The Lady of Loyalty House: A Novel

by Justin H. McCarthy

  XIII

  A GILDED CAGE

  Evander awoke in a strange world steeped in lavender. It was longsince he had lain so soft, long since he had drifted out of dreams tobreathe lavender. His pleased senses, less alert for very ease andpleasure, denied him immediate knowledge of his whereabouts. He saw afair room, well appointed; he welcomed the morning sunlight throughdelicate, unfamiliar curtains; he questioned the insistingdeliciousness of lavender. Where was he? What was this chamber ofcalm panelled in pale oak? It was not Leyden, it was not Cambridge;then in a flash he knew. It was the west room at Harby--Harby wherehe lay a prisoner on parole, Harby which he had tried to take andwhich had ended by taking him. He leaped from his bed instantly, wellawake, well alive, and gaining the window peeped through the partedcurtains. He looked out across the moat on the terrace to the rear ofHarby, beyond which lay the spacious gardens for which Harby was heldfamous. His men had held that terrace twenty-four hours earlier; nowthey had vanished as if they had never been, save for the testimonyof the trampled grass. In their place a solitary figure sat on abaluster drinking smoke contemplatively from a pipe of clay. Evanderknew him for Halfman--knew, too, that Halfman watched there for him,for the moment the curtains parted the sitter rose and, advancingtowards the edge of the moat, waved and voiced salutation to Evander.

  "Give you good-morning, gallant capitano," he called. "Jocund daystands on the top of yon high eastern hill. Will it please yourworthiness to be stirring?"

  "Very willingly," Evander called back. "Have I overslept?"

  Halfman made a gesture of protestation.

  "Nay, nay," he answered. "Your time is your own nag here, to amble,pad, or gallop as you choose. Have I your permission to wait upon youin your apartment?"

  On Evander's assurances that nothing would afford him greaterpleasure, Halfman favored him with a military salute, and, crossingthe moat by the now restored bridge, disappeared inside the house.Evander hastened to clothe himself, a task which he had but partiallyaccomplished when the drumming of a pair of hands upon the doorinformed him that his custodian waited at the threshold. He openedthe door, and Halfman walked in wearing for the occasion a manner inwhich good-fellowship and condescension, with the consideration of anoble victor for a noble vanquished, were artfully blended andemphatically interpreted. He held out his hand for Evander's and gaveto it a martial pressure.

  "A soldier should ever be abroad betimes," he asserted. "Wherefore Iapplaud your rising."

  Evander inquired again, somewhat anxiously, if he had been expectedto appear before, which again Halfman denied.

  "Since you have passed your parole," he affirmed, "Harby Hall isLiberty Hall for you as far as to the park limits. I would havebattered at your door ere this, but I respected your first sleep in astrange bed, wherein often a bad night makes a late matins. Can youbreak your fast?"

  Evander answering that he could, Halfman called upon him to follow,and led the way into an adjoining room, which was, so he assuredEvander, set at his disposal during the period of his stay. The room,like the bedchamber, was panelled of oak, was handsomely furnished,and its long windows, which occupied almost the entirety of one wall,afforded the same view of terrace and garden that Evander had alreadyseen. Much had been newly done, so Evander could see, to brighten andcheer the place. A bowl of royal roses stood on the buffet, andEvander smiled at the delicate defiance. In the alcove of thewindow-seat a number of books were piled, books that had patentlybeen newly dusted, and Evander, glancing at these, found that theywere all theological, an attention which made him smile. A tabledecked with lily-white linen and silver furniture bore preparationsfor a meal.

  "Here, sir," said Halfman, cheerfully, "for some few hours of flyingtime, you are, in a word, king of the castle. These rooms are yoursto eat in, read in, pray in, sleep in--what you please. None shalldisturb your privacy without your leave."

  Evander guessed that his hostess had found this way of treating himwell and yet keeping her from his presence. There was bitterness inthe thought that she must needs hate him so deeply. It may be thatsomething of the bitterness of the thought asserted itself onEvander's face, and that Halfman misread it thinking he read theprisoner's thoughts clearly.

  "Do not think," he proceeded, "that you are cabined and cribbed tothese walls. All Harby Park is your pleasant paradise when you arepleased to walk abroad, and after you have broken your fast I shallbe pleased to guide you through its glories. And now, will you that Ieat with you? I have kept myself fasting, or wellnigh fasting, tillnow, but if you would rather break your bread in solitude say,without offence given, what I shall hear without offence taken."

  Evander assured his companion that he desired his company of allthings. Indeed, had Halfman been other than he was, Evander wouldhave preferred any companionship that kept him from his melancholythoughts. And already Halfman attracted him, or at least interestedhim. His fantastical manner, his fluent speech, his assurance, andthat note of something foreign, odd, as characteristic, asconclusive, as the scorch of foreign suns upon his face, appealed tothe curiosity in Evander which ever made men books for him. Halfman'smanner grew more expansive at Evander's ready acceptance of hisoffer. He was now the magnificent host, soldier still, but soldier athis ease, and he played at Lord of Harby with enthusiasm.

