"Michael Lambourne, my lord," said the valet, "was not to be found when Sir Richard Varney departed, and his master was much incensed at his absence. I saw him but now saddling his horse to gallop after his master."
"Bid him come hither instantly," said Leicester; "I have a message to his master."
The servant left the apartment, and Leicester traversed it for some time in deep meditation. "Varney is over-zealous," he said, "over-pressing.
He loves me, I think; but he hath his own ends to serve, and he is inexorable in pursuit of them. If I rise, he rises; and he hath shown himself already but too, eager to rid me of this obstacle which seems to stand betwixt me and sovereignty. Yet I will not stoop to bear this disgrace. She shall be punished, but it shall be more advisedly. I already feel, even in antic.i.p.ation, that over-haste would light the flames of h.e.l.l in my bosom. No--one victim is enough at once, and that victim already waits me."
He seized upon writing materials, and hastily traced these words:--
"Sir Richard Varney, we have resolved to defer the matter entrusted to your care, and strictly command you to proceed no further in relation to our Countess until our further order. We also command your instant return to Kenilworth as soon as you have safely bestowed that with which you are entrusted. But if the safe-placing of your present charge shall detain you longer than we think for, we command you in that case to send back our signet-ring by a trusty and speedy messenger, we having present need of the same. And requiring your strict obedience in these things, and commending you to G.o.d"s keeping, we rest your a.s.sured good friend and master,
"R. LEICESTER. "Given at our Castle of Kenilworth, the tenth of July, in the year of Salvation one thousand five hundred and seventy-five."
As Leicester had finished and sealed this mandate, Michael Lambourne, booted up to mid-thigh, having his riding-cloak girthed around him with a broad belt, and a felt cap on his head, like that of a courier, entered his apartment, ushered in by the valet.
"What is thy capacity of service?" said the Earl.
"Equerry to your lordship"s master of the horse," answered Lambourne, with his customary a.s.surance.
"Tie up thy saucy tongue, sir," said Leicester; "the jests that may suit Sir Richard Varney"s presence suit not mine. How soon wilt thou overtake thy master?"
"In one hour"s riding, my lord, if man and horse hold good," said Lambourne, with an instant alteration of demeanour, from an approach to familiarity to the deepest respect. The Earl measured him with his eye from top to toe.
"I have heard of thee," he said "men say thou art a prompt fellow in thy service, but too much given to brawling and to wa.s.sail to be trusted with things of moment."
"My lord," said Lambourne, "I have been soldier, sailor, traveller, and adventurer; and these are all trades in which men enjoy to-day, because they have no surety of to-morrow. But though I may misuse mine own leisure, I have never neglected the duty I owe my master."
"See that it be so in this instance," said Leicester, "and it shall do thee good. Deliver this letter speedily and carefully into Sir Richard Varney"s hands."
"Does my commission reach no further?" said Lambourne.
"No," answered Leicester; "but it deeply concerns me that it be carefully as well as hastily executed."
"I will spare neither care nor horse-flesh," answered Lambourne, and immediately took his leave.
"So, this is the end of my private audience, from which I hoped so much!" he muttered to himself, as he went through the long gallery, and down the back staircase. "Cogs bones! I thought the Earl had wanted a cast of mine office in some secret intrigue, and it all ends in carrying a letter! Well, his pleasure shall be done, however; and as his lordship well says, it may do me good another time. The child must creep ere he walk, and so must your infant courtier. I will have a look into this letter, however, which he hath sealed so sloven-like." Having accomplished this, he clapped his hands together in ecstasy, exclaiming, "The Countess the Countess! I have the secret that shall make or mar me.--But come forth, Bayard," he added, leading his horse into the courtyard, "for your flanks and my spurs must be presently acquainted."
Lambourne mounted, accordingly, and left the Castle by the postern gate, where his free pa.s.sage was permitted, in consequence of a message to that effect left by Sir Richard Varney.
As soon as Lambourne and the valet had left the apartment, Leicester proceeded to change his dress for a very plain one, threw his mantle around him, and taking a lamp in his hand, went by the private pa.s.sage of communication to a small secret postern door which opened into the courtyard, near to the entrance of the Pleasance. His reflections were of a more calm and determined character than they had been at any late period, and he endeavoured to claim, even in his own eyes, the character of a man more sinned against than sinning.
