Майн Рид
The White Gauntlet
Very different from the salutation of a sentry – the bold brusque “Who goes there?” – was the soft whisper that fell upon the ears of the person claiming admission.
“Is it you, sweet Betsey?” asked the soldier; and then, without waiting for a verbal answer to his interrogatory, he continued: “Come in, dear girl! I have been so longing for twelve o’clock, I thought it would never strike up there. I believe the old timepiece be out o’ tune. It an’t often I’m so weary for my turn o’ the night guard. Come in!”
The girl having got over the slight shiver of timidity – that had temporarily possessed her – accepted the invitation; and, stepping over the threshold of the wicket, stood inside the arched entrance which formed a covered passage between the gate and the courtyard beyond.
This passage was only illuminated by the lanthorn; which, from its position at the bottom of the door – where it had been placed to effect the signal – gave out but a feeble light. As Withers, at that moment, had no wish for a better, the lamp was allowed to remain where he had placed it.
There was enough light proceeding from it to show the side door conducting into the storeroom – the improvised prison of Henry Holtspur – which was the chief point the sentry had been instructed to guard. Upon this door the eyes of his visitor became directed, as soon as she had entered under the archway; and to it her glance kept constantly returning – despite the efforts of Withers to fix it upon himself.
He could not help observing the air of abstraction with which his supposed sweetheart listened to his protestations of love. He noticed her glance repeatedly directed towards the door of the storeroom, with an eagerness that caused him some chagrin; though he was only annoyed, that so little attention was being paid to his own blandishments.
Had he suspected the true cause of Bet Dancey’s indifference, the door of Holtspur’s prison would not have turned upon its hinges that night – at least not during Withers’ tour of guard.
“Come, Mistress Betsey!” said he, in his endeavours to secure a greater share of the girl’s attention. “Don’t talk about that affair just yet. You can deliver your message to the gentleman bye-and-bye. ’Twon’t take long, I suppose?”
“Only a minute,” replied Bet, “and that’s just why I want to have it over.”
“Ah! that,” said Withers, beginning to flatter himself that his sweetheart was impatient to get through with the more disagreeable part of her errand, so as to have it off her hands. “Ah! well; of course. Mistress Betsey – ”
“You know,” interrupted the girl, “one should always do their business first? Business first, and pleasure afterwards.”
“Bah!” muttered Withers, “that an’t always the best way; leastwise, not to you or me. Let the business stand over a bit.”
“Oh! no, no!” answered Betsey with increasing impatience. “If the lady who sent me only knew that I was trifling in this way, there would be a trouble. I’d not get the reward she has promised me. You can’t believe how impatient she’ll be, till she hears the answer I’m to take back to her!”
“Oh! bother her impatience! Let her wait, charming Betsey!”
“Nay, Master Withers; listen to reason. Suppose it was you who were in prison; and some one wanted to hear from you: myself for instance. Would you say, ‘let her wait,’ then? I pray you, don’t detain me now: you can see me to-morrow. Come to the cottage; and stay as long as you like. Father will be from home; and you may talk as much nonsense as you have a mind to.”
“What a seducing Syren!” said her suitor, evidently gratified at the pretty programme thus sketched out for him, “Well! I agree to it. But you must give me a kiss before you go in; and promise me another on, you’re coming out.”
“With all my heart!” readily responded the representative of Maid Marian, “You’re welcome to a kiss. Take it.”
And, without waiting for Withers to fling his arms around her, or even meet her half-way, she craned her neck forward, and pressed her protruded lips against the rough cheek of the trooper!
“There now!” was the ejaculation that accompanied the loud smacking noise caused by the contact, “will that satisfy you?”
“No, dear Betsey; nor a hundred thousand of the same. With such sweetness a man would never be satisfied; but always awantin’ more. Ah! they may talk about them girls in Flanders. Gi’ me the kiss o’ an English lass. It’s got the jiniwine flavour about it.”
“All flattery! Come now! keep your promise – if you expect me to keep mine, when I come out again.”
“I’ll do it, sweet. But hark’ee! Don’t make no noise inside. If the guard corporal should come round and find what’s goin’ on, he’d change me from a sentry to a prisoner – in less time than it ’ud take to tell what’s o’clock. Ah! now; one more afore you go in?”
