 33 Here stands the victim. There the proud betrayer, even as the hind pulled down by straggling dogs, lies at the hunter's feet. Whom courteous proffers to some high dame, the dion of the chase, to whom he looks for Gwerden, his sharp blade, to gash the sobbing throat, the woodsman. We are now to return to Mervyn's Bower, the apartment, or rather the prison, of the unfortunate Countess of Lester, who for some time kept within bounds for uncertainty and her impatience. She was aware that in the tumult of the day there might be some delay, ere her letter could be safely conveyed to the hands of Lester, and that some time more might elapse ere he could extricate himself from the necessary attendance on Elizabeth to come and visit her in her secret bower. I will not expect him, she said, till night. He cannot be absent from his royal guest, even to see me. He will, I know, come earlier, if it be possible, but I will not expect him before night. And yet all the while she did expect him, and while she tried to argue herself into a contrary belief, each hasty noise of the hundred, which she heard, sounded like the hurried step of Lester on the staircase, hasting to fold her in his arms. The fatigue of body which Amy had lately undergone, with the agitation of mind, natural to so cruel a state of uncertainty, began by degrees strongly to affect her nerves, and she almost feared her total inability to maintain the necessary self-command through the scenes which might lie before her. But although spoiled by an overindulgent system of education, Amy had naturally a mind of great power, united with a frame which her share in her father's woodland exercises had rendered uncommonly healthy. She summoned to her aid such mental and bodily resources, and not unconscious, how much the issue of her fate might depend on her own self-possession. She prayed internally for strength of body and for mental fortitude, and resolved at the same time to yield to no nervous impulse which might weaken either. Yet when the great bell of the castle, which was placed in Caesar's tower, at no great distance from that called Mervins, began to send its peeling clamor abroad, in signal of the arrival of the royal procession, the din was so painfully acute to ears rendered nervously sensitive by anxiety that she could hardly forbear shrieking with anguish in answer to every stunning clash of the relentless peel. Shortly afterwards, when the small apartment was at once enlightened by the shower of artificial fires, with which the air was suddenly filled, and which caused each other like fiery spirits, each bent on his own separate mission, or like salamanders executing a frolic dance in the region of the sylphs, the Countess felt at first as if each rocket shot close by her eyes and discharged its sparks and flashes so nigh that she could feel a sense of the heat. But she struggled against these fantastic terrors, and compelled herself to arise, stand by the window, look out, and gaze upon a sight which at another time would have appeared to her at once captivating and fearful. The magnificent towers of the castle were enveloped in garlands of artificial fire, or shrouded with tiaras of pale smoke. The surface of the lake glowed like molten iron, while many fireworks, then thought extremely wonderful, though now common, whose flame continued to exist in the opposing element, dived in rose, hissed and roared, and spouted fire, like so many dragons of enchantment, sporting upon a burning lake. Even Amy was for a moment interested by what was to her so new a scene. I had thought it magical art, she said, but Portresilian taught me to judge of such things as they are. Great God, it may not these idle splendors resemble my own hoped-for happiness, a single spark which is instantly swallowed up by surrounding darkness, a precarious glow which rises but for a brief space into the air, that its fall may be the lower. O Lester, after all, all that thou hast said, hast sworn, that Amy was thy love, thy life, can it be that thou art the magician at whose gnaw at these enchantments arise, and that she sees them as an outcast, if not a captive? The sustain prolonged and repeated bursts of music, from so many different quarters, and at so many varying points of distance, which sounded as if not the castle of Kenneworth only, but the whole country around, had been at once the scene of solemnizing some high national festival, carried the same oppressive thought still closer to her heart, while some notes would melt in distant and falling tones, as if in compassion for her sorrows, and some burst close and near upon her, as if mocking her misery with all the insolence of unlimited mirth. These sounds, she said, are mine, mine, because they are his. But I cannot say, be still, these loud strains suit me not, and the voice of the meanest peasant that mingles in the dance would have more power to modulate the music than the command of her who is mistress of all. By degrees the sounds of revelry died away, and the countess withdrew from the window at which she had sat listening to them. It was night, but the moon afforded considerable light in the room, so that Amy was able to make the arrangement which she judged necessary. There was hope that Lester might come to her apartment as soon as the revel in the castle had subsided, but there was also risk she might be disturbed by some unauthorized intruder. She had lost confidence in the key since Tressilion had entered so easily, though the door was locked on the inside. Yet all the additional security she could think of was to place the table across the door that she might be warned by the noise should anyone attempt to enter. Having taken these necessary precautions, the unfortunate lady withdrew to her couch, stretched herself down on it, mused in anxious expectation, and counted more than one hour after midnight. Till exhausted, nature proved too strong for love, for grief, for fear, nay even for uncertainty. And she slept. Yes, she slept. The Indian sleeps at the stake in the intervals between his tortures, and mental torments, in like manner, exhaust by long continuance the sensibility of the sufferer, so that an interval of lethargic repose must necessarily ensue, ere the pangs which they inflict can again be renewed. The Countess slept then for several hours, and dreamed that she was in an ancient house that come her place, listening for the low whistle with which Lester often used to announce his presence in the courtyard, when arriving suddenly on one of his stolen visits. But on this occasion, instead of a whistle, she heard the peculiar blast of a buglehorn, such as her father used to wind on the fall of the stag, and which Huntsman then called a mort. She ran, as she thought, to a window that looked into the courtyard, which she saw filled with men in mourning garments. The old curate seemed about to read the funeral service. The mumblazin, tricked out in an antique dress, like an ancient herald, held aloft a scutchin, with its usual decorations of skulls, crossbones, and hourglasses, surrounding a coat of arms, of which she could only distinguish that it was surmounted with an earl's cornet. The old man looked at her with a gassy smile, and said, Amy, are they not rightly quartered? As he spoke, the horns again poured on her ear, the melancholy yet wild strain of the mort, or a death-note, and she awoke. The Countess awoke to hear a real bugle-note, or rather the combined breath of many bugles, sounding not the mort, but the jolly rouveille. To remind the inmates of the Castle of Kenilworth that the pleasures of the day were to commence with a magnificent stag-hunting in the neighboring Chase. Amy started up from her couch, listened to the sound, saw the first beams of the summer morning already twinkle through the lattice of her window, and recollected with feelings of giddy agony where she was and how circumstance'd. He thinks not of me, she said. He will not come, nigh-me. A queen is his guest, and what cares he, and what corner of his huge castle, a wretch like me, pines in doubt, which is fast fading into despair. At once the sound of the door, as if someone attempting to open it softly, filled her with an ineffable mixture of joy and fear, and hastening to remove the obstacle she had placed against the door and to unlock it, she had the precaution to ask, is it thou, my love? Yes, my countess, murmured a whisper in reply. She threw open the door and exclaiming, Lester. Flung her arms around the neck of the man who stood without, muffled in his cloak. No, not quite Lester, answered Michael Lambbourne, for he it was, returning the caress with the immense, not quite Lester, my lovely and most loving duchess, but as good a man, with an exertion of force of which she would, another time, have thought herself incapable, the countess freed herself from the profane and profaning grasp of the drunken debauchee, and retreated into the midst of her apartment, where despair gave her courage to make a stand. As Lambbourne, on entering, dropped the lap of his cloak from his face, she knew Varney's profligate servant, the very last person, accepting his detested master, by whom she would have wished to be discovered. But she was still closely muffled in her travelling dress, and as Lambbourne had scarce ever been admitted to her presence, at come her place, her person, she hoped, might not be so well known to him, as his was to her, owing to Janence pointing him frequently out as he crossed the court, and telling stories of his wickedness. She might have had still greater confidence in her disguise, had her experience enabled her to discover that he was much intoxicated. But this could scarce have consoled her, for the risk which she might incur from such a character in such a time, place, and circumstances. Lambbourne flung the door behind him as he entered, and folding his arms as if in mockery of the attitude of distraction into which Amy had thrown herself. He proceeded thus, Harkie, most fair, callipelous, or most lovely countess of clout, and divine duchess of dark corners, if thou take us all that trouble of skewering thyself together, like a trust foul, that there may be more pleasure in the carving, even save thyself the labour. I love thy first frank man of the best, like thy present, as little. He made a step towards her, and staggered, as little as such a damned uneven floor is this, where a gentleman may break his neck, if he does not walk as upright as a posture-master on the tightrope. Stand back, said the countess, do not approach nearer to me on thy peril. My peril! And stand back! Why, how now, madam, must you have a better mate than honest Mike Lambbourne? I have been an America girl, where the gold grows, and have brought off such a load on't. Good friends, said the countess, in great terror at the ruffians determined and audacious manner, I prithee be gone and leave me. And so I will, pretty one, when we are tired of each