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 The Rebel
 
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 THEY THAT WALK IN 
 
 DARKNESS.' 
 By I. ZANGWILL. 
 
 THE SLAVE. 
 By ROBERT HICHRNS. 
 
 THE WORLD'S MERCY. 
 
 By MAXWELL GRAY. 
 FOLLY CORNER. 
 
 By MRS. H. E. DUDENEY. 
 
 THE LION AND THE 
 
 UNICORN. 
 By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. 
 
 THE PRINCESS SOPHIA. 
 By E. F. BENSON. 
 
 MAMMON ft CO. 
 
 By E. F. BENSON. 
 THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT 
 SHADOW. 
 
 By ANNIE E. HOLDSWORTH. 
 
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 By A. W. CLARKE. 
 
 CHINATOWN STORIES. 
 
 By C. B. FERNALD. 
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 THE MARKET PLACE. 
 
 By HAROLD FREDERIC. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 
 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.
 
 The Rebel 
 
 Being 
 
 A Memoir of 
 Anthony, fourth Earl of Cherwell, 
 
 Including an Account of the Rising at Taunton in 1684, 
 Compiled and set forth by his Cousin, 
 
 Sir Hilary Mace, Bart., 
 
 Gustos Rotulorum for the County of Wilts 
 
 Edited, with some Notes, by 
 
 H. B. Marriott Watson 
 > 
 
 Author of "The Princess Xenia," "The Adventurers, ' etc. 
 
 London 
 William Heinemann 
 
 1900
 
 This Edition enjoys Copyright in all 
 Countries signatory to the Berne 
 Treaty, and is not to be imported 
 into the United States of America. 
 
 All rights, including translation, reserved.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I Of the source of this History, and 
 of my lord's upbringing until the 
 duel with Sir Jacob Janus . . I 
 // Of my lords retirement, and of the 
 
 orgy at Heriot Deane .... 14 
 /// How my lord Cherwell sought 
 
 Lord Russell and found another . 27 
 IV What befell in the wine-house . . 40 
 V How my lord supped with his 
 
 Highness 53 
 
 VI Why my lady Ellicott put off" her 
 
 journey 7 1 
 
 VII How my lord made an offer and 
 
 was refused 86 
 
 VIII An account of the adventure in the 
 
 house on the river 101 
 
 IX How my lord rode to Durcombe, 
 
 and of the company there . . 114 
 X Of the encounter upon the Taunton 
 
 road 128 
 
 XI The history of my lords strange 
 
 wedding , 143
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XII What followed after the second 
 abduction, with an account of the 
 incident at Basing 160 
 
 XIII Of the extravagances at Southwark, 
 
 and the wolves of Clodius - . . 171 
 
 XIV A narrative of the bloody contention 
 
 at Burford Bridge 186 
 
 XV Of my lord's increasing madness, 
 
 and of his escape from the Tower 197 
 XVI An account of the rising at 
 Taunton ; with the assault on 
 
 Barrs 214 
 
 XVII What passed in Barrs on the night 
 
 of the battle 230 
 
 XVII I Of the meeting with a highwayman, 
 
 and the Inn in the Quantocks . 243 
 
 XIX Of the flight from Somersetshire . 255 
 XX How my lady followed after my 
 
 lord, and what she found . . . 269 
 XXI A relation of what happened in the 
 
 inn at Farnham . . . . 278 
 
 XXII How my lord met the Duke face to 
 
 face 290 
 
 XXIII What my lord said to the King, 
 
 and what ensued 299
 
 THE REBEL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 OF THE SOURCE OF THIS HISTORY, AND OF MY LORD'S 
 UPBRINGING UNTIL THE DUEL WITH SIR JACOB 
 JANUS. 
 
 THE fourth Earl of Cherwell was born at Dulsiebridge 
 in the year of our Lord 1 654, being some six years before 
 the Restauration of his Majesty, King Charles II. The 
 titles of that ancient and considerable family date from 
 the reign of King Edward VI, by whom the Heriots of 
 Heriot Deane were fetched among the peers under the 
 style of the Lords Caversham. The history of that name 
 was, however, of earlier note, for the Heriots were of 
 mark in the county of Hampshire at the time of the Wars 
 of the Roses, and had been settled there from the days of 
 King John. It was not until the accession of King Henry 
 VII, nevertheless, that they began to move among the 
 higher affairs of state, and take their proper place in Courts. 
 Philip Heriot it was that laid the foundations of the title for 
 his descendants, a man, if all be true, and by the testimony 
 of Lord Herbert, of a great capacity, and a most fervid
 
 2 THE REBEL 
 
 mind. Indeed the blood of that wayward man bountifully 
 descended to subsequent generations, and I am disposed to 
 find in it the explanation and the plea for the notable 
 career of Anthony, the fourth Earl, who is the subject of 
 this memoir. 
 
 My lord Cherwell is long since dead, and he would 
 have been theUast to have desired this record of his history 
 through certain remarkable years, yet I am urged to the 
 task in part out of an affection for the man himself, who 
 was indeed cousin- ger man to me, as well as a fear lest he 
 should leave behind him, current in the traditions of the 
 Court, a bad interpretation of his conduct ; and partly also, 
 out of a sincere respect for the dignity of History, to which 
 properly these episodes belong. The character of King 
 James II has been set high by some writers in these latter 
 years, inspired somewhat by a becoming reverence for the 
 fallen ; but it behoves History to walk more warily, to be 
 as merciless as generous, and above all to regard Truth 
 as at once the aim and source of her existence. These 
 thoughts have animated me for long, and I will confess 
 that from the time I was at the Admiralty Office under 
 their late Majesties, and was, perforce, so much in London, 
 I began to collect the materials of this narrative. As for 
 its accuracy, it will be seen that to a great part of the history 
 I was myself privy, being at that time frequently in my 
 lord's company. And for the rest, I have drawn inform- 
 ation from my lord himself, who was at all times frank 
 with his news ; from Dr. Burnet, who saw much that was 
 in progress at the Court, and from a number of other 
 witnesses, chief of whom was the Duke of Tyrconnel, 
 himself the Duke's own creature. But more especially 
 have I used what was known to Ravel, my lord's man,
 
 THE REBEL 3 
 
 and some others whom it is not becoming to mention. 
 Thus it will be clear that I have warrants for my story, 
 singular as that is, and that I have in no wise magnified 
 the figure which my lord played ; no, nor the sinister and 
 tragical interposition of his Highness, the Duke. 
 
 The origins of that long and varied contest, conducted 
 upon either side with spirit and determination, and upon 
 one, at least, with a ferocious ardour, are found readily in 
 the seed of which the two antagonists sprang. I have 
 spoken of Philip Heriot, and of his elevation to the baronage 
 under the style of Lord Caversham, for some meritorious 
 services in Holland. That lively temper survived and 
 actuated the first Anthony, who was his son, as well as 
 his grandson the first Earl. The second lord laid his head 
 upon the block for Lady Jane Grey, being taken at the 
 head of a troop in Kent, whither he had fled from London 
 to raise the county. But Dick Will o' the Wisp, as he 
 was commonly dubbed, spent his strange forces, doubtless 
 more by chance than of a purpose, in the honourable 
 service of his Queen and country. His courage in the 
 defeat of the Armada, and his reckless extravagance in 
 France, where he dashed his sword hilt in the face of the 
 Spanish ambassador, endeared him to her Majesty and to 
 the people. He was greatly in the favour of the Court, 
 abominably neglected his estates, was created Earl of 
 Cherwell, and only fell out of the Queen's graces through 
 an obstinate defence of Sir Walter Raleigh, and his loud 
 sharp tongue upon the matter. Yet it was not these 
 characteristics alone that were afterwards visible in the 
 temperament of Anthony the fourth Earl. The spirit of 
 that house leaned towards the fanatical. It was of a 
 puritanical cast, and the third Earl, my lord's own father,
 
 4 THE REBEL 
 
 was the companion of Hampden and the friend of Sir 
 Harry Vane. He equipped a force for the Parliament, 
 held Stratton Castle for three weeks against Prince Rupert, 
 and accompanied the Protector to Naseby with a ragged 
 following of reckless fellows. That command indeed 
 was remarkable, and I have from witnesses the odd 
 appearance it wore in the centre of those staid and serious 
 Puritans. For my lord had drawn his levies from every- 
 where, and they were held together by no common aim 
 of policy or religion, but only by an admiration for their 
 master, and a sense of obedience. They were a little 
 band of brigands in the New Model, swore their oaths 
 like any cavalier, braided their locks, thieved, drank, and 
 fought with any. It was a strange sight to see my lord 
 (as Sir William Upton has told me) seated at the head of 
 these swashbucklers, with his cavalier wig red as a berry, 
 his fine coat all splashed and wine-stained, a great sword 
 whipped to his knee, and rolling forth pious texts and 
 persuasions with the most canting Roundhead of them all. 
 It was an incongruous appearance, mighty disconcerting 
 to his friends, and indeed there is no question that 
 he was much abused in consequence. He caused great 
 offence, and was complained of as a stumbling-block. 
 Yet it does not appear that the Protector interfered with 
 him, and I have no doubt that the sincerity of the man 
 was his best excuse. He was a Heriot, and must hold 
 himself like his fathers, as unlike to any ordinary mortal 
 as well might be. Subsequently, he pressed savagely for 
 the trial of the King, and only an accident saved his name 
 from among the regicides. With equal zest and equal 
 fury he quarrelled with Cromwell upon some point or 
 religious tolerance, threw up his offices, and retired in
 
 THE REBEL 5 
 
 dudgeon to Hampshire, where he died in 1656, in the 
 thirty-seventh year of his age. 
 
 I have here set forth a brief account of Stephen, Lord 
 Cherwell, my lord's father, out of a desire that the temper 
 of these Heriots should be understood. In these pages 
 the resemblances of that family will be readily noted, and 
 the faults and virtues of the father will explain the qualities 
 of the son. My lord took nothing that I could ever see 
 from his mother's blood, unless it was a better gentleness 
 of manner, and, for his face, a small mouth and a paler 
 colour. His nose was that of his race, straight and long, 
 and the eyes were of a bright violet a strange hue to 
 look on, which seemed ever to pick you out and hold you 
 like the shining of steel. His portrait that hangs in the 
 long corridor of Heriot Deane, painted by Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller after his return from the Low Countries, and at 
 the age of twenty-nine, declares those attributes of his 
 family. And he came, notwithstanding, of my own 
 blood upon the side of his mother, Patricia, who was the 
 daughter of Sir Hubert Mace, Baronet, and the sister of 
 my father Sir Edward. Sir Hubert Mace was a gentle- 
 man of good estate in the county of Wiltshire, whose 
 disposition throughout the unhappy struggle was more 
 towards peace than for an active prosecution of the war. 
 He was of Lord Falkland's party, and first met the third 
 Lord Cherwell during the early part of the Long Parlia- 
 ment. He was mortally wounded at Edgehill, a fight in 
 which he reluctantly took part after an attempt to come 
 to an understanding with the King. But the friendship 
 of the two houses survived and was extended, and it was 
 during the lifetime of my father, and upon the Earl's 
 retirement into the country, in 1652, that the alliance was
 
 6 THE REBEL 
 
 brought about. Upon the death of the Earl some four 
 years later, the Countess of Cherwell found herself with 
 a wasted revenue, and my small lord of two. I was my- 
 self his elder by five years, and, as was natural from the 
 consanguinity, and the nearness of the properties, I saw 
 much of him. We were brought up together for some 
 years, and his time was spent quite as much in Mottisley 
 as at Dulsiebridge. Heriot Deane was a huge park, 
 widely spread, and reaching into the New Forest, with 
 great corners on the river Dulsie, where, as children, my 
 lord and I were used to play together. So that I grew 
 up very soon to have a warm heart for him, which is one 
 reason why I have desired that this history should not 
 fall into other and less kindly hands. The Countess of 
 Cherwell, a handsome woman, and over young to be so 
 burdened as a widow and a mother, had been deeply 
 attached to her husband, and was equally devoted to 
 his son. She was sweet and melancholy-smiling, as I 
 remember her, but employed a gentle discipline with her 
 household which was the occasion of an incident that I 
 recall in illustration of my lord's childhood. He had 
 suffered for some fault, and came forth frowning, but 
 with a head lifted very high. 
 
 " Hilary," says he in his impetuous manner, " I have 
 been beaten." 
 
 u You deserved it, cousin," said I. 
 
 " I asked not your criticism," he answered sharply, " I 
 had the honour to give you a fact. There is none but 
 my mother and the King shall use me so." 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders, for I was growing into man- 
 hood, and the boy's whim did not anger me. But he 
 went on :
 
 THE REBEL 7 
 
 "I may be punished by the Countess of Cherwell," 
 says he, " I will not deny it. For she is what she is." 
 
 "She is my aunt," quoth I, smiling. 
 
 " You lie, Hilary," says my lord angrily, " she may be 
 aunt to a dozen louts, but that will not touch her ; she 
 is my mother," and at that moment, the door opening, 
 out steps my lady with her slow and gracious gait, moving 
 towards the stair. My lord gives a start, and going for- 
 wards offers her his arm, which she accepting with a 
 smile, down they go together, my lady's garments rust- 
 ling on the stairway, and my lord with every drop of 
 Heriot blood trembling and glowing in his face. 
 
 The estates of Heriot Deane were left to the Countess 
 undisturbed at the Restauration. This act of mercy was 
 due in some degree to the offices of my father, who had 
 taken no part in the civil tumult, and who had been 
 openly favourable to the return of King Charles. But 
 more properly, as I conjecture, it was owing to the im- 
 poverishment of the family, and to the superfluity of 
 other and more valuable escheats. Yet the careful hus- 
 bandry of the Countess succeeded in enlarging the reve- 
 nues, and by the time my lord was of age he was put in 
 possession of a tolerable property. My lady died the next 
 year, within a week of her brother, my father, and upon 
 that my lord abruptly closed the house and carried his 
 servants to London. 
 
 I saw little of him the next three year , which were to 
 prove indeed of prime importance in his life. Yet reports 
 of his condition reached me at Mottisley, and he made 
 one or two visits himself to his own house. From what 
 I put together of the rumours, he was not like to be long 
 in the enjoyment of that patrimony so diligently pre-
 
 8 THE REBEL 
 
 served to him. He had the name of spendthrift, and kept 
 wild company. He was let loose upon life too soon for 
 prudence, and must kick his heels up with the young 
 bucks of London. There came to me intelligence at this 
 time that he was taken up in Court, and that the King 
 was very pleasant to him. There was talk too of some 
 fine madam who had been caught by his handsome looks. 
 It was plain that he practised arms a great deal, and he 
 fell into more than one quarrel, like every Heriot. My 
 lord told me afterwards that it was to the Countess of 
 Southesk that he owed his introduction to the Court, for 
 that she, slipping into an evil temper, threw out her 
 stick and struck my lord on the face, who, approaching 
 the chair with a bow, offered his most humble apologies 
 for the accident. And I conceive that his air or his im- 
 pertinence affected her ; at least she carried him away to 
 Whitehall, and by a singular piece of irony presented him 
 to the Duke, who was notoriously indulgent to her. 1 
 Thus it was that these protagonists, the one so high and 
 famous, and the other but a poor and impecunious noble- 
 man, met face to face for the first time, without a fore- 
 boding of what should follow. 
 
 For some time my lord attached himself to the Duke's 
 household, but presently, with the fickleness of youth and 
 the recklessness of his family, he abandoned his court of 
 his Highness, and was seen most in the company of Mr. 
 Jermyn, who was at that time the most considered fop 
 about his Majesty, and the cynosure of ladies' eyes. 
 Lady Castlemaine herself was desperately sick of love for 
 
 1 The character and history of this lady are set forth by 
 Hamilton in the Memoirs of Count Gramont, ch. viii. ED.
 
 THE REBEL 9 
 
 him, and, as I understand, accepted his young friend in 
 favour and procured him the smiles of the King. But of 
 a truth my lord was of too extravagant a spirit to suffer 
 the restraint of Courts, and he used the King's palace 
 much as he would use an inn, as a house to visit at will 
 and to pop in and pop out on the caprice. Yet Charles, 
 as I have heard, had a kindness for him, and declared that 
 he kept my lord for his monkey tricks, as, said he : 
 
 " When I am dull in the morning I call for this boy's 
 offences, and there is certain to be an angry face about 
 me." 
 
 Sir Humphrey Strutt told me that once my lord mak- 
 ing a merry speech to the King, his Majesty laughed, and 
 says he cynically : 
 
 " My lord, you are very wise, but I have ever a fear 
 lest you shall take me some day by a button into the 
 corner and show me how I should manage my mistresses." 
 
 <C I should get more profit, your Majesty," says my 
 lord very quick, " by showing your Majesty's mistresses 
 how to manage your Majesty." With which rejoinder 
 the King, as Sir Humphrey said, was very pleasantly 
 tickled. 
 
 His conduct about the Court was the topic of several 
 stories, the which it would be unseemly to set down, more 
 especially as he was at the time but a youth of three-and- 
 twenty. But an episode, which bears immediately upon 
 his later fortunes, I must here notice in the most delicate 
 terms that I may. There was about the town at that 
 time a certain Lady Ellicott, a handsome woman of 
 thirty, who had buried a wealthy husband in the West, 
 and had subsequently passed through many affairs. She 
 had the remains of great beauty, but much worn and
 
 io THE REBEL 
 
 ravaged, yet was not willing to abdicate her throne. And 
 indeed, when I saw her, which was some years later, she 
 was still a strangely handsome woman, and of a diabolic 
 wit. It seems then that this fashionable lady clapped her 
 greedy eyes on my lord Cherwell, who was so much her 
 junior, and nothing must serve but to set him off against 
 her other admirers. Among these was Lord Rochester, 
 one that never expected any faith in man, nor credited it 
 in woman. But these two the lady contrived to bring 
 into conflict, and my lord was presently calling for his 
 sword. My lord Rochester made some silly and disre- 
 putable jest, but Cherwell was all for falling on seeing 
 which his rival made a gesture of distaste. 
 
 " Tush ! " says he, speaking low, " she is not worth it, 
 my lord." 
 
 " What is it that you say ? " cried my lady in a shrill 
 voice. 
 
 " I was saying, Madam," said Lord Rochester lightly, 
 " that 'tis a pity two good gentlemen should be burning 
 to do one another an evil, when instead they were the 
 better doing your ladyship some good." 
 
 "Truth," says she, laughing, "I think you speak well, 
 and indeed I need a new petticoat." 
 
 " Petticoat ! " exclaimed Lord Rochester with a bow, 
 w if I had only been a snip I should dare measure you for 
 it." 
 
 a They have my measure in Paris, my lord," says she 
 with a toss. 
 
 " Then, by God, to Paris I will go ! " he answered 
 lightly. 
 
 " By God, you shall not ! " cried my lord, < it is I that 
 take that pleasure upon me ! "
 
 THE REBEL n 
 
 And my lord Rochester, being thus committed to the 
 adventure, the two departed that night upon a race to 
 France. It was a silly enterprise, but of a complexion 
 that suited my lord Rochester very well. He made it 
 the talk of the Court for weeks, and I do not know that 
 he took it very hardly in the act. The tale is long and 
 something tedious in its particulars, but it was my lord 
 Cherwell that got the petticoat, it was stolen from him at 
 Boulogne by Lord Rochester, and he only repossessed 
 himself of it by strategy within an hour of encountering 
 the lady. 
 
 But there was another side to my lord's life in London 
 which also was to play a part in his future. The blood 
 of those Heriots, as I have said, ran very strongly, and at 
 times broke its course. He was not merely a popinjay 
 about the Court, but he cultivated also very different 
 company. The truth was that my lord was of too rest- 
 less and sanguine a spirit to lie comfortably among frivol- 
 ities. Excitement called him, and the dissipations of those 
 early years appear to me to be but the outbreak of a 
 feverish nature. At Whitehall he came upon the young 
 Duke of Monmouth, that was the son of Lucy Walters. 
 The King indulged his son beyond what was thought fit, 
 and, what is worse, the hot-head intermeddled with 
 politics. Thus my lord was brought to know Lord 
 Shaftesbury, to whom Monmouth looked up as guide, 
 and Algernon Sydney also was among his friends. I 
 dare say that the traditions of his house drew him to those 
 who had once been adherents of the Commonwealth. 
 My lord was proud of his father's services, and one of 
 that name and descent was welcome to Sydney. But 
 the influence of Ashley went deeper, and I suppose that
 
 12 THE REBEL 
 
 there was no force that helped to mould Lord Cherwell's 
 opinions greater than that acquaintance saving only his 
 blood and natural character. 
 
 But the chief incident of those three years, and that 
 which led mainly to his banishment from Court, was his 
 unfortunate interference in the Popish Plot. By this 
 time he had grown older and more confident, and his age 
 added nothing to his prudence. Moreover, Shaftesbury 
 had fanned his zeal, and pretended to see in him the 
 instrument of a great reformation. He openly professed 
 his repugnance to the Duke, and recalled the deliverance 
 wrought by Cromwell. 
 
 " I bear him no malice," he is reported to have said, 
 "but I think shame to see the clock set back. Our 
 fathers have not died to set such a man upon the throne. 
 But the King is another matter." 
 
 With these sentiments informing him it is no wonder 
 that the agitation of those days found him ripe enough. 
 With the first news of Gates he was all agog, and, clad 
 in his richest apparel, was to be seen conducting that 
 miserable creature to give witness before Sir Edmondbury 
 Godfrey. He nursed a dislike of the Catholics, which 
 those revelations provoked, and he did not spare his 
 tongue. The King bent before them, but it is certain 
 that he did not believe one word, whether of Oates or 
 Bedloe or the others of that crew. But my lord 
 swallowed the whole story, and for a time was full of 
 the business. He wrote letters to Monmouth demonstrat- 
 ing to what these evils pointed. The Queen was barren, 
 and after this, he declared, there was none so bold as to 
 set the Duke of York upon the throne. 
 
 " I tell you," he warned Sydney, " that not one of
 
 THE REBEL 13 
 
 that traitor faith shall ever be accepted of the commons 
 of England." 
 
 But suddenly his voice ceased and he vanished from 
 the scene. The facts are still hidden in mystery, but 
 from what he has dropped to me on one occasion or 
 another, his eyes had been rudely opened. He threw off 
 Oates and the rest, and with characteristic recklessness 
 appeared at Court, as impetuous and smiling as ever. But 
 the mischief was done, the King looked coldly on him, 
 and by the agreement of the wits, his career was ended. 
 Nevertheless he still held arrogantly to his place, and 
 was at last given a plain hint. Sir Jacob Janus took the 
 office in hand, and in the course of his work sneered 
 broadly at him. 
 
 " Sheriff's officer," he called my lord, and added some- 
 thing about an " evidence." 
 
 My lord set his hand on his sword. 
 
 " What you have done by your orders, sir," said he, 
 "that I pardon you. But for what is your own you 
 shall die." 
 
 And he was as good as his word. Sir Jacob fell 
 next morning, and my lord withdrew the same day to 
 Hampshire.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OF MY LORD'S RETIREMENT, AND OF THE ORGY AT 
 HERIOT DEANE 
 
 MY lord returned in the spring of 1680, and sate down 
 upon his estates all through that summer. He was now 
 twenty-six and in the prime of a very manly beauty. 
 His figure was slight, as with all the Heriots, and he 
 stood somewhat above the middle stature. But I could 
 not but observe the changes in him. When last I had 
 seen him he was a lad in years as well as in development, 
 but that time in the town and those exchanges at the 
 Court had filled and stiffened his character and manner. 
 He had the old ardour, it is true, and the impatience and 
 the quickness that I remembered were still in force with- 
 in him ; yet they were more hardly disciplined as a rule ; 
 at least they made not the same appearance upon the 
 surface save under unusual pressure. He was never a 
 man for restraint, but by comparison with his earlier 
 habit he might now be called reticent. He retired with- 
 in himself more, or at any rate he seemed to ; for I have 
 sometimes judged that his silence was due rather to pre- 
 occupation, or, it may be, to mere indifference of his 
 audience. He would flash out occasionally from a deep 
 
 H
 
 THE REBEL 15 
 
 passion, and then he was disordered and violent enough. 
 Moreover, there were periods in which he was for days 
 together the veriest chatterbox, and would keep blabbing 
 of his thoughts with the utmost recklessness and gaiety, so 
 that you seemed to see him starting out of his own words, 
 like a shadow from the mirror. I had good opportunity 
 for these observations, for it so happened that I was, 
 myself, a visitor at Heriot Deane for long weeks at a 
 time that summer. The fact was, that my lord's affairs 
 were gotten into such an evil state that he could make 
 nothing of them, and, being impatient of figures and an 
 execrable man of business, he begged me to assist him. 
 I was the more willing that I could make some use or 
 the library at Heriot Deane, being engaged at that time 
 upon a survey of the surrounding counties as far to the 
 west as Somersetshire, which was subsequently com- 
 pleted and published. I found my lord's revenues had 
 shrivelled pitiably, but I made shift to put them upon a 
 proper footing. He was indifferent as to his outgoings, 
 and no consideration in this world would stop his gener- 
 osity. He gave lavishly of what he had, and unloaded 
 his pockets before he could sleep with comfort every 
 night. For the most part he occupied himself with 
 simple pastimes, being among his dogs, of which he was 
 inordinately fond, and practising falconry. He never 
 asked for company nor appeared to seek it, but took his 
 meals alone or (when I was there) along with me, drank 
 sparingly, ate but little, and was usually very quiet. 
 You would never imagine, to see him thus, that he was 
 so lately busy about the Court, and jumping from one 
 excitement to another among the intrigues of policy or 
 religion. And yet I have evidence that he meditated
 
 i 6 THE REBEL 
 
 sometimes upon these matters, though I do not believe 
 that as a rule he gave them a single thought. For he 
 was possessed of a high imagination, but had little con- 
 centration of mind. He proceeded, as it were, by instinct, 
 took his steps at a bound, and never turned back nor 
 doubled. Add to this, above all, that he was never 
 conscious of himself yet was wholly self-centred, and 
 you will see that my lord was not like to brood at all 
 upon his mistakes. But I have drawn him out at times, 
 as for example when he spoke of the Duke. 
 
 <c I would not let such a man as that daunt me, prince 
 though he be," says he, patting of his dogs, "no, not 
 for the coffers of King Lewis." 
 
 And in truth that sentiment was the key of his 
 destiny, and when he spoke that he spoke his own 
 epitaph. For although he knew it not, nor the Duke 
 neither, this sojourn at Heriot Deane was bringing the 
 great conflict a stage nearer, as will presently appear. 
 
 My lord was ever on his legs, for he was no student, 
 and detested books. His restless temperament sent him 
 roving about the country as he had roved about the 
 streets of London. One day he came into the library, 
 and after a glance upon me, as if to know why I used 
 my time so ill, he walking up to a bookcase and pulling 
 out a volume, examined it curiously. Presently he sate 
 down and rested his chin upon a hand, while his eyes 
 were fastened upon the pages. But he was like that for 
 no longer than ten minutes, when he threw down the 
 book with a crash. 
 
 " I should like to write, Hilary," says he. " If I had 
 your pen I would write a history. I would write an 
 indictment. By God, but I would," says he, flinging out
 
 THE REBEL 17 
 
 his hand, " it would be the Stewarts that I would con- 
 demn. They have done nothing but mischief, they are 
 dragons upon the country. Even the King is in the 
 French pay," and he paused, with sparkling angry eyes. 
 " But I like the King," he added abruptly, and left the 
 room without asking me for a reply. 
 
 These two small incidents I would not have mentioned 
 did they not exhibit a latent and increasing temper of 
 his mind ; for it is my object to note nothing here that 
 did not prove of consequence to his career. And the 
 next episode I come to was of chief importance. 
 
 The Vicar of Dulsiebridge was at that time the 
 Reverend James Garland, who had held the living under 
 the Commonwealth, and had shifted his opinions with 
 the Restauration. He was a man of some fifty-five years, 
 and was in repute as a physician among the villagers, 
 being of a kindly tolerant disposition which made no 
 account of recusants. Indeed, though he was an enter- 
 taining companion, he appeared to me always to have 
 no just bottom to his professions, and to accept one 
 party or another according to his convenience. But 
 my lord was fond of him, owing, indeed, the little 
 education he boasted to that divine, and the two were 
 apt to talk very free and engagingly before me. Garland 
 was even better acquainted than I with my lord's 
 revolutions in town, and took him to task with humble 
 cynicism. 
 
 " You are not to suppose, my lord," said he, " that the 
 course you have pursued will lead you to prosperity. It 
 is on the contrary. For you seem to have lent one lug 
 to the gutters and t'other to the Court. A man must 
 be plain-faced and simple in his duplicity to make a way
 
 i8 THE REBEL 
 
 at Courts. But you, to my mind, my lord, are neither 
 flesh nor fowl nor good red herring." 
 
 Upon which my lord laughed, and declared that he had 
 left a fair reputation among the ladies. 
 
 " Why, yes," says Garland, " I credit it ; for such 
 silly talk will take them. But you have here a poor 
 dish for your stomach, and even Sir Hilary can scarce 
 better it for you. I will confess, my lord, that I had 
 looked for more deliberation from you. This estate has 
 gone to wrack for a generation, and you are he that 
 should build it up. I know nothing of Courts, but I 
 hear of this miss and that to suit the architect. There 
 was Miss Warmester " 
 
 " Miss Warmester," says my lord, interrupting, " is in 
 a case where no man but the one should marry her, and 
 he is debarred." 
 
 " I see you are acquainted with more news than I," 
 quoth the parson. " But there are a dozen ladies with 
 no such obstacle, and perhaps greater invitations. I 
 would not have you seduce ; no, but I would have you 
 marry and take your part," says he. 
 
 But my lord, changing his voice, broke out quickly. 
 " I have a part," he cried, " and a part I will play, an it 
 please God, at no great distance." 
 
 But the parson shook his head. " He is thinking of 
 the Duke of Monmouth," he whispered ^to me. c< But 
 it is a disgrace that one so born should be so considered. 
 My lord should know it, my lord should know it." 
 
 It was within a week of this talk, and while I was at 
 Heriot Deane for the third time that year, that my 
 cousin and I, with this parson for company, were riding 
 pn the highway, where the Dulsie leaves the park for the
 
 THE REBEL 19 
 
 meadows under a stone bridge. In the midst of a jest 
 from Garland my lord pulled up his horse. 
 
 " What is this ? " he says, looking with his eyes 
 towards the distance, where a cloud of dust rolled up 
 in the August air. 
 
 " It is maybe the justices," said the parson. And the 
 word soothing his curiosity, my lord rode on again and 
 we turned into a lane that ran for the house. He called 
 Moll and Shag, the falcons, to his wrist, and as he waited 
 the cavalcade streamed by in a swirl of dust. My lord 
 let his gaze slip easily upon it, and of a sudden, clapped 
 his thigh, and his eyes sparkled. 
 
 " By God," he says. " But it is my lady Ellicott." 
 
 " Who is that ? " says the parson, who was anxious to 
 be posted in what news he might. 
 
 " I fear my mouth is not large enough," said my lord 
 with a smile, "nor my tongue bold enough to explain 
 the lady. But ask of London stones, or for the matter 
 of that, ask of her maids. They are in a better way to 
 judge." 
 
 With that he rode on, and we reached home without 
 further conversation upon the topic. But that was not 
 the end of it, or I would not have introduced it here. 
 It appeared that the lady, on her road from Town, had 
 descended upon the village, and had taken possession of 
 the " Forest Inn," a huge house with rambling wings. 
 There were half-a-dozen gentlemen in her train, who 
 boasted themselves her admirers, and she was set for her 
 place in the Quantocks. When my lord heard this he put 
 his tongue in his cheek, and considered a little. 
 
 " I will play her a trick," he says, nodding, and his 
 eyes glimmering. "I will play her a good honest
 
 20 THE REBEL 
 
 country trick, like any yokel, and you shall help me, 
 Hilary." 
 
 He vowed that we must set up as footboys to draw for 
 them, the parson too ; and, carrying his resolve against a 
 weak opposition, sent word to the innkeeper of his inten- 
 tion. But he, not daring to deny my lord, was in a 
 taking for fear of some offence to the lady. 
 
 " Zounds," said my lord. " D'ye think I'm not as 
 good as your chawbacons ? I will fetch and carry with 
 any. I have been used to the business with this same 
 lady." 
 
 And without more ado up he walks in his kerseymere 
 into the dining hall. The office did not sit very well 
 upon me nor upon the parson neither, who, for all his 
 philosophy, was ever afraid of his coat ; but we carried 
 it through as decently as might be. And all would have 
 gone well had it not been for my lady's sharp eyes. She 
 never so much as looked on this pack of serving-men, 
 among whom were her own varlets, and possibly it was 
 upon this that my lord reckoned. Yet I fancy he had 
 intended some surprise, though perhaps it fell when he 
 did not expect it. For Lady Ellicott would simper and 
 bridle at the gentlemen that were there, eating with her ; 
 and I thought her a very foolish if a handsome woman, 
 in which I misjudged, as you shall see. But in the 
 midst of it all some one turns the talk upon some story 
 of an orange-girl, and immediately up comes my lord's 
 name. 
 
 " Lard, yes," says the lady. " The rogue was in that, 
 and none the better of it, as I can tell you. 'Twas that 
 drove him from Town." 
 
 " But, my lady," says one of the gentlemen, " indeed
 
 THE REBEL 21 
 
 it was the Plot that did it. He was fetch-and-carry for 
 Oates, and it was said he was privy to the conspiracy. It 
 was common talk, and my cousin it was that was second 
 to Sir Jacob." 
 
 I looked at my lord, but he lacked expression, and 
 stood bowing over the man that said this, a bottle in his 
 hand. I thought the insolence would have broken him 
 out, but it was never possible to say what would move 
 him. His character was so devious. He caught my look, 
 and his eyes were running with laughter. 
 
 " Pest ! " said my lady Ellicott. " D'ye suppose my 
 lord Cherwell would be put down by a plot ? There 
 is no power would shake my lord, no power save a 
 woman. I know it, because I have shook him." 
 
 At which there was a cackle of laughter, and one there 
 ventured on a coarse jest, at which they roared the louder. 
 But my lady turned crimson with anger, and burst out 
 like a shrew. 
 
 " Faith, sir," she cried. " Were there one in this 
 room as fit a man as he, I should not be so affronted. 
 You call yourself a wit, but you wipe up my lord 
 Rochester's dregs, and gather his discards. My lord 
 Cherwell would teach you wisdom and how to face a 
 lady," and on the words her angry glance flashing upon 
 the company, which was fallen into a state of uneasiness, 
 she happened suddenly upon my lord's face, where he 
 stood, silent but alert. She broke off with a gasp, and 
 then, " Why, 'slife, 'tis the wretch himself," she screamed, 
 and the whole table was quickly in a flutter. 
 
 But my lord came forward in his kerseymeres, and 
 bowing deeply, " 'Tis he, Madam," says he, " and quite 
 of a mind to turn school-master for the nonce."
 
 22 THE REBEL 
 
 He looked on the gentleman that had raised the 
 lady's anger, and put his hand where his sword should 
 have been. But I suppose his reputation had spread 
 widely, and that the savage duel with Sir Jacob was 
 in their minds; for no one stirred, and there was no 
 answer to the unspoken challenge. Indeed it was 
 the lady that came to the rescue in another spirit than 
 before. 
 
 " Oh fie, my lord," says she, languishing. " 'Tis not 
 the fact I mind, but I will not have the word put upon 
 me. It has a horrid sound," and she shrugged her 
 shoulders, mincing and smiling at him. 
 
 My lord laughed and dropped his hand. " I will not 
 presume to judge your own mind, madam," said he. "But 
 in truth I have a quarrel with some one for betraying 
 me." 
 
 " Then 'tis with me," she says, bridling. 
 
 a Madam," says Cherwell, very politely, " I have 
 enjoyed nothing so much in this life as my conflicts 
 with you. I would be on bad terms with you all day, 
 if you would allow it." 
 
 " My dear villain," she said in a lively voice. " You 
 shall take what you will your own way ; for I swear 
 I know none that repents so prettily. But what do you 
 in this guise, so swept and garnished, and whither are 
 your fine feathers fled ? " 
 
 c< Madam," says Anthony humbly, " I am come to 
 this, but by your grace and the favour of these gentle- 
 men I see I have hopes to mount in the business, I and 
 my co-partners in misfortune." 
 
 The lady broke out giggling. " I had heard you were 
 ruined," she called.
 
 THE REBEL 23 
 
 My lord beckoned me. " My cousin," says he with a 
 ceremonious obeisance, and then, with a wave of his 
 hand, " the parson," he added, indicating the Reverend 
 James Garland, where he stood, leaning against the wall 
 and shuffling and frowning, all red about the face. Lady 
 Ellicott threw her head back and cackled after the habit 
 of the fashion. " Mr. Parson," quoth she, " a glass of 
 wine with you and master cousin. I vow if I were in 
 your shoes and of your stature, I would make shift to 
 break a window with this Cherwell." 
 
 This she said by way of reference to my height, for I 
 stood very tall, and my lord, as I have said, was of no 
 uncommon size. 
 
 " I think," said I, " with your ladyship's permission, I 
 will now leave him to break his own windows, an he 
 will." 
 
 44 And by Heaven," cries my lord suddenly, " that's a 
 good thought, Hilary," with which he hurled the bottle 
 he held with a great noise through the casement, and out 
 into the roadway. At which, as if it had been a secret 
 signal, the whole company, which had been slowly shaping 
 itself into comfort, grew quickly boisterous the lady 
 chief of them all ; and my lord raised his voice and swore 
 that they should every one be carried to the House, 
 varlets, baggage and all, for that he was king there if the 
 King prevailed at London, the which sinister utterance 
 passed without notice in that public merriment. But one 
 protested against the removal. 
 
 14 We are twenty of us," says this sensible fellow. 
 
 " Ye shall have your twenty beds," shouted Cherwell, 
 " and if that will not serve ye," says he, bringing his fist 
 upon the board, " ye shall find your couches on the floor.
 
 24 THE REBEL 
 
 I promise you I will have a pandemonium," he said. " I 
 will have a pandemonium." 
 
 It was plain that a madness had seized on him that 
 night, and no word would avail with him. He was 
 possessed with a devil of mischief, and what happened 
 was amazingly indecorous. There were some three 
 women among the guests at Heriot Deane, and they paid 
 no heed to their sex, being foremost among the brawlers 
 that night. My lord was overbearing, and, if I had not 
 seen how the matter lay, I should have taken offence 
 with him. But he had drunk a good deal, contrary to 
 his wont, and his violet eyes sparkled with fire, so that I 
 thought it best to leave him to his orgy unquestioned. 
 Nothing was too extravagant for his purpose ; his conduct 
 was of a piece with Bedlam, and Lady Ellicott gave him 
 encouragement, laughing and jesting and drinking with 
 them all. The scene, in a word, was unbecoming to a 
 gentleman's house, and I do not care to dwell upon its 
 particulars, but come at once to what fell in the end, and 
 at the time when the pleasures were wildest and the 
 appearance of the company most unseemly. In the 
 middle of some mummery in the big hall, where my lord 
 himself was in motley habit, acting some antics, and the 
 rest of the folk were shrieking and scrambling together 
 like a flight of sparrows on a windy day, the door fell 
 open, and in walks a young miss of some fifteen years. 
 It was my eyes that were first directed on her, for I was 
 taking no part in the noise, and stood somewhat aside 
 watching the scene with a little impatience. There was 
 Babel in the hall Pandemonium indeed, as my lord had 
 promised and upon that the apparition of a quiet little 
 figure, clad in some linsey-woolsey, and looking out of
 
 THE REBEL 25 
 
 large eyes very scared and astonished. But ere I could 
 go forward and intercept the child, my lord turned, and 
 his gaze fell on her. 
 
 " What the devil's this ? " he cried. " I own none 
 such, I vow. I take my lady to witness that my years 
 are insufficient to father this." This he said, as I believe, 
 merrily on the prick of the moment, and as yet quite 
 unable to understand the situation. But his words drew 
 my lady's eyes, and, with a glass in her hand, she stared 
 at the slight creature. 
 
 " What do you here, chitty-face ? " she cried shrilly. 
 " Odds, I'll learn you to spy upon me. Get ye back, ye 
 little imp, or I'll tear the skin off you." 
 
 " Nay, nay," cries Cherwell, laughing pleasantly. " I 
 will have no guests of mine used so. But she shall drink 
 a cup with us ere she go to bed." 
 
 He filled a glass, not very steadily, and with a great 
 bow approached and offered it to the miss. But she still 
 was silent, looking from one to another with timid eyes, 
 and yet with a little haughtiness. But upon Cherwell, 
 as he was bended before her, her gaze fell, quickened 
 with a spice of terror and distaste, and she shrank away. 
 
 " Drink, you fool you," said my lady from her seat. 
 
 " Madam," says the child, recovering by an effort her 
 courage, " I am reluctant to have sought you thus, but 
 indeed I had no choice. I was left at the inn, and 
 deserted by the maids, whereupon, hearing that you were 
 here, I followed, but with no intent to break in upon you 
 so nor interrupt these gentlemen." Her voice, for all its 
 spirit, quavered, and Cherwell drew himself up and looked 
 down on her. 
 
 " Who is this ? Is she your daughter ? " says he,
 
 26 THE REBEL 
 
 casting his eyes towards Lady Ellicott, and speaking 
 shortly. 
 
 " Oh Lord ! what insolence," she cried shrilly. 
 " Daughter ! Why, what accusation do you bring upon 
 me ? But indeed I tell you this why ; if she be my 
 daughter she is yours, my lord arrogant." 
 
 "'Tis Sir Stephen Ellicott's child," says some one, 
 who had kept his senses. " Her ladyship's step-daughter." 
 
 Lady Ellicott nodded. " And she shall be taught," 
 says she angrily, " to interpose upon her elders. She is a 
 sly minx, I'll warrant you, and 'tis not for nothing she 
 comes here. Get ye to bed, you spawn you," she said 
 sharply, and to that she added an immodest word. 
 
 One tipsy fellow that was present, by name Sir John 
 Browning, tops that with something else, and advancing, 
 proffered his glass in the same way as Cherwell had done. 
 I do not suppose he meant any harm by this sally, being 
 too far gone to know what he did ; but my lord suddenly 
 stepped out, and with a motion of his arm sent the glass 
 flying, so that the wine was poured upon the jester. 
 
 " By heaven," says he. " Her ladyship says well, and 
 I begin to see that I have neglected the paternal duties. 
 And the first of those," he says, " is that my daughter 
 shall be saved from such company," with which, his eyes 
 glancing in his head, he put the child's hand in his arm, 
 and marched out of the room. 
 
 " I will see you properly served, my dear," says he 
 angrily. " I will have the house turned about, but you 
 shall be properly served." 
 
 But the rest were left staring on one another, and my 
 lady tapping her fan and biting her lips.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW MY LORD CHERWELL SOUGHT LORD RUSSELL AND 
 FOUND ANOTHER 
 
 THE meeting with Lady Ellicott and her train brought 
 other consequences that affected my lord, and for the 
 moment more deeply. For he had some news from 
 one of the gentlemen which took him off to Holland 
 upon an instant resolution. I know not what intelligence 
 he received, nor how it concerned him ; but it is pretty 
 certain that at this time he had been in communication 
 with some of the political parties, the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth's for one, and I make bold to add Ashley's name 
 to that. He picked up some idle piece of gossip that set 
 his blood in a fret, and within two days he was posting 
 for town. A week later he was in the Hague, and, so 
 far as I know, never once set foot upon English soil 
 during the next three years. I have sometimes heard 
 my lord speaking of that absence, and of the experiences 
 he encountered abroad ; but if any material design took 
 him thither I never learned. He was as careless as he 
 was frank, and at no time was he one to explain himself 
 or his actions. He would have told me the truth, no 
 doubt, had I asked him ; but during my lord's life I had 
 
 27
 
 28 THE REBEL 
 
 no thought of writing this history, and after his death it was 
 too late. Besides, I am not given to cross-question any 
 man upon his private business. But it is certain that he 
 was very friendly with the Prince of Orange in Holland, 
 and he was in correspondence with the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, who was for some time also a resident at that 
 court. Yet if Lord Cherwell were there for any political 
 purpose, I know enough of him to doubt if he adhered to 
 it consecutively through those years. For one thing he 
 spent a long time in Paris, and was heard of about King 
 Lewis's court, where he was well received, despite all. 
 His name has been spoken in a breath with that of 
 Madame la Comtesse de Berneval, and 'tis probable that 
 he lived in Paris much the same life that he had passed 
 in London. So far as he was concerned in the intrigues 
 of state it was owing to Shaftesbury, at all times his evil 
 genius, and now in the last decline of his power. Indeed 
 his trial took place during my lord's absence, and though 
 he was acquitted to the popular satisfaction, he withdrew 
 shortly to Holland only to die. And that brings me to 
 the hour of my lord's return from exile. 
 
 There was a meeting between Shaftesbury and my lord 
 at the Hague, when I cannot doubt that the older and 
 discredited man fanned anew the zeal of his pupil. The 
 public feeling in England, and in Scotland also, ran strongly 
 against his Highness the Duke, and though Shaftesbury 
 had fallen, it was possible at any time to build up a fresh 
 agitation. This indeed was taken in hand by a band of 
 zealots, including my lords Russell and Essex, with Lord 
 Howard of Ettrick and Algernon Sydney, who were 
 sworn together to keep the Duke from the succession. 
 To those who feared a Catholic on the throne the progress
 
 THE REBEL 29 
 
 of affairs was disconcerting, and they flew into conspiracies 
 more or less abortive. There was cause for their alarm 
 in the growing authority of the Duke, who at this time 
 was dictating the King's policy ; so that in the jest of 
 Mr. Waller, the people being resolved that the Duke 
 should not reign after the King's death, the King was 
 resolved that he should reign during his life. 
 
 In the midst of this discontent and excitement my lord 
 Cherwell landed in England, and went straight to the 
 centre of this disaffection like a hound to a scent. He 
 bore letters from Shaftesbury to the Duke of Monmouth, 
 whom it was designed by these conspirators to place upon 
 his father's throne, and also to Lord Russell ; and coming 
 into London of a fine spring evening ate a supper at 
 the Blue Posts, and went on to Lord Russell's house to 
 acquaint him with his arrival and his messages. Lord 
 Russell was away, nor could his servants say where ; and 
 so, remembering a word he had caught from Shaftesbury, 
 my lord marched off for Shepherd's, a wine-house in the 
 town that was used by these people as a rendezvous. 
 'Twas a piece of folly that was in character with his 
 nature ; for it was not likely that he could gain admittance 
 to an assembly, if any there were, held for such private 
 ends and so clandestine. But, as it chanced, he did obtain 
 his wish, though in another manner than he could have 
 guessed. Once in the shop he made no hesitation, but 
 demanded to know if my lord Russell were there. The 
 owner of the place eyed him, but gave no answer, and 
 Cherwell repeated his words with impatience. 
 
 " I know none called so," says Shepherd, a thin, tall and 
 silent man, whom I have often seen. 
 
 " Come, you fool," said my lord angrily, " I have
 
 3 o THE REBEL 
 
 business of importance with my lord Russell. Give me 
 a plain and honest answer." 
 
 " I have said, Sir, that I know not the nobleman," 
 said Shepherd slowly, " and that being so, 'tis plain he is 
 not here." 
 
 "And since I know," says my lord, mocking him, 
 " that the nobleman is known to you, 'tis plain, I suppose, 
 that he is here." 
 
 " You have had your answer," said Shepherd, and turned 
 away. 
 
 My lord sat awhile drinking in the house, and con- 
 sidering with himself. He was manifestly distrusted, and 
 it irked him to be so foiled. Yet he could do little good 
 by persisting, for the man might be speaking the truth. 
 But, on the contrary, he knew that some meetings had 
 been held at this place, and if there was one in course 
 now, it was pressing that his message should reach Lord 
 Russell. While he was pondering how he should best 
 break in, and if he could accomplish anything that way, 
 a man coming out of the interior rooms drew his atten- 
 tion, and, something familiar recurring in his appearance, 
 he presently recognized him for one West, a creature of 
 Shaftesbury's and a man of stale reputation. This West 
 passed out of the doorway, and Cherwell, having now 
 little doubt something was afoot, went after him. But 
 outside the night was gathered very thick and black, and 
 the street being full of corners, he quickly lost sight of the 
 fellow. Yet he might have caught him again but for an 
 interruption which turned the current of his attention. 
 For he heard, sounding from no great distance, and as it 
 seemed up a little alley, a great cry of terror which was 
 clearly of some wench in trouble. Cherwell darted across
 
 THE REBEL 31 
 
 the way, leaving his hunt, and ran into the darkness that 
 hung about this by-way. But now the noise had 
 stopped, and he went along the alley without spying any 
 cause of the distress ; so that he was about to abandon 
 his search and go back to the wine-house, when his glance 
 was caught suddenly by a flutter of white that came from 
 a wall. My lord came to a halt and peered close. 
 
 " What is this ? " he says, seeing that there was some 
 person here. 
 
 "You will mind your own affairs, if you are wise," 
 said a voice, and out of a small passage stepped a tall man 
 and faced him boldly. 
 
 " My affairs," says Cherwell pleasantly, " can wait. I 
 have time on my hands ; and as far as I can judge, my 
 good sir, from your voice and manner I can well spend 
 some upon you." 
 
 " You are an insolent man," exclaimed the man, " and 
 I will spit you, an you turn not and run." 
 
 " By the lord," cries Cherwell, " you are a rogue after 
 my heart a tall Bobadil this. But first I will see what 
 you have here," and he made a step to the passage. The 
 man barred his way. But Cherwell, swift as a thought, 
 swung him round with a twist of his wrist so that he 
 toppled into the roadway, and deftly slipped into the 
 passage. He put out his hand through the darkness, and 
 his fingers closed upon a flimsy piece of stuff. 
 
 " I thought so," he said. " 'Tis some wench you 
 have been abusing." 
 
 "Indeed," says a voice from within, very rough but 
 civil. " 'Tis but that jade, my sister Sal, who is wont to 
 mistake her proper appetite for ale. I swear 'tis nothing 
 but she."
 
 32 THE REBEL 
 
 " Sal, Sal ! " says my lord, wagging his head and 
 laughing, " come ye forth, and I will read you a lesson 
 upon drunkenness and screams and other wickednesses." 
 He took hold of the woman's arm and made as though 
 to pull her from where she lay upon the stones. But 
 now the first fellow was at his back again and interrupted 
 gruffly 
 
 " I told you we want no interference on us," he said 
 angrily. 
 
 And the truth is that Cherwell, for all his obstinate 
 humour, was beginning to weary of the business, nor did 
 he conceive it humorous to be drawn into a quarrel 
 with some rough fellows upon a drunken quean. There 
 is no doubt he would have stopped, but at that instant 
 his hand had touched the woman's face, and he discovered 
 she was gagged. This revelation arrested all his wits. 
 
 "By God," he said, and with a motion twisted the 
 gag free. There was no sound on that, but my lord set 
 his hand to his sword, " Who are you ? " he asked. 
 
 With an oath one of the ruffians flung upon him, and 
 Cherwell put out his weapon. 
 
 " Back," he called, " or I will send you to your proper 
 keeper down below. There is an ill business here. Who 
 is this ye have gagged ? " 
 
 There was no reply, and he stooped again and felt for 
 the woman. Now the passage was so black that it was 
 not possible to see at all within its walls, and no doubt 
 this obscurity held those rogues quiet, for they knew not 
 where to strike. But they must have considered that 
 they had Cherwell safe enough, for his egress was blocked 
 upon either side, and the strait was too narrow to suffer 
 the free use of his sword. But he, knowing this, pulled
 
 THE REBEL 33 
 
 his burden gently to her feet, and caught the sound of a 
 long sigh. This done he set his face towards the further 
 part of the passage, whence the civiller voice had issued, 
 and with the woman dragging on his left arm ran lightly 
 forward, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting as he went. There 
 was a sharp cry when his point at last took something ; 
 at which, turning rapidly, he dashed as hard as he might 
 towards the other entrance. Now this design was but 
 to catch the tall villain unawares, when he should suppose 
 there was yet some distance to the spot on which his 
 companion was being assaulted. And the trick succeeded ; 
 for ere he had gone three paces my lord ran his point into 
 the breast of the other. He fell with a cry, and raised a 
 shout, on hearing which, and in the fear that there might 
 be more of them, Cherwell scrambled over his body and 
 got out into the alley with the woman. He was right 
 in suspicion, for there came out upon them from a door 
 near by, summoned doubtless by that call, two or three 
 men, who set upon him with swords. The woman had 
 come to herself by this time, and, urging her to run, 
 Cherwell fell on his assailants. But they were joined by 
 a fourth, being one of the men from the passage, and he 
 was driven to retreat, more especially as the place was so 
 dark. His companion seemed at a loss what course to 
 follow, and it was no wonder, the night being such. So 
 that it happened the two were forced to withdraw upon 
 the street in which the wine-house lay, now as black as the 
 surrounding night. In such a blackness it was not possible 
 to direct his footsteps, when engaged in plying the sword 
 so briskly. My lord took a wound in the arm, and was 
 pressed against a wall, the girl beside him. Fighting in 
 this position he heard a rattling sound behind, and, on a
 
 34 THE REBEL 
 
 quick inspiration, put back a hand and found, as he had 
 hoped, the handle of a door. It turned and the door 
 gave, and the next instant he had catched up his com- 
 panion, was over the threshold, and had bolted the lock. 
 The which done, he stood and breathed fast for some 
 moments, making an examination of their refuge. 
 
