Chapter VI: Book II: The Keeping of a Wife (1)

_As described by the Gentleman who did it,
with an incidental Digression by
the Lady herself_

_Chapter_
XII

_In which I, Sir Hugh Richmond, who tell this Tale, find that it is easier to marry Lady Katharine Clanranald than to keep her for my own_

Being a soldier and a veteran of many an out-fall and on-fall, of frequent battle and stubborn leaguer, I know that to get and to keep are two entirely different operations. To have and to hold, which go together in the phrase, are not always associated in life, especially in a soldier's life.

Through a series of the most romantic adventures and perils, which she herself most gallantly, with some slight assistance from me, had overcome, I had got myself a wife; but as I stood on the low bluff near Cockenzie that afternoon and watched her being borne away, swiftly away from me, by a small boat to a smart brigantine hove to in the offing, it seemed to me that I had won her but to lose her.

Enlarged from prison by her woman's wit and married that very morning, I had counted myself the happiest of men; now I was the most miserable. Exiled by the King, my estates confiscate, broke in rank--these I could have borne. But to find my wife torn from me by force of arms, myself regarded with sudden hatred and suspicion by those by whom I was surrounded, surely I might have been forgiven if I had fallen into utter despair.

But I was a soldier, I had bided the shock in many a stricken field, and I knew that the battle was not lost or won whiles I, or the enemy, could keep that field. Therefore I did not despair; on the contrary, I was white hot with growing rage.

The Majesty of England was a large thing. I was but a poor soldier, an outlaw and an exile, a proscribed man, a death sentence hanging over my head if I were found within the confines of the three kingdoms within four days. So far so good, no worse sentence could be passed upon me. If I failed, I would liefer die than not without Lady Katharine Clanranald--this morning by the grace of God become Lady Katharine Richmond, and my wife. Losing her, I did not care what happened to me.

I was a tried and veteran soldier, a seasoned man of the world, yet the passion that I had so suddenly developed for this splendid woman might have amazed even me, had I been capable of considering it from any point of detachment. I had met with many women in my life, some good and some bad,--the latter, I am afraid, predominating; and I had been drawn in touch with all classes from the peasant to the great dame of the court, but I had never seen anybody who united in her own proper person so many, or I believe I may say all, of the qualities I loved in woman as Katharine Clanranald. Not only her beauty, which was incomparable and unsurpassable, but her wit, her bravery, her address, her--but the reader who has read her story, even though she so modestly told it herself, knoweth all this as well as I. Do you wonder that I felt reckless, friend, who read this rougher and blunter chronicle of mine, or that I came to instant and desperate resolution there on the shore?

The King basely, treacherously, but perhaps as monarchs went in those days, not unroyally, had taken my wife; I would take her back, I swore. I would pluck that coward fox from his very throne and, if I found a hair of her head had been injured, his life should pay for it, if I were to be hung, drawn, and quartered the next moment. I took a solemn oath to it by the Living God, as I stood there on the bluff.

It all happened this way. We were married in the morning, there was naught to keep us in Scotland, where Master Dunner--a gentleman, truly, even if an advocate--with Master Abadie's assistance, to whom I was much indebted, foreseeing the turn of affairs, had everything in readiness, every resource that the Earl could reasonably come at instantly available.

The quicker we escaped from the reach of so uncertain a monarch as James II., the better. All men knew him well enough, but I knew him best of all, for I had served long in his Guards, so we planned instant departure.

By good fortune we found a stout ship was sailing from Cockenzie for the Low Countries that very night. It was necessary to ride thither to take passage upon her. Master Dunner cast his fortunes in with those of his patron and kinsman, the Earl, and had elected to go with us. As we were proscribed people and found not many clamouring for service with us, we chose to go as we were, without servants or further tendance than what we ourselves could easily furnish each to the other.

My wife laughingly pointed out that I could appropriately play lady's-maid to her since she had played soldier laddie to me, and though my blunt fingers were better fitted to pistol butt and sword grip, I had no doubt that I could pass a lashing for her stays or join together a hook and eye, if main strength and determination and good will were necessary qualifications.

You have seen my lady dressed as a boy before, and you might have seen her wearing her brother's clothes again that day for better convenience in riding and travelling. I do not know whether I like her better in her proper woman's gear or in men's--to tell the truth she is adorable in either--but I had such sweet associations with the latter, she was more comrade and not less wife as she bestrode her horse gallantly booted and spurred and cantered by my side, that I was more than satisfied with her election. Never hoped I to find both comrade and wife in one woman.

I doubt not I behaved like a foolish boy. Anon I trolled out a stave of soldier song. In the lonesomer parts of the road I clapped her on the shoulder when I had a chance, as if she had been a boy; yet I recognised such colour as no boy ever sported come and go in her cheek under my touch as I drew her to me and kissed her as no boy was ever kissed.

I vow, if it had given her pleasure, I would have got down in the road and let her ride over me. She bewitched me, she possessed me, she does still for that matter, I am more fond and foolish now than ever. I can master with ease my turbulent regiment of soldiers of fortune with which we were getting ready for a great adventure toward England under Dutch William, but in truth she wound me around her finger then and ever.

