V
The Princess Rohtraut of Croy, Tuillinghem and Sluijs, Duchess ofMuijden and Lady Dacre, dowager of the North, was a vociferous oldGerman woman who passed for being ill to deal with. She would cry atthe top of her voice orders that it was very difficult to understand,and, when her servants did not swiftly carry these out, she would strikeat them with the black stick that she leaned upon when she hobbled fromplace to place. This she did so swiftly that it was a marvel; for shewas short and stout. She could not move without groans and wheezing andcatching at the corners of tables and the backs of chairs. Neverthelessshe would so strike with her stick at her servants, her stewards, thegentlemen attendant upon her son, the Lord Dacre, or even at knights,lawyers, or lords that frequented her son. She had told the King,Richard III, that he would come to no good end; she had told the Queen,Elizabeth Woodville, that she was an idle fool, and King Henry VII thathis face was as sour as his wine. For that King, being a niggard,served very sour wine to his guests. Richard III had laughed at her;the Queen Elizabeth Woodville had gone crying with rage to King EdwardIV. King Henry VII had affected not to hear her, which was the moreprudent way. For her father, the Duke of Croy, who still lived, thougha very ancient man of more than ninety, was yet a very potent andsovereign lord in Flanders, Almain, and towards Burgundy. Seventythousand troops of all arms he could put into the field either againstor for the French King, and eighty armed vessels upon the sea. TheEmperor of Rome was afraid of him, for he was very malicious and hadgreat weight with all the Electors from Westphalia to Brunswick and theRhine. Moreover, though he himself rode no longer afield, his son, thebrother of the Princess Rohtraut, was a very cunning, determined, andhardy commander. And that was to say nothing of the powers of theDacres in England.
So those Kings and Queens did what they could least to mark theoutrageous demeanour of this Princess. They did no more than as if shehad been a court jester, and affected to wonder that she had once been abeautiful and young Princess, for love of whom her husband, then asimple esquire, had languished longer than need be in prison in Almain.Yet so it was.
This Princess spent the winter of most years, latterly, in London forthe benefit of the climate. The summers until lately she had beenaccustomed to spend in Bothal Castle or Cockley Park Tower, which shehired of Sir Robert Ogle, who had lately been made Lord Ogle of Ogle.Upon the death of her husband she had inherited much land near Morpethand she considered that she would have had much more had not the LordLovell, lately dead, seized so much of it by reason of his marriage withthe Lady Rohtraut, the Princess's daughter. The lawsuits about theselands were not yet concluded, and it was these that the knights ofCullerford and Haltwhistle were seeking to force from the Lady Rohtrautby keeping her imprisoned. The Princess had, however, by no meansabandoned her claim to these lands and it was to prosecute her lawsuitsthat, each summer, she came to the North. She was otherwise a very richwoman, having many coronets, chains with great pearls, rubies, ferezets,silks, hangings, furniture and much gold. Moreover, she was for evertrafficking in parcels of land with the Ogles, the Bartrams, theMitfords and other families round the town of Morpeth. In that way shehad both occupation and profit, and she harried the leisure of theseveral receivers of her son, the Lord Dacre whom the King kept inLondon.
Now, upon a day, being the second day in July of the year 1486, thislady sat upon a chair resembling a high throne upon three stone stepscovered with a carpet. She had behind her yet another carpet thatmounted the wall and came forward over her head in the manner of a dais.This old lady inclined always to the oldest fashions.
Thus, upon her round, old head she had an immense structure that benther face forward as if it had been that of our Father at Rome beneaththe triple tiara. It was made of two pillows of scarlet velvet, coveredwith a net of fine gold chains uniting large pearls. Such a thing hadnot been seen in England for two or three score years, but the ladies ather father's court had worn them when she had been a girl. For the restof her, she was dressed in black wool with a girdle, from which therehung ten or a dozen keys of silver, steel, or gold inlaid with steel.
The room was fair in size, but all of stone and very dark because of thesmallness of the windows. The roof went up into a peak. All painted thestone walls were, with woods and leaves, with fowlers among treessetting their nets, and maidens shaking down fruits, and men and womenbathing in pools, and the vaults of the ceiling showed the history ofthe coffin of St. Cuthbert. Each history was divided from the other byribs of stone painted fairly in scarlet with green scrolls. There youmight see how the good monks set out from Holy Island, or how the coffinfloated of itself, or how the women called one to the other about theDun Cow. This room without doubt had formerly been some council chamberor judgment room of the Prince Bishop's in old days. But its purposewas by now forgotten, and the Lord Dacre had bought the house lately,for he considered the practice of living always in castles to bebarbarous and uncomfortable. It was his purpose to pull down this oldstone house and build there a fair palace where he might dwell incomfort. But, for the time being, it suited his mother well enough todwell there.