 A small swinging lanthorn shed some light upon the 
 scene, and disclosed to him a long and narrow passage 
 between heavy walls, with a flight of stairs at the end. 
 
 " We are got into some good citizen's house," says my 
 lord, laughing, and then gives his eyes to the other. She 
 was but a slip of a girl, as he could perceive under the 
 twilight. 
 
 " Oh, sir," she began, and her voice sounding clear but 
 frightened, " 'tis most noble in you to " 
 
 " Nay, my dear," says Cherwell, interrupting ; " but 
 'tis not so noble in you, surely, to be in this abominable 
 company. You are but a chit." 
 
 So saying he drew her close to the lanthorn, and examined 
 her with some surprise ; for her dress was of a rich stuff, 
 and she had the air and carriage of a gentlewoman. 
 
 " How came you there ? " he asked, " and where are 
 those that should overlook you ? " 
 
 The girl's eyes were fastened on his face with surprise 
 as well as eagerness, and for all her pallor a dye of colour 
 charged her face. 
 
 " They I have lost them," she answered after a show 
 of hesitation. " I missed them in the market." 
 
 " Lost ? " said my lord, shrugging his shoulders. " I 
 would teach them that would lose me so, and in so 
 infamous a part. What did you in the market so 
 late ? "
 
 THE REBEL 35 
 
 " In my lady's carriage," said the girl. " She was 
 driving to see the sport with the masques." 
 
 " And what took ye from the carriage ? " inquired he. 
 
 "The maid and I were set down by my lady," she 
 answered in some confusion, " who was to speak with a 
 gentleman she knew. But the maid presently was 
 snatched into the crowd at least she disappeared, and I 
 hope nothing has befallen her." 
 
 " I'll warrant she looked after herself better than you," 
 quoth my lord, smiling, and says he to himself, but aloud, 
 " 'Tis a scurvy drunken blunder to pitch her upon the 
 town." He stopped there and examined his coat in- 
 differently, where he had been struck. But the girl gave 
 a cry. 
 
 " You are touched," she said in a fearful voice. 
 
 "Why, that is the right word," said my lord, and 
 bending his eyes on her again, "what were those 
 fellows ? How came you in their hands ? " he asked. 
 
 She coloured deeply, displaying an embarrassment. 
 " They pursued me from the market," she said, " when 
 I was seeking the carriage. I I know nothing of 
 them." 
 
 " What ? " said Cherwell, " five men to seize and stop 
 a child's mouth ! What intentions had they on you ? 
 It is not for nothing five wretches like those conjoin." 
 
 " I know nothing, my lord, save that I was followed 
 and cowardly taken," says she piteously. 
 
 " My lord ! " echoed Cherwell, staring at her at 
 which she met his gaze with a flash of spirit. 
 
 " You are Lord Cherwell," she said simply. 
 
 " Faith, my dear madam, then who are you ? " said 
 he, astonished.
 
 36 THE REBEL 
 
 " You have seen me before, my lord," she answered, 
 flushing. " I am daughter to Sir Stephen Ellicott of 
 Durcombe Manor, Somerset." 
 
 The memory returned on Cherwell, and he laughed 
 softly. 
 
 " Here is a fortuity," he said ; " I did not remember the 
 maid, that is now grown woman. Why, my eyes must 
 be blind, but that you grow so fast. Well," said he, " I 
 must take you back to Lady Ellicott," and he put a hand 
 on the latch. 
 
 The girl sprang forward. " No, no," she said ; " they 
 will be there. I know them. They will not go away. 
 They will be in hiding." 
 
 My lord drew back with a frown. " What is this ? " 
 he said, " there is some strangeness behind this." 
 She coloured to a pink again and then fell pale. 
 " I think," he went on, observing her, " that there be 
 more doors in a house than one, and by your leave, 
 mistress, we will make trial of another." 
 
 With which and without more words he led her along 
 the passage, and up the flight of stairs at the end. 
 
 By this ascent they came next into a small room, 
 furnished very barely, and empty of tenants, that was 
 immediately upon the landing. Here was a fire burning 
 brightly, and a chair or two near the chimney-piece. 
 There was no sound to be heard in the house. 
 
 " Maybe all are abed," whispered Cherwell. " But 
 I vow we shall warm our toes ere we call the grocer," 
 and, setting a seat for the lady, he sank into a chair and 
 gazed at the fire. 
 
 " I would not have you ignorant, young mistress," said 
 he presently, " nor do I conceive you to be innocent, how
 
 THE REBEL 37 
 
 great a peril you have passed. You should be but a child 
 in years, though you show womanly in your stature,' 
 for she was nigh as tall as himself. " But see, you are 
 slight and weak, and the night is no time for merrymaking 
 in the streets for such as your sex and condition. My 
 lady Ellicott must see to it. Yet what is this strange 
 thing that you know these fellows ? Why, is this 
 abominable gang familiar ? " 
 
 The girl was now quite white, and looked him in the 
 eyes squarely. 
 
 * ' I have never seen their faces before," she said 
 quickly. " I know not who they are, but that they 
 took me." 
 
 " Oh well," says my lord with a shrug of his shoulders, 
 and his pleasant smile quickly breaking out. " I shall 
 know the face of one again. That, at least, shall lead me 
 to an identity," with which he stretched out his foot and 
 fell to looking in the fire. I have no doubt that he 
 had lapsed into some other thoughts, for presently he 
 started up. 
 
 " Sure, Mistress Ellicott," he said, " we must be invoking 
 the grocer. I ask your pardon. 'Tis time we were 
 'scaped by t' other door," and he rose and offered her his 
 arm, which done, the two proceeded upon an examination 
 of the house. It was still possessed of silence, though 
 lighted here and there in the narrow passages. The place 
 rambled prodigiously and seemed to harbour no one. 
 This was the thought they had in their impatience, but 
 they were soon to be undeceived. 
 
 They came at last upon a second flight of stairs that 
 led down to the floor below, and this they descended in 
 the hope of thus reaching an outlet. But at the foot of
 
 38 THE REBEL 
 
 this two paths divided, and, the one appearing darker, my 
 lord took the other, walking a little in advance of his 
 companion. He had just made some tiny jest upon the 
 house and its dumb owner, when a noise of voices suddenly 
 reached them, seeming to come, muffled, from behind a 
 door near by. My lord pushed this open, and there was a 
 small ante-chamber with a greater room beyond, out of 
 which streamed the voices. The closet was in darkness, 
 but the further chamber was set in the glow of a fire ; 
 and the sight that he now saw sent my lord back with a 
 low cry. 
 
 For as he entered the closet quietly, and was just aware 
 of the two men beyond, the talk between these had 
 suddenly ceased, and the one fellow had turned away from 
 his companion, as it were in anger or in refusal. But the 
 other said nothing, drawing nearer behind him, and with 
 a stealthy movement ; until, being quite close, he quickly 
 plunged a dagger into his fellow's back, so that he fell 
 without more than a sigh, and lay still on the floor. The 
 act was so rapid that Cherwell was unable to anticipate so 
 horrid a crime, and when he sprang forward the murderer 
 was gone, having slipped from the room by another door. 
 He lifted up the man on the floor, discerning him to be 
 quite dead, and then he got to his feet and his glance fell 
 on the miss, standing before the closet of the chamber, 
 yellow in the firelight, with wide horror-struck eyes, and 
 her body all shivering. He took hold of her kindly. 
 
 " I fear this is an ill night for you, my dear," says he, 
 and draws her through the doorway after him, muttering, 
 " Where the devil are we gotten now ? " 
 
 He seemed to hesitate, as the lady related it to me long 
 after, and then, considering, no doubt, that he was charged
 
 THE REBEL 39 
 
 with the care of this young madam, he began to go along 
 the dark passage the way they had come. There opened 
 before them now a door, leading into a recess hung with 
 curtains, and beyond that again a chamber full of light 
 and people. My lord came to a pause. 
 
 " This house will turn me crazy," said he, but as quickly 
 started, and his eyes beamed. " Good," he said, " I re- 
 cognize that voice, 'tis my lord Howard's ; and if your 
 prettiness will await me here, I will fetch our way out of 
 this labyrinth." 
 
 So saying, and without asking for an answer, he pushed 
 aside the curtains, entered the further room and left her.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 WHAT BEFELL IN THE WINE-HOUSE 
 
 Now this house was none other than Shepherd's, 
 approached by a back way, and, quite unawares, Cherwell 
 had stumbled upon the very assembly of which he had 
 been in search. So he issued forth from the recess with 
 brightening eyes, and stood looking on them with a 
 smile. But immediately there fell consternation on the 
 company, and some swords were drawn. 
 
 " The devil take you," said one big fellow. " But 
 you shall have no time now to pity yourself for a spy," 
 and he was for flinging himself upon my lord, who only 
 laughed. 
 
 " Come, come," he said, <c I am no spy, though so I 
 should appear. But spies are not used to show themselves 
 so boldly. And, moreover, there sits my lord Howard, 
 and he, I'll warrant, will speak to me." 
 
 Lord Howard was staring at him, with his little sour 
 and humorous smile. 
 
 "'Tis true," said he, "this is my lord Cherwell, I'll 
 speak to his name. I bid you welcome, my lord, but I 
 
 cannot speak to your opinions." 
 
 40
 
 THE REBEL 41 
 
 " My lord," says Cherwell, flashing out, " my history 
 is known to you." 
 
 "Aye," he says slowly, "you were of my lord 
 Shaftesbury's friends ; but Ashley is fallen," he says. 
 
 " And I," said Cherwell haughtily, " am newly come 
 from my lord Shaftesbury with letters for Lord Russell 
 and his Grace." 
 
 At this Howard's face changed. " Is it so ? " he said. 
 rt l crave pardon, my lord, but the world changes over- 
 soon, and one is accustomed to meet the conspirator of 
 to-day in the judge to-morrow. Not that we are con- 
 spirators here ; oh no, my lord. We are a simple 
 company tasting of Mr. Shepherd's wine. And I will 
 recommend to you that bottle, my lord, a brave red 
 bottle out of Burgundy." 
 
 At this my lord laughed, and, all suspicion being now 
 at an end, sat down among them, and filled a glass. 
 There were half-a-dozen of them hatching this plot, and, 
 as was manifest afterwards to any one without bias, in 
 two very different ways, and with two very different 
 designs. For Lords Russell and Essex, with Algernon 
 Sydney and Mr. Hampden were for the succession of 
 the Duke of Monmouth ; whereas the more desperate 
 accomplices desired the King's death along with his 
 brother's. Of these, Rumsey and Rumbold were present 
 that night, and Lord Howard, who wanted no man 
 know what, also one Grimshaw, Goodenough, who was 
 once under-sherifF of London, and West, a man of 
 education and of a cynical wit. But of the other party 
 there was not one, and my lord asked presently for Lord 
 Russell. 
 
 " My lord is not here, having particular private
 
 42 THE REBEL 
 
 matters," said the man Rumsey quickly. "But I have 
 spoken with him, and am convinced that he has this 
 business at heart." 
 
 Rumsey had previously been in Cromwell's army, but 
 had an evil reputation, and was, indeed, but a soldier of 
 fortune and worse, whereas Rumbold, who had also served 
 with the Protector, was of a fanatical temper, and a man 
 of some estate. 
 
 " That is very well," says Cherwell lightly, " but 
 where is your proof for this, sir ? And are we to take 
 for granted that the Lords Essex and Russell will join in 
 this matter ? " 
 
 " Not only they, but Sidney too," said West boldly, 
 "and I trust my lord Cherwell also." 
 
 "What I?" says Cherwell easily. "No! faith, not 
 I " at which there was a movement among the rest. 
 
 " I said," quoth Howard with a grin, " that I knew 
 not your opinions, my lord." 
 
 " And what are yours ? " asked my lord, turning on 
 him. " What are yours, I would ask you, my lord ? I 
 have heard great nonsense talked here, and (what is more) 
 a great crime. That is the word, my lord, and I ask 
 you to consider it. What else is it at which these 
 gentlemen hint, Mr. West with his sly face, and Mr. 
 Rumsey with his smile ? They would have the Duke 
 of Monmouth upon the throne for the sake of the 
 Protestant succession. Why so would I, so would we 
 all. But upon that comes a wink and a leer, and it is 
 How then would you deal with his Highness, and 
 what will be his fortune ? I tell you, my lord and 
 gentlemen, 'tis an ugly deed at which ye are glancing. 
 What else means this talk in whispers and in dark
 
 THE REBEL 43 
 
 sayings ? And I would have ye tell me what it is this 
 Mopping' 1 does signify that ye talk of?" 
 
 "You shall know that, my lord," suddenly said 
 Rumbold, rising to his feet, pale, and striking on the 
 table. "The Lord of Hosts shall learn ye that soon 
 enough. I will have no concealment. These deeds 
 shall be fetched forth into the light." 
 
 "Aye," says Cherwell, "in the day of judgment." 
 
 " And the day of judgment is come," exclaimed the 
 fanatic. u It has come for the Duke of York ; yes, and 
 for the King too." 
 
 " You have a design against his Majesty ? " says 
 Cherwell quickly, looking on the company. 
 
 Lord Howard cast his glance down upon the table, 
 and the rest gave no answer save Rumbold, who was 
 still upon his feet and now beside himself. 
 
 " Yes, we have a design," he said firmly, " and I will 
 see to it that 'tis carried out. We are no children playing 
 at quarrels, my lord, but very serious men, that have 
 God's commands upon us." 
 
 At that Cherwell gave a laugh, but the other went 
 on with no attention. " I have put my house and my 
 life at the disposal of this council, and 'tis for them to 
 answer j for we shall yet lop this tree so that the young 
 shoots shall bear fruit in due season, and according to 
 God's appointment." 
 
 Lord Howard was looking askew at Anthony, but 
 West was the first that broke in. 
 
 1 " Lopping " was used by these Rye House conspirators 
 very euphemistically. See Burnett's History of His own Time, 
 Book III. ED.
 
 44 THE REBEL 
 
 "'Twere easier to take them at the play than at 
 Hodsdon," said he. 
 
 " Sure," says Howard with his grin, " they were best 
 taken in so suitable a spot, that they may die in their 
 calling." 
 
 But my lord sprang to his feet. " My lord," said he 
 sharply. <c You jest out of time. As this worthy fellow 
 tells you, ye are here grave and earnest men, and not 
 to cackle over a joke. But what a folly are you debating, 
 that you think of this wicked course ! I am come from 
 Lord Shaftesbury, and I have spent much time with him. 
 There is no man I honour as his lordship. I wish to 
 God, too, that I might see his Grace of Monmouth 
 ascending to his father's throne, as is his proper right. 
 But think you that these desires will fetch about the 
 course of history ? Nay ; Shaftesbury will fight no 
 more, and his Grace is no true leader. Ye would stand 
 by a failing cause. I would not have you abandon that 
 which is just, out of a fancy that it will not prevail, but 
 rather to cleave to it. But ye must seek some other 
 way. This cause is a noble one, to keep the true 
 religion within this realm ; but what do you propose to 
 yourselves, foolish men ? You would exact the penalties 
 which only God has power to inflict, and that by abomin- 
 able treachery. The King has betrayed the nation. 
 Well ; it is for us to remedy that trait'rous act. The 
 Duke hangs upon us like a menace ; we must thrust that 
 menace away. I will have nought to do with your 
 ' loppings.' Nay, I am no enemy, gentlemen, to c lop- 
 pings.' God do so to me and more also, if in the day 
 of my trial I should be found wanting. My father is 
 evidence for me ; and the true history of my race. Yet
 
 THE REBEL 45 
 
 I bear testimony that ye are guilty of folly and of crime 
 if ye push this thing further. What have we taken out 
 of the death of King Charles I ? what save this very 
 present case in which we are ? These feelings come with 
 the rebound and spread inordinately. His Majesty was 
 welcomed in the streets of London with greater acclam- 
 ations than ever his father or his grandfather. 'Twas 
 Cromwell's act that prepared the way for him. Think 
 upon that, and consider. As for me, my lord Howard, 
 I wash my fingers of the business, I disdain it ; I go no 
 further. And I would ask some gentleman if he would 
 be so good as to guide me from this house." 
 
 When he had finished on these words he stood where 
 he was, breathing a little sharper, as one described it, and 
 passing his quick glances all about them. None spake 
 for a moment, and then 'twas Grimshaw, of whom you 
 shall hear anon. 
 
 " You have good counsel for your security, my lord," 
 said he with a sneer. " His Majesty should thank you for 
 your pleading." 
 
 But on that my lord broke furiously forth, as he was 
 wont, and forgetting all his argument. 
 
 " By God," says he angrily, " but the king is the king, 
 and that I say ; and I think shame that his power should 
 be disturbed by such crop-eared rogues." 
 
 Then angry words threw the whole assembly into con- 
 fusion, and Rumsey and Rumbold rose with their swords 
 drawn. My lord laughed shortly, and with one hand he 
 contemptuously unhooked his scabbard and took it by the 
 haft, meaning that he would scorn to be at the pains to 
 defend himself against such as those with the sword. But
 
 46 THE REBEL 
 
 here West interposed in his cunning way, so as to soothe 
 them. 
 
 " It seems," says he, " that we are liker to lop one 
 another than any kings and princes." 
 
 "I will have you understand," said Cherwell sternly, 
 " that I am not one of you." 
 
 " And will spread this intelligence against us," put in 
 Goodenough, who had sat quiet till now. 
 
 Rumsey uttered an oath ; but my lord gave no answer, 
 lowering his brows on those antagonists. 
 
 " I have asked," he said in a cool voice, " that some 
 gentleman among you shall be pleased to conduct me 
 from this house. My lord Howard, I wait on you." 
 
 Howard pulled up his shoulders in a motion. " I am 
 not master here," he answered j "and 'tis pretty certain 
 I shall be conducted myself an I taste further of this 
 wine." 
 
 Cherwell hesitated, and while they were in this 
 state of simmering hostility, a door across the room was 
 pushed open, and a man entered and stood gazing at 
 them in astonishment. He was very tall and of a sham- 
 bling gait, with a high red nose, and a skin distempered 
 from its natural sallow by the wind and sun ; and 
 two small brown eyes peeped from beneath his bushy 
 brows. For an instant the company started on this 
 interruption, but immediately appeared to recognize the 
 new-comer, and turned again to Cherwell. But he, his 
 gaze drawn by the fellow in the midst of his present 
 anger, fell suddenly back, and then sprang forward. 
 
 " My God," he said, " 'tis the man," and moving round 
 the table closed the door softly.
 
 THE REBEL 47 
 
 " What is this ? " asked Grimshaw quickly, and the 
 rest of the table was in amazement. 
 
 " This fellow here," says Cherwell, pointing at him, 
 " comes to you but newly dipped in crime. I myself 
 was witness to a bloody murder that he wrought." 
 
 " My lord," says Howard, " you bring strange charges 
 against us all." 
 
 " I do not grudge a lair death," said Cherwell with 
 indignation, " but the rascal that strikes in the dark is 
 another matter ; and this was a foul deed that was done 
 within this house." 
 
 " What say you, Fargus ? " asked one of the others. 
 
 The man mumbled some words indistinctly and ended 
 with a sulking oath. 
 
 " My lord here is surely mistaken," said Grimshaw 
 softly. " If the man were you there must plainly be 
 some error." 
 
 " 'Twas an error," said he, and advancing with his 
 ugly walk, put forth a hand and took a bottle from the 
 table. 
 
 The impudence of the act, when he stood so charged, 
 and in the face of that company, was so great, that my 
 lord made a step forward holding his naked sword. It 
 was as if the fellow Fargus scarce realized the danger in 
 which he lay, and was at no trouble to be ceremonious or 
 decent in his habits. He had brushed aside the accusa- 
 tion as if it were of no account, and that discharged, 
 might now safely resort to his wine. But Cherwell was 
 not to be so put down, and his eyes aflame, approached 
 him. 
 
 " Look ye, sirrah," he said, " I bear witness that I 
 will have you hanged, you insolent rogue."
 
 48 THE REBEL 
 
 But Fargus looked up, lifted his eyebrows, shrugged 
 his shoulders, and without ever a word, raised his glass to 
 his mouth and tossed off the wine. 
 
 My lord turned to Howard. 
 
 " Who is this man ? " he asked. 
 
 Lord Howard shook his head. 
 
 " Faith, ask not me," he replied. " I know who 
 none is in these days. May be, he hath the royal 
 blood," which he said by way of a sneer for the 
 king. 
 
 " 'Tis an honest fellow that means well for the cause," 
 said Rumsey, " which is more than all can say that stand 
 here." 
 
 " Come, come," said Grimshaw, adjuring him, " I think, 
 Mr. Fargus, that my lord here needs some answers to his 
 interrogations. He has put a charge upon you. How 
 answer you it ? " 
 
 Fargus stared across the table at him, a grin spreading 
 over his face. 
 
 " I owe my lord some reparation for my silence," says 
 he harshly. "But my belly has made an uncommon 
 demand upon me. But as for what he says, it is true 
 enough ; and there is one villain the less in the world. I 
 cannot bear that I should waste words upon it." 
 
 " Ha ! who was this ? " asked West abruptly. 
 
 Fargus took a drink from his glass, and crossed his 
 knock-kneed legs. He looked on Cherwell impudently, 
 replying to the question. 
 
 " He was a spy out of Cripplegate," says he> " and one 
 of the Duke's inspiring, I doubt not." 
 
 His eyes met Grimshaw's, and it seemed to Cherwell 
 that they twinkled. Grimshaw, who was a small lean
 
 THE REBEL 49 
 
 man, dressed very trimly, and with quiet even features, 
 stroked his chin, and looked away at Cherwell, as though 
 inviting him for his opinion. But my lord was greatly 
 incensed by the conduct of this rascal, and he had grave 
 suspicions, moreover. 
 
 " What ! A stab in the back," he said. " And is 
 that the course of an honest man who fears nought, and 
 keeps his conscience clean ? " He turned towards the 
 place where Howard sate, but he had stolen from the 
 chamber, being ever of a craven spirit in the nick of trial ; 
 and he saw about him the kindling faces of Rumsey, 
 West, and Rumbold. He flung down his sword with a 
 clatter into its scabbard. 
 
 "This is no place for honest men," he said angrily. 
 " I pray you, sirs, direct me from this house." 
 
 " Ye have entered of yourself," sneered Rumsey, " and 
 as you came, by God so shall you return." 
 
 My lord turned on him in a passion, but at that 
 moment, and as further words might pass, one of the men 
 at table, hearing, no doubt, some sound within the alcove, 
 sprang suddenly to his feet, and pulled back the hanging 
 curtains. 
 
 Now it is plain that with the progress of this argu- 
 ment and the excitement of the dispute, my lord had 
 come to forget the girl that sat awaiting him behind the 
 arras. He was ever quick-tempered, and jumped lightly 
 from emotion to emotion. But on this abrupt disparting 
 of the curtains the figure of the girl was disclosed, where 
 she reclined in a deep chair, and wearing a look of care 
 and weariness. The conspirators leaped to their feet, and 
 cried out 
 
 " Who is this ? " asked West. 
 

 
 50 THE REBEL 
 
 Cherwell started a little at the exclamation ; and then 
 coming back to the recess, put out his arm. 
 
 " Mistress," said he, " I have kept you waiting an 
 infamous time. We must e'en pick our way out of this 
 rogues' nest for ourselves." 
 
 Rumsey ran to the door and put his back against it, 
 drawing his sword, and the others in the room also 
 prepared their weapons. 
 
 " You do not leave here," said Rumsey ; " we have 
 some work before us ere you leave here." 
 
 "'Tis no wonder," said West with his sly tongue, 
 " that my lord spoke with such sympathy of spies." 
 
 But at these words their anger broke into wild frenzy, 
 and Rumbold and Goodenough rushed upon him. 
 
 My lord drew his point through the shoulder of the 
 latter, and was turning his attention to the other, when 
 Grimshaw ran between them, holding up his hands. 
 
 "Sirs, I pray you have prudence," said he very 
 earnestly ; " you know not upon what risks you may 
 stand. And as for this business," he added, looking 
 towards Rumbold ; " my lord Cherwell's name and 
 reputation should be known to all, nor should his denial 
 provoke any man, given under his honour." 
 
 " What proof have we that he does not betray us ? " 
 growled Rumsey. 
 
 c< Fie, fie on you," said Grimshaw reproachfully ; 
 " you that can look on his lordship and ask that ! It is 
 an embittered cruel question. There should be no 
 doubt upon his lordship." 
 
 " Nor the lady ? " says West with a grimace. 
 
 Grimshaw glanced towards the girl with a most 
 dignified rejoinder upon his tongue, as was perceived ;
 
 THE REBEL 51 
 
 but of a sudden he opened his mouth, and his face 
 betrayed a wonder. He uttered an exclamation, but, 
 recovering himself, made answer 
 
 " The lady is in my lord's charge, and that suffices," 
 said he with a bow. 
 
 Cherwell put up his sword with a little laugh. 
 
 " 'Tis well, sir," said he, " you use me very gently and 
 very properly. You have spoken justly of this lady, and 
 with truth of myself. And now if you will persuade 
 these gentlemen to give me room I will interrupt you no 
 longer," and once more he moved towards the door, with 
 Grimshaw very civil by his side, and the rest of them 
 dumb and sullen. Now the door by which my lord was 
 to depart, by the direction of Grimshaw, lay across the 
 chamber, and upon the further side from the alcove, so 
 that in his passage he came by Fargus, the assassin, who 
 was still seated undisturbed at the table, and was guzzling 
 his wine. My lord passed him without more than a glance, 
 but he felt the girl's arm quake of a sudden in his, and 
 turning, found her staring on the fellow with some terror 
 in her gaze, and a face that was drawn and whitened. 
 
 "What is it, mistress?" he asked in a whisper. 
 " Pray never heed him ; there be many such as he in 
 need of a rope this day." This he said, supposing her to 
 have recognized the man as he himself had done. But 
 she gathered up her spirit, and, controlling herself, passed 
 by, and the two went out of the room together without 
 further parley. It was by now very late, yet Cherwell 
 led her by the fields towards Westminster, where Lady 
 Ellicott lay, so as to avoid any suspicions or rumours in 
 case of an encounter. At the gates he parted with her. 
 
 " Get you in forthwith, young madam," he said, " and,
 
 52 THE REBEL 
 
 faith, I'll teach my lady how not to lose you for the 
 future. And if ever she does, why she shall answer to 
 me," a strange saying, idle as it was, in the light of 
 what afterwards befell. 
 
 My lord turned from the place and was walking towards 
 Charing Cross, when, at a little distance, he spied some 
 one through the darkness that had a familiar appearance. 
 
 The man, which was but a figure in the night, 
 hastened forward when Cherwell came to a stop, and he 
 had a furtive gait. 
 
 " By heaven," thought Cherwell, " I know that walk," 
 and moving round an angle of the house he waited in the 
 blackness. Presently after the man passed, tarried a little 
 considering, and then retraced his way towards the house. 
 As he drew nearer Cherwell could make out more clearly 
 the form and fashion of the man, and he knew him then 
 for the man Fargus. While he was pondering on this, 
 he was aware of a second body that broke out of the 
 darkness, and by the aid of a light in the house he 
 discovered this also. It was Grimshaw. Cherwell was 
 much taken aback at this, but as he still watched, the two 
 men joined and stood in conversation. Supposing him- 
 self to be followed, and for no good purpose, my lord 
 would have stepped out and confronted them at once, but 
 he was arrested by the next acts of the men. It was 
 evident now that they were not'pursuing him, for, after a 
 few minutes, the fellow Grimshaw approached Lady 
 Ellicott's house and made a knock upon the door very 
 quietly. Soon afterwards he was admitted, and Fargus 
 slunk away. As for my lord he went back to his tavern 
 mightily perplexed, and wondering upon this remarkable 
 visit, and what it should signify.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW MY LORD SUPI*ED WITH HIS HIGHNESS 
 
 IF I have properly anatomized the man, as he was, in 
 all that native waywardness and impetuosity, you will 
 credit that the matter of this girl passed very soon from 
 his mind. He was little troubled of her, seeing she was 
 fast in bed and secure long ere he himself lay asleep. 
 And, moreover, the promise of fresh temptations enticed 
 him strongly ; so that on the morrow he set forth for 
 Whitehall very gaily and with the most beaming audacity. 
 'Twas not audacity indeed, but rather indifference, for I 
 have never yet seen any man that was more careless of 
 his behaviour even before princes. Yet I have no doubt 
 but these new chances at the Court allured him. He 
 was fond of the King with a strange fondness, and though 
 he had been absent for years, and that in disgrace, he showed 
 no marks of that knowledge upon him, nor expected that 
 any man should see them. The King was then in a 
 quandary like many another from which he had crept 
 through his amiable cunning ; for what between his fear of 
 the Protestant parties, and the plots that were whispered, 
 and his fealty to his brother, he was scarce able to direct 
 himself among the currents. But most of all he clung to 
 
 53
 
 54 THE REBEL 
 
 France, which all men pronounced evil in him ; and 
 while he encouraged the Duke, he was obstinately silent 
 before all other voices. To his Majesty in such a mood, 
 and displaying on account of it, a most unnatural choler, 
 there comes my lord on that day, as easy as though he 
 had but parted from the Court overnight and upon excel- 
 lent terms. It is said that he was met in the ante-cham- 
 ber by Lord Hallifax, who asked him bluntly what he did 
 there j and that Cherwell was equal to him. 
 
 u I am come here," says he, smiling into the other's 
 face, u because I have heard the King requires an honest 
 man, my lord." 
 
 " What ! From the Hague ! " sneered Hallifax. 
 
 " Aye," says Cherwell, looking on him. " For you 
 must understand, my lord, that his Majesty is in such 
 hands that he has cause to trust his honest enemies before 
 his false friends." 
 
 "Then you are an enemy, my lord. You are very 
 frank," says Hallifax, controlling his fury. 
 
 " Oh no," said my lord with a tiny laugh ; " I am the 
 false friend, be certain. Set me down as that false friend, 
 for I'll wager that his Majesty willbe tickled by so strange 
 a creature upon his threshold. He is used to such warm- 
 ness and such truth," and, still laughing, he passed away 
 to seek the King. 
 
 He was soon recognized by several, and the report of 
 his return spread quickly, so that there was curiosity to 
 observe his demeanour and how he should be treated. 
 Most held aloof, or gave him scanty looks, yet the bold- 
 ness and assurance of his manner made people doubt. It 
 was not until he approached the King that they might 
 discover with what eyes he should be received j and then
 
 THE REBEL 55 
 
 indeed it was plain enough. Charles, who was surrounded 
 in a group, of which one was Jermyn, my lord's old 
 acquaintance (and there were also some ladies of the 
 Court), let his gaze fall upon Cherwell as he advanced, 
 making a deep bow. He made no sign at all, but 
 watched him out of his soft expressionless eyes, as if he 
 were contemplating nothing ; then, turning his head 
 slightly, made a jest in a low voice to one of the ladies by 
 him. It was then that those present discovered in a flash 
 how he would entreat my lord, and saw beyond doubt 
 that the Earl's fortunes were over. Yet they were destined 
 to an instant surprise, and most of them, no doubt, to a 
 strange disappointment. 
 
 My lord took the rebuff with not even a flush of his 
 cheeks, standing before the King, as proud and stiff as 
 any Stewart might. But there was a brighter look in his 
 eyes, and his voice was quicker than was his wont. 
 
 " Sire," says he, " your Majesty does not remember 
 me." 
 
 " I have a bad memory for faces, sir," says the King, 
 "but a good one for reputations." 
 
 " I am of no reputation, sire," says my lord in a clear 
 loud voice. " But I am the Earl of Cherwell, and your 
 Majesty's humble subject." 
 
 The King turned to one that was beside him. " Have 
 I an Earl of Cherwell ? " he asked. 
 
 " Your Majesty owns none such," says this man, " but 
 the Prince of Orange, maybe, is in another case." 
 
 " You hear," said Charles, looking coldly on my lord. 
 
 My lord took his sword from its scabbard now with a 
 little colour in his face, and set it gently on the floor 
 before him.
 
 56 THE REBEL 
 
 " It is not meet," said he, " for a subject to show a 
 bare weapon in his sovereign's face. But it seems that I 
 am none. Your Majesty shall determine," and he looked 
 at the King with a glittering eye. 
 
 The King cast a glance askance at him and bit his lip 
 as he turned to the others. 
 
 " It is treason," said the man that had spoken before, 
 who was none less than Lord Sunderland ; and at the 
 sound of that word there was a movement in the party. 
 
 " What would you have us do ? " asked Charles, paying 
 no heed to this, but bending his brows on Cherwell. 
 
 " If I am no subject of your Majesty's," savs ne > "and 
 have, therefore, no subject's right of access to your pre- 
 sence, here is a weapon that your Majesty should break, 
 as that of an enemy. I would see your Majesty's heel 
 upon it." 
 
 The King's face changed. " Here is a new Petition of 
 Rights," says he to Sunderland, and then, for he had ever 
 a liking for Cherwell, " my lord, we are too comfortable 
 when we sit to venture forth a foot," says he, " and now 
 that I come to look closer on you there is a mad signifi- 
 cance in your eye that I remember. You must forgive 
 us, my lord, but you are turned of an orange hue, which 
 I mistook, and, faith," he added with a smile, " take up 
 your sword, for you shall need it soon, I have no doubt." 
 
 Whereupon my lord stooped suddenly, and ere ever 
 one was aware of his act, had broken the steel with a 
 strong jerk across his knee. "Nay, I shall need not that, 
 sire," said he ; " 'twas forged out of England, and was 
 not tempered to your Majesty." 
 
 At which reply the King laughed in good humour. 
 " You should have kept that sword for James, then,"
 
 THE REBEL 57 
 
 said he lightly. " For perchance it was wrought for him, 
 whence you come." 
 
 But my lord broke then into the merry mad humour 
 that was constant with him. 
 
 " I need no sword for my errand here," says he, " for I 
 am come only to deliver your Majesty from my lord 
 Sunderland." 
 
 " God forbid," said Charles with a grimace, while 
 Sunderland looked sour. "If I were in your hands, 
 Tony, I should be in the Tower ere a twelvemonth," 
 for this was the style in which he had been used to address 
 my lord in his most familiar passages. 
 
 That appellation was enough for those in the neigh- 
 bourhood, who plainly now perceived that events had 
 taken a course contrary to their expectations. Instead of 
 cold glances, Cherwell was now warmly welcomed ; the 
 news went about ; and there was none in the Palace that 
 did not press upon him his devoirs, or recall some former 
 friendly communion to his mind. But Cherwell took it 
 all as he had taken the disfavour of the King and those 
 distant and haughty looks of the Court. He cared not 
 a rap for any man of such time-servers ; 'twas not in 
 his nature, what faults soever lay there, to be exposed 
 with the work of time. He proceeded about the rooms 
 very gaily, yet not as one conscious of a victory, and 
 then, remembering his mission to Russell, was taking his 
 departure when he spied a figure that he knew, passing by 
 with a woman in close talk. This was Talbot, afterwards 
 the Duke of Tyrconnel, who was attached to the Duke 
 of York, and was indifferently zealous in his master's 
 service. My lord came to a pause, for he was well ac- 
 quainted with Talbot ; and next his eyes were drawn by
 
 58 THE REBEL 
 
 the woman, and he started to recognize in her none other 
 than the slim maid of his nocturnal adventure. She wore 
 a broidered waistcoat, and seemed to him of a haughty 
 bearing, which surprised him, as she had been meek 
 enough overnight. She carried her head high like a 
 proper lady of the Court, and he now perceived by the 
 daylight that she was of a greater beauty than he had 
 supposed. She had sweet and just features, delicately 
 lighted, and full abashing eyes, that glowed and trembled. 
 Yet Cherwell noticed that while she delivered upon her 
 companion a proud and angry gaze, she was still very 
 timorous, and there was a pale shadow of fear upon her 
 face. 'Twas then that she saw him, and something leapt 
 into her eyes. He made a step to her, questioning of her 
 mutely, and Talbot turned and greeted him, offering him 
 a ready welcome. 
 
 "I find you are in distress, mistress," said Cherwell, 
 paying him no heed, and speaking very curtly, for he 
 recognized in an instant that there was some mischief. 
 
 " Faith, you 'are not too ceremonious, my lord," said 
 Talbot easily. 
 
 " Sir," says Cherwell, " I must speak with this lady, 
 who is, as you very well see, embarrassed by your 
 presence." 
 
 " The Devil ! " cried Talbot, but making no move- 
 ment. "I see nothing of the kind, and if it be so, the 
 lady has a tongue and can give me my despatch." 
 
 Cherwell looked at her, inviting her with an impatient 
 gesture to dismiss the other. But instead her face flushed 
 and her eyes fell, and she stood with a trembling bosom. 
 " I think that 'tis not from me that the confusion comes," 
 said Talbot with a smile. " But rather you, my lord."
 
 THE REBEL 59 
 
 " You say truly," said Cherwell quickly, " I have 
 misjudged, and I crave your pardon," and with a bow he 
 turned sharply round. 
 
 As for the girl she started, delivered a timid glance 
 upon him instantly, and would have stepped forward as 
 though to arrest him ; yet paused, ere the action was 
 complete, and moved softly away. The two men were 
 left thus together, and Talbot spoke first, laughing a little. 
 
 " You rknow this little Ellicott madam ? " says he. 
 " Sure, my lord, you move with rapid steps to carry so far 
 in a day. Your lordship arrived last night, is it not so ? " 
 
 " Aye," said Cherwell. 
 
 c< You are forestalled, my lord," said Talbot, smiling. 
 
 " Forestalled ? " echoed Cherwell, frowning. 
 
 " She is not for you, this little cockatrice," says Talbot, 
 " nay, nor for me neither," says he with a whimsical look 
 of chagrin. 
 
 " Whom is she for ? " asked Cherwell with his cus- 
 tomary quickness. 
 
 Talbot pulled up his shoulders. " There have been 
 many such as she," he made answer, " and some of a 
 better beauty. But I grant you she has a great freshness ; 
 her looks are perfumed, and she has a delicate colour. 
 'Tis said she must have a place among the Duchess's 
 women. Indeed she smells very sweet." 
 
 "The Duchess!" said Cherwell. "That were to 
 suppose something further." 
 
 "We shall have no leave from his Highness to 
 suppose anything," quoth Talbot, laughing, " yet we have 
 the wit to be silent. I commiserate you, my lord. 'Tis a 
 pretty piquant wench, and, no doubt, knows her business." 
 
 " I will never believe it," said my lord sharply.
 
 6o THE REBEL 
 
 u Oh well," says Talbot, and made no further reply. 
 Cherwell turned away and abruptly left him, for into his 
 mind had come anew the facts of that past night, and the 
 puzzle of the girl's behaviour. If Talbot said truly she 
 was of a piece with the rest of the Court, and, though he 
 had denied it on the impulse, there was no reason in his 
 denial. Yet, inasmuch as he was ever speedy in act, and 
 moved by zealous thoughts, he remembered the toil in 
 which this young pretty had been cast, and was full of 
 anger with her step-mother. So that, considering if the 
 girl were there, so also should be the dame, he pushed about 
 the Palace, and was rewarded, sure enough, for his pursuit 
 by the sight of Lady Ellicott in one of the large rooms 
 conversing privately with the Duke himself. This was 
 the first time that Cherwell and his Highness had met 
 for several years, but the Duke recognized him and 
 civilly encountered him. Lady Ellicott looked on him 
 with warm glances, and altogether it might have seemed 
 that he was a prodigal that had long delayed to return, 
 but was still the more welcome. But Cherwell put the 
 greetings aside, and making his offices to the Duke, said 
 he 
 
 " Madam, you have a pretty daughter." 
 
 " By the grace of God, 'tis none of mine," said she in 
 her high voice. 
 
 " I remember her," said Cherwell, nodding. " I have 
 seen her at Dulsiebridge, when we cut an odd figure, you 
 and I." His Highness looked from one to the other, but 
 my lady turned red, and laughed. 
 
 " You should have a care of her," said Cherwell. 
 
 " Faith," she said sharply, " would you learn me my 
 duty to the child ? "
 
 THE REBEL 61 
 
 " I would have you remember it," said Cherwell, 
 getting angry. 
 
 " Is this a suitor to the lady's hand ? " asked the Duke. 
 
 " No," says my lord, " I drag no young miss into my 
 fortunes. But this I know, that last night she was 
 fortuitously exposed to danger, and but for my inter- 
 vention had been the victim of some scoundrels, when 
 she should have been under my lady's eye." 
 
 " Fie," said she; " I cannot have her at my apron." 
 
 " 'Tis a disgrace," said Cherwell, " to neglect a maid 
 so." 
 
 " Come," said the Duke amiably, u I will not interfere 
 in a matter of domesticity," and he moved away. 
 
 " What is this ? " cried the lady in a rage. <c You 
 dare take me to task thus before his Highness! What 
 authority have you upon me ? " 
 
 " None, save to step between one and the consequences 
 of your rashness," he answered bluntly, for something in 
 her attitude angered him. 
 
 She cast him a glance, and changed with the next 
 words. 
 
 " Oh, spare me your reproaches," she cried languishing. 
 " I have ever been for ease, and the chit interests me not. 
 She has not the wit of a louse to find her way about. 
 How will she get her a husband, d'ye think, with such 
 a head on her ? " 
 
 " She will get no husband," said he, " if she smirch 
 herself." 
 
 " You are grown mighty puritanical," said the lady 
 gaily, " I should not have recognized you, my lord. 
 This is a sour face you wear to me. Come, let us be 
 friends. I have a house by Westminster, as you may
 
 62 THE REBEL 
 
 remember, and maybe your feet can carry you to that 
 door again." 
 
 " They should find the way of their own wit, and all 
 against my will, I doubt not, madam," said Cherwell, 
 smiling; with which they parted, each in a pleasanter 
 spirit. 
 
 But there was my lord Russell's business before 
 Cherwell, and he must strain himself to hold back that 
 amiable nobleman from his ruin. He had brought mes- 
 sages, as I have said, from Shaftesbury, and these he 
 rendered to Russell, adding thereto his own mind on the 
 matter. 
 
 "He is dying, ' said he, "and will be no longer a 
 two-edged sword among the nations. Yet I bear witness 
 to him for a great and variable man. If you count upon 
 him, my lord, you will count upon the dead." 
 
 My lord Russell said slowly that he counted only 
 upon what righteousness soever a cause should have, 
 and upon the hearts and fidelity of its adherents. Upon 
 that Cherwell broke out, " Aye, there it is I like not 
 the man, and I mistrust that smiling Howard." 
 
 " He is cousin-german to me," said Lord Russell sadly, 
 " yet I suffer your words." 
 
 " Pooh," says Cherwell, laughing. " I would as lief 
 run my full cousin to the heart as any huff in England," 
 which, if you consider, was not very kindly in him. 
 
 This affair of the plot, if plot it might be termed, 
 which was mere hope and oftener despair, kept Cherwell 
 employed during the next day, and he supped with Lords 
 Russell and Essex that night. It was not until he came 
 forth into the street alone pretty late that he thought 
 of Lady Ellicott, and the words in which she had invited
 
 THE REBEL 63 
 
 him. The hour was past ten, yet, never doubting of his 
 welcome, he made through that darkness for the house 
 by the Park in Westminster. As he came up to the 
 doorway his eyes fell with remembrance upon some 
 figure that left the stairs before him, and there flashed 
 upon him in a return the face of the conspirator, 
 Grimshaw. Yet whether it was Grimshaw or not, the 
 recollection started in him a course of thought, and 
 fetched him up with a great jarring ; so that he stood 
 for some moments, considering with himself upon the 
 threshold. 
 
 But when he was received inside he was amazed so 
 deeply that he forgot these thoughts; for the man that 
 admitted him seemed to expect his coming, and he was 
 taken into a fine room set for a feast, and broad with 
 lights. But here the fellow suddenly gaped at him, and, 
 showing an uncomfortable surprise, stuttered out first 
 that his mistress was abed, and upon Cherwell's opening 
 his eyes at the table, that she was out, and would not yet 
 return. 
 
 "Oh," says my lord cheerfully, sitting down, "then 
 I will wait very patiently for her in this company, I 
 assure you." 
 
 The man withdrew at that, very much embarrassed, 
 and Cherwell was left to add up his own reflections 
 together. And first this was plain, that he was not 
 wanted at all, whereas there was some one more fortunate 
 to arrive. This conjecture tickled him not a little, and 
 (for he had known my lady well) he was resolved to 
 stay and put a jest on her. But while he was still in 
 these light considerations there was a soft footstep from 
 the room beyond, and, the tapestry being thrust aside,
 
 64 THE REBEL 
 
 the face of the girl, my lady's step-daughter, emerged 
 upon him. She stood, a tall figure, very slight and silent, 
 the colour springing in a spot upon each pale cheek, but 
 her eyes shining and her young body shaken with her 
 breathing. It was so she stood grasping the dull grey 
 hangings of the high room, apparelled in white, as for 
 some great occasion. My lord bowed low, gazing on 
 her with admiring eyes, but she, paying no heed, ad- 
 vanced and put her hand on his arm with a quick 
 motion. 
 
 " My lord," she whispered rapidly, " I owe you twice 
 already a deep debt. You seem predestined for my pre- 
 server. Yet I would not ask this if I had other help 
 available. But you come in the nick of time. You save 
 me. I accept the omen. I pray you, my lord, that you 
 will sup with my lady here this night." 
 
 Cherwell looked on her astonished, and then to the 
 table, where all the preparations for a delicate supper 
 were made. 
 
 " If my lady shall be so good as to give me the 
 hospitality," said he at last, still looking at her, " I 
 would sup with her with great delight ; and if my lady 
 hath a press of other matters, why it may be that I should 
 as justly sit here, your guest, young mistress." 
 
 " Yea ; my guest, my guest," she said, warm now 
 with her excitement, and nodding and nodding. Before 
 other words might pass, or Cherwell might understand 
 further, Lady Ellicott entered with a noise of skirts, and 
 came to a pause, looking out of her handsome, painted 
 eyes. 
 
 " 'Tis you," she said sharply, and bending her brows 
 on them.
 
 THE REBEL 65 
 
 " Madam," said Cherwell, " I have taken your 
 generosity by surprise." 
 
 " That is true indeed," said she tartly, and glancing 
 towards the girl. " I see that Alethea has been enter- 
 taining you. Take ye care, miss, of your reputation, 
 as this gentleman himself can give you warning." 
 
 " Madam," said he, " in your hands or mine her 
 reputation is beyond cavil." 
 
 She laughed shrilly at that. "If you put us on a 
 level," she said, " I should be ungracious to deny your 
 claim, knowing what I know." 
 
 " I know nothing," he answered, " save that here is a 
 very plentiful feast prepared for old friends." 
 
 That brought her to herself again, and she made a 
 silence, presently resuming in a new mood 
 
 " Well, well, my lord, your tongue will always be 
 running." 
 
 " And my appetite too," said he, smiling. 
 
 " Nay, nay," she cried, " you had never the stomach 
 of a fly. But since you speak so bravely you shall sup me 
 at the market this night, when the play is over. His 
 Majesty will be there." 
 
 Cherwell made a bow. " I have a fancy for these 
 viands," he said whimsically, waving a hand at the 
 table. 
 
 " These are not for you, my friend," she replied 
 lightly, " but for a discourse of idle misses, like Alethea 
 here." 
 
 Cherwell sat down. " Mistress Alethea shall bid me 
 welcome then," said he ; " for here I sit, and I beg that 
 she extend the invitation to us both." 
 
 The lady grew angry, as was plain in her face. She
 
 66 THE REBEL 
 
 tossed her head. " I will not have you here," she cried 
 shrilly. 
 
 " Indeed, madam," said the girl, stepping forward, and 
 speaking with a flutter. u But I have already invited my 
 lord." Lady Ellicott surveyed her, with her mouth shut 
 sharply, and glances passed between them, on the one side 
 threatening, but upon the other timorous and steadfast. 
 There was plainly some outbreak to follow, but ere it 
 could ensue the door was opened and a man entered the 
 room quietly. 
 
 Cherwell fell back a step in his surprise. It was the 
 Duke of York. 
 
 With that appearance the position began to assume a 
 new front for my lord ; in his quick way he put facts 
 together ; and, though he was still far from the bottom of 
 the mystery, he perceived very clearly what his course 
 should be. He remembered Talbot's saying, and at what 
 it hinted ; and thus, bearing the Duke no good-will from 
 the first, he looked at him now antagonistically. His 
 Highness was ill pleased to find some one there, and showed 
 his impatience in his first glance ; so that they all were 
 greatly deranged save Cherwell. He it was that spoke, 
 offering the Duke his welcome. 
 
 " I am bold enough to speak, sir, for this lady that has 
 lost her tongue," he said, most impudent, "and to greet 
 your Highness with this small ceremony. We are to be 
 set, it seems, with a parcel of misses, for the which I 
 profess an inordinate esteem, but little affection. I know 
 not your Highness's tastes." 
 
 The Duke smiled, his mouth relaxing as though he 
 considered to himself that there was no great difficulty 
 here, and that his suspicions had been at fault. He took
 
 THE REBEL 67 
 
 my lord for one deep in drink, as he might well have been 
 seeing the hour was so late ; and so he made answer 
 affably enough. 
 
 " One miss should suffice you, my lord," he said. " For 
 myself I am grown old enough to prefer a madam." 
 
 Says Cherwell quickly, " Nay, all your misses are 
 madams, 1 your Highness," and laughed merrily, at which 
 the Duke smiled very sourly. 
 
 Lady Ellicott, seeing the turn that events were taking, 
 grew more amiable, and beamed upon Cherwell ; striving 
 to draw him into a passage of arms. But it was all in 
 vain. He fenced with her, sure enough, but back he 
 would come to the Duke with his sallies and his sharp 
 tongue, as obstinate as a man might be. Among other 
 things, and chief of his offences, he feigned to suppose the 
 Duke was come for Lady Ellicott, and took possession 
 himself of Mistress Alethea debonairly. He made it 
 appear that he was acting very discreetly towards his 
 Highness in removing the maid, and conducted himself at 
 the supper in a most hilarious manner, till my lady cried 
 out with impatience on him, and the Duke whispered to 
 her with a black face. But all the while the girl sate with 
 her head averted, or gazing into her plate, her colour 
 changing, and sighing a little at times. She was grave as 
 a statue, paying no heed either to Cherwell or his High- 
 ness. Thus did this uncomfortable supper proceed, with 
 those three uneasy persons, and my lord playing his part 
 
 1 This small jest ol Lord Cherwell's had reference to a double 
 signification of the words "miss" and "madam" in those days. 
 In one sense " miss " was used of a young girl, but not yet as a 
 prefix to the name, and " madam " of an adult woman, but there 
 was a less complimentary meaning to both words ED.
 
 68 THE REBEL 
 
 with huge enjoyment, until presently the Duke lost 
 patience, and he rose. 
 
 " Your tongue wags away, my lord," said he sharply. 
 " You would make a poor conspirator, I think." 
 
 My lord came to a pause, and glanced from beneath 
 his brows at him. 
 
 " My voice," says he in a slower way, " is more danger- 
 ous than another man's silence, your Highness." 
 
 The Duke winced, for he must have had a suspicion 
 that there was more in this night than he had fancied. 
 He bowed. 
 
 " Then what a peril must lie in your silence ! " he 
 sneered. 
 
 " My silence, sir," says Cherwell, flashing his violet 
 eyes on him, for it ran into his whimsical brain that he 
 was hereby challenged, " My silence, sir, is not perilous 
 but fatal." 
 
 " Captain Bobadil, Captain Bobadil ! " murmured the 
 Duke with a smile, and indeed my lord had been betrayed 
 into a foolish temper, and his Highness had the better of 
 him, which sent off the one in a renewed good-humour. 
 But when the door was closed on him my lady turned to 
 her step-daughter. 
 
 " Get ye to bed," she cried angrily, and, the girl being 
 gone without a word, she fell upon Cherwell like a fish- 
 wife, calling him frankly a damnable marplot, and abusing 
 him with many ugly terms. 
 
 Cherwell waited until her breath was out, smiling 
 gently at her. 
 
 " It seems," says he, "that we are all become conspirators 
 now, and I have spoiled some sport." 
 
 " Out of devilishness, out of wantonness f " she cried.
 
 THE REBEL 69 
 
 " You would make the child her Highness's woman ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " I take thought for her future," she answered, watch- 
 ing him suspiciously. 
 
 " Aye," he said, " you would raise her very high, as I 
 see. You are a pearl of mothers to her, and disregard 
 yourself." 
 
 She tapped her fan impatiently upon her knee, and said 
 she sullenly, " My lord, you will observe that you have 
 outstayed your welcome." 
 
 " My hostess being gone to bed," he answered, rising. 
 " You are very right." 
 
 He walked to the door with a bow, and she followed 
 him, putting a hand on his sleeve. 
 
 " You have done me an injury," she said angrily, " and 
 I will not pardon you for it." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. "I am a clumsy fellow," 
 he said. 
 
 " What profit have you in this frustration ? " asked 
 Lady Ellicott more pleasantly. " 'Tis but a whim that 
 cankers in your head. You aim at nothing." 
 
 He laughed a little at that, for in truth he knew not 
 why he had interfered in this business. 
 
 "Go, run away," she went on with an echo of his 
 laugh, and tapping him gently with her fen. " You have 
 been rogue enough for a night." 
 
 " I will cross you yet," said he gaily, and got forth into 
 the night, smiling cheerfully, and in a very contented 
 mind. 
 