Did the men of my command but know it I should have been disgraced forever, and it is only of her charity that she confines her sweet dominance over me to our lodgings, in the quiet of our chamber rather than in camp and court and field. I grow garrulous as an old woman when I think of her.

Now I know full well that a soldier should ever be on the alert, but I was as unsuspicious on that mid-day as any man that lived. Monmouth's rebellion had been stamped out with such thorough-going ferocity by that brute Jeffreys, that there was not even a whisper of disappointment heard; not one, not even among Scotsmen. Nor were there any gentlemen of the highway to be feared, and if there were we were all armed, and Katharine was as good as a fourth man.

We rode carelessly therefore, she and I in the advance, sometimes galloping ahead until screened behind a turn of the road or a clump of trees for an exchange of kisses unseen by the Earl and Master Dunner who jogged on behind sedately. We were approaching the outskirts of Cockenzie village when the road suddenly swerved around a thick woodland toward the bluff overlooking the sea, where I marked a small brigantine in the offing and pointed it out idly enough to my Lady Katharine.

"Will that be our ship, Hugh?" asked my wife, following my hand with her eyes.

"No, Kate, I think not," I replied after a careless glance. "'Tis too small a boat for such happiness as is ours, Sweet."

I had scarcely said the word when from out the wood which we were nearly approaching--the road running along the very verge of the low bluff that lifted it above the high tide--burst a score or more of men on foot. They were led by a person richly dressed whose features were covered with a black visard.

I had barely time to whisk out my sword and they were on us. One fellow bolder than the rest I had spitted with the blade, but it was jerked out of my hands. The next moment I was confronted by half a dozen heavy pistols, and the leader, he of the mask, cried:

"Yield you, Sir Hugh. A motion and we blow you from the saddle."

I might not have hesitated to take the risk, although it would have probably ended in my sudden death, had I not observed that the others of my party were alike menaced. I had fronted cold steel and had looked into the open mouth of musket and pistol, ay and of cannon, too, many times, but it gave me a thrill of horror to see my wife so threatened. I did not realise that she stood in no danger, or I might have acted differently. I made up my mind quickly, as a soldier needs must, and I said with a coolness I did not feel--on account of my dear wife:

"Your arguments are too strong for me, gentlemen. I suppose you have come for plunder; my purse is in my pocket, you'll find there is little enough in it, we are exiles proscribed by King James, and..."

"I don't want your purse, Sir Hugh Richmond," interposed the spokesman, drawing nearer to me. He stopped close by my side, and by a sudden impulse, for which I have ever been glad, before he could prevent it I reached over and twitched from his face with one quick movement of my hand the black mask that hid it. I recognised the man instantly.

"Stenwold!" I cried. "What does this mean?"

He was furiously angry at being discovered and showed it now.

"By Heaven!" he roared, "I could have you shot for that."

"And since when," I sneered, "has Lord Stenwold addressed himself to the cut-purse trade upon the King's Highway?":

Now I knew in an instant that my aggravating accusation was a false one; as in a flash I had divined the whole situation. Lord Stenwold was King James' most intimate friend, a man who would stop at nothing, honourable or dishonourable, to further His Majesty's desires. And I knew that King James, probably aided and abetted thereto by that arch-devil Jeffreys' counsel, had repented him of his clemency and that he wanted to gain possession of my wife, for what purpose I could well imagine.

I went white hot with wrath as these thoughts rushed over me. For a moment I had the baresark impulse to throw myself upon Stenwold and his gang and die fighting, and it was hard for me to restrain that impulse; yet it would have been madness, suicide, and it would have served no purpose, for it would have thrown Lady Katharine defenceless and without resource into the hands of the enemy. So, although my blood boiled in my veins, I retained an impassive front. Stenwold laughed mockingly.

"You play the game well," he said meaningly, "I didn't know you were so good an actor. I was charged to keep our agreement a secret from the lady here, but I see no need of it now. The King loyally and royally does as he said, here is your thousand pounds in gold." He laid a bulky purse across my saddle bow. "We take the lady, you the money, the King's pardon covers you for three days more, but if you be found in his realm thereafter God help you."

"Hugh," cried my wife, "what does this mean?"

"Hoity-toity," ran on that devil Stenwold, "my lady, you know very well what it means: it was all arranged between King James and yourself before you left Durham; I had His Majesty's word for it."

"Liar!" cried Lady Katharine viciously.

She was free enough of speech when the situation warranted it.

"You dog!" cried the Earl of Clanranald, leaning forward. "Do you mean to imply that my daughter----"

"The King's word----"

"Out upon the King's word. I wish to God, Monmouth----"

"Have a care, Lord Clanranald," interposed Stenwold darkly. "Your pardon I take it covers acts of the past, there is nothing to prevent me from re-arresting you and laying charges of high treason against you once more for abusing His Majesty's clemency."

"Damn his clemency and His Majesty too," roared the Earl, struggling to force his horse nearer the other. "If you are a gentleman, draw sword. I am old but I will prove you lie in your own heart's blood."

