He sung, but with more taste than execution, the air of a French rondelai, to which some of the wits or sonnetteers, in his gay and roving train, had adapted English verses.
An hour with thee!--When earliest day Dapples with gold the eastern grey, Oh, what, can frame my mind to bear The toil and turmoil, cark and care. New griefs, which coming hours unfold, And sad remembrance of the old?-- One hour with thee!
One hour with thee!--When burning June Waves his red flag at pitch of noon; What shall repay the faithful swain, His labour on the sultry plain, And more than cave or sheltering bough, Cool feverish blood, and throbbing brow?-- One hour with thee!
One hour with thee!--When sun is set, O, what can teach me to forget The thankless labours of the day; The hopes, the wishes, flung away: The increasing wants, and lessening gains, The master"s pride, who scorns my pains?-- One hour with thee!
"Truly, there is another verse," said the songster; "but I sing it not to you, Mistress Alice, because some of the prudes of the court liked it not." "I thank you, Master Louis," answered the young lady, "both for your discretion in singing what has given me pleasure, and in forbearing what might offend me. Though a country girl, I pretend to be so far of the court mode, as to receive nothing which does not pa.s.s current among the better cla.s.s there."
"I would," answered Louis, "that you were so well confirmed in their creed, as to let all pa.s.s with you, to which court ladies would give currency."
"And what would be the consequence?" said Alice, with perfect composure.
"In that case," said Louis, embarra.s.sed like a general who finds that his preparations for attack do not seem to strike either fear or confusion into the enemy--"in that case you would forgive me, fair Alice, if I spoke to you in a warmer language than that of mere gallantry--if I told you how much my heart was interested in what you consider as idle jesting--if I seriously owned it was in your power to make me the happiest or the most miserable of human beings."
"Master Kerneguy," said Alice, with the same unshaken nonchalance, "let us understand each other. I am little acquainted with high-bred manners, and I am unwilling, I tell you plainly, to be accounted a silly country girl, who, either from ignorance or conceit, is startled at every word of gallantry addressed to her by a young man, who, for the present, has nothing better to do than coin and circulate such false compliments. But I must not let this fear of seeming rustic and awkwardly timorous carry me too far; and being ignorant of the exact limits, I will take care to stop within them."
"I trust, madam," said Kerneguy, "that however severely you may be disposed to judge of me, your justice will not punish me too severely for an offence, of which your charms are alone the occasion?"
"Hear me out, sir, if you please," resumed Alice. "I have listened to you when you spoke en berger--nay, my complaisance has been so great, as to answer you en bergere--for I do not think any thing except ridicule can come of dialogues between Lindor and Jeanneton; and the princ.i.p.al fault of the style is its extreme and tiresome silliness and affectation. But when you begin to kneel, offer to take my hand, and speak with a more serious tone, I must remind you of our real characters. I am the daughter of Sir Henry Lee, sir; you are, or profess to be, Master Louis Kerneguy, my brother"s page, and a fugitive for shelter under my father"s roof, who incurs danger by the harbour he affords you, and whose household, therefore, ought not to be disturbed by your unpleasing importunities."
"I would to Heaven, fair Alice," said the King, "that your objections to the suit which I am urging, not in jest, but most seriously, as that on which my happiness depends, rested only on the low and precarious station of Louis Kerneguy!--Alice, thou hast the soul of thy family, and must needs love honour. I am no more the needy Scottish page, whom I have, for my own purposes, personated, than I am the awkward lout, whose manners I adopted on the first night of our acquaintance. This hand, poor as I seem, can confer a coronet."
"Keep it," said Alice, "for some more ambitious damsel, my lord,--for such I conclude is your t.i.tle, if this romance be true,--I would not accept your hand, could you confer a duchy."
