Dame Alicia's chantry. Shehad already sent serfs and horses to fetch the carved work, and withthem an urgent message for Master Gervase to come; and as Hugh had donehis work well--marvellously well, Elyas privately thought--he determinedto give him the delight of seeing it fixed in its place, and the two setoff together one morning in early June, with Joan kissing her hand fromthe balcony. The only pang to Hugh was the leaving Agrippa, but Wat washis devoted slave, and solemnly vowed not to neglect him, and, moreover,to protect him from Roger, who had developed a keen dislike for thecreature, while Mistress Prothasy had quite forgotten hers.
It was a fair morning, and the country, then far more thickly woodedthan now, was in its loveliest dress of dainty green. The brushwood wasfull of birds, thrushes and blackbirds drowning the smaller notes by thejubilance of their whistling, while, high up, the larks were pouring outa rapturous flood of song. It was the same road along which Hugh hadjourneyed twice before, but how different it looked now, and how strangeit seemed to him that he should ever have run away from the home wherehe was so happy! Something of the same thought may have been inGervase's mind, for when they were not very far from Exminster, ridingbetween banks, and under oaks, of which the yellow leaf was not yetfully out, he pointed to a spot in the hedge, and said with a smile:
"'Twas there I found thee, Hugh, and a woe begone object thou wast!"Then, as he saw the boy redden, he went on kindly, "But that is all overand done with long ago, and now thou art content, if I mistake not."
"More than content, good sir."
"That is well, that is well. A little patience will often carry usthrough the darkest days. By-and-by show me about where thou wastwrecked. Ay, the sea is a terrible place for mischances, and for myselfI cannot think how men can be found willing to encounter such risks.There is talk of building larger vessels and adventuring longer voyages,but 'tis a rash idea. What know we of the awful regions that they mightlight upon, or whether the vessels might not be carried too close to theedge of the world? Nay, nay, keep to land, say I. Those who mustexplore may travel there as Marco Polo hath done, and indeed there aremany tales going about the wonders of the Court of the great Khan ofTartary."
The road, as they journeyed on, became very beautiful, so wooded was itand broken, and with ever-widening views of water to the left, while onthe right after a time they saw the ridges of Dartmoor, a very bleak andbarren country, as Elyas told the boy, but now looking softly grey anddelicate in colour. By this time they had reached the Teign, and hereat Kingsteignton stopped to rest their horses, at a house belonging tothe Burdons of that place, Elyas having done some work for them, andrequiring to see it in its finished condition. Plain country peoplethey were, and awkward and uncouth in manners, two or three boys onbare-backed colts riding up as Gervase and Hugh arrived, and pointing atthem with bursts of laughter. The girls, Hugh thought, were littlebetter, and the fashion of their garments curiously odd and slatternly.When supper--which was very plentifully provided--was over, they setforth again on their journey, getting into a most vile road, whichlasted for some miles, but took them without adventure to Tor Mohun,although it led them through an extraordinary number of rocks and tors,and also between exceedingly thick woods.
Gervase had never been there before, and was no more prepared than Hughfor the view which met their eyes when they came out of the circle ofthese woods. For there lay a very noble bay, well shut in, and withvery beautiful and thickly wooded cliffs rising up on the eastern side.In a hollow of these cliffs and hills there clustered a few miserablehovels, otherwise it was a wild solitude, only so tempered by a kindlyclimate and the softness of the sea breezes that there was nothing roughor savage about it; and just now, towards sunset, with the sea like opalglass, and the colours all most bright and yet delicate, and the thornsyet in blossom, it was exceedingly pleasant to the eye, and DameAlicia's house, though standing back, had it well in view.
It was plain that she was a great lady by the size of the building andthe number of retainers about, but they heard afterwards that these werenot all hers, Sir William de Sandridge from Stoke Gabriel, and SirRobert le Denys of Blagdon in the moor, having ridden over to spend twoor three nights. An elderly squire took charge of Gervase and hisapprentice, showing them the little room that was to be theirs, andtelling the warden that his lady had been eagerly expecting his coming,and would see him the next day.
Elyas asked whether he should find workmen in the chapel early in themorning.