The girl, without hesitation, a second time delivered her cheek to be kissed by the ready lips of her soldier lover; and then, muttering something like a promise – to permit more than one repetition of the dose when she should come out again – the storeroom door was opened to her; and, without further interruption, she was admitted within the precinct of Holtspur’s prison.
Volume Two – Chapter Seventeen
During all that day had the imprisoned patriot been chafing under his confinement. Since his capture he had been treated like a criminal – housed and fed, as if he were a criminal already convicted.
There was no furniture in the small apartment in which he had been locked up. Only some articles of storage and lumber; but neither chair, table, nor bed. A rough bench was the substitute for all these. On this he sate, sometimes reclined; though he did not often change from one attitude to the other – on account of the difficulty attending the operation: for like a criminal was he also bound. His wrists were crossed behind his back, and there tightly tied; while as an additional security against any attempt to escape, his ankles were lashed together by a piece of splicing rope.
He had made no effort to free himself. The thing appeared hopeless. Even could he have got rid of his rope fastenings, there was a locked door, with a sentry all the time standing, or pacing, outside.
Though keenly feeling the indignity thus put upon him – and sensible of the great danger in which his life was now placed – he had other thoughts that were still more bitter to bear.
Marion Wade was the object of these reflections – she, and her white gauntlet. Not that one, he had himself so proudly worn; but its fellow, which he had seen so tauntingly set on the helmet of the cuirassier captain.
All day long – and it had appeared of endless length – as well as during the hours of the night already passed, scarce for a moment had his mind been able to escape from that harassing thought.
Notwithstanding his efforts to repudiate the suspicion – despite that reckless disavowal of it before Scarthe himself – he could not hinder its recurrence. A hundred times did he ask himself the questions: whether Scarthe had come surreptitiously by the glove, or whether it had been given him as a love-token, like his own?
Over and over did he review the various circumstances, that had transpired between himself and Marion Wade; from the hour when riding listlessly along the forest road, he had been startled into a quick surprise at the sight of her peerless beauty – a surprise as rapidly changing into admiration. Then the after encounters upon the same road – which might have appeared accidental to any other mind than one quickened with love; the dropping of the gauntlet, that might have been deemed a thing of chance, but for the after interview, and confession that it was design; and those fervent speeches, that had passed between them – were they not vows, springing from the profoundest depths of her soul? And had she not, on that same occasion, made to him a complete surrender of her heart – as he to her? If words were to be believed, he had won the heart of Marion Wade. How could he doubt it?
He could, and did doubt; not that she had spoken love-words to him, and listened to his, with apparent complaisance. He could not doubt that – unless under the belief that he had been dreaming. His uncertainty was of a different character – far more unpleasant. It was the suspicion that Marion Wade could give love-looks, speak love-words, and drop love-tokens at pleasure! That which she had done to him, she might do to another. In short he had given way to the belief that she had been coquetting with him.
Of all the pangs that passion may inflict upon the heart of man, this is the most poignant. Love, unrequited, stings sharply enough; but when it has been promised requital – caressed to full fervour, and deluded by a pseudo-reciprocation – afterwards to have its dust-bedimmed eyes opened to the delusion – then indeed does jealousy become what it has been the fashion to call it —a monster.
There is no cruelty to be compared with that of the coquette.
Was Marion Wade one of this class?
A hundred times did Holtspur ask the question. A hundred times did he repudiate the suspicion; but alas! as often did a voice speaking harshly within his soul give forth the response: —
“It is possible.”
Ay, and probable too! So ran his imaginings.
Perhaps its probability was more conceivable to the mind of Henry Holtspur, from a sad experience of woman’s deceitfulness, that had clouded the sky of his early life – just at that period when the sun of his fortune was ascending towards its zenith.
“Surely,” said he – for the twentieth time indulging in the conjecture, “she must know that I am here? She cannot help knowing it. And yet, no message from her – not one word of inquiry! I could not be more neglected in a dungeon of the Inquisition. Is it that they are hindered – forbidden communication with me? I would fain believe it so. They cannot have so suddenly abandoned a friendship commencing so cordially, and which, though only of yesterday, promising to be permanent? Why do they, all at once, thus coldly turn from me?
“Ah! what have men not done – what will they not do, to stand clear of the ruin that threatens to fall? It may be that one and all of them have repudiated me – she, too, disclaiming a connexion that could but disgrace her?
