Dyram p.r.o.nounced some more words, apparently in the same language; and then a smile came upon his countenance. "A sweet and beautiful lady!"
he said. "How proudly she walks, as if earth were not good enough to bear her! Ha! how is that?"--and, as he spoke, his face a.s.sumed a look of terror: his lip quivered, his eye stared; and the countenance of Sir Simeon of Roydon turned deadly pale.
"What do you see?" demanded the knight, in a voice scarcely audible.
"What do you see?"
"She walks by a stream!" cried Dyram, in a terrible tone, "and the sun is just below the sky. Some one meets her, and they talk. He seizes her by the throat!--she struggles--he holds fast--he casts her into the river! Hark, how she shrieks! She sinks--she rises--she shrieks again! Oh G.o.d! some one help her!--she is gone!"
All was silent in the room for a minute: and Ned Dyram, wiping his brow, as if recovering from some great excitement, gazed round him by the light of the lamp. Simeon of Roydon had sunk into a seat; and his face was so ashy pale, the lids of his eyes so tightly closed, that for a moment his companion thought he had fainted. The instant after, however, he murmured, "Ah! necromancer!" and then starting up, exclaimed, "What horrible vision is this? Who is it thou hast seen?"
"Nay, I know not," answered Ned Dyram. "How can I tell? They spoke not;--"twas but a sight. But one thing is certain, that either the man or the woman is closely allied to you in some way."
"What was he like?" demanded the knight, abruptly.
"It was so dark when he came that I could not see him well," replied Dyram. "He was a tall, fair man; but that was all I saw. The lady was more clearly visible; for when she came, there was a soft evening light in the sky."
"Why, fool, it has been dark these two hours," cried the knight.
"Not in that gla.s.s," answered the other. "When she appeared first, it was a calm sunset, and I saw her well; but it speedily grew dark, and then I could descry nothing but her form, first struggling with her murderer, and then with the deep waters."
"Her murderer!" repeated Simeon of Roydon--"her murderer! What was she like?"
"A vain and haughty beauty, I should say," replied the man; "with dark hair, and seemingly dark eyes, a proud and curling lip, and----"
"Enough, enough!" answered Simeon of Roydon, with resumed composure.
"I know her by your description, and by the facts; but in the man you are mistaken--he was a dark man who did the deed, or suspicion belies him."
""Twas a fair man, that I saw," rejoined Dyram, in a decided tone; "of that, at least, I am sure, though the shadows were too deep to let me view his face distinctly. Shall I look again, to see any more, sir knight?"
"No, no--it is sufficient!" cried Simeon of Roydon, somewhat sharply.
"I see you have not overstated what you can do. Hearken to me; I will give you employment in your own way--much or little, as you like. I would fain hear more of this girl, Ella Brune--of where she is, what she is doing. I would fain find her--speak with her; but I am discomposed to-night. This lady that you saw but now was very dear to me; her sad fate affects me deeply even now. See, how I am shaken by these memories!" And in truth his hand, which he stretched forth to lay the mirror flat upon the table, trembled so, that he nearly let it fall. "But of this girl, Ella Brune," he continued: "have you known her long?--know you where she now is?"
"Nay, I was but sent to bear her a letter from Richard of Woodville, and to counsel her from him, to go to York," replied Dyram. "Then, as to where she is, I cannot say exactly--not to a point, that is to say; but I can soon learn, if I am well entreated and well paid!"
"That you shall be," rejoined the knight. "Come to me to-morrow early, and we will talk more. To-night I am unfit. Here is some gold for you for what you have done. Good night, good night!"
CHAPTER XXV.
THE ENTERPRISE.
The young Count of Charolois stood in the court-yard of the inn, about nine o"clock on the morning that followed his arrival in Lille, with a letter in his hand, and a countenance not altogether well pleased.
There was a gentleman beside him, somewhat advanced in years, bearing knightly spurs upon his heels, and armed at all points but the head, the grey hair of which was partly covered with a small velvet cap, and to him the Prince spoke eagerly; while the various persons who had attended him from Ghent stood at a respectful distance, waiting his commands as to their future proceedings. Richard of Woodville had not remarked the old knight with the band before; and turning to one of the young n.o.bles with whom he had formed some acquaintance, he asked who he was.
