Forest Days: A Romance of Old Times
to sit and debauch the peasant girls, and hatch means of ridding
themselves of enemies--a good honest man, who took care that none
should be long his foe, and was possessed of many excellent secrets,
gave me, for weighty considerations, a powder of so balmy a quality,
that either dropped into a cup or rubbed on a fresh wound, though the
quantity be not bigger than will lie on a pin's-head, it will cure the
most miserable man of all his sorrows, or within half an hour will take
out the pain of the most terrible injury--for ever!"
"I understand--I understand," said Richard de Ashby. "Give me the
powder; would I had had it long ago. But how can one fix it to the
lance's point, so that in the shock of combat it is not brushed off?"
"Mix it with some gentle unguent," answered Guy de Margan; "'twill have
the same effect."
"I will, I will," replied his companion; "then with a thick glove I
will feel the lance's point, to make sure that all is right, like a
good cautious godfather in arms, first carefully trying the wood upon
my knee, with every other seeming caution which the experienced in such
matters use. No fear but Alured, one way or other, will draw his
blood. Oh yes! and both shall go on the same road.--Half an hour, say
you?--Will he have strength to end the combat?
"Fully," replied Guy de Margan; "for within two minutes of his death he
will seem as strong as ever. I tried it on a hound--just scratched his
hanging lip, then took him to the field, and on he went after the game,
eager and strong and loud tongued; but in full cry down dropped he in a
moment, quivering and panting, and after beating the air for some two
minutes with his struggling paws, lay dead."
"Give it me--give it me!" cried Richard de Ashby, and then burst into a
fit of laughter, as if it were the merriest joke that ever had been
told.
Guy de Margan put his hand into the small embroidered pouch he wore
under his arm, and took forth an ivory box, not bigger than a large
piece of money.
"What, is this all?" exclaimed Richard de Ashby, taking the little
case. "Is this enough?"
"To slay more men than fell at Evesham," replied Guy de Margan; "but be
careful how you mix it. Remember, the slightest scratch upon your own
hand sends you to the place appointed for you, if but a grain of that
finds entrance."
"I will take care--I will take care," said Richard de Ashby; "and now
look upon the deed as done. Ere this time to-morrow, you will have had
your revenge--and I shall be Earl of Ashby."
"Ha! ha!" cried Guy de Margan, "is the truth out at length? Well, good
Richard, fare thee well; we shall meet to-morrow in deep grief for the
events of this sad field. In the meantime I will go to your cousin,
the short-lived Earl, and nerve him for this battle. I will inform him
with mysterious looks that there is a plot afoot to delay the combat,
and to make him believe his adversary innocent. You harp on the same
string, when you see him; and I will tell him, too, that he shall have
proof sufficient early to-morrow of Monthermer's guilt. If we but get
him to the field, the matter's done--he will not retract."
"Farewell, De Margan--farewell!" said Richard de Ashby, "I will go home
and make inquiries there;" and as he turned away, he murmured--"If this
powder be so potent, there may be enough for you also, my good
friend--but I shall have another to deal with first. Kate Greenly, my
pretty lady, you have a secret too much to carry far; if you have not
betrayed me already, I will take care that you shall not do so now."
A few minutes brought him to the house he had hired in Nottingham, and
knocking hard, the door was almost instantly opened by a young lad whom
he had left behind with his unhappy paramour.
"Where is the lady?" was the first question that the youth's master put
to him. "In her own chamber?"
"No, noble sir," replied the servant; "she went forth some time ago."
"Gone forth!" exclaimed his master--"gone forth, when I forbade her to
cross the threshold!"
"I could not stay her, sir," rejoined the youth, who had been brought
up in no bad school for learning impudence, as well as other vices.
"Women will gad, sir, and who can stop them?"
"Hold thy saucy prate, knave!" cried the knight, "and answer me truly.
Who has been here since I went?"
"Nobody, sir," replied the boy--"nobody but the old priest."
"What old priest?" demanded his master, with a bent and angry brow.
"The old priest who was here before, noble sir," said the boy, in a
more timid tone, for his lord's look frightened him. "He who was here
the night you went to Lindwell."
"Ha!" cried Richard de Ashby; "a priest here that night? 'tis well for
him I caught him not!--When was he here again?"
"Twice, sir," replied the youth; "once in the morning; and last night
she sent me for him again."
"And no one else?" asked Richard de Ashby.
"No one," answered the boy, firmly; and then added, in a more doubtful
tone--"no one that I remember."
"Boy, 'tis a lie!" replied his master. "I see it on thy face: thou
know'st thou liest!"--and as he spoke, he caught him by the breast,
giving him a shake that made his breath come short. "Who has been here?
If thou speak'st not at a word, thou shalt have a taste of this!" and
he laid his hand upon his dagger.
"No one, indeed--no one that I know of," said the boy. "I may
suspect----"
"And who do you suspect?" asked Richard de Ashby.
"Why, noble sir, last night," replied the boy, "as I was going up the
street to seek the priest, I saw two gentlemen come near the house; and
one of them, who was the noble Earl, your cousin, I am sure, went up as
if to the door, and, I think, was let in; the other turned away."
"Did my cousin go in?" demanded Richard. "Say me but yea or nay.--Did
he go in, I say?"
