The church clock tolled four as the Battiscombes entered their own yard. No one had spoken on the way home; and their hearts were so full that no one seemed inclined to speak in the hall,—except that the parents whispered the indispensable blessing before going to rest, and that the Squire said as he stroked his daughters’ cheeks that there must not be many such short nights for young Christians, or the fairest roses in God’s garden would fade before their time.
At the head of the stairs, Christopher was stopped by his mother’s hand on his shoulder. She whispered,
“I thought it was your intention not to inform Reuben Coad of the preaching to night?”
“Certainly, mother. I spoke no word of it to him or any other.”
“How, then, was he present?—Nay, it is true. I saw him, in the shadow,—far behind us. You will find he was there.”
“Then he will be full of it on our ride to-morrow.”
“I hope he will. And I trust you will leave it to him to begin. I would have you watch that man closely, Christopher.”
“I will, mother: but I am certain you need not fear him,—unless for some indiscreet zeal.”
All found food in their chambers, placed there by Nurse. When they met at breakfast, no child or servant in the house saw anything in their faces which betrayed that the night had not been spent in sleep.
CHAPTER II. CONSPIRACY, COULEUR DE ROSE.
Though March was not past, it was a warm spring afternoon in the sunny spaces of the park at Brussels when certain messengers from other countries paced the avenues in consultation. Round two sides of the park there were grounds, some of them deserving the title of parks themselves. These belonged to palaces and mansions, one of which was the present abode of the Duke of Monmouth.
On the wide lawn which spread from the terrace in front of the mansion to the boundary of the park, the fine old trees were parting with their wintry aspect; and some were tinged with green, as the fan-like chestnut leaves began to promise to unfurl their folds, and the sycamores showed bursting buds. A lady, in a light cloak of black taffety, with the hood folded back on the top of her head, sat on a garden seat carved out of a group of yews. A flickering sunlight played over her, and made her look very beautiful. She was trifling with a pencil and a sketch-book, aiming at sketching a noble chestnut-tree at a little distance, but making no great progress, because she was restless and preoccupied. A lady stood near enough for conversation, and a page not too far off to receive his mistress’s orders. These orders had been so often repeated in the last half-hour that she was ashamed to send him on the same errand again: and she therefore looked every minute to see whether the Duke was coming, instead of inquiring of any other. She and her lady agreed that the season was advanced, that the violets now made no secret of their whereabout, that the oak would be out before the ash, that the city chimes sounded most musically in this retreat, and that the chestnut was not the easiest of trees to draw; and then the lady listened, and her mistress turned, and the page approached, and the Duke emerged from the shade close at hand, his black suit and mourning sword having prevented his being seen among the trees, as he would have been in his ordinary splendour of dress. The attendants withdrew to a more distant walk when the Lady Henrietta went to meet the Duke, and he drew her arm within his, to return to the yew seat.
“No trouble, I trust?” she said, looking anxiously in his face.
“All interruption of our peace is trouble,” Monmouth replied. “Why cannot my friends leave me in quiet? I am sure Mary and Orange ought to know me well enough by this time to see that it is best to let me be content while I am willing to be so.”
“What would they have?”
“Orange sends me this letter. Read it, love.”
When it was read, he went on:
“He was not satisfied with writing his advice and his offers in this way, but he sent Bentinck to exhibit to me all the honours and political weight to be obtained by fighting the Turks, and parading before Christendom in the Emperor’s train.”
“It is not empty advice,” Henrietta remarked. “Here are generous offers of means which should spare us all danger of your being mistaken for a soldier of fortune.”
“But why should I be a soldier at all?”
Henrietta laughed in his face, with a glance which said, as plainly as words could have spoken, “Because you are so brave, and dashing, and glorious!”
Monmouth smiled a gratified smile, saying that this was all very well when war was necessary, but it was no reason for a man’s leaving a life that pleased him, and turning to one that did not, without any need so to mortify himself.
Henrietta sank into thought for a while, and sighed, Monmouth watching her countenance. Then he sighed too, and said women could not love like men. He believed she would have him go and fight the Turk, and leave her in solitude, when the reason why he did not go was that he could not live apart from her.
“And is that a sign of want of love, or of an over-mastering love?” asked Henrietta. “Is it love, or lack of love, think you, which makes me ready to undergo dreary days, and nights of terror, that my love may win his right place before Europe and the world? If you were slain, what would my life be to me but a long-drawn pain? Yet I long to venture this, because, if you escape the risk, life will be to you what life should be to my Monmouth. Is it love, or lack of love, to feel thus, and to dare and desire the sacrifice?”
“Well, well! Let it count for love. But yet love is more to me, for I desire nothing beyond it.”
“Nothing! Would you acquiesce in slights and sneers about base birth, rather than stir to prove your rights? Would you, born to be a king, and kingly all over, sit in the shade, and bask in the sun here, by a woman’s side, in the very crisis of Europe, and let Orange and Louis struggle for your own England? Would you look another way while they decide whether the destiny of Christendom is turned back or carried forward?”
“I would. Nay, do not look away from me,” he continued, embracing her head, and compelling her to look up into his eyes. “Remember what reason I have to desire no further change in my life. I have striven to obtain my due position, and found myself disgraced and exiled. I have hoped to conquer my birthright by patience and policy; and death has cut short my scheme, and the world sees in me a disappointed man. At this very hour I find myself happy for the first time in all my days; and I take this as an admonition to be content. Not seeing me, the world will soon forget me; and then, Henrietta, we shall have nothing left to wish. I owe nothing to Turk or Emperor which should come between us and our natural delights and holy quiet.”
The page approached, evidently to announce further interruption of this holy tranquillity. He presented letters, and said that three gentlemen had arrived on business with his grace. He was dismissed, but desired to remain within call; and then the letters were opened. Monmouth’s hand trembled so that he could not read the first he opened. Unable to hide his agitation, he said:
“You know what it is that, in the sight of English letters, agitates me beyond control.”
“Yes, I know. Any news of her? I dare say not.”
There was nothing about the Duchess of Monmouth, and the Duke sighed.
“Why think of her at all?” the Lady Henrietta asked.
“You have said that before: but how is it possible not to think what news might possibly arrive——”
“O,