"In one sense, lovely Alice, you have neither overrated my power nor my affection. It is your King--it is Charles Stewart who speaks to you!--he can confer duchies, and if beauty can merit them, it is that of Alice Lee. Nay, nay--rise--do not kneel--it is for your sovereign to kneel to thee, Alice, to whom he is a thousand times more devoted than the wanderer Louis dared venture to profess himself. My Alice has, I know, been trained up in those principles of love and obedience to her sovereign, that she cannot, in conscience or in mercy, inflict on him such a wound as would be implied in the rejection of his suit."
In spite of all Charles"s attempts to prevent her, Alice had persevered in kneeling on one knee, until she had touched with her lip the hand with which he attempted to raise her. But this salutation ended, she stood upright, with her arms folded on her bosom--her looks humble, but composed, keen, and watchful, and so possessed of herself, so little flattered by the communication which the King had supposed would have been overpowering, that he scarce knew in what terms next to urge his solicitation.
"Thou art silent--thou art silent," he said, "my pretty Alice. Has the King no more influence with thee than the poor Scottish page?"
"In one sense, every influence," said Alice; "for he commands my best thoughts, my best wishes, my earnest prayers, my devoted loyalty, which, as the men of the House of Lee have been ever ready to testify with the sword, so are the women bound to seal, if necessary, with their blood. But beyond the duties of a true and devoted subject, the King is even less to Alice Lee than poor Louis Kerneguy. The Page could have tendered an honourable union--the Monarch can but offer a contaminated coronet."
"You mistake, Alice--you mistake," said the King, eagerly. "Sit down and let me speak to you--sit down--What is"t you fear?"
"I fear nothing, my liege," answered Alice. "What can I fear from the King of Britain--I, the daughter of his loyal subject, and under my father"s roof? But I remember the distance betwixt us; and though I might trifle and jest with mine equal, to my King I must only appear in the dutiful posture of a subject, unless where his safety may seem to require that I do not acknowledge his dignity."
Charles, though young, being no novice in such scenes, was surprised to encounter resistance of a kind which had not been opposed to him in similar pursuits, even in cases where he had been unsuccessful. There was neither anger, nor injured pride, nor disorder, nor disdain, real or affected, in the manners and conduct of Alice. She stood, as it seemed, calmly prepared to argue on the subject, which is generally decided by pa.s.sion--showed no inclination to escape from the apartment, but appeared determined to hear with patience the suit of the lover--while her countenance and manner intimated that she had this complaisance only in deference to the commands of the King.
"She is ambitious," thought Charles; "it is by dazzling her love of glory, not by mere pa.s.sionate entreaties, that I must hope to be successful.--I pray you be seated, my fair Alice," he said; "the lover entreats--the King commands you."
"The King," said Alice, "may permit the relaxation of the ceremonies due to royalty, but he cannot abrogate the subject"s duty, even by express command. I stand here while it is your Majesty"s pleasure to address--a patient listener, as in duty bound."
"Know then, simple girl," said the King, "that in accepting my proffered affection and protection, you break through no law either of virtue or morality. Those who are born to royalty are deprived of many of the comforts of private life--chiefly that which is, perhaps, the dearest and most precious, the power of choosing their own mates for life. Their formal weddings are guided upon principles of political expedience only, and those to whom they are wedded are frequently, in temper, person, and disposition, the most unlikely to make them happy. Society has commiseration, therefore, towards us, and binds our unwilling and often unhappy wedlocks with chains of a lighter and more easy character than those which fetter other men, whose marriage ties, as more voluntarily a.s.sumed, ought, in proportion, to be more strictly binding. And therefore, ever since the time that old Henry built these walls, priests and prelates, as well as n.o.bles and statesmen, have been accustomed to see a fair Rosamond rule the heart of an affectionate monarch, and console him for the few hours of constraint and state which he must bestow upon some angry and jealous Eleanor. To such a connection the world attaches no blame; they rush to the festival to admire the beauty of the lovely Esther, while the imperious Vashti is left to queen it in solitude; they throng the palace to ask her protection, whose influence is more in the state an hundred times than that of the proud consort; her offspring rank with the n.o.bles of the land, and vindicate by their courage, like the celebrated Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, their descent from royalty and from love. From such connections our richest ranks of n.o.bles are recruited; and the mother lives, in the greatness of her posterity honoured and blest, as she died lamented and wept in the arms of love and friendship."
