Volume II Part 8 (1/2)
The invading fleet were still moored in the harbour, yet the fishermen shot past unheeded by these leviathans of the deep. As they came nearer to the opposite sh.o.r.e, they saw an individual making signals, as though he would be taken across. His monkish garb was a pa.s.sport to their obedience; and the friar was received on board with great reverence and respect. With a sullen air he demanded, rather than requested, to be conveyed to the castle, which the simple fishermen undertook with great alacrity and good humour. Left to the care of the guards below the ramparts, he was speedily forwarded through ranks of iron men, and the barriers flew open at his presence; an emba.s.sage from the abbot of Furness was not to be lightly entreated.
Again was there a summons that the council should a.s.semble, and the chiefs, already risen from the banquet, prepared to give him audience.
With a proud and firm step he approached the table; and though, from habit, he repressed the natural feelings and bias of the temper, yet there was an evident expression of hostility against the intruders, accompanied with a glance of unequivocal meaning towards their sovereign.
Simon, rising to receive this amba.s.sador from the abbot, watched his demeanour with a cautious and keen observance, though betraying little of that really intense interest with which his presence was regarded.
”Thrice welcome!” he cried; ”we hail your presence as an omen of good import. How fareth my lord abbot, whom we hope to number with our friends in this glorious cause?”
”The abbot of Furness hath no message of that similitude. He doth ask by what right, privity, or pretence, ye appear within his castle or stronghold upon this island? upon whose advice or incitement ye have thus taken possession? and furthermore, under whose authority ye do these things?”
This short address, uttered in a firm voice, and in a tone of menace rather than inquiry, daunted the hearers, who had hoped for a more propitious message from the abbey of Furness. Simon, however, without betraying his chagrin, unhesitatingly replied--
”The right by which we hold this fortress is the will of our king, and our authority is from him.”
”I crave your honest regards,” returned the monk, looking round with a glance of conscious power and superiority; ”this good inheritance is ours, and whosoever disporteth himself here must answer for it to the lord of Furness, whose delegate and representative I am.”
Choler was rising in the a.s.sembly; but Simon, with that intuitive and inexplicable control which superior minds possess, almost unknowingly, over their a.s.sociates, quelled the outburst of the flame by a single glance. Another look was directed to the royal pupil at his side, when the latter spoke as follows:--
”Our presence here, it should seem, is a sufficient answer to the questions of our lord abbot. Being lawful heir to the English crown, we might command the allegiance, if not the homage, of your head; but we would rather win with fair entreaty than command our unwilling subjects, and to this end have we sent messengers to the superior of your house, urging his help and submission.”
This reply was given with a dignity and an a.s.surance denoting that either he was the individual he personated, or that he had been well schooled in his craft.
A murmur of applause was heard through the a.s.sembly, but the monk was unmoved to any show of recognition or even respect. Waiting until he could be heard, the envoy again inquired--
”And who art thou? and by what pretence claimest thou this right?”
”By hereditary descent. Knowest thou Edward, Earl of Warwick, now thy king?”
”I have heard of him,” continued the monk in the same dubious and inflexible tone; ”but his bodily appearance hath not been vouchsafed unto me.”
”See him here!” said the royal claimant, rising with great majesty and condescension. But the churchman neither did homage, nor in any way testified his loyalty to, or apprehension of, so exalted a personage.
”Truly it is a marvellous thing,” replied he, ”that the Earl of Warwick should so order his appearance, at one and the same time, both in London and at our good fortress here in Fouldrey!” A slight curl of the lip was visible as he spoke.
”The Earl of Warwick,” said Simon, ”cannot now be abiding where thou sayest, insomuch as the bodily tabernacle, his dwelling in the flesh, is before thee.”
”But we have a messenger from thence, even with a writing from the hands of the holy prior of St Alban's, who sendeth us the news, lest we should be beguiled. Father Anselm hath seen the earl, who was brought forth from the Tower by command of the king, being conducted publicly through the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares of the city, that the people should behold, and not in any wise be led astray through the evil reports and machinations of the king's enemies.”
Here he paused, folding his arms with a haughty and reserved look; but Simon, no wise disconcerted by this terrible, unexpected, and apparently fatal exposure of their plot, replied with a smile of the most intrepid a.s.surance----
”We knew of this, and were prepared for the wiles of the usurper. Know then, that, through the agency and good offices of that renowned princess, Margaret, d.u.c.h.ess of Burgundy, the king's escape from the Tower was accomplished; but not by might, nor by human power nor device, but by faith and prayer, was the work wrought out, which holy communion her enemies do maliciously report as the practice of sorcery and the forbidden art. Howbeit the king hath escaped, as thou seest, the fangs of the executioner. Stay, I perceive what thou wouldest urge in reply, but listen for a short s.p.a.ce. In order to deter them from pursuit on finding his escape, and with a view likewise to lull them into vain confidence and carnal security, another was left in his place, whom they, of necessity, imagine to be their captive; but it is not a real thing of flesh and blood, though to them it may so appear.
When his time shall be accomplished, the form will vanish, to the downfall and confusion of the usurper and the utter overthrow of our enemies.”
Here the a.s.sembly gave a loud and unanimous token of their exultation by shouts and exclamations of loyalty and obedience.
After a short reverie, the monk replied--
”We know of a surety that the Princess Margaret, as well as her royal brother, Edward the Fourth, did use to practise in forbidden arts; but we must have testimony indisputable to the truth of your claim, ere it be that we render our belief. Surely the power that wrought thy deliverance would not, if need were, leave thee without the means of proving thine ident.i.ty. How know we that thou art he whom thou hast represented, and not the impostor Simnel, as thine enemies do not scruple openly to affirm?”
”We are not without either the means or the power to prove and to a.s.sert our right,” said the priest, rising. He drew a phial from his bosom.