A Clerk of Oxford, and His Adventures in the Barons' War

by Evelyn Everett-Green

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  _PLOTS._

  At the sound of Alys's cry Amalric and his sister turned quickly round,and the next moment a startled exclamation broke from young De Montfort.

  "Leofric! is this truly thyself? or do we see thy ghost?"

  Trembling in every limb, scarce able to separate the real from theunreal, Alys turned round to see that Amalric was grasping the hands ofsome person who had just opened the little door in the alcove, which wasopposite the dusky mirror, and it dawned upon her that it was no phantomface she had seen, nor yet the freak of a disordered fancy; but thatLeofric Wyvill was at Kenilworth, and standing within a few feet of her.

  Yet for the moment he appeared not even aware of her presence. He wasspeaking with Amalric in low, constrained tones.

  "Say only that I am not too late. The Earl, thy father, how is it withhim?"

  "Why, well," answered Amalric, in amaze; "thou canst see him below thineown self. Something aged and worn he is by the cares which press uponhim; but for the rest, well. What do thy words portend, good friend?"

  "Have any mummers arrived of late at the Castle--mummers from foreignparts?" asked Leofric, still speaking hastily and urgently. "They wereto be heard by New-Year's Eve. Has anything been seen of them?"

  "I have heard naught," answered Amalric, "There be comers and goers allday long at such a season, and open house is kept for all who ask it atChristmas. But of foreign mummers I have heard no word. Come, speak tous more plainly. What dost thou mean? and what brings thee here in suchbreathless haste, looking more like a ghost than a man?"

  "In sooth I have travelled something hard," answered Leofric, who wastravel-stained and pale with weariness and lack of sleep. "But mineerrand brooked no delay. There is a plot on hand to poison the Earl, thyfather; and they who are the tools are sent hither in the guise ofmummers--for all I know they may be mummers and jugglers by trade. Butthey come hither with fell intent, and are paid by the Queen for theircrime."

  "The Queen!" cried the Demoiselle in horror--"our kinswoman whose breadwe have eaten! Would she plan such wickedness against my father?"

  "That is the news that Gilbert Barbeck brought post-haste to Oxford. Hisfather got wind of it through some of his sailors plying 'twixt here andFrance. You know, perchance, how the Queen and her son Edmund are tryingby every means in their power to collect and land an army in Englandfor the rescue of the King. Contrary winds and other troubles havebaffled them hitherto, and now they are wellnigh desperate. It issupposed the idea has been proposed to the Queen that to rid the realmof the great Earl would secure her husband's liberty. Or perhaps it issome other person who has conceived it, and gives out that it is by thewish of the Queen. But however that may be, it is said of a certaintythat a party of foreign mummers has started for Kenilworth, and thatthey are armed with a deadly draught, which is to be administered to theEarl ere they leave."

  "And thou hast travelled all this way with the news?"

  "It seemed the best thing to do," answered Leofric. "I knew the way.Gilbert was already worn and weary with his ride from the south. Andboth secrecy and dispatch were needed. My pupils had many of themdispersed for the time being, and I was able to leave. I could not resttill I knew the rights of the matter, and whether in truth the evil deedhad been accomplished."

  At that very moment the doors of the great hall were flung wide open,and amid the plaudits of the company there rushed in a motley crew ofstrange-looking creatures, some disguised as gigantic beasts and birds,some in motley, like fools, with jingling bells, all wearing masks, andall capering about with antics and contortions, exciting outrageouslaughter from the already hilarious company.

  The leading figure was not bedizened like his troop, but wore a sombreblack dress, which flowed round him in ample folds. His mask was black,and nothing of his face could be seen save a pair of shining blackeyes. He uttered strange cries and calls, which were responded to by histroop, who varied the figures of their strange dance, and madepicturesque groups and combinations as they moved about in the only openspace in the hall, where the tables had been hastily thrust aside togive them room for their gambols.

