Part 11 (1/2)
”The boy is right,” said Michael Wing-the-wind, ”my lord will be very impatient.”
”The child hath wit enough to keep himself warm,” said Adam Woodc.o.c.k, producing from his hawking-bag his lord's letter, addressed to the Earl of Murray, ”and for that matter so have I. So, Master Roland, you will e'en please to present this yourself to the Lord Regent; his presence will be better graced by a young page than by an old falconer.”
”Well said, canny Yorks.h.i.+re!” replied his friend; ”and but now you were so earnest to see our good lord!--Why, wouldst thou put the lad into the noose that thou mayst slip tether thyself?--or dost thou think the maiden will clasp his fair young neck more willingly than thy old sunburnt weasand?”
”Go to,” answered the falconer; ”thy wit towers high an it could strike the quarry. I tell thee, the youth has nought to fear--he had nothing to do with the gambol--a rare gambol it was, Michael, as mad-caps ever played; and I had made as rare a ballad, if we had had the luck to get it sung to an end. But mum for that--tace, as I said before, is Latin for a candle. Carry the youth to the presence, and I will remain here, with bridle in hand, ready to strike the spurs up to the rowel-heads, in case the hawk flies my way.--I will soon put Soltraedge, I trow, betwixt the Regent and me, if he means me less than fair play.”
”Come on then, my lad,” said Michael, ”since thou must needs take the spring before canny Yorks.h.i.+re.” So saying, he led the way through winding pa.s.sages, closely followed by Roland Graeme, until they arrived at a large winding stone stair, the steps of which were so long and broad, and at the same time so low, as to render the ascent uncommonly easy. When they had ascended about the height of one story, the guide stepped aside, and pushed open the door of a dark and gloomy antechamber; so dark, indeed, that his youthful companion stumbled, and nearly fell down upon a low step, which was awkwardly placed on the very threshold.
”Take heed,” said Michael Wing-the-wind, in a very low tone of voice, and first glancing cautiously round to see if any one listened--”Take heed, my young friend, for those who fall on these boards seldom rise again--Seest thou that,” he added, in a still lower voice, pointing to some dark crimson stains on the floor, on which a ray of light, shot through a small aperture, and traversing the general gloom of the apartment, fell with mottled radiance--”Seest thou that, youth?--walk warily, for men have fallen here before you.”
”What mean you?” said the page, his flesh creeping, though he scarce knew why; ”Is it blood?”
”Ay, ay,” said the domestic, in the same whispering tone, and dragging the youth on by the arm--”Blood it is,--but this is no time to question, or even to look at it. Blood it is, foully and fearfully shed, as foully and fearfully avenged. The blood,” he added, in a still more cautious tone, ”of Seignior David.”
Roland Graeme's heart throbbed when he found himself so unexpectedly in the scene of Rizzio's slaughter, a catastrophe which had chilled with horror all even in that rude age, which had been the theme of wonder and pity through every cottage and castle in Scotland, and had not escaped that of Avenel. But his guide hurried him forward, permitting no farther question, and with the manner of one who has already tampered too much with a dangerous subject. A tap which he made at a low door at one end of the vestibule, was answered by a huissier or usher, who, opening it cautiously, received Michael's intimation that a page waited the Regent's leisure, who brought letters from the Knight of Avenel.
”The Council is breaking up,” said the usher; ”but give me the packet; his Grace the Regent will presently see the messenger.”
”The packet,” replied the page, ”must be delivered into the Regent's own hands; such were the orders of my master.”
The usher looked at him from head to foot, as if surprised at his boldness, and then replied, with some asperity, ”Say you so, my young master? Thou crowest loudly to be but a chicken, and from a country barn-yard too.”
”Were it a time or place,” said Roland, ”thou shouldst see I can do more than crow; but do your duty, and let the Regent know I wait his pleasure.”
”Thou art but a pert knave to tell me of my duty,” said the courtier in office; ”but I will find a time to show you you are out of yours; meanwhile, wait there till you are wanted.” So saying, he shut the door in Roland's face.
