"You must not mourn so unceasingly, my dear Constance," she said, looking kindly into the sorrowing face of her friend: "I could give you counsel--but counsel to the distressed is like chains thrown upon troubled waters."
"Say not so, Frances; rather like oil upon a stormy sea is the sweet counsel of a friend; and truly none but a friend would have turned from the crowded and joyous court to sojourn in this lonely isle; and, above all, in the house of mourning."
"I do not deny to you, Constance, that I love the gaiety, the pomp, and the homage of our courts; that both Hampton and Whitehall have many charms for me; but there are some things--some things I love far more. I loved your mother," she continued, in a tone of deeper feeling than was usual with so gay a spirit; "and I love the friend who, while she reproves my follies, can estimate my virtues: for even my sombre sister Elizabeth, your grave G.o.d-mother, admits that I have virtues, though she denies them to be of an exalted nature."
"Were the Lady Claypole to judge of others according to the standard of her own exceeding excellence, Frances, we should, indeed, fall far below what we are disposed to believe is our real value; but, like the rose, instead of robbing less worthy flowers of their fragrance, she imparts to them a portion of her own."
"Now should I like to call that a most courtly compliment, but for my life I cannot--it is so true."
"You p.r.o.nounce a severe satire on your father"s court, my friend; and one that I hope it merits not."
"Merits! Perhaps not--for, though the youngest and least rational of my father"s children, I can perceive there are some about him who hit upon truth occasionally, either by chance or intention. There"s that rugged bear, Sir Thomas Pride, whom, I have heard say, my father knighted with a mopstick--he, I do believe, speaks truth, and of a truth follows one scriptural virtue, being no respecter of persons. As to General George Monk, my father trusts him--and so--yet have I observed, at any mention of Charles Stuart"s name, a cunning twinkling of the eye that may yet kindle into loyalty.--I would as soon believe in his honesty as in his lady"s gentleness. Did you hear, by the way, what Jerry, my poor disgraced beau, Jerry White, said of her? Why, that if her husband could raise and command a regiment endowed with his wife"s spirit, he might storm the stronghold of sin, and make Satan a state prisoner. Then our Irish Lord Chancellor--we call him the true Steele; and, indeed, any one who ventures to tell my father he errs, deserves credit. Yes, Sir William Steele may certainly be called a truth-teller. Not so our last court novelty, Griffeth Williams of Carnarvon, Esq., who though he affects to despise all modern t.i.tles, and boasts of his blood-ties with the Princes of Wales, Kings of France, Arragon, Castile, and Man, with the sovereigns of Englefield and Provence to boot, yet moves every secret engine he can find to gain a paltry baronetcy! Even you, dear Constance, would have smiled to see the grave and courtly salutations that pa.s.sed between him and the Earl of Warwick--the haughty Earl, who refused to sit in the same house with Pride and Hewson--a circ.u.mstance, by the way, that caused Jerry White to say, "he had too much _Pride_ to attend to the mending of his _soul_." The jest is lost unless you remember that Hewson had been a cobbler. As to John Milton----"
"Touch him not," interrupted Constance; "let not your thoughtless mirth light upon John Milton; there is that about the poet, which made me feel the very first time I saw him, that--
"Something holy lodges in that breast."
I remember the day well, now more than three years ago, while staying at Hampton Court, (whither your gracious mother had commanded me,) and reading to the Lady Claypole, near the small window of her dressing-room, which opened into the conservatory, one sultry July evening, when the last rays of the golden sun disturbed the sober and to me more touching beauty of the silver night--at last I could no longer see, and closed the volume; your sister, in sweet and gentle voice, stayed me to repeat some pa.s.sages from the "Masque of Comus." How accurately I can call to mind her every tone, as it mingled with the perfume of the myrtle and orange trees, impregnating the air at once with harmony and fragrance.
"So dear to Heaven is saintly chast.i.ty, That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt; And in clear dream and solemn vision Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, Till oft converse with heavenly habitants Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind.
And turns it by degrees to the soul"s essence, Till all be made immortal."
I was so absorbed by the beauty of the poetry, and the exquisite grace and feeling with which it was repeated, that my eyes were riveted on your sister; nor could I withdraw them, even when she ceased to speak.