"I am not here to fight duels with men old enough to be my grandfather," answered Stenwold, coolly enough.

"With me then," I burst out.

The rogue answered me jeeringly again. He had the whip hand and he knew it.

"What benefit would it be if I spitted you or you spitted me on the road here? Besides it is all part of the game, as you know."

"You lie, in your soul," I cried, for the moment wrath getting the better of me, but Stenwold only laughed again that irritating, maddening laugh. God, how I itched to get my hand on his lying throat and shake the wretched pander to death.

"We have had enough of this," he said, turning away from me indifferently. "My lady, will you come peaceably or----"

"Hugh," cried Lady Katharine, bending toward me in wild terror, "you won't let them take me away from you?"

"Why, he hath sold you," said Stenwold. "The price hangs on his saddle bow. Come, I have no time for further parley."

Now what was I to do? Before God if I had let go of myself for a single moment I would have thrown myself upon him, yet I could have effected nothing; there were only four of us and one of us a woman, and they were a score and a half. If I had killed one or a dozen of them, what remained would have sufficed to carry out their purpose, and then what would be done with my wife?

In all that broad realm there was only one man who could succour her--myself! Was I to throw myself away uselessly and force her to shift for herself? Nay, I must bide my time; I must contain myself for her sake. Therefore, although to see her manhandled and ruthlessly dragged from her horse, torn from her saddle, almost killed me, I sat immobile on my own steed.

"Don't hurt her," said Stenwold, never looking my way, as if I was not worth further consideration. "We must deliver her in good condition to the King."

Katharine made a hard struggle, she was a strong, brave woman, but what chance had she? She looked at me appealingly, she called my name again and again, but I made no response. Presently realising the absolute futility of it, she stopped and stood shuddering on the road. Stenwold's bullies closed about her and forced her to where a small boat lay concealed beneath the bluff. Ere she descended she turned and gave me one look in which love and contempt struggled for the predominance. I dare say that I made a sorry figure, sitting my horse there on the strand with King James' guineas hanging across my saddle bow, unable to hold the wife who had risked so much for me.

"Good-by, Richmond," Stenwold called out quite airily as the boat, a large one capable of taking them all in, shoved off. "Any message for the King?"

"Thank his gracious Majesty," cried I bitterly, "for his royal conduct toward me and mine, and say to him that I hope to requite him to the full for all that he hath done."

_Chapter_
XIII

_Wherein I set down in due Course the Resolution to which I came, which boded ill to the King, as I rode southward_

My poor wife did not look at me as the boat rapidly drew away from the shore; she sat helpless in the stern sheets, her face buried in her hands. I shuddered to think of the light in which she and the rest must have regarded me then. I had personal and unequivocal evidence of it immediately, for I found myself tapped on the shoulder. The old Earl of Clanranald had advanced threateningly toward me.

"You English coward!" he cried. "Was it for this you married my daughter, who risked her life and honour for you and me? We should have known better than to have trusted any one who had ever been for a moment associated with James Stewart."

"And do you believe this monstrous lie, Lord Clanranald?"

"Believe it? Can I not see and hear? Draw, sir, if you have a spark of courage left, or I shall run you through where you stand!"

"I cannot fight with you," I said; "you are her father."

"The more reason."

Indeed, I felt the prick of his sword at my throat. I found I had to do something or be cut down.

"Draw quickly or I will shoot you from your saddle, you villain!" cried Master Dunner, at that time interposing and presenting a huge old horse-pistol.

There was nothing left for me. In a twinkling, my blade was in my hand. It had been restored to me by one of Stenwold's men ere they departed. As it gritted against my lord's steel, something of my self-control came back to me. He had been no mean fencer in his younger days, he could have matched any man in the three kingdoms doubtless, but now he was old, he had been some time in prison and was certainly out of practice. His force and fire were soon spent, I was his master, yet he never blenched, although he knew it as soon and as well as I.

"I tremble," he said grimly, "from physical weakness, not from fear."

"That I know," I answered.

"Finish then; you have sold the daughter; spare not the father!"

"My lord," said I, as by a sudden trick of fence I twisted his sword from his hands and flung it to the ground, "you wrong me. I neither connived at the abduction of my wife, nor will I requite your quite natural suspicion with what it merits."

"Now is it in my mind," cried Master Dunner, seeing his patron's discomfiture and peril, "to pull the trigger of my pistol."

"Do it and kill me if you will, but know that to do so is to destroy the only possible hope of rescue for the woman we all love," I returned quietly, determined to have this all over without more delay and put our affairs on a proper basis immediately.

"What do you mean?" asked Master Dunner, pistol-muzzle wavering downward.

"Think for a moment. I love your daughter, Lord Clanranald; I perilled my life and honour for her. I was attainted of treason and death had been my portion for her. I have had no communication with King James, save through your daughter. Could I, could any one, have foreseen the course of events that brought me to the Tolbooth and what hath happened since? It is absurd, sir, on its face. I wonder that you do not see it."

