"My mother wishes to see London again, and I can provide her with lodgings not far from Whitehall. It may be there will be a corner found for you, that is to say, if Mistress Gifford approves."
"I"ll make her approve, I warrant. I am to sup with Mistress Ratcliffe this evening, and I will be as meek as a lamb and curtsey my lowest to her, and call her madam, and be ever so smiling to Master George. I"ll win favour for once."
Humphrey discreetly forbore to let Lucy know that it was at George"s earnest desire he had determined to make this proposal to their mother.
"Tell me, Master Humphrey, will Mr Sidney be coming this way to-day?"
"It may be; he had to choose two extra horses from George"s stalls for the journey. George himself is, of course, to be in attendance, and one of our serving men as groom. It is possible that Mr Sidney may be coming either to-day or on the morrow."
"He will not pa.s.s without seeing Mary. I wish--"
But Lucy had not time to say what the wish was, for Mary Gifford and her little son were now seen coming along a field path which led down the hillside from the open country beyond.
Humphrey stepped forward quickly to meet them, and lifted Ambrose over the stile, in spite of his declaration that he could get over by himself.
Humphrey tossed the child high in the air before he set him on his legs again, and then said to Mary,--
"Out on a mission of mercy, as is your wont, Mistress Gifford."
Mary"s colour rose as she said,--
"The sick and poor are always in the world."
"And the sad also," Humphrey said, with an appealing look, which Mary understood only too well.
"Come and see the little chickies, Master Humphrey," Ambrose said. "There"s three little ducks amongst them. Aunt Lou put the eggs under the old mother for fun. Grannie does not know, and when the little ducklings waddle off to the pond, she"ll be in a fright, and think they"ll all be drowned, and so will the hen."
But Humphrey scarcely heeded the child"s chatter, he was earnestly looking at Mary Gifford"s face.
Surely there must be some fresh cause of trouble there, for he thought he saw traces of recent tears.
Little Ambrose, finding his appeal to Humphrey took no effect, scampered off to the poultry yard, Lucy following. She thought it would be wiser to leave Humphrey to plead her cause, and persuade Mary that if his mother would consent to her journey to London, she was better out of the way when Mary raised objections to the fulfilment of her wishes.
"Is there any new cause of trouble, Mistress Gifford," Humphrey asked.
"Nothing new--as you take the word."
"Nought in which I can be of help?"
Mary hesitated, and Humphrey said,--
"The wrangles and quarrels yonder are on the increase. Is that so?" he asked. "I heard loud voices when I came up to the house a short time ago, and Lucy rushed out with flaming cheeks and sparkling eyes."
"Poor child," Mary said, "I will not say there is not blame on both sides, but the life we lead yonder becomes more and more hard. It is ill training for my little son to see angry pa.s.sions raging, and to hear loud reproaches."
"I know it! I know it!" Humphrey exclaimed. "End it, Mary--end it for ever, and come and bless me with your love."
"Nay, Humphrey, do not urge me to do what is impossible. It cannot be."
Humphrey Ratcliffe turned away with an impatient gesture, saying,--
"I see no glory in self-martyrdom. I offer you a home, and I swear to protect you from all evil, and keep your boy from evil, train him to be a n.o.ble gentleman, and, forsooth, you turn away and will have none of me."
"Dear friend," Mary began in a low voice, "trust me so far as to believe that I have a reason--a good reason--for refusing what would be, I doubt not, a haven of calm after the troubled waters of my life. Trust me, kind Master Ratcliffe, nor think ill of me. I pray you."
"Ill of you! nay, Mary, you know no saint in heaven is ever more devoutly worshipped than I worship you." But, seeing her distress as he said these words, he went on,--"I will wait, I will bide my time, and, meanwhile, serve you in all ways I can. Here is this child, your young sister, chafing against the life she leads here. I will do my best to persuade my mother to take her in her company to London for the grand show, and it may be that some great lady may take a fancy for her, and she may win a place as waiting-woman about the person of some Court dame. Do you consent? Do you give me permission to try?"