"Why, do you not know?" exclaimed his companion. "That is Sir Walter, Lord of Roucq, one of our most renowned leaders. He has just arrived from Douay, they say; but the Count seems angry with that letter the courier brought him from Paris. Things are going ill there, I doubt, and we shall soon have a levy of arms. That Court is full of faitours and treachers--a crop of bad corn, which wants Burgundian hands to thin it."
"I trust that you will permit a poor Englishman to put in a sickle,"
said Woodville, laughing; "or at least to have the gleanings of the field."
"Oh! willingly, willingly!" replied the young lord, with better wit than might have been expected. "I cannot but think your good sovereigns in England have but been hesitating till other arms have begun the harvest, in order to take full gleanings of that poor land--but see, the Count is looking round to us."
"Hearken, my lords," said the Count. "It is my father"s will that I should remain in Lille, while this n.o.ble knight rides on an expedition of some peril to the side of Tournay. He says the Lord of Roucq has men enough for what is wanted, and that some of you must abide with me here; but still I will permit any gentlemen to go who may choose to do so, provided a certain number stay with me; so make your election."
The young n.o.bles of Burgundy were rarely unwilling to take the field; but in the present instance, there were two or three motives which operated to make them in general decide in favour of staying with the Count of Charolois. In the first place, they knew of no enterprise that could be achieved on the side of Tournay which offered either glory or profit. There were a few bands of revolted peasantry and brigands in that quarter, whom the Count had threatened to suppress; but such a task was somewhat distasteful to them. In the second place, they were not insensible to the fact, that by choosing to stay with the Prince, they offered him an indirect compliment, which was especially desirable at a moment when he seemed angry at not being permitted to lead them himself; and, in the third place, the Lord of Roucq was inferior in rank to most of them, though superior in military reputation; and he was, moreover, known to be a somewhat strict disciplinarian, a quality by no means agreeable either to the French or Burgundian gentlemen.
"I came to serve under you, my lord the Count," said the young Ingram de Croy; "and if you do not go, and I am permitted to choose, where you stay I will remain."
The old Lord of Roucq gazed at him coldly, but made no observation; and the same feeling was found general, till the Count turned with a smile to Richard of Woodville, asking his choice.
"Why, my n.o.ble lord," replied the young Englishman, "if I could serve you here, I should be willing enough to stay; but, as that is not the case, I had better serve you elsewhere; and wherever this good knight goes, doubtless there will be some honour to be gained under his pennon."
Walter of Roucq still remained silent, but he did not forget the willingness of the foreign gentleman; and one very young n.o.ble of Burgundy, whose fortune and fame were yet to make, taking courage at Woodville"s words, proposed to go also.
"I have but few men with me, my lord the Count," he said, with the modesty which was affected, if not felt, by all young men in chivalrous times; "and, as you know, I have but small experience; wishing to gain which, I will, by your good leave, serve under the Lord of Woodville here, who, I think you said, had been already in several stricken fields, and was a comrade of the n.o.ble King of England."
"King Henry calls him his friend, Monsieur de Lens, in his letter to me," replied the Count; "and I know he has gained _los_ in several battles, though I have been told that he was disappointed of his spurs at Bramham Moor (he did not p.r.o.nounce the word very accurately); because such was the trust placed in his discretion, that he was sent to the late King just before the fight, when no one else could be trusted."
Again Richard of Woodville marvelled to find his whole history so well known; but the Count went on immediately to add to the young Englishman"s troop ten of his own men-at-arms. "You, Monsieur de Lens, brought seven, I think," he said; "so that will be some small reinforcement to your _menee_, my Lord of Roucq;" and drawing that gentleman aside, the Prince whispered to him for some moments.
"Willingly, willingly, fair sir," replied the old knight, to whatever it was he said. "G.o.d forbid I should stay any n.o.ble gentleman anxious to do doughty deeds. He shall have the cream of it, and it shall go hard if I give him not the means to win the spurs. Monsieur de Woodville, I set out in half an hour. I will but have some bread and a cup of wine, and then am ready for your good company."