"But Lord Stenwold?" asked Master Dunner, somewhat shaken by my reasoning.

"Stenwold is a devil," I persisted. "Did not you see that he tried to convince me that Lady Katharine had made an agreement with the King?"

"My life on her truth and honour!" cried the Earl.

"Mine, too," said I quickly. "I would believe her innocent in the face of twenty kings, backed by as many Stenwolds."

"But why did you sit so calmly by?" faltered the bewildered old man.

"What could I have done? The four of us together might have cut down or disposed of a dozen men out of the thirty; the rest would have worked their will; there would have been no one left to save her." I gritted my teeth as I spoke: "I will rescue her, or avenge her. We alone in the three kingdoms are able to help her. Do you think that I intend to sit calmly by and let her fall into the arms of the King? It was a part of the plan to discredit me in the mind of my wife, to make it easier for him to overcome her resistance."

"But you took the money."

"Certainly; why not? We shall have need of all of it and more mayhap. We'll fight the King with his own coin."

"What mean you to do?"

"When my wife is brought before the King, I mean to be there."

"But how?"

"I don't know; I shall accomplish it in some way; I saved my own life but to lay it down again for her. God help the King when he comes under my hand!"

"My lad," said the Earl, at last convinced, "I did, indeed, misjudge you. Forgive me. My hand."

"And mine too, sir," said Master Dunner, "if in truth you will honour me."

I grasped them both eagerly, saying:

"We waste time, gentlemen; we must be doing."

"What plans have you?"

"I ride south to-night; the King was at Durham; its nearest port is Sunderland. That ship will take her there; at least, I think so. If I could only have some assurance..."

At that juncture I caught sight of a figure moving in the trees; instantly my pistol was out of its holster and levelled in that direction.

"Hands up," I cried, "or you shall be shot down!"

"I have no fear of your weapon, sir soldier," came from the coppice, "but, because I can render you service, I..."

"Come forth," said I, as a sturdy Scotsman stepped out upon the road and saluted me.

"Those men raided my little farm, yonder, before you came; they rudely kissed my wife by force; they killed my chickens, milked my cows, and destroyed my garden. Afterwards they talked freely enough. I know the whole plan, and would have got to you and warned you of it had they not kept me in close ward. They are to take the lady to King James at Sunderland, or Monkwearmouth."

"You hear, my lord!" I cried to the Earl triumphantly.

I opened the King's purse, got out some of the King's guineas, and passed them over to the faithful man.

"Here's for you," said I.

"That will pay for the chickens and the milk and the other things, except the kiss and the insults to my wife."

"And who took them?" I asked.

"The man in the lead."

"I shall add your score to mine, my friend, and, rest assured, he shall pay high for both. Tell your woman so."

"I'd rather assist in the paying myself, your honour," said the Scotsman. "You see, sir, I am an old soldier and have been to the wars; I can wield a heavy claymore still; my ancestors have fought alongside Lord Clanranald's; if you wish me, I will go with you."

I looked at the man thoughtfully. He was a stoutly-built knave, of medium age, with a dependable honest look out of his eyes that promised well.

"Have you a weapon?"

"I have at the farm."

"Get it, then."

"But my wife?"

"Have you any children?" I asked.

"None; we were married a few weeks since," he answered, smiling.

"Bring her along if she will come," I answered, "and make haste."

He saluted, turned, and ran back through the trees.

"Surely you are not going to encumber yourself with a woman in this desperate venture?" protested Lord Clanranald.

"First hear my plan. With some of this money you, sir, are to get a ship; buy it, charter it, steal it if necessary. You will find what you want in Leith, doubtless. You can also enlist a half-dozen sturdy Scotsmen who can be depended upon, and you will make the best speed you can to Sunderland Harbour and wait there for me. If I do not bring Lady Katharine off to you, it will be because I am a dead man."

"We shall do as you say without fail," said the Earl. "Ours is the easier part, but how will you recognise us?"

"We must arrange upon some signal," I answered, reflecting.

"I have it," said the Earl. "We'll paint upon the mainsail my device,--a bleeding heart pierced by a long sword."

"Excellent; but if it should be night?" I queried.

"Three lanterns set as a triangle--a red one at the top, the others white."

"Admirably devised."

"But the woman, gentlemen?" said Master Dunner.

"Lady Katharine might need the assistance and companionship of a female in a ship full of men; she shall go with you, and the man I will take with me.

"Would that I could go with you instead," said Lord Clanranald.

"Nay, my lord, you have not the physical strength to ride as fast or as far as I."

"My wife, your honour!" cried the man who had given us such valuable information, now coming back to the road, while following close behind him tramped a young and pretty country wench, tearful and excited.

"I am Sir Hugh Richmond," I began, inclining my head politely toward her as I spoke. I have ever believed in treating women with courtesy, whatever their rank. "My wife hath been abducted by King James; the man who insulted you has taken her to him, and I ride forward to take her from his hands and to avenge the insult that hath been put upon us. The Earl of Clanranald here is to take ship at Leith and meet us at Sunderland, where King James awaits my wife. You, dame, will go with him. What is your name, friend?"