She was sitting in the chair like a throne, leaning forward and perusinga great book of accounts held up to her by an old fellow who kneltbefore her in black cloths with the badge of the Dacres upon oneshoulder and the silver portcullis of Croy upon the other. The old ladypuzzled over this tale of capons, pence, eggs, bolls of wheat, oats andthe rest that her tenants owed her. She thought it was not enough. Andconsequently messengers came in from the Prince Bishop, from the Dean,from the Chapter, down to the sacristan, to ask how it was with herhealth after her long journey from London city to Durham. She had comethere the night before. And one brought her the offering of a deer,another of two fat geese, a third a salmon, a fourth a basket ofstrawberries grown beneath a southern wall. And, as each of thesethings was brought before her, she would lean forward and look upon it,and so she would lose her place in the book of accounts and scoldperpetually at the old man that held it up for her.
In one of the deep, narrow window spaces stood a notable man of forty,stout and grave, with a brown beard cut squarely, and wearing a veryrich blue cloak and blue round hat with a great white plume. He saidnothing at all, but pared his finger-nails with a little knife. Helooked between whiles out upon the high, wooded banks of the Wear thatconfronted his gaze across the river, and were all ablaze with thesunlight: once the Princess Rohtraut turned her head stiffly to havesight of him. But he was standing too far in the depth of the window,her chair being between one window and the other. So she cried out in arough voice that was at once insulting and indulgent:
"This is very easy spying for King Henry." Then she chuckled and added,"Do you hear me, Sir Bertram of Lyonesse? This is very easy spying forKing Henry."
He made no answer to this gibe, but instead he pushed open the windowand carefully surveyed the deep gorge beneath him, for this place wasnew to him. The night before they had come in by torch-light, over asteep bridge above a black river. The gate into the tower had beenopened for them only after long parleying, but he had perceived wallswell planned and formidable, great heights in the blackness, and steep,up-and-down streets amongst which they went between strong, stonehouses. But he had been aware that this city of Durham was a verystrong place.
He had been set to sleep that night in a room that faced inwards, andrising in the morning he had seen that just before his face were thegreat stones of the wall surrounding and fortifying the cathedral.Beneath his gaze were two great towers, pierced with meurtrieres, whichare slits through which arrows may be shot. Between these two towerswas a gateway which he doubted not had a double portcullis, devices fordropping huge stones and rafters upon any enemy that should breakthrough the first portcullis and be captured by the second, so that theywould be like rats in a trap. By craning his head out of his window hecould see, further along, both to his right and to his left, tall towersin this in
ner wall, each tower having the appearance of an arch let intoits face. But this Sir Bertram was an engineer well skilled in theplans of fortresses, and he knew that what appeared to be arches led upto two slanting holes in each tower, and that the slant of each hole wasdirected with a fell and cunning purpose. For, to each tower foot asteep and narrow street of the town came up. So, if any enemy shouldhave won the town itself and should come up those streets, then those inthe tower would set running down these slanting holes balls of stoneweighing two, three or four hundred pounds. By the direction of theslantings, those balls of stone would run bounding down those narrowstreets and cause dreadful manglings, maimings and death, principally bythe breaking of legs.
By those and other signs, this Sir Bertram knew that here, even withinthe walled town was a fortress almost impregnable and dreadful toassault. This Bishop might well be a proud and disdainful prelate. Hewas safe, not only from foreign foes, but from his own townsmen, whichwas not so often the way with Bishops. For it is the habit of townsmento be at perpetual strife with their Bishops, seeking to break in onthem by armed force and to make the Bishops give up their rights andrents and fees in the towns, which if the Bishops could not prevent wasapt to render them much the poorer. But at this Prince Bishop thetownsmen could never come, so strong was this citadel within the town.
So he would become ever richer, not only for that reason but because ofthe great shrines of St. Cuthbert and of the Venerable Bede. To these,year in, year out, at all seasons and in all weathers, thousandsresorted with offerings and tolls and tributes.
So this Sir Bertram perceived it would be no easy thing to humble thisPalatine Prince even though the Percy had reported to King Henry VIIthat he could smoke out Bishop Sherwood at very little cost.
