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 WHY. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 Copyright, 1898, by Douglas Volk. From a Copley Print. Copyright, 1899, by Curti. & Cameron. 
 PATIENCE.
 
 PATIENCE 
 
 A DAUGHTER OF THE MAYFLOWER 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH W. CHAMPNEY 
 
 AUTHOR OF "WITCH WETNIE," "WITCH 
 MYSTERY," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1899
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1899, 
 
 BT 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 
 
 THE MEK9HON COMPANT PRESS, 
 nAHWAY, N. J.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, vii 
 
 I. SHERWOOD FOREST, . . . . . . 1 
 
 II. THE FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND, ... 24 
 
 III. PATIENCE, 45 
 
 IV. THE PRIEST'S HOLE, 73 
 
 V. PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS, 108 
 
 VI. THE GUNPOWDER PLOT AND CERTAIN OTHER 
 
 MATTERS, . 128 
 
 VII. MASKING AND UNMASKING, 147 
 
 VIII. THE ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS, . . . 167 
 
 IX. PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS, . . 185 
 
 X. A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS, 211 
 
 XI. MIGRATURUS HABITA. 283 
 
 XII. THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN, .... 247 
 
 XIII. CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER," . . 264 
 
 XIV. THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE, .... 295 
 APPENDIX, . 333 
 
 2128879
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE reader of any historical romance has the 
 right to ask, in the words of Browning : 
 
 " Do you tell the story now in off -hand style 
 Straight from the book? 
 
 Or is there book at all, 
 
 And don't you deal in poetry, make-believe, 
 And the white lies it sounds like ? " 
 
 Sir Walter Scott may plead : " A poor fel- 
 low like myself looks out for some subject in 
 the boundless field of history bedizens it with 
 such coloring as his skill suggests, ornaments 
 it with such romantic circumstances as may 
 heighten the general effect, and thinks perhaps 
 he has done some service to the public if he can 
 present to them a lively fictitious picture for 
 which the original anecdote only furnished a 
 slight sketch." 
 
 But it is an unworthy thing for a writer to 
 tangle the ideas of young people in regard to 
 what actually happened ; and the author wishes 
 to confess at the outset that the adventures of
 
 vili INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Patience and of Wrestling were only such as 
 might have taken place. 
 
 The adventures of Love after he sailed away 
 in search of Wrestling have nothing to do with 
 this story, but may be related in another 
 volume. Philippa Fawkes is a fictitious char- 
 acter, and the end of Father Greenway is not 
 known, but many a Jesuit missionary suffered 
 martyrdom as unflinchingly. 
 
 Life and events in England just before the 
 emigration have been dwelt upon at length in 
 order to show just what were the causes which 
 led to the Pilgrim movement. It has been too 
 much insisted that the early settlers of New 
 England were ignorant and poverty-stricken 
 fanatics ; and it has been the author's aim to 
 show that while the majority of the " Children 
 of the Mayflower " were simple artisans, their 
 leaders were men who had enjoyed the highest 
 privileges. Of some it could be said, as of 
 Miles Standish : 
 
 " He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly 
 Back to Hugh Standish of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire, 
 
 England, 
 Who was the son of Ralph, and the grandson of Thurston 
 
 de Standish ; 
 Still bore the family arms, and had for his crest a cock 
 
 argent 
 Combed and wattled gules, and all the rest of the blazon."
 
 INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 Their leader, Elder Brewster, had had an 
 exceptional training in statesmanship, added to 
 a university education ; while the second emi- 
 gration, which followed the Pilgrims so closely, 
 and almost immediately blended with them, 
 was fitted out and organized by Theophilus 
 Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, and by Captain 
 Thomas Dudley : the first a peer of England ; 
 and the second noble of nature, and possibly 
 also of descent. Of this second movement the 
 author of " The Pilgrim Fathers of New Eng- 
 land " writes : 
 
 " The men who made it were not a mere 
 band of traders bent simply on money-making. 
 Some of them came from stately homes, and 
 were possessed of wealth and social position, 
 while others had occupied influential positions 
 as ministers of the Church. Before the move- 
 ment had spent itself, something like ninety 
 university men, three-fourths of them from 
 Cambridge, had emigrated to New England. 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the importance 
 of this fact in its bearing on the future of 
 American life." 
 
 These refined men and women endured un- 
 complainingly the hardships of the wilderness. 
 Some, like Lady Arabella Johnson, died 
 heroically, uncanonized saints and martyrs.
 
 x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Anne Dudley Bradstreet was brought up in 
 Tattersliall Castle ; and her husband, the tutor 
 at Emmanuel College of Lord Rich, took her at 
 her marriage to the estates of the Earl of 
 Warwick, where he was intendant, as her father 
 had been for the Earl of Lincoln. But with 
 memories of the grandest castles of England in 
 her mind, she could still sing meekly after a life 
 of hardship in New England : 
 
 "What did I ask for but Thou gav'st? 
 
 What could I more require? 
 But thankfulness, e'en all my days, 
 I humbly this desire."* 
 
 But while the early colonists of New Eng- 
 land were not base-born boors, their chief glory, 
 and the distinction which we must never lose 
 sight of in estimating their claims to our 
 reverence, was their devotion to liberty. It 
 was for this that they renounced ease and 
 safety ; and this great heritage we have received 
 from them. Of them much of the wonderful 
 eleventh chapter of Hebrews might have been 
 written for, like Abraham, " They went out not 
 knowing whither they went, and truly if they 
 had been mindful of that country from whence 
 they came out, they might have had opportunity 
 
 ""This," says Simon Bradstreet, Jr., "was the last thing 
 written in her book, by my dear and honored mother."
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xi 
 
 to have returned . . . Choosing rather to 
 suffer affliction with the people of God than to 
 enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." 
 
 William Brewster's friend Thomas Dudley 
 emigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, before the 
 good Elder of Plymouth was called home. 
 It is very possible that they met, for there was 
 friendship between the two colonies from the 
 start, and on May 19, 1643, deputies of the four 
 plantations, Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Con- 
 necticut, and New Haven, assembled at Boston, 
 " subscribed the Articles of Confederation, and 
 thus created the first Federal Union on the 
 American continent." 
 
 This was the year that Elder Brewster died. 
 William Bradford tells how nobly and 
 bravely he lived, how triumphantly and peace- 
 fully he passed to his reward : 
 
 " He lived by the blessing of God in health 
 until very old age, and would labor with his 
 hands in the fields as long as he was able. 
 And when the church had no other minister, he 
 taught twice every Sabbath, to the great con- 
 tentment of the hearers. He was very stirring 
 and moving of the affections, also very plain 
 and distinct in what he taught. He always 
 thought it were better for ministers to pray 
 oftener, than be long and tedious, except upon
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 solemn and special occasions. . . He was of 
 a very cheerful spirit, very sociable and pleasant 
 among his friends, tender-hearted and com- 
 passionate of such as were in misery, but 
 especially of such as had been of good estate 
 and rank and were fallen unto want and 
 poverty either for goodness and religion's sake, 
 or by the injury and oppression of others, of 
 all men, he would say these deserved to be 
 pitied most. And none did more offend and 
 displease him than such as would haughtily 
 and proudly carry and lift up themselves, being 
 risen from nothing, and having little else in 
 them to commend them but a few fine cloaths, 
 or a little riches more than others." 
 
 " We spend our days as a tale that is told," 
 and the tale of William Brewster's life is one 
 of rare power and sweetness, while its end was 
 peace. 
 
 "He was fourscore when he died in the 
 midst of his friends, who wept over him, but 
 whom he comforted while he could and then 
 as a man falling into a sound sleep, without any 
 pangs or gaspings, sweetly departed this life 
 unto a better."
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 What shall he have who kills the deer ? 
 
 He shall have the hoofs and the horns to wear. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 AKLY in October in the 
 year 1605 two boys were 
 striding through Sher- 
 wood Forest near the 
 meeting of the three 
 counties of Yorkshire, Lin- 
 colnshire, and Nottingham- 
 shire, in the north of Eng- 
 land. The air was crisp but 
 not cold, the ground cov- 
 ered with a thick carpet 
 of fallen leaves, through 
 which the lads waded with delight in their rus- 
 tling. The beeches, denuded of their foliage, 
 gave long vistas, the interlacing tracery of their 
 
 See Note a, Appendix.
 
 2 PATIENCE. 
 
 boughs making Gothic arches above the forest 
 path. The oaks, clinging more tenaciously to 
 their russet leaves, made splashes of maroon and 
 dull, rich reds among the pointed evergreens. 
 The coloring was as harmonious as the time- 
 tempered tints of some glorious old tapestiy, and 
 as full of warm browns, golden yellows, and 
 rich umbers as the canvas of a Dutch painter. 
 
 The boys could not have analyzed their 
 delight in the mellow autumn coloring ; perhaps 
 they did not realize that any portion of their 
 pleasure came from color, but they felt the 
 beauty about them with the keen appreciation 
 of sensitive but very different natures. They 
 were twin brothers, but so unlike from their 
 birth that their parents had given them quaint, 
 contrasting names. "Wrestling was strong and 
 active, domineering in spirit, passionate and ob- 
 stinate, but capable of deep affection and 
 tireless devotion. Little of this better nature 
 had shown itself as yet. His mother knew the 
 boy's heart; but his father did not wholly 
 understand him, and Wrestling's gentler and 
 more studious brother Love was evidently his 
 favorite. Strange to say, though Wrestling 
 recognized this he did not resent it. He knew 
 that Love was more gifted as a scholar, that he 
 was handsomer, and sweeter-tempered than
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 3 
 
 himself. It was natural that others should 
 care more for him. With all his passionate 
 heart he adored his brother ; and his dark cheek 
 would glow with pleasure when others praised 
 him, and his sturdy fists clench with indig- 
 nation when any did him wrong. Much of 
 Love's spare time was spent in reading, 
 Wrestling's in athletic sports, but each day 
 they took a long walk together through the 
 forest on their way to and from their lessons ; 
 and Love would tell his brother the tales and 
 repeat the poetry he had read ; and Wrestling 
 would take him on his back across the brooks, 
 on scale the face of a precipice for the flowers 
 he fancied. 
 
 Wrestling knew every bird that they started, 
 and pointed out how the timid but devoted 
 mother partridge would scuttle along in their 
 path to lure them from her brood. He was so 
 fleet of limb that he sometimes caught a hare 
 in his hands, and he loved the red deer as 
 William the Conqueror loved them. 
 
 "You know so much," Love would say, 
 "about the wild creatures; but, as Dickon 
 Moore said to me the other day, I could not 
 tell a hawk from a handsaw." 
 
 "I will smite Dickon for that when I see 
 him next," said Wrestling.
 
 4 PATIENCE. 
 
 "Nay, brother, for Dickon was righter than 
 he knew. That old saying of the vulgar should 
 be 'an hawk from an heronsha/wj which bird 
 the hawk so resembles that I fancy Dickon 
 himself could not differ them." 
 
 " I hope thou toldst him so, and so got the 
 better of him," said Wrestling. " Tell me now 
 some more verses from the plays that Master 
 Bradstreet lent thee. I'll warrant the man who 
 writ them had lived in the woods and loved 
 the birds and beasties." 
 
 " That he did, Wrestling ; and he disdained 
 not to put their language in his verse, for he 
 says in one place : 
 
 " The lark that tirra lirra chants: 
 With hey ! with hey ! the thrush and the jay, 
 Are summer songs for me and my aunts 
 While we lie tumbling in the hay ! " 
 
 Wrestling clapped his hands, and repeated 
 " Tirra lirra, tirra lirra ! " with a more imitative 
 intonation than his brother had done; then 
 folding his arms, he tossed his head upward, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 " Why should we ever go indoors ? What 
 fools men are to build houses ! " 
 
 " It would be fine sport to live in the open 
 for the summer, but what would you do in the 
 winter season 2 " asked the more delicate boy.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 5 
 
 " What Robin Hood and his merry men did 
 in this very forest," replied Wrestling " sleep 
 by a campfire, and when the nights grew too 
 cold for that, couch us on skins in his cave as 
 warm as cubs." 
 
 " Have you found nis habitation, that you 
 speak so confidently ? " 
 
 " Some sort of a cave have I found. I 
 chased a fox to it, and went in with a torch. 
 It might have been the hermitage of Friar 
 Tuck, but that the entrance is too narrow for 
 his round paunch. I will show it to you if 
 you will promise not to tell. It were a good 
 hiding in time of trouble." 
 
 " It may be," said Love, " that Queen Margaret 
 was hidden there, or some priest in the time of 
 Queen Bess. And it may be we shall have to 
 hide there ourselves, if King James continues 
 his persecutions." 
 
 " I have thought so," said Wrestling, " and I 
 wish with all my heart that our father had 
 followed Sir Walter Raleigh on his adventures 
 and taken us all to the wilds of Virginia, where 
 we might be living as free as the savages." 
 
 " But poor Sir Walter lies now a prisoner at 
 the Tower under sentence of death." 
 
 " The more fool he for coming back to the 
 trap ; any fox would have known better. Our
 
 6 PATIENCE. 
 
 wicked king hates him as he does all good men. 
 They must either conform, or flee, or die ; and, 
 for my part, I prefer the middle course." 
 
 u There is still another alternative," said a 
 .voice from behind a thicket, which now parted, 
 and a dark, foreign-looking man stood before 
 them : " the deer and the fox run when they 
 are hunted, but the boar turns and uses his 
 tusks. It is the instinct of a brave animal and 
 a brave man to slay rather than be slain." 
 
 Love looked at the stranger in some alarm, 
 but Wrestling exclaimed boldly, "Who are 
 you that speak so wildly, and what have you 
 been doing in my cave ? " 
 
 " Who I am concerns you not," replied the 
 strange man. " I have indeed passed the night 
 in yonder hole, but by what right you call it 
 yours I know not." 
 
 " I discovered it," Wrestling replied boldly. 
 
 " The right of discovery is a good one," re- 
 plied the stranger, " but others found it before 
 you. It has been a hiding place for priests 
 ever since our late queen, of hated memory, 
 began to persecute them, and here many a 
 refugee hath been nourished by good Catholics 
 of the neighborhood, of whom, from the senti- 
 ments which I have just heard, you are doubt- 
 less one."
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 7 
 
 " I am no papist ! " Wrestling replied hotly ; 
 but Love pulled at bis sleeve, and he paused. 
 
 " Ah ! then you have other grievance against 
 our sovereign lord King Jarnes. It is not for 
 me to inquire too closely what it may be. 
 Suffice it that we- are in the same case, and can 
 injure or help each other as we will. I have 
 heard enough to know that your father is a 
 law-breaker, and a proscribed man, but he may 
 be no rogue for all that, and I will keep his 
 secret if you will aid me in my present busi- 
 ness. You know doubtless that King James 
 and his court hunt to-day in this forest. I have 
 been told that they will drive the game in this 
 direction, but it is past the time that they 
 should have come. Have you seen aught of 
 the chase as you came across the forest ? I 
 have a petition of importance that I would 
 fain present to his Majesty." 
 
 " Thou canst not be of these parts," Wrest- 
 ling answered, " or thou wouldst know that they 
 hunted yesterday. Our village was all at the 
 windows to get sight of the procession as it came 
 forth from the forest at noon. It was a brave 
 sight the lords all in velvet and plumed hats, 
 the ladies finer still, and the prancing horses 
 the prettiest sight of all. Then there were the 
 dogs yelping, and the servants bearing the
 
 8 PATIENCE. 
 
 game on poles venison enough to stock all 
 the butteries in our village for the winter." 
 
 " I was sorry," broke in Love, " to see so 
 many poor dead does, and didst thou mark one 
 little fawn trotting after its dead mother ? Even 
 the rough grooms had pity for it, for they 
 kept the dogs from it." 
 
 " I marked it not," said Wrestling. " Hunt- 
 ing is rare sport, and I would I were in some 
 wild new country to hunt my fill, and to eat 
 my fill too of juicy venison cutlets boiled over 
 the campfire. But here is Hatfield Chase 
 stripped in one day by the slaughter, I say not 
 the hunting, of its game, for the beaters drove 
 them into herds where they were shot down 
 by such of the nobles as could hit a near mark, 
 while the king killed only one of his dogs. 
 The boys of this region are not allowed so 
 much sport as to trap one of the thievish foxes 
 that rob the henroosts. Nay, nor to course a 
 hare, when the forest is so thick with them that 
 they tumble over one another, and grow so bold 
 that they eat all the cabbages from the stalks in 
 their gardens, while their mothers grow white- 
 faced for lack of nourishment, and the kitchen 
 pot has been clean of meat broth all winter. 
 What was done with the king's bag of game I 
 know not. I only know that we have good
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 9 
 
 cause to remember the hunt at our house, for 
 we fed the hunters : the court in the great hall, 
 the huntsmen and servants on the lawn, the 
 horses in the stables, and the dogs in the 
 kennels. It cost my father a month's salary. 
 They were like a pestilence, and they came like 
 the pestilence without invitation, settling on us 
 like the grasshoppers of Egypt." 
 
 The stranger muttered an oath, and drove 
 his dagger into a harmless lizard that was slip- 
 ping along the trunk of the tree. 
 
 " Be not vexed that thou hast lost thy oppor- 
 tunity," said Love c6nsolingly. " A petition 
 was delivered, perchance it was the one which 
 thou hast at heart. It came from the country 
 people, who asked the right to pasture their 
 cattle in the waste lands, which are now kept 
 for hunting. The king hath so many forests he 
 might well have granted some, but he did not." 
 
 " And the petitioner ? He was sent to 
 prison doubtless for his pains ? " 
 
 Love laughed merrily. " The king caressed 
 the bearer of the petition, and ordered that he 
 should receive a good dinner, which he did 
 (again at my father's cost). It was Medor his 
 best staghound. The device was Captain 
 Dudley's, but the execution was my brother's. 
 Captain Dudley is the steward to the Earl of
 
 10 PATIENCE. 
 
 Lincoln, but he is kind to the tenants and the 
 small farmers, and they asked him to draw up 
 this petition, which he did, and he bade Wrest- 
 ling fasten it to the collar of the king's favorite 
 dog when the chase was over. Wrestling did it 
 very cleverly, for he is not afraid of dogs, and 
 the hound ran straight to the king and fawned 
 upon him. That was at the finish in the forest, 
 when they all met at Robin Hood's Oak, before 
 they left the wood. Wrestling knew that the 
 huntsmen would come that way, and waited 
 there for them." 
 
 " Robin Hood's Oak ! " repeated the stranger. 
 " I was told the rendezvous would be near 
 Robin Hood's Hiding, and so I came to this 
 cave." 
 
 "The oak is in quite another part of the 
 forest," said Wrestling. " It is the hollow tree 
 in which the outlaw hung his venison. I can 
 show you the hooks around which the live 
 wood has grown, and there were bucks' antlers 
 imbedded in the moss under one of the roots 
 which had grown over it. Perhaps thou canst 
 reckon how long it would take a root to grow 
 like that. It was the sight of the forest, but I 
 cannot show the antlers -to thee, for the king 
 had them dug up to carry away as a souvenir 
 of his hunt."
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. li 
 
 "We must turn huntsmen," growled the 
 strange man, " if we would save our own skins, 
 and perhaps we may also win the trophies of 
 the chase." 
 
 Wrestling did not notice the interruption. 
 "The oak is a good one to hide in," he con- 
 tinued. " I heard the king read the petition. 
 ' Good Medor,' it began, ' we beg you to speak 
 to his Majesty, who hears you every day, and 
 does not listen to us.' How the king laughed ! 
 but he tore up the paper all the same. I think 
 he had been drinking." 
 
 " Certes it was a bad day for petitions," said 
 Love. " My father had one which he meant 
 to present on bended knee, after the king had 
 well dined, that there might be no constraint 
 as to the preaching in the private chapel of our 
 house, where he had been so loyally entertained. 
 But the king came not near us, and my father's 
 request got no further than my Lord Burleigh, 
 who waited at our house until the hunt was 
 over, meeting it as it issued from the forest, and 
 carrying the king off to one of the great houses 
 of the Dukery. My father knew that Lord 
 Burleigh was not favorable to our religion ; but 
 when that nobleman saw what pains my father 
 had been at for the feeding of the huntsmen, he 
 swore as he was leaving that if my father had
 
 12 PATIEKCtt. 
 
 any boon to crave of his Majesty, he would 
 present it .with his own hands ; and iny father 
 gave him the petition. But I trust him not. 
 He is mean of stature, and, I doubt not, mean 
 of soul. I held his horse while he stood at 
 our gateway waiting for the king. He read the 
 petition there, and his thin, foxy face lighted 
 with evil glee as he handed it to one of liis 
 gentlemen. * It is as I suspected,' I heard him 
 say : ' this region swarms with Puritans Sepa- 
 ratists. This petition conies in good time for 
 the business we have in hand. Take it and 
 give me full account of every member of this 
 conventicle. They shall have answer beyond 
 their hearts' desire.' I judged then that the 
 paper would never reach the king, and I told 
 my father what I had overheard; but he said 
 there could no harm come from it to any but 
 himself, for he alone had signed the petition." 
 
 "And so the hunt is dissolved," said the 
 stranger. " Where went the king and his court 
 after it was over ? " 
 
 " The king came riding up in a jovial mood. 
 ' Good sport, good sport, Cecil,' he said to my 
 Lord Burleigh ; ' thou shouldst have been with 
 us.' 
 
 "'Your Majest}^ knows,' said my Lord Bur- 
 leigh, 1 1 find no sport in hunting beasts.'
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 13 
 
 " ' House-cat/ said the king, ' them lovest 
 silken cushions better than a hard saddle.' 
 
 " ' I love not the name of cat, though your 
 Majesty has more than one rat in cage which 
 would not have been caught but for my 
 claws.' 
 
 " And so they rode away laughing. I heard 
 that they went to one of the great houses in 
 the Dukery." 
 
 " AVe call this region the Dukery," Wrestling 
 explained, " because six great dukes have their 
 castles there. Some of the courtiers are still 
 visiting with the Earl of Lincoln, who has a 
 hunting lodge on his side of Sherwood Forest. 
 We have just come from it, and Patience 
 told us that she is going away to visit with 
 one of the fine ladies. That is another boon 
 for which we have to thank his Grace the king. 
 He and his courtiers are not content to take 
 the deer, but must rob us of our friends as 
 well. Patience was all agog because, forsooth, 
 she was going to see the Princess Elizabeth." 
 
 O O 
 
 " The princess ! Tell me that tale again. 
 What was the lady's name, and who is this 
 Patience 2" 
 
 " I marked not the lady's name," said Love, 
 " but Patience is Captain Dudley's daughter, and 
 the prettiest girl in all the county of Lincoln,
 
 14 PATIENCE. 
 
 or in England for that matter. There is a Cam- 
 bridge student, Mr. Simon Bradstreet, who is 
 spending his vacation at her father's house, 
 who is teaching Latin, and we go every day 
 to read with him. He has brought other 
 books with him from the university beside the 
 Latin ones. Patience reads them, and we talk 
 about them together in the arbor. They are 
 play books and poesie ; such as my father will 
 not have in our house." 
 
 The stranger no longer paid attention to the 
 boys. "The king hath gone away with Cecil, 
 then it is to Theobald's, and I have missed my 
 chance." Turning to Wrestling, he added : " I 
 am not alone ; my little daughter is with me. 
 We heard in Yorkshire that the king was to 
 hunt here to-day, and so we came last night 
 and slept in this cave that we might not miss 
 him. But we were misinformed as to time 
 and place, and we have met with another mis- 
 fortune. I hobbled my horse near by, but he 
 is gone, and I have spent two good hours in 
 search of him. Here is a purse of money ; get 
 me another horse and bring it here privately, 
 and there shall no harm come to your father 
 from what I have overheard." 
 
 "I can do better for thee than to buy a 
 horse, for my father is master of the post at
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 15 
 
 Scrooby, and it is Lis office to let horses, to such 
 travelers as be men of sort, to ride with the 
 post to the next station. So if it is your pleas- 
 ure to ride, either north or south, he can put 
 you on your way, even if your concerns be not 
 directly of the king's business." 
 
 "My business did indeed greatly concern 
 the king," replied the stranger, " though his 
 Majesty would not on that account hasten my 
 journey. I will trust you to keep a close 
 tongue in your head as to my affairs. Say 
 naught of our conversation, which hath been 
 
 O ' 
 
 somewhat too intimate on both sides, or where 
 you found me. I will make my own explana- 
 tion to your father. I would you could lead 
 me to him without passing through the village." 
 
 " That can I very easily," replied Wrestling, 
 "for our house is apart from the town, in a fair 
 park which adjoins this forest, fo'r it is the 
 hunting palace of the Archbishops of York, 
 which we lease of his Grace. We can go in by 
 the postern gate, through the wall between the 
 forest and the park, and, passing by the stables, 
 none will see you save the hostlers and the post- 
 boys." 
 
 " 'Tis a lucky chance," replied the stranger. 
 " Come, Philippa." 
 
 The bushes parted again, and a girl of about
 
 16 PATIENCE. 
 
 the same age as the boys came from the cave 
 and joined her father. She was dressed in a 
 riding habit of dark green. She was dark and 
 handsome, like the man, but she had, like him, 
 a wild look in her restless eyes, which scanned 
 each of the boys' faces searchingly, and then 
 evaded their frankly questioning gaze. She 
 carried across her arm a pair of small saddle- 
 bags, which her father took from her, mutter- 
 ing, " It is well I did not lose these with the 
 horse," and, signing to Wrestling to lead the 
 way, strode after him. 
 
 The girl followed, and Love brought up the 
 rear, but the stranger and his guide walked so 
 rapidly that the girl could not, or did not care 
 to, keep pace with them, and a space soon inter- 
 vened between the two couples. The path 
 broadened as they approached the village, and 
 Love walked by the side of his companion, 
 clearing the way of fallen branches. She eyed 
 him furtively, and at length spoke. 
 
 " I know we can trust you, not because, as my 
 father said, we are in like case, but because 
 your face is good. You would not do mischief 
 to anyone." 
 
 "Less willingly of all to any in trouble," 
 Love replied. 
 
 The girl straightened herself proudly. "We
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 17 
 
 are not common malefactors. We are perse- 
 cuted because of our religion." 
 
 " So are we," said Love. 
 
 " And yet you are not Catholics ? " 
 
 " No, we lean to the other side, and are for 
 freedom in religion." 
 
 The girl looked at him sadly. " May the 
 Blessed Virgin forgive you ! You are, then, 
 atheists ? " 
 
 " God forbid ! " Love replied quickly. " It is 
 but freedom from the domination of prelacy 
 that we ask. We are true Christians in our 
 belief." 
 
 The girl shook her head. " Such quibbling 
 is past my comprehension," she said. " One 
 thing, however, I comprehend we must be 
 alike in faith, for we are persecuted by the 
 same wicked power. What is your name ? 
 Mine is Philippa." 
 
 Love was better instructed in their differences. 
 Popery was a greater error, in the judgment of 
 the Puritans, than episcopacy, but he felt the 
 comradeship of a common proscription, and he 
 answered gravely : " I say not that thou art 
 right because thou art persecuted, but they who 
 persecute are always evildoers. My name is 
 Love, and I am at thy service." 
 
 The girl smiled archly. She was old for her
 
 18 PATIENCE. 
 
 years. " 'Tis a pretty offer or is it your name 
 in truth ? I like Love in any case." 
 
 Love did not know what to say in reply, and 
 he was silent. They passed from the forest into 
 the park, and Philippa saw with surprise a 
 stately brick building extending around two 
 courtyards, and itself surrounded by a moat, 
 bridged in front by a flight of white marble 
 steps, which led down to an avenue of noble 
 oaks. 
 
 " 'Tis a grand house," she said. " Your father 
 must be a man of consequence." 
 
 " We love our home," the boy replied, ignor- 
 ing the questioning reference to his father. 
 '* It is the ancient hunting seat of Hat-field 
 Chase, as they call this part of Sherwood For- 
 est. Queen Margaret and King Henry VIII. 
 have been guests here in time past, and Wol- 
 sey, who, though in disgrace, was still Arch- 
 bishop of York, came here, as I have heard my 
 father say, when trouble had humbled him, and 
 lived simply as a good Christian should, visiting 
 his poor parishioners in their cottages, distrib- 
 uting alms, and sympathizing in their sorrows. 
 
 They entered the house. Though containing 
 thirty-nine rooms of ample proportions, it was 
 severely furnished, but the simplicity of its ap- 
 pointment was evidently rather the result of an
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 19 
 
 ascetic taste than poverty of means. The mas- 
 ter received the strangers in the great hall, 
 ceiled and wainscoted with carved oak, and hos- 
 pitably pressed them to dine with his numerous 
 household while waiting the arrival of the post. 
 
 William Brewster had held an office of trust 
 in the foreign diplomatic service under Queen 
 Elizabeth and at her court, but at present he 
 was leading the quiet life of a country gentle- 
 man, and performing the duties of master of 
 the post for the neighboring town of Scrooby. 
 A master of the post at this time was quite 
 another sort of official from the postmaster of 
 our own. 
 
 He kept a stable and horses, with several 
 couriers, whose business it was to forward to 
 the next station all packets sent by the king 
 or his officers along the highroad to Scotland. 
 It was before the time of post offices, as we 
 know them, of railroads, or even of coaching; but 
 travelers on horseback could accompany the 
 post-rider and have the benefit of his guidance, 
 sending the horses which they hired at one 
 station back from any other by other postboys. 
 The* roads were so blind that a guide was a 
 desideratum to a traveler not perfectly ac- 
 quainted with the way. It was safer, too, to 
 travel in company, for highwaymen who scrti-
 
 20 PA TIENCE. 
 
 pled not to attack solitary travelers, hesitated 
 to commit an outrage on the royal messenger, 
 who would certainly be avenged by the law, 
 and who carried two good blunderbusses in his 
 holsters. The courier, though admonished to 
 "ride haste post haste," and not to turn aside 
 from his way or stay in delivering the royal 
 packet, was allowed also to carry private letters, 
 which were left at the regular post stations, 
 and this was the origin of the post office and 
 postal service. 
 
 William Brewster inscribed the name of John 
 Johnson, which the stranger gave him, in the 
 post record ; but as his mind was full of weighty 
 matters, which preoccupied him even while he 
 scrupulously performed his official duties, he 
 made no inquiry into the traveler's business 
 or as to the manner of his coming. At table 
 
 O 
 
 the talk was of Holland, where both host and 
 guest had traveled ; the latter, though he did 
 not confess it, as a soldier in the service of 
 Spain, and Brewster, as he avowed, only a 
 spectator of the hostilities, but a sympathizer 
 with the Dutch. 
 
 After dinner Wrestling passed into his 
 father's office before the others, and saw a 
 strange man standing before his desk examin- 
 ing his papers.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 21 
 
 " What do you mean," the boy shouted, " by 
 meddling with my father's private papers ? " 
 
 " Hold your tongue ! " the man exclaimed, his 
 face ugly in its anger " hold your tongue, or 
 it will be worse for you ! " 
 
 " I will not ! " Wrestling cried loudly, as his 
 father and his guest entered the room. " This 
 man has been reading your letters," and he 
 pointed to the papers lying on the desk. 
 
 " I have touched nothing," said the man, with 
 a great show of indignation. "I expected a 
 letter and was merely looking to see if it had 
 arrived. By the mass ! Fawkes, where did 
 you come from ? " 
 
 He had caught sight of the traveler from 
 the forest who had introduced himself as John- 
 son, and their surprise was evidently mutual. 
 They stepped aside and spoke to each other in 
 low tones. 
 
 "It is well you missed him," Wrestling 
 heard the newcomer say ; " the time is not 
 ripe. Catesby expects you at my house in 
 London," and the stranger slipped out of the 
 room. Love caught sight of him as he left the 
 house, and ran in exclaiming: "That was the 
 man with whom Cecil was speaking yesterday ! 
 What did he here?" 
 
 " Naught of ill," replied William Brewster,
 
 22 PATIENCE. 
 
 who had looked over his papers, and did not 
 at that time notice that anything had been 
 abstracted ; while Mr. Johnson assured his 
 host that Love must be mistaken, for he knew 
 the man well, and that he was a Mr. Percy of 
 London, and no friend or servant of Cecil's. 
 
 The postman from the north country arrived 
 shortly after, jaded with his long ride. He 
 delivered his packet into Brewster's hands, and 
 led his horse around to the stable. Here an 
 unexpected annoyance was discovered. The 
 hostler brought a horse for the courier and 
 one for the traveler, with a pillion behind for 
 his daughter, but the fresh postman whose duty 
 it was to replace the one who had just arrived 
 could not be found. 
 
 Wrestling reported the fact to his father, and 
 begged to be allowed to ride in his stead. 
 
 " Thou art a good rider, and I would sooner 
 trust thee than any other," said William 
 Brewster. " Take, then, this packet and deliver 
 it at the next post, defending it with thy life." 
 
 Wrestling sprang to the saddle with alacrity, 
 examining the priming of the pistols a little 
 vaingloriously, as his brother more courteously 
 made a step of his clasped hands and lifted 
 the young girl to her seat behind her father. 
 
 Turning, Love took the stirrup cup filled
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 23 
 
 with foaming ale from his sister's hands, and 
 lifted it to the travelers, while Wrestling, 
 blowing a mighty blast on the postman's horn 
 which hung beside the holsters, struck spur to 
 his horse and started down the avenue on a 
 gallop. The stranger held in his horse until he 
 had drained the tankard, while the maid, lean- 
 ing toward Love, whispered, " I wish you were 
 going with us instead of your brother." 
 
 " Where are you going ? " Love asked, but 
 at that instant the traveler thrust the tankard 
 into his hand, and struck the horse a blow with 
 his riding whip which sent him lumbering 
 after the amateur postboy, who was already 
 far down the avenue.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 
 
 Vanished is the ancient splendor, but before ray dreamy eye 
 Wave these mingled shapes and figures like a faded tapestry. 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 O one would 
 have guessed 
 as Love ran 
 merrily around 
 to the stables 
 with the hostler, Dick- 
 on Moore, that the boy 
 would have enjoyed 
 the errand on which 
 his brother had gone. 
 
 Wrestling seized every 
 opportunity for adven- 
 ture which came in his way ; and Love, who 
 never pushed himself forward, was regarded 
 as having no .taste for experiences requiring 
 courage or physical endurance. 
 
 He never, however, tired of reading and of 
 hearing tales of such adventures, and this was 
 the attraction for him at the stables, for Dickon 
 
 24
 
 FIGURES IX THE BACKGROUND. 25 
 
 Moore had served in the Netherlands under 
 Leicester. His helmet and cuirass hung in the 
 harness room, and indeed he called them his 
 harness. There were dints of Spanish spears 
 on his breastplate, and the bridge of his nose 
 had been broken by the staff of the spear that 
 had shivered on his stout armor, while the same 
 unfortunate nose had been further disfigured 
 by many potations of strong Holland ale and 
 stronger gin, thought his weakness had been 
 conquered since his employment by William 
 Brewster. 
 
 John Johnston, alias Fawkes, on taking his 
 horse had said : 
 
 " You have been in Holland, my man, and 
 your record is written where he who runs may 
 read." 
 
 Dickon's face grew a shade redder, as he 
 answered, " It is written that he who reads may 
 run." He grumbled this reply over to himself 
 now, adding, "Where have I seen that man 
 before ? Gadsooks ! but he did run ! He is 
 the Spanish soldier who broke my nose, and 
 whose broken spear I wrested from his hand. 
 He missed my stroke and dashed by me, but 
 not before his face was stamped on my memory. 
 If my Sergeant Miles Stand ish were here, he 
 would have recognized him too, for he was at
 
 26 PATIENCE. 
 
 my side. Now what is he doing here, I 
 wonder ? " 
 
 " Tell me about the war in Holland, Dickon," 
 Love begged. 
 
 "You should ask your father for that," the 
 hostler replied, "for I saw only long marches 
 and short provender, with no knowledge of 
 what it was all about ; but the master was in 
 the councils of the generals, and of the queen ; 
 his was the hand that moved the pawns, and he 
 could really understand the game. Cogs nouns ! 
 I'll warrant he'd like well to be at it again. 
 When a man has had a taste of real fighting, 
 this spiritual warfare against Satan in one's 
 soul is but a poor substitute. I would rather 
 march up to a fort than into chapel any day, 
 and I like the beating of the drums better than 
 singing psalms, thougn some of them are not so 
 bad," and he began to sing, in a harsh and 
 unmusical voice : 
 
 "' Within their mouth doe thou their teeth break out, 
 
 O God most strong, 
 Doe thou, Jehovah, the great teeth break of the lions 
 
 young.'" 
 
 When Dickon sang Love always fled, and he 
 now returned to the house. 
 
 The master of the post, to whose sons and
 
 FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 27 
 
 home we have been introduced, had cause to be 
 preoccupied and to carry on his light duties in 
 a mechanical manner, for there weighed upon 
 him at this time " the care of all the churches." 
 He was the acknowledged head of the Separa- 
 tist movement in this part of England, the one 
 man of ability and means upon whom the 
 devoted band of simple sufferers for conscience' 
 sake leaned, and to whom they looked with 
 what little hope they had for issue from their 
 perplexities. 
 
 He was their elder, who saw, often at his 
 own expense, that their pulpits were supplied 
 with conscientious and fearless ministers of the 
 Word. Each Sabbath there was preaching in 
 the chapel of the archepiscopal palace, that 
 chapel where Wolsey had said mass, and many 
 another prelate read the service which was to 
 William Brewster and his charge no better 
 than the ceremonies of the Romish Church. 
 He did this, he knew, at the peril of his life, for 
 the edict framed against Nonconformists by 
 Elizabeth still stood in the reign of James I,* 
 and the king was even more insistent than 
 Elizabeth had been on stamping out every 
 form of religion except that of the Estab- 
 lished Church. There were at this time three 
 prominent sects in England, and we will re- 
 
 * See Note b, Appendix.
 
 23 PATIENCE. 
 
 member them more easily if we group them 
 as the three P's Protestants, Papists, and 
 Puritans. 
 
 The Established Church of England had 
 been made Protestant during the reign of Henry 
 VIIL, but fully half of the English people had 
 not changed their faith with the Reformation, 
 and were still Roman Catholics or, as the 
 Protestants called them, Papists. The Puri- 
 tans were seceders from the Established 
 Church: doubly Protestants in protesting 
 against the forms and abuses of the Protes- 
 tants; and these three sects, while each con- 
 tained many noble and true Christians, were at 
 enmity among themselves. As usual, the sect 
 in power made the mistake of striving to 
 exterminate the others, whose zeal only burned 
 the brighter in persecution. Another capital 
 P, Plotting, was a marked characteristic of the 
 time. The Papists had recourse to plots 
 against the Protestants, and the Protestants 
 replied with counterplots against Papists and 
 Puritans alike. Only the Puritans seem at this 
 time to have walked guilelessly, showing none 
 of the wisdom of serpents in their proceedings. 
 Especially was this the case of the Separatists, 
 who were Puritans of the very strictest sect, 
 and for the most part were poor and obscure
 
 QUEEN ELISABETH.
 
 FIGUKES IN THE BACKGROUND. 29 
 
 people, giving their enemies nothing to envy or 
 to fear. But they were too conscientious to con- 
 ceal their views, and as they became more 
 numerous their meetings attracted attention. 
 Their ministers were forbidden to preach, and 
 fines and imprisonment were visited upon them. 
 William Brewster, while absolutely without 
 fear for himself, had determined to protect 
 this infant church, and his consternation was 
 great that evening on looking through the 
 church record-book to find that the confession 
 of faith, with the signatures of all the members, 
 had been recently torn out. 
 
 The discovery was accompanied by such 
 a cry of dismay that Love, who lay curled up 
 on the settle before the fire, sprang to his 
 father's side. They had been alone together 
 since the boy had come in from the stables, for 
 Mistress Brewster and the girls had gone out 
 to pass the evening with friends, and William 
 Brewster, who was in an unusally communi- 
 cative mood, had talked long and confidentially 
 with his favorite son. He had told him the 
 story of his own eventful life, for the floodgates 
 of memory were opened by Love's question : 
 
 "Father, when you were a boy, which did 
 you love most out-of-door sports, like Wres- 
 tling, or books, like me ? "
 
 30 PATIENCE. 
 
 The father drew his son close to him, as they 
 sat on the hi o;h -backed settle and watched the 
 
 O 
 
 leaping flame, and, stroking his fair hair, said 
 affectionately : " I think I was like you both, or 
 rather that my sons have inherited two differ- 
 ent natures which I recognize. in myself; but 
 thy nature, Love, is my better one; thy tastes 
 the ones I can approve and would willingly 
 foster. I was born in this dear home, and 
 loved to fish in the Idle, and roam the forest. 
 I loved to play at cricket, and to ride hard and 
 far, as Wrestling does, and I grew up strong of 
 frame and fit to endure hardship as a good 
 soldier; but I ever loved books, too. It was 
 my dearest ambition to go to Cambridge ; and 
 some of the happiest moments of my life have 
 been spent in the university, some of my dear- 
 est friendships made there." 
 
 " It is my ambition, too, father, and Master 
 Bradstreet says that in another year I shall 
 be ready to enter. Will you send me, 
 father?" 
 
 Brewster's expression grew grave. " I can- 
 not tell, my son," he replied, " what a year may 
 bring forth. Yet let not this dampen your 
 efforts. Study as though all were settled, and 
 perchance, when the time conies, God will show 
 us an open door."
 
 FIGURES 1ST THE BACKGROUND. 31 
 
 " What did you do after you left the univer- 
 sity, father ? " 
 
 "I had studied law, had come home with my 
 degree, and was waiting for some opening for 
 the practice of my profession, when a chance, 
 nay a providential, meeting with that high- 
 minded and incorruptible man, the noblest 
 statesman of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 William Davison, changed the entire current of 
 my life. Until I knew Davison I had never 
 thought of life outside of England, of mingling 
 with the great men of my time, the men who 
 make history, still less of taking a hand at 
 making it myself." Brewster looked up at a 
 piece of Flemish tapestry which hung above 
 'the carved wainscot. It depicted lords and 
 ladies walking on a balustraded terrace, while 
 in the distance armored knights were scouring 
 the plain. " That tapestry," he said, " has al- 
 ways seemed to me a picture of those stirring 
 days of camp and court, now quite in the back- 
 ground. If you are interested I would like to 
 tell you of the scenes through which I have 
 passed, of the men I have known, and especially 
 of Davison." 
 
 " Tell me about him, father." 
 
 " He had been sent to the Low Countries, as 
 English Resident Agent at Antwerp, to watch
 
 32 PATIENCE. 
 
 the progress of the war with Spain, but had 
 been recalled by the queen to undertake a deli- 
 cate diplomatic mission to Scotland. This was 
 nothing less than to prevent King James from 
 contracting a French alliance. He was on his 
 way back, having been successful in his mis- 
 sion, when he stopped here over night. I re- 
 member his sitting on this very form and 
 telling us of his meeting with Fenelon, who 
 had been sent by the French king to arrange 
 the marriage. In spite of their antagonistic 
 position, they met in a friendly manner and 
 discussed religious matters. I was keenly 
 interested in this, for at Cambridge, in our 
 debating club, I had imbibed very radical ideas, 
 and I agreed exactly with Davison, who was a 
 Separatist, and had been elder of the Puritan 
 Church in Antwerp. My heart was won, and 
 when he asked me if I would go back to the 
 Netherlands with him as his confidential secre- 
 tary I was delighted beyond bounds. It was, 
 indeed, a wonderful opportunity for a young 
 man. Besides the novelty of travel in a foreign 
 land, of adventures in a country where war was 
 in progress, naturally fascinating to young 
 blood, I had the privilege of being schooled 
 in diplomacy at a very exciting and important 
 time, when great issues were at stake, not only
 
 FIGURES IF THE BACKGROUND. 33 
 
 between the Netherlands and England, but in- 
 volving all Europe as well. We met great men 
 of Holland, of France, and of Spain. It was a 
 game of skillful fencing between us, for the 
 battles in the council chamber were even more 
 important than those in the field. I could not 
 have had a better teacher than Davison. As- 
 tute, daring, quick to understand and to act, he 
 trode a tortuous way with the strictest integrity, 
 and taught me that the wisest statesmanship is 
 compatible with perfect honor. Queen Eliza- 
 beth had promised the Netherlander four 
 thousand troops to serve for a year, with the 
 towns of Sluys and Ostend as security that 
 she should be repaid. Davison did much on 
 this trip to England to induce her to succor the 
 Dutch more vigorously, and the queen con- 
 sented to send over five thousand troops, to serve 
 until the end of the war, if Flushing on the 
 Scheldt and Brill on the Meuse were given 
 her in addition to the two other cities. Prince 
 Maurice, who had succeeded his father, the 
 Prince of Orange, owned the revenues of Flush- 
 ing, but his mother, the daughter of Coligny, 
 urged him to the sacrifice, and he accepted 
 Elizabeth's terms. Davison was appointed 
 governor of Flushing, and here we resided for 
 the next year. My chief intrusted me with the
 
 34 PATIENCE. 
 
 keys of the hostage cities, and I slept with them 
 every night under my pillow. Hither came the 
 English troops, with the Duke of Leicester at 
 their head. He was a man fond of magnifi- 
 cence, of inordinate ambition, but not to be 
 trusted. His face had grown crafty and hard, 
 and had lost the beauty of his youth, when, it 
 was said, the queen loved him, and was on 
 the point of marrying him. He cared more for 
 spending money on his personal banquets and 
 display than for the comfort of his soldiers, and 
 there was great suffering among them. I saw 
 Prince Maurice frequently, an able general and 
 a noble young man, but he had little comfort 
 from his English allies, for Leicester seemed to 
 have no stomach for fighting, though the States- 
 General, to stimulate his interest, offered him 
 the government of the Low Countries. Sir 
 Philip Sidney, however, burned for exploits of 
 valor, and, with Prince Maurice, captured Axel. 
 Zutphen was held by Spaniards under Parma, 
 and Sidney had word that a train of provisions 
 was on its way to the city, and, with five hun- 
 dred volunteers, endeavored to cut it off; but 
 the train was defended by four thousand Span- 
 ish veterans, and it was in this action that Sid- 
 ney received his death-wound. That was a 
 loss to the world, as well as to England. Ho
 
 FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 35 
 
 was a Christian knight, as well as a right gal- 
 lant gentleman, and the best-loved man in 
 England." 
 
 Brewster was silent for a moment, but Love 
 recalled him from his reverie. "And what 
 happened next ? " he asked. 
 
 " Leicester accepted the position of Governor. 
 It was too great a prize for his greed and 
 vanity to refuse, though the Queen had espe- 
 cially warned him not to do this. Perhaps he 
 thought that he had lost his influence over her 
 in any case, and that as an independent prince 
 he could dare to break with her, or perhaps 
 he counted too much on that influence. The 
 Queen was very angry. She had carried on 
 her negotiations in a two-faced way, keeping 
 up a correspondence with Philip of Spain, 
 ready if it seemed politic to make an alliance 
 with him and betray the Dutch. She was not 
 to have her plans balked by Leicester, whom 
 she rated so soundly that at first he dared not 
 appear before her, but begged Davison to go 
 and make his peace. So we returned to Eng- 
 land in 1586 ; and Leicester, on resigning the 
 honor proffered, was apparently received again 
 into favor. The Queen retained Davison at 
 her court as Secretary of the Privy Council, a 
 great advance in his fortunes. He was con-
 
 36 PATIENCE. 
 
 stantly in attendance on the Queen, conducting 
 her official correspondence." 
 
 " You mean you conducted it, father ; for if 
 Mr. Davison was the Queen's secretary, you 
 were his, so you really wrote the Queen's let- 
 ters for her, did you not ? " 
 
 " Only the manual part, my son. It was 
 Davison who had the task of making the 
 whims of that selfish and double-faced woman 
 comport with honor and sound policy." 
 
 " And you were at court all this time, 
 father, and knew the great people, and dressed 
 bravely, did you not ? " 
 
 " I never cared for finery, but my master in- 
 sisted that it was for his credit that I should 
 go handsomely attired. Because I had no 
 trinkets of my own, he made me wear his great 
 seal ring and a magnificent gold chain which 
 the Government of the Netherlands had given 
 him in acknowledgment of his services." 
 
 " I have heard my mother say," said Love, 
 " how handsome you looked when she first saw 
 you as you were walking at Mr. Davison's side 
 by the Long Water at Hampton Court, with 
 that chain flowing over your short velvet 
 cloak." 
 
 " That was but foppery," said William 
 Brewster gently. "I soon found out that
 
 FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 37 
 
 velvet and gold may cover aching and, what is 
 far worse, wicked hearts. My courtier days 
 soon came to an end. 
 
 " Davison was made one of the members of 
 the commission for the trial of Mary Queen of 
 Scots, and Elizabeth basely endeavored to 
 transfer to him the odium which she incurred 
 for ordering the execution of her rival, degrad- 
 ing him from office for faithfully carrying out 
 her orders, under the pretense that he had gone 
 beyond them, and causing him to be impris- 
 oned in the Tower. I used every honorable 
 means for his release. He had one other true 
 friend, the hot-headed but warm-hearted Earl 
 of Essex, who dared to remonstrate with the 
 Queen, and after two years the Earl obtained 
 his release. Essex attempted still more. The 
 office of Secretary of State had become vacant, 
 and he urged the Queen to bestow it upon 
 Davison. But the Lord High Treasurer, the 
 great William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, wished it 
 for his son Robert, and after five years of inde- 
 cision Elizabeth conferred the office upon that 
 young man. If he had more closely resembled 
 the great statesman his father, none could have 
 reproached the Queen, but Robert Cecil has 
 only cunning where William had wisdom ; and 
 whereas the great Lord Burleigh recognized
 
 38 PATIENCE. 
 
 honesty as the best policy, the little lord is for 
 policy whether honesty be a part of it or no. 
 