"I have suffered the deepest injury," such was the tenor of his meditations, "yet I have restricted the instant revenge which was in my power, and have limited it to that which is manly and n.o.ble. But shall the union which this false woman has this day disgraced remain an abiding fetter on me, to check me in the n.o.ble career to which my destinies invite me? No; there are other means of disengaging such ties, without unloosing the cords of life. In the sight of G.o.d, I am no longer bound by the union she has broken. Kingdoms shall divide us, oceans roll betwixt us, and their waves, whose abysses have swallowed whole navies, shall be the sole depositories of the deadly mystery."
By such a train of argument did Leicester labour to reconcile his conscience to the prosecution of plans of vengeance, so hastily adopted, and of schemes of ambition, which had become so woven in with every purpose and action of his life that he was incapable of the effort of relinquishing them, until his revenge appeared to him to wear a face of justice, and even of generous moderation.
In this mood the vindictive and ambitious Earl entered the superb precincts of the Pleasance, then illumined by the full moon. The broad, yellow light was reflected on all sides from the white freestone, of which the pavement, bal.u.s.trades, and architectural ornaments of the place were constructed; and not a single fleecy cloud was visible in the azure sky, so that the scene was nearly as light as if the sun had but just left the horizon. The numerous statues of white marble glimmered in the pale light like so many sheeted ghosts just arisen from their sepulchres, and the fountains threw their jets into the air as if they sought that their waters should be brightened by the moonbeams ere they fell down again upon their basins in showers of sparkling silver. The day had been sultry, and the gentle night-breeze which sighed along the terrace of the Pleasance raised not a deeper breath than the fan in the hand of youthful beauty. The bird of summer night had built many a nest in the bowers of the adjacent garden, and the tenants now indemnified themselves for silence during the day by a full chorus of their own unrivalled warblings, now joyous, now pathetic, now united, now responsive to each other, as if to express their delight in the placid and delicious scene to which they poured their melody.
Musing on matters far different from the fall of waters, the gleam of moonlight, or the song of the nightingale, the stately Leicester walked slowly from the one end of the terrace to the other, his cloak wrapped around him, and his sword under his arm, without seeing anything resembling the human form.
"I have been fooled by my own generosity," he said, "if I have suffered the villain to escape me--ay, and perhaps to go to the rescue of the adulteress, who is so poorly guarded."
These were his thoughts, which were instantly dispelled when, turning to look back towards the entrance, he saw a human form advancing slowly from the portico, and darkening the various objects with its shadow, as pa.s.sing them successively, in its approach towards him.
"Shall I strike ere I again hear his detested voice?" was Leicester"s thought, as he grasped the hilt of the sword. "But no! I will see which way his vile practice tends. I will watch, disgusting as it is, the coils and mazes of the loathsome snake, ere I put forth my strength and crush him."
His hand quitted the sword-hilt, and he advanced slowly towards Tressilian, collecting, for their meeting, all the self-possession he could command, until they came front to front with each other.
Tressilian made a profound reverence, to which the Earl replied with a haughty inclination of the head, and the words, "You sought secret conference with me, sir; I am here, and attentive."
"My lord," said Tressilian, "I am so earnest in that which I have to say, and so desirous to find a patient, nay, a favourable hearing, that I will stoop to exculpate myself from whatever might prejudice your lordship against me. You think me your enemy?"
"Have I not some apparent cause?" answered Leicester, perceiving that Tressilian paused for a reply.
"You do me wrong, my lord. I am a friend, but neither a dependant nor partisan, of the Earl of Suss.e.x, whom courtiers call your rival; and it is some considerable time since I ceased to consider either courts or court intrigues as suited to my temper or genius."
"No doubt, sir," answered Leicester "there are other occupations more worthy a scholar, and for such the world holds Master Tressilian. Love has his intrigues as well as ambition."
"I perceive, my lord," replied Tressilian, "you give much weight to my early attachment for the unfortunate young person of whom I am about to speak, and perhaps think I am prosecuting her cause out of rivalry, more than a sense of justice."
"No matter for my thoughts, sir," said the Earl; "proceed. You have as yet spoken of yourself only--an important and worthy subject doubtless, but which, perhaps, does not altogether so deeply concern me that I should postpone my repose to hear it. Spare me further prelude, sir, and speak to the purpose if indeed you have aught to say that concerns me.
When you have done, I, in my turn, have something to communicate."