 He entered the park by the great gates, and, as he did 
 so, a figure stole out of the shadows and ran across to him. 
 He paused.
 
 70 THE REBEL 
 
 " Who is this ? " he asked sharply. 
 
 " 'Tis I," said a voice that he knew. " 'Tis Alethea 
 Ellicott." 
 
 " Mistress, you are late afield," said Cherwell, won- 
 dering. 
 
 " I have something to say ; I would talk a little with 
 you, my lord," said she quickly. 
 
 He led the way into the park, and they came into a 
 place of trees near by where the King was used to wander. 
 Here he stopped, and looked into her face, which was 
 faintly visible in the starlight. 
 
 " Now," says my lord. " What is this mystery ? "
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 WHY MY LADY ELLICOTT PUT OFF HER JOURNEY 
 
 " MY lord," said she in a soft and distant voice that she 
 ever had, " my lord, I am still a trouble dragging on your 
 heels. 'Tis you that have saved me ! " 
 
 " What piece of a play have we here ? " said Cherwell 
 lightly. 
 
 " 'Tis no play," she cried, " but a very cruel story." 
 
 " You are misused ? " said he. 
 
 " I would ask you to believe that," she cried. " Were 
 there any help for me out of my friends and neighbours 
 should I stand here, begging of your pity ? It is by that 
 desperate act you shall measure my straits." 
 
 " You shall beg no pity in vain," cried my lord quickly. 
 " Come ; Lady Ellicott destines you for a place you like 
 not." 
 
 "She uses me abominably, me that am my father's 
 child," said she. 
 
 " And yet," said Cherwell, " 'tis a place of honour, as 
 they say, to be lady to the Duchess." 
 
 She started, and her voice rang a little hard. " My 
 lord, let me not mince this matter with you. We shall 
 not mistake for the lack of plain words together. But 'tis 
 
 7'
 
 72 THE REBEL 
 
 for you to give me audience. I will cease prating if you 
 are weary, and care no more to hear a heart-sick girl." 
 
 " Nay, nay," he said, " speak on." 
 
 " I have the honour to please the Duke," said she, her 
 voice breaking with her anger and her tears. " 'Tis to be 
 his mistress that is the privilege to which they urge me. 
 He hath set his eyes on me with favour, and I am his 
 handmaiden to be beat or broken, evilly entreated or 
 loaded with toys." 
 
 " 'Tis Lady Ellicott that presses you ? " asked 
 Cherwell. 
 
 " 'Tis she," cried the girl, " 'tis she and no other she 
 that should have stood between me and these affronts. 
 My father raised her to his bed, and for long years he 
 suffered her gently. An ill wife she was to him, my 
 lord ; yet how does she now repay upon the daughter 
 what offices she denied also to the father ? Look you ; 
 she would push me to be an evil woman, and see me 
 wanton. ' 'Tis an honour,' she cries, c and there is not 
 one in these realms but would gladly undertake it.' 
 Nay, but there is one, and that one here," and she set her 
 restless hands upon her bosom. 
 
 " My lord," she said, clearly, " I do desire you to 
 do me this right. In your eyes there is, it may be, no 
 dishonour thus. Believe me different, for I am an Ellicott, 
 and no trinket for princes to wear and discard. The 
 King hath many friends, they say, among the ladies of the 
 Court ; I will not grudge that his brother also should have. 
 But not I not I I that am but a girl, my lord, and am 
 so importuned daily to my shame." 
 
 She ceased from her quick and trembling speech, and 
 Cherwell stood silent for a time. He had seen overmuch
 
 THE REBEL 73 
 
 of Courts and fine ladies, yet these phrases were full of 
 sincerity, and he saw that she was rebellious against the 
 fortune that was promised her. He heard the ring of 
 truth, and said he presently, "You were better out of 
 London town, madam, and clear of these Courts." 
 
 " Aye, I distaste them," she said vehemently. " Indeed, 
 but I could love the town and the gaiety, but I must wed 
 the country ; there is no other refuge left me." 
 
 " What ! " he said, " where are your friends ? " 
 
 " My friends are they that would drive me on, my 
 lord," she answered. " My father is dead 'tis five years 
 gone ; and I am in the charge of Lady Ellicott. There 
 is no help that I can call to me. I may not shield myself 
 with any buckler. I have held my peace. It ill becomes 
 one of my father's blood to publish thus the humiliation in 
 which she lives. Think on it, my lord. There is why I 
 have uttered no word till now ; but I am broken," she 
 cried. " I have endured too much ; I totter upon the 
 verge, and there are no hands but yours to help me." 
 
 <c I will help thee, child," said Cherwell softly ; and then, 
 " why doth she press this upon you ? " 
 
 The girl shook her head. " I know not ; she deems it 
 an honour. But also she is of a seething ambition. She 
 is my mistress till I marry." 
 
 " Marry ! " said he ; " why then she holds your fortune." 
 
 " She is my guardian by my father's will," said she. 
 
 Cherwell uttered a cry, for he was impatient to hear of 
 such base selfishness. 
 
 " But what then does she practise upon you to serve 
 her ends ? " he asked. 
 
 "My lord, there are shameful things, and not to be 
 spoken," she replied in a lower voice. " His Highness was
 
 74 THE REBEL 
 
 come to-night. Yea, but there is worse. I was discarded 
 in the streets that night, I that am helpless." 
 
 " What ! Of a set purpose was this done ? " he asked 
 in his amazement. 
 
 "'Twas so, as I believe," she answered, "and I was 
 pursued by men. Why, my lord, d'ye suppose that those 
 five fellows sought me out ? I pray I do none a wrong, 
 but I have been persecuted in divers ways, and here also 
 I see the hand of my lady." 
 
 " The foul woman, the evil woman ! " he repeated in a 
 low voice. 
 
 " I stand, my lord, in this dangerous case," she went on 
 piteously, " and now here I lay all the pride of my house 
 before your feet." 
 
 " There shall none molest you again," cried my lord 
 angrily. 
 
 " To-morrow they would take me into the country," 
 she said. 
 
 " 'Tis well ; you would be safer there," he interposed. 
 
 " Yes, an it were for safety I was to be taken, I should 
 indeed be safer so," she answered ; " but 'tis a part of 
 their plot to undo me. My maid has learned their 
 machinations to-night, and 'twas that drove me out to 
 find you. My lord, they carry me from the town to- 
 morrow evening. 'Tis arranged how they will proceed. 
 My lady will set forth with me and her attendants for 
 Somersetshire, but it is not Somersetshire that we shall 
 reach. No, but our destination will be some place I 
 know not where ! " 
 
 " A house of the Duke ! " he cried. 
 
 She made no answer, but suddenly, cowering, pressed 
 against him with her arms about his shoulder.
 
 THE REBEL 75 
 
 "Who is that?" she cried. "Save me from him. 
 My lord, keep me from him." 
 
 My lord was aware then of a blacker shadow that 
 passed between the trees, and against the twilight. It 
 moved, lurched forward, and flitted into the night, and 
 as the figure vanished he recalled it. 'Twas that of the 
 lean shambling murderer, Fargus. He turned to the 
 girl that hung on him. 
 
 " What is it ? " he asked. " This knave shall not 
 harm you." 
 
 "'Twas he," she whispered, "'twas he that led the 
 scoundrels on that night." 
 
 " What ! " cried my lord, and drawing his sword. 
 
 But indeed the man had gone, and there was no 
 chance to find him in the darkness. He put up the 
 weapon slowly. 
 
 11 1 begin to see," says he softly, " I begin to see more 
 than I had thought." He led her gently from the 
 Park. "I will conduct you to your house," he said, 
 and they exchanged no further words until he had set 
 her before Lady Ellicott's door. Here he paused. 
 
 "Have no fear, mistress," he said. "None shall 
 trouble you further. They shall find you harder for 
 abduction than appears. But I must have the hour." 
 She gave it him. It was ten at night. He bade her 
 farewell. 
 
 " Maybe, you shall go not forth at all to-morrow," he 
 said with a laugh, and left her. 
 
 My lord had now a pretty clear vision of this plot, for 
 though he was not at all one given to ponder and suspect, 
 yet he came swiftly to conclusions, and sometimes errone- 
 ously, but oftener with a wonderful correctness. There
 
 j6 THE REBEL 
 
 was here but another example of the habit that was well 
 known of the Duke, who was, in truth, a more reckless 
 lover than his brother, though he hid it all under a 
 semblance of propriety and religion. These young eyes 
 had drawn his Highness, and the more he was resisted 
 the further he pressed. It appeared a shame unto 
 Cherwell that a young gentlewoman of such descent 
 should be so persecuted, and the news fanned the heat 
 of his blood against the Duke and that woman, Lady 
 Ellicott. He was resolved to hinder them, even if there 
 should be no other to come to his assistance, and this 
 temper of his must have been suspected by one or the 
 other of his antagonists. They knew him, both of them, 
 and had such an assurance of his recklessness that it was 
 deemed best to detach him. How much was known to 
 my Lady Ellicott of the talk in the Park I cannot say, 
 but the man Fargus was not there for nothing, and it 
 is certain that he carried back a report. This news, we 
 must suppose, reaches the Duke, and sets him frowning, 
 so that Talbot is chosen to intervene between the parties. 
 Talbot called at the hostelry where my lord and his 
 man lay the next afternoon, and offered an invitation to 
 sup. He was a cordial man and Cherwell liked him 
 well enough, so that he gladly accepted the hospitality, 
 and they sat together with two gentlemen of the Court 
 at a place called "The Pigeons." When supper was 
 gone Talbot was for dicing, and my lord did not refuse 
 him, nor the others, and during the course of the play 
 a vast amount of wine was drunk, and some French 
 brandy. 
 
 Says my lord to Ravel, his man, before he set forth 
 " Call me before ten of the clock, for I have business."
 
 THE REBEL 77 
 
 But after supper he had forgot this, and what with the 
 gaming was pleasantly engaged, so that Ravel, having 
 pushed his way in to him, found him mightily taken up, 
 and impatient of the interruption. 
 
 " What is it, rogue ? " said he. 
 
 " My lord, you have business," said Ravel. 
 
 " Business ! That he hath," cried Talbot, who had 
 drunk very deep. " He has the business to give me my 
 revenge this night." 
 
 " Away ! " says Cherwell, laughing. " D'ye hear ? 
 I need no reminder of what is due from me." 
 
 But Ravel kept his place, importuning him civilly. 
 
 " 'Twas your lordship's orders," he said. 
 
 " Shall his lordship give orders to himself? " asked one 
 of the others. "Then he is a braver man than most." 
 
 But Cherwell suddenly came to himself despite the 
 liquor he carried. 
 
 " I vow the rascal speaks truly," he said, and threw 
 down the dice. 
 
 " Fie ! " cried Talbot, " you forget yourself, my lord 
 Cherwell." 
 
 " Nay," says Cherwell shortly, " I have remembered 
 myself, and I wish you good evening." 
 
 Talbot sprang to the door noisily. " You shall not 
 go forth," said he, "till I have plucked you bare." 
 
 My lord grinned. " You shall pluck me to-morrow," 
 he answered. 
 
 " Tony, Tony," said Talbot, wagging his head, " if I 
 have to fight you, you shall keep this company to-night." 
 
 " Aye," said Cherwell, " I see you have your orders," 
 for of a sudden the understanding of the plot came to 
 him.
 
 78 THE REBEL 
 
 " Orders ! " cried Talbot in a fury. 
 
 " Your master commands," said Cherwcll ; " but he 
 commands not me." 
 
 " 'Sdeath ! " cried the other, " you shall bleed for this," 
 and would have flung himself on my lord. But the 
 others interfered. 
 
 " We will have no quarrel here," they said, and bade 
 Talbot put up his weapon. 
 
 " I will fight him now ! " he screamed in his rage. 
 
 "Give me a glass," says my lord, very cool, and 
 receiving a pint of wine, tossed it off, and with his eyes 
 flashing on Talbot, threw the dregs in his face. 
 
 "That will serve to keep you cold," he said coolly; 
 " you shall bubble over to-morrow," and, buckling up his 
 sword, marched to the door. 
 
 Upon that Talbot fell into a passion liker to that of a 
 devil than a man, and drew his weapon again, crying out 
 what he would accomplish, whereat the others, seeing 
 things were run so far, gave up and stood aside. But 
 indeed the man was in no state for passadoes, as my lord 
 very soon proved, for ere a dozen exchanges had been 
 made his weapon was flying, and he himself straddled 
 upon the floor. At which Cherwell put up his sword. 
 
 " 'Tis not seemly to draw on such as this," he said, 
 pointing at Talbot. " But he would have it." 
 
 Talbot swore an oath, and crawled to the door where 
 he strove to get upon his legs. 
 
 "Come, sir," said Cherwell, looking on one of the 
 gentlemen, " I may not lay my hands on him, as you 
 perceive." 
 
 He that was addressed stepped forward and pulled 
 Talbot aside from the door.
 
 THE REBEL 79 
 
 x 
 " Go your way, my lord," said he j " but you will 
 
 doubtless hear of this on the morrow." 
 
 " I ask no better," says Cherwell, and saying no more, 
 went out. 
 
 When he was got into the street the sharp air raised in 
 him quickly the fumes of the wine, and he strode like 
 one dazed, feeling for the first time the due effects of the 
 liquor. 
 
 " Why fetched you me out, rascal ? " said he to 
 Ravel. 
 
 " My lord, it was your orders that you had business," 
 said he. 
 
 " Business ! " quoth my lord, and stared, bemused, at 
 the lights. 
 
 " What's o'clock ? " he asked. 
 
 " 'Tis on the stroke of ten," says Ravel, and at that 
 word the bells began. 
 
 " By God ! " said Cherwell, and drawing his sword 
 again he fell to running in a mad fashion down by 
 Whitehall, with his naked blade before him. Ravel 
 followed after him, and thus they came at a great speed 
 to Lady Ellicott's house near the Park. Before the door 
 was drawn up a coach, and (says Ravel) my lord stayed 
 by the side of it, and knocked with his hilt on the window. 
 Then he looked in. 
 
 " Who is there here ? " he asked loudly, and the face 
 of one peered out at him. This he recognized for Grim- 
 shaw, the conspirator, and at the sight of him my lord 
 started. 
 
 " 'Tis you are in this ! " he cried. " Out, out, you 
 little rat ! " he called, and seizing him by the neckband 
 flung him forth upon the pavement ; which done, he ran
 
 8o THE REBEL 
 
 up the steps and knocked noisily upon the door of the 
 house. 
 
 In the same instant this was opened and Lady Ellicott 
 issued forth, robed as for a journey, and with a brace of 
 maids behind her. 
 
 " Who are you that makes this disturbance ? " she asked 
 shrilly. " My men shall trounce you soundly;" and then 
 the light falling on him, she knew who he was. She fell 
 very black of the brows, but my lord stood rocking upon 
 his feet, with his sword in his left hand. 
 
 " You shall take no journey to-night, madam," he 
 said. " I will have you to know that. 'Tis a cold night 
 for such as you, and I have a care for you. You shall go 
 not forth to-night, by God ! " 
 
 " You will stop me ! " cried she angrily. 
 
 " I have a care for your ladyship's health," he repeated. 
 u 'Tis delicate, 'tis very delicate," and he laughed a 
 little. 
 
 Then, says Ravel, Lady Ellicott grew red of the face 
 and made a step at him. 
 
 "You are drunken," she cried. "Stand back, you 
 drunken fool, and let me pass." 
 
 " Drunken," says my lord solemnly, " I may be, but 
 this blade hath tasted of nothing, and is athirst." 
 
 " You would draw on a woman, ye coward ! " she 
 screamed. 
 
 " Nay," says Cherwell, " 'tis a woman I defend," and, 
 swaying about, he peered through the open doorway for 
 sight of the girl Alethea. He saw naught behind but 
 the fluttered wenches and some varlets gathering together 
 at the sounds of that contention. 
 
 But Lady Ellicott, seeing that this abuse would serve
 
 THE REBEL 81 
 
 no end, turned and called upon them, desiring them 
 to put him forth out of her way. My lord laughed 
 gaily. 
 
 " Come Jerry, and Jack, and Will ! " he cries. 
 Suddenly, from where he stood by the coach, Ravel 
 saw a man making his way stealthily up the steps out of 
 the darkness and approaching Cherwell from behind. He 
 called on his master in alarm, bidding him beware; and 
 my lord, twisting about so quickly that he came near 
 falling headlong, arrested the fellow in the act to strike. 
 It was Fargus, as he recognized in the faint light. 
 
 " Your good acquaintance, Mr. Murders," he said 
 lightly, and ran him through the shoulder, so that he fell 
 with a howl of rage and pain into the street. 
 
 " You consort well, madam," says he ; " spies and 
 assassins ! By heaven, you have a choice palate." 
 
 " You have killed my servant ! " she cried furiously, 
 being now taken out of herself. 
 
 " Very well," says he ; " but I fear I have assoiled your 
 ladyship's eyes with blood. Come, close the door and 
 send 'em out to me one by one nay, all together," he 
 cried. 
 
 " You are he that slew Sir Jacob Janus," she sneered. 
 " As I would another that should come on such an 
 errand," said he. 
 
 There was a pause at this, and she, managing to contain 
 her anger, and no doubt contriving other schemes, looked 
 at him more quietly. 
 
 " Why do you this ? " she asked. 
 u I have a diligent interest in you," he replied easily, 
 " and the night is shrewd for a journey." 
 
 Again there was a pause. 
 
 G
 
 82 THE REBEL 
 
 " Come in, my lord," she said next, in a different voice. 
 " Come in, then, and you shall warm yourself otherwise 
 than upon my doorstep." 
 
 He bowed, and putting up his sword, entered the house, 
 vanishing from Ravel's sight. No sooner was he across 
 the threshold than his gaze alighted upon the girl, Alethea, 
 where she stood in the twilight, regarding him with 
 parted lips and a fuller colour. Lady Ellicott shut to 
 the door. 
 
 " I give you a good evening, mistress," said Cherwell, 
 bowing to the other. " Strip off that cloak, I pray you, 
 for 'tis no weather for maids to be abroad." 
 
 Lady Ellicott turned on him sharply, but she answered 
 nothing, and with a smiling face bade my lord advance to 
 the inner rooms. Here presently were set the three at a 
 table, and before a fire, the lady smiling widely and sim- 
 pering over wine, but seeming anxious to retain Mistress 
 Alethea's presence. She laid a bottle upon the board by 
 Cherwell's arm. 
 
 " Said I not I should warm you, my lord ? " she went 
 on. " 'Tis good for the stomach on a cold night. Of a 
 truth you said well, and stood against me properly. I am 
 too delicate to brave the raw winds, and Miss here is of 
 the same complexion. We will put off this journey to 
 a more favourable occasion. We thank you for your 
 jealous care of us." 
 
 My lord stared at her, giving a little awkward laugh, 
 for he was still fuddled of his wits. 
 
 " I have taken the leave to prick holes in a friend of 
 yours," he said. " There is one, Fargus " 
 
 " What know you of Fargus ? " she cried quickly, and 
 showing some consternation.
 
 THE REBEL 83 
 
 " I know that he is a rogue," said Cherwell, " and that 
 he hangs about your ladyship's house, together with a 
 gnawing rat named Grimshaw. There should be evidence 
 to hang 'em somewhere." 
 
 " Ah," says Lady Ellicott, " you have met Grimshaw. 
 He is one that advises me in my estates. I know not this 
 Fargus." 
 
 "Sure," says my lord, "you shall know him not for 
 the future, an I lay my hands on him. Tut, madam ! 
 'Tis plain what all this signifies, and whose creatures are 
 these." 
 
 She cast a vicious glance on her stepdaughter as upon 
 one that had betrayed her, but controlling herself, laughed 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " My lord, you have lost your manners which were 
 once too fine to refuse a lady's denial. This is a sorry 
 business to ply against me." 
 
 " It is so," he answered gravely, " and I would ask your 
 pardon. I will accept any words you may offer me, 
 madam ; nay, what you say is Gospel to me," and then 
 stared at her with a broad smile. 
 
 She was not disconcerted by this ironical assent, but 
 laughed again. 
 
 " Plenish your glass, my lord," said she, and would have 
 poured him wine from the bottle. 
 
 But my lord raised his hand suddenly, ceasing from his 
 grin, and, with a frowning brow, knocked the bottle from 
 the table, so that it fell, spilling the liquor at his feet. 
 Lady Ellicott started, and her face changed. Quickly 
 she abandoned all these pretences, but she showed no 
 anger, rather a greater coolness. 
 
 " 'Tis the hour for your bed," she said harshly to the
 
 84 THE REBEL 
 
 girl, who bowed low to my lord, and went. He followed 
 her with his eyes as though deliberating. 
 
 " Come, my lord," said Madam, u you are an ill com- 
 panion this night. There remains little of that fastidious 
 nobleman that was once a pattern of the Court," and she 
 looked at the bottle on the floor. He stooped, and lifting 
 the bottle set it upon the table, bottom upwards. 
 
 " 'Tis a late hour," said he quickly, " and not one when 
 I am used to be with women." 
 
 " Indeed," says she dryly, " I have had that same thought 
 myself." 
 
 " You would ask me to go ? " he inquired. 
 " Is not your business done ? " she demanded sharply. 
 He sate awhile silently. 
 
 " You will go to bed, madam ? " he asked of her 
 presently. 
 
 She flamed forth : " I shall go when I will," she cried. 
 " Heavens ! my lord, you have not that right upon me." 
 Cherwell rose. 
 
 " I ask your pardon," says he, bowing, " and I wish you 
 a good rest." 
 
 But she rose with him, examining his face curiously. 
 " Tell me, what is this object at which you aim ? " she 
 asked abruptly. 
 
 " Madam," he replied civilly, " it is one, I fear, you 
 would not apprehend." 
 
 " I suppose 'tis honour," she said, with a sneer, " or is it 
 that your heart is struck ? " He made no answer. " For 
 my lord Cherwell to become a spy upon a woman's 
 actions ! " she went on bitterly. " But I tell you that 
 'tis of no avail. I will do what I list." Still he offered 
 no reply, and she broke out with impatience
 
 THE REBEL 85 
 
 " Speak, my lord, what will ye gain by this ? " 
 
 " It seems," he said, with a smile, " that I shall gain 
 your anger." . 
 
 " Nay, I promise you more than that," she retorted. 
 
 " You will not give this up ? " he asked, after a pause in 
 which they faced each other mutely. 
 
 " Nay, that is the question I would put to you," she 
 returned. " Will ye stand aside ? " 
 
 " Madam, 'tis a narrow way," says he courteously, " and 
 there is no room to pass." 
 
 " Think you ? " she exclaimed earnestly. " D'ye 
 know what sort of enmity you will provoke ? " 
 
 " I have ever had enemies," he said, regarding her with 
 his stubborn look. 
 
 " But none perhaps so active," she rejoined ; "my lord, 
 you would imperil yourself, to embark in this encounter." 
 
 "Why, now you put me in spirit," he said lightly, "then 
 I shall have my whack at Fargus." 
 
 She threw up her hands. " I warn you, you shall be 
 overwhelmed, my lord," she said. 
 
 " Faith, madam, I like you in the prophetic," he said 
 easily, "'tis the sort of beauty that serves best the tragical." 
 
 She turned from him. 
 
 " I bid you good-night, my lord," she said, and swept 
 away abruptly.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 HOW MY LORD MADE AN OFFER AND WAS REFUSED 
 
 MY lord Cherwell stood now committed to a private 
 war, and one, as was soon plain, that should be conducted 
 by wicked and clandestine hands. The traitorous devices 
 of that woman, Ellicott, angered him, for all the pleasant 
 face he wore j and he grew into a very obstinate humour 
 the more so that he began to see what danger threatened 
 his friends. For the little Grimshaw that he had thrown 
 out of the carriage, together with Fargus and various 
 considerations in his mind, all took shape now into a 
 plot deeper than he had supposed. These fellows were 
 employed by the Duke, and must follow his Highness's 
 commands. He had seen them set to a use in the matter 
 of this girl, Alethea Ellicott ; and it startled him to 
 remember where he had first met the rascals. They 
 were plainly spies or the Duke, and upon that supposition 
 it was easy to see what they did with Lord Howard, 
 Hampden, Rumbold, and the others. Says Cherwell to 
 himself that this discovery meant ruin to one that he 
 esteemed, and he was not long ere he took the news to 
 Lord Russell. But by that time it was too late, and the 
 
 blow had been delivered. 
 
 86
 
 THE REBEL 87 
 
 It is no part of my task here to show forth the history 
 of what has come to be called the Rye House Plot. 
 Indeed the thing has crept into these pages rather by 
 accident, and because of the fortuitous meeting of my lord 
 and the girl by the wine-house. Yet the persons of 
 that infamous espial were by a chance those that pursued 
 the Duke's designs in the more private matter ; and so 
 far as there is mention of that Plot here, it will serve 
 to indicate the Duke's methods and the ends he aimed 
 at. Save in the imagination and the wild talk of Rum- 
 bold, West, and a few of that kidney, there was no 
 conspiracy at all, and certainly none that was aimed at 
 the Duke's death. The part my lords Russell and Essex, 
 together with Hampden and Sydney, had in it was merely 
 to think it better if the Duke might be superseded by 
 Monmouth or another. Even this desire was but a 
 thought domestic in their minds, or, at the most, debated 
 among themselves privately. There was no talk of action, 
 and it was the treachery of these spies that dragged them 
 wrongfully into the conspiracy, and sent them one by 
 one to the block. Essex, indeed, saved his head by con- 
 triving his own end, but the others perished on the 
 scaffold. 
 
 Yet through all this turmoil my lord walked secure, 
 and none laid hands upon him. It was known, of course, 
 that he was present at Shepherd's, and no testimony 
 would be lacking against him. Moreover, it might have 
 pleased the Duke thus to deliver himself from one that 
 threatened to become a trouble, and was at no time 
 favourable to him. Nevertheless, my lord passed un- 
 harmed, and he attributed this to the influence of the 
 King himself. Charles paid no heed to those that jogged
 
 88 THE REBEL 
 
 his elbow, if any jogged him now, and he welcomed 
 Cherwell with unusual warmth ; so that it was remarked 
 by a wit that the man who had fled the Court in a deep 
 disgrace for his association with those that were protecting 
 the King's life, was now honoured for keeping company 
 with those that would destroy it. The truth was that 
 Cherwell cared no whit for all these rumours which ran 
 about the town. The King stood by him, and he was 
 fond of the King ; but he would have recked nothing if 
 his Majesty had thrust him into the Tower along with 
 Russell. So those that knew him best believed, though 
 he said nothing, keeping merely an amiable and smiling 
 countenance, and cracking jokes with others about the 
 court. One day Sunderland was pressing Charles warmly 
 in my lord's presence, and urging him to vigorous acts in 
 punishment of the conspirators. This he did with a 
 sinister look to Cherwell, who stood idly playing with 
 his ruffles. 
 
 " What think you, my lord ? " says the King to 
 him. 
 
 " Of what, your Majesty ? " he asked. " I open no 
 ears to State secrets." 
 
 "Of this plot," said Charles, regarding him impas- 
 sively. 
 
 a What plot is there ? " says he. 
 
 " Why, a plot to depose a well-meaning man and set 
 a simpleton in his place," said the King. 
 
 " I have heard of no such plot, sire," says Cherwell 
 firmly, for Russell was then in prison, and he was impatient 
 of the rascally inventions of the informers. 
 
 " Oh," says Charles dryly, " well, I hear a great deal 
 of it," and then he turns to Sunderland, " No, I will go
 
 THE REBEL 89 
 
 no further," he said harshly. "Let James do what he 
 will," and he flung away, showing marks of irritation 
 such as were uncommon with him. 
 
 Indeed the King was looking ill at this time, and 
 carried himself with weariness, his dark complexion being 
 turned of a livid white. The Duke it was that was 
 active, and his exertions made the greater part of the 
 nation suspicious. Yet in the matter of his intrigue, 
 and the diabolic arrangement with Lady Ellicott, he did 
 not move. He was, no doubt, swayed by other and 
 deeper considerations at the moment, for the Plot gave 
 him a weapon for use against his enemies. Moreover, 
 a report of that adventure going abroad was quickly 
 current in the town, and soon the whole Court was full 
 of wagging heads. The direction of the Duke's heart 
 was known to all, and now enters this news about 
 Cherwell to spice the story. The particulars of the 
 scandal were repeated, and exaggerated in the repetition 
 into such extravagance that there remained hardly any 
 truth in the gossip. But this was known, that His 
 Highness and my lord were at a difference, and that so 
 far the advantage rested with the latter. In the face of 
 these tales it was not probable that a new attempt would 
 be made presently upon the girl ; yet Cherwell had 
 his watch-dogs, and notably his man, Ravel, the most 
 inquisitive lying fellow I ever saw, but showing silence 
 and affection towards his master. There was the less 
 likelihood that the Duke would stir against the girl 
 because of his brother's attitude. Charles befriended 
 Cherwell in this also, though not with explicit intention, 
 for it was said that he rated his Highness on the scandal 
 that was so bruited, telling him plainly that he needed to
 
 90 THE REBEL 
 
 husband his popularity, and that what he sought might be 
 found without trespassing in such quarters. 
 
 "Your Majesty, it seems, would have me pick a 
 mistress as carefully as a wife," said the Duke irritably. 
 
 " Nay, James," says the King mildly, " but more care- 
 fully, I think," at which the Duke flushed darkly, 
 remembering how his marriage with Anne Hyde came 
 about. 
 
 But whether this story be true or not, it is certain 
 that the Duke did nothing, and his creatures kept their 
 holes. The difference between Talbot and Cherwell was 
 composed without difficulty, and chiefly by the good- 
 humour of the former. Cherwell next day sent to him 
 with the word that he was at his command ; but Talbot, 
 shrugging his shoulders, smiled broadly, and says he to 
 Sir William Tarleton, that was the go-between 
 
 " This has rather the look of a challenge, sir. I would 
 beg to know of you out of what eyes my lord Cherwell 
 regards this." 
 
 Upon that Sir William told him that it was to offer 
 every opportunity to himself, should he be aggrieved. 
 
 Talbot tore up the letter laughingly, " Not I," says 
 he. " I went beyond my bottles, and that's the 
 truth." 
 
 Back goes Sir William carrying this message, and 
 presently returns with the news that the Earl of Cherwell 
 was delighted to hear that Mr. Talbot was drunken over- 
 night, and congratulated him on coming again to a con- 
 dition when he might use a rapier. At that Talbot 
 frowned, and 
 
 " This has an ugly appearance," he exclaimed ; but as 
 Sir William said nothing, he broke out again laughing,
 
 THE REBEL 91 
 
 and " No, I'm damned if I do," says he, " and you may 
 tell my lord that I would have had no hand in the game 
 had I known so much as is now public property." 
 
 With which sensible rejoinder to the menace, the affair 
 came to a term amiably enough. 
 
 But not so another dispute in which this scandal in- 
 volved him. There was at this time lingering at the 
 Court, the young Marquess of Hammond, the chief of 
 that Irish family, who, being used to scatter his life about 
 the capitals of Europe, had learned many foreign ways 
 and practices, the which, taken with his lively blood, com- 
 posed of him a pretty strange fellow. He had no bridle 
 upon his tongue, and lived a roystering reckless life, using 
 neither conscience nor decency. Yet by a chance my 
 lord grew to be familiar with him. It is possible that 
 he was drawn by some likeness in them both upon one 
 side. Yet of a truth there was little they had in common ; 
 for Cherwell, being quite as easily pricked by impulse and 
 passion, was yet by nature of a more delicate stomach, and 
 held himself very high. Still the two, oddly associated, 
 fell into an intimacy by the favour of certain similarities, 
 so that they came to call each other affectionately. But 
 as it happened, this Hammond spoke when others were 
 silent, as was wiser in them ; and he openly rallied Cher- 
 well upon the girl he had defended, adding some malod- 
 orous jests to season his talk. Upon this, my lord, who 
 was in a choleric mood, turned, and, lifting his hand, 
 struck him softly upon the mouth. 
 
 " My lord," he says, " there is a time when 'tis well 
 that you should constrain that bray of yours." 
 
 " What the devil mean you ? " cried the Marquess, 
 lugging at his sword, but not yet understanding if this was
 
 92 THE REBEL 
 
 a joke. My lord nodded to the others. " My friends keep 
 silence, as do those that love me not, but for another 
 reason. Indeed, I care not in which category you place 
 yourself, but by God, you shall hold your tongue," and 
 here he was broken forth at last, flashing his eyes upon 
 Hammond. 
 
 The Irishman spluttered and drew, and there was no 
 course possible now save to fight. The meeting was by 
 Lincoln Fields, and Lord Hammond, being cooler now 
 and his good-temper returning, sent word to Cherwell, 
 where he stood, begging to know in what relation he was 
 to the lady ; "For," says his second, "my lord Hammond 
 would do no wrong to no man, and if my lord Cherwell 
 should by chance have the right, my lord will put up his 
 sword." 
 
 " I have no right," says Cherwell, glittering with anger ; 
 " my will is my right, as my lord shall know, and every 
 huff in town." 
 
 This insolence sent the embassy away in a fury, and 
 the duel began. My lord pressed his antagonist hotly, but 
 he, using some foreign trick, pierced him through the 
 shoulder, and himself fell immediately on that, stricken 
 through the belly by a furious assault. Cherwell threw 
 down his rapier and went over to his enemy, his face 
 being now quite cold. 
 
 " You're not dead, Jack," says he, anxiously, and there- 
 upon my lord Hammond opened his eyes, and feebly 
 winked up at my lord. 
 
 " I have thrust you abominably cruel," says my lord. 
 " But by God, Jack, I have taught you a lesson not to 
 wag your dirty tongue." 
 
 " I would some one would learn you not to wag yours,"
 
 THE REBEL 93 
 
 says Hammond with a comical grin. " Look to your 
 wound," and groaned a little. 
 
 " Wound ! " says Cherwell in a surprise, and burst out 
 laughing, and flinging himself down upon the ground, 
 seized Hammond's hand and shook it. 
 
 " You're right, Jack," he cried, " I am no ranter," and 
 stood up again quickly. " I have done one thing that is 
 right, and now I will do another," he said, and began to 
 walk weakly away. But he had not gone very far ere he 
 reeled and came staggering backwards to the earth, where 
 he fell with a sound, calling upon his second, for his 
 wound was draining him sorely. 
 
 " Is that Tony come down ? " asked Hammond of the 
 surgeon, his eyes being closed. " I could ha' sworn I got 
 him. Damn him for a swaggering cheat ! " And that is 
 the true account of the duel between these two noblemen, 
 as I had it from the surgeon himself many years afterwards. 
 
 But my lord Cherwell was not disposed to lie abed in this 
 juncture, and, his wound proving less than was expected, 
 he dragged himself against his orders to the house of Lady 
 Ellicott. Here he encountered the lady herself, who 
 treated him in a very amiable fashion, as though she owed 
 him no grudge. Whereupon he taxed her bluntly with 
 dissimulation, and urged her to be honest. She laughed, 
 and demanded of him, why any man should put such a 
 foolish request to her, for she says : " If 'twas any but 
 you, my lord, I would put him with his face to the glass 
 to stare at his own image." 
 
 "You think me honest, then ? " says he, smiling. 
 
 " I think you innocent," she said. " You have no 
 right in this town. Get you back to Dulsiebridge, if it 
 be called so."
 
 94 THE REBEL 
 
 u Very well," said he, growing quiet, " 1 will, an I may 
 take what I wish with me." 
 
 What is that ? " she asked. 
 
 " Look you, madam," said he, paying no heed. " Why 
 will ye not give up this persecution ? " 
 
 " I have the girl's interest at heart, as you should 
 know," says Lady Ellicott, smiling on him from her 
 painted eyes. 
 
 " Be damned to that," said he ; " you expose her to 
 scandal." 
 
 " There is no success," says she, " without a scandal. 
 Lard, my fine Tony, you should remember that." 
 
 " I recall," said he sharply, " what befell a lady in the 
 year of our Lord 1677." 
 
 " Faith, you need not have the memory of an historian," 
 says she, ogling him. " But what you can recall placed a 
 lady very high." 
 
 " It was very scandalous," he said. " But come, I will 
 not have you do what you have set before yourself, and he 
 who says that is he who was there in that year you would 
 forget." 
 
 " There is no other would dare," she said, and smiled. 
 " But what right have you to contravene me, my lord ? " 
 
 He was silent a minute. " I will make my right," he 
 said. " It is for that I am come. None shall ask me so 
 again," and he pushed through to where he guessed that 
 the girl might be. She rose on his entrance, and set aside 
 her embroidery, starting forth to meet him very gladly a 
 slender body of due proportions, flushed to her eyes ; and 
 for a while she stood silent before him, in nothing like to 
 that pitiful woman that had entreated him a little time 
 before.
 
 THE REBEL 95 
 
 "Mistress," said my lord, bowing, but speaking very 
 quick, " I am come to put a question before you for your 
 answer." 
 
 " You shall have what answer I may make out of all 
 friendliness, my lord," quoth she, her breath flowing 
 faster. 
 
 " I would have you to marry me," says he plainly, and 
 he looked over his^shoulder to where her step-mother stood 
 by the doorway. 
 
 Mistress Alethea also followed his gaze, and the two of 
 them stared quietly on the woman. But she made no 
 movement at all, and returned their glances with equal 
 austerity. The girl came back now to his face, and she 
 gazed on him with a serious stillness. 
 
 " Why is it that you offer me this honour, my lord ? " 
 she said presently, speaking in her clear voice. " I am but 
 a child, of no account, and you are a great figure before 
 the world." 
 
 " Whatever figure I show before my fellows," says he, 
 with a bow, " that would you engross and magnify." 
 
 She was silent a moment. " I should do you a dis- 
 service to be united to you," she said. 
 
 " You would make me the envy of all eyes," he 
 returned. 
 
 " I should draw upon you an evil fortune," she 
 cried. 
 
 He tapped on his sword. " 'Tis with this that I should 
 stand between my wife and ill." 
 
 She averted her face from him. " I come of a name 
 that they would taint with dishonour," she said. 
 
 " 'Tis I that should protect you from that shame," he 
 said quickly, " as by God's grace I will," and once more
 
 96 THE REBEL 
 
 he looked upon the face of Lady Ellicott ; but she was 
 smiling. 
 
 " My lord," cried the girl of a sudden, and losing all her 
 calm, she showed the signals of embarrassment, " you press 
 me for what I may not." 
 
 " I press no lady," cried Cherwell. " But yet it is my 
 belief " 
 
 " Pray, my lord," she broke in with agitation, " give me 
 the liberty to hold my own belief. . . . Nay, you would 
 not compel me to this match ? " 
 
 She trembled a little, and my lord fell back crestfallen. 
 
 " Madam, you shall do what you will," he said. 
 
 " That is," said she quickly, " that I shall esteem you 
 all my life." 
 
 " Esteem is a wife's word," he said stubbornly. 
 
 " Wife's ? " she cried sharply. " Nay, it is but a poor 
 parson's phrase, my lord. 'Tis one of reverence and 
 authority. It is so I am situate towards you. Yet why 
 do you delay, my lord ? Ye have your answer." 
 
 She turned away, and then, swiftly turning again, and 
 as though the words overflowed upon her lips in a tide of 
 feeling : 
 
 " You plead in the name of love," she cried, " when it 
 is but your pity pricks you. I have asked once of your 
 pity, and may God befriend you for what you gave in your 
 compassion. Yet will I not again, nay, not even so much, 
 not even the much that is so greatly less than this. It 
 shames me." 
 
 My lord was silent for a time before this unexpected 
 passion ; and then : 
 
 " If I offer you what you wish not," he said, in a 
 lower voice, " at least, it is not my pity. See, press your
 
 THE REBEL 97 
 
 hand here," and he touched his shoulder ; " 'tis an open 
 wound your fingers touch." 
 She cried out sharply. 
 
 " Ah, madam," said he, " perchance it is I that ask 
 your pity." 
 
 " You shall have all that I may give you," she said, 
 keeping a hold upon herself. " Yet, my lord, I will not 
 have you so abused for one who is no kin. 'Tis those 
 wounds that shame me. They are not for me ; I admit 
 them not." 
 
 But here Lady Ellicott intervened, coming forward to 
 them. 
 
 "She says well, my lord," said she. " You are fetching 
 the girl's name into some scandal, and to be the talk of 
 the town about your quarrels; and what right have you?" 
 My lord drew away and bowed, and from where she 
 stood, with her own face lowered, Mistress Alethea could 
 see his violet eyes shining and glittering like steel daggers 
 pointed upwards. 
 
 " I am doubly rebuked," said he, speaking slowly, 
 through his fury, " and I would ask your pardon. But 
 you should fear not, for I vow to Heaven that when next 
 I fight or act, 'twill be with a coloured pretext. Ye shall 
 be no more alarmed." 
 
 The manner of his speech affected Lady Ellicott 
 strangely. 
 
 "What, you will still continue after this rebuff? " 
 she cried. " Have you not taken your discharge ? " 
 
 " Yea," he said abruptly, " I take it now," and with a 
 bow towards them both, he stalked from the room, 
 leaving Lady Ellicott staring after him in amazement 
 and alarm.
 
 98 THE REBEL 
 
 Indeed to them that knew him most deeply, it could 
 not appear possible that Cherwell would resign from the 
 struggle. He cared not one jot that the girl bade him 
 give up. Her refusal aggravated him rather, and he 
 swore that she should be rescued despite herself ; while 
 the opposition of Lady Ellicott threw him into a cold 
 and great resentment. My lord was like a dog that will 
 hang upon its quarry and worry at it ; he had struck his 
 fangs in this quarrel, and he was of a black and bitter 
 obstinacy. The very slowness with which this tardy 
 conflict grew and opened, and the tedium with which 
 it was spread over so long, animated him with stubborn 
 resolutions. It was of a piece with his unusual character 
 and the reckless hazards of his life. And the time was 
 soon come when he was plunged into the thick of action, 
 and when he was the less like to pause and consider and 
 turn from what he had laid before him ; for there was 
 none of that blood that ever lived to whom the prudence 
 of a retreat was possible. 
 
 It happened that not long afterwards there was a merry 
 party upon the water, dropping down from Whitehall. 
 The King was better of health, and he was fond of these 
 entertainments, so that he was accustomed to use his 
 barges once or twice in the summer. There was a great 
 assemblage present upon the river (so it is said), and 
 among others the Lady Castlemaine, who was the Duchess 
 of Cleveland, drifted down in a boat, very melancholy 
 and proud to see. It was a night of stark moonlight, 
 and the airs were blowing soft from the Pool, so that 
 with the lights and the lanthorns and the outcry of 
 voices it was a very joyous scene, such as those that have 
 witnessed the like have declared beyond rival. My lord
 
 THE REBEL 99 
 
 Cherwell, too, formed one of this gay company, and with 
 Sir Philip Beavis,went aground by the marshes of Lambeth, 
 the two being taken up with great merriment. But a 
 little way below Westminster Hall the boat, travelling 
 very briskly in the tide, struck another upon the counter, 
 the which impact sent Sir Philip into the bottom with 
 his legs sprawling. 
 
 " Get ye up ! " cried Cherwell, laughing to see this 
 fat fellow ; but with that, and in the act to play some 
 foolish trick, he stayed, and gazed upon the boat that 
 was now sheering off. 
 
 " By God ! " says he, " but there is something in that 
 appearance that I know," and, leaping into the prow, he 
 stared earnestly through the moonlight. 
 
 'Twas true enough ; for what he determined in the 
 distance was the form of Lady Ellicott, and he that 
 seemed to speak with her bore the air of the man 
 Grimshaw. 
 
 But he had no time to consider them, for Sir Philip, 
 rising with difficulty, fell back against the rowlocks of 
 that slender craft, which, being heavy on the top with a 
 raised poop and a company of people, rolled about and 
 discharged its burden into the water. Upon that there 
 was a great ado, and many voices cried out, until one by 
 one they were all fetched into safety ; but Lord Cherwell, 
 being pitched further into the river, came up to the 
 surface and struck forth for the lights. He had not gone 
 twenty paces when he was carried alongside a great 
 barge, burning with many lights ; and, clambering over 
 the side, he stepped aboard, all dripping. The first that 
 his eyes lighted upon was his Highness, who was talking 
 with a lady. She called out, laughing at this apparition ;
 
 ioo THE REBEL 
 
 but the Duke said nothing, and then (for he had the 
 manners of his family) : 
 
 " I bid you welcome, my lord," said he. " I see you 
 have been very merry." 
 
 My lord bowed. " I am no figure for your Highness's 
 company," he said, " and, if I have your Highness's leave, 
 I will step overboard once more." 
 
 " Nay," said James, " I will fetch you to shore." 
 
 My lord bit his lip, for he was angered to have 
 blundered upon such hospitality. 
 
 "If your Highness will bethink," he said quickly, " there 
 is that between us which should make this meeting 
 difficult." 
 
 " I know of nothing between us, my lord," said the 
 Duke with something of his brother's irony, " save a 
 few feet of distance which will preserve me from catching 
 cold." 
 
 My lord leaned against the verge. " As you will," 
 said he ; " your Highness is very generous. But indeed 
 it were better for you that I should drown." 
 
 " I pray you, my lord, to believe me more merciful," 
 said the Duke suavely ; and there was no other word said 
 until they came to the shore. 
 
 Here my lord offered his bow, and stepped forth, and 
 the barge put off down the river. My lord stood watching, 
 and as he has told me, he marked the great blue over- 
 arching heaven, that was bright and clear, stealing down 
 beyond the back of the river; and in the front the lighted 
 barge walk slowly into that empty vault. But then his 
 gaze turned upon James, and he watched him until the 
 boat became a twinkling of eyes upon the water. Then, 
 remembering his wet clothes, he went back to the hostel.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE ADVENTURE IN THE HOUSE 
 ON THE RIVER 
 
 MY lord Chcrwell was called forth in the middle of 
 play the next evening by his man, Ravel, that had been 
 appointed to keep watch upon Lady Ellicott's house. He 
 was gaming with the Marquess of Hammond, who was 
 now quite well of his wound, but threw down the dice 
 upon the alarm, his brows bent and his vision shifting at 
 the tale ; for Ravel had brought news from Westminster 
 that the girl was gone. This he had learned from the 
 wench who was used to attend upon Mistress Alethea, 
 and who was wringing of her hands (he said), and crying 
 she would never see her mistress again. 
 
 "Whither went Lady Ellicott to-day?" asked 
 Cherwell. 
 
 " Her ladyship is gone nowhither," answered Ravel. 
 " She sits at home, my lord, and vows her step-daughter 
 has gone upon a visit." 
 
 " What was there drove from the doors ? " demanded 
 my lord. 
 
 " There was nothing stayed before the house all day," 
 
 said Ravel. " That does the wench assure me." 
 
 101
 
 102 THE REBEL 
 
 " By which way then is she gone ? " he cried impa- 
 tiently. " You had my orders to watch." 
 
 " My lord," says Ravel humbly, " between three and the 
 dawn there was a boat put up the river, as I have 
 discovered, swinging out into the stream ; but who was 
 there I know not." 
 
 My lord rose, and uttered an oath. 
 
 " You must give me leave, Jack," said he, turning to 
 Hammond. 
 
 " Nay, by Heaven, but I will go with you," said the 
 Irishman, jumping to his feet ; and the two went out 
 together, followed by the man. 
 
 " Belike she is gone of her own will, Tony," said 
 Hammond. 
 
 " She shall go neither of her own will nor against it," 
 cried Cherwell sharply. " I have what I have at stake, 
 and, by God, I will hold to my word." 
 
 " Zounds, man," says the Marquess, " I'm with you, 
 for whatever it may be, and whatever the little wanton 
 desires." 
 
 But my lord heard nothing, only Ravel ; for he was 
 pushing fast for the river by Westminster. Below 
 Whitehall he came to a pause, and the clocks were then 
 striking eleven in a dark night, though the moon was 
 forecast on the golden margins of the city. 
 
 I was never able to hear by what means this small 
 company tracked a path upon the river. At Westminster 
 Ravel brought up the man that had seen the boat leave 
 the steps, and, learning its direction, Cherwell took another 
 and set off up the stream. They passed by the village of 
 Chelsea, and the marshes opposite, and by various direc- 
 tions were fetched up at last in Putney. Here at a little
 
 THE REBEL 103 
 
 villainous tavern my lord chanced upon a waterman, who 
 swore abominably and was very drunken, but recalled a 
 boat that fouled him in the early morning. This had 
 her nose laid up stream, and was making (so he declared) 
 for the bank above Fulham ; at which news Cherwcll 
 shoved off without a word, himself and Ravel pulling at 
 the oars. He ran the boat ashore and crept along the 
 edges of the land, examining every stage under the light 
 of the moon that was now rising. But presently 
 Hammond shivered, and, says he 
 
 " 'Tis cold work, Tony, and I could welcome a bottle 
 in my belly," with which, as Cherwell paid him no heed, 
 he rolled over, and cried he with his eyes set forward, 
 " Maybe the King will comfort us in our stomachs, an 
 we ask him." 
 
 " What say you ? " asked Cherwell, who had not heeded 
 him, but supposing he offered some guidance. 
 
 " Why, there," says he, pointing, " 'tis where they say 
 that Nell lay hid," and he gave her a merry ugly name, 
 laughing. 
 
 My lord stared across the rising bank where the lights 
 of the night were shining on a house among trees. 
 
 " What place is that ? " he asked sharply. 
 
 " 'Tis the palace of the king's doxy," l laughed 
 Hammond. 
 
 My lord said nothing, but thrust the nose of the boat 
 into the bank, and leaped out, climbing upon the muddy 
 ground. When he had reached the level of the em- 
 
 i It is probable that this house was that called " Craven 
 Cottage," by Fulham Palace, which was destroyed by fire 
 several years ago. EDITOR.
 
 104 THE REBEL 
 
 bankment he stood still and again stared towards the 
 house. It was of no great size, but builded very flat and 
 rambling, and with a number of broken angles ; so that 
 you could not determine at a glance what was the shape 
 of the architecture. The moon shone on the windows that 
 fronted the river, but it seemed to Cherwell that he could 
 see a light also glinting from the panes. About him 
 the embankment was very rudely made, and at high tides 
 the water was used to come breaking through the gaps, 
 and flooding the lower parts of the garden. 
 
 My lord was now satisfied that he had come to his 
 destination, and he was for examining the house to see 
 what advantages it should offer. For if the girl were 
 fetched anywhither, she was surely hurried to this place 
 that had been the King's own privy refuge. Moreover, 
 it lay most convenient to the Duke's hand, being so nigh 
 town, and yet amazingly secluded. So, bidding Hammond 
 to wait, he stepped down into the garden and picked his 
 way towards the cottage. 
 
 There were several doors into the house, which, save 
 for the one side towards the river, was dark and silent. 
 But from above, behind those brightened windows, flowed 
 a gentle humming noise, as it were of some one singing 
 softly or of a child crooning for itself. For the first time now 
 was Cherwell staggered, not knowing whence this sound 
 could come, and thinking it to be incongruous with what 
 he expected from that secret house. He went carefully 
 about, therefore, scrutinizing all things lest he should be 
 trespassing upon some innocent person. Yet finding 
 nothing to direct him one way or another he was at a 
 loss, and in some hopelessness he began to conceive a new 
 plan, and climbing upon the eaves by one low angle of the
 
 THE REBEL 105 
 
 cottage he got into a sheltered corner, between two walls, 
 where the darkness clung. Then he lay still for a space 
 of time, until hearing the noise of music once more, 
 and now breaking clearer, he felt about him through the 
 blackness, and discovered a barred window. The iron of 
 which this was wrought he managed to so dispose that he 
 crept through ; for he was resolved to put it to the test if 
 this was really some private dwelling-house. But no 
 sooner was he entered by the window than in getting to 
 the floor beyond he stumbled, and endeavouring to recall 
 his weight, pitched headlong through a black arras and 
 into the open light of a chamber. 
 
 There was a cry greeted him in this fall, and when 
 he had struggled upon his legs, he saw before him in the 
 corner of the room a woman of a young and vivid face, and 
 mighty handsome to the eyes, staring at him in affright. 
 She was concealed in a great and delicate robe, such as 
 women wear in their private closets, but she had the full 
 figure of a high dame, and a sparkling look beneath her 
 terror ; and she sate, bent forward easily in her round 
 chair, the strings of a lute silent under her ringers. But 
 presently, as they two exchanged glances, she started, and 
 drew up her body, her lute falling to the floor. 
 
 " Pray what do you here ? " she asked in a high 
 voice. 
 
 But Cherwell being set aback by this discovery, was 
 for a moment speechless, and then said he with a bow 
 
 " Indeed, madam, but I should have wondered myself 
 until this instant, when I cannot doubt." 
 
 " What mean you, sir ? " she demanded with asperity, 
 but no longer with fear in her appearance. 
 
 " Why," he said, " I who am a blunderer have now
 
 io6 THE REBEL 
 
 come by a mission j " for in a flash he had considered 
 that he was mistaken after all ; and he threw aside his 
 errand promptly and was falling into a new pose. 
 
 The lady smiled. " But that tells me not what you 
 do in my chamber," she said, speaking with a little lisp. 
 
 " Why," said my lord impudently, " that you should 
 know even better than I, madam." 
 
 This time she laughed aloud, and strummed upon her 
 lute, making a little pleasing melody. She had a lan- 
 guorous air, and her face looked mischief at him. 
 