"Did Rosamond so die, my lord?" said Alice. "Our records say she was poisoned by the injured Queen--poisoned, without time allowed to call to G.o.d for the pardon of her many faults. Did her memory so live? I have heard that, when the Bishop purified the church at G.o.dstowe, her monument was broken open by his orders, and her bones thrown out into unconsecrated ground."
"Those were rude old days, sweet Alice," answered Charles; "queens are not now so jealous, nor bishops so rigorous. And know, besides, that in the lands to which I would lead the loveliest of her s.e.x, other laws obtain, which remove from such ties even the slightest show of scandal. There is a mode of matrimony, which, fulfilling all the rites of the Church, leaves no stain on the conscience; yet investing the bride with none of the privileges peculiar to her husband"s condition, infringes not upon the duties which the King owes to his subjects. So that Alice Lee may, in all respects, become the real and lawful wife of Charles Stewart, except that their private union gives her no t.i.tle to be Queen of England."
"My ambition," said Alice, "will be sufficiently gratified to see Charles king, without aiming to share either his dignity in public, or his wealth and regal luxury in private."
"I understand thee, Alice," said the King, hurt but not displeased. "You ridicule me, being a fugitive, for speaking like a king. It is a habit, I admit, which I have learned, and of which even misfortune cannot cure me. But my case is not so desperate as you may suppose. My friends are still many in these kingdoms; my allies abroad are bound, by regard to their own interest, to espouse my cause. I have hopes given me from Spain, from France, and from other nations; and I have confidence that my father"s blood has not been poured forth in vain, nor is doomed to dry up without due vengeance. My trust is in Him from whom princes derive their t.i.tle, and, think what thou wilt of my present condition, I have perfect confidence that I shall one day sit on the throne of England."
"May G.o.d grant it!" said Alice; "and that he may grant it, n.o.ble Prince, deign to consider--whether you now pursue a conduct likely to conciliate his favour. Think of the course you recommend to a motherless maiden, who has no better defence against your sophistry, than what a sense of morality, together with the natural feeling of female dignity inspires. Whether the death of her father, which would be the consequence of her imprudence;--whether the despair of her brother, whose life has been so often in peril to save that of your Majesty;-- whether the dishonour of the roof which has sheltered you, will read well in your annals, or are events likely to propitiate G.o.d, whose controversy with your House has been but too visible, or recover the affections of the people of England, in whose eyes such actions are an abomination, I leave to your own royal mind to consider."
Charles paused, struck with a turn to the conversation which placed his own interests more in collision with the gratification of his present pa.s.sion than he had supposed.
"If your Majesty," said Alice, curtsying deeply, "has no farther commands for my attendance, may I be permitted to withdraw?"
"Stay yet a little, strange and impracticable girl," said the King; "and answer me but one question:--Is it the lowness of my present fortunes that makes my suit contemptible?"
"I have nothing to conceal, my liege," she said, "and my answer shall be as plain and direct as the question you have asked. If I could have been moved to an act of ignominious, insane, and ungrateful folly, it could only arise from my being blinded by that pa.s.sion, which I believe is pleaded as an excuse for folly and for crime much more often than it has a real existence. I must, in short, have been in love, as it is called--and that might have been--with my equal, but surely never with my sovereign, whether such only in t.i.tle, or in possession of his kingdom."
"Yet loyalty was ever the pride, almost the ruling pa.s.sion, of your family, Alice," said the King.
"And could I reconcile that loyalty," said Alice, "with indulging my sovereign, by permitting him to prosecute a suit dishonourable to himself as to me? Ought I, as a faithful subject, to join him in a folly, which might throw yet another stumbling-block in the path to his restoration, and could only serve to diminish his security, even if he were seated upon his throne?"
"At this rate," said Charles, discontentedly, "I had better have retained my character of the page, than a.s.sumed that of a sovereign, which it seems is still more irreconcilable with my wishes."