Thus abstracted, I was perfectly unconscious that a gentleman was standing close to the great orange-tree, so that the rays of the full moon rested on his uncovered head: his hair was parted in the centre, and fell on his shoulders at either side, and his deportment was of mingled dignity and sweetness. "John Milton!" exclaimed Lady Claypole, rising; "I knew not," she continued, "that you had been so near us."--"The temptation was great, indeed, madam: a poet never feels that he has true fame, until lips such as yours give utterance to his lines."
He bowed low, and I thought coldly, over Lady Claypole"s extended hand.
She walked into the conservatory, and called on me to follow. How my heart throbbed! how I trembled! I felt in the almost divine presence of one whose genius I had worshipped with a devotion which, enthusiastic as it was, I am not even now ashamed of. I longed to fall at his feet, and implore his blessing; to kiss the hem of his garment; and thought, in my foolishness, that inspiration might be communicated by his touch. I pushed back my hair, so that I might not lose a word he uttered, or the least look he gave. "His sight was so impaired," he said, "that the light of day occasioned him much pain; and of late he had been so useless to his Highness, that he feared to intrude too often into his presence." Lady Claypole made some remark, which in truth I little heeded, for I longed again to hear the poet speak; nor did I remain ungratified. In answer to some observation, he stated, "he was well aware that much of what he had written would not meet with the indulgence she had graciously bestowed upon his verse; for, though they both valued freedom, they widely differed as to the mode of its attainment." To this the Lady Claypole made no reply; and presently we had issued from the conservatory, and stood for a few moments on the terrace. "How beautiful!" said your sister, as she raised her eyes to the glorious heavens, sparkling with countless stars, whose brilliancy was showered on the now sleeping earth--"Yes, beautiful!" repeated Milton; and his voice, so musical, yet melancholy, thrilled to my inmost soul: "Beautiful!" he said again, as if the word was pleasant in his ears; "and yet the time is coming fast when I shall behold that beauty no more--when I shall be more humbled than the poor insects upon which I may now heedlessly tread--they creep, but see; I shall be a thing of darkness in the midst of light--irrevocably dark!--total eclipse!--without the hope of day! Your pardon, Lady; but is it not strange, that life"s chiefest blessing should be enthroned in such a tender ball, when feeling is diffused all over us?"--"The Maker must be the best judge," replied your sister.--""Tis true," he said; "and the same hand that wounds can heal. I will not sorrow, if I can refrain from grief, though it is hard to bear; yet often, when I look upon my daughters, I think how sad "twill be when I no more can trace their change of form and feature. And this deep affliction comes upon me in my manhood"s prime:--life in captivity--all around me grows darker each fair day I live. A bunch of violets was given me this morning; their fragrance was delicious, yet I could not discern the little yellow germ that I knew dwelt within their dark blue petals, and I put them from me because I could not see as well as smell:--"twas foolish, but "twas natural. The moon at this very moment looks so sallow--pale--and you,"
he bowed to us as he spoke, "and you, even you, ladies, appear both dim and cold!" I thought he laid more emphasis on the word _cold_ than on the other words, perhaps in allusion to the political differences between Lady Claypole and himself: your sister thought so too.--"You do us wrong," she observed warmly; "never, never cold to John Milton!
never, indeed never! This sad affliction, if it should continue, (which the Almighty in his mercy forbid!) will create for you new worlds; when all its treasures are destroyed, you will but close your eyes on earth that you may look through heaven." What would I not have given for such a rewarding smile as played upon without disturbing his features! Your sister, surprised into an enthusiasm that was not in keeping with her usually subdued deportment, turned aside, and taking me by the hand, presented me to him, saying, "Here, sir, is a little girl, who, though she has only numbered sixteen summers, has learned to value Milton!"
What do you think I said, Frances? Nothing:--that might have pa.s.sed--but what do you think I did? I fell on my knees, and kissed his hand! I am almost ashamed to repeat such frowardness, though done in all the purity of truth;--not that I think he was displeased."
"Displeased!" interrupted the Lady Frances, who had kept silence marvellously long; "oh! no, it is not in man to be displeased with the devotedness, the love of woman----"
"I prithee, peace," interrupted Constance in her turn: for the word "love" had called the flush into her pale cheek; "thou art ever placing earth on a level with heaven."
"And thou, my saintly friend, wouldst bring heaven down to earth. I remember my sister Claypole treating of this before, saying that Milton laid his fingers on thy forehead, and that thou didst clip off the particular ringlet pressed by them, and enshrine it in a jewelled cross."