 " So there was my dear master cast off after 
 all his great services, and left with broken for- 
 tunes in his declining years ! He very bravely 
 set to practicing law in London ; and I came 
 back to this dear old home, to take up my 
 father's duties, to comfort my mother in her 
 widowhood, which came soon after, and to find 
 in my wife and my children such solace and 
 happiness as court life cannot bestow. 
 
 " It seemed to me at first, with the fall of my 
 master, that niy own life was blighted, but it 
 has been borne in upon me tbat God doth not 
 suffer his designs to be frustrated, and that he 
 has other plans for me and mine than mere 
 worldly ambition. I have had remarkable 
 opportunities, a schooling in law, in diplo- 
 macy, in government. I have influential friends 
 in high places. Why have these advantages 
 been given me ? Evidently not for myself, but 
 for the service of God's Church. I have conse- 
 crated all that I have and am to the protection 
 of this great flock of simple and helpless 
 children of God yea, and come what may to 
 me, I will protect them to the uttermost ! " 
 
 Love's hand stole into his father's. "And 
 Wrestling and I will stand by you, father, even
 
 FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 39 
 
 if we have to give up home and country and life 
 itself. Why have you never let us sign our 
 names to the church compact ? We are not men, 
 but we soon will be, and we have men's hearts 
 now. Read me the articles of pur faith. They 
 are the same, are they not, as those of the 
 Established Church, save that government lies 
 in the church itself, and obedience is not recog- 
 nized as due to bishops appointed by the King ? " 
 
 " Even so, my son, and that good Archbishop 
 Edwin Sandys acknowledged to me that there 
 was no heresy in such a theory of government, 
 and that our faith was in all points Christian, 
 even to our simpler fashion of worshiping 
 without ritual or candles upon the altar. Here 
 is the compact. Listen while I read it to you." 
 
 William Brewster opened the record of the 
 Scrooby Church, and it was at this moment that 
 he discovered that the page containing the 
 names of the members, written in their own 
 hand, had been torn out. 
 
 He doubted not that it had been stolen by 
 the stranger whom he had seen at his desk. If 
 so, written evidence was now in the hands of 
 Cecil sufficient to hang or imprison every one 
 whose name had been signed to this confession 
 of faith. He felt now that he had made a great 
 mistake in asking any concession from the
 
 40 PATIENCE. 
 
 King. The Puritan divines generally had met 
 his Majesty at the Hampton Court Conference 
 without being able to secure toleration ; and he 
 realized that if the King or Cecil had given him 
 any consideration whatever it must have been to 
 connect him with his unfortunate patron Davi- 
 son, whom James would remember as endeav- 
 oring to oppose his marriage, and Cecil as a 
 rival for the office which he now held. Robert 
 Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, was not the man to 
 forget or forgive a grudge. Essex had been 
 his early friend, the suitor of his sister, but 
 Essex had called attention to his crooked back 
 and wry neck, and had dared to support Davi- 
 son ; and Cecil coldly pursued him to his 
 death. Dwarfish and misshapen, he had suf- 
 fered many affronts on account of his mis- 
 fortune. Queen Elizabeth called him her 
 " little elf." James had many names for him ; 
 his favorite was " little beagle," a hunting dog 
 of exquisite scent and untiring perseverance, 
 sure to kill the hare against which it was 
 set, though often so small that it could be put 
 in a man's glove. The Earl of Salisbury had 
 compassed Sir Walter Raleigh's sentence, 
 though in doing so he had involved also Lord 
 Cobham, his own brother-in-law. He seemed 
 without natural affection, and it was said of
 
 FIGURES IJST THE BACKGROUND. 41 
 
 him that he never had a friend. He lived his 
 life alone ; for him it was " a game played for 
 high stakes, and men and women were but 
 pieces to be whipped off the board with every 
 successful move." He was a master of ruse. 
 A contemporary writer says " he spent infinite 
 on spyery" that is to say, organized a wonder- 
 ful detective agency for his own private in- 
 formation. He could tell at any moment what 
 ships there were in any port of Spain, their 
 equipment and destination. He had spies at 
 the Papal court, and agents in the different 
 European capitals, who intercepted letters and 
 copied important state papers. He suborned 
 false brethren among the Jesuits, and boasted 
 that he kept track of their plots from their in- 
 ception. He employed experts called " deci- 
 pherers," who were in reality clever forgers of 
 any handwriting, who carried on feigned cor- 
 respondence, thus leading his dupes to confide 
 secrets or to act under the supposed authori- 
 zation of prominent men. Sometimes a cor- 
 respondence was forgod on both sides. When- 
 ever written evidence ngairist those whose ruin 
 he desired could not be stolen or obtained by 
 torture, it was forged. Able, unscrupulous, 
 and without pity, he was the embodiment of 
 statecraft unrestrained by conscience. The
 
 42 PATIENCE. 
 
 King was a puppet in his hands ; Robert 
 Cecil was the Richelieu of England, the 
 power behind the throne, without which James 
 could not have reigned. Cecil had corre- 
 sponded with Jarnes while he was King of Scot- 
 land only ; and before Elizabeth had named 
 her successor, Cecil had promised him the 
 throne in return for the Premiership. James 
 had compromised himself in his letters; and in 
 spite of the insults with which he ostenta- 
 tiously loaded Cecil, he knew that he had sold 
 himself to him, and dared not carry his pleas- 
 antries too far. James was an arrant coward, 
 and though no mean scholar was inordinately 
 conceited. He was straitened in purse when 
 he came to the crown, and did not scruple to sell 
 titles to increase his revenue. He sold one 
 hundred patents of baronetcy for one thousand 
 pounds each, and the price of an earldom was 
 currently reported at ten thousand pounds. 
 Elizabeth had created only seven new peers. 
 James added forty-five to the list. He made 
 Cecil Earl of Salisbury, and gave him the 
 office of Lord High Treasurer, a position 
 which it was said was "worth only a few 
 thousand pounds to him who would go to 
 heaven, twice as much to him who was willing 
 to go to purgatory, and no one knows how
 
 FIGURES IN THE BACKGROUND. 43 
 
 much to him who would adventure to a worse 
 place." But Cecil cared for power more than 
 for money, and he did not rob the state of gold. 
 To take human life when innocent, to imprison 
 for life, to torture physically and mentally, to 
 blacken reputation, all this was daily business 
 for which he had no twinges of conscience, 
 while he was proud of his financial honor. Im- 
 placable in his revenge and inordinate in his 
 ambition, he forgave no one who dared to resist 
 his power. 
 
 This was the man with whom William 
 Brewster had to do ; and with a full recognition 
 of the character and resources of his opponent, 
 he now defied him. " Do thy worst, Cecil," he 
 said in Love's hearing. " Thou art neither 
 more wicked nor more powerful than thy 
 master, Satan, and we have never feared him 
 though we know him for our enemy." 
 
 It is well for us to understand not only the 
 character of the Puritans, but the issues for 
 which they gave up every hope of worldly suc- 
 cess and even life itself. 
 
 Were they merely questions of church gov- 
 ernment, episcopacy or Congregationalism, such 
 as Christians now differ over without quar- 
 reling, saying affectionately, u ln essentials, 
 unity ; is non-essentials, liberty " ?
 
 44 PATIENCE. 
 
 These were the technical points in dispute, 
 but underneath were principles of far more 
 vital importance, liberty of conscience and 
 political liberty the latter principle not for- 
 mulated, hardly dreamed of yet ; but, as Cecil 
 and even Jaines saw, sure to follow from that 
 first daring proposition the right of opposition 
 to tyranny.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 " O for the white plume floating 
 
 Sad Zutphen's field above. 
 The lion heart in battle, 
 The woman's heart in love." 
 
 the morning of the 
 same day on which 
 Love and Wrestling 
 Brewster had returned 
 from their lessons through 
 the forest and had met the 
 stranger, Patience had also 
 had a remarkable experi- 
 ence. 
 
 She was sitting in the 
 rustic arbor, at the gap in 
 the wall between the for- 
 est and the garden of the hunting lodge of 
 the Earl of Lincoln. It was called a lodge, 
 but it was in reality a roomy brick mansion, 
 built in the Elizabethan style, with stables at 
 the side, a paved court in front, and a garden at 
 the rear. 
 
 45
 
 46 PATIENCE. 
 
 It was not nearly so large a house as the one 
 leased by the Brewsters, but it was more com- 
 fortably appointed, though it was occupied by 
 the Earl and his family only in the hunting 
 season. 
 
 The Dudleys had a pleasant suite of rooms 
 on the lower floor, facing the garden, which 
 was laid out in the formal fashion called a 
 parterre a broderie, like a gay patchwork quilt 
 dropped down between the buildings and the 
 forest, its flower-beds of vivid color divided by 
 long green lines of box edging. It was in the 
 arbor that Master Simon Bradstreet, the young 
 student who had been spending his vacation in 
 the vicinity, gave lessons to the Dudley chil- 
 dren and the Brewster boys. Patience loved to 
 read here, and though it was early in the morn- 
 ing and Master Bradstreet could not be expected 
 for over an hour, she had settled herself to 
 finish a book of poems which he had lent her. 
 
 She had learned to scan Latin verse, and 
 loved the rhythmical flow of poetry ; and to en- 
 joy it to the full, she was reading aloud. Ab- 
 sorbed in the cadence and in the matter of the 
 poems, Spenser's Elegies on Sir Philip Sidney, 
 she did not notice the light footfall of a lady, 
 one of the guests of the hunting party, who was 
 pacing restlessly up and down the graveled.
 
 PATIENCE. 47 
 
 walks of the garden, as though she were trying 
 to escape from her own thoughts. The lady 
 was past middle age, but remarkably handsome, 
 and her beauty was set off by very careful and 
 rich dressing. There were diamonds at her 
 throat, and ropes of pearls fell over her stiff 
 brocade bodice. She bore herself with the 
 carriage of a queen, but her expression was not 
 a happy one. Noticing at last that the arbor 
 was occupied, she approached, and as she 
 realized that the girl was reading, stole along 
 on tiptoe listening to the poem. 
 Patience read on: 
 
 " A sweet attractive kind of grace, 
 
 A full assurance given by looks, 
 Continual comfort in a face, 
 
 The lineaments of Gospel books. 
 To hear him speak and sweetly smile 
 
 You were in Paradise the while. 
 
 " Stella, a nymph within this wood, 
 Most rare and rich of heavenly bliss, 
 
 The highest in his fancy stood 
 And she could well demerit this. 
 
 Sweet saints, it is no sin nor blame 
 To love a man of virtuous name." 
 
 Patience started at this point, for she had 
 distinctly heard a sob. Looking up quickly, 
 she saw the beautiful woman leaning against 
 one of the posts of the summer-house and
 
 48 PATIENCE. 
 
 staring at her with a strange, hungry expres- 
 sion. 
 
 " Child, child ! " exclaimed the lady, with an- 
 other convulsive sob, though her eyes were 
 dry ; " who told you to read that poeni where 
 I would hear you ? " 
 
 " No one, madam ; I thought that I was all 
 alone." 
 
 "True, you could not have known that I 
 would come. No one could have known. You 
 have a musical voice, to which it is pleasant to 
 listen. Read on, if there is anything more 
 about Sidney and his unhappy Stella." 
 
 Patience, wondering, read at a venture : 
 
 " Her he did love, her he alone did honour; 
 His thoughts, his rimes, his songs were all upon her. 
 
 " To her he vowed the service of his days, 
 On her he spent the riches of his wit. 
 For her made hymns of most immortal praise, 
 Of only her he sang, he thought, he writ. 
 
 "Knowledge her light hath lost, Valor hath slain her 
 
 knight. 
 
 Sidney is dead, dead is my friend, dead is the world's de- 
 light." 
 
 Patience ceased reading, but the lady made 
 no comment. She was weeping silently. 
 
 " Did you know him, madam ? '' Patience 
 asked. The lady bowed. " Love's father knew
 
 SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

 
 PATIENCE. 49 
 
 him too he was his hero, and he is never tired 
 of telling us how noble he was at Zutphen, 
 when, although he had received his death- 
 wound and was in an agony of thirst, he would 
 not accept the water brought him, but handed 
 it to a man more terribly wounded than him- 
 self, saying, 'Thy necessity is greater than 
 mine.' " 
 
 " Who is this man, that knew Sidney ? " 
 
 "Mr. Brewster, who dwells at the Manor 
 House. He was with him when he died in 
 Holland." 
 
 The lady rose. " I must see this Mr. Brews- 
 ter," she said ; " and I thank you, child, for 
 your reading. Your voice has a magic that I 
 wish I might often summon. What is your 
 name ? The Earl of Lincoln has no daughter 
 of your age." 
 
 " Nay, madam ; I am only Patience, daughter 
 to the Earl's steward, Captain Dudley." 
 
 The lady sighed and walked a few paces 
 toward the house ; then she turned impulsively, 
 and coming back placed a silvet pouncet box 
 in the girl's hand. 
 
 "Is this for me?" Patience asked in wonder. 
 
 " It is ; and if thou wouldst know who gives 
 it to thee, look at the name upon the lid." 
 
 Patience read " Stella."
 
 50 . PATIENCE. 
 
 "Art thou his Stella?" Patience asked. 
 
 " His and thine. To the world I ani only 
 Penelope, Lady Rich. Only you and a few 
 personal friends know what love I have pos- 
 sessed and lost. No, I never really lost it. 
 We were betrothed when hardly more than 
 children. He always called me Stella. It was 
 his fancy, and our secret. Then my parents' 
 ambition parted us, married me to Lord Rich ; 
 and though I never saw Sidney again, I saw his 
 poems. They were published and brought him 
 fame, and they were all addressed to Stella. 
 
 " I am a lonely, loveless woman, for my sons 
 are at the university and my husband in 
 London. Will you come and visit me, and read 
 to me when I am restless, and old memories 
 and physical pain chase sleep from my eyes and 
 make night agony ? In return, I will be your 
 friend. It shall not be an altogether unequal 
 compact. I will remember that you are young ; 
 and you shall see some pleasant days. 
 
 " The Queen and the princes are at Kenil- 
 worth, where they will remain until the King 
 goes back to London; and there we are to 
 rehearse the masque which will be given 
 at Christmas time at Whitehall. Sir Fulke 
 Greville has been making great additions and 
 restorations at Warwick Castle in the neighbor-
 
 PATIENCE. 51 
 
 hood, and had thrown it open for the entertain- 
 ment of the court. You shall go with me. 
 There will be frolickings and junketings and a 
 tilting at the Earners in which my sons take 
 part." 
 
 The lady had spoken so rapidly that Pa- 
 tience could not answer, but no girl of her age 
 could have heard of such pleasures without 
 coveting them. She had seen the gay caval- 
 cade as it swept back from the hunt, and one 
 young man had paused at the gate to clasp the 
 hand of her teacher, Simon Bradstreet. They 
 had spoken of Cambridge together, and then he 
 had vanished like a shining vision. 
 
 It seemed to Patience that Sir Philip Sidney 
 must have looked so when he dashed forward 
 to Zutphen. " Who is he ? " she gasped. 
 
 "That is Robert Lord Rich," Bradstreet 
 replied. " I was his tutor at Emmanuel Col- 
 lege, Cambridge. We passed many pleasant 
 but unprofitable hours together." 
 
 " Why were they unprofitable ? " Patience 
 had asked. 
 
 " I could never persuade him to study," Brad- 
 street replied ; " but he was more winsome than 
 I, for I never could resist him ; and he took me 
 with him on many a wild escapade and foolish 
 prank."
 
 52 PATIENCE. 
 
 Patience now led Lady Rich to her father, 
 who was presently won over by their united 
 persuasions, and it was agreed that his daughter 
 should accompany her new friend to Warwick 
 Castle. Patience flew again to the arbor, 
 where Master Bradstreet had begun to hear the 
 boys' lessons, and rapturously announced the 
 news. Wrestling's face clouded, and he 
 savagely kicked the bench on which he was 
 sitting. Love's lips quivered, but he strove 
 bravely to smile. Both were too much moved 
 to speak. " You seem much pleased to leave 
 us," said the tutor. 
 
 Patience pouted. " If you like me, I should 
 think you would be glad that I am going to 
 have a nice time. I am going to see the 
 Princess Elizabeth, for she is at Keuil worth, 
 near Warwick Castle, and there are to be beau- 
 tiful tiltings and a play in which Lord Robert 
 will act ; and you would rather have me stay 
 in this poky, lonely forest ! I don't call that 
 friendship." 
 
 " No, Patience, it is only selfishness," Love 
 replied ; " and we are really very glad at heart 
 that you are going to have so much enjoyment. 
 But please don't forget us in the midst of it all. 
 When will you come back ? " 
 
 Wrestling kicked his seat again, as the sul-
 
 PATIENCE. 53 
 
 lenly swung his legs. "You can stay as long 
 as you like, for all me. It is like a girl to 
 care for stupid people just because they wear 
 fine clothes. I would not be paid to sit in 
 their drawing rooms and smirk and bow. You 
 will be tired of your bargain, and be glad to 
 get back to the forest, I'll warrant." 
 
 " I shall come back," Patience replied more 
 thoughtfully. " I do love the forest, with all its 
 little wild creatures ; but you know we would 
 leave the lodge soon, in any case. I shall 
 come back next summer, just the same Patience. 
 It is you who must not forget me." Wrestling 
 turned his back upon her, for though she was 
 speaking as kindly as he could have wished, it 
 was not to him, but to his brother. 
 
 This was why on that afternoon he had 
 ridden away so eagerly with the stranger and 
 with Philippa. The boy was in a desperate 
 mood, when he felt the need of some wild 
 adventure to take him out of himself. The 
 ride had proved uneventful and disappointing. 
 He returned the next day as silent and gloomy, 
 and for the first time treated his brother with 
 coolness. 
 
 The horse belonging to the stranger had 
 trotted into the park that night ; and as it pro- 
 voked considerable wonder and conjecture in
 
 54 PATIENCE. 
 
 the household, Love had told his father all that 
 he knew about it. William Brewster looked 
 very grave. 
 
 " You should have told me this before we 
 gave the man harborage and helped him on his 
 way," he said. "I fear he is a fugitive from 
 justice, and that we shall hear more from this 
 matter." 
 
 Love repeated the girl's assertion that they 
 were fugitives for conscience' sake. 
 
 "They are not of our own communion," 
 replied his father. " I liked not the man's looks 
 or his conversation over much. They are 
 doubtless Papists. I will hold his horse for 
 the present, until I know what I should do 
 with it. It is strange that he left no directions 
 concerning the beast." 
 
 Wrestling on being questioned was close- 
 mouthed, and afterward finding Love alone 
 reproached him for having betrayed the confi- 
 dence of their guests. 
 
 " Well we knew that they were fugitives," 
 he said, u but we were in honor bound to keep 
 their secret. I could tell you more of them, 
 but I dare not, for I see that you are not to be 
 trusted." 
 
 Love was deeply grieved by his brother's 
 reproach, and the more because he could not
 
 PATIENCE. 55 
 
 decide in his own mind just which way his 
 duty had lain. 
 
 The next day was the Sabbath, and it held 
 in store the pleasure of seeing Patience, possi- 
 bly for the last time for many months. She 
 would come with her father to the Puritan 
 meeting, which would be held at William 
 Brewster's house ; and both boys looked forward 
 to the occasion with eagerness. The lessons 
 had come to an abrupt close, for Simon Brad-, 
 street's vacation was over, and he was going 
 back to the university with Lord Rich. Love 
 had ridden over on the stranger's piebald horse 
 and had seen Patience. Her first glee in going 
 had evaporated, and there were tears in her 
 eyes as she thought of leaving home. 
 
 Though by far the majority of the congrega- 
 tion which met at William Brewster's house on 
 the Sabbath were poor and unlearned people, 
 occasionally one of the gentry dropped in, 
 curious to know what the doctrine was which 
 was creating so much debate. 
 
 The sons of the Archbishop of York knew 
 very well what meetings were held in Wolsey's 
 chapel, but Edwin Sandys while in exile during 
 the persecutions of Bloody Queen Mary had 
 imbibed Calvinistic principles, and had returned 
 to England on the accession of Queen Elizabeth
 
 56 PATIENCE. 
 
 a Puritan at heart ; and his sons protected the 
 Puritans publicly. Especially was this true of 
 the son that bore his father's name, Sir Edwin 
 Sandys, who had been knighted by King James 
 on his accession, and was now a member of 
 Parliament, holding a leading position in the 
 House of Commons. He was the warm per- 
 sonal friend of William Bre \vster ; and his friend- 
 ship was to count still more for the Pilgrims in 
 their darkest hour. 
 
 The youngest son of the Archbishop, George 
 Sandys, scholar and poet, was the friend of the 
 Earl of Lincoln, and sometimes came to his 
 hunting lodge to read his translations of Ovid 
 to Dudley and Bradstreet. He would fre- 
 quently play at capping verses with Patience, 
 who was very clever at rhyming. He was not 
 much older than the Brewster boys, and he 
 took a great fancy to Love, with whom he 
 would often walk home across the forest ; and 
 more than once he listened to the Puritan 
 preachers, curious as to what this new heresy 
 might be. 
 
 It was curiosity too which had first attracted 
 Captain Dudley, who was a scholarly and 
 thoughtful man. He had held unfavorable opin- 
 ions of the Separatists, as these Puritans were 
 sometimes called, until he had heard the preach-
 
 PATIENCE. 57 
 
 ino; of John Robinson at Brewster's house : and he 
 
 O ' 
 
 used to like to tell of an experience which he 
 once had with a fanatical member of the sect. 
 " We fell in with one another," he told William 
 Brewster, " as we were traveling in company, 
 and I became interested in his views. Putting 
 up for the night at an inn, we shared the same 
 bedchamber. After we retired my comrade 
 told me confidentially that he had often believed 
 himself to be the Lord Christ, and he was cer- 
 tain at least that he was the King of Jeru- 
 salem, as he had been so assured by a direct 
 communication from the Almighty. Where- 
 upon I immediately rang and requested to be 
 put in another room, for I had no warrant but 
 my bedfellow, being on such intimate terms 
 with the Ruler of all things, might receive com- 
 mand while I slept to have me executed then 
 and there. You can imagine," Captain Dudley 
 said in conclusion, " that I was prepared when 
 I came here to listen to frantic ideas, but I can 
 assure you that in no other sect have I heard 
 aught so reasonable." He came regularly after 
 this, and brought with him the young Cam- 
 bridge student Simon Bradstreet. 
 
 On this particular Sunday William Brewster 
 was surprised, on the entrance of Captain Dud- 
 ley and his family, to see that they were accom-
 
 58 PATIENCE. 
 
 parried by a lady closely veiled and by a richly 
 dressed young courtier. Brewster advanced 
 to meet them, and Dudley introduced Lady 
 Penelope Rich and her son Lord Robert. 
 
 " I am a student of Emmanuel College," said 
 the latter. " I heard there that you also are a 
 a university man. The undergraduates follow 
 the career of the alumni with interest. I am 
 eager to know what these new notions may be." 
 
 Brewster scanned his face keenly. " If you 
 come as an earnest seeker after truth," he said, 
 " I bid you welcome. If your errand is one of 
 malice you are still welcome, for what we most 
 desire is that our enemies should give us 
 hearing." 
 
 He had his suspicions in regard to this 
 young man in velvet, whose levity of manner 
 (throwing kisses to some pretty Puritan girls 
 who passed) was combined with a hauteur 
 which disregarded his host's extended hand. 
 
 The young nobleman doffed his plumed hat 
 as he entered, apparently from force of habit, for 
 he grimaced behind it in a boyish fashion, even 
 after the service began. But he did not deserve 
 William Brewster's suspicions, for though at this 
 period Robert Rich was light-headed and jovial, 
 there was no harm beyond that of youthful 
 thoughtlessness in his mirth ; and the volatile
 
 PATIENCE. 59 
 
 young man became in later years the able Earl of 
 Warwick and a protector of the Puritans. He 
 sat now making eyes at pretty Patience Dud- 
 ley, who had taken in every detail of his rich 
 cavalier's costume, from the lace frills to the 
 diamond buttons and the silk stockings, with 
 undisguised wonder and admiration. 
 
 Patience felt the amusement and mock gal- 
 lantry with which he returned the gaze, and 
 her mouth quivered with mortification even 
 while her face flamed. Lord Rich noticed the 
 quivering of the pretty lips as her smile flickered 
 out and hot tears of indignation stole from un- 
 der her downcast lashes ; and he jogged his com- 
 panion's elbow and whispered : " Did you mark 
 that flutter of color on yon pretty face ? By 
 my faith ! Sir Philip Sidney must have had 
 such a play in mind when he wrote, 'Her 
 cheeks, blushing and a little smiling, were like 
 roses when their leaves are with a little breath 
 stirred.' " 
 
 " Stare not so earnestly," replied Bradstreet, 
 " for the maid is smiling not at all ; and, trust 
 me, she is not pleased, but offended, by your 
 close scrutiny." 
 
 Lord Rich turned away with an effort, and 
 fixed his attention on the preacher, in whose 
 appearance he was distinctly disappointed.
 
 60 PATIENCE. 
 
 Like Captain Dudley, Lord Rich had had his 
 preconceived notions of Puritanism, which, in 
 the mind of the young courtier, was only a 
 stricter and more fanatical Presbyterianism gro- 
 tesquely caricatured by ignorant or hypocritical 
 boors. He had heard something of the preach- 
 ing of John Knox from those who had heard 
 his powerful utterances before the Lords of the 
 Congregation, and in his later years, when an 
 eyewitness reported that " he was so weak that 
 he behoved to lean upon the pulpit at his first 
 entry, but ere he was done with his sermon he 
 was so active and vigorous that he was tyke to 
 ding the pulpit in llads and flie out of it" 
 
 Lord Rich had come with the expectation of 
 being amused by a ranting, fanatic preaching 
 in a barn to a company of clowns. Instead of 
 this, he found himself in a small but finely pro- 
 portioned chapel, vaulted and carved with rev- 
 erent care by the great cardinal, who believed 
 that Art should be the handmaid of Religion. 
 A double altar, or " superalles," of the time of 
 Henry VIII. was pinnacled and niched for the 
 figures 'of saints and apostles, but these had 
 been removed as idolatrous. The inventory 
 taken by Cromwell's officers gives us, among 
 the appointments of this chapel remaining dur- 
 ing the Commonwealth, not only one organ, but
 
 PATIENCE. ei 
 
 a pair of them, and a fine clock " without plo- 
 mettes " (hanging weights). This the children 
 of the Separatists must have watched anxiously 
 when the pastor, as was sometimes his wont, 
 " spente a good part of ye day with great f er- 
 vencie in his exhortation." The " lectionary," 
 or book of selections from the Scriptures, which 
 Wolsey had used, Brewster had removed to 
 his library, and had replaced by a Genevan 
 Bible.* 
 
 These were the surroundings in which Lord 
 Rich found himself. The young preacher with 
 the refined face, prepossessing manner, and cul- 
 tivated delivery exasperated him, and he re- 
 signed himself grudgingly to be bored. 
 
 Little by little, to his surprise, he found 
 himself interested. The original organizers of 
 the Puritan Church in this section were not 
 ignorant men, but young Cambridge graduates, 
 prominent among whom were Richard Clyfton, 
 
 * So called because it had been translated by English divines 
 who had fled to Geneva during the persecutions of Bloody Mary. 
 This was the edition favored by Puritans, while the Bishops' 
 Bible, prepared under the direction of the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury in 1568, was regarded by them with almost as much disfavor 
 as the Bible of the Roman Catholics printed at Douay, though 
 there was very little difference in their text. At this very time 
 fifty-four scholars were at work upon the version commonly called 
 King James' Bible, which was so superior to all former transla- 
 tions that it has ever since remained the standard.
 
 62 PATIENCE. 
 
 William Brewster, John Smyth, and John Rob- 
 inson and Robinson was most gifted of them 
 all. He was William Brewster's dearest friend ; 
 a gentle, lovable man, who hated schism, and 
 would personally far rather have suffered wrong 
 than have resisted, but who became convinced 
 that the concessions demanded by the govern- 
 ment could not be granted with a clean 
 conscience. 
 
 The Earl of Morton said of John Knox 
 when they laid him in his grave, " He never 
 feared the face of man." John Robinson 
 resembled the great reformer in at least one 
 characteristic. He was utterly fearless. Very 
 quietly, and in such simple terms as his 
 unlearned audience could understand, he ex- 
 plained the principles at stake. Robert Rich 
 had discussed the same questions among 
 kindred spirits at Emmanuel College, but 
 from a political point of view questions of 
 personal liberty and royal authority. Very 
 ably Robinson proved that both must be pre- 
 served, and both subordinated to Law. The 
 King's authority could not be held above Law, 
 but Law must be above the King, and Liberty 
 too must not be lawless, but must bow to that 
 ultimate authority, and to the King so long as 
 he was its true exponent. If the King usurped
 
 PATIENCE. 63 
 
 the prerogative of Law, and, contrary to its 
 dictates, tyrannized over the liberties of his 
 subjects, it was their duty to obey the Law and 
 renounce the King. Peaceable self-banishment 
 was his solution of the problem with which 
 they were confronted. He had become con- 
 vinced of the futility of hope for better things 
 in England, and he counseled emigration to 
 some country permitting toleration in religion. 
 
 So far he had spoken calmly, as though 
 reasoning the matter as man with man from a 
 worldly standpoint, but now he mounted the 
 pulpit and announced his text. " If they per- 
 secute you in one city flee ye into another." 
 He carried his audience with him, rising to 
 impassioned eloquence, and closed his discourse 
 with the words of Christ (Mark x. 29-31): 
 "There is no man that hath left house, or 
 brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
 wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the 
 gospel's. But he shall receive an hundredfold 
 now in this time, houses, and brethren, and 
 sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, 
 with persecutions ; and in the world to come, 
 eternal life." 
 
 The congregation were passing quietly out, 
 but Captain Dudley made his way to the 
 minister and shook him warmly by the hand.
 
 64 PATIENCE, 
 
 " You are right," he cried, " and I admire both 
 your principles and your common sense." 
 
 " Common sense above all things," said Lord 
 Rich, who had followed Dudley and had for 
 the moment quite forgotten the pretty face 
 that had caught his fancy. " I fear I still do 
 not understand your grievance, but you are 
 the right stuff to make good settlers in a new 
 country, where there are, as you have so well 
 said, a hundredfold more lands for houses than 
 in this crowded kingdom. I doubt not but 
 
 O 
 
 that you would find good return for your 
 investment. I would like to head a colony of 
 you myself. I am going down to London to- 
 morrow, and I will see Sir Walter Raleigh in 
 the Tower, and ascertain what hope he has of 
 deliverance, and whether he thinks of making 
 another expedition in search of El Dorado." 
 
 " Oh, " cried Wrestling, " take me with you : 
 I care not how ! I will be your servant and 
 will do whatever you bid me, only let me see 
 Sir Walter!" 
 
 " Wrestling," said his father sternly, " hast 
 thou forgotten my authority ? Have I no 
 voice in thy goings and comings ? " 
 
 "Nay, but father, suffer me to go. If thou 
 knewest how Sir Walter has been my hero 
 since I knew enough to understand the tales
 
 PATIENCE. 65 
 
 thou hast told me of his brave adventures ! 
 How I have acted them over in Sherwood 
 Forest! If I could feel but once his hand 
 upon my head, something of his great spirit 
 would pass into mine, and teach me to be 
 courageous and to endure ! " 
 
 William Brewster looked at his son in sur- 
 prise, for he had never seen him so moved or 
 heard him speak like this. " Is it so, Wres- 
 tling?" he asked, " I did not know that it was 
 in thee to love anyone with such a passion of 
 admiration." 
 
 "It is so, father," Love replied, for his 
 brother now hung his head, abashed by his 
 own vehemence. "When Wrestling loves it 
 is always with his whole soul, and all our 
 play since our youngest childhood has been to 
 furnish forth ships and sail away with Sir 
 Walter Raleigh. We have made colonies in 
 the forest, where we have traded for squirrel 
 skins and mined for gold, slept under the open 
 and starved in caves, and have been slain by the 
 savasres and buried each other under the leaves, 
 
 o 
 
 and always Wrestling was Sir Walter or was 
 rescued by him. I pray you, if this noble 
 gentleman will suffer my brother to go with 
 him, forbid him not, for I will do his tasks in 
 his absence."
 
 66 PATIENCE. 
 
 Lord Rich looked at his companion ques- 
 tioningly. " How is it, Bradstreet," he asked ; 
 "can we take this boy with us? I would like 
 to pleasure him if he has such a mighty desire 
 to see the great explorer." 
 
 "It is easy enough, my lord," replied the 
 other. " We can even take him to Cambridge 
 with us, after your visit to London, if your 
 lordship would like him for a page." 
 
 "That will I not consent to," interrupted 
 William Brewster; "and I must hear more of 
 you, sir, before I permit my son to bear you 
 company even to London." 
 
 "As you please," Lord Rich replied non- 
 chalantly. "Captain Dudley here can inform 
 you more particularly as to what manner of 
 man I am, and if you want further testimony 
 I refer you to my host the Earl of Lincoln. 
 I shall stop here to-morrow, and if you are 
 willing that the lad should go with me for 
 a fortnight, and will furnish him forth with 
 a horse he may come with me, and I suppose 
 can return with the post. If you consent not, 
 there is no harm done ; and so farewell, uiy 
 little fellow ; thou shalt see thy hero if I can 
 compass it." 
 
 He sauntered out, quickening his footsteps 
 as he realized that he had lost sight of the
 
 PATIENCE. 67 
 
 pretty Puritan, and fancied that he might find 
 her in the grounds outside. 
 
 Lady Rich, who had not hitherto spoken, 
 but had watched the scene with an amused 
 interest, threw her veil back from her beauti- 
 ful face, which no man could resist, and said 
 sweetly : " My son is as impulsive as his mother, 
 but he is a good-hearted youth, Mr. Brewster, 
 and not addicted to the vices of the day, as 
 Mr. Bradstreet, who knows him well, can 
 assure you. I would have a word apart with 
 you touching one who was dear to me whom 
 you knew in the Low Countries," and she 
 walked with Brewster to a window recess, 
 where they continued their conversation in a 
 low tone, Wrestling hovering most impatiently 
 at a distance. 
 
 " I knew your brother, the noble Earl of Es- 
 sex, well," said Brewster. " He too was a man 
 of most kindly impulses. He endangered his 
 own favor with the Queen in pleading the cause 
 of my friend and patron, Mr. William Davi- 
 
 son." 
 
 " But you knew him in happier days, when 
 he was in Holland with the Earl of Leices- 
 ter, did you not ? " 
 
 "Most intimately then, for Leicester and 
 Sidney and he made Davison's house their
 
 68 PATIENCE. 
 
 headquarters ; and their councils were not all 
 of war or statecraft, but poesie had its share, 
 and history and travel, and they found time to 
 write as well as to talk in company. Here is 
 a book which I took down at their dictation, 
 and which your brother gave me after he 
 caused it to be published." 
 
 William Brewster took from a shelf and laid 
 in her hand a small volume, opening it to the 
 title-page, which read : 
 
 "Three Months Observations of the Low 
 Countries with Profitable Instructions describ- 
 ing what Observations are to be taken by 
 Travellers. 
 
 " By Robert Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, 
 and Secretary Davison." 
 
 Lady Rich stared fixedly at the page, but 
 she saw only one name; the other words swam 
 all together. 
 
 " You were with him while he lay dying ? " 
 she asked, pointing to the name of Sidney. 
 
 "All that long month of agony," Brewster 
 replied, " and it was the cheerfulest deathbed 
 I have ever seen. He was the truest model of 
 a Christian gentleman the world has known. 
 Ha was the only one amongst us who could 
 smile. He told me that his father taught him 
 to begin the day by praying earnestly, and
 
 PATIENCE. 69 
 
 then to throw himself as earnestly into merri- 
 ment. He was merry even when he knew 
 what the end must be, with a sweet merriment 
 to keep our hearts up. At the last, when he was 
 past speech, his chaplain asked him if he was 
 able to raise his hand to do so if he still had 
 joy in the Lord. With that he lifted not one 
 hand, but waved both triumphantly and gayly 
 high in the air, from whence they sank back 
 and fell joined upon his heart, in the attitude 
 of the carved effigies on the tombs of knights, 
 and so remained clasped as in prayer ; and look- 
 ing in his face we saw that with that joyful 
 testimony his soul had taken flight." 
 
 Lady Rich was silent for a moment, then, ex- 
 tending her hand, said : " With such a friend in 
 
 ^j * 
 
 common, we are not strangers. Suffer your son 
 to go with mine ; it may prove for his advance- 
 ment in life." 
 
 Brewster shook his head. " I have given 
 over all worldly ambition for my sons," he said 
 sadly; " but I knew not that Wrestling had such 
 a desire to see Sir Walter Raleigh. I too admired 
 him, when under our late Queen he spake so 
 boldly in Parliament against religious persecu- 
 tion. If only his great deeds had been under- 
 taken and his trials endured for conscience' sake 
 instead of in the hope of glory, no nobler charac-
 
 70 PATIENCE. 
 
 ter could be found on the roll of martyrs. I saw 
 him endure his trial, wherein he plead his own 
 cause with dignity and was condemned contrary 
 to all justice; and the memory of his high 
 presence has been an inspiration to me. My 
 son shall have that inspiration too ; he will 
 need it in the days that are before us. Tell 
 Lord Rich that I accept his oft'er with grati- 
 tude ; it may be the last pleasuring that the boy 
 will ever have." 
 
 As soon as Wrestling understood that his 
 point was gained, he hurried out of the house 
 followed by Love. " I owe it all to thee," he 
 said impetuously as they went down the steps 
 together. "Father would never have given 
 his consent if thou hadst not spoken for me ; 
 and thou saidst not that Sir Walter was thy 
 hero too, and that thou wouldst have liked as 
 well to go as I." 
 
 " Lord Rich did not ask me, and our father 
 could surely not have spared us both. Thou 
 wilt tell me all about it, and I shall enjoy it 
 through thee." 
 
 " Thou art aright good fellow, Love, and I take 
 back what I said about thy tattling. Philippa 
 told me where she dwells in London, not that 
 I might find her or write to her, but that thou 
 mightest do so. It is thee she likes, not me ;
 
 PATIENCE. 71 
 
 but I was angry and would not pleasure tbee 
 by telling thee so. Not that I care for the 
 baggage ; thou canst have her, and I will have 
 Patience ; and I will take Philippa any message 
 from thee, for I shall have to return her father's 
 horse. 
 
 " The father's name is not Johnson, but Mr. 
 Guido Fawkes, and they are visiting at Mr. 
 Percy's house, next to the House of Parliament, 
 though Philippa told me that they were soon 
 to leave London. Ah ! there is Lord Rich 
 talking to Patience. We will tell them that 
 my father has consented, and that I shall be 
 ready to go with them on the morrow." 
 
 Love would have stayed his brother to ex- 
 plain that he had not consented to the barter of 
 his share of Patience for Philippa, but Wres- 
 tling bounded away and announced his good 
 fortune. 
 
 " And is Love coming too ? " Patience asked. 
 
 " Nay," replied Lord Rich, " I cannot lead 
 forth all the country-side ; besides we bear you 
 company but one day's journey, when our paths 
 divide. My mother and her people pass to War- 
 wick, while Master Bradstreet, this youth, and 
 I go on to London, and after that to Cam- 
 bridge." 
 
 It may be that Lord Rich expected to see
 
 72 PATIENCE. 
 
 some regret in Patience's face that she was 
 so soon to lose his society ; if so, he was disap- 
 pointed. Captain Dudley approached, and she 
 joined her father, waving her hand to her two 
 old friends, "Till to-morrow, Wrestling ; good- 
 by, Love " ; and each of the boys accepted her 
 smile as particularly his own.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 
 
 The time is come, Exsurge Domine! 
 Jadica causam tuam ! Let thy foes 
 Be driven as the smoke before the wind 
 And melt like wax upon the furnace lip. 
 
 GEORGE ELIOT. 
 
 HILE the King was 
 hunting in the 
 north of England, 
 the Queen and the 
 royal family were 
 making a short stay at 
 Kenilworth, which was 
 at this time one of the 
 royal residences, for 
 Elizabeth had taken 
 back her royal gift to 
 Leicester, and it had 
 not yet been destroyed by Cromwell. Some of 
 the court ladies were with the Queen, while 
 others, and among them Lady Rich, were en- 
 tertained at Warwick by Sir Fulke Greville. 
 Patience found Warwick Castle even more 
 78
 
 74 PATIENCE. 
 
 beautiful than she had dreamed ; and very 
 nearly as Patience Dudley saw it the traveler 
 sees it to-day, for it is one of the best pre- 
 served of feudal castles. On one side it is mir- 
 rored in the lovely river over which the stone 
 bridge leaps in one great span of one hundred 
 feet ; but the entrance, guarded by the ancient 
 towers, is even more impressive. Caesar's Tower, 
 though not quite so old as its name suggests, is 
 a venerable giant, nearly one hundred and fifty 
 feet tall, with walls of enormous thickness. 
 Guy's Tower, not quite so high, is named for a 
 possibly mythical personage, Guy of Warwick, 
 who renounced his possessions and lived as a 
 hermit long, long ago when noblemen were 
 really noble. The residential part of the castle 
 is a magnificent suite of apartments opening 
 one into another in a vista of over three hun- 
 dred feet. Patience learned to know them 
 very well, and to tell the names of the men who 
 had worn the suits of armor with which they 
 were hung, and those of the pretty women who 
 looked down from the portraits. The wonder- 
 ful Vandycks were not there, for they were 
 painted in the reign of Charles I., but there 
 were enough pictures to people the stately 
 halls, so that Patience was never lonely as she 
 wandered through them.
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 15 
 
 Sir Fulke Greville was a hospitable host. 
 He had just spent a sum equivalent to one 
 hundred thousand dollars in remodeling and 
 furnishing the castle, and it was his delight 
 to fill its splendid rooms with distinguished 
 guests. He was an amateur poet, but more 
 noted as a patron of poets. Ben Jonson was 
 visiting him at this time, and he loved to be 
 regarded as the discoverer of young genius. 
 His greatest honor during life, in his own 
 estimation, was Sidney's friendship. On his 
 ponderous tomb in St. Mary's Church in War- 
 wick may still be read the epitaph written by 
 his own hand : " Fulke Greville, servant to 
 Queen Elizabeth, Conceller to King James and 
 f rend to Sir Philip Sidney." 
 
 This friendship was the principal link be- 
 tween Lady Rich and himself. Sidney be- 
 queathed his library to Greville, and these 
 books he placed at the disposition of his fair 
 guest. Patience found Lady Rich a difficult 
 patroness. She was an unhappy woman, de- 
 manding constant excitement or occupation to 
 keep herself from thinking. The day was a 
 round of visiting or receiving visits, in which, 
 fortunately for her health, Patience was not 
 often expected to take part. The house was 
 filled with company. If the weather were fine,
 
 76 PATIENCE. 
 
 the gentlemen hunted with such of the ladies 
 as cared for the sport, or played tennis in the 
 great courts. In the evening they practiced the 
 dances for the masque, and the court ladies 
 drove frequently to Kenilworth to wait upon 
 the Queen. At night it was Patience's task to 
 read to her ladyship until she fell asleep, after 
 which Patience would extinguish the taper and 
 slip noiselessly to her own little bed in the 
 adjoining chamber, frequently only to be al- 
 most immediately awakened by the sudden 
 ringing of a bell, which told her that she was 
 again needed. 
 
 The play in which Lady Rich was to take 
 part had been specially written for her, and 
 for several other prominent ladies of the court, 
 by Ben Jonson. It was to be presented at the 
 Christmas festivities at the palace of Whitehall 
 in London, when it would be brought out far 
 more magnificently with scenery which was 
 being designed by the architect Inigo Jones. 
 Ben Jonson had, however, taken this oppor- 
 tunity to rehearse it before a more limited 
 audience at the tilting which was to be given 
 as a farewell entertainment at Kenilworth, 
 before the royal family went down to Lon- 
 don. 
 
 The tilting would take place in the open air
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 11 
 
 in the afternoon, after which a dinner would 
 follow, and then the masque in the great hall 
 of the castle, which was eighty-six feet long and 
 forty-five wide. 
 
 These masques were a combination of stately 
 dances with recitations and acting, and were 
 usually performed by amateurs, though as they 
 became more elaborate comical ante-masques 
 introduced the main entertainment, and these 
 were performed by professional actors. Jonson, 
 like Shakespeare, had been influenced by the 
 spirit of adventure so prevalent at- this time, 
 and the plots of several of his plays turned 
 upon the discovery of new lands. The play 
 which was now in rehearsal was called the 
 Masque of Blackness, the actresses representing 
 nymphs of the rivers of Africa. As such they 
 wore sable robes, their pretty arms and faces 
 covered by long black gloves and dominoes, and 
 they were to be drawn into the hall in an in- 
 geniously constructed shell. 
 
 The plot was very slight. Oceanus would 
 announce in a prologue that these swarthy 
 ladies had been told that in a kingdom whose 
 name ended in the word Tania was a luminary 
 whose beams were 
 
 "of such a force 
 To blanch an Ethiop or revive a corse."
 
 78 PATIENCE. 
 
 The nymphs, tired of their jetty skins, had 
 sought this kingdom wandering through Mau- 
 ritania, Lusitania, etc., and had now come to 
 Britannia. 
 
 The shell now appeared, imitating in its un- 
 dulations the motion of a ship upon the sea. 
 The nymphs descended, danced their coronatos, 
 and then kneeling before the Queen declared 
 that they had found the all-powerful luminary, 
 and, throwing off their masks and black outer 
 robes, performed other dances in their more 
 brilliant court costumes, with their beautiful 
 faces undisguised. 
 
 Jonson had also written a prologue for the 
 tilting in which Lord Rich was to take part. 
 The approaching entertainment was the con- 
 stant subject of conversation, and Patience 
 looked forward to it with the highest expecta- 
 tions. 
 
 Lady Rich was speaking of it one night as 
 she lay awake. " I hope Robert may carry off 
 the prize," she said; "but I fear that in that 
 as in everything else he is too indifferent to 
 succeed. If there were only someone among 
 the spectators for whom he cared, as Sidney 
 cared for me. Oh ! a woman can make the 
 man who loves her do anything. I made Sidney 
 win the prize of the tournament which was given
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 79 
 
 to entertain the French embassy that came to 
 arrange a marriage between Queen Elizabeth 
 and the Duke of Anjou. And he gave me the 
 credit for it too. Read this sonnet which Sir 
 Fulke found in one of his books. I have read 
 it over and over, but I cannot sleep, and I want 
 to hear it. Your voice has a lilting uplift 
 which is like his, a singing quality which fits 
 itself to joyous poetry." 
 And Patience read : 
 
 " Having this day my horse, my hand, my lance 
 Guided so well that I obtained the prize, 
 Both in the judgment of the English eyes, 
 And of some sent from that sweet enemy France, 
 Horsemen my skill in horsemanship advance, 
 Some lucky wits impute it but to chance, 
 Others, because of both sides I do take 
 My blood from them who did excel I in this, 
 Think Nature me a man of arms did make. 
 Ho\v far they shot awry ! The true cause is, 
 Stella looked on, and from her heavenly face 
 Sent forth the beams which made so fair my race. " 
 
 The book fell from her hand, and Patience 
 wondered if ever a brave knight would do 
 deeds of high emprise because she was looking 
 on. She had no thought of the mock tourna- 
 ment and of Sir Robert in his tinsel armor, but 
 of the nobler lists of life and of two young 
 knights who were always ready to attempt 
 any adventure for her sake; Wrestling, imperi-
 
 80 PATIENCE. 
 
 ous and reckless ; and Love, with his eyes full 
 of an infinite tenderness. If she must choose 
 one and one only for her knight which would 
 it be? 
 
 The next morning there was to be a dress 
 rehearsal at Kenilworth, and Lady Rich took 
 Patience with her. The castle at this time 
 was in the same magnificent state in \vhich the 
 Earl of Leicester had put it for ihefdte which 
 he gave Queen Elizabeth. Cromwell's soldiers 
 utterly dismantled it, but even now in its ruined 
 condition the traveler realizes what a noble 
 building it once was. Lady Rich showed her 
 some of the rooms which were not occupied 
 by the royal family, and Patience was much 
 impressed by the stately furnishings, the great 
 bedsteads with crimson satin counterpanes and 
 curtains "all lozenged over with silver," the 
 carved posts surmounted by bears with rag- 
 ged staves, or gold cups holding ostrich plumes, 
 something after the fashion of a modern hearse. 
 The walls were hung with tapestries depicting 
 gardens in perspective, with colonnades of 
 pillars and arches, and in Prince Henry's study 
 there were great maps of the New World, on 
 which the Prince had traced with different- 
 colored pencils the voyages of Hawkins, Drake/ 
 and Raleigh. As Patience was looking at one
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 81 
 
 of these maps, the Prince entered and spoke to 
 Lady Rich, who presented Patience. 
 
 " Would you like to see the prize of the 
 tilting ? " he asked. " In old times it was 
 usually a jewel, but I have had a piece of plate 
 that was the Earl of Leicester's copied, in order 
 that it should be suggestive of Keuilworth." 
 
