Forest Days: A Romance of Old Times
Hugh de Monthermer's last happy hour had been passed with Lucy. There
were voices speaking within, but the kinsman paused not a moment; and
opening the door, he found the sister weeping in the arms of her
brother. They had been sometime together; the first burst of sorrow, in
speaking of their father's death, had passed away; an accidental word
had caused them to converse of other things connected therewith,
indeed, but not absolutely relating to that subject, and the first
words that met Richard de Ashby's ear were spoken by the Lord Alured.
"Never, Lucy," he was saying--"never! Fear not, dear girl! I will never
force your inclination. I will try to make you happy in your own way.
As my poor father promised, so I promise too."
Their dark kinsman saw at once that the proud and stubborn heart of his
hasty cousin was softened by the touch of grief, and that he had made a
promise which no other circumstances would have drawn from him, but
which--however much he might regret it at an after period--would never
be retracted.
Lucy started on her cousin's entrance; and, why she knew not, but a
shudder passed over her as she beheld him. He advanced towards them,
however, with an assumption of frank and kindly sympathy, holding out a
hand to each. But Lucy avoided taking it, though not markedly, and
saying in a low voice to her brother, "I cannot speak with any one,
Alured," she glided away through the door which led to her own
apartments, leaving Richard de Ashby with all the bitter purposes of
his heart only strengthened by what he had seen and heard. Alured took
his cousin's hand at once, asking, "Have you brought in the body? Where
have you laid him?"
In a rapid but clear manner, Richard explained that the search had been
ineffectual, and told all that had been done in vain for the discovery
of the corpse. After some time spent in conjectures as to what could
have become of the body, the peasant who had first discovered it was
called in, and questioned strictly as to what he had seen, and his
knowledge of the old Lord's person. His replies, however, left no doubt
in regard to the facts of the murder; and when he was dismissed, Alured
turned, with a frowning brow and a bewildered eye, to his cousin,
asking, "Who can have done this?"
Richard de Ashby looked down in silence for a moment, as if almost
unwilling to reply, and then answered, "I know of but one man whom he
has offended."
"Who, who," demanded Alured, sharply. "I know of none."
"None, but Hugh de Monthermer," said Richard de Ashby.
"Hugh de Monthermer!" cried the young Earl.--"Offended him! Why he has
loaded him with favour. 'Twas his letter, telling me that he intended
to give our Lucy's hand to one of our old enemies, that brought me back
with such speed. Offended him! He is the last man that had cause of
complaint."
"You know not, Alured--you know not all," cried his false cousin. "Far
be it from me to accuse Hugh de Monthermer behind his back. I have ever
said what I have had to say of him boldly, and to his face; and all I
wish to imply is, without making any accusation whatsoever, that I know
of not one man on earth whom your poor father has offended but Hugh de
Monthermer."
"And how offended him?" asked the young Earl.
"By withdrawing his promise of your sister's hand," answered his
cousin. "'Tis but yesterday, upon some quarrel--I know not what--that
he who is now dead retracted every rash engagement of the kind, and
told him he should never have her. Lucy will tell you the same."
"Ha!" cried Alured, knitting his brows thoughtfully--"Ha! But--no, no,
no! To do him justice, Monthermer is too noble ever, to draw his sword
upon an old man like that. His name was never stained with any lowly
act. He might be a proud enemy, but never a base one."
"I dare say it is so;" answered Richard; "though I have seen some mean
things, too. Did he not avoid meeting you in arms, on quarrel
concerning my poor little paramour? But all this matters not; I bring
no charge against him--'tis but suspicion, at the most. Only when I
recollect that yesterday your father crossed all his hopes, and that
Guy de Margan, Geary, and the rest who were with this poor Earl, told
me that there was a violent quarrel, with high and fierce words on both
sides, I may well say that he was offended--and, as far as I know, he
was the only one offended--by the good old man. Lucy will tell you
more, perhaps."
"Stay!" cried Alured, "I will go and ask her."
"Nay," rejoined his cousin, "I must away with all speed to Nottingham,
to learn if aught has been heard of the body there. I will ask Guy de
Margan and the others, what really passed when they were here
yesterday, and let you know early to-morrow."
"Bring them with you--bring them with you said Alured.
"I will," replied Richard; "but in the meantime, by your good leave, my
lord. I will take some of your men with me, for I came alone, and am
not well loved, as you know, of these Monthermers."
"Take what men you will," said the young Earl; "but yet I cannot think
they have had a hand in this. Good night, Richard--good night!"
So prone is the mind of man to suspicion, so intimately are we
convinced in our own hearts of the fallibility of human nature at every
point, that accusation often repeated will ever leave a doubt in the
most candid mind. "Be thou as cold as ice, as chaste as snow, thou
shalt not 'scape calumny," cried Shakspeare, addressing woman; and he
might have said to the whole race of man--"Armour thyself in the whole
panoply of virtue, cover thee from head to foot in the triple steel of
honour, honesty, and a pure heart, still the poisoned dart of malice
shall pierce through and wound thee, if it do not destroy."