"I confess----"
"To the folly of despoiling thy tresses?"
"Dearest Frances, you are cruel in your gaiety. How I watched his retreating footsteps as he pa.s.sed under the archway, after bidding us good night! His gait was measured, but, though his sight was so impaired, I observed that his head was thrown upward, and that he walked as one having no fear."
"Well, give me Milton in the morn, but the gay Lovelace when the twilight shades come down. I know a fair gentleman who sings his ballads most sweetly. You, too, had you heard him, would have listened a second tune:--
"True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field, And with a stronger faith embrace A sword--a horse--a shield.
"Yet this inconstancy is such As you, too, shall adore-- I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more!"
But I forget, the theme is a forbidden one; and I see, Constance, you do not like my poet, and I have a mind not to admire yours! Ah! poor Lovelace! he might have been my laureate."
"I thought the Lady Frances sighed no longer for a th.o.r.n.y crown."
"I may surely love the poetry of a Cavalier without wishing to be the bride of Prince Charlie. My father"s fiat has gone forth against my royal lover"s offer, and so I shall be the wife of some staid sober Covenanter, I suppose; that is, if I follow my father"s wishes, and marry Will Dulton."
"Better than be the wedded mistress of a dissolute man," said Constance, firmly. "Believe me, Charles Stuart has all his father"s weakness without his father"s virtues."
"Well, be it so," replied Frances Cromwell: "I did not care; but methinks I should have liked the garniture of a crown and the grasp of a sceptre. You should have been my first maid of honour.--But your pardon, lady fair--you will be the first married, if I can judge from Sir Willmott Burrell"s earnestness of late." As she spoke, Constance Cecil grew deadly pale; and, to conceal her emotion, sat upon the step of the Gothic temple before which they had been standing for some minutes.
Frances did not observe the change, but heedlessly continued:--"Ah! it is happy for those who can marry as they will, and him they love; to whom the odious Sound of "state necessity" is utterly unknown."
"And think you," said Constance, in a voice struggling for composure, "think you so poorly of me, that I can _will_ to marry such as Burrell, of my own free choice! Oh! Frances, Frances! would to Heaven the same grave had closed over me that closed over my mother!" She clasped her hands with an earnestness amounting to agony, and there came an expression over her features which forbade all trifling. Frances Cromwell was a warm, cheerful, and affectionate girl; but to her it was not given to understand the depth or the refinement of minds such as that of her friend. Her own home was not a peaceful one, for party spirit, that hydra of disunion, raged and ravaged there, without regard to years or s.e.x. The Protector"s most beloved child was known to be faithfully attached to the Stuart cause; while his eldest daughter was so staunch a republican, that she only blamed her father for accepting power bordering so closely upon royalty. This difference occasioned sad and terrible domestic trouble; and the man, feared, honoured, courted by the whole world, ruling the dynasties of kingdoms, could not insure an hour"s tranquillity within his own palace walls! Frances, the youngest, interfered the least in their most grievous feuds. She had so many flirtations, both romantic and anti-romantic, to attend to, that, like all women who flirt much, she thought little. The perfect misery so fearfully, yet so strongly painted upon the countenance of Constance, was to her utterly incomprehensible. Had it been the overboiling of pa.s.sion, the suppressed but determined rage, or the murmuring of discontent, Frances could have understood it, because it would have resembled what she had full often witnessed; but she had never before beheld the struggles of a firm and elevated mind against a cruel and oppressive destiny. Frances Cromwell looked upon her friend for some moments, uncertain what course to pursue. She knelt down and took her hands within her own; they were cold as death, rigid as marble. She bent over her!--
"Constance! Constance! speak! Merciful Providence!" she exclaimed aloud, "What can I do? what shall I do? Barbara! Alas! alas! she hears me not--Dear Constance! This is worse than faintness," she continued, as exertions to restore her proved ineffectual; for Constantia, exhausted by her efforts to appear tranquil, and to chime in with the temper of her guest, until tortured at the very mention of Burrell"s name, remained still insensible.
"I must leave her and seek a.s.sistance from within," repeated Frances, rapidly unclasping her jewelled mantle, throwing it over her friend, and flying, rather than running, along the shaven path they had so recently paced in gentle converse. No very long time elapsed before the lady returned, followed by Barbara Iverk and another faithful attendant.
