The Robber Baron of Bedford Castle

by A. J. Foster and Edith E. Cuthell

  *CHAPTER XIII.*

  _*THE BIRD IN THE CAGE.*_

  When William de Breaute and the priest reached the door of the chapel onBromham Bridge, the latter simply pointed to it, saying,--

  "There is the bird in the cage. But the key of the cage is in thekeeping of the Church."

  After this parabolic remark, he led De Breaute away again to a smallhostelry, where they entered a private room. De Breaute perceived thatthe priest had a proposal to make, but waited for him to begin.

  "Thou spakest anon of guerdon to Holy Church for helping thee on withthy plans in hand," the priest commenced.

  "Ay, in good sooth," said De Breaute, seeing that the ecclesiastic meantbusiness; "or a reward to her servants," he added. "Speak! what wouldstthou--money, lands, wealth?"

  Fixing his cunning dark eyes on his companion's face, the latteranswered in one word,--

  "Power!"

  "Ah, pardie! and what have I to do with the advancement of churchmen?"said De Breaute, with a shrug. "Our name is in no good odour withMother Church at this time, forsooth!"

  The priest smiled sardonically.

  "Certes, I have no wish that your brother Fulke should recommend me forhigh office among the Benedictines of St. Alban's, for example."

  The news of Fulke's penance and pardon had already spread far and wideamong the churchmen of that neighbourhood.

  "At St. Alban's, pardie!" laughed De Breaute, as he recollected hisbrother's account of the scene in the chapter-house, and of the mannerin which he had, for the second time as it were, defrauded the abbeycoffers.

  But the priest suddenly changed the tone of banter in which he hadhitherto addressed De Breaute, and the sarcastic expression of his facegave place to one of bitter anger.

  "Hearken, Sir Knight," he exclaimed. "Once I stood high in my order.Brother Bertram was honoured, respected, rising, among the brethren ofSt. ----. But I care not to tell a layman the reason of my fall.Suffice it that I fell, and that I was expelled my order. I, of morenoble blood than all the other brethren together--I, more than half aNorman--here have I been for the last three years, ministering to Saxonswine who grovel in their hovels round yon bridge chapel; a meremass-priest, offering prayers to St. Nicolas that travellers may passsafe, that sordid merchants may keep their chattels safe from roadsiderobbers! A fair portion, forsooth, for one who might have commandedmen, been honoured, famed, obeyed!"

  De Breaute shrugged his shoulders again.

  "Marry, Sir Priest, but by my troth I see not how I am to help thee!What power can I give thee, save the command of a party of men-at-arms?"

  "Sir De Breaute," replied the other, "your chapel is unserved. Nopriest passes 'neath the castle portcullis."

  "Ay, and you speak true."

  "Hark ye," continued the priest, "the castle of Bedford will be stillmore famous ere long. The star of the De Breautes riseth fast. Thefault thy brother hath committed against Holy Church hath been pardoned,and what matter a few Saxon churls, if the Norman nobles but own himtheir peer?"

  "Marry, Sir Priest, and I thank you heartily. I am, in good sooth, gladto hear that my family are so in fortune's way. But how mattereth thatto thee?"

  "When the De Breautes rise and are ennobled, all who serve them willrise too. The chaplain of Bedford Castle shall be no mean priest then.As one of the secular clergy I would then lord it over the regulars, andshow the order that expelled me, Bertram de Concours, that they mustneeds bow before one who stands well with a rich and powerful Normanbaron."

  "If, then, the chaplaincy of the castle is all thou dearest, I cansafely promise it shall be thine," replied De Breaute, laughing in hissleeve at the price the other had named. "But, certes, we must have thechapel swept out and the altar repaired. By my troth, there will bemuch ado with my sister and her women when they hear there will be masssung again at home," he added, with a cynical laugh. "But say on now,Sir Priest or Sir Chaplain, as I may well call thee, how about thepresent work on hand?"

  "Leave that to me," returned the other. "The Church shall open herdoors, and the bird will hop out. See thou to it that thou secure herwhen she is beyond my care."

  "And how so?" said William.

  "Marry, that is your affair," replied the priest. "Mine ends at thechapel door."

  "Pardie! shall I swing her up to my saddle-bow and be off with her? BySt. Hubert, I might have done so this evening had I not bidden myvarlets loose her. A curse on my hesitation! But counsel me, prithee."

  "If it is my counsel you wish, I will not deny it. Methinks the damselshould be conveyed through the streets of Bedford town otherwise thanswinging to a saddle like a market-wife's butter-basket. But, SirKnight, thou knowest far better than I how to treat a fair lady."

  "I have it!" exclaimed De Breaute. "There is the horse-litter of mysister, in the which she sometimes is graciously permitted to go abroad,when her ailments allow her not to mount her palfrey. She is eversickly, the woman. I will send to Bedford for it. Nay, I would gomyself, could I trust my men to guard."

  "Go thyself, if thou art so minded," replied the priest. "I will so farstand, on my part, to my pledge, that I will answer for it that the birdbe not uncaged till I hear from thee. Do not thou show thyself in thematter at all. Seest thou not that in that case thou canst anon tellthe fair one a pretty tale, of how thou callest thy men off from chasingher, even as thou didst in the marshes, and that they captured herwithout thy knowledge or consent? See," he continued, "here is thissmall crucifix. Send it to me. When I receive it back from thy hands,I shall know that all is ready--that the litter waits anon." And as hespoke, the priest handed the soldier a small metal emblem of redemption,the pledge of his nefarious doings. "See, also, that the LadyMargaret's women prepare a suitable lodging for the lady. Thou wouldst,certes, see her well attended? I have thy knightly word that she is inhonour treated, or I loose her not? Withdraw, then, thy men from guardhere, and send others more seemly to escort a lady. I plight my wordthat, as I hope to be chaplain of thy brother's castle, I loose her nottill I receive thy pledge."

  "But," objected De Breaute, "how am I to warrant me she will beconveyed--"

  "Leave that to me," said the treacherous priest. "If she be not placedof her own free will in the litter, I shall not have done my share ofthe work--that thou mayest hold sure. Have only a care, however, thatnaught about the horses or the litter proclaimeth it to be from DeBreaute's stables."

  So saying he passed out of the room. De Breaute followed him. Callingto the man who was not on guard to bring him his horse, and then to comeafter him with his fellow, De Breaute rode off to Bedford, some twomiles distant from Bromham Bridge.