other's company, not a jot sooner. He seized her by the arm, while incapable of further defence, she uttered shriek upon shriek. Nay, scream away if you like it! Said he, still holding her fast. I have heard the sea at the loudest. And I mind a squalling woman, no more than a meowing kitten. Dammy, I have heard fifty or a hundred screaming at once, when there was a town stormed. The cries of the countess, however, brought unexpected aid in the person of Laurence Staples, who had heard her exclamations from his apartment below, and entered in good time to save her from being discovered, if not from more atrocious violence. Laurence was drunk also from the debauch of the preceding night, but fortunately his intoxication had taken a different turn from that of lamborn. What the devil's noise is this in the ward? He said. What? Man and woman together in the same cell? That is against rule. I will have decency under my rule, by St. Peter of the Fetters. Get thee downstairs, thou drunken beast, said lamborn, see as thou not the lady and I would be private. Good sir, worthy sir, said the countess, addressing the jailer, do but save me from him for the sake of mercy. She speaks fairly, said the jailer, and I will take her part. I love my prisoners, and I have had as good prisoners under my key as they have had in Newgate or the Comptor. And so, being one of my lambkins, as I say, no one shall disturb her in her penfold. So let go, the woman, or I'll knock your brains out with my keys. I'll make a blood-putting of thy midriff first, answered lamborn. Laying his left hand on his dagger, but still detaining the countess by the arm with his right. So have at thee, thou old ostrich, whose only living is upon a bunch of iron keys. Lawrence raised the arm of Michael, and prevented him from drawing his dagger. And as lamborn struggled and strove to shake him off, the countess made a sudden exertion on her side, and slipping her hand out of the glove on which the ruffian still kept hold. She gained her liberty, and escaping from the apartment, ran downstairs. While at the same moment she heard the two combatants fall on the floor, with a noise which increased her terror. The outer wicket offered no impediment to her flight, having been open for lamborns and mittens. So that she succeeded in escaping down the stair and fled into the pleasant, which seemed to her hasty glance, the direction in which she was most likely to avoid pursuit. Meanwhile Lawrence and lamborn rolled on the floor of the apartment, closely grappled together. Neither had happily opportunity to draw their daggers. But Lawrence known space enough to clash his heavy keys across Michael's face, and Michael in return grasped the turnkey so felly by the throat that the blood gushed from nose and mouth, so that they were both gory and filthy spectacles, when one of the other officers of the household, attracted by the noise of the fray, entered the room and, with some difficulty, affected the separation of the combatants. A moraine on you both said the charitable, mediator. And especially on you, master lamborn, what the fiend lie you here for, fighting on the floor like two butchers' currs in the kennel of the shambles. Lamborn arose and, somewhat sobered by the interposition of a third party, looked with something less than his usual brazen impudence of visage. We fought for a wench, and now must know, was his reply. A wench? Where is she? said the officer. Why vanished, I think, said Lamborn, looking around him, unless Lawrence hath swallowed her, that filthy punch of his devours as many distressed dampsles and oppressed orphans as there are giant in King Arthur's history. There are his prime food. He worries them body, soul, and substance. Aye, aye, it's no matter, said Lawrence, gathering up his huge ungainly form from the floor. But I've had your betters, master Michael Lamborn, under the little turn of my forefinger and thumb. And I shall have thee, before all's done, under my hatches. The impudence of thy brow will not always save thy shin bones from iron, and thy foul, thirsty gullet from a hempen corn. The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Lamborn again mated him. Nay, go not to it again, said the sewer. Or I will call for him. Shall tame you both. And that is Master Barney. Sir Richard, I mean. He is stirring, I promise you. I saw him cross the court just now. Dits thou by God? said Lamborn, seizing the basin, and you were, which stood in the apartment. Nay, then, element, do thy work, I thought I had enough of thee last night, when I floated about for Orion, like a cork on a fermenting cask avail. So, saying, he fell to work to cleanse from his face and hands the signs of the fray, and get his apparel into some order. What hast thou done to him? said the sewer, speaking aside to the jailer. His face is fearfully swelled. It is but the imprint of the key of my cabinet. Too good a mark for his gallows face. No man shall abuse or insult my prisoners. They are my jewels, and I lock them in safe casket accordingly. And so, mistress, leave off your wailing. Why? Why, surely, there was a woman here. I think you're all mad this morning, said the sewer. I saw no woman here, nor no man, either, in a proper sense, but only two beasts rolling on the floor. Nay, then I am undone, said the jailer. The prison's broken, that is all. Kenilworth Prison is broken. He continued in a tone of maudlin lamentation, which was the strongest jail betwixt this and the Welsh marches. I, in a house that has had knights and urls and kings sleeping in it, as secures if they had been in the Tower of London, it is broken, the prisoners fled, and the jailer in much danger of being hanged. So sane he retreated down to his own den to conclude his lamentations, or to sleep himself sober. Lamborn and the sewer followed him close, and it was well for them, since the jailer, out of mere habit, was about to lock the wicked after him, and had they not been within the reach of interfering, they would have had the pleasure of being shut up in the turret chamber, from which the countess had been just delivered. That unhappy lady, as soon as she found herself at liberty, fled, as we have already mentioned, into the pleasant's. She had seen this richly ornamented space of ground from the window of Mervyn's Tower, and it occurred to her at the moment of her escape, that among its numerous arbors, bowers, fountains, statues, and grottoes, she might find some recess in which she could lie concealed, until she had an opportunity of addressing herself to a protector, to whom she might communicate as much as she dared of her forlorn situation, and through whose means she might supplicate an interview with her husband. If I could see my guide, she thought, I would learn if he had delivered my letter. Even to die but see, Tresoyan, it were better to risk Dudley's anger by confiding my whole situation to one who is the very soul of honour. Then to run the hazard of further insult among the insolent menials of this ill-ruled place, I will not again venture into an enclosed apartment. I will wait. I will watch. Amidst so many human beings, there must be some kind heart which can judge and compassionate what mine endures. In truth, more than one party entered and traversed the pleasant's, but they were in joyous groups of four or five persons together, laughing and jesting in their own fullness of mirth and lightness of heart. The retreat which she had chosen gave her the easy alternative of voiding observation. It was but stepping back to the farthest recess of Agroto, ornamented with rustic work and moss seats, and terminated by a fountain, and she might easily remain concealed, or at her pleasure discover herself to any solitary wanderer whose curiosity might lead him to that romantic retirement. Anticipating such an opportunity, she looked into the clear basin which the silent fountain held up to her, like a mirror, and felt shocked at her own appearance, and doubtful at, the same time, muffled and disfigured as her disguise made her seem to herself, whether any female, and it was from the compassion of her own sex that she chiefly expected sympathy, would engage in conference with so suspicious an object. Reasoning thus like a woman, to whom external appearance is scarcely, in any circumstances, a matter of unimportance, and like a beauty who had some confidence in the power of her own charms, she lay beside her traveling cloak and capitane hat, and placed them beside her, so that she could assume them in an instant, ere one could penetrate from the entrance of the grotto to its extremity, in case the intrusion of Arnie or of Lamborn should render such disguise necessary. The dress which she wore under these vestments was somewhat of a theatrical cast, so as to suit the assumed personage of one of the females who was to act in the pageant. Women had found the means of arranging it thus upon the second day of their journey, having experienced a service arising from the assumption of such a character on the preceding day. The fountain, acting both as a mirror and ewer, afforded Amy the means of a brief toilet, of which she availed herself as hastily as possible. Then took in her hand her small casket of jewels, in case she might find them useful, intercessors, and, retiring to the darkest and most sequestered nook, sat down on a seat of moss, and awaited till fate should give her some chance of rescue, or of propitiating an intercessor. CHAPTER XXXIV Have you not seen the partridge quake, viewing the hawk approaching nigh? She cuddles close beneath the break, afraid to sit, afraid to fly. Prior. A chance, upon that memorable warning, that one of the earliest of the huntress's train, who appeared from her chamber in full array for the chase, was the princess for whom all these pleasures were instituted, England's maiden queen. I know not if it were by chance, or out of the befitting courtesy, due to a mistress, by whom he was so much honored, that she had scarcely made one step beyond the threshold of her chamber, earluster was by her side, and proposed to her, until the preparations for the chase had been completed, to view the pleasant, and the gardens which he connected with the castle yarn. To this new scene of pleasures they walked, the Earl's arm affording his sovereign the occasional support which she required, where flights of steps, then a favorite ornament in a garden, conducted them from terrace to terrace, and from parterre to parterre. The ladies in attendance, gifted with prudence, or endowed perhaps with the amiable desire of acting as they would be done by, did not conceive their duty to the queen's person and required them, though they lost not sight of her, to approach so near as to share or perhaps to stir, the conversation betwixt the queen and the Earl, who is not only her host, but also her most trusted, esteemed and favored servant. They contented themselves with admiring the grace of this illustrious