Chapter the Thirty-Second.
It is the curse of kings to be attended By slaves, who take their humours for a warrant To break into the bloody house of life, And on the winking of authority To understand a law. KING JOHN.
The Lady of Lochleven sat alone in her chamber, endeavouring withsincere but imperfect zeal, to fix her eyes and her attention onthe black-lettered Bible which lay before her, bound in velvet andembroidery, and adorned with massive silver clasps and knosps. But shefound her utmost efforts unable to withdraw her mind from the resentfulrecollection of what had last night passed betwixt her and the Queen,in which the latter had with such bitter taunt reminded her of her earlyand long-repented transgression.
"Why," she said, "should I resent so deeply that another reproachesme with that which I have never ceased to make matter of blushingto myself? and yet, why should this woman, who reaps--at least, hasreaped--the fruits of my folly, and has jostled my son aside from thethrone, why should she, in the face of all my domestics, and of her own,dare to upbraid me with my shame? Is she not in my power? Does she notfear me? Ha! wily tempter, I will wrestle with thee strongly, and withbetter suggestions than my own evil heart can supply!"
She again took up the sacred volume, and was endeavouring to fix herattention on its contents, when she was disturbed by a tap at thedoor of the room. It opened at her command, and the steward Dryfesdaleentered, and stood before her with a gloomy and perturbed expression onhis brow.
"What has chanced, Dryfesdale, that thou lookest thus?" saidhis mistress--"Have there been evil tidings of my son, or of mygrandchildren?"
"No, Lady," replied Dryfesdale, "but you were deeply insulted lastnight, and I fear me thou art as deeply avenged this morning--Where isthe chaplain?"
"What mean you by hints so dark, and a question so sudden? The chaplain,as you well know, is absent at Perth upon an assembly of the brethren."
"I care not," answered the steward; "he is but a priest of Baal."
"Dryfesdale," said the Lady, sternly, "what meanest thou? I have everheard, that in the Low Countries thou didst herd with the Anabaptistpreachers, those boars which tear up the vintage--But the ministry whichsuits me and my house must content my retainers."
"I would I had good ghostly counsel, though," replied the steward, notattending to his mistress's rebuke, and seeming to speak to himself."This woman of Moab----"
"Speak of her with reverence," said the Lady; "she is a king'sdaughter."
"Be it so," replied Dryfesdale; "she goes where there is littledifference betwixt her and a beggar's child--Mary of Scotland is dying."
"Dying, and in my castle!" said the Lady, starting up in alarm; "of whatdisease, or by what accident?"
"Bear patience, Lady. The ministry was mine."
"Thine, villain and traitor!--how didst thou dare----"
"I heard you insulted, Lady--I heard you demand vengeance--I promisedyou should have it, and I now bring tidings of it."
"Dryfesdale, I trust thou ravest?" said the Lady.
"I rave not," replied the steward. "That which was written of me amillion of years ere I saw the light, must be executed by me. She haththat in her veins that, I fear me, will soon stop the springs of life.""Cruel villain," exclaimed the Lady, "thou hast not poisoned her?" "Andif I had," said Dryfesdale, "what does it so greatly merit? Men banevermin--why not rid them of their enemies so? in Italy they will do itfor a cruizuedor."
"Cowardly ruffian, begone from my sight!"
"Think better of my zeal, Lady," said the steward, "and judge notwithout looking around you. Lindesay, Ruthven, and your kinsman Morton,poniarded Rizzio, and yet you now see no blood on their embroidery--theLord Semple stabbed the Lord of Sanquhar--does his bonnet sit a jot moreawry on his brow? What noble lives in Scotland who has not had a share,for policy or revenge, in some such dealing?--and who imputes it tothem? Be not cheated with names--a dagger or a draught work to thesame end, and are little unlike--a glass phial imprisons the one, and aleathern sheath the other--one deals with the brain, the other sluicesthe blood--Yet, I say not I gave aught to this lady."
"What dost thou mean by thus dallying with me?" said the Lady; "as thouwouldst save thy neck from the rope it merits, tell me the whole truthof this story-thou hast long been known a dangerous man."
"Ay, in my master's service I can be cold and sharp as my sword. Be itknown to you, that when last on shore, I consulted with a woman of skilland power, called Nicneven, of whom the country has rung for some brieftime past. Fools asked her for charms to make them beloved, misers formeans to increase their store; some demanded to know the future--an idlewish, since it cannot be altered; others would have an explanationof the past--idler still, since it cannot be recalled. I heard theirqueries with scorn, and demanded the means of avenging myself of adeadly enemy, for I grow old, and may trust no longer to Bilboa blade.She gave me a packet--`Mix that,' said she, `with any liquid, and thyvengeance is complete.'"
"Villain! and you mixed it with the food of this imprisoned Lady, to thedishonour of thy master's house?"
"To redeem the insulted honour of my master's house, I mixed thecontents of the packet with the jar of succory-water: They seldom failto drain it, and the woman loves it over all."