 He unlocked an ebony cabinet and showed 
 them a silver salt-cellar shaped like a ship, with 
 little cannon, anchors, and ensigns, and all sails 
 set, and for a figurehead Fortune standing 
 on a globe and holding a flag.* On the 
 side of the ship were engraved the words 
 " The Shepherd of the Ocean." " That is what 
 Spenser called Sir Walter Raleigh," said the 
 Prince. " I would like to give him this piece 
 of plate ; but some day I hope to give him a 
 real ship, and that will please him better." 
 
 He then asked if they had seen the prepara- 
 tions in the tilt-yard for the tournament, and 
 showed them his private turret staircase from 
 the study, which he said was the nearest way. 
 
 It was the same tilt-yard which had wit- 
 nessed the tourney in honor of Queen Elizabeth. 
 Workmen were busy constructing a terrace 
 which was to serve as a stage for the prologue, 
 and digging a bed for an artificial lake. The 
 
 oo o 
 
 turret door through which they had come was 
 
 * See Note c, Appendix.
 
 82 PATIENCE. 
 
 to be one of the entrances to the stage, for the 
 Prince was to take part and his study was to 
 be used for the dressing room of the principal 
 characters. From the tilt-yard Lady Rich 
 took Patience to an inner court, which was laid 
 out as a garden, with a fine aviary. As she 
 was too early for the rehearsal she sat down 
 for a few moments with Patience, pointing out 
 and naming the strange birds, and chatting on 
 various subjects. 
 
 " It is a grand castle," said Lady Rich. " I 
 suppose you know that it was given by Queen 
 Elizabeth to her favorite Robert Dudley, whom 
 she made Earl of Leicester." 
 
 " Why, Dudley is my name ! " exclaimed 
 Patience. " I wonder if Father is related to 
 him?" 
 
 " It may be that you come from the stock 
 from which he sprung, the Sutton Dudleys of 
 Dudley Castle. It is an old family, but not 
 high in rank, for they were only barons, 
 and not rich in purse either, until in the 
 time of Henry VIII. when John Dudley was 
 created Duke of Northumberland and Earl of 
 Warwick, and rose to that pitch of pride from 
 which he fell so miserably. 
 
 " Pride and ambition were the curse of that 
 house. It needed the sharp medicine of the
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 83 
 
 headsman's ax to cure those distempers. The 
 Earl of Northumberland was beheaded, with 
 his son Guilford and his daughter-in-law, the 
 gentle Lady Jane Grey, whom he had made 
 King and Queen. This should have been warn- 
 ing enough to the other members of his family, 
 but another of the earl's sons, Robert Dudley, 
 aspired to the position of King Consort, played 
 for so short a time by his brother Guilford, for 
 he vainly dreamed that Queen Elizabeth would 
 marry him. He entertained her here most 
 royally, when she visited Kenilworth with 
 her court. For seventeen days he lavished his 
 fortune with more than princely extravagance, 
 expending more than a thousand pounds each 
 day in the entertainment of his guests. All to 
 no purpose, for he never obtained the object of 
 his ambition." 
 
 "I marvel that father has never told me 
 about the Earl of Leicester," said Patience, 
 knitting her brows thoughtfully. " I have 
 heard him speak of very few of our relatives, 
 though I remember now that he said that Sir 
 Philip Sidney was a Dudley, and possibly we 
 might be of the same blood as well as name." 
 
 " Sir Philip Sidney was the nephew of Leices- 
 ter, the son of Leicester's sister Mary Dudley. 
 He was always very proud of this, and said that
 
 84 PATIENCE. 
 
 it was his ' chiefest honor to be a Dudley.' If 
 you are related to Sidney you are also related 
 to Leicester. Why did you not mention 
 this when I might have questioned your 
 father?" 
 
 "It is strange that he does not know cer- 
 tainly," Patience replied ; " but his father and 
 mother died when he was very young, and he 
 was brought up as a page in a noble family 
 where there was no one who cared very much 
 for him ; and, though he received the education 
 of a gentleman he was told that it was through 
 the kindness of a lady in no way related to 
 him." 
 
 "Do not trouble your little head with 
 mysteries," said Lady Rich ; " they are generally 
 best unraveled. I must go in now. If you tire 
 of waiting here I shall expect to find you at the 
 gatekeeper's lodge." 
 
 Lady Rich had hardly gone, when a tall thin 
 man, dressed entirely in black, startled Patience 
 by appearing quite mysteriously, she could not 
 tell from what direction. The man looked 
 about him carefully, and, seeing that no one was 
 near, approached Patience and asked in a gentle 
 voice : 
 
 " What is your name, my little maid ? " 
 
 " Patience Dudley, good sir."
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 85 
 
 " Then you are one of the persons whose con- 
 versation I have just overheard. I was reading 
 within the tower, and I found myself becoming 
 interested in what you said, for I have some 
 knowledge of the Dudley family. Tell me all 
 that you know of your father ; it may be that I 
 can tell you still more." 
 
 " My father is Captain Thomas Dudley, stew- 
 ard of the Earl of Lincoln." 
 
 " And his father's name ? " 
 
 " I know not, worthy sir ; only that he was a 
 soldier, and died at Ivry, leading the English 
 troops who were sent to France to aid Henri of 
 Navarre." 
 
 "And thy father's mother?" 
 
 " He remembers her not." 
 
 " True, little maid, nor his father neither, for 
 he is of no such mean birth as he deems him- 
 self. If I could talk with thy father I could 
 make these things plain. Know you no other 
 mysteries in his history, my child ? " 
 
 Patience put her hand to her head and tried 
 to think. " It is true that I have heard him say 
 that all through his life he has found himself 
 strangely befriended though alone. It was as 
 though an unseen power watched over him. 
 When he came of age a fortune was left him, by 
 whom he knew not. When he desired to go
 
 86 PATIENCE. 
 
 a-soldiering he received, by some stranger's in- 
 fluence, a captain's commission, signed by Queen 
 Elizabeth, and thus he went to France and 
 served the Huguenot cause, as his father had 
 done before him." 
 
 " Speak no more of his father as the soldier 
 
 of whom you have been told The 
 
 strange man bent forward and lifted his hand 
 to his mouth as though about to whisper, then 
 seemed to change his mind, for he muttered : 
 " You are too young to understand these mat- 
 ters, but I would have speech with thy father. 
 Tell him carefully all I have said, and also that 
 his father and mother were privately married by 
 a priest of my order ; that I know whereof I 
 speak, for I have seen the record. If he would 
 know these things to a certainty, write him to 
 come to London at once, and to inquire at the 
 house of Thomas Percy, next to the Houses of 
 Parliament, on the water side, for Father 
 Greenway. Write him that there are great 
 matters stirring which may lift him and thee 
 higher than ye wot, if he can be secret and de- 
 termined. The Dudleys were not lacking in 
 these qualities. Let him prove himself a true 
 Dudley. Thou too, little maid, be secret. 
 Breathe naught of this to any human being, or 
 all may miscarry. Promise ; it is a matter of
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 87 
 
 life and death for thy father, and for many 
 goodly gentlemen." 
 
 " I promise to tell no one but my father," 
 said Patience, " for I cannot see that his lineage 
 concerns any other. As for the other secret 
 matters of which you speak, since you are a 
 Jesuit and my father a Puritan, I see not how 
 you can work together." 
 
 " Are we not equally desirous of toleration in 
 matters of religion ? If the Catholics and the 
 Puritans would unite to that end yea, and 
 some of the Protestants, who hold not to 
 the King's tyranny we could effect a change 
 of ministry. Another man in the place of 
 Cecil, and this might be effected but why 
 do I talk to you of such matters? We 
 will chat of other things. What is your posi- 
 tion here ? for I take it you live in the castle, 
 since I saw you come out of the door of the tur- 
 ret which they tell me leads to the apartments 
 of the Prince. Are you one of the Queen's 
 maids of honor ? " 
 
 " Nay, sir ; I am only companion to my Lady 
 Rich, who is within rehearsing her part for the 
 masque. The Prince bade us use his staircase 
 to see the works in the tilt-yard. It will be 
 a grand spectacle. Shall you see it, good 
 sir?"
 
 88 PATIENCE. 
 
 " It is possible. Is this the prologue for the 
 tilting which you have, then ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. Lady Rich left it here ; she 
 brought it by mistake with her own part." 
 
 The stranger took it up and glanced over it 
 with much interest. " A well-constructed play," 
 he said at length. " I have managed miracle 
 plays myself, and know something of the art. 
 So this is the setting of the stage entrances 
 here and here h'm h'm ! That is a good 
 speech of Chivalry's. It has the ring of Sir 
 Walter Raleigh's verse, and was written by 
 someone practiced in the arts of the courtier. 
 Could it have been written by Raleigh ? " 
 
 " Nay, sir ; by the court poet, Mr. Jonson." 
 
 " Then he surely had Raleigh in mind. 
 There is more here than appears to the eye. 
 Yes, I will surely be present. There will be 
 one transformation scene which will be a sur- 
 prise indeed." 
 
 " Are you, sir, perchance one of the actors ? " 
 
 "Nay, little maid, but I have a prompter's 
 part behind the scenes. The mountebank who 
 makes the puppets dance, though himself un- 
 seen, is as important to the play as anyone who 
 struts upon the stage. The play will have 
 beautiful scenery, for this castle has a fair pros- 
 pect of forest. Dost thou love to watch the
 
 TSE PRIEST'S HOLE. 89 
 
 hunters with their horses and dogs ? It is a 
 sport of which many noble ladies are fond." 
 
 " I have lived much of my life in Sherwood 
 Forest, and I love the wild wood and the wild 
 creatures, but I would not harm the tender 
 things." 
 
 "And yet they prey upon one another, and 
 the stronger beasts would kill thee if they 
 could. It is but nature for the strong to hunt 
 the weak, and for the weak, by ruse and sly- 
 ness, by doubling and feigning death, by hid- 
 ing and running, to foil the strong. There is a 
 keen pleasure in the chase, and doubtless the 
 rascal fox who saves his brush hath as lively a 
 joy as the sportsman. Queen Elizabeth loved 
 to hunt in this very region, and other women 
 holier than she. I have here a little book, writ 
 by Dame Juliana Berners. She was prioress 
 long since of Sop well Nunnery in Hertfordshire 
 on the little River Ver, so famous for its trout. 
 This pious woman would tuck her abbess 1 
 robes about her and wade and whip its waters. 
 She rode bravely also to hounds following 
 not the timid roes alone, but fearing not to en- 
 gage the wild boar. She wrote this little book, 
 which will prove to thee that the life of a nun 
 hath its pleasures, temporal as well as spiritual. 
 I will leave it on this bench, that you may say
 
 do PATIENCE. 
 
 truly that you found it, and need make no 
 mention of me." 
 
 While the Jesuit was speaking Patience 
 noticed an undersized man prowling about one 
 of the oldest towers. He had a bunch of 
 keys, and seemed to be trying unsuccessfully 
 to fit one to a lock in a postern gate. Finally 
 he put them all back in a pouch at his belt and, 
 putting his fingers to his lips, uttered a shrill 
 whistle. The Jesuit at once arose. " That is 
 my friend Owen Littlejohn," he said ; and bid- 
 ding Patience farewell, he glided away. 
 
 Left alone, Patience opened the book. It was 
 called " A Treatise on Hawking, Hunting, and 
 Fishing with an Angle," and was very quaintly 
 written in rhyme. The sporting abbess had 
 mingled allusions to the saints' days of the 
 Roman Catholic calendar with technical terms 
 used in hunting, so that it was difficult to tell 
 whether she held her sacred vocation or her 
 love for sport most at heart. Patience read on, 
 fascinated by the love of nature and by the 
 pleasure of puzzling out the antiquated lan- 
 guage : 
 
 "The season of the boar [wrote the prioress] is from the 
 
 Natyvytee, 
 
 Till the Puriflcacion of Our Ladye so free 
 For at the Natyvytee of Our Ladye sweet 
 He may find where he goeth under his feet,
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 01 
 
 Both in wood-es and fleld-es corn and other fruit 
 
 When he after food maketh any suit, 
 
 Crabbes and oak cornes [crabapples and acorns] and nottes 
 
 [nuts] where they grow, 
 Haws and hips, and other things enow. 
 That till the Purificacion lasteth, as ye see, 
 And maketh the boar in season to be." 
 
 Patience read until she had finished the book, 
 and then she hid it in her pocket. It had pre- 
 cisely the effect which the Jesuit had planned, 
 to make her wish that she had known this jolly 
 abbess so like Friar Tuck, and to feel that 
 Catholic priests and nuns were after all very 
 agreeable people. After the rehearsal Lady 
 Rich drove with Patience to Clopton House, a 
 stately manor owned by her friend Lady Joyce 
 Carew. They found this lady busily preparing 
 for her removal to London. She explained that 
 her husband had leased the property for the 
 hun tin sr season to a Mr. Kokewood, whose horses 
 
 O ' 
 
 were already in the stables, and were so fine 
 that the Countess might like to see them. 
 
 Lady Joyce threw a little wrap over her 
 shoulders, and led her guests to the stables. 
 One of the new grooms stood in the doorway. 
 He was as diminutive as a jockey should be, 
 but not young : his face was seamed with 
 wrinkles ; and Patience at once recognized the 
 uncanny little man, Owen Littlejohn, whom she
 
 62 PATIENCE. 
 
 had seen prowling about Kenilworth. She 
 was sure that he recognized her also, for he 
 caught himself in an involuntary duck of the 
 head. He moved aside grudgingly, and allowed 
 the ladies to enter the stables. 
 
 Lady Rich was fond of horses, and she patted 
 and caressed them, and noted their good points 
 enthusiastically. The groom followed them 
 about from stall to stall, but when Lady Joyce 
 asked him the predigree of a fine piebald racer, 
 he seemed strangely ignorant for a man who 
 had had the care of horses. 
 
 " I have never seen a horse marked like that," 
 said Lady Joyce ; " it must be a rare breed." 
 
 " I have seen one similar recently," said Lady 
 Rich ; and Patience remembered that the horse 
 on which Wrestling had ridden to London was 
 spotted in the same peculiar way. 
 
 As they returned to the house from the 
 stables, Patience saw the little man run across 
 the lawn and disappear from sight behind one 
 of the ivy-clad chimneys. She called Lady 
 Joyce's attention to this fact,but her ladyship 
 was positive that Patience was mistaken. 
 
 " He must be hiding in the angle still, if you 
 are correct," she said, u for there is no door or 
 window in the wall beyond the chimney." To 
 prove her assertion she led the way to the foot
 
 THE PRIEST'S HOLE. 03 
 
 of the chimney. There was no one standing 
 in its shelter, and there was apparently no 
 opening of any sort by which he could have 
 disappeared. 
 
 "You see that you were wrong," Lady Joyce 
 exclaimed triumphantly, " for he certainly 
 could not have sunk into the ground ! " 
 
 Patience was so certain of what she had 
 seen that she looked closely at the tangle of 
 creepers. It seemed to her that they had been 
 recently disturbed, for loose leaves were lying 
 on the grass. She pushed them aside with her 
 hands, and showed a small opening into the 
 chimney. 
 
 "That is probably a hole to remove ashes 
 and soot," said Lady Joyce, " but no one but a 
 chimney sweep could enter it." 
 
 "The groom was small enough to be a 
 sweep," said the Countess. " Perhaps he is 
 one, and has 'been ordered by your new ten- 
 ants to clean the chimney. Look in, Patience, 
 and tell us if anyone is there." 
 
 Patience lay down on the grass and pushed 
 herself forward until her head was inside the 
 opening. There was no one within, for she 
 could look straight up to the sky. She noticed, 
 however, that at short distances strong iron 
 bolts projected from the wall of the chimney,
 
 94 PATIENCE. 
 
 so that it would have been perfectly easy for a 
 man to mount from the ground to the roof. 
 There were three openings, probably for flues, 
 on the side of the chimney next to the house, 
 on the first, second, and third floors. 
 
 Withdrawing her head, Patience reported 
 what she had seen. Lady Joyce looked puzzled. 
 " There is no fireplace communicating with this 
 chimney on the ground floor," she said thought- 
 fully. " The library is on this side of the house, 
 but it is not a very large room. It does not 
 seem as if there was so much space inside as 
 between that window and this wall. On the 
 next story is my chamber, which is surely much 
 larger. In that room I have two fireplaces, 
 but the one communicating with this chimney 
 we never use, for when we light a fire in it the 
 draught is so poor that the smoke is driven 
 into the room. On the attic story the chimney 
 abuts against the oratory, and there is no fire- 
 place there, nor ever has been; the room is al- 
 ways cold, and a religious picture hangs where 
 you thought you saw the opening for a flue." 
 
 "It is certainly odd," said Lady Rich, " that 
 so great a chimney should have been con- 
 structed for no use. Did you mark, Patience, 
 whether it was lined with soot ? " 
 
 " Nay, my lady, it is as clean as though it
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 95 
 
 were built yesterday, save for swallows' nests, 
 though I saw no birds." 
 
 " There were swallows in that chimney," 
 said Lady Joyce ; " but lately there has been 
 a great commotion among them, and they have 
 deserted it for the chimney on the other side" 
 of the house." 
 
 " You spoke of the oratory," said Lady Eich. 
 " I have heard that Pope Sixtus authorized 
 one of your ancestors to have a chapel con- 
 secrated in this house, and to have mass per- 
 formed therein. That is no shame to you, 
 for it was before the Reformation, and every- 
 one knows what good Protestants your family 
 have been since then. I am curious to see the 
 oratory. Will you kindly show it to me ? " 
 
 They entered the house, which was a large 
 and rambling moated grange, with impish little, 
 figures in the stone carving about the doors 
 and windows. Within, the rooms were laby- 
 rinthine in their windings, with long passages 
 and several little staircases. Up one of these 
 they climbed to a long corridor in the attic. 
 
 "These rooms were intended for the serv- 
 ants, but not a maid of the house will enter this 
 corridor after dark," Lady Joyce explained. 
 "It is commonly reported haunted, and mys- 
 terious footsteps have been heard along it by
 
 96 PATIENCE. 
 
 the occupants of the chambers below; so the 
 entire floor has been given up to lumber rooms 
 and the ghosts. This is the oratory. As she 
 spoke she opened the door of a small room. 
 It was utterly vacant except for an altar, 
 above which hung a large oil-painting. The 
 canvas was so old and blackened that the sub- 
 ject was not at once discernible, but as Patience 
 gazed it came out with startling distinctness. 
 It was such a picture as Orcagna might have 
 painted the terrible Last Judgment, with the 
 wicked falling into the flames of the pit. Lady 
 Joyce uttered a cry of surprise. " The picture 
 has been changed ! " she exclaimed. " There 
 was a Saint Anthony of Padua there when I 
 was last in this room." 
 
 "When was that?" Lady Rich asked; but 
 Lady Joyce could not remember exactly : not 
 this summer, and she had been at court all the 
 previous winter, as lady-in-waiting for Queen 
 Anne, wife of King James, as in her youth she 
 had been for Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 She was much excited by the change in the 
 picture, but Lady Rich partially reassured her 
 by suggesting that her husband might have pur- 
 chased it and placed it here without her knowl- 
 edge. As they were talking, the sky became 
 darkened and a rumble of thunder was heard.
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 97 
 
 " We are going to have a shower," exclaimed 
 Lady Rich ; " we must hasten our departure ! " 
 On reaching the outer door they found that 
 they were too late; the rain was descending 
 in torrents. The coachman had sought the 
 shelter of the stables with the carriage, and 
 the only thing to be done was to await the 
 passing of the rain. 
 
 Lady Joyce ordered dinner, but after it was 
 over the storm increased, and her guests de- 
 cided to send the coachman home with word 
 that they had determined to remain over night. 
 
 Lady Joyce insisted that her guests should 
 occupy her own room, while she removed to 
 a smaller chamber across the hall. The two 
 ladies lingered chatting in the library, but 
 Patience retired early. As she sat in front of 
 the dressing-table combing her hair she dis- 
 tinctly heard footsteps along the corridor 
 above. Lady Joyce had told her that the 
 attic story was unoccupied. She did not be- 
 lieve in ghosts, and the conclusion which she 
 arrived at was that the noise must be made by 
 rats. Strange as it may seem, rats are very 
 reassuring and comforting animals. Patience 
 remembered similar experiences. How she 
 had been wakened in the middle of the night 
 by strange sounds as of robbers in the rooms
 
 98 PATIENCE. 
 
 below, how she had listened to their footsteps 
 mounting the stairs, and had lain staring into 
 the darkness paralyzed with terror, not daring 
 to spring from her bed and lock the chamber 
 door. Then there had come a creak of the 
 hinge, and she was sure that the mauraders 
 were in the room and that someone was creep- 
 ing stealthily along the floor toward the bed. 
 She had tried to shriek, but her throat was rigid. 
 Then suddenly there had been a wild scuffle, 
 a scramble and squeaking behind the arras. 
 Thank Heaven, there were rats in the house ! 
 
 What convinced Patience at this time that 
 the noises she had heard were not those of 
 human footfalls was that they were presently 
 transferred to the wall a shuffling, scraping 
 noise, as though rats, or possibly some larger 
 creatures, were climbing down the chimney. 
 She was a brave girl, and though frightened 
 she did not run out of the room or scream. 
 The noise seemed to descend cautiously and 
 with interruptions. Suddenly, just inside the 
 fireplace and below the mantel appeared two 
 human feet in low shoes with silver buckles, 
 then came two thin legs cased in black woolen 
 stockings, above and about them fluttering a 
 black gown; and Patience braced herself for 
 the appearance of a woman, possibly a witch
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 99 
 
 with her broomstick, which would not at all 
 have surprised her ; when suddenly the figure 
 appeared to let go its hold of some support 
 inside the chimney and there tumbled into the 
 room and stood erect the very man with whom 
 she had conversed in the garden at Kenilworth, 
 now dressed in the black robe of a priest. It 
 would be difficult to tell which was the more 
 surprised, but the priest recovered himself 
 first* "Fear not, my child," he said, "I 
 have more cause for fear than thou. Listen. 
 I am a hunted man in hiding. If thou betray- 
 est me vengeance will fall upon thee swiftly 
 and surely. Be silent, say nothing, and no 
 harm shall come to thee or thy friends." 
 
 " If I cry not, will you go away, far away ? " 
 Patience asked. 
 
 " Nay, I must remain for the present in these 
 walls ; but if thou art true to me I can be of 
 the greatest service to thy father. Child, it is 
 more than chance which has twice thrown thee 
 in my way. Hast thou told thy father what I 
 bade thee?" 
 
 " He is in Lincolnshire, and I thought to 
 send the message to him by a friend, one 
 Wrestling Brewster, who comes hither shortly 
 and will return to his parents and mine." 
 
 " Where is he now ? " 
 
 * See Note d, Appendix.
 
 100 PATIENCE. 
 
 "In London with Lord Rich. He had a 
 great desire to see Sir Walter Raleigh, who 
 hath ever been his hero, and Lord Rich 
 promised to effect this." 
 
 " Child, this happens wondrous opportunely. 
 Listen; the devices which I told thee were 
 hatching are to set Sir Walter at liberty, but it 
 is necessary to get word to him of their nature. 
 If this Wrestling would carry a message to him, 
 and deliver it secretly on parting, he would 
 make his release possible. Can the young man 
 keep a secret ; is he brave, is he to be trusted ? " 
 
 " All of these, good sir, and he would give his 
 life for Sir Walter." 
 
 " Then sit down quickly at this escritoire and 
 write as I bid thee. Say : * The bearer of this 
 letter [that is I, for I will hastily to London 
 and find him] will give to thee a sealed packet 
 for Sir Walter Raleigh from my Lord Carew, 
 from whose house I write. Deliver it with all 
 secrecy, for the lives of many depend upon it, 
 as well as the escape of our great friend.' 
 There ; thou canst sign thy name, and inclose 
 in the letter one for thy father touching the 
 knowledge I have of what is dark in his history. 
 Bid him haste." When Patience had finished, 
 the Jesuit took Lady Joyce's seal, which was 
 lying on the escritoire, and sealed the letter.
 
 THE PRIESTS HOLE. 101 
 
 " Remember," he said, " to be secret ; and 
 thou and I shall meet again." While Patience 
 was writing he had carelessly traced the signa- 
 ture of Sir George Carew from an open letter, 
 and having glanced at a card of invitation to 
 the masque which Lady Rich had brought her 
 friend, absent-mindedly bestowed it with the 
 letter which Patience had just written within 
 the breast of his gown. " Thou wilt be at this 
 masque," he said thoughtfully. " There is a 
 little postern gate opening on the garden where 
 I talked with thee. When the revel begins slip 
 away, unbolt it, and leave it ajar. I shall be re- 
 turning with Sir Walter, and shall take him 
 straight to Prince Henry, who meanwhile will 
 have secured his pardon from the King and, as 
 we hope, his appointment to Cecil's offices. 
 
 " I was planning all this with the Prince at 
 Kenilworth to-day. He had Ben Jonson write 
 the prologue with this denouement in view. 
 Raleigh is to take the part of Chivalry and be 
 hidden in the Prince's apartments until it is 
 time for him to appear upon the stage. If you 
 think of the prologue with this explanation, you 
 will see how cleverly it has been written to 
 serve as a presentation of the Prince's friend 
 restored to favor. All we need is a trusty 
 messenger to carry him a letter,"
 
 102 PATIENCE. 
 
 All this seemed very feasible to Patience. 
 She was too young to track the improbabilities, 
 or to suspect other schemes concealed beneath 
 the one represented. 
 
 Her face lighted with eagerness. "I will 
 help you with all my heart," she promised, 
 " and so will Wrestling and my father too." 
 " Where bide you, little maid ? " 
 " With Lady Rich at Warwick Castle." 
 " At Sir Fulke Greville's. Excellent! Know- 
 est thou the mill below the castle ? Be there 
 two nights hence at sundown, and I will tell thee 
 how our matter has prospered. Stay ! When 
 thou comest bring with thee any paper bearing 
 Sir Fulke's signature. I may need it for the 
 furtherance of the business. Courage and 
 secrecy, and we shall yet see Sir Walter at 
 liberty." So saying, the singular man retired 
 into the chimney, and Patience heard him 
 climbing, this time downward, she doubted not 
 to the ash-hole at the foot. She stepped to the 
 window (it had ceased raining, and the moon 
 was shining), and presently saw his dark form 
 cross the lawn toward the stables. A little 
 later he came out leading the piebald racer, 
 which he mounted ; and a moment later she 
 heard his hoofbeats on the hard highway 
 pounding away toward London.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 
 
 For whoso reaps renown above the rest 
 With heaps of hate shall surely be oppressed. 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 I do not love the Tower of any place. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 RESTLING enjoyed im- 
 mensely his ride to Lon- 
 don, and Lord Rich, see- 
 ing the boy's delight, did 
 everything in his power 
 to augment it. Some- 
 times they would turn 
 aside from the direct road 
 to visit a castle or an ab- 
 bey, and at the villages 
 in which they paused to 
 eat and sleep, if there 
 were fairs in the neigh- 
 borhood, he would take 
 Wrestling to see the morris dancing, the tight- 
 rope walking, or the itinerant players. "We 
 shall see better playing than this in London," 
 
 103
 
 104 PATIENCE. 
 
 he promised his protege. " I know Ben Jonson 
 weU. His plays are given by the children of 
 the chapel [choir boys] at Blackfriars, and 
 Will Shakspeare's at the Globe are well worth 
 seeing. That theater is near the Bear Garden, 
 and we may see some good sport there as well." 
 
 "I have never seen a bear-baiting," said 
 Wrestling, " and I do not think my father 
 would wish me to go." 
 
 " Beshrew him for a Puritan ! His sect will 
 have none of the sport, not because it gives 
 the bear pain, but because it pleasures the 
 beholder; and the Puritans' greatest grievance 
 against our sovereign lord the King is that 
 he writ the ' Book of Sports.' " 
 
 " My father would be merry if he had cause," 
 said Wrestling. " It is a hard business to be 
 lighted-hearted on compulsion. But I would 
 fain see a play of Shakspeare's, for Master 
 Bradstreet brought some of his writings to us, 
 which Love has read, and they sound neither 
 foolish nor wicked." 
 
 "Good, and I shall take thee to the Bear 
 Garden too. What was it, Bradstreet, that 
 Master Laneham wrote of the great bear- 
 baiting that Queen Elizabeth and her ladies 
 found so diverting in the court at Kenilworth ? 
 Thou canst say it by heart, I know."
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 105 
 
 " I learned it, not because I approved of the 
 sport," said Bradstreet, " but because it seemed 
 to me a trifle savage for noble ladies to look 
 upon. Listen ; what would your lady mother 
 say to entertainment such as this ? ' It was a 
 sport very pleezant of theeze beestz to see the 
 Bear with his pink eyes leering after his 
 enemy's approach, the nimbleness of the dogs 
 to take his advantage, and the force and 
 experience of the bear to avoid the assaults. 
 If he were bitten in one place how he would 
 pinch in another to get free, what shifts with 
 biting, clawing, with roaring, tossing, and 
 tumbling. And when he was loose to shake 
 his ears twice or thrice, with the blood and 
 slaver about his fiznamy [physiognomy] was a 
 matter of goodly releef.' " 
 
 " I see no amusement in that," said Wres- 
 tling, " beyond chasing an otter with a dog 
 nay, nor so much, for in the otter hunt one hath 
 the desire of capturing the wild beastie, while 
 the bear is already a captive, and his worriment 
 hath no end but torture." 
 
 Lord Rich took Bradstreet and Wrestling 
 directly to his father's town house. Here they 
 dined, and afterward went to see the perform- 
 ance of " The Tempest." The plot of the play 
 was suggested to Shakspeare by the spirit of
 
 106 PATIENCE. 
 
 discovery and maritime adventure then rife in 
 England. No explorer's story could be devised 
 too extravagant to receive the comment, 
 
 " I'll be sworn, 'tis true. Travelers ne'er did lie, 
 Though fools at home condemn them." 
 
 Wrestling was fascinated by the mixture 
 of realistic adventure and charming visions 
 of fairyland. The New World was all 
 an enchanted wonderland at this time its 
 geography, climate, productions, and inhabit- 
 ants all unknown and clad with romance. 
 The Spaniards were returning from Peru and 
 Mexico with ships laden with gold. The 
 existence of the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, 
 of fabulous cities wherein gems were as 
 common as cobblestones, was firmly credited. 
 Birds of wondrous plumage and entrancing 
 song, flowers of equally spendid color and 
 delicious perfume, tropical fruits and precious 
 metals were supposed to be abundant in the 
 interior of Virginia. It was said that beautiful 
 Amazons had offered Raleigh the kingship of 
 America, and that they had beaten their white 
 breasts with their golden shields and torn their 
 long hair in despair when he sailed away. 
 
 Other returned mariners told different stories 
 of hardship and disappointment, but resolute
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 107 
 
 spirits remained undaunted by their reports of 
 shipwrecks and encounters with fierce savages, 
 so long as the enchanted visions still hovered 
 beyond. The wreck of Sir George Somers' 
 ship, the Sea Venture, on the Island of Bermuda 
 created a great sensation in England. The 
 island was named by him the Isle of Devils, 
 on account of mysterious cries heard by his 
 crew similar to those described by Shakspeare. 
 The Indians were by some thought to be 
 demons, and by others a higher order of ape. 
 
 The question of how far discoverers had a 
 right to govern these barbaric nations and 
 force civilization upon them was discussed. 
 Caliban was the embodiment of these fancies 
 and queries ; and Shakspeare, with his wonder- 
 fully prescient mind, makes him foretell the 
 Indian's grievance : 
 
 " You taught me language; and my profit on't 
 Is I know how to curse." 
 
 Indeed, it seems as if there were no prob- 
 lems of our modern life which Shakspeare did 
 not anticipate. Schemes of colonization and 
 of socialism are discussed by him in " The 
 Tempest." * 
 
 * Gonzalo is such a socialist : 
 
 " I' the commonwealth no kind of traffic 
 Would I admit ; no name of magistrate ;
 
 108 PATIENCE. 
 
 Wrestling was greatly moved by this play, 
 the first which he had ever seen; and his 
 desire to explore the unknown country re- 
 ceived additional fuel. Lord Rich, too, gained 
 many new ideas, and discussed them with 
 Wrestling as they walked homeward after the 
 play. 
 
 The next morning Lord Rich went out early 
 to obtain permission for himself and for 
 Wrestling to visit Sir Walter Raleigh in the 
 Tower. Prince Henry was the stanch friend 
 of Raleigh, and it was owing to his patronage 
 that the prison life of his protege was not at 
 this time so rigorous as might have been ex- 
 pected by a man lying under sentence of death. 
 The Prince had striven passionately for a 
 pardon, but could only obtain a delay in the 
 execution of the sentence. He used to say 
 that only such a king as his father would keep 
 such a bird in a cage. It was not love of his 
 
 Letters should not be known ; riches, poverty, 
 And use of service, none ; contract, succession, 
 Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none." 
 No sovereignty : 
 
 "All things in common, Nature should produce 
 Without sweat or endeavor ; treason, felony, 
 Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any, engine, 
 Would I not have ; but Nature should bring forth, 
 Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance, 
 To feed my innocent people."
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 109 
 
 son which delayed King James' hand, but fear 
 of him, and of the party which he and Raleigh 
 represented. 
 
 Raleigh was a Non-conformist, and, without 
 identifying himself either with the Puritans or 
 Papists, had the sympathy of many in both 
 sects. Prince Henry was the hope of the 
 Puritan party. They could and did endure 
 the tyranny of James so long as there was a 
 prospect that the next reign would bring in 
 toleration, and Prince Henry had openly 
 asserted that if he ever came to the throne 
 none should be persecuted for conscience' sake ; 
 and there was a popular saying : 
 
 "The eighth Henry did pull down Monks and their cells, 
 The ninth will pull down Bishops and their bells." 
 
 Wrestling had been left alone that morning, 
 for Bradstreet had gone out to attend to some 
 business which would prevent his visiting Sir 
 Walter with them. 
 
 The boy had intended to take Mr. Fawkes' 
 horse to him while Lord Rich was obtaining 
 permission to enter the Tower, but immedi- 
 ately after that nobleman had left the mansion 
 the Jesuit arrived and asked for Master 
 Brewster. He was not dressed as a priest now, 
 but in the garb of an ordinary country gentle-
 
 110 PATIENCE. 
 
 man ; and the letter of introduction which he 
 brought from Patience at once prepossessed the 
 boy in his favor, and he accepted his invitation 
 to take a little stroll in the park, where they 
 could converse without being overheard. 
 
 The letter which the Jesuit wished Wres- 
 tling to deliver to Raleigh was, he assured him, 
 from Sir George Carew, and was apparently 
 simply one of friendly sympathy, but between 
 the lines directions for Raleigh's escape were 
 invisibly traced in milk. " If this letter is 
 stolen or taken from you by force," said the 
 Jesuit, " it is apparently innocent, and you run 
 no danger, but if you succeed in delivering it 
 you must manage to tell Sir Walter secretly, to 
 hold it close to the flame of a candle, and the 
 writing will appear, the milk scorching before 
 the paper. Say naught of my coming or of the 
 letter to Lord Rich except under compulsion, 
 for we cannot take too many precautions. 
 
 "I will tell you the entire plan of the rescue, 
 for it may be that you may be left with Sir 
 Walter long enough to explain it to him, even 
 if the letter is taken from you. Some altera- 
 tions are to be made in his cell, and he will 
 temporarily be removed to a tower over the 
 moat. On the night of November 4th his 
 sentinel will be drugged, and while he is
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. Ill 
 
 asleep the door of the cell will be unlocked 
 by another sentry, who has a grudge against 
 the sleeper, and will be only too glad of this 
 opportunity to effect his disgrace. This man 
 will allow Sir Walter to slip from his cell, but 
 will not risk his head by assisting him further. 
 In the lower story of the tower is a trap-door 
 through which he can drop into the moat. He 
 must swim to the tunnel through which the 
 moat empties into the Thames. At the mouth 
 of the tunnel he will find a small boat 
 anchored, by which he can cross to the oppo- 
 site side of the river, where Sir George Carew 
 and a few gentlemen will be waiting with 
 horses to take him to Prince Henry at Kenil- 
 worth. The window of his new cell can be 
 seen from this spot, and if at the moment he 
 leaves he places a lighted candle at its grating 
 his friends will know that he has started on 
 his perilous journey, and will on their side dis- 
 play a lantern at the spot where he must land." 
 Wrestling was intensely excited, and burned 
 to aid in Sir Walter's rescue. The Jesuit had 
 made use of all that he had learned from 
 Patience to completely gain the boy's confi- 
 dence, and the man's discrimination was so 
 acute that he knew he could safely trust him. 
 In after years Wrestling could never believe the
 
 112 PATIENCE. 
 
 man false ; he was certain that they had been 
 drawn together by the freemasonry of a com- 
 mon purpose and the recognition of each 
 other's earnestness. 
 
 In return for the confidence reposed in him, 
 Wrestling told the Jesuit of his errand with 
 Mr. *Guido Fawkes. 
 
 The priest was surprised and pleased. "Go 
 first to the Tower with Lord Bich," he said, 
 " and bring the horse around to his house this 
 afternoon. I will be there waiting for you to 
 learn how you have prospered." 
 
 As they parted the Jesuit caught his hand. 
 "One more precaution. Tell Sir Walter not 
 to set out unless he sees the lantern displayed 
 from the opposite bank." 
 
 " How will he tell it from any chance light ? " 
 Wrestling asked. 
 
 " Very fortunately," replied the priest, "the 
 lantern which will be used is of green glass. 
 It is one Fawkes brought with him from for- 
 eign parts. I do not think there is another like 
 it in London. Sir Walter cannot mistake it. 
 Let him wait for the emerald signal." 
 
 The Jesuit lifted his hand in blessing as they 
 parted, and Wrestling returned to the house to 
 wait for Lord Rich, who presently arrived and 
 took him to the Tower.
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 113 
 
 A shudder ran through his frame when the 
 heavy outer gate of the Tower clanged behind 
 him, as they passed through the massive gate 
 lodge. 
 
 Within he looked about him curiously, and 
 Lord Rich pointed out the different buildings. 
 The central enormous square keep, called the 
 White Tower, and sometimes erroneously 
 Caesar's Tower, was built by William the Con- 
 queror, and greatly interested Wrestling. Sir 
 Walter Raleigh was confined in the Bloody 
 Tower, a name of evil omen; but, excepting that 
 his rooms were very cold, he was comfortably 
 lodged, and was allowed occasionally to see 
 friends. They were obliged to wait for a few 
 minutes, for a visitor was already with him. 
 
 He came out presently, a young man jauntily 
 dressed, but holding his plumed hat in front of 
 his face, as though desirous of escaping recog- 
 nition, but on catching sight of Lord Rich he 
 exclaimed : " You here, my lord ! I thought 
 you were at Cambridge." 
 
 " I return to the University soon," replied 
 Lord Rich, " but first I must take part in a 
 tilting at Kenilworth." 
 
 " Well found ! Sir Everard Digby was telling 
 me of that tilting, and would fain have an 
 invitation for himself and friends. Can you
 
 114 PATIENCE. 
 
 manage it for him ? He entertains a hunting 
 party after the hay is cut somewhere in War- 
 wickshire. I will see that you are invited to 
 it. The guests are all members of Parlia- 
 ment." 
 
 " But Parliament sits on the 5th. You must 
 be misinformed. And how comes it, Tresham, 
 that I find you here ? I knew not that you 
 were a friend of Sir Walter's." 
 
 " No more am I," replied the other sullenly, 
 dropping his hat and showing the print of a 
 slap, red upon his cheek. "Do you see that 
 mark ? That blow will cost him dear. I had 
 my rapier half out of its sheath, but I bethought 
 me in time, and bowed myself out politely. 
 Cecil has him in his claws. I need not trouble 
 myself to teach him good manners no, nor to 
 get him out, since he is so fond of prison that 
 he is squeamish as to his method of exit. The 
 King and his courtiers must come, forsooth, and 
 beg him to leave ! A plague on him and on 
 the Tower ! It gives me an ague to enter it. 
 My teeth are chattering with the cold. Let him 
 rot here, I say ! The place is not so attractive 
 that I shall ever darken his door again." 
 
 " Now, what has angered Tresham, I wonder ? " 
 said Lord Rich as they followed the jailer. " I 
 am glad Sir Walter likes him not, for he is not
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 115 
 
 a man to be trusted. And what the deuce did 
 he mean by saying the htint would take place 
 after the hay is cut? Why, here we are in 
 November, and it was cut long ago ! " 
 
 Wrestling hardly noticed this remark at the 
 time, for a moment later they were in the pres- 
 ence of Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 He sat beside a table littered with papers, 
 and books were piled on chests and upon the 
 floor. His dress, which in his days of prosperity 
 was always elegant in the extreme, was plain, 
 but in perfect order the small ruff spotlessly 
 clean, his beard trimmed, and all his clothing 
 carefully brushed, and every lacing tied with 
 as scrupulous care as if he were still in the 
 public eye. Punctiliousness was evidently the 
 second nature of the man, but so thoroughly 
 habit that he gave it no thought, his mind 
 while dressing being occupied with more im- 
 portant matters. 
 
 His attitude now was one of deep absorp- 
 tion in his work, which he had attacked with 
 feverish haste as soon as Tresham's unwelcome 
 interruption was over. He did not at first 
 notice the entrance of other guests, and on hear- 
 ing Lord Rich's greeting threw back his head 
 with a gesture of impatience ; but on recogniz- 
 ing his visitor a smile of rare sweetness illumined
 
 116 PATIENCE. 
 
 his grave face, and lie sprang to his feet and 
 extended his hand with courtly grace. 
 
 There were but two chairs in the room, and 
 Wrestling stood respectfully until Sir Walter 
 waved him to a chest, where he squeezed him- 
 self between a geographical globe and a pile of 
 great volumes. The two gentlemen fell to 
 earnest conversation, and Wrestling, who was 
 simply a listener, drank in everything they said 
 as a thirsty soil drinks in the rain. 
 
 They spoke of the New World, to which 
 Raleigh longed to return. He believed in the 
 existence of the fabled El Dorado somewhere 
 on the Orinoco, and hoped soon under the 
 patronage of Prince Henry to lead an expedi- 
 tion to its gold mines, guarded by dog-headed 
 men. 
 
 Lord Rich was most interested, and they bent 
 together over maps and discussed projects of 
 exploration and colonization. 
 
 " With your spirit fired with such high en- 
 terprises," said the younger nobleman, "I see 
 not how you can have patience to bear this 
 present grievous confinement." 
 
 " It is not grievous. I am rendering myself 
 immortal. I am engaged on a work so vast 
 (my ' History of the World ') that I shall need 
 to spend the remainder of my life in prison to
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 117 
 
 accomplish it; so fascinating, that while at work 
 upon it I do not rniss nay freedom. I have, 
 too, another great happiness my wife is al- 
 lowed to visit me from time to time. I see 
 more of Bess than, when the world called us 
 fortunate. She has taken rooms on Tower Hill, 
 and devotes herself to ministering to me. Hers 
 is a heroic heart, whose depth of devotion I 
 might never have known had it not been thus 
 cruelly tried." 
 
 " Even so," replied Lord Rich. " I cannot 
 understand how the thought that you are lying 
 under sentence of death, and may at any mo- 
 ment be summoned to your death, can be en- 
 dured with such equanimity. The uncertainty 
 and helplessness would drive me mad." 
 
 " My dear fellow," Raleigh replied with a 
 sweet smile, "the world itself is but a larger 
 prison, from which every human being may at 
 any moment be ordered to execution. You, 
 too, are under sentence of death, and are as un- 
 certain as to the date, and as helpless to resist 
 it, as I ; arid yet that is no reason why you 
 should not be cheerful, or strive to fill in your 
 time to the best advantage. It is not that I 
 fear death that I would live longer, but because 
 life is still full of zest for me. There are prob- 
 lems which I would like to solve I would love
 
 118 PATIENCE. 
 
 to plant a successful colony in Virginia, and to 
 conquer Guiana for England. On my last voy- 
 age I talked with an Indian, whom I named 
 Harry, who knew for a certainty the situation 
 of El Dorado, and he will guide me to the gold 
 mines, the most productive in the world. They 
 are in the interior of Guiana, but it is pos- 
 sible to approach to their vicinity on the 
 Orinoco." 
 
 " How do you know that you will find this 
 Indian again, if you should make this hazardous 
 voyage ? " 
 
 "I will tell you a secret," said Raleigh 
 " Harry is now in London." 
 
 " Verily ! " 
 
 "He was captured by the Spaniards and 
 taken to Spain, but he liked not his captors, 
 and had a strong affection for me. He would 
 tell them nothing of El Dorado, and escaped 
 from the Spanish ships at the Azores. Here 
 he lingered until he saw a ship in the harbor 
 flying the English flag. He thought for a cer- 
 tainty that I must be on board, and he paddled 
 out to it in a canoe which he had stolen. The 
 only English words which he could repeat were 
 my name and England. SirFerdinando Gorges 
 was in command and brought him to London and 
 to me. It was pitiful to see his joy, and much
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 119 
 
 more so his sorrow when he understood that I 
 was a prisoner. I had learned his language, and 
 we talked long together. He promised to stay 
 in London until I am set at liberty. ' But how 
 will you support yourself ? ' I asked. Then the 
 devoted creature told me that the managers of 
 the Bear Garden had offered to give him board 
 and lodging for the privilege of exhibiting him 
 as an Indian wonder. You can see him there 
 any night. He fights the bear, dances and per- 
 forms feats of strength and agility, all for love 
 of me, waiting for the time when we can sail 
 together for El Dorado. He will tell the secret 
 
 O 
 
 of the mines to none other. I could make my- 
 self governor of those lands and amass untold 
 wealth, but I desire only to pour the gold into 
 the King's exchequer and prevent the mines be- 
 ing seized by Spain." 
 
 " How your enemies wronged you," ex- 
 claimed Lord Rich, " when they tried to prove 
 that you were implicated in a plot against the 
 King!" 
 
 Raleigh's eye glowed angrily. " This very 
 morning," he exclaimed, smiting the table with 
 his fist, " I have been sounded as to my willing- 
 ness to engage in a plot against the King's life ! " 
 
 " It is more than likely," replied Lord Rich, 
 " that there is no plot, and the emissary was
 
 120 PATIENCE. 
 
 sent directly from the King, or from Cecil, to 
 implicate you." 
 
 " Think you so. ? " asked Kaleigh. " But he 
 showed me a list of good names of honest gen- 
 tlemen whom I know well, signed to an oath 
 
 ' O 
 
 of compact. I was on the point of writing 
 Prince Henry." 
 
 " And some of these men were ? " 
 
 " Sir Edward Digby and Lord Catesby." 
 
 " Catholic malcontents ; still, as you say, hon- 
 est gentlemen, who would not give themselves 
 to such villainy. Trust me, that if you report 
 their names to the Prince you will only bring 
 them undeservedly into trouble. That is a 
 part of the plot, doubtless." 
 
 " But I cannot implicate them without also 
 entangling Tresham." 
 
 " There is more than Tresham here ; he is but 
 Cecil's tool, for whose safety his master cares 
 not, so he can strike a blow at thee and the 
 Papists as well." 
 
 " Now, I mind me, the names were not all 
 those of Catholics ; there were some good Puri- 
 tans also." 
 
 " And, as such, enemies against Cecil. Why, 
 man, it stands to reason, these divers sorts and 
 conditions of men would never consort together 
 for any purpose, much less for aught so danger-
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 121 
 
 ous and secret as such a plot as this. Thy 
 friendship with Prince Henry is known, and 
 Cecil counts on thy ruining all these good gen- 
 tlemen by reporting them to him as assassins." 
 
 " 'Sdeath ! Thou art right. Let Cecil do 
 his own informing ; I will be no party to it, and 
 I will balk him yet. The treasury is empty 
 even the confiscation of the estates of the Cath- 
 olics cannot fill it. I alone have the knowledge 
 of the gold mines of El Dorado. The King 
 loves me not, but you will see he will yet set 
 me free. I am too valuable to be slain." 
 
 At this point Raleigh's glance fell upon 
 Wrestling, and he asked, " What is the name of 
 this goodly youth ? " 
 
 " Wrestling Brewster, at your service, my 
 lord," the lad replied. 
 
 " Art thou the son of that Brewster who was 
 secretary to my friend Sir William Davison ? " 
 
 "The same, my lord." 
 
 " I knew him well. He had the parts of a 
 statesman, and many of Davison's master 
 strokes were doubtless conceived by him. But 
 he never learned finesse, that part of statecraft 
 which demands double-dealing, and he could 
 never abide cruelty. He had no sympathy for 
 the cause which Mary Stuart represented, but 
 he would have saved her from death had it
 
 122 . PATIENCE. 
 
 been in his power. I read his letter to her 
 Grace. It was writ with a pretty pen and an 
 untramineled spirit. 
 
 "Our good Queen Elizabeth of sainted mem- 
 ory was a woman after all, and at times un- 
 reasonable ; but Davison held his head proudly, 
 for he knew he was in the right, and thy father 
 couched Davison's bold words in most courteous 
 language. By the rood, it was the hand of 
 steel in a velvet glove ! But our virgin Queen 
 would not brook being withstood, and Davi- 
 son fell from favor. Thy father stood by his 
 patron when he was in disgrace, and lost every 
 opportunity for his own advancement in mov- 
 ing heaven and earth in behalf of Davison. 
 Tresham tells me that he heads the Puritan 
 party in the north ; stay, his name was on that 
 paper Tresham showed me. Here is an op- 
 portunity to know whether it is truly a plot of 
 the Puritans and Papists, or only a trap of 
 Cecil's. Dost know aught of this, my lad ? Did 
 thy father intrust thee with any message to 
 me?" 
 