It was true that, as the Percy thought, King Henry VII heartily desiredthe downfall of this Bishop Sherwood. He had supported RichardCrookback and loved little King Henry. And indeed, Sir Bertram knew,for he had the King's private thoughts, that the King would verywillingly see the downfall not only of the Bishop Sherwood but of thiswhole see of Durham. For it was contrary to that Prince's idea ofkingship to have within his realm a Palatine county with a Bishop therehaving such sovereign powers that it was as if there was no King at allin the realm. But, to be rid of the bishopric, even King Henry thoughtwould be impossible since it would raise against him all the Church andget him called heretic and interdicted as King John had been. So thatthe King would very willingly have had the Percy to act as his catspawand make civil war upon Bishop Sherwood and so drive him out of theland. That might impoverish and weaken the see a little, but not much.For a Bishop is not like a temporal baron; though Sherwood be cast outanother must succeed him and have all his rights and grow as strong orstronger.
It was upon these things that this Sir Bertram--a cool and quiet knight,loving King Henry and beloved by him above most men--meditated whilstthat old lady cast up her accounts, and he trimmed his finger nails.So, when he leaned out of that bright window, he perceived how steeplyperched was the house in which he was. Sheer down to the river ranrocky paths with here and there a tree. At the bottom was a high wallwell battlemented and slit for archers to hold it. The river ran veryswiftly. On it there was a fisherman casting his nets from an anchoredboat. The boat tugged and tore so at its chain that even the practisedfisherman had difficulty to stand. So the river must be very swift, andthere would be no mining there.
On the other side of the river the banks rose as steeply and wereclothed with trees. There cannon might be set against the town. But toshoot so far they must be great guns and the Percy had none of these,nor were there any large enough nearer than Windsor. If the Percy hadthem, it was difficult to think that he could drag them there intoposition, and all that would take a year or two years. So, this SirBertram, who had been sent there by the King to advise him, considered,as his first thoughts, that if the Earl of Northumberland attacked thisBishop Palatine he might take the city, but hardly the inner citadel,and never at all the castle within. Or, if the King lent him cannon, hemight break the wall of the citadel.
On the other hand, having the Bishop shut up in the castle the Earlmight starve him out--but this he could not do unless all the countryround were friendly to the Earl and hated the Bishop. Without thatthere would be no doing it. And the same might be said of any projectfor dragging cannon on to those heights. For the cannon must be broughtup narrow valleys where ambushes very easily could lie, and that couldnot be thought of in a hostile country.
The Percy had reported himself to King Henry as being cock of all theNorth parts; if that were true, he might very well be loosed upon theBishop. But from conversations that he had had with the Lords Dacre andOgle, as well as with the Abbot of Alnwick and lesser men, this SirBertram thought it was possible that the Earl Percy was not so strongnor yet so beloved in those parts as he would have the King believe. Inthat case, if he relied upon this Earl and this Earl's faith, the Kingmight get great discredit and no profit either in those parts orelsewhere. It was in order to study and inquire into these things thatthis cautious Sir Bertram was come into those parts. So he leaned uponthe sill of the window and looked down upon the river that appeared twohundred feet below.
After he had watched the river and reflected a long time, for he was aslow thinker, adding point to point in his mind, to have as it were astrong platform on which to build, he heard a woman's voice say highly:
"I tell you, ah, gentle Princess, that there is no man more hated inthese North parts, and if you will lend your sanction and your wealth wemay speedily have down not only these robbers that hold your daughterimprisoned by his encouragement but also that flail of the Northhimself."
Sir Bertram turned slowly on his elbow, leaning upon the sill and lookedinto the room. There he saw a monstrous beautiful young lady thatkneeled with her voluminous rich gown all about her and held out her twohands towards the Princess whom he could not see. The Princess did notspeak, and that lady held her peace, so that knight moved softly anddeliberately forward, and when he was near the younger lady he askedher:
"Even who is this man who is so hated in the North parts?"
That young lady looked at him with astonished lowering and resentfuleyes, as much as to say, who was he that he should ask her such aquestion? The Princess had been leaning back in her chair with bothelbows upon the arms and a hand caressing her chin, for all the world asif she had been an old man considering a knotty point. But, when shesaw Sir Bertram and heard his voice, she said hastily and harshly:
"Get up, child and your ladyship. It is not decent that a lady of highrank and my kinswoman should be spoken to kneeling by a Cornish knightof nowhere and yesterday, God help me, if he be ten times a King's spy!"And so she bade the lady, who was the Lady Margaret of Glororem, tofetch a stool from a corner of the room and set it by her throne on thestep. And there she had the Lady Margaret sit beside her and that SirBertram fetch off his hat with the large feather and so stand beforethem. "For," said she to that knight, "you may well be the King'scompanion, but in this place the King's writ does not run and I am aroyal Princess and this is my cousin and niece."