"My candour shall go still farther," said Alice. "I could have felt as little for Louis Kerneguy as for the heir of Britain; for such love as I have to bestow, (and it is not such as I read of in romance, or hear poured forth in song,) has been already conferred on another object. This gives your Majesty pain--I am sorry for it--but the wholesomest medicines are often bitter."
"Yes," answered the King, with some asperity, "and physicians are reasonable enough to expect their patients to swallow them, as if they were honeycomb. It is true, then, that whispered tale of the cousin Colonel, and the daughter of the loyal Lee has set her heart upon a rebellious fanatic?"
"My love was given ere I knew what these words fanatic and rebel meant. I recalled it not, for I am satisfied, that amidst the great distractions which divide the kingdom, the person to whom you allude has chosen his part, erroneously, perhaps, but conscientiously--he, therefore, has still the highest place in my affection and esteem. More he cannot have, and will not ask, until some happy turn shall reconcile these public differences, and my father be once more reconciled to him. Devoutly do I pray that such an event may occur by your Majesty"s speedy and unanimous restoration!"
"You have found out a reason," said the King, pettishly, "to make me detest the thought of such a change--nor have you, Alice, any sincere interest to pray for it. On the contrary, do you not see that your lover, walking side by side with Cromwell, may, or rather must, share his power? nay, if Lambert does not antic.i.p.ate him, he may trip up Oliver"s heels, and reign in his stead. And think you not he will find means to overcome the pride of the loyal Lees, and achieve an union, for which things are better prepared than that which Cromwell is said to meditate betwixt one of his brats and the no less loyal heir of Fauconberg?"
"Your Majesty," said Alice, "has found a way at length to avenge yourself--if what I have said deserves vengeance."
"I could point out a yet shorter road to your union," said Charles, without minding her distress, or perhaps enjoying the pleasure of retaliation. "Suppose that you sent your Colonel word that there was one Charles Stewart here, who had come to disturb the Saints in their peaceful government, which they had acquired by prayer and preaching, pike and gun,--and suppose he had the art to bring down a half-score of troopers, quite enough, as times go, to decide the fate of this heir of royalty--think you not the possession of such a prize as this might obtain from the Rumpers, or from Cromwell, such a reward as might overcome your father"s objections to a roundhead"s alliance, and place the fair Alice and her cousin Colonel in full possession of their wishes?"
"My liege," said Alice, her cheeks glowing, and her eyes sparkling--for she too had her share of the hereditary temperament of her family,-- "this pa.s.ses my patience. I have heard, without expressing anger, the most ignominious persuasions addressed to myself, and I have vindicated myself for refusing to be the paramour of a fugitive Prince, as if I had been excusing myself from accepting a share of an actual crown. But do you think I can hear all who are dear to me slandered without emotion or reply? I will not, sir; and were you seated with all the terrors of your father"s Star-chamber around you, you should hear me defend the absent and the innocent. Of my father I will say nothing, but that if he is now without wealth--without state, almost without a sheltering home and needful food--it is because he spent all in the service of the King. He needed not to commit any act of treachery or villany to obtain wealth-- he had an ample competence in his own possessions. For Markham Everard-- he knows no such thing as selfishness--he would not, for broad England, had she the treasures of Peru in her bosom, and a paradise on her surface, do a deed that would disgrace his own name, or injure the feelings of another--Kings, my liege, may take a lesson from him. My liege, for the present I take my leave."
"Alice, Alice--stay!" exclaimed the King. "She is gone.--This must be virtue--real, disinterested, overawing virtue--or there is no such thing on earth. Yet Wilmot and Villiers will not believe a word of it, but add the tale to the other wonders of Woodstock. "Tis a rare wench! and I profess, to use the Colonel"s obtestation, that I know not whether to forgive and be friends with her, or study a dire revenge. If it were not for that accursed cousin--that puritan Colonel--I could forgive every thing else to so n.o.ble a wench. But a roundheaded rebel preferred to me--the preference avowed to my face, and justified with the a.s.sertion, that a king might take a lesson from him--it is gall and wormwood. If the old man had not come up this morning as he did, the King should have taken or given a lesson, and a severe one. It was a mad rencontre to venture upon with my rank and responsibility--and yet this wench has made me so angry with her, and so envious of him, that if an opportunity offered, I should scarce be able to forbear him.--Ha! whom have we here?"