“Perhaps at this hour – on the other side of those massive walls – there is a scene of gaiety in which all are taking part – both the family and its guests? Perhaps at this moment she may be the gayest and happiest of all? Her new fancy seated by her side, or hovering around her, whispering honeyed speeches into her ear – beguiling her with those words of wickedness, whose usage he well understands? And she, all the while, smiling and listening? Oh!”
The final exclamation was uttered in a groan – betraying how painful was the picture which his jealous fancy had conjured up.
And a fancy it was. Could his eye at that moment have pierced the massive walls, mentioned in his soliloquy, he might have discovered how unjust – how groundless – were his hypothetical accusations. He would have seen Marion Wade a sufferer like himself – suffering from almost a similar cause.
She was in her sleeping chamber, and alone. She had been there for hours; but still her couch remained unpressed. The silken coverlet lay smoothly over the pillow of down, without any sign of having been upturned. Nor was there in her attitude aught that would indicate an intention of retiring to that luxurious place of repose.
On the night before, in the same chamber, had she been equally the victim of unrest – though not to the same degree. Then had she been only apprehensive of danger to her lover, but still undisturbed by a doubt of his fidelity. Now the danger had descended – the doubt had arisen. Then her apprehensions had been relieved; and she had fallen into a slumber – so profound, that the hoof-strokes of a single horse – heard, half an hour afterwards, passing over the same path traversed by Scarthe and his subaltern – did not awake her. Neither had the trampling of thirty steeds, ridden by the same number of steel-clad cuirassiers – with tinkling spurs and clinking sabres – as several hours after they filed under the casement of her chamber, taking their departure from the park.
It was after daybreak on that morning when Marion Wade awoke from a prolonged slumber. Then only on hearing noises without, that might have aroused even the heaviest sleeper: the braying of a bugle – the quick word of command loudly pronounced – the shrill neighing of horses – in short, all those sounds that indicate the proximity of a cohort of cavalry.
Marion sprang from her couch – her cousin close following her example.
They stood trembling in the middle of the room. Modesty forbade a nearer approach to the window; while curiosity – and in the mind of Marion a far stronger sentiment – urged them towards it.
Only for an instant had she hesitated. The presentiment was upon her – then more impressive than ever. She could not resist it; and, snatching the first garment that came within reach – a scarf it chanced to be – she threw it over her shoulders, already enrobed in her ample chevelure of golden hair; and silently glided into the embayment of the window.
Not long stayed she there. The terrible tableau, that came under her eyes, prevented her from protracting that daring reconnoissance.
A squadron of cuirassiers, formed in line, with the heads of their horses turned towards the window – on the right flank, their captain, Richard Scarthe – on the left, his subaltern, Stubbs – this was the spectacle presented to her view.
In the centre – and there alone had dwelt the glance of Marion Wade – was a man mounted upon a coal-black horse – conspicuous above all the rest for noble mien, and proud bearing – but, alas! conspicuous also as a prisoner.
It required no scrutiny to tell who he was – at least on the part of Marion Wade. A single glance had been sufficient for the recognition of Henry Holtspur.
The long look she gave was scarce one of inquiry. Its object was not to identify the prisoner. It was not directed either upon his figure, or his face; but upon a spray of withered red blossoms that hung drooping over the brim of his beaver.
The look of chagrin with which this token was regarded by Marion Wade, changed to one of absolute anguish – as her eye fell upon the brown but beautiful face of a young girl, seen standing in the background, and whose crimson cloak, and gipsy features, proclaimed her the daughter of Dancey, the deer-stealer!
Marion Wade receded from the window with as much suddenness, as when, some hours before, her modesty had taken alarm at the exposing flash of the electric light.
Far different, however, was the fashion of her retreat. She fell fainting upon the floor!
With such a shaft rankling in her bosom, no wonder that Marion Wade had now no inclination for sleep, and showed no signs of an intention to retire to her couch.
On the contrary, she was equipped as for a journey – at all events, as if she intended going forth into the open air. A dark velvet cloak of large dimensions completely shrouded her figure; while her head was enveloped in a hood, which, by means of its draw-string, almost concealed her face – at the same time covering those luxuriant locks, like streams of molten gold, that gave a sort of divine character to her countenance.