  Some of these creatures were jugglers, and performed feats of dexterityand sleight of hand which provoked shouts of wonder and admiration.Meantime, prompted evidently by the black-robed director, some of theservants had brought in a small table covered with a black cloth, andwhen this cloth was removed, the eager eyes of the onlookers fell uponcertain strange-looking objects which caused many of them to exclaim,--

  "He is an astrologer, and he will tell our horoscopes!"

  At the same moment several of the strange-looking dancers whirled out ofthe hall, and came in again leading with care and reverence awhite-robed, white-veiled figure, who came and stood beside the table,but rigid and still, as though hardly endowed with life.

  At sight of that figure Alys gave a sudden start, and exclaimed in alow, frightened voice,--

  "Pray Heaven that be not Linda! It is just her figure and her carriage!Oh, surely that magician cannot be Tito, and he have gotten possessionof Linda for his evil practices!"

  Leofric started, and gazed at the speaker with earnest eyes.

  "It cannot be Linda; she was safe in Oxford when I left. But she told methat Lotta had lately disappeared, they knew not whither; only theirbrother Tito had once been seen lurking near the city, and it wasthought he had perhaps come for his books and the instruments by whichhe wrought his unholy trade. Lotta had had the care of them since hisdeparture, and had grown very strange. It may be that she has cast inher lot with him. But can that in truth be he?"

  "He would sell his soul for gold," spoke Amalric between his shut teeth."But he has put his head into the lion's den at last. If he has designsupon my father's life, we have a gallows on the wall whereon he shallpay the penalty of his sin."

  "Methinks these mummers are no part of his real company," said Leofric."Probably he has joined himself to them, and given them something to winhim his entrance hither. But let us watch what he is doing. We must notlet any devilry of his go unobserved."

  "Nay, we will seek to catch him red-handed in the act!" hissed Amalric;"and methinks I will go below, the better to guard my father from hiscrafty wiliness."

  The wizard, as he now openly declared himself to be, was busy practisingthe smaller arts of his calling upon the credulous, with results whichappeared to them to be marvellous. But not content with that for long,he called upon the great ones of the company to come and hear what thefuture held for them--to look into the crystal, or into the magicmirror, and to ask of the white-robed vestal such things as they desiredto hear.

  Each person thus coming forward received from the veiled woman a cupcontaining water from a sacred well; this cup he drained, placed withinit a piece of money, returned it to the vestal with a whisperedquestion, and then, looking in the mirror or crystal, awaited either areply from her lips or an image forming itself there.

  It seemed as though the questioners heard or saw enough to mystify them,if not entirely to satisfy their curiosity, and there was quite a crowdaround the recess where the wizard had established himself; whilst fromtime to time he called aloud on one or another of the company by name toapproach and test his magic.

  It was thus that the Prince and the Earl presently approached the table,partly from curiosity, partly from a sense of semi-superstitious beliefin the power of these so-called magicians to read the future.

  "Shall we try our fate?" asked the Prince, and he stretched out his handfor the cup.

  It was given into his hands with some whispered words which brought asudden flush into his face. He drained the cup, spoke a few words, andthen came away with a strange expression in his glowing eyes.

  "There is a spice of witchcraft about it," he said, with a laugh whichwas not perhaps quite natural; and he retired to the far end of thehall, grasping tightly in his hand a small fragment of paper which hadbeen slipped into it, he scarce knew how or by whom.

 
; The Earl had followed the example of his illustrious prisoner, his sonAmalric keeping close at his side. He, too, took the cup from the handof the maid; but ere he could lift it to his lips, Amalric cried out,--

  "Have a care, sir; that cup is poisoned! Let the magician be seized tillthis thing has been inquired into!"

  In a moment all was confusion and affright. The magician made a bound,as though to flee before hands could be laid upon him; but he was heldby a dozen pairs of strong arms. He broke then into frantic pleadingsand excuses; but no word was addressed to him until the draught intendedfor the Earl had been forced down the throat of a dog, which almostimmediately was racked with violent convulsions, and died within fifteenminutes.