 " He bade me tell you, honored sir, how 
 much you have won the hearts of those of our 
 faith by your patient endurance of your suffer- 
 ings, from which he prays you may have speedy 
 deliverance. His own thoughts have been 
 
 O
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 123 
 
 turned toward the new world beyond the seas, 
 and were it not that we still wait for justice for 
 the accession of Prince Henry, a large body of 
 Puritans would emigrate to Virginia." 
 
 Raleigh looked at Lord Rich significantly. 
 " That has not the same temper as the paper 
 which Tresham showed me. It was a vile for- 
 gery, without doubt. I would thou hadst been 
 here, my lad, to have told me whether that was 
 thy father's signature or not. There were other 
 names following thy father's which Tresham 
 told me were those of prominent Puritans. I 
 will name those I remember. There was one 
 John Robinson. Is he a dangerous fanatic who 
 would incite his hearers to insurrection and re- 
 volution ? " 
 
 Lord Rich laughed aloud. "I have heard 
 him preach. He counseled his flock to depart 
 in peace." 
 
 " So doth he ever," said Wrestling. 
 
 " And Thomas Dudley, is he an inordinately 
 ambitious and discontented man plotting deep 
 schemes for his own advancement like the sons 
 of Northumberland ? " 
 
 Again Lord Rich laughed. " He is a most de- 
 voted friend and wise business agent to the 
 Earl of Lincoln, a sober and calm thinker and 
 speaker, and a loyal subject."
 
 124 PATIENCE. 
 
 " Captain Dudley," said Wrestling, " hath no 
 time for ambition, and he hath such a sweet 
 family that he could not be discontented. 
 And then, first of all," the boy added, " he is 
 a shrewd and cautious business man. He 
 would never embark in any undertaking with- 
 out counting the cost in hard silver. His 
 adversaries have never been able to get the 
 better of him in a bargain, though he is honest 
 to the last penny. Some of the Earl's tenants, 
 hearing that he would not look over accounts or 
 do business on the Lord's Day, came from a dis- 
 tance on the Sabbath to pay a large sum of 
 money, intending to discredit him with the Earl 
 if he let them go away with it. But Captain 
 Dudley saw through their device, and caused 
 them to be shown into his office, and told them 
 to count out the gold, for he would see them 
 presently. He waited until they had so done, 
 when he entered the room with a servant, who, 
 while his master was greeting the men, locked 
 the bags of gold in the great treasure chest. 
 Which done, the Captain bade them come on 
 the morrow for their receipt, or remain where 
 they were to watch the chest if they had ill 
 suspicions, as he would sign no papers on 
 the Sabbath. Judge if a man combining such 
 shrewdness with principle is likely to under-
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 125 
 
 take of his own accord, or be inveigled into, dia- 
 bolical and murderous plots." 
 
 " It is impossible," Sir Walter admitted ; " but 
 bid him look to himself, for there are those 
 plotting against him." 
 
 " And now, my lord," said Wrestling, for he 
 saw that he was likely to have no opportunity 
 of seeing Raleigh alone, " though I have 
 brought no written message from my father 
 or the Puritans, yet have I a message of an- 
 other sort for thee from thy friend Sir George 
 Carew." And he took the letter which the 
 Jesuit had given him from his pocket and 
 handed it to Sir Walter. 
 
 " How earnest thou by that letter ? " asked 
 Lord Rich, looking at Wrestling keenly. 
 
 " In a way it was from thy lady mother," 
 replied Wrestling, "for Patience Dudley sent 
 it to me from Warwick, and she wrote that 
 both she and Lady Rich were visiting at my 
 Lord Carew's." 
 
 " 'Tis true," Lord Rich replied ; " my mother 
 told me she was going to Cloptori House to 
 see Lady Carew, who is an old friend of hers." 
 
 " And Sir George is my best friend. I have 
 named my son for him. We were the best of 
 comrades in Ireland, and Lady Joyce has be- 
 friended my poor Bess." Raleigh opened the
 
 126 PATIENCE. 
 
 letter and read it wonderingly. " There is 
 naught here of any import," he said. 
 
 " Perhaps there is more than appears, my 
 lord," said Wrestling. " It would be well after 
 we are .gone to burn the letter, but before it 
 is wholly consumed 
 
 "I catch thy meaning but, stay, is this of 
 a piece with Tresham's business ? " 
 
 " Trust me, it is not, my lord. I know not 
 this Tresham, and this letter came as I have 
 said. I know the handwriting of Patience 
 Dudley, and I know, too, that she cannot lie. 
 The matter which you will find writ between 
 the lines you may rely upon. I will answer 
 for it with my life." 
 
 " And I know the writing of George Carew," 
 said Raleigh ; " this is surely his, and the letter 
 was sealed with his seal. He, too, would 
 never lie. I will trust it, my boy, whatever be 
 the contents, if you can tell me that you know 
 them, for your face is one to be trusted." 
 
 Wrestling fell on his knees and lifted 
 Raleigh's hand to his lips. " I know what it 
 says, my lord, and Patience knows and your 
 friends in Warwickshire. It is Prince Henry's 
 plan, though my Lord Carew will execute it. 
 But stir not unless the light displayed is 
 green."
 
 PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. 127 
 
 "Read it, oiy lord," Lord Rich begged. 
 " Let me also have a hand in the matter." 
 
 " Nay, not yet. It were better that you 
 should be able to say that you know naught of 
 it, as Carew evidently intended, or he would 
 have confided in you. Ah ! here comes my 
 good friend, the keeper. It seems our inter- 
 view has lasted too long. Farewell ; and thou, 
 my boy, if ever I sail for El Dorado I'll take 
 thee for my cabin boy, for thou hast a brave 
 spirit, and I believe couldst never betray thy 
 captain." 
 
 Wrestling went out with his heart in a 
 tumult of emotion. 
 
 " And such a man is imprisoned under sen- 
 tence of death ! " he cried. " I would give my 
 life to liberate him." 
 
 " Silence," said Lord Rich warningly, " or you 
 may give it to no purpose, and mine, too, for 
 which I have even more concern." 
 
 They parted outside the Tower, for Lord 
 Rich and Bradstreet were to ride to Warwick 
 to attend the tilting at Kenilworth, after 
 which they would return to Cambridge. 
 Wrestling was to start for borne, riding by 
 post that afternoon, but first he had to return 
 Guy Fawkes' horse, and it was in doing this 
 errand that a remarkable adventure befell him.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT AND CERTAIN OTHER 
 MATTERS. 
 
 " Remember, remember the fifth of November, 
 
 Remember the Gunpowder Plot; 
 I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason 
 Should ever be forgot." 
 
 HILIPPA had told 
 Wrestling that he 
 would find her father 
 at Mr. Percy's house, 
 next to the Parlia- 
 ment buildings. But 
 as these were veiy exten- 
 sive, he rode quite around 
 them before discovering 
 the right house. 
 
 As he approached he 
 saw the Jesuit enter, and 
 he gave the horse into the care of a boy 
 who was waiting in front of the Parliament 
 House for such employment, and knocked at 
 the door. The Jesuit opened it, and led him 
 
 128
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 129 
 
 into a small reception room at the left of the 
 hall, where he listened eagerly to Wrestling's 
 account of his performance of his errand. 
 
 " You have done well," he said approvingly, 
 " and may congratulate yourself that you have 
 helped to rescue Sir Walter Raleigh, that you 
 have indeed been one of the links in the chain 
 without which the rescue could not have been 
 accomplished." 
 
 Wrestling's face flushed with pleasure. 
 " Oh, sir ! if I might only see the rescue, and be 
 with the party when Sir Walter joins it. If 
 I could do nothing more than swing the lan- 
 tern, it would be a joy and a privilege to be 
 remembered all my life." 
 
 The Jesuit looked at the lad with real affec- 
 tion. 
 
 "Nay, my son, this is a task for men. It 
 were better for thee to be miles away when 
 that rendezvous takes place. There may be 
 wild work, as there is certain to be rough riding 
 that night. Go back to thy home, with the 
 blessing of Father Green way," and he made the 
 sign of the cross above Wrestling's head. 
 
 " I have brought Mr. Fawkes his horse," said 
 Wrestling. " Is he at home ? " 
 
 " He will need it for that long ride after the 
 hay is cut, and he will be in presently," replied
 
 130 PATIENCE. 
 
 the Jesuit. " I am going to him, and will tell 
 him that you await him here." 
 
 Wrestling wondered at the repetition of this 
 strange phrase, " when the hay is cut." He waited 
 a long time, but no one came ; and as he had 
 nothing better to do he took particular notice 
 of everything in the room. The first thing 
 which impressed itself upon his consciousness 
 was the dust. It covered everything : the 
 chairs, the table, the fireplace, in which there 
 was no fire, nor even wood, though the weather 
 was cold, and it was so thick upon the window 
 that it was almost impossible to see through 
 it. His first thought was that it looked like a 
 house that had been long unoccupied, and that 
 neither Philippa nor any other woman could be 
 here, or she would have kept it in better order. 
 It was very desolate and cheerless. On the 
 table stood an empty bottle and two dirty 
 glasses, and beside them a folded paper, which 
 for some reason which he could not explain had 
 a familiar aspect. It was written over with 
 names, signed one after another in a long 
 column, and as he looked he fancied that he 
 recognized his father's. Suddenly he thought 
 of the paper of which Sir Walter Raleigh had 
 spoken, and he seized document and examined 
 it closely.
 
 TjW 
 
 ; 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 131 
 
 " We, the undersigned, do heartily approve 
 and indorse all that Mr. Guido Fawkes and his 
 comrades have done or may do in the removal 
 of King James and his parliament, to the end 
 that he whose right it is may rule and persecu- 
 tions be at an end." 
 
 This must be the diabolical compact which 
 had so roused Sir Walter's indignation. It 
 was signed by the names he had mentioned ; 
 and here was his father's, no forgery, but his 
 own peculiar and well-known autograph. For 
 a moment the boy's heart stood still with 
 horror, as he saw before him the evidence that 
 his dearly loved and honored father was an 
 anarchist and a felon. Then came as violent a 
 reaction, as he remembered Lord Rich's reason- 
 ing on the case, and he sought for some indica- 
 tion that this was the work of a traitor. It 
 came overwhelmingly. The signatures of John 
 Robinson, John Bradford, Thomas Dudley, and 
 many others with whose peculiarities Wrestling 
 was familiar were all genuine, but they were 
 on a piece of paper which had been cleverly 
 pasted onto the compact itself, and the convic- 
 tion burst upon him with a flash that this was 
 the page which had been torn from the church 
 record in his father's desk which contained the 
 signatures of the members of the Puritan
 
 132 PATIENCE. 
 
 church at Scrooby. Wrestling put the paper 
 in his pocket, his first impulse being to flee with 
 it, but a cool audacity which ever grew within 
 him when he was in danger, prompted him to 
 probe this business still further. In what way 
 was Guido Fawkes going to " remove " the King, 
 and to what place was he to be removed ? 
 Philippa had said that they were soon to sail 
 to a foreign country. This strange, lonely 
 house was on the water side ; was the King to be 
 kidnaped and carried into Spain, and the deed 
 laid to the door of the Puritans and Raleigh, 
 who were known to desire the succession of 
 Prince Henry ? 
 
 He determined to explore the house and dis- 
 cover what was going on within it. Accord- 
 ingly he mounted to the second story, which 
 contained only two rooms, a bedroom and 
 another nearly filled with earth. This seemed 
 to him very remarkable, and he could think of 
 no possible use for all this clayey soil emptied 
 into a good room. It could not be the inten- 
 tion of the owner to change it into a conserva- 
 tory, or to cultivate any sort of plant here, for 
 the room was too dark. In the bed-room a 
 valise was packed and strapped, as though 
 ready for travel, and a long cloak and slouched 
 hat hung upon the wall, but there was no other
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 133 
 
 clothing. It seemed to be a room used merely 
 for the moment, rather than as a habitual resi- 
 dence. Indeed, the entire house had this air. 
 The dining room back of the reception room 
 was unfurnished, and had evidently not been 
 recently used. Mr. Fawkes must take his 
 meals outside at some coffee-house. There 
 remained only the cellars to be explored, and 
 Wrestling started down with some misgivings. 
 It was midday, and a little light shone in 
 through a window near the first floor. At the 
 foot of the stairs a strange sight met the boy's 
 astonished gaze. A tunnel had been dug from 
 the cellar toward the Parliament House. It 
 was evident now that the earth had been 
 carried to the upper room after the cellar itself 
 contained no more room for it. Pickaxes, 
 shovels, baskets, and a barrow lay on the 
 ground, and a lantern swung from the rafters. 
 The miners had ceased operations after encoun- 
 tering a stone wall, through which they had 
 partly penetrated. 
 
 Even now Wrestling did not entirely com- 
 prehend what this meant. He was possessed 
 with the notion that the tunnel had been dug 
 as a passage through which to spirit away the 
 King, and had no idea of the intention of the 
 conspirators to blow up Parliament while it
 
 134 PATIENCE. 
 
 was in session. Still he knew enough to be 
 certain that here was a great villainy, and that 
 it was his duty to disclose it. If he could only 
 have the benefit of Sir Walter's advice, but he 
 was locked in that dreadful Tower, and Lord 
 Rich and Master Bradstreet were on their way 
 to Warwick. Perhaps he could overtake them. 
 He sprang toward the outer door and ran 
 straight into the arms of Mr. Guido Fawkes. 
 
 This gentleman pushed Wrestling from him 
 so violently that the boy fell backward, 
 striking the back of his head on the hard floor. 
 Fawkes locked the street door, then turned 
 and commanded Wrestling to get up. He did 
 so painfully, for he was still dazed with his 
 fall. 
 
 " I see you have brought my horse," said 
 Fawkes; "it was an honest act. Why were 
 you in such haste to leave my house? You 
 need not answer. You have been prying 
 about, and think you have discovered some 
 mighty secret. Well, since you know too 
 much, you shall know more. You know too 
 much for an outsider, and we need more help 
 inside. I liked you when I saw you in Sher- 
 wood Forest, and Father Green way believes in 
 you. You were good to us, and I will repay 
 your kindness. You shall be one of us. You
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 135 
 
 have as much cause to hate King James as we 
 have. Frankly, then, when we have done our 
 business there will be no King James." 
 Wrestling shuddered. 
 
 O 
 
 "If he died of accident, and Prince Henry 
 were made King, thou wouldst rejoice 
 
 " Accident ? But you mean to murder him." 
 
 " Nay, boy ; but I will murder thee if thou 
 turnest traitor. My hand shall not touch the 
 King, I promise thee that. I will neither stab, 
 shoot, nor poison him. Art thou content ? No, 
 nor contrive his death by drowning, starving, 
 hanging, nor by the hand of any other mortal 
 man. He shall be struck by an unseen power, 
 and we 'shall be miles away when he dies." 
 
 Wrestling was not satisfied, but he saw that 
 he must feign acquiescence or be killed, and he 
 submitted with as good grace as he could 
 command. 
 
 " Now come with me," said Fawkes. " There 
 is work to be done. Thou hast come oppor- 
 tunely. Fetch up the barrow from the cellar. 
 We must unload the barge that thou seest at 
 the landing. I have turned wine merchant, and 
 have rented a cellar under the Parliament 
 House in which to store my spirits. Nay, look 
 not for the horse ; I sent the boy with it to the 
 stables ere I came in."
 
 136 PATIENCE. 
 
 He led Wrestling to a small barge fastened 
 to the wharf, and together they put on shore a 
 large quantity of kegs. They worked the en- 
 tire afternoon in unlading the barge. 
 
 " We will dine now and rest a while," said 
 Fawkes, " and store them afterward." 
 
 They went into the house and washed their 
 hands, and while there the man Percy that 
 Wrestling had seen tampering with his father's 
 papers came in. He did not recognize Wres- 
 tling, though he asked suspiciously who he was. 
 
 " A friend," Fawkes replied ; and they went 
 out together to a low restaurant in the neigh- 
 borhood. Wrestling kept his eyes open for a 
 chance to run away, but none offered, and he 
 determined to improve the situation by learning 
 as much as he could of the conspiracy. Other 
 men joined the two, and Wrestling, eating at a 
 table at a little distance, listened with all his 
 ears. 
 
 "Parliament will convene day after to-mor- 
 row," said Fawkes. " Is all ready?" 
 
 " Not quite," replied Percy. " You were al- 
 ways in such a hurry, Fawkes. There is more 
 to be done than simply to touch the match. In 
 the first place, what has been done to save the 
 Catholic members of Parliament from destruc- 
 tion with the rest ? "
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 137 
 
 " Sir Everard Digby has planned all that," 
 replied Fawkes. " He has invited them to a 
 great hunting party in Warwickshire." 
 
 " The rendezvous, I suppose, is at nay Lord 
 Catesby's at Dunchurch ? " 
 
 " Not at all. We do not want to have any- 
 thing suspicious going on there. The guests 
 will meet at Clopton House, Carew's place." 
 
 " But, Fawkes, Carew is not in the plot." 
 
 Wrestling pricked his ears still more in- 
 tensely, while feigning to have fallen asleep. 
 What he most desired to know was whether this 
 diabolical plot to murder the King had any con- 
 nection with the Jesuits' scheme to release Sir 
 Walter Raleigh. The mention of Carew as hav- 
 
 j 
 
 ing no part in the former made him hope that 
 the two plans were entirely distinct ; but he 
 was not long allowed to cherish this illusion. 
 
 " That is where the genius of our friend the 
 Jesuit shows itself," said Fawkes. "He was 
 here to-day. 'Tis a long head. Carew is 
 known to be loyal to the King, and is now at- 
 tending him. His house will not be suspected. 
 Rokewood has hired it for the hunting season, 
 and has his horses there ready for the next 
 move, while the Jesuit has established himself 
 in a secret chamber. Most fortunately, there is 
 a Catholic chapel in the house, properly conse-
 
 138 PATIENCE. 
 
 crated, and here the Jesuit will confess all the 
 gentlemen who engage in the enterprise. There 
 is to be a tilting at Kenilworth on the very 
 evening after our coup d'etat. Invitation cards 
 will be obtained for all our party. As soon as 
 the hay is cut you will all gallop to Warwick, 
 and carry the news to Clopton House, where 
 you will change horses, and, joined by the 
 Catholic members of Parliament, will ride on to 
 Kenilworth. There the cards of invitation will 
 admit to the castle, which you will hold; and, 
 entering the hall of revels, the party will sur- 
 round the royal family and proclaim Prince 
 Charles King. King Henry will have perished 
 with his father. The deed will be laid to the 
 Puritans." 
 
 " But our party will not be strong enough to 
 hold the castle. Why, man, all the nobility of 
 the country round will be there at the tilting ! " 
 
 " Nay ; Parliament having convened, it will be 
 sparsely attended. It is rather a rehearsal of 
 the revels to take place at Christmas time at 
 Whitehall than aught else. The ladies-in-wait- 
 ing and a few country gentlemen, with a hand- 
 ful of young men who take part in the sports, 
 make up the company. These can be easily 
 overpowered. Besides, the Jesuit has had 
 promise if the signature of Sir Fulke Greville,
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 139 
 
 who commands the garrison at Warwick, can be 
 obtained, he will forge an order for the cavalry- 
 men to proceed to Kenilworth under the com- 
 mand of my Lord Digby. Now, what more is 
 to be done ? Parliament convenes on the 5th ; 
 at noon precisely the bolt shall fall." 
 
 " You ask what more is to be done ; know 
 you not that Tresham failed utterly with Sir 
 "Walter ? He will have nothing to do with the 
 scheme." 
 
 "I know it, Percy. Tresham came to my 
 house and threw down the compact in a pretty 
 temper, saying we must forge Sir Walter's 
 signature. He is too sly a fox; he will not 
 show his head from his earth. He evidently 
 suspects the truth, that we merely wish to impli- 
 cate him and his friends in the plot, and have 
 no intention of liberating him. But the Jesuit 
 has sent another messenger, whom he will 
 trust." 
 
 " Who is it ? " 
 
 " That lad who sits yonder asleep. The 
 priest forged a letter from Sir George 
 Carew and sent it in after Tresham failed so 
 vilely ; and our trout rose to that bait. At mid- 
 night of the 4th he will escape. He will an- 
 swer our signals, will come to us ; and we will 
 bring him to my house and lock him in
 
 140 PA TIENCK 
 
 cellar, where he will be found after the explo- 
 sion. Then let him explain his complicity if 
 he can. He will be supposed to have done or 
 authorized the deed, and to be in hiding." 
 
 " A complicated scheme, but it will be enough 
 if he attempts to escape. Should he be arrested 
 before we succeed in bagging him we would be 
 almost as well served. Why should we trouble 
 ourselves to meet him ? " 
 
 " He is too wily to start unless the signal is 
 displayed, a lantern swung up and down and 
 transversely." 
 
 " H'm ! He shall have the signal ; I myself 
 will give it. Shall you get in all the powder 
 to-night ? " 
 
 " I think so, with the help of this fellow's 
 strong arms. Come, wake up, thou lazy fellow ; 
 there is work to be done." 
 
 Wrestling, horrified though he was by what 
 he had heard, did not lose his self-possession. 
 " Work to be done ? " he echoed. " Aye, aye, sir, 
 and I am the lad to do it." The work for him 
 to do was to ascertain exactly what was 
 schemed, and prevent the execution of the plot 
 by informing upon the conspirators. He 
 yawned and stretched himself with an affecta- 
 tion of sleepiness, and then stumbled out of the 
 house after Guy Fawkes, who led him first to
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 141 
 
 the stable, where he fed the horse. Wrestling 
 took particular note of its situation, for this 
 horse must bear him swiftly at the proper 
 moment, and then followed his new master to 
 the wharf, where they labored until nearly 
 morning, transferring the kegs by means of 
 the wheelbarrow to a cellar or basement of the 
 Parliament House, directly under the House of 
 Peers. Wrestling knew now that these kegs 
 contained gunpowder, for as fast as they were 
 placed in the cellar Guy Fawkes loosened their 
 heads in order that they might more readily 
 catch fire. About two tons were removed that 
 night and covered lightly with cord-wood. 
 " My winter's firing," as Guy Fawkes explained. 
 About three in the morning they returned to 
 Percy's house and retired. They were alone in 
 the house, and Guy Fawkes made Wrestling 
 sleep with him. The lad lay awake for some 
 time, trying to think of some scheme for disclos- 
 ing the plot, but Fawkes was a light sleeper and 
 started whenever he stirred ; and in spite of the 
 boy's anxiety, he was very weary, and soon fell 
 soundly asleep. He was awakened by Fawkes 
 himself. They dressed and went downstairs 
 for a light breakfast, which had been left at the 
 door by a boy from the coffee-house. 
 
 After breakfast there was more work to be
 
 142 PATIENCE. 
 
 done. Some carts loaded with old iron had ar- 
 rived, and Wrestling was needed to help stow it 
 away in the basement of the Parliament House. 
 Guy Fawkes showed him how to lay it on the 
 kegs so that the explosion would carry the bolts 
 like the projectiles from a cannon through the 
 floor above, scattering death among the mem- 
 bers of Parliament. Guy Fawkes himself laid 
 some specially heavy and ragged pieces directly 
 under the throne, saying, " You are for King 
 James, and you for Prince Henry." 
 
 Wrestling laughed, though the cold perspira- 
 tion started from every pore. " And you for 
 Cecil," he added, laying down another. "My 
 lord will see how the deer of Sherwood Forest 
 feel when the arrows go through their vitals." 
 
 " By the saints, you are an apt pupil ! " re- 
 plied Fawkes, looking at him admiringly, but 
 with some surprise. 
 
 " Did I not tell you," said Wrestling " when 
 I helped you at my father's house, that we had 
 our grievances also ? Give me my part to do, 
 and you shall see none will do it better. But 
 tell me, Master Fawkes, how shall we come out 
 of this business when all is done ? " 
 
 " You may go with me if you like," Fawkes 
 replied. " There is a pinnace waiting for me 
 at Lambeth. My daughter goes on board to-
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 143 
 
 morrow. I shall have a rowboat at the wharf. 
 The slow match will burn for fifteen minutes, 
 and we will be well down the river before the 
 spark can travel up it to the powder. But we 
 shall see the fireworks from a distance, and will 
 stay our rowing to wish the King and his 
 court a merry journey. Then to Spain to 
 report this business to Philip." 
 
 Wrestling had determined to win Guy 
 Fawkes' confidence, and he did his bidding 
 faithfully all that day, as calmly and coolly 
 when he thought himself out of his sight as 
 when with him, for he reflected that he was 
 probably watched, and he was determined to 
 disarm any lurking suspicion. 
 
 It was his only hope now to be allowed to 
 accompany the party that was to meet Sir 
 "Walter, and be assigned the task of waving the 
 lantern. If possible he would desert from the 
 company, and give the signal at another point 
 on the river bank. If he could not get away 
 he would drop the lantern at the critical mo- 
 ment. They might kill him first, but Sir 
 Walter should not be lured into their power. 
 
 The night of the 4th came, and one by one 
 the members of the conspiracy arrived. Wrest- 
 ling waited on the door and showed them into 
 the reception room. Treshain was among them,
 
 144 PATIENCE. 
 
 and Wrestling beard him ask for the com- 
 pact with the names of the Puritaus. Fawkes 
 was certain that the Jesuit had carried it away 
 when he returned to Warwickshire. " 'Tis in 
 good hands, then," replied Treshain. " I told 
 the Jesuit that I met Lord Rich at the Tower, 
 and that he was on his way to the tilting, 
 and our good priest will ride up in his com- 
 pany." 
 
 " Does the Jesuit hope to induce Lord Rich 
 to join us ? " 
 
 "He is too sly, and Raleigh has probably 
 given him an inkling of what is afoot. But he 
 is in good hands now ; the Jesuit will find out 
 what he knows, and see that he hath a hand's- 
 breadth of cold steel in his side if he is dan- 
 gerous." 
 
 Percy came in last of all, and objected to 
 Wrestling's presence. " You may be a traitor, 
 for all I know," he said ; " and I intend to lock 
 you in the cellar until we bring back Sir 
 Walter to bear you company." 
 
 Wrestling protested hotly to Fawkes. " The 
 Jesuit " he said, " intrusted me with as delicate 
 a piece of business as that of any of these gen- 
 tlemen. What name did he give me to you ? 
 Do I deserve to be shackled and locked up ? " 
 
 "'Tis true that it is an indignity," said
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 145 
 
 Fawkes ; " but suffer it now, and when we 
 return you shall be liberated." 
 
 Percy led Wrestling to the cellar which he 
 had explored on his arrival, and bound him to 
 the stairs with a rope. This was the cellar in 
 which the conspirators had dug the long tunnel 
 toward the Parliament House before they had 
 found that this was not necessary, as the base- 
 ment directly beneath the room in which 
 Parliament would meet could be rented. It 
 was the cellar, too, in which they intended to 
 lock Sir Walter. 
 
 A passion of grief and remorse filled the 
 boy's heart as he thought of his hero's parting 
 words, "I believe thou couldst never betray 
 thy captain." Sir Walter had trusted him and 
 would be betrayed by that trust to his death. 
 
 There hung the very lantern which they 
 would come for presently. A candle was burn- 
 ing within it, and the green light shone like 
 the eye of some terrible wild beast watching for 
 its prey. 
 
 Suddenly what the Jesuit had told him came 
 to his mind. There was not another green 
 lantern in London, and Raleigh had been 
 specially warned not to start unless a green 
 light was displayed. 
 
 He wriggled and strained and struggled, but
 
 146 PATIENCE. 
 
 could not get free. The moments were slip- 
 ping by, and he must steal the green glass. 
 Impossible ; all his frantic efforts had been able 
 to effect was to loosen one twist of the rope, 
 and to give his right arm play from the elbow 
 downward. It was enough. He had been tied 
 in a sitting position, and groping on the ground 
 he found three pieces of coal. He threw one ; it 
 flew wide of the mark. The second was better 
 aimed, and shattered the glass ; the last sent it 
 all clinking to the floor and extinguished the 
 light, just as the door at the head of the stairs 
 was opened, and Percy called, " Bring a torch, 
 someone; the draught has extinguished the lan- 
 tern." He looked keenly at Wrestling and his 
 fastenings as he passed, so keenly that he did 
 not notice the state in which he found the lan- 
 tern, except to be sure that the candle had not 
 burned out. He hurried up the stairs, and 
 Wrestling heard them all leave the house. 
 
 A terrible thought struck him. What if 
 they should not return, but decide to fire the 
 mine before liberating him ? He shouted aloud, 
 but the excavated earth piled in the front part 
 of the cellar deadened his cries. He did not 
 even hear the galloping of the horses' hoofs as 
 they hurried off. He was alone in the dark- 
 ness and a great horror fell upon him.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 
 
 The manners of the court I also know, 
 
 And so likewise what they in the country do. 
 
 The brave attempts of valiant knights I prize 
 
 That dare scale walls and forts reared to the skies. 
 
 The snorting horse, the trumpt, drum I like, 
 
 The glittering sword, the pistol and the pike. 
 
 I scorn the heavy corslet, musket proof, 
 
 I fly to catch the bullet that's aloof. 
 
 Though thus in field at home to all most kind, 
 
 So affable that I can suit each mind. 
 
 My wit, my bounty and my courtesy 
 
 Make all to put their future hopes in me. 
 
 ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET. 
 
 HE evening that 
 the Jesuit had 
 told Patience to 
 meet him at the 
 mill she kept the tryst, trip- 
 ping down from the castle 
 just as the sunset gilded 
 the towers of Warwick. 
 Two travelers, who were 
 riding across the bridge at 
 that instant, noticed her 
 lonely building, and drew rein 
 147 
 
 enter the
 
 148 PATIENCE. 
 
 simultaeously. One was the Jesuit, the other 
 Lord Rich. They had ridden up from Lon- 
 don in company, but had been able to ex- 
 tract very little information from each other. 
 Lord Rich recognized the little figure which 
 had just disappeared through the dark door- 
 way, and calling to his tutor, who was fol- 
 lowing at a little distance, bade him hold 
 his horse, as he had a fancy to explore the 
 old mill, which had been a favorite haunt of 
 his as a boy. The Jesuit scowled, but rode 
 on some distance, and, leaving his own horse 
 at the stables of the inn, returned by a circuit- 
 ous route to the mill. 
 
 Patience was looking from a narrow window, 
 when she heard a manly step on the rough 
 planking, and turning, with the expectation of 
 seeing the Jesuit, was much surprised to rec- 
 ognize Lord Rich. Both expectation and sur- 
 prise so plainly chased each other over her 
 frank countenance that Lord Rich exclaimed : 
 "Ah ! my pretty maid, you were awaiting some 
 other gallant, for I see plainly that this rendez- 
 vous was not for me. Do not deny it. I have 
 guessed who it is an easy matter, since you 
 sent love letters to him whilst lie was with me 
 in London. Young Wrestling Brewster is a 
 lad of parts, but you have got him involved in
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 149 
 
 a pretty business. Tell me why you sent him 
 on that false errand to Sir Walter Raleigh ? " 
 
 " What mean you ? " Patience stammered. 
 
 "You know right well what I mean. You 
 are playing with edged tools, my child, and you 
 may wound yourself sadly. Come, let me ac- 
 company you back to the castle, since he Avhoni 
 you expect cannot meet you here to-night, and 
 as we go confide in me. I promise to be your 
 true friend, and to help you in any tangle in 
 which you may be involved. For a coil there 
 is, of that I am certain." 
 
 Patience could not refuse to accompany Lord 
 Rich without betraying the Jesuit. She had 
 brought a scrap of paper bearing Sir Fulke 
 Greville's autograph, as he had asked her. 
 It was in her glove, and she managed as they 
 left the mill to drop the glove and its contents, 
 reasoning rightly that the Jesuit, whom she had 
 seen upon the bridge, would soon find them. 
 
 As they walked toward the castle together, 
 Patience asked Lord Rich why he called her 
 letter to Wrestling a false one. 
 
 " Because," Lord Rich replied, " the lad read 
 it to me. It purported to contain a letter for 
 Sir Walter Raleigh from his friend Sir George 
 Carew, written from his home, Clopton House. 
 Now, I met Sir George in London just before
 
 150 PATIENCE. 
 
 setting out on my journey, and lie had not been 
 home in a fortnight, nor had he written Sir 
 Walter. I bade him look into the matter, for 
 there was certainly some treachery afoot, and 
 what I would know, my little maid, is, Where 
 got you that letter which you sent Master 
 Wrestling within your own ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you, my lord," Patience 
 answered simply, "but I do protest that it 
 covers no villainy." 
 
 " None of yours, I will swear," replied Lord 
 Rich ; " still you may have been made use of by 
 villains. I am sorry you will not trust me, for 
 this business may bring Sir Walter into deadly 
 peril. Sir George Carew told me that he in- 
 tends to escort Lady Raleigh to Kenilworth 
 to-morrow, in order that she may meet the 
 Queen and Prince Henry. If you would like 
 to know her, I will present you to her. She is 
 a fascinating woman still, though not so beauti- 
 ful now as when, as Elizabeth Throckmorton, 
 Raleigh braved for her love the displeasure of 
 Queen Elizabeth." 
 
 Patience smiled, for she was reassured. Evi- 
 dently Sir George Carew had written the letter 
 which the Jesuit had sent by Wrestling, and had 
 not chosen to confide to Lord Rich that it was 
 Sir Walter himself whom he was to escort to
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 151 
 
 Kenilworth. " I would like to meet Lady 
 Raleigh," she said ; " and I pray the poor lady 
 may soon have the joy of seeing her husband 
 pronounced innocent of the crime of which he 
 has been so unjustly convicted. Did Wrestling 
 see him ? Tell me how he looked." 
 
 " Wrestling bore himself very well, and Sir 
 Walter was manifestly drawn to him. I trust 
 the lad deserves his confidence." 
 
 " Indeed he does, my lord. Wrestling is the 
 bravest and truest of friends ; and I have heard 
 him say that he can never love woman, for he 
 loves Sir Walter more than he can ever love any 
 other human being. That is why I love Wrest- 
 ling. I should hate him if he were false to Sir 
 Walter, or even half-hearted." 
 
 " 'Tis a true woman's reason. You love him 
 him because he has no heart left with which to 
 love you. Well, little maid, you are both over 
 young to settle for life these matters of the 
 heart. Trust me, you need not waste your 
 affection on this unresponsive Wrestling. 
 There be other men with more appreciative eyes 
 in their heads and more susceptible hearts in 
 their breasts. I say no more at this time, but 
 if ever you should need a friend, remember you 
 have a true one in Robert Rich." 
 
 Two days later came the fete at Kenilworth,
 
 152 PATIENCE. 
 
 opened in the afternoon by an entertainment 
 called the " barriers." 
 
 The barriers, or tilting, was an adaptation of 
 the mediaeval tourney, and consisted of some fine 
 horsemanship in the castle tilt-yard, introduced 
 by a sort of open-air play, acted on a terrace a 
 little higher than the arena where the jousting 
 took place. All around this arena, and backed 
 by the dark walls of the castle, the seats for the 
 spectators rose in amphitheater fashion, and \vere 
 filled with gayly dressed ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 The terrace stage was set with Merlin's 
 tomb on one side, and on the other an enchanted 
 grotto, sealed with cabalistic signs. Water from 
 the castle moat had been led in front of the ter- 
 race in an artificial canal separating the stage 
 from the arena, and high against the castle- wall, 
 at the back of the stage, was a star constructed 
 of painted canvas. The star covered one of the 
 castle windows, and was arranged to open and 
 disclose King Arthur, who was supposed after 
 his death to have been translated to one of the 
 heavenly bodies. 
 
 The plot of the little play was founded on the 
 old romance of the Table Round, and was a 
 revival and elaboration of one of the entertain- 
 ments with which Leicester welcomed the arrival 
 of Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth. Patience
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 153 
 
 had seen it rehearsed, but, though the element of 
 novelty was removed, she watched it with all the 
 more excitement, for she knew just at what 
 point to expect Sir Walter to make his entree. 
 The King had not come out from London, for 
 Parliament was to open that morning, and this 
 circumstance had detained many of the nobles ; 
 but Patience had no doubt that Prince Henry 
 had secured a full pardon for his favorite, and 
 would be able to announce it on presenting him 
 to the audience. That this audience was very 
 largely composed of ladies made it all the more 
 brilliant. They seemed a flock of beautiful 
 butterflies a-tilt on a blossoming flower-bed, as 
 they shaded their faces with their painted fans, 
 or fluttered their many-colored scarfs in recogni- 
 tion of friends or in applause of the acting. 
 
 Patience was seated beside Lady Rich, with 
 the other ladies-in-waiting and maids of honor, 
 quite near the Queen, the Princess Elizabeth, and 
 Prince Charles; and immediately after their 
 entrance a group of courtiers, who were rather 
 conspicuous owing to the preponderance of 
 ladies, pressed forward and took the seats 
 immediately in their vicinity. 
 
 " We are quite surrounded by cavaliers," Lady 
 Rich remarked to one of them, Sir Everard 
 Digby.
 
 154 PATIENCE. 
 
 " Lady Rich cannot wonder at that circum- 
 stance," was the gallant reply. 
 
 " And you are all of the Catholic party. Are 
 you not afraid that some important bill may 
 be passed in Parliament during your ab- 
 sence ? " 
 
 Lord Digby turned slightly pale. " The 
 Catholic gentleman is the only one who places 
 his worship of woman above politics," he said. 
 "You will pardon us that we come lightly 
 armed, as we expect to take part in the mlee 
 after the tournament." 
 
 " I thought that on such occasions only ' cour- 
 teous arms,' wooden swords too wide to enter 
 an open visor, were permitted." 
 
 A fanfare of trumpets, which announced 
 that the spectacle was about to begin, saved 
 Sir Everard the embarrassment of a reply. 
 
 The play was opened by the Lady of the 
 Lake, who floated in on a barge representing 
 a water lily, and drawn along the canal by 
 unseen ropes. As the lily reached the center 
 of the stage it paused and the lady recited a 
 panegyric on King James, likening him to 
 King Arthur of the Table Round. When she 
 had finished the folding doors of the star flew 
 open and disclosed Arthur, now an inhabitant 
 of heaven, who expressed his satisfaction in his
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 155 
 
 successor and in the knighthood which had 
 replaced his own ideals of chivalry : 
 
 "Fair fall his virtue that doth fill the throne 
 In which I joy to find myself outshone. 
 Proceed in thy great work, bring forth thy knight 
 Preserved for these late times, and by his might 
 Let him be famous as was Tristram, Tor, 
 
 Launcelot, and all our list of knighthood. 
 Beyond the paths and searches of the sun 
 Let him tempt fate, and when a world is won 
 Submit it duly to this state." 
 
 Patience felt her heart swell almost to burst- 
 ing. Now, she thought, everyone must know 
 that it is through Raleigh that the New World 
 is to be gained for England, and be prepared 
 for what is to come. 
 
 Forth from his tomb came the wizard Merlin, 
 an aged man with snowy beard and hair and 
 long white robes. He rehearsed the history 
 of England from Arthur's time to that of 
 James, and proclaimed that all the exploits 
 of its heroes were to be outdone in the 
 person of the Prince of the Isles, Moeliades. 
 This name had been chosen by Jonson because 
 it was an anagram of Prince Henry's motto, 
 Miles a Deo (Soldier of God). 
 
 The Prince entered with his suite after this 
 introduction, and was received with tremendous
 
 156 PATIENCE. 
 
 applause. Patience thought he looked very 
 slight and pale, but he announced the opening 
 of the barriers with a firm voice. The herald 
 sounded his trumpet for a trial at arms. 
 " Oyez, oyez ! " he cried, in the old formal 
 French wording of the herald's proclamation. 
 " There will now be fought a very noble 
 pardon of arms for the glory of knighthood 
 and amusement of the ladies." 
 
 But Merlin raised his enchanter's wand, for 
 he had more to say, in warning, in prophecy, 
 and in invocation of the spirit of chivalry. 
 He began sternly : 
 
 " He that in deeds of arms obeys his blood 
 Doth often tempt his fate beyond its good. 
 But you and your fair consort, King and Queen, 
 Have but the least of your bright fortunes seen. 
 Your age's night shall be Great Britain's noon, 
 For this young Knight, who now pricks forth so soon 
 Into the world, shall in your names achieve 
 More garlands for this state and shall relieve 
 Your cares in government. While that great Lord, 
 Shall second him in arms and shake a sword 
 And lance against the foes of God and you, 
 Till led by them you shall a Britain view 
 Beyond the line, when what the seas before 
 Did bound, shall to sky then stretch his shore." 
 
 Merlin paused, and then exclaimed, pointing 
 his staff impressively at the enchanted grotto : 
 
 " But stay, methinks I see 
 A person in you cave. Who should it be?
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING 157 
 
 I know his ensigns, it is Chivalry, 
 Possessed with sleep, dead as a lethargy. 
 If any name will wake him 'tis the name 
 Of our Moeliades I will use his fame." 
 
 It was precisely at this point that Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, who, the Jesuit had assured Patience, 
 would take the part of Chivalry, was to appear, 
 lind Patience bent forward eagerly as the barred 
 and sealed doors of the cave flew open and a 
 figure in full armor came forth. The knight 
 threw back the visor of his helmet, and, looking 
 about him as though dazzled by the light, to 
 which he was unaccustomed, exclaimed : 
 
 " Were it from death that name would wake me. Say 
 Which is my Prince ? O, I could gaze a day! " 
 
 The knight sank upon one knee and kissed 
 Prince Henry's hand, then rose and gave the 
 summons for the entry of the horsemen. 
 
 " From all the world come knighthood like a flood, 
 Upon these lists to make this augury good." 
 
 Again the applause burst forth, only second 
 to that which had greeted the appearance of 
 Prince Henry, and then there was the tumult 
 of the entree of the contending knights ; and 
 conspicuous in the cavalcade, both for his skill- 
 ful horsemanship and magnificent dress, was 
 the young Lord Rich, but Patience hardly
 
 158 PATIENCE. 
 
 noticed him. Her gaze was fixed upon 
 Chivalry, whom she believed to be Sir Walter 
 Raleigh. She had never seen her hero, but a 
 vague feeling of disappointment possessed her. 
 Was it because no announcement was made, 
 because the Prince did not lead him forward 
 and present him to the court at this juncture 
 in his own. proper person and name, free, 
 vindicated from all stigma, and reinstated in 
 royal favor ? Was it not rather that there was 
 something ignoble in the appearance of the 
 man himself? Chivalry had taken off his 
 cumbrous helmet and handed it to a page, and 
 running a white hand through his curling 
 locks, now stood ogling the ladies with a 
 quizzing glass. There was none of the proud 
 nobility of bearing for which Sir Walter was 
 noted. Instead of the grizzled, upturned 
 moustachios of the old soldier, a faint black 
 down graced the simpering upper lip of this 
 young courtier, and Patience quite uncon- 
 sciously murmured, " Oh ! Sir Walter Raleigh 
 does not look at all as I had imagined him ! " 
 
 " Raleigh ! And where do you see him ? " 
 Lady Rich asked sharply. 
 
 "Does he not take the part of Chivalry?" 
 asked Patience. 
 
 Lady Rich laughed unpleasantly. " That
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 15$ 
 
 were indeed a rare joke. Nay ; his grotto will 
 need more than the wand of Merlin to bid its 
 door fly open. Chivalry is impersonated by 
 the new favorite, the young George Villiers. 
 They say he will climb high." 
 
 None could have foretold at that time how 
 high he would climb, or that this mere youth, 
 without fortune and of inconspicuous rank, 
 whose only education was dancing, fencing, 
 and a smattering of music, French, and polite 
 literature, would become the powerful Duke of 
 Buckingham, and virtually king during two 
 reigns. But George Villiers was formed to 
 please, and from, the time that he entered the 
 palace as a page he attracted the King's atten- 
 tion, and very shortly secured his affection. 
 When in later years the Howards reproached 
 the King with lavishing his favors upon him, 
 James replied coolly, " I do confess I like best 
 the people whom I am fond of." 
 
 The tilting had begun, but the gentlemen 
 who seemed to have constituted themselves a 
 bodyguard around the royal family did not 
 leave their seats. Sometimes they whispered 
 to each other, and looked toward the entrance 
 of the tilt-yard. They were evidently expect- 
 ing; someone, and it occurred to Patience that 
 
 O ' 
 
 they were in the secret, and were looking for
 
 160 PATIENCE. 
 
 the coming of Raleigh. Suddenly she remem- 
 bered that she had promised to unbar the 
 postern gate, and that in her excitement she 
 had forgotten to do so. Perhaps she was 
 responsible for the failure of this well-planned 
 scheme! She slipped unnoticed from the 
 arena, and opening the door was confronted, 
 not by Sir Walter or by the Jesuit, but by the 
 white face of the latter's servant Owen. 
 
 "You have come in the nick of time!" he 
 gasped. " Go to Sir Everard Digby, and say to 
 him that the hay is cut, but that the rain hath 
 spoiled the crop. Tell him that Percy and the 
 reapers from London have taken all the horses 
 at Clopton House, but that my master sends 
 them this order signed by Sir Fulke Greville 
 for the horses for the great saddle at the 
 cavalry barracks at Warwick. Let each man 
 take two and so to the meet, for the hunt is 
 
 on." 
 
 Patience understood vaguely that the plot 
 had failed. " Is Sir Walter safe ? " she asked ; 
 but Owen did not know. She returned to the 
 arena. The tournament was over, and in the 
 confusion of its breaking up she easily gave 
 the message to Sir Everard Digby, who, with 
 the Catholic members of Parliament, instantly 
 left the castle. The other guests passed to the
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 161 
 
 interior of the building, where supper was 
 served. Lord Rich was at her side, a boyish 
 elation lighting his handsome face, for he had 
 won the Prince's prize. 
 
 " Come and see my silver ship," he said to 
 Patience, as soon as supper was ended, " and sail 
 away in it with me to the New World. You 
 shall be Queen of El Dorado. I am not talk- 
 ing pleasantries. Sir Walter Raleigh has told 
 me of an Indian who knows the secret way 
 to its gold mines. I mean to purchase a patent 
 of King James, with his permission to be vice- 
 roy." 
 
 They were alone for the moment in the 
 Prince's study. The silver Fortune seemed to 
 Patience's half -dizzy gaze to wave her wreath 
 and beckon. And Lord Rich, carried away by 
 his exaltation, did not notice her coldness, but 
 hurried on: 
 
 " Listen, Patience ; I have brought my 
 mother great news from London. King James 
 has created my father Earl of Warwick ; not 
 for any rare merit on his part, as we well 
 know, unless piracy is a merit ; and, in truth, 
 the booty which his ships have taken from 
 Spaniards and other mariners is most accept- 
 able to his Majesty. The title was dearly pur- 
 chased, but it is hereditary. It will be mine
 
 162 PATIENCE. 
 
 some day. You have seen something of court 
 life. How would it suit you to be Countess of 
 Warwick?" 
 
 " Surely, my lord," said Patience, " you are 
 but playing with me." 
 
 " Far be it from me, sweet Patience, to be so 
 base. I have loved you since I saw you at the 
 lodge in Sherwood Forest, and let this prove it 
 to you. When my father told me of the title 
 that is to be mine at his death, I was ill- 
 pleased, for he explained that now I must 
 guard my heart and make a marriage conform- 
 able with my rank. At that moment, sweet 
 Patience, I wished that I were the veriest 
 Puritan boor, like one of your playmates of 
 Scrooby, so I might change my earl's coronet 
 for your love." 
 
 Patience's cheek flushed. This allusion to 
 Wrestling and Love angered her. " Since 
 you are not a Puritan boor, my lord," she 
 replied, " why do you speak of these matters 
 to me ? " 
 
 " Because, sweetheart, there are two ways 
 out of our difficulty. The first, I should say the 
 last desperate resort, is that we desert England 
 for America, where we will found a new king- 
 dom with new titles, and where your simple 
 birth will be no impediment to our marriage.
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 163 
 
 Anything can be bought, and I can exchange 
 my English earldom for gold which will pur- 
 chase of the King grants in America. That is 
 the plan which I have been cogitating all the 
 way from London. But when I talked it over 
 with my mother I found she had a better. 
 Hers is a rare mind for seizing every advan- 
 tage. If she had been the dog i' the fable she 
 would have seized the meat she saw reflected 
 in the stream without dropping that already in 
 her mouth. My mother loves you, and she tells 
 me that there is a mystery connected with your 
 lineage, that you know not from what Dudleys 
 you are descended. The family is a large one. 
 The Duke of Northumberland had many sons; 
 some one of them may have contracted a se- 
 cret marriage, or you may be descended from 
 the other de Suttons of Dudley Castle. We 
 will set searchers at work to trace your pedigree. 
 Perchance thy father knows more than you are 
 ware of. Much can be accomplished by deter- 
 mination and money." He spoke the last 
 words below his breath ; but Patience heard 
 them, and her smoldering indignation flared into 
 white flame. She remembered the Jesuit's 
 words, and had no doubt that she could put 
 Lord Rich on the track which he desired ; but 
 in her brief visit at Warwick Castle she had
 
 164 PATIENCE. 
 
 seen enough of the corruption of the court to 
 be shocked, and she answered hotly : " I will 
 have no purchased or forged titles. I am only 
 plain Patience Dudley, but I am not low enough 
 to buy a title, or be bought by one." 
 