"No fear, goodman," said the squire with a laugh; "Dame Alicia is notone to let the grass grow under her feet, and I would not answer butwhat she may keep them there all night. Go as early as thou wilt;follow this passage, turn down another to the right, and thou wilt cometo a door with steps, which will take thee there."
The next few days were days of both wonder and amusement to Hugh. DameAlicia was a fiery and impetuous little lady, using such strong languageas would have brought her a heavy fine had she been an apprentice;ruling her household and serfs with much sharpness, disposed todomineer, yet with a kind heart which prevented any serious tyranny, andsometimes moved her to shame for too hasty acts. She was at times veryimpatient with Elyas, expecting her wishes to be carried out in anunreasonably short time, and that all other work should give way tohers; but the stonemason had a dignity of his own, which never failedhim, and kept him quietly resolute in spite of sudden storms. He wouldnot consent to undertake the carving of the pulpit, or ambo, which shewanted set about, declaring that he had too much already on hand, norwould he yield to Sir Robert le Denys and go to Blagdon to advise onalterations there. All, however, that he had to do at Tor Mohun he didadmirably. It was a proud day to Hugh when he saw the bosses he hadcarved fixed in the vaulted roof. He worked all day in the chantry withdelight, and would scarcely have left it had not Gervase insisted on hisgoing forth into the air. Then sometimes he would go out in one of therude fishing-boats, and was delighted to find a man who knew Andrew ofDartmouth, and promised to convey tidings of Hugh to him.
At the end of a week, in spite of Dame Alicia's reluctance, Elyas andHugh went back to Exeter again, and to the old life, which had become sofamiliar.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
WITH THE PRENTICES IN THE MEADOWS.
Time passed on, weeks, months, years: slowly, though happily, for thechildren; ever faster and faster for the elders. Joan was still theonly child, the darling of the house, but with a sweet, frank naturewhich was proof against spoiling. Roger had long finished his sevenyears' apprenticeship, and now worked by the day as journeyman; even Watwas close on the end of his term, but nobody seemed to think he couldever be anything except Prentice Wat, whom everybody laughed at andeverybody liked, even better than they knew. Nevertheless, by dint ofhard belabouring of brains, and a most impatient patience, for he wasever rating him for his dulness, and yet never giving up the teaching,Hugh had managed to hammer more out of Wat than had been supposedpossible in the beginning of things. It was very hard to get him totake in an idea, but once in his head, he sometimes showed an aptitudefor working it out which surprised the others, and caused Hughdelightful moments of triumph.
As for Hugh himself, his progress was astonishing. If he still lackedsomething of the technical skill of Franklyn, there was no one, exceptGervase himself, who could come near his power of design. The boy hadan intense love of nature, nothing was lost upon him. When he was inthe fields or woods, he would note the exquisite curve of branches, theuncurling of ferns, the spring of grass or rushes, and was for evertrying to reproduce them. By this means his eye and hand were trainedin the very best school, and his designs had an extraordinary beauty andfreedom of line, devoid of all stiffness and conventionality. He couldnever be induced to delight in the grinning masks and monsters whichwere the joy of Wat's soul, but when any delicate and dainty work wascalled for, it was always Hugh who was set to do it.
His pride and delight in the Cathedral was scarcely less than thebishop's. Bishop Bitton was steadily carrying out his work
in thechoir, so as to complete the design of his predecessors. The choir wasnow entirely rebuilt, and united to the Lady Chapel, left standing atthe end. The beautiful vaulting of the roof was in course ofconstruction, and pushed on with all the speed that good work wouldallow. For one characteristic of the work of those days was that it wasof the best. There was no competition, which we are accustomed to lookupon as an actual necessity, but in place of this the guilds, whichcontrolled labour and held it in their own hands, exercised a verystrict oversight upon materials and execution, so that nothing which wasbad or indifferent was allowed to pass; there was no possibility ofunderselling, nor of the workman being underpaid.
The bishop had by no means forgotten his idea about the corbels. As thebeautiful clustered shafts of the columns--of soft grey unpolishedPurbeck marble--were raised to support the arches, above each one wasbuilt in the long shapeless
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