A Ladder of Swords: A Tale of Love, Laughter and Tears

  VII

  A fortnight later, of a Sunday morning, the Lord Chamberlain ofEngland was disturbed out of his usual equanimity. As he was treadingthe rushes in the presence-chamber of the royal palace at Greenwich,his eye busy in inspection--for the Queen would soon pass on her wayto chapel--his head nodding right and left to archbishop, bishop,councillors of state, courtiers, and officers of the crown, he hearda rude noise at the door leading into the antechapel, where the Queenreceived petitions from the people. Hurrying thither in shockedanxiety, he found a curled gentleman of the guard, resplendent in redvelvet and gold chains, in peevish argument with a boisterousseigneur of a bronzed, good-humored face, who urged his entrance tothe presence-chamber.

  The Lord Chamberlain swept down upon the pair like a flamingo withwings outspread. "God's death! what means this turmoil? Her Majestycomes hither!" he cried, and scowled upon the intruder, who nowstepped back a little, treading on the toes of a huge sailor with asmall head and bushy red hair and beard.

  "Because her Majesty comes I come also," the seigneur interposed,grandly.

  "What is your name and quality?"

  "Yours first, and I shall know how to answer."

  "I am the Lord Chamberlain of England."

  "And I, my lord, am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel--and butler to theQueen."

  "Where is Rozel?" asked my Lord Chamberlain.

  The face of the seigneur suddenly flushed, his mouth swelled, andthen burst.

  "_Where is Rozel!_" he cried, in a voice of rage. "Where is Rozel!Have you heard of Hugh Pawlett?" he asked, with a huge contempt--"ofGovernor Hugh Pawlett?" The Lord Chamberlain nodded. "Then ask hisExcellency when next you see him, Where is Rozel? But take goodcounsel and keep your ignorance from the Queen," he added. "She hasno love for stupids."

  "You say you are butler to the Queen? Whence came your commission?"said the Lord Chamberlain, smiling now; for Lempriere's words andways were of some simple world where odd folk lived, and his boyishvanity disarmed anger.

  "By royal warrant and heritage. And of all of the Jersey Isle, I onlymay have dove-cotes, which is the everlasting thorn in the side of DeCarteret of St. Ouen's. Now will you let me in, my lord?" he said,all in a breath.

  At a stir behind him the Lord Chamberlain turned, and with ahorrified exclamation hurried away, for the procession from theQueen's apartments had already entered the presence-chamber:gentlemen, barons, earls, knights of the garter, in brave attire,with bare heads and sumptuous calves. The Lord Chamberlain hadscarce got to his place when the Chancellor, bearing the seals in ared silk purse, entered, flanked by two gorgeous folk with the royalsceptre and the sword of state in a red scabbard, all flourished withfleurs-de-lis. Moving in and out among them all was the Queen's fool,who jested and shook his bells under the noses of the highest.

  It was an event of which the Seigneur of Rozel told to his dying day:that he entered the presence-chamber of the royal palace of Greenwichat the same instant as the Queen--"Rozel at one end, Elizabeth at theother, and all the world at gaze," he was wont to say, with loudguffaws. But what he spoke of afterwards with preposterous ease andpride was neither pride nor ease at the moment; for the Queen's eyesfell on him as he shoved past the gentlemen who kept the door. For aninstant she stood still, regarding him intently, then turned quicklyto the Lord Chamberlain in inquiry, and with a sharp reproof, too, inher look. The Lord Chamberlain fell on his knee, and with low,uncertain voice explained the incident.

  Elizabeth again cast her eyes towards Lempriere, and the court,following her example, scrutinized the seigneur in varied styles ofinsolence or curiosity. Lempriere drew himself up with a slashingattempt at composure, but ended by flaming from head to foot, hisface shining like a cock's comb, the perspiration standing out likebeads upon his forehead, his eyes gone blind with confusion. That wasbut for a moment, however, and then, Elizabeth's look being slowlywithdrawn from him, a curious smile came to her lips, and she said tothe Lord Chamberlain, "Let the gentleman remain."