 " You come for audience to my silly strains ? " she 
 said. "You do me honour. Heard you me from the 
 river ? " 
 
 " Nay, from the woods in which the nightingales are 
 singing, yet none so sweetly as this, I vow," said Cherwell 
 lightly. 
 
 "You pay me court like a devout lover," says the 
 lady, nodding at' him, " but I beg you to press me not. 
 It is Sappho and not some easy goddess that you en- 
 counter." 
 
 "Indeed," said Cherwell in the same gay tone, "I 
 should be content with Sappho, who is of a sufficient 
 laxness." 
 
 The lady laughed outright, and stood up tall and 
 straight before him, showing more clearly of what an 
 agreeable figure she was and how her face was handsome. 
 
 "You do very well for a stray thief wandering out 
 of the night," she said. 
 
 " I would be a thief, an I dared," he answered. 
 
 For an instant she gazed on him out of her volup- 
 tuous and slow-moving eyes, and then she said quickly 
 
 " 'Tis not the first time, my lord."
 
 THE REBEL 107 
 
 " What," he cried, leaping forward a little, " you know 
 me ? " and examined her keenly. 
 
 She turned of a pink colour. " Have I shot well ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Ah," says my lord, letting fall his glance, " I know 
 you now, fair lady. Pray pardon me that I was so blind, 
 and remember only that I was so disordered by you. You 
 are Lady Katharine Roodhousc, that was lady to her 
 Highness." 
 
 " I am glad to have pricked your memory, my lord," 
 she cried pleasantly, and not at all embarrassed now. 
 
 " Yea, I have read those pretty verses of Carinthia," 
 he said ; " I vow ye're our English Sappho truly. There 
 is none plucks such honeyed notes upon the instruments. 
 But I have trespassed upon your austere solitude, and I 
 will withdraw by your leave. 'Tis a proper bower for a 
 muse to lie alone." 
 
 She gazed at him curiously, with her teeth resting lightly 
 on her full underlip, and of a sudden there rose voices 
 from the room beyond. My lord moved to this door. 
 
 " Nay, I have held you too long, madam," he said, but 
 she moved to him in her stately manner. 
 
 "You may not pass that way," she cried, displaying 
 some agitation. 
 
 Cherwell smiled, as a mask smiles. "'Tis not your 
 privy room ? " he asked. " Nay, for 'tis a man's voice I 
 hear, madam, which would make the thought impossible. 
 But sure, if 'tis your closet I will break in and thrust the 
 wretch forth." 
 
 At this she was silent a moment, and then she made a 
 gesture with her hands, and, as if dismissing him to what 
 he would, returned to her chair, and took up her lute.
 
 io8 THE REBEL 
 
 "I cannot bar your way, my lord," she said calmly, 
 " and I swear that I have no desire to. Get you on to 
 what you will." 
 
 Cherwell bowed 3 and opening the door without a word 
 stepped forth. Thus was he come into a narrow passage 
 that was quite dark, but led him on before a door whence 
 a shaft of light issued. And here he stopped. There 
 was still a mingling of voices, and he seemed now to 
 catch one that was a woman's, but the thrumming of the 
 Lady Katharine's lute confused his ears. So presently he 
 rapped boldly, and upon that the voices ceased ; and at 
 once he pushed open the door and entered. 
 
 Though the chamber into which he had trespassed was 
 ill-lighted he could see very plainly all that he desired, 
 and it was upon James, Duke of York, that his gaze fell. 
 He had expected this, and showed no surprise in the 
 survey. Not so his Highness, who stared in anger and 
 dismay upon him, and put out a hand to pull the bell- 
 rope by him, but suddenly refrained. 
 
 "What means this unexpected irruption, my lord ? " 
 he asked haughtily. " What errand brings you to disturb 
 me without orders ? " 
 
 " You will pardon me," said Cherwell very coolly and 
 very civilly, "but I was unaware of your Highness's 
 presence here. Else, surely I had not so blundered." 
 
 The Duke looked at him in some perplexity, for no 
 doubt he had expected another tone. 
 
 " 'Tis well, my lord," he said presently, " and hav- 
 ing discovered my presence, you will, no doubt, with- 
 draw." 
 
 "Your Highness," said Cherwell with his very grand 
 bow, and appearing most humble, " I have indeed to crave
 
 THE REBEL 109 
 
 your forgiveness for a great liberty, but I deemed you lay 
 in the Town. And I was led hither tracking of a girl 
 that 
 
 " My lord " broke in the Duke, turning colour. 
 
 " Nay, nay, your Highness, hear me," said my lord 
 quickly ; " 'tis ill in me to trouble you with these trivial 
 matters of my person, and you so late and tired as I make 
 no doubt. Yet if your Highness will but hear me, it 
 may be you would set in excuse of my gross trespass, a 
 passion such as I can plead." 
 
 " What is it you would say, my lord ? " said the Duke, 
 showing his wonder on his face. 
 
 "Why, your Highness, there is an uncommon little 
 madam that I have cherished. 'Tis a deep affair, your 
 Highness, and the witch has fled me, and I pursued, till 
 she vanished into this refuge, presto, like a flame." 
 
 " What jest is this ? " cried the Duke, furious. 
 
 My lord bowed. 
 
 " 'Tis no jest to me," he said ; " the wench has sought 
 shelter doubtless in your High ness's kitchen." 
 
 He met the Duke's gaze, and his own was cool, yet 
 glancing ; but his Highness's was disturbed and doubtful. 
 Then the Duke spoke. 
 
 " You must be aware, my lord, that a refuge is sacred," 
 he said sardonically. 
 
 " I do not ask your Highness to give her up, but only 
 that I may speak with her. Perchance," he added, c< I 
 may persuade her yet." 
 
 There was a stillness fell between them, while the 
 Duke examined my lord from under his lowered brows. 
 They had spoken under a disguise, and each knew well 
 what the other intended. Then said his Highness
 
 no THE REBEL 
 
 " You are at liberty to search my kitchens for this light- 
 o'-love, my lord." 
 
 " Ah," says Cherwell softly, " I have put you about 
 too gravely, and I will not longer. But your Highness 
 shall give me your word that there is none such har- 
 bouring in this house." 
 
 " I know nought of what kitchen-maids may do," says 
 the Duke with an ironic smile. 
 
 " Then with your Highness's permission I will begin 
 here," says Cherwell quickly, and, whipping out his 
 sword, goes tapping of the oaken panels round the room. 
 
 This sudden act fell as a surprise to the Duke, for he 
 frowned and appeared to be discomposed. Yet the play 
 had been so conducted between them that he dared not 
 interpose with any grace ; and for a time he stood 
 watching my lord's movements without any sign other 
 than his unpleasant emotions upon his face. Then with 
 a satanic smile he stepped to the door. 
 
 " I will leave you to your task of love, my lord," he 
 said, and closed the door behind him. 
 
 Cherwell came to a stop on the instant, and would have 
 run abruptly from the room, for it was no part of his 
 design to lose sight of the Prince. But as his hands 
 touched the knob, the door opened of itself and there 
 stood before him the lady Katharine Roodhouse. 
 
 "I have heard that you were a bold man, my lord," 
 she said, " but I knew not how bold." 
 
 " I am bold enough even to brave your anger, madam," 
 he said, and would have thrust her aside impatiently. 
 But she laughed. 
 
 " Tell me," she said, " is it such an ardent passion 
 burns you to set you on ? "
 
 THE REBEL in 
 
 " Madam," said Cherwell, examining her with curi- 
 osity, " it is an affair of politics which even the dalliance 
 of a fine lady may not postpone." 
 
 " Oh lord," she cried elegantly, " you point at me, but 
 I am sunk in my verses. There is my only devotion." 
 
 "There are many that lament that," returned Cherwell, 
 " for what is a gain to Art is also a loss to Love." 
 
 " Fie ! " she cried. " Your lordship is a bad man, to 
 jest upon such holy matters. For what is love ? 'Tis 
 Art that is eternal, and he that wins her must be cir- 
 cumscript by a thousand laws of allegiance." 
 
 11 Alas ! " said Cherwell, " I have no chance then save 
 to win a mortal love." 
 
 She laughed softly, and turned towards the door. 
 
 " 'Tis high policy that brings you here, my lord ? " she 
 said ; " I am not one (a poor woman of some taste) to 
 oppose high policies. Indeed, if my little skill might aid it 
 should be given." And as she opened the door she said in 
 a lower voice " You may solve your policy in the tenth 
 panel from this door," and laughing low she vanished. 
 
 But my lord sprang forward, and eagerly set forth to 
 count upon the oak, until reaching the place he pressed 
 and pulled, so that two lengths of panel at last gave way 
 and disclosed a tall slim passage, the width and the height 
 of a man. Into this hole he leapt, and pulling back the 
 panels stepped into the blackness of a descending stairway. 
 
 The staircase took him downwards between two 
 wooden walls, and presently a turn brought him with a 
 blow against an obstacle. This, by groping with his 
 fingers, he made out to be a door, and discovering a 
 handle, he turned it, and so came forth into the moon- 
 light. He now perceived that he was without the house,
 
 ii2 THE REBEL 
 
 and that the garden was before him. He ran again up 
 the stairway, stumbling in the darkness, but the panels 
 would not yield from that side, lacking the proper spring ; 
 so that he was driven back into the garden and knew that 
 he was tricked, cursing the woman for her double words. 
 
 " By God," said my lord, " but I will have 'em yet, if 
 I burn these rats out," and he set off down the garden 
 towards the river. 
 
 As he sped he caught the glimpse of a figure among 
 the trees and called to it in a sharp voice : " Jack, Jack," 
 and " Ravel, Ravel " ; but the shadow was gone, and he 
 ran forward. As he passed under a heavy clump of lilac 
 bushes he thought he heard some one coming upon him, 
 and, supposing this might be one of those that were in 
 the boat, he stopped and turned quickly. In that instant 
 he was aware of a tall figure that stood over him, and a 
 hand that reached for his heart. My lord fell at the 
 stroke, and recognized the man in the moonlight. It 
 was Fargus the assassin. 
 
 A little after Lord Hammond with Ravel, having 
 heard the calling of their names, came upon my lord 
 where he lay in the bushes, and plucked him out. The 
 movement brought him to his wits again, and he looked 
 at them both. 
 
 " What is it ? " cried the Marquess, " are ye hurt ? " 
 But Ravel shed tears. 
 
 "'Tis the second time," said Cherwell, not heeding 
 them at all. " The second time, by Heaven." 
 
 "You are struck," said Hammond, examining him. 
 " Whom met you at the house ? " 
 
 " I have been in the gracious company of his Highness 
 the Duke," said Cherwell grimly.
 
 THE REBEL 113 
 
 Hammond stood up. 
 
 " By God ! " he cried, " this is a dirty piece of work 
 for a Prince, by God it is." 
 
 " Ah, you know not the Stewarts," says Cherwell with 
 a little laugh. 
 
 Hammond said nothing in answer, but picking him up 
 (for he was the bigger man) walked to the river, and 
 dropped him in the boat. This done he and Ravel set 
 to the oars. My lord lay in the bottom of the boat, and 
 it is likely that he went off insensible ; but presently he 
 awoke, and drew himself up into a posture of sitting. 
 
 " Tony, what do you ?" asked Hammond in a warning 
 voice. " You have two wounds, you fool." 
 
 " Nay," says Cherwell, " I am most fortunate. There 
 is now but one. The rogue has struck but upon your 
 track, Hammond." 
 
 Hammond was silent for a while, being somewhat 
 sobered ; then he spoke. 
 
 " He hath set his mind to this, Tony," said he. " Let 
 him have his fling. It is ill to cross the heir presumptive. 
 I am no friend to his Highness, though he be of my 
 own way of religion. Yet he will be King. I care for 
 little, as none knows better than yourself, but I see no 
 advantage to be taken in such a game. You have not 
 even the lady at stake." 
 
 Cherwell said nothing immediately, but he addressed 
 Ravel soon. 
 
 " Bind up this scratch, Ravel rogue," said he, " it 
 bleeds. Jack, ye may go to the Devil ! " And he said 
 no more, but, his wound being cared for rudely, so they 
 dropped down the river to Charing Cross.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 HOW MY LORD RODE TO DURCOMBE, AND OF THE 
 COMPANY THERE 
 
 THIS affair by the river, though my lord spoke not of 
 it, leaked out through Lord Hammond, who plied a free 
 and violent tongue. So much so that it soon became as 
 familiar in the Town as that other story of the stopping 
 of the coach, and with the same result. The Duke, who 
 had not realized the man, it is certain, was alarmed by 
 my lord's insistence, and the news of the attempt upon 
 him caused him to grow more uneasy. It may be that 
 he was not connected with the assault, for Fargus was 
 bold villain enough of himself, and indeed it is thought he 
 knew nothing of it, but that the matter was quite of an 
 accident. Yet the increasing reports of his conduct made 
 him more prudent, and the next day he was back at the 
 Court, where he stayed for some weeks apparently 
 undisturbed, and without any design. 
 
 My lord Cherwell, meanwhile, lay abed with his 
 wound, saying nothing on the subject, but talking and 
 jesting with his friends. He inquired of them the news 
 of the Town, and was cheered by their tales of some new 
 
 scandal or another. But there was not one dared touch 
 
 114
 
 THE REBEL 115 
 
 upon the business that my lord had in hand, for his look 
 was a menace when any approached that mark. So he 
 lay and talked and grew well. But upon the morning of 
 the day he was suffered to get about he bade Ravel 
 prepare him horses. 
 
 The man was in an alarm, fearing what he intended, 
 and being anxious for the wound. But Cherwell put him 
 aside curtly, and the horses were fetched, with a coach. 
 Ravel had not held his tongue, and it was noised abroad 
 that Cherwell was departing upon a journey, which 
 brought several, and amongst them his physician, to his 
 doors. The physician remonstrated with him on his 
 folly, saying that he had only suffered him to stir about, 
 and no more. 
 
 "You may not take so much strain upon you, my 
 lord," he pleaded. " You must not think of a journey to 
 Dulsiebridge." 
 
 " I am thinking of no such journey," said Cherwell 
 briefly. 
 
 " Whither go you then, Tony ? " asked Lord Ham- 
 mond, who was there. 
 
 "I have a little business in Somersetshire," says my 
 lord slowly, "and it will not wait." 
 
 Upon that Hammond made a wry face and lifted his 
 brows, but the physician still urged him not to budge. 
 
 " It would be your death," he said. 
 
 " My death it shall not be, though I will not promise 
 that some other shall not die of it," says Cherwell grin- 
 ning. He would listen to no argument, and set off the 
 same afternoon, meaning to lie some distance upon the 
 Bath road. They were scarce on their way when 
 Ravel, who was riding with the postilion, was astonished
 
 n6 THE REBEL 
 
 by a command to halt, and getting down came to his 
 master. 
 
 " Whose house is that ? " asked Cherwell, looking at a 
 great place before which they were pausing. Ravel 
 shook his head and called on the postilion, and presently 
 some one cried out that it was Sir William Roodhouse's. 
 
 " I thought so," said Cherwell. " Give me an arm," 
 and he alighted from the coach, and went into the 
 house. 
 
 He was in a great fury, but seeming calm, as he was 
 used to seem, and he demanded to see the Lady Katharine 
 Roodhouse. It appears that there was no difficulty set 
 in his way, and, on the contrary, the lady gladly received 
 him. 
 
 " I have come to you, yet again uninvited, madam," he 
 said, "and on the eve of a departure." 
 
 " You go to the country ? " she asked, looking out on 
 the coach. " But what of your wound, my lord ? " 
 
 " Wound ! " he said ; " I have no wound, your lady- 
 ship, save what I take at your eyes." 
 
 "Oh indeed," she said, smiling on him. "And yet 
 you would run away." 
 
 "I am not of a sufficient hardihood," he answered. 
 " I lay claim to some resolution and a right good courage, 
 like any man of honour. But I cannot stand before 
 secret enemies. Madam, your eyes assassinate ; they 
 burn me like twin daggers in my back. I confront them 
 so, and they will do me no harm, being meek and shining 
 and brimming with fine feeling. No sooner am I turned 
 than they leap forth upon me, and stab and strike. 'Tis 
 a clandestine warfare I dare not meet. I am not ashamed 
 to run from those traitor eyes."
 
 THE REBEL 117 
 
 Lady Katharine showed a little colour, and she 
 answered nothing for a moment. She saw at once to 
 what he was pointing, and when she spoke it was with 
 greater seriousness and some impatience. 
 
 " You would seek to charge me with that act, my 
 lord," she said. " You wrong me. I am not guilty of 
 anything save of a desire to save you from a folly. You 
 would pursue what you had best give up. It is a course 
 that brings no profit, but only danger ; and I would have 
 sent you out into the free and open night rather than 
 have you linger within peril." 
 
 He bowed. " Your consideration touches me nearly," 
 he said. "'Tis a pity I took nothing but a wound from 
 it." 
 
 The lady frowned angrily, and then, her expression 
 changing, laughed lightly over her whole handsome face. 
 
 11 Wound ! " she cried. " What wound have you ? " 
 echoing his own words. 
 
 Cherwell bowed gravely. "Why, that from your 
 eyes, as I have said," he said very swiftly. 
 
 She regarded him with admiring eyes, as though she 
 would espy what he was contemplating, but he went on. 
 
 " I am come to bid you good-bye, fleeing from those 
 eyes," he said in a voice that was something mocking. 
 
 " Whither go you ? " she asked in another tone. 
 
 " My health is none so sound ; I must be for airing 
 it," he returned. 
 
 " Lard ! " she said, seating herself with a graceful 
 motion. "'Tis ill to live so gaily. 'Tis a hard sub- 
 sistence, this fighting and this roystering." 
 
 She put out a hand and drew to her a most elegant 
 silver-piece, toying with it. But my lord bowed only,
 
 n8 THE REBEL 
 
 and limped to the door. There her glance challenged 
 him, yet he made no sign. 
 
 " Yea, madam," he said, smiling, " your eyes arc 
 Italianate bravos, as I swear." 
 
 " You will find they know their purpose, my lord," 
 she cried after him merrily, as he went forth. 
 
 Yet what design he had in thus visiting so dangerous 
 a woman was only in my lord's intelligence. He was 
 aware of her repute, that it was most hazardous, she being 
 a handsome tall woman of a most lively manner, and 
 wedded to an honest dull fellow. There were tales of 
 her when she was in her Highness's service, but owing 
 to his absence abroad Cherwell had seen her but once or 
 so. She was considered a clever creature, but had the 
 smallest ambition, and the easiest good-nature. By which 
 reason she took more thought to her pleasure than to her 
 advancement, and was content to be what men believed 
 her. Yet with all this she had the greatest delicacy of 
 taste, and would shrink from the vulgar, delighting in 
 beautiful and rare things, such as abounded in her house. 
 She came of a wealthy family, moreover, and her husband 
 had been some two years in France upon the King's 
 business, though it was whispered that he went also in 
 the Duke's interest, his Highness being desirous of 
 cultivating her attentions. 
 
 Cherwell got forth into his coach again, and it is odds 
 but he was enlivened by this encounter, for he had a gay 
 temper at the bottom. He lay that night near Windsor, 
 and pushed on the next day towards the west. The 
 third day after he left London he passed through Dulsie- 
 bridge, being sighted first by one of his men who was 
 harrowing in the Great Acre. This fellow ran back to
 
 THE REBEL 119 
 
 the house, giving tongue to his news, and since the 
 road curved a great deal in its passage to the Park, the 
 information reached me, who was then at Heriot Deane, 
 or ever my lord came up before the doors. But he 
 made no pause nor any sign of staying, though it was 
 some four years since he had been there. Instead he 
 bade me come with him in the sharpest voice, and almost 
 without a greeting. 
 
 " Is that you, Hilary ? " he says, seeing me in the 
 twilight of the hall. " There is a seat in my coach 
 there, which you would very well fill. Come ; I can 
 tarry ten minutes." 
 
 But when I protested, being more amazed than vexed 
 at him, he laughed. 
 
 " I'm on a journey to gather what is owed me," he 
 said. " Damn me, Hilary, but that should please your 
 stingy soul." 
 
 The jest was rude enough, but it was by these signs 
 I saw that some serious matter was afoot, and presently 
 consented without more pleas. So that within half-an- 
 hour the coach was galloping for the west again, with 
 a new passenger. 
 
 It was during that journey I got such information, 
 scattered in pieces and given in fits of talking, as enabled 
 me first to get some inkling of the business on which my 
 lord rode. To me it seemed a mad design, and what 
 I could that I did, if by any chance I might avert him. 
 Yet, knowing the man, I had little hope, and I accom- 
 panied him with some fears and not a little curiosity as 
 to what would issue. As it happened there was little of 
 interest that befel for some time, and I shall pass over 
 the events of the next few weeks as lightly as is neces-
 
 120 THE REBEL 
 
 sary. My lord reached the village of Durcombe in the 
 Quantocks on a Sunday night, and put up in the inn, 
 having left his coach at Bath, and gone forward in the 
 saddle. The house of the Ellicotts stood a mile or more 
 from here, and was named after the village. It was a 
 great wandering pack of buildings which Sir Ralph 
 Ellicott, Knight Banneret, had reared in the reign of 
 King Henry. By the side of this, and within striking 
 distance, so to say, my lord sate him down, for all the 
 world like a hound with his head on his paws, to watch. 
 He made no movement, and never once visited the 
 House, though it was spread abroad at once that he was 
 near. He behaved very delicately, giving not a hint of 
 his intentions, but rising early, and supping and talking 
 and drinking with such company as offered. The temper 
 of that countryside was strained and near to cracking. 
 The King himself was unpopular, and his brother more 
 so, and they that frequented the inn spoke much of the 
 succession. This was the district that afterwards came 
 to be such a mark for Lord Jefferies, when the rising 
 under Monmouth had been put down; and the gentry 
 hereabouts were even now disaffected, and anxious. 
 They feared the King's death, lest a worse evil should 
 visit them, and they held their narrow notions strenu- 
 ously, debating of the matter together. Cherwell was 
 most a listener, for he loved not to talk except in fits; 
 but they were eager to gather knowledge from him and 
 what he thought of the Duke. 
 
 " 'Tis a curse," said he loudly, " that we must have 
 such a one on the top of the King, to rule us," and 
 when he was more than commonly excited, he cried, 
 " There is the devil in these Stewarts," which cry,
 
 THE REBEL 121 
 
 though it startled those that heard it, drew him into 
 popular favour. In truth my lord had the trick of win- 
 ning friends wherever he went, and he was a favourite in 
 those country parts ; so that he found his time pleasantly 
 engaged. But all the while he withheld himself from 
 Durcombe Manor, where a party was now gathered, very 
 merry, as we heard. 
 
 Lady Ellicott had taken alarm, like the Duke himself, 
 at that affair in the riverside cottage, and I suppose to 
 both it had seemed wiser to desist yet a little longer. 
 At any rate while James went into the Town, it was 
 stated that she had set forth with her step-daughter for 
 Durcombe, where she would remain for some time in 
 retirement. This news it was that had brought my 
 lord down to the Quantocks, who suspected more than 
 he heard, and knew that what might happen would be 
 worse even than his suspicions. Lady Ellicott and her 
 step-daughter were at Durcombe Manor, and the former 
 had gotten some of her lively friends about her, to cheer 
 her in the seclusion she detested. But it was not till 
 after a week that Cherwell met her, and then it was of 
 an accident. He made her a grave salute, and would 
 have passed on, but she stayed him. 
 
 " What do you here, my lord ? " she called with a 
 sneer. "'Tis a fine act, sure, to prejudice so the fair 
 name of a poor girl." 
 
 " Madam," says he politely, " I am here upon my 
 health. I had the mischance to be cut about in a dis- 
 reputable brawl of which you will not have heard. And 
 this air incites me. I have my hopes that it shall bring 
 such warmth and colour to my face as it has already 
 done upon your ladyship's."
 
 122 THE REBEL 
 
 Lady Ellicott flushed even through her paint a deeper 
 red. 
 
 "Sir, if there was any one by he would learn you ," 
 
 she began ; but he, as if he heard nothing of this, looked 
 at the girl, Alethea, who was with her. 
 
 " Is this your daughter, madam ? " said he. " Faith, 
 I knew not you had one of such a length. Her legs 
 belie her age, I'll swear." 
 
 At that the girl's cheeks also were stained with her 
 agitation, but Lady Ellicott broke out furiously 
 
 " My lord rogue," she cried, " you think you have 
 
 a pretty wit, you ; but, Gads my life, you , you shall 
 
 suffer for this. You foul toad, to empty your insolence 
 upon honourable blood ! Get you gone, or I will have 
 you beaten from the valley. What are you but spy and 
 sneaking turncoat ? " 
 
 My lord bowed and left her, smiling to himself, to 
 have provoked her so ; but of the offence unto Mistress 
 Alethea, or if there were any offence, he thought not 
 at all. 
 
 Yet Lady Ellicott was too cunning a woman for all her 
 shrewish violence not to perceive that she had made a 
 mistake. And the next time they encountered she wore 
 quite another habit. Indeed, I think that she had thrown 
 herself out of the way to meet him again. For she was 
 all smiles, and invited him warmly to the house, declar- 
 ing he should find good company, such as he was used to 
 love. 
 
 My lord showed towards her an equal good temper, 
 smiling and simpering and feigning that they had just 
 met ; and vowing with all the marks of chagrin that he 
 would have desired nothing more than to be happy in that
 
 THE REBEL 123 
 
 company, but that he had a press of business of great 
 urgency. 
 
 "'Slife, there can be nothing of such instancy to come 
 between us," says her ladyship, after the most fashionable 
 manner, and ogling him. 
 
 " Nay, madam," he said, for he had not forgot what 
 promise he had made as to the pretences under which 
 these proceedings should hereafter march, " nay, madam," 
 he said, " but it is a most secret deadly matter, upon the 
 which I must hold the tongue. But let me whisper that 
 I am in a plot," says he, " and one that shall fetch down 
 your high princes to the humbling earth. Hark ye, 
 madam, but you shall yet watch the face of this kingdom 
 change and falter." 
 
 She stared at him, as though in some alarm, and as if 
 considering whether he had kept his wits or not. But 
 seeing something in his countenance that told her, she 
 frowned, and turned aside. 
 
 " As you will," she said ; " but you shall miss good 
 play and pretty faces, which you once admired." 
 
 " Madam, I am admiring only of your skill," he 
 answered, " your tierce and your quarte, and your careful 
 eyes. But if you will pardon me I am due among my 
 conspirators, where we are to discuss a mighty problem. 
 I will bid you now farewell." 
 
 He got himself off, leaving me there with the lady, who 
 took her defeat very well. She laughed, and met me with 
 good humour, whatever she felt in her heart. 
 
 " Sir," she said, " there goes a madman. But you, I 
 vow, are no such zealot to refuse a handsome entertain- 
 ment," and added thereto a gracious invitation. 
 
 What she wanted of me I could not guess, but I know
 
 J24 THE REBEL 
 
 very well that she did not ply so gently for nothing. Yet 
 out of a curiosity and a desire to see how things stood, I 
 accepted the hospitality of Durcombe Manor, and was 
 there to sup that very evening. The house stood upon a 
 decline of the hills, and the pleasure gardens, of an Italian 
 character, stretched across the valley, set in a thickly 
 wooded park. There was a mob of guests, very noisy, 
 and gaming lasted until late at night. I had not yet set 
 eyes upon the girl, but I was fated, not only to do so now, 
 but to engage in speech with her. I wearied of the tables 
 (for I am no gamester) and went forth, driven in some 
 part by the loose words that began to go about regarding 
 my lord. These it had been foolish to take offence at, 
 but they were still improper to hear and be silent. For 
 he was called what he doubtless appeared to all men, and 
 was riddled with sallies for a ridiculous meddler. 
 
 "'Tis no business of mine," says one man, who was 
 Lord Bohun, " I have no taste for such meek wenches, 
 but his Highness is another. And if Cherwell will not 
 bite, why, he must needs leave the way open to others," 
 and he concluded with a foul phrase about Lady Ellicott. 
 
 This was the temper of these fellows, nor was there one 
 word in respect of the girl herself. It was considered, you 
 would suppose, that the honour was a high one, or at 
 least that no woman would be found to refuse it. It was 
 my lord, and how he appeared, that they discussed. And 
 this it was that sent me from the company and into the 
 presence of the very girl that they ignored. She was 
 walking in the formal garden under the high moon, late 
 as it was, and seemed to show no fears for herself. I 
 judged her at once to be she that was the cause of all this 
 trouble, and, the light being very clear upon her, her
 
 THE REBEL 125 
 
 singular beauty stood out very bright. My lord spoke 
 nothing of how she looked, but indeed it was easy to see 
 whence the Duke's fascination came, and I have not seen 
 any woman of that time of such a brilliant loveliness. 
 
 I think she must have known me as I knew her, for 
 she came forward willingly, as if she thought I had a 
 message, but paused and stood, embarrassed. 
 
 " I am Sir Hilary Mace," said I with a bow, " and I 
 have ventured here to breathe an airing this hot night." 
 
 She acknowledged my salutation, and for a moment 
 lingered, as if in indecision. Then, apparently, upon an 
 impulse 
 
 " If you are he," she said, " will you carry one word for 
 me to one of whom you know ? " 
 
 " I am here for no other purpose," I told her, supposing 
 that she was to make an appeal to Cher well. 
 
 " I have learned what has happened," she said quickly, 
 and with signs of agitation. u He is marked out for 
 death, if he should carry out this generosity which he 
 plans for me. I will not that he runs that risk. He has 
 been assailed, and yet he continues. But he will be 
 assailed again, and then he shall not continue any longer. 
 I know there is a deep conspiracy about me, sir, yet he 
 can avail me nothing. I am resigned, and I trust I keep 
 a patient heart." 
 
 " You would have him give up ? " I asked in surprise. 
 
 " I would have him return to Town," she answered. 
 "What reason is there that he should be dragged into 
 this quarrel ? It will be his death, for there are villainous 
 men." 
 
 " Do I say to him that you yield, madam ? " I asked. 
 
 She hesitated a moment ; then, " I require not his aid,"
 
 126 THE REBEL 
 
 she said in a trembling voice. " Perchance the Duke may 
 prove merciful, when he knows all. They say his heart 
 is set. Yet this is but a poor body. They have dragged 
 my father's name in the dust ; that shall suffice. I will 
 not have another's blood upon my unhappy head." 
 
 I pitied her who was thus reluctant ; a mere quavering 
 girl, to oppose the will of princes. 
 
 " Is there none to save you from this sacrifice ? " I 
 asked. She shook her head. 
 
 "It may be that I can save myself," she said, "and 
 that the sacrifice that is asked of me shall be less than 
 that which is now in question. I will face what I 
 must face alone." 
 
 I bowed ; for I had a thought what she meant, and 
 that she signified her death. " I will deliver your message," 
 I said. " But those who know my lord should know you 
 ask in vain." 
 
 " What is that ? " she asked. 
 
 " Why," said I, " he has sworn that his Highness shall 
 not have you, whether you be fain or not, and nothing 
 shall turn him, not even your own plea. It is I, his 
 cousin, that promise you so. Look you, madam," said I, 
 pointing down the valley, " there lies a watch-dog whom 
 no threats can avert, and no prayers melt. For good or 
 ill there is he set, with his eyes upon your door. And 
 when you are retired into your chamber upon the Tower, 
 and 'are crept in terror to your bed, with but your thin 
 white vail and fallen hair to shield this delicate body, 
 yonder, you shall remember, rest those eyes that watch 
 and guard you ; for there is none that may turn my lord 
 Cherwell from the purpose he hath declared no, not 
 though he rose from the dead."
 
 THE REBEL 127 
 
 She stared at me as I said this, and her breath came 
 faster, her bosom rising and her eyes glowing in the 
 moonlight j and when I ended she gave a little sigh, and 
 fell back. 
 
 "Then is he allotted to Death," she murmured, and so 
 turned and left me.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 OF THE ENCOUNTER UPON THE TAUNTON ROAD 
 
 IT is certain that no authority would now have availed 
 against my lord Cherwell's determination ; nay, and no 
 persuasion. That which I told this girl was true in each 
 particular, and she would not have moved him with her 
 voice, to budge one foot from his designs. Yet of these 
 he spoke never, and had taken me into his secrets but 
 little, conducting himself in the inn like any lazy fellow 
 who had no business in hand. Indeed it was but my 
 affection for him, and a fear of his rashness, that kept 
 me in that distant place, with nothing to do save to talk 
 and ride about the countryside. I delivered him the 
 message, notwithstanding, and when he heard it, he smiled 
 but made no answer. He heeded it as little as if it had 
 been the wind biting at his face, or a puddle of water 
 through which he stepped ; he noticed it and no more. 
 Yet what good he was to get by this perilous affair was 
 more than I could see, and I doubt if he himself had any 
 clearer thought than to sit, waiting on a chance. But 
 the chance came, though he could not have known for 
 sure whether Lady Ellicott proposed any treachery or not. 
 
 There came to the inn at Durcombe, when we had 
 128
 
 THE REBEL 129 
 
 been there for a week or more, a fellow that called himself 
 Westmacott, and said that he was from Exeter. He 
 was a little dark eager man with a composed face and a 
 quick way, and it seemed that, like us, he had nothing to 
 do but to walk and stare in the sun. There was a great 
 room in the inn, with a deep fire-corner, and huge black 
 beams crossing in the ceiling. This served us at once 
 as a dining-hall, and a place to sit and muse ; and this 
 Westmacott kept us company. The innkeeper would 
 have separated us, being mighty respectful, but my lord 
 would not suffer it, and beckoned the man to him. 
 
 "Let this gentleman's supper be set where he will," 
 he commanded. "This is a land where as yet a man 
 shall have what he pays for." 
 
 Westmacott thanked him civilly, but I saw that he 
 shot at him a sharp and curious glance, and as though 
 he would have spoken on that opinion. Yet he did not, 
 and, truly, for all my lord's gracious interference, I do 
 not recall that he paid him any further attention during 
 the evening. He spoke very frankly and openly with 
 me, but he ignored the man who, by his own orders, so 
 to speak, had been set opposite to him, and who, I could 
 perceive, was watching him very keenly out of his busy 
 eyes. I doubt if Cherwell rightly was conscious of him, 
 for he had a strange power of self-absorption, and he 
 disdained to heed what did not interest him. 
 
 Westmacott, however, was not put about by this 
 silence, and pushed himself even nearer during the next 
 few days. My lord had this habit of indifference to the 
 company in which he sat, but he had also periods of 
 affability in which he condescended. And it happened 
 that he sometimes spoke with the other, though it had
 
 130 THE REBEL 
 
 not crossed his mind to guess or speculate upon him. 
 Westmacott had an inquisitive nose, and was very quiet, 
 listening without any appearance of so doing. Now and 
 then he would thrust in a word, but usually in good 
 season, and such as drew some answer from Cherwell. 
 For the most part he wore the look to me of one who 
 was waiting. It was not until we had been in Durcombe 
 for a fortnight that he broke this custom, and we learned 
 what manner of man he was. It was Ravel brought it 
 about, or rather the news that Ravel had fetched. For 
 we were supping in the great room when the fellow 
 broke in, and, addressing his master, begged to have 
 speech. Cherwell walked aside, and what he heard 
 sentj him back to the table, whence Westmacott was 
 eyeing him. My lord's eyes were glowing, but he 
 helped himself to wine ere he spoke. 
 
 " Hilary," said he, not guarding his voice at all, " there 
 is an attempt to be made. The Instrument is come." 
 
 I, having no notion of his meaning, looked at him 
 inquiringly, but he went on. 
 
 "That damned rogue Grimshaw is here. Ravel has 
 seen him ; and he is not used to be where no carrion is." 
 
 I glanced at Westmacott, who made a feint of being 
 occupied with something else. 
 
 " Hush," said I, " we may discuss this afterwards ! " 
 
 But Cherwell paid me no heed. 
 
 " By God," he said, slamming down his glass upon the 
 table, u it will be odd but I shall be even with this 
 James Stuart." 
 
 At the words, which were reckless beyond his custom, 
 the eyes of that other went up, and gazed briskly and 
 with a certain shining eagerness upon my lord.
 
 THE REBEL 131 
 
 " You speak of the Duke of York ? " he asked in a 
 low voice. Cherwell looked at him, as though he saw 
 him not. 
 
 " 'Tis of the Duke of York you speak, my lord ? " 
 repeated Westmacott in warmer tones. 
 
 " The Duke ! " says Cherwell, who was still swinging 
 on his emotions, "aye, the Duke," and appeared to muse, 
 without ever heeding the interruption of this man. 
 
 But Westmacott rose quickly to his feet, and stepping 
 to the door closed and locked it ; after which he came 
 back to where my lord sate, still wrapped in his thoughts. 
 
 " My lord," he said in a clear voice, but speaking low, 
 " you are the Earl of Cherwell." 
 
 My lord looked up, and, recognizing that he was 
 addressed, smiled and raised his glass. 
 
 " To your good health, Mr. Waistcoat," he said, not 
 remembering his name. 
 
 "My lord," said Westmacott, "you are the Earl of 
 Cherwell, I think." 
 
 My lord, now aroused, stared on him curiously. 
 " What of that ? " said he sharply. 
 
 But Westmacott's eyes were burning brightly. " You 
 were of those that followed Lord Shaftesbury," he said. 
 Cherwell nodded. " And you had the ear of the Duke 
 of Mon mouth ? " pursued the fellow. 
 
 " It seems I am reputed afar off," said Cherwell with 
 a grin. 
 
 "Your lordship," said Westmacott in a tone even 
 lower, "was in the plot of the Rye House." 
 
 " That was I not," said Cherwell, laughing, " though 
 some good friends of mine have paid the penalty." 
 
 Westmacott sat down, and rested his elbows on the
 
 132 THE REBEL 
 
 table, not noticing this rejoinder. He was another man, 
 and I think that Cherwell took an interest in him for the 
 first time. 
 
 " What are you ? " said he bluntly. 
 
 " My lord," said the other, speaking fast but quietly, 
 " I am from Taunton, where I have a business, and I 
 deal with Bristol and with Plymouth both. These 
 concerns I have abandoned these six days to have speech 
 with you." 
 
 " Why, what the devil have we here ? " cries Cherwell. 
 
 " I know your history, my lord," went on Westmacott, 
 "and what way your affections lie. You may be plain 
 with me, who have always leaned that way. 'Tis the 
 Succession perplexes you, is't not ? You are here of a 
 purpose." 
 
 " Aye," says my lord more slowly, " I am here of a 
 purpose, for sure. Proceed, sir." 
 
 " And I am here to aid you," said the man with an air 
 of triumph. " See ye here, my lord. There was news 
 brought of your tarrying here, and with what reason ? 
 They that knew of what you had done and wherefore 
 you had suffered, guessed to what purpose you were 
 here. To that cause, my lord, I have used my life and 
 what wealth God has granted unto me ; and in the name 
 of this poor country and her trampled freedom I am come 
 to greet you, my lord." 
 
 He held out a hand, his eyes brighter with feeling, and 
 Cherwell took it. 
 
 " By the Lord," said he, " you are an honest man, sir." 
 
 "The Duke," says Westmacott, "is a curse upon this 
 land." 
 
 u I have no cause to bless him," says Cherwell, dryly.
 
 THE REBEL 133 
 
 " 'Tis in your hands, my lord, to throw him down, to 
 detrude him," cries the little man in his excitement. 
 
 Cherwell frowned, and regarded him for a moment 
 intently. 
 
 " I think you speak well," said he slowly, " I am no 
 lover of James Stuart." 
 
 I plucked his arm, for, in truth, I was alarmed at the 
 course of his talk, and I distrusted it. " Anthony," I 
 said, "Anthony, have a care." 
 
 But he twitched me off with a gesture of impatience. 
 
 " I am in a way to strike a blow at James Stuart this 
 very hour, sir," says he, with the glitter of his violet eyes 
 I knew so well. 
 
 Westmacott sank back, his features composing them- 
 selves into a look of contentment. " I knew it," said he, 
 ** I divined so much. Your lordship comes in the nick 
 of time. The hour strikes for you," and he glanced at 
 me with interrogation. 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders. " You must not make me 
 party to these designs," I said coldly, " and my lord does 
 but jest " 
 
 "Jest ! " said my lord, interposing angrily, " God's body, 
 is there one to say I jest because I have said what I would ? 
 You had better leave us, Sir Hilary. This gentleman 
 and I have some private business together, of which you 
 were safest to know nothing." 
 
 Westmacott beamed over his dark red face, but I, being 
 now as angry as my lord himself, and with better reason, 
 took him at his word and left the room. What fell 
 between them I know not, as I was too indignant at the 
 time to inquire, having no patience with the business ; 
 and afterwards it was too late. Yet whether this whim-
 
 i 3 4 THE REBEL 
 
 sical opposition of Cherwell's would have passed like many 
 another fit before, and he would have ceased to talk 
 treason, I cannot guess. His mind was on a poise, and 
 must be directed in this flight or that by circumstances. 
 But the events of the next week sent him bodily over the 
 margin, and from talking rebellion he came to act it, as 
 shall be seen hereafter. I know that if ever a man con- 
 fronted the elements of high treason with a light heart, 
 it was he ; and truly it appeared strange how he had again 
 come into the meshes of that remarkable Plot. For 
 Westmacott, as I learned, had been in communication 
 with Goodenough, who had promised to raise a force out of 
 Taunton, and that part of the country had been duly 
 expecting the signal for a rising. Not that the truth 
 about the Rye House affair was known to those country 
 folks ; but they held the Duke in much detestation, and 
 they honoured so their religion, that they would have 
 perilled everything to be rid of that succession. And thus 
 it was now ; for Cherwell's name had been spread about 
 among them, for a deliverer, and one who had come to 
 conduct a rising on behalf of the Duke of Monmouth. 
 Westmacott himself was, doubtless, at the bottom of this ; 
 but all credited it, and our coming by a strange piece of 
 irony raised great hopes and enlivened the hearts of those 
 poor people. But what really brought my lord hither 
 of that they knew nothing. 
 
 My lord seemed the more to lean towards his rational 
 habit, in his conduct after this revelation. He said nothing 
 of Westmacott to me, but that very indifference and the 
 absence of a change in his mien dissuaded me from any 
 fears. I concluded that he had given no real thought or 
 feeling to this silly conspiracy. Westmacott was earnest
 
 THE REBEL 135 
 
 enough, as I soon discovered by inquiry, but Cherwell had 
 probably forgot already what they had talked about. He 
 was now taken up with the news Ravel had given him, 
 and what it portended. If Grimshaw was here it behoved 
 any that cared for Mistress Alethea to be wary, for that man 
 had been the front of the offence, and it was certain he 
 was in the confidence of his Highness. Ravel had catched 
 him about Durcombe, where he was clearly spying on the 
 inn, and had tracked him privately to a hamlet in the hills 
 some five miles away. Then, being a discreet fellow, 
 back comes he post haste to his master. So two days 
 after this, my lord rode out to this hamlet with a small 
 parcel of others. For he was arguing upon the matter 
 with me in a very quick manner when Westmacott 
 encountered him, and glancing eagerly from one to the 
 other. 
 
 "You are still of that resolution, my lord ? " he said. 
 Cherwell surveyed him. " Why yes, Mr. Westmacott," 
 said he, " I never go back upon my word, as my cousin 
 will witness." 
 
 Westmacott came close. " Is it something that ye plot 
 together ? " he asked breathless. 
 
 " Why yes, we are hatching of somewhat," says my 
 lord. 
 
 " Let me hold the purse, my lord," says he ; "I will be 
 paymaster, if it please your lordship." 
 
 He looked at us so ardently, and was clearly so much 
 rejoiced that Cherwell laughed a little, patting him on 
 the arm. 
 
 " We shall bleed you of your guineas soon maybe," says 
 he. u But an you would help against the Duke, ye shall 
 ride along of me." With which permission the man was
 
 136 THE REBEL 
 
 deeply gratified, and he made one of the company that 
 took the road for Empshill. Ravel was with his master, 
 and I also, though it was a foolish errand on which we 
 were bound. Nothing would suit Cherwell but that we 
 must take this knave and beat his mission out of him, if 
 no other way would serve. Yet from this rash project I 
 dissuaded him, and, as it chanced, it was well we had 
 fetched Westmacott with us. For when we were got 
 near by the hostel in which Grimshaw lay a thought came 
 to Cherwell, and he turned and addressed Westmacott 
 for the first time. 
 
 " Look you, sir," he said, " yonder lies one of his 
 Highness's creatures, and he is about no good. If you 
 would be serviceable you shall have the task to keep your 
 eyes on him, and bring me word. 'Tis he that betrayed 
 the lord Russell." 
 
 Westmacott leaped from his horse promptly. " That, 
 indeed, shall be my privilege, my lord," he said ; and he 
 hopped into the inn like a grave cock-sparrow, leaving us 
 in the darkness. 
 
 Cherwell broke out a laughing, and turned his horse's 
 nose about. "I'll warrant he will crow before dawn, 
 that brisk fellow," he said, and, seeming mightily pleased, 
 he rode off towards Durcombe. 
 
 He was right in his conjecture that Westmacott would 
 show his teeth vigilantly; for on the second evening from 
 this, and the dark was already well descended, he rode 
 up in a hot wet state, deeply breathing his excitement j 
 and jumps he from the horse before the door. 
 
 " My lord, the fellow moves," he cries, " he moves ; I 
 doubt not he is upon some abominable business. 'Tis to 
 spy us out for his master. My lord, to horse, to horse ! "
 
 THE REBEL 137 
 
 " Whither does the knave move r " asked Cherwell. 
 
 " Look ye, my lord," says he, " I have been a burgher 
 of Bristol in that tavern, and I took speech with him in 
 a friendly way, asking the price of taffeta and the like. 
 But I held my eyes on him, and I will aver that he has 
 no suspicions. Presently there comes to him a tall ugly 
 fellow who has him aside, and they talk earnestly together. 
 And after this the one goes away, but the other Grim- 
 shaw they call him he sits him down and talks affably 
 with me of the state of the country, and presently orders 
 a carriage. 
 
 " c Where is he for ? ' I asked of the innkeeper. 
 
 " c He is for Durcombe Manor,' says he, who was easy 
 with me by reason of the money I had spent. And with 
 that I rode off." 
 
 " Fargus, by God ! " cries Cherwell, and cracked his 
 fingers, "there is then some villainy planned." 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Westmacott in his emotions. 
 " Have I done well ? Shall we be striking of a blow ? " 
 
 " Why, I doubt not this very night," quoth my lord, 
 " an ye make haste to follow me." 
 
 There was little delay ere we were, all four of us, once 
 more in the saddle, and this time we were headed for 
 Lady Ellicott's house, that lay only a mile or more away. 
 Westmacott supposed that Grimshaw had preceded him 
 by half-an-hour, and thus we reckoned that the man had 
 already arrived at the house, and was maybe proceeding 
 with his business, whatever it might be. But my lord 
 rode hard and came up before the gates in an incredible 
 short time in the blackness of the evening. With that 
 he sent Ravel to peep about the grounds and to descry 
 what he might ; who presently returned with the news
 
 138 THE REBEL 
 
 that a carriage was setting forth, and my lady Ellicott 
 and Grimshaw with Mistress Alethea were the travellers. 
 Then says Cher well after a silence 
 
 " We have 'em now, and this time it will be strange 
 but I shall devise a better way," referring to the time 
 when he had stopped the carriage in London. 
 
 He said no more, but we stood away, waiting, until 
 the noise of wheels was heard, and the carriage sprang 
 forth of the gates and rolled away into the night. 
 Thereupon we struck after it, and so continued by the 
 open roads, and at a sharp pace. So that soon it was 
 clear that they were bound for Taunton, which amazed 
 us greatly. 
 
 " They will not dare carry her off thus," I said to my 
 lord. " From under the noses of those that lie in the 
 House." 
 
 " No," said he, " there is something more in this. 
 And where is that damned Fargus ? " 
 
 But presently we came through a piece of wood and 
 out into an open stretch of heath ; and we were no sooner 
 there than there rang from before the sound of voices and 
 of a struggle. Now this spot is very lonely, and stand- 
 ing in a desolate neighbourhood, and afar from any 
 cottage. At once it dawned upon my lord what had 
 happened, and he let out his horse, and, followed by the 
 rest of us, drew up to the scene. Here was a fight in 
 progress between the servants of Lady Ellicott and some 
 tall fellows in the darkness and the lady screamed and 
 cried out that she was being murdered ; and there was 
 also a man's voice that called angrily, and the clash of 
 swords. 
 
 Cherwell sang out merrily, and gliding alongside the
 
 THE REBEL 139 
 
 carriage he cut down a man that was reaching through 
 the doors ; at which the others prepared to fall on. But 
 all at once there was an alarm raised, and the ruffians took 
 to their heels, it being so black that we could not deter- 
 mine whither they ran. Therefore, Cherwell steps to 
 the carriage-window, having got from his horse, and he 
 laughs a little. 
 
 " What is this ? " cried Lady Ellicott's voice, and I 
 could not say what passion sounded in it. 
 
 " Give me a light here," cries my lord ; and some one 
 of the servants fetched him a lanthorn. 
 
 He threw the light into the carriage. " I am glad, 
 indeed, to see you safe, my lady," says he, " and privi- 
 leged am I and my friends so to have served you." 
 
 She stared at him in dismay (for I could see her face). 
 " My lord Cherwell ! " she cried in surprise ; upon 
 which a savage anger took her expression ; and " What 
 
 mean ye " she began, but stopped and drew her 
 
 breath in deeply, as though to refrain herself from 
 speech. 
 
 But my lord laughed again. " My lord Cherwell is 
 privileged to have served you," he repeated ; and suddenly 
 he cast the light upon the ground, and with his foot 
 turned over the man that lay where he had felled him. 
 " No," says he. I hoped it had been." 
 
 At this Grimshaw came out of the dark ring and 
 addressed him very courteously. 
 
 " We owe you many thanks, my lord," said he, " for 
 your timely arrival and gallant aid. Those rascals chose 
 a convenient spot for their assault. Indeed, if the matter 
 of business had not pressed so I should not have urged her 
 ladyship to seek Taunton so late."
 
 i 4 o THE REBEL 
 
 " Ah," says Cherwell dryly, " you are her ladyship's 
 adviser, I understand, Mr. Grimshaw." 
 
 " That is so," says he agreeably ; " and there is that 
 which requires Lady Ellicott's presence in Taunton, 
 concerning the estates." 
 
 " And the presence of her ladyship's step-daughter," 
 says Cherwell, with a bow towards the corner of the 
 carriage where the girl sat still, silent and deathlike, 
 gazing on him. 
 
 " 'Twas on the business of Mistress Alethea Ellicott 
 that we were bound," says Grimshaw, unruffled. 
 
 " Ah well," says my lord, " these roads are hazardous ; 
 and I think your journey must wait overnight." 
 
 " My lord, we have no fears," says a shrill voice ; and 
 this was Sir Mordaunt Pringle, who, it seems, was in the 
 carriage with them, and whom Cherwell recognized for 
 one whom he had seen at Court. 
 
 " Nay, but 'tis I that have fears, sir," he replied. 
 " And I cannot abide that you should so expose your 
 lives. No doubt these villains linger near ; and 'tis 
 for that I would offer you an escort back to Dur- 
 combe." 
 
 There was instant's silence after that, and at last my 
 lady Ellicott spoke 
 
 " It is impossible," she said sharply ; " we must push 
 forward. We thank you, my lord." 
 
 My lord raised his hands, and the lanthorn which 
 Ravel now held sparkled upon the diamond ring he 
 always wore, which was his mother's. 
 
 " I protest," he cried ; " you cannot win to Taunton 
 this night. By my faith there is a wind blowing up, and 
 the rain will fall. But I would remind your ladyship of
 
 THE REBEL 141 
 
 what comforts rest there at the big house, and from what 
 warmth ye wander." 
 
 He loosened the sword that rattled in its scabbard, and 
 drew it with a negligent air, bending the steel between 
 his fingers. 
 
 " My lady would have you understand, my lord, that 
 she may not delay," says Sir Mordaunt Pringle in his silly 
 voice. 
 
 " Is that so ? " says he, speaking very cool. " Well, I 
 should be loath if her ladyship should come to harm. But 
 after all she is mistress of herself and no one calls her 
 jade. 1 will not interpose upon my lady Ellicott's fancy, 
 my good sir. But 'tis a shame so to expose the young 
 and helpless, and I will even relieve you of that burden." 
 
 " What is't ye mean ? " cried Lady Ellicott in a 
 scream. 
 
 " Why, there sits one should be better at her broidery 
 than in this danger," he said, pointing at Alethea with 
 his sword-hilt. " This lady will come along of me to be 
 sheltered." 
 
 Lady Ellicott broke out in a frenzy with many oaths 
 and foul words. She carried herself like a fine lady of 
 that day, which is to say, like any orange wench or slut 
 of the streets. 
 
 " Ye stinking toad," she screamed at him. " But ye 
 dare not." 
 
 " Indeed," says my lord, smiling quickly, " I dare 
 anything in the service of your ladyship, and for to 
 protect her kin." 
 
 "By God," she cries, " you would abduct." 
 
 " Nay, I would shield the innocent from a rape of the 
 High Toby," said my lord with a pleasant grin.
 
 i 4 2 THE REBEL 
 
 "Sir Mordaunt," she spluttered, "Sir Mordaunt, would 
 ye stand so and see a virgin ravished, ye spiritless louse ? " 
 
 Sir Mordaunt stepped out. "Nay, nay; not I," he 
 cried. " My lord shall yet know me, and with whom he 
 deals. He shall be learned who is master here, and that 
 what her ladyship says is law. 'Sblood, my lord, so shall 
 you." 
 