The interjection at the conclusion of this royal soliloquy, was occasioned by the unexpected entrance of another personage of the drama.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
Benedict. Shall I speak a word in your ear? Claudio. G.o.d bless me from a challenge. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
As Charles was about to leave the apartment, he was prevented by the appearance of Wildrake, who entered with an unusual degree of swagger in his gait, and of fantastic importance on his brow. "I crave your pardon, fair sir," he said; "but, as they say in my country, when doors are open dogs enter. I have knocked and called in the hall to no purpose; so, knowing the way to this parlour, sir,--for I am a light partisan, and the road I once travel I never forget,--I ventured to present myself unannounced."
"Sir Henry Lee is abroad, sir, I believe, in the Chase," said Charles, coldly, for the appearance of this somewhat vulgar debauchee was not agreeable to him at the moment, "and Master Albert Lee has left the Lodge for two or three days."
"I am aware of it, sir," said Wildrake; "but I have no business at present with either."
"And with whom is your business?" said Charles; "that is, if I may be permitted to ask--since I think it cannot in possibility be with me."
"Pardon me in turn, sir," answered the cavalier; "in no possibility can it be imparted to any other but yourself, if you be, as I think you are, though in something better habit, Master Louis Girnigo, the Scottish gentleman who waits upon Master Albert Lee."
"I am all you are like to find for him," answered Charles.
"In truth," said the cavalier, "I do perceive a difference, but rest, and better clothing, will do much; and I am glad of it, since I would be sorry to have brought a message, such as I am charged with, to a tatterdemalion."
"Let us get to the business, sir, if you please," said the King--"you have a message for me, you say?"
"True, sir," replied Wildrake; "I am the friend of Colonel Markham Everard, sir, a tall man, and a worthy person in the field, although I could wish him a better cause--A message I have to you, it is certain, in a slight note, which I take the liberty of presenting with the usual formalities." So saying, he drew his sword, put the billet he mentioned upon the point, and making a profound bow, presented it to Charles.
The disguised Monarch accepted of it, with a grave return of the salute, and said, as he was about to open the letter, "I am not, I presume, to expect friendly contents in an epistle presented in so hostile a manner?"
"A-hem, sir," replied the amba.s.sador, clearing his voice, while he arranged a suitable answer, in which the mild strain of diplomacy might be properly maintained; "not utterly hostile, I suppose, sir, is the invitation, though it be such as must be construed in the commencement rather bellicose and pugnacious. I trust, sir, we shall find that a few thrusts will make a handsome conclusion of the business; and so, as my old master used to say, Pax mascitur ex bello. For my own poor share, I am truly glad to have been graced by my friend, Markham Everard, in this matter--the rather as I feared the puritan principles with which he is imbued, (I will confess the truth to you, worthy sir,) might have rendered him unwilling, from certain scruples, to have taken the gentlemanlike and honourable mode of righting himself in such a case as the present. And as I render a friend"s duty to my friend, so I humbly hope, Master Louis Girnigo, that I do no injustice to you, in preparing the way for the proposed meeting, where, give me leave to say, I trust, that if no fatal accident occur, we shall be all better friends when the skirmish is over than we were before it began."
"I should suppose so, sir, in any case," said Charles, looking at the letter; "worse than mortal enemies we can scarce be, and it is that footing upon which this billet places us."
"You say true, sir," said Wildrake; "it is, sir, a cartel, introducing to a single combat, for the pacific object of restoring a perfect good understanding betwixt the survivors--in case that fortunately that word can be used in the plural after the event of the meeting."
"In short, we only fight, I suppose," replied the King, "that we may come to a perfectly good and amicable understanding?"
