Robin did as he was commanded, bowing and shaking all the time like the figure of a mandarin. The Protector advanced one step towards him; and then plucked at the Ranger"s beard with so strong a hand, that it deserted his chin, and dangled between Cromwell"s fingers. At this, the child set up a loud and merry shout of laughter; but not so did the incident affect the Protector, to whose mind treachery was ever present; he instantly exclaimed,--
"Guards! what ho! without there!" Five or six rushed into the room and laid hands upon Robin, who offered no resistance, submitting to their mercy.
"Your Highness has mistaken," said Ben Israel; "there is no treachery in the young man. I have told your Highness how he came to me, and what he knows. Your servant has not spoken words of falsehood, but of truth."
"But you did not tell me he was not a Jew: you know him not as I do,"
was the Protector"s reply: "he consorts with----" then suddenly checking himself, he continued, addressing the soldiers: "But search him gently withal--peradventure he has no secret weapons--we would not deal unjustly; but, of late, there has been so much evil intended us by all cla.s.ses of Malignants, that it behoves us to be careful. Methinks, friend Mana.s.seh, there was no need of this disguise?"
"It was to avoid the scandal of my own people, please your Highness, who would marvel to see any other than one of our tribe about my person."
The little girl, who was no other than Bridget, a great favourite of Cromwell"s, and one of the youngest children of Ireton, the Protector"s son-in-law, seemed much amused at the search, and the extraordinary materials it brought to light. There was a whistle, a string of bells, a small black mask, quant.i.ties of paint and patches, and various other things; but no arms of any kind, save the small Spanish dagger which Robin so lately exchanged with the sailor at Greenwich. The Protector took this up, examined it attentively, placed it in a small drawer, then briefly dismissed the attendants, and seating himself, apologised to Ben Israel for the delay.
"This person will not wonder at it," he continued, looking at Robin; "for he knows what excellent reason I have to believe him an adept in falsehood."
"No one ever heard me speak a lie, please your Highness," said Robin, in a hesitating and tremulous voice.
"I cannot call to mind your speaking lies; but you are famous for acting them: however, I desire you speak none here."
"Please your Highness," returned Robin Hays, regaining his self-possession, "I do not intend it, for it would be useless."
"How mean ye?"
"Because your Highness can always tell truth from falsehood; and say who is the speaker, no matter how hidden from others."
A smile relaxed for a moment the full, firm, but flexible mouth of Oliver Cromwell, at this well-timed compliment to that on which he so much prided himself--his penetration. He then commenced questioning the Ranger upon his knowledge of Sir Willmott Burrell and the Rabbi"s daughter. Robin did not in the least degree equivocate; but related every particular as minutely and distinctly as he had done to Ben Israel; not omitting his knowledge that Sir Willmott meditated the destruction of Walter De Guerre. Cromwell listened to the details with much attention; but it was not until this portion of his story was concluded, that, with his usual wiliness, he told the Ranger, that, as it had nothing to do with Mana.s.seh Ben Israel, it need not have been mentioned.
The Protector then commanded Sir John Berkstead to his presence, and directed that a troop of horse should be had in immediate readiness, and that, in a few minutes, he would name to Colonel Jones the officer who was to accompany them, and the place of their destination.
"And now let us to bed. Will my little Bridget bid her grandfather good night?" and he kissed the child with much tenderness.--"People wonder why I trust thee in my councils; but G.o.d hath given thee a soul of truth and a secret tongue; thou growest pale with late sitting, and that must not be." The Protector clasped his hands, and said a few words of prayer over the girl, who knelt at his feet.
"Good Mana.s.seh, I would recommend your resting here to-night; you need repose, but I must detain your serving-man. Without there!"
An attendant entered.
"Conduct this person to----" A whisper told the remainder of the sentence, and Robin was led from the apartment.
Very few lingered in the great hall; the pages were sleeping soundly; and, though they encountered Colonel John Jones, he did not recognise Robin, who, despoiled of his beard and black hair, looked so much like the servant of Sir Willmott Burrell, as to be thought such by more than one of the attendants. As he pa.s.sed through the second court, his guide suddenly turned into a small arched door-way, and directed Robin to proceed up a narrow flight of winding stairs, that appeared to have no termination. Robin once halted for breath, but was obliged to proceed, and at length found himself in a small, cell-like apartment, with a narrow sky-light, opening, as he conjectured, on the palace roof.