 My lord paid him no heed, but thrust in an arm and 
 took the girl by the hand. Yet she seemed to shrink 
 away, still staring on him out of large and terrified eyes. 
 She appeared as one fastened upon a vision, from which 
 she might not wrest herself. 
 
 " Come, come," says he, " you shall sleep better, I vow, 
 where I shall lead you, than there in Taunton." 
 
 She made no resistance, for all her shrinking, and he 
 put his quick live arm about her waist and pulled her 
 swiftly from the carriage. 
 
 For a moment he stood with the girl in his arms, her 
 feet dragging upon the earth, and between the fires of 
 that evil-tongued woman and the silly mincing Pringle. 
 
 " You may drive forth to Taunton, an ye will," he said 
 calmly, " but Mistress Alethea and I abide elsewhere ; " 
 and turning upon Pringle with a sudden savageness, "Hold 
 your tongue, you oaf," he cried, " or I will string ye to 
 the traces of your horses." 
 
 The next moment he had leaped upon his horse with 
 the girl before him resting against his breast, and shaking 
 the reins rode forthright into the darkness.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE HISTORY OF MY LORD*S STRANGE WEDDING 
 
 MY lord, as I believe, was driven to this strange and 
 hazardous act upon the conclusions of the moment. The 
 purpose of that infamous woman once revealed to him, he 
 was carried forward by his own weight, and what happened 
 was natural to him. I suppose he saw that he might not 
 be for ever stopping coaches and throwing obstacles in the 
 way of an abduction ; and that if he were to end the 
 whole business it were well to do so boldly. There was 
 Lady Ellicott with a most cunning plot whereby to 
 manage what she wanted, and witnesses, in Grimshaw 
 and Pringle, to say nothing of the servants, to protest how 
 hotly they were engaged. This (so I conceive) incited 
 my lord to what he did, though what he intended further, 
 or how his conduct would be shaped, I dared not think. 
 It may be that he knew not himself, though, being of so 
 nimble a wit, he may very well have determined there 
 and then upon the whole course of his behaviour. 
 
 My lord rode so hard, despite the double burden, that 
 we who followed in wonder and anxiety, never reached 
 him till he was got to the Inn at Durcombe. But here 
 we came up with him, and he dismounted from his 
 
 '43
 
 i 4 4 THE REBEL 
 
 reeking horse, and stood in the door with the girl on his 
 arm. 
 
 "My lord, my lord, you ha' betrayed me," cries 
 Westmacott, panting. " I call you to witness I am no 
 party to this seizure." 
 
 "Anthony," said I, being greatly disturbed, "Anthony, 
 Anthony, what do you ? " 
 
 But he said nothing, only I saw that his eyes were 
 dancing brightly, and a slight smile sucked in his under- 
 lip. He lifted the girl into the inn, and we two followed 
 into the hall, where he set her in a chair. 
 
 " I pray you, mistress, to compose yourself," he said. 
 "Yet I fear the wind has blown away your breath." 
 
 She made no answer, looking at him only, her breath 
 coming deeply, and wearing a bewildered, frightened air. 
 
 " Anthony," said I again, " to what would you com- 
 mit yourself? This is folly past madness." 
 
 He laughed faintly. 
 
 " Are ye come to yourself, mistress ? " he asked of her 
 softly. 
 
 " My lord " she answered, but she got no further, 
 
 with her trembling agitation. 
 
 "My lord, my lord," struck in Westmacott again, 
 " you ha' cheated me. I will have none of this abduc- 
 tion. What have you done ? " 
 
 u Peace, fool," says Cherwell. " I have but saved your 
 gossip, Grimshaw, from the devourers." 
 
 I went up to him, where he stood before the ingle- 
 corner, with one hand resting on his hip. 
 
 " Cousin," said I gravely, " you do wrong in this. 
 You have fallen into that very sin which offended you in 
 others. This is no less than an abduction or a rape."
 
 THE REBEL 145 
 
 " I care not what name you put upon it," said he. 
 
 " Nay, but you should care," I urged, " and here is what 
 should abash you. How will this snatching look to other 
 eyes?" 
 
 " I know no eyes but my own," said he curtly. 
 
 " True," said I, " for you are a grown man and a 
 strong. Yet what of this maid ? " and I cast upon her 
 a look. "There she sits, helpless, and at your mercy. 
 Unstained to-day ; yet how shall she appear to-morrow ? 
 I ask you, cousin, what story of her will go about, and in 
 what words she will be whispered from the Bristol 
 Channel to London Town ? What would you make of 
 her future, you who thus despoil her of her fair name by 
 this frenzied and cruel act ? " 
 
 My lord rang a summons for the innkeeper abruptly. 
 
 " She shall lie here to-night," he said sharply, " in the 
 keeping of the mistress of this house. And whatsoever 
 damage she take from such neighbourhood shall avail 
 nothing to harm her." 
 
 " Fie," cried I. " You would soil her name." 
 
 He turned fiercely upon me. " Her name," he said, 
 " matters nought save to him she shall marry. No one 
 else hath a right in it. And I tell ye, sir, that she who 
 shall be wife to me shall make of her name what she 
 chooses or that which I shall choose." 
 
 "What? " I cried in an amaze, astounded at this news. 
 
 But the girl, losing of a quickness all her colour, rose 
 like a tall lily, and stood trembling. 
 
 " My lord, my lord " she cried, and again she 
 
 ceased ; but there rolled in her voice a deep emotion, 
 and she was shaken ; yet the shadows upon her face I 
 might not disengage. Cherwell took her hand, and,
 
 146 THE REBEL 
 
 the innkeeper being now come, conducted her to the 
 door. 
 
 " I leave this lady in your woman's care," said he in his 
 most commanding tones, " and as she deal by that trust, 
 so shall I deal by you." 
 
 With that the fellow, being greatly impressed by this 
 manner, bowed, and was for opening the door when 
 Cherwell laid his hand upon the knob and himself turned 
 it, bowing profoundly as the girl passed, still white and 
 wondering. 
 
 " Ye shall rest where ye will, mistress, and sup as ye 
 will," said he to her softly, " and whatsoever ye will, that 
 I will also." 
 
 Then he closed the door after her, and came forward, 
 staring strangely at me. But the little Westmacott had 
 quickly taken a notion of what this meant, being shrewd 
 enough despite of his country sequestration, and he stood 
 up before my lord, comporting himself very excellently. 
 
 " My lord," said he, " if I am right, there is some 
 further tale behind this." 
 
 " You have a long head, Mr. Westmacott," answered 
 my lord, "and I would not endeavour to deceive ye." 
 
 " I know your repute, my lord," says he, " and this I 
 say, that I trust you. I have put my safety in your 
 hands." 
 
 " Then shall this content you, Mr. Citizen," says 
 Cherwell, "that you have this night aimed a blow at the 
 ribs of the Duke." 
 
 Westmacott spread out his fingers with an eager 
 gesture. 
 
 "I ask nothing of you, my lord," said he. "I beg 
 none of your secrets ; but what you say that I accept.
 
 THE REBEL 147 
 
 If so be I have struck this blow, then am I honoured by 
 your confidence and the mission you have entrusted to 
 me." 
 
 " By heaven, sir, but I think you be a better gentleman 
 than most," said Cherwell warmly ; and after a pause he 
 added, " And what more blows you desire you shall see 
 given. For I take it that we shall have the wasps upon 
 us this very night." 
 
 He nodded in my face, as though he would provoke me 
 with his malicious tongue ; but I said nothing. 
 
 " There will be an attack upon the inn ? " cried West- 
 macott, in his surprise. 
 
 " It is like enough," replied Cherwell indifferently ; 
 and of a truth I was of the same opinion, for such an 
 outrage as was now marked against my lord was not one 
 to be condoned, and it would be strange if Lady Ellicott, 
 in her fury, did not make a sally to oppose and confound 
 him. 
 
 That fell soon enough, for the house was scarcely yet 
 in darkness, when there came a loud knocking upon the 
 door, which, being repeated, fetched the innkeeper down 
 in his night-cap. He knew (poor wretch) what girl he 
 had gotten in his charge, and he was shaking in his fear 
 to offend as well as with the terror of violence. But ere 
 he had reached the door, my lord appeared on the stair- 
 way, holding a pistol. 
 
 " Shoot back those bolts, fellow," said he, " and if it is, 
 maybe, a friend of mine I will have speech with him that 
 knocks so late." 
 
 The shivering landlord thrust back the bolts, and pulled 
 the door ajar. 
 
 Who is there ? " says he.
 
 148 THE REBEL 
 
 But there was no answer to that question, only the 
 door was thrust wider open, so that he was jammed 
 against the wall, and several gentlemen, with one or two 
 on horseback, were seen under a swinging lanthorn. 
 
 " Landlord," says a harsh voice, " you have a lady in 
 this house. Go rouse her on the instant, as there is one 
 here that would speak with her. And rouse me too my 
 lord Cherwell, saying that Edward, Lord Bohun, is come, 
 and has a word for him." 
 
 " The message is needless," calls my lord from the 
 stairway, u for the Earl of Cherwell is here, Edward, Lord 
 Bohun." 
 
 That sentence drew their eyes, and my lord Bohun, 
 seizing a lanthorn from his servant, stepped into the inn 
 and held it up before him, striving to discern where 
 Cherwell stood. But the light being thus between them, 
 he was not able. My lord then called for a light himself, 
 and he set it behind him, so that his figure was thrown 
 out against the blackness, and his shadow moved gigantic 
 on the walls. A man that had followed Lord Bohun 
 over the threshold fell back, seeing, it maybe, the mon- 
 strous obsession of this form and the pistol leaping in the 
 shaking flame. But Lord Bohun stayed with his great 
 bulk, and says he bluntly, as was his nature 
 
 "What I must say shall keep, my lord, until to- 
 morrow ; but I will have the girl of you." 
 
 "You had ever an eye to a wench, my lord," says 
 Cherwell in return. " But I have none of yours with 
 me, I protest." 
 
 "Come, my lord," cried Bohun roughly, "you shall 
 not palter there. There is but one way, and that you 
 shall take, by God."
 
 THE REBEL 149 
 
 "And, by God, that shall I not take," cried my 
 lord, suddenly flaming forth, and stepping down the 
 stairs. 
 
 Bohun drew his weapon, and my lord, thrusting by his 
 pistol, held the long thin steel of his rapier in his hand, 
 passing it through his fingers angrily. Suddenly they fell 
 on, and with an oath Bohun gave way, his big body 
 thumping against the wall. 
 
 " Cease, cease, my lords," said some one. " This is no 
 place in which to squabble, and in so great a darkness," 
 and, another of the party seizing Lord Bohun, this same 
 man, who was very courteous, addressed Cherwell, as he 
 remained with his naked sword. "We are no assassins, 
 my lord, nor are we of the main toby. But we would 
 exact from you a certain pledge, that the lady is not in 
 this house." 
 
 "I give no pledge nor promise but to those I will," 
 answered my lord, still holding forth his weapon. 
 
 " Come, my lord," said the other sharply. " Do you 
 not see that what we ask is but a formal undertaking, 
 and " 
 
 He ceased abruptly, but Cherwell paid him no heed, 
 sweeping his glances out of the door where the others 
 of the party waited. I think he expected an assault in 
 force, and there was but his sword to oppose them, with 
 mine and Westmacott's for what they were worth. There 
 was now a tiny silence, and then the man who had 
 spoken turned away with a hoist of his shoulders. I 
 could not see his face for the uncertain light, but he was 
 spare and tall and very elegant, and spoke with a fashion- 
 able voice. 
 
 " Come," he said, " there is no one here. The land-
 
 i 5 o THE REBEL 
 
 lord has taken a new wench to his kitchen. My lady 
 Ellicott was mistook. We will not favour my lord's 
 drouth for a quarrel." 
 
 He spoke very dryly, but the better part of those with 
 him appeared to murmur, and I heard Sir Mordaunt 
 Pringle's voice raised in a denial. 
 
 " 'Slife, my dear Trayle, I protest she is there the 
 little witch is there. She was drawn thither, as my man 
 saw. We may not leave her. 'Sbody, they will tear 
 her name in tatters to-morrow. No, Lard, no ; we must 
 not leave her." 
 
 The man addressed as Trayle laughed softly. " Pouf ! " 
 he said, "a carrion crow minds not stale meat," and 
 though his tone was quiet, there was that in his accent 
 which rang most unpleasant in the ears, as though he 
 spake darkly of what was not openly confessed. I think, 
 indeed, he was referring in some ugly fashion to the Duke 
 himself. Trayle, as that was his name (for he was 
 second son to Lord Polden), was no doubt wise enough 
 in his withdrawal ; for Cherwell was in the black mad 
 mood to fight, and fight he would, even though there 
 had been no other sword to help him. The party drew 
 off, my lord Bohun swearing abominably at his wound, 
 and cursing them for fools to have brought him out from 
 his cards. After which, the noise they made receding 
 and ceasing, my lord walked quietly up the stairs and 
 entered his room without any further attention. 
 
 Of what followed the next morning I was not a 
 witness, nor can I speak with any certain knowledge. 
 Yet what I write I had long afterwards from her that 
 was then my lady, who held, nevertheless, a modest 
 reticence in her narrative. It seems that my lord came,
 
 THE REBEL 151 
 
 approaching her very softly quite early, and, says he, 
 delaying not to reach his point, but very cautiously 
 
 " Madam, that which I required of you some little 
 while since, that must I ask of you again." 
 
 " What is it you ask ? " she answered, beginning to 
 tremble. 
 
 . " You have denied me the once," said he, " will you 
 deny me again ? " 
 
 On that she cast down her eyes, being greatly disturbed. 
 
 " You know not what you would do, my lord," she 
 said. 
 
 " I know that I would have a ravishing wife," says he, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Had you my message, my lord ? " she asked in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " 'Tis not for pretty misses to measure peril and con- 
 front it," said he lightly. " I had your message, sweet, 
 and blessed you for it." 
 
 I^She looked him full in the face, and says my lady 
 " His eyes did pass through me, as though he saw me 
 not." 
 
 " None would woo thus," she cried with some entreaty 
 in her tones, " that would woo sincerely." 
 
 " Madam," he , cried, bowing very grandly, " I have 
 the honour to require your answer." 
 
 This was to say " There speaks my truth in that " ; 
 yet the girl, no doubt, desired something more. She was 
 for a little still ; then 
 
 " I must give you nay, my lord," she said, quavering. 
 
 My lord's brow contracted, for he could not brook 
 opposition. 
 
 " Bethink you in what position you stand, lady," he
 
 152 THE REBEL 
 
 said. " It is among hazards that you walk, and the peril 
 of your honour." 
 
 Suddenly the flame sprang into her face, and she 
 clenched her hands. " Oh," she cried fiercely, " what 
 shame am I brought down to ! How low I lie ! I that 
 have the pride of the Ellicotts, and whose frail body is 
 continent of all their blood. There is none left beside 
 me, and here I stand your prisoner, or else the captive of 
 dishonour. I am but a girl, and there have been none 
 to befriend me. Nay, even that fortune which I shall 
 have has bred me ill will and enemies. But what think 
 you, my lord, are the feelings which animate a poor 
 helpless maid who is stood up for the cock-shy of evil 
 thoughts and base passions ? I burn with my shame. 
 Yea, I cannot endure to be so bandied about among men 
 and upon the lips and tongues of others. My lord, my 
 lord, I would God that I were dead ! " 
 
 My lord started away at the heat of this quick outburst, 
 and looked on her in a kindly fashion. " You have been 
 sorely wronged," he said vehemently, " but you shall heal 
 all those pains in marriage. I offer you an honourable 
 name." 
 
 " I have one," said she, " that is still such." 
 
 " And will it be so to-morrow ? " he asked. 
 
 She broke forth again passionately. " You wring my 
 heart, my lord. But there shall no dishonour touch 
 me. I shall not be assoiled. I, Alethea Ellicott, have 
 said it." 
 
 My lord looked on still with a compassionate gaze. 
 
 " Child," he said, " you speak like a child. Nay, I 
 think it is in your nursery that I see you snatching and 
 fighting with your nurse, and breaking into tears under
 
 THE REBEL 153 
 
 the captor's hand. You will be pressed so under the 
 yoke. You must bow that head." 
 
 " I will not make this tie with you," she said, sobbing. 
 " I pray you, my lord, to bear with me, and to provoke 
 me not." 
 
 My lord was something softened, but he abated not 
 from his persistence. 
 
 " Look you," said he gently, " I have given you such 
 a name now as will pass over the countryside. Would 
 you make me your ruin ? " 
 
 She ceased her sobbing, and drew herself up. "My 
 lord," she said, "you have saved me not now only but 
 often. There is none that I honour like unto you. And 
 whatsoever shall be said let it be said ; for it shall never 
 cross my tongue to make a denial of what all men may 
 think of me. Yea, my lord, but what I hear of that I 
 shall bear with pride, rejoicing to have known one so 
 noble, and thinking no shame even that his name should 
 be so cast with mine." 
 
 My lord took a quick step forward in his amazement, 
 and he seized her hand, pressing it hard, while his eyes 
 kindled. 
 
 " I will not leave you to that fate," he said quickly. 
 " Your name shall be cast with mine, but not in that way. 
 It shall be so, I vow to God." 
 
 For the space of some minute or so there was silence ; 
 only his eyes sparkled on her, his hand constrained her, 
 his mind overmatched her. 
 
 Then she sighed, and losing all the vestiges or her 
 colour withdrew her fingers. 
 
 " So be it, my lord," she ended in a low voice. " I 
 cannot struggle with you. 'Tis you that have fetched
 
 154 THE REBEL 
 
 this upon your head, you in your hospitable pity and or 
 your great authority." 
 
 Such considerations as she pondered my lord Cherwell 
 never heeded at all, as I know ; for having gained this 
 end he was as merry as a kitten, and bade both West- 
 macott and myself drink to his lady's beauty. 
 
 " She is a handsome creature, Hilary," says he joyously. 
 " By the Lord, she is handsome, and comes of a tall clean 
 race. But whatever she be she shall be my lady, and you 
 shall drink to her or taste my sword," and he laughed 
 pleasantly. 
 
 Very early a coach was brought to the door, and the 
 girl was set therein, while Cherwell and I rode behind. 
 He was for picking up a parson, he said, and would 
 scour the country for one. 
 
 " You will maybe meet with some refusals," said I, for 
 news might very well be spread by this time, and my 
 lady Ellicott was known hereabouts. 
 
 " Oh, damn any Jack Parson," said he. " They shall 
 do what I wish, or I will send to Dulsiebridge." 
 
 Between Mattingby and Croxhill there stood a little 
 inn, and before this Cherwell suddenly pulled in his 
 horse, and glanced at the door with a sharp frown. Then 
 a comical look came on his face. 
 
 "I had forgot, but we shall need another witness, 
 cousin," says he. 
 
 " How is that ? " said I. 
 
 " Oh, well, 'tis my whim," says he, and leaping from 
 horseback with a bound he ran lightly into the tavern. 
 There was an angry cry and the noise of some glass 
 falling, and presently after my lord re-appeared holding in 
 his arms a little struggling man.
 
 THE REBEL 155 
 
 "'Tis Grimshaw," says he, laughing. "Give me a 
 hand, Hilary. An excellent witness, I swear." 
 
 And flinging the fellow across his saddle he mounted 
 briskly, and rode off, shouting with laughter, as he re- 
 strained the frightened efforts of the man. In this 
 ludicrous way did we come to Croxhill and I fetched 
 out the parson, who made some demur, thinking here 
 was a mad party. 
 
 " Get to ; get to," cried Cherwell impatiently. " I 
 have a witness here that will not wait." 
 
 The parson, hearing his name, made no more ado, but 
 hurried into the church, and Cherwell set Grimshaw to 
 watch, with me by his side. The attorney had come to 
 himself, and was in his own possession once more, though 
 still mightily perturbed in his appearance. Yet he showed 
 no anger and was calm enough. Presently, however, 
 when the parson had read a little way into the service, he 
 jumped up. 
 
 "I protest," he cried, "against this marriage. These 
 bonds are not to be forged. The lady is a minor, and the 
 ward of my lady Ellicott of Durcombe." 
 
 Cherwell turned him about. " Hold your tongue, ye 
 little worm," he said sharply, " or I will have ye flung at 
 the windows," and he commanded the parson to proceed 
 in an angry voice ; for the poor man was much fluttered 
 by this, and evidently knew not what to make of it. 
 
 " But " says he, beginning to stammer ; and dropped 
 his book in an abrupt movement of my lord's arm. 
 
 Cherwell stooped and picked it up. 
 
 " Here," he says, " find ye the place, and either you 
 or I shall read it. Ha* you lost your tongue? "and he 
 thrust the book under his nose, pointing at the word.
 
 i 5 6 THE REBEL 
 
 The parson continued in a trembling voice, and when 
 he had reached the phrase my lord slipped his mother's 
 ring from his hand, and set it on the girl's that was now 
 my lady, repeating what the parson quavered. 
 
 At that, and upon those words, I, that was by her, 
 perceived her, who had stood there so white and silent, 
 to sigh deeply, whilst ever so little a colour tinged her j 
 and the sigh was, as it might be, of relief, or of resignation, 
 or even of regret, but, as I fancied, the first of these. 
 Finally my lord took off his hat when they were got out 
 of church, and bowed to her. 
 
 "Madam," said he, "you are my wife, and her that 
 has so honoured me it is my charge and my privilege to 
 defend. There is none that dare intermeddle with her 
 whose name is now mine." 
 
 He drew himself up proudly, but my lady Cherwell 
 said nothing ; only she looked on him with her soft eyes. 
 Of the last of this mad ceremony I saw nothing, for I 
 went back to the inn presently in the company of Ravel, 
 whom we encountered. Yet what I set down here is 
 true in every particular, as I heard afterwards all that 
 passed. Ravel had met us with a piece of information 
 concerning the villain Fargus, whom he declared to have 
 seen in a certain spot. So my lord bade him go back and 
 wait, saying he would come himself shortly and execute 
 the rogue. With that he dismissed us, though we had 
 supposed him to be following after with his lady to the 
 inn. 
 
 " No," said he, " I must first publish this match. It 
 will be of a particular interest to some at Durcombe 
 Manor. I should think shame to rob so many gentlemen 
 and ladies of this prime news. And would you have me
 
 THE REBEL 157 
 
 neglect her ladyship ? I am to acquaint her of what 
 honour has been done me ; I am to behave like a proper 
 son-in-law." 
 
 Having given commands to the coachman, he rode off, 
 wearing a satisfied smile, and while I got back to the inn, 
 these two continued on their foolish journey. 
 
 My lord's coach drew up before the doors of the manor- 
 house about noon, and my lord leaped from his horse and 
 made a ringing at the bell. When he was admitted he 
 had the coach opened and his lady helped to alight, 
 very pale but quiet, and a sudden determination shining 
 in her eyes. Thereupon, with the lady's hand in his 
 arm, he demanded where Lady Ellicott might be, and 
 learning from the astonished footboy, that the whole 
 company were assembled within the inner hall, he waved 
 back the man and passed on to that chamber. On his 
 first entrance there was an instant silence, and afterwards 
 a little buzzing of voices, while Lady Ellicott who stood 
 near to him turned pink through her colour, and made as 
 though to rush forward. Some one, however, put a hand 
 to her and held her back, whispering a warning. 
 
 "What is this, my lord ?"she asked at length in a high 
 angry voice. " I see you are come to bring home that 
 which you are done with. These ruins are not for us. 
 Keep what you ha' fouled, in God's name." This she 
 said, having no suspicion of what had happened, and 
 wondering, no doubt, what had precipitated this change 
 in Cherwell. 
 
 "I will keep that what is mine," says my lord in 
 answer, "and that, I will have your ladyship know, is 
 what I am only begun with." 
 
 " What ! " she cried, bewildered but sneering. " You
 
 158 ,THE REBEL 
 
 fetch me back my daughter with those haughty airs, ye 
 who are no better than a ravisher, and shall be called to 
 account for this." 
 
 " Nay," said he, smiling, " I fetch you back my wife." 
 
 Lady Ellicott started, and but for Trayle's hand upon 
 her would have flown at him. Instead she broke into 
 curses, and pitched her filth at the girl and my lord 
 together, shrieking that it was a lie. But my lord heeded 
 her not, and looked about him. 
 
 " I will have this honourable company to learn that 
 here stands the Countess of Cherwell," said he slowly, 
 " and that she is come home to the house of her fathers, 
 where she hath a right indeed to take a farewell." 
 
 At that Lady Ellicott chafed, but Trayle's face was 
 without any expression he merely watched ; while Lord 
 Bohun with his arm in a sling broke out laughing rudely. 
 
 " I like that spirit," says he. " Gad, my lord, but that 
 is the point to tickle 'em. Stab me, but it is a rare play." 
 
 " My lord," said Cherwell, turning to him, " if there 
 is anything between us, I trust to your lordship to 
 acquaint me." 
 
 "Faith, no," says Bohun, grinning. "'Tis but a 
 prick, and I am on your side, by the Lord, I am." 
 
 But now Lady Ellicott, being a clever woman, but of 
 a hot temper, showed a new spirit, and conducted herself 
 very admirably. She came forward, and seeming not too 
 friendly, as was wise. 
 
 "I thought not to have for husband to my daughter 
 such an arrant feather-wit as you, my lord," she said, 
 with a shrug of her shoulders. " But an it has happened, 
 so it is," and turning she called to the serving-man, " Ho, 
 there, Ambrose, a room for my lord and my lady."
 
 THE REBEL 159 
 
 " Madam," says Cherwell then, without a smile on his 
 face, " I thank this excellent company for their friendly 
 gratulations, and you for your good welcome. We will 
 not discommode you long, but of a truth my lady has 
 made a journey, and she wearies. 'Tis of your courtesy 
 to find her a privy chamber." 
 
 Lady Ellicott said nothing, but made him a bow, a 
 gleam passing over her face ; and so the two walked a 
 little way apart, and stood there. 
 
 "I will leave you in trust here," says Cherwell at 
 once, " here in the house to which you have a right." 
 
 " Whither would you go ? " she asked swiftly, starting 
 in alarm. 
 
 " There is one that requires justice a bad rogue, who 
 cumbers the ground," said Cherwell lightly. " But I 
 will return to fetch ye hence." 
 
 " Tarry not, my lord," said she earnestly, " for ye have 
 great enemies." 
 
 "I have a beautiful wife," says he, smiling on her 
 negligently. 
 
 She clasped her hands together. " Aye, but what have 
 you gotten for yourself?" she asked quickly. "A peril 
 and no recompense for it." 
 
 " There is one," he said in a softer voice, " that shall 
 adorn my house and prove a fine tall mother to my 
 sons." 
 
 She turned aside, of a heightened colour, and said she 
 tremulously, " I pray that in no way that shall please my 
 lord shall I be wanting in whatsoever he desires." 
 
 Cherwell kissed her hands, and turned and walked 
 through the guests that were looking at them both, and 
 so passed out of the door with salutations.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 WHAT FOLLOWED AFTER THE SECOND ABDUCTION, WITH 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENT AT BASING 
 
 AT this moment my lord Cherwell appeared upon the 
 pitch of a triumph, and there was no question but he 
 thought so himself. He had considered the girl but little 
 in this final act ; rather he was fulfilled with a glee to 
 have worsted her treacherous friends, who had also grown 
 to be his foes. When he rode to the inn from the manor 
 he showed many symptoms of delight, and was merry 
 and mad together, declaring that Ravel should lead him 
 to Fargus, whom he would spit like a fowl. He had 
 foiled the Duke, which pleased him out of measure ; and 
 he had set Lady Ellicott a-screaming. What weight his 
 Highness had set upon this affair my lord did not know, 
 though it was clear to others. The Duke, indeed, had so 
 greatly withheld his passion that it had at length broke 
 forth, and had committed him to rashness, who was by 
 nature prudent. It was said (and I believe the story true) 
 that he had come to such a height of feeling, that he 
 would have set my lady where Anne Hyde had stood, 
 had that been possible. His infatuation had enlarged, and 
 
 he had found a warm supporter in Lady Ellicott. This 
 
 1 60
 
 THE REBEL 161 
 
 woman, being of a natural viciousness, was not hard to 
 be turned, and moreover she saw herself no longer of any 
 account at Court. The girl was her bait, and having the 
 control of her fortunes, she was the more easily able to 
 affect her. To stand in such relation to the mistress and 
 counsellor of a king that was her ambition ; as it has 
 often been the aim of others. The illustrations of history 
 tempted her, and but for my lord she might by this time 
 have gained her end. His interposition, therefore, em- 
 bittered and enraged her, and she was driven by her 
 disappointment to a greater length. Whether the Duke 
 was mainly responsible for what fell now and afterwards 
 it would be impossible to say. To my lord Cherwell his 
 Highness was ever the chief mark of his wrath, and he 
 would hear of no other interpretation. With what warmth 
 the Duke had pressed this whole affair is plain from the 
 testimony of Tyrconnel and others that were in the 
 secret. It seemed to them no harm that a prince should 
 so pursue a helpless child ; indeed, one at least avowed to 
 me that he deemed she but fled to be pursued. But the 
 Duke's orders may have stopped upon this side of what 
 my lord supposed, and to Lady Ellicott alone the treachery 
 may have been due. Her very calmness under his great 
 provocation in the manor-house showed that she plotted 
 him some evil. It is impossible to separate these responsi- 
 bilities and to refer to each a proper share of guilt. It is 
 enough that the abominable deed was done (whosoever 
 gave the orders), and that within a few hours only of my 
 lord's going. 
 
 My lord Cherwell rode back to the manor-house late 
 in the evening, having met no signs of Fargus, but well 
 enough content, and, as Ravel says, singing of a song
 
 162 THE REBEL 
 
 cheerily. He descended, and throwing the reins to his 
 man, commanded an entrance to the house. It was his 
 purpose that my lady should ride a pillion with him to 
 the inn, whence they would set forth for Dulsiebridge 
 on the morrow. The serving-men making an attempt to 
 dissuade him, he knocked them aside and walked up the 
 hall where the guests were assembled. The time being now 
 gone past supper, Lady Ellicott sat at the end of the 
 board, and she had a flushed face, with a giggling manner, 
 staring and laughing and pointing at my lord when he 
 came in, for she was the first to see him. 
 
 " Why, my lord," she called in a shrill voice, " where 
 is your lady ? I should ha' thought two such turtles 
 would have had their beaks together by this." 
 
 Cherwell gazed at her sharply. " Where is my wife ? " 
 said he. 
 
 " She hath no stomach for to sup," cries Lady Ellicott 
 in a tipsy fashion. " Oh, lard, no ; she is considering or 
 something else is my lady." 
 
 " Where does she lie ? " asked Cherwell, flashing a look 
 on her. 
 
 " I am no keeper of my lady the Countess," says the 
 woman, angry in her wine, but handsome enough through 
 her paint. " Slidikins, you cock, mind your own hens. 
 Maybe she sleepeth, or hath an ache," and she burst out 
 laughing with a coarse gesture, at which some there joined 
 in her merriment. 
 
 But at this a dark thought took hold of Cherwell, and 
 he made a step nearer, menacing her with his hot eyes. 
 
 u I left my lady Cherwell in your hands," said he in a 
 quiet voice, " and in the custody and safety of her father's 
 house that is hers. I demand you tell me where she is."
 
 THE REBEL 163 
 
 Lady Ellicott raised her brows. " Why, she should ha' 
 been with you," she answered. " Sure, she went to the 
 inn to join you," and laughed again. 
 
 My lord was for a moment silent, for he suspected now 
 at last what had happened, and he looked round upon the 
 faces one by one. Some of these showed amusement, and 
 some amazement, and others were blank with alarm. 
 
 " Will ye not sit and sup ? " cried Lady Ellicott, 
 waving her hand to the table. " Ye are weary, my lord, 
 and have ridden hard." 
 
 She got no farther than this, for my lord suddenly 
 broke in, still in a very quiet voice. 
 
 w Is there none here that can tell me of my lady 
 Cherwell, whither she is gone ? " he asked. 
 
 But there was silence on their part, and many had risen 
 from the table, looking for something to happen, and 
 stood watching. He took the handle of his sword in his 
 hand and passed among them swiftly, his face turned of 
 a white, his violet eyes gleaming like the sheen on steel, 
 and his head starting this way and that at every tiny 
 sound. At the faintest movement or stir his gaze sprang 
 upon a face and fastened there like a tiger. 
 
 " Where is my wife ? " says he, walking thus between 
 them. " Where is my wife ? My lord Bohun, know you 
 whither is my lady taken ? " 
 
 u Faith," whispered Trayle to one that told me this, 
 " here is a perilous man he holds himself too quiet." 
 
 Cherwell stayed before him at this sound. "My wife ?" 
 says he. " Know you where they have hid my lady ? " 
 
 Trayle shrugged his shoulders. " My lord, I was told 
 that she had driven hence to the inn." 
 
 But Bohun, who had drunk very deep, thumped his
 
 164 THE REBEL 
 
 great fist upon the oak. "By God! " he cried, " this goes 
 too far. This is damnable scurvy practice ! God damn me, 
 'tis so." 
 
 My lord kept very still and silent now, but merely 
 fingered a button upon his coat, his eyes alone ranging 
 over the faces. 
 
 " I thank you for your courtesy," said he slowly. " 'Tis 
 good in you, madam, to return me such nice consideration. 
 I will remember it as a gentle act of friendship. One ot 
 my blood," says he, " is not used to forget. I thank you 
 for your grace, madam, and this honourable company. 
 Yet you have said not where my lady lies." 
 
 " I know naught, my lord," said Lady Ellicott boldly, 
 yet changing her colour somewhat. " Maybe you shall 
 find her at the inn. Maybe she waits you there, my lord." 
 
 " Maybe," says he in the same voice, " but it may be also 
 that she looks for me elsewhere. I will keep tryst with 
 my lady, madam, as you should very well guess of me." 
 
 <c Lord," she cried in an uncomfortable tone, " you 
 hint at me. I will not have you insinuate against me." 
 
 " Madam, I have warned you before that you were 
 treading in perilous ways," said he smoothly. " I warned 
 you once, and you despised that word. The time is past 
 now for warning, for the peril is here." 
 
 " What mean you ? " she said, appearing angry. 
 
 " Your fate is designed ; your danger is upon you," he 
 said. 
 
 " Come, come, my lord," said Trayle, stepping forward. 
 " The devil ! would you threaten a lady ? There is that 
 here to stop you, if your honour will not," and he made a 
 gesture towards his side. 
 
 But Cherwell turned his eyes on him quickly. " Nay,"
 
 THE REBEL 165 
 
 he said, " I have no quarrel with you, sir ; and I threaten 
 not any woman. I but advise this lady of what is already 
 destined. There is none here that I threaten ; there is 
 but the one against whom I am charged. I make war 
 upon one man, and him I will call to account. But it 
 shall so happen that others may be entangled in his 
 fortunes, and in his overthrow shall others also be destroyed, 
 even this lady." 
 
 Lady Ellicott, who was now a-tremble, cried out in a 
 voice in which there entered a quavering laugh "'Tis 
 strange words you use, my lord." 
 
 But said Trayle, " Who is this you speak of? " 
 
 " 'Tis James Stewart, who is styled Duke of York," 
 says Cherwell, as slowly as before, " and maybe 'tis a name 
 you know." 
 
 But at that some cried out " His Highness ! " and 
 " Hush, hush !"... You speak treason." 
 
 " Treason ! " cried my lord quickly. u I know no 
 such word. But I know one, and that is treachery and 
 he that wrongeth Anthony Heriot shall pay for that wrong 
 until the uttermost farthing," with which he turned on 
 his heel, and, very pale and fevered, walked swiftly from 
 the house. 
 
 My lord was not like to let things rest so. He was in 
 a passion to strike at the Duke, and he might hardly be 
 contained ; for of a truth the dissuasion fell to me. 
 
 " The Duke," says he, when he entered the inn, having 
 ridden furiously from the Manor, " the Duke," says he, 
 " has made a diversion." 
 
 " What mean you, Anthony ? " said I, who was alarmed 
 at his tone ; he spoke in such deathly calmness. " Where 
 is my lady ? " said I.
 
 1 66 THE REBEL 
 
 " His Highness knows," says he. 
 
 " She has not been taken ? " I cried, suspecting what 
 had happened. 
 
 " Aye," says he slowly. " The Duke has ravished my 
 lady Cherwell away to debauch her. He has declared 
 war. Am I not a humble subject of this realm, Hilary, 
 and who am I that I dare refuse to accept his challenge ? 
 I am well quit of the woman," says he, meaning Lady 
 Ellicott. " I would rather fight a man, and the higher he 
 stands the heavier shall I pull him down." 
 
 " What would you do ? " I asked him in dismay at this 
 news. 
 
 My lord stirred suddenly from his slow and bitter mood, 
 and his glance shot flames. 
 
 " He hath taken away my wife," he cried in a voice of 
 exceeding rage and passion, " and I take God to witness 
 that I will pull down this James Stewart in ruins that I 
 will not rest nor cease until that man is brought and 
 humbled in the dust." 
 
 " Hush ! Anthony ! " said I. " You speak against one 
 that shall be King to-morrow." 
 
 " What matters it ? " he answered roughly. " His 
 blood is rotten in him j his flesh stinketh. An he be 
 King," says he, " it maybe that he shall go the way of 
 his father if so I choose." 
 
 Nor could I move him from that terrible madness ; yet 
 what I could that I did ; and he stayed in the inn for two 
 days more, during which inquiries were spread about the 
 country. But no news came of my lady ; she and her 
 coach, if so be she had set out in a coach, as Lady Ellicott 
 said, had vanished ; and there was no trace of her remain- 
 ing, any more than if she had been rapt up into Heaven
 
 THE REBEL 167 
 
 on an instant, or enchanted away into faery. At the end 
 of the two days, then, my lord made ready to return, and, 
 summoning Westmacott, gave him commands. 
 
 <c I go to London," said he, " to secure a party and 
 defences. Tarry ye in Taunton, and do your work." 
 
 Westmacott protested very eagerly how he would gladly 
 do this, and that he looked for much from my lord's visit. 
 
 u What do you go for ? " I asked Cherwell. 
 
 " I go to pursue my fate," he says shortly. " This 
 country is weary of Jack Fools and Cupids. I will set 
 this same London Town by the ears, as ye shall 
 presently hear." 
 
 From this I knew he had some design which he kept 
 guarded, and I was to learn what this might be soon 
 enough. I parted from my lord at Dulsiebridge, leaving 
 him to ride for Town, and that night he lay at Basing. 
 
 The time was drawing towards the close of September, 
 and the nights fell damp or frosty, so that a fire was 
 burning in the small inn. A little after he had arrived a 
 man rode up, his horse all a-lather, and got down before 
 the tavern, entering the one public room. My lord sate 
 still before the fire, with his toes to the embers, sunk in 
 meditation, and he saw nothing of the stranger, paying no 
 heed to any sounds. But Ravel marked him, and being 
 of a constant inquisitiveness, struck up an acquaintance 
 with him. He was an ugly heavy fellow, and said that he 
 was from Southampton, where he had been to tend a 
 venture ; but Ravel considered him to be no merchant 
 and was puzzled with him. Still he was a friendly fellow, 
 and paid his reckoning and Ravel's too with a generous 
 hand. Now it so happened that when my lord was got 
 to bed, being very tired, Ravel also made a feint of
 
 168 THE REBEL 
 
 sleeping, but presently he was minded to court a kitchen- 
 wench that was in the house, and getting up he made his 
 way to another place where she had appointed to see him. 
 Here Ravel, who was a rare liar, and, indeed, spoke no 
 truth to any unless to his master, though he was for ever 
 talking, filled the slut's ears, it must be thought, with 
 wonderful tales of his master, saying that he knew for 
 certain he was the Devil, so wild was he and glaring. 
 And after this talk and some natural dalliance the two 
 came to grow noisier, and, their liquor being finished, 
 Ravel persuaded her to fetch him more from the cellar. 
 The wench pouted and would nothing without him, 
 crying she was affrighted ; and so, a lanthorn being lit, 
 the two proceeded down the stairs upon the lower land- 
 ing. Here there was some jest between them, and a 
 struggle followed ; Ravel thrusting an arm about the 
 hussy, and she giggling and resisting him. In the midst 
 of it all back goes she with a bump against a door, which 
 giving way, she topples into the room beyond with a 
 shriek. Ravel had the lanthorn, and what was his con- 
 sternation to perceive that it was my lord's chamber into 
 which they had thus rudely broken. The girl lay upon 
 the floor, looking much alarmed now, but 'twas not on 
 her that Ravel stared ; for there was that in the room 
 that made him cry out and shake as if he had been the 
 wench herself. What he saw was no other than the big 
 fellow with whom he had supped that night, and he stood 
 over the bed where my lord lay, as Ravel swore, with a 
 knife in his hand. 
 
 At the noise of their entrance the man turned, first with 
 an ugly frown, and next with a look of terror. He ran 
 on that same instant from the bed and towards the open
 
 THE REBEL 169 
 
 door, ere Ravel had his wits. My lord, however, was 
 ever quick to act, and the sounds had awoke him instantly. 
 He sat up, and seeing one that ran, emptied a pistol on 
 him, so that the fellow, being peppered in the hinder parts 
 as he fled, fell over the wench with a yell, and came to 
 the floor, where he lay cursing and groaning. At this 
 the ado and the noise grew apace, and the people in the 
 tavern were roused. But my lord, sitting in his bed, 
 pointed a finger at the floor, where the girl was pinned 
 down by the man's body. 
 
 " Take away that rubbish," says he to Ravel shortly. 
 " 'Tis a scandal that a man may not sleep peaceably who 
 has ridden so far." And then seeing that the one of the 
 twain was a woman " What does that grimalkin in my 
 room ? " said he. " Put her forth, rogue ; put her 
 forth." 
 
 And Ravel obeying him without a word, Cherwell lay 
 back again in his bed and went to sleep without any con- 
 cern. Yet the episode might not rest there, and my lord 
 learned the next day what his visitor had intended. The 
 man himself, who was grievously pained in his after parts, 
 and kept abed perforce, vowed himself honest, and that 
 Ravel was mistook. He swore he was an honourable 
 merchant who had no need to rob or steal, and that he 
 had by an error entered the wrong room. There was no 
 argument against him save Ravel's eyes, and it was 
 declared that he had been tippling with the girl ; so that 
 in the end nothing was done, and my lord went on to 
 London. Yet there were those, of whom I am one, who 
 did not doubt from what direction this attempt came. It 
 is possible that my lord also guessed, but he never referred 
 to it, and if he guessed he cared not. Certainly it did
 
 170 THE REBEL 
 
 not interpose upon his plans, as it might well have done. 
 For here was evidence that he had enemies who would use 
 all unworthy and dishonourable means to strike at him, 
 and would strike secretly and by base hands. There was 
 a party that maintained how the King and his brother 
 were not subject to the common laws of the realm, nor 
 could be bound by the usual code of honour. 'Tis an 
 evil doctrine that has wrought much mischief; but it 
 was practised by many, as for example in the plot that 
 was formed by gentlemen of the Court to keep the Duke 
 from his marriage with Anne Hyde. 1 And the fallacy 
 once admitted, there is no depth to which those who 
 follow it may not be brought. Of the instigation of this 
 assassin I .have never had any doubt, more especially from 
 what befel later, as I shall relate in due time. 
 
 In London my lord took up his quarters in the old 
 hostel which he frequented. 
 
 1 Hamilton gives a full account of this infamous plot in 
 Memoirs of Count Grammont, Chap. VIII. EDITOR.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 OF THE EXTRAVAGANCES AT SOUTHWARK, AND THE 
 WOLVES OF CLODIUS 
 
 No sooner was my lord arrived in Town than he set 
 himself to his purpose, which was to pursue the war 
 against his Highness. There was not one tittle of 
 evidence to show that the Duke was author of the 
 abduction ; indeed, it was impossible that he should have 
 been, owing to the distance from London. If it had 
 been so my lord could have proceeded in the High 
 Court. Yet I do not think he thought of this. He 
 had his schemes laid and followed them craftily, but with 
 a mad recklessness notwithstanding. He spoke no word 
 to the King, who welcomed him kindly, and even en- 
 countered the Duke without more than a bow. Charles, 
 on his part, had learned what had happened, and, being 
 very indolent and also sick at that time, took little 
 account of it. Indeed, he but turned away from it with 
 his satirical remark that "James should be the better 
 pleased that my lord had been so great a fool as to wed ; 
 since what he pursued with danger before was now very 
 secure." But concerning the disappearance of the lady 
 
 he uttered no word, nor did my lord to him. Yet I 
 
 171
 
 i 7 2 THE REBEL 
 
 think his silence was graver than the most passionate 
 outbreak. 
 
 My lord Cherwell went about his task in another 
 way. He straightway sought Shepherd, the man who 
 had the wine-shop in which the Rye House plot was 
 formed. This silent and inscrutable man he questioned 
 boldly, demanding whither certain fellows had fled. But 
 Shepherd professed to know nothing of them, saying he 
 kept a shop to sell wines, and that any gentleman was 
 free to come there. He cared nothing for any one's 
 opinions. 
 
 Says Cherwell "This is very well, and I make no 
 doubt you are a loyal subject. Yet you love not the 
 Pope, and you have a fear of his Highness." 
 
 Shepherd eyed him, as if to inquire what he knew, for 
 he had saved his skin till now by pleading his ignorance 
 of what went forward at those meetings. 
 
 "I think you remember me now," says my lord. 
 
 Shepherd shook his head. "Your lordship's face is 
 one that I could not but recall," he said. " Yet have I 
 seen it not." 
 
 "Oh, come," cried Cherwell impatiently, "we but 
 fence about this matter. 'Tis my business to see Mr. 
 Goodenough and whomsoever he desires for company. 
 He will have a memory for one that was with my lord 
 Shaftesbury." 
 
 " Why," says Shepherd, " there was a Mr. Good- 
 enough of the city here that was used to attend here 
 once, but it is odds if I see him again." 
 
 "I will trust to luck and your quick eyes," said 
 Cherwell dryly, and there left the matter. 
 
 This Goodenough, as you will recall, was foremost in
 
 THE REBEL 173 
 
 the plot, and showed a real zeal in pushing the Duke's 
 exclusion. But he had fled at the time of the dis- 
 covery, and was now in hiding. Him Cherwell would 
 approach, believing that he was earnest and might prove 
 of use to him. Nor was he mistook in supposing that 
 Shepherd would carry his message to Goodenough, and 
 that the latter would trust in him. For word was 
 privately brought to him within a week of a place where 
 he might see the man, and my lord kept an appointment 
 with him there. Goodenough was much frightened, but 
 was as fanatical as ever, and fell into my lord's plans. 
 These were to engage other gentlemen in a fresh plot 
 against the Duke, and to fire the town with such en- 
 samples. My lord was all for openness, and would not 
 hear of that "lopping" of which they had spoken so 
 foolishly at Shepherd's. 
 
 "Bring me these men ye speak of," he says, "and I 
 will vow to execute this plan. But I will have no 
 trespasses upon my honour, which is fixed. And this I 
 tell you, Mr. Goodenough, that I shall be the leader of 
 this rebellion for rebellion it will be and what I say 
 shall be carried out so, as I say it." 
 
 Goodenough, and afterwards the others, made some 
 demur at this, but in the end they accepted what he 
 offered ; for indeed they were glad enough to get a 
 nobleman of this position to throw in his lot with their 
 desperate venture, inasmuch as the whole case of rebellion 
 was so deeply discredited, since the prosecutions of the 
 Rye House plot. There were two or three gentlemen 
 of birth whom Goodenough found, and there was also 
 Trenchard, who came of the West country, and was 
 sent presently to Taunton these with a remainder of a
 
 i 7 4 THE REBEL 
 
 strange rabble, partly fanatic but in the main men of 
 sore need and evil reputation, were joined with my lord 
 in his folly. But he cared nothing for these particulars ; 
 he was pursuing his course, and naught could turn him. 
 Yet to others, and these his friends, what acts he was 
 engaged in soon began to look like madness. This 
 rabble was well-armed, and, consisting of desperate fellows, 
 became a fear to peaceful citizens. And at first there 
 was nothing crept out as to what they desired, or what 
 their business was ; for my lord held his tongue so far 
 and went to Court, while the others were not anxious 
 to spread abroad the new plot, of which in truth they 
 understood but little. What was known among them 
 was that the Duke was to be excluded, but some said 
 they were for Monmouth, but others for the Prince of 
 Orange. Cherwell himself kept his counsel, and used 
 his small means in providing for these horrid retainers, 
 furnishing them with money and apparel. Meanwhile 
 he put a watch on his Highness, thinking that my lady 
 would come to no harm so long as he was dogged. The 
 Duke had stayed in London all this time. But presently 
 several of the conspirators, being the more desperate and 
 less prudent spirits, took to following my lord, for a 
 bodyguard, and this fact raised much comment. He 
 went still to Court, mingling politely in the gaieties and 
 showing no different front. Yet that rabble accompanied 
 him often and sate down in the streets outside to wait, 
 and to gamble with one another, annoying the passers- 
 by with their talk and actions. There was some wit in 
 Whitehall who dubbed these the wolves of Clodius, and 
 comparisons were pointed at my lord, resembling him to 
 that infamous person. But nothing was found against
 
 THE REBEL 175 
 
 the fellows until soon they came to be more riotous, and 
 to make a noise in the streets by night, the more so if 
 they were drunken. My lord, being taken to task by 
 one of his friends, on this folly, answered very calmly 
 that they were instruments. 
 
 " I care not what their conduct be," he said. " They 
 shall serve my purpose, and shall not be turned against 
 me. If you have a delicate stomach there is the other 
 side of the way." 
 
 This reply was not of a character to conciliate his 
 friends, and an estrangement grew up. Nevertheless, he 
 was all this time extending his plot, and I have heard ot 
 several in high places who were favourable to him, though 
 none dared to show him countenance openly. It was 
 the King himself at last who spoke with him, warning 
 him that he was suspected. 
 
 " Of what am I suspected, Sire ? " asked my lord. 
 " Is it of a design against your Majesty ? " 
 
 "No," says the King. "You and I are the only 
 persons that would suspect you of that, my lord. But 
 you are suspected of what you are guilty." 
 
 "What is that?" said he. 
 
 " Why," says Charles, " I find my doorsteps sprinkled 
 with some fellows that game and look black." 
 
 "They only toss for crowns, Sire," says my lord 
 quietly. 
 
 The King bit his lip, and then smiled. "They were 
 better to wait until I am dead, then," he said. "My 
 lord, I have given you a warning." 
 
 The warning was of no avail, and my lord, so far 
 from restraining his followers, took a more reckless 
 course, and one which was amazing to all. He now
 
 176 THE REBEL 
 
 discovered himself and his purpose, repeating his opinions 
 on every hand ; by which the body of his gang perceived 
 whither they were bound. For he had seen enough of 
 the Duke of Monmouth to have no faith in him, and he 
 judged him to be what he afterwards proved. While 
 from being at the Hague he had acquired a notion of 
 the Prince of Orange's character, which he deemed suit- 
 able to sustain so great a trust ; and he made no scruple 
 about saying this. 
 
 " We will have no Papist to rule over us ; we will not 
 bring ourselves under the yoke or Rome," was what he 
 said j and in plainer terms " The Duke must be con- 
 tent to keep his post upon the high seas. He shall never 
 sit in St. James'." 
 
 These words being communicated from one to another 
 came next to the King, and no doubt to the Duke him- 
 self. Yet no act was taken against my lord, only he was 
 urged by some that wished him well not to intermeddle 
 in those affairs, but to refrain his tongue, whatsoever he 
 thought. My lord paid no heed, and now proceeded 
 even to a greater extremity. He passed across London 
 Bridge with a gathering of violent men, and setting up a 
 yoke in Southwark, in the very middle of the market, 
 bade all that came to walk under, for this, he said, was 
 the yoke of Rome, which the Duke would bring them 
 under presently. There was a great concourse of people 
 in Southwark, whither a confluence of travellers traded 
 from many ports ; and some of these, taking the whim, 
 did as he ordered. 
 
 " Swear," says he to them, " that ye will obey hocus 
 pocus and honour the Pope above Almighty God. For 
 if ye do not so, ye shall be cast into everlasting fires, and
 
 THE REBEL 177 
 
 burn, as is your due." And when they laughed and 
 refused him, believing it to be a silly jest, he cried out, 
 most fanatical " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, 
 that I am the keeper of Hell and Heaven ? Yea, so, I 
 have the soul of his Highness in my hands, for I am 
 vicar of God ; and what I say that shall his Highness do, 
 even though it should be to tear your bodies in pieces. 
 His fathers," he cried out, " have whipped you with rods ; 
 but he shall whip you with scorpions." 
 
 Upon that the people ceased from laughing, and began 
 to whisper together, and an Anabaptist who was in 
 Cherwell's train stepped forth, and, with his eyes rolling, 
 delivered him of a denunciation, calling on the Lord 
 to destroy Antichrist, and to preserve the land from 
 contagion and ruin. 
 
 Whereupon one among the bystanders, who had 
 greater boldness than his fellows, called out to know 
 how they should be saved. 
 
 " The Prince of Orange," cried Cherwell solemnly. 
 " God hath bitter need of him this hour. He shall 
 break down these bonds," and so saying he overturned 
 the yoke and threw it into a bonfire which had been 
 kindled in the street. 
 