"But Lucy is not in favour with your mother; she disdains us as beneath her notice."
"Not you--not Lucy; it is your father"s widow whom she mislikes. Her Puritan whims and fancies are a cause of offence, and no aversions are so strong as those begotten by religious difference."
"That is so, alas!" Mary Gifford said. "Persecution for diversity of faith, rather for diversity in the form of worship: it is this that tears this country into baleful divisions, and pierces it with wounds which are slow to heal."
"That is true," Humphrey said; "and the law, condemning all Papists to suffer extreme penalty, if found worshipping G.o.d after their own manner, has a cruel significance. But we must not forget the fires of Smithfield, nor the horrors to which this country was subjected when Spanish influence was at work with a Papist queen on the throne."
"No," Mary said in a low voice. "Nor can we forget the grey head of that queen"s dearest friend, which was brought to the block, and stirred the bitterness of revenge in Queen Mary"s heart."
"Well," Humphrey said, "I am vowed to resist, with all possible might, the encroachments of Spain,--which means the plotting of Philip to force the religion of the Pope upon an unwilling people--in the Low Countries first, and then, believe me, he will not stop there. Mr Sidney"s protest against the Queen"s marriage with the Duc of Anjou was founded on the horror he felt of seeing this realm given over once more to the power of the Pope. Mr Sidney saw, with his own eyes, the Ma.s.sacre of St Bartholomew; and what security could there be if any of this crafty Medici race should be set on high in this country?"
"Mr Sidney has changed somewhat in his views. Is it not so?" Mary asked.
"He has submitted to the inevitable--that is to say, finding the Queen determined, he, with Lord Burleigh and others in high office, will confer with the amba.s.sadors who come from France for the purpose--praying secretly, however, that the whole matter may fall to pieces. And, indeed, this is likely. The Queen"s highness is loth to lose her supremacy, and there are favourites at Court who would ill brook to be displaced by a rival power. My lord the Earl of Leicester is one, though he hides his real feeling from his nephew, my n.o.ble master."
Mary Gifford was silent for a few moments, then she said,--
"If you can aid my poor little sister to get her heart"s desire, do so. I consent, for life here is not to be desired for many reasons. Ah! Master Ratcliffe," Mary said, "how fair is this world, and is there a fairer spot in it than these our native hills and valleys over which we look every day?
See the wooded heights yonder, in all the varied colours of the early spring; see the sloping pastures, where the flowers make a carpet! Often as I look on it, and see the tower of the church rising amongst the red-tiled roofs of the cottages, and beyond, the stately pile of Penshurst Castle, I think if only sin were absent, and truth and righteousness reigned, this village would find no rival save in the Eden before the serpent entered, and the ruin came with sin!"
Humphrey Ratcliffe liked to watch Mary"s face as she spoke; but, as he left her, a few minutes later, he felt there was something which divided them and made his suit hopeless. What was it?
He knew but little of the history of her short married life. Her suitor had come in the train of the Earl of Leicester in one of his visits to Penshurst.
That she had been cruelly deceived was known, and that she had come back to her old home of Ford Manor with her child, clad in the weeds of widowhood, but saying nothing of what had really happened. Rumour had been busy, and Ambrose Gifford had been supposed to have been slain in a disgraceful fight; but nothing was absolutely certain; and Humphrey Ratcliffe, who had known Mary from her girlhood, now discovered that he had loved her always, and that he had failed to win her in her early youth because he had never tried to do so, and now that he loved her pa.s.sionately, he was to find his suit was hopeless.
Perhaps it was the similarity between his own case and that of his master"s that made the tie between them stronger than is often the case between an esquire and his chief.
CHAPTER III
A STRANGE MEETING
"Before the door sat self-consuming Care, Day and night keeping wary watch and ward For fear lest Force or Fraud should unaware Break in, and spoil the treasure there in gard."
SPENSER.