couple, whose robes of state were now exchanged for hunting suits, almost equally magnificent. Elizabeth's silven dress, which was of a pale blue silk, with silver lace and agilet, approached in form to that of the ancient Amazons, and was therefore well-suited, at once to her height and to the dignity of her mean, which her conscious rank and log habits of authority had rendered in some degree too masculine to be seen to the best advantage in ordinary female weeds. Lester's hunting suit of Lincoln Green, richly embroidered with gold, and crossed by the gay Baldrick, which is stained a buglehorn and a woodknife instead of a sword, became its master, as did his other vestments of court or of war. For such were the perfections of his form and mean, that Lester was always supposed to be seen to the greatest advantage in the character and dress which for the time he represented or wore. The conversation of Elizabeth and the favored Earl has not reached us in detail, but those who watched at some distance, in the eyes of courtiers and court-ladies, are right sharp. We're of opinion that on no occasion did the dignity of Elizabeth, in gesture and motion, seem so decidedly to soften away into a mean expressive of indecision and tenderness. Her step was not only slow, but even unequal, I think most unwanted in her carriage. Her look seemed bent on the ground, and there was a timid disposition to withdraw from her companion, which external gesture in females often indicates exactly the opposite tendency in the secret mind. The Duchess of Rutland, who ventured nearest, was even heard to aware that she discerned a tear in Elizabeth's eye and a blush on her cheek. And still further, she bent her looks on the ground to avoid mine, said the Duchess, she who, in her ordinary mood, could look down a lion. To what conclusion these symptoms led is sufficiently evident, nor were they probably entirely groundless. The progress of a private conversation between two persons of different sexes is often decisive of their fate, and gives it a turn very different perhaps from what they themselves anticipated. Gallantry becomes mingled with conversation, and affection and passion come gradually to mix with gallantry. Nobles, as well as shepherd's wanes, will in such a trying moment say more than they intended, and queens like village maidens will listen longer than they should. Horses in the meanwhile nade and champ the bits with impatience in the base court. Hounds yelled in their couples, and yeoman, rangers, and pickers, lamented the exhaling of the dew, which would prevent the scent from lying. But Lester had another chasing view, or, to speak more justly towards him, had become engaged in it without premeditation, as the high-spirited hunter, which follows the cry of the hounds that have crossed his path by accident. The queen, an accomplished and handsome woman, the pride of England, the hope of France and Holland, and the dread of Spain, had probably listened with more than usual favour to that mixture of romantic gallantry with which she always loved to be addressed. And the Earl had, in vanity, in ambition, or in both, thrown in more and more of that delicious ingredient, until his importunity became the language of love itself. No deadly, said Elizabeth, yet it was with broken accents. No, I must be the mother of my people. Other ties that make the lowly maiden happy are denied to her sovereign. No, Lester, urge it no more, where I, as others, free to speak my own happiness than indeed, but it cannot, cannot be. Delay the chase, delay it for half an hour, and leave me, my lord. How, leave you, madam, said Lester, as my madness offended you. No, Lester, not so, answered the queen hastily. But it is madness, and must not be repeated. Go, but go not far from hence, and meantime, let no one intrude on my privacy. While she spoke thus, deadly bowed deeply, and retired with the slow and melancholy air. The queen stood gazing after him, and murmured to herself, were it possible, were it but possible? But no, no. Elizabeth must be the wife and mother of England alone. As she spoke thus, and in order to avoid someone who stepped she heard approaching, the queen turned into the grotto in which her hapless, and yet but too successful, rival lay concealed. The mind of England's Elizabeth, as somewhat shaken by the agitating interview to which she had just put a period, was of that firm and decided character, which soon recovers its natural tone. It was like one of those ancient, druidical monuments called Rocking Stones. The finger of Cupid, boy as he is, painted, could put her feelings in motion, but the power of Hercules could not have destroyed their equilibrium. As she advanced with a slow pace towards the inmost extremity of the grotto, her countenance, ere she had preceded half the length, had recovered its dignity of look, and her mean its air of command. It was then the queen became aware that a female figure was placed beside, or rather partly behind, an alabaster column. At the foot of which arose the palucid fountain, which occupied the inmost recess of the twilight grotto. The classical mind of Elizabeth suggested the story of Numa and Ingeria, and she doubted not that some Italian sculptor had here represented the naïad whose inspirations gave laws to Rome. As she advanced, she became doubtful whether she beheld a statue or a form of flesh and blood. The unfortunate Amy, indeed, remained motionless, betwixt the desire which she had to make her condition known to one of her own sex, and her awe for the stately form which approached her, and which, though her eyes had never before beheld, her fears instantly suspected to be the personage she really was. Amy had arisen from her seat with the purpose of addressing the lady who entered the grotto alone, and, as she at first thought, so opportunely. But when she recollected the alarm which Lester had expressed at the queen's knowing aught of their union, and became more and more satisfied that the person whom she now beheld was Elizabeth herself, she stood with one foot advanced and one withdrawn, her arms, head, and hands perfectly motionless, and her cheek as pallid as the alabaster pedestal against which she leaned. Her dress was of pale sea-green silk, little distinguished in that imperfect light, and somewhat resembled the drapery of agretian nymph, such an antique disguise having been thought the most secure, where so many masqueras and revelers were assembled, so that the queen's doubt of her being a living form was well justified by all contingent circumstances, as well as by the bloodless cheek and the fixed eye. Elizabeth remained in doubt even after she had approached within a few paces, whether she did not gaze on a statue so cunningly fashion that by the doubtful light it could not be distinguished from reality. She stopped, therefore, and fixed upon this interesting object her princely look, with so much keenness, that the astonishment which had kept Amy immovable gave way to awe, and she gradually cast down her eyes, and drooped her head under the commanding gaze of the sovereign. Still, however, she remained in all respects, saving the slow and profound inclination of the head, motionless and silent. From her dress and the casket which she instinctively held in her hand, Elizabeth naturally conjectured that the beautiful but mute figure which she beheld was a performer in one of the various theatrical pageants which had been placed in different situations to surprise her with their homage, and that the poor player, overcome with awe at her presence, had either forgot the part assigned her or lacked courage to go through it. It was natural and courteous to give her some encouragement, and Elizabeth accordingly said, in a tone of condescending kindness, how now, fair nymph of this lovely grotto, art thou spellbound and struck with dumbness by the charms of the wicked enchanter, whom men term fear? We are his sworn enemy, maiden, and can reverse his charm. Speak, we command thee. Instead of answering her by speech, the unfortunate countess dropped on her knee before the queen, let her casket fall from her hand, and, clasping her palms together, looked up in the queen's face with such a mixed agony of fear and supplication that Elizabeth was considerably affected. What may this mean, she said? This is a stronger passion than that fits the occasion. Stand up, damsel. What would it sell half with us? Your protection, madam. Faltered forth the unhappy petitioner. Each daughter being then has it, while she is worthy of it, replied the queen, but your distress seems to have a deeper root than a forgotten task. Why and in what do you crave our protection? Amy hastily endeavored to recall what she were best to say, which might secure herself from the imminent dangers that surrounded her, without endangering her husband, and plunging from one thought to another amidst the chaos which filled her mind. She could at length, in answer to the queen's repeated inquiries in which she sought protection, only fault her out. Alas, I know not. This is folly, maiden, said Elizabeth, impatiently, for there was something in the extreme confusion of the supplient which irritated her curiosity, as well as interested her feelings. The sick man must tell his malady to the physician, nor are we accustomed to ask questions so oft without receiving an answer. I request, I implore, stammered forth the unfortunate countess, I receipt your gracious protection against one Varney. She choked, while nigh, as she uttered the fatal word, which was instantly caught up by the queen. What Varney, Sir Richard Varney, the servant of Lord Lester, What damsel, are you to him or he to you? I was his prisoner, and he practised on my life, and I broke forth to throw thyself on my protection doubtless, said Elizabeth. Thou shalt have it, that is, if thou art worthy, for we will sift this matter to the uttermost. Thou art, she said, bending on the countess and I, which seem designed to pierce her very inmost soul. Thou art Amy, daughter of Sir Hugh Robesart, of Lidcote Hall. Forgive me, forgive me, most gracious princess. Said Amy, dropping once more on her knee, from which she had arisen. For what should I forgive thee, silly wench? said Elizabeth, for being the daughter of thy known father. Thou art brain-sick surely. While I say I must wring the story from thee by inches, thou didst deceive thine old and honoured father, thy look confesses it, cheated Master Tessilion, thy blush avouches it, and married the same Varney. Amy sprung on her feet, and interrupted the queen eagerly with, No, madam, no. As there is a God above us, I am not the sordid wretch you would make me. I am not the wife of that contemptible slave, of that most deliberate villain. I am not the wife of Varney. I would rather be the bride of destruction. The queen, overwhelmed in her turn by Amy's vehemence, stood silent for an instant, and then replied, Why, God of mercy, woman, I