The Boy Knight: A Tale of the Crusades

  CHAPTER XX.

  UNDER THE GREENWOOD.

  At the end of a month, news came from England that Sir Baldwin ofBethune had returned there, bearing the news that the king had beenarrested at Gortz, only two days' journey north of the Adriatic--that hehad been recognized, and at once captured. He had offered no resistance,finding indeed that it would be hopeless so to do. Sir Baldwin had beenpermitted to depart without molestation. He believed that the folk intowhose hands he had fallen were retainers of the Archduke John. Thisnews, although sad in itself, was yet in some degree reassuring to theduke and his wife; for they felt that while the followers of Conrad ofMontferat would not hesitate to put King Richard to death should he fallinto their hands, the Archduke John would not dare to bring upon himselfthe indignation of Europe by such treatment of his royal captive.Cuthbert at once determined to return to England to see Sir Baldwin, andto ascertain what steps were being taken for the discovery of the prisonin which King Richard was confined, and for his release therefrom; andalso to establish himself in his new dignity as Earl of Evesham.Therefore, bidding adieu to the duke and duchess, he started north. Theduke furnished him with letters of introduction to the princes throughwhose countries he would travel; and again crossing the Rhine, hejourneyed through the territories of the Dukes of Cleves and Brabant,and reached the mouth of Scheldt without interruption. There takingship, he sailed for London.

  It was a long and stormy passage between the mouth of the Scheldt andLondon. The vessel in which Cuthbert had shipped was old and somewhatunseaworthy, and several times in the force of the gale all on boardgave up hope for their lives. At last, however, they reached the mouthof the Thames, and dropping up with the tide, reached London eight daysafter their embarkation. The noble charger which the King of Saxony hadpresented to Cuthbert had suffered greatly, and he feared at one timethat the poor animal would succumb to the effects of the tempest.However, after entering into smooth water it recovered itself, and onlanding near the Tower he found that it was able to support his weight.Cnut and the archers were, like Cuthbert, delighted to have their feetagain upon English soil; and although London did not now strike themwith the same wonder which it would have done had they first visited itbefore starting on their journey--for in many respects it was greatlybehind some of the continental cities--yet the feeling of home, and thepleasure of being able to understand the conversation of those aroundthem, made the poor fellows almost beside themselves with joy. Beyondthe main political incidents Cuthbert had heard little of what hadpassed in England since his departure; and putting up at a hostelry, heinquired of the host whether Sir Baldwin of Bethune was in London, orwhether he was away on his estates. The landlord did not know. Therewere, he said, but few nobles at court, and London was never so dull asat present. As Cuthbert did not wish his coming home to be known to Johnuntil he had learned something of the position of affairs, he dispatchedCnut to the Tower to inquire privately of some of the officials aboutthe place whether Sir Baldwin was there. Cnut soon returned with thenews that he had not been at the court since his return from the HolyLand, and that he was living at his castle down in Dorsetshire. Aftersome hesitation Cuthbert resolved to set out to see his friend, andafter six days' travel he arrived at the castle of the knight.

  Sir Baldwin received him with immense joy. He had not heard of him sincethey parted at Zara, and he feared that a fate similar to that which hadbefallen King Richard had overtaken Cuthbert, even if he were stillalive.

  "Have you seen aught of the king, our master?" the good knight inquired.

  "Nothing," Cuthbert said. "I know no more than yourself. Indeed, I hopedto have learned something from you as to the king."

  "I was separated from him at Gortz, and while he was taken a prisoner tothe archduke, I was allowed to pursue my way. I had many difficultiesand dangers, and was some weeks in finding my way back. Nothing wasknown of the king when I returned. Indeed, I was the first bearer of anydefinite news concerning him since the day when he sailed from Acre.Three weeks ago, as you may have learned, the news came that he is nowdetained in captivity by the emperor, who demanded his delivery by theArchduke John, into whose hands he first fell. But where he is no oneexactly knows. The news has created an immense excitement in thekingdom, and all are resolved to sacrifice any of their treasures whichmay be demanded in order to satisfy the ransom which the recreantemperor has placed upon the king. Shame is it indeed that a Christiansovereign should hold another in captivity. Still more, when that otherwas returning through his dominions as a Crusader coming from the HolyLand, when his person should be safe, even to his deadliest enemy. Ithas long been suspected that he was in the hands either of the emperoror of the archduke, and throughout Europe the feeling of indignation hasbeen strong; and I doubt not, now that the truth is known, this feelingwill be stronger than ever."