"It was a work of hell," said the Lady Lochleven, "both the asking andthe granting.--Away, wretched man, let us see if aid be yet too late!"
"They will not admit us, madam, save we enter by force--I have been.twice at the door, but can obtain no entrance."
"We will beat it level with the ground, if needful--And, hold--summonRandal hither instantly.--Randal, here is a foul and evil chancebefallen--send off a boat instantly to Kinross, the Chamberlain LukeLundin is said to have skill--Fetch off, too, that foul witch Nicneven;she shall first counteract her own spell, and then be burned to ashesin the island of Saint Serf. Away, away--Tell them to hoist sail and plyoar, as ever they would have good of the Douglas's hand!"
"Mother Nicneven will not be lightly found, or fetched hither on theseconditions," answered Dryfesdale.
"Then grant her full assurance of safety--Look to it, for thine own lifemust answer for this lady's recovery."
"I might have guessed that," said Dryfesdale, sullenly; "but it ismy comfort I have avenged mine own cause, as well as yours. She hathscoffed and scripped at me, and encouraged her saucy minion of a page toridicule my stiff gait and slow speech. I felt it borne in upon me thatI was to be avenged on them."
"Go to the western turret," said the Lady, "and remain there inward until we see how this gear will terminate. I know thy resolveddisposition--thou wilt not attempt escape."
"Not were the walls of the turret of egg-shells, and the lake sheetedice," said Dryfesdale. "I am well taught, and strong in belief, that mandoes nought of himself; he is but the foam on the billow, which rises,bubbles, and bursts, not by its own effort, but by the mightier impulseof fate which urges him. Yet, Lady, if I may advise, amid this zeal forthe life of the Jezebel of Scotland, forget not what is due to thine ownhonour, and keep the matter secret as you may."
So saying, the gloomy fatalist turned from her, and stalked off withsullen composure to the place of confinement allotted to him.
His lady caught at his last hint, and only expressed her fear that theprisoner had partaken of some unwholesome food, and was dangerously ill.The castle was soon alarmed and in confusion. Randal was dispatched tothe shore to fetch off Lundin, with such remedies as could counteractpoison; and with farther instructions to bring mother Nicneven, if shecould be found, with full power to pledge the Lady of Lochleven's wordfor her safety.
Meanwhile the Lady of Lochleven herself held parley at the door of theQueen's apartment, and in vain urged the page to undo it.
"Foolish boy!" she said, "thine own life and thy Lady's are atstake--Open, I say, or we will cause the door to be broken down."
"I may not open the door without my royal mistress's orders," answeredRoland; "she has been very ill, and now sh
e slumbers--if you wake her byusing violence, let the consequence be on you and your followers."
"Was ever woman in a strait so fearful!" exclaimed the Lady ofLochleven--"At least, thou rash boy, beware that no one tastes the food,but especially the jar of succory-water."
She then hastened to the turret, where Dryfesdale had composedlyresigned himself to imprisonment. She found him reading, and demanded ofhim, "Was thy fell potion of speedy operation?"
"Slow," answered the steward. "The hag asked me which I chose--Itold her I loved a slow and sure revenge. 'Revenge,' said I, 'is thehighest-flavoured draught which man tastes upon earth, and he should sipit by little and little--not drain it up greedily at once."
"Against whom, unhappy man, couldst thou nourish so fell a revenge?"
"I had many objects, but the chief was that insolent page."
"The boy!--thou inhuman man!" exclaimed the lady; "what could he do todeserve thy malice?"
"He rose in your favour, and you graced him with your commissions--thatwas one thing. He rose in that of George Douglas's also--that wasanother. He was the favourite of the Calvinistic Henderson, who hatedme because my spirit disowns a separated priesthood. The Moabitish Queenheld him dear--winds from each opposing point blew in his favour--theold servitor of your house was held lightly among ye--above all, fromthe first time I saw his face, I longed to destroy him."
"What fiend have I nurtured in my house!" replied the Lady. "May Godforgive me the sin of having given thee food and raiment!"
"You might not choose, Lady," answered the steward. "Long ere thiscastle was builded--ay, long ere the islet which sustains it reared itshead above the blue water, I was destined to be your faithful slave, andyou to be my ungrateful mistress. Remember you not when I plunged amidthe victorious French, in the time of this lady's mother, and broughtoff your husband, when those who had hung at the same breasts with himdared not attempt the rescue?--Remember how I plunged into the lake whenyour grandson's skiff was overtaken by the tempest, boarded, and steeredher safe to the land. Lady--the servant of a Scottish baron is he whoregards not his own life, or that of any other, save his master. And,for the death of the woman, I had tried the potion on her sooner,had not Master George been her taster. Her death--would it not be thehappiest news that Scotland ever heard? Is she not of the bloody Guisianstock, whose sword was so often red with the blood of God's saints? Isshe not the daughter of the wretched tyrant James, whom Heaven castdown from his kingdom, and his pride, even as the king of Babylon wassmitten?"