"I will speak, then, without further prelude, my lord," answered Tressilian, "having to say that which, as it concerns your lordship"s honour, I am confident you will not think your time wasted in listening to. I have to request an account from your lordship of the unhappy Amy Robsart, whose history is too well known to you. I regret deeply that I did not at once take this course, and make yourself judge between me and the villain by whom she is injured. My lord, she extricated herself from an unlawful and most perilous state of confinement, trusting to the effects of her own remonstrance upon her unworthy husband, and extorted from me a promise that I would not interfere in her behalf until she had used her own efforts to have her rights acknowledged by him."
"Ha," said Leicester, "remember you to whom you speak?"
"I speak of her unworthy husband, my lord," repeated Tressilian, "and my respect can find no softer language. The unhappy young woman is withdrawn from my knowledge, and sequestered in some secret place of this Castle--if she be not transferred to some place of seclusion better fitted for bad designs. This must be reformed, my lord--I speak it as authorized by her father--and this ill-fated marriage must be avouched and proved in the Queen"s presence, and the lady placed without restraint and at her own free disposal. And permit me to say it concerns no one"s honour that these most just demands of mine should be complied with so much as it does that of your lordship."
The Earl stood as if he had been petrified at the extreme coolness with which the man, whom he considered as having injured him so deeply, pleaded the cause of his criminal paramour, as if she had been an innocent woman and he a disinterested advocate; nor was his wonder lessened by the warmth with which Tressilian seemed to demand for her the rank and situation which she had disgraced, and the advantages of which she was doubtless to share with the lover who advocated her cause with such effrontery. Tressilian had been silent for more than a minute ere the Earl recovered from the excess of his astonishment; and considering the prepossessions with which his mind was occupied, there is little wonder that his pa.s.sion gained the mastery of every other consideration. "I have heard you, Master Tressilian," said he, "without interruption, and I bless G.o.d that my ears were never before made to tingle by the words of so frontless a villain. The task of chastising you is fitter for the hangman"s scourge than the sword of a n.o.bleman, but yet--Villain, draw and defend thyself!"
As he spoke the last words, he dropped his mantle on the ground, struck Tressilian smartly with his sheathed sword, and instantly drawing his rapier, put himself into a posture of a.s.sault. The vehement fury of his language at first filled Tressilian, in his turn, with surprise equal to what Leicester had felt when he addressed him. But astonishment gave place to resentment when the unmerited insults of his language were followed by a blow which immediately put to flight every thought save that of instant combat. Tressilian"s sword was instantly drawn; and though perhaps somewhat inferior to Leicester in the use of the weapon, he understood it well enough to maintain the contest with great spirit, the rather that of the two he was for the time the more cool, since he could not help imputing Leicester"s conduct either to actual frenzy or to the influence of some strong delusion.
The rencontre had continued for several minutes, without either party receiving a wound, when of a sudden voices were heard beneath the portico which formed the entrance of the terrace, mingled with the steps of men advancing hastily. "We are interrupted," said Leicester to his antagonist; "follow me."
At the same time a voice from the portico said, "The jackanape is right--they are tilting here."
Leicester, meanwhile, drew off Tressilian into a sort of recess behind one of the fountains, which served to conceal them, while six of the yeomen of the Queen"s guard pa.s.sed along the middle walk of the Pleasance, and they could hear one say to the rest, "We shall never find them to-night among all these squirting funnels, squirrel cages, and rabbit-holes; but if we light not on them before we reach the farther end, we will return, and mount a guard at the entrance, and so secure them till morning."
"A proper matter," said another, "the drawing of swords so near the Queen"s presence, ay, and in her very palace as "twere! Hang it, they must be some poor drunken game-c.o.c.ks fallen to sparring--"twere pity almost we should find them--the penalty is chopping off a hand, is it not?--"twere hard to lose hand for handling a bit of steel, that comes so natural to one"s gripe."
"Thou art a brawler thyself, George," said another; "but take heed, for the law stands as thou sayest."
"Ay," said the first, "an the act be not mildly construed; for thou knowest "tis not the Queen"s palace, but my Lord of Leicester"s."
"Why, for that matter, the penalty may be as severe," said another "for an our gracious Mistress be Queen, as she is, G.o.d save her, my Lord of Leicester is as good as King."
"Hush, thou knave!" said a third; "how knowest thou who may be within hearing?"
They pa.s.sed on, making a kind of careless search, but seemingly more intent on their own conversation than bent on discovering the persons who had created the nocturnal disturbance.