CHAPTER XV
THE EVE OF WAR
Service was being held in the Royal Chapel at Hampton Court.
There were not many people there: only the King, the officers of hishousehold, and one or two others, including Mr. Prior, new come from TheHague.
William knelt alone in his pew while his chaplain delivered the finaland beautiful prayers of the Anglican service; he was not listening toor repeating these prayers.
The old austerity of his stern religion had become softened with hisvaster knowledge and experiences, nor could his firm conception of awide tolerance maintain the narrow prejudices of sectarian belief; butthe old teaching of the faith that had supported his youth and manhoodthrough so much was still strong in him. It suited his nature and hiscircumstance; it was the creed of his beloved country, and had ever beenunder the especial protection of his family. The heart of the King wasstill as Calvinist as it had been when he learnt his grim theology fromPastor Trigland. Though he knelt in English churches and listened toAnglican services, it pleased him to close his eyes and imagine himselfback in the bare whitewashed Groote Kerk, an eager grave boy, a silentanxious man, seated in the stiff pew watching the sunlight fall athwartthe massive, tall pillars, and drawing stern comfort and nobleinspiration from the pastor's thunderous declamation of the theology ofGeneva.
This morning the picture came before him with a peculiar and painfulvividness. He put his hand over his eyes and thought that he could hearthe little stir of Mary's gown beside him, and that if he put out hishand he would touch hers, warm on her Prayer Book ...
Long after the prayers had ceased he continued kneeling, and when he atlast rose there was a curious expression on his face.
When he left the Chapel his words were to know if Albemarle had yetarrived.
No, he was told, but my lord might be expected any hour, as the packetfrom Holland had got in last night.
The King had constantly shown a wistful impatience for the return ofAlbemarle, when he had parted from him with great pain; but my lord wasthe only person who knew his exact wishes in the matter of the disposalof the troops in the United Provinces and whom he could entrust with hisminute instructions to M. Heinsius.
He now calculated that my lord, even riding all night, could scarcely bethere before midday, and he ordered out his horse and said he would ridein the park awhile. It was a day in February, and mild and fine. Oflate, too, he had been unexpectedly better in health, and had evenhunted and spent hours on horseback.
As the little company left the Chapel, Mr. Prior fell behind to speakwith Lord Buckhurst, son of my Lord Dorset, Mr. Prior's former patron.
"Everything is done, is it not?" he asked eagerly.
"Everything," said my young lord, with enthusiasm. "We--and theallies--will take the field this spring. God bless His Majesty!"
"Ay, he did it. I would I could have heard his speech to Parliament.They say, sir, it hath roused Europe like the trumpet-call tocharge----"
"Europe, Mr. Prior, and the Commons of England. I think no nobler wordswere ever heard in Westminster--he raised them all above themselves--youhave read the speech? It is in a dozen different tongues already.England might hold the balance of Europe, he said, if she would exerther ancient vigour and forget her unhappy internal animosities;--and shewill, Mr. Prior, she will--thanks to His Majesty."
My Lord Buckhurst was only voicing the general sentiment of enthusiasmand loyalty that William had at last succeeded in rousing.
"Will the King take the campaign this year?" asked Matthew Prior, asthey strolled out into the magnificent gardens.
"I do not think so--it is to be my Lord Marlborough."
"A man who was ever detested by the King."
"His Majesty saith he is the greatest general and statesman. Next yearhe might go himself--there seemeth hope that he might be recoveredthen."
They passed the yew hedges and fountains, the famous patternedflower-beds, and came out by King Charles's Long Canal, with theresplendent avenue of trees rising up lofty against the pale spring skyand fading into a fair, hazy distance. Coming now into the park wherethe fresh grass was pushing up through the dead damp leaves of lastautumn, and the little groups of slender deer moved delicately throughthe open sloping glades, they perceived the King riding with two grooms,and holding his hat in his hand to catch the full strength of the faintsun on his face.
He drew up his horse as he saw the two gentlemen, and spoke to themkindly, telling them of the new fine entrance-gates he proposed to makefrom the Palace grounds to Bushey Park.
He looked more animated and cheerful than he had done for a long while.He was mounted on a splendid young sorrel horse, that he managed withall his old skill.
"A new fellow," he remarked. "The grooms warned me he was spirited, butI could scarcely be afraid of a horse--eh?" He faintly smiled andpatted the great creature's glossy neck with his thin, white, unglovedhand.