"Peace, villain!" said the Lady--a thousand varied recollectionsthronging on her mind at the mention of her royal lover's name; "Peace,and disturb not the ashes of the dead--of the royal, of the unhappydead. Read thy Bible; and may God grant thee to avail thyself better ofits contents than thou hast yet done!" She departed hastily, and as shereached the next apartment, the tears rose in her eyes so hastily, thatshe was compelled to stop and use her kerchief to dry them. "I expectednot this," she said, "no more than to have drawn water from the dryflint, or sap from a withered tree. I saw with a dry eye the apostacyand shame of George Douglas, the hope of my son's house--the child of mylove; and yet I now weep for him who has so long lain in his grave--forhim to whom I owe it that his daughter can make a scoffing and a jest ofmy name! But she is _his_ daughter--my heart, hardened against herfor so many causes, relents when a glance of her eye places her fatherunexpectedly before me--and as often her likeness to that true daughterof the house of Guise, her detested mother, has again confirmed myresolution. But she must not--must not die in my house, and by so foula practice. Thank God, the operation of the potion is slow, and may becounteracted. I will to her apartment once more. But oh! that hardenedvillain, whose fidelity we held in such esteem, and had such high proofof! What miracle can unite so much wickedness and so much truth in onebosom!"
The Lady of Lochleven was not aware how far minds of a certain gloomyand determined cast by nature, may be warped by a keen sense of pettyinjuries and insults, combining with the love of gain, and sense ofself-interest, and amalgamated with the crude, wild, and indigestedfanatical opinions which this man had gathered among the crazy sectariesof Germany; or how far the doctrines of fatalism, which he had embracedso decidedly, sear the human conscience, by representing our actions asthe result of inevitable necessity.
During her visit to the prisoner, Roland had communicated to Catherinethe tenor of the conversation he had had with her at the door of theapartment. The quick intelligence of that lively maiden instantlycomprehended the outline of what was believed to have happened, but herprejudices hurried her beyond the truth.
"They meant to have poisoned us," she exclaimed in horror, "and therestands the fatal liquor which should have done the deed!--Ay, as soonas Douglas ceased to be our taster, our food was likely to be fatallyseasoned. Thou, Roland, who shouldst have made the essay, wert readilydoomed to die with us. Oh, dearest Lady Fleming, pardon, pardon, for theinjuries I said to you in my anger--your words were prompted by Heavento save our lives, and especially that of the injured Queen. But whathave we now to do? that old crocodile of the lake will be presently backto shed her hypocritical tears over our dying agonies.--Lady Fleming,what shall we do?"
"Our Lady help us in our need!" she replied; "how should Itell?--unless we were to make our plaint to the Regent."
"Make our plaint to the devil," said Catherine impatiently, "and accusehis dam at the foot of his burning throne!--The Queen still sleeps--wemust gain time. The poisoning hag must not know her scheme hasmiscarried; the old envenomed spider has but too many ways of mendingher broken web. The jar of succory-water," said she--"Roland, ifthou be'st a man, help me--empty the jar on the chimney or from thewindow--make such waste among the viands as if we had made our usualmeal, and leave the fragments on cup and porringer, but taste nothingas thou lovest thy life. I will sit by the Queen, and tell her at herwaking, in what a fearful pass we stand. Her sharp wit and ready spiritwill teach us what is best to be done. Meanwhile, till farther notice,observe, Roland, that the Queen is in a state of torpor--that LadyFleming is indisposed--that character" (speaking in a lower tone) "willsuit her best, and save her wits some labour in vain. I am not so muchindisposed, thou understandest."
"And I?" said the page--
"You?" replied Catherine, "you are quite well--who thinks it worth whileto poison puppy-dogs or pages?"
"Does this levity become the time?" asked the page.
"It does, it does," answered Catherine Seyton; "if the Queen approves, Isee plainly how this disconcerted attempt may do us good service."
She went to work while she spoke, eagerly assisted by Roland. Thebreakfast table soon displayed the appearance as if the meal had beeneaten as usual; and the ladies retired as softly as possible into theQueen's sleeping apartment. At a new summons of the Lady Lochleven,the page undid the door, and admitted her into the anteroom, asking herpardon for having withstood her, alleging in excuse, that the Queen hadfallen into a heavy slumber since she had broken her fast.
"She has eaten and drunken, then?" said the Lady of Lochleven.
"Surely," replied the page, "according to her Grace's ordinary custom,unless upon the fasts of the church."
"The jar," she said, hastily examining it, "it is empty--drank the LadyMary the whole of this water?"
"A large part, madam; and I heard the Lady Catherine Seyton jestinglyupbraid the Lady Mary Fleming with having taken more than a just shareof what remained, so that but little fell to her own lot."
"And are they well in health?" said the Lady of Lochleven.
"Lady Fleming," said the page, "complains of lethargy, and looks dullerthan usual; and the Lady Catherine of Seyton feels her head somewhatmore giddy than is her wont."
He raised his voice a little as he said these words, to apprise theladies of the part assigned to each of them, and not, perhaps, withoutthe wish of conveying to the ears of Catherine the page-like jest whichlurked in the allotment.
