CHAPTER III
THE ROOM OVER THE CHAPEL
From the battlements nothing further was observed. The sun journeyedwestward, and at last went down; but, to the eyes of all these eagersentinels, no living thing appeared in the neighbourhood of TunstallHouse.
When the night was at length fairly come, Throgmorton was led to a roomoverlooking an angle of the moat. Thence he was lowered with everyprecaution; the ripple of his swimming was audible for a brief period;then a black figure was observed to land by the branches of a willow andcrawl away among the grass. For some half-hour Sir Daniel and Hatchstood eagerly giving ear; but all remained quiet. The messenger had gotaway in safety.
Sir Daniel's brow grew clearer. He turned to Hatch.
"Bennet," he said, "this John Amend-All is no more than a man, ye see.He sleepeth. We will make a good end of him, go to!"
All the afternoon and evening, Dick had been ordered hither and thither,one command following another, till he was bewildered with the numberand the hurry of commissions. All that time he had seen no more of SirOliver, and nothing of Matcham; and yet both the priest and the younglad ran continually in his mind. It was now his chief purpose to escapefrom Tunstall Moat House as speedily as might be; and yet, before hewent, he desired a word with both of these.
At length, with a lamp in one hand, he mounted to his new apartment. Itwas large, low, and somewhat dark. The window looked upon the moat, andalthough it was so high up, it was heavily barred. The bed wasluxurious, with one pillow of down and one of lavender, and a redcoverlet worked in a pattern of roses. All about the walls werecupboards, locked and padlocked, and concealed from view by hangings ofdark-coloured arras. Dick made the round, lifting the arras, soundingthe panels, seeking vainly to open the cupboards. He assured himselfthat the door was strong and the bolt solid; then he set down his lampupon a bracket, and once more looked all around.
For what reason had he been given this chamber? It was larger and finerthan his own. Could it conceal a snare? Was there a secret entrance? Wasit, indeed, haunted? His blood ran a little chilly in his veins.
Immediately over him the heavy foot of a sentry trod the leads. Belowhim, he knew, was the arched roof of the chapel; and next to the chapelwas the hall. Certainly there was a secret passage in the hall; the eyethat had watched him from the arras gave him proof of that. Was it notmore than probable that the passage extended to the chapel, and, if so,that it had an opening in his room?
To sleep in such a place, he felt, would be foolhardy. He made hisweapons ready, and took his position in a corner of the room behind thedoor. If ill was intended, he would sell his life dear.
The sound of many feet, the challenge, and the password sounded overheadalong the battlements; the watch was being changed.
And just then there came a scratching at the door of the chamber; itgrew a little louder; then a whisper:
"Dick, Dick, it is I!"
Dick ran to the door, drew the bolt, and admitted Matcham. He was verypale, and carried a lamp in one hand and a drawn dagger in the other.
"Shut me the door," he whispered. "Swift, Dick! This house is full ofspies; I hear their feet follow me in the corridors; I hear them breathebehind the arras."
"Well, content you," returned Dick, "it is closed. We are safe for thiswhile, if there be safety anywhere within these walls. But my heart isglad to see you. By the mass, lad, I thought ye were sped! Where hidye?"
"It matters not," returned Matcham. "Since we be met, it matters not.But, Dick, are your eyes open? Have they told you of to-morrow'sdoings?"
"Not they," replied Dick. "What make they to-morrow?"
"To-morrow, or to-night, I know not," said the other, "but one time orother, Dick, they do intend upon your life. I had the proof of it; Ihave heard them whisper; nay, they as good as told me."
"Ay," returned Dick, "is it so? I had thought as much."
And he told him the day's occurrences at length.
When it was done, Matcham arose and began, in turn, to examine theapartment.
"No," he said, "there is no entrance visible. Yet 'tis a pure certaintythere is one. Dick, I will stay by you. An y'are to die, I will die withyou. And I can help--look! I have stolen a dagger--I will do my best!And meanwhile, an ye know of any issue, any sally-port we could getopened, or any window that we might descend by, I will most joyfullyface any jeopardy to flee with you."
"Jack," said Dick, "by the mass, Jack, y'are the best soul, and thetruest, and the bravest in all England! Give me your hand, Jack."
And he grasped the other's hand in silence.
"I will tell you," he resumed. "There is a window, out of which themessenger descended; the rope should still be in the chamber. 'Tis ahope."
"Hist!" said Matcham.
Both gave ear. There was a sound below the floor; then it paused, andthen began again.
"Some one walketh in the room below," whispered Matcham.
"Nay," returned Dick, "there is no room below; we are above the chapel.It is my murderer in the secret passage. Well, let him come; it shall gohard with him"; and he ground his teeth.
"Blow me the lights out," said the other. "Perchance he will betrayhimself."
They blew out both the lamps and lay still as death. The footfallsunderneath were very soft, but they were clearly audible. Several timesthey came and went; and then there was a loud jar of a key turning in alock, followed by a considerable silence.
Presently the steps began again, and then, all of a sudden, a chink oflight appeared in the planking of the room in a far corner. It widened;a trap-door was being opened, letting in a gush of light. They could seethe strong hand pushing it up; and Dick raised his cross-bow, waitingfor the head to follow.