see thou canst talk fast enough when the theme likes thee. Nay, tell me, woman, she continued. For to the impulse of curiosity was now added that of an undefined jealousy that some deception had been practiced on her. Tell me, woman, for by God's day I will know whose wife or whose paramour art thou. Speak out, and be speedy. Thou art better, dolly with a lioness, than with Elizabeth. Urged to this extremity, dragged as it were by irresistible force, to the verge of the precipice which she saw, but could not avoid, permitted not a moment's respite by the eager words and menacing gestures of the offended queen, Amy at length uttered in despair. The Earl of Lester knows it all. The Earl of Lester, said Elizabeth in utter astonishment, The Earl of Lester, she repeated with kindling anger, Woman, thou art set on to this, thou dots belie him. He takes no keep of such things as thou art. Thou art suborn to slander the noblest lord, and the truest hearted gentleman in England. But were he the right hand of our trust, or something yet fair to us? Thou shalt have thy hearing, and that in his presence. Come with me, come with me instantly. As Amy shrunk back with terror, which the incense queen interpreted as that of conscious guilt, Elizabeth rapidly advanced, seized on her arm, and hastened with swift and long steps out of the grotto, and along the principal alley of the pleasant, dragging with her the terrified countess, whom she still held by the arm, and whose utmost exertions could but just keep pace with those of the indignant queen. Lester was at this moment the center of a splendid group of lords and ladies, assembled together under an arcade or a portico, which closed the alley. The company had drawn together in that place to attend the commands of her majesty, when the hunting party should go forward, and their astonishment may be imagined when instead of seeing Elizabeth advance towards them with her usual measure dignity of motion, they beheld her walking so rapidly that she was in the midst of them ere they were aware, and then observed with fear and surprise that her features were flushed, betwixt anger and agitation, that her hair was loosened by her haste of motion, and that her eyes sparkled as they were want when the spirit of Henry VIII mounted highest in his daughter. Or were they less astonished at the appearance of the pale, attenuated, half-den, yet still lovely female, whom the queen of hell by main strength of one hand, while with the other she waved aside the ladies and nobles, who pressed towards her, under the idea that she was taken suddenly ill? Where is my lord of Lester? she said, in a tone that thrilled with astonishment all the courtiers who stood around. One forth, my lord of Lester, if, in the midst of the most serene day of summer, when all is light and laughing around, a thunderbolt were to fall from the clear blue vault of heaven, and rend the earth at the very feet of some careless traveller, he could not gaze upon the smoldering chasm which so unexpectedly yawned before him, with half the astonishment and fear which Lester felt at the sight that so suddenly presented itself. He had that instant been receiving, with a political affectation, of disavowing and misunderstanding their meaning, the half-uttered, half-intimated congratulations of the courtiers upon the favour of the queen, carried apparently to its highest pitch during the interview of that morning, from which most of them seemed to augur that he might soon arise from their equal and rank to become their master. And now, while the subdued yet proud smile with which he disclaimed those inferences, was yet curling his cheek, the queen shot into the circle, her passions excited to the uttermost, and supporting with one hand, and apparently without an effort, the pale and sinking form of his almost expiring wife, and pointing with the finger of the other to her half-dead features, demanded in a voice that sounded to the ears of the astounded statesman, like the last red trumpet call, that is to summon body and spirit to the judgment seat. No is thou this woman. As at the blast of the last trumpet, the guilty shall call upon the mountains to cover them. Lester's inward thoughts invoked the stately arch which he had built in his pride to burst at strong conjunction, and overwhelmed them in its ruins. But the cemented stones, architrov and battlement, stood fast, and it was the proud master himself who, as if some actual pressure, had bent him to the earth, kneeled down before Elizabeth, and prostrated his brow to the marble flagstones on which she stood. Lester said, Elizabeth, in a voice which trembled with passion, could I think thou hast practiced on me, on me thy sovereign, on me thy confiding, thy two partial mistresses, the base and ungrateful deception which thy present confusion surmises? By all that is holy, false, Lord, that head of thine were as great peril as ever was thy father's. Lester had not cautious innocence, but he had pride to support him. He raised slowly his brow in features which were black and swollen, with contending emotions, and only replied, My head cannot fall but by the sentence of my peers. To them I will plead, and not to a princess who thus requires my faithful service. What, my lords, said Elizabeth, looking around, we are defied, I think, defied in the castle we have ourselves bestowed on this proud man. My Lord Shrewsbury, you are Marshall of England, attach him of high treason. Whom does your grace mean? said Shrewsbury, much surprised, for he had that instant joined the astonished circle. Whom should I mean but that traitor, Dudley, Earl of Lester? Cousin of Hunston, order out your band of gentlemen pensioners, and take him into instant custody. I say villain, make haste. Hunston, a ruffled noble, who, from his relationship to the bullen, was accustomed to use more freedom with the queen than almost any other dared to do, replied bluntly, And it is like your grace might order me to the tower tomorrow for making too much haste. I do beseech you to be patient. Patient God's life, exclaimed the queen, name not the word to me, that I know is not of what he is guilty. Amy, who had by this time in some degree recovered herself, and who saw her husband, as she conceived, in the utmost danger from the rage of an offended sovereign, instantly, and alas, how many women have done the same, forgot her own wrongs and her own danger in her apprehensions for him, and throwing herself before the queen, embraced her knees, while she exclaimed, He is guiltless, madam, he is guiltless. No one can lay ought to the charge of the noble lester. Why, minion? answered the queen. Didst not thou thyself say that the rule of lester was privy to thy whole history? Did I say so? repeated the unhappy Amy, laying aside every consideration of consistency and of self-interest. Oh, if I did, I foully belied him. May God so judge me, as I believe he was never privy to a thought that would harm me. Woman, said Elizabeth, I will know who has moved thee to this, or my wrath, and the wrath of kings is a flaming fire, shall wither and consume thee like a weed in the furnace. As the queen uttered this threat, Lester's better angel called his pride to his aid, and reproached him with the utter extremity of meanness, which would overwhelm him, for ever, if he stooped to take shelter under the generous interposition of his wife, and abandoned her, and returned for kindness, to the resentment of the queen. He had already raised his head with the dignity of a man of honor to avow his marriage, and proclaimed himself the protector of his countess, when Varney, born, as it appeared, to be his master's evil genius, rushed into the presence with every mark of disorder on his face in apparel. What means this saucy intrusion, said Elizabeth? Amy, with the air of a man altogether overwhelmed with grief and confusion, prostrated himself before her feet, exclaiming, pardon my liege, pardon, or at least let your justice avenge itself on me, where it is due, but spare my noble, my generous, my innocent patron and master. Amy, who was yet kneeling, started up as she saw the man whom she deemed most odious, placed himself so near her, and was about to fly towards Lester when, checked at once by the uncertainty and even timidity, which, as looks, had re-asumed as soon as the appearance of his confidant seemed to open a new scene. She hung back, and, uttering a faint scream, besought of her majesty to cause her to be imprisoned in the lowest dungeon of the castle, to deal with her as the worst of criminals. But spare, she exclaimed, my side in hearing what will destroy the little judgment I have left, the side of that unutterable and most shameless villain. And why, sweetheart, said the queen, moved by a new impulse, what hath he this false night, since such thou accountest him, done to thee? Worse than sorrow, madam, and worse than injury. He has sown dissension, where most there should be peace. I shall go mad if I look longer on him. Vashru me, but I think thou art distraught already, answered the queen. My Lord Hunston, look to this poor distressed young woman and let her be safely bestowed, and in honest keeping, till we require her to be forthcoming. Two or three of the ladies in attendance, either moved by compassion, for a creature so interesting, or by some other motive, offered their services to look after her. But the queen briefly answered, ladies under favor, no, you have all, give God thanks, sharp ears and nimble tongues. Our kinsman, Hunston, has ears of the dullest, and a tongue somewhat rough, but yet of the slowest. Hunston, look to it that none hath speech of her. By our lady, said Hunston, taking in his strong, sinewy arms, the lady in an almost swooning form of Amy, she is a lovely child, and though a rough nurse, your grace hath given her a kind one. She is safe with me, as of my own, lady-birds of daughters. So saying he carried her off, unresistingly and almost unconsciously, his war-worn locks and long, gray beard mingling with her light-brown tresses, as her head reclined on his strong, square shoulder. The queen followed him with her eye. She had already with that self-command, which formed so necessary a part of a sovereign's accomplishments, suppressed every appearance of agitation, and seemed as if she desired to banish all traces of her burst of passion from the like-election of those who had witnessed it. My Lord of Hunston says well, she observed, he is indeed but a rough nurse, for so tender a babe. My Lord of Hunston, said the Dean of St. Asa, I speak at non-deformation of his more noble qualities, hath a broad license in speech, and garnishes his discourse somewhat too freely with the cruel and superstitious oaths, which savor both of profaneness and of old papestry. It is the fault of his blood, Mr. Dean, said the queen, turning sharply round upon the reverend dignitary as she spoke, and you may blame mine for the same distemperature. The