"I will enter the Queen'
s bedchamber," said the Lady of Lochleven; "mybusiness is express."
As she advanced to the door, the voice of Catherine Seyton was heardfrom within--"No one can enter here--the Queen sleeps."
"I will not be controlled, young lady," replied the Lady of Lochleven;"there is, I wot, no inner bar, and I will enter in your despite."
"There is, indeed, no inner bar," answered Catherine, firmly, "but thereare the staples where that bar should be; and into those staples have Ithrust mine arm, like an ancestress of your own, when, better employedthan the Douglasses of our days, she thus defended the bedchamber ofher sovereign against murderers. Try your force, then, and see whether aSeyton cannot rival in courage a maiden of the house of Douglas."
"I dare not attempt the pass at such risk," said the Lady of Lochleven:"Strange, that this Princess, with all that justly attaches to heras blameworthy, should preserve such empire over the minds of herattendants.--Damsel, I give thee my honour that I come for the Queen'ssafety and advantage. Awaken her, if thou lovest her, and pray her leavethat I may enter--I will retire from the door the whilst."
"Thou wilt not awaken the Queen?" said the Lady Fleming.
"What choice have we?" said the ready-witted maiden, "unless you deemit better to wait till the Lady Lochleven herself plays lady of thebedchamber. Her fit of patience will not last long, and the Queen mustbe prepared to meet her."
"But thou wilt bring back her Grace's fit by thus disturbing her."
"Heaven forbid!" replied Catherine; "but if so, it must pass for aneffect of the poison. I hope better things, and that the Queen will beable when she wakes to form her own judgment in this terrible crisis.Meanwhile, do thou, dear Lady Fleming, practise to look as dull andheavy as the alertness of thy spirit will permit."
Catherine kneeled by the side of the Queen's bed, and, kissing her handrepeatedly, succeeded at last in awakening without alarming her. Sheseemed surprised to find that she was ready dressed, but sate up in herbed, and appeared so perfectly composed, that Catherine Seyton, withoutfarther preamble, judged it safe to inform her of the predicament inwhich they were placed. Mary turned pale, and crossed herself again andagain, when she heard the imminent danger in which she had stood. But,like the Ulysses of Homer,
--Hardly waking yet, Sprung in her mind the momentary wit,
and she at once understood her situation, with the dangers andadvantages that attended it.
"We cannot do better," she said, after her hasty conference withCatherine, pressing her at the same time to her bosom, and kissing herforehead; "we cannot do better than to follow the scheme so happilydevised by thy quick wit and bold affection. Undo the door to the LadyLochleven--She shall meet her match in art, though not in perfidy.Fleming, draw close the curtain, and get thee behind it--thou art abetter tire-woman than an actress; do but breathe heavily, and, if thouwilt, groan slightly, and it will top thy part. Hark! they come. Now,Catherine of Medicis, may thy spirit inspire me, for a cold northernbrain is too blunt for this scene!"
Ushered by Catherine Seyton, and stepping as light as she could, theLady Lochleven was shown into the twilight apartment, and conducted tothe side of the couch, where Mary, pallid and exhausted from a sleeplessnight, and the subsequent agitation of the morning, lay extended solistlessly as might well confirm the worst fears of her hostess.
"Now, God forgive us our sins!" said the Lady of Lochleven, forgettingher pride, and throwing herself on her knees by the side of the bed; "Itis too true--she is murdered!"
"Who is in the chamber?" said Mary, as if awaking from a heavysleep. "Seyton, Fleming, where are you? I heard a strange voice. Whowaits?--Call Courcelles."
"Alas! her memory is at Holyrood, though her body is atLochleven.--Forgive, madam," continued the Lady, "if I call yourattention to me--I am Margaret Erskine, of the house of Mar, by marriageLady Douglas of Lochleven."
"Oh, our gentle hostess," answered the Queen, "who hath such care of ourlodgings and of our diet--We cumber you too much and too long, good Ladyof Lochleven; but we now trust your task of hospitality is well-nighended."
"Her words go like a knife through my heart," said the Lady ofLochleven--"With a breaking heart, I pray your Grace to tell me what isyour ailment, that aid may be had, if there be yet time."
"Nay, my ailment," replied the Queen, "is nothing worth telling, orworth a leech's notice--my limbs feel heavy--my heart feels cold--aprisoner's limbs and heart are rarely otherwise--fresh air, methinks,and freedom, would soon revive me; but as the Estates have ordered it,death alone can break my prison-doors."
"Were it possible, madam," said the Lady, "that your liberty couldrestore your perfect health, I would myself encounter the resentment ofthe Regent--of my son, Sir William--of my whole friends, rather than youshould meet your fate in this castle."
"Alas! madam," said the Lady Fleming, who conceived the time propitiousto show that her own address had been held too lightly of; "it is buttrying what good freedom may work upon us; for myself, I think a freewalk on the greensward would do me much good at heart."
The Lady of Lochleven rose from the bedside, and darted a penetratinglook at the elder valetudinary. "Are you so evil-disposed, LadyFleming?"