My Lord Buckhurst looked at the frail figure of the King and the greatpower of the animal, and indeed wondered that he could manage him. Hesecretly agreed with the grooms that William was perhaps relying toomuch on his exquisite horsemanship in mounting such an untried brute.
"I hope," said William, "that I shall find my Lord Albemarle when Ireturn."
He touched up the horse and galloped away out of sight down the longavenue, the grooms after him.
Lord Buckhurst and Mr. Prior lingered a little in the pleasant dim sunand shade, talking over this great prospect opening out over Europe, andthe part the nations of the world would play in the comingstruggle--which could not fail to establish for ever the Protestantfaith and the liberty of peoples.
Presently the sun clouded over, and they were for returning to thePalace, when the distant sound of hoofs on the grass caused them to lookround, thinking this might be the King returning.
What they saw was a riderless horse--a monstrous sorrel horse--gallopingacross the glade, with the stirrups flying loose.
"The King--his horse!" exclaimed Mr. Prior breathlessly. Lord Buckhurstsaid nothing; he turned and ran swiftly towards where the animal hadcome from. Cumbered as he was with sword, full extravagant vesture, anda wide-bottomed peruke, youth brought him easily over the ground, and ina few minutes he came to the spot he made for--a little clearing beyondthe great trees of the avenue, with Mr. Prior breathless at his heels.
They saw there what they had been dreading to see: the King lying on theground, and the two frightened grooms coming up, one dismounted and inan embarrassment to know what to do with his horse, the other givingdoleful exclamations and cries for help.
William had raised himself on one elbow, and was holding a handkerchiefto his mouth.
Buckhurst and Prior rushed up to him.
"Are you hurt, sire?" cried my lord.
The King removed the handkerchief from his lips; it was scarlet withblood.
"No," he answered. "The brute threw me over that molehill--the firsttime, my lord, I have been thrown----"
He put his hand to the shoulder on which he had fallen.
"Something broken, I think," he said, in a fainter voice. "They wereright--I overestimated my skill--I have not the seat--I--once--had."
My lord endeavoured to raise him, tenderly enough; but at the attempt tomove the King's face went of an ashy colour, and he fainted with pain.
"This is the end," murmured my lord. "Take him up, Mr. Prior--dear God,I think this is the end."
With the aid of the two servants, who had now left their horses, theycarried him back, by easy degrees, into the Palace, and his ownapartments.
Before the doctor could be called he came to his senses and asked forAlbemarle. On being told he had arrived, he bid him rest a littlebefore he delivered his news, and, having sent the message, called M.Zulestein to bring him his yet unfinished letter to M. Heinsius.
When it was brought, and quill and ink, he sat up in his great chairwith arms, and ad
ded painfully these words: "God be praised, alldifficulties are overcome," and his name.
He bid them, in a broken whisper, send off this letter immediately, andfell back again in his chair, very white and frowning.
The alarmed gentlemen were for his seeing the doctor immediately, but hedesired to give Albemarle his audience first.
My lord came on the instant, spurred and dusty, and all in a reek fromtravel.
He entered, with a breathless air of dread, the throne-room, where theyhad brought the King.
William was seated in a great low chair of red velvet, in front of theblue dais and throne, which bore in silver the Royal arms and the mottoof Nassau: "Je Maintaindrai." He still wore his buff hunting-coat withthe gold galloon on the wide skirt and the tight doeskin boots with thegilt spurs; his waistcoat was open on his laced shirt, and he held hisright hand over his heart.
Lord Albemarle fell on his knees and passionately kissed the King's freehand.
William looked down at him affectionately, and said, between quicklittle gasps--
"How go matters in Holland?"
"Well, sire, well--everything is in readiness. The States are willingto everything that Your Majesty wisheth; all the preparations arecomplete for an early campaign--but you, Your Majesty----"
"Tell me of Holland," interrupted William faintly.
Albemarle looked round the company, and hesitated; but at a sign from M.Zulestein obeyed the King, and spoke of the affairs of the Republic, andof their response to the King's call to arms.
William of Orange listened to these words, that told him his lifeworkwas at last accomplished, with such calm that it seemed indifference, oras if he was giving no attention to the matter of the discourse; henever changed his attitude or raised his downcast eyes. It seemed as ifeven this could not rouse him now.
When Albemarle paused at last and waited, half fearfully, William spoke,but so faintly that my lord, kneeling close as he was, could hardlycatch the words.
"I have often wished to die," he murmured; "but now I might wish to liveand see this prospect fulfilled; but I draw near my end--the end--theend----"
He said the word three times with so many little sighs, and thenfainted, dropping his hand from his heart.
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