Had her face been seen at that moment, it would have appeared pale – that is, paler than its wont: for the cheeks of Marion Wade could never have shown colourless. Even in death one might have fancied they would preserve that luminous roseate hue; which, like a halo, seemed constantly suspended over her countenance.
Her eyes more truthfully told the tale. They were swollen, and scarce dried of recent tears. Only one had seen them fall. Only one – her cousin Lora – knew why Marion Wade had been weeping. She had kept her chamber all the day, with Lora as her companion; but long before midnight, the latter had been desired to withdraw, and leave her alone. Lora had not been made the confidant of all her secrets. There was one she had reserved.
All day had she been thinking over the spectacle of the morning. The man she loved – worshipped with all the warm wild fervour of her maiden heart – that man a prisoner in the power of a cruel and vindictive enemy; paraded before all the world – before herself – as a criminal; rudely dragged along by a guard of ruffianly soldiers; disgraced – no, not disgraced, for such treatment could not bring disgrace upon a noble patriot; but in danger of his life!
And yet it was not this that had drawn from the eyes of Marion Wade those hot scalding tears! It was not this which had caused her to fall fainting upon the floor. Alas! no. Both the tears and the syncope had a different origin than the beholding Henry Holtspur in bonds. They were not tears of sympathy; but of bitterness – springing from the fountain of Love, that had become defiled with Jealousy. They could be traced to those flowers, borne upon the beaver of the black horseman. The faded blossoms had been seen; and, in Marion’s beguiled imagination, had been recognised.
To think he should be wearing them, and at such a time! In the hour of his adversity: as if to sanctify them by a greater regard!
It was this thought that had momentarily deprived Marion Wade of her senses.
She had recovered them; but not along with them her tranquillity of spirit. To her that day had been one of fearful reflections. Every hour had its chapter of stinging thoughts – every minute its miserable emotion. Love and jealousy – sympathy and spite – had alternated all day long; each in turn holding possession of her tortured soul.
It was now the hour of midnight, and the wicked passions had succumbed; the virtuous emotions had triumphed. Love and sympathy were in the ascendant! Marion Wade was upon the eve of attempting the accomplishment of a purpose that would prove, not only the depth of her love, but its noble unselfishness.
Could Holtspur have beheld her at this moment – could he have guessed her design – he would have withheld that recrimination, which in the bitterness of spirit he had permitted to pass from his lips.
End of Volume Two
Volume Three – Chapter One
It has been deemed strange that two individuals should conceive the same thought, at the same instant of time. Those who are skilled in psychology, will not be surprised by such coincidence. Like circumstances produce like results, in the world of mind, as in that of matter; and an instance may be found in the similar idea conceived at the same time by Marion Wade and Elizabeth Dancey – a lady of high rank, and a lass of low degree.
Both were in love with the same man – Henry Holtspur, the prisoner. Both had bethought them of a plan for delivering him from his prison; and if there was anything singular, it was, that their schemes were in almost exact correspondence.
The velvet-hooded cloak under which was concealed the face and form of Marion Wade, had been put on with the same design, as that garment, of somewhat similar make, but coarser material, that shrouded the shapes of Dick Dancey’s daughter.
Both were bent upon one and the same errand.
There may have been some difference as to the means and hopes directed towards its accomplishment; but none as to the motive – none as to the time intended for its trial. Both had chosen the hour of midnight.
Neither was this an accidental coincidence. No more than Bet Dancey, had Marion Wade trusted to chance as to the hour for making the attempt. During the day she had made her inquiries, and resolved upon her measures. Through the medium of a confidential maid – also an old acquaintance of the soldier Withers – she had ascertained that the latter would be on post over the prisoner from twelve till two at night. She had learnt, moreover, some things about the character and disposition of this trustworthy sentinel – leading her to believe that he would not prove an exception to the general rule of mankind; and that gold would overcome his scruples – if administered in sufficient quantity. For this sufficiency had she provided.
Even without regard to these considerations, the hour of midnight was one that might have been chosen on its own account. All the dwellers within the mansion – as well as its stranger guests – would be then a-bed; and there would be less chance of her design being frustrated by discovery.
It was a mere accident that caused a difference of some ten minutes of time, between the arrival of his two deliverers at the door of Holtspur’s prison; and in this the lass had gained the advantage over the lady.