"Evil-disposed indeed, madam," replied the court dame, "and moreespecially since breakfast."
"Help! help!" exclaimed Catherine, anxious to break off a conversationwhich boded her schemes no good; "help! I say, help! the Queen is aboutto pass away. Aid her, Lady Lochleven, if you be a woman!"
The Lady hastened to support the Queen's head, who, turning her eyestowards her with an air of great languor, exclaimed, "Thanks, my dearestLady of Lochleven--notwithstanding some passages of late, I have nevermisconstrued or misdoubted your affection to our house. It was proved,as I have heard, before I was born."
The Lady Lochleven sprung from the floor, on which she had again knelt,and, having paced the apartment in great disorder, flung open thelattice, as if to get air.
"Now, Our Lady forgive me!" said Catherine to herself. "How deep mustthe love of sarcasm, be implanted in the breasts of us women, since theQueen, with all her sense, will risk ruin rather than rein in her wit!"She then adventured, stooping over the Queen's person, to press herarm with her hand, saying, at the same time, "For God's sake, madam,restrain yourself!"
"Thou art too forward, maiden," said the Queen; but immediately added,in a low whisper, "Forgive me, Catherine; but when I felt the hag'smurderous hands busy about my head and neck, I felt such disgust andhatred, that I must have said something, or died. But I will be schooledto better behaviour--only see that thou let her not touch me."
"Now, God be praised!" said the Lady Lochleven, withdrawing her headfrom the window, "the boat comes as fast as sail and oar can send woodthrough water. It brings the leech and a female--certainly, from theappearance, the very person I was in quest of. Were she but well out ofthis castle, with our honour safe, I would that she were on the top ofthe wildest mountain in Norway; or I would I had been there myself, ereI had undertaken this trust."
While she thus expressed herself, standing apart at one window, RolandGraeme, from the other, watched the boat bursting through the watersof the lake, which glided from its side in ripple and in foam. He, too,became sensible, that at the stern was seated the medical Chamberlain,clad in his black velvet cloak; and that his own relative, MagdalenGraeme, in her assumed character of Mother Nieneven, stood in the bow,her hands clasped together, and pointed towards the castle, and herattitude, even at that distance, expressing enthusiastic eagerness toarrive at the landing-place. They arrived there accordingly, and whilethe supposed witch was detained in a room beneath, the physicianwas ushered to the Queen's apartment, which he entered with all dueprofessional solemnity. Catherine had, in the meanwhile, fallen backfrom the Queen's bed, and taken an opportunity to whisper to Roland,"Methinks, from the information of the threadbare velvet cloak and thesolemn beard, there would be little trouble in haltering yonder ass. Butthy grandmother, Roland--thy grandmother's zeal will r
uin us, if she getnot a hint to dissemble."
Roland, without reply, glided towards the door of the apartment, crossedthe parlour, and safely entered the antechamber; but when he attemptedto pass farther, the word "Back! Back!" echoed from one to the other, bytwo men armed with carabines, convinced him that the Lady of Lochleven'ssuspicions had not, even in the midst of her alarms, been so far lulledto sleep as to omit the precaution of stationing sentinels on herprisoners. He was compelled, therefore, to return to the parlour, oraudience-chamber, in which he found the Lady of the castle in conferencewith her learned leech.
"A truce with your cant phrase and your solemn foppery, Lundin," in suchterms she accosted the man of art, "and let me know instantly, if thoucanst tell, whether this lady hath swallowed aught that is less thanwholesome?"
"Nay, but, good lady--honoured patroness--to whom I am alike bonds-manin my medical and official capacity, deal reasonably with me. If this,mine illustrious patient, will not answer a question, saving with sighsand moans--if that other honourable lady will do nought but yawn inmy face when I inquire after the diagnostics--and if that other youngdamsel, who I profess is a comely maiden--"
"Talk not to me of comeliness or of damsels," said the Lady ofLochleven, "I say, are they evil-disposed?--In one word, man, have theytaken poison, ay or no?"
"Poisons, madam," said the learned leech, "are of various sorts. Thereis your animal poison, as the lepus marinus, as mentioned by Dioscoridesand Galen--there are mineral and semi-mineral poisons, as thosecompounded of sublimate regulus of antimony, vitriol, and the arsenicalsalts--there are your poisons from herbs and vegetables, as the aquacymbalariae, opium, aconitum, cantharides, and the like--there arealso--"
"Now, out upon thee for a learned fool! and I myself am no better forexpecting an oracle from such a log," said the Lady.
"Nay, but if your ladyship will have patience--if I knew what food theyhave partaken of, or could see but the remnants of what they have lasteaten--for as to the external and internal symptoms, I can discovernought like; for, as Galen saith in his second book _de Antidotis_--"
"Away, fool!" said the Lady; "send me that hag hither; she shallavouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or thepilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger joints!"
"Art hath no enemy unless the ignorant," said the mortified Doctor;veiling, however, his remark under the Latin version, and stepping apartinto a corner to watch the result.
