Ah! you marvel to see me here now. I felt as though
nothing would make me a recreant to her. Her sweet smile and shining
eyes rose up before me, and half the night I dreamt of them, and knew
that I would rather die than be given to another and be false to
them. Ah! but you will deem me a recreant. With the waking hours I
thought of my King and Queen. My elder brother died with Lord
Shrewsbury in Gascony, and after me the next heir is a devoted
Yorkist who would turn my castle, the key of Cleveland, against the
Queen. I knew the defeat would make faithful swords more than ever
needful to her, and that it was my bounden duty, if it were possible,
to save my life, my sword, and my lands for her. Mistress, you are a
good woman. Did I act as a coward?"
"You offered up yourself," said Grisell, looking up.
"So it was! I gave my consent, on condition that I should be free at
once. We were wedded in the gloom--ere sunrise--a thunderstorm
coming up, which so darkened the church that if she had been a
peerless beauty, fair as Cressid herself, I could not have seen her,
and even had she been beauty itself, nought can to me be such as my
Eleanor. So I was free to gallop off through the storm for Wearmouth
when the rite was over, and none pursued me, for old Whitburn was a
man of his word. Mine uncle held the marriage as nought, but next I
made for the Queen at Durham, and, if aught could comfort my spirit,
it was her thanks, and assurances that it would cost nothing but the
dispensation of the Pope to set me free.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192