  "But now that it is known," Cuthbert said, "I suppose there will be nodelay in ransoming the king."

  "There will be no delay in raising the ransom," Sir Baldwin said. "Butthe kingdom is very impoverished by war, by the exactions of PrinceJohn, and by those of Langley, who held it for King Richard. He was aloyal servant of the king, but an exacting and rapacious prelate.However, I doubt not that the rents of the English nobles will soon becharged with sums sufficient for the ransom; and if this avail not, notone of them will grudge their silver flagons and vessels to melt down tomake the total required. But we must not flatter ourselves that he willobtain his liberty so soon as the money is raised. Prince John has longbeen yearning for sovereignty. He has long exercised the real, if notthe nominal, power, and he has been intriguing with the pope and Philipof France for their support for his seizing the crown. He will throwevery obstacle in the way, as, we may be sure, will Philip of France,Richard's deadly enemy. And now about yourself, Sir Cuthbert; tell mewhat has befallen you since we last met."

  Cuthbert related the adventures which had befallen him, and heard thoseof Sir Baldwin.

  "You have not, I suppose," the latter remarked, "as yet seen PrinceJohn?"

  "No," Cuthbert replied, "I thought it better to come down to ask you toadvise me on the position of affairs before I attempted to see him."

  "You did well," Sir Baldwin said. "When I arrived, I found that theproper officials had, according to King Richard's instructions, draw upthe patent conferring upon you the lands and title of Earl of Evesham,before leaving Acre, and had received the king's signature to it. Thiswas attested by several of the nobles who were with us and who returnedsafely to England. Prince John, however, declared that he should notgive any heed to the document; that King Richard's power over this realmhad ceased before he made it; and that he should bestow the earldom uponwhomsoever he chose. As a matter of fact, it has been given to SirRudolph Fleming, a Norman knight and a creature of the prince. The kinghas also, I hear, promised to him the hand of the young Lady Margaret,when she shall become of marriageable age. At present she is placed in aconvent in Worcester. The abbess is, I believe, a friend of the lateearl, and the girl had been with her for some time previously. Indeedshe went there, I think, when her father left England. This lady wasordered to give up her charge to the guardianship of Sir Rudolph; butshe refused to do so, saying that it would not be convenable for a younglady to be under the guardianship of a bachelor knight having no lady atthe head of his establishment, and that therefore she should retain her,in spite of the orders of the prince. Prince John, I hear, flew into afury at this; but he did not dare to provoke the anger of the whole ofthe clergy by ordering the convent to be violated. And indeed, not onlywould the clergy have been indignant, but many of the great nobles wouldalso have taken their part, for there can be no doubt that thecontention of the abbess was reasonable; and there is among all thefriends of King Richard a very strong feeling of anger at your havingbeen deprived of the earldom. This, however, has so far not found muchvent in words, for as it was uncertain whether you would ever return toclaim your rights, it was worth no one's while to embroil himselfunnecessarily with t
he prince on such a subject. God knows that thereare subjects enough of dispute between John Lackland and the Englishbarons without any fresh ones arising. The kingdom is in a state ofdisturbance. There have been several risings against Prince John'sauthority; but those have been, so far, suppressed. Now that we knowwhere King Richard is, and hope for his return ere very long, it isprobable that peace will be maintained; but should treachery prevail,and King Richard's return be prevented, you may be sure that John willnot be permitted to mount the throne without the determined resistanceof a large number of the nobles."

  "But," Cuthbert said, "John is not the successor to the throne. PrinceArthur of Brittany was named by King Richard from the first as hissuccessor. He is so by blood and by right, and John can have no pretenseto the throne so long as he lives."