Bolan were ever a hot, and plain spoken race, more hasty to speak their mind than careful to choose their expressions. And by my word I hope there is no sin in that affirmation. I question if it were much cooled by mixing with that of tutor. As she made this last observation, she smiled graciously and stole her eyes almost insensibly round to seek those of the Earl of Luster, to whom she now began to think she had spoken with hasty harshness upon the unfounded suspicion of a moment. The Queen's Eye found the Earl in no mood to accept the implied offer of conciliation. His own looks had followed, with late and rueful repentance, the faded form which Hunston had just borne from the presence. They now reposed gloomily on the ground, but more, so at least it seemed no Elizabeth, with the expression of one who has received an unjust affront, than of him who is cautious of guilt. She turned her face angrily from him, and said to Varney, Speak, serviture, and explain these riddles, thou hast sense, and the use of speech at least, which elsewhere we look for in vain. As she said this she darted another resentful glance towards Luster, while the wily Varney hastened to tell his own story. Your Majesty's piercing eye, he said, has already detected the cruelty of my beloved lady, which, unhappy that I am, I would not suffer to be expressed in the certificate of her physician, seeking to conceal what has now broken out with so much the more scandal. She is thin distraught, said the Queen, indeed we doubted not of it. Her whole demeanor bears it out. I found her moping in a corner of yonder grotto, and every word she spoke, which indeed I dragged from her is by the rack. She instantly recalled, and foreswore. But how came she hither? Why had you her not in safekeeping? My gracious liege, said Varney, the worthy gentleman under whose charge I left her, Master Anthony Foster, has come hither but now, as fast a man and horse can travel to show me of her escape, which she managed with the art peculiar to many who are afflicted with this malady. He is at hand for examination. Let it be for another time, said the Queen. But Sir Richard, we envy you not your domestic felicity. Your lady railed on you bitterly, and seemed ready to swoon at beholding you. It is the nature of persons in her disorder, so please your grace, answered Varney, to be ever most inveterate in their spleen against those whom, in their better moments, they hold nearest and dearest. We have heard so indeed, said Elizabeth, and give faith to the sane. May your grace then be pleased, said Varney, to command my unfortunate wife to be delivered into the custody of her friends. Lester partly started, but, making a strong effort, he subdued his emotion, while Elizabeth answered sharply. You are something too hasty, Master Varney. We will have first a report of the lady's health and state of mind from masters, our own physician, and then determine what shall be thought just. You shall have license, however, to see her, that if there be any matrimonial quarrel betwixt you, such things we have heard do occur, even betwixt a loving couple. You may make it up, without further scandal to our court or trouble to ourselves. Elizabeth bowed low and made no other answer. Elizabeth again looked toward Lester, and said with a degree of condensation, which could only arise out of the most heartfelt interest. Discorn, as the Italian poet says, will find her way into peaceful convents, as well as into the privacy of families, and we fear our own guards in essence will hardly exclude her from courts. My Lord of Lester, you are offended with us, and we have right to be offended with you. We will take the lion's part upon us, and be the first to forgive. Lester smoothed his brow as by an effort, but the trouble was too deep-seated that its placidity should at once return. He said, however, that which fitted the occasion, that he could not at the happiness of forgiving, because she who commanded him to do so, could commit no injury towards him. Elizabeth seemed contempt with this reply, and intimated her pleasure that the sports of the morning should proceed. The bugle sounded, the hounds bade, the horses pranced, but the courtiers and ladies sought the amusement to which they were summoned, with hearts very different from those which had leaped to the mornings revely. There was doubt and fear, and expectation on every brow, and surmise in intrigue in every whisper. Blouten took an opportunity to whisper into Raleigh's ear. This storm came like a levanture in the Mediterranean. Warriam et Mutapola answered Raleigh in a similar tone. Nay, I know not of your Latin, said Blout, but I thank God Triselyan took not the sea during that hurricane. She could scarce of Miss Shipwreck, knowing as he does, so little how to trim his sails to a court gale. Now wouldest have instructed him, said Raleigh. Why, I have profited by my time as well as thou, Sir Walter, replied honest Blout, I am not as well as thou and of the earlier creation. Now, God further thy went, said Raleigh, but for Triselyan I would I knew what were the matter with him. He told me this morning he would not leave his chamber for the space of twelve hours or thereby, being bound by a promise. This lady's madness, when he shall learn it, will not, I fear, cure his infirmity. The moon is at the fullest, and men's brains are working like east. But, Hark! They sound to mount. Let us to horse-blount. We young knights must deserve our spurs. CHAPTER XXXIV SINCERITY Thou first of virtues, let no mortal leave thy onward path, although the earth should gape, and from the gulf of hell destruction cry, to take dissimulations winding way. DUGLESS It was not till after a long and successful morning's sport, and a prolonged repast which followed the return of the Queen to the castle, that Lester at length found himself alone with Varney, from whom he now learned the whole particulars of the Countess's escape as they had been brought to Kenilworth by Foster, who in his terror for the consequences had himself posted thither with the tidings. As Varney and his narrative took a special care to be silent concerning those practices on the Countess's health which had driven her to sow desperate a resolution, Lester who could only suppose that she had adopted it out of jealous impatience, to attain the avowed state and appearance belonging to her rank, was not a little offended at the levity with which his wife had broken his strict commands, and exposed him to the resentment of Elizabeth. I have given, he said, to this daughter of an obscure Devonshire gentleman, the proudest name in England. I have made her share of my bed and of my fortunes. I ask but of her a little patience, ere she launches forth upon the full current of her grandeur, and the infatuated woman would rather hazard her own shipwreck and line, will rather involve me in a thousand whirlpools, shoals, and quicksands, and compel me to a thousand devices which shame me in my known eyes, than tarry for a little space longer in the obscurity to which she was born. So lovely, so delicate, so fawn, so faithful, yet to lack and so grave a matter, the prudence which one might hope from the various fool, it puts me beyond my patience. We may have hosted over yet well enough, said Varney, if my lady will be but ruled, and take on her the character which the time commands. It is but too true, Sir Richard, said Lester. There is indeed no other remedy. I have heard her termed thy wife in my presence without contradiction. She must bear the title until she is far from Kenilworth. And long afterwards, I trust, said Varney. Then instantly added, for I cannot but hope it will be long after ear she bear the title of Lady Lester. I fear me it may scarce be with safety during the life of this queen. But your lordship is best judge. You alone knowing what passages have taken place betwixt Elizabeth and you. You are right, Varney, said Lester. I have this morning been both fool and villain. And when Elizabeth hears of my unhappy marriage, she cannot but think herself treated with that pre meditated slight, which women never forgive. We have once this day stood upon terms little short of defiance. And to those I fear we must again return. Is her resentment then so implacable? said Varney. Far from it, replied the Earl. For being what she is in spirit and in station, she has even this day been but too condescending, in giving me opportunities to repair what she thinks my faulty heat of temper. Hi, answered Varney. The Italians say right. In lovers' quarrels, the party that loves most is always most willing to acknowledge the greater fault. So then, my lord, if this union with the lady could be concealed, you stand with Elizabeth as you did. Lester sighed and was silent for a moment, ear here applied. Varney, I think thou art true to me, and I will tell the all. I do not stand where I did. I have spoken to Elizabeth under what mad impulse I know not. On a theme which cannot be abandoned without touching every female feeling to the quick, in which yet I dare not and cannot prosecute. She can never, never forgive me for having caused and witnessed those yieldings to human passion. We must do something, my lord, said Varney. And that speedily. There is not to be done. Answered Lester, despondingly, I'm like one that has long toiled up a dangerous precipice. And when he is within one perilous stride at the top, finds his progress arrested, winter cheap has become impossible. I see above me the pinnacle which I cannot reach beneath me the abyss into which I must fall, as soon as my relaxing grasp and dizzy brain join to hurl me from my present precarious stance. Think better of your situation, my lord, said Varney. Let us try the experiment in which you have but now acquiesced. Keep we your marriage from Elizabeth's knowledge, and all may yet be well. I will instantly go to the lady myself. She hates me because I have been earnest with your lordship, as she truly suspects, in opposition to what she terms her rights. I care not for her prejudices. She shall listen to me, and I will show her such reasons for yielding to the pressure of the times that I doubt not to bring back her consent to whatever measures these exigencies may require. No, Varney, said Lester, I have thought upon what is to be done and I will myself speak with Amy. It was now Varney's turn to feel upon his own account the terrors which he affected to participate solely on account of his patron. Your lordship will not yourself speak with the lady. It is my fixed purpose, said Lester. Fetch me one of the livery cloaks. I will pass the sentinel as thy servant. Thou art to have free access to her. But, my lord, I will have no buts, replied Lester. It shall be even thus and not otherwise. Hunston sleeps, I think, in St. Lowe's tower. We can go thither from these apartments by the private passage without risk of meeting any one. Or what if I do meet Hunston? He is more my