Here his attendant left him, without so much as "good night," and he had the satisfaction of hearing the key turn within the rusty lock.
The mistiness of the night had pa.s.sed away, and the moon looked down in unclouded majesty upon the courts and turrets of "the House at Hampton."
Robin seated himself on his truckle bedstead, upon which merely a rude straw mattress, covered with a blanket, was thrown, and which, for aught he knew, had been occupied by a thousand prisoners before him; but, however bitter and sarcastic his mind might be, it was not given to despond; and he soon began to reflect on what had pa.s.sed. Although it was not by any means the first time he had been face to face with the Protector, yet it was the first time he had ever seen him with any of the indications of human feeling. "He has made many children fatherless," thought the Ranger, "and yet see how fond he is of that ill-favoured girl, who is the very picture of himself! Poor Walter!
Well, I wonder what has been done with him; I had a great mind to ask, but there is something about him, that, were he never a Protector, one would just as soon not make free with." As Robin thought thus, his eyes were fixed on the light and flitting clouds, and he was longing to be free and abroad in the moonbeams, that entered his cell only to smile on his captivity; when some opaque body stood between him and the light, so that he was for a moment almost in darkness. About three minutes after, the same effect occurred; and presently a man"s face was placed close to the gla.s.s, evidently with the design of seeing into the room.
"A-hoy there!" shouted the Ranger. The face was withdrawn, and no answer returned, but immediately afterwards the key grated in the lock, and the Protector himself entered the chamber.
CHAPTER XIV.
_Grundo._ And what did they there talk about?
_Julia._ I"faith, I hardly know, but was advised "Twas a most cunning parley.
_Grundo._ I do well credit it.
_Old Play._
"I would rather talk to him in that old tapestried hall," thought Robin, "than in this narrow chamber. There I could have a run for my life; but here, Heaven help me! I am fairly in for it."
"The room is pa.s.sing close, the air is heavy," were the Protector"s first words: "follow me to the palace-roof, where there can be no listeners, save the pale stars, and they prate not of man"s doings."
Robin followed Cromwell up a narrow flight of steps, so narrow that the Protector could hardly climb them. They were terminated by a trap-door leading to the roof; and there these two men, so different in station and in stature, stood together on a species of leaden platform, which by day commands a most beautiful and extensive view of the surrounding country;--at night there was nothing to be seen but the dim outline of the distant hills, and the dark woods that formed the foreground.
Scarce a sound was heard, save of the breeze wailing among the many turrets of the proud palace, and now and then the tramp or challenge of the sentries at the different outposts, as they pa.s.sed to and fro upon their ever-watchful guard.
"I believe your real name is Robin Hays?" said the Protector.
"Your Highness--it is so."
"And you are the son of one Mary or Margery, proprietor of an hostelry, called the Gulls Nest?"
"The son of Margery Hays, as your Highness has said, who, G.o.d be thanked! still lives in a quiet corner of the Isle of Shepey, and of her good husband Michael, who has now been dead many years."
"I take it for granted that you know your own mother; but it is a wise son who knows his own father. Impurities are, praised be the Lord! fast fleeing from the land; but they were rife once, rife as blackberries that grow by the roadside. Yet this is nought; what business brought you here?"
"Your Highness knows: I came with the Rabbi Ben Israel."
"Parry not with me," exclaimed the readily-irritated Cromwell.--"I repeat, why came ye here?"
"Your Highness is acquainted with the reason of my coming."
"I _do_ know; but I also choose to know it from yourself. Why came ye here?"
"Just then to seek out one who has fallen into your Highness"s clutches; with favour, I would say, under your Highness"s care," replied Robin, who felt himself not over comfortably situated.
"His name sir--his name?"
"Walter De Guerre."
"And who advised you he was here?"
"I found it out; I and another of his friends."
"You mean Hugh Dalton?"