It was nonsense and a tyranny, but Sir Bertram did it with calmness. Hecared little about forms when there was news to be had that could helphim and only one old woman and one very beautiful and proud one beforewhom to abase himself. So he made an apology, saying that he had notknown that lady to be of such high rank, she being in the dim room andnot over plain to his eyes which had been gazing on the sunlight. Hebent one knee and stood there composedly with his hat in his handsbefore him.
Then that old Princess, who had affected anger affected now acomplaisance towards that gentleman. She spoke as follows, formally tothe Lady Margaret:
"This Sir Bertram of Lyonesse," she said,--"though God knows whereLyonesse is; I have heard it is some poor islands in Scilly or Cornwallor where you will,--so this Sir Bertram of Lyonesse is the King'scommissioner to inquire into the s
tate of these North parts. And if youwill ask me what make of a thing a commissioner is, I will answer youthat he is what you and I and other simple folk do call a spy. But theKing calls him his commissioner and that is very well."
She looked upon Sir Bertram maliciously to see if he winced. But thatknight turned his face composedly to the Lady Margaret.
"Ah, gentle lady," said he, "you may count that for truth. I am here tofind out what I can."
The old Princess liked this Sir Bertram, in truth, very well. Shecounted him so low, on account of his obscure and distant birth and hisformer poverty, that she could jest with him as if he had been a peasantboy. She considered English lords as of so low a rank against her ownthat she thought not much about them, one with another, except may be itwas the Dacres and their kin. So she was very glad to keep this SirBertram, if she could do it without trouble or expense, and have someamusement from it.
She turned upon the Lady Margaret and said again:
"You must know that, though in a concealed manner, this Sir Bertram isof great worth in the counsels of King Henry VII. Why this should beso, God knows, for one says one thing and one will say another. But soit is; in all matters in which a king may be advised this new knightrules the King."
Then again Sir Bertram looked upon the Lady Margaret:
"Ah, gentle lady," he said, "to dispel what may appear of mystery inthis royal Princess's account of me, let me say this--for I would nothave you think evil of me: I have twice saved this King's life, once bydiscovering assassins sent to murder him in France before he was Kingand once, since, at Windsor where I caught by the wrist a man with aknife that came behind him when he walked in the gardens. And I havefarmed the King's private lands to greater profit than came to himbefore and, having studied the art of fortifying of a pupil of the monkOlberitz that made most of the strong castles of France, I have designedor strengthened successfully certain strong places for this King. If Icould say I had saved this King's life in gallant battles I would rathersay it, for it would gain me greater honour in your sight. But I amrather a man of the exchequer board than of the tented field. It is forcaution, defence and prudence that the King trusts me rather than forthings more gallant that should stir your pulse in the recital. I wishit were the other way, but that is not the truth of it."
"Well, it is true what this knight says," the old Princess confirmedhim. "He has twice saved the King's life by caution and has increasedthe King's gear and so on. Now he is sent here as the King's spy--theKing's reconciler or the King's trumpeter or what you will. For hismission is to take a survey of these North parts first and then to proveto them that the King is a mild, loving, gracious and economicalsovereign."
"Well, that is my mission," Sir Bertram said to the Lady Margaret, "andI hope I may do it."
"I will tell you what I think of it," the Lady Margaret said then, "assoon as I have your opinion on certain words I said two nights ago toHenry Percy, my cousin, Earl of Northumberland."
"I shall hear them very gladly," Sir Bertram answered.
Then, in her own way, the old Princess exposed all these matters to SirBertram of Lyonesse, how certain filthy rogues had taken prisoner herdaughter Rohtraut, and the rest. Sir Bertram had heard all that before.The King had ordered him to travel to the North with the Princess ofCroy, protecting her the better with his train and bearing a share ofher expenses, so that he might the better make out the affairs of theDacres, what was their wealth, who resorted to them, and whether theyseemed to conspire with other rebels. And, upon the road, in threevarious towns, three delayed messengers had met the Princess of Croy,coming from that very Lady Margaret with broad letters in which she toldthe story of the things that passed at Castle Lovell. So Sir Bertramhad heard most of the tale before, nevertheless he heard it very gladlyagain, more particularly as the Lady Margaret corrected the old Princesshere and there and made things the plainer.