friend than any, and thick-witted enough to adopt any belief that is thrust on him. Fetch me the cloak instantly. Varney had no alternative, save obedience. In a few minutes Lester was muffled in the mantle, pulled his bonnet over his brows, and followed Varney along the secret passage of the castle, which communicated with Hunston's apartments, in which there was scarce a chance of meeting any inquisitive person, and hardly lighten up for any such to have satisfied their curiosity. They immersed a door where Lord Hunston had, with military precaution, placed a sentinel, one of his own northern retainers, as it fortune'd, who readily admitted Sir Richard Varney and his attendant, sane only in his northern dialect. I would, ma'am, thou couldst make the mad lady be still yonder, for her moans do sigh dural through my head that would rather keep watch on a snowdrift in the ways of caught louty. They hastily entered, and shut the door behind them. Now good devil, if there be one, said Varney, within himself, for once help of vodery at a dead pinch, for my boat is amongst the breakers. The countess Amy, with her hair and her garments disheveled, was seated upon a sort of couch, in an attitude of the deepest affliction, out of which she was startled by the opening of the door, she turned hastily around, and fixing her eye on Varney, exclaimed. Wretch, art thou come to frame some new plan of villainy? Lester cut short her approaches by stepping forward and dropping his cloak, while he said, in a voice rather of authority than of affection, it is with me, madam, you have to commune, not with Sir Richard Varney. The change effected on the countess's look and manner was like magic. Dudley, she exclaimed, Dudley, and art thou come at last? And with the speed of lightning, she flew to her husband, clung round his neck and, unheeding the presence of Varney, overwhelmed him with caresses, while she bathed his face in a flood of tears, muttering at the same time, but in broken and disjointed monosyllables, the fondest expressions which love teaches his votaries. Lester, as it seemed to him, had reason to be angry with his lady for transgressing his commands, and thus placing him in the perilous situation in which he had that morning stood. But what displeasure could keep its ground before these testimonies of affection from a being so lovely, that even the negligence of dress and the withering effects of fear, grief, and fatigue, which would have impaired the beauty of others, rendered hers but the more interesting. He received and repaid her caresses with fondness, mingled with melancholy, the last of which she seemed scarcely to observe, until the first transport of her own joy was over. When, looking anxiously in his face, she asked if he was ill. Not my body, Amy, was his answer. Then I will be well too. Oh, doubly, I have been ill very ill since we last met. For I call not this morning's horrible vision a meeting. I have been in sickness, in grief, and in danger. But thou art come, and all this joy and health and safety. Alas, Amy, said Lester, thou hast undone me. I, my Lord, said Amy, her cheek at once losing its transient flesh of joy. How could I injure that which I love better than myself? I would not abray, doing me, replied the Earl. But are you not here contrary to my express commands? And is not your presence here in danger, both yourself and me? Does it? Does it indeed? She exclaimed, eagerly. Then why am I here a moment longer? Oh, if you knew by what fears I was urged to quit come to a place. But I will say nothing of myself, only that if it might be otherwise, I would not willingly return thither. Yet, if it concerned your safety, we will think, Amy, of some other retreat, said Lester, and you shall go to one of my northern castles under the personage. It will be what needful I trust for a very few days, a Barney's wife. How, my Lord of Lester, said the lady, disengaging herself from his embraces, is it to your wife you give the dishonorable counsel to acknowledge herself the bride of another, and of all men the bride of that Barney? Madam, I speak it in earnest. Barney's my true and faithful servant, trusted in my deepest secrets. I'd better lose my right hand than his service at this moment. You have no cause to scorn him as you do. I could assign one, my Lord, reply the countess, and I see he shakes, even under that assured look of his. But he that is necessary as your right hand, is free from any accusation of mine. May he be true to you, and that he may be true. Trust him not too much or too far. But it is enough to say that I will not go with him unless by violence, nor would I acknowledge him as my husband more all. It is a temporary deception, madam, said Lester, irritated by her opposition. Necessary for both our safeties, endangered by you through female caprice, or the premature desire to seize on a rank to which I gave you title, only under condition that our marriage for a time should continue secret. If my proposal disgusts you, it is yourself has brought it on both of us. There is no other remedy. You must do what your own impatient folly hath rendered necessary. I command you. I cannot put your commands, my Lord, said Amy, in balance with those of honor and conscience, I will not in this instance obey you. You may achieve your own dishonor to which these crooked policies naturally tend, but I will do not that can blemish mine. How could you again, my Lord, acknowledge me as a pure and chased matron, worthy to share your fortunes? When holding that high character, I had strolled the country, the acknowledged wife of such a profligate fellow as your servant Barney. My Lord said Barney in her posing, my lady is too much prejudiced against me, unhappily, to listen to what I can offer, yet it may please her better than what she proposes. She has good interest with Master Edmund Tresselion, and could doubtless prevail on him to consent to be her companion to Lidcote Hall. And there she might remain in safety until time permitted the development of this mystery. Lester was silent, but stood looking eagerly on Amy, with eyes which seemed suddenly to glow as much with suspicion as Lester's pleasure. The Countess only said, Would to God I were in my father's house. When I left it, I little thought I was leaving peace of mind and honor behind me. Barney proceeded with a tone of deliberation. Doubtless this will make it necessary to take strangers into my Lord's councils. But surely the Countess will be warrant for the honor of Master Tresselion, and such of her father's family. Peace, Barney, said Lester. By heaven I will strike my dagger into thee, if again thou name is Tresselion as a partner of my councils. And wherefore not, said the Countess, unless they be councils fitter for such as Barney, then for man of stainless honor and integrity. My Lord, my Lord, bend no angry brows on me. It is the truth. And it is I who speak it. I once stood Tresselion wrong for your sake. I will not do him the further injustice of being silent when his honor is broadened in question. I can't forbear, she said, looking at Barney, to pull the mask off hypocrisy. But I will not permit virtue to be slandered in my hearing. There was a dead pause. Lester stood displeased, yet undetermined, and too cautious of the weakness of his cause. While Barney with a deep and hypocritical affectation of sorrow mingled with humility, bent his eyes on the ground. It was then the Countess Amy displayed in the midst of distress and difficulty, the natural energy of character which would have rendered her, had fade aloud, a distinguished ornament of the rank which she held. She walked up to Lester with a composed step, a dignified air, and looks in which strong affection assayed in vain to shake the firmness of conscience, truth, and rectitude of principle. You have spoken your mind, my lord, she said, in these difficulties, with which unhappily I have found myself unable to comply. This gentleman, this person, I would say, has hinted at another scheme to which I object, not but as it displeases you, where your lordship, be pleased to hear what a young and timid woman, but your most affectionate wife, can't suggest in the present extremity. Lester was silent, but bent his head towards the Countess as an intimation that she was at liberty to proceed. There thin, but one cause for all these evils, my lord, she proceeded, and it resolves itself into the mysterious duplicity with which you have been induced to surround yourself. Extricate yourself at once, my lord, from the tyranny of these disgraceful trammels. Be like a true English gentleman, Knight and Earl, who holds that truth is the foundation of honor, and that honor is dear to him as the breath of his nostrils. Take your ill-fated wife by the hand. Lead her to the footstool of Elizabeth's throne. Say that in a moment of infatuation, moved by supposed beauty, of which none perhaps can now trace even the remains, I gave my hand to this Amy Robesart. You will then have done justice to me, my lord, and to your own honor. And should law or power require you to part from me, I will oppose no objection, since I may then with honor hide aggrieved and broken heart in those shades from which your love withdrew me. Then hath but a little patience, and Amy's life will not long darken your brighter prospects. There was so much of dignity, so much of tenderness in the countess's remonstrance, that it moved all that was noble and generous in the soul of her husband. The scales seemed to fall from his eyes, and the duplicity, and teradruversation of which he had been guilty, stung him at once with remorse and shame. I'm not worthy of you, Amy, he said. That kuei ought which ambition has to give against such a heart as thine. I have a bitter penance to perform, in disentangling, before snaring foes and astounded friends, all the meshes of my own deceitful policy. And the queen, the letter take my head, as she has threatened. Take your head, my lord, said the countess, because you use the freedom in liberty of an English subject in choosing a wife. For shame! It is this distrust of the queen's justice, this apprehension of danger, which cannot but be imaginary, that, like scarecrow's, have induced you to forsake the straightforward path, which, as it is the best, is also the safest. Ah, Amy, thou little knowest, said Dudley, but instantly checking himself, he added. Yet she shall not find in me a safe or easy victim of arbitrary vengeance. I have friends, I have allies. I will not, like Norfolk, be dragged to the block as a victim to sacrifice. If you're not, Amy, thou shalt see Dudley bear himself worthy of his name. I must instantly communicate with some of those friends on whom I can best rely. For as things stand, I may be made prisoner in my own castle. Oh, my good Lord, said Amy, make no faction in a peaceful state. There's no friend can help us so well as our own candid truth and honor. Bring but these to our assistance, and