"Macleod, sir," he answered, "and this is Alison, my wife."

"Lady Katharine's horse is yonder; he is something light for you, but he will carry you well, I have no doubt. Now let us be about our business quickly."

"I shall be off Sunderland before you come," said the Earl. "I'll follow hard on the heels of yonder vessel."

"And I shall board you with your daughter and my wife, or you will know that I am a dead man and she is past saving."

"In that event, King James shall still reckon with me," said the Earl resolutely. "Good-bye, lad, and God bless you. Mistress Alison, Master Dunner will take you up behind him. I will gallop on ahead."

"Good-bye, good friends all," I answered, saluting them.

"May God give us success!" responded the gallant old nobleman, lifting his plaided bonnet in return.

He turned away, followed presently by Master Dunner, with Mrs. Alison riding on the croup. I sat my horse a moment and stared out to sea at the little boat bearing my wife away; then I turned, clapped my hat more firmly on my head, gathered the reins more tightly, and looked at my new friend with his long sword.

"Come," said I.

"And God help that man if he falls in my hands," he said.

"And God help the King if he falls in mine," I replied, cantering off to the south.

_Chapter_
XIV

_Wherein, by the Grace of God, our own Determination, and the Speed of our good Horses, we reach Monkwearmouth in Time_

I do not believe that any two men ever pushed horse-flesh to a greater extremity than did Macleod and I on that journey south. I am reputed to be a cool man, and it would be idle to deny that, having been rather severely tested a great many times in the course of my life, I had earned the reputation, especially as more than once that life had depended on my skill with my sword or my quickness with my pistol. Accordingly, I fancied myself as well able to preserve my equanimity in times of stress and strain as any man in England, but I declare that I never was so thoroughly aroused and excited in my life. Our horses were in a constant lather of sweat and foam, but the journey was just as hard on the riders as upon the ridden.

Macleod was a grim old soldier, and he seemed to catch some of my determination. Lady Katharine's horse had been a good one, else he would have foundered long since, and he kept pace with my spirited bay, which had carried me often in the wars and whose mettle and endurance I knew by heart. It hurt me somewhat to push the horses the way we did, but I was playing for greater stakes than were to be measured by one horse's life, or many for that matter. I had to get to Sunderland before, or at least by the time, my wife arrived there by sea.

Going by land, naturally I should have outspeeded the ship easily had luck not been so cursedly against me. In the first place, it had rained, some of the roads were almost impassable, and some of the bridges were washed out. We pushed on frantically, scarcely allowing ourselves time to eat, snatching a few moments' rest here and there, more to breathe the horses than to sleep.

It was, therefore, three days and a half after our departure that we staggered into Monkwearmouth, and drew rein before the Boar's Head Inn, hard by old Saint Peter's Church. I was familiar with the village and the town of Sunderland across the river, where in all probability we should find the King. Before I was promoted to the Royal Guards, I had been in garrison at Sunderland Castle. This knowledge would stand me in good stead. I am a man who remembers those things, and I was glad that King James had elected to meet his pander at Sunderland. Of course I run some risk of being recognised there, but it had been half a score of years since I had visited the town and I had little to fear from that chance; little or much, however, that risk of such recognition had to be run.

It was close on to noon when we reached the Inn. Requesting food and a good rub-down for our tired horses, which Macleod was to look to, and ordering dinner to be served in a private room and to be ready within an hour, I made my way to the waterside. I had carefully fixed in my mind the lines of the brigantine which had carried away my wife, and I was concerned with anxiety to see if she were in the river yet.

There were a number of ships on both sides of the river: some tied up at the wharves and quays, others anchored in mid-stream. Not one of them was the vessel for which I looked. I was most careful in my scrutiny, and I could swear that I was right. This gave me great relief and satisfaction; I was in time.

Indeed, in spite of our delay, we had pressed on so furiously that it was most probable that we had arrived a little ahead of them, for out at sea I discerned several specks that might be ships, one of them possibly the brigantine carrying my wife. The tide, however, was beginning to ebb, and it would be five or six o'clock at least before they could beat up against the off-shore breeze and anchor abreast the town.

Mightily comforted by my observations, I suddenly bethought me to make my assurance double sure--as Master Shakespeare saith--for I repaired to the office of the harbour-master and demanded speech with that functionary. I was still wearing my guardsman's uniform. I intended to change it for a more sober and less distinctive garment at the first opportunity, but I was glad now that I had not yet done so, for it won me instant respect and prompt answer from the old sea-dog who had charge of the water-front and the shipping. I threw prudence to the wind and questioned him freely.

"Hath Lord Stenwold and a party from Scotland arrived with a prisoner for the King? 'Tis an affair of State which, of course, you will not mention."

"Not yet, your honour," answered the man, "but I expect them in with every tide; their vessel is in the offing now, I believe."

"And how long do you think it will be before they make a landing?"

"With wind and tide against them, sir," he answered, squinting seaward down the river, "'twill be close on to seven o'clock before they are abreast the castle."