In a minute or two Magdalen Graeme entered the apartment, dressed as wehave described her at the revel, but with her muffler thrown back, andall affectation of disguise. She was attended by two guards, of whosepresence she did not seem even to be conscious, and who followed herwith an air of embarrassment and timidity, which was probably owing totheir belief in her supernatural power, coupled with the effectproduced by her bold and undaunted demeanour. She confronted the Lady ofLochleven, who seemed to endure with high disdain the confidence of herair and manner.
"Wretched woman!" said the Lady, after essaying for a moment to bearher down, before she addressed her, by the stately severity of her look,"what was that powder which thou didst give to a servant of this house,by name Jasper Dryfesdale, that he might work out with it some slow andsecret vengeance?--Confess its nature and properties, or, by the honourof Douglas, I give thee to fire and stake before the sun is lower!"
"Alas!" said Magdalen Graeme in reply, "and when became a Douglas or aDouglas's man so unfurnished in his revenge, that he should seek themat the hands of a poor and solitary woman? The towers in which yourcaptives pine away into unpitied graves, yet stand fast on theirfoundation--the crimes wrought in them have not yet burst theirvaults asunder--your men have still their cross-bows, pistolets, anddaggers--why need you seek to herbs or charms for the execution of yourrevenges?"
"Hear me, foul hag," said the Lady Lochleven,--"but what avails speakingto thee?--Bring Dryfesdale hither, and let them be confronted together."
"You may spare your retainers the labour," replied Magdalen Graeme."I came not here to be confronted with a base groom, nor to answer theinterrogatories of James's heretical leman--I came to speak with theQueen of Scotland--Give place there!"
And while the Lady Lochleven stood confounded at her boldness, and atthe reproach she had cast upon her, Magdalen Graeme strode past herinto the bedchamber of the Queen, and, kneeling on the floor, made asalutation as if, in the Oriental fashion, she meant to touch the earthwith her forehead.
"Hail, Princess!" she said, "hail, daughter of many a King, butgraced above them all in that thou art called to suffer for the truefaith--hail to thee, the pure gold of whose crown has been tried in theseven-times heated furnace of affliction--hear the comfort which Godand Our Lady send thee by the mouth of thy unworthy servant.--Butfirst"--and stooping her head she crossed herself repeatedly, and,still upon her knees, appeared to be rapidly reciting some formula ofdevotion.
"Seize her, and drag her to the massy-more!--to the deepest dungeon withthe sorceress, whose master, the Devil, could alone have inspired herwith boldness enough to insult the mother of Douglas in his own castle!"
Thus spoke the incensed Lady of Lochleven, but the physician presumed tointerpose.
"I pray of you, honoured madam, she be permitted to take her coursewithout interruption. Peradventure we shall learn something concerningthe nostrum she hath ventured, contrary to law and the rules of art, toadhibit to these ladies, through the medium of the steward Dryfesdale."
"For a fool," replied the Lady of Lochleven, "thou hast counselledwisely--I will bridle my resentment till their conference be over."
"God forbid, honoured Lady," said Doctor Lundin, "that you shouldsuppress it longer--nothing may more endanger the frame of your honouredbody; and truly, if there be witchcraft in this matter, it is held bythe vulgar, and even by solid authors on Demonology, that three scruplesof the ashes of the witch, when she hath been well and carefully burnedat a stake, is a grand Catholicon in such matter, even as they prescribe_crinis canis rabidi_, a hair of the dog that bit the patient, in casesof hydrophobia. I warrant neither treatment, being out of the regularpractice of the schools; but, in the present case, there can belittle harm in trying the conclusion upon this old necromancer andquacksalver-_fiat experimentum_ (as we say) _in corpore vili_."
"Peace, fool!" said the Lady, "she is about to speak."
At that moment Magdalen Graeme arose from her knees, and turned hercountenance on the Queen, at the same time advancing her foot, extendingher arm, and assuming the mien and attitude of a Sibyl in frenzy. As hergray hair floated back from beneath her coif, and her eye gleamed firefrom under its shaggy eyebrow, the effect of her expressive thoughemaciated features, was heightened by an enthusiasm approaching toinsanity, and her appearance struck with awe all who were present. Hereyes for a time glanced wildly around as if seeking for something to aidher in collecting her powers of expression, and her lips had a nervousand quivering motion, as those of one who would fain speak, yet rejectsas inadequate the words which present themselves. Mary herself caughtthe infection as if by a sort of magnetic influence, and raising herselffrom her bed, without being able to withdraw her eyes from those ofMagdalen, waited as if for the oracle of a Pythoness. She waited notlong, for no sooner had the enthusiast collected herself, than her gazebecame instantly steady, her features assumed a determined energy,and when she began to speak, the words flowed from her with a profusefluency, which might have passed for inspiration, and which, perhaps,she herself mistook for such.