At the moment when Bet Dancey was standing before the wicket, Marion Wade was stealing softly from her chamber to make her way through darkness down the great staircase, and along the silent halls and corridors of the paternal mansion.
Inside his silent cell, Holtspur had heard the clock striking the hour of twelve, in solemn lugubrious tones – too consonant with his thoughts.
It was the twelve of midnight.
“I wish it were twelve of to-morrow’s noon,” soliloquised he, when the tolling had ceased. “If I have correctly interpreted the conversation I overheard this morning, ere that hour I shall be far from this place. So – the Tower is my destination. After that – ay, what after that? Perhaps – the block? Why fear I to pronounce the word? I may as well look it boldly in the face: for I know that the vengeance of that vile woman – that has pursued me all through life, since she could not have my heart, will be satisfied with nothing less than my head. It is her hand I recognise in this – her hand that penned the postscript to that despatch; or, at all events, was it she who dictated it.
“I wish it were the hour to depart hence. There can be no dungeon in the Tower so terrible as this – on one side of the wall Hell, on the other Paradise. I can think only of Paradise, where Marion is present. She so dear to me – so near to me – almost breathing the same atmosphere; and yet oblivious of my existence! Perhaps —
“Ha! footsteps stirring outside? The sentry talking to some one! ’Tis the voice of a woman!
“One of the domestics of the mansion, I suppose, who has stolen forth to exchange the day’s gossip with the guard? ’Tis a late hour for the girl to be gadding; but perhaps ’tis the hour of her choice? I can envy this wench and her soldier sweetheart their easy opportunities. Perhaps equally to be envied is the free and easy fashion, with which they enter upon a love affair, and escape out of it? With them there is no such terrible contingency as a broken heart. To-morrow he may be gone; and the day after she will be as gay as ever!
“How different with a passion like mine! Absence can have no effect upon it. Not even the terrors of the Tower can bring it to a termination. It will end only under the axe of the executioner – if that is to be my fate.
“These gossips are getting nearer the door. Though they are talking in a low tone, I might hear what they say, by placing my ear to the keyhole. I have no inclination to make myself the depository of their coarse love secrets; but perhaps I may hear something of myself, or of her! That may make it worth my while to play eavesdropper.”
The prisoner rose from his seat; and succeeded in getting himself into an erect attitude. But all at once he sank back upon the bench; and only by adroitly balancing his body did he save himself from falling upon the floor.
“By the good Saint Vitus!” he exclaimed, rather amused at his misadventure, “I had forgotten that my feet were not free. After all, what I should hear might not be worth the effort. I’ll leave them to keep their secrets – whatever they be – to themselves.”
So resolving, he resumed his sedentary attitude upon the bench, and remained silent, but as before, listening.
By this, the speakers had approached nearer to the door; and their words could now be distinctly heard inside the store-room.
“So!” resumed Holtspur, after listening for a short while; “lovers, as I suspected. He talks of kissing her! I can hear that word above all the others. Ho! they are pressing against the door! What! Surely the key turns in the lock? Can they be coming in?”
The question was answered by the unlocking of the door; which upon the next instant swung silently upon its hinges, until it stood half open. Against the glimmer of the lamp outside, Holtspur could dimly distinguish two forms – one of them a woman.
The male figure was the nearer one; though the woman was close behind.
On opening the door, the sentry had thrust his head inside the room – but evidently without any design of introducing his body.
“Are you sleepin’, Master?” interrogated he, speaking in a tone that did not seem unkindly, and only a little louder than a whisper.
“No,” replied the prisoner, answering the man frankly, while imitating his cautious tone.
“All right, then!” said the sentry: “for there be a lady here as wants to have a word with ye; and as I suppose ye don’t care to do your talkin’ i’ the dark, I’ll lend you my lamp for a bit. But don’t make your dialogue a long ’un: there be danger in what I’m doin’.”
So saying, the trooper walked back into the archway, for the purpose of fetching his lamp; while the woman, pushing past him, stepped inside the room.
As the phrase, “there be a lady,” fell from the lips of the sentinel, the heart of Henry Holtspur, throbbed quick within his bosom. Sweet thoughts welled up at the words.
Could he have been mistaken in believing his midnight visitor a domestic of the mansion? Might it not be its mistress?