It was a very long congress that they held in that room with the vaultedceiling and the painted walls, that were all sprays of leaves and darkgreen boskage with the figures of men and women in scarlets and whitesand blues, holding bows and fowling nets and fish nets and falcons.For, when the Princess had told that story she was impatient to know,but with sarcastic and hard words, what this adviser of the King wouldadvise her to do. For her own part, she said, it was her purpose to gowith a small train, and unarmed, up to that Castle Lovell and in at thedoor. And she did not think it was those robbers who would withstand herwhen she set free her daughter, opening the door of her prison with herown hands, and so leading her out into the light of day and so there toDurham, where she might dwell till justice was done about the lands andother things that were in dispute.
The Lady Margaret said she was very glad to hear this, for she had beenafraid that the Princess had too much displeasure against her daughter,seeing that in fifteen years she had not spoken to her or written broadletters.
The Princess erected her old, round head stiffly, with the pillows uponit, and exclaimed that it was not the fashion of their royal house toquarrel with its daughters or to do less than decency demanded for theirrescue and sustenance. She would not wish that Lady Rohtraut to dwellin her house and at her charges for ever, for she must have her duetrain and estate, and that would make a great charge. But, until shewere set up in her own lands and had her wealth again, that Princesswould there maintain her and her train.
The Lady Margaret said again that she was very glad of it, and she wascertain that those robbers would very quickly release the Princess'sdaughter. For they would fear the might of the Dacres and the Duke ofCroy with his tall ships, his cannon, and his thousands of men thatwould come by sea and burn that Castle.
It was at that that Sir Bertram said that the King of England would notvery willingly seE Flemings and Almains landing in his dominion; but theLady Margaret might be certain that that King would see justice done tothat injured lady by his own knights and the terror of his name.
Then the old Princess scowled upon both that knight and the lady sofiercely that her eyes grew red and dreadful. She smote her breast withthe handle of the black crutch that dangled from her wrist and cried:
"Mutter Gottes! By the mother of God! It is not the King of Englandnor my father, the Duke of Croy, that shall go to that Castle but Ialone and _bij Gott_! It is at my wrath that the knees of these robbersshall knock together and the keys fall from their hands."
Then the Lady Margaret said that that might well be the case and SirBertram said that so it would be much better. The old Princess bent herbrows upon that knight and asked him, jesting bitterly, if he had anybetter advice to give her. He said that he had none, but that he wouldvery gladly hear what Henry, Earl Percy, had had to say to the LadyMargaret and she to him and also something of Sir Paris Lovell, thatwell-esteemed lording.
The Lady Margaret told him very clearly all that she knew, and thatknight considered her to be as sensible as she was fair. When she toldhim of the disappearing of her true love and of the rumours that weretold against him he had a pensive air; but when she told him of thePercy's high words of how he was minded to break the great lords of theNorth and that that was the King's mind, Sir Bertram frowned heavily.When she said that it was the duty of great lords not to support tooreadily a new King that they had set up, nor too abjectly to obey him orlavishly fawn upon him, that knight's eyebrows went up, for this was anew thought to him. And so, whilst she recited to him the history ofthis realm of England as she had done to the Percy, he continued withhis left hand behind his back holding his blue hat with the whitefeather and his right hand to his mouth whilst he hit the knuckles andreflected.
The old Princess of Croy said that all that the Lady Margaret utteredwas nonsense; the truth of the matter was that all the English and theirlords were murderers and wallowers in blood, slaying their kings withoutreason or pity or the fear of God, but like hogs fighting at a trough.
When she was done Sir Bertram took down his hand from his mouth
andsmoothed his beard. He said that if that was the mind of the Northernlords, though it was a new thought to him, he need quarrel little withit. For, though he might need to reflect further upon the principle,yet undoubtedly the case of King Richard III had gone in favour of theLady Margaret. He was a King set up by certain lords and pulled downagain when they found him evil. And, as far as the practice went, hewould be satisfied to have that the touchstone for King Henry VII. Forhe was certain that that King would prove a dread lord benign, lovingand prudent; all mighty lords and Princes of the North parts wouldgladly acknowledge--in the course of a year or two--that there had neverbeen so good a King and they would all of them very willingly supporthim. And, if King Henry VII did not prove as good a King as he thenreported, Sir Bertram, though he loved him, would very willingly see himcast down as Richard Crookback had been.