you are safe amidst a whole army of the envious and malignant. Leave these behind you, and all other defense will be fruitless. Truth, my noble Lord, is well-painted, unarmed. But wisdom, Amy, answered Lester. Is arrayed in panoply of proof. Argue not with me on the means I shall use to render my confession, since it must be called so, as safe as may be. It will be fraught with enough of danger, do what we will. Barney, we must hence, farewell, Amy, whom I am to vindicate as my own, at an expense and risk of which, now alone, could us be worthy. You shall soon hear further from me. He embraced her fervently, muffled himself as before, and accompanied Barney from the apartment. The latter, as he left the room, bowed low, and as he raised his body, regarded Amy with a peculiar expression, as if he desired to know how far his own pardon was included in the reconciliation, which had taken place betwixt her and her Lord. The Countess looked upon him with a fixed eye, but seemed no more cautious of his presence than if there had been nothing but vacant air on the spot where he stood. She has brought me to the crisis, he muttered. She or I am lost. There was something. I want not, if it was fear or pity, that prompted me to avoid this fatal crisis. It is now decided. She or I must perish. While he thus spoke, he observed, with surprise, that a boy repulsed by the Sentinel, made up to Lester, and spoke with him. Barney was one of those politicians, whom not the slightest appearances escaped without inquiry. He asked the Sentinel what the lad wanted with him, and received for answer that the boy had wished him to transmit a parcel to the mad lady, but that he cared not to take charge of it, such communication being beyond his commission. His curiosity satisfied in this particular. He approached his patron and heard him say, Well, boy, the packet shall be delivered. Thanks, good master-serving man, said the boy, and was out of sight in an instant. Lester and Barney returned with hasty steps to the Earl's private apartment by the same passage which had conducted them to St. Louis Tower. End Chapter 35 Chapter 36 of Kenilworth. This labor box recording is in the public domain. Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 36 I have said this is an adulteress. I have said with whom. More she's a traitor, and Camilo is a federally with her. And one that knows what she should shame to know herself. Winter's Tale. They were no sooner in the Earl's cabinet than taking his tablets from his pocket. He began to write, speaking partly to Barney and partly to himself. There are many of them close bound into me, and especially those in good estate and high office, many who, if they look back towards my benefits or forward towards the perils which may befall themselves, will not, I think, be disposed to see me stagger and supported. Let me see. Lovis is sure, and through his means Guernsey and Jersey. Horsey commands in the Isle of Wight. My brother-in-law, Honeydon and Pembroke, have authority in Wales. Through Bedford I lead the Puritans with their interest so powerful in all the boroughs. My brother of Warwick is equal, while nigh to myself in wealth, followers, and dependencies. Sir Owen Hopton is at my devotion. He commands the Tower of London and the National Treasure deposited there. My father and grandfather needed never to have stooped their heads to the block had they thus forecast their enterprises. Why look you so sad, Barney? I tell thee, a tree so deep-rooted is not so easily to be torn up by the Tempest. Alas, my lord, said Barney, with well-acted passion, and then resumed the same look of despondency which Lester had before noted. Alas, repeated Lester, and wherefore alas, Sir Richard? Doth your new spirit of chivalry supply no more vigorous ejaculation when a noble struggle is impending? Or if alas means that won't flinch from the conflict? Thou mayest leave the castle or go join mine enemies, whichever thou thinkest best? Not so, my lord. Answered is confident. Barney will be found fighting or dying by your side. Forgive me, if in love to you I see more fully than your noble heart permits you to do, the inextricable difficulties with which you are surrounded. You are strong, my lord, and powerful. Yet let me say it without offence. You are so only by the reflected light of the queen's favor. While you are Elizabeth's favorite, you are all, save a name, like an actual sovereign. But let her call back the honor she has bestowed, and the prophet's gourd did not wither more suddenly. Declare against the queen, and I do not say that in the wide nation, or in this province alone, you would find yourself instantly deserted and outnumbered. But I will say that even in this very castle, and in the midst of your vassals, kinsmen and dependents, you would be a captive, nay, a sentence captive. Should she please to say the word? Think upon Norfolk, my lord, upon the powerful Northumberland, this blended Westmoreland. Think on all who have made head against the Sage Princess. They are dead captive or fugitive. This is not like other thrones, which can be overturned by a combination of powerful nobles. The broad foundations which support it are in the extended love and affections of the people. You might share it with Elizabeth, if you would. But neither yours nor any other power, foreign or domestic, will avail to overthrow or even to shake it. He paused and lestered through his tablets from him with an air of reckless despite. It may be as thou sayest, he said, and in sooth I care not whether truth or cowardice dictate thy forebodings, but it shall not be said I fell without a struggle. Give orders that those of my retainers who served under me in Ireland be gradually drawn into the main keep, and let our gentlemen and friends stand on their guard and go armed as if they expected an arm on set from the followers of Sussex. Possess the townspeople with some apprehension. Let them take arms and be ready at a given signal to overpower the pensioners and yeoman of the guard. Let me remind you, my lord, said Barney, with the same appearance of deep and melancholy interest that you have given me orders to prepare for disarming the queen's guard. It is an act of high treason, that you shall, nevertheless, be obeying. I care not, said lester, desperately. I care not. Shame is behind me, ruined before me. I must on. Here there was another pause, which Barney at length broke with the following words. It is come to the point I have long dreaded. I must either witness, like an ungrateful beast, the downfall of the best and kindest of masters, or I must speak what I would have buried in the deepest oblivion, or told by any other mouth than mine. What is that thou sayest, or wouldest say, replied the Earl, we have no time to waste on words when the times call us to action. My speech is soon made, my lord. Would to God it were as soon answered. Your marriage is the sole cause of the threatened breach with your sovereign. My lord, is it not? Thou knowest it is, replied lester. What needs so fruitless a question? Pardon me, my lord, said Barney. The use lies here. Men will wager their lands and lives in defense of a rich diamond, my lord, but were it not first prudent to look if there is no flaw in it? What means this, said lester, with eyes sternly fixed on his dependent, of whom dost thou dare to speak? It is of the countess Amy, my lord, of whom I am unhappily bound to speak, and of whom I will speak, we are lordship to kill me for my zeal. Thou mayest happen to deserve it at my hand, said the Earl, but speak on, I will hear thee. Nay, then, my lord, I will be bold. I speak for my own life, as well as for your lordships. I like not this lady's tampering and trickstering with the same Edmund Trescilion. You know him, my lord. You know he had formerly an interest in her, which it cost your lordship some pains to supersede. You know the eagerness with which he has pressed on the suit against me in behalf of this lady. The open object of which is to drive your lordship to an avow of what I must ever call your most unhappy marriage. The point to which my lady also is willing, at any risk, to urge you. Lester smiled constrainably. Thou mayest well, good Sir Richard, and wouldest, I think, sacrifice thine own honour, as well as that of any other person, to save me from what thou thinkest to step so terrible. But remember, he spoke these words with the most stern decision. You speak of the countess of Lester. I do, my lord, said Varney, but it is for the welfare of the Earl of Lester. My tale is but begun. I do most strongly believe that this Trescilion has, from the beginning of his moving in her cause, been in connivance with her ladyship the countess. Thou speakest wild madness, Varney, with this overface of a preacher. Where or how could they communicate together? My lord, said Varney, unfortunately I can show that, but too well. It was just before this application was presented to the Queen, in Trescilion's name, that I met him, to my utter astonishment, at the poster and gate, which leads from the demand at come to place. Thou metest him, villain, and why didst thou not strike him dead, exclaimed Lester? I drew on him, my lord, and he on me, and had not my foot slipped, he would not, perhaps, have been again a stumbling block in your lordship's path. Lester seemed struck dumb, with surprise. At length he answered, What other evidence hath thou of this Varney, save thine own assertion, for, as I will punish deeply, I will examine coolly and warily. Sacred heaven, but no, I will examine coolly and warily, coolly and warily. He repeated these words more than once to himself, as if in the very sound there was a sedative quality. And again compressing his lips, as if he feared some violent expression, might escape from them. He asked again, what further proof? Enough, my lord, said Varney, and despair. I would not rest it with me alone, for with me it might have been silenced forever. But my servant, Michael Lamborn, witnessed the whole, and was indeed the means of first introducing trestling an intercomner place, and therefore I took him into my service and retained him in it, though something of a debauched fellow, that I might have his tongue always under my own command. He then acquainted, lord Lester, how easy it was to prove the circumstance of their interview true, by evidence of Anthony Foster, with the corroborative testimonies of the various persons at Cumner, who had heard the wager laid, and had seen Lamborn and Trestling set off together. In the whole narrative, Varney hazarded, nothing fabulous, accepting that, not indeed by direct assertion, but by inference, he led his patron to suppose that the interview betwixt Amy and Trestling at Cumner Place had been longer than the few minutes to which it was in reality limited. And wherefore was I not told of all this? said Lester sternly. Why did all of ye, and in particular thou, Varney, keep back from me such