The Lady of Loyalty House: A Novel
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XV
MY LADY'S PLEASAUNCE
The gardens of Harby were captain jewels in the crown of Oxfordshire.From the terrace they spread in spaces of changeful beauty over manyacres of fruitful earth. Evander had seen to it that no further harmwas done to these lovely spaces than was inevitable for the conductof the siege. There were some in his company, hissing hot zealots,who were all for laying violating hands upon the temples of Baal andthe shrines of Ashtaroth, by which Evander rightly interpreted themto mean the pleasaunces of clipped yews, the rose bowers, the boxhedges, and the generous autumnal orchards. They were eager to showtheir scorn of the Amalekites by the lopping of ancient trees and thetreading of colored blossoms under the heel of Israel. But Evanderwas as firm as these were frantic, and the gardens of Harby smiledthrough familiar process of sun and rain and dew, untroubled by thedaily rattle of musketry and the nightly tramp of sentinels.
Evander reaped a reward for which he had not labored in his chivalryto a belligerent and besieged lady. For the gardens that a conquerorhad preserved were now very fair indeed for a conquered man to walkin. The October sun shone as if the royal triumph, yonder at Edgehilland here at Harby, had rekindled summer on the chilling altar of theyear, and the hues of the lingering flowers flamed in the celestialfires.
If Evander's thoughts were sable, he did not allow them to stain thefair day and his companion's gayety. Halfman swam now in theextravagance of admiration for so miraculous a Puritan. Halfman lovedthe apostles best on spoons of silver in a sea-bag swollen with loot,but of the men he had the best word for Peter, who could use a swordon occasion. And here was one of the saints on earth playing hisrapier as bravely as if he had been a gentleman born or gentlemanadventurer made, and had skimmed the seas and kissed and killed andpilfered.
He plied Evander, as they paced, with questions of swordsmanship andschools of arms and masters, of the Italian method and the Spanishmethod and the French method, and never caught his new Hectortripping over a push or a parade. They moved over danceable lawns orunder the canopies of dim avenues, chattering of arms, till the softOctober air tingled with the names of famous fencers, and Halfman wasin fancy a lubber lad again at his first passado.
But his wonder grew with their wanderings. They paused at thebowling-green and played a game which Evander won. They visited thestables where the horses now were rallied, that had lived hidden infarm-yard and cottage garden during the siege. Here Halfman learnedthat Evander liked hawks and loved horses, and knew their managebetter than himself. Had Evander proclaimed himself a whisperer, itwould not now have astonished Halfman.
Again, as they passed by the orchard where Luke Gardener was busy,Halfman must needs bring Luke and Evander acquainted, whereupon thepair set straight to talking of garden talk and airing of weatherwisdom in speech long since to him as unfamiliar as Hebrew. HereEvander's science wearied him, and he fairly dragged his captiveaway, declaring that there was yet much to see more honorable thanherbs or brambles. Evander obeyed very contentedly, but they had notmoved many paces when Luke came hobbling after, and, catchingHalfman, drew him by the arm apart.
"Is yonder truly a damnable Roundhead?" he questioned. Halfman noddedhis head.
"Well," continued Luke, "for that he deserves to be hanged, and yethe has taught me a trick of grafting roses which he says the Dutchuse that might serve to save a worser man from the gallows."
Without a word Halfman shook his arm free and rejoined Evander, whowas moving slowly along a pathway leading towards an enclosure offantastically clipped yews. Hearing the footsteps behind him, Evanderhalted till Halfman joined him.
"How the devil came you to fathom flower knowledge?" Halfman asked.Evander smiled faintly.
"I would rather you unsaddled the devil from your question," heanswered, rebuking in his mind a woman; "but I have always lovedgardens. You have one here who is skilled in topiary," and he pointedtowards the trim yew hedge they were approaching.
"Those are the green walls of my lady's pleasaunce," Halfmananswered, "and the learned in such trifles call them mighty fine. Butall I know of woodcraft is hatcheting me a path through virginforest."
"Where, indeed, your topiarist would be ill at ease," Evanderanswered. "But I pray you let us retire, lest we intrude upon yourlady."
"Never fear for that," said Halfman. "My lady is busy enough in-doorsto-day, setting her house to rights, and you should not miss thecomeliest nook in all the domain."
As he spoke he passed under an archway of clipped yew, and, Evanderfollowing, the pair came upon a grassy space entirely girdled withyew hedges, the sight of which instantly justified to Evander thepraise of his companion. The enclosure made a circle some half anacre in size of the greenest turf imaginable, orderly bordered withseats of white marble and belted all about with the black greennessof the yew-tree hedge, which was fashioned like an Italian colonnade.The arches afforded vistas of different and delightful prospects ofthe park at every quarter of the card--woodland, savanna-like lawns,flower-gardens, kitchen-gardens, and orchards in their pride.