 " Child, you know not what you say. I for- 
 give your insult, for I cannot think it intended. 
 You are too young to understand these matters. 
 Bide with my mother but one season at White- 
 hall, and you will know the ways of the court 
 better. I shall not speak to you again of this 
 until I have some token from you that your 
 mind has changed. But I will wait for you, and 
 my motto shall be : * Have Patience. Yea, and 
 I will have her.' ' 
 
 They returned to the great hall, where the 
 performance of the masque was about to begin ; 
 and Patience was thankful that a polite atten- 
 tion to the entertainment restrained Lord Rich 
 from further speech, and also permitted her to 
 be silent. She had looked forward with such 
 pleasant anticipation to this revel, and now she 
 hardly heard or saw for the torment of con- 
 flicting emotions which almost rendered her 
 frantic. When the acting was over Lord 
 Rich, who saw her perturbation, considerately 
 strove to distract her mind. 
 
 " I promised to introduce you to Lady Ra-
 
 MASKING AND UNMASKING. 165 
 
 leigh," he said. " See ; she is there talking 
 with the Queen. We will wait until her Maj- 
 esty has passed on, and then I will present 
 you." 
 
 Lord Rich led Patience forward, and the girl 
 thought she had never seen a lovelier face. 
 There were tears in Lady Raleigh's eyes, but 
 they were happy tears. " Her Majesty has 
 just told me," she said, " that Prince Henry has 
 begged Sherbourne, our beautiful home, of 
 which my husband was so fond, from the King, 
 and that he intends to have it settled on me, 
 with a considerable sum of money ; but, best of 
 all, he is hopeful of a pardon, and will never 
 cease working for it while he lives." 
 
 " When did you see your noble husband last, 
 my lady ? " Patience asked. 
 
 "Not for several days," Lady Raleigh replied. 
 " They are making alterations in his apartments, 
 and have moved him for the present, so that he 
 is kept rather more straitly, and is not allowed 
 to see anyone. But that will be over in a few 
 days." 
 
 " Heaven grant it ! " Patience replied faintly. 
 
 "What is the matter?" Lord Rich exclaimed 
 suddenly. " The dancing has broken up. A 
 royal courier has entered the hall and is talk- 
 ing with the master of ceremonies. The
 
 166 PATIENCE. 
 
 courtiers are flocking around him. Sit here, 
 and I will learn what news he brings." 
 
 Lord Rich returned with a grave face. " An 
 abominable plot of the Papists to blow up the 
 King and Parliament has been discovered," he 
 said. " Do not be frightened ; the danger has 
 been averted. The conspirators are known and 
 will be seized." 
 
 " Quick, my lord," interrupted Lady Raleigh, 
 " Your little friend has fainted ! "
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE KOSABY OF BLOOD AJsLD TEAKS. 
 
 Away and away ! 
 
 For the morn is gray, 
 
 And the sword blades hunger and stir in the sheath, 
 
 And above tbe hills 
 
 The red sky thrills 
 
 With the dawning terror of blood beneath. 
 
 The white blades burn, 
 
 And the keen spurs yearn 
 
 To harvest the red ripe field of Death. 
 
 Ride ! Ride ! 
 
 With our wrath to guide 
 
 Into the battle sword by side. 
 
 HERBERT BATES. 
 
 .RESTLING did 
 
 not know how long 
 he remained alone 
 in the cellar. In 
 reality it was only 
 a few minutes after the 
 others had clattered 
 away that Guy Fawkes 
 came, and, shaking him 
 soundly but kindly, re- 
 stored him to his self- 
 possession and courage. 
 " I dared not leave my mine to go with the 
 
 167
 
 168 PATIENCE, 
 
 others," he explained. " It must be watched 
 every minute now, until to-morrow at noon, 
 when it will be fired. But I have been with- 
 out sleep for two nights. I must catch a few 
 winks. I will lie down until they return with 
 Raleigh. Take my place and watch. I will 
 relieve thee at one o'clock." 
 
 Wrestling's heart bounded for joy. At last 
 he would have an opportunity to inform the 
 authorities of the awful plot. To whom should 
 he go? 
 
 Fawkes seemed to mistrust the alacrity with 
 which he started up on being unbound, for he 
 walked back with him to the basement under 
 the Parliament House, and locked him in, 
 promising to call for him between one and 
 two. 
 
 He left no light, but th'e moon shone dimly 
 through a high grated window, and showed the 
 barrels of gunpowder and the beams and bolts 
 piled upon them. Wrestling rolled some of the 
 kegs under the window, and, climbing upon 
 them, looked out. The window opened into an 
 interior court, and there was not a watchman or 
 living soul in sight. All was silent as the 
 grave. The bars were firm, and he was a close 
 prisoner. He was on the point of shouting with 
 all his might, in the hope of rousing someone,
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 169 
 
 when lie heard a slight noise behind him, and 
 he descended instantly from his perch. The 
 noise was the grating of a rusty bolt in a door 
 which led into another room under the Parlia- 
 ment House. The next instant there was a 
 flood of light, and two men stepped into the 
 room. Instinctively Wrestling shrunk down 
 behind the barrels, until he could ascertain who 
 they were. 
 
 He recognized the voice of one of the men 
 
 o 
 
 immediately. It was Percy, whom he supposed 
 had gone with the party to secure Raleigh. 
 
 " There is no one here," Wrestling heard him 
 say. "As I left Fawkes he told me he in- 
 tended to turn in for a little sleep. He will be 
 back at two, when he can be arrested. You 
 can see that everything is ready for the explo- 
 sion. He will touch off the mine, and be off as 
 soon as he is certain that the King and the Par- 
 liament are assembled above him. He is a 
 fanatic, anarchist, who has the courage of his 
 opinions. He would blow up with his mine 
 rather than have it fail." 
 
 A low, chuckling laugh was the reply, with 
 the words, " And he suspects not that he is 
 betrayed ? " 
 
 " Not he. The crazy fool is so possessed 
 with his one idea that he can see nothing else,
 
 170 PATIENCE. 
 
 though it is as plainly to be seen as the torch 
 your man holds at the door. For God's sake, 
 let him not enter ! A spark let fall, and we 
 would both be blown to atoms ! " 
 
 "If Fawkes is so unsuspecting, can he not be 
 persuaded to delay a few days, until you can im- 
 plicate more prominent people in the plot ? " 
 
 " He is too impatient, my lord. Trust me, 
 he will not wait an hour after the King takes 
 his seat on the throne. All things are ready ; 
 there is nothing that can stop him now. He 
 must be seized this night. I have done 
 
 O 
 
 my best, and have induced Catesby to admit 
 more persons into the plot than he liked. Sir 
 Everard Digby is in earnest ; but Tresham is a 
 white-livered scoundrel, and since he joined 
 Catesby has been uneasy and half suspects 
 him." ' 
 
 " How did Tresham succeed with Raleigh ? " 
 " Very vilely. Tresham made him think that 
 he should have the honor of proclaiming Prince 
 Henry King, and would doubtless succeed to 
 your post, but Raleigh slapped him in the face, 
 and would have nothing to do with the scheme, 
 protesting his allegiance to the King." 
 
 Wrestling understood now that this person 
 with whom Percy was talking was Cecil, the 
 King's most trusted counselor; that he had
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AYD TEARS. 171 
 
 been cognizant of the plot from the beginning, 
 if indeed he had not planned it to ruin the 
 Catholic party. Percy, and possibly Tresham 
 also, were his tools, whose business it had been 
 to lead as many as possible of Cecil's enemies 
 to implicate themselves. The sin of the an- 
 archists was no less in what they had intended 
 to do, but they would not be allowed to accom- 
 plish their designs, and their punishment would 
 be sure and terrible. Wrestling's first feeling 
 was one of great thankfulness that the King 
 and the Parliament were in no real danger ; his 
 next, a revulsion of hatred for this cold-blooded, 
 Satanic schemer, who had tempted men of deep 
 wrongs and weak moral sense into deadly sin, 
 dishonor, and death. For Percy he felt only 
 contempt ; he was beneath hatred. 
 
 "So," said Cecil musingly, "that sly fox 
 Raleigh has balked me ; but the hunt is not 
 played out yet between him and the Little 
 Beagle." 
 
 " You may have him at this moment," replied 
 Percy, " for what Tresham could not effect the 
 Jesuit has arranged on his own account. He 
 has concocted another and a better scheme"; 
 and Percy related in detail the plan with which 
 we are already familiar. 
 
 " Good, excellent ! And does the Jesuit do
 
 172 PATIENCE. 
 
 this to throw the blame of the plot on Raleigh 
 and his friends ? " 
 
 " Perchance, for the Jesuits are all agents of 
 King Philip, and Spain has no cause to love 
 Raleigh ; but if that is our Jesuit's motive, he is 
 a deep schemer. He feigns that he would have 
 Raleigh's influence with Henry, in case that 
 Prince is not blown up with his father on the 
 morrow, which he believes cannot be effected, 
 as Henry hath a tilting at Kenilworth, and he 
 argued against hurting a hair of Raleigh's head. 
 ' For,' said he, ' we will need what favor we can 
 get with the Prince, and Raleigh's influence will 
 be for the toleration of all religious, which is as 
 much as Catholics can hope for in England.' 
 The Jesuit left for Warwickshire, believing that 
 Raleigh would be sent on to him to-night." 
 
 " Hum, that would serve my purpose better 
 than the other scheme. I trust he is well on 
 his way. It needs but such ah act as that to 
 have him broken on the wheel. Are many of 
 the Jesuits involved ? Has their superior, Father 
 Garnet, declared himself ? " 
 
 " Greenway hath told him under seal of con- 
 fession ; but Father Garnet was horrified, and 
 hath labored with Catesby to make him give 
 up the design, swearing that he will not give 
 him absolution if he persists."
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 173 
 
 " Baffled again in the quarter where I most 
 desired success. However, if we can prove that 
 Garnet knew what was pending, and did not 
 inform, that will be enough to establish his 
 
 ' O 
 
 complicity, and to make it appear that the thing 
 was schemed by him. We will seize him at 
 once. Where does this fellow Greenway 
 hide ? " 
 
 "In the Priest's Hole at Clopton House, 
 where Digby and his guests await my coming. 
 It is settled that immediately after the ex- 
 plosion Catesby is to proclaim the new King 
 from the steps of Charing Cross. Of course 
 Catesby hopes that Prince Henry will have been 
 in Parliament and that Charles, who has no 
 Puritanical bias, will be the heir- apparent. 
 Catesby counts on holding Whitehall Palace in 
 the name of the King, while I spur on to Digby 
 and report the success of affairs here. Then he 
 and his gentlemen will seize the Prince at 
 Kenilworth and bring him to Whitehall, 
 escorted by the surviving members of Parlia- 
 ment, all Catholics, who will attend to his 
 coronation. If the event prove unsuccessful, I 
 am to ride none the less swiftly and give them 
 warning. I am, as you see, booted and spurred, 
 ready to depart." 
 
 " Wait until Fawkes is arrested ; then fly and
 
 1H PATIENCE. 
 
 and report to them. Keep them at Clotpon House 
 if you can ; if not, take them to Stephen Little- 
 ton's at Holbeck in Staffordshire. He is a 
 Catholic gentleman who will not refuse you har- 
 borage, and whom I would like to have trapped. 
 Stay with them, that they suspect you not. Be 
 not afraid to be arrested. I will see that you 
 escape. What does Tresham ? " 
 
 "He carries the news to Philip, and will 
 embark at once for Spain." 
 
 "Be sure that he gets away, and that he does 
 not return, for I may not be able to protect him, 
 and he might babble under torture of my knowl- 
 edge in this matter. Stay ; one thing more. 
 What proof have you of the complicity of the 
 Puritans in this matter ? " 
 
 " No real proof. I pasted the signatures 
 which I stole from Brewster to the compact, and 
 gave it to Tresham to show Raleigh." 
 
 " Where is the compact now ? " 
 
 " The Jesuit hath it." 
 
 Percy said this so confidently that Wrestling 
 involuntarily felt for the paper, which he was 
 rejoiced to find still within the breast pocket of 
 his shirt. 
 
 " Get it from him when you meet at Clopton 
 House, and see that I have it. 'Tis the only 
 shred of testimony I have against them. I
 
 ROSAR? OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 175 
 
 should have had my decipherer copy the signa- 
 tures before letting Treshain use the paper. 
 Tell me, are any the sons of the old Archbishop 
 Sandys members of that conventicle ? " 
 
 " Their names were not on the church list." 
 " And yet I know the old fox was a Puritan, 
 and all his cubs are of the same color. I am on 
 their scent, and I shall come up with them yet. 
 That bold commoner Sir Edwin has grown reck- 
 lessly presumptuous, and has excited the King's 
 enmity for that speech of his in the House of 
 Commons when he maintained that the origin 
 of every monarchy lies in election by the people, 
 and that a King who pretends to rule by any 
 other title, such as that of conqueror, may be 
 dethroned whenever there is force sufficient to 
 overthrow him. A pretty theory, forsooth, 
 which utterly ignores the divine right of inherit- 
 ance. He needs but a long rope to hang him- 
 self in time. As for that pestilent Brewster, I 
 suspect that he has designs of voiding the realm ; 
 I shall see that he does not escape me. Now to 
 your house, and wait the arrival of the others. 
 If they have secured Raleigh, persuade them to 
 follow the Jesuit's plan and take him on to 
 Warwickshire. In that case have a light in 
 your hall window, and I shall know that he is 
 with the Jesuit. Send Fawkes hither, and I will
 
 176 PATIENCE. 
 
 see that he is nabbed before daybreak, and that 
 you are informed of his arrest. Then take 
 Catesby with you and ride like mad to join the 
 others at Clopton House. On to Stafforshire if 
 they insist on leaving cover ; keep them to- 
 gether at all events, for if the conspirators 
 scatter, it will be more difficult to secure them." 
 They went out together, and Wrestling 
 noticed to his great delight that though they 
 closed the door behind them they did not lock 
 it. He tried to think rapidly what was the 
 most important thing for him to do. First of all, 
 he must ascertain the whereabouts of Sir Walter, 
 and, if he was with the conspirators, get him 
 away from them. He would like to save the 
 Jesuit, and a pang of pity shot through his heart 
 for Guy Fawkes himself, as he thought of 
 Philippa waiting for her father on the pinnace 
 which would sail without him. Fawkes had 
 been prevented from accomplishing his murder- 
 ous design, what harm would there be in saving 
 him from a murderer's fate ? He dared not go 
 to the house, for Percy would be there, and he 
 could not lose time by remaining longer here ; 
 but he determined to leave a warning where 
 Fawkes would see it, and taking a handful of 
 powder from a keg he let it trickle from his 
 hands on the floor so as to form the words
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. m 
 
 " You are betrayed. Flee.' 1 '' Then he hurried 
 through the door by which Cecil and Percy had 
 left. There was a staircase outside, up which he 
 sped. It led into a long passage which opened 
 upon the peers' carriage court, from which a 
 coach was just rolling away. The janitor was 
 rubbing his eyes sleepily, and Wrestling called 
 to him imperiously as he ran by. " I must 
 catch the earl of Salisbury. I have a message 
 for him." 
 
 " Run, then, run like the wind, or thou'lt not 
 overtake him," said the janitor ; and Wrestling 
 ran, but not in Cecil's direction. 
 
 As he turned the corner he saw Percy ahead 
 of him, and he slunk into the shadow, following 
 him guardedly until he entered his house, and 
 then waited in a doorway at a little distance. 
 Presently some horsemen came clattering down 
 the street. It was the party that had gone for 
 Raleigh. Wrestling's heart bounded with de- 
 light as he counted them ; Sir Walter was not 
 with them. Percy came to the door, and he 
 distinctly heard Lord Catesby say : " It was 
 Tresham's fault. He broke the lantern, and it 
 went out every time we tried to give the 
 signal." 
 
 Wrestling did not wait another instant, but 
 ran around to the Mews, where Fawkes kept
 
 178 PATIENCE. 
 
 his horse, and saddling it in hot haste mounted 
 and rode toward Warwick. Percy would not 
 start until informed of Fawkes' arrest or escape, 
 and that would not be until after daybreak. 
 He must find Father Greenway first, and he 
 had a start of two good hours. He was sure 
 that he could do it, and he rode through Lon- 
 
 ' O 
 
 don at a leisurely trot. He threw a kiss 
 toward the dark mass of the Tower outlined 
 against the starlit sky, and thought how 
 strange it was that he should be thankful that 
 Sir Walter was safely locked within it. It was 
 two o'clock when he cantered out of Southgate 
 and settled down to a good steady pace, as 
 rapid a one as he felt that the piebald could 
 keep up, until breakfast time at Aylesbury. 
 The racer's mettle was good, and he strained 
 hard at his bit ; but horse and rider were both 
 very tired, and it was nearly noon when they 
 rode into Aylesbury, having accomplished the 
 first third of their journey. Mr. Brewster had 
 provided Wrestling with money, and he had 
 the horse rubbed down and fed at the inn and 
 he himself breakfasted and rested for an hour. 
 Then, refreshed and encouraged, he sprang into 
 the stirrups and rode on as swiftly as before to 
 Banbury Cross, so famous in nursery rhyming 
 for hard riding. Toward the end of this second
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 179 
 
 stage it was evident that the faithful horse had 
 done all that he could do, and that he must 
 secure another mount if he would reach his 
 destination that night. There were a number 
 of horses at the inn stable, but they had been 
 sent there, he was informed, by a Mr. Ambrose 
 Rokewood of Warwick, for the use of a party 
 of gentlemen who were expected to hunt with 
 him. It was in vain that Wrestling insisted 
 that he was one of the party ; the inn-keeper 
 would not allow one of them to be taken until 
 assured either by Lord Catesby or by Mr. 
 Percy that all was right. " But I am from Mr. 
 Percy's house," Wrestling persisted ; " I left him 
 early this morning. It is important that I 
 should reach Warwick before the party, in 
 order that all arrangements shall be made." 
 The inn-keeper looked at Wrestling suspi- 
 ciously, then his eye fell on his horse, and his 
 countenance lightened. " I believe you speak 
 the truth," he said, " for that is one of ^Roke- 
 wood's horses, a twin to one I have in the 
 stable. There was to have been a password. 
 If you are sent by Percy, you doubtless 
 know it. When was this hunt to take 
 place?" 
 
 A sudden illumination flashed across Wres- 
 tling's mind, and he answered mechanically, as
 
 180 PATIENCE. 
 
 though repeating a carefully drilled lesson, 
 " After the hay is cut." 
 
 "Is it cut?" 
 
 " It is." 
 
 " Then take what horse you will, in the devil's 
 name, and away with you ! " 
 
 Wrestling chose carefully, and this time stayed 
 not to rest, but gulped down the manchet of 
 bread and mug of ale that were brought him, and, 
 leaving his winded steed for Percy, rode away 
 at the utmost speed of his fresh horse. It was 
 late in the afternoon when he reached Clopton 
 House. Owen Littlejohn stood at the gate 
 lodge, evidently expecting some messenger, and 
 Wrestling could see that another servant held 
 some horses ready saddled in front of the 
 house. Wrestling asked for Father Green way. 
 
 "And my little dandie prat," he added 
 contemptuously, " you will not keep me cooling 
 my heels any longer than necessary if I tell you 
 that I have come to give him news concerning 
 the cutting of a crop of hay that he wots of." 
 
 "You have our password; then go you to 
 the house; Father Greenway is in the chapel 
 under the roof, saying a mass for the dead who 
 died to-day, for he feared he might not have 
 time to do it after the news came." 
 
 Wrestling left his horse with Owen, and
 
 ROSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 181 
 
 stumbled up to the chapel. Father Greenway 
 did not hear him, for he was chanting the 
 " Dies Irae " before the terrible picture. 
 
 He faced Wrestling as he entered, and both, 
 were white as death. 
 
 " Is it over ? " asked the Jesuit. 
 
 Wrestling shook his head. "You are be- 
 trayed. Everything is known." 
 
 "By whom?" 
 
 " Percy." 
 
 " I never trusted him." 
 
 " Fly at once. He is on his way here, lead- 
 ing the officers of justice." 
 
 "I shall be safe in these walls." 
 
 "You will be safe nowhere in England. I 
 beg you to leave the country at once." 
 
 " And the others will you warn them too ? " 
 
 " Where are they ? " 
 
 "They have all gone to the tilting at 
 Kenilworth. I alone waited here to lead 
 Catesby and Raleigh and the rest to them. 
 Tell me, where is Raleigh ? " 
 
 " Safe in the tower ; he did not venture 
 forth." 
 
 " Our Lady of Barcelona be praised ! Owen 
 shall ride to Kenilworth and warn Sir Everard 
 and his friends ; and I will take your advice, 
 my son, and flee while yet there is time."
 
 182 PATIENCE. 
 
 "Tben lose not an instant, and stay not 
 until you have put the sea between you and 
 England." 
 
 " Your advice is good that will I do ; and 
 I will care for the child Philippa in foreign 
 lands. There is one to whom I would fain 
 send a keepsake and a token before I go, but 
 I have only this rosary and breviary. 'Tis best 
 I should have neither about me, in case I am 
 captured. Keep the breviary, my son, and read 
 in it sometimes for the sake of Father Green- 
 way, and carry the rosary for me with my 
 blessing to the damsel Patience Dudley." 
 
 He handed Wrestling a string of curious 
 Venetian glass beads, with occasional large ruby 
 ones separating groups of clearest crystal. 
 "It is called a Cruor et lachrymce Christi 
 rosary," he explained ; " the ruby beads are the 
 Paternosters, and represent drops of Christ's 
 precious blood. We tell an Ave Maria for 
 each crystal bead, which symbolizes his all- 
 prevailing tears. Tell the maid Patience in 
 the hour of her deepest anguish to hold the 
 rosary in her hands and pray, and though she 
 is not a daughter of our holy church, perchance 
 God will pity her ignorance and for the sake 
 of her kindness to me will send her deliver- 
 
 ance."
 
 EOSARY OF BLOOD AND TEARS. 183 
 
 " I will take it," said Wrestling, " and I will 
 give her your message." 
 
 The Jesuit disappeared for a moment, and 
 returning, dressed in ordinary traveling costume, 
 mounted one of the horses which were in wait- 
 ing at the door. Then he lifted his hand 
 in blessing, and both he and Owen rode 
 away. 
 
 A great weariness stole over Wrestling. He 
 knew that this spot was a dangerous one for 
 him, that he must not be found here, either by 
 the conspirators or by their pursuers, who 
 would soon be upon their track. He knew, 
 too, that there were fresh horses at hand, but 
 for his life he could not drag himself to them. 
 He stumbled into a vacant, quiet room, and 
 sank upon a luxurious couch. As he was 
 falling asleep he thought of the convicting 
 evidence which the paper in his breast, with 
 the names of the Puritans at Scrooby, might 
 furnish to Cecil, and of the rosary and breviary, 
 equally impossible to be explained if found 
 upon him. There was a low fire burning upon 
 the hearth, and he thought how easy it would 
 be to burn the paper; and if he could only 
 rouse himself, he might hide the priest's gifts. 
 He took them drowsily from his breast and 
 tried to summon resolution sufficient to carry
 
 184 PATIENCE. 
 
 his intention into effect, but overwrought 
 nature refused to obey, and he fell asleep 
 again, deeply asleep, with the paper, the 
 rosary, and the breviary dropping from his 
 nerveless hand.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 
 
 Mutations great, some joyful and some sad, 
 
 In this short pilgrimage I oft have had. 
 
 I've seen from Rome an execrable thing, 
 
 A plot to blow up nobles and their King. 
 
 I've seen a prince, the glory of our land, 
 
 In prime of youth seized by Heaven's angry hand, 
 
 Which filled our hearts with fears with tears our eyes, 
 
 Wailing his fate, and our own destinies. 
 
 ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET. 
 
 ORROR, wonder, and 
 the awe-struck voice 
 of thanksgiving," 
 says Carlyle, " rose 
 with mutual consent 
 from broad England 
 with the discovery 
 of the Gunpowder 
 Plot." 
 
 None were more 
 horrified than the 
 Puritans, whom their 
 
 enemies had vainly striven to implicate in it. 
 
 Many Catholics who suffered as accessory were 
 
 185
 
 186 PATIENCE. 
 
 probably as innocent, for the true story of that 
 conspiracy will never be known. 
 
 Fawkes, seized amidst the gunpowder with 
 the fuse upon his person, was tried, and 
 acknowledged his own guilt, but even under 
 torture would not inform upon his accomplices. 
 He was executed in the brutal manner of the 
 time. 
 
 Sixty Catholic gentlemen, it was said, had 
 met at Clopton House to join the Warwick- 
 shire hunt, but learning in what a disappoint- 
 ing manner the hay had been cut, they had 
 galloped for life in various directions. The 
 principal conspirators, kept together by Percy, 
 had made their last stand at Stephen Little- 
 ton's house, at Holbecke in Staffordshire, 
 which they turned into a fort, and where they 
 were attacked by the sheriff of Warwickshire 
 and his posse. Here they fought desperately 
 for their lives, and, " their faces grimed with 
 powder smoke, bathed in sweat or grim in the 
 last death paleness, they were all killed, or 
 else taken wounded and then hanged and 
 beheaded." 
 
 Among those killed at the assault were Lord 
 Catesby and the traitor Percy. Cecil made a 
 great show of having sent a messenger to the 
 sheriff to insist that Percy should be taken
 
 ^tt-
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 187 
 
 alive, but the messenger rode so slowly that he 
 did not arrive in time, and it was asserted that 
 Cecil neither dared to shield him nor to abide 
 the result of his confessions. Tresham, who had 
 not fled, but had remained quietly in his house 
 in London, trusting probably in Cecil's protec- 
 tion, was arrested and sent to the Tower. But 
 he was never brought to trial, dying in his cell 
 mysteriously as it was surmised, of poison. If 
 he, like Percy, was in the service of Cecil, his 
 death, before torture should wring the truth 
 from him, was opportune for his patron. 
 
 Father Garnet, the Superior of the Jesuits in 
 England, remained for some time in hiding in 
 a priest's hole in Hudlipp Hall, where, though 
 the house was occupied by the officers of the law, 
 he was not discovered for several days. There 
 was a small hole in the chimney connecting 
 with his secret chamber. Through this hole 
 he could thrust a straw into a soup-pot hang- 
 ing on the crane, and so suk nourishment. 
 He was forced out, not by hunger, but by lack 
 of ventilation. 
 
 It was Cecil's great effort to make it appear 
 that the plot was originated by the Jesuits, 
 and Father Garnet was executed under this 
 accusation. He protested that he had had but 
 a vague intimation under seal of confession
 
 188 PATIENCE. 
 
 that such a movement was in contemplation, 
 and that he had opposed it with horror ; and 
 this was probably the truth. 
 
 While William Brewster and his family 
 shared the general indignation, they had a more 
 personal cause for alarm in the disappearance 
 of Wrestling, of whose whereabouts no trace 
 could be found after he parted from Lord Rich 
 with the avowed intention of taking Guy 
 Fawkes' horse to him and then returning home 
 by post. William Brewster was also plunged 
 into a sea of trouble and apprehension by a 
 persecution of the churches of which he was 
 the protector, which now broke out with great 
 animosity. Scarcely a day passed but some 
 member was arrested and taken to prison or 
 fined or threatened. He spent his time in 
 answering summons, in pleading the cause of 
 those arrested before the magistrates, in stand- 
 ing bail, and in attending to the necessities of 
 their families, much to the prejudice of his 
 own fortune. He was distracted in mind, for 
 his correspondence with Lord Rich in regard 
 to Wrestling had been fruitless, and he was 
 most desirous of going to London to prosecute 
 the search personally. He was on the point of 
 setting out when George Sandys, the scholar 
 and youngest son of the Archbishop, called on
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 189 
 
 his way to London. He brought William 
 Brewster a warning from his brother, Sir 
 Edwin Sandys, who had written that some 
 person of influence had recommended that his 
 office of master of the post should be con- 
 ferred on another. Sir Edwin counseled 
 Brewster to be particularly punctilious in ful- 
 filling its duties, and on no account to absent 
 himself for so much as a day, so as to give 
 no excuse to his enemies for asking his re- 
 moval. " My brother," said George Sandys, 
 " has also been asked to grant the lease of this 
 house to another, and to turn you out of doors, 
 but that he will not do." 
 
 " I thank him for his friendship," said Wil- 
 liam Brewster sadly, " but it cannot avail me 
 long; another of my poor people, Gervase 
 Neville, was carried from his home and im- 
 prisoned in York Castle for obstinacy to-day. 
 It will be my turn soon. The only way to 
 save the church and its members from further 
 persecution, perhaps from death, is by removal 
 to some country where religious toleration is 
 practiced. This task I have set myself to 
 accomplish ; but I would that I might find my 
 son before our departure." 
 
 " My brother will do all that can be done," 
 said George Sandys ; " trust him with that task.
 
 190 PATIENCE. 
 
 He hath power and a long head, and great love 
 for you." 
 
 " I know that well," replied Brewster, " but 
 as member of Parliament he is greatly occu- 
 pied with weighty cares, and he cannot search 
 London as I would search through every 
 prison, through every haunt of violence. He 
 would not know Wrestling if he saw him, or 
 forgive him if he found him in sin as I would, 
 for whether sinned against or sinning he is still 
 my son. God knows I would die for thee, my 
 son my son ! " 
 
 Love stole to his father's side and threw his 
 arm around his neck. "Let me go with Mr. 
 Sandys to London. I will put myself under 
 Sir Edwin's orders, and be arms and legs to 
 his head, and between us we shall find Wrest- 
 ling." 
 
 George Sandys had spoken truly when he 
 said that his brother had a long head, for he 
 conducted the search with great shrewdness 
 and caution. He reasoned that there were 
 several possible explanations of the mystery, 
 all demanding delicate procedure. 
 
 First, Wrestling might have joined in Guy 
 Fawkes' conspiracy willingly. In which case 
 there were two alternatives : either 
 
 (a) He had been captured ; or,
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 191 
 
 He bad escaped. 
 The first supposition was not likely, as the 
 lad had not been named in any list of the 
 conspirators, nor was he discoverable in any 
 prison. The second conclusion, though dis- 
 believed by William Brewster, was possible. 
 If correct, it was most important that his safety 
 should not be jeopardized by attracting atten- 
 tion to him ; and the only resource for his 
 friends was patient waiting, for after the hue 
 and cry had died away Wrestling would with- 
 out doubt communicate with them. This was 
 the view taken by Lord Rich, with whom Sir 
 Edwin Sandys had had a not altogether pleas- 
 ant interview, for the two men were opposed 
 politically. Lord Rich would hear to no other 
 possibility in the case, and when Sir Edwin 
 suggested a second explanation of the mystery, 
 namely, that the boy was the victim of some 
 unknown enemy, Lord Rich scoffed at the 
 notion with such contempt that Sir Edwin 
 took his leave with scant courtesy. Very 
 naturally, he dwelt with the more persistence 
 on this second explanation because it had been 
 treated with such disdain, and strove to follow 
 its lead to its logical conclusions. Supposing 
 that the boy's disappearance had been effected 
 by an enemy. Who was it ? He must be either
 
 192 PATIENC& 
 
 An enemy for personal reasons ; or, 
 () An enemy for political reasons. 
 Wrestling was too insignificant a person to 
 have on his own account a powerful enemy, so 
 his father and so Sir Edwin thought. It was 
 more likely, therefore, that he was persecuted 
 for his father's religious and political opinions. 
 If so, the persecution would not cease with 
 Wrestling. What made this last conclusion 
 seem the true one was the fact that persecution 
 had fallen upon Brewster and the Scrooby 
 Church almost simultaneously with the disap- 
 pearance of Wrestling. Sir Edwin Sandys 
 could not refrain from connecting the two cir- 
 cumstances and referring them to a common 
 agent. It was easy to trace the persecutions to 
 Cecil, therefore he became convinced that Cecil 
 had detained the boy for purposes of his own. 
 What these purposes were he could not fathom. 
 The persecutions against the Separatists, as 
 Cecil must have foreseen, would have the effect 
 to make them resolve to emigrate, and this 
 was probably exactly what Cecil wished ; but 
 Wrestling's detention could not further this 
 scheme, but would rather hinder his father. 
 Was it possible that, while it was Cecil's desire 
 to force the Separatists, as a body, to leave the 
 kingdom, as the easiest way of disposing of
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 193 
 
 them, he had some personal grudge against their 
 leader, and desired to keep him within his 
 power ? Acting upon this possibility, Sir Ed- 
 win wrote Brewster to hasten his departure, 
 without waiting either for the discovery of 
 Wrestling or the return of Love, as both of the 
 boys could join him later in the Netherlands. 
 Shortly after this the Scrooby Church decided, 
 in the quaint words of their secretary, William 
 Bradford, "that, seeing themselves thus mo- 
 lested and that there was no hope of their con- 
 tinuance, by a joynte consente they resolved to 
 goe into ye Low Countries, where they heard 
 was freedome of Religion for all men ; as also 
 how sundrie from other parts of ye land had 
 been exiled and persecuted for ye same caiise, 
 and were gone thither and lived at Amsterdam." 
 It was easier to resolve to remove than to carry 
 out the resolution, and it was over a year before 
 the members of the church at Scrooby and its 
 vicinity, who now called themselves the Pil- 
 grims, were able to start upon their pilgrimage. 
 In the meantime Love sought for his brother 
 with unfailing determination, but with a heavy 
 heart, from which hope was fading day by day. 
 Almost his first errand on reaching London had 
 been to see Patience. Lady Rich had accom- 
 panied the court to its winter quarters at White-
 
 194 PATIENCE. 
 
 hall Palace, and had rooms assigned her in the 
 apartments of the maids of honor, near the 
 tennis court. The latter part of her visit at 
 Warwick Castle had not been particularly 
 agreeable, for her host, Sir Fulke Greville, had 
 fancied that, as he had laid out immense sums 
 on the restoration of the castle, he had some 
 claim to the title of Earl of Warwick, and was 
 much chagrined when the King bestowed it on 
 Lord Rich ; while Lady Rich felt that the 
 title without the castle was but an empty 
 honor, and had injudiciously hinted to some 
 babbling friend that events might occur which 
 would unite the estates to the title. The Dud- 
 leys had held both before Sir Fulke, and if it 
 could be established that Ambrose Dudley had 
 left an heir or heiress, Sir Fulke's title, though 
 dearly paid for, was hardly worth the paper it 
 was written on. Just how the Dudley claims 
 were to be transferred to the Rich family Lady 
 Penelope did not condescend to explain, but 
 the other ladies-in-waiting were not destitute of 
 eyes or of imaginations, and began to treat Pa- 
 tience with great friendliness, and took them- 
 selves considerately out of the way whenever 
 Lord Robert visited his mother. The King 
 and Queen, too, had taken Lady Penelope into 
 high favor, and the King had conferred upon
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 195 
 
 her the rank of her brother, the Earl of Essex, 
 and had caused her apartment at Whitehall to 
 be elegantly furnished. 
 
 George Sandys and Love Brewster, after wan- 
 dering through an entire wing of the palace, at 
 length found Patience in a boudoir which seemed 
 to Love the most exquisite room he had ever 
 seen. One entire side was a long, projecting 
 bay-window, in the Jacobean style of architec- 
 ture, with glass of many colors in little leaded 
 panes. Like the Duchess of Portsmouth's 
 dressing room in the same palace, described by 
 Evelyn, the other walls were hung with tapes- 
 try representing "figures and landskips, ex- 
 otiq fowls, and all to the life rarely don. Then 
 for Japan cabinets, serenes, pendule clocks, 
 greate vases of wrought plate, chimney furni- 
 ture, sconces, etc., out of number." 
 
 Patience herself was more regal than her sur- 
 roundings, and had blossomed so suddenly from 
 his forest playmate into a court lady that Love 
 stood before her quite abashed. But she 
 greeted them both with such evident joy that 
 the old assurance of friendship returned with a 
 rush, and they were soon talking with the ut- 
 most confidence and freedom. Patience was 
 consumed with anxiety on Wrestling's account, 
 and she blamed herself not a little for having
 
 196 PATIENCE. 
 
 led Lim into danger. She told of her meetings 
 with the Jesuit, and how she had written 
 Wrestling, urging him to do the priest's er- 
 rand for her sake. She told them, too, of a 
 strange experience of which she had never 
 spoken to anyone. 
 
 Before coming with Lady Rich to Whitehall 
 they had made another call upon Lady Joyce 
 Carew, who had returned with her husband to 
 Clopton House, which had gained great noto- 
 riety from the tragic ending of the hunt which had 
 met there during its brief tenancy by Rokewood. 
 
 The Countess of Warwick was full of curi- 
 osity to learn all the particulars, and again vis- 
 ited, with her friend, the little chapel with its 
 frightful altar-piece of the Last Judgment, 
 which had now been discovered to be a sliding 
 panel, the door to the Priest's Hole. 
 
 Patience peered into the dark opening, but 
 kept her own counsel as to her experiences 
 on the night when she had been Lady Carew's 
 guest. It all came back to her so vividly that 
 she became suddenly dizzy on descending the 
 staircase ; and Lady Joyce, noticing her white 
 face, pressed her to lie down on a couch in one 
 of the lower rooms. Here, while the two ladies 
 left her, she fell into a clairvoyant state, or pos- 
 sibly dreamed a remarkable dream,
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 197 
 
 It seemed to her that she again saw the 
 Jesuit enter the room by the fireplace. He 
 did not notice her, but appeared to be searching 
 for something. He ransacked the bookcases, 
 opened cabinets, crouched upon his hands and 
 knees, looking under the furniture, rummaged 
 behind the picture frames, and finally bent 
 over her and slipped his thin hand under the 
 cushion upon which her head was resting. As 
 he did so she summoned all her energy and sat 
 up, and the Jesuit spoke in a low voice, but 
 with great distinctness : 
 
 "Wrestling Brewster, you should have 
 guarded with greater care the rosary which I 
 intrusted to you to give to Patience Dudley." 
 
 " But I am not Wrestling ! " the girl cried. 
 
 " Nay, but I am," said the Jesuit ; and Pa- 
 tience saw that the priest had vanished. In his 
 place, on his knees beside her, was Wrestling, 
 lookinsr at her with sad earnestness with the 
 
 O 
 
 blue eye, which formed such a startling con- 
 trast to his black hair. 
 
 " Father Green way's gift is under the 
 cushion," he said, " I had only time to slip it 
 there before 
 
 With a cry of joy Patience threw her arms 
 around the neck of her old friend. The stal- 
 wart form which should have supported her
 
 198 PATIENCE. 
 
 melted away as she threw herself upon it, and 
 she fell heavily upon the floor. Fortunately 
 no one had heard her outcry or her fall, and, 
 thoroughly shaken out of her strange condition 
 of second sight, she staggered back to the couch. 
 Involuntarily her hand slipped under the 
 cushion and touched several objects. Trem- 
 bling, she sat up and lifted aside the cushion. 
 There lay a rosary of ruby and crystal beads, a 
 breviary containing the name of Father Green- 
 way, and a folded paper. This she opened, and 
 was astonished to read a compact approving of 
 the schemes of Guy Fawkes signed by her 
 friends of the Separatist church at Scrooby. 
 She carefully concealed these articles about her 
 own person, and, realizing their incriminating 
 nature, (although she believed the compact a 
 forgery), said nothing of her discovery until 
 her interview with Love and with George 
 Sandys. 
 
 If only she could have controlled herself 
 while the phantom Wrestling was speaking to 
 her ! Then, perhaps, he would have told her 
 more. He had only time to conceal these ob- 
 jects before what ? 
 
 Neither he nor Father Greenway had been 
 taken at the last stand made by the conspirators, 
 at Stephen Littleton's, and her mind accepted
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 199 
 
 the comforting conclusion that they had 
 escaped together. It was a confirmation to 
 this theory that Lord Rich, from his different 
 point of view and other data, had arrived at the 
 same belief. 
 
 Love, who knew of the theft of the signa- 
 tures from the church record, pointed out the 
 place where they had been pasted on the com- 
 pact, and was sure that this must have been 
 the work of the Jesuit. " I will show the 
 paper and the breviary," he said, " to Sir Edwin 
 Sandys, who may gain some clew from it ; but 
 keep the rosary, since it seems that it was in- 
 tended for you." 
 
 George Sandys listened with interest, and 
 appeared to have gained a new idea. " My 
 brother has already seen Guy Fawkes," he 
 said, " who would answer none of his ques- 
 tions; but we have not approached Sir 
 Walter; he may be able to give us the 
 explanation." 
 
 As they were speaking Lord Rich entered, 
 and though he bowed with exaggerated cour- 
 tesy when Patience introduced her friends, he 
 treated them with such hauteur that they felt 
 that their visit was not acceptable, and pres- 
 ently took their departure. 
 
 " I will walk with you across the gardens,"
 
 200 PATIENCE. 
 
 Patience exclaimed impulsively, "for I have 
 not said one-half of what I would like." 
 
 " In that case," said Lord Rich, " I shall re- 
 quest my mother to accompany you, for I can- 
 not allow you to make yourself the mark for 
 the gossip of the court, by strolling so conspic- 
 uously with two such handsome gallants." 
 
 As Patience had frequently walked in the 
 garden with Lord Rich, she was somewhat sur- 
 prised by this excess of decorum, but she 
 waited without comment until the arrival of 
 Lady Penelope, who appropriated George 
 Sandys as an escort, leaving Patience to follow, 
 accompanied by Love and Lord Rich. 
 
 Lady Rich gave the signal for parting at the 
 famous sun-dial, of which Mar veil wrote bitterly: 
 
 " This place for a dial was too insecure, 
 Since a guard and a garden could not it defend, 
 For so near to the court they will never endure 
 Any witness to show how their time they misspend." 
 
 Here Patience, who saw that she was not to 
 be allowed to speak to Love alone, plucked up 
 courage to say what was in her heart before the 
 others. 
 
 " And so, dear friend, I shall pray every night 
 for your success in your quest. And think not 
 that I stay at court because I am dazzled by
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 201 
 
 all this magnificence, or because, kind as my 
 new friends are, I have forgotten my old ones. 
 I stay because I hope some day I shall meet the 
 King, when I shall surely bring all these mat- 
 ters to his knowledge. His Majesty has often 
 taken pleasure in unraveling dark matters. It 
 was he, they say, that guessed out the riddle of 
 the Gunpowder Plot." 
 
 " Not so difficult a riddle," sneered Lord Rich, 
 "when Cecil showed him the barrels in the 
 cellar." 
 
 " True," Patience persisted, " but he showed 
 a shrewd wit when he was told that at the trial 
 of the Countess of Exeter one of the witnesses 
 pretended to have heard a conversation while 
 secreted behind the tapestry. His Majesty did 
 not believe this story, and, hunting one day near 
 AVimbledon, galloped hastily to the castle, and 
 discovered that in the room where the witness 
 had sworn she had hidden, the tapestry cleared 
 the floor by at least two feet, and could in no- 
 wise have concealed her. Since the King took 
 so much interest for the righting of a just cause 
 once, I believe he will again." 
 
 " Leave it to me, sweet Patience," said Lord 
 Rich. " Trust me, I will do all that can be 
 done for thee ; and these young gentlemen will 
 act wisely if they cease to intermeddle in a
 
 202 PATIENCE. 
 
 matter which they cannot help, and which may 
 bring them into danger." 
 
 "Indeed, I shall not cease my efforts," Love 
 said indignantly to his companion, as they 
 walked away. " Is not Wrestling my brother ? 
 and shall I desert him for any thought of danger 
 to myself ? Did not Patience say that she would 
 die if he perished through her fault? That 
 would be enough for me. I would seek for him 
 through all the world to make her happy, even 
 though he were nought to me." 
 
 George Sandys looked puzzled. " Think not 
 too much on Patience," he said. " I fear she has 
 learned the way of the court, if she is not by 
 nature something of a coquette ; for the Count- 
 ess of Warwick confided to me just now that 
 there is a great match in making for the maid, 
 and that if her country friends would not mar 
 her fortune they would best not visit her too 
 frequently, lest they displeasure the bridegroom- 
 elect." 
 
 " It cannot be ! " Love exclaimed hotly. " I'll 
 not believe it. Yet, why not? Oh, my poor 
 brother ! " 
 
 George Sandys found it impossible to get per- 
 mission to visit Sir Walter Raleigh. Since the 
 discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, though noth- 
 ing of an incriminating character had been dis-
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 203 
 
 covered against him, he had been kept in closer 
 durance, and it was very difficult to obtain access 
 to him. Love remained in London all that win- 
 ter, but he found no clew to his brother's hiding- 
 place. He would not have given up the search 
 even now, had not a call come to him from his 
 mother, who was in sore trouble. A new mas- 
 ter of the post had been appointed ; and though 
 the manor house was still at his disposal, Wil- 
 liam Brewster had thought best to give it up, 
 as arrangements had been made for the depar- 
 ture to Holland. A ship w^as chartered to take 
 them to Boston, but after the pilgrims were all 
 on board it was found that the captain had 
 betrayed them to the officers of the law, who 
 came on board, arrested the entire company, and 
 carried them off to prison. Thomas Dudley 
 interested the Earl of Lincoln in their case, and 
 through his influence all but seven of the 
 leaders, among whom, was Brew T ster, were 
 liberated. It was at this juncture that Madam 
 Brewster had written to Love, and that he had 
 hastened to her. Thomas Dudley gave him 
 employment, and he was his mother's comfort 
 through all the dark season that followed. The 
 Pilgrims could not organize another expedition 
 without their leaders ; and as they, poor people, 
 had disposed of their homes, they waited in
 
 2o4 PATIENCE. 
 
 much distress until the following spring. Wil- 
 liam Bradford gives the story of their second 
 attempt at departure so vividly that I quote his 
 quaint language : 
 
 "They made agreemente with a Dutchman 
 having a ship of his own belonging to Zealand, 
 who was to take them in betweene Grimsbe and 
 Hull. The women and children with ye goods 
 were sent to ye place in a small barke, and ye 
 men were to meet them by land. When ye 
 ship came the barke lay aground, and ye ship 
 maister sente his boate to be getting ye men 
 abord whom he saw ready walking about ye 
 shore. But after ye first boat full was gott 
 abord the maister espied a greate company both 
 horse & foote, with bills & gunes, & other 
 weapons; for ye country was raised to take 
 them. Ye Dutchman, waiged his Aucor, hoysed 
 sayles & away. But ye poore men were in great 
 distress for their wives and children." 
 
 Love Brewster was among the men who were 
 carried away against their wills. During his 
 father's imprisonment he had been the protector 
 of his mother, and now he feared that his 
 father, who had remained with John Robinson 
 until the last, "to be assistante unto the 
 women," would be again imprisoned, and he 
 was nearly frantic as he tried to imagine what
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 205 
 
 would happen to his mother. But the magis- 
 trates were tiring of this unjust persecution of 
 helpless women and children. The sheriff, Wil- 
 liam Blanchard, who had a warrant for the 
 arrest of William Brewster and others for non- 
 conformity, after visiting Thomas Dudley, whose 
 guests he shrewdly suspected they were, 
 returned his warrant with the indorsement, 
 which can be read to-day : " William Blanch- 
 ard certifieth that he can not find the said 
 offenders nor can he understand where they be." 
 And so, to return to our faithful chronicler : 
 " To be shorte, after they had been turmoyled 
 a good while, notwithstanding all these storms 
 of oppossition, they all gatt over [to Holland] 
 at length, some at one time & some at 
 another, some in one place and some in another, 
 and mette togeather againe according to their 
 desires, with no small rejoycing." All but 
 Wrestling. Love had hoped that he might 
 have already escaped to Holland, and many a 
 time his heart would cease beating and a mist 
 rush to his eyes as he thought he recognized his 
 sturdy figure coming down one of the streets of 
 Amsterdam, but the vision appeared less fre- 
 quently as time went on ; and, though Love 
 never forgot his brother, his absence became 
 less of a pain, and expectation of ever seeing
 
 206 PATIENCE. 
 
 him again gradually faded from his mind. 
 Sometimes when he thought of Patience becom- 
 ing at some future day the Countess of War- 
 wick, and remembered how Wrestling, even as 
 a boy, had loved her, he said to himself that it 
 was better so, that Wrestling, with his intense, 
 passionate nature, could never have endured the 
 anguish of seeing her wedded to another, and 
 then Love was content that he was an exile ; 
 for though he told himself that his only thought 
 of Patience had been as the beloved of his 
 brother, and that he would not for worlds have 
 grudged her any happiness, yet if that happi- 
 ness was to be secured by her marriage with 
 Lord Rich he was glad that he was not in Eng- 
 land to see it. 
 
 Life in this placid, thriving country was 
 so different from the feverish stress to which 
 the Brewsters had been subjected that all 
 wounds healed. They had found a haven of 
 refuge, and a great peace brooded over the fu- 
 gitives, who were enjoying safety with liberty, 
 and for years lived in the most ideal brotherly 
 love with each other and the kindly Hol- 
 landers. 
 
 " What more can a pilgrim ask ? " said 
 Brewster to his wife, five years after their 
 coming.
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 207 
 
 " ' Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, 
 
 My staff of faith to rest upon, 
 My scrip of joy immortal diet, 
 My bottle of salvation.' " 
 
 A great yearning hunger was in the mother's 
 unforgetting face. " It was Sir Walter Raleigh 
 who wrote that, was it not ? " she said ; and the 
 unsatisfied want smote the father's heart as 
 well. " Oh, that we knew that it was well 
 with Wrestling ! " 
 
 " It is well with the youth," said William 
 Brewster. " Some way in all these years he 
 would have sent us tidings, were it not that he 
 had passed to greater peace than ours." 
 