  The Queen's fool tripped forward and tapped the Lord Chamberlain onthe shoulder. "Let the gentleman remain, gossip, and see you thatremaining he goeth not like a fly with his feet in the porridge."With a flippant step before the seigneur, he shook his bells at him."Thou shalt stay, Nuncio, and, staying, speak the truth. So doing,you shall be as noted as a comet with three tails. You shallprove that man was made in God's image. So lift thy head andsneeze--sneezing is the fashion here; but see that thou sneeze notthy head off as they do in Tartary. 'Tis worth remembrance."

  Rozel's self-importance and pride had returned. The blood came backto his heart, and he threw out his chest grandly; he even turned toBuonespoir, whose great figure might be seen beyond the door, andwinked at him. For a moment he had time to note the doings of theQueen and her courtiers with wide-eyed curiosity. He saw the Earl ofLeicester, exquisite, haughty, gallant, fall upon his knee, andElizabeth slowly pull off her glove and with a none too gracious lookgive him her hand to kiss, the only favor of the kind granted thatday. He saw Cecil, her minister, introduce a foreign noble, whopresented his letters. He heard the Queen speak in a half-dozendifferent languages, to people of various lands, and was smitten withdue amazement.

  But as Elizabeth came slowly down the hall, her white silk gownfronted with great pearls flashing back the light, a marchionessbearing the train, the crown on her head glittering as she turnedfrom right to left, her wonderful collar of jewels sparkling on heruncovered bosom, suddenly the mantle of black, silver-shotted silkupon her shoulders became to Lempriere's heated senses a judge'srobe, and Elizabeth the august judge of the world. His eyes blindedagain, for it was as if she were bearing down upon him. Certainly shewas looking at him now, scarce heeding the courtiers who fell totheir knees on either side as she came on. The red doublets of thefifty Gentlemen Pensioners--all men of noble families proud to dothis humble yet distinguished service--with battle-axes, on eitherside of her, seemed to Lempriere on the instant like an army withbanners threatening him. From the antechapel behind him came the cryof the faithful subjects who, as the gentlemen-at-arms fell back fromthe doorway, had but just caught a glimpse of her Majesty--"Long liveElizabeth!"

  It seemed to Lempriere that the Gentlemen Pensioners must beat himdown as they passed, yet he stood riveted to the spot. And, indeed,it was true that he was almost in the path of her Majesty. He wasaware that two gentlemen touched him on the shoulder and bade himretire; but the Queen motioned to them to desist. So, with the eyesof the whole court on him again, and Elizabeth's calm, curious gazefixed, as it were, on his forehead, he stood still till the flamingGentlemen Pensioners were within a few feet of him and thebattle-axes were almost over his head.

  The great braggart was no better now than a wisp of grass in thewind, and it was more than homage that bent him to his knees as theQueen looked him full in the eyes. There was a moment's absolutesilence, and then she said, with cold condescension:

  "By what privilege do you seek our presence?"

  "I am Raoul Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, your high Majesty," saidthe choking voice of the Jerseyman.

  The Queen raised her eyebrows. "The man seems French. You come fromFrance?"

  Lempriere flushed to his hair--the Queen did not know him, then!"From Jersey Isle, your sacred Majesty."

  "Jersey Isle is dear to us. And what is your warrant here?"

  "I am butler to your Majesty, by your gracious Majesty's patent, andI alone may have dove-cotes in the isle; and I only may have theperquage--on your Majesty's patent. It is not even held by DeCarteret of St. Ouen's."

  The Queen smiled as she had not smiled since she entered thepresence-chamber. "God preserve us," she said, "that I should nothave recognized you! It is, of course, our faithful Lempriere ofRozel."

  The blood came back to the seigneur's heart, but he did not dare lookup yet, and he did not see that Elizabeth was in rare mirth at hiswords; and though she had no ken or memory of him, she read hisnature and was mindful to humor him. Beckoning Leicester to her
side,she said a few words in an undertone, to which he replied with asmile more sour than sweet.

  "Rise, Monsieur of Rozel," she said.

  The seigneur stood up, and met her gaze faintly.