  Sternly and with black brow did the Earl and his attendants look on. Itwas so easy to see what had been planned. The inquirer would have askedsome question as to the future, would have received some terribleprophecy, and when this attack took him, those who stood by would thinkit an access of fear at what he had heard; and in the confusion themagician and his accomplices would effect an escape, even if suspiciondid light upon them.

  "How didst thou know this thing?" asked the Earl of his son; and Leofricwas brought forward to tell his tale. A cry of rage and execration wentup from the crowd as they listened. The terrified mummers, who knewnothing of the plot, slunk away and hid themselves in any dark cornersthey could find. No one heeded them, all eyes being fixed upon themagician himself; and when his mask was plucked from his face, itrevealed the white, scared countenance of Tito Balzani.

  In vain he pleaded his innocence, and implored mercy. There was no mercyin the stern faces around him. Even Prince Edward, in whose favour theintended crime was supposed to have been planned, came forward withwrath in his eyes, and desired the death of the miscreant.

  "He dares to say that my mother was the instigator of the crime!" hecried. "Let him hang from the highest battlements for that foul lie!Some evil-disposed person, thinking to do us service, may have plannedthis hideous deed; but my mother--never! Let him die the death of aperjured traitor!"

  "But my sister--who will care for my sister? She at least must notsuffer for my sin!" wailed the hapless man. "It is Roger de Horn whoought to hang. It was he who showed me the gold, and tempted me to myruin. But he ever escapes, and leaves me to bear the punishment. Let thewoods be scoured for him, and I refuse not to die if he die too. But lethim not escape. And, I beseech you, save my sister; for if she knew--thedeed was none of hers."

  "The maid shall not suffer; her sex shall be her safeguard," answered DeMontfort sternly. "And as for that miscreant, whose name I have heardbefore now, search shall be made for him, and he shall suffer the fatehe merits. Assassins and their accomplices find no mercy atKenilworth.--Guard him well, men, and with the first of the daylight lethim die!"

  Thus upon the morn of the new year, Tito Balzani met his death upon thebattlements of Kenilworth Castle; but though the woods were scoured andthe Castle hunted from end to end, no trace of the veiled maiden nor ofRoger de Horn could be found. It seemed as if in the confusion the girlhad slipped away, perhaps to give warning to their comrade without. Nonehad seen her from the moment when Amalric had denounced the wizard inthe hearing of the whole assembly. She must have taken instant alarm,and have made good a clever escape, leaving her hapless brother to hiswell-earned fate.

  The mummers, who soon explained their innocence and ignorance, werepermitted to depart unhurt; but from that day when he knew that his lifehad been attempted, a darker cloud rested upon the stern, worn face ofDe Montfort, and sometimes he would break into passionate speech whenalone with his wife or his sons.

  "If the realm has done with me and wants me no more, by the arm of St.James let them say so, and I will be content to return to France, andlive a peaceful life there, away from all this stress and strife. Yet ifI do, all will cry shame upon me for deserting the cause to which I ampledged; whilst if I stay, I am reviled alike by friend and foe, calledtyrant and usurper, and charged with all manner of crimes, of which notone can be proven against me!"

  In truth, the Earl's position at this time was a very trying one. TheEarl of Gloucester openly charged him with self-seeking and strivingafter personal aggrandizement, in order to cover his own defection fromthe cause of the Barons. De Montfort's sons fomented the dissensions bytheir haughty and overbearing conduct, so that all manner of chargeswere raised against them by their foes. True, the conditions imposedupon the captive King and Prince by the Parliament which met atWestminster early in the year placed almost regal powers in the hands ofDe Montfort; yet he himself knew that his tenure of power was mostprecarious. In that very Parliament the Barons' party had been mostmeagrely represented, so many nobles having declined to appear. Jealousyand party strife were doing their disintegrating work amongst thevictors of Lewes, and the nation was beginning to murmur at thedetention of King and Prince.