  "That is so," Sir Baldwin said. "But unhappily in England at presentmight makes right, and you may be sure that at King Richard's death, beit when it may, Prince John will make a bold throw for the throne, and,aided as he will be by the pope and by Philip of France, methinks thathis chances are better than those of the young prince. A man's power, inwarlike times, is more than a boy's. He can intrigue and promise andthreaten, while a boy must be in the hands of partisans. I fear thatPrince Arthur will have troubled times indeed before he mounts thethrone of England. Should Richard survive until he becomes of age totake the field himself and head armies, he may succeed, for all speakwell of him as a boy of singular sweetness of disposition, while PrinceJohn is detested by all save those who flatter and live by him. Butenough for the present of politics, Cuthbert; let us now to table. It islong since we two feasted together; and, indeed, such meals as we tookin the Holy Land could scarcely have been called feasts. A boar's headand a good roasted capon are worthy all the strange dishes that we hadthere. I always misdoubted the meat, which seemed to me to smack inflavor of the Saracens, and I never could bring myself to inquire whencethat strange food was obtained. A stoup of English ale, too, is worthall the Cyprus wines, especially when the Cyprus wines are half-full ofthe sand of the desert. Pah! it makes my throat dry to think of thosehorrible meals. So you have brought Cnut and your four archers safelyback with you?"

  "Yes," Cuthbert said, smiling. "But they were, I can assure you, a heavyweight on me, in spite of their faithfulness and fidelity. Theirignorance of the language brought most of my troubles upon me, and Cnuthad something of the nature of a bull in him. There are certain thingswhich he cannot stomach, and when he seeth them he rageth like a wildbeast, regardless altogether of safety or convenience."

  In the evening the two knights again talked over the course whichCuthbert should adopt. The elder knight's opinion was that his youngfriend had best formally claim the title by writing to the king-at-arms,and should also announce his return to Prince John, signing himself "SirCuthbert, Earl of Evesham;" but that, in the present state of things, itwould be unwise for him to attempt to regain his position, should, aswas certain to be the case, Prince John refuse to recognize him.

  "You are very young yet," Sir Baldwin said, "not eighteen, I think, andcan afford to wait, at any rate, to see whether King Richard returns.Should he come back, he will see all these wrongs are righted; and oneof his first cares would assuredly be to cast this usurper out of hisstolen dignities. How old is the Lady Margaret?"

  "She is fifteen," Cuthbert said. "She was three years younger than I."

  "I wish she had been younger," Sir Baldwin said. "At fifteen she is notby custom fairly marriageable; but men can strain these points when theychoose; and I fear that the news of your coming will hasten both theprince and Sir Rudolph in their determination to strengthen the claim ofthis usurper by marriage with the heiress of Evesham. The Lady Margaretand her friends can of course claim that she is a royal ward, and thatas such the king alone can dispose of her person and estates. Butunfortunately force overrides argument."

  "But surely," Cuthbert said, "they will never venture to take her byforce from the convent?"

  "They venture a great many strange things in England now," Sir Baldwinsaid; "and Worcester is perilously near to Evesham. With a clump oftwenty spears, Sir Rudolph might break into the convent and carry offthe young lady, and marry her by force; and although the Church mightcry out, crying would be of little avail when the deed was done; and ahandsome present on the part of Sir Rudolph might go far to shut themouths of many of the complainants, especially as he will be able to saythat he has the king's sanction for what he did."

  "Methinks," Cuthbert said, "that if such be the case it would beperilous indeed to wait for King Richard's return. Assuredly Sir Rudolphwould not tarry until she attained the age of seventeen, and it may wellbe that two years may yet pass before King Richard comes back. It seemsto me the wiser part will be that I should give Prince John no noticethat I am in England. As you say, such notice would be of no avail inrecovering my lands and title, but it would put the prince upon hisguard; and assuredly he and his minions would press forward theirmeasures to obtain possession of the person of the Lady Margaret;while, on the other hand, no harm can come of my maintaining silence."

  "I think that you are right, Sir Cuthbert. It were indeed best that yourenemies should suppose you either dead or in some dungeon in the Tyrol.What would you then do?"