Michael Wing-the-wind, who had shrunk from his youthful companion during this altercation, according to the established maxim of courtiers of all ranks, and in all ages, now transgressed their prudential line of conduct so far as to come up to him once more. ”Thou art a hopeful young springald,” said he, ”and I see right well old Yorks.h.i.+re had reason in his caution. Thou hast been five minutes in the court, and hast employed thy time so well, as to make a powerful and a mortal enemy out of the usher of the council-chamber. Why, man, you might almost as well have offended the deputy butler!”
”I care not what he is,” said Roland Graeme; ”I will teach whomever I speak with to speak civilly to me in return. I did not come from Avenel to be browbeaten in Holyrood.”
”Bravo, my lad!” said Michael; ”it is a fine spirit if you can but hold it--but see, the door opens.”
The usher appeared, and, in a more civil tone of voice and manner, said, that his Grace the Regent would receive the Knight of Avenel's message; and accordingly marshalled Roland Graeme the way into the apartment, from which the Council had been just dismissed, after finis.h.i.+ng their consultations. There was in the room a long oaken table, surrounded by stools of the same wood, with a large elbow chair, covered with crimson velvet, at the head. Writing materials and papers were lying there in apparent disorder; and one or two of the privy counsellors who had lingered behind, a.s.suming their cloaks, bonnets, and swords, and bidding farewell to the Regent, were departing slowly by a large door, on the opposite side to that through which the page entered. Apparently the Earl of Murray had made some jest, for the smiling countenances of the statesmen expressed that sort of cordial reception which is paid by courtiers to the condescending pleasantries of a prince.
The Regent himself was laughing heartily as he said, ”Farewell, my lords, and hold me remembered to the c.o.c.k of the North.”
He then turned slowly round towards Roland Graeme, and the marks of gaiety, real or a.s.sumed, disappeared from his countenance, as completely as the pa.s.sing bubbles leave the dark mirror of a still profound lake into which a traveller has cast a stone; in the course of a minute his n.o.ble features had a.s.sumed their natural expression of deep and even melancholy gravity.
This distinguished statesman, for as such his worst enemies acknowledged him, possessed all the external dignity, as well as almost all the n.o.ble qualities, which could grace the power that he enjoyed; and had he succeeded to the throne as his legitimate inheritance, it is probable he would have been recorded as one of Scotland's wisest and greatest kings. But that he held his authority by the deposition and imprisonment of his sister and benefactress, was a crime which those only can excuse who think ambition an apology for ingrat.i.tude. He was dressed plainly in black velvet, after the Flemish fas.h.i.+on, and wore in his high-crowned hat a jewelled clasp, which looped it up on one side, and formed the only ornament of his apparel. He had his poniard by his side, and his sword lay on the council table.
Such was the personage before whom Roland Graeme now presented himself, with a feeling of breathless awe, very different from the usual boldness and vivacity of his temper. In fact, he was, from education and nature, forward, but not impudent, and was much more easily controlled by the moral superiority, arising from the elevated talents and renown of those with whom he conversed, than by pretensions founded only on rank or external show. He might have braved with indifference the presence of an earl, merely distinguished by his belt and coronet; but he felt overawed in that of the eminent soldier and statesman, the wielder of a nation's power, and the leader of her armies.--The greatest and wisest are flattered by the deference of youth--so graceful and becoming in itself; and Murray took, with much courtesy, the letter from the hands of the abashed and blus.h.i.+ng page, and answered with complaisance to the imperfect and half-muttered greeting, which he endeavoured to deliver to him on the part of Sir Halbert of Avenel. He even paused a moment ere he broke the silk with which the letter was secured, to ask the page his name--so much he was struck with his very handsome features and form.
”Roland Graeme,” he said, repeating the words after the hesitating page. ”What! of the Grahams of the Lennox?”
”No, my lord,” replied Roland; ”my parents dwelt in the Debateable Land.”
Murray made no further inquiry, but proceeded to read his dispatches; during the perusal of which his brow began to a.s.sume a stern expression of displeasure, as that of one who found something which at once surprised and disturbed him. He sat down on the nearest seat, frowned till his eyebrows almost met together, read the letter twice over, and was then silent for several minutes. At length, raising his head, his eye encountered that of the usher, who in vain endeavoured to exchange the look of eager and curious observation with which he had been perusing the Regent's features, for that open and unnoticing expression of countenance, which, in looking at all, seems as if it saw and marked nothing--a cast of look which may be practised with advantage by all those, of whatever degree, who are admitted to witness the familiar and unguarded hours of their superiors. Great men are as jealous of their thoughts as the wife of King Candaules was of her charms, and will as readily punish those who have, however involuntarily, beheld them in mental deshabille and exposure.