  Plots of all sorts were being hatched for the deliverance of the latter(the King himself being personally useless to head any nationalmovement), and the Earl, his uncle, was compelled by policy, as well asby his own sense of right and justice, to make his captivity as lightand easy as possible.

  So his friends were permitted access to him at Kenilworth--even suchpronounced loyalists as Mortimer, Clifford, and Leiburn, who haddeclined to lay down their arms at the close of the campaign, but hadretired into Wales in sullen displeasure, there to await the turning ofthe tide. A safe-conduct was granted to these and to other friends ofthe Prince to visit him in his captivity, albeit the Earl could not butbe aware that in all probability the end of the matter would be that thePrince would escape from his prison, and immediately appear in armsagainst the foes of his father.

  De Montfort was not, however, at Kenilworth in person now. He was inWestminster, directing the deliberations of Parliament; and Henry wasleft as the companion of the Prince, together with Thomas de Clare,brother of the Earl of Gloucester, and other knights congenial to theroyal captive. The breach between Gloucester and Leicester had not yetbeen openly proclaimed, and no actual rupture had occurred between themembers of the two houses.

  Amalric had, together with Leofric and the De Kynastons, returned toOxford. No formal betrothal had taken place between him and Alys. Theaffairs of the Earl had taken up so much time and thought, that therehad scarce been space for the consideration of other matters. Moreoverthe father had once said to Amalric,--

  "Press not the matter home too soon, my son. It may be that we are afalling, not a rising house. Link not the fate of an innocent maid withthine till we see whether this rising cloud will disperse again, orwhether it will gather into a tempest that will overthrow us."

  Nevertheless it was well understood by the two fathers, ere theConstable took his departure, that the betrothal of Amalric and Alyswould, if all went well, take place very shortly. Both Earl and Countessbestowed upon her many rich gifts, and Amalric begged her acceptance ofa costly ring, which she could not refuse, the eyes of her elders beingupon her, although her heart misgave her that this would be regarded asa pledge when the time came for the settlement of the question of hermarriage.

  "It may be thou wilt learn to love him yet," whispered the Demoiselle,who took a keen interest in the matter, greatly desiring to have Alysfor a sister, and earnestly desiring her brother's happiness, yetfeeling a keen sympathy with the unconfessed romance which she guessedat, and regarding Leofric as, after her own brother, a very proper matefor her friend. "Amalric is more like our father than any of them, and Itrow he would be a gallant lover and a loyal husband. But thou shaltnever be forced to do a thing at which thy heart rebels. I will myselftell him all sooner than thou shalt be made unhappy, sweet Alys."

  But at that Alys shrank as though touched upon a wound, and made almosthasty answer,--

  "Speak not so, dearest Eleanora; thou dost not know what thou sayest. Ishall seek in all things to do right; I only wish that my poor heartwere worth the winning of so gallant a gentleman as thy brother. I amsore ashamed often
times to think what a paltry thing he seeks after."

  "It is not paltry to him, so it be all his own," answered Eleanora; butat that word Alys winced again.

  However, the party for Oxford rode off from Kenilworth in due course, ingood spirits--Amalric willing to wait for his betrothal till hisfather's affairs should be more fully arranged, yet full of confidencethat the day would come when he could call Alys his own.

  Meantime Prince Edward remained behind, the playmate of his littlecousin Eleanora at Kenilworth, a pleasant guest and kinsman, nevershowing the least spark of resentment at his prolonged captivity, yetbearing himself with a princely air to those about him, as though hewould have them remember that, if a prisoner, he was a King's son andthe heir of the realm. He received his friends with pleasure, and heldvarious consultations with them at different times. Henry de Montfortlooked with some suspicion upon these meetings, and wrote once to hisfather cautioning him to put a stop to them. But the Earl would not dothis. He felt keenly the difficulties attending holding in captivity hismonarch and that monarch's son, and he was resolved to give as smallreason as possible for complaint.