 This scene drove many to suppose that he was mad, 
 and the Prince of Orange himself, to whose ears it came, 
 was greatly angered. Yet Charles took no steps against 
 the culprit, being very reluctant, and maybe considering 
 in his heart that my lord had been evilly used by the 
 Duke. So that many, seeing how he was tolerated, and 
 that such opinions might prove inoffensive, showed some 
 favour to them, and there was much idle talk, very 
 frankly passed about the Town. In truth, if the Duke
 
 178 THE REBEL 
 
 had pressed for the arrest of my lord, the King must have 
 given way, for the thing had become a scandal. He, 
 however, was fearful of provoking further outcry, for his 
 connection with the outrage on my lady Cherwell was now 
 public rumour. It is possible that he might have been 
 shaken in his resolve to possess her, and the whole affair 
 might thus have come to an end (for that he was alarmed 
 I knew from one that was in his counsels) but for 
 something that happened next, and gave another turn to 
 this history. 
 
 My lord had the effrontery to make an appearance at 
 Court soon after this incident which was the very last 
 occasion save one other in which he set foot in Whitehall. 
 There he met cold looks and averted faces, and stalked 
 through the rooms unaddressed. Nor would the King 
 see him or notice his presence. Thus he was wander- 
 ing through a gallery on his way forth when he heard 
 some one call his name, and, turning, beheld the Lady 
 Katharine Roodhouse. 
 
 " My lord," said she, " what is my fault that I am so 
 scorned ? You walk like that spirit that Mr. John 
 Milton wrote of." 
 
 " And how walked he ? " asked Cherwell smiling ; 
 wherewith she quoted in her soft and mincing voice some 
 words of one who was the Protector's secretary 
 
 " The strongest and the fiercest spirit 
 That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. 
 His trust was with the Eternal to be deem'd 
 Equal in strength, and rather than be less 
 Cared not to be at all." 
 
 " Madam," says he, " an I be so fallen why do you
 
 THE REBEL 179 
 
 pursue me with your friendly voice ? There is none 
 here that will do so." 
 
 u Why, my lord," she answered, u I am not bound by 
 their constraint. I pick my own way. But if you be 
 fallen, ye shall yet ascend again." 
 
 " I shall go deeper still," said he, eyeing her. 
 
 " Fie ! " she said, enlarging her eyes. " There should 
 be no despair in the Earl of Cherwell." 
 
 " Nay," said he quickly. " It is my pride. I am 
 come to fulfil the destiny of my race." 
 
 " What is that ? " she asked, wondering. 
 
 " It is to blast the career of tyrants," he said with 
 heat. " It is to pull a wreck about them." 
 
 " And what good will that be to you, my lord ? " she 
 asked, laughing. " I have heard such tales, but it is my 
 choice rather to be merry and to enjoy God's gift, this 
 life and body of mine." 
 
 He looked on her admiringly. " Aye, that is your 
 lot," he said ; for there was great attraction in her face 
 always. 
 
 "'Tis not mine alone," she said with a little laugh. 
 " There needs more to my joy. I am not one to be 
 merry in a wilderness." 
 
 My lord was silent, for he could not doubt her 
 meaning, knowing what a careless name she had. Then 
 he said brusquely 
 
 " It is true you cannot stand alone, madam. You have 
 looked high, which should give me cause to avoid ye." 
 
 "What!" she cried with impatience, "you speak of 
 what ye know nothing." 
 
 " I know," says he bluntly, " that I went on a pursuit 
 which your ladyship foiled."
 
 180 THE REBEL 
 
 " Faugh ! " she cried. " Have I not told you that I 
 am independent ? I rest on no one. And what ye sought 
 there ye had no right on." 
 
 " Nay," he says, " but now I have." 
 
 She inquired of him earnestly with her great eyes. 
 " What right have you ? " says she quickly. 
 
 " That of one who has a wife," he answered. 
 
 " A wife ! " she said, laughing and lifting her brows. 
 " But I asked not that, my lord. There are many wives. 
 Sure I am one myself. In what relation stands your 
 wife?" 
 
 " She is one that the fifth Earl of Cherwell shall call 
 mother," says he calmly. 
 
 " Lard ! " she cried merrily, " I trust she will like the 
 honour. 'Tis one I grudge her not. Pshaw ! I cannot 
 smell to that name without aversion. It hath a common 
 sound. But she is another. Let her bear what she will, 
 poor fool ; but how stand you to her, my lord ? " and she 
 trained upon him her soft glances. 
 
 "'Tis I that shall be father to her child," says he 
 obdurately. 
 
 She laughed her sweet laughter. "Oh Lord, my 
 lord," says she, shaking all over her open bodice. " But 
 ye must not make too sure of that. You are no country 
 squire to suppose the best." 
 
 " I dare only to suppose what is best of you, madam," 
 says he, smiling on her. 
 
 She tapped him with her fan. " My lord, I perceive 
 you are near salvation," she said pleasantly. " You 
 should have a place in Madame de Rambouillet's Court 
 I vow you should." She turned away, and speaking 
 over her shoulder, " But I am your friend," she said.
 
 THE REBEL 181 
 
 " Yea, believe that," and so vanished in her idle graceful 
 manner. 
 
 Now what ensued upon that by a strange accident I 
 am able to set out in particular, having the information 
 from Ravel, who was with the rogues. It seems that two 
 of Cherwell's creatures, the one an Anabaptist, by name 
 Tonge, and a rascal called Dancock, who had been in the 
 German wars, had been set to watch his Highness. About 
 a quarter to eleven that same night they were posted 
 outside the Duke's house, observing his windows, and 
 very cold and comfortless, for the weather was frosty. 
 Presently some one came to the door, and letting himself 
 forth passed into the street, wrapped in a cloak which 
 veiled him. Dancock swore that this must be the Duke, 
 in which Tonge agreeing, they both ran after him, keeping 
 at a distance, yet holding him in sight. In this fashion 
 they proceeded some long way, till they were come to a 
 part which neither of these fellows recognized, owing 
 partly to the darkness. The man they followed paused 
 now and looked about him, and then, not perceiving 
 them, who had hidden in the shadow, entered a house. 
 The tale of what my lord had lost at the hands of the 
 Duke was known to his attendants, and they thought that 
 now they had his Highness at a disadvantage. While 
 Tonge kept watch on the house, Dancock made off and 
 presently returned with others of the party who had been 
 drinking deeply. This pretty flock surrounded the house, 
 and that not proving to their liking, rapped on the door, 
 and one or two climbed over the walls into the garden. 
 This knocking disturbed the people in the house, and 
 a servant, looking out, discovered the rascals. Where- 
 upon he flew in alarm to his mistress, who was no other
 
 1 82 THE REBEL 
 
 than the Lady Katharine Roodhouse ; for the house was 
 hers. She was greatly disturbed from her usual stillness, 
 and more especially as she had something to conceal. 
 
 "Who are they ?" she asked, and was told that they 
 were a band of cutpurses and cracksmen at the least. 
 But she thrust her head out of a window, and, perceiving 
 one of them under the light, recognized him as a fellow 
 she had seen before Whitehall. This was how she knew 
 whence they came, which made her indignant. She 
 called to her a page-boy who had some spirit and sent 
 him off through a window, first to rouse the watch, and 
 then to bring my lord Cherwell to shepherd his wolves. 
 In the meantime the men below called out for some ale, 
 and shouted that none should come forth except into 
 their arms, be he Prince, they said, or canter. Lady 
 Katharine, thereupon, was very deeply alarmed, and cried 
 out to her servants that she was ruined. Now comes 
 along the watch and made an effort to disperse the 
 rogues, who refused and drew their weapons. There- 
 upon a fight took place, and some wounds were given, 
 until one of Cherwell's gang, breaking down the door, 
 entered the house and ran up the stairway in a drunken 
 fashion, followed by some of his companions and members 
 of the watch. There was now a brisk engagement on 
 the stairs, and one of the watch was struck through the 
 heart and fell whereat an outcry arose, and it was at this 
 point that my lord appeared on the scene. He had been 
 roused with the news that Lady Katharine Roodhouse 
 was attacked, and he had hastened forth on the instant. 
 
 He came in through the broken door with a light 
 swift step, and leaped up the stairs. There stood the 
 Lady Katharine, who had been fetched out by the
 
 THE REBEL 183 
 
 increased noise when the man was slain, and, her spirit 
 suddenly quavering, she was shrunk against the balustrade, 
 holding to it tightly with her hand. My lord pushed 
 through the crowd of struggling men. 
 
 " What is this ? " he cries out. " Cease, cease ! " 
 But no one paid any heed, and one of his own creatures, 
 sword in hand, stretched out an arm to gather the lady 
 to him. My lord put up his pistol and discharged it into 
 his face, so that he reeled and went down without a 
 groan. At the noise the others seemed to pause, and saw 
 him for the first time with his smoking piece. 
 
 " Get ye back, ye scum ! " said he fiercely, and they 
 withdrew a step, staring at the body of their associate. 
 Then he turned to Lady Katharine. 
 
 " Madam," he said, " I ask your pardon in that 
 through inadvertence I have been the author of this 
 trouble." 
 
 But she, tall and stately as she was, holding to the oak, 
 set up a little whimpering as a child or a dog that is in 
 fear. 
 
 " Come," says he, " let me conduct you. There shall 
 be no more pother here." 
 
 He took her hand, and she made a movement to him, 
 but set her foot unwittingly upon a body on the stairs, 
 and with a great cry of terror stumbled and fell into my 
 lord's arms, clasping him closely about the neck, and 
 laying her face and bosom upon him, weeping. 
 
 My lord carried her from the concourse into a room 
 near by, and patted her hand while she sobbed. 
 
 u There," says he, consoling her, " these dogs shall 
 not harry you. I will drive them to their kennels." 
 
 But here some one whispered in his ear that the Duke
 
 184 THE REBEL 
 
 was here, and that they had pursued him ; whereupon 
 he changed his demeanour, though he spoke still very 
 courteously. 
 
 " My lady," he said, " you will pardon this alarm, 
 which was raised for your interest, in truth." 
 
 " Interest ! " she exclaimed. " God's wounds, I shall 
 die of this vulgar contact." 
 
 " You do not know, I perceive," he answered smoothly. 
 " Poor creature, there is a notorious villain has been traced 
 into this house, and vanished. No doubt he lies in wait to 
 kill you or to debauch you." 
 
 " Ah ! " says she, staying her tears, a you are cruel, 
 my lord." 
 
 " Nay, nay," he said in a soothing, coaxing voice. 
 " My fellows would protect you. You shall come to no 
 harm by this ruffian, and so I swear." 
 
 She threw off his arm and fronted him. u I pray you 
 cease, my lord," she cried in a shaken voice. "I will 
 not bear this at your hands. Heavens, I shall die of this 
 shame you put upon me." 
 
 " What ! " he said, " when I would save you and 
 guard you as my honour ! I will go search for this 
 villain at once." 
 
 She set her back to the door. " You shall not," she 
 panted. " Oh, how I hate you, my lord." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. "I begin to understand 
 that there is something more in this," he said in a dry 
 tone. 
 
 She broke out into tears, for she was strangely shaken. 
 " I care not for your thoughts," she said. " Said I not 
 I was your friend ? Ye are a hard master, my lord, a 
 bitter hard master."
 
 THE REBEL 185 
 
 " I am no master to you, mistress," said he lightly, 
 and went out into the hall. 
 
 "He that ye saw enter here," he said to his men, 
 " was but a poor footboy, who being frightened has 
 gone to bed," and turning to the watch he said, " These 
 brave fellows were grievously mistook. Get ye gone to 
 your homes," and scattered a shower of guineas among 
 them. 
 
 After which he strode out of the house and was gone, 
 while the others took up the two dead men and carried 
 them away.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF THE BLOODY CONTENTION AT BURFORD 
 BRIDGE 
 
 THIS outrage was considered abominable even by my 
 lord's friends, who took occasion to press again his 
 departure and the abandonment of his enterprise. They 
 argued that whatever blame might be jmputed to James, 
 my lord would gain nothing by his conduct, which was 
 unreasonable and against policy. My lord gave them no 
 heed, as ever, and they were driven to stand off and 
 watch, as anxious spectators of a drama. Upon all hands 
 he was avoided, even by Jermyn, who had once been his 
 friend. He was now considered mad, and there was 
 talk of an indictment. But it could not be proved that 
 he had set his men to that attack, and on the contrary 
 there was evidence that he had stayed them with 
 violence. So the Duke bided his time, which he deemed 
 must be drawing very near. He was thrown into a heat 
 of anger by his adversary's conduct, yet feared to stir in 
 public against him. 
 
 "There is no peace," he is reported to have said 
 before his gentlemen ; " there is no peace nor honour 
 
 for me while this man lives," and he stalked up and down 
 
 186
 
 THE REBEL 187 
 
 the room with agitation. " He is sworn against me," he 
 cried. " He will turn my days into a burden. I know 
 neither peace nor honour while he lives," and he uttered 
 some exclamation which was not repeated, but which 
 was afterwards declared to be the origin of what 
 followed. 
 
 Now there was in the Duke's household a gentleman 
 of some family, by name Cotes, handsome in a rude way, 
 reckless, and very deeply devoted to his Highness's person. 
 This man, hearing what fell from his master, goes 
 straightway to some other gentlemen, as unscrupulous as 
 himself, and asked them if they were ready to undertake 
 a venture in his Highness's interests. They answered 
 that they were ; and he laid his plans before them, saying 
 they had a good example before them in those that rid 
 Henry II of a traitorous bishop. There were four of 
 them in all, Pratt and Harrington by name, and one 
 Hobday, who had once been attached to his Highness, 
 but having fallen into disrepute thought now to re- 
 habilitate himself. This last was greedy of vice ; foul 
 living had engendered in his body all the plagues of 
 Egypt, along with fears and a suspicion of the night. 
 These four rode together to Burford Bridge, whither 
 Lord Cherwell had departed on the previous day upon 
 some business. 
 
 My lord was in an upper chamber, where he stood 
 with his back to the fire warming himself, and the supper 
 had been served in an ante-room. Leaving the others 
 without the door Cotes entered to him and came up the 
 long room, giving him a salutation. My lord stood 
 staring at him, as in wonder what any one should be 
 doing trespassing there upon his privacy. But he said
 
 188 THE REBEL 
 
 nothing, nor did he answer Cotes's bow, only looked at 
 him without any expression save that of inquiry. Cotes 
 was not the one to be easily abashed, but this silence and 
 indifference took him aback ; he had expected to be 
 challenged on his errand. So he himself was driven 
 to speak first, which he did, coming to a pause within a 
 sword-thrust of my lord Cherwell. 
 
 u My lord, maybe you recognize me, who I am ? " 
 says he. 
 
 My lord stared at him. " Not the least in the world," 
 says he. 
 
 " Well," says he, " my name is Cotes, and I am a 
 gentleman of good Cumberland blood." 
 
 My lord nodded. " I am pleased to hear it," he said ; 
 " for being so, Mr. Cotes, you will need not my 
 reminder of what is owing from one gentleman that 
 intrudes upon another." 
 
 " You desire me to go ? " cries Cotes, flushing red ; 
 " well, I will not quarrel with you yet. I have some 
 facts which may affect your lordship." 
 
 " If you are come on business, say on," says my lord 
 equably, and as though this were some chandler. 
 
 Cotes glanced about the room. " We are alone ? " he 
 said. 
 
 My lord waved his hand. "You may speak on," he 
 said. " I have no secrets from my landlord." 
 
 At this piece of arrogance Cotes reddened again, and 
 began in an anger which he had not wished. 
 
 " I am of his Highness's household, my lord," said he 
 abruptly. 
 
 My lord surveyed him from toe to heel, and " His 
 Highness is to be congratulated," says he.
 
 THE REBEL 189 
 
 " 'Tis better we were to come to business, my lord," 
 said Cotes angrily. " I have a mission to you, and here 
 it is. I have no quarrel with your lordship, whose name 
 was once set very high in my esteem. But we stand 
 upon different and opposite sides. To be frank, you are 
 an impediment upon his Highness. I will not question 
 into the cause. The origins and sources of this feud 
 touch me not at all. The feud is all that I regard, and 
 what his Highness has at heart is my affair." 
 
 " His Highness has a faithful servant," says Cherwell, 
 bowing. " But whither does this lead ? I can make no 
 shape at all in it." 
 
 " Softly, my lord," said Cotes, " we are very close upon 
 it. The secret lies just here that this world may not 
 contain his Highness and yourself. Follows then, that 
 one must go, and that is not his Highness. You see, my 
 lord, how honestly I speak with you." 
 
 " Ye may be honest, Mr. Cotes," says Cherwell, " but 
 damme if you are plain. What would you have me to 
 do for you ? " 
 
 " Why," says Cotes, losing all his ceremony in his 
 impatience that my lord did not perceive, and blurting 
 forth his words, " why, I would have you dead." 
 
 My lord sate down at the table. " Oh," says he, 
 looking on him curiously, "you wish me dead?" and 
 then smiling a little, "I take it that this means a 
 challenge, Mr. Cotes," he says, "and that you will take 
 on yourself the office of butcher." 
 
 Cotes bowed with a sort of swagger, not at all ill- 
 pleased with himself. 
 
 " You are very good so to honour me," said my lord, 
 rising, " and I can congratulate the Duke upon a staunch
 
 190 THE REBEL 
 
 adherent, but," He paused, and then with a glance 
 
 at Cotes's expectant face, turned on his heel. "You 
 may go to the devil." 
 
 This insult was not what Cotes had anticipated, and he 
 broke out loudly " By God, you shall fight with me, 
 my lord." 
 
 " Come, come," says Cherwell impatiently. " I am 
 tired of this silly business. I have no time for nonsense, 
 and no stomach either. Mr. Cotes, I am busy and 
 yonder is the door." 
 
 "Ye shall be busier directly," sneered Cotes, now 
 thoroughly enraged, " for I tell ye what I have promised 
 shall be true." 
 
 Cherwell eyed him sharply. " Did your master send 
 you ? " he asked sternly. 
 
 " Indeed," says Cotes, recovering himself somewhat, 
 and grinning, " he hath a better part to play. He is 
 all for dalliance. 'Tis the husband falls to our lot, my 
 lord," and he flung a glove in CherwelPs face. 
 
 My lord's eyes danced, and he drew his rapier. 
 " Defend ; God damn ye ! " he said, and they fell 
 to. 
 
 The noise at once brought in the others who were in 
 waiting, as was arranged, and the door was shut in the 
 innkeeper's face. Cotes was a good swordsman, and 
 used some foreign tricks, but he was no match for my 
 lord, though he had deemed he was. Yet the fight went 
 forward with changing fortunes, and each was pricked 
 twice ere it came to a final issue. Then my lord pulled 
 back his lithe body, and quickly stretched himself forth, 
 so that the blade ran through Cotes's right side, and he 
 fell, bleeding freely. Whereupon my lord drew himself
 
 THE REBEL 191 
 
 up, and breathing hard looked on his enemy, who was 
 gone white like a dead man. 
 
 "Take this poor fool away," says he, perceiving the 
 others, " and have him seen by a chirurgeon." 
 
 Pratt, however, tapped him on the shoulder, and lifting 
 his eyes from Cotes, my lord gazed on this new fellow. 
 He was the second of the number, for they had cast lots 
 for the succession. 
 
 "My lord," says Pratt bluffly, for he was a coarse 
 fellow, " pray direct your mind hither ; for you have 
 still the fourth of an adversary left ye," and he laughed, 
 taking no heed at all of Cotes's groans. At the same 
 time one of the others moved to the door and locked it, 
 throwing the key to the floor. 
 
 My lord dropped his point, all red and wet, and looked 
 about him with a start. Then a knowledge of what 
 they intended broke on him, and he drew a deeper 
 breath. 
 
 " This is murder ye mean, then, gentlemen," he said 
 slowly. " It is murder ye mean." 
 
 "Nay," says Pratt shortly, "'tis justice only, my lord. 
 Put up your point, or by God I will run you through 
 your vitals." 
 
 CherwelPs face hardened, and then a smile, such as 
 was constant with him, and partook not of amusement, 
 passed to his face. 
 
 "Come then, Mr. Hangman," said he lightly, and 
 struck at him. 
 
 This man was both furious and determined, and he had 
 no scruples, pressing upon my lord and driving him back 
 by his weight alone ; for he was of huge stature. But my 
 lord stood plying on his legs, his supple body bending and
 
 192 THE REBEL 
 
 swaying, drawing short breaths. Pratt fought with an 
 obstinate purpose, and by his very urgency pushed back 
 his opponent till my lord was against the wall. But he 
 could make no way against that skilled resistance. Again 
 and again his point spluttered upon the wall, until, 
 growing angry and therefore the more impetuous, he 
 threw his whole force into a stroke at my lord's heart. 
 It was set aside gently, and the blade cracked upon the 
 woodwork. The next moment my lord passed his sword 
 through him and came out into the middle of the room, 
 stepping over the body and shooting his glittering eyes 
 at the remainder of that wicked gang. Says my lord 
 
 " Have ye done ? or who comes next exacting or 
 justice ? " and at that, thinking he had an easy prey, one 
 of the two that were left, Harrington, met and engaged 
 him. 
 
 "I will send you to hell," cried my lord, panting. 
 " Ye shall go to your master the devil." 
 
 But indeed he was sorely tried, what with his wounds 
 and his weariness, and Harrington had him at a dis- 
 advantage. Ere a dozen passes were over he slipped and 
 fell, his face in the blood that ran on the floor. With a 
 cry Harrington leaped upon him, and raised his weapon. 
 Then must my lord have realized sharply that it was of 
 a truth his death they wanted. This man's blood was 
 hot, yet it was not the incitement of the duello that 
 carried him to this passion. These shameless men had 
 planned this end deliberately, and though two had fallen 
 it seemed that my lord was yet to die at the hands of the 
 third. Harrington drew back his rapier and plunged the 
 steel forward and downward but my lord was lithe and 
 vigilant, and he flung himself away, rolling a little. The
 
 THE REBEL 193 
 
 point took him in the ribs, grazing and tearing upon the 
 bone, which nevertheless protected him. The man pulled 
 back and thrust again, with an angry exclamation, and 
 again my lord gathered himself together and shot as by a 
 spring a foot away. This second miss so enraged the 
 fellow, that he dropped to his knees, bending close over 
 Cherwell, so that his eyes, gleaming with savage and 
 devilish hate, were looking into my lord's. He drew a 
 short dagger and leaned nearer, with his hand over my 
 lord's heart. Yet it was this very haste to make sure that 
 cost him the victory ; for no sooner was he set there, 
 fingering at my lord's breast, than he was seized with a 
 bloody wrist, and his hand which held the knife was bent 
 back. He cried out in his anguish, for he had not thought 
 that such strength should dwell in one of such a delicate 
 proportion, whom he deemed to be already far spent ; 
 and upon that there was a little splutter of crackling 
 bones and ligaments, and he called out to his fellow that 
 remained 
 
 "Stab him ! Stab him, damn ye ! " 
 
 But, as it chanced, this last, who was Hobday, and 
 much shaken by his excesses, knew not what to do in 
 his agitation. For the excitement of the fighting had 
 now passed into the horror of that deadly struggle 
 there, outside the code of honour, between the two men, 
 the murderer and his victim ; and the one of these that 
 was intended for the victim rose now upon his elbow 
 slowly, showing a cruel face, smeared with dust and 
 guttering blood, while the other dropped back and slid 
 reluctant over, screaming and cursing foul oaths, and 
 calling for help. The next thing that this Hobday saw 
 was my lord risen up, his sword in hand.
 
 I 9 4 THE REBEL 
 
 " Rat ! rat ! " he cried, and thrust it into what lay 
 there, with such force that the blade snapped and broke. 
 
 Then he turned about, and his breathing could be 
 heard across the room. 
 
 " What ! " says he stuttering, " have I not finished 
 with ye, bloody rogues ? Then there is one more for 
 hell," and he ran at Hobday with his broken blade. 
 
 Now this, with the sight of that ensanguined chamber, 
 under the candle-light, was more than Hobday could 
 endure. He sped to the door, flying from that madman ; 
 but 'twas locked by his own fellows. Back rushes he to 
 the other side of the table toward the chimney-piece, and 
 my lord upon him with that shivered sword, the blunt 
 and jagged butt* still dropping blood. Hobday was now 
 possessed of a terror, and he ran between these courses, 
 screaming like a fowl that knows not which way to fly. 
 He was struck once, and redoubled his cries, so that all 
 the house was in alarm and some ran and hid in the 
 cellars ; but at length, my lord being weary of foot and 
 weakened of his wounds, the man took an opportunity, 
 and with a sudden thought, hurled himself at the shut 
 window, through which he fell, scattering the glass wide, 
 and so came in a twisted, bleeding lump to the ground 
 without. At that Cherwell must have ceased, and presently 
 the door opened of that chamber and he came out, calling 
 to the innkeeper quietly. His face was changed, but the 
 red was still upon it. 
 
 " Landlord," says he, " there has been some mischief 
 in the upper room, and some lie there that need help. 
 It were best for your sake to have them tended." 
 
 The innkeeper was greatly terrified, for he knew not 
 what had happened, and he stammered out
 
 THE REBEL 195 
 
 " My lord, are they dead ? " 
 
 " I know not," says he. " I have given them what I 
 could, and that which was owed. Fetch me my horse." 
 
 He was upon the road to London ere half-an-hour was 
 past, for all that he was so desperately weak and that the 
 hour was so late. It was eleven o'clock of a late December 
 night, and the ground was white with frost as if it had 
 been snow. My lord rode from Burford Bridge in his 
 soiled and tattered clothes, and when he had reached 
 Mickleham a white fog rose up and swarmed across the 
 hills and valleys. The trees stood out like dead things 
 upon either side, and he still rode forward through the 
 white wilderness. He drew rein but the once that he 
 knew of, and that was near Epsom, when he called the 
 drawer from a wayside tavern to bring him French 
 brandy. As he was drinking this astride his reeking horse, 
 he spied a man steal forth of the house and mount quickly. 
 Then he saw that this was Hobday, and throwing down 
 the glass ere it was empty he cried out like one that is 
 following on a pack of hounds, and dug the rowels into 
 his poor nag. Hobday made off in a lively terror, beating 
 and thrashing his stout horse until the mists swallowed 
 him up from Cherwell, who sate in his saddle and laughed 
 aloud, with weakness and the spirit. The fog clung 
 darker about the woods of Ashstead and he could see 
 nothing. He followed in trust whither his beast should 
 lead him. The air grew colder, and some bells were 
 chiming one o'clock far in the distance, sailing to him on 
 the still night. The horse slipped and slithered, and was 
 spent ; and then my lord must have sank away in sleep 
 or faintness. 
 
 When he awoke the beast was still ambling, and he
 
 196 THE REBEL 
 
 was still set for London, but he knew not whither he had 
 gotten. Yet the fog had grown thinner now, and the 
 moon was come up in heaven to spy upon him. It was the 
 night before Yule, and indeed by this hour 'twas Christmas- 
 tide ; and lights were yet twinkling in the windows 
 of the cottages. Says Cherwell afterwards, that he never 
 looked upon so white a moon that hung upon so white a 
 world j the dark earth itself and all those naked branches 
 sparkled with a shining light. He was grown very sore 
 and stiff, and chill to the marrow, but he judged he 
 could not be far from Town, and so he continued upon 
 his way, singing to himself, and cheering of his horse, 
 poor wretch. Presently after he came up to a house, and 
 rapping on the door, brought out a goodman, who told 
 him he was nigh Sutton. And thus encouraged, he drank 
 more brandy, and so proceeded on his way.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 OF MY'LORD'S INCREASING MADNESS, AND OF HIS ESCAPE 
 FROM THE TOWER 
 
 MY lord descended upon London, spreading abroad a 
 waft of death. None knew what had drawn him back in 
 so great a haste, for of what happened at Burford Bridge 
 he had said no word. Yet it was plain that he had 
 returned with a strong determination, and that the time 
 was ready for action. He went about privily among such 
 as were well affected to him, and was urging forward a 
 plot. Letters passed to Holland, and the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth was brought in. Meanwhile something of that 
 frustrated assassination leaked out by way of Hobday, who 
 was driven to speak, partly out of a natural love of gossip, 
 and partly to defend himself. He gave quite another 
 account of himself, but the remaining facts were related 
 truly ; and the story was set in motion and grew monstrous 
 big in rolling, which drew the eyes of men more than 
 ever to my lord Cherwell. Whosoever was responsible 
 for that wicked purpose came nearer to winning my lord 
 open sympathy than anything before. He had at this 
 time the admiration of the vulgar ; it moved in a body 
 
 to him ; and none was so popular in the streets where 
 
 197
 
 198 THE REBEL 
 
 his rufflers still might be seen. Yet my lord was in- 
 credibly rash and greatly daring. Though he held him- 
 self so quiet, he was like a madman in his mind, 
 controlling his deeds with difficulty, and ready to break 
 out on any chance. Whereas he had formerly used some 
 low fellow or rascal to watch his Highness's actions, he 
 now often took the task upon himself, and was to be seen 
 following of the Duke about the streets with the most 
 ostentatious indifference. And this led to the next episode 
 in this remarkable and private war. 
 
 My lord had appointed to meet one from the Hague, 
 who brought messages, and one evening was awaiting this 
 arrival in his inn, which abutted on the Fleet waters. 
 The window commanded a broad scene, where the 
 wenches went up and down crying their wares, and 
 there was much chaffering. As he spied through the 
 window, he caught sight of a figure which was familiar, 
 and that set him on his feet staring sharply j for the 
 man had the lean and shambling gait of the cut-throat, 
 Fargus. The news was too attractive for my lord, who, 
 calling on Ravel, ran out of the house and pursued the 
 villain. There was no need to hasten, for the fellow 
 could not escape, and Cherwell did not desire to brawl 
 in the streets, so he followed quietly, giving no sign. 
 The man went towards Whitehall, with my lord after 
 him, and walked straight for the Duke's house, into 
 which he disappeared. This suddenly brought my lord 
 to a stop, considering what he should do, and if he should 
 denounce the rascal in the Duke's presence, so as to shame 
 his Highness. He had several plans in his head, which 
 he was pondering, when suddenly the door opened and 
 the Duke himself came out, accompanied by a gentleman.
 
 THE REBEL 
 
 My lord forget his errand in respect of Fargus, and at 
 once rushed to watch his Highness, secluding himself 
 under the shadows of the garden. Then the Duke set 
 out on foot with his attendant, moving towards the city 
 precincts, and my lord followed. There was so evident a 
 furtiveness in his Highness's actions that my lord sus- 
 pected. He thought that Fargus must have brought 
 intelligence, and that the Duke had gone forth clandes- 
 tinely to visit my lady Cherwell, where she was hid. 
 This redoubled his fury, and he swore an oath to track 
 down so wanton a debaucher. As he came through the 
 narrow alleys backward of the river he was joined by 
 Ravel and several more of his men, who, seeing he was 
 stalking a quarry, became hot and violent. My lord 
 damned them for a noisy pack, and then was quickly 
 fetched about by the disappearance of the Duke through 
 a wall. 
 
 " What is this ? " he says, and runs forward. " I make 
 no doubt here is the spot," and he hammered upon the 
 wicket gate. There was no reply to this demonstration, 
 and the others coming about him, began to examine if 
 they might break through ; and presently the lock was 
 burst, and they all passed in. 
 
 "I will have no sound until I give the signal," said 
 Cherwell in his peremptory manner. "This is in my 
 hands, and I alone shall deal justice, as it is to be dealt. 
 Yet stand ye by and watch." 
 
 The wicket gate opened into a short tunnel of stone 
 which conducted into a small square chamber of thick 
 masonry, smelling of a dungeon. 
 
 " Is her ladyship prisoned here ? " says one fellow. 
 
 " Silence ! " cried Cherwell angrily, and pushed through
 
 200 THE REBEL 
 
 a further door swiftly. Here the place was still in great 
 darkness, but there was a green arras hung before him, 
 and beyond that a light was shining dimly. Also a sound 
 of some music reached his ears, and he stood then per- 
 plexed, wondering what this might be, and if perchance 
 again he had broke into a chamber that belonged to my 
 lady Katharine Roodhouse. He walked a little further, 
 and perceived that the arras descended for a cover over 
 oaken rails, and at last he plucked it impatiently aside, 
 and looked through, and suddenly discovered where he 
 was and what was in course before him. 
 
 The room was in twilight, yet at the further end he 
 could perceive an altar set with Papistical objects, and a 
 thin priest bowing in his vestments over the Host. And 
 James, Duke of York, with other three knelt there, 
 worshipping. My lord was still a moment, and then, 
 pricked on by his reckless nature, he strode through the 
 arras into the chapel. 
 
 11 Hoc est corpus " began the priest, and my lord, 
 
 his spurred heels ringing on the stone floor, so that one 
 of the gentlemen with his Highness started up, inter- 
 posed on this with a loud voice. 
 
 " What have we here ? " he called out j "my faith, but 
 is this part of that great and noble kingdom of England ? 
 Sure she is not wont to ignore them that disobey her laws. 
 This is rank papistry, sirs. Ye are nought but condemned 
 recusants." He feigned not to observe his Highness, who 
 rose at once to his feet and stood, frowning, angry of face, 
 not knowing what to do. The sound of my lord's voice 
 brought out his companions a rude and sorry gang, all 
 armed, glistering with steel and waiting his commands. 
 
 " Who are ye, then ? " says Cherwell, striding nearer to
 
 THE REBEL 201 
 
 the altar ; " who are ye that dare set at nought the laws 
 of this realm ordained by God, his Majesty and the 
 people ? I warn you this, you wretches, I will have you 
 burn in the hand for this, or stand carrots in the pillory." 
 
 But some of his myrmidons, thinking he did not recog- 
 nize the Duke, stole up and whispered in my lord's ear. 
 
 " Go to," says he, throwing him off in a passion of 
 anger, " I will not suffer this great nation to be so brow- 
 beat by a parcel of priests and their creatures. Stand 
 aback there ! " he calls to the gentleman by the altar, and 
 drawing out his sword he went forward. One of them 
 took him by the arm. 
 
 " 'Fore God, my lord," said he in a low voice, " have a 
 care. Know you not who stands here ? " 
 
 " Why," says Cherwell, with a short laugh, " is't the 
 Almighty God, or is it some other of that Holy Three, 
 that ye speak so with bated breath and tremble ? I 
 know no other to make me so draw the breath. What ! 
 would you kneel and gape then at this piece of bread ? 
 Is't there you fear your God ? S wounds, you craven mice, 
 that steal and wriggle into holes to fulfil your heathenish 
 practices, the law shall have the handling of you, I swear 
 to God it shall." 
 
 The priest, keeping his wits still, came forward close to 
 him. " Sir," said he in a low voice, " I would ask you to 
 pause. You are mad ; you know not what you are 
 doing, nor what wrath you are calling upon yourself." 
 
 " Stand back, old man," said my lord, his fury burning 
 his vitals at the sight of that one who was his enemy ; 
 and he thrust the priest aside, addressing himself to the 
 others. "This desecration hath gone forward too long. 
 This country is weary of your machinations and your
 
 202 THE REBEL 
 
 superstitions.. The time is come to put an end to 
 it.'* 
 
 Then fixing his gaze upon his Highness, who shrank 
 in the shadows, hoping perhaps to escape notice,' and 
 fearing naturally to be included in a common brawl, 
 " And you, my lord Duke and Prince Highness," he said 
 in a sharp low voice, " 'tis a fine ensample that your 
 Highness sets to his fellow-subjects. What do you here 
 but to break the law, you that should uphold it ? " 
 
 Seeing himself to be recognized, the Duke stepped 
 forward, and with a gesture bade my lord be silent. 
 
 " I am answerable to none but one," said he sternly ; 
 " what do you, breaking into a private place, my lord ? 
 Beware lest this law you speak of shall not rather hold 
 you in its talons." 
 
 " What, you would threaten me ! " cried my lord, 
 flaming forth into an anger that was nigh madness ; " you 
 are the last of those Stewarts, and by God so shall you be. 
 Your Highness will be cast out ; then shall ye wail and 
 gnash your teeth in the darkness." 
 
 " Silence ! " commanded the Duke, his eyes flashing. 
 
 " Who are you to put these orders to me ? " demanded 
 my lord hotly. " If there is one to whom you answer, I 
 answer to none. I am keeper of myself, and I will walk 
 where I list and none shall stay me." 
 
 " We shall see how you justify that boast, my lord," 
 said his Highness. 
 
 Then quickly taken by a spirit that struck him, as a 
 tree is shaken with a gust, my lord ran forward, crying, 
 " This blasphemy shall cease out of the land. We will 
 set a term to it. Get ye gone, your Highness, ere I drive 
 these that defile the temple with cords from hence."
 
 THE REBEL 203 
 
 As he spoke he thrust the point of his sword into the 
 bread that was the Host, and scattered the fragments into 
 the air, while with his hand he tore the hangings from 
 the altar. 
 
 One of the gentlemen with the Duke would have 
 sprang forward and struggled with him to hinder him 
 from this sacrilege, but his Highness stayed him with his 
 arm. The priest, too, moved not, being wise to see that 
 resistance was but to prolong the trouble. But there was 
 a cry of horror from the others, and even my lord's 
 followers looked to be awed, though one of the fanatics 
 called out 
 
 " Blessed be God ! " 
 
 My lord threw down the rags he had torn with a 
 gesture of contempt, and turned towards his Highness, 
 who was silent, looking at him very coldly, but to all 
 seeming was greatly affected. Then the Duke turned 
 away as if he would withdraw, but the priest spoke at 
 last. 
 
 " God shall smite you, you accursed man," he said 
 solemnly, " God shall deal you judgment." 
 
 My lord put up his sword, and throwing back his head, 
 laughed loudly. 
 
 " Ye have no persuasion with God, old man," said he, 
 and saying nothing more, suddenly strode down the 
 chapel and walked out of the place, with his men behind 
 him. 
 
 This last act, so desperate and lunatical, drove the 
 Duke to retaliation. It appeared that the hostility had 
 been pushed too far against him, and his gentlemen 
 wondered to see him so patient. But he was ever a timid 
 man, whose fears were nearly as big as his opinions. He
 
 204 THE REBEL 
 
 lacked that spirit, not to face and oppose dangers threaten- 
 ing the body, but to meet a tide swoln heavily against 
 him. This indeed he demonstrated afterwards when his 
 forces were worsted in Ireland, and he deserted those who 
 fought for him. He had hesitated to strike at my lord 
 openly, fearing what that mad man might do ; but his 
 pitiful wavering could no longer last. For shame itself 
 he was goaded to move. As my lord Cherwell was 
 stepping into a coach three nights later, he was taken by 
 two officers on a charge of high treason, and lodged in 
 the Tower. It is said that he laughed a little when he 
 learned their business, and leaped into his coach lightly. 
 
 " Come in, gentlemen," says he j " and if you will 
 kindly direct the rascal to drive whither we are bound, 
 'twill save us all time and me trouble." A little after- 
 wards he asked about the charge, and added, " His High- 
 ness considers that he shuts my mouth so ! I have 
 started that rolling which, though I be dead and in 
 chains, shall not be stayed nor interrupted." 
 
 It was supposed by some that the King would not 
 have him touched ; but now that he had so far com- 
 mitted himself, the Duke was plainly resolved to be rid 
 of him. The trial was hurried on, and chief among the 
 accusations against him was that which he did and said 
 in Southwark, for which many were evidence. Also he 
 was charged with plotting the King's death, and to put 
 the Prince of Orange in his place. My lord lay in the 
 Tower for three months and more, and the day was 
 fixed for his appearance before the Court. He was 
 visited by some who were advising him in his defence 
 upon a Thursday afternoon, and with these he talked a 
 long while. Afterwards there was a message brought
 
 THE REBEL 205 
 
 him. On the following morning he was fled, leaving no 
 track behind him. 
 
 This escape of my lord's was deemed remarkable at the 
 time, for none was remembered to have broken out of 
 the Tower. Nor was it ever known how he did so. 
 This is why I have set down with some little care the 
 story of that flight, gathered from himself, and make it 
 public for the first time. My lord was entertained very 
 agreeably in his prison, and played upon the green in the 
 mornings ; yet the time went on and grew heavy in the 
 going, until the preparations for his trial began to occupy 
 him. No sooner were his counsel gone from him on the 
 Thursday afternoon than he was told that a man waited 
 with a message to deliver. 
 
 " I can have nothing more agreeable in this place than 
 to have messages all day," said he, and asked for the man 
 to be brought. This, it seems, was a servant to Lady 
 Katharine Roodhouse, and fetched out a letter, which 
 there is no doubt she had procured of the Duke should 
 be delivered. 
 
 " Said I not, my lord" it ran, u that I am a friend to 
 you, and would fain sec you served? Alas, I can no 
 more than I have done with his Highness. Yet this 
 / believe, that were your lordship at liberty, and would 
 abandon what you have so rashly taken up, there would 
 be nothing brought against you. His Highness is sore, 
 yet he would go no further, an he might stop. He hath 
 a black fit on him. I am deeply in despair of you. But 
 judge me not by my words alone. My lady Cherwell 
 lies hidden where I have knowledge of her. So have I 
 proved that tender friendship between us that you doubted. 
 That you shall not deny me, my lord. I would I might
 
 206 THE REBEL 
 
 spirit away those black humours of thy prison and fetch 
 thee forth. It is a little gentle dove that flies to carry 
 thee so much of my tears and my sorrow. My heart is 
 a turtle that hath lost her way and moans among the 
 trees, lamenting of her homelessness. An she might light 
 at thy prison window, my lord, it may be that she might 
 be guided to her rest, as God willeth" 
 
 My lord read this letter of that singular woman, and, 
 dismissing the man, strode up and down his chamber. 
 The news that my lady Cherwell was discovered sharply 
 astonished him ; she had faded in his mind recently 
 through the great urgency of those other matters ; but 
 now the image of that revenge and that rectification 
 allured him lightly. She was hid in a captivity like his 
 own, but he could bring her no aid who was himself a 
 prisoner. He walked about this stone chamber, consumed 
 with this fresh desire, and presently he lay down upon his 
 bed and was quiet. 
 
 A little after ten one of the guard of yeomen opened 
 the door and came in bringing my lord his supper, which 
 was a capon and some wine. My lord lay upon the bed 
 still, with the coverings wrapped about him, and he 
 shivered as with the cold. 
 
 "I am damnably chill, Robins," says he, "I have 
 taken cold. The wind has struck at my stomach. 
 Have ye a warmer wrapping ? Faith, let me have 
 something to keep the frost away." 
 
 Robins, who had a liking for him, as had they all, 
 went forth into the passage, and locking the door, returned 
 after a time with a blanket fetched out of a vacant room. 
 
 " 'Tis good linsey-woolsey, my lord," said he, " and 
 you are welcome." There was no sound in answer from
 
 THE REBEL 207 
 
 what lay on the bed, and Robins, supposing my lord to 
 be asleep, threw the blanket on him. 
 
 " Rest ye sound," he said, speaking as if to himself ; 
 " for if all be true ye shall rest no more to-morrow." 
 
 This he said because of the day fixed for my lord's 
 appearance. 
 
 Yet what lay there was not my lord, as he supposed, 
 but a feint of the bed-clothes, so humped as to look like 
 the figure of a man in that small light. My lord was in 
 the further corner of the room by the door, and ere 
 Robins had finished his ministrations was past him, and 
 out of the doorway stealthily. When he had descended 
 the stone steps half-way he paused and listened to hear if 
 Robins raised an alarm ; but he heard the door closed 
 and locked, and he knew that he was secure. He ran 
 lightly down the staircase, therefore, and passing under 
 a vaulted roof emerged upon the open night. He was 
 bareheaded, and in his own habiliments, which would 
 betray him instantly if he were seen. So, knowing the 
 place thoroughly, he made his way across the courtyard 
 to a long room where the warders set their heavy cloaks, 
 and gossiped over the fire. In the ante-room to this he 
 found what he wanted, and fitted over him the great 
 cloak, while he clapped a yeoman's hat on his head. No 
 sooner was this done than there was a noise of talking, 
 and it was plain that some of the guard were approaching. 
 My lord snatched up a pike, being resolved now upon 
 any defence, rather than be taken. Yet a thought flash- 
 ing upon him with that rare quickness habitual to .him, 
 he turned from this design, and pulling the cloak about 
 him close opened the door between this ante-room and 
 the hall beyond. This was full of men-at-arms, who were
 
 2o8 THE REBEL 
 
 laughing together before the fire, yet my lord trusted 
 rather to that careless assembly than to one or two who 
 might spy him out by their particular attention. Besides, 
 for a prisoner that was escaping to go through that 
 crowded hall would be incredible. Thus he passed 
 through with a strong gait, and strode down the chamber, 
 paying no heed to any, but muffled to the eyes and none 
 paying him any heed ; and at the further end he issued 
 once more into the darkness. 
 
 So far he had gone in safety, but the worst was yet to 
 come. The walls and gates of the Castle were diligently 
 watched and guarded by many sentinels ; and yet he 
 must break out ere the morning dawned and his flight 
 was discovered. 'Twas that space of time that gave him 
 prudence. He needed not to hurry, and he sate down 
 privily to consider what he should do. His thoughts 
 turned at once to the water-gate, that is known as the 
 Traitor's Gate, from which it was used to carry the con- 
 demned to their doom. But a little exploration showed 
 him that he could expect nothing here the bars of that 
 gateway were great, and so close that they would admit 
 none. Outside the gate he could hear the mire sucking 
 in the ditch, which led to the river. This was the only 
 side of the Tower from which there was a chance of 
 egress, and it now was manifest that if he could not 
 escape through the bars, he must from the battlements. 
 Presently he found a stair that led up, and, seeking his 
 opportunity, when the watch passed, he crept up without 
 noise till he came upon a sentinel. Here he made a 
 horrid pause, wondering if he should throw this man 
 instantly over the wall ; but by good chance he perceived 
 him to be silent, and stealing closer saw that he was
 
 THE REBEL 209 
 
 asleep. Still, like a mouse, he went along that top until 
 he came to a point where the wall overlooked a ditch of 
 water, and nigh unto the drawbridge. This, thinks he, 
 is where he must attempt, and letting himself over, he 
 hung by his fingers from the embrasure. On this moment 
 there was a sound of feet, and a soldier came and stood 
 above him gazing out across the river. My lord kept his 
 grip of the stones, daring not to let fall, which would 
 give warning of his escape. So he hung till the blood 
 crept out of his hands and they grew numb, and each 
 second he feared lest he should give way and drop. But 
 after a time the man passed on, seeing nothing in that 
 blackness, and scarce were his footsteps faded when my 
 lord's fingers slipped, and down he fell with a great smack 
 into the dirty waters of the ditch. Bubbles of mud and 
 water were in his mouth when he rose, and struck forth 
 under the drawbridge for the river. But now his strange 
 activities burned in him, devouring his inwards, and thus 
 he swam against the tide, breasting the savage current. 
 He came out by St. Katharine's in half-an-hour, and then 
 rested upon the margin dripping with wet and mire. 
 Then he resumed his journey, this time upon the land; 
 and so passing by quiet by-ways arrived at his tavern 
 very late. 
 
 He that admitted him stared in amazement to see him, 
 but he paid no heed, and went to his room, where he 
 doffed his evil raiment and set on fresh clothes. He 
 drank a glass of neat brandy and immediately set forth 
 again, going out by the house with that man gaping after 
 him ; for he was resolute to see the Lady Katharine 
 Roodhouse that night. 
 
 The hour was now after midnight, and a raw wind was 
 
 p
 
 210 THE REBEL 
 
 blowing ; yet it curbed not his sufficient ardours, and he 
 reached the house at one of the clock. It stood all black, 
 save for a single candle shining in a window on a higher 
 storey. It was so, he thought, that he had visited this 
 lady upon a former occasion in her house by Fulham. Not 
 desiring that any should have knowledge of him but those 
 who were necessary, he would not rap at the door, but 
 climbing swiftly by the abutments reached presently the 
 window which he sought. Once there, he tapped gently 
 on the pane. 
 
 This brought to the window the mistress of the house, 
 as he had thought, who looked out with her eyes wide 
 open, staring into the windy night. Then at the sight or 
 a man she fell away with a cry ; but my lord drummed 
 again upon the window gently. And at that, though she 
 could make out nothing of his face, it appears she took 
 heart and opened the casement, when my lord stepped 
 through and confronted her. 
 
 She made an exclamation of wonder and delight to 
 recognize him. 
 
 " Oh, my lord," says she, " what means this ? What 
 has fetched you out of that confinement ? " 
 
 " 'Twas your voice that called me forth," said he, 
 smiling on her, " there is no incarceration that can endure 
 against your ladyship." 
 
 " You speak fair," said she, her face alight with con- 
 tentment, "yet you do but jest with me. I wrote to 
 cheer you, my lord, and that your spirits should harden." 
 
 " And I am here," said he, " in answer. I am come to 
 thank you, madam." 
 
 She stood before him, tall and delicately full, clothed in 
 a cherry-coloured taffeta that fell from her white bare
 
 THE REBEL 211 
 
 bosom softly to the floor ; and with her challenging 
 glances she invited him tenderly. 
 
 " You are very good, my lord," said she softly, " I fear 
 I am a foolish woman to be so generous of myself. I am 
 too prodigal," and she laughed low. 
 
 " Nay," returned my lord quickly, " there is a gentle 
 friendship between us, as you know. 'Twill cover what 
 you blush for. There is no rebuke for such kindness as 
 you show me." 
 
 He perceived that she mistook what he had come for, 
 and he knew not in what way to lead her. She turned a 
 little aside and sat down, as if with an impatience. 
 
 " 'Tis a late hour, my lord," says she in an indifferent 
 voice, "you have honoured me unexpectedly, yet I must 
 have a care for my name. What business have you ? " 
 
 " Madam," says he, softly and relenting, " there is one 
 that ye recall to me, long dead." 
 
 " Who is that ? " said she quickly, looking at him. 
 
 " One I knew in Paris," he answered her, " and she spoke 
 with that voice you speak. I close my eyes and hear her." 
 
 She was silent a moment. " And how many have you 
 known, my lord long dead ? " said she slowly, with her 
 eyes on the fire. " Sure, they have passed away and left 
 ye still lamenting. How many will you leave ? " 
 
 " Madam, I shall leave some maybe that think on me 
 with pity," said he, "and many that shrug the shoulder, 
 but maybe one also shall I leave that cries out for me and 
 prays a little." 
 
 Her face softened and sparkled. "Aye," said she, "there 
 will be one." He was in the custody of her eyes for a 
 space, and then she said, " Why will you not give up this 
 untoward quarrel, my lord ? It vexes you to the grave."
 
 212 THE REBEL 
 
 "It shall harass me beyond the grave, madam, ere I 
 may abandon it," said he firmly. 
 
 " What is it you have at stake ? " she asked. 
 
 " I have put my honour on the toss of the dice," said 
 he, " and with that my life." 
 
 She sighed. " You will lose both," she answered, 
 " yet if you were content the Duke would forgive." 
 
 My lord smiled. " He would forgive ! " he repeated. 
 " Why, he is magnanimous ; he would make a generous 
 Prince." 
 
 " My lord, you are bitter," she said, and he answered 
 nothing save to bow. " You would release my lady 
 Cherwell ? " she asked. 
 
 " I am broken out of my lodging for that," he answered. 
 
 " When will you end this contention ? " she asked 
 earnestly ; " will the enlargement of her ladyship finish 
 it ? " 
 
 He hesitated. " I know not ; I cannot foretell," he 
 replied shortly. 
 
 "Ah !" she cried out in triumph, "'tis not for her that 
 you fight them ? 'Tis for something further." 
 
 " Madam," said he, speaking very coldly, " she shall 
 bear me sons." 
 
 She bit her lip, a colour slipping to her face, and she 
 considered him softly. 
 
 " Nay, but that is needful," she said next, " it is her task. 
 Yet the whole of life lies not in that outlook. Is she 
 beautiful?" 
 
 " She is called so," he answered. " She hath fine eyes. 
 I think she hath due proportions to her body." 
 
 The lady Katharine's face lit again, and her gaze fell to 
 her own just figure.
 
 THE REBEL 213 
 
 " If she be beautiful," she said, " this is no news. It is 
 not rare. My lord, she is not the only woman so called. 
 My lord," she pleaded softly, " is there no other that may 
 claim that title ? " 
 
 He met her enticing witchful eyes. " True, there is 
 another," said he gently. He had some excitement mov- 
 ing him, but he was very deliberate. " Madam so kind," 
 he said, " you have some news for me," for he was still 
 greedily devoured of his passion against the Duke. 
 
 " 'Tis true," said she, thinking. " I have some news. 
 But why should I play catspaw in your service, my lord ? " 
 
 " Ye play a very pleasant part of friend," he said softly. 
 
 She took from her bosom a piece of parchment. " It 
 has been conceived there and borne in pain for you, my 
 lord," she murmured. He put out a hand to take it. 
 " Shall I give you that which will tell you where my lady 
 is held ? " she whispered. 
 
 " Give it to me," says he eagerly. 
 
 Her breath came quicker, and the scent of her presence 
 was in the room. 
 
 " Nay but, my lord, you will be long away," she mur- 
 mured. 
 
 " I will haste back," said he. 
 
 " Nay rather, hasten not to go," she pleaded. 
 
 He took back his hand and sate down, regarding her. 
 
 " I will stay," said he softly, " to hear thee sing. I pray 
 you pluck for me the lute, madam." 
 