  "I would return to my old home," Cuthbert said. "My lady mother is, Itrust, still alive. But I will not appear at her house, but will takerefuge in the forest there. Cnut, and the archers with him, were all atone time outlaws living there, and I doubt not that there are many goodmen and true still to be found in the woods. Others will assuredly joinwhen they learn that Cnut is there, and that they are wanted to strike ablow for my rights. I shall then bide my time. I will keep a strictwatch over the castle and over the convent. As the abbess is a friendand relative of Lady Margaret's, I may obtain an interview with her, andwarn her of the dangers that await her, and ask if she be willing tofulfill the promise of her father and King Richard's will, in acceptingme as her husband when due time shall arrive, and whether she will bewilling that I should take such steps as I may to deliver her from thepersecution of Sir Rudolph. If, as I trust, she assents to this, I willkeep a watch over the convent as well as the castle, and can then eitherattack the latter or carry her off from the former, as the occasion mayappear to warrant. There are plenty of snug cottages round the forest,where she can remain in concealment in the care of some good farmer'swife for months, and we shall be close at hand to watch over her. Withthe aid of the forest men, Sir Walter took the castle of Sir John ofWortham; and although Evesham is a far grander pile than that, yetmethinks it could be carried by a sudden assault; and we know more ofwar now than we did then. Prince John may deny me the right of beingthe Earl of Evesham; but methinks before many months I can, if I choose,become its master."

  "Be not too hasty in that matter," Sir Baldwin said. "You might capturethe castle with the aid of your outlaws; but you could scarcely hold it.The prince has, ere now, with the aid of those faithful to him and hisforeign mercenaries, captured stronger holds than that of Evesham; andif you turn his favorite out, you would have a swarm of hornets aroundyou such as the walls of Evesham could not keep out. It would thereforebe worse than useless for you to attempt what would be something like anact of rebellion against Prince John's authority, and would give himwhat now he has no excuse for, a ground for putting a price upon yourhead--and cutting it off if he got the opportunity. You might nowpresent yourself boldly at court, and although he might refuse torecognize your title of earl, yet, as a knight and a Crusader who hasdistinguished himself greatly in the Holy Land, he dare not interferewith your person, for this would be resented by the whole of thechivalry of England. Still, I agree with you that your best course is tokeep your return a secret. You will then be unwatched and unnoticed, andyour enemies will take their time in carrying their designs intoeffect."

  Two days later Cuthbert, attended by his faithful retainers, left SirBaldwin's castle, and traveled by easy stages through Wiltshire and theconfin
es of Gloucestershire up to Worcester. He had been supplied by SirBaldwin with suitable attire for himself and his followers, and now rodeas a simple knight, without arms or cognizance, journeying from one partto another. All the crosses and other crusading signs were laid aside,and there was nothing to attract any attention to him upon his passage.Cuthbert had at first thought of going direct to the convent ofWorcester, and asking for an interview with Lady Margaret; but hereflected that it might be possible that some of the myrmidons of SirRudolph might be keeping a watch over that building to see that LadyMargaret was not secretly removed to some other place of refuge, andthat the appearance of a knight before its doors would excite commentand suspicion. He therefore avoided the town, and journeyed straight tothe forest, where he had so often roamed with Cnut and the outlaws.

  Here he found that matters had but little changed since he was lastthere. Many of those who had fought with him in the Holy Land, and whohad returned by sea, had again taken to the forest, joined by many newmen whom the exactions of Sir Rudolph had already goaded into revolt.Cnut was received with enthusiasm, and when he presented Cuthbert tothem as the rightful heir of Evesham and the well-known friend of theforesters, their enthusiasm knew no bounds. They at once accepted him astheir lord and master, and promised to obey his orders, and to lay downtheir lives, if necessary, in his cause, as they knew that it was he whohad formerly obtained the pardon of the forest band, and who had foughtwith them in their attack on Wortham Castle.