The Lady Margaret said she was very glad to hear it, and that upon suchterms they might soon be good friends. Then Sir Bertram smiled a littlein his beard and said:
"Ah, gentle lady, I perceive from certain words you have dropped thatyou did not think all these thoughts of the constitution of this realmof England by your lonely self." And so he perceived certain tears inthat lady's eyes.
"Nay, truly," she said, "I learned them of the lips of my lord, SirParis Lovell, in sweet devising and conversations that we had before hisdeath, and may God receive his poor soul and give him sweet rest inparadise! For such a gentle lording or one so wise in the reading ofbooks, anxious for the good of his estate, so fine of his fair body, sofierce in war and fightful in the breach, or so merciful to his foes,they being down, God never did make. Though he was of young age yet hehad fought in Italy, in Ferrara, in Venice, in France, in harness; inthis realm against the false Scots and upon fightful journeys intoScotland."
Sir Bertram lowered his head a little.
"I wish I had been such a one," he said. "This was a very gallantgentleman. I have heard other such reports of him."
The old Princess said:
"I did not know I had had such a swan and phoenix amongst mygrandchildren."
"Why, it is true, madam," Sir Bertram said. "You have lived too muchamongst the Dacres to know that you had this lording for part heir."
Now this house, built in the old days before that time, and all ofstone, like a fortress, had for its greater strength only one staircase.It wound round in a little space, all of thick stone, so it would bevery difficult for an enemy to come up it if it were at all defended.On the lower floor there were no windows at all towards the street, tomake it the stronger, and that staircase served all the rooms. This oldfashion struck the Lord Dacre as very barbarous, and he would have itall pulled down, with a big hall and hangings upon the ground floor andlarge square windows with carvings on them, as was the pleasanterfashion of London and that new day. The paintings, too, in that room hewould have whitened over, and the stone ceilings covered in with woodand beams, that should be bossed and carved and gilded and with coats ofarms. But, for that time, so it was, and the staircase came up from thestreet.
Now it happened that, below, the door into the street was open, and afisherman owing a tithe of fish for that Princess's table stood beforeit offering fish. The old steward had gone to him and complained thathis fish and trout, eels and lampreys, were not fine enough to setbefore that Princess. Much of this could be heard in that room, and thencame the sounds of the feet of a company of horse and the clank ofarmour and loud knockings upon the gate that went into the cathedralprecincts and voices crying out and answering. With one thing andanother none of those three could hear a word that there they uttered.
So the Princess was angry and clapped her hands for an old woman to comethat had a white clout hanging down before her chin, for all the worldas if it were a beard. The Princess bade take that fisherman into thekitchen and he to be given twenty stripes--for she had heard what passedbetween him and the steward--the door into the street was to be shut andnews to be brought her what knight that was that rode with his many upthe street. And if it was a knight of these parts and one she knew, sheordered him to come to her for she desired news of that countryside.
So that old woman, as best she could, went down the stairway sideways,for she was very old and fat and the stairway very little and winding.Then they heard her clamorously upbraiding alike old steward and thefisherman for the clamour they had made. Afterwards, the door was closedand there was peace. Then Sir Bertram looked gravely upon the LadyMargaret. And:
"Ah, gentle lady," said he, "from what I have observed of yourconversation I can tell you this much. You tell me that this Sir ParisLovell was a good friend to Richard Crookback that is dead. And I donot much blame him for it, since, as you tell me, that late King showedgreat courtesy here in the North parts when he was Duke of Gloucester.And well King Richard III knew how to bear courtesy when it suited him,though at other times he was a false tyrant. So that this Sir ParisLovell was a friend to Crookback and could have aided him against myKing if his father would have given him leave. But this his fatherwould not do and it is so much the better.
"And further you have reported to me that this Sir Paris Lovell has saidto you, in his own words: 'Now this King Richard is dead and alas forit! And we have another King of whom I, Sir Paris Lovell, know little,though I fear he may be a heavy ruler. But so as it is'--so you say youremember the words of this lord--'what I am minded to do,' said he, 'isto set up a chantry where masses may be said for the dead King's soul.If he had been alive I would have fought for him, but now I will see ifI may live at peace with Henry of Richmond for a King. For to be sure,what we need in these North parts is peace amongst ourselves, thathusbandry and mining and fisheries may flourish on my lands and others.And so one may make such a great journey into Scotland that the falseScots may not raise their heads for fifty years or more again. And sowe may have leisure to go upon our own affairs. Therefore I, Sir ParisLovell, for one will, if I may, live at peace with King Henry VII and behis subject if he will be bearable.' ... Now therefore I, Sir Bertram ofLyonesse..."