I threw him a coin--one of King James'!--for his civility, whereat he thanked me profusely, and, bidding him not to mention it to any one, I wrapped my cloak around me and walked off again. Whatever I was to do, must be done under cover of the night. I was quite capable of confronting the King in broad day, to kill him if he had wronged a hair of my wife's head, but I was there to save her rather than to avenge her, and I did not propose to run any unnecessary or foolish risks, not because of fear for my person, but because I was bent on carrying out my plan for her dear sake.

Therefore, I went calmly back to the Inn and partook heartily of a most noble repast. The landlord himself waited upon me, and when I whispered that I was on the King's business, but the matter was to be kept secret, seeing my uniform as confirmation, he was vastly flattered and promised ready compliance with any duty I might lay upon him. I assured his silence and good faith by a covert threat that His Majesty himself would resent any discussion of my presence among the gossips in the village.

In the course of conversation, I learned, to my great satisfaction, that His Majesty had that day chosen to lie at Stenwold House instead of Sunderland Castle.

This was an ancient seat belonging to my lord of that name, which had been graciously put to the disposal of this Royal Majesty, while its owner did the King's evil errand. I learned more, too: namely, that Jeffreys, he of the Bloody Assize, was also in Sunderland, where he had been holding his outrageous court. The landlord characterised him as:

"A royal good gentleman, your honour, fond of wine and woman and gaming; hath been here in this very hostelry of mine three nights a-running."

I knew something of the loose habits of the bloody villain, which, indeed, were no secret to any one well informed as to the doings of the court, and so far as I had formulated any plan I had counted upon this knowledge. For once Fortune was playing in my hands.

"Think you he will be here to-night?" I asked, disguising my eagerness by assumption of indifference.

"Ay, 'tis more than likely he will be, your honour."

"Very good," said I. "When he comes, apprise me of the fact without mentioning it to him; I would fain surprise my lord--by the King's command! His Majesty loveth a jest and we have set a pretty trap for the Lord Chief Justice. 'Tis a wager, understand?"

"Certainly, your worship," answered the landlord, rising to the question like a gudgeon to the baited hook as I slid a coin--another of the King's hoard!--carelessly over the table to him. Like all Englishmen, he was full of sporting blood and dearly loved a bet. "I understand, your excellency," he said as he pouched the guinea, which also he dearly loved. "Trust me, sir."

"Now, another favour," I continued. "My man, here, is from the north and is unfamiliar with the shops of Sunderland; would you execute a small commission for me?"

"With pleasure, your excellency."

"We have ridden hard on the King's service and have left our mails behind,"--which was true enough, by the way,--"I want a suit of apparel. Canst get it for me among the shops of thy friends in Sunderland?"

"I have a brother in the trade and all the gentry of the county buy..."

"Say no more," said I. "There are ten guineas,"--again more of King James'!--"get me the best you can, something quiet and unobtrusive, rather suited for out-door use than for the court, yet rich and elegant, such as a gentleman should wear. You are about of my own build, although somewhat stouter; what fits you will doubtless suffice for me."

"The amount is ample for the purpose, your excellency," said the landlord, taking the money; "indeed, much more than..."

"Whatever is unexpended you may keep for your trouble."

"Your excellency overwhelms me," returned the delighted man. "They shall be here within the hour. I am proud to be much of a size with your honour."

"Very good," said I, "and, mind, no talking--by order of the King."

"I shall be silence itself," returned he, turning to do my errand.

The rain of golden guineas which I had produced so generously on every occasion was having tremendous effect upon him. Only the very great or the very noble could, in his mind, thus indifferently dispose of precious treasure. It was money well spent, however, since it made him entirely submissive to my will.

"Go now, then," said I, "for I am in something of a hurry."

The landlord instantly bowed himself out, and I could hear him bustling about in the public room, bawling for his coat and hat with vast importance, while making ready to execute my commission.

"What think you, Macleod?" said I, rising from the table and bidding him take my place and fall to on the ample remains of the meal; "is the man true?"

He was a shrewd observer, this Scotsman, I had found, and I wanted his judgment on this important point.

"A good deal depends upon this landlord," I added.

"So long as you rain guineas upon him, you've got him body and soul, your honour," he answered drily.

"Thanks to the King," laughed I, lifting the still rather full purse, "the fountain has not yet run dry."

We had divided it equally between Lord Clanranald and myself ere we parted at Cockenzie, and, though I had spent of my share freely, much still remained.

"But it likes me ill," said Macleod covetously, "to see such good gold lavished on such a wastrel."

"There will be plenty for us all," said I, "can I once win away with my wife."

"I care not how plenty they be, sir," was his courteous answer, "a guinea's a guinea, whether there be one or a thousand."

"Here's one for you then," said I, "since you like them so well."

"I no meant my words for that," answered the worthy Scotsman, "but I will e'en take the guinea just the same."

"I am going to lie down now and get some sleep, and I recommend you to do the same when you have finished your meal. Leave word that I am not to be disturbed, and, if I do not happen to be awake at five of the clock, you are to come and rouse me."