 Love took his hat and silently went out ; he 
 had long ago come to the same conclusion ; 
 but he could not bear just then to look upon 
 his mother's face ; by and by he w T ould com- 
 fort her by double love and duty, if it was 
 possible for her to be comforted. 
 
 At the door he met the letter carrier with a 
 letter for from him England. It was so unusual 
 an occurrence that he turned it over several 
 times before opening it, trying to guess who 
 had sent it. 
 
 Then he walked away to a secluded spot and 
 read it when quite alone. It was from Patience 
 Dudley, a formal little letter, beginning
 
 208 PATIENCE. 
 
 "Esteemed Friend," and written apparently 
 simply to give general news of how matters were 
 going in England. " My father now deeineth 
 that ye were very wise in quitting this unhappy 
 country, for Prince Henry's life is despaired of, 
 and if he dieth there seems to be no issue out 
 of our lamentable state. My father hath had 
 counsel with Sir Edwin Sandys, and holds for 
 a Puritan emigration to Virginia, but first he 
 would know how the Separatists prosper in the 
 Low Countries ; and he would be glad, if it 
 suited with your father's occasions, if he could 
 come into England and hold converse with him 
 on these and other matters. If your father can- 
 not come, it would be a pleasure to me if he 
 could make you his messenger ; and if that may 
 not be it would be no small solace to have 
 written word of the well-being of our old 
 friends, and especially whether ye know aught 
 of Wrestling. Once when at court I met the 
 King, and I told him how your brother had 
 disappeared after returning the horse of Guy 
 Fawkes* He thought on it for a long space, 
 and then said : ' Fear not that your friend hath 
 been implicated with the Gunpowder Plot. My 
 Little Beagle hath a fine scent and hath brought 
 to justice all on whom fell the slightest sus- 
 picion, and I fear me others too. If the youth
 
 PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS. 209 
 
 should be found in any prison, except he hath 
 been regularly convicted of some heinous crime, 
 he hath our royal warrant to go free.' This 
 pardon he presently sent me ; and Prince Henry, 
 who heard the conversation, questioned me 
 still further, and when he heard (for this I had 
 not told the King) that Wrestling had possibly 
 been apprehended while striving to aid the 
 Jesuit in the rescue of Sir Walter Raleigh, he 
 promised himself to question Sir Walter con- 
 cerning him. But alas ! I have heard no more 
 of the matter. The Prince hath been ill, and 
 either he hath forgotten his promise or cannot 
 learn anything, so that though I have a free 
 pardon for Wrestling, unless you know where 
 he is it can effect nothing. Write to me in 
 care of my father, for I have long since departed 
 from the Countess of Warwick, owing to much 
 disquietness which I experienced while in her 
 company at Whitehall. And so, hoping that 
 you have room in your memory for your old 
 friend, I rest, 
 
 " PATIENCE DUDLEY." 
 
 Love's cheek grew very hot as he read. So, 
 there had been some disquietness, and Lord 
 Rich had not attained his desires. He could 
 not give her news of liis brother, but she had
 
 210 PATIENCE, 
 
 not in this rather formal letter at all expressed 
 the warmth of her feeling for Wrestling, and 
 it seemed to Love that she referred to him with 
 equal kindness. Why could he not in time 
 strive to win her for himself ? He placed the 
 letter within his heart, and walked so far that 
 night came down and surprised him beyond 
 the boundaries of the city, before he came to 
 himself sufficiently to turn and walk home- 
 ward.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A EIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 
 
 Our thoughts shall such soft pathos have 
 
 As when a man doth come 
 From wandering of many years 
 
 Back to a silent home. 
 Like sunshine on a vacant hearth, 
 
 And ashes gray and cold, 
 And ghastly squares upon the wall 
 
 Where portraits were of old. 
 
 ROBERT PALFREY UTTER. 
 
 EFORE Love had 
 finished reading 
 Patience Dudley's 
 letter the question 
 which had been her 
 only reason for writing 
 was answered, and she 
 had seen Wrestling. 
 
 When he had been 
 awakened from his heavy sleep at Clopton 
 House by the hurried entrance of the fugitive 
 conspirators he had only time to thrust the 
 objects which Patience afterward found 
 
 211
 
 212 PATIENCE. 
 
 under the cushion, when he was confronted 
 by Percy. 
 
 When asked to give an account of himself, 
 Wrestling had simply replied that, on hearing 
 of the failure of the plot, he had fled hither to 
 warn Father Greenway. Percy had no suspicion 
 that he had done so before the arrest of Guy 
 Fawkes, but deemed it wise to keep the boy, 
 and insisted on his accompanying the party to 
 Stephen Littleton's. Here, when taken by the 
 sheriff, Wrestling, unfortunately for himself, 
 refused to give his name. Percy was killed, 
 and none of the others knew who he was, but 
 they had heard him speak of the Jesuits, and 
 he was designated in the report made to Cecil 
 as a " servant to Father Greenway." The astute 
 Cecil immediately guessed that he was the lad 
 who had been the Jesuit's intermediary with 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. It was still Cecil's hope to 
 implicate Raleigh, and he ordered that Wrest- 
 ling should be confined with Raleigh, and al- 
 lowed to wait upon him as his valet. Between 
 the adjoining cell and Sir Walter's there was a 
 grating high in the wall, which permitted all 
 conversation to be distinctly heard, and here 
 Cecil stationed one of his creatures for several 
 days to listen to what was said by Raleigh and 
 Wrestling. Instead of discovering anything
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 213 
 
 connecting Raleigh with the Gunpowder Plot or 
 with an attempt to escape, Cecil became con- 
 vinced that the boy knew of his own agency in 
 the matter, and that his testimony would prove 
 most undesirable. He therefore determined 
 that Wrestling should remain where he was, 
 virtually buried alive. As in the case of Sir 
 Walter, Cecil neither dared to bring him to 
 public execution nor to set him at liberty. 
 
 Raleigh attempted to obtain his release, but 
 his letters were inspected by the Governor of 
 the Tower, who warned him not to persist in 
 efforts which were worse than useless. 
 
 Wrestling also begged him to attempt nothing 
 until he was himself at liberty, lest a more terri- 
 ble fate should fall upon them both. Raleigh 
 therefore determined to wait for a more favor- 
 able opportunity, and for seven years Wrestling 
 lived in companionship with his hero. He acted 
 as Raleigh's reader and secretary, and together 
 they finished the first volume of the " History 
 of the World." He worked in the little garden 
 in the court, Avhere Raleigh was allowed to 
 cultivate exotic plants, and in the still-house, 
 where he concocted his famous elixir. Wrest- 
 ling assayed the ores brought from El Dorado 
 in his little laboratory. He drew Raleigh's 
 maps; and, listening to his conversations on
 
 214 PATIENCE. 
 
 jurisprudence, on shipbuilding, on history, 
 diplomacy, and on poetry, it is doubtful whether 
 Love, who had now entered the University of 
 Leyden, was obtaining so liberal an education. 
 They were not unhappy years, and Wrestling 
 could have declared with John Bunyan : 
 
 " Stone walls do not a prison make, 
 
 Nor iron bars a cage ; 
 Minds peaceable and quiet take 
 Such for an hermitage. " 
 
 At length the long course of study was over, 
 and Wrestling was graduated from what we 
 might consider his University of the Tower. 
 Prince Henry, who had been in wretched health, 
 had rallied temporarily, and visited Sir Walter, 
 who was making a set of designs for his pleas- 
 ure yacht the Prince. This light little craft 
 showed its good construction some years after- 
 ward, when it weathered a terrible storm while 
 bringing Prince Charles back from his ill-fated 
 wooing of the Infanta. 
 
 As Prince Henry listened to the explanations 
 which Wrestling gave of the drawings which 
 he had made under Sir Walter's direction he 
 became so interested that he asked Raleigh the 
 name of his assistant. On learning Wrestling's 
 history the Prince remembered and reported 
 Patience's intercession, and insisted that the
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 215 
 
 Governor of the Tower should release the young 
 man on his princely word, that the King had 
 signed his pardon. 
 
 The Governor might not have done this if 
 Cecil had been in power and in London ; but 
 the Premier was very ill, and, it was currently 
 reported, could not recover. He had gone 
 down to Bath only to grow worse, though his 
 indomitable will defied death. His secretaries 
 kept him informed of every minute detail of 
 official business that was transacted in his 
 absence, and he still held the reins of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 When he knew that Wrestling had been set 
 at liberty he realized that he had made a great 
 mistake in not having him executed while he 
 was in his power. He could not have brought 
 him to trial, but there were other ways. 
 Tresham and Percy had died without babbling, 
 and he had still trusty agents to do his bidding. 
 His first concern was to ascertain where Wrest- 
 ling had gone, and when informed that he had 
 set out for Scrooby, only delaying his journey 
 to learn from Lady Rich's steward that Patience 
 Dudley was with her father at the Earl of 
 Lincoln's hunting lodge, a look of malicious 
 satisfaction settled upon his grim visage. 
 Wrestling had two days' start of the man
 
 216 PATIENCE. 
 
 whom Cecil would put upon his track, but he 
 was bound on a lover's errand, and there was 
 no fear that he would leave Patience immedi- 
 ately when once he had found her. One of 
 the most brutal ruffians in Cecil's employ was 
 instructed to lie in wait in Sherwood Forest, 
 just outside the entrance to the lodge, and way- 
 lay the wooer. Wrestling had left London 
 without confiding to any of Cecil's enemies the 
 conversation he had heard in the vault of the 
 Parliament House. He must never return to 
 tell of that little act in the drama. 
 
 Meantime Wrestling, all unconscious of any 
 danger, was hastening toward his old home. 
 
 He was a young man of twenty-one now, but 
 every detail of that home was stamped upon 
 his memory, and as he approached the familiar 
 region, riding by post, his eyes were wet with 
 happy tears and his heart full to bursting. 
 He thought of his mother, gentle and patient, 
 with whitening hair and a face that always 
 lighted with a smile, when her glance rested 
 upon him. He had written her many letters 
 from the Tower. It seemed to him that some 
 must have reached her, and that she must have 
 written in reply, though no word had ever come 
 to him. 
 
 He was struck from a distance by the
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 217 
 
 deserted appearance of the house, and the post- 
 boy deadened the blow of what would have 
 been a great shock by telling him that the 
 family had gone none knew whither. 
 
 He gave his horse to the care of the boy 
 and, leaping the stile, strode across the fields 
 the nearest way. He found a loose shutter, 
 entered like a burglar, and stole like his own 
 ghost from room to room. It was all so 
 familiar and yet so heart-breaking in its deso- 
 lation. It seemed to him as he opened each 
 door that here at last he must find everything 
 as it had been and the old loved faces. The 
 chapel was least changed, but he cared least 
 for that room, and the bit of Flemish tapestry 
 was gone from the hall, though the settle 
 where he used to sit and study it was still in 
 its place. It seemed to him that they might 
 have known that he would come back, and 
 that they ought to have left some word for 
 him ; but there was no letter in his own room, 
 where he half hoped to find it, no message 
 for him with the strange care-taker whom 
 he found later at the gate-keeper's lodge. 
 He walked sadly, even bitterly, through Sher- 
 wood Forest. Had they forgotten him, that 
 they deserted him thus? The tears came to 
 his eyes, but he dashed them aside. There.*
 
 21$ PATIENCE. 
 
 was still one friend left who would not forget. 
 Patience, if she was at the hunting lodge, would 
 have a welcome for him. But as he entered 
 the forest he met an aged man, who passed 
 him, turned and stared, and then called to him 
 asking if he were not the son of William 
 Brewster. 
 
 " I am indeed," Wrestling replied, " but I 
 know you not." 
 
 " Yet I have seen you as a boy in this forest," 
 replied the old man, for I am a Morton of 
 Bawtry. Heard you never of the Mortons ? " 
 
 " Aye, that must everyone who has lived in 
 this region, for Robert Morton endowed there 
 the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, with a 
 hermitage wherein a priest might have resi- 
 dence to keep hospitality for poor people and 
 to pray for the founder and for all Christian 
 souls." 
 
 "You remember well the words of my 
 ancestor's testament. Know you aught else of 
 the Mortons?" 
 
 "I have heard that Nicholas Morton, the 
 priest, came disguised to this country in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, and brought with 
 him the Papal bull declaring her an excom- 
 municated heretic; and that though a price 
 was put upon his head, and he was known to
 
 A RIFT Itf THE CLOUDS. 219 
 
 have carried messages to and from Mary Stuart 
 while she was a prisoner at Fotheringay Castle, 
 scarce a score of miles from here, yet he was 
 never caught." 
 
 The old man looked at Wrestling keenly. 
 "That was because my pursuers had not wit," 
 he replied, "for I perceive that thou hast 
 divined that I am that Nicholas Morton. I 
 would not acknowledge it to thee but that 
 I also know certain passages of thy history 
 which assure me that we may trust each other. 
 I dwell now under an assumed name near the 
 hospice founded by my ancestor; come and 
 share my room to-night, as Father Greenway 
 did before he left England. He told me of 
 thee and how he owed thee his life. 'Tis a 
 debt that any of his brethren will gladly repay 
 thee for him if they have opportunity." 
 
 " I accept thy offer, Brother Morton," said 
 Wrestling; "I was going on to Captain Dud- 
 ley's, but it is almost night, the way is long, and 
 I find myself almost at the end of my strength." 
 
 In accepting the hospitality of Nicholas 
 Morton, Wrestling hoped to hear more of 
 Father Greenway, and he was not disappointed. 
 The Jesuit had escaped to Spain and had gone 
 as a missionary to the Indians in the New 
 World.
 
 220 PATIENCE. 
 
 The next morning Wrestling left his host as 
 soon as he could do so with courtesy, and again 
 set out to call upon Patience and Captain Dud- 
 ley. But as he passed the inn he heard a 
 familiar voice calling his name, and, although 
 somewhat changed by the lapse of years, recog- 
 nized his old friend George Sandys. He 
 found it impossible to tear himself away from 
 his company until the forenoon had passed, 
 and they had lunched together, for Sandys had 
 much to tell him of his own family : of Love's 
 devoted search for him in London ; of the 
 persecutions of the Separatists, and of their 
 removal to Amsterdam and subsequently to 
 Leyden. " But they are not yet at the end of 
 their pilgrimage, or I mistake me," said Sandys, 
 "for America is the place for them, and for us 
 all. What are you thinking of doing? I wish 
 you would go to Virginia with me, or to Ber- 
 muda. I am sure that my brother could obtain 
 grants of land for us, and we could soon 
 become wealthy planters and marry Indian 
 princesses." 
 
 Wrestling shook his head. " If Sir Walter 
 is pardoned and succeeds in organizing his 
 expedition to El Dorado, I will go out with 
 him, and if you are on your plantation at Ber- 
 muda I will call upon you and your Indian
 
 A RIFT Itf THE CLOUDS. 221 
 
 beauty ; but my princess is here in England, 
 and I shall have to persuade her to emigrate 
 before I can settle anywhere." 
 
 George Sandys' face grew grave. " You 
 mean Patience Dudley," he said. And then 
 he told Wrestling of his interview with her at 
 Whitehall, and what Lady Rich had told him 
 of her prospects. 
 
 " And is there any truth in it, think you ? " 
 Wrestling asked. 
 
 "I fear there is," Sandys replied, "for my 
 Lord Rich is at the lodge now. He came up 
 from London yesterday. I fear you will only 
 give yourself pain by calling on Patience, and 
 that you will find that Sir Philip Sidney's rid- 
 dle is yours as well." 
 
 "What was Sidney's riddle?" Wrestling 
 asked. 
 
 " Sir Philip had a most detestable mania for 
 making puns. He made them on his death- 
 bed, and in his deepest despair I wonder that 
 you do not recall his verses to Stella : 
 
 " ' Listen then, lordlings, with good care to me, 
 
 For of my life I must a riddle tell. 
 Towards Aurora's court a nymph doth dwell, 
 
 Rich in all beauties which man's eye can see, 
 Rich in the treasure of deserved renown, 
 
 Rich in the riches of a royal heart, 
 Rich in those gifts which give the eternal crown.
 
 222 PATIENCE. 
 
 Who, though most rich in these and every part 
 Which makes the patents of true worldly bliss, 
 Hath no misfortune but that Eich she is.' " 
 
 " Nevertheless," Wrestling replied, " Pa- 
 tience is made of different stuff from Sidney's 
 Stella, and I could never believe so poorly of 
 Patience as that she could ever be Rich in the 
 sense you mean." 
 
 He bade farewell to his tenacious friend 
 and strode rapidly through the forest, wonder- 
 ing what new impediment would arise to delay 
 him. He carried a volume which Nicholas 
 Morton had given him, and it reminded him 
 of the many times when as a student he had 
 trudged through the wood with his school- 
 books under his arm. He had reached the 
 beginning of the Earl of Lincoln's park, and 
 was skirting the low wall which separated it 
 from the chase, looking eagerly for the well- 
 remembered gap through which he used to pass 
 in taking the short cut to the arbor, when he 
 heard at some little distance, but coming rapidly 
 nearer, the galloping of a horse. Thinking 
 that only a runaway horse could be taking so 
 mad a pace through the forest, he stepped out 
 of the path, and immediately after a man, hatless 
 but booted and spurred, dashed by. In that 
 swift passage Wrestling saw his face distinctly
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 223 
 
 the low, ruffian features of the professional 
 cutthroat, a bully, and an assassin, with corselet 
 and heavy broadsword and a long, murderous 
 knife at his belt. He did not see Wrestling, 
 for he was looking straight forward and duck- 
 ing his head incessantly to avoid the overhang- 
 ing boughs ; but there was something strangely 
 familiar in his face, and after a moment's 
 thought Wrestling remembered that he had 
 seen it last in the attack at Stephen Littleton's 
 house. He could have sworn that he was the 
 man who had thrust Percy's own sword through 
 his heart when it was offered in surrender. 
 While he was thinking of these things a woman's 
 cry rang through the forest : " Help ! help ! 
 Murder ! " and Wrestling dashed forward in the 
 direction from which the fugitive had come. 
 Only a little further on, at the gap in the wall 
 for which he was looking, he came across the 
 victim of the assassin and the woman who had 
 uttered the cry Lord Rich and Patience Dud- 
 ley. His lordship was stretched, wounded 
 and unconscious, upon the ground, and Patience 
 was kneeling beside him. As Wrestling ap- 
 proached she lifted his head with her right arm 
 while her left hand pressed firmly the wound 
 in his shoulder. Wrestling came up behind 
 her, so softly that she did not hear, and he
 
 224 PATIENCE. 
 
 looked at her keenly, more interested in what 
 he should see in her face than in whether the 
 man whom she was holding so tenderly had 
 any chance for life. His heart was so full of 
 jealousy at that moment that if he had read 
 love in Patience's eyes he could not have lifted 
 his hand to aid his rival had his life depended 
 upon it. But Patience turned and faced him 
 with a look so calm in its pleading that all the 
 insane hate and suspicion left his heart and he 
 had the heavy breastplate unbuckled in an 
 instant, the lace and velvet torn away, and 
 the wound staunched in a more skillful way 
 than she could have done it. Then he bade 
 her hasten to the lodge for someone with a 
 stretcher, promising to remain with his lord- 
 ship until her return. She brought water in 
 his hat from a little brook, bathed Lord Rich's 
 face, and forced him to drink a little ; and he 
 began to babble, "Don't say no, Patience!" 
 Then, opening his eyes and recognizing Wrest- 
 ling, he murmured : " You need not have 
 stabbed me. It was you she loved all the 
 time. I knew she would come along the path, 
 and I was waiting for her ; but I knew, too, 
 that it was of no use, for it was you all the 
 time." 
 
 Wrestling quieted him, and presently Cap-
 
 WOUNDED.
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 225 
 
 tain Dudley came with the improvised stretcher, 
 and together they carried him to the lodge, 
 where Mistress Dudley met them, and they laid 
 the wounded man in a white bed which Pa- 
 tience and she had prepared in a large lower 
 room looking out upon the formal flower beds. 
 For days they tended him, taking turns, for the 
 cut was an ugly one, though Captain Dudley 
 was sure from the first that they would pull 
 him through. As soon as consciousness was 
 restored he remembered how it all happened 
 and absolved Wrestling from any complicity in 
 the deed. When told that Wrestling had ap- 
 peared at his house in London and had asked 
 for Patience, Lord Rich had at once surmised 
 his errand and had determined to make one 
 last effort. " She shall choose between us," he 
 had said to himself ; " perhaps when she sees 
 him the reality may not come up to the ideal 
 which she has cherished all these years, perhaps 
 she has had time to reconsider the refusal given 
 at Whitehall when she was scarcely more than 
 a child, and the Earl of Warwick may stand 
 same chance as the rival of a penniless ex- 
 convict." But while he believed that he had 
 the advantage, he would not use it unfairly, and 
 he sent Wrestling true directions of where to 
 find Patience. Moreover, on learning on his
 
 226 PATIENCE. 
 
 arrival at Captain Dudley's that Wrestling had 
 not appeared, he did not, as he easily might 
 have done, keep back the news that Wrestling 
 was at liberty and on his way to them until he 
 had plead his own cause ; but he told Patience 
 frankly that she would probably soon have 
 another declaration to place beside his own, and 
 he wished her to consider this in giving him 
 his answer. Patience assured Lord Rich that 
 if Wrestling had never existed her answer 
 must still be the same ; but the joy that flamed 
 in her face when she heard that he was free 
 was impossible for her to conceal and for him 
 to misunderstand. Lord Rich returned to the 
 inn at Scrooby ; but learning there that Wrest- 
 ling had visited his old home the day before 
 and had gone away, he began to wonder why 
 the young man had not gone to the Dudleys', 
 and my lord determined to return again to the 
 Lodge. If he was mistaken in thinking that 
 Wrestling loved Patience, if he never came to 
 woo, perhaps Patience would still listen to his 
 own pleading. Lord Rich felt sure that if 
 Wrestling did not go to the Lodge that morn- 
 ing Patience would take the little path across 
 the forest to the old manor house of the Arch- 
 bishop of York to see if he had been heard 
 from by the care-taker at his old home;
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 227 
 
 and not caring to appear again before her 
 family, his lordship had awaited her coming 
 at the gap in the wall. He had seen George 
 Sandys that morning, and scornful words had 
 passed between them, so that when he had 
 been set upon by the cutthroat, whom Wrest- 
 ling met a few minutes later fleeing from the 
 scene, Lord Rich most unjustly connected 
 Sandys with the murderous attack. The 
 ruffian had lain in wait at this spot for Wrest- 
 ling, and had mistakenly supposed that Lord 
 Rich was the man whom he had been employed 
 to assassinate. 
 
 Though wounded, Lord Rich had endeavored 
 to defend himself, but the coward had dodged 
 behind a tree, in which his lordship buried his 
 sword, which snapped at the hilt. Then dizzily 
 reeling quite around, he fell, and so Patience 
 found him shortly after. Nursing the man 
 who had received the thrust intended for him 
 was in more than one sense a labor of love for 
 Wrestling. 
 
 Patience was always waiting in the garden 
 when he went off duty and Captain Dudley 
 took his place and there was so much to talk 
 about that it was hard for him to be persuaded 
 to take any time for sleep. For Patience had 
 promised to be his wife and to go with him some
 
 228 PATIENCE. 
 
 day to Virginia. Lord Rich had joined their 
 hands. " A little blood-letting," he said, " cools 
 a hot head, and since I have had the taste of 
 cold steel Cupid's arrows rankle less painfully." 
 He promised to aid them in their plans for 
 emigration and was so magnanimous that he 
 won all hearts. 
 
 Captain Dudley was well pleased with his 
 daughter's betrothal, for William Brewster was 
 his old friend, and he believed that Wrestling 
 inherited his father's sterling qualities, and pre- 
 ferred him as a son-in-law to the impulsive and 
 volatile earl. He had no faith or hope in the 
 possibility that the mystery shrouding his own 
 origin could be cleared away or his pedigree 
 traced to any of the sons of Northumberland 
 or the Button Dudleys. He would have felt 
 it no honor to have been proved the son of 
 Leicester or to have known that royal blood 
 coursed through his veins, though his daughter 
 Anne, in writing of the ambitions of middle life, 
 sings : 
 
 " Then with both hands I grasped the world together 
 
 Greater than was the greatest, my desire 
 And thirst for honor set my heart on fire ; 
 My thirst was higher than nobility, 
 I oft longed sore to taste of royalty."
 
 A RIFT IF THE CLOUDS. 229 
 
 But Thomas Dudley could have honestly 
 said : 
 
 " My boast is not that I desire ray birth 
 From kings enthroned or rulers of the earth, 
 But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The child of parents passed into the skies." 
 
 Before Lord Rich was quite strong exciting 
 news came which called Wrestling to London. 
 The real king of England had gone to his ac- 
 count, not the puppet James, but the man who 
 had actually ruled, Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. 
 Prince Henry was ailing, and the Puritans, who 
 looked to him with hope and to the wily earl 
 with fear, must have felt that it was an inter- 
 position of Providence that Cecil should have 
 died first. No one had more cause to watch 
 with anxiety the duration of these two lives 
 than Sir Walter Raleigh, still a prisoner in 
 the Tower. Nothing could be done for him so 
 long as Cecil lived, but when it was known 
 that the premier had expired on the 24th of 
 May, 1(512, while attempting to return to Lon- 
 don, energetic efforts were made for Raleigh's 
 release by the Prince and his other friends, and 
 the services of the most able man of his time, 
 Sir Francis Bacon, were secured to effect this 
 end. 
 
 Unfortunately that very summer the Prince
 
 230 PATIENCE. 
 
 took a violent cold while playing tennis, and 
 fell into a fever which baffled the medical skill 
 of the time, but has since been surmised to have 
 been typhoid. He died on October 10, but 
 not before he had wrung a promise from his 
 father to pardon Raleigh for his sake on 
 Christmas Day. This promise at the deathbed 
 of his son King James remembered and con- 
 fessed, but to his eternal disgrace basely failed 
 to keep. He had long before refused the 
 Prince's request to give back to Lady Raleigh 
 the beautiful home at Sherbourne, which had 
 been confiscated at the time of her husband's at- 
 tainder, for this estate was desired by Carr, one 
 of the King's favorites. But it was doubtless 
 through his influence that James gave Lady 
 Raleigh an annuity of four hundred pounds, 
 and a gift outright of eight thousand pounds, 
 as an equivalent for the landed property. 
 
 With this eight thousand pounds Bacon 
 continued his efforts. The man who had taken 
 Cecil's place in power, if not in actual office, 
 was George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and 
 Buckingham was notorious for the sale of his 
 influence with the King. After three years of 
 negotiation James became at length so inter- 
 ested in the story of the gold mine of El Dorado 
 that he consented that Raleigh should be re-
 
 A RIFT IN THE CLOUDS. 231 
 
 leased from prison, to fit out and conduct an 
 expedition to Guiana. The eight thousand 
 pounds (or as much remained after the fees 
 of over fifteen hundred pounds were paid to 
 Villiers and others) was used for the equipment 
 of the little fleet. Buckingham offered for 
 seven hundred pounds more than he was paid 
 to obtain Raleigh a free pardon from the King, 
 but Bacon advised Raleigh not to accept. " If 
 you come back successful you will not need it. 
 If unsuccessful it would avail you nothing, for 
 other charges would be trumped up against 
 you," he argued ; "while money to put 
 your expedition on the best possible footing is 
 most needful to you now." 
 
 " The Shepherd of the Ocean " was released 
 on March 17, 1615, after an imprisonment of 
 twelve years, and at once set about gathering 
 his flock of seven small ships, which he hoped 
 would return from their green sea-pastures 
 heavy with golden fleeces. 
 
 Many of his old friends volunteered to join 
 the expedition, and some who had coveted 
 positions on his flagship, the Destiny, were sur- 
 prised and envious when Raleigh announced 
 that his lieutenant was to be a young man who 
 had been his fellow-prisoner for seven years. 
 Wrestling had been employed by Raleigh
 
 232 PATIENCE. 
 
 before his own release in traveling from point 
 to point, overseeing the collection of supplies 
 and the equipment of the fleet. It was June of 
 the year 1617 before it was ready to sail, and 
 in this interval Wrestling visited his family in 
 Holland. 
 
 Patience had divided with him the Jesuit's 
 gift, and each wore, hidden from sight, one-half 
 of the rosary of blood and tears fit emblem of 
 the vicissitudes through which they were to 
 pass. Wrestling had also obtained the breviary 
 from Sir Edwin Sandys and carried it with him. 
 When the fleet finally set out from Plymouth 
 two women watched it from a little headland, 
 and waved their scarfs until the Destiny was 
 only a speck upon the horizon. They were 
 Lady Raleigh and Patience Dudley, who had 
 gone down from London together to take fare- 
 well of their adventurers. Their hearts were 
 full of apprehensions of storms and disaster. 
 But the shipwreck of Raleigh's Destiny was 
 not to take place on the wild ocean or on any 
 foreign reef or rocks. He was to return, having 
 surmounted many perils, but, such are the par- 
 adoxes of fate, might well have envied his 
 young lieutenant, who had plighted his faith to 
 return for his betrothed, but would never come 
 back to his native land.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MIGRATURTJS HABITA. 
 
 Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, 
 Ready to pass to the American strand. 
 
 GEORGE HERBERT. 
 
 >OON after the Pil- 
 grims settled in 
 Amsterdam cir- 
 cumstances arose 
 which made it 
 seem more advisable 
 for them to make 
 Leyden their resi- 
 dence. Amsterdam 
 was the metropolis of 
 Holland, a populous, 
 wealthy city, and as 
 such its entire atmosphere was saturated with 
 money getting and money spending. A thor- 
 oughly worldly, commercial, and extravagant 
 manner of living prevailed among its burghers ; 
 while they found the Brownists, (a Separatist 
 congregation which had emigrated before them, 
 
 233
 
 S34 PATIENCE. 
 
 with whom they had hoped to fraternize), op- 
 posed to a democratic church government, jealous 
 of the newcomers, and quarrelsome ; and it soon 
 became evident that they could not live together 
 in harmony. The Brownists, from living among 
 their Dutch neighbors, who thoroughly believed 
 in enjoying all the good things of this present 
 life, seemed to the Pilgrims to have grown too 
 luxurious. " Mistress Johnson, the minister's 
 wife, wore lawn coives [caps], and busks, and a 
 velvet hood, and whalebones in her petticoat 
 bodice, and worst of all a topish hat." It is 
 true that Mistress Johnson, who was the 
 daughter of a well-to-do Fleet Street haber- 
 dasher, paid for all of these fashionable extrava- 
 gances with her own money; but they were 
 deemed to argue too frivolous a mind for a 
 pastor's wife. But there was another woman 
 in the Amsterdam church, " an ancient widow " 
 whose name has not reached us, but who 
 received the unqualified respect of the Pilgrims. 
 This was the deaconess, of whom Governor 
 Bradford writes: 
 
 " She did them service many years, though 
 she was sixty years of age when she was chosen. 
 She honored her place, and was an ornament 
 to the congregation. She usually sat in a con- 
 venient place in the congregation with a little
 
 MIGRATURUS HABITA. 235 
 
 birchen rod in her hand ; and kept little chil- 
 dren in great awe, from disturbing the congre- 
 gation. She did frequently visit the sick, and 
 called out maids and young women to watch 
 and do them other helps. And she was obeyed 
 as a mother in Israel, and an Officer of Christ." 
 If the Dutch were kind to themselves in 
 deeming it no sin to dress well and live well, 
 they were equally kind to others. Brewster 
 had been struck during his former visit with 
 the fact that there were almost no poor in 
 Holland. There were orphanages, hospitals, 
 asylums for every species of unfortunate, old 
 men's homes and old women's homes, and even 
 in the prisons the criminals were well treated. 
 The great portrait painters have left us groups 
 of the boards of managers of these benevolent 
 institutions, in which the lady presidents have 
 aristocratic but kindly features ; the secretaries 
 may be plain, but they grasp their goose quills 
 with an air of conscious ability, and the 
 treasurers hold open caskets overflowing with 
 gold coins and strings of pearls. The question 
 of how to maintain these charities pressed hard 
 upon the ingenuity of these good women, as it 
 does upon the mothers in Israel of our own 
 day ; and, as in all other countries and in all 
 ages, entertainments were made to contribute
 
 236 PATIENCE. 
 
 the necessary funds. In Portugal the sisters 
 of charity sell lottery tickets for the support 
 of their orphanages, in Spain the nuns importune 
 you to purchase tickets to bullfights. In old 
 Amsterdam, as in new, the theater gave benefits 
 for every charity. The managers of the Dutch 
 charities were even more enterprising than 
 those of our own time. The "Academy" of 
 Amsterdam was purchased by the Regents of 
 the city's orphan asylum and of the old men's 
 home. The managers of these charities as an 
 investment enlarged and beautified this theater, 
 and gave plays here twice a week to the great 
 profit of these institutions. 
 
 The first drama presented was Vondel's 
 tragedy " Gysbrecht." It was so popular that 
 from the night of its first presentation, two 
 hundred and fifty years ago, to the present time 
 is has been acted every New Year's Eve in the 
 theater of Amsterdam. One of the characters 
 is made to prophesy the future greatness of the 
 city: 
 
 " The town of commerce, Amsterdam 
 Known round the circle of the globe," 
 
 " which," says Mr. Van Noppen, translator of 
 Vondel's " Lucifer," " may be interpreted as 
 prophetic of the grandeur of the greater New 
 Amsterdam beyond the sea."
 
 MIGRATUEUS HABITA. 237 
 
 It is not probable that the Separatists ever 
 attended these plays, though they were all of 
 an elevated character and given as benefits for 
 charity. Even the Dutch Puritans agreed with 
 their English co-religionists in the opinion that 
 the theater was " a school of idleness, a mount 
 of idolatry, a relic of paganism leading to sin, 
 Godlessness, impurity, and frivolity, and a mere 
 waste of time." In England this was almost 
 true, but Shakspeare's genius was to lift the 
 drama to a noble position, and Milton the 
 Puritan was soon to be attracted by great 
 dramatic themes too sublime for actual presen- 
 tation. 
 
 Vondel's " Lucifer " was published thirteen 
 years before " Paradise Lost." Milton could 
 read Dutch and he doubtless borrowed from 
 the Dutch dramatist, as Shakspeare did from 
 earlier playwrights. " Milton," says Van 
 Noppen, "had a wonderful memory, which 
 involuntarily emptied its gatherings into the 
 flow of his thought. That this was not always 
 done unconsciously is known from Milton's own 
 confession, where he says : ' To borrow and to 
 better in the borrowing is no plagiarie.' And 
 that he bettered who can doubt ? " 
 
 While the Pilgrims looked upon this rich 
 and pleasant city of Amsterdam as too much
 
 238 PATIENCE. 
 
 given to luxuries and temptations to worldli- 
 ness, the more scholastic atmosphere of the 
 university town of Leyden was peculiarly 
 attractive to men who believed in " plain living 
 and high thinking." 
 
 Leyden was at this time " one of the grandest, 
 the comeliest, and the most charming cities of 
 the world." One of the professors of its uni- 
 versity, Polyander, was wont to say : " Of the 
 four quarters of the globe Europe is the noblest. 
 The Low Countries are the best part of Europe. 
 Of its seventeen provinces Holland is the 
 richest. Its most altogether charming city is 
 Leyden, while the loveliest street in Leyden 
 is the Rapenburg. Wherefore I am lodged in 
 the most beautiful spot in the world." 
 
 The University, the glory of Leyden, had 
 been chosen by its people when the Prince of 
 Orange offered them as a reward for their 
 heroic defense of the city against the Spanish 
 either exemption from taxes or the foundation 
 of this great school of learning. 
 
 At first there were four different depart- 
 ments : divinity, law, medicine, and the school 
 of arts, but others were continually added. 
 Prince Maurice, who had studied with Simon 
 Stevinus, inspector of the dikes, established an 
 engineering course, and as quickly as a great
 
 MIGRATURUS HABIT A. 239 
 
 man made his appearance in any department of 
 knowledge, no expense was spared by the 
 trustees, and even diplomatic negotiation was 
 resorted to, in order to acquire him as a pro- 
 fessor. It became a matter of national pride 
 that their university should surpass all others. 
 The Dutch fleet was deputed to escort famous 
 men to their new home. Among the many 
 eminent men who occupied its chairs were : 
 Scaliger, whom Hallam calls "the most ex- 
 traordinary master of erudition who ever lived " ; 
 Grotius, still the acknowledged authority on 
 international law ; Gornar and Arminius in 
 theology, St. Aldegonde in diplomacy, Lipsius in 
 history, Cluverius and Peter Paaw in natural 
 sciences, and Boerhaave in medicine. These 
 men attracted students from all Europe and 
 from England as well. 
 
 Descartes, the great mechanical philosopher, 
 lived in the suburbs ; Rembrandt resided at a 
 house on the ramparts on the Pelican Quay 
 near the White Gate. The castle crowned the 
 burg, or eminence, around whose foot a city of 
 one hundred thousand inhabitants clustered, 
 with a handsome hotel de ville and a cathedral 
 of five naves. On the south side of the cathe- 
 dral, next the belfry, stood a roomy house, hav- 
 ing a large garden which was inclosed between
 
 240 PATIENCE. 
 
 the Veiled Nuns' Cloister, the University 
 Library, and the Donckere Graft or Dark Canal. 
 This desirable piece of property was purchased 
 in the name of John Robinson, and in the 
 garden twenty-one tiny cottages were built for 
 the poorer members of the congregation. 
 
 In this charming spot bounded by cloister, 
 cathedral, and library, with the quaintly cut 
 box hedges and beds of tulips mirrored in the 
 amber waters of the quiet canal, and the grand 
 old chimes flinging down their harmonies with 
 each stroke of the quarter-hour, the Pilgrims 
 lived in great love and harmony. The poorer 
 sort worked at trades. William Brewster, who 
 resided in his own hired house in another part 
 of the city, gave lessons in English, possibly 
 under the auspices of the university, " and so," 
 says Bradford, "his outward condition was 
 mended, and he lived well and plentifully. 
 For he fell into a way, by reason he had the 
 Latin tongue to teach many students [of the 
 University] who had a desire to learn English : 
 and by his method they quickly attained to it 
 with great facility ; for he drew rules to learn 
 it by after the Latin manner. And many 
 gentlemen, both Danes and Germans, resorted 
 to him, as they had time from other studies : 
 some of them being Great Men's sons."
 
 MIGEATUEUS HABITA. 241 
 
 For twelve years the Pilgrims were to enjoy 
 the privileges of this delightful city. For Love 
 Brewster especially they were days of rare 
 pleasure and profit. He immediately recom- 
 menced his interrupted studies, fitting himself 
 to enter the University. John Robinson also 
 became a student of the school of divinity, thus 
 acquiring a gownsman's privileges, and gaining 
 distinguished honors in debate. In their con- 
 tempt of riches and the commercial life, the 
 Pilgrims had the same antagonism for such 
 cities as London and Amsterdam as Thoreau 
 might have felt for New York, such aversion 
 as Lucian voiced for Rome. Love's heart 
 thrilled with sympathy when he found in the 
 writings of the Greek sage these words : " Let 
 the man who loves riches, dazzled by the glitter 
 of gold, who measures happiness by show and 
 power, never tasting the sweets of freedom nor 
 the frank intimacy of equals, who never faced 
 truth, because nurtured always on flattery and 
 servility ; or he who turns his mind to pleasure 
 alone, worshiping only that, let such dwell at 
 Rome : life there is suited to such corruption." 
 
 The elevated thought and scholastic calm of 
 this university town were especially agreeable 
 to Love. There was a boy of twelve living in 
 Leyden at this time named Rembrandt van Rijn
 
 242 PATIENCE. 
 
 who had begun to paint. Sometimes he came 
 to sketch the Dark Canal behind the Veiled 
 Nuns' Cloister with an older artist called 
 Cuyp. 
 
 These artists first opened Love's eyes to the 
 beauty of the reflections, showing him how the 
 still water of the " Donckere Graft " shadowed 
 and harmonized the garish lights and colors, 
 bringing them all together in lower tones as in 
 a Claude Lorraine glass. The glory of sun- 
 shine filtering through foliage and suffusing the 
 red hair of a peasant with a radiance like a 
 saint's aureole was another revelation which 
 Rembrandt taught Love in the pretty garden 
 behind the belfry. Love had chosen one of 
 the cottages on whose "stoop" the sunshine 
 fell, and in his imagination saw Patience stand- 
 ing there with the aureole about her hair, look- 
 ing for him as he came from the University. 
 He had determined to go to England to tell 
 her of this dream-picture, when one day as he 
 came back from the lecture-room to his own 
 home his mother met him, and the rapture in 
 her face told him that Wrestling Bad come 
 home. Very manfully he choked back all 
 personal hopes, and gave his brother a cordial 
 greeting, wishing him all joy as he told of his 
 betrothal to Patience. Wrestling remained
 
 MiaRATURUS HABIT A. 243 
 
 with, them but a short time, for he had much to 
 do for Sir Walter, but in his brief visit he 
 wakened the spirit of emigration in the little 
 colony. In 1614 Robert Harcourt had pub- 
 lished a relation of the first voyage to Guiana, 
 and the Pilgrims had already discussed going 
 there. There were reasons why even beautiful 
 Leyden could be no " continuing city " for the 
 exiles, reasons which forced them even here to 
 take as their motto the words we have written 
 at the head of this chapter, Migraturus Jidbita 
 (I dwell as about to depart). First of all, the 
 twelve-years' truce between the Dutch and 
 the Spaniards was drawing to a close and the 
 country was soon to be plunged again in war ; 
 and the Pilgrims, who were averse to fighting 
 other people's battles, saw with regret their 
 more adventurous sons enlisting in the Dutch 
 army. The kindliness with which they had 
 been received by the Dutch had also a not alto- 
 gether desired effect ; the young people were 
 intermarrying and dropping away from the 
 Puritan congregation. They were learning the 
 Dutch language, and the Fathers saw that if 
 they remained in Leyden they would lose their 
 individuality as to church and nationality, and 
 the next generation would become thoroughly 
 Dutch.
 
 244 PATIENCE. 
 
 They found, too, that they were not quite out 
 of the reach of English persecution. 
 
 William Brewster, aside from his duties as a 
 teacher, had found time to start a successful 
 business as a book publisher. Leyden was re- 
 nowned for its printing. The celebrated Elze- 
 vir press, whose faultless editions are the 
 admiration of collectors of our own day, was 
 established here. It was easy to have printing 
 done in English by Dutch printers, if carefully 
 corrected by English proof readers. Many con- 
 troversial tracts and books had been written by 
 Puritans in Scotland and England, whose pub- 
 lication was prohibited in those countries ; and 
 Brewster was shrewd enough to see the demand 
 
 O 
 
 for such literature, and the possibility of build- 
 ing up a publishing house for the Nonconform- 
 ists. Brewster's partner in the business was a 
 wealthy young Englishman named Brewer, who 
 was a student of the University. But King 
 James, not liking the tone of the books pub- 
 lished by this firm in their establishment in the 
 Choor Steeg (Choir Alley), sent out a demand 
 through the English Ambassador to Holland 
 that Brewster and Brewer should be arrested 
 and sent to England as criminals. The pub- 
 lishers had powerful friends who fought this 
 demand. Moreover, there had been certain
 
 MIGRATURUS HABITA. 245 
 
 rights and privileges accorded to the Univer- 
 sity, and its students could not be arrested by 
 the civil authorities. The matter became one 
 of the feuds between "Town and Gown," the 
 University protecting Brewer, who might have 
 defied the demands of the law. He very mag- 
 nanimously consented of his own accord to go 
 to England and answer to the King for what 
 he had done. The matter became almost an 
 international, episode, and his safe conduct was 
 assured the Dutch Government. But instead 
 of promptly trying Brewer, he was committed 
 to prison, where he was left to languish for 
 fourteen years, being only discharged by the 
 Long Parliament when the Puritan party came 
 into power. All this time William Brewster 
 was a hunted man, and he and his friends 
 knew that he stood in danger of a similar fate. 
 
 For these and other reasons the Pilgrims de- 
 termined once more to take up the staff and 
 wallet, and this time to remove to so distant 
 and isolated a country that they would be able 
 to preserve their religious liberty. 
 
 All this was being talked over when Wrest- 
 ling visited them, and they had even decided 
 that Virginia should be the spot in which their 
 colony should be planted. 
 
 William Brewster was appointed on the com-
 
 246 PATIENCE, 
 
 mittee to arrange with Sir Edwin Sandys, who 
 was then treasurer of the council of the Vir- 
 ginia Company, for a grant of land and charter 
 from the King, and when Wrestling sailed 
 away with Sir Walter Raleigh it was with the 
 understanding that he would return the follow- 
 ing year, marry Patience, and join the Pilgrims 
 in their emigration.
 
 CHAPTER. XII. 
 
 THE SHEPHEED OF THE OCEAN. 
 
 E'en such is Time, who takes in trust 
 Our youth, our joys, and all we have, 
 And pays us naught but age and dust, 
 Which in the dark and silent grave, 
 When we have wandered all our ways, 
 Shuts up the story of our days. 
 And from which grave and earth and dust 
 The Lord shall raise me up, I trust. 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH 
 
 ( Written in his Bible). 
 
 many ways Wrest- 
 ling's hero was not 
 at all heroic. He 
 was at all times very 
 human, and some- 
 times fell far beneath 
 what should be the uni- 
 versal standard of manli- 
 ness. He was not always 
 morally brave; and this flaw 
 in his character, of some- 
 times choosing the easier 
 way when stern duty pointed in another direc- 
 tion, was always visited in his case by terrible 
 
 247
 
 248 PATIENCE. 
 
 retribution. Kingsley says of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh that he was " one whom God so loved 
 that he caused his slightest sin to bring its own 
 punishment." 
 
 His mistakes were not only punished, they 
 were fully repented of, and, so far as possible, 
 expiated, while his virtues and admirable quali- 
 ties were pre-eminent. He never quailed before 
 physical danger ; he could " toil terribly," en- 
 dure all things ; and while his enemies called 
 him proud, his friends knew the wonderful 
 capacity of affection of his great, unselfish 
 heart. 
 
 In Aubrey's correspondence is the following 
 description of his personal appearance : 
 
 " He was a tall, handsome, and bold man. 
 ... In the great parlour at Downton at Mr. 
 Raleigh's is a good piece, an original of Sir 
 Walter, in a white satin doublet, all embroid- 
 ered with rich pearls, and a mighty rich chain 
 of great pearls about his neck. The old serv- 
 ants have told me that the [real] pearls were 
 near as big as the painted ones." 
 
 But although an accomplished courtier (and 
 the incident of his spreading his velvet cloak as 
 a carpet for Queen Elizabeth is a typical one), 
 he cared more for a life near to nature's heart 
 than that of the court. A poem, written while
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 249 
 
 in retirement at his loved country-place at 
 Sherbourne, testifies charmingly to this : 
 
 " Go, let the diving negro seek 
 For pearls hid in some Indian creek. 
 We all pearls scorn, 
 Save those the dewy morn 
 Congeals upon some little spires of grass 
 Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass; 
 And gold ne'er here appears 
 Save what the yellow Ceres bears." 
 
 Both Sir Walter and Lady Raleigh had a 
 deep affection for Sherbourne, where their hap- 
 piest days were passed. Raleigh desired to 
 leave it to his wife, and when King James gave 
 the estate to Carr, Raleigh appealed to him 
 from prison, " I beseech you not to begin your 
 first building on the ruins of the innocent." 
 
 CJ 
 
 The appeal was disregarded, but it made a 
 vivid impression on everyone but the low- 
 minded Carr; and when he in turn fell from 
 favor, arid the King offered Sherbourue to Vil- 
 liers, the Duke quoted Raleigh's words in his 
 reply to James, " Do not build my fortune on 
 another man's ruins," and the King gave Buck- 
 ingham eleven manors as an equivalent. 
 
 Raleigh had thrown over every other hope 
 and staked his last venture on the voyage to 
 Guiana. His wife put in pawn a little property
 
 250 PATIENCE. 
 
 which she had received as her dowry. Their 
 son Walter, a young man of great promise, who 
 had been educated at Oxford, had Ben Jonson 
 for his tutor, and was betrothed to an heiress 
 of immense estates, joined his father in this 
 enterprise. Wrestling had seen him frequently 
 at the Tower, and they became devoted com- 
 rades. He found himself associated also with 
 other men bearing the most honorable of 
 English names. Our story touches that of 
 Raleigh only after his fall from fortune's favor, 
 and has given no mention of the brilliant suc- 
 cesses of his life, of his naval and military 
 exploits during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 These are a part of history ; and it is the 
 author's hope that her readers may be inter- 
 ested to supplement these brief allusions by 
 more serious reading. The dauntless career of 
 the hero of Cadiz and Fayal was fresh in the 
 minds of Englishmen, and some of the old 
 sailors who had gained victories under him 
 were not too aged to rally around him again. 
 The greater part of his command, however, were 
 of a younger generation, who had heard of 
 Raleigh but- had never served Avith him. 
 Among these were " twenty or thirty very 
 adventurous gentlemen of singular courage," 
 though the greater number are described " as
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 251 
 
 weak rnen as ever followed valiant leaders." 
 There were many soldiers of fortune and wild 
 youths whose, parents were glad to ship them 
 on a long voyage to keep them out of mischief 
 at home. Of these there were not wanting a 
 large number who were excellent seamen for 
 piracy was a popular employment, one might 
 almost say amusement, among the lordlings who 
 owned castles along the English coast. 
 