 " I will compel you with these strings," she murmured, 
 and laughed softly. " I will charm ye out of that most 
 hard heart," and taking up the instrument she set her 
 delicate fingers to it.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISING AT TAUNTON ; WITH THE 
 ASSAULT ON BARRS 
 
 MY lord took his departure for the West next morning 
 very early, leaving word for such of his band as he desired, 
 whither he was gone. 'Twas now high spring, and the 
 fields were sparkling with daisies ; and in the woods the 
 bracken was rising from the purple earth like a clenched 
 hand. Ravel (poor soul) had haunted the precincts of his 
 master's prison like a troubled spirit that may not rest, 
 drinking and gaming and bragging in the purlieus, with 
 any wench or ruffler. He was of a most abominable bad 
 life, but had a tongue like a hound to lick his master's 
 hand. Cherwell was scarce free of the Tower three 
 hours ere Ravel smelled him out, learning what the 
 innkeeper had seen, and how he was struck dumb with 
 wonder. And so it was they rode together at dawn for 
 Taunton. There was need for haste, for the news of 
 that escape must be presently spread about, and my lord 
 would be sought for. Yet by the hour that his flight 
 was known, he and Ravel were many leagues upon the 
 way, and nigh to Hampton Court. At the speed with 
 
 which they travelled there was no chance to overtake 
 
 214
 
 THE REBEL 
 
 215 
 
 these riders, even if it had been known whither they 
 went ; and thus my lord journeyed like a tempest through 
 that blossoming country into Taunton. 
 
 Once in Taunton he sought Westmacott, with whom 
 he had several times been in correspondence ; also 
 Trenchard, that had come hither from Town recently 
 on a mission. These were both amazed to see him, and 
 declared that the blow was now to be struck, for that my 
 lord had crossed the Rubicon. They reported also upon 
 their doings, which pleased my lord very well. The 
 whole of that district was disaffected, and would rise on 
 the approach of any deliverer, said they ; and Westmacott 
 offered to furnish one hundred armed horse. 
 
 " For 'tis you that must be the deliverer, my lord," 
 said he eagerly. 
 
 " Tut, tut," says Cherwell, " we must have a name 
 before us. I will do my work, but there must be some 
 soft-fleshed ninny to take off my cap to or maybe some 
 long-nosed Dutchman." 
 
 This he said, not knowing if he might not be forced to 
 take up with Monmouth, through the coldness of that 
 prudent Prince of Orange. Yet, although he was now 
 resolute to carry through his plot, and by a rebellion of 
 these western shires to wrest from the King an Exclusion 
 Act, and the alteration of the succession, there was one 
 thing before all which my lord had not forgot. He had 
 with him a scrap of paper upon which some words were 
 written, which were but two, that is to say, " Barrs " 
 and " Somersetshire." What he does first, then, after 
 these exchanges is to ask of Westmacott what Barrs 
 might be. 
 
 " Why," says Westmacott, " 'tis a house in the hills,
 
 216 THE REBEL 
 
 and none so far from Durcombe, my lord, where your 
 lordship was." 
 
 " Whose house is it, say you?" asked Cherwell quickly. 
 
 "'Tis Sir Mordaunt Pringle's," says he, "a foppish 
 young gentleman who is nothing considered." 
 
 " There shall be some reason to consider of him 
 presently," says my lord with a laugh. " I remember 
 him now. He hath no head, but moves like a puppet 
 to the showman's strings. Yet puppets and showman 
 alike shall vanish." 
 
 " What is this, my lord ? " inquired the other. 
 
 " 'Tis only that I must be making a journey to this 
 same Barrs," says he. " Maybe this Pringle will join us. 
 I may persuade him. I will tickle his feather head. I 
 will turn him like a tee-to-tum," and he laughed softly. 
 
 There was no delay of this my lord's prime business, 
 for he was riding for Barrs the next morning, without so 
 much as a parting with his friends. By cross roads and 
 by-ways he went in the hope of better speed, but arrived 
 late at the house owing to his mistaken directions. He 
 was amazed to see how huge a castle this was, spreading 
 over a height, and commanding with its eyes the park 
 and gardens. Yet indeed it was wrongly named, being 
 called after an older fortalice, but itself a house, without 
 plan or order, builded in the time of King Harry. The 
 hour was by this time on dusk, and the fine winds of 
 spring accompanied him on his way through the demesne, 
 crying briskly in his ears and sharpening his senses. He 
 came out in the falling twilight before the castle, and 
 demanded admittance, asking for Sir Mordaunt. The 
 man begged of him who he was, and says my lord 
 
 a .I am with a particular mission. 'Tis enough that
 
 THE REBEL 217 
 
 you shall say I am one having business with the 
 Duke ! " 
 
 This seemed to content the fellow, who returned 
 soon, to conduct my lord to his master. Cherwell did 
 note that the corridors, which parts remained of the 
 ancient castle, were of great masonry, and very badly 
 decomposed in parts, while the wind blew shrilling 
 through some vacant windows. It was clear that the 
 house had been builded with little design, and with no 
 intent to resist an assault. My lord came forthwith into 
 a room, warmly furnished and bright, where stood Sir 
 Mordaunt Pringle, awaiting him in some eagerness. But 
 no sooner had he set eyes on him than he fell back with 
 a gasp, and began to look out of anxious eyes. 
 
 " What seek ye, my lord ? " he stammered. " Why 
 is't you grace my poor house thus ? " 
 
 My lord bowed, smiling, and drew an arm-chair before 
 the fire. " By your leave, Sir Mordaunt," said he, " I will 
 make myself to be comfortable, the which I do the more 
 readily, as Sir Mordaunt is known for his hospitality." 
 
 Pringle gave him back his bow, but said nothing, 
 not well knowing what to say, and wondering what was 
 to follow. 
 
 " Yes," says my lord, smiling on him, " 'tis a generous 
 heart and a free board you show, sir ; and if report speaks 
 true you entertain guests for long times, even for many 
 months. The Lord deliver that poor guest that would fly 
 Sir Mordaunt Pringle's hospitable attentions ! He may not ; 
 he is constrained, the maw of fellowship eateth him up." 
 
 " I am honoured that you hold so kind an opinion ot 
 me, my lord," said Sir Mordaunt uneasily, " but I do not 
 take you. You speak very strangely."
 
 218 THE REBEL 
 
 " What ! " says my lord affably. " Do I do not speak 
 plain ? Pest, I am a poor messenger. But my wits go 
 slowly, and are outrun by my intentions. I do purpose 
 well ; and presently, if ye bear with me, we shall, I vow, 
 come to some conclusion." 
 
 " My lord," cried Pringle in a flutter of alarm aiid 
 anger, "if so be you are come to make challenge of me, 
 I know your design, and I warn you that you have chosen 
 ill for yourself." 
 
 " 'Slife, Sir Mordaunt ! " says my lord, opening his eyes, 
 " what are ye at to speak so oddly ? I am here to your 
 advantage, and to save a very proper youth. I have seen 
 many that begin thus and end i' the gutter." 
 
 "My lord ! " cried the other, pink of the face, "what 
 is your business with me ? " 
 
 " Business ! " says he. " Why now I think of it, you 
 are young to be so engaged in such business. It matters 
 not for older heads and ruder stomachs such as mine, but 
 your delicate palate, your nice scruples Damme, sir, but 
 I think you lack taste." 
 
 " You are drunken, my lord," stuttered Pringle. 
 
 "Nay, not drunken," says he, "but philosophic to 
 observe the ruins of a poor youth. And yet I waste time, 
 Sir Mordaunt. Let us get to business, as you very well say. 
 You know why I am come ? " 
 
 "I know nothing, my lord, save that you were best 
 away," says Pringle in a surly voice. 
 
 " There you are mistook," answered my lord, shaking 
 his head. " 'Tis of prime necessity that I am here. 
 D'ye think I would so disparage his Highness when I 
 have agreed with him ? We shall yet shake hands on 
 this."
 
 THE REBEL 219 
 
 " What ? " asked Pringle, taken thus off his guard in 
 his surprise. " You have agreed with the Duke ? " 
 
 "Sure, we know our own minds very thoroughly," 
 replied my lord, nodding. "I warrant there is no mis- 
 understanding between us. His Highness knows me, and 
 is assured of me." 
 
 " That is why, then, you are enlarged ? " asked Pringle 
 with his mouth agape. 
 
 " What other reason ? " answered Cherwell, smiling 
 very bland. " What, do you suppose any lusty fellow 
 will consent to rot in prison when he may be breathing 
 in the virgin air ? Not I, Sir Mordaunt, not I indeed." 
 
 " Then you are come " says he anxiously. 
 
 " About this small affair," says Cherwell, in a con- 
 fidential voice ; and the silly fop did not perceive with 
 what he was being mocked. "'Tis a trifle, I protest, 
 and yet what will you ? A man must have some office to 
 his wife. She is his chattel to be valued ; and whoso 
 stealeth her must pay for his theft P the market. I will 
 admit that 'tis a hard bargain I have driven with his 
 Highness." 
 
 Pringle stared at him, in amazement, no doubt, to see 
 him so shameless, who was reputed of a fiery sense of 
 honour. 
 
 " Yet, sir, God forbid I should deny his Highness what 
 he asks. Kings have an authority, and princes too, and 
 I am a loyal subject," and he tapped over his heart with 
 a gesture. "Where is she laid ? " says he indifferently. 
 
 For a space of time Sir Mordaunt hesitated, and it may 
 be that something of suspicion entered his mind. " Whom 
 mean you ? " he stammered. " From whom come you ? " 
 
 "Man," said my lord impatiently, "said I not from
 
 220 THE REBEL 
 
 his Highness ? to whom I faithfully promise I shall return. 
 Nay, by the God that made me, so I swear that I shall 
 stand in His presence to render an account of myself here- 
 after. Where is this pretty bird caged ? " 
 
 " I know not of what you speak," stuttered the young 
 man again. " You have no sign with you." 
 
 " Why, is that all ? " said my lord. " You shall soon 
 have your sign," and he put forth a hand, laughing, 
 towards Pringle, when at that moment a door opened 
 softly from another chamber, and there stood in the open 
 way the figure of a tall man. The light was against my 
 lord's eyes, which were drawn suddenly by this interrup- 
 tion, and he stayed in the very nick of his act. 
 
 <c Whom have we here ? " he asked in another voice 
 from that in which he had been bantering Pringle. 
 
 " 'Tis one who has the honour of your slight acquaint- 
 ance, my lord," says the new-comer. " Harry Trayle, 
 at your service." 
 
 As Trayle spoke he came into the room, and the two 
 men stood engaging one another's glances. The challenge 
 was deliberate and quiet, and the gaze of neither fell ; 
 only my lord turned away. " I have no knowledge of 
 you, Harry Trayle," says he, " nor no business with you. 
 Sir Mordaunt and I have some affairs to transact, and the 
 time passes. You would be kind to leave us together." 
 
 Pringle made a movement as if to implore Trayle, 
 who, not heeding him, sate down. " I should be glad to 
 oblige your lordship," he said slowly, " but Sir Mordaunt 
 hath the misfortune to have eat some green apples and 
 hath a colic. Hence he insists on my aid and attendance. 
 No doubt, my lord, we shall make haste to transact these 
 little matters the more readily for three heads."
 
 THE REBEL 221 
 
 My lord had guessed well enough how things stood, 
 and upon what spirit Pringle must have leaned throughout 
 these late events ; but he said only very mildly 
 
 " I make no doubt 'twill be as you say, sir. 'Tis but a 
 trifling point, the deliverance of a lady whom Sir Mordaunt 
 good honest man has hidden in this castle. A mere 
 iota, sir, I protest to you." 
 
 " What ! " cries Trayle, turning on Pringle, " you 
 have a woman sheltered here ! Why have I not heard ? 
 You have held this secret from me ! 'Swounds, my lord, 
 Sir Mordaunt is a dissipating dog. He hath a gross appetite 
 for the sex. None may resist him." 
 
 "I would warn ye, sir," said Cherwell, with a little 
 change of voice, " that this is my lady Cherwell." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Trayle, lifting his eyebrows, " oh, faith, 
 your lordship's lady. Confusion ! I vow I apologize. 
 Lord, ha' ye lost my lady to Sir Mordaunt here?" and he 
 giggled out a tiny laugh in his most elegant manner. 
 
 My lord took a step towards him, and laid a finger on 
 his coat, while Trayle looked up indifferent. 
 
 "Hark ye, Mr. Trayle," says he softly, "you were 
 among those that drew a warning from me some months 
 back, and that not so far distant from this house," said he. 
 u It needs that I repeat it, promising you your reward ; 
 for I cannot answer what shall not fall down in that ruin 
 of his Highness." 
 
 " His Highness ! " said Trayle brutally, " oh, is't his 
 Highness and my lady Cherwell ? " 
 
 My lord drew back and set a hand on his sword, his 
 eyes blazing, so that Pringle called out in an agony 
 
 " Harry, Harry ! " and cried to him to remember 
 Burford Bridge.
 
 222 THE REBEL 
 
 But Trayle, paying no attention to this remonstrance, 
 addressed my lord again. "Come, my lord," said he, 
 " put up that weapon yet awhile. I will admit that there 
 is some colour for your anger ; yet consider this, that you 
 are but an interloper, and have little justice in your 
 cause." 
 
 " What means this ? " asked Cherwell in astonishment. 
 
 " Why, you thrust yourself into a game in which there 
 was no room for you. Let me speak frankly. What 
 scruple brought you to a barter about any girl's body ? 
 You had no right in that which affected you not. Faith, 
 my lord, if the life of this world were conducted upon 
 such rules there would be no living." 
 
 " I am master of that which affects me, and my will 
 is law unto myself," said Cherwell simply. 
 
 "And that I will not deny," answered Trayle 
 pleasantly. " But not to others. And you shall also 
 take with that the charges and obligations of your claim. 
 You may not avoid the burden so imposed." 
 
 " Mr. Trayle," says my lord, with his gentle laugh, " I 
 see what it is I am looking on. I have the honour to 
 converse with a promised Counsellor of James Second." 
 
 "Your lordship's very humble servant," answered 
 Trayle, with a bow, " and if we have the misfortune to 
 be opposed, why still, my lord, your servant in all else 
 to command." 
 
 " I think, then," says my lord dryly, " but I will have 
 this good servant of mine to conduct me to his prisoner." 
 
 " My lord, you mistake," said Trayle. " This is no 
 house of mine ; I know nothing of Sir Mordaunt's affairs." 
 
 " Bah ! " said my lord, " why do we fence in this 
 doubting fashion ? I am accustomed to plain words and
 
 THE REBEL 223 
 
 plainer deeds. You have my lady Cherwell prisoned 
 here." 
 
 " I will not answer for Sir Mordaunt, the rogue," says 
 Trayle, with an elegant sneer. 
 
 " 'Slife ! " cried Pringle, who had taken courage in 
 this play of words, " I understand you not, my lord. 
 You have a strange errand to bully me thus. Zooks, yes." 
 
 My lord Cherwell drew off a glove, showing his delicate 
 hand. 
 
 "I had thought," he said, "to find some reason in this 
 castle, but God has made you mad before He shall destroy 
 you. Yet again I ask you to consider of your answers." 
 He looked at Trayle, who shrugged his shoulders with a 
 smile. 
 
 " We have exchanged philosophies, my lord," he said, 
 " and I find this conversation vastly pleasant. 'Tis a 
 pity we should exchange aught else." 
 
 "Aye, 'tis a pity, as you say," said Cherwell slowly, 
 " 'tis a solemn pity for one that is promised to be King's 
 Counsellor." 
 
 Trayle gave a tiny laugh. "Well, well, my lord," 
 said he, "we shall fight at least upon an even footing, 
 and as two men that may respect each other." 
 
 "Nay, by God," broke out my lord, "'tis not so I 
 regard ye, Harry Trayle. What office hold ye to his 
 Highness ? Mr. Pimp ! Mr. Pimp ! " he cried, infuriate. 
 
 " 'Sdeath ! " exclaimed Trayle, changing colour, " you 
 say what no man may and live." 
 
 He drew his sword, and Pringle clamoured again in his 
 alarm ; but my lord, cooling quickly, made a gesture. 
 
 " Oh, give me time, give me time . . ." says he. " I 
 will take my time," and turned to the door, muttering,
 
 224 THE REBEL 
 
 " 'Tis the hand of Esau, but the voice is Jacob's. I will 
 
 strike at Jacob Second " with which he saluted and 
 
 left them both, greatly to their amazement. 
 
 He made no pause, but rode amain for Taunton, clatter- 
 ing over the little bridge while it was yet night ; and 
 instantly summoned a council of his followers. It was 
 resolved to urge the rebellion forward, and declare for 
 Monmouth at once. 
 
 " It is the principle of Succession," said Cherwell, " and 
 ere I have reached Bristol I shall have half the counties 
 at my standard ; so powerfully is this people moved." 
 
 Westmacott was the more zealous, as he was afraid 
 that my lord would be taken again, and they were resolved 
 to hinder that. 
 
 "If we be once declared," he said, "they may lay 
 no hands on my lord." 
 
 " No man shall lay hands on me till I chuse," boasted 
 Cherwell ; " we have taken upon us that which we may 
 not set down until the last of our blood is shed." 
 
 He was very busy now ordering his forces, of which 
 one hundred, rudely armed, were provided by West- 
 macott. But the citizens also were not backward, and 
 men rode in daily from the outstanding country farmers 
 and yeomen and other rustics. So that presently he 
 began to see his army swell and their hearts with them, 
 till there was nothing this petty regiment might not do. 
 They were desirous in their ignorance to march forth- 
 with upon Bristol or any fortified town, and pressed the 
 hazard upon Cherwell, who gave no sign. Indeed he 
 had another design, as will appear. The news of these 
 preparations were soon abroad, and came rapidly to 
 London, and to the King's ears. Yet did they not
 
 THE REBEL 225 
 
 understand with what ardour the campaign was being 
 organized. My lord was at the heart of the trouble, and 
 a posse was sent to seize this firebrand, but the officers 
 were thrown into the river, and dismissed with laughter. 
 A second attempt of the law was made with no better 
 issues ; for all that happened was that one of the rebels 
 was wounded in the thigh, and a soldier was shot dead 
 with a pistol. The day succeeding to this defiance my 
 lord Cherwell rode out of Taunton at the head of two 
 hundred and fifty men. 
 
 These recruits were for the most part very brave and 
 foolish fellows, who had no knowledge of war, yet a 
 sturdy faith in their own arms. A few there were of no 
 principles and loose of tongue and habit, who were 
 accustomed to ruffle and cross swords, and most of them 
 had come from London to join my lord's fortunes. But 
 the native of that country-side was a simple honest 
 fellow, holding the Pope in detestation and fearful of the 
 Duke. This motley pack marched northward upon the 
 Bristol road. 
 
 But to fall on Bristol was no part of my lord's plan at 
 the outset ; he had another mark, which was the Castle 
 of Barrs ; and thither he directed his miscellaneous body. 
 He was trusted very thoroughly. There was none there 
 that dared gainsay him ; and he was by his misfortunes 
 and his rank picked out for their leader, as well as by 
 his notable character and his qualities. Indeed he would 
 have brooked no opposition. Not one of that strange 
 assemblage would have stood up before him. He gave 
 his orders, and they were obeyed ; and thus marshalled 
 the troop came through the woods and out upon the 
 hills of Quantock. It was only then for the first time
 
 226 THE REBEL 
 
 that one, who was called Captain, a fanatical mercer of 
 Taunton, asked of him a question. 
 ' " There is that before us which shall blood ye well," 
 says Cherwell, pointing to the Castle. <c Ye have to 
 prove yourselves." 
 
 " Are we not for Bristol, my lord ? " asked this 
 Captain. 
 
 " Ye are for where I will," says he, " and I choose 
 that the rebellion shall begin here. It is a stronghold 
 to be took." 
 
 " Is it the Duke's ? " asked the man. 
 
 " It is a place where the Duke's affections are set," 
 answered Cherwell, " but whether it were the Duke's or 
 the Devil's I will have you take it." 
 
 There was no demur on this, for the word went about 
 that my lord had private knowledge, and was here to 
 strike at the Duke's deepest interests. Westmacott must 
 have known, but he held his tongue, being wise and 
 patient, and guessing perhaps that thus should the first 
 blow be delivered, and the first triumph gained. 
 
 The people of this neighbourhood, being Somersetshire 
 born, were in sympathy, and, though they wondered, 
 offered what aid they might. Several of the leaders were 
 known to them, Westmacott above all, who enjoined 
 upon them that they should hold their speech. Yet 
 this was impossible, and intelligence of this extraor- 
 dinary expedition reached Barrs very quickly. The 
 rebels arrived at dusk when the soft airs of night were 
 rising warm and romantical ; but ere Cherwell had 
 pushed forward and entered the park a horseman had 
 ridden forth with an alarm towards Bristol. 
 
 It so happened, though the fact was known to none of
 
 THE REBEL 227 
 
 these insurgents, that the news of the last repulse had 
 reached Bristol very early, and the Governor, a capable 
 and active man, being angered by what he heard, had 
 got ready a troop of horse to catch this daring rebel. 
 They were scarce prepared when a messenger ran in 
 breathless, who had taken his information from a treacher- 
 ous source, and communicated to the Governor that my 
 lord, that arch-rebel, would march early upon Bristol. 
 
 u Ho ! ho ! " cries the Governor, u we will save him 
 that trouble," and inquiring further of the spy, he sent 
 out a whole regiment with ordnance towards Taunton, 
 expecting to encounter my lord's party on the way. 
 
 But of this my lord knew nothing, and he drew up his 
 men before Barrs about eight of the clock, demanding its 
 surrender. 
 
 Mr. Trayle looked forth of a window in the ground 
 floor, and surveyed them easily. 
 
 " You are back then, my lord," said he ; " are these 
 your wolves ? Faith, they have a hungry look. I pray 
 I may not fall into their jaws." 
 
 "I would speak with the master of this place, Sir 
 Mordaunt Pringle," said Cherwell, who had advanced 
 within ten paces of the walls. 
 
 " I am no foot-boy to fetch and carry for you," said 
 Trayle. " An you want you must seek." 
 
 " I desire the surrender of this house," he said, " and 
 all that it holds." 
 
 " Are you looking for a maid that loves ye not, 
 my lord ? " asked Trayle grinning, for he had a most 
 reckless courage. 
 
 "I am to conceive then I have your answer," said 
 Cherwell quietly.
 
 228 THE REBEL 
 
 For reply Trayle pointed at him a pistol. " What 
 hinders that I tumble you where you stand, my lord," 
 he said, " and so rid the world of a pestilent fellow ? " 
 
 " Nought, Mr. Trayle, but what you owe to your 
 own honour," says Cherwell indifferently, " if so be you 
 have that still." 
 
 " You are right," says he, " I am hampered still. 
 Faith, I should be ashamed to be so incommoded. I 
 am like a boy or any green girl, my lord," and he laughed 
 and snapped the lock idly. 
 
 " You are what God made you," said my lord, " and 
 you shall be what I shall make you," and he went back 
 to his men. " Fire ! " says he. 
 
 The noise of that discharge streamed out with the 
 smoke, and immediately upon it came the thunder of 
 musketry from the Castle, which had been better pre- 
 pared than they had thought. My lord's men kept up 
 a fusillade from the shelter of the bushes and the dark- 
 ness, firing at the windows ; and one or two were hit 
 upon either side. Yet so little hurt was done that it 
 became clear nothing might be accomplished this way, 
 and they should be there, spitting at each other till the 
 morning. 
 
 " We must assault," commanded Cherwell, and himself 
 prepared the attack. 
 
 He led with a packet of his men, getting into the 
 shelter of the towers and flinging at the great doors ; but 
 they would not yield. So back runs my lord and returns 
 with a pile of fuel, which he stacked before the doors, 
 and fired with gunpowder. This attempt at once alarmed 
 the defenders of Barrs, when they were aware of it, yet 
 they found it impossible to pour their volleys on those
 
 THE REBEL 229 
 
 that were hidden under the towers. And very soon the 
 oak gave way, and my lord with a dozen at his heels 
 rushed through the blazing wood and brake in. In the 
 hall that faced them were several drawn up with arms, 
 and upon these the party fell, fighting in a mellay. 
 Among these was Sir Mordaunt Pringle, weakly defending 
 himself, with a gout of blood upon his forehead. Pre- 
 sently there was a cry raised that the Castle was burning, 
 and sure enough, the flames had mounted from the doors 
 and were lapping about the front of the house. Yet 
 ere this had happened the breach in the defences was 
 observed from the rebel ranks, and, neglecting their 
 orders, a hundred of them sprang forward in their heat 
 and impatience, and followed into the Castle. These 
 new-comers crowded the hall, and pressing closer incom- 
 moded Cherwell and his supporters. The poor resistance 
 was thus broken down, and those who had opposed them, 
 including Pringle, turned and fled, leaving one or two 
 upon the floor. Yet just upon that comes a great deep 
 sound from without, and a cry broke above the roaring of 
 the fire. 
 
 " The soldiers ! " they cried. 
 
 Cherwell looked about him, and perceived now with 
 what a numerous company he was surrounded. He 
 cursed in a fury, stamping. 
 
 Get ye back ! " he cried. " Ye fools ! " 
 
 But the egress from the Castle was cut off upon the 
 side by that conflagration. He ran up a staircase, and 
 opening a window, looked forth into the open lawn which 
 was brightly lit with the glare and was filled with men 
 fighting. Then swiftly he flung himself forth to the 
 ground.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 WHAT PASSED IN BARRS ON THE NIGHT OF THE 
 BATTLE 
 
 MY lord Cherwell had given commands to his chief 
 men not to abandon their post, where they were set among 
 the shrubberies of the lawn. He had, moreover, appointed 
 certain to be sentinels and to give warning of any alarm. 
 Yet all these precautions had been abandoned in the excite- 
 ment of those foolish countrymen. I do not think that 
 Cherwell might be reckoned a good general of the field, 
 inasmuch as, though he had a vivid fancy and insight, he 
 was ever too rash, and willing to risk all upon a per- 
 sonal essay. He was of a character to determine the 
 fortunes of war by a challenge between two captains, being 
 never of that prudence that hangs back and waits, and is 
 never heard. Yet the burthen of this rout rests not upon 
 him, but upon those that disobeyed him. Whereas he 
 would have used a dozen or so to do what he desired in 
 the Castle, full half of his force broke their ranks and 
 followed, and now when in twos and threes they hurled 
 themselves from the windows after my lord, the mischief 
 was already accomplished. 
 
 What had happened was this. The horseman that 
 230
 
 THE REBEL 23* 
 
 rode to call help for the Castle encountered the Governor's 
 troop on the main road, and communicated to them the 
 state of affairs. Instead, therefore, of proceeding to 
 Taunton the Colonel in charge directed his course to 
 Barrs, where he had arrived in the nick of time to inter- 
 cept the insurgents. 
 
 The outposts were overpowered, and the soldiers 
 charged upon the scattered remnant of Cherwell's little 
 army, breaking them and disordering them. When my 
 lord leaped from the Castle he stood in an open space of 
 ground, visited by gusts of light from the flaming towers, 
 and obnoxious to every aim. Before him the garden was 
 alight as with the noonday sun, and the faces of the soldiers 
 were clearly visible. Two pieces of cannon were tearing 
 at the fragments of his men, who, huddled like sheep, yet 
 kept up a fierce rejoinder with what arms they had. My 
 lord gathered round him such as had tumbled after him, 
 and, issuing his commands sharply, set off at a run across 
 the lawn. The rebels were sparsely armed with guns, 
 and some were provided with pitchforks only and scythes, 
 but many had pikes or pieces of iron shaped in that form. 
 When Cherwell came up with them he bade them retire 
 forthwith from that flame-swept and exposed place and 
 shelter by the bushes from which they should never have 
 withdrawn. That done, he collected his forces, and made 
 his dispositions, throwing forward a line of pikemen only 
 just in time. For the cannon ceased firing, and a body of 
 horse came from the trees behind, thundering across the 
 lawn upon them, and blood-red in that light. The 
 farmers and the peasants were of a staunch brave stock, 
 and held fast in the manner of their lathers at Naseby or 
 Worcester ; the horses struck upon that cruel line of steel
 
 232 THE REBEL 
 
 and iron, and staggering, faltered away, and glanced off 
 with a rebound. 
 
 This repulse appeared to astonish the soldiers greatly, 
 who repeated their attempt only to find that the courage 
 of that stubborn hedge had grown masterful with success. 
 The peasants flung the horses off their pikes, and wielded 
 their scythes with vigour, so that the assailants went back 
 again in confusion. Amazed by this second rebuff, the 
 Colonel gave fresh orders to his pieces, which began to 
 speak again out of angry mouths, tearing up the pikemen. 
 My lord saw that his men might not stand this, and there 
 were but two courses open ; the one being to retreat by 
 way of the park, when they should thereby acknowledge 
 defeat and be cut up by the cavalry ; but the other to 
 assume an offensive. Upon this latter he decided at 
 once, seeing that all considerations pressed him that 
 way. He gave his commands for an advance upon the 
 cannon. 
 
 Ravel, that was in that march upon such belching 
 mouths and came out of it unscathed, declared that there 
 was scarce a hundred took part in it, the others being 
 dead or wounded, or scattered in flight. They went 
 forward without any noises, very still and determined, 
 with their eyes upon that darkness from which the shot 
 streamed on them. Half-way across the lawn there were 
 scarce fifty remaining, and when they had reached the 
 guns not two score. The reserves of the soldiery now 
 came in and a fierce fight with steel and pistol ensued j 
 but the countrymen, having little skill at close quarters, 
 were surely driven back, and retiring at last upon the 
 bushes, pressed by their enemies, broke up and dispersed, 
 receiving no mercy.
 
 THE REBEL 233 
 
 Thus it was that my lord, all stained with black and 
 blood, but himself untouched, drew wide into a little 
 patch of darkness that the shrubbery made, and labouring 
 with his breath, cast up his predicament. The battle had 
 gone against them, and they were doomed. Nay more ; 
 across the park the shadows of those poor defeated 
 peasants flitted before his eyes, and the sounds of combat 
 still came to him whence they were dying. He turned 
 without heed, and began to run stealthily towards the 
 Castle of Barrs. 
 
 The front of the house where the fire was still raging 
 was in the possession of the soldiers, who stood drawn up 
 near by ; so slipping out of the light behind a buttress of 
 masonry he got to the long wings of Barrs, and passed 
 swiftly to the rear. 
 
 The grass ran up to the house on each side, in a very 
 unequal ground, where the great moat had been, and 
 here he sheltered, spying about for any entrance into the 
 Castle. The immediate neighbourhood of the walls was 
 as black as night, but at a little distance the gardens were 
 lit with flashes, as it had been by a moon scudding among 
 clouds. Presently he perceived a shadow that drew nigh 
 quickly, issuing from the bushes, and disappeared at last 
 into the streak of darkness that hid himself. He paused, 
 resolved to brook no risks upon the business he was set ; 
 and he heard softly approaching the feet of some man. 
 Waiting a little longer he deemed the former upon him, 
 and leaped out. His fingers took some person by the 
 throat, and they struggled together, a smothered cry 
 coming from the man, who presently gathered breath and 
 called " My lord, my lord ! " It was Ravel, who had 
 hidden and watched for his master, and was now eager to
 
 234 THE REBEL 
 
 accompany him on what errand he was bound. My lord 
 took off his hands. 
 
 " There is yet one found faithful," says he. " Follow 
 you me." And without more words he began to go 
 along the ruins of the ditch. Next they saw in the 
 uncertain darkness something that hopped like a frog, and 
 was still a moment ; and ere it hopped again Ravel had 
 it, pressing upon it furiously with his knee. There was 
 a knife jumped out and grazed my lord's arm, and a voice 
 gurgled out 
 
 " The Lord shall deliver them into our hands." 
 
 " Who is this ? " asks my lord, and he plucked his 
 man away. " 'Tis one of those from Taunton." 
 
 " Faith, I know him now," says Ravel, bending closer ; 
 " 'tis a small yeoman I have spoken with." 
 
 The man rolled up his eyes, and turned over there 
 whither he had crawled, speaking no more. 
 
 " This lies against his Highness also," muttered Cher- 
 well through his teeth. " I will exact this and more of 
 James Stewart." A little after they came by a narrow 
 window at the back of the house beyond which a lamp 
 was swinging, so that a light fell out by the slit upon the 
 moat. This gentle illumination, as a benignant star, 
 very faint and wan, was shed upon a child's face in the 
 grass, where he lay sleeping. 
 
 Cherwell bent forward and touched him, and the child 
 sate up, looking at them with terrified eyes. 
 
 " What dost thou here, child ? " says he gently. 
 Whereat the boy, who was some five years old, told, 
 trembling, of how he had followed the soldiers, and, 
 having heard the noise of cannon and the fighting, was 
 frightened, and knew not whither to run, so that being
 
 THE REBEL 235 
 
 weary in the end he lay down in the grass and thus 
 slept. 
 
 "Fear ye not, babe," says my lord, "we are not 
 wicked men, but poor fellows that seek a refuge. Know 
 you of a door into the Castle ? " 
 
 The boy, having recovered of his fears, brightened at 
 this, and began to babble childishly of what errands he 
 had been, and how it was he that once fetched milk to 
 this great house, telling of a lady he had seen that kissed 
 her fingers to him from a window. Which news greatly 
 provoked my lord, who questioned him further ; but 
 he could not remember from which window of those 
 many windows. 
 
 " But 'twas here," he says in his shrill voice and his 
 rude accent. "'Twas by a door with great nails," 
 burring the words on his treble tongue. 
 
 "Guide me," said Cherwell, and the little child in 
 glee and wonder ran along the moat without hesitation, 
 and stopped before an oak door that was spiked. 
 
 " When I ha' fetched the milk," says he joyfully, " I 
 ha' gone up a ladder," and he pointed with admiration to 
 the wall beside where a little wooden shutter was set in 
 the stone. Cherwell examined this eagerly, and wrench- 
 ing with his hands pulled out the door upon its hinges, so 
 that an opening was disclosed, large enough to admit a 
 man, and beyond in the darkness a stone stairway creeping 
 up. Bidding the boy say nought to any, but to return 
 in safety to his home, for that none would molest him, 
 he gave him a piece of money, and slipped through the 
 hole, Ravel following. 
 
 The stone stairway ran up in short flights, stopping 
 at intervals before doors. Cherwell tried these, which
 
 236 THE REBEL 
 
 were thick and heavy (this being the older part of the 
 Castle), but they budged not ; and thus he ascended to 
 the very summit, where he heard the rats scampering 
 under the roof, and a dismal noise of wailing. But the 
 door here was eaten of worms and rotten, and he and 
 Ravel with their shoulders managed to dislodge it, and so 
 came out into a room, bare, dark, and loud to the tread. 
 
 That dismal sound was now greatly increased, and 
 both marvelled what it might be. It came from some 
 distant chamber, as they guessed, but they knew not how 
 to reach it through the blackness. They must guide 
 their steps at a hazard, and pitch upon what passages or 
 doors they might. The house of Barrs, as I have related 
 before, was very wide and rambling, and, by the lateness 
 of the hour, there was little hope to find any chamber 
 lighted. So that my lord and his servant pursued their 
 way in a maze, feeling upon the walls and exploring with 
 their feet, lest they should stumble or pass headlong into 
 some descent. Says Ravel that they were thus for the 
 space of an hour, visiting those empty chambers, which 
 were full of a horrid silence that spoke in the ears. This 
 struck a panic at last into the man's breast, and he 
 besought his lord to fly. 
 
 " Whither," says Cherwell, mocking him, " will ye 
 fly ? Have you then the secret of this place ? For my 
 part I shall as easy to go forward as to go back," at 
 which saying Ravel was flung into a sharper terror, and 
 could scarce contain himself, the more so that he heard 
 still that droning lamentation, falling and rising again like 
 the crying of some tortured ghost. But my lord paid no 
 heed, attempting even to draw near this sound, for he 
 supposed that so he would come to that part of the house
 
 THE REBEL 237 
 
 which was inhabited. And a little afterwards he heard 
 it closer, and soon again it rose from hard by, which set 
 Ravel trembling. Next my lord stopped before a door, 
 and thrust it open, giving a command to Ravel to stay ; 
 and then he entered. Soon he came forth, from whence 
 that direful noise issued, which was now sunk low and 
 plaintive ; and whispers he 
 
 " 'Tis a poor soul in travail 'tis one that has a hurt 
 by this fight, maybe a servant of the house. I know not ; 
 for there is nothing visible but blackness, and this groan- 
 ing rises from the floor. I laid my hands upon that which 
 is there," says he, " and 'tis cold and quiet. Is there no 
 life in this place ? Let us away." 
 
 With that they went forward again, and at length 
 perceived a shining beneath some door which Cherwell 
 opened, and the light of a lanthorn streamed out upon 
 the corridor. He went in and perceived a great bed 
 with a canopy, and upon the bed in his torn foul raiment 
 lay Sir Mordaunt Pringle. He lay like a hog, surfeited of 
 wine and food, and it was plain he had celebrated the 
 victory with a carousal. Upon a table in that great 
 chamber was a horn of ink and feathers, and my lord 
 Cherwell took a piece of paper quickly, and wrote 
 upon it. 
 
 " I will leave a memento morl to this carrion swine," 
 says he. And seizing a dagger from the walls he stuck 
 it through the paper and drove the weapon to the hilt 
 into the pillow by Sir Mordaunt's head. Ravel saw the 
 writing, which was this only 
 
 " Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed Jest he 
 fa//," and thereto he had put his name. Taking the 
 lanthorn he came out, and after that they went with
 
 238 THE REBEL 
 
 greater ease, walking in a part of the Castle which was 
 used. Yet there seemed poor chance that my lord 
 would achieve what he desired, until unexpectedly he 
 heard a voice, low and soft and broken, from a chamber 
 at the bottom of a passage, which led to one of the 
 towers. He set his hand to the door, and it was locked 
 and barred. 
 
 " Here is whither we are bound," he says to Ravel 
 eagerly. " This is our journey's end," and he flung him- 
 self against the oak, which creaked but yielded not. The 
 predicament in which they stood was not easy, for it 
 would have been impossible to discover the keys in that 
 labyrinth. Yet my lord halted not, nor feared. He 
 drew a pistol that was still charged, and with the aid of 
 his lanthorn, blowing in the pan, he thrust it to the lock 
 and fired. The report came back along those corridors 
 with great reverberations like the innumerable sounds of 
 battle ; but the door bent and gave way, and Cherwell 
 thrust it back with his weight, and opened a gap to 
 admit him, breaking into a white still chamber. 
 
 At the first sight of that room, which was all white, 
 white as to the walls, and very white with clothes and 
 garments, glowing in a white dim light, it seemed that he 
 had come into a place of faery. But 'twas not that ; 
 rather it was the dwelling-place of some white spirit that 
 prayed and suffered. For my lord's eyes next fell upon his 
 lady, the Countess of Cherwell, where she knelt, in her 
 white raiment, whispering her prayers to God for 
 succour. She had started and cried in alarm, but when 
 her eyes fell now with recognition upon him she gave a 
 louder cry, and struggling to her feet ran to him, weeping 
 and calling on him and weeping again. She was clad
 
 THE REBEL 239 
 
 only in her night-rail, yet she laid her head upon his 
 breast and clung to him, moaning like a dove without 
 words. But in a little she withdrew her arms, and 
 stepped back, looking on him with alarm and shame, and 
 yet with gladness. 
 
 " Ye are come to take me, my lord ? " she said in her 
 broken voice. " Indeed I knew that you would come. I 
 have been awaiting you. It has been a long winter, my 
 lord, but I have seen the spring to-day from my prison 
 window." 
 
 " Dear heart," said he, " ye are delivered of your 
 prison. The walls are broke down. Ye have your 
 passage into freedom. Ye shall do as ye list. There is 
 none shall stay ye, never again." He drew her to him 
 and soothed her. 
 
 " My lord," she says in a weeping voice, "I have put 
 you in great peril of your life. Ye go abroad in fears. 
 Yea, they told me of what you have suffered, and on 
 what a thread your safety hung. I am not worthy of 
 this sacrifice." 
 
 "You are Countess of Cherwell," said he, "and you are 
 worthy of all that the Earl of Cherwell shall give ye. 
 Ye are my wife, and what I proffer, that is your due and 
 privilege." 
 
 " Aye," she said whispering, for she was torn with 
 evident emotions and scarce knew what she said, so 
 wrought upon was she ; " aye, I am but a poor maid, but 
 your wife the wife to one that is strong to defeat 
 princes. I am proud, my lord, to bear that title. You 
 have delivered me from this evil. You are sovereign in 
 the eyes of one poor soul that hath been saved," she cried. 
 " Nay, my lord, ye are my God that hath delivered me
 
 240 THE REBEL 
 
 What say I ? " and she wrung her hands, and kneeled 
 upon the floor in her distress, tossed about with the 
 conflict of her feelings. 
 
 " Come," says Cherwell softly, " 'tis time we were on 
 the way and free of this house, lest others try to hold us." 
 
 " What ! " she called, leaping to her feet, her hair 
 falling about her shoulders. " Is there still danger ? Are 
 you pursued even here ? Will they not suffer ye to rest, 
 these wicked men that would rob me of my honour and 
 you of your life ? " 
 
 "We are scattered over the country-side,"said he. "The 
 King's troops brake my poor yeomen ; but that shall not 
 come between your safety. Come, or they will be upon us." 
 
 " Yea, will I come," said she in her trepidation, flying 
 to the further side of the chamber where her raiment lay. 
 " I will come, my lord." 
 
 But now there was a cry from Ravel at the door, who 
 had been in great alarm by reason of the report of the 
 pistol ; and immediately on that my lord, turning, saw 
 Trayle standing in the way, with his hand on his sword 
 and a smile on his face. 
 
 " I give you my compliments, my lord," said Trayle, 
 bowing, " 'tis hard to know where you may be taken. 
 You are like the fiend that goes about the earth. And 
 I blame you not that you should come to rest at last in a 
 lady's chamber. But you were warned, my lord, you 
 had your warning." 
 
 " Now, by God, Harry Trayle," cried my lord, " ye 
 are come here to die," and he took his sword forth. 
 
 " Nay, but to lead you back to the Tower, where they 
 shall take better care of you this time," says Trayle, still 
 smiling.
 
 THE REBEL 241 
 
 On that my lady cried out, "The Tower ! was it there? 
 Ah, my dear lord ! " and she seized on his hand, carrying 
 it to her bosom. But he put her aside quickly, and 
 called Ravel to pull to the door. 
 
 "I warned ye also," said he to Trayle in a quiet 
 voice. " It seems that when I spoke with you last 'twas 
 a service over your dead body that I read, Mr. Trayle. 
 Now is your appointed time. You are entered here to 
 die. There is no hope but that ye shall die in this 
 room." 
 
 Trayle made a gesture of assent, but looked aslant at 
 my lady, who cowered by the bed. 
 
 " Nay, by the light of heaven," cried Cherwell, under- 
 standing him, "it is here here, you shall fall in this 
 room and before the feet of her that you have wronged 
 so foully. Guard ye," and he ran upon him. 
 
 My lord pressed him like a madman, but with quiet 
 eyes, engaging with the craft bred of a great hate and 
 a great vengeance. Trayle was a taller man, and thicker 
 of arm and body, yet he seemed not then to be so 
 strenuous as my lord, who pushed him back and back, 
 and ever held his point for the heart, slight, dancing, 
 ineluctable, and singing and swinging like a reed. Trayle 
 fell away before his frenzy, and a look of doubt rose in 
 his face, taking the place of that indifferent smile. He 
 was a man of reckless courage, with little principle to 
 guide a stout heart ; and in despite of his vices, which 
 were neither few nor small, he had that in him which 
 might not derogate from his blood. He fought thus a 
 hopeless fight without failing spirit, asking for no mercy, 
 but keeping his gaze turned towards my lord's front. It 
 was as though one shrugged his shoulders at his death
 
 242 THE REBEL 
 
 with a little simpering smile, that meant still to be 
 merry. 
 
 My lord feinted and shot under his guard, and Trayle, 
 falling sideways on the white virginal couch, rolled to the 
 floor and lay still, close by where my lady crouched with 
 wide and terrified eyes ; so that in the falling he drew 
 so near that the blood from his wound ran over her naked 
 feet, and dyed her white gown. And thus strangely 
 were my lord's words fulfilled, and he paid for his crime 
 at her very feet. My lord came forward. 
 
 "Aye," says he, looking on him, "'tis meet you 
 should wash away the stain you would have set there," 
 and he dropped his weapon down. " Harry Trayle ! 
 Harry Trayle so now is judgment done upon you ! So 
 are ye executed ! " and he turned away. " I would ask 
 you, my lady, to be quick," he says in another voice, 
 " for there is a journey before us." 
 
 In a maze of fear and horror she set about preparing 
 herself, as my lord walked to the door ; but presently 
 she came forth to him, white of face, yet ready ; and, 
 with Ravel carrying the lanthorn before them, they picked 
 their way presently forth of the sleeping Castle.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 OF THE MEETING WITH A HIGHWAYMAN, AND THE 
 INN IN THE QUANTOCKS 
 
 MY lady Cherwell fluttered forth of the Castle of 
 Barrs as a wounded dove that is freed of her cage ; and 
 my lord and his man conducted her across the lawns. 
 At the entrance of the gardens was set a picket which 
 caused them a detour, but pushing through a gap in the 
 great hedge of hazels that girded about the pleasaunce, 
 they came into the open park, and proceeded diligently 
 in the dark. Yet were they not to escape thus, for soon 
 an alarm was raised, and they heard the sound of pur- 
 suers, as it seemed behind them and upon all sides, 
 breaking out of the night. 
 
 My lord bade them to increase their speed, and himself 
 supported my lady by the body. Yet there was no 
 chance so to fly from those hounds, and he brought up 
 quickly in a black great darkness below a vast oak. 
 
 " There is one thing to be done," said he, " and that 
 is to reach cover ere the dawn is here, and while the sun 
 tarries." 
 
 " They have spies out," says Ravel, who could make 
 out figures moving upon every side in the lessening dusk. 
 
 243
 
 244 THE REBEL 
 
 " Pish ! " says Cherwell, " a spy can die, but not a 
 regiment of pursuants." 
 
 " My lord, whither go we ? " asked Ravel. 
 
 "We go to Heriot Deane," said he. "I will not 
 draw rein till I establish myself in my own house, and 
 then Jacob Second shall find me if he may." 
 
 " The roads will be barred, my lord," he said. 
 
 " I will unbar them," says Cherwell. 
 
 " Taunton will be in the hands of the soldiery," said 
 Ravel. 
 
 Cherwell was silent for a time. " I have a great pity 
 for that poor folk," said he presently. "I would have 
 led them to victory an it had been possible ; but it was 
 not so destined. They have loved overmuch, and what 
 they shall receive is not their due." Next he looked 
 about him, with his lady leaning still upon him and 
 against the tree, and breathing deeply. " There is a 
 denser piece of blackness over yonder," he said. " If we 
 might win thither we should be safer." 
 
 And with a gesture he sent Ravel forward, himself 
 following with my lady. These three picked their way 
 with all the caution that they might use, passing once or 
 twice very near to some man in the gloom. But soon 
 they had reached the darker place, which proved now to 
 be a coppice on the borders of the park. Ravel, entering 
 this first, stumbled into a hole or ditch and rolled over 
 with a noise of crackling branches ; and, as it happened, 
 one of the pursuers being close by, this was heard, and 
 fetched several towards the coppice in a trice. Ravel 
 plucked himself forth and pushed through the under- 
 wood, which was of nut and small oak and ash, break- 
 ing a passage thus for my lady Cherwell. Yet this
 
 THE REBEL 245 
 
 journey was acknowledged by that very act, and the 
 news was brought to those behind, who followed after 
 with shouts. By a hazard Ravel struck now upon a 
 pathway and they began to go with less sound, so that 
 the enemy knew not in which direction to pursue, and 
 were driven to scatter themselves over the wood. In 
 such jeopardy the fugitives went forward for close on 
 half-an-hour, by which time the dawn threatened through 
 the budding leaves, and they were aware that they 
 must find some hiding-place or be taken by those that 
 beat the wood. The coppice had now grown into a 
 forest, in which the trees were larger, and more separate, 
 but they guessed not towards what they moved, nor 
 knew any the fall of that country. By and by they 
 issued upon a wider path, which was for bridle horses, 
 and ran down a steep declivity to a little grumbling 
 brook ; and here they were brought to at once by the 
 sight of a man on horseback, who stood in the way and 
 watched them. 
 
 " We are cut off," says Ravel ; but my lord said no 
 word, only leaving Lady Cherwell with his man, he 
 went forward to the stranger, with his resolution plain 
 upon his face. 
 
 This man was young and strong of limb, and of a raw 
 and reckless handsomeness, and he gave a grin at Cherwell 
 as he came up. 
 
 " Sink me," says he, in a rollicking voice, " but you 
 have an insolence so to beard me. Damn ye, know ye 
 not who I am ? Get away, louse, or I will riddle yc 
 through." 
 
 But my lord saw at that how he had been drinking, 
 and that he was now far gone ; so he did nought that he
 
 246 THE REBEL 
 
 had intended, but made him a bow, fearing that the 
 fellow might hamper them, should he quarrel. 
 
 " I crave your pardon, sir," said he. " I desire not to 
 stand in your excellency's light." 
 
 "That's said very well," cried the other, laughing. 
 " But, damme, who are you to be so free with your 
 excellencies ? A lean fellow with a good fat purse, I 
 warrant." 
 
 " Sir, we are poor wayfarers, having no money," 
 answered Cherwell, seeing with whom he must 
 deal. 
 
 " I ha' heard such a tale afore," replied the highway- 
 man, " and I ha' found something always sticking i' the 
 bottom. Disgorge, ye rogue ! " he cried. 
 
 My lord frowned, angry to be put about by this silly 
 calamity, and said he sharply " Come, come, my good 
 rascal, we are your superiors, and hold you. I bid you 
 go by." 
 
 "Split me for a muck-worm," cried the fellow, with 
 a noisy laugh. " It may be that I see ye for more than 
 you are along of good red Burgundy ; but, damme, I'll 
 fight ye, whether you be more or not." 
 
 Cherwell uttered an exclamation of disgust j for, in- 
 deed, he could ill afford to tarry there and bandy words 
 or blows, with the troopers at his heels. For a time he 
 wavered, uncertain whether to submit to this robbery or 
 not ; but the knave presently gives a laugh and slaps his 
 thigh. 
 
 " Rot me ! " said he, " but I spy petticoats. Faith, you 
 shall not go so cheaply, my pretty birds j for while I am 
 now released of one adversary, I am the better also of 
 two artful eyes. 'Tis a sight that sets heart in me ; by
 
 THE REBEL 247 
 
 God it doth," and he rapped out a free expression in his 
 tipsy merriment. 
 
 That sufficed for Cherwell, who, seizing him by the 
 arm, flung him from the horse with an oath. But the 
 highwayman, for all his drunkenness, leaped to his feet 
 again with agility, and, swearing foully, set upon my lord 
 with his weapon, vowing he would tear the vitals from 
 him for his pains. 
 
 My lord had his sword already in hand, and desired no 
 better than to end the pother at once, but almost ere iron 
 met iron, his opponent put up an arm, as if to warn him, 
 and turned his face about towards the wood which the 
 grey light was kindling. 
 
 " Hold, sir," said he in a sober voice, and listened for 
 some moments ; then he looked at Cherwell, " You shall 
 not be denied, if you have the spunk. None has thrown 
 that charge ever against Dick Ryder. Yet, as a gentle- 
 man, you will consider that there is some peril in which 
 I stand. There is a posse that I have escaped out of Bath, 
 and if I be not mistook here it comes." 
 
 Cherwell, though he could hear nothing of what the 
 other hinted at, cried out impatiently 
 
 "Faith, Mr. Ryder," said he, "you need be in no 
 distress. 'Tis not for you these are here, but rather for 
 me." 
 
 " What ! " says Ryder with a shout. " Are you and 
 these friends also escaped from justice r such a fine 
 gentleman as this," and he laughed aloud. 
 
 " Silence ! " cried Cherwell with an imperious gesture. 
 "Ye will have us all taken. I would ask you to re- 
 member that, whatever be our private quarrel, we are 
 in a common bond against the law."
 
 248 THE REBEL 
 
 " Why," says Ryder heartily, " and so we are. You 
 are after my heart with your plain speech And I will 
 e'en show you my earnest." With which he paused, 
 listening again, and to all of them now were noises 
 audible. Ryder made a sign to my lord that he should 
 wait, and crept into the wood very quietly, and very 
 swiftly. In a little there came to them other sounds, as 
 of a struggle, and next the toby-man re-appeared, putting 
 back his blade, and seeming mightily content with himself. 
 
 " Let us begone from this path," he whispered, " for 
 there are others behind that lank-faced lubber. f And 
 maybe we may then resume what was dropt," with 
 which he beckoned them through the arch in a great 
 bush, and down a privy hidden way. When they were 
 sheltered where he desired, this Ryder drew up with 
 his bridle on his arm. 
 
 " Now, who may ye be ? " said he, civilly enough. 
 
 " I am the Earl of Cherwell," says my lord shortly. 
 
 " What ! " cried the other with a start. " Are you 
 then he that is newly run out of the Tower, and before 
 the noses of the King's guards ? Rip me, my lord, I 
 have a kindness for ye. I ha' broken out of the jug 
 myself," and he struck forth his hand in a free and 
 friendly fashion. 
 
 My lord observed him lightly and smiled, taking the 
 hand. 
 
 u Then we are both in a case, friend Ryder," he says. 
 