"You are right again, sir; and I thank you for the clearness of your apprehension," said Wildrake.--"Ah, sir, it is easy to do with a person of honour and of intellect in such a case as this. And I beseech you, sir, as a personal kindness to myself, that, as the morning is like to be frosty, and myself am in some sort rheumatic--as war will leave its scars behind, sir,--I say, I will entreat of you to bring with you some gentleman of honour, who will not disdain to take part in what is going forward--a sort of pot-luck, sir--with a poor old soldier like myself-- that we may take no harm by standing unoccupied during such cold weather."
"I understand, sir," replied Charles; "if this matter goes forward, be a.s.sured I will endeavour to provide you with a suitable opponent."
"I shall remain greatly indebted to you, sir," said Wildrake; "and I am by no means curious about the quality of my antagonist. It is true I write myself esquire and gentleman, and should account myself especially honoured by crossing my sword with that of Sir Henry or Master Albert Lee; but, should that not be convenient, I will not refuse to present my poor person in opposition to any gentleman who has served the King,-- which I always hold as a sort of letters of n.o.bility in itself, and, therefore, would on no account decline the duello with such a person."
"The King is much obliged to you, sir," said Charles, "for the honour you do his faithful subjects."
"O, sir, I am scrupulous on that point--very scrupulous.--When there is a roundhead in question, I consult the Herald"s books, to see that he is ent.i.tled to bear arms, as is Master Markham Everard, without which, I promise you, I had borne none of his cartel. But a cavalier is with me a gentleman, of course--Be his birth ever so low, his loyalty has enn.o.bled his condition."
"It is well, sir," said the King. "This paper requests me to meet Master Everard at six to-morrow morning, at the tree called the King"s Oak--I object neither to place nor time. He proffers the sword, at which, he says, we possess some equality--I do not decline the weapon; for company, two gentlemen--I shall endeavour to procure myself an a.s.sociate, and a suitable partner for you, sir, if you incline to join in the dance."
"I kiss your hand, sir, and rest yours, under a sense of obligation," answered the envoy.
"I thank you, sir," continued the King; "I will therefore be ready at place and time, and suitably furnished; and I will either give your friend such satisfaction with my sword as he requires, or will render him such cause for not doing so as he will be contented with."
"You will excuse me, sir," said Wildrake, "if my mind is too dull, under the circ.u.mstances, to conceive any alternative that can remain betwixt two men of honour in such a case, excepting--sa--sa--." He threw himself into a fencing position, and made a pa.s.s with his sheathed rapier, but not directed towards the person of the King, whom he addressed.
"Excuse me, sir," said Charles, "if I do not trouble your intellects with the consideration of a case which may not occur.--But, for example, I may plead urgent employment on the part of the public." This he spoke in a low and mysterious tone of voice, which Wildrake appeared perfectly to comprehend; for he laid his forefinger on his nose with what he meant for a very intelligent and apprehensive nod.
"Sir," said he, "if you be engaged in any affair for the King, my friend shall have every reasonable degree of patience--Nay, I will fight him myself in your stead, merely to stay his stomach, rather than you should be interrupted.--And, sir, if you can find room in your enterprise for a poor gentleman that has followed Lunsford and Goring, you have but to name day, time, and place of rendezvous; for truly, sir, I am tired of the scald hat, cropped hair, and undertaker"s cloak, with which my friend has bedizened me, and would willingly ruffle it out once more in the King"s cause, when whether I be banged or hanged, I care not."
"I shall remember what you say, sir, should an opportunity occur," said the King; "and I wish his Majesty had many such subjects--I presume our business is now settled?"
"When you shall have been pleased, sir, to give me a trifling sc.r.a.p of writing, to serve for my credentials--for such, you know, is the custom--your written cartel hath its written answer."
"That, sir, will I presently do," said Charles, "and in good time, here are the materials."