"God keep us," the old Princess cried out here, "you speak more like alawyer drawing a bond than a gallant knight."
"Madam and gentle Princess," Sir Bertram said, "I am more like a lawyerthan a gallant knight." And so he looked again gravely upon the LadyMargaret who, in her voluminous gown, sat on her little stool besidethat kind of throne and leaned her arm along its arm, folding her handstogether. She looked upon him earnestly and, after a time, she said:
"Good Knight, if you talk with me thus to make an agreement with me inthe gentle Lord Lovell's name, I tell you that can never be, for he isdead."
"Ah, gentle lady," Sir Bertram answered, "how can it be said that anyman is dead that is but three months away? These are strange and eviltimes. God knows I am no very learned knight and one not overwayswell-read in the lore of Holy Church. Yet nowadays strange things areseen, books not written by hand, Greek sorcerers, as I have heard,driven out of Byzantium by the Sultan, who press with new learningsacross Christendom. I have heard there was lately one new Greek Doctorat London called Molossos, or some such name, though I never came to seehim. And he had crabbed books of Greek and other sorceries. So, ifyour true love and lording be but ninety days away..."
"Sir," the Lady Margaret said, "my lord was never for so long a prisoneramongst the false Scots or the thieves of Rokehope without news to me.Surely they have killed him."
"I do not well know this country as you tell me; but let me ask youthis: if the false Scots had killed so great a lord would they not boastand say great things? Or if the thieves of Rokehope or the DebateableLands, or of those places that I do not know, had taken him, would theynot have made more attempts at his ransoming than once sending to CastleLovell? For you tell me that you think he was taken by Gib Elliott, asyou call him, or some such naughty villain, and that Gib Elliott sent toCastle Lovell for his ransom and that the Knights of Cullerford andHaltwhistle refused to give either white m
ail or black, as the sayingis. And maybe, as you think, they clapped that messenger into prisonfor greater secrecy, so that the countryside might have no news of yourlord but consider him gone away with warlocks and others. But, in thefirst place, is it to be thought that such a messenger could be comefrom that Elliott to Castle Lovell and no one know it? Would not theCastle Lovell bondsmen see him and report it to your bondsmen and so onthrough all the countryside? For what cause should that messenger havein going to Castle Lovell, to be very secret, though Cullerford andHaltwhistle should desire to keep it secret afterwards? Or again, whyshould Gib Elliott, if that be his name, slay the Lord of Castle Lovellmerely because Haltwhistle and Cullerford refused ransom or imprisonedhis messenger? Gib Elliott I take it, is as other men, and seekethmoney and how best he may have it. Moreover, Castle Lovell is a greatCastle, and cannot be taken in a little corner. I will tell you this:that within a fortnight that news was known to us in London Town; formerchant wrote it to merchant at the bottom of his bills, and packmanpassed the news on to packman from town to town."
"Say you so!" the old Princess called out at this. "Ye knew it and I didnot, yet ye never told me!"
"Madam and gentle Princess," Sir Bertram answered, "that is the duty ofthe servants of a King, to be all ears and no tongue. And partly thatis why I am here, for the King desired to know if such lawless robberiescould be done in any part of his realm. So now I am inquiring into thismatter. And this I will ask you, my fair and gentle lady--if that newswas known in London Town under a fortnight, should not that Gib Elliottknow it in a day or two days at the most, seeing that all thecountryside talked of that and nought else? For it is not every daythat a great lord dies and robbers seize upon his Castle and imprisonhis sad widow. So, very surely, this Gib Elliott would hear of thisthing or ever his messenger could come to Castle Lovell and back again.And then, very surely, he would send another messenger to some friend ofthe Young Lovell, to see if he might not get a ransom of them, since hisenemies held his Castle. Consider how that would be with a cunningrobber. Full surely he would have sent a messenger to yourself, ah,fair and gentle lady, to have money of you, if of none others?"
"Sir," the Lady Margaret interrupted him hotly and with a sort ofpassion--"I am very certain that that lord is dead. For three timesSaint Katharine, whom I love above other saints, appeared to me in agown of gold and damask and leaning upon her wheel. She looked upon mesorrowfully, as who should say my true love--for whom I had besoughtthat saint many times--was dead to me."
The Cornish knight raised his hand.
"God forbid," he said, "that I should say anything against that sweetmadam Katharine. Yet there are true dreams and false dreams and dreamswrongly interpreted. And of this I am instantly assured, that this LordLovell is held prisoner by no border raiders. It is not to be thoughtupon."