"Very good, sir," replied my good attendant, whom I had learned to trust; "I'll first take a look at our horses and then I'll be blithe to follow your honour's advice."

I left him finishing the remains of the meal and withdrew to an inner chamber. Taking off my coat, and kicking off my riding-boots, I threw myself on the bed, and for three hours I slept as sound as ever I slept in my life. When I opened my eyes my watch told me that it was now five o'clock. I had taught myself the valuable habit of awakening whenever I wanted to when on service or in the field, and I had the practice down to a nicety. I was very much refreshed from my eating and sleeping, and, after I had given myself a fine wash in a tub that I caused to be brought to me, I felt fit for anything, even to the bearding of a king!

When I was ready for them, Macleod, who had also been asleep, brought me the clothes the landlord had procured. It was a rich suit of dark blue laced with silver, which fitted me well and seemed not unbecoming, though I do look my best in the noble scarlet of the Royal Guards, according to Kate, my wife. I put it on at once and, finding it so satisfactory, I sent out another guinea to the worthy Boniface, bidding him prepare supper for us. We sat down to it at six o'clock. I waived ceremony on this occasion, and Macleod, who modestly placed himself at the far end of the table, ate with me. We both proved good trenchermen.

I suppose it was near on to seven o'clock when we finished. I had no idea where we might get our next meal, and we were both of us old enough soldiers to appreciate the prime importance of attending well to the commissariat while we had opportunity.

It was perhaps half-past seven when we trotted away from the Inn yard, both of us wrapped in long cloaks, with our hats pulled well down over our faces and with our pistols carefully loaded and primed in our belts. I did not intend to be caught napping by the King at this time with empty weapons, as I had been by my wife before. We made our way to the river-bank, and followed the road to the landing in the direction of Stenwold House.

It was still light, and I observed a brigantine slowly beating up the river. My heart leaped at the sight of her. I would know that ship in a thousand. It was she. I raised my hand and shook it toward her as she came slowly on. Stenwold and my wife would be aboard. I was in good time, thank God!

For a moment I considered whether it would be possible to ambush the party who would bring Lady Katharine to the shore and sweep her away from them as soon as they landed. But I reluctantly abandoned that idea. We two could do little with so many as they would be. We must try strategy instead of force. I had devised a better plan.

I could not wait until the brigantine anchored, not even to catch a glimpse of my Lady Katharine as they landed. We trotted at a sharp pace back to the Inn, where the landlord gave me further interesting news: he advised me privately that Lord Jeffreys had sent a messenger there to say that he expected to pass the evening and the night at the Inn,--I had intended to summon him myself otherwise,--he was coming incognito, and a certain dame was to be notified to meet him. I laughed.

"By the King's command, I'll be the only lady that he'll see."

"It will be a royal jest," said the landlord, also greatly amused.

"His Majesty will be much pleased when he hears of it," said I.

"I hope, sir, that the King may be pleasured, indeed," said he.

"No doubt of it," I returned.

"And you will tell him, please your honour, that I did my small part to your entire satisfaction, sir?"

"I will see that your zeal is properly rewarded."

"What must I do further?" asked the delighted landlord.

"This," said I: "since his lordship is coming on an errand of love,"--I paused; the landlord nodded,--"he will require a private room in which to receive the person whom he expects to meet. Do you contrive that I shall be there in her place."

"And what then, sir?"

"Nothing then," said I, laying my finger by the side of my nose. "I shall do all the rest. My lord will require the room for the whole night and must on no account be disturbed. The lady must not be notified."

"You mean no harm to the King's Justice? Forgive the question, your excellency," said the landlord, rather anxiously.

"'Twould be a hanging matter to meddle with him, my good friend. Rest easy; his Majesty loves his Chief Justice and would not have a hair of his head harmed. Know you my Lord Jeffreys' seal?"

"I happen to know it, for he hath despatched letters by me. I have seen it on all papers I take from him, and his signet ring as well."

"Good! This is a most secret business," said I, "and, while you would doubtless be well rewarded for your assistance, I would not answer for your head should you betray me." I softened this threat with another guinea--King James' again! "The King is a royal paymaster," I added knowingly.

"Everything, your excellency," said the landlord, now completely at my disposal, "shall be exactly as you wish it."

"And I myself," I continued, "am not without interest at the court. This night the King will deny me nothing. I am sure you seem a man to be trusted; there is a lady in the case, you comprehend?"

Of course he comprehended!

Presently I found myself in a very lofty and spacious chamber, the best in the Inn. Adjoining it was a smaller bedroom, whose one window looked upon the deep and silent close of the Cathedral, now deserted. The chamber was admirable for my purpose. In the bedroom I stationed Macleod. I had directed him to procure a quantity of light yet strong rope, and by some means, like the faithful fellow that he was, he had managed to obey my rather difficult order: he had the most of it wound about his person. There were a number of candles burning in the great apartment. I extinguished them all but one, and, drawing back so as partly to be concealed by the window, I loosened my sword in its sheath and waited for the coming of Lord Jeffreys with what patience I could muster--but little, I will admit.