 " As the modern gentleman keeps his yacht," 
 says Froude, "so the Elizabethan knights 
 (men belonging to the best families in England) 
 kept their ambiguous cruisers and levied war 
 on their own account. A fast Flemish trader 
 has sailed from Antwerp to Cadiz, something 
 happens to her on the way and she never 
 reaches her destination. At midnight carts 
 and horses run down to the sea over the sands 
 of Lowestoft ; the black hull and spars of a 
 vessel are seen outside the breakers, dimly rid- 
 ing in the gloom, and a boat shoots through the 
 surf loaded to the gunwale. Bales are shot 
 swiftly into the carts; the horses drag back 
 their loads, which before daybreak are safe in 
 the cellars of some quiet manor-house, and the 
 mysterious vessel glides away to look ,for a 
 fresh victim." The Cobhams of Cowling Castle, 
 brothers-in-law of Cecil, were notorious pirates,
 
 252 PATIENCE. 
 
 and the elder Lord Rich had bought his title 
 with the fruits of piratical ventures. 
 
 As the event proved, it made very little 
 difference to the majority of Raleigh's crew 
 whether they were engaged upon an expedition 
 of honorable discovery or of piracy. The 
 Spanish ambassador at the court of King 
 James, Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, Count 
 of Gondomar, had good reason to look upon the 
 expedition with suspicion and to inquire King 
 James' intentions in sending it out ; but it was 
 certainly a breach of faith on the part of 
 Raleigh's sovereign that he should have given 
 Count Gondomar a copy of Raleigh's chart of 
 his projected cruise, which was sent to Madrid 
 before Raleigh's fleet had left Plymouth. 
 
 James was pursuing at this time a double 
 policy. Fascinated by the hope of having his 
 son Charles many the Infanta, he was attempt- 
 ing to placate Philip by pretending to deal 
 openly with him, and by giving Raleigh orders 
 not to molest Spaniards, though he must have 
 known that such an expedition could not be 
 carried out without fighting, for which he was 
 now taking care to shirk the responsibility. 
 There were two parties in the councils of 
 England : one, headed by Villiers and Somer- 
 set, in favor of the Spanish marriage; another,
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 253 
 
 of which Secretary Win wood was leader, which 
 insisted on regarding Spain as the enemy of 
 England and the King wavered between them, 
 faithful to neither. When Raleigh first visited 
 Guiana in 1595 it had not been claimed by 
 Spain, but since that time a small Spanish 
 colony had been planted on the Orinoco, and 
 word was immediately sent to it from Spain of 
 the projected expedition. France also regarded 
 the operations with interest. The French 
 ambassador Desrnarets wrote to Richelieu 
 informing him of the expedition ; and the astute 
 minister, who appreciated the value of such a 
 man, replied with instructions that Raleigh 
 (who is designated in this correspondence as 
 " Ouastre Rali ") was if possible to be won 
 from the service of England to that of France, 
 and sent him a commission in the French 
 navy. So widespread was the interest taken 
 in this enterprise that even the Grand Mogul 
 was informed of it through the English ambas- 
 sador at his court, who had heard of it from his 
 friend Sir George Carew. 
 
 Raleigh believed thoroughly in the existence 
 of the gold-mine of which he had heard dur- 
 ing his first voyage to Guiana; moreover he 
 had sent out an expedition under Captain 
 Lawrence Keymis in 1596 to discover it, and
 
 254 PATIENCE. 
 
 though Keymis had failed to reach the mine he 
 had been informed of itstexact situation and had 
 brought back specimens of the ore. The Indian 
 who had found his way to London, and who 
 had supported himself for some time by giving 
 exhibitions in the Bear Garden, also knew of 
 the situation of the mine, and was devoted to 
 E-aleigh ; but despairing of his release he had 
 sailed to America with Sir Ferdinando Gorges. 
 He had, however, promised Sir Walter to keep 
 a lookout and a warm welcome for him among 
 his people, and to guide him on his arrival to 
 El Dorado. 
 
 The voyage was disastrous from the first. 
 Storms baffled them at their setting out. There 
 were desertions at the Canaries, where they 
 watered. Disease and death fell upon them 
 long before they approached their destination. 
 
 On the 24th of September fifty men in the 
 flagship alone were sick with fever. In Octo- 
 ber they encountered a hurricane, and one ship 
 of the eleven was lost. 
 
 Then came a calm, and while the ships drifted 
 with idle sails Raleigh himself succumbed to 
 the fever. For weeks Wrestling nursed him 
 devotedly, while one by one old comrades and 
 stanch friends were buried under the glassy 
 sea, where the waiting sharks grew tame as
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 255 
 
 they sported about the doomed ships, and the 
 brazen heavens glared unpityingiy. 
 
 At length, in November, light breezes sprang 
 up, and they sighted Cayenne. Here they found 
 the faithful Harry waiting for them with a great 
 store of fresh provisions, and pineapples, ba- 
 nanas, and guavas most comforting to the 
 scurvy-smitten men. 
 
 The deputation of Indians swarmed around 
 the Destiny in their light canoes, and, coming 
 on board, knelt to Raleigh as he lay on deck in 
 his hammock, and offered him the sovereignty 
 of the Indies. Their devotion heartened him, 
 and possibly saved, his life. He wrote to his 
 wife : " To say that I may yet be King of the 
 Indians here were a vanity ; but my name hath 
 lived among them." This was putting it very 
 tamely, for since his first visit, when he had 
 treated the natives honorably, they had inquired 
 of every vessel that touched at their ports for 
 Raleigh, asking eagerly when he was coming 
 to them again. Encouraged by this reception, 
 although Harry brought the news that the 
 Spaniards had made a new settlement on the 
 Orinoco called San Thome, Raleigh pressed on 
 to the mouth of the river. His exertions on 
 the way brought on a relapse, and when the 
 fleet reached the Orinoco he was too ill to lead
 
 L>56 PATIENCE. 
 
 the expedition. He organized it, however, in 
 the best possible manner, giving the general 
 leadership to Captain Keymis, and making his 
 son Walter and his nephew George Raleigh 
 commanders of the four hundred soldiers. The 
 expedition ascended the river in five small ves- 
 sels, while Raleigh waited with the larger ships 
 at the Triangle Islands. He committed his in- 
 structions to writing, and gave them to Keymis, 
 having provided therein for every exigency 
 which he could foresee. 
 
 " Keep together," he counseled them, " to the 
 last possible moment. If you find that you 
 cannot pass toward the mine without peril, be 
 careful how you land, for I would not, for all 
 the world, receive a blow from the Spaniards to 
 the dishonor of our nation. After landing, let 
 the soldiers camp between the town and the 
 mine (while the engineers explore the latter 
 and secure the gold). If the Spaniards attack, 
 you, George Raleigh, are to repel them, and 
 drive them as far as you can. If you, Keymis, 
 find the mine not so rich as we have hoped, still 
 bring away a basket or two of the ore, to sat- 
 isfy his Majesty that my design was not imagi- 
 nary, but true." This was the burden of his 
 desire, for his enemies at home had insisted and 
 would insist that the mine had never existed.
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 257 
 
 For twenty-three days the boats ascended the 
 Orinoco, voyaging in the stillness of the beau- 
 tiful tropical forests; the Indians bringing 
 them supplies of game and fruit, and paddling 
 by their side, standing upright in their canoes 
 and spearing the great fish. Parrakeets and 
 macaws made flashes of brilliant color among 
 the tree ferns ; monkeys chattered in the palms ; 
 women brought the huge blossoms of the Victoria 
 regia and the night-blooming cereus. It was 
 all a holiday excursion until they had almost 
 reached the vicinity of the mine, when a camp 
 of Spanish soldiers, evidently posted as videttes 
 on the island of San Raphael fired upon them 
 and fled into the interior. On New Year's Day 
 they landed and began their march to the mine, 
 but were met by the entire Spanish force from 
 San Thome, which had come out to attack them. 
 The soldiers routed them and drove them back 
 into their fortified town, which young Walter 
 Raleigh, in a spirited address, urged his fol- 
 lowers to take, leading the attack with the 
 words, " Come on, ray men ; this is the only mine 
 you will ever find ! " 
 
 The Englishmen swarmed over the stockade, 
 and the Spaniards took refuge in the monas- 
 tery, turning the adobe walls of the mission 
 into a blockhouse.
 
 258 PATIENCE. 
 
 In their onset their young leader received his 
 death-wound, falling into Wrestling's arms with 
 the cry : " Go on ! May the Lord prosper you 
 and have mercy on me ! " 
 
 The monastery was speedily taken, but Wrest- 
 ling, seeing a soldier about to strike down the 
 priest, who was kneeling in front of a little 
 shrine, rushed forward and dealt the assailant 
 a blow with the flat of his sword. The priest 
 lifted his hand and blessed them both, and in 
 that act Wrestling recognized his old friend 
 Father Greenway. Leading him to George 
 Raleigh, he secured his protection, and together 
 they carried the body of young Walter 
 within the church, where he was buried with 
 military honors. 
 
 After the victory they learned that the out- 
 post had been lately garrisoned by soldiers sent 
 from Madrid, and in the Governor's office found 
 dispatches advising him of the coming of Sir 
 Walter's expedition. This discovery so inflamed 
 the victors that they burned the town, leaving 
 only the church, the tomb of their leader, stand- 
 ing amid the smoking ruins. Father Greenway 
 stood within its dark archway, his hand still 
 raised in blessing as they inarched away. 
 
 Keymis led the men on toward the mine ; 
 but they were demoralized by the orgies with
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 259 
 
 which they had celebrated their victory. The 
 hot Spanish wines which they had found had 
 done them more harm than the bullets of their 
 enemies. Keymis lost control of his men, who 
 refused to march further into the wilderness, 
 not believing in the existence of the mine. 
 Returning, they were harassed by bands of 
 Indians, who had been roused by the fugitive 
 Spaniards and who now hung upon their rear. 
 In making a stand against them Wrestling was 
 captured, and the baffled expedition came back 
 to Raleigh, who was heartbroken by the news 
 of the death of his son, and in despair over the 
 failure to reach the mine. His reproaches so 
 goaded Keymis that he committed suicide. 
 Raleigh attempted to lead a band to the rescue of 
 Wrestling, but was carried back fainting to his 
 ship. His men now clamored to be allowed to 
 lie in wait for the Spanish plate fleet, which 
 would be returning about this time with silver 
 from Mexico, and some of his best equipped 
 ships deserted for this purpose while others 
 sought the fisheries of Newfoundland. At 
 length, after many vicissitudes, deserted by all 
 his ships, empty-handed and utterly broken in 
 mind and health, he arrived at Plymouth in the 
 Destiny. His kinsman, the perfidious Stukely, 
 was sent by King James to arrest him and
 
 260 PATIENCE. 
 
 bring him to London. Lady Raleigh met him 
 also on his arrival in an agony of apprehension, 
 for she knew to what danger he was returning. 
 Richelieu had watched the ill-fortune of the 
 expedition, but had not lost faith in the ability 
 of the leader, and a French ship was waiting in 
 the offing to take him to France. Lady Raleigh, 
 thinking only of the safety of the man who was 
 all the world to her, begged him to flee. The 
 traitor Stukely, pretending to be his friend, 
 allowed the mission of the French ship to be 
 conveyed to him and urged Raleigh to accept 
 Richelieu's overtures. Raleigh had his honor 
 and patriotism to think of, and should have 
 shown the same magnificent dauntlessness to 
 which he rose later ; but it was his moment of 
 weakness, and he vacillated. He feigned ill- 
 ness in order to delay his journey to London. 
 A French physician was given him to whom he 
 intrusted a message to the captain of the French 
 ship. But every man about him was a spy ; and 
 though he finally refused to go to France, 
 Stukely testified that Raleigh was simply frus- 
 trated in his endeavor to do so. He was exam- 
 ined before a special commission, and was charged 
 with having never had any intention of finding 
 the mine. Bacon, who had been his friend, 
 was now against him, and drew up the report of
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 261 
 
 the commission. King James gained Philip's 
 friendship by offering to send Raleigh to be 
 punished for piracy in Spain ; but Philip declin- 
 ing to avail himself of this courtesy, he was 
 condemned to die on the old sentence which still 
 hung over him. This was for complicity in what 
 is known as the Cobham plot. Charles Kingsley 
 voices the opinion of posterity when he writes of 
 that conspiracy: "Having read nearly all that 
 has been written on the subject, we find but one 
 thing comes brightly out of the confusion, and 
 that is Raleigh's innocence. He and all Eng- 
 land, and the very man that condemned him, 
 knew that he was innocent. Cecil was the man- 
 ager of the whole plot against him, and as accom- 
 plished a villain as one meets with in history." 
 Raleigh's high courage came back to him as 
 soon as it was certain that he must die. The 
 night before his execution he wrote some verses 
 on the pilgrimage before him : 
 
 "From hence to heaven's bribeless hall 
 Where no corrupted voices brawl, 
 No conscience molten into gold, 
 No forg'd accuser bought or sold, 
 No cause deferred, no vain spent journey, 
 For there Christ is the King's attorney, 
 Who pleads for all without degrees, 
 And he hath angels,* but no fees." 
 
 * The pun here is understood when we remember that the angel 
 is an ancient English coin worth about ten shillings
 
 262 PATIENCE. 
 
 "As he stood on the scaffold," says Mr. 
 Gosse, " in the cold morning air, he foiled James 
 and Philip at one thrust and conquered the 
 esteem of all posterity." He touched the edge 
 of the ax, remarking, " It is a sharp medicine 
 to cure me of all my diseases." 
 
 When the headsman insisted that he should 
 lay his head toward the east, he replied, " What 
 matter how the head lie so the heart be right ? " 
 
 We may judge of that great heart from his 
 farewell letter to his wife : 
 
 " My love I send you that you may keep 
 it when I am dead, my counsel that you may 
 remember it when I am no more. I would 
 not present you with sorrows, dear Bess, 
 let them go into the grave with me and be 
 buried in the dust ; and seeing that it is not the 
 will of God that ever I shall see you more in 
 this life, bear it patiently with a heart like 
 thyself. 
 
 " First I send you all thanks which my heart 
 can conceive or my words express for your 
 many travails and care of me which, though 
 they did not take effect as you wished, yet my 
 debt to you is none the less. 
 
 " Most sorry I am, God knows, that being sur- 
 prised with death I can leave you in no better
 
 THE SHEPHERD OF THE OCEAN. 263 
 
 estate. But if you can live free from want the 
 rest is vanity. Love God and repose yourself 
 upon him, and then you shall find true riches 
 and endless comfort. Remember your poor 
 child,* for his father's sake who chose you and 
 loved you in his happiest time. . . Your son 
 is the son of a true man who despiseth death in 
 all his ugly forms. Beg my dead body, which 
 living was denied thee, and lay it in Sherbourne 
 or in Exeter by my father and mother. 
 
 " The everlasting, powerful, infinite, and om- 
 nipotent God, who is goodness itself, keep thee 
 and thine, teach me to forgive my accusers, send 
 ns to meet in his glorious kingdom, and hold 
 you both in his arms. 
 
 " Written with the dying hand of sometime 
 thy husband. 
 
 " Yours that was, but now not even my own. 
 " WALTER RALEIGH." 
 
 * Their younger son, Carew Raleigh.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE " MAYFLOWER." 
 
 Soon were heard on board the shouts and songs of the sailors, 
 Glad to be gone from a land of sand and sickness and sorrow, 
 Short allowance of victual, and plenty of nothing but Gospel! 
 Lost in the sound of the oars was the last farewell of the 
 
 Pilgrims. 
 O strong hearts and true! not one went back in the May Flower! 
 
 Lo! as they turned to depart, they saw the form of an Indian, 
 Watching them from the hill; but while they spake with each 
 
 other, 
 Pointing with outstretched hands, and saying " Look ! " he had 
 
 vanished. 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 ALEIGH was 
 
 executed on 
 the 29th of 
 October, 
 1618. Among 
 those who 
 stood horror- 
 stricken un- 
 der the shad- 
 ow of his scaffold, and listened to his last 
 magnificent speech, so "masterly in its per- 
 suasive eloquence," were William Brewster and 
 
 264
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 265 
 
 his son Love. Sir Edwin Sandys bad written 
 that the proposition which the Pilgrims had 
 made to the Virginia Company was satisfactory 
 to the Council, and the Brewsters had come to 
 London, sent by the Pilgrims to make arrange- 
 ments for their emigration, and personally 
 anxious to gain any news of the unfortunate 
 Wrestling. They were not able to obtain an 
 interview with Raleigh, but across the sea of 
 faces they had recognized the set, pale counte- 
 nance of Thomas Dudley, and had joined him 
 as the crowd dispersed. He conducted them 
 to the town-house of 'his patron, the Earl of 
 Lincoln, where they were hospitably enter- 
 tained by Lady Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of 
 Lincoln, and by the Earl's sister, Lady Ara- 
 bella Johnson. Both of these noble women 
 were Puritans, and greatly interested at this 
 time in the emigration to New England. And 
 William Brewster was happy to find that they 
 still had such faithful friends in England. But 
 Love found his attention wandering from the 
 conversation, and his eyes seeking the door 
 with yearning hope each time it opened, for 
 Thomas Dudley had told him that Patience 
 was with Lady Raleigh, but that she would re- 
 turn soon. At length the Countess of Lincoln, 
 who seemed to divine his thoughts, informed
 
 266 PATIENCE. 
 
 Love that there was a vesper choral service at 
 Westminster Abbey, which Patience was in the 
 habit of attending, and he might find her there. 
 He slipped away quickly, and for the first time 
 in his life entered an established church. He 
 had stalked in with his peaked hat on, but the 
 voices of the choristers were rising pure and 
 clear on the great billowing waves of the organ, 
 and there before him, with all the glory of the 
 shattered rainbow light falling upon her from 
 one of the great stained-glass windows, Patience 
 was kneeling. A great awe fell upon him. 
 He removed his hat reverently, and, walking 
 up the aisle, knelt at her side. 
 
 An elegantly dressed courtier, who had been 
 staring at Patience, looked at him keenly, and 
 whispered to one of the attendants on the 
 Bishop of London, who slipped away. When 
 the service was over, and Love and Patience 
 walked out together, the man followed them 
 at a distance, and Love saw him watching 
 them as they entered the house of the Earl of 
 Lincoln. He had cause to reflect on the cir- 
 cumstance afterward, though it made no im- 
 pression upon him at the time, for he had eyes 
 and ears for no one but the sweet girl beside 
 him. She had greeted him with a pathetic 
 appeal in her beautiful eyes, which went
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER" 267 
 
 straight to his heart, and as he knelt beside her 
 in the great abbey he had promised God to 
 devote his Jife to changing that look to one of 
 happiness. 
 
 To his father and to him she brought the 
 only news which they were to obtain from 
 Wrestling, for Sir "Walter had left a message 
 with his wife for her. " Tell her," he had said, 
 "to be in no despair concerning the young 
 man Wrestling Brewster, for I have known 
 men to be in worse straits than he, and to win 
 safely out of them at last. He is not a man to 
 be easily overpowered by evil fortune. He has 
 two friends in Guiana Father Greenway, who 
 will not suffer his life to be taken, and the In- 
 dian Harry, who has promised to effect his 
 escape. Harry saw him after he was taken 
 prisoner and brought me this message that he 
 would endeavor to make his way to Virginia 
 and to meet his betrothed there." 
 
 " Then, friend Dudley," said William Brew- 
 ster, " thou must needs commit this maid to my 
 care and to that of my good wife, that we may 
 take her with us, for from this moment she is 
 as sacredly our daughter as though the words 
 were already spoken which will some day make 
 her our Wrestling's wife." 
 
 " Wilt thou have it so ? " asked Dudley ; and
 
 268 PATIENCE. 
 
 Patience replied, " I beseech thee, dear father, 
 let me go to my betrothed." 
 
 With that word the faint spark of hope 
 which until now had flickered in Love's heart 
 died out forever, for he knew now to a cer- 
 tainty that Patience loved his brother, and 
 would love him forever, whatever might hap- 
 pen. None the less, he repeated the vow he 
 had made in the abbey, and begged her to 
 come with them, promising to devote his life 
 to seeking for Wrestling. 
 
 "Amen!" said Thomas Dudley. "When 
 our friends are ready to sail I will myself take 
 Patience on board their ship and deliver her 
 into their watch-care." 
 
 But Brewster could not effect the removal as 
 quickly as he had hoped. Sir Edwin Sandys 
 had petitioned the King for a grant for the 
 Pilgrims, but at this time the Virginia Com- 
 pany was torn by two opposing factions, one 
 headed by Sir Edwin, while the opposition was 
 led by the Earl of Warwick, who (though he 
 had nothing against the Puritans, and indeed 
 often favored them) opposed on principle 
 everything proposed by Sandys. King James 
 also had taken personal umbrage at Sir Edwin's 
 attitude in Parliament, and when he heard that 
 he was a candidate for the treasurership of the
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 269 
 
 Virginia Company, sent the Council the signifi- 
 cant advice : " Choose the devil if you will, but 
 not Sir Edwin Sandys." The Council elected 
 Sir Edwin notwithstanding the opposition of 
 the King and of the Earl of Warwick, and 
 their unfriendliness was strengthened by their 
 defeat. The petition of the Pilgrims, which had 
 been warmly pushed by Sandys, and to which 
 the King had at first given his verbal approval, 
 was now referred by him to the Bishop of 
 London, who refused to allow liberty of wor- 
 ship. Shortly after the crown took away the 
 charter of the Virginia Company and assumed 
 its privileges, while Sir Edwin was imprisoned 
 in the tower on charges, made by the Earl of 
 Warwick, of harboring designs of establishing 
 a Puritan and republican state in America. 
 
 Finding, as it is quaintly expressed by their 
 chronicler, " that the Virginia Counsell was 
 now so disturbed with factions amongst itself 
 as no bussiness could goe forward," William 
 Brewster returned to Holland, hoping through 
 the Dutch Trading Company to arrange their 
 emigration to Manhattan. His resolution to 
 give up further efforts for that time in England 
 had been taken none too soon. He was still 
 under ban for the publication of prohibited 
 books, and he had committed the indiscretion of
 
 270 PATIENCE. 
 
 visiting his former partner Brewer in the Fleet 
 Street Prison. Moreover, Sir Dudley Carleton, 
 English ambassador at The Hague, had written 
 the Duke of Buckingham that he had gone to 
 England. It was the Duke who had noticed 
 Wrestling in the Abbey, and had reported the 
 fact to the Bishop of London, who had jurisdic- 
 tion in cases on non-conformity, and had placed 
 his pursuivants upon Love's track. The elder 
 Brewster escaped his clutches, but Love 
 lingered a little longer in London, to see, as he 
 told himself, if anything further could be done 
 for the Pilgrims, but in reality to look at 
 Patience each evening at vespers. It was a 
 strange try sting place for two Puritans, but 
 there was something in the noble building 
 which appealed to Patience. Its vastness 
 brooded over her like the sense of God's pro- 
 tecting power. She did not repeat the liturgy, 
 but in her heart prayed her own prayers, and 
 Love, who knelt at a distance, prayed only for 
 strength to be faithful to his vow. 
 
 But one day George Sandys told him that he 
 must depart, or he would find himself in the 
 Bishop's prison at Lambeth ; for he had seen a 
 letter written to the Duke of Buckingham * 
 which showed that he was a hunted man. 
 
 * This letter from Secretary Naunton to the Duke of Bucking.
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 271 
 
 Returned to Holland, he found that the Pil- 
 grims had been disappointed in their hopes 
 with the Dutch ; but just as they were in the 
 deepest despair their opportunity carne to them 
 from an unexpected quarter. 
 
 Bradford tells us .how " One Mr. Thomas 
 Weston, a merchant of London, came to Leyden 
 and persuaded them to goe on, as he and such 
 merchants as were his friends would sett them 
 forth ; and they should make ready and neither 
 feare want of shipping nor money, for what 
 they wanted should be provided." Mr. Weston 
 was not at all the disinterested benefactor which 
 he seemed to the Pilgrims. He was simply the 
 representative of some shrewd business men 
 who were looking for a good investment of 
 their money, and who now formed themselves 
 into a stock company, advancing to the colonists 
 the capital necessary to plant a sound and 
 paying enterprise, which would bring rich 
 dividends to the stockholders. An agreement 
 was drawn up whereby, with other conditions, 
 the " adventurers and planters " agreed " to 
 continue their joynt stock & partnership to- 
 
 ham is still in existence in the state archives. It is dated August, 
 1619, and states : " Brewster hath been frighted back into the 
 Low Countries by the Bishop's pursuivants. Brewster's son comes 
 to church " (he could not, therefore, be arraigned for non-con- 
 formity).
 
 272 PATIENCE. 
 
 getlierye space of 7 yeares, during which time 
 all profits gott by trucking, working, fishing, or 
 other means remaine in ye comone stock untill 
 ye division. That at ye end of ye 7 years ye 
 capitall & profits ; viz the houses, lands, goods 
 and chatles, be equally divided betwixte ye 
 adventurers and planters." 
 
 Thomas Dudley had interested Theophilus 
 Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, in the Pilgrims, and 
 about the same time he secured a patent for 
 them in the name of a certain John Wincob, 
 who intended to emigrate with them. So all 
 difficulties bring smoothed away, the Pilgrims 
 purchased a small vessel, misnamed the 
 Speedwell, which was to transport them from 
 Delfshaven to Southampton, where the May- 
 flower, which the merchant stockholders had 
 hired, was waiting to take them across the 
 Atlantic. Only a part of the Leyden congrega- 
 tion had decided to emigrate. Their pastor, 
 John Robinson, was to remain, and William 
 Brewster would take upon himself the duty of 
 minister to those who went. The parting 
 between those old neighbors and tried com- 
 panions was most tender. Their Dutch friends 
 joined in the general expression of regret, and 
 even their old neighbors in Amsterdam came to 
 see them off, and a great deputation accompanied
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 273 
 
 the voyagers to Delfshaven "where falling 
 down on their knees with watrie cheeks they 
 commended them to the Lord and his blessing." 
 Edward Winslow's report of Robinson's parting 
 sermon shows it strangely liberal and prophetic. 
 " ' We are now,' " he said, " l to part asunder and 
 the Lord knoweth whether ever I shall see your 
 faces again. I charge you before God and his 
 blessed angels to follow me no further than I 
 have followed Christ. And if God should 
 reveal anything to you by another instrument, 
 be as ready to receive it as ever you were to 
 receive truth by my ministry. For I am con- 
 fident that the Lord hath more truth and light 
 ready to break forth out of His Holy Word. 
 Shake off the name of " Brownist " as being a 
 nickname to make your religion odious. I shall 
 be glad if some godly ministers go over with you, 
 for there will be no difference between other 
 uncomformable ministers and you when you 
 come to the practice of religion outside the 
 kingdom. By all means close with the godly 
 party of England, and rather study unity than 
 division namely, how near you may possibly 
 without sin join with them.' Many other 
 things," said Edward Winslow, " he commended 
 to us, but these I thought good to relate, that 
 all might see what this church was and is ; and
 
 274 PATIENCE. 
 
 how far they are from separation from the 
 churches of Christ, especially those that are 
 reformed." At Southampton they found the 
 Mayflower in waiting and re-embarked. Here, 
 too, Thomas Dudley redeemed his promise and 
 committed Patience into the care of the 
 Brewsters, promising to join them in the new 
 country as soon as might be, for the Countess of 
 Lincoln had resolved to arrange for the emi- 
 gration of a large body of English Puritans. 
 
 The voyage of the Mayflower is a matter of 
 history. Every boy and girl knows how the 
 Speedwell proved un seaworthy and returned ; 
 how even the larger ship was leaky, and, struck 
 halfway over by equinoctial gales, kept all 
 hands at the pumps. A humorous writer has 
 said with whimsical exaggeration tfyat it is esti- 
 mated that the Pilgrims pumped the Atlantic 
 Ocean through the Mayflower sixteen times; 
 and if it had been necessary to do this, in order 
 to reach their promised land, no doubt their 
 energy and perseverance would have been 
 equal to it. For three months they struggled 
 on. Death visited them, a child was born and 
 christened Oceanus. Storms, disease, privation, 
 the possibility that they were being carried out 
 of their course by a plot of the captain's, noth- 
 ing could discourage them. The grip with
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER" 275 
 
 which they lield on can only be typified by that 
 of John Howland, who, washed overboard by a 
 tremendous sea, caught a trailing rope and re- 
 fused to be drowned. They had sailed on 
 August 5th. On the 9th of November Cape 
 Cod was sighted. This was north of their in- 
 tended destination ; but as the captain insisted 
 on landing them, they drew up a compact of 
 government and subscribed to it, lest their for- 
 mer agreement for a more southerly situation 
 might not be considered binding on any discon- 
 tented spirits, and so took possession of their 
 new land. A small deputation, having been 
 sent out to explore in a shallop, reported that 
 the country about Plymouth was best suited to 
 their purposes, and here they landed on the 
 16th of December. The Mayflower remained 
 at anchorage to afford them shelter until they 
 could build their common-house, which was be- 
 gun on Christmas Day. The work progressed 
 slowly. Scarcely was it built before it took fire 
 from carelessness in watching the great logs blaz- 
 ing in the wide fireplace, and the entire work 
 of hewing lumber and building had to be 
 done again, while the women and children re- 
 turned to the ship. Then sickness fell not only 
 upon the colonists, but upon the mariners, so 
 that there were not enough able-bodied sailors
 
 276 PATIENCE. 
 
 to manage the vessel, and they were forced to 
 remain. So terrible was the epidemic that at 
 one time there were only seven well people 
 to nurse the others, and two of these were 
 William Brewster and Captain Miles Standish, 
 who performed the most menial duties for their 
 helpless friends, as well as for the ship's crew. 
 Fifty persons, nearly one-half of the colony, 
 died in that terrible first winter. But spring 
 came at length ; small fields were cleared and 
 planted, and tiny cottages were built, a stock- 
 ade of pointed logs set around them to protect 
 them from the savages, and a small howitzer 
 mounted on the roof of the meeting-house. 
 
 One consideration troubled them greatly. 
 The charter which they had received was 
 for Virginia, and they had settled in New 
 England, upon lands belonging to an entirely 
 different company. Patience, happening to 
 hear Elder Brewster say that the Earl of "War- 
 wick was one of the proprietors, conceived a 
 bold idea she would write him, reminding 
 him of his promise to Wrestling and herself, 
 and beg for a new charter for the settlers. 
 Not a word did she say to anyone of her pur- 
 pose, but confided the letter to the captain of 
 the Mayflower. This man showed the address 
 to Love, jokingly remarking that his sweetheart
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 277 
 
 would not long remain in that desolate coun- 
 try. Love was thunderstruck. He could not 
 believe that Patience was fickle or had re- 
 pented her resolution, and yet why should she 
 have written to her old lover ? He strove to 
 cast away all suspicions of double-dealing, but 
 doubt had come up like a fog to blind him, and 
 even while he watched her serving so painstak- 
 ingly or bending to kiss his mother, he found 
 himself asking whether she was as true to his 
 brother as she seemed. All through her fever 
 in her delirium she had called piteously for 
 Wrestling, but since her recovery a dumb 
 despair had settled upon her. Sometimes he 
 found her alone, looking over the bay to the 
 Mayflower rocking at anchor. Did she regret 
 her coming was she longing for the hedgerows 
 of Merrie England ? 
 
 He could bear this vague, unknown trouble 
 no longer, and one day he said to her in the 
 presence of his mother: "Patience, the May- 
 flower sails for England to-morrow. I see 
 plainly that you are wearing your heart out 
 with us. It is not alone that the bitter climate 
 and terrible privations are too much for your 
 delicate frame, but you despair that Wrestling 
 will ever find us or we him. It may be as you 
 fear. Perhaps it is best that you should return
 
 278 PATIENCE. 
 
 and waste your young life no longer. If you 
 feel so, I am sure that Wrestling him- 
 self would not have you stay, nor will we 
 have a single reproachful thought concerning 
 you." 
 
 " I can only answer as Ruth did to her moth- 
 er-in-law," said Patience ; and with her arras 
 around Mrs. Brewster she repeated the beauti- 
 ful words, " Entreat me not to leave thee . . . the 
 Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but 
 death part thee and me." 
 
 "The 16th of March," writes Mr. Bradford, 
 " a certaine Indian came bouldly amongst them 
 and spoke to them in broken English, which 
 they could well understand but marvelled at 
 it. He told them also of another whose name 
 was Squanto, who had been in England and 
 could speak better English than him selfe 
 with whom after friendly entertainment and 
 some gifts given him they made a peace, and 
 he continued with them as their interpreter 
 and was a spetial instrument of God for their 
 good. He directed them how to set their corne, 
 when to take fish, and was also their pilot to 
 bring them to unknowne places for their profit 
 and never left them till he dyed. He was car- 
 ried away by a master of a ship, who thought 
 to sell him for a slave into Spaine, but he got
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 279 
 
 away for England and lastly was brought into 
 these parts by a gentle-inan imployed by Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges." 
 
 Captain John Smith, famous for his Indian 
 adventures, had offered to go out with the Pil- 
 grims, but they had declined his services, pre- 
 ferring to make Miles Standish, whom they had 
 learned to esteem in the Netherlands, their com- 
 mander in all military matters. Standish had 
 little faith in any Indian. 
 
 The next year when their challenge was 
 brought, it was he who said in the council : 
 
 " Truly the only tongue that is understood by a savage 
 Must be the tongue of fire that speaks from the mouth of 
 the cannon." 
 
 The colony doubtless owed its life to his 
 vigorous defense ; but some of his terrible 
 
 o 
 
 reprisals troubled the kind-hearted elder, and 
 the grim head of Wituwamut impaled on one 
 of the palisades of the fort caused Patience to 
 shudder whenever she passed that way. A 
 wonderful thing happened in later years, for a 
 pair of wrens eventually made their nest in the 
 ghastly skull. 
 
 Their former pastor, John Robinson, was 
 pained by the report of their dealings with the 
 Indians, and later wrote from Holland :
 
 280 PATIENCE. 
 
 " Oil ! how happy a thing had it been, if you 
 had converted some, before you had killed 
 any. Upon this occasion let me be boulde to 
 exhorte you seriously to consider of ye dis- 
 position of your Captaine, whom I love, tho 
 ther is cause to feare that by provocation, ther 
 may be wanting in him that tenderness of ye 
 life of man made after God's image which is 
 meete. It is a thing more glorious in men's 
 eyes than pleasing in God's, to be a terrour to 
 poor barbarous people. Unto him who is nere 
 to them which are farr from one another I com- 
 mend you. Your truly loving 
 
 " JOHN ROBINSON." 
 
 Squanto and another Indian named Hobo- 
 mok proved themselves the white men's 
 friends, and were of great service to them as 
 interpreters with the great chief Massasoit, with 
 whom they were at peace for years. They 
 served also as guides in the trackless forests, 
 and as teachers of such woodcraft as hunting, 
 trapping, canoe building, snowshoe making, the 
 tanning of furs, and the cultivation of corn and 
 tobacco. 
 
 With the spring and summer life showed its 
 happier aspect. Just as the Mayflower left their 
 shores the first pink flower of spring appeared,
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 281 
 
 and the Pilgrims gave it the name of the reced- 
 ing ship. The tiny blossoms, 
 
 "Fragrant, filling the air with a strange and wonderful 
 
 sweetness, 
 Modest and simple, the type of Puritan maidens," 
 
 were harbingers of hope for the Pilgrims. 
 From the time of their appearance the sickness 
 left them, the snows melted, and the time of 
 the singing of birds came. Gardens were 
 planted and homes were built. 
 
 " All ye somer," writes Bradford, " ther was 
 no wante. And now began to come in store of 
 water foule, and great store of wild turkies, 
 of which they took many, besides venison. 
 Besides they had since harvest, about a peck of 
 meal a week to a person ; which made many 
 write so largely of their plenty to their friends 
 in England, which were not fained but true 
 reports." 
 
 These wild turkeys furnished the Pilgrims 
 their first Thanksgiving dinner, and inaugurated 
 what has continued to this day the piece de 
 resistance of the feast. They had cause for 
 thanksgiving, for at this time the good ship 
 Fortune arrived, " with thirty-five persons to 
 remaine and live in ye plantation, which did 
 not a little rejoice them. Most of them were
 
 282 PATIENCE. 
 
 lusty yonge men, and many of them wild 
 enough, who little considered whither or about 
 what they wente. Neither was ther any 
 amongst them that ever saw a beaver skin till 
 they came hear, and were informed by Squanto." 
 In spite of their unruliness arid ignorance the 
 plantation was glad of this addition of 
 strength. 
 
 This ship brought letters to a number of the 
 colonists, among others one for Patience from 
 Sir Edwin Sandys. 
 
 " You will be rejoiced to hear," he wrote, 
 " touching the change of charter concerning 
 which nay friend William Brewster writ me, 
 that, though I could do nothing (for when his 
 letter arrived I was a prisoner in the Tower, and 
 I have never had influence with the Plymouth 
 Company), yet at this very time the Earl of 
 Warwick, who instituted the proceedings 
 against me, most marvelously withdrew them, 
 so that I was released, and I hear that he hath 
 himself sent your colony the charter whereof ye 
 stand in need." 
 
 So here was indeed cause for public thanks- 
 giving, for the charter came by the same ship. 
 Its granting seemed to the Brewsters little 
 short of miraculous, until Patience confessed 
 her agency in the matter, when all the doubts
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER," 283 
 
 which had oppressed Love's mind fled away. 
 He read over and over the grant of " one hun- 
 dred acres of land to every colonist, at a yearly 
 rent of two shillings an acre, with liberty to 
 hawk, fish and fowl, to truck, trade and traffic 
 with the savage ; to establish laws, to encounter, 
 expulse, repel and resist by force of arms all 
 intruders." The charter was sealed with the 
 great seal of the New England Company, and 
 signed for its council by their Graces the Duke 
 of Hamilton, the Duke of Lenox, Lord Sheffield, 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Robert Rich, Earl 
 of Warwick. 
 
 When Love read the last name he under- 
 stood all her devotion, and that the colony 
 owed its very existence to Patience. 
 
 The next winter was a more endurable one ; 
 better, houses were built, there was little sick- 
 ness and more food. Other ships came out, 
 bringing more settlers, some of whom, however, 
 proved undesirable neighbors, and were only 
 saved from perishing by the chanty of the more 
 thrifty pilgrims. 
 
 A new settlement of their own was started 
 at a little distance from Plymouth, and called 
 Duxbury, after the former home of Miles 
 Standish. Hither Staudish and the Brewsters 
 and others removed; and Love, after he had
 
 284 PATIENCE. 
 
 finished his father's house, built a little apart 
 from it a lodge of his own. Patience was glad 
 at heart when she saw this, for she fancied that 
 he had outgrown his old infatuation, and had 
 consoled himself with the love of some sweet 
 Puritan maiden. Love had never told her of 
 his passion, but Patience would not have had a 
 woman's intuitions if she had been unconscious 
 of it. She had been very shy of him, but now 
 that she thought all danger was past she was 
 sweet and sisterly. Still Love did not presume ; 
 he noted the yearning look in her eyes when 
 she was unemployed and sat with listless hands 
 looking away to the sea. He noticed how thin 
 she had grown, and how, at rare moments, 
 when she thought herself unobserved, the tears 
 would fall upon her sewing. Then he would 
 seize his tools and stride fiercely to his work ; 
 and the blows would rain heavily on the timbers 
 as he built the house which was to be hers 
 indeed, but not his. 
 
 At last, when it was finished, a strange letter 
 came to Love. It was brought by the captain 
 of a vessel belonging to the Earl of Warwick, 
 which had been sent out to explore and trade 
 along the coast. The ship had come from 
 England, but the letter had had a long journey 
 before it set out on this last voyage, for it had
 
 Copyrighted and published by M. Knoedler & Co., New York. 
 ROSE STANDISH.
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER* 285 
 
 started from El Dorado and gone first to Spain 
 and thrice to England. Love felt at once that 
 it brought news of his brother, though it was 
 not in his hand. He remembered that Raleigh 
 had said that Wrestling had a friend in Father 
 Greenway, and he turned to the last page, hop- 
 ing to find his signature, and was astonished to 
 find that of Philippa Fawkes. 
 
 "Perchance you will not remember," she wrote, 
 " the outlaws whom you met in Sherwood For- 
 est, and so kindly sent upon their way. But 
 Philippa has not had so many kindnesses in her 
 life that she can forget any of them, or cease to 
 wish to repay them when it is in her power. 
 Here, in Guiana, fate has willed that your 
 brother is a prisoner, and that she hath such 
 influence with the Governor that he hath given 
 his word that Wrestling shall be set at liberty, 
 provided the conditions herein inclosed be com- 
 plied with. Come, then, with all haste to San 
 Thome, for now there is peace between Spain 
 and England, and your brother shall be 
 free." 
 
 The paper to which the latter referred was a 
 a safe conduct written in Spanish and signed 
 by Governor Acuna, promising that if Love 
 Brewster would personally appear and answer 
 that his brother would nevermore fight against
 
 286 PATIENCE. 
 
 Spain he would be allowed to go where he 
 would. 
 
 This was astonishing news for all the family, 
 to whom Love read it. A great light shot up 
 in Patience's eyes, and then seemed to go out 
 again, leaving her face deadly pale, as Elder 
 Brewster suspected some trap in the smoothly 
 worded safe conduct. 
 
 But Love had seen the light in the girl's 
 face, and his resolution was taken. " I will go 
 out to El Dorado," he said, " and bring Wrest- 
 ling back with me." 
 
 "But how will you go?" asked his father. 
 "Our colony has no fleet which it can send out 
 under you with which to command the respect 
 of Spain and cause that nation to deliver up its 
 prisoners. Like Jacob of old, I cry to these 
 Spaniards, 'Ye know that my wife bare me 
 two sons, and the one went out from me, and I 
 said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him 
 not since ; and if ye take this also from me, and 
 mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my 
 gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.' Why 
 should you go, Love ? Why is your word bet- 
 ter than that of your brother ? Let us write to 
 Sir Edwin Sandys, and let him negotiate with 
 the Spanish ambassador, Count Gondomar, that 
 Wrestling be released by order of King Philip."
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER" 287 
 
 " You forget, dear father/' Love replied, 
 " that we tried all this before we left England, 
 and that though our country was nominally at 
 peace with Spain, so that King James had 
 offered to deliver up Raleigh to Philip, Sir Ed- 
 win assured us that it was vain to expect a reci- 
 procity of such courtesy, and that nothing could 
 be done through diplomatic negotiation. But 
 I have here another letter. It is from Lord 
 Rich. He says that this communication of 
 Philippa's was sent to his care, and though he 
 has not opened it, and knows not from whom 
 it comes, yet he sees that i is from Spain; it 
 reminds him of Wrestling's captivity, and he 
 has given the captain of his ship orders to 
 search for him ; he prays us also to give him 
 any tidings that might help to this end. I 
 have conferred with Captain Cromwell, who 
 served under Captain Argall when he ravaged 
 the coast of America from Arcadia to His- 
 paniola, taking the French prisoners, caus- 
 ing the Dutch to surrender at Manhattan, and 
 robbing the Spanish planters of their negro 
 slav r es. He is a man of like resolute spirit, and 
 is bound now for the West Indies. He will 
 gladly take me up the Orinoco, and bring back 
 Wrestling. He hath warrant enough from the 
 Earl of Warwick for the undertaking. Never
 
 288 PATIENCE. 
 
 fear, father, that there will be bloodshed. We 
 have the Governor's safe conduct, and if Lord 
 Rich's father was said to send out his ships on 
 piratical enterprises, the present Earl of War- 
 wick is too shrewd a man to give his captains 
 license to commit depredations in time of 
 peace."* 
 
 Good Elder Brewster was sorely troubled. 
 " Surely," he said, " it is a strange coincidence 
 that the summons for us to send for Wrestling 
 and the means to do so should come to us 
 at the same time. It is like the Lord's 
 doings." 
 
 " It is the Lord's doings," said his wife, " and 
 they are ever marvelous in my eyes." 
 
 The second winter had melted away, and now 
 again it was spring. Just before Love sailed 
 he had given Patience the key of the little 
 house which he had built. " It is for you," he 
 said, " and I want you and Wrestling to live 
 there. If he comes back before I do you must 
 consider it my wedding gift to you both. And 
 meantime and always it is yours to use or dis- 
 pose of as you please." 
 
 So Patience gathered the children of the col- 
 ony together and held the first school there. 
 They all loved her dearly Jasper and Ellen 
 See Note e, Appendix.
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 289 
 
 More, Humility Cooper, Damaris Hopkins and 
 little Oceanus Hopkins and Peregrine White, 
 the three-year-old babies that were born at sea ; 
 Resolved "White, and the Allerton girls, Re- 
 member and Mary, whose mother died the first 
 winter, and the two naughty Billington boys, 
 who were always running away ; Desire Min- 
 ter, who was older than the rest, but too deli- 
 cate to do any work ; and the Indian Squanto, 
 who already knew how to read and write a 
 little, and wished to learn more. 
 
 It was pleasant to see how, when the Dux- 
 bury contingent set out on its Sunday march to 
 the meeting-house at Plymouth, the children 
 scampered to see which should walk with 
 Patience. It was usually a race between 
 Humility Cooper and Resolved White, and 
 Humility belied her name when she came in 
 ahead, and, seizing Patience's hand in triumph, 
 would make mocking mouths at Resolved, who 
 might have won had he not been restrained at 
 the finish by ill-rewarded gallantry. 
 
 The congregation assembled at beat of drum 
 
 o o 
 
 and marched across the meadows in military 
 order, all of the men carrying their muskets, 
 two of the strongest striding on ahead, as an 
 advance guard ; then Elder Brewster and his 
 good wife leading the procession proper, with
 
 290 PATIENCE. 
 
 Patience ; and Miles Stanclish and John Alden, 
 their feud healed, followed next with their two 
 wives, with the other colonists in due order 
 according to their dignity. 
 
 It is a mistake to think that the Pilgrims 
 scorned social distinctions, or while they believed 
 in political equality paid no outward observ- 
 ance to official rank. It was the duty of a com- 
 mittee to " dignify the meeting " that is, seat 
 the congregation according to their importance, 
 and later this ranking became even more 
 punctilious. Whittier tells us how 
 
 " In the goodly house of worship, where in order due and 
 
 fit, 
 As by public vote directed, classed and ranked the people 
 
 sit ; 
 Mistress first and good wife after, clerkly squire before the 
 
 clown, 
 From the brave coat, lace embroidered, to the gray frock 
 
 shading down." 
 
 Work is the best comfort when the heart is 
 sick with waiting, and Patience found her 
 scholars as great a blessing to her as she was to 
 them. Squanto was not the least interesting 
 among them. He delighted in telling her of 
 his life in London, where with another Indian 
 named Harry he had lived among the show-folk 
 of Bankside. He did not scruple to assert that
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 291 
 
 these actors, mountebanks, and bear-baiters were 
 much more amusing people than the Pilgrims. 
 There were mummers and tumblers, dancers, 
 jugglers, bear-wards, tapsters, hostlers, water- 
 men, and all the rowdy sporting fraternity 
 which resorted to the great Bear Garden, and 
 the inns in its neighborhood, which was like 
 a continual circus ground, with sideshows of 
 every attraction then invented. There were 
 itinerant gingerbread men, too, and gamblers 
 with peas and thimble, strolling singers and 
 gipsy fortune tellers. Gay gallants and gaudily 
 dressed ladies who drank freely and scattered 
 their money about with prodigal hand, came 
 from the court across the river. Harry had 
 pointed out the Spanish ambassador to him, 
 and Squanto had heard him say that bear-hunt- 
 ing was almost as good sport as a bull-fight at 
 Madrid. Squanto had never fought with the 
 bears, they were too fierce and strong ; he had 
 contented himself with appearing in a full dress 
 of artistic war-paint and shooting arrows at a 
 mark ; but Harry was so brave that he was not 
 afraid to wrestle with the beasts. He was not 
 allowed to kill them, or even to hurt them too 
 severely, for they were too valuable, and so the 
 bears who did not always conform to sporting 
 rules and were very ferocious had an unfair ad-
 
 292 PATIENCE. 
 
 vantage. Some of them, from having appeared 
 again and again, were star performers, and when 
 the appearance of " Hugging Hunks " or " Tug- 
 ging Scratcherly " was billed there was always 
 a greater attendance than usual. This part of 
 London was the " Bishop of Winchester's 
 Liberty " but his Grace did not distress himself 
 to inquire into what villainy was practiced 
 there, and the quarter-staff players were often 
 midnight ruffians, practicing in dead earnest 
 the feats of arms which they exercised in sport 
 during the day. With all this knowledge of 
 the seamy side of English life, which often 
 shocked Patience, she was frequently astonished 
 to find that Squanto was familiar with some 
 Bible story which she began to tell him, and 
 this was from seeing it acted in a miracle play. 
 David and Goliath was his favorite, though 
 Jonah and the whale was a close follower ; and 
 he corrected her version of the latter story by 
 assuring her that the whale's interior was 
 fitted up as a comfortable cabin, for he 
 had seen Jonah smoking at its curtained 
 window. 
 