The Lady Margaret spoke to him contemptuously and almost with hatred, soher breast heaved as she bade him say then where he considered that thatlord should have been or should even then be hiding. The Cornish knightanswered slowly:
"Ah, gentle lady, what to believe I do not so well know. But this Iknow that I would rather believe in tales of sorcery in this matter thanin that idea of border robbers. For these are strange times ofnewnesses coming both from the East and the West. From the East is comenew learning which is for ordinary men, a thing very evil at all times,leading to sorceries and civil strife and change. And from the West istalk of a New World possessed with demons and pagans and dusky fiends asis now on the lips of all men. And I hold it for certain that, ifanything evil and inexplicable shall occur in this land from now on itshall come from that East or that West. The path to the West havingbeen found, shall it not lead those demons and dusky fiends in upon us?And, all the contents of Byzantium having been set flying in upon us,shall we go unharmed?"
"This is very arrant folly," the old Princess said; "what shall a parcelof soft Greeks or Indian savages do to this island in the water?"
"Madam and gentle Princess," the Cornish knight answered, "I speak onlythe misgivings of wealthy and sufficient men of London Town. It may bea folly here. But this I hold for strange: this lording was the one ofall the North parts to have most of new-fangled lore, as I have heard:he has read in many books of which I know not so much as the name; suchas _Ysidores Ethimologicarum_ or _Summa Reymundi_--or maybe I have thenames wrong. And he has travelled to Venice where many evil, eldritchand strange things are ready for the learning.... And now I will askyou this: ah, gentle mistress ... Have you of late had news of amonstrous fair lady that several people have seen to ride about theseparts, attended, or not attended at all ... upon a white horse?"
"Such a one I saw yesterday," the Lady Margaret said, "and so fair andkind a lady it made me glad to see her."
Then Sir Bertram crossed himself.
"And have you," he asked, "heard where she dwells or who she is?"
"I never heard," she said; "I thought she was the King's mistress ofScotland, for a lesser she could not be."
"I have heard of her this many months," Sir Bertram said, "for, for thismany months, I have been set by the King to gather information aboutthese North parts. And now from one correspondent, now from another;now by word of mouth, now here, now in Northumberland, I have heard tellof this White Lady. And this again I will tell you.... An hour agone,as I looked out of this window, I saw a knight, with a monk and a smallcompany of spears go over Framwell Gate Bridge. The sun was upon theirarmour. And, as they rode over it, I perceived upon the banks before mea wondrous fair figure of a woman in white garments, going among thethick of the trees as lightly as if it had been a flower garden. And, asshe went, she held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun soas to gaze upon that knight. And I think that was that strange lady.And, if you ask me what she is, I think she is a vampire, a courtesan ora demon from the East. And if you ask me where your lord is, I will sayI think she has him captive amongst weary sedges and the bones of otherknights, if they have been dead long enough to become bones. And therehe sits enthralled by her and she preys upon his heart's blood...."
The Lady Margaret stood up with her hand to her throat. Her face wasblanched like faded apple blossom.
"Good sir," she said, "I think ye lie. For that lady had the kindestface that ever I saw."
"Yet such fair faces," Sir Bertram said, "are, as is known to all men,best fed by the heart's blood of true knights."
"Before God," the old Princess cried at him, "I have heard such tales ofmy bondsmen's wives...."
"Or, if you will have it a little otherwise," Sir Bertram said to theLady Margaret, "let it be thus. This monstrous fair and magic lady sawthis Sir Paris in a grove or amid the smoke of war or where you will inVenice or near it. And so she fell enamoured of him. Such thingshappen. And so, coming in a magic boat, in the morning before cockcrowshe finds him--having waited many years for this chance--by thesea-shore where you say that chapel was. And so she beguiles him tostep aboard and miraculously they are transported to the very isles ofGreece. And there, poor man, he sitteth in the sun, lamenting beneath avine as they say there are in Greece, and to beguile him she dancesbefore him...."
The Lady Margaret held out her white hand to silence the words upon hislips. And so they heard a voice speak to the porter below and a heavytread upon the stairfoot.
"Sir," the Lady Margaret said to the Cornish knight, "I think you dolie. For I hear my true love's voice and his foot upon the stair."
At that heavy beating of an iron foot on the stone steps a sort of feardescended upon both Sir Bertram and the Lady Margaret; but the oldPrincess said jestingly:
"Now I shall see the eighth wonder of the world."