  To Cuthbert's great delight he heard that his mother was in good health,although she had for some months been grievously fretting over hisdisappearance and supposed death. Cuthbert hesitated whether he shouldproceed at once to see her; but he feared that the shock of hisappearance might be too much for her, and that her expressions of joymight make the retainers and others aware of his arrival, and the newsmight in some way reach the ears of those at the castle. He thereforedispatched Cnut to see her, and break the news to her cautiously, and torequest her to arrange for a time when she would either see Cuthbert atsome place at a distance from the house, or would so arrange that thedomestics should be absent and that he would have an interview with herthere unobserved.

  Cnut was absent some hours, and on his return told Cuthbert that he hadseen Dame Editha, and that her joy on hearing of her son's safe arrivalhad caused her no harm, but rather the reverse. The news that KingRichard had bestowed upon him the title and lands of Evesham was new toher, and she was astonished indeed to hear of his elevation. Havingheard much of the character of the pretending earl, she had great fearsfor the safety of Cuthbert, should his residence in the neighborhood getto his ears; and although sure of the fidelity of all her retainers, shefeared that in their joy at their young master's return they might letslip some incautious word which would come to the ears of some of thoseat the castle. She therefore determined to meet him at a distance. Shehad arranged that upon the following day she would give out that sheintended to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Dunstan, which lay atthe edge of the forest, to thank him for her recovery from illness, andto pray for the safety of her son. She would be carried thither in alitter, and her journey would excite no comment whatever. She would takewith her four of her most trusted retainers, and would on her arrival atthe shrine send them to a distance, in order to pay her devotionsundisturbed. Cuthbert was to be near, and the moment he saw them depart,to enter.

  This arrangement was carried out, and the joy of Dame Editha at againmeeting her son was deep indeed. He had left her a lad of fifteen. Henow returned a youth of nearly eighteen, stout and strong beyond hisage, and looking far older than he was, from the effect of the hot sunof Syria and of the hardships through which he had gone. That he shouldwin his spurs upon the first opportunity the earl had promised her, andshe doubted not that he would soon attain the rank which his father hadheld. But that he should return to her a belted earl was beyond herwildest thoughts. This, however, was but little in her mind then. It washer son, and not the Earl of Evesham, whom she clasped in her arms.

  As the interview must necessarily be a short one, Cuthbert gave her buta slight outline of what had happened since they parted, and theconversation then turned upon the present position, and upon the stepswhich had best be taken.

  "Your peril is, I fear, as great here as when you were fighting theinfidels in the Holy Land," she said. "Sir Rudolph has not been herelong; but he has proved himself a cruel and ruthless master. He hasdriven forth many of the old tenants and bestowed their lands upon hisown servants and retainers. The forest laws he carries out to thefullest severity, and has hung several men who were caught infringingthem. He has laid such heavy burdens on all the tenants that remain thatthey are fairly ruined, and if he stay here long he will rule over adesert. Did he dream of your presence here, he would carry fire andsword through the forest. It is sad indeed to think that so worthless aknave as this should be a favorite of the ruler of England. But all mensay that he is so. Thus were you to attack him, even did you conquer andkill him, you would have the enmity of Prince John to contend with; andhe spareth none, man or woman, who stand in his way. It will be a badday indeed for England should our good King Richard not return. I will,as you wish me, write to my good cousin, the Lady Abbess of St. Anne's,and will ask that you may have an interview with the Lady Margaret, tohear her wishes and opinions concerning the future, and will pray her todo all that she can to aid your suit with the fair young lady, and tokeep her at all events safe from the clutches of the tyrant of Evesham."

  Three days later a boy employed as a messenger by Dame Editha brought anote to Cuthbert, saying that she had heard from the Abbess of St.Anne's, who would be glad to receive a visit from Cuthbert. The abbesshad asked his mother to accompany him; but this she left for him todecide. Cuthbert sent back a message in reply that he thought it wouldbe dangerous for her to accompany him, as any spy watching would reporther appearance, and inquiries were sure to be set on foot as to hercompanion. He said that he himself would call at the convent on thefollowing evening after nightfall, and begged her to send word to theabbess to that effect, in order that he might, when he presentedhimself, be admitted at once.