In the dim light he saw a female form closely wrapped in hood and cloak. In that guise, she might be either a peasant or a princess. The figure was tall, upright, commanding. Such was that of Marion Wade!
Holtspur’s fond fancy was destined to a short indulgence. The lamp was passed through the half-opened door; and placed upon a stool that stood near. Its glare fell upon the form of his visitor – lighting up a crimson cloak – lighting up features of a gipsy type, with dark, flashing eyes – beautiful features, it is true, but altogether unlike the angelic countenance he had been conjuring up – the countenance of Marion Wade.
“It is not she – only Maid Marian!”
Holtspur’s hopeful glance suddenly changed to one of disappointment, as he identified the daughter of the deer-stealer. Perhaps it was well for him – for both – that Betsey did not observe the transformation. The obscure light of the lamp hindered the girl from having a chagrin, equal, if not greater, than his.
“Mistress Betsey!” he exclaimed, on recovering from the first flutter of his surprise. “You here! What has brought you to my prison?”
“Hush!” ejaculated the girl, moving rapidly forward from the door – which the sentry had taken the precaution to shut behind him – “Speak only in whispers! I’ve come to save you – to get you out of this ugly place.”
“But how? ’Tis not possible, I fear? The door is guarded – the sentry is outside? I could not go forth without being seen?”
“You will be seen – that’s true. But it won’t matter a bit. If you’ll follow my directions, you’ll get out without being hindered. That’s sufficient. Father and Master Garth planned it all, before we left home. They are waiting for you on the edge of the wood – up the hill, just behind the house.”
“Ah! a plan for me to escape? What is it, my brave Betsey?”
“You’re to take my cloak. It’s a long one; and will reach nigh down to your feet. But, for fear it wouldn’t, I brought an extra skirt along with me. Here it is.”
Saying this, the girl whipped the cloak from her shoulders – disclosing at the same time a skirt of some kind of coarse stuff, which she had been carrying under her arm.
“Now, sir!” she continued, in a tone of urgency, “on with them as quick as you can: for he may get impatient, and want to come in.”
“What!” exclaimed Holtspur, whose surprise at the proposal was only equalled by admiration of her who had made it. “And do you mean that I am to pass out – disguised in your garments – and leave you here?”
“Of course I do. What other way is there? We can’t both go out. He’d stop you for a certainty; and me too, may be, for trying to get you away. You must go out alone.”
“And leave you behind – to be punished for aiding me to escape? No, generous girl! I had rather die, than do that.”
“Oh, sir! don’t talk in that foolish way. Pray go as I tell you to. Have no fear for me! They can’t do much to a girl that’s got nothing to lose. Besides, I don’t feel much afeerd of getting him to pass me out afterwards. It’ll be no good his keeping me in. That won’t save him, from whatever they may do to him.”
The him thus pointedly alluded to, was the amorous sentry; who was just then heard passing to and fro upon his round, with a step that denoted impatience.
“O, sir, go! I beg of you go – or – I – we may never see you again.”
There was a tone of sadness in the entreaty, which Holtspur could hardly have failed to notice. But the appeal had shaken his resolution to remain. From what she had said, he saw that in all probability the girl would get clear, or with some slight punishment. Perhaps she might succeed in deceiving the sentry still further, and escape without difficulty. Holtspur knew she was clever and quick-witted.
“Never fear for me, sir!” said she, as if interpreting his thoughts. “I can manage him. He’ll do what I want him to; I know he will.”
“If I thought that – ”
“You may think it,” responded she, at the same time cutting the cords that bound the prisoner, “you may be sure of it. Leave him to me. Now, sir, the cloak. No, the skirt first. That’s the way to fix it. Now the cloak. Here! put your head into the hood – draw it well over your face. That’ll do. When you go out, don’t stop to speak to him. He’ll want to kiss you – I know that. You mustn’t let him, but keep quick on to the door. The wicket is on the latch. When you get outside you can run as fast as you like. Make for the trees at the top of the hill. There you will find father along with your own man, Master Garth. It’s dark as pitch outside. I’ll keep the lamp here till you get through the passage. I defy him to tell it isn’t me, if you don’t let him kiss you. Don’t do that; but pass him as rapidly as you can. Now you’re ready? Go!”