"Arise," she said, "Queen of France and of England! Arise, Lionessof Scotland, and be not dismayed though the nets of the hunters haveencircled thee! Stoop not to feign with the false ones, whom thou shallsoon meet in the field. The issue of battle is with the God of armies,but by battle thy cause shall be tried. Lay aside, then, the arts oflower mortals, and assume those which become a Queen! True defender ofthe only true faith, the armoury of heaven is open to thee! Faithfuldaughter of the Church, take the
keys of St. Peter, to bind and toloose!--Royal Princess of the land, take the sword of St. Paul, tosmite and to shear! There is darkness in thy destiny;--but not in thesetowers, not under the rule of their haughty mistress, shall that destinybe closed--In other lands the lioness may crouch to the power of thetigress, but not in her own--not in Scotland shall the Queen of Scotlandlong remain captive--nor is the fate of the royal Stuart in the handsof the traitor Douglas. Let the Lady of Lochleven double her bolts anddeepen her dungeons, they shall not retain thee--each element shall givethee its assistance ere thou shalt continue captive--the land shall lendits earthquakes, the water its waves, the air its tempests, the fire itsdevouring flames, to desolate this house, rather than it shall continuethe place of thy captivity.--Hear this, and tremble, all ye who fightagainst the light, for she says it, to whom it hath been assured!"
She was silent, and the astonished physician said, "If there was everan _Energumene,_ or possessed demoniac, in our days, there is a devilspeaking with that woman's tongue!"
"Practice," said the Lady of Lochleven, recovering her surprise; "hereis all practice and imposture--To the dungeon with her!"
"Lady of Lochleven," said Mary, arising from her bed, and comingforward with her wonted dignity, "ere you make arrest on any one in ourpresence, hear me but one word. I have done you some wrong--I believedyou privy to the murderous purpose of your vassal, and I deceived you insuffering you to believe it had taken effect. I did you wrong, Lady ofLochleven, for I perceive your purpose to aid me was sincere. We tastednot of the liquid, nor are we now sick, save that we languish for ourfreedom."
"It is avowed like Mary of Scotland," said Magdalen Graeme; "and know,besides, that had the Queen drained the drought to the dregs, it washarmless as the water from a sainted spring. Trow ye, proud woman," sheadded, addressing herself to the Lady of Lochleven, "that I--I--wouldhave been the wretch to put poison into the hands of a servant or vassalof the house of Lochleven, knowing whom that house contained? as soonwould I have furnished drug to slay my own daughter!"
"Am I thus bearded in mine own castle?" said the Lady; "to the dungeonwith her!--she shall abye what is due to the vender of poisons andpractiser of witchcraft."
"Yet hear me for an instant, Lady of Lochleven," said Mary; "and doyou," to Magdalen, "be silent at my command.--Your steward, lady, has byconfession attempted my life, and those of my household, and thiswoman hath done her best to save them, by furnishing him with what washarmless, in place of the fatal drugs which he expected. Methinks Ipropose to you but a fair exchange when I say I forgive your vassal withall my heart, and leave vengeance to God, and to his conscience, so thatyou also forgive the boldness of this woman in your presence; for wetrust you do not hold it as a crime, that she substituted an innocentbeverage for the mortal poison which was to have drenched our cup."
"Heaven forfend, madam," said the Lady, "that I should account that acrime which saved the house of Douglas from a foul breach of honour andhospitality! We have written to our son touching our vassal's delict,and he must abide his doom, which will most likely be death. Touchingthis woman, her trade is damnable by Scripture, and is mortally punishedby the wise laws of our ancestry--she also must abide her doom."
"And have I then," said the Queen, "no claim on the house of Lochlevenfor the wrong I have so nearly suffered within their walls? I ask but inrequital, the life of a frail and aged woman, whose brain, as yourselfmay judge, seems somewhat affected by years and suffering."
"If the Lady Mary," replied the inflexible Lady of Lochleven, "hath beenmenaced with wrong in the house of Douglas, it may be regarded as somecompensation, that her complots have cost that house the exile of avalued son."
"Plead no more for me, my gracious Sovereign," said Magdalen Graeme,"nor abase yourself to ask so much as a gray hair of my head at herhands. I knew the risk at which I served my Church and my Queen, and wasever prompt to pay my poor life as the ransom. It is a comfort to think,that in slaying me, or in restraining my freedom, or even in injuringthat single gray hair, the house, whose honour she boasts so highly,will have filled up the measure of their shame by the breach of theirsolemn written assurance of safety."--And taking from her bosom a paper,she handed it to the Queen.
"It is a solemn assurance of safety in life and limb," said Queen Mary,"with space to come and go, under the hand and seal of the Chamberlainof Kinross, granted to Magdalen Graeme, commonly called Mother Nicneven,in consideration of her consenting to put herself, for the space oftwenty-four hours, if required, within the iron gate of the Castle ofLochleven."
"Knave!" said the Lady, turning to the Chamberlain, "how dared you granther such a protection?"
"It was by your Ladyship's orders, transmitted by Randal, as he canbear witness," replied Doctor Lundin; "nay, I am only like thepharmacopolist, who compounds the drugs after the order of themediciner."