"This is a lovely place," protested Evander. "One might sit here anddream of seeing the shy wood-nymphs flitting through these aisles--ifone had no better thoughts for one's idleness," he added. Halfmanlaughed.
"There peeped out the Puritan," he said. "I had lost him this longwhile, but run him to earth in my lady's pleasaunce. Yet you are aqueer kind of Puritan, too. You can fence like a Frenchman, you canplay bowls as Father Jove plays with the globes of heaven, and youcan ride like Diomed, the jolly Greek, who knew that horses could bestridden as well as driven."
Evander, who had seated himself and had been tracing cabalistic signson the grass with his staff, looked up into his companion's face.
"Are not you rather a queer kind of Cavalier," he asked, "if youthink that a Puritan must needs be a fool?"
Halfman laughed back at him, and as he laughed he showed his teeth soseeming white by contrast with his sunburned cheeks, and he seemed toEvander more than ever like some half-tamed beast of prey.
"You are no fool, Puritan," Halfman shouted, "or Heaven would nothave wasted its time in gracing you with such skill at sports. Sogreat with the rapier, so wise on the bias. No, no; you are no fool.I am almost sad to think you quit us so soon, enemy though you be."
While Halfman had been babbling, Evander had again been busy with hisstaff. Halfman had paid no heed to his actions, being far too deep inhis own phrases. Had he been attentive he might have noticed that atfirst Evander wrote on the green grass, as vainly as he might havewritten in water, a word, a name: Brilliana. Had he been attentive hemight have noticed that Evander now wrote another word that was alsoa name and more than a name: Death. But he did not notice, and as heended with his odd tribute to his enemy, Evander looked up at himwith a calm face.
"I shall not quit you so soon," he said, in an even voice. "I havecome to stay at Harby."
Halfman looked at him, puzzled.
"Stay at Harby," he repeated. "Nonsense, man; what are you thinkingof? You will be riding hence in three days' time, when Sir Randolphis released."
Evander shook his head.
"Sir Randolph will not be released," he said. The quiet positivenessin his tone staggered Halfman. Stooping, with his hands resting onhis knees, his unquiet eyes stared into Evander's quiet eyes.
"Sir Randolph will not be released! Why the devil will Sir Randolphnot be released?"
Evander rose from his seat and rested his hand for a moment lightlyon Halfman's arm, while he said, impressively:
"Say nothing of this to your lady, for Sir Randolph is her kinsman,and I think she holds him dear. Let ill news come late. But ifColonel Cromwell has taken a spy prisoner, that spy will very surelydie."
Halfman stiffened himself. His eyes had never left Evander's, and heknew that Evander spoke what he believed. He gave a short laugh.
"And very surely if Sir Randolph be shot over yonder you will be shotdown here."
"That," said Evander, still sm
iling, "is why I say that I have cometo stay at Harby."
"You take your fate blithely," Halfman commented, scanning Evanderwith curiosity. He was familiar with the sight of men in peril ofdeath; in most men he took courage for granted, but it was courage ofa gaudier quality than the composure of the young Puritan, who hadfenced with him and played bowls with him that very morning andtalked so learnedly of roses with Luke, the gardener. Was therereally something in the Puritan stuff that strengthened men'sspirits? Evander answered his words and unconsciously his thoughts.
"I should not have taken up arms if I held my life too precious. Itwill need three days to get the answer, the inevitable answer, and inthe mean time the autumn air is kind and these gardens delightful."
Halfman stared at him in an ecstasy of admiration, and then dealthim an applauding clap on the shoulder.
"Come to the kitchen-garden, philosopher," he cried. "A fellow ofyour phlegm should find pleasure in the contemplation of cabbages."
"It is a sage vegetable," Evander answered. "But I fear I tax yourtime. There must be much for you to do."
"I have done much already," Halfman replied. "But, indeed, these bebusy times."
"Then," protested Evander, "when I have stared my fill at yourmeditative cabbage I shall entreat no more of your kindness but thatyou convoy me to the safe port of the library, where I shall becontent enough."
"As you please," Halfman responded. "I was never a bookish man; Icare for no books but play-books and these I carry here," and he beathis brown forehead. "But you may nose out some theologies in oddcorners, as a pig noses truffles."
"I shall rout out something to fill my leisure I doubt not," Evanderanswered.
"Then hey for the kitchen-garden," cried Halfman, taking Evander'sarm, and the two men, passing through a yew arch opposite to that bywhich they had entered, left my lady's pleasaunce as solitary as theyhad found it.