"I think so, sir," replied the youth--"I think so, but cannot be sure;
there came a sudden light across the road as if the door opened, but by
that time I was too far up the street to see."
"'Tis as De Margan said," thought the knight; and striding up at once
to the chamber where the corpse was laid, he found the door wide open,
and the body fairly laid out and decked, as it was called. A crucifix
and some sprigs of holly were on the breast; a small cup of holy water
stood near; a lamp was burning, although the sun was not yet down, and
everything gave plain indication that the man had not died without the
succour of the church, and that the corpse had been watched by other
eyes besides those of poor Kate Greenly.
"I have been betrayed!" said Richard de Ashby to himself.--"I have been
betrayed! Yet if it be but the priest, there is no great harm done. The
secret of confession, at all events, is safe. But where is the girl
herself, and what has been her communication with Alured? That must be
known ere many hours be over--perhaps I shall know it soon enough.--And
yet what can she tell, but that a wounded man died in my house, brought
in by people who had once visited me, and that, too, while I was
absent?--'Tis my own conscience makes me fear. If Ellerby would but
betake himself to Wales or France, or anywhere but here, all would be
safe enough; but he keeps hovering about, like a moth round a candle.
Where are this man's clothes, I wonder?"--and taking up the lamp, for
it was now rapidly growing dark, he sought carefully about the room;
but neither clothes, nor sword, nor dagger were to be found.
"There is a plot against me," he continued; "'tis evident enough now.
She may have gained more information than I think; she may have
overheard something. A paper!--What paper could she give to Alured!
Perhaps the covenant that I foolishly gave to these men! He might have
had it about him. Ellerby may have forgotten it. That were damnation,
indeed! Perhaps 'twere better to fly, while there is yet time!--Fly?
no, never!--to be a wandering outcast upon the face of the earth,
seeking my daily sustenance at the sword's point, or else by art and
cunning, when the earldom of Ashby is almost within my grasp! No,
never! I will go face it at once, and woe to him that crosses me!--If I
could but find that girl--Hark, there is a noise below!" and with a
nervous start he turned to listen, and soon heard that the sounds
proceeded from the servants, whom he had sent round with his horses,
talking with the lad in the hall.
"I will go face it at once," he repeated to himself--"I will wait for
him at his lodging, and soon find out what he knows: doubtless he has
kept it to his own breast. Alured is not one to cast a stain upon his
race. No, no; he will not accuse one of the name of Ashby!"
Thus saying, he descended the stairs; and bidding his servants keep
good watch in the house till he returned, he took his way back to the
castle on foot. On reaching the apartments of his cousin, he found a
number of attendants in the outer room, apparently not long returned
from a journey. Some time had since passed, however, for they were
eating and drinking merrily, and little did they seem disposed to
interrupt their meal for their lord's poor kinsman.
"My lord is out, Sir Richard," said one, "he is gone to the Prince's
lodging."
"Nonsense, Ned!" cried another--"he's come back again; but he told
Peter that he did not wish to be disturbed by any one."
"Of course, he did not thereby mean me," replied Richard de Ashby,
sternly. "Go in, Ned, and tell him I am here."
The man obeyed, sullenly enough, and the moment after, the knight heard
his cousin's voice, saying, in a hasty tone--"I want not to see him.
Tell him I am engaged--going out on matters, of moment. Yet, stay, send
him in."
Richard de Ashby's eyes were fixed sternly upon the ground as he heard
the bitter confirmation of his fears, and he muttered to himself--"Aye,
he has heard more than he should have known."
When the servant returned, however, and bade him follow to his lord's
presence, he cleared his brow, and went in with as satisfied an air as
he could well assume. The table was laid for supper, and his cousin was
standing at the end, in the act of setting down from his hand a
drinking cup of jewelled agate, the contents of which he had
half-drained.
"I would not have disturbed you, Alured," said the knight, "but as I am
to go with you to the field, it is necessary that we should talk over
our arrangements."
"I have no arrangements to make," cried the young Earl, looking at him
askance, like a fiery horse half inclined to kick at the person who
approaches. "I am going to fight--that is all. I have had a lance in my
hand before now, and know how to use it."
"Yes," replied Richard de Ashby, "and you will use it right well, and
to the destruction of your adversary. I am aware of that, Alured; but
still there may be many things to be said between us. When one knows
one's opponent in the lists, consideration and skill may be employed to
baffle his particular mode of fighting his art--his trick, call it what
you will. Now I have often seen Hugh de Monthermer run a course--you, I
think, never have but once?"
"I met him hand to hand at Evesham," replied his cousin impatiently;
"that is, enough for me. I want neither advice nor assistance, cousin
mine; and more, as we are now upon the subject, you go not to the field
with me--I will choose another godfather.--Nay, no attitudes or
flashing eyes. I tell thee, Dickon, things have come to my knowledge
which may touch your life, so make the most of the hint. The time is
short, for as soon as the Prince returns, he shall be made acquainted
with all the facts."
"But, Alured, explain!" exclaimed Richard de Ashby.
"No need of explanation," replied his cousin; "you will hear enough of
it ere long, if you wait. Let your conscience be your guide to stay or