"Thank G.o.d!" exclaimed Frances, "she must be recovered, for her position is changed." And so it was--the veil of black had entirely fallen off, and her unconfined hair reposed in rich shadowy ma.s.ses on her bosom and shoulders: one arm rested on her knee, while the extended hand supported her head; the other was open on her lap, and upon its small and transparent palm lay a large locket of peculiar workmanship, set round with brilliants. On this her eyes were fixed; and when her bower-maid, Barbara, endeavoured to rouse her mistress"s attention, the first symptom of returning consciousness she gave, was to hide the jewel within her bosom. She appeared like one waking from a long dream.
Frances spoke to her in a tone of gentle cheerfulness,--
"Come, dearest, it is cold; we will in: you must be better presently.
One moment; let me bind up this hair; it keeps back the cloak from covering your throat, and you shiver like an aspen." Frances was gathering the large tresses eagerly in her hand, when she stopped, and letting them suddenly fall, exclaimed,--
"What"s here to do! One of the finest of your lady"s braids severed more than mid-way, and by no scissors, truly; absolutely butchered! Do but look, Barbara; I am sure "twas not so this morning!"
The young tire-woman lifted up her hands in horror and amazement; for she very properly regarded her mistress"s beautiful hair as under her own especial control, and was about to make some inquiry touching the mysterious incident, when Constance drew the cardinal completely over her head, and, leaning her arm on Barbara"s shoulder, proceeded towards the house.
Notwithstanding the great anxiety of Lady Frances on the score of her friend"s indisposition, and it is but justice to admit she loved her with all the constancy of which her volatile nature was capable, her affection was nearly overpowered by her curiosity--curiosity to discover how Constance obtained the locket, and how she lost her most admired tress. Yet, to neither of these perplexities had she the slightest clue.
Intimate as they had been from childhood; superior as was her rank to that of Sir Robert Cecil"s daughter; yet was there no one of her acquaintance with whom she would not sooner have taken a liberty than with Constance Cecil. In the course of the day she tried every little art that female ingenuity could devise, short of saying, "How came you by that locket?" to induce her to talk on the subject--and in vain.
Constance made no a.s.sertion--offered no explanation; but, when Frances appeared to come too near the subject, she silenced all farther approach to confidential communication, simply by raising her clear, calm, and holy eye, letting it fall upon the animated, restless face of her companion, and then shading its glory by the long silken lashes that almost rested on the exquisitely moulded cheek. It was this peculiar look that made her lively friend usually designate her "the awful beauty."
Still curiosity, that most busy and feminine sprite, tortured the Lady Frances with extraordinary perseverance; and, in the end, it suddenly occurred to her that Barbara might know or conjecture something about the matter: accordingly, at night, she dismissed her own women, under some pretext or other, to their chambers, and summoned the pretty Puritan to wait at her toilet. Poor Barbara was as neat and as docile a maid as any country gentlewoman could desire; but, as she had never accompanied her ladies to court, to which, because of Lady Cecil"s illness, they had been rare visiters of late, she felt somewhat nervous on being called into active duty by so great a personage as the Lady Frances Cromwell. With trembling hands she unlaced the velvet bodice, released the tiny feet from their thraldom, set loose the diamond clasps of the sparkling stomacher; and, after arraying the lady in a wrapping robe of fringed linen, with point-lace collar, commenced the disentangling of her raven hair: this was a task that required skill and patience. Nature had been so bountiful to her own fair mistress, that her hair needed no art to increase either its quality or quant.i.ty: the simple Barbara consequently stood aghast when a vast portion of the fabric fell to the ground the moment a little dark band had been separated from the pretty head of the more courtly maiden. Frances laughed as the girl"s astonished features were reflected in the polished mirror before which she sat: so evident was her dismay, as she held it forth, exclaiming, "I did not pull it off, my lady----"
"Ah, wicked wench! so you would rob _my_ head as well as your lady"s.
Now, Barbara, tell me truly, what didst do with that same lock I missed this morning?"
"I, my lady?"
"Yes, you. No one else, I suppose, dresses your lady"s hair."
"That may be; but I a.s.sure your ladyship I never cut off that curl:--it is quite wonderful!"
"So it is, as you say, like a very sensible girl, "quite wonderful;"
but, Barbara, do you think you could find out who did cut it off?"
"Not unless my lady would tell me."
"But is there no way?"
"Only by asking my lady, and that I could not presume to do."