”Leave the apartment, Hyndman,” said the Regent, sternly, ”and carry your observation elsewhere. You are too knowing, sir, for your post, which, by special order, is destined for men of blunter capacity. So! now you look more like a fool than you did,”--(for Hyndman, as may easily be supposed, was not a little disconcerted by this rebuke)--”keep that confused stare, and it may keep your office. Begone, sir!”
The usher departed in dismay, not forgetting to register, amongst his other causes of dislike to Roland Graeme, that he had been the witness of this disgraceful chiding. When he had left the apartment, the Regent again addressed the page.
”Your name, you say, is Armstrong?”
”No,” replied Roland, ”my name is Graeme, so please you--Roland Graeme, whose forbears were designated of Heathergill, in the Debateable Land.”
”Ay, I knew it was a name from the Debateable Land. Hast thou any acquaintance in Edinburgh?”
”My lord,” replied Roland, willing rather to evade this question than to answer it directly, for the prudence of being silent with respect to Lord Seyton's adventure immediately struck him, ”I have been in Edinburgh scarce an hour, and that for the first time in my life.”
”What! and thou Sir Halbert Glendinning's page?” said the Regent.
”I was brought up as my Lady's page,” said the youth, ”and left Avenel Castle for the first time in my life--at least since my childhood--only three days since.”
”My Lady's page!” repeated the Earl of Murray, as if speaking to himself; ”it was strange to send his Lady's page on a matter of such deep concernment--Morton will say it is of a piece with the nomination of his brother to be Abbot; and yet in some sort an inexperienced youth will best serve the turn.--What hast thou been taught, young man, in thy doughty apprentices.h.i.+p?”
”To hunt, my lord, and to hawk,” said Roland Graeme.
”To hunt coneys, and to hawk at ouzels!” said the Regent, smiling; ”for such are the sports of ladies and their followers.”
Graeme's cheek reddened deeply as he replied, not without some emphasis, ”To hunt red-deer of the first head, and to strike down herons of the highest soar, my lord, which, in Lothian speech, may be termed, for aught I know, coneys and ouzels;-also I can wield a brand and couch a lance, according to our Border meaning; in inland speech these may be termed water-flags and bulrushes.”
”Thy speech rings like metal,” said the Regent, ”and I pardon the sharpness of it for the truth.--Thou knowest, then, what belongs to the duty of a man-at-arms?”
”So far as exercise can teach--it without real service in the field,” answered Roland Graeme; ”but our Knight permitted none of his household to make raids, and I never had the good fortune to see a stricken field.”
”The good fortune!” repeated the Regent, smiling somewhat sorrowfully, ”take my word, young man, war is the only game from which both parties rise losers.”
”Not always, my lord!” answered the page, with his characteristic audacity, ”if fame speaks truth.”
”How, sir?” said the Regent, colouring in his turn, and perhaps suspecting an indiscreet allusion to the height which he himself had attained by the hap of civil war.
”Because, my lord,” said Roland Graeme, without change of tone, ”he who fights well, must have fame in life, or honour in death; and so war is a game from which no one can rise a loser.”
The Regent smiled and shook his head, when at that moment the door opened, and the Earl of Morton presented himself.
”I come somewhat hastily,” he said, ”and I enter unannounced because my news are of weight--It is as I said; Edward Glendinning is named Abbot, and--”
”Hush, my lord!” said the Regent, ”I know it, but--”
”And perhaps you knew it before I did, my Lord of Murray,” answered Morton, his dark red brow growing darker and redder as he spoke.
”Morton,” said Murray, ”suspect me not--touch not mine honour--I have to suffer enough from the calumnies of foes, let me not have to contend with the unjust suspicions of my friends.--We are not alone,” said he, recollecting himself, ”or I could tell you more.”
He led Morton into one of the deep embrasures which the windows formed in the ma.s.sive wall, and which afforded a retiring place for their conversing apart. In this recess, Roland observed them speak together with much earnestness, Murray appearing to be grave and earnest, and Morton having a jealous and offended air, which seemed gradually to give way to the a.s.surances of the Regent.