  "And so, proud seigneur, you must needs flout e'en our LordChamberlain, in the name of our butler with three dove-cotes and theperquage. In sooth thy office must not be set at naught lightly--notwhen it is flanked by the perquage. By my father's doublet, but thatfrieze jerkin is well cut; it suits thy figure well--I would that myLord Leicester here had such a tailor. But this perquage--I doubt notthere are those here at court who are most ignorant of its force andmoment. My Lord Chamberlain, my Lord Leicester, Cecil here--confusionsits in their faces. The perquage, which my father's patent approved,has served us well, I doubt not, is a comfort to our realm and adignity befitting the wearer of that frieze jerkin. Speak to theirbetter understanding, Monsieur of Rozel."

  "Speak, Nuncio, and you shall have comforts, and be given inmarriage, multiple or singular, even as I," said the fool, andtouched him on the breast with his bells.

  Lempriere had recovered his heart, and now was set full sail in thecourse he had charted for himself in Jersey. In large words andlarger manner he explained most innocently the sacred privilege of_perquage_.

  "And how often have you used the right, friend?" asked Elizabeth.

  "But once in ten years, your noble Majesty."

  "When last?"

  "But yesterday a week, your universal Majesty."

  Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Who was the criminal, what theoccasion?"

  "The criminal was one Buonespoir, the occasion our coming hither towait upon the Queen of England and our Lady of Normandy, for such isyour well-born Majesty to your loyal Jersiais." And thereupon heplunged into an impeachment of De Carteret of St. Ouen's, andstumbled through a blunt, broken story of the wrongs and the sorrowsof Michel and Angele and the doings of Buonespoir in their behalf.

  Elizabeth frowned and interrupted him. "I have heard of thisBuonespoir, monsieur, through others than the Seigneur of St.Ouen's. He is an unlikely squire of dames. There's a hill in mykingdom has long bided his coming. Where waits the rascal now?"

  "In the antechapel, your Majesty."

  "By the rood!" said Elizabeth, in sudden amazement. "In myantechapel, forsooth!"

  She looked beyond the doorway and saw the great, red-topped figure ofBuonespoir, his good-natured, fearless face, his shock of hair, hisclear blue eye--he was not thirty feet away.

  "He comes to crave pardon for his rank offences, your benignantMajesty," said Lempriere.

  The humor of the thing rushed upon the Queen. Never before were twosuch naive folk at court. There was not a hair of duplicity in theheads of the two, and she judged them well in her mind.

  "I will see you stand together--you and your henchman," she said toRozel, and moved on to the antechapel, the court following. Standingstill just inside the doorway, she motioned Buonespoir to come near.The pirate, unconfused, undismayed, with his wide, blue, asking eyes,came forward and dropped upon his knees. Elizabeth motioned Lempriereto stand a little apart.

  Thereupon she set a few questions to Buonespoir, whose replies,truthfully given, showed that he had no real estimate of his crimes,and was indifferent to what might be their penalties. He had no moralsense on the one hand, on the other, no fear.

  Suddenly she turned to Lempriere again. "You came, then, to speak forthis Michel de la Foret, the exile--?"

  "And for the demoiselle Angele Aubert, who loves him, your Majesty."

  "I sent for this gentleman exile a fortnight ago--" She turnedtowards Leicester inquiringly.

  "I have the papers here, your Majesty," said Leicester, and gave apacket over.

  "And where have you De la Foret?" said Elizabeth.

  "In durance, your Majesty."

  "When came he hither?"

  "Three days gone," answered Leicester, a little gloomily, for therewas acerbity in Elizabeth's voice.

  Elizabeth seemed about to speak, then dropped her eyes upon thepapers and glanced hastily at their contents.

  "You will have this Michel de la Foret brought to my presence as fastas horse can bring him, my lord," she said to Leicester. "This rascalof the sea--Buonespoir--you will have safe bestowed till I recall hisexistence again," she said to a captain of men-at-arms; "and you,Monsieur of Rozel, since you are my butler, will get you to mydiningroom and do your duty--the office is not all perquisites," sheadded, smoothly. She was about to move on when a thought seemed tostrike her, and she added, "This mademoiselle and her father whom youbrought hither--where are they?"

  "They are even within the palace grounds, your imperial Majesty,"answered Lempriere.

  "You will summon them when I bid you," she said to the seigneur; "andyou shall see that they have comforts and housing as befits theirstation," she added to the Lord Chamberlain.

  So did Elizabeth, out of a whimsical humor, set the highest in theland to attend upon unknown, unconsidered exiles.