 When Patience asked what had - become of 
 Harry, Squanto told her that he had gone to 
 his own people in a far-distant country, for he 
 came from a different tribe, and they could not
 
 CHILDREN OF THE "MAYFLOWER." 293 
 
 understand each other's language, so that when 
 they spoke together it was in English. Harry 
 it was who had taught him to love English 
 
 o o 
 
 people, for he was devoted to a great Captain 
 Raleigh, who had visited his country, and who 
 he hoped would some day be King of America. 
 Squanto was grieved when he was told that 
 Raleigh was dead, for he was certain that the 
 news would break Harry's heart. They had 
 promised each other that whenever they made 
 journeys into new lands they would carve 
 certain signs upon the trees, so that if the other 
 passed that way he would recognize his friend's 
 signal. Squanto, whose observation of the 
 English had been limited to the classes which 
 
 o 
 
 made a business of pleasure, was greatly puz- 
 zled when on Christmas Day the " lustie young 
 men " who came over in the Fortune amused 
 themselves with playing ball and pitching the 
 bar; the governor told them there should be 
 " no gaming or revelling in ye streets and tooke 
 away their implements." 
 
 But now the colony was very thankful for 
 the presence of these athletic young fellows, for 
 there was more serious work cut out for them 
 than ball-playing. The Indians' defiance, the 
 rattlesnake's skin of arrows, had been sent in, 
 and Miles Standish
 
 294 PATIENCE. 
 
 "Then from the rattlesnake's skin with a sudden con- 
 temptuous gesture 
 
 Jerking the Indian arrows, filled it with powder and 
 bullets." 
 
 Before moving on the offensive, Squanto 
 was sent out to see what had excited the 
 Indians, and the colony awaited his return with 
 impatience.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 The weary pilgrim now at rest 
 
 Hugs with delight his quiet rest, 
 
 Blesses himself to think upon 
 
 His dangers past and travels done. 
 
 The briers and thorus no more shall scratch, 
 
 No hungry wolves at him may catch. 
 
 He erring paths no more shall tread 
 
 Nor wild fruits eat instead of bread. 
 
 ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET. 
 
 HE cause of 
 the strange 
 uneasiness and 
 warlike dem- 
 onstrations 
 of the Indians 
 was soon ex- 
 plained, for a 
 ship arrived from England just at this time, 
 bringing, in this circuitous way, the news of a 
 great Indian massacre in Virginia. The facts 
 were terrible enough ; for three hundred and 
 forty-seven of the colonists had been murdered 
 by the savages, but the first rumor exaggerated 
 
 290
 
 296 PATIENCE. 
 
 the truth, and it was reported that the colony 
 had been entirely wiped out. At the same 
 time with these woeful tidings the ship brought 
 to Patience a letter which was like a voice 
 from the dead, for it was from Wrestling ; and 
 though he wrote in high spirits, he wrote from 
 Heuricus in Virginia, a town which they were 
 informed had been utterly destroyed since the 
 ship Prosperous had left for England ; another 
 vessel had brought the news to the mother 
 country, following closely on the Prosperous, 
 and both had arrived together just as the ship 
 for New England was about to leave. 
 
 Wrestling's parents did not doubt that the 
 hand which wrote the loving lines lay buried 
 beneath the ruins of Henricus ; but to Patience 
 the letter seemed a refutation of the rumor. 
 
 WRESTLING'S LETTER. 
 
 I. 
 " MY SWEET PATIENCE. 
 
 " Dear Heart and True : Having been wonder- 
 fully brought to this safe harborage, I write 
 thee by the good ship Prosperous, which I find 
 about to sail unto England. Not that I think 
 thou art still there, for my good friend George 
 Sandys has told me that thou wentest forth 
 with my people in their setting out to New
 
 Copyrighted and published by M. Knottier & Co., New York. 
 PRISCILLA.
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 297 
 
 England ; but inasmuch as ships are few be- 
 tween this country and the north, I have been 
 in great dubiety of mind whether it would not 
 be the speedier manner to return into England, 
 and thence out asfaiu to where thou art ; I have 
 
 O 
 
 resolved to send this letter by that longer way, 
 though I myself shall make hazard of the 
 shorter in distance. For I would have thee 
 know, if so be my journey prove the longer in 
 time, that at this writing I am safe, and on my 
 way to thee. 
 
 "I trust to find passage ere long in some 
 chance vessel which shall leave me at the 
 Dutch settlement of Manhattan and thence to 
 find my way as best I can. For my pen can 
 not write the eagerness with which I am pos- 
 sessed to see thy face once more, and next to 
 thee, sweetheart, my beloved mother, to whom, 
 as well as to my revered father, I beg thee to 
 give my duty, and my love to my dear brother. 
 Full well can I picture to myself the comfort 
 thou hast been to them, and I thank thee from 
 the bottom of my heart for the daughterly and 
 and sisterly love which thou hast shown to my 
 kindred. Oh, my beloved, if it is the Lord's will 
 that I win to thee, my life shall convince thee 
 of the gratitude which my tongue cannot utter 
 nor my pen form into words. And since words
 
 298 PATIENCE. 
 
 are vain, I will not more essay them except to 
 bes; tLee to look into thine own heart, and 
 
 O * 
 
 measuring its tenderness for me, believe that it 
 is surpassed a million times by the love I bear 
 thee. And if thou wouldst know how often I 
 say I love thee, go out upon a starlit night and 
 hear from every one of the stars the words, ' I 
 love thee,' for to each one of those bright orbs I 
 have given this message, ' Wrestling loves thee, 
 Wrestling loves thee,' that they may unceasingly 
 repeat it until I come. 
 
 " And indeed it has given me a comforting 
 sense of nearness when I consider that we are 
 but two looks distant from one another, since I 
 may look upon those stars and they on thee. 
 
 " But to speak of my love for thee were an 
 endless matter ; and my parents (and thou too) 
 will be fain to know of my happenings since I 
 was separated from my great leader, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh. Therefore, as there is much to tell 
 and I have still some days before the sailing of 
 the- Prosperous, I will take my time, not at 
 one sitting, but a little here and more there, and 
 relate in detail all that betided me. And 
 whereas what I have written thus far is for thee 
 alone, sweetheart, what follows is for thee to 
 share with my family, save that at times I shall 
 not refrain from a word meant more particularly
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 290 
 
 for thee, for thou art at all times uppermost in 
 my mind. And so, I rest, 
 
 " Thy true lover, 
 
 " WRESTLING." 
 
 II. 
 
 " Revered Parents, Best Beloved Patience, and 
 My Very Dear Brother: You must know 
 already how we fell into a trap at San Thome, 
 the town having been newly garrisoned by 
 soldiers sent out from Spain to drive us from 
 that region, our expedition having been reported 
 to Spain by some traitor. The town is built 
 on a small tributary of the Orinoco, which, 
 though it afforded a waterway for the canoes 
 of the Indians, was not navigable for our larger 
 boats, and this particular site had been chosen 
 because it was as near as the mines could be 
 approached in any fashion by water. 
 
 " We had marched from the Orinoco, where we 
 had left our boats, straight through the forest, 
 following an Indian trail which we had found 
 difficult enough, and from San Thome to the 
 mines. When the Spaniards were first in- 
 formed by their scouts that we were ascend- 
 ing the Orinoco, they sent all their women and 
 children, with their valuables and the greater 
 part of the provisions which were in San
 
 300 PA TIENC& 
 
 Thome" to a trading-post and village far up the 
 little tributary which I have mentioned. This 
 trading-post was beyond the unbroken forest on 
 the borders of the great plains which were the 
 broad grazing lands of wild cattle and horses, 
 and here also were some scattered plantations. 
 The Indians came often to the village to trade 
 and were friendly, so that the Spaniards had in 
 this place a secure and plenteous asylum of 
 refuge. 
 
 " On the taking of San Thome, the greater part 
 of the garrison fled by means of canoes that 
 were secreted near the river, and joined their 
 families at this asylum. And when the Eng- 
 lish expedition, after burning the town of San 
 Thome, retreated through the forest to the 
 great river where they had left their boats, the 
 Spaniards returned and with their Indian 
 allies harried us upon our inarch. It so fell out 
 that I was put in charge of the Spanish 
 prisoners, and, marching more slowly than the 
 main detachment, was overtaken. The men 
 that had been given me for a guard, taking to 
 their legs at the appearance of the enemy, got 
 off safe, and rejoined the main force under 
 Keymis ; but my prisoners were rescued, and I 
 tied up in their stead. I would doubtless have 
 been killed at once, but that Father Greenway
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 301 
 
 plead for my life with Governor Acufia, 
 arguing very shrewdly that it was better to 
 save me alive for the present, and to send me 
 into Spain at the first opportunity, where 
 doubtless his most Catholic majesty, King 
 Philip, would derive much pleasure from put- 
 ting me to death with suitable tortures, after 
 he had obtained what information he could of 
 me. This advice, while it was instrumental in 
 saving my life, had the effect that I was very 
 carefully guarded, and could by no means find 
 any opportunity to escape. 
 
 "The Spaniards, returning, set to work at the 
 rebuilding of a few of the most needful of the 
 
 <j 
 
 houses of San Thome ; but they had lost so 
 much by the onslaught of the English that, 
 though they had provisions for several months 
 to come, they were greatly discouraged. The 
 soldiers also who had come out to fight would 
 not work, but made excursions against the 
 friendly Indians, pillaging and robbing them, 
 and raising such wrath that the Governor said 
 that the colony had been safer without them ; 
 and their captain, being angered, threatened to 
 draw off his men, and, descending the Orinoco, 
 wait at its mouth for the appearance of some 
 vessel to take them back to Spain. But this 
 would have been to leave the colonists to the
 
 302 PATIENCE. 
 
 mercy of the savages, and the Governor patched 
 up a peace with the captain, so that lie prom- 
 ised that the greater part of his men should not 
 go until transportation were provided for all, 
 for the colonists were sick of their adventure, 
 and clamored to return to Spain. The cap- 
 tain, therefore, with a small guard, went down 
 the river to watch for a chance sail, that he 
 might render a report of these proceedings to 
 King Philip, and ask permission for the aban- 
 donment of the colony and means for their 
 return. 
 
 "He demanded that I should go with him, as 
 Governor Acuna had promised, and doubtless I 
 would have been thus sent to my death but for 
 a merciful dispensation, which happened in this 
 wise : 
 
 " When the women returned to the town, 
 after that lodgings had been built for them, 
 some were curious to see the English prisoner, 
 and would come and regard me at my labors, 
 making many mocking remarks and derisive 
 gestures. 
 
 " Among these women I marked a young girl 
 who said nothing, but regarded me very fix- 
 edly from under the shadow of her black man- 
 tilla. I was breaking stone, and I would not 
 
 o * 
 
 content her by letting her see that she at-
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 303 
 
 tracted niy notice, until, none observing, she 
 threw me the rose from her hair. Then, in the 
 vindictiveness of my heart, I took the rose and 
 laid it on the rock before me, and with my 
 heavy mallet battered it to pulp. She spoke 
 no word, but that evening Father Green way 
 came to the window of my prison and said, ' It 
 cannot be, my sou, that you recognized the lady 
 who threw you a rose to-day, or you would not 
 have treated her so unmannerly.' 
 
 " ''Recognized her ! ' I repeated. l How should 
 I ? And who, then, is she ? ' 
 
 " ' She is the adopted daughter of Governor 
 Acuna,' replied the Jesuit ; ' and, as such, she 
 has power to hinder you being carried mana- 
 cled to King Philip and the tender mercies of 
 our Inquisition a thing which I find it not in 
 my power to prevent. Be more gallant, there- 
 fore, and hide her favors in your heart rather 
 than treat them with such scorn.' 
 
 " Then I replied stoutly that I would liefer 
 go to my death than to be disloyal to thee, 
 sweet Patience ; whereat the Jesuit smilingly 
 replied, ' Behold the conceit which is bound up 
 in the heart of man ! for what the maid offers 
 you is not love, but friendship. She has told 
 me in confession that though you once did her 
 a great kindness, which she is now willing to
 
 304 PATIENCE. 
 
 repay, yet it is not for love of you, but of your 
 brother, that she will do this.' 
 
 " With that I gave a great cry. * It is Phil- 
 ippa, Philippa Fawkes ! ' 
 
 u l Yea, Philippa,' said a woman's voice, and 
 a small gemmed hand was thrust through the 
 grated window of the cell where I lay. ' But 
 speak not the name of my martyred father ; I 
 am Philippa di Acuna, through the love of my 
 kind foster parents, for I doubt that I were 
 safe, even in Spain, if your wicked Cecil knew 
 that any child of my father still lived.' 
 
 " Then I told her that Cecil was dead, and 
 that there were many in England who hated 
 his memory as much as she. 
 
 " ' That may well be,' she replied, ' but they 
 hate the Spaniard too, for there is your Sir Wal- 
 ter, who must needs come with fire and sword 
 to ferret us out at this distance, when good 
 Father Greenway here would have released 
 him from prison. You English are an ungrate- 
 ful race, constant to nothing but hatred ; and I 
 marvel not that you crushed my poor rose, as 
 you would doubtless crush ^r if you had the 
 power.' 
 
 " Then I told her that 1 would never have 
 done her this despite if I had known who she 
 was; but Father Greenway interrupted our
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 305 
 
 converse, and bade me tell her quickly, what I 
 had said to him some days before, concerning 
 the purifying of gold ore, that she might report 
 it to her foster father ; for Governor Acuna had 
 told the Jesuit that he would listen to nothing 
 more from him concerning me, for as prisoner of 
 war, I belonged of right to the captain, and 
 must go to Madrid. Then I told Philippa how 
 I had been given ore which had been brought 
 in from the mine to break up, and told to sort 
 it, laying aside only the richest pieces to be 
 put in casks to send to the King of Spain ; and 
 the baser portions were thrown out, so that 
 this city of San Thome was literally paved 
 with gold, though in small proportion to the 
 stone. Seeing this waste, I had asked why the 
 ore was not crushed and the precious metal 
 separated from the rock. Father Greenway 
 replied that formerly they had so purified the 
 ore by means of mercury, but the supply which 
 they had brought with them from Spain had 
 been exhausted, and, moreover, that even if 
 they had more, it would profit them nothing, 
 for their refiner had been slain at our onslaught, 
 and there was no one in the colony who under- 
 stood the entire process; so that, unless an 
 alchemist should be sent them out of Spain, 
 with a shipload of quicksilver, they could but
 
 306 PATIENCE. 
 
 send the ore in its crude state. I therefore be- 
 sought Philippa to say to the Governor that in 
 my experiments with Sir Walter he had taught 
 me metallurgy, and that if I could have a room 
 for a laboratory, and an Indian to go and come 
 as my servant, I could render him the refined 
 gold. 
 
 : Philippa did so well that I was allowed 
 to make good my boast, for Sir Walter 
 had taught me how to extract mercury from 
 its sulphide cinnabar, by heating the latter 
 in a furnace, and I had noticed that the 
 Indians who came to trade had their faces 
 painted with vermilion, which is only cinnabar 
 ground fine. Therefore, my task was an easy 
 one, for the Governor gave me glass beads, 
 with permission for my servant to truck with 
 them for Avhat commodities I wished with the 
 savages, though I told him not what I needed, 
 for I kept my method of obtaining the mercury 
 a secret. When I had succeeded in a small 
 way at San Thome, Governor Acuna refused to 
 allow the captain to take me to Spain, but sent 
 me to the mines, over which he made me super- 
 intendent, with not one slave alone, but many 
 to do my bidding. 
 
 " And here my heart was like to break at the 
 thought that this was the very mine which my
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 307 
 
 dear master, Sir Walter, had undergone so 
 many hardships to secure for England ; yea, 
 whose very existence, as I am now told, was 
 discredited, so that he was slain for lack of 
 testimony which, could I but have appeared 
 before King James, might have saved his life. 
 I found at the mine a mill, exactly resembling 
 those we use in England for grinding apples, 
 wherein a millstone set on edge was made to 
 turn in a circular channel. Here the ore was 
 crushed, and formerly quicksilver, which of all 
 bodies has the greatest attraction to gold, was 
 added. The gold immediately left its native 
 rock and flew to its affinity, even as a maid 
 leaveth father and mother to cleave to her be- 
 loved : such sense of love have even the dull 
 clods of earth. 
 
 " Everything spake to me of love, and I was in 
 a great admiration when I discovered it to be 
 the universal law of nature, so that not man 
 alone, nor the animals and birds and every living 
 thing, but even the flowers yea, and the very 
 insensate earth obeyed its irresistible instincts. 
 I was ever observing the development of this 
 primal passion as I continued my work, and how 
 a stronger affection would cause other attrac- 
 tions to have no power and sometimes there 
 was disloyalty in ores as in the hearts of base
 
 308 PATIENCE. 
 
 men. I constructed a furnace in which I burned 
 the beautiful rose-colored crystals of cinnabar 
 which the Indians brought me, thus dissipating 
 the sulphur and collecting the mercury in a 
 condensing chamber for use in releasing the 
 
 O O 
 
 gold from the crushed ore. After the mercury 
 had united with the gold, forming an amal- 
 gam, I let water into the channel of the great 
 mill-wheel, which washed away the lighter soil 
 through a sieve at one side, and I then collected 
 and heated the amalgam, and the volatile 
 mercury fled away in fumes. This was to me 
 an allegory, for I saw how much better was the 
 love of man, and even of an evil heart like 
 mine, than this fickle passion of the metals, for 
 this light-of-love Mercury had for the second 
 time allowed himself to be divorced from a 
 loving partner; for having left Sulphur, his 
 wedded wife by that first union in the Cinnabar, 
 he had enticed Gold to desert her parents, the 
 steadfast Rocks, and be married to him in the 
 scandalous amalgamatic alliance, and then had 
 scrupled not at the first fiery touch of trial to 
 flee lightly away. 
 
 " And ever I was glad at heart as I bent over 
 my crucibles, for I knew that my Heart of Gold 
 waited for me, and that we could never be 
 drawn from our allegiance to one another.
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 309 
 
 " I gathered many ingots and bars of gold in 
 the three years that I was superintendent of the 
 mine ; but it irked me to send them down to 
 San Thome by the messengers which Governor 
 Acuna sent for them ; and more than I sent I 
 buried in great treasure vaults, hoping some day 
 to lead my master Sir Walter thither and 
 deliver them up to him. I was helped in this 
 business by the Indian Harry, who had lived in 
 England, for he came and worked for me, and 
 he was as devoted to Raleigh as I. He hated 
 the Spaniards, for the soldiers had continued 
 their marauding and had massacred unoffending 
 Indians, stealing their cocoa and their other 
 goods, burning their villages, and carrying away 
 their maidens. 
 
 " If Sir "Walter could have come at this time 
 with his fleet the Indians would have risen, and 
 have slain the Spaniards and have welcomed 
 him as king. It was this which Harry hoped 
 for, and he went about attending their councils 
 and knew that the fire smoldered. 
 
 " But the Spaniards knew it not. They rebuilt 
 their city, and ships came from Spain bringing 
 the conveniences of life, and they sent back 
 gold, and their desire to return to their native 
 country died out in fancied security. 
 
 " Father Green way came to me at the mines,
 
 310 PATIENCE. 
 
 and talked with the Indians, for he had learned 
 something of their language and he found 
 Harry useful to interpret. When he found that 
 they had a temple in the woods where they had 
 set up an ugly idol, before which they spread 
 offerings of game and flowers, he did not reprove 
 them, but told them that Christians also made 
 images to represent their God, and he hung over 
 the idol a large ivory crucifix which they 
 regarded with great admiration. He told them 
 the story of Christ's passion in words so adapted 
 to their ignorance that I marveled at his tact. 
 The Indians accepted it with perfect confidence, 
 one only objecting that a God should allow 
 himself to be so shamefully treated. Then 
 Father Greenway explained that Christ came to 
 teach us to suffer, and called to mind how they 
 esteemed those of their warriors the most God- 
 like, who could best endure the tortures of their 
 enemies. By these means he began to acquire 
 an influence over them, and he taught them to 
 repeat short Latin prayers, and to cross them- 
 selves. He gave such of them as learned the 
 Ave Maria and Pater Noster a rosary to repeat 
 them by, which greatly pleased them. He 
 baptized many of them, all indeed that would 
 submit themselves to this rite, for he believed 
 that so their souls would be saved. We had
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 311 
 
 many conversations together ; and seeing him 
 display such earnestness as a true Christian, I 
 asked him how he could reconcile it to his con- 
 science not to have informed upon the con- 
 spirators in the Gunpowder Plot. He replied 
 with many specious arguments and excuses, the 
 principal one being that the lives of men were 
 of no account, provided the true church (which 
 for him was the Roman) was advanced. ' As 
 willingly,' he said, ' in its cause would I lay down 
 mine own life for what is the life of one man 
 or of an entire generation of men, but to have 
 the world better for its duration or its dis- 
 appearance ? We make more mistakes when 
 we endeavor to hinder the march of events. 
 Witness my sin in endeavoring to save the life 
 of Raleigh, and perchance thy life also. Ye 
 have both committed much havoc in this peace- 
 ful community in the taking of San Thome, 
 and I know not how much more I may be 
 responsible for, or that in rescuing thee I may 
 not have warmed a viper in my bosom.' 
 
 " ' I thought thou hadst been my friend,' I 
 replied, ' but if this is thy feeling toward me, I 
 marvel indeed that thou didst not strike me 
 down instead of first sparing my life and then 
 following me with such continual kindness.' 
 
 " His face softened. ' The heart is deceitful,'
 
 312 PATIENCE. 
 
 he said, ' and the affections are not to be 
 trusted, but I have ever been drawn to thee, 
 my son, and I still believe of thee what I once 
 hoped for Raleigh, that God will make thee an 
 instrument for the glory of his Church. Hast 
 thou the breviary which I gave thee at Clopton 
 House ? ' 
 
 "When I showed it to him he said: 'I will 
 write another prayer suitable for a captive on 
 the fly-leaf. It is one that the martyred Mary 
 Queen of Scots composed before her death.' 
 
 " I copy it as he wrote it : 
 
 " ' O Domine Jesu ! speravi in te 
 O care, mi Jesu ! nuiic libera me 
 In dura catena, 
 In misera paena, 
 
 Desidero te, 
 Langueudo, 
 Gemendo, 
 Et genu flectendo, 
 
 Adoro, 
 
 Imploro, 
 
 Ut liberes me! 
 
 " I have used this prayer often, sweet Patience, 
 when words failed my burdened heart, for I see 
 no harm in it ; and when I tell thee how 
 Father Greenway met his death, thou wilt 
 acknowledge that though terribly deluded he 
 had the courage of his convictions. God pardon 
 him and open the minds of men to the knowl-
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 313 
 
 edge that they cannot do him service by slay- 
 ing each other. 
 
 " Governor Acuna came sometimes to the 
 mines and treated me with courtesy, and once 
 he took me to San Thome and lodged me at his 
 house in different guise from when as a captive 
 I had broken stone upon the street. There I 
 learned of the death of my dear master, and 
 that the ship from Spain had brought news 
 that peace between James and Philip had been 
 purchased at this price, and that there was even 
 a likelihood that our Prince Charles would 
 marry the Infanta. So there were no orders for 
 the execution or torture of English prisoners and 
 no requisition that I should be sent into Spain. 
 But when I asked for my liberty, Governor 
 Acuna said that was another matter, and that I 
 had proved myself too useful to be spared. 
 Later Philippa took me aside into the garden, 
 and told me of a scheme she had to have me 
 exchanged for my brother Love, and that she 
 had already taken steps in the matter. She 
 had written him a letter telling him of my 
 whereabouts and begging him to come to 
 Guiana, promising that if he did so, I should 
 be released; but she had very shrewdly neg- 
 lected to say that he would be detained in my 
 place. This letter she had sent back by the
 
 314 PATIENCE. 
 
 Spanish ship to Spain (but addressed to Lon- 
 don in care of Lord Rich, of whom she had 
 heard rne speak), and as there was now com- 
 munication between Spain and England, she 
 had good hope that it would reach him. She 
 looked very winsome as she said this. Stand- 
 ing beneath a great tree-heliotrope, and in her 
 embarrassment pulling down a branch of blos- 
 soms to partly hide her face ; but I was sore 
 angered to think that she endeavored to bring 
 my brother out to this wilderness. She saw 
 the displeasure in my face, and she spoke very 
 rapidly, striving to forestall it. ' Be not angry 
 with me, Wrestling,' she said, ' for it is I who 
 have saved your life and have secured for you 
 the favor of the Governor. I know that you 
 are heartsick to go back to England and to 
 your sweetheart ; but Governor Acuiia has not 
 the power to release a prisoner of war, for your 
 name is still upon the report which the captain 
 took to Spain, neither would he think that he 
 could spare you from the mines. But if your 
 brother came you could teach him all that you 
 know of metals, and he could take your place. 
 He would soon be rich here, and he shall be a 
 willing captive, I promise you ; while you, 
 Wrestling, shall be free I ' 
 
 " Then the passion that was in me flamed out ;
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 315 
 
 and I told her that I well knew that she did 
 this, not from any kindness toward me, but for 
 love of my brother, but that it was a false love 
 that would entice him to an exile and a cap- 
 tivity, from whence at any turn of international 
 politics he might be ordered to his death ; and, 
 moreover, that I was not willing to purchase 
 liberty at such a price, and that my brother was 
 not for such as she, for I would foil her. With 
 that she suddenly let go of the branch with 
 which she toyed, and it, with the force of its 
 rebound, struck me sharply across the face. 
 Stung by the indignity as much as by the pain, 
 for I thought she did it of a purpose, I called 
 her ' Serpent.' Then she turned upon me with 
 flashing eyes, magnificent in her anger. l Yea, 
 verily,' she hissed, ' and thou shalt know that 
 serpents can sting ! This insult can be wiped 
 out only by blood ! ' 
 
 " I gave no heed to her anger, for it seemed to 
 me but a child's pettishness ; but my heart was 
 disturbed for my brother, for I well knew the 
 disinterestedness of that loyal heart. I immedi- 
 ately wrote him into Ley den, forbidding that 
 he should come out on any such fool's errand ; 
 but I have since learned from George Sandys 
 that even if my letter went to Holland, Love 
 could not have received it, for he had left the
 
 316 PATIENCE. 
 
 country. I trust that the same fortune fol- 
 lowed Philippa's letter; or if my brother 
 received it, that he found no means of voyaging 
 to Guiana. 
 
 " Having no longer any hope that my master 
 would come out to this country, I was all the 
 more resolved to escape. I knew that if I 
 allowed myself to be sent back to the mines, 
 where I was guarded by soldiers, I would have 
 no opportunity to do so, and I attempted to 
 buy a canoe of an Indian, whereby I might 
 make my way to the coast. But Philippa, sus- 
 pecting my design (for the Indian was seen by 
 her secreting the canoe at the foot of the gar- 
 den), reported the thing to the Governor, and I 
 was returned to the mines more closely watched 
 than ever. I could no longer secrete gold, 
 and I might have still remained in that savage 
 country, but that about a year after this the 
 disaffection of the Indians came to a head, 
 owing to the abominable atrocities of the 
 Spanish soldiers; and a young chief arose of 
 great spirit and ability, who swore to rid the 
 entire continent of America of the white man. 
 He went about collecting bands of armed 
 Indians, making speeches at council fires, insti- 
 tuting war-dances, and sending messages to 
 dispersed tribes ; and doing all this so secretly,
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 317 
 
 that, but for Harry, his designs would not have 
 been known. But Harry revealed to us that 
 there was to be a general massacre, and that he 
 had hidden horses at a little distance from the 
 mine, so that, if we set out at once, we might 
 escape to San Thome and warn the Governor. 
 Knowing that Harry would not have reported 
 this on slight reason, I acted upon his advice 
 with the Spanish soldiers which were my guard. 
 But Father Greenway would not go with us, for 
 he hoped by remaining to restrain his converts. 
 " There was in the vaults of my house a con- 
 siderable store of gold, which we could not take 
 with us, and some ammunition belonging to the 
 soldiers, which they were anxious should not 
 fall into the hands of the Indians. Father 
 Greenway therefore established himself in my 
 room, but though he bolted the door he made 
 no attempt to defend himself, when, as soon as 
 our departure was known, the house was sur- 
 rounded by the Indians. Harry had remained 
 behind to see what would happen, and if pos- 
 sible to help Father Greenway. When the 
 Indians demanded entrance he came boldly out 
 upon the balcony of an upper window and asked 
 them what they would have. Then their leader 
 taunted him with his former teachings, saying 
 they had come to honor him as he had told
 
 318 PATIENCE. 
 
 them his God had been honored, with torture, 
 and to prove whether he had learned the lessons 
 of endurance of suffering, which he had come 
 to teach. 
 
 " With that Father Green way retreated into 
 the house, closing the window after him, but 
 they could hear him within chanting and pray- 
 ing. Then were they filled with fury, and they 
 made fires against the four corners of the house, 
 and Harry, who had climbed a tree at a little 
 distance, saw through a window that the father 
 descended to the ground floor and opening 
 some kegs, placed himself in their midst, hold- 
 ing aloft his crucifix. Whether it were that at 
 that hour of his death he wished to make atone- 
 ment for his participation in that fearful crime, 
 by himself suffering the same sort of end which 
 was planned to have been brought upon others, 
 or whether it were but the natural preference 
 for a speedy death over torture, I know not ; 
 but as the tongues of flame shot in they were 
 led by long trails of scattered gunpowder 
 straight to the kegs which the soldiers had left, 
 and in one blinding flash and thunderous report 
 the soul of Father Green way went forth to meet 
 his Maker. The Indians fled back, smitten 
 with fear, and many of them injured by the 
 flying splinters.
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 319 
 
 "Later they returned arid rioted with his 
 mangled body. Far distant from the ruins 
 Harry found his right hand, and neither the 
 force of the explosion nor its riving from his 
 arm had been able to loosen its grasp, for it still 
 held the crucifix. Harry wrapped this ghastly 
 relic carefully in leaves, and carrying it in his 
 bosom brought it into San Thome, where we 
 buried it before the altar of the church, in the 
 grave of young Walter Raleigh. 
 
 "Immediately after that all of the Indians 
 broke out in open war, revenging their old 
 injuries at the hands of the Spaniards, killing 
 and burning throughout the entire country and 
 holding San Thome in a state of siege. None 
 dared to venture outside the stockades, and 
 guards were posted at night. They made 
 several attacks, and wounded and killed many 
 with showers of arrows, but they could not take 
 the city. No boats dared to descend the river, 
 for the banks were lined with hostiles, and 
 when a ship anchored at the mouth and sent up 
 its barges the crew was set upon, many killed, 
 and the rest driven back. But they made 
 another attempt more successfully, for some 
 reached the town, where famine had begun to 
 render the colonists desperate. After waiting 
 for some time one dark night they abandoned the
 
 320 PATIENCE. 
 
 town, and all came down the river, not rowing 
 for fear that the noise would attract the savages, 
 but floating with the current until daybreak, 
 when they were forced to run the gantlet of 
 the Indians posted along the lower banks. A 
 remnant only reached the ship; Philippa was 
 safe, but I was wounded in shielding her. 
 Harry swam to the shore, where there chanced 
 to be no guard, and returned with some plant 
 which he bound upon my arm and stanched 
 its bleeding. 
 
 " A common danger softened Philippa's anger, 
 so that when she saw my blood to flow in her 
 defense, she cried out that there was no longer 
 any feud between us, for she had declared at 
 the first that it should be washed away in my 
 blood. Thus we got safely to the ship which 
 was bound by way of the Azores to Spain. 
 
 " But now the Spaniards were by no means at 
 the end of their troubles, for, falling in with a 
 hurricane when they were more than halfway 
 to the Azores, they were driven far west of 
 their course and were shipwrecked on the Ber- 
 mudas or Isles of Devils. Here we all got safe 
 to land, and found an English colony which 
 entertained us, but the Governor, Nathaniel 
 Butler, was exceedingly harsh to the Spaniards, 
 and learning that they had kegs of gold on
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 321 
 
 board the ship, he caused the wreckers to bring 
 all the cargo to him, nor would he allow the 
 ship to be mended so that they could continue 
 their voyage until they had signed an agree- 
 ment to send back a great ransom. So at last 
 he sent them away, but so shortly provisioned 
 that they could only make for Cuba, and I saw 
 Philippa no more. 
 
 " But what was bad fortune for the Spaniards 
 was good for me, for now I was once more with 
 mine own countrymen. After the space of 
 some months also Governor Butler made a 
 voyage to Virginia and took Harry and me with 
 him. I was exceeding glad when he did this, 
 for I had hopes from what I had learned had 
 transpired in England that I might find my 
 people in Virginia, yea, and even thee, my best 
 beloved. 
 
 " Though I was cruelly disappointed in this 
 expectation, yet I count myself happy, for surely 
 there will arise some opportunity whereby I 
 may soon go to thee by means of some Dutch 
 trader which will take me as far as the settle- 
 ments on the Hudson. In the meantime I 
 would have my friends to know that I have 
 been most hospitably cared for by my old 
 friend George Sandys, whom I find established 
 here upon a plantation near the city of Henri-
 
 322 PATIENCE. 
 
 cus, named for our beloved Prince Henry. It 
 is defended by palisades and by the forts Charity 
 and Patience. When I heard that name I could 
 hardly contain myself, and George Sandys, see- 
 ing my pleasure, said 'Yea, you have rightly 
 guessed ; I named it so for her such influence 
 has she had upon my life.' And when I carped 
 at him, 'And why, George, should you name 
 a fort for a gentle woman ? ' he made answer, 
 ' Because the very thought of her, so strong 
 and trusty and brave, has been to me as a tower, 
 to the which when doubts and temptations 
 have assailed I could run and be safe.' 
 
 "If such is the influence of my sweet Patience 
 on one who knew her but slightly, it can well 
 be understood how that the love I bear her 
 has heartened me to endure and to venture all 
 things that I may win to her, yea, and in God's 
 own time and place I shall find her. 
 
 " Ever her and your faithful pilgrim, 
 
 " WRESTLING." 
 
 III. 
 
 "POSTSCKIPT TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER. 
 
 " I cannot, honored and loved parents, close 
 this already too long letter without addressing 
 some message to you in particular, the more
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 323 
 
 especially as I have been impressed with the 
 conviction since I have been in Virginia that 
 my father would greatly admire the state of 
 affairs that I find here. Surely it would also 
 have delighted my poor master, Sir Walter, if 
 he could have known before he died to what 
 a pitch of prosperity his beloved and long- 
 suffering colony of Virginia would win at last. 
 Often he has told me how the loss of those first 
 settlers, whose fate was never known, weighed 
 upon his heart, and what sums he had expended 
 and desperate efforts made to come to their 
 relief. Sad it is that when he died he could 
 see no fruit of his labor for this the dearest 
 desire of his heart. Surely one man shall plant 
 and another water, and to still another shall it be 
 given to reap the increase. Sir Edwin Sandys 
 hath faithfully watered, and the harvest is 
 growing apace. 
 
 " Virginia hath now the city of Jamestown, 
 and ten other boroughs, or settlements, each 
 having the right to send two burgesses as 
 representatives to the Assembly at Jamestown. 
 And this Assembly doth govern the colony, so 
 that we have here a free and independent state. 
 For though the Governor is appointed in Eng- 
 land, yet can he do nothing contrary to the 
 popular voice ; for by their charter no orders
 
 324 PATIENCE. 
 
 of court shall bind the said colony unless they 
 be ratified by the general assemblies. 
 
 "George Sandys told me that it was his 
 brother Sir Edwin who had secured this boon 
 in the Virginia Company for the colony, and it 
 is for this that King James and the court party 
 hate him so bitterly. 
 
 "There are now upward of two thousand 
 settlers in the eleven boroughs, which are 
 called as follows: James City, or Jamestown 
 (and though the capital is named for the King, 
 it is aiy that he hath), Charles City and Hen- 
 ricus (for the two Princes), Hampton (for 
 the Earl of Southampton), Martin-Brandon, 
 Smythe's Hundred, Martin's Hundred, Argall's 
 Gift, Lawne's and Ward's Plantations and 
 Flowerdieu Hundred. Some of these bur- 
 oughs are not cities or even towns, but 
 scattered plantations grouped together so that 
 they could furnish at need one hundred fight- 
 ing men. The means of traveling is, as in 
 Guiana, chiefly by boat, each planter possessing 
 rowboats and barges, and indentured or negro 
 slaves. The city of Henricus, whence I now 
 write, hath three streets, storehouses, and a 
 church. It is a pleasure to me even to hear 
 mine English tongue, to see about me English 
 faces and customs, to walk to the house of God
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 325 
 
 on the Sabbath, and to listen to the good Mr. 
 "Whitaker, who preaches in the forenoon, cate- 
 chises in the afternoon, and exercises at the 
 Governor's house in the evening. Here at Hen- 
 ricus, too, is a university established for the 
 Indians whose principal lack at present is stu- 
 dents, for Pocahontas, who lived here with her 
 husband Rolfe, and who might have effected 
 much in inducing the Indian youth to adopt 
 our manners, went hence to England, and died 
 there. George Sandys saw her at court before 
 he came out, where, he tells me, she cut as pretty 
 a figure as many of the great ladies ; so that 
 la belle sauvage was the reigning toast, and 
 there were many taverns named for her through- 1 
 out England. She was so handsome that the 
 painters begged to paint her portrait, and the 
 court ladies were like to die of envy, and so 
 modest and gentle that she won all hearts. 
 
 " When I asked Sandys if he had yet found 
 his princess, he declared that he had not, 
 though Pocahontas hath left a sister, Cleopatre, 
 who is the belle of all the country round, and 
 hath been besought in marriage by the Gov- 
 ernor. George said that the popularity of the 
 Indian girls was not altogether owing to 
 scarcity of English maids; for his brother had 
 arranged that spinsters of good character should
 
 326 PATIENCE. 
 
 be sent out by the Virginia Company, and suit- 
 ably maintained until they obtained husbands. 
 Any settler of good character and condition, 
 could obtain a wife by paying one hundred 
 pounds of tobacco to the company for her pas- 
 sage. I saw the arrival of sixty of these maids 
 at Jamestown, and the marriage of some of 
 them, which was not slavery, but entered into 
 of their own free choice ; none could be com- 
 pelled, and certain gallants with full purses 
 met with flat refusals. Sandys said that there 
 had been known coquettes among them who 
 lived long at the company's expense, balancing 
 between this and that, and even engaging them- 
 selves to two before they could decide. And 
 this had grown to be so great an evil that Mr. 
 Whitaker read a notice of the Governor's in 
 church, whereby all women were notified that 
 they were forbidden to contract themselves to 
 two several men at once ; ' for this offense has 
 caused great disquiet between the planters and 
 no small trouble to the government.' They 
 were furthermore informed that offenders must 
 undergo corporal correction at the whipping- 
 post and pillory, or be punished by a fine 
 according to the quality of the person offend- 
 ing. 
 
 " Mr. Whitaker also read another decree more
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 327 
 
 directly affecting himself, for it forbid any man 
 to dispose of his tobacco until the minister was 
 satisfied that is, had received his salary. It 
 did my heart good to see that these orders were 
 not the arbitrary tyranny of one man, but con- 
 firmed by the burgesses ; and that here is 
 realized that dream of representative govern- 
 ment, which I have so often heard thee, my 
 father, and thy friends discuss at our home at 
 Scrooby. If my dearest Patience were but 
 here, I could willingly settle on one of these 
 plantations and divide my time, like George, 
 between my books and the care of my estate. 
 Even as his friend Dryden hath written him : 
 
 " 'Where nature hath in store 
 Fowl, venison and fish; 
 
 And the fruitfull'st soil, 
 
 Without your toil, 
 Three harvests more, 
 All greater than your wish. 
 
 *' ' And as there plenty grows 
 Of laurel everywhere, 
 Apollo's sacred tree. 
 You it may see 
 A poet's brows 
 To crown, that may sing there. 
 
 " ' Then cheerfully to sea 
 Success you still entice, 
 
 To get the pearl and gold, 
 
 And ours to hold 
 Virginia, 
 Earth's only paradise I ' "
 
 328 PATIENCE. 
 
 " But Virginia could be no paradise for me 
 without those I love, God speed me to them ! 
 The Prosperous sails ; I have no time for further 
 farewell, but neither distance nor any other 
 obstacle shall keep from you much longer 
 
 " Your own, 
 
 " WBESTLINGK" 
 
 These letters only brought fresh grief to 
 good Elder Brewster and his wife ; and they 
 looked at Patience with the deepest pity, as 
 they saw that she could not realize that this 
 was the last time that she or they would hear 
 from the brave boy. 
 
 Squanto came back and reported that the 
 Narragan setts were greatly excited by the news 
 which had been brought to them, through the 
 intervening tribes, from Virginia, that they were 
 holding war-dances and councils, and would 
 doubtless soon swoop down in one desperate 
 effort to exterminate the white man. The Nar- 
 ragansetts had one white prisoner whom they 
 had taken not far from the Dutch settlement of 
 Manhattan, and they were reserving him for 
 torture, to whet their spirits for cruelty, if their 
 council should decide to go on the warpath. 
 
 Squanto had crept stealthily near him under 
 cover of the night ; but the unfortunate wretch
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 329 
 
 was too weak to talk, even if he had dared to 
 do so. But Squanto had stolen some keepsakes 
 which had been taken from his breast, which 
 the Narragansetts regarded as talismans ; and 
 these he now laid before the Pilgrim leaders. 
 The objects were a Roman Catholic breviary 
 and part of a rosary, from which they inferred 
 that the wretched man was a priest, and find- 
 ing the name of Father Greenway on the fly- 
 leaf of the breviary, and remembering how he 
 had escaped from the retribution which fol- 
 lowed the Gunpowder Plot, they had no doubt 
 that divine justice had overtaken him in these 
 wilds, and that they ought to leave him to his 
 fate. Elder Brewster was not present at the 
 council, or he could have told them of the 
 death of Father Greenway ; only the captain 
 voted for venturing out for the rescue of the 
 captive, and it was remembered when he did 
 so that the Stamlishes of Duxbury Hall in 
 Lancashire were Catholics. 
 
 But when Squanto came to the little school- 
 house and told Patience how he had seen 
 Harry's signal carved upon some trees and 
 believed that he was somewhere in the Nar- 
 ragansett country, and described the ruby and 
 crystal beads of the rosary which he had taken 
 from the captive and given to the council, she
 
 330 PATIENCE. 
 
 started up like one possessed and ran to Miles 
 Standisb, telling him all of Wrestling's relations 
 with the Jesuit and how the divided rosary was 
 their pledge of betrothal. 
 
 He heard her with close attention, and then 
 took from his desk the broken rosary which 
 the council had allowed him to carry away. 
 Silently Patience drew from her breast her 
 portion, and the perfect rosary of blood and 
 tears lay before them. 
 
 Without waiting to ask permission of the 
 council, the little captain strode to the door, and 
 sounded the call on his trumpet which brought 
 the lusty j r oung men of the Fortune from the 
 fields. Then girding on his armor and bidding 
 Squanto show the way, he led his soldiers to 
 the land of the Narragansetts. 
 
 He was not too late, and when the party 
 returned with Wrestling and the faithful 
 Indian Harry, and they saw Patience waiting 
 on Lookout Hill, Miles Standish led her lover 
 to her, saying reverently : " Those whom God 
 hath joined together let not man put asunder." 
 
 And so it came to pass that the cottage which 
 Love had built became a home (though Patience 
 still found time to hold within it her "dame's 
 school "), and to it each of the settlers brought 
 his or her wedding gift.
 
 THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE. 331 
 
 Governor Bradford gave half of his share of 
 the wreckage of a Biscayan ship which had 
 gone to pieces near Plymouth, and had been 
 loaded with rugs and French comforts, all of 
 which were honorably settled for with their 
 owners. 
 
 John Alden brought a spinning-wheel. Good 
 Elder Brewster gave a shelf of books, and 
 Miles Staudish a musket, and every one of the 
 children of the Mayflower brought some loving 
 offering, were it but a flower, while the descrip- 
 tion of the marriage of Priscilla and John Alden 
 would have applied with equal truth to that of 
 Patience Dudley and Wrestling Brewster : 
 
 "Simple and brief was the wedding as that of Ruth and of 
 Boaz. 
 
 Softly the youth and the maiden repeated the words of 
 betrothal, 
 
 Taking each other for husband and wife in the Magistrate's 
 presence, 
 
 After the Puritan way, and the laudable custom of 
 Holland. 
 
 Fervently then and devoutly, the excellent Elder of Ply- 
 mouth 
 
 Prayed for the hearth and the home that were founded that 
 day in affection, 
 
 Speaking of life and of death and imploring divine bene- 
 dictions."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note a. 
 
 Patience Dudley is an altogether fictitious character, 
 but Thomas Dudley was one of nature's noblemen, and 
 it has been the author's aim to draw the character of 
 Patience so finely that she might be worthy of such 
 parentage. Anne Dudley, his real daughter, was the first 
 American poetess, and from her works frequent quota- 
 tions have been made in this volume. She married 
 Simon Bradstreet, after his father-in-law Governor of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Note b. 
 
 Act to retain the Queen's subjects in obedience, 1593: 
 
 " For the preventing and avoiding of such perils as 
 might grow by the wicked and dangerous practices of 
 seditious Sectaries, Be it enacted by the Queen's most 
 excellent Majesty, and by the Lords Spiritual and 
 Temporal in this present Parliament assembled : 
 
 " That if any person above the age of sixteen years 
 shall obstinately refuse to repair to some Church to hear 
 divine service established by her Majesty's laws, or shall 
 by printing, writing or speeches go about to deny her 
 Majesty's power and authority in Causes Ecclesiastical ; 
 or be present at any unlawful conventicles or meetings 
 under pretence of Exercise of Religion. . . 
 
 " That then every such person shall be committed to 
 prison until they shall conform. . . 
 
 333
 
 334 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Offenders not conforming within three months shall 
 abjure the realm, and refusing to do so or returning shall 
 suffer [that is, die] as in the case of Felony, without 
 benefit of Clergy." 
 
 Note c. 
 
 Description of furniture at Kenil worth in the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth from Notes to Walter Scott's " Kenil- 
 worth " : 
 
 A salte, ship fashion, of the mother of perle, garnished 
 with silver and divers workes, warlike ensignes, and 
 ornaments, with XVI peeces of ordinance, whereof II 
 on wheles, two anckers on the foreparte, and on the 
 stearne the image of Darne Fortune standing on a globe 
 with a flag in her hand. 
 
 A George on horseback, of wood painted and gilt, 
 with a case for knives in the tayle of the horse, and a 
 case for oyster knives in the brest of the dragon. 
 
 Twentie-three cardes or maps of countries. 
 
 A chess borde of ebonie with checkars of christall and 
 other stones sett, layed with silver, garnished with beares 
 and ragged staves and cinque foils of silver. The 
 XXXII men the one sorte in silver white the other 
 gilte. 
 
 Tapestries Flowers busts & pillars arched, Forest 
 worke Hawking and Hunting, Scriptural Characters. 
 
 Note d. 
 
 During the religious persecutions of Queen Bess many 
 of the old Catholic families had secret chambers con- 
 structed in their mansions, as hiding places for fugitive 
 priests. The quaint country-houses were often of such 
 irregular construction that much space was lost between 
 floors and in angles. Especially was this the case when
 
 APPENDIX. 335 
 
 the house was old and additions and alterations had been 
 made at different epochs. Sometimes the entrance to 
 such a concealed closet would be through a trapdoor 
 hidden by a rug, sometimes by a sliding panel in the 
 wainscot. In the long gallery of Parham Hall, Sussex, 
 is a window seat which, lifted, shows a staircase descend- 
 ing in the thickness of the walls to the cellars. In the 
 libraiy of Abbot's Salford the back and shelves of one 
 of the book cases, on the removal of a bolt, would swing 
 backward, giving entrance to a secret passage. These 
 " priests holes," as they were popularly called, were con- 
 tinued with great ingenuity, and were many of them 
 invented and built by one man, Nicholas Owen, the 
 servant of the Jesuit Father Garnet. " With incom- 
 parable skill," says Father Tanner, writing at this 
 period, "he knew how to conduct priests to a place of 
 safety along subterranean passages, to hide them between 
 walls and bury them in impenetrable recesses, and to 
 entangle them in labyrinths of a thousand windings. 
 He alone was both their architect and their builder, 
 working at them with inexhaustible industry and labor, 
 for generally the thickest walls had to be broken into, 
 and large stones excavated, requiring stronger arms than 
 were attached to a body so diminutive as to give him 
 the nickname of Little John." 
 
 At Hudlipp Hall in Worcestershire, where Father 
 Garnet and Owen were finally arrested, there were eleven 
 of these hiding-places. Father Garnet was tortured and 
 barbarously executed. Father Green way escaped. 
 
 Note e. 
 
 The author acknowledges an anachronism at this 
 point. It was not until the year 1646 that Governor 
 Bradford writes :
 
 336 APPENDIX. 
 
 " About ye middle of May this year caine in 3 ships 
 into this harbor in warr-like order ; they were found to 
 be men of war. The captain's name was Crumwell, who 
 had taken sundrie prizes from ye Spaniards in ye West 
 Indies. He had a commission from ye Earle of War- 
 wick. He had abord his vessels aboute 80 lustie men 
 (but very unruly) who after they came ashore, did so 
 distemper themselves with drinke as they became like 
 mad-men : yet in ye ende they became more moderate 
 and orderly. Thiss Captain Thomas Cromwell sett 
 forth another vioage to the Westindeas, from the Bay 
 of Massachusetts well maned & victuled, and was about 
 3 yeares and tooke sundry prises and returned rich unto 
 the Massachusets and ther dyed." History of the 
 Plymouth Plantation. 
 
 THE END.
 
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