"I remember--I remember," answered the Lady; "but I meant the assuranceonly to be used in case, by residing in another jurisdiction, she couldnot have been apprehended under our warrant."
"Nevertheless," said the Queen, "the Lady of Lochleven is bound by theaction of her deputy in granting the assurance."
"Madam," replied the Lady, "the house of Douglas have never brokentheir safe-conduct, and never will--too deeply did they suffer by sucha breach of trust, exercised on themselves, when your Grace's ancestor,the second James, in defiance of the rights of hospitality, and of hisown written assurance of safety, poniarded the brave Earl of Douglaswith his own hand, and within two yards of the social board, at which hehad just before sat the King of Scotland's honoured guest."
"Methinks," said the Queen, carelessly, "in consideration of so veryrecent and enormous a tragedy, which I think only chanced some six-scoreyears agone, the Douglasses should have shown themselves less tenaciousof the company of their sovereigns, than you, Lady of Lochleven, seem tobe of mine."
"Let Randal," said the Lady, "take the hag back to Kinross, and set herat full liberty, discharging her from our bounds in future, on peril ofher head.--And let your wisdom," to the Chamberlain, "keep her company.And fear not for your character, though I send you in such company; for,granting her to be a witch, it would be a waste of fagots to burn youfor a wizard."
The crest-fallen Chamberlain was preparing to depart; but MagdalenGraeme, collecting herself, was about to reply, when the Queeninterposed, saying, "Good mother, we heartily thank you for yourunfeigned zeal towards our person, and pray you, as our liege-woman,that you abstain from whatever may lead you into personal danger; and,farther, it is our will that you depart without a word of farther parleywith any one in this castle. For thy present guerdon, take this smallreliquary--it was given to us by our uncle the Cardinal, and hath hadthe benediction of the Holy Father himself;--and now depart in peace andin silence.--For you, learned sir," continued the Queen, advancing tothe Doctor, who made his reverence in a manner doubly embarrassed by theawe of the Queen's presence, which made him fear to do too little, andby the apprehension of his lady's displeasure, in case he should chanceto do too much--"for you, learned sir, as it was not your fault, thoughsurely our own good fortune, that we did not need your skill at thistime, it would not become us, however circumstanced, to suffer our leechto leave us without such guerdon as we can offer."
With these words, and with the grace which never forsook her, though,in the present case, there might lurk under it a little gentle ridicule,she offered a small embroidered purse to the Chamberlain, who, withextended hand and arched back, his learned face stooping until aphysiognomist might have practised the metoposcopical science upon it,as seen from behind betwixt his gambadoes, was about to accept of theprofessional recompense offered by so fair as well as illustrious ahand. But the Lady interposed, and, regarding the Chamberlain, saidaloud, "No servant of our house, without instantly relinquishing thatcharacter, and incurring withal our highest displeasure, shall darereceive any gratuity at the hand of the Lady Mary."
Sadly and slowly the Chamberlain raised h
is depressed stature into theperpendicular attitude, and left the apartment dejectedly, followed byMagdalen Graeme, after, with mute but expressive gesture, she had kissedthe reliquary with which the Queen had presented her, and, raising herclasped hands and uplifted eyes towards Heaven, had seemed to entreata benediction upon the royal dame. As she left the castle, andwent towards the quay where the boat lay, Roland Graeme, anxious tocommunicate with her if possible, threw himself in her way, and mighthave succeeded in exchanging a few words with her, as she was guardedonly by the dejected Chamberlain and his halberdiers, but she seemed tohave taken, in its most strict and literal acceptation, the command tobe silent which she had received from the Queen; for, to the repeatedsigns of her grandson, she only replied by laying her finger on her lip.Dr. Lundin was not so reserved. Regret for the handsome gratuity, andfor the compulsory task of self-denial imposed on him, had grieved thespirit of that worthy officer and learned mediciner--"Even thus, myfriend," said he, squeezing the page's hand as he bade him farewell, "ismerit rewarded. I came to cure this unhappy Lady--and I profess she welldeserves the trouble, for, say what they will of her, she hath a mostwinning manner, a sweet voice, a gracious smile, and a most majesticwave of her hand. If she was not poisoned, say, my dear Master Roland,was that fault of mine, I being ready to cure her if she had?--and now Iam denied the permission to accept my well-earned honorarium--O Galen! OHippocrates! is the graduate's cap and doctor's scarlet brought to thispass! _Frustra fatigamus remediis aegros!_"
He wiped his eyes, stepped on the gunwale, and the boat pushed off fromthe shore, and went merrily across the lake, which was dimpled by thesummer wind. [Footnote: A romancer, to use a Scottish phrase, wants buta hair to make a tether of. The whole detail of the steward's supposedconspiracy against the life of Mary, is grounded upon an expression inone of her letters, which affirms, that Jasper Dryfesdale, one of theLaird of Lochleven's servants, had threatened to murder William Douglas,(for his share in the Queen's escape,) and averred that he would plant adagger in Mary's own heart.--CHALMER'S _Life of Queen Mary_, vol. i. p.278.]