"And, sir," continued the envoy--"Ah!--ahem!--if you have interest in the household for a cup of sack--I am a man of few words, and am somewhat hoa.r.s.e with much speaking--moreover, a serious business of this kind always makes one thirsty.--Besides, sir, to part with dry lips argues malice, which G.o.d forbid should exist in such an honourable conjuncture."
"I do not boast much influence in the house, sir," said the King; "but if you would have the condescension to accept of this broad piece towards quenching your thirst at the George"-- "Sir," said the cavalier, (for the times admitted of this strange species of courtesy, nor was Wildrake a man of such peculiar delicacy as keenly to dispute the matter,)--"I am once again beholden to you. But I see not how it consists with my honour to accept of such accommodation, unless you were to accompany and partake?"
"Pardon me, sir," replied Charles, "my safety recommends that I remain rather private at present."
"Enough said," Wildrake observed; "poor cavaliers must not stand on ceremony. I see, sir, you understand cutter"s law--when one tall fellow has coin, another must not be thirsty. I wish you, sir, a continuance of health and happiness until to-morrow, at the King"s Oak, at six o"clock."
"Farewell, sir," said the King, and added, as Wildrake went down the stair whistling, "Hey for cavaliers," to which air his long rapier, jarring against the steps and banisters, bore no unsuitable burden-- "Farewell, thou too just emblem of the state, to which war, and defeat, and despair, have reduced many a gallant gentleman."
During the rest of the day, there occurred nothing peculiarly deserving of notice. Alice sedulously avoided showing towards the disguised Prince any degree of estrangement or shyness, which could be discovered by her father, or by any one else. To all appearance, the two young persons continued on the same footing in every respect. Yet she made the gallant himself sensible, that this apparent intimacy was a.s.sumed merely to save appearances, and in no way designed as retracting from the severity with which she had rejected his suit. The sense that this was the case, joined to his injured self-love, and his enmity against a successful rival, induced Charles early to withdraw himself to a solitary walk in the wilderness, where, like Hercules in the Emblem of Cebes, divided betwixt the personifications of Virtue and of Pleasure, he listened alternately to the voice of Wisdom and of pa.s.sionate Folly.
Prudence urged to him the importance of his own life to the future prosecution of the great object in which he had for the present miscarried--the restoration of monarchy in England, the rebuilding of the throne, the regaining the crown of his father, the avenging his death, and restoring to their fortunes and their country the numerous exiles, who were suffering poverty and banishment on account of their attachment to his cause. Pride too, or rather a just and natural sense of dignity, displayed the unworthiness of a Prince descending to actual personal conflict with a subject of any degree, and the ridicule which would be thrown on his memory, should he lose his life for an obscure intrigue by the hand of a private gentleman. What would his sage counsellors, Nicholas and Hyde--what would his kind and wise governor, the Marquis of Hertford, say to such an act of rashness and folly? Would it not be likely to shake the allegiance of the staid and prudent persons of the royalist party, since wherefore should they expose their lives and estates to raise to the government of a kingdom a young man who could not command his own temper? To this was to be added, the consideration that even his success would add double difficulties to his escape, which already seemed sufficiently precarious. If, stopping short of death, he merely had the better of his antagonist, how did he know that he might not seek revenge by delivering up to government the malignant Louis Kerneguy, whose real character could not in that case fail to be discovered?
These considerations strongly recommended to Charles that he should clear himself of the challenge without fighting; and the reservation under which he had accepted it, afforded him some opportunity of doing so.
But Pa.s.sion also had her arguments, which she addressed to a temper rendered irritable by recent distress and mortification. In the first place, if he was a prince, he was also a gentleman, ent.i.tled to resent as such, and obliged to give or claim the satisfaction expected on occasion of differences among gentlemen. With Englishmen, she urged, he could never lose interest by showing himself ready, instead of sheltering himself under his royal birth and pretensions, to come frankly forward and maintain what he had done or said on his own responsibility. In a free nation, it seemed as if he would rather gain than lose in the public estimation by a conduct which could not but seem gallant and generous. Then a character for courage was far more necessary to support his pretensions than any other kind of reputation; and the lying under a challenge, without replying to it, might bring his spirit into question. What would Villiers and Wilmot say of an intrigue, in which he had allowed himself to be shamefully baffled by a country girl, and had failed to revenge himself on his rival? The pasquinades which they would compose, the witty sarcasms which they would circulate on the occasion, would be harder to endure than the grave rebukes of Hertford, Hyde, and Nicholas. This reflection, added to the stings of youthful and awakened courage, at length fixed his resolution, and he returned to Woodstock determined to keep his appointment, come of it what might.