  The talk of arbitration was still going on, but few believed in anyimportant results, save perhaps the release of King and Prince. Meantimeweeks and months slipped by in quick succession, and the affairs of thestate so engrossed De Montfort that he knew little of what went onwithin the walls of his home, save what was reported by his wife andson.

  With the approach of summer, outdoor exercise and amusements were takenup with zest. The Demoiselle was a fearless rider, and loved to fly afalcon, or to gallop side by side with her cousin over the green meadowsand golden moors. The Prince delighted in every sort of manly exercise,and though always attended by a sufficient escort, was permitted toindulge himself in these pleasures round and about the Castle ofKenilworth.

  Presents were from time to time sent to him by his friends, and one daythere arrived at the Castle a fine horse, which had come from the Earlof Gloucester. The Demoiselle was greatly pleased with the creature,and eager for her cousin to try it.

  Upon the next morning, therefore, the party rode forth to a green meadowabout two miles distant, bounded on one side by a wood; and here PrinceEdward laughingly challenged his escort to a series of contests offleetness and strength. All entered with zest into the spirit of thething. The horses were drawn up, and the Demoiselle was called upon togive judgment.

  "Six times round shall be the course," cried the Prince, "and whosoevercomes in first shall be victor."

  "Agreed!" cried the other young men, all well mounted, as was needfulwhen they had so great a prize as the King's son in their custody; andforthwith the race began.

  Six times round that great expanse of turf, six times round at thereckless speed which young knights strove to attain when engrossed infeats of skill and daring, was no small strain upon a horse's powers,and would be an excellent test for the stranger.

  Breathlessly did Eleanora watch the gallant creatures sweeping round andround the course, sometimes one forging ahead, then another making agallant dash and passing his comrade, but all the field keeping neartogether; for it was a point of honour with his escort not to let thePrince get far out of reach, and perhaps it occurred to Henry deMontfort that this might be a ruse on Edward's part to make somedesperate effort at escape.

  His year of parole had now expired. He was no longer bound by hisplighted word. Perhaps that detail had escaped the memory of the Earl;at any rate no request or command had reached the captive for a renewalof the promise, or for any stricter rule of captivity.

  Eleanora, however, thought of nothing but the excitement of the race;and when upon the sixth round the field came sweeping up towards thespot where she had placed herself, just within the friendly shade of theadjacent forest, her face was flushed with excitement, and she criedgaily,--

  "Edward wins--the Prince wins!" just as he brought his panting andfoam-stained horse to a halt beside her.

  Edward leaped from the saddle, and made his cousin a graceful bow. Therewas a slight rustle in the thicket close behind.

  "Farewell, sweet cousin," he cried; "we shall meet again ere long, Itrow!" and before any of those about him had taken in the sense of thesewords, the Prince had vaulted upon the back of a strong young horse, ledforth that moment by an unseen hand.

  With a shout and an oath Henry de Montfort sprang forward, but wasforcibly held back by young De Clare. The next minute the Prince wasgalloping off at a pace which rendered it impossible for any of thejaded horses to strive to emulate.

  "Farewell, gentlemen," cried Edward, waving his hand; "I thank you foryour courtesy and good company these many days. And tell my royal fatherthat I shall soon see him out of ward! A merry meeting to us all anotherday!"

  The last words were inaudible. Already the receding figure wasdisappearing from their view.

  De Clare burst into a loud laugh, and turning fiercely upon Henry deMontfort he cried,--

  "Ride after him and welcome if thou wilt, young fool! He is by this timewith Roger Mortimer and a goodly following, who will hack thee in pieceswith a right good will! I go to join them and my noble brother. NeitherGloucester nor England will long be content to be ruled by King Simonthe usurper!"

  NOTE.--The escape of Prince Edward really took place from Hereford, though in the same fashion as that described above.