But now there came an interruption. From a distant corner of the MoatHouse shouts began to be heard, and first one voice, and then several,crying aloud upon a name. This noise had plainly disconcerted themurderer, for the trap-door was silently lowered to its place, and thesteps hurriedly returned, passed once more close below the lads, anddied away in the distance.
Here was a moment's respite. Dick breathed deep, and then, and not tillthen, he gave ear to the disturbance which had interrupted the attack,and which was now rather increasing than diminishing. All about the MoatHouse feet were running, doors were opening and slamming, and still thevoice of Sir Daniel towered above all this bustle, shouting for"Joanna."
"Joanna!" repeated Dick. "Why, who the murrain should this be? Here isno Joanna, nor ever hath been. What meaneth it?"
Matcham was silent. He seemed to have drawn further away. But only alittle faint starlight entered by the window, and at the far end of theapartment, where the pair were, the darkness was complete.
"Jack," said Dick, "I wot not where ye were all day. Saw ye thisJoanna?"
"Nay," returned Matcham, "I saw her not."
"Nor heard tell of her?" he pursued.
The steps drew nearer. Sir Daniel was still roaring the name of Joannafrom the courtyard.
"Did ye hear of her?" repeated Dick.
"I heard of her," said Matcham.
"How your voice twitters! What aileth you?" said Dick. "'Tis a mostexcellent good fortune, this Joanna; it will take their minds from us."
"Dick," cried Matcham, "I am lost; we are both lost. Let us flee ifthere be yet time. They will not rest till they have found me. Or, see!let me go forth; when they have found me, ye may flee. Let me forth,Dick--good Dick, let me away!"
She was groping for the bolt, when Dick at last comprehended.
"By the mass!" he cried, "y'are no Jack; y'are Joanna Sedley; y'are themaid that would not marry me!"
The girl paused, and stood silent and motionless. Dick, too, was silentfor a little; then he spoke again.
"Joanna," he said, "y' 'ave saved my life, and I have saved yours; andwe have seen blood flow, and been friends and enemies--ay, and I took mybelt to thrash you; and all that time I thought ye were a boy. But nowdeath has me, and my time's out, and before I
die I must say this: Y'are the best maid and the bravest under heaven, and, if only I couldlive, I would marry you blithely; and, live or die, I love you."
She answered nothing.
"Come," he said, "speak up, Jack. Come, be a good maid, and say ye loveme!"
"Why, Dick," she cried, "would I be here?"
"Well, see ye here," continued Dick, "an we but escape whole we'llmarry; and an we're to die, we die, and there's an end on't. But nowthat I think, how found ye my chamber?"
"I asked it of Dame Hatch," she answered.
"Well, the dame's staunch," he answered; "she'll not tell upon you. Wehave time before us."
And just then, as if to contradict his words, feet came down thecorridor, and a fist beat roughly on the door.
"Here!" cried a voice. "Open, Master Dick; open!"
Dick neither moved nor answered.
"It is all over," said the girl; and she put her arms about Dick's neck.
One after another, men came trooping to the door. Then Sir Danielarrived himself, and there was a sudden cessation of the noise.
"Dick," cried the knight, "be not an ass. The Seven Sleepers had beenawake ere now. We know she is within there. Open, then, the door, man."
Dick was again silent.
"Down with it," said Sir Daniel. And immediately his followers fellsavagely upon the door with foot and fist. Solid as it was, and stronglybolted, it would soon have given way; but once more fortune interfered.Over the thunder-storm of blows the cry of a sentinel was heard; it wasfollowed by another; shouts ran along the battlements, shouts answeredout of the wood. In the first moment of alarm it sounded as if theforesters were carrying the Moat House by assault. And Sir Daniel andhis men, desisting instantly from their attack upon Dick's chamber,hurried to defend the walls.
"Now," cried Dick, "we are saved."
He seized the great old bedstead with both hands, and bent himself invain to move it.
"Help me, Jack. For your life's sake, help me stoutly!" he cried.
Between them, with a huge effort, they dragged the big frame of oakacross the room, and thrust it endwise to the chamber door.
"Ye do but make things worse," said Joanna, sadly. "He will then enterby the trap."
"Not so," replied Dick. "He durst not tell his secret to so many. It isby the trap that we shall flee. Hark! The attack is over. Nay, it wasnone!"
It had, indeed, been no attack; it was the arrival of another party ofstragglers from the defeat of Risingham that had disturbed Sir Daniel.They had run the gauntlet under cover of the darkness; they had beenadmitted by the great gate; and now, with a great stamping of hoofs andjingle of accoutrements and arms, they were dismounting in the court.
"He will return anon," said Dick. "To the trap!"
He lighted a lamp, and they went together into the corner of the room.The open chink through which some light still glittered was easilydiscovered, and, taking a stout sword from his small armoury, Dickthrust it deep into the seam, and weighed strenuously on the hilt. Thetrap moved, gaped a little, and at length came widely open. Seizing itwith their hands, the two young folk threw it back. It disclosed a fewsteps descending, and at the foot of them, where the would-be murdererhad left it, a burning lamp.
"Now," said Dick, "go first and take the lamp. I will follow to closethe trap."
So they descended one after the other, and as Dick lowered the trap, theblows began once again to thunder on the panels of the door.