_Chapter_
XV

_Shows how the Lord Chief Justice of England kept a Love Tryst and what befell him at the Boar's Head Inn_

It seemed hours, although really but a few minutes, before there came a discreet tap upon the door. Before I had time to say a word, it opened cautiously and the burly figure of a man muffled in a long cloak entered the room. The door was closed behind him. He took off his hat, unbuttoned his coat, and dropped it carelessly in a chair.

"'Tis so dark in here, Doll," he began, in a rough, hoarse voice, "that I couldn't see a blush on your face, even if you could conjure up one." He peered about him in the half-light uncertainly. "Why so sparing of the candles?" he asked with a coarse laugh. "Come, no tricks, you baggage; where are ye?"

He looked about him a moment more, fortunately not seeing me behind the hangings, and then strode boldly across the room and laid his hand on the bed-chamber door.

"Art couched already, wench?" he chuckled out.

As noiselessly as a cat, and with more swiftness than he had exhibited, I had followed him and, as his hand touched the door handle, I pricked him on the shoulder with the point of my sword. He wheeled around with a marvellous swiftness for a man of his bulk and confronted me. He did not yet recognise me in the dim light, but he saw enough to know that it was the tall form of a man in the room he expected to be welcomed to by a woman. He opened his mouth, but, before he could make a sound, I said:

"Unless you want me to run you through with this blade, you will be absolutely silent, sir."

I never saw a more ridiculous spectacle than he presented--his mouth open, his fat face violently flushed. Like most bullies--not all--this bloodthirsty jurist--God save the mark--was an arrant coward. He shrank back against the wall and only stopped retreating when further escape was impossible.

"Do you know what 'tis you are doing?" he growled. "You are raising sword against the Lord Chief Justice of England; your life will be forfeited, 'tis treason. I will have you hung, drawn, quartered. Drop your blade instantly, knave," he went on, gaining courage as he heard his own voice.

"I would not hesitate to raise this blade against the King himself," answered I coolly.

"What, sirrah..." he began.

He was so accustomed to browbeat helpless victims who came before his court that his course was as natural as breathing, but I was not a victim and this was not a court, as he should very soon find out.

"And I am quite aware," I interrupted, "of all that I risk. It disturbs me not a whit. In faith, were I you, my lord, I would not dwell too much on what may happen to me in future; your present predicament is your chief concern. I advise you to give heed to it."

"Is it my money you want?" he asked, growing more and more alarmed.

"Nay," said I, "keep your hands by your side."

My sword made little circles about his throat. It was a trick of fence I had learned and it added greatly to his discomfiture.

"Take away that blade," he pleaded.

"When it suits me," I replied.

I edged around him until I could reach the bedroom door. I knocked upon it, and instantly Macleod presented himself. It pleased me to see that he had his old and terrible Scottish claymore bared and ready.

"Who is this?" asked Jeffreys, with a new accession of alarm.

"You will learn presently, my lord, that it is now not for you to ask questions, but to answer them."

"What would you, sir?" asked Macleod of me.

"Lights," said I. "I have no doubt that Lord Jeffreys would fain know whom he entertains; but first bolt the door into the hall."

"One shout," growled the Lord Chief Justice, "and I could arouse the Inn."

"But you would be so sound asleep, my lord, on the next second, that no shouting that I have heard would suffice to awaken you. Dost take my meaning?"

"Curse you, yes!"

"Remember, then, to speak softly till I give you leave to call."

While I had spoken, Macleod had barred the heavy door precluding any chance interruption; although I trusted to the landlord's zeal and devotion to prevent that, it was well not to neglect any precaution. Then, from the solitary candle, he lighted a number of others. My back was to the light, but presently I moved to let it shine upon my face.

"Richmond!" gasped Jeffreys, turning a shade paler under his red.

"The same, sir."

"What do you here?" queried the Lord Chief Justice. "You are a proscribed outlaw; I can order you seized and executed without formality of a trial; you have no standing in the court."

"I know that full well," said I. "I knew it before I heard it from your lips, worthy master of the law, and therefore your repetition of it affects me not at all."

"What do you want?" asked the frightened blackguard blusteringly.

"A small thing, an it please you--my wife."

"You fool," he muttered under his breath, "I haven't got her. Go to the King."

"That I shall, sir."

The incautious admission of the Lord Chief Justice that I should seek the King apprised me of what I had more than suspected, that he was in the base plot.

"I mean I know nothing of her," he began, seeking to cover his blunder.

"I am glad to find out from you where she hath been taken."

Jeffreys laughed. He saw that I knew, and that I was not to be put off. Besides, his natural viciousness would not let him lose so good an opportunity to taunt me, even at so great a risk to himself.

"The King hath some spirit, after all," he said meaningly.

"Now, by the God above us," I hissed, "I could kill you for those words."

And, but I needed him, I would have done it then and there. The world would have been well rid of so low and base a villain that disgraced the judicial ermine that he wore.

"I did but jest," he said, in cowardly confusion. "It was the King's will. I had naught to do with it."