Perhaps there mingled with his resolution a secret belief that such a rencontre would not prove fatal. He was in the flower of his youth, active in all his exercises, and no way inferior to Colonel Everard, as far as the morning"s experiment had gone, in that of self-defence. At least, such recollection might pa.s.s through his royal mind, as he hummed to himself a well-known ditty, which he had picked up during his residence in Scotland-- "A man may drink and not be drunk; A man may fight and not be slain; A man may kiss a bonnie la.s.s, And yet be welcome back again."
Meanwhile the busy and all-directing Dr. Rochecliffe had contrived to intimate to Alice that she must give him a private audience, and she found him by appointment in what was called the study, once filled with ancient books, which, long since converted into cartridges, had made more noise in the world at their final exit, than during the s.p.a.ce which had intervened betwixt that and their first publication. The Doctor seated himself in a high-backed leathern easy-chair, and signed to Alice to fetch a stool and sit down beside him.
"Alice," said the old man, taking her hand affectionately, "thou art a good girl, a wise girl, a virtuous girl, one of those whose price is above rubies--not that rubies is the proper translation--but remind me to tell you of that another time. Alice, thou knowest who this Louis Kerneguy is--nay, hesitate not to me--I know every thing--I am well aware of the whole matter. Thou knowest this honoured house holds the Fortunes of England." Alice was about to answer. "Nay, speak not, but listen to me, Alice--How does he bear himself towards you?"
Alice coloured with the deepest crimson. "I am a country-bred girl," she said, "and his manners are too courtlike for me."
"Enough said--I know it all. Alice, he is exposed to a great danger to-morrow, and you must be the happy means to prevent him."
"I prevent him!--how, and in what manner?" said Alice, in surprise. "It is my duty, as a subject, to do anything--anything that may become my father"s daughter"-- Here she stopped, considerably embarra.s.sed.
"Yes," continued the Doctor, "to-morrow he hath made an appointment--an appointment with Markham Everard; the hour and place are set--six in the morning, by the King"s Oak. If they meet, one will probably fall."
"Now, may G.o.d forefend they should meet," said Alice, turning as suddenly pale as she had previously reddened. "But harm cannot come of it; Everard will never lift his sword against the King."
"For that," said Dr. Rochecliffe, "I would not warrant. But if that unhappy young gentleman shall have still some reserve of the loyalty which his general conduct entirely disavows, it would not serve us here; for he knows not the King, but considers him merely as a cavalier, from whom he has received injury."
"Let him know the truth, Doctor Rochecliffe, let him know it instantly," said Alice; "he lift hand against the King, a fugitive and defenceless! He is incapable of it. My life on the issue, he becomes most active in his preservation."
"That is the thought of a maiden, Alice," answered the Doctor; "and, as I fear, of a maiden whose wisdom is misled by her affections. It were worse than treason to admit a rebel officer, the friend of the arch-traitor Cromwell, into so great a secret. I dare not answer for such rashness. Hammond was trusted by his father, and you know what came of it."
"Then let my father know. He will meet Markham, or send to him, representing the indignity done to him by attacking his guest."
"We dare not let your father into the secret who Louis Kerneguy really is. I did but hint the possibility of Charles taking refuge at Woodstock, and the rapture into which Sir Henry broke out, the preparations for accommodation and the defence which he began to talk of, plainly showed that the mere enthusiasm of his loyalty would have led to a risk of discovery. It is you, Alice, who must save the hopes of every true royalist."