  "You are in the right," he said. "It is ill for man to sit alone atmeat, for it encourages whimsical humors and the mounting ofcrudities to the brain. A flagon is twice a flagon that is shared bycamerados, and who can praise a pasty to himself with only dumb wallsto echo his plaudits? And here in good time come flagon and pasty,both."

  The door had opened as he spoke, and Mistress Satchell came into theroom, followed by a brace of serving-men who bore on trays thematerials for an ample repast. Halfman eyed the viands with approval,while Evander returned gravely Mrs. Satchell's florid bobs andgreetings.

  "I saw to it last night," he went on, "that Harby was revictualled.You pinched us, sir, you pared us; our larder was as lean as astork's leg, but to-day we can eat our fill."

  And, indeed, the table now being spread by Mrs. Satchell's directionsbore out the assertion of Halfman. Jolly, white loaves, a grinningboar's head, a pasty with a golden dome, a ham the color of a pinkflower, and a dish of cold game tempted hunger where flagons of whitewine and red wine tempted thirst. Halfman dismissed Mrs. Satchelland her satellites affably.

  "We can wait upon ourselves," he averred. "We shall be more privateso," and he motioned Evander to a seat and took his own placeopposite. "Yes," he said, resuming the thread of his thought, as hepiled a plate for Evander, "you did your best to starve us; we mustnot do the like by you."

  Evander smiled as he stayed the generosity of his host's hands andaccepted from his reluctance a plate less lavishly charged withviands than Halfman had proposed to offer him.

  "Yet," he said, "I think I heard, no later ago than yesterday, muchclatter of dishes and much rattling of cups and all the sounds ofplenty."

  Halfman hurriedly bolted a goodly slice of ham lest it should chokehim while he laughed, which he now did heartily, lolling back in hischair. He was honestly amused, and yet it seemed to Evander as ifthere were something in his strange friend's mirth which wascarefully calculated to produce its effect. Indeed, Halfman, as helaughed, was thinking of Sir John Falstaff's full-bodied thundersover some ticklish misdoings of Bardolph or Nym. When he had enoughof his own performance, he allowed the laughter to die as suddenly asit had dawned, and gave tongue.

  "That was the best jest in the world," he chuckled. "Clatter ofdishes, say you, and rattle of cups. Once, when I was in Aleppo, Iheard an old fellow in an Abraham beard telling a tale to a crowd ofMoors. I had not enough of their lingo to know why they laughed, butone who was with me that had more Moorish told me the tale. It was ofone who invited a poor man to his house and pretended to feed himnobly, naming this fair dish and that fine wine, and pressing meatand drink upon him, while all the while, in very mockery, there wasneither bite in any platter nor sup i
n any bottle. Well, excellentsir, our table of yesterday was in some such case."

  Evander nodded. "I guessed as much," he commented. "But, indeed, itwas bravely done."

  "It was bravely devised," Halfman asserted. "It was my lady'sthought. She would never let a rascally Roundhead--I crave yourpardon, she would never let an enemy--dream that we were in lack ofaught at Harby that could help us to serve the King."

  "Your lady is a very brave lady," Evander said, quietly. Halfmancaught at his words with a kind of cheer in his voice.

  "Hippolyta was not more valiant, nor Parthian Candace, nor FrenchJoan. She is the rose of the world, the fairest fair, the valiantestvalor. There is no wine in the world that is worthy to pledge her,but we must do our best with what we have."

  He filled himself a spacious tankard as he spoke and drained it at adraught. Evander listened to his ebullient praises in silence. He didnot think that the Lady of Harby should be so spoken of and by suchan one. Over-eating and especially over-drinking were everdistasteful to him, and he took it that Halfman was on the high-roadto becoming drunk. But in this he was wrong. When Halfman set downhis vessel he was as sober as when he had lifted it, but of a suddena shade graver, as if Evander's silence had shadowed his boisterousgayety. He pushed the beaker from him with a sigh, and then, seeingthat Evander's plate was empty, offered to ply him with more food. OnEvander's refusal he pushed back his chair. "Well," he said, "if yourstomach is stayed, are you for a stroll in the gardens--will you seelawns and parks of fairyland?"

  Evander willingly acquiesced, and the strangely assorted pair roseand quitted the chamber. They met Mistress Satchell on the threshold,and Tiffany hiding slyly behind her highness. Evander smilinglycomplimented Mistress Satchell on the excellence of her table, to thegood dame's great gratification. But much to Tiffany's indignation hepaid little heed to her pretty face.