material information? Because, my lord, replied Varney, the countess pretended to Foster, and to me, that Trestling had intruded himself upon her. And I concluded their interview had been in all honor, and that she would at her own time tell it to your lordship. Your lordship knows with what unwilling ears we listen to evil surmises against those whom we love. And I thank heaven I am no make-bait or informer to be the first to sow them. You are but too ready to receive them, however, Sir Richard, replied his patron. How knowest thou that this interview was not in all honor, as thou has said? Me thinks the wife of the Earl of Lester might speak for a short time with such a person as Trestling without injury to me or suspicion to herself. Questionless, my lord, answered Varney. Had I thought otherwise, I had been no keeper of the secret. But here lies the rub. Trestling leaves not the place without establishing a correspondence with the poor man, the landlord of an in-encomner, for the purpose of carrying off the lady. He sent down an emissary of his, whom I trust soon to have in right your keeping under Mervyn's tower. Killigrew and Lambsby are scouring the country in quest of him. The host is rewarded with a ring for keeping counsel. Your lordship may have noted it on Trestling's hand. Here it is. This fellow, this agent, makes his way to the place as a peddler, holds conferences with the lady, and they make their escape together by night. Rob a poor fellow of a horse, by the way. Such was their guilty haste. And at length reach this castle, where the Countess of Lester finds refuge. I do not say in what place. Speak, I command thee, said Lester. Speak while I retain sense enough to hear thee. Since it must be so, answered Barney, the lady resorted immediately to the apartment of Trestling, where she remained many hours, partly in company with him, and partly alone. I told you Trestling had a paramour in his chamber. A little dream that paramour was, Amy, thou wouldest say, answered Lester. But it is false, false as the smoke of hell. Ambitious she may be, fickle and impatient, tis a woman's fault. But false to me? Never, never. The proof, the proof of this, he exclaimed hastily. Carol, the deputy marshal, ushered her thither, by her own desire, on yesterday afternoon. Lamborn and the Warder both found her there at an early hour this morning. Was Trestling there with her? said Lester, in the same hurry tone. I know, my lord, you may remember, answered Barney, that he was that night placed with Sir Nicholas Blount under a species arrest. Did Carol or the other fellows know who she was? demanded Lester. I know, my lord, replied Barney. Carol and the Warder had never seen the Countess, and Lamborn knew her not in her disguise. But in speaking to prevent her leaving the cell, he obtained possession of one of her gloves, which I think your lordship may know. He gave the glove, which had the bear and ragged staff, the Earl's impress, embroidered upon it in seed-pearls. I do, I do recognize it, said Lester. There were my own gift. The fellow of it was on the arm which she threw this very day around my neck. He spoke of this with violent agitation. Your lordship, said Barney, may yet further inquire the lady herself, respecting the truth of these passages. It needs not, it needs not, said the torture-dural. It is written in characters of burning light, as if they were branded on my very eyeballs. I see her infamy. I can see not else. And, gracious heaven, for this vile woman was I about to commit to danger the lives of so many noble friends, shake the foundation of a lawful throne, carry the sword and torch through the bosom of a peaceful land. Wrong the kind mistress, who made me what I am, and would, but for that hell-framed marriage, have made me all that man can be. All this I was ready to do, for a woman who trinkets in traffics with my worst foes. And now, villain, why did sound not speak sooner? My lord, said Barney, a tear for my lady would have blotted out all I could have said. Besides, I had not these proofs until this very morning when Anthony Foster said an arrival with the examinations and declarations, which he had extorted from the innkeeper gossing and others. Explain the manner of her flight from come her place, and my own researches discover the steps which she had taken here. Now, may God be praised for the light he is given, so fool, so satisfactory, that there breeds not a man in England who shall call my proceeding rash, or my revenge unjust. And yet, Barney, so young, so fair, so fawning, and so false. Hence, then, her hatred to thee, my trustee, my well-beloved servant, because you withstood her plots and endangered her Paramore's life. I never gave her any other cause of dislike, my lord, replied Barney. But she knew that my councils went directly to diminish her influence with your lordship, and that I was, and have been, ever ready to peril my life against your enemies. It is too, too apparent, replied Lester. Yet, with what an air of magnanimity she exhorted me to commit my head to the queen's mercy, rather than wear the veil of falsehood a moment longer. Me thinks the angel of truth himself can have no such tones of high-sold impulse. Can it be so, Barney? Can falsehood use thus boldly the language of truth? Can infamy thus assume the guise of purity? Barney, thou hast been my servant from a child. I have raised thee high. Can raise thee higher? Think. Think for me. Thy brain was ever shrewd and piercing. May she not be innocent. Prove her so, and all I have yet done for thee shall be as nothing, nothing in comparison of thy recompense. The agony with which his master spoke had some effect even on the heart in Barney, who, in the midst of his own wicked and ambitious designs, really loved his patron, as well as such a wretch was capable of loving anything. But he comforted himself and subdued his self-approaches, with the reflection that if he inflicted upon the earl some immediate and transitory pain, it was in order to pave his way to the throne, which, were this marriage dissolved by death or otherwise, he deemed Elizabeth would willingly share with his benefactor. He therefore persevered in his diabolical policy, and, after a moment's consideration, answered the anxious queries of the earl with a melancholy look, as if he had in vain sought some exculpation for the countess. Then suddenly raising his head, he said, with an expression of hope, which instantly communicated itself to the countenance of his patron. Yet, wherefore, if guilty, should she have parralled herself by coming hither? Why not rather have fled to her father's or elsewhere, though that indeed might have interfered with her desire to be acknowledged as countess of luster? True, true, true, exclaimed luster, his transient gleam of hope giving way to the utmost bitterness of feeling and expression, that were not fit to fathom a woman's depth of wit, Barney. I see it all. She would not quit the estate and title of the widdle, who would wedded her. I, and if, in my madness, I had started into rebellion, or if the angry queen had taken my head, as she this morning threatened, the wealthy dower which law would have assigned to the countess dower of luster, had been no bad windfall to the beggarly trustlion. While might she goad me on to danger, which could not end otherwise than profitably to her? Speak not for her, Barney. I will have her blood. My lord, replied Barney, the wildness of your distress breaks forth in the wildness of your language. I say, speak not for her, replied luster. She has dishonored me. She would have murdered me. All ties are burst between us. She shall die, the death of a traitorous and adulterous, while merited both by the laws of God and man. And what is this casket, he said, which was even now thrust into my hand by a boy, with the desire would convey it to Dressilion, as he could not give it to the countess. By heaven. The word surprised me as he spoke them, though other mothers chased them from my brain. But now they return with double force. It is her casket of jewels. Force it open, Barney. Force the hinges open with thy pawnyard. She refused the aid of my dagger once, thought Barney, as he unsheathed the weapon, to get the string which bound the letter. But now it shall work a mightier ministry in her fortunes. With this reflection by using the three-cornered stiletto-blane as a wedge, he forced to open this lender silver hinges of the casket. The earl no sooner saw them, give way, than he snatched the casket from Sir Richard's hand. Wrenched off the cover and tearing out the splendid contents, flung them on the floor in a transport of rage, while he eagerly searched for some letter or a billet, which should make the fancy guilt of his innocent countess yet more apparent. Then stamping furiously on the gems, he exclaimed, Thus I annihilate the miserable toys for which thou hast sold thyself, body and soul, consign thyself to an early and timeless death, and me to misery and remorse for ever. Tell me not of forgiveness, Barney. She is doomed. So sane he left the room and rushed into an adjacent closet, the door of which he locked and bolted. Barney looked after him, while something of a more human feeling seemed to contend with his habitual sneer. I am sorry for his weakness, he said, but love has made him a child. He throws down and treads on these costly toys with the same vehemence when he dashed to pieces the sprayless toy of all, of which he used to rave so fondly. But that taste also will be forgotten when its object is no more. Well, he has no eye to value things as they deserve, and that, nature has given to Barney. When lesser shall be a sovereign, he will think as little of the gales of passion through which he gained that royal port, as ever did Sailor and Harbour, of the perils of a voyage. But these tell-tale articles must not remain here, they're rather too rich bales for the drudges who dress the chamber. While Barney was employed in gathering together and putting them into a secret door of a cabinet, that chance to be open, he saw the door of Lester's closet open, the tapestry pushed aside, and the Earl's face thrust out, but with eyes so dead, and lips and cheeks so bloodless in pale, that he started at the sudden change. No sooner did his eyes encounter the Earl's than the latter withdrew his head and shut the door of the closet. This maneuver Lester repeated twice, without speaking a word, so that Barney began to doubt whether his brain was not actually affected by his mental agony. The third time, however, he beckoned, and Barney obeyed the signal. When he entered, he soon found his patron's perturbation was not caused by insanity, but by the foulness of purpose, which he entertained, continued with various contrary passions. They passed a full hour in close consultation, after which the Earl of Lester, with an incredible exertion, dressed himself and went to attend his royal guest. End Chapter 36