt andapprehension of every man. All those whom he most feared and leasttrusted he kept at the court under his own eye, believing that theterror of the axe would secure that obedience which he could notobtain from love and zeal.
Lord Fulmer, indeed, remained in Dorsetshire, in command of a smallbody of forces; but he was kept in check, and his fidelity secured bythe presence of a much larger power upon the verge of Somerset andDevon, commanded by one in whom Richard could confide. Never failingin dissimulation, the king noticed not in any way what he suspected orwhat he knew of the young lord's conduct; but every messenger whichwent to Dorsetshire carried commendations and hopes, and many anexpression of regret that the Lady Iola St. Leger had not been found,so that his marriage must be necessarily delayed.
It might be supposed, that if Richard thought precautions so necessaryin these instances, he would have exercised still greater vigilance inthe case of Lord Chartley. Such, however, was not the case. Theparadoxes of the human mind are part of history; but so common is itfor the most jealous, watchful, and suspicious, in every rank andrelation of life, to place the utmost confidence in those who aredestined to frustrate all their plans and purposes, and disappoint alltheir expectations, that it is no marvel even so keen and untrusting aman as Richard should feel no apprehensions, with regard to eitherChartley or Arden, though he was hateful to them both, and yet besuspicious of Lord Calverly and Fulmer, who might perchance disobeyhis orders, and refuse reverence to his authority in matters of smallmoment, where their own passions were concerned, but who neverentertained a thought of abandoning the king's party, to which theyhad attached themselves from the first. Cunning often overreachesitself, often sees a distant object, and overlooks that lying at itsfeet. But there were many circumstances which rendered Richardcareless in the case of Chartley. He looked upon him as a rash,heedless, light-spirited young man, too open and too frank, either tobe sought by or to seek other conspirators. He had always been firmlyattached to the house of York, had been brought up from his youthunder its guardianship, had inherited, as it were, animosity to thehouse of Lancaster, had taken no part with the new nobility, as therelations of Edward's queen were called, and had, in his boyhood.treated with some haughty contumely one of the upstart favourites ofthe queen's brother, which caused him to be sent from court to travelin foreign lands. These things had not been forgotten by Richard; andhe argued--"It is neither with Richmond nor with Dorset that this gayyoung lord would intrigue, if he intrigued at all; and, so long asthis fair maid of St. Leger remains to be won, I have him sure. 'Tiswell she hides herself; for were she at the court, or in her uncle'shouse, I might have to decide too soon. I doubt that moodydiscontented Fulmer; but of this light-spirited youth I am secure."
The month, during which Sir William Arden had agreed to hold his noblecousin in ward, passed away. Richard heard of them travelling here,travelling there, roaming from this village to that, hoveringsometimes round Chidlow, sometimes round Atherston, lodging atTamworth, at Leicester, at Hinckley; and he easily divined thatChartley was seeking eagerly for Iola. The multitude of affairspressing upon his attention gave him but little time to think of minorthings; and he suffered the period to lapse, without taking anyfarther precaution for the young lord's custody. It was recalled tohis memory some days afterwards by Catesby; and the king mused overthe suggestion for some moments; but at length he said in a somewhatdoubtful tone--
"No. Let it be. But this girl must be heard of, Catesby. I must knowwhere she is, lest this youth find out the hidden treasure, and snatchat it without our consent. There must be people who know her habitsand her haunts. Let them be enquired after, and in the mean time writeme a letter to Lord Chartley, requiring him to use every diligence toseek for the Lady Iola, and bring her to the court, when he shall berewarded as his heart could desire. But mark you, Catesby, mark you.Put in 'If the lady's heart go with it.' These young fools, we musttalk to them about hearts, or they will not believe. Methinks heartswear out about thirty, Catesby. Is it not so?"
"Sometimes sooner; sire," answered Catesby, gravely. "But I will doyour bidding; and methinks the person most likely to know where thelure lies hid is the lady Constance, her cousin. The old lord sent herback to the abbey of St. Clare; but I will despatch some one thither,skilled in ladies' interrogatories, who will soon extract from her allthat she knows."
"So be it," said the king, and there the conversation dropped.