In the heart of Alured de Ashby, there had never been a doubt that Hugh
de Monthermer was, in every thought and in every deed, as high, as
noble, and as true, as ever was man on earth; and yet--alas, that it
should be so!--the words of a false, base man, whom he himself knew to
be full of faults and detected in falsehoods, left a suspicion on his
mind, in favour of which, his jealous hatred of the race of Monthermer
rose up with an angry and clamorous voice.
It was with such feelings that he now strode away to his sister's
chamber; but ere he knocked at the door he paused thoughtfully,
remembering that she was already grieved and shaken by the sad events
of that evening. He called to mind that he was her only protector, her
only near relation, now; and a feeling of greater tenderness than he
had ever before suffered to take possession of his heart rose out of
their relative position to each other, and caused him to soften his
tone and manner as far as possible.
He knocked at the door, then, and went in, finding Lucy with her maids;
the latter following mechanically the embroidery--on which one half a
woman's life was then spent,--the former sitting in the window, far
from the lamp, with her cheek resting on her hand, and a handkerchief
beside her to wipe away the tears that ever and anon broke from the
dark shady well of her long-fringed eyes.
As gently as was in his nature to do, Alured sat down beside her, and
questioned her as to what had passed on the preceding day. She answered
very briefly; for his inquiries mingled one dark and terrible stream of
thought with another scarcely less dreadful. She knew little, she said,
as she had not been present. She was not aware why her father had so
acted; but she acknowledged that he had withdrawn his consent to her
union with the man she loved, and had spoken words concerning him which
had wrung and pained her heart to hear.
So far, the tale of Richard de Ashby was confirmed; and Alured left
her, with a moody and uncertain mind, hesitating between new-born
suspicions and the confidence which the experience of years had forced
upon him. He paced the hall that night for many an hour, ever and anon
sending for various members of the household, and questioning them
concerning the transactions of the day. But he gained no farther
tidings; and in gloom and sadness the minutes slipped away--the gay
merriment, the light jest, the tranquil enjoyment, all crushed out and
extinct, and every part of the castle filled with an air of sorrow and
anxiety; all feeling that a terrible deed had been done, and all
inquiring--"What is to come next?"
The last words of the young Earl, ere he retired to rest, were, "Let
horses be prepared by nine in the morning. I will to Nottingham myself.
This must be sifted to the bottom."
Ere he set out, however, Richard de Ashby, accompanied by several
gentlemen of the court, had reached Lindwell, and were met by Alured in
the hall, booted and spurred for his departure.
"Ha! give you good day, sirs," he exclaimed, in his quick and impetuous
manner, "I was about to seek you, if you had not come to me."
"This is a sad affair, my lord the Earl!" said Sir Guy de Margan.
"Little did I think, when I rode over hither the day before yesterday
with your noble father, that it was the last time I should see him
living!"
"Sad, indeed, sir--sad, indeed!" replied the young Earl. "But the
question now is, 'Who did this deed?'"
"Who shalt say that?" said Sir Guy de Margan.
Alured de Ashby paused, and crushed his glove in his hand, wishing any
one to touch upon the subject of the suspicions which had been
instilled into his mind, before he spoke upon them himself; but finding
that Guy de Margan stopped short, he said, at length, "May I ask you,
Sir Guy, to tell me the circumstances which took place here during your
stay with my father yesterday? Any act of his is of importance to throw
light upon this dark affair."
"I can tell you very little, my noble lord," replied Sir Guy. "When we
arrived, we were told that the Lord Hugh de Monthermer was in the upper
hall with your fair sister, the Lady Lucy. We all went thither
together; but, as we came to the Lord Hugh with a somewhat unpleasant
summons to the presence of the King, your noble father, wishing to
spare his feelings, desired us to wait without at the head of the
stairs, while he went in to break the tidings. We soon, however, heard
high words and very angry language on the part of the young lord. Then
there was much spoken in a lower tone; and then Monthermer came nearer
to the door, where he stopped, and said aloud, 'You will not fail, my
lord?' Your father answered, in a stern tone, 'I will meet you at the
hour you named. Fear not, I will not fail!'"
Alured de Ashby turned his eyes upon his cousin with a meaning look,
and Richard de Ashby raised his to heaven, and then let them sink to
the earth again.
"I heard those words myself," said Sir William Geary, "and thought it
strange Monthermer should appoint a meeting when he was aware he was
going to a prison. It seems, however, that he well knew what he was
about."
"God send he met him not too surely!" burst forth Alured de Ashby, with
his eyes flashing.
"After all, we may be quite mistaken," observed Richard, who knew that
now, having sown the suspicions,--ay, and watered them, too,--it was
his task to affect candour, and seem to repress them; as a man lops off
branches from a tree to make it grow the stronger. "Hugh de Monthermer
was always noble and true, and of a generous nature, as you well said
last night, Alured."
"But you forget," said Guy de Margan, "he was at this very time under a
strong suspicion of a base treason, and had been seen speaking secretly
in the forest with three masked men unknown!"
"Ha!" cried Alured de Ashby, seizing the speaker by the arm, and gazing
into his face, as if he would have read his soul. "Ha! three masked
men?"
"It is true, upon my life!" replied Guy de Margan.
"Be calm--be calm, my dear cousin," exclaimed Richard de Ashby.