But little preparation was needed, for all had been kept ready to set out at a moment"s notice. Nevertheless, in the little arrangements which took place ere they departed, there sprang up between Richard of Woodville and the Lord of Lens what may be called the intimacy of circ.u.mstances. The young Burgundian, though brave, and well practised in the use of arms, was diffident, from inexperience, of more active and perilous scenes than the tilt-yard of his father"s castle, or the jousting-lists in the neighbouring town; and he was well satisfied to place himself under the immediate direction of one who, like Richard of Woodville, had fought in general engagements, and served in regular armies. He had also some dread of the Lord of Roucq; but by fusing his party into the English gentleman"s band, he placed another between himself and the severe old soldier, so that he trusted to escape the harsh words which their commander was not unaccustomed to use. To Woodville, then, he applied for information regarding every particular of his conduct; how he was to place his men, where he was to ride himself, and a thousand other particulars, making his companion smile sometimes at the timidity which he had personally never known, from having been accustomed, even in boyhood, to the troublous times and continual dangers which followed the usurpation of the throne by the first of the Lancasterian House.
While they were conversing over these matters, one of the pages of the Count of Charolois joined them from the inn, and bade the English gentleman follow him to the Prince. The Count was alone in a small bed-room up stairs, and the temporary vexation which his countenance had expressed some time before, had now quite pa.s.sed away. He met Richard with a laughing countenance, and, holding out his hand to him, exclaimed, addressing him by the name he had given him ever since their first interview, "G.o.d speed you, my friend. These rash n.o.bles of ours have taken themselves in; and though stern old De Roucq does not wish it mentioned that he is going on such an errand, I would have you know it, that you may take advantage of opportunity. I love you better for going with him than staying with me, as you may well judge, when I tell you that his object is to meet my father, and guard him from Paris to Lille, if the Duke can effect his escape from the French court. My father would not have me come, for he is likely to be pursued, it seems; and he says in his letter, that should mischance befall him, while I remain in Lille there will still be a Duke of Burgundy to crush this swarm of Armagnac bees, even should they sting him to death. However, you must not tell De Roucq that I have given you such tidings; for if he knew it, he would scold me like a Nieuport fishwoman, with as little reverence as he would a horse-boy."
"I will be careful, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but if such be the case, had we better not have more men with us? Six or seven and twenty make but a small band against all the chivalry of France."
"Oh! he has got two hundred iron-handed fellows beyond the gates,"
replied the Prince. "But, hark! there is his voice. Quick! quick! you must not stay!" and hurrying down into the little square before the hostel, the young Englishman found the men drawn up, and the Lord of Roucq, with a page holding his horse, and his foot in the stirrup.
"Ah! you are long, sir," said the old knight, swinging himself slowly up into the saddle. Nevertheless, Richard of Woodville was on horseback before him; for, laying his hand upon his charger"s shoulder, he vaulted at once, armed at all points as he was, into the seat, and in another instant was at the head of his men.
"A boy"s trick!" said the old soldier, with a smile. "Never think, young gentleman, that you can make up for present delay by after activity: it is a dangerous fancy."
"I know it, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I had to speak with my lord the Count before I departed."
"Well, sir, well," answered the Lord of Roucq; and, wheeling round his horse, he gazed over the little band, marking especially the fine military appearance, st.u.r.dy limbs, and powerful horses of the English archers, with evident satisfaction. "Ah!" he said, "good stuff, good stuff! Have they seen service?"
"Most of them," replied Richard of Woodville.
"They shall see more, I trust, before I have done with them," rejoined the old knight. "Come, let us go. March!"--and, leading the way through the streets of Lille, a little in advance of the rest of the party, while Richard of Woodville and the young Lord of Lens followed side by side at the head of their men, he soon reached the gates of the city, without exchanging a word with any one by the way.
"Why, this is strange," said the Lord of Lens to his companion, in a low voice, as they turned up towards the side of Douay, instead of taking the road to Tournay. "This is not the march that the Count said was laid out for us. The old man knows his road, I suppose?"
"No fear of that," replied Richard of Woodville; "our business, comrade, is to follow, and to ask no questions. Perhaps there is better luck for us than we expected. Commanders do not always tell their soldiers what they are leading them to;" and turning his head as they came forth into the broad open road which extended to Peronne, through the numerous strong towns at that time comprised in the Flemish possessions of the House of Burgundy, he gave orders, in French and English, for his men to form in a different order--nine abreast. Some little embarra.s.sment was displayed in executing this man[oe]uvre; and he had to explain and direct several times before it was performed to his satisfaction.