 " Nay, my lord," says Ryder, " but we are met in 
 similar fortunes. Our destinies pursue us ; faith, we touch 
 fates." 
 
 " What mean you ? " asked Cherwell. 
 
 "Why, there are your soldiers after you," he said, "and
 
 THE REBEL 249 
 
 here comes my posse at my back. We are marked men, 
 and I know not which stands in the deeper peril. But if 
 you will throw your lot with me, we will challenge 
 together, and make a pretty pair to do so." 
 
 My lord considered, for the day was already upon them. 
 " Whither go you ? " he asked. 
 
 u Why, Dick Ryder is no pap-fed babe," said he with 
 a swagger. " I can reckon up the chances with any ; 
 and whoso ventures into this wild Quantocks must know 
 on what he rests. Know you the country ? " 
 
 My lord answered him nay ; and says Ryder, " Then 
 you will be taken of a surety, you and my lady, if 'tis she 
 and no wench ye have beguiled. Come, I have that to 
 shelter me not far distant, and you shall be welcome 
 when you come there to share with me." 
 
 " Mr. Ryder," said my lord, with his quick courtesy 
 and sharp decision, " you are a good friend. I thank you 
 for your offer. We will accompany you." 
 
 The highwayman led them further upon this by-way 
 into a thicker and a darker wood, keeping ever a watch 
 with his ears, and brought them out at last to a rise of 
 the hills like a steep wall. Here the sun, being now up, 
 shone upon the red earth and sparkled among the dew ; 
 but the party was grievously tired and footsore.' 
 
 " They may not come hither," said Ryder. " There is 
 no officer nor writ runs here." 
 
 And indeed the place appeared to be very desolate, the 
 hill rising as a spur of those Quantocks and commanding 
 the vale of a great wood, used by few and penetrated by 
 none. As they went up, this scene opened forth below 
 them, and they could descry the spires of a city far away, 
 glittering under the sun. But on the top of the ascent
 
 2 5 o THE REBEL 
 
 there was an open space of heath swept by the winds, 
 and beyond, the rolling hills of the range. Upon the 
 margin of the heath, and separated from it by a road, 
 stood a poor-looking tavern, very ancient and decrepit. 
 Before the door was a great oak, bare and dead, that had 
 been blasted by lightning, and it reached gaunt arms to 
 Heaven, calling for mercy or crying defiance, according 
 to the fancy of the spectator. And out upon the heath 
 rose a fellow like it, that seemed to answer to it in the 
 morning wind. 
 
 To this unfriendly house Ryder took the way, and 
 fetched up there, calling out the innkeeper. 
 
 " Stay," says Cherwell ; " if we are to rest here, what 
 manner of travellers shall we be ? " 
 
 " Damme, what you will," says Ryder. " This fellow 
 plays no tricks on me, I warrant. 'Tis worth more than 
 his vitals to blab. Rot me, he'll keep his tongue. He'll 
 not wag it," and then he added, as something that came 
 to him of prudence, " yet give him not your quality." 
 
 When the innkeeper was come, he greeted Ryder very 
 humbly, calling him captain, and offered glances askew 
 at the others. 
 
 " These are friends of mine, Daddy Cock," says Ryder 
 indifferently. " And you shall see them well-used or hang, 
 old dungfork." 
 
 " To be sure, captain," says he, casting his villainous 
 eyes about him. " I will bid any friend of yours welcome, 
 Captain Dick, though they be more used to fly ye than 
 seek ye," and he sniggered in an ugly fashion. 
 
 " Go to," says Ryder, " and let Betty prepare a breakfast 
 with some of your ale ; and see that this lady is tended by 
 her."
 
 THE REBEL 251 
 
 Presently, then, there was a meal laid for these fugitives, 
 and thereupon the girl, Betty, that was the innkeeper's 
 daughter, took my lady Cherwell to her chamber, bidding 
 her to rest ; while my lord flung himself upon the floor of 
 the little room, and, being worn out, fell asleep, Ravel 
 nodding in another corner. 
 
 The sun was past noon when he awoke and began with 
 his restless habit to cast about him for plans. My lady, 
 too, had gotten over her fears and her troubles and wore a 
 more quiet face, out of which her beauty sprang, surpris- 
 ing. And then it was that my lord learned how she was 
 spirited away, and what had befallen her at Barrs. It 
 seems that when Cherwell had left the Manor-house and 
 had gone back to the inn at Durcombe my lady was left 
 alone in her rooms, with none to interfere nor to reproach 
 her. She wondered at this greatly, but supposed that 
 Lady Ellicott had surrendered and withdrawn from the 
 struggle now that her daughter and my lord were wed. 
 After a long time, however, Lady Ellicott came to her, 
 and, speaking very coldly, vowed that she desired nothing 
 better than to see the last of her. She called her ingrate, 
 and bade her begone to her husband, appearing to be 
 in a great frenzy at her defeat. " There is word come 
 for you to join your ravisher," she said, "and go ye 
 shall this minute. I will have no more sight of 
 you." 
 
 Thereupon the Countess, having no suspicions, but 
 believing that she was sent for, got ready and was put 
 into a carriage. This set off, but drove another road than 
 to the inn, which alarmed her. She cried out to the 
 coachman, who paid no heed, but later came to a pause, 
 and some one opened the door and entered, whom she
 
 252 THE REBEL 
 
 made out in the gloaming to be Grimshaw. He was 
 very civil and feigned to reassure her, saying that she was 
 going whither she would be safe and not repent her 
 arrival. And so, seeing there was no hope for her, and 
 that her devilish enemies had triumphed again, she said no 
 more, resigning herself but carrying a beating heart. Thus 
 they came to Barrs, where she was expected, and allotted 
 rooms in that tower, being kept a close prisoner, and 
 seeing only Trayle, and her attendants. There was talk, 
 as she learned, of her being brought to London, but no 
 doubt the occasion was not auspicious, and it was desired 
 that matters should first settle down, perhaps by my lord's 
 death. This was the history of her captivity till my lord 
 came to her. 
 
 My lord, hearing it, was the more infuriate, raging 
 against all that were concerned in so foul a betrayal, but 
 chiefly against the Duke, who, as I consider, may have 
 been wholly ignorant of this artifice. Of those who had 
 conspired in such an abominable plot, several were dead, 
 the last of these being Trayle. But there lived still 
 Grimshaw, and that dark shadow of a villain, Fargus, and 
 he whom Cherwell looked upon as the arch-enemy and 
 cause of all the evil. Nevertheless he lost none of his 
 spirit by reason of these discoveries. Indeed they en- 
 livened him the more they incensed him, and the con- 
 sciousness that he had so far succeeded in his purpose 
 stimulated him into gaiety, despite what hung over him. 
 The man Ryder, too, was, as my lord always declared, 
 an agreeable companion, and these two entertained one 
 another at supper merrily. There was but one room in 
 that wretched tavern in which meals might be served, but 
 Lady Cherwell, being unfit for the company of such as
 
 THE REBEL 253 
 
 might come in, kept her chamber, where she was tended 
 by the wench, Betty, a kindly girl enough. 
 
 My lord and Ryder sat alone drinking of a good wine 
 which the highwayman had ordered. 
 
 " Faith," says he, " I know sound liquor, and what is 
 more, my lord, I know whence this comes, and how it is 
 fetched from Bristol. You may fill your paunch," he 
 said in his coarse way, " and ye will never regret it. You 
 and I, my lord, must bide low and wait. 'Tis on the 
 sufferance of fortune we must both content ourselves. 
 Yet I ha' never seen the time when Dick Ryder might 
 not make terms with fortune." 
 
 " You are a happy man," said Cherwell, smiling, " and 
 you have a gullet for good wine, as I acknowledge." 
 
 " Lord ! " cried Ryder, " you say well. I live a life, 
 I do. There is none other on the road that keeps me 
 company with a level foot, I tell you. I am cock o' my 
 walk, my lord, and 'tis no bad business in which to place 
 a square head and a stout arm. See ye here, my lord," 
 he went on, as he drank further, " I have a fancy for your 
 spunk. I ha' heard things of you. You use a brave 
 weapon, and you ply your wits. I do no more myself. 
 But, sink me, I have no stomach for this silly matter of 
 kings and princes. King Charles is enough for me, and 
 if so be King James be not so good, why there are still 
 fat pockets on the lay. There's where you should be, my 
 lord, for I warrant you have an eye for a wench, as 
 madam above will prove ; and good wenches and good 
 wine make the world go round, by God, they do." 
 
 My lord was greatly tickled with this diversion, and 
 drew out the fellow, both laughing together ; so that 
 presently they did not observe one that came in, and
 
 254 THE REBEL 
 
 called on the innkeeper for ale, sitting down in a corner 
 to drink it. He was a rustic-looking fellow, but with two 
 keen eyes, and he fixed them on my lord, who soon per- 
 ceived him and gave him an indifferent stare. But not so 
 Ryder, though he had drunk deeper ; for he jumped to 
 his feet angrily, cursing the man for a rogue, and asking 
 him what he did there in the company of his betters. 
 My lord stood, much entertained at this outbreak, and the 
 peasant's consternation ; but Ryder whispered to him for 
 all his liquor 
 
 " Get away," he says. " Swounds, would you have the 
 whole place see ye ? You are a marked man." 
 
 Cherwell took the suggestion and slipped out of the 
 door, leaving Ryder to deal with the poor wretch ; and 
 soon after he put himself to bed on the floor, with Ryder 
 for watch-dog. 
 
 But what with the wine he had taken and the great 
 weariness of his body he slept soundly, and was only 
 awoke when the sun was up by the voice of Ryder in his 
 ears. 
 
 " Wake, my lord," says he, " for the hounds are on you. 
 Wake ! " 
 
 My lord sat up and put his hand on his sword-belt, 
 gazing about him vacantly.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 OF THE FLIGHT FROM SOMERSETSHIRE 
 
 THIS was no other than the truth, indeed, for what 
 Ryder had feared was now come to pass. The stranger 
 that had wandered into the tavern the night before was a 
 ploughman from the valley, who, though taking no part 
 in any political opinions, was a curious fellow, and 
 recognized my lord with staring for one he had seen at 
 Taunton. Upon his dull wits is slowly grafted the 
 memory of who it was, and off he goes in a state of 
 excitement, spreading among his cronies where my lord 
 of Cherwell was hid. One of them being an avaricious 
 man, and in no sympathy with the feelings of that dis- 
 trict, carried the news by night to Barrs, and with this 
 direful issue that now met my lord. 
 
 He got upon his feet quickly, and, flinging away his 
 drowsiness, asked of Ryder some questions. 
 
 " Nay," says the toby-man, " there is no chance that 
 you may resist them not the least in the world. Stab 
 me, I ha' fought many at a time, one down, t'other come 
 on, but I would not face this regiment of Jack Skittles. 
 'Tis madness." 
 
 " Very well," says Cherwell coolly, " then what 
 other course have we ?" 
 
 2 55
 
 256 THE REBEL 
 
 " Why," said Ryder, " they are come for you, not for 
 me ; yet there never was a time when I went back on a 
 guest. 'Tis my reputation that is at stake, and, damme, 
 let me eat muck if you or the lady be taken." 
 
 "Captain," said Cherwell, "you are an excellent 
 fellow, whatever be your trade ; and I am none so sure 
 that the trade also be not excellent," he added. At that 
 in came Ravel with the news that a dozen horsemen 
 were before the door, and on his heels the innkeeper, 
 crying that they demanded the body of the Earl of 
 Cherwell, a rebel to his king and country. 
 
 " Keep 'em in parley," said Ryder to the innkeeper ; 
 " we will not touch such scum as this." 
 
 And no sooner was the man out of the room than he 
 bade Cherwell to fetch his lady, who was at once 
 brought down by Betty. 
 
 " What do you ? " asked this latter in alarm and in 
 wonder, seeing that he had vanished into a small cup- 
 board, where food was kept. "What do you, Captain?" 
 
 " Keep your mouth, you pretty jade," says he in a great 
 humour ; " galloping Dick is no chicken ; he has tricks 
 even under your white nose." And he seemed to them 
 to be dragging at a flagstone in the floor. Presently 
 there was something rolled back with a noise in the 
 darkness, and Ryder came forth. 
 
 " There is a way of refuge," said he : " the back of 
 the tavern hangs upon the precipice below ; and there is 
 a ladder of rope. It has rested there these two years 
 against my need. Hold the door, Betty," he commanded. 
 So one by one these amazed fugitives descended into the 
 hole and came out upon a ledge of rock, upon the very 
 top of that deep vault. Away below they could perceive
 
 THE REBEL 257 
 
 the swaying of the wood, and the noise of a great sigh- 
 ing, like to the ocean, came up to their ears. And after 
 them followed Ryder, closing the slab of stone. 
 
 11 We are none too soon," said he, " for they are now 
 entered and seeking you. Yet they cannot suppose that 
 they have you not secure, and there lies our safety." 
 
 He spoke in a whisper and felt below him on the ledge 
 as he did so, bringing out next a long stout rope knotted 
 into a rude ladder, which he flung gently down. The 
 height was some eighty feet sheer, with a few bushes and 
 grasses growing at intervals on the steep rock, so that my 
 lady Cherwell feared to look down. 'Twas doubtless an 
 old road of escape for evil-doers and those who fled the 
 law ; and it may well be that for this reason the tavern 
 had been so built, projecting over the void, and with no 
 windows opening on that side. 
 
 "Go you first," said Cherwell to the highwayman ; "I 
 will bide and hold the rock, if so be they discover us." 
 
 Ryder said no word, but, nodding, seized on the rope 
 and slipped down swiftly, the ladder swaying and swing- 
 ing under his weight. They watched him until he had 
 disappeared into the trees, and then my lord gave a sign 
 to Ravel. 
 
 " You must go with him, madam," said he to his wife, 
 who started and then held her lips firm. 
 
 " I will go," she said. 
 
 Ravel descended over the side of the clifF, and my lady 
 put her trembling foot after him, yet with no hesitation ; 
 and so they two went down, the man guarding his mis- 
 tress and keeping the rope taut for her by his burthen. 
 By this time there was a loud noise in the house above, 
 and a sound of feet on the stone flags of the cupboard.
 
 258 THE REBEL 
 
 My lord threw himself over and began to creep down as 
 quickly as he might ; yet by the time he was half-way to 
 the bottom there was a voice from overhead, and he saw, 
 looking up, the face of a man regarding him. He fell 
 faster down the rungs, but ere he had reached thirty feet 
 of the bottom the rope slackened and dropped, cut 
 through by a knife, and he shot down through space. 
 By good luck the branches of a tree intervened, breaking 
 his fall, and so he tumbled easily to the ground with no 
 more than a bruised shoulder. He leaped up. 
 
 " We must be away," he said hastily. 
 
 " Aye," says Ryder, " the horses are ready." 
 
 " What horses ? " cried Cherwell in amazement. 
 
 Ryder grinned. " D'ye think I hold my life so little 
 precious as to take no precautions ? " said he. " Split me, 
 no ; there is a brace of good horses, with Calypso herself, 
 ready in these stables whene'er I tarry here." 
 
 At this my lord perceived that he was at the back of 
 some rude building, and, swiftly following Ryder, he 
 made his way to the front and entered in where two 
 horses stood in waiting, with Ravel by them. 
 
 u There is a rough way hence towards Taunton," said 
 Ryder. " But we must be off, ere they have gained the 
 valley. Ye must carry your lady." 
 
 " I will do so," says Cherwell, " and Ravel here shall 
 run. There is nothing against him." 
 
 Ryder went to the door with his bridle on his arm, and 
 he gave suddenly a low cry, swearing a great oath. " By 
 God," said he, "that stinkpot has betrayed me. I will 
 be avenged on Daddy Cock j rip him for a toad ! " 
 
 The cry had brought Cherwell to his side, who, look- 
 ing forth of the half-open door, perceived before the
 
 THE REBEL 259 
 
 stable half-a-dozen soldiers, and one among them whom 
 he saw to be Grimshaw. The sight of that worm 
 maddened him, and says he to Ryder 
 
 " Mr. Ryder, I drag no man into my quarrels. Get 
 ye gone. But as for me, there is no man or men alive in 
 King Charles's army that shall take me." 
 
 " By Heaven," said Ryder, " you are after my heart; 
 and as for leaving ye, there is time enough when some 
 Jack puddings have tasted of Dick Ryder's steel." 
 
 " I thank you, sir," says my lord, and then to Ravel, 
 " Stay you here," he said. " We will engage them ; and 
 it maybe you shall have a chance to escape with my lady 
 in the turmoil. They will pay you small heed, I warrant, 
 for the next half-hour. And if I be dead, direct your 
 ways to my cousin, Sir Hilary Mace, and say to him that 
 I leave this lady in trust." 
 
 He said no more, but, getting a-horseback, stood in the 
 doorway with Ryder, and pushed the door wide open with 
 his foot, holding his sword before him. 
 
 At the first sight of them as they came out, the 
 soldiers, who were all horsed, drew closer, presenting their 
 weapons. But Grimshaw, who seemed puffed up with a 
 little office, set up his hand as though to restrain them. 
 
 " My lord," said he in his civil voice, " it is useless to 
 resist. You must surrender." 
 
 " Out of my way," said my lord shortly ; but making 
 no movement on his own part. 
 
 " My lord, 'tis madness in you," remonstrated Grim- 
 shaw. 
 
 " Rat," says Cherwell, " get back to your sewers, or I 
 will spit you," and he raised his blade. 
 
 But Grimshaw was full of authority, and no doubt
 
 260 THE REBEL 
 
 he deemed those soldiers at his back to be a sufficient 
 protection. 
 
 " I charge you to surrender in the name of the King," 
 he cried. 
 
 " Ye will have it, then ; ye will have it," said Cherwell, 
 and urging his horse forward with a sudden prick of his 
 weapon, he passed the point through the attorney's neck, 
 crying, "That for your treachery, that for your foul 
 procuration ; " and leaving there the sixth man dead of 
 that conspiracy, he passed upon the astonished soldiers 
 with Ryder by his side. There was a discharge of fire- 
 arms, but neither was touched, and contenting themselves 
 with cutting at a fellow apiece, the two galloped down 
 the rocky way into the valley, with the pack in pursuit. 
 The path was very rough, being strewn with boulders, 
 and hedged in by trees, so that they rode one after the 
 other. Yet the pace at which they fled was very high, 
 despite the peril of the road, which was the greater that a 
 branch grew low here and there across the way. Never- 
 theless, my lord paused soon to look behind him, eager to 
 see if all the troop was following. Whether it was that 
 by the death of Grimshaw, the sole person who had an 
 interest in the seizure of my lady was removed, or that 
 the excitement of the chase had proved too severe for 
 them, he counted six fellows in pursuit, streaming down 
 towards the bottom which he and his companion had 
 reached. With which sight he was well satisfied, and 
 rode on again briskly, overtaking Ryder, who had tarried 
 for him. The highwayman shouted that they must make 
 for the deeps of the forest and there hide, adding that his 
 horses were more than a match for any in his Majesty's 
 service.
 
 THE REBEL 261 
 
 " If that be so," says Chcrwell, " I am for Taunton." 
 
 " Why," said Ryder, " the town will be in the King's 
 hands." 
 
 " The less reason they will expect me there," said he, 
 and Ryder, admiring this ingenuity, made no opposition, 
 but coming into a more open track, the two settled down 
 to outride their pursuers. 
 
 This they judged was done towards mid-day, when no 
 sign of the enemy was to be seen, and they believed that 
 the chase was abandoned. Late in the afternoon they drew 
 near to Taunton, and my lord was persuaded to wait 
 until dark, lest any might recognize him. But after sun- 
 set they entered, challenged by none, and Cherwell pro- 
 ceeded to the house of Westmacott. He had no thought 
 to find Westmacott here, believing him to be dead or 
 taken, but he was desirous of preparing a retreat for Lady 
 Cherwell, knowing that the peril was now shifted to 
 himself since the deaths of Trayle and Grimshaw. For 
 the time, at least, she was under no hazard, until, that is, 
 the news reached London, where Lady Ellicott was, and 
 those who contrived the plot should resolve to go further 
 against that innocent lady. Yet, to his amazement, 
 Westmacott himself opened the door to my lord, greeting 
 him with respect and even affection ; for he had a great 
 admiration towards him. My lord told how it was with 
 him, and asked the other why he was thus secure in his 
 house. 
 
 " There is none of our staunch fellows but will hold 
 their tongues," said Westmacott. " There is no witness 
 against me, only report. I put a smooth face on, and 
 sit at my receipt of custom. I am not exacted yet by the 
 Lord. I shall yet live to fight His battles."
 
 262 THE REBEL 
 
 And this was true ; for the man fell in the Duke of 
 Monmouth's rising some two years later. Of such stuff 
 were these Somersetshire rebels made. 
 
 My lord consulted with Westmacott on his movements, 
 begging him to gather news of the Countess, and this 
 Westmacott promised, advising my lord to lie at a little 
 village towards Sherborne, where he might receive in- 
 telligence and be beyond detection. 
 
 To this Cherwell assented, and that night rode with 
 his companion, who would not leave him, to Ealtry, 
 keeping himself very close. He remained there all the 
 next day, when Westmacott himself made his appearance 
 in a coach, and, the door being opened, out stepped Lady 
 Cherwell, very pale and smiling. It seemed that one of 
 Westmacott's messengers had come upon my lady and 
 Ravel in a hamlet in the vale of Taunton, and had fetched 
 them forthwith to the merchant, by whom they were 
 hospitably entertained. He had then furnished them 
 with his carriage, and himself accompanied them to join 
 my lord, which he did because he had other news to 
 impart. The news of my lord's escape had gone to 
 Bristol, and brought out a regiment, which was to secure 
 his person at any hazard. The roads were held towards 
 London, and Westmacott feared that the party could not 
 break through. 
 
 " I will break through a dozen regiments," says Cher- 
 well, " rather than be foiled of my aim," and he offered 
 his gratefulness to Westmacott, telling him that he knew 
 no better friend, and that they should yet fight together. 
 
 "I trust so, my lord ; we are in such an One's hands 
 that I rest all upon my faith," was his reply. 
 
 When he was gone, my lord turned to Ryder comically.
 
 THE REBEL 263 
 
 "We are in the devil of a case," says he. "Get ye 
 back, Captain, ere it be too late." 
 
 But Ryder swore angrily and with great heat that he 
 would not budge, crying that he cared not one straw for 
 any man, and that his sword was as good as my lord's, 
 on any occasion, as he was willing to prove. 
 
 " Fie ! " said Cherwell, laughing, " would ye fight me ? 
 Nay, if you are so bold you shall be turned upon a 
 squadron," and made no more remonstrance with him. 
 It was nine o'clock at night when they set out, my lord 
 and my lady in the coach with Ravel, and the highway- 
 man riding in the front, by way of an advance guard. As 
 there was the fear of being taken, it was resolved to make 
 a long circle southward, and so come into Hampshire by 
 the New Forest. They travelled thus all night, hoping 
 by such prudence to escape the lines if they should cross 
 them anywhere ; and halted by six in the morning at 
 an inn some miles north of Dorchester to break their 
 fast. Here were inquiries made, but they could discover 
 nothing of any soldiers, and so presently resumed their 
 journey across the Hampshire border, meaning to go by 
 the Forest. 
 
 The sun was very bright and bountiful, for the spring 
 was coming on astride, and the country was leaping into 
 flower and leaf; and so both my lord and his wife, thus 
 far delivered of anxiety, rode with light hearts, and took a 
 pleasure in the scene. At least my lady did so, though she 
 did not know what awaited her at Heriot Deane, and her 
 destiny was still unravelled for her. I think it was a 
 delight to her that she should thus be accompanying my 
 lord, and she took no care to forecast or forestall the 
 future. Yet indeed there was reason for some fore-
 
 264 THE REBEL 
 
 bodings, and those instant. The party travelled most of 
 the day, desiring to put up at night, and to rest like other 
 Christian folk. But towards evening they were still some 
 miles from where they were disposed to settle, and it was 
 after dusk when the coach entered the Forest, a little 
 above Ringwood, which they avoided. The river Avon 
 here runs among the swellings of a dark wood, and the 
 road mounted sometimes, and again descended, undulating 
 like the face of the sea. There was next a small post- 
 house, showing no life, and when they had passed this 
 some distance, Ryder rode back to the carriage with the 
 intelligence of what they were no longer dreading. 
 There was a troop of horse cantering down the road 
 towards the carriage, and ere they should turn the corner 
 it was necessary to make some plan of escape. The wood 
 was impenetrable on either side for a carriage, and the 
 post-house was too hazardous, seeing that the soldiers 
 were likely to call there. But beyond the tavern was a 
 cross-way which led south towards Christchurch, and this 
 they decided forthwith to use. The horses' heads were 
 at once turned, and within three minutes of the discovery, 
 the coach was running towards the inn as fast as the 
 animals could go. 
 
 There was scarce one hundred yards of distance between 
 the fugitives and the house, when suddenly from the 
 posting-yard, which gaped wide, issued a band of mounted 
 soldiers, and held the road staring towards them. The 
 appearance of haste, with the sight of Ravel lashing the 
 horses, and the general air of alarm, was evident to these 
 spectators, who barred the way with some merriment. 
 
 " Drive through them, rascal," cried my lord, putting his 
 head out of the window. " Damn ye, drive 'em down."
 
 THE REBEL 265 
 
 But Ravel had insensibly, and even against his own 
 purpose, pulled in, and at that instant the other troop 
 came swinging into sight round the bend of the 
 road. 
 
 "The game is up," says Ryder with an oath. "There 
 is a score at least." 
 
 My lord made no answer, but compressed his lips 
 together, watching the approach of the others. The two 
 bodies mingled about the standing carriage. 
 
 " What is't ye have here ? " asked an officer. 
 
 The captain of the first body laughed. " Faith, I 
 know not," said he, "save that here is a damnably 
 handsome madam, and that I have her not." 
 
 " We may yet get off," whispers Ryder. " They know 
 nothing." 
 
 My lord still answered nothing, regarding the two 
 captains steadfastly. 
 
 " Why have ye stopped my carriage ? " he asked in a 
 quiet level voice. 
 
 " On suspicion of your hurry, my good sir," laughed 
 one of the officers. " But I have no doubt that you will 
 soon convict us of over-zeal. I blame none that goes so 
 fast with such an one beside him." 
 
 " Who are you, sir ? " asked the second man, coming 
 close to the carriage, and striving to peer through the 
 dusk into the window. 
 
 " I am a gentleman from Christchurch," replied Cher- 
 well civilly j " pray make room for me and my lady, for 
 we are already late." 
 
 As he spoke, his face was thrust clearer into what 
 light remained in the sky, and the Captain made an 
 exclamation.
 
 266 THE REBEL 
 
 " I fear, my lord," said he in another voice, " that 'tis 
 not to Christchurch you will win to-night. I regret to 
 incommode you, but you are my prisoner." 
 
 At the news of this recognition Cherwell started, and 
 rose in his seat. 
 
 " Nay, my lord," protested the Captain, " you will 
 have the wisdom to see with what folly you would resist. 
 You would not imperil my lady by such rashness. I 
 would for my part that I knew not your face, being 
 acquainted with it in the Town ; but we are under orders 
 to take you, though we had not looked for you so far 
 south." 
 
 " You are undone, my lord ; you are undone," cried 
 Ravel, who took this capture to heart exceedingly. 
 
 " Nay," said my lord, not changing face or voice. 
 " Not undone till London," making a play upon the 
 words, by which he signified that there was yet the 
 journey to Town for his captors to achieve. 
 
 " Yet if I must surrender, there is no word of any 
 other ? " said he to the Captain. 
 
 The soldier hesitated. " I am to be excused," said he 
 simply, " but the words were ' my lord Cherwell and 
 whoso may be of his party.' " 
 
 My lord shrugged his shoulders. "They war still 
 upon women," he said. " 'Tis that Judas." 
 
 He gave up his weapon to the officer, but as he did so, 
 Ryder turned his horse about, and put her nose to the 
 bank upon one side of the road, where the wood was 
 less dense. The brave beast, rocking and rearing, yet 
 climbed to the top, and ere the soldiers had recovered 
 their wits from the disturbance of this audacity, the mare 
 shot with a crackling of sticks into the forest, and
 
 THE REBEL 267 
 
 disappeared in the dusk with a shout from the highway- 
 man, and a dribbling stutter of muskets. 
 
 There was no pursuit of Ryder, for, indeed, it would 
 have been useless in that rough forest, but the officer in 
 command gave directions for a start, and the two troops, 
 joining, both set out towards Lyndhurst. It was manifest 
 that they had strict orders, and they were to conduct my 
 lord to London. The Captain rode by the coach with 
 two of his men, and apologized for the necessity he had. 
 But my lord Cherwell was very affable, and conversed 
 with him agreeably, hearing the news of Town, and 
 comforting my lady now and then. Half the troop drew 
 out in front, and half was behind ; and after the lapse of 
 some miles, their distance from the coach increased with 
 the coming of darkness. Presently the Captain rode to 
 the front to give some instructions to his men, and there 
 remained the two troopers, one upon either side of the 
 carriage. The road was now passing under a great 
 avenue of trees, which met above it and plunged the 
 place in deeper blackness. My lord had settled back in 
 his seat, for there was nothing to be seen, nor nothing 
 heard save the roll of the wheels and the horses' hoofs on 
 the ground. But presently he started up at a sound that 
 caught his ears ; for out of the blackness on one side 
 came a figure on horseback, monstrously swoln by the 
 night, and struck with a soft thud upon the horse of the 
 trooper near him. The man uttered an oath, but ere he 
 could do more, the black figure had pinned him with its 
 arms ; and simultaneously something was flung in by the 
 window of the carriage and struck Cherwell's knee. In 
 an instant his wits were alive ; he seized this, which was 
 a piece of rope ; and, taking the situation with a leap of
 
 268 THE REBEL 
 
 his fancy, he opened the further door and sprang upon 
 the second trooper, who was but now awakened to the 
 signals of that struggle. The affair had been the passage 
 of a moment ; and the carriage still rolled on, with Ravel 
 unwitting on the box, and the two troopers lying half- 
 throttled upon the horses. Then Ravel, becoming aware 
 of something that was passing,' reined in, and Cherwell 
 pulled his soldier out of the saddle. 
 
 " My lord," says the voice of Ryder in a whisper, 
 " have you him ready is his mouth stopped ? " 
 
 My lord said yes, pulling a knot in his rope, and Ryder 
 whispered further, that there was a by-road in the darkness, 
 and that they must take the horses. 
 
 "We will leave our mark, at least," says Cherwell 
 grimly, and they thrust in the two soldiers, trussed like 
 fowls, helping my lady forth. 
 
 Then Ravel was bid to drive on, hear nothing, and to 
 avoid suspicion while he might, and, seizing the horses, 
 the two slipped away into the darkness, with my lady 
 running lightly by them and the escort not one hundred 
 yards both in front and behind. They hit the by-way, 
 and stood listening for a moment, but heard no pause of 
 the cavalcade, which was now conducting no prisoners, 
 indeed, but those two bound troopers. And so presently 
 they mounted, with my lady as best she might clinging 
 to her saddle, and went away into the night, making for 
 Cadnam. They were not twenty miles now from 
 Dulsiebridge, which, piercing the Forest by divers ways, 
 they reached before midnight, and so came out in the 
 moonlight before Heriot Deane.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 HOW MY LADY FOLLOWED AFTER MY LORD, AND WHAT 
 SHE FOUND 
 
 CHER WELL looked up the avenue of the park towards 
 the house, and says he to his companion, " Stay ; it may 
 be that there is a watch set here also ; " and with that 
 he turned into the village and came before the Forest Inn. 
 When he had rung at the bell loudly, there was presently 
 a noise and the innkeeper appeared with a light, falling 
 back in amazement to see him. 
 
 " Come ; no waste of time, goodman," said Cherwell 
 amiably. " I have brought the Countess of Cherwell to 
 her home, and here is a friend of mine that will drink 
 her health." 
 
 He left my lady, who was very worn, below, and 
 passed with Ryder into an upper room, whither wine was 
 fetched. He questioned the man as to what had gone on 
 since his absence, and learned that there was no one 
 about the house. 
 
 " That is very well," he said, " but there may be, and, 
 I doubt not, shall be, to-morrow." 
 
 There was a great quantity of wine drunk, as both 
 were thirsty and tired ; and that upon poor stomachs had 
 
 a harsh effect. My lord turned to Ryder 
 
 269
 
 270 THE REBEL 
 
 " I know not your performances, sir," he said, " yet 
 this I do know, that, whatever be your trade, you have a 
 stout heart and a cunning wrist. I ask no better on my 
 side than you." 
 
 Thereupon Ryder began to talk loudly, protesting 
 what he and my lord could do together, and vowing he 
 could fight fifty soldiers every day for his supper at 
 which nonsense my lord laughed merrily. The truth is 
 that one at least was soon grown to be over-full, which 
 was the cause of their parting, and in this way. 
 
 Says my lord, who kept his head, but had grown more 
 formal, that he lay under a great debt to Mr. Ryder, which 
 he might not pay. 
 
 "Damn ye," says the highwayman, "what, talk you? 
 If any man should offer to pay me, my lord, that which I 
 desire not to have, I would thread him with my bodkin." 
 
 " I offer you nothing," cried Cherwell sharply, " and 
 you were best to be civil." 
 
 " Civil ! " cries Ryder, laughing, " the devil take your 
 civil ! " 
 
 My lord threw aside his glass in anger, and he rose, 
 casting a glance on his companion, who lolled tipsily in 
 his chair. 
 
 " Mr. Ryder," he said curtly, " this is no place for one 
 who has stood my friend. I offer you a chamber in my house." 
 
 " Sink me, I can look after myself," said Ryder noisily, 
 and rapped hard for more wine. 
 
 " Ye will be drunken, fool," said my lord, who had 
 himself taken quite enough. 
 
 " I will drink what I will," says Ryder, very surly. 
 
 My lord turned away. " You may go to the devil," 
 said he, " I will go to my bed."
 
 THE REBEL 271 
 
 Ryder laughed in a coarse voice, crying out something 
 about my lady, which set my lord aflame. He started 
 alert, and his eyes shone, but then he dropped his hand, 
 and shrugging his shoulders, went forth ; and that, by a 
 strange freak of fortune, was the way in which he parted 
 with the man who had so greatly befriended him. 
 
 Cherwell found my lady asleep, with her poor head 
 upon the table, and carrying her in his arms so that she 
 woke not, he laid her on the saddle before him, and so 
 rode to his house. 
 
 He now made his preparations to resist a siege, for he 
 was resolved at all costs not to be taken. Food was 
 brought into Heriot Deane, and arms distributed among 
 the servants, most of whom were very faithful to the 
 Heriots. My lord swore passionately that no officer of 
 the Crown should set foot across that threshold while he 
 was alive to stay him. And indeed there was no attempt 
 made to secure his person. How he had escaped, together 
 with an account of his wanderings, came somehow to the 
 King, who was mightily entertained. Some pressed for 
 his arrest, but Charles refused. 
 
 " He has broke so many of my laws," said he, " that I 
 am inquisitive to see how many more he will break. I 
 think he has earned his rest, and I doubt not that he will 
 guard himself in Heriot Deane, as well as we shall guard 
 him in the Tower. Besides," he added, " he doth me no 
 harm, nor wishes me any. Let James look to his own 
 quarrels." 
 
 But my lord knew nothing of this, and daily expected 
 that he would be attacked. In a little, however, the fear 
 of an immediate step passed away, and he began to move 
 about more freely. He had not been in Dulsiebridge a
 
 272 THE REBEL 
 
 week when a letter came to him from the Lady Katharine 
 Roodhouse. This I never saw, nor heard the contents, 
 yet there fell into my hands some years ago my lord 
 Cherwell's answer to it, from which it was evident what 
 sense she had expressed. 
 
 " Deare so kind" he wrote, <l I won d desire you to use that 
 patience which I practice so long. Fear not but that I will 
 remember and hold it in sweetness to do what was purposed. 
 Nay, I will not have you speak so rudely of such a common 
 tenderness. That which is laid down in cold terms shall be 
 satisfy 9 d with urgency and ardour. 1 will exact what debt 
 is due, and so shall ye, which shall be faithfully discharged 
 before our conscience. Tet your debt will I make mine and 
 steal that from you which I should render you ; so that you 
 shall be tied two-fold and forced to compass your obligations as 
 I chuse. So hard a bargain shall be driven, and such shall 
 be your streights. 
 
 " Tour faithful servant, 
 
 " CHERWELL." 
 
 It was shortly upon this letter that my lord departed 
 one evening and rode to Town, where he arrived secretly, 
 none being in his confidence. I know not what 
 happened in this passage of his life, but it is most 
 probable that the Lady Katharine remonstrated with him 
 on his rashness. There were plenty of informers ready, 
 and many that knew him, so that he could not lie hid 
 long ; also, the Duke was moving for his attachment, 
 having come to the belief that nothing which had oc- 
 curred could rebound upon himself. The reason of this 
 supposition is that the lady withdrew herself soon 
 from London and lay at Farnham, where Cherwell
 
 THE REBEL 273 
 
 visited her afterwards at the " Bush." The Countess, 
 meanwhile, had observed my lord's absence, and was 
 greatly agitated for his safety. She supposed that he 
 was gone to pursue his vengeance, and she desired 
 only that he should rest and guard himself. She went 
 about in a fear lest some danger to him should spring 
 up at any moment, and she blamed herself for that he 
 adventured so imprudently. Yet when he returned 
 she said nothing, for he was never one to take counsel 
 from others. It was only on the second occasion of his 
 departure that her terrors broke through her reserve, and 
 she begged him to have a care. 
 
 " If you should be captured there would be no more 
 hope for you, my lord," she pleaded. " God has given 
 you so deep a success that you have come through many 
 troubles ; yet it is ill to adventure and dare misfortune." 
 
 "Why," said he, smiling, "whatever may befall me 
 you are now protected. There is none now that will 
 dare anything against you." 
 
 But she made an exclamation and turned her head 
 away, keeping silent for a little ; then said she 
 
 " What peril hung over me, that you have diverted, so 
 that it is imminent on yourself. You have a double 
 burthen of displeasure and enmity. See you not that it is 
 for that cause I am concerned ? I owe you that security 
 which you have lost, my lord ; and my conscience cries 
 out that you must be diligently shielded." 
 
 My lord laughed. "Faith, these little hands shall 
 shield me, an they will, Alethea," said he, and went forth, 
 pleasantly tickled. 
 
 The Countess in all this was not happy, as indeed I 
 had some opportunity to see. For about this time I paid 
 
 T
 
 274 THE REBEL 
 
 a visit to Heriot Deane, being disturbed about Cherwell's 
 condition, and desirous to aid him, if that were possible. 
 When I arrived my lord had been gone a day and a night, 
 and there was no promise of his return. My lady was in 
 deep distress, and, scarce waiting to bid me welcome, 
 broke out with her news. 
 
 " Last night," said she, " there was a stranger in the 
 village, and to-day there are come two troopers, who 
 lodge at the inn. Sir Hilary, they are here to take my 
 lord, and I know not whither he is gone. I fear for 
 him," she cried aloud, "I fear for him, that he is con- 
 triving something against the Duke. He cannot rest ; he 
 goes about like an unpeaceful spirit, hatching dark designs. 
 None is admitted to his confidence. He is merry and 
 whistles. I think he walks upon the brink of a precipice." 
 
 I comforted her, though, to say truly, what she feared 
 seemed to me most certain ; but I promised that I 
 would find my lord to give him warning of his danger. 
 Yet a little afterwards when evening was come she might 
 not rest, but walked abroad in the twilight, commoved by 
 great agitation. When she came in she begged of me to 
 say whither I would go, and how I should find my lord, 
 and appeared in so much sorrow that I was fain to set 
 out forthwith. 
 
 I sought Ravel (who was now returned to Dulsie- 
 bridge), thinking he might know his master's movements, 
 but the fellow protested that he was ignorant. He was 
 given to lie so naturally and readily that I paid little heed 
 to this denial. 
 
 " Come, Ravel," I said, " there is some important 
 information for my lord. He must receive it, or he is 
 endangered. Whip up your memory."
 
 THE REBEL 275 
 
 But the rogue declared still that he knew nothing ; 
 which may indeed have been true, though I never 
 credited his denial, but rather supposed he was privy to 
 many things, having access to them. This course failing, 
 I was thrown back upon other inquiries, which took up 
 many hours. Indeed, there was nothing done that night, 
 which my Lady Cherwell passed out of bed and restless. 
 We waited, expecting and fearing at any turn to hear of 
 my lord's return, or in an anxiety lest he should be 
 already in the hands of the troopers in the village. The 
 next day other soldiers arrived, and took up their quarters 
 in the inn, which increased the Countess's alarm. But 
 now by diligent questioning I found one that had seen 
 my lord ride on the Winchester road, and, that dis- 
 covered, nothing would serve my lady but she and I must 
 venture forth privily to seek Cherwell and warn him to 
 fly. Though the clue was but little, I yielded to this 
 ardour, and, leaving the house secretly, towards nightfall, 
 we drove to Winchester. It would be of no interest to 
 set down all the inquiries and searchings of that pursuit. 
 It is sufficient to say that at Winchester I learned that 
 my lord had gone towards Alton, and, once upon that 
 highway, he was the easier to trace. This quest thus 
 brought us late at night into Farnham, where the coach 
 drew up at the " Bush." Here, being entered, I made 
 more inquiries, expecting to hear that my lord had lain 
 there and gone forward to London ; but, to my surprise, 
 such an one as I described was said by the footboy to be 
 there still, though his name was not known. 
 
 Back went I to my lady with this good news, and she 
 cried out, her eyes sparkling, "We shall save him, Sir 
 Hilary. Was I not right ? "
 
 276 THE REBEL 
 
 " You were right, cousin," said I, for I could not have 
 guessed what was to come. 
 
 She dropped her hands like any child, and suddenly 
 broke off, and seizing my arm in a terror pointed at the 
 courtyard, where there was a lean swarthy shadow, that 
 slunk away at her cry. 
 
 " 'Tis that man ! " she whispered, pressing against me, 
 as though she would hide. " He haunts me ever, like 
 some evil spirit, before some misfortune." 
 
 " What man ? " I asked. 
 
 " Fargus," she said. " Who hath twice attempted my 
 lord's life and my honour. He is a devil." 
 
 This intelligence was alarming, for it seemed as if 
 Cherwell was watched and threatened, whithersoever he 
 went ; and it might be that we were too late, and that 
 this villain had already brought the soldiery upon him. 
 There was, therefore, the more need for haste, and I 
 requested the servant to acquaint my lord with our 
 presence, and that we were urgent to see him. He 
 stared on my lady and me with some suspicion, but 
 presently declared that he would do as I desired j and we 
 were conducted into an empty room, and sate down to 
 wait. Now this chamber faced the courtyard, which 
 was surrounded upon the four sides with a balcony on the 
 first floor. The hour was nigh to midnight, but there 
 was yet some light in the sky, through a quarter-moon 
 and stars that hung there. We had stayed there for 
 some time, hearing of no one, when suddenly my lady 
 again cried out, and protested that she saw this Fargus 
 enter the inn from the courtyard. 
 
 " He will slay my lord," she said piteously. " He is 
 gone to assassinate my lord."
 
 THE REBEL 277 
 
 " Nay," said I, " but if that be so we are at least in 
 time to stop that," and I led the way out of the room 
 towards a staircase that ascended to the floor above. 
 
 This I did the more readily as I had conceived the 
 notion that the servant had not kept faith with us, and 
 that we might remain where we sate till doomsday for 
 him. As we reached the stair there was the noise of feet 
 passing up, which I had not looked for, being disposed to 
 think my lady's imagination had grown too quick. There 
 was some one moving on the floor above for certain ; and 
 up we followed as silently as we might. 
 
 The light in the gallery above was very faint, but it 
 was possible to make out a shambling figure that walked 
 and vanished into the darkness. 
 
 "We must follow," cried my lady in a flutter, and at 
 that we hastened our steps. 
 
 As we turned a corner there came to us now the 
 sound of voices, and one raised clear and strong, at which 
 my lady called out that it was my lord, her husband. 
 
 I tried the handle of a door near by, and it gave upon 
 a large panelled room towards the bowling-green. But 
 there was no one here, only the sound of voices nearer 
 and louder. Beyond was a second chamber, to which I 
 strode and pushed at the door. 
 
 " Oh, haste, haste ! " pleaded the Countess, who was 
 shaken at the sight of that man. 
 
 I twisted the handle and put my shoulder to the door, 
 which came open with a little report of sound, and the 
 next instant we were in the chamber beyond.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 A RELATION OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE INN AT 
 FARNHAM 
 
 MY lady Cherwell, moving swiftly in her perturbation, 
 had entered before me, and now stopped suddenly with a 
 little gasp of breathlessness, putting out a hand without 
 consciousness of her own act, as though she would have 
 stayed herself on me. And, indeed, what my eyes at 
 once lighted on served to explain for me this bewildered 
 pause. For the room, which was small and snug, was 
 brightly lit, and in one corner upon a low chair sate my 
 lord himself, while in the centre of the room stood she 
 that was the Lady Katharine Roodhouse. 
 
 She was dressed in a very caressing robe that flowed 
 to the ground softly, and her eyes were bright and full. 
 Indeed I have rarely seen as handsome a figure as she 
 made in that excitement which burned in her, and set 
 her mild eyes shining. But she made no sign on our 
 interruption, merely turning her head and regarding us 
 both, but more particularly my lady Cherwell, with a 
 look of surprise and interrogation. It was my lord who 
 first spoke. He rose from where he sate, and came 
 
 forward, not at all discomposed, but very quiet and cold. 
 
 278
 
 THE REBEL 279 
 
 " Madam," said he to his lady, " it is strange that you 
 have wandered so far. I left you at Dulsiebridge, and 
 these are late hours to be abroad on perilous roads." 
 
 " My lord," she answered, looking on him with some 
 emotion, and not at all at the woman, " I am here to 
 warn you. It is my fault that we are come ; I am with 
 your cousin, to tell you of a danger that awaits you." 
 
 She spoke with difficulty, but he asked her, not heeding 
 this 
 
 " What is this ? " 
 
 " It is some soldiers that have taken up their place at 
 Dulsiebridge," she said in the same voice, which sounded 
 in my ears like the low melody of a bell, rung slowly. 
 " They tarry for you ; they are set there against your 
 return ; and they will take you, doubtless, to the Tower 
 again." 
 
 My lord frowned, and then with a little laugh 
 " Why, it appears I had better not go home, then," he 
 said. 
 
 My lady said nothing, but my lord frowning again, 
 turned to me. u What do you here, cousin ? " he asked, 
 with some impatience in his voice. " You are not 
 prudent to suffer my lady to wander forth like this. 
 You should be better advised." 
 
 " The Earl of Cherwell," I answered sharply, for I 
 was nettled at his tone, "is scarce a judge of prudence, 
 as this scene should prove." 
 
 "Now, by God, Hilary," he cried fiercely, "you pass 
 beyond the proper bounds. I will have you know where 
 they are set for you," and he made an angry step 
 towards me. 
 
 But the Countess came between softly. " Sir Hilary
 
 2 8o THE REBEL 
 
 is here because I fetched him," she said quickly. " He 
 holds no responsibility. The blame is mine, and mine 
 what imprudence you attribute to this act. My lord, 
 you have the warning ; your safety is in peril. I have 
 said what was needful, and I will now be gone." 
 
 She turned away as she spoke, never yet casting a 
 glance at that other woman, who observed her in silence, 
 with even less discomposure than my lord. But he called 
 out 
 
 " Stay ! Whither do you go ! " 
 
 " I go to Heriot Deane," she answered. u Sir Hilary 
 will see me safe." 
 
 " You cannot ride to-night," he said in amazement. 
 "'Tis past midnight. You must lie here till the 
 morrow." 
 
 "Nay," she replied, flushing, and with a small out- 
 break of her voice. " Nay, nay, I must be gone." 
 
 My lord took a step yet closer to her and seized her 
 hand. " You must not go," he said gently. u You 
 have come hither on a kindly errand to serve me, and I 
 should be an ingrate to let you so depart. I will not 
 have you to go. You shall lie here, and it is I who will 
 be gone." 
 
 But at this she started, and of a sudden the thought of 
 Fargus coming to her mind, she cried in another voice, 
 no longer even and still, but broken with feeling " Oh, 
 my lord, you must not go forth. You are watched. 
 There are those that spy upon you to take your life. I 
 have seen that black shadow of the murderer. He is 
 within this house, and maybe he waits even now to 
 strike at your heart." 
 
 My lord laughed softly. " Pooh ! " says he. " I am
 
 THE REBEL 281 
 
 afraid of no Master Cut-throat. Have no fears for me. 
 There is none can slay me till my hour is come." 
 
 She dropped her voice to a frightened murmur, gazing 
 on him wildly. " What," she said, " what if that hour 
 be come, my lord ! Oh, what if it be come ! " She 
 turned, and for the first time let her glance fall on Lady 
 Katharine. " Come," she said, with a little sob, " ye 
 are plotting I know not what. My lord has designs of 
 a grave import. Madam, I beseech you to plead with 
 him not to carry them out. I ask not for your secrets, 
 my lord. No doubt there is a very solemn purpose in 
 this meeting. My lord is involved in affairs of State ; 
 it was ever so, as I have heard. He may not keep his 
 fingers from them ; they itch and tickle to be there, 
 meddling. But, madam, consider with what terrible 
 issues these are fraught. When he should be at home, 
 lying close, or abroad, flying from those wicked men, 
 here is he seated conferring on these high intrigues of 
 State, obnoxious to all his enemies, and with one cold 
 villain knocking on the door. Oh, madam, I beseech 
 you to save him from himself. Have pity upon him, 
 and despatch him into safety. What great undertakings 
 you conspire with him, and whatsoever matters you 
 would move let them rest and wait over until the time 
 is more auspicious. He hath but one life, madam," she 
 cried, falling on her knees, "he hath but the one life, 
 and that is precious to him, more precious than he 
 knows, but how precious you perchance may guess, since 
 I who entreat you thus have done so." 
 
 My lord stared down at her, as I observed, with a 
 look of perplexity upon his face. He watched her with 
 his quick eyes, saying no word, but he moistened his lips.
 
 282 THE REBEL 
 
 There was a little smile on the Lady Katharine's face, 
 and she held out her hand. " I beg ye will rise, madam," 
 she said in her soft lisp. " Ye speak so eloquently as to 
 persuade me. I have no influence in my lord's mind, 
 but I will secure his safety. That I promise you. He 
 shall be in no danger to conspire with me. Lard, 'tis 
 a very innocent sort of conspiracy. Yet, my lord," said 
 she, turning to him, " get ye gone from my sight. Or 
 rather, if there is one that waits you without I will be 
 gone from yours. There shall be no dead corse upon my 
 innocence, my lady, I promise you. You may carry away 
 your lord and hide him well. In some deep cellar, my 
 lord, you shall lie in safety until this bitterness be over- 
 past." 
 
 She laughed pleasantly, and, as I thought, with a little 
 malice ; but my lord stared at her without seeming to 
 see her, and thence back to his wife. The little wanton 
 laughter of the Lady Katharine did not touch him. 
 There was no littleness of vanity or of any feeling in 
 this man, for all his arrogant properties. He cared not 
 if he was so thrust out to ridicule. But he put out his 
 hand, and lifted my lady from the floor where she knelt. 
 The Lady Katharine stood face to face with her for one 
 moment ere she turned, and their eyes encountered, those 
 of the woman and those of the child, who was yet a 
 woman. They stood of a height, but my lady Cherwell 
 was slim and slender beside that fine fulness. The 
 features of her face spoke with the lines and tears of her 
 emotion, yet such a glory shone from it as made her 
 extreme beauty quick and startling. Then the Lady 
 Katharine turned, and went out slowly with a light 
 laugh.
 
 THE REBEL 283 
 
 My lord still held his wife's hand, and I think he knew 
 it not. He pressed it gently. "You have ridden far, 
 madam," he said softly. " You are tired, and must eat 
 and drink." 
 
 " Nay, I want nought," she answered, and withdrew 
 her hand gently. 
 
 " I thank you for your great kindness," he continued, 
 observing her who would not meet his gaze. " It is out 
 of a very tender pity that you have compassed this trouble 
 for me. I would not have you ignorant, madam, how 
 deep an obligation I am placed in, nor at what I prize 
 this service." 
 
 " Nay," she said again in a low voice. " Nay, I but 
 render to you a little of that which you have given me." 
 
 She wore a look of weariness upon her face, and she 
 seemed not to know what to do, or whither to go. All 
 that feeling she had expressed from her countenance was 
 fled, leaving her white and cold and grievously dispirited. 
 My lord was silent a moment. 
 
 " You must rest, madam," he said at last. " A room 
 shall be prepared for you ; and we will ride home 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " You must go abroad," she answered dully. " There 
 may be no home for you, my lord." 
 
 " By God ! " he cried, " I fear not. I will run no 
 longer. There shall none find me flying, but I shall be 
 brought to bay." 
 
 " My lord," she said sadly, " you talk rashly. There is 
 nothing can save you if you return to Dulsiebridge. Ye 
 are foolish." 
 
 " I am Anthony Heriot," said my lord with a laugh. 
 " We are used to die righting."
 
 284 THE REBEL 
 
 She turned to him on an impulse. " And it is I that 
 have brought you to this ! " she cried. " I foretold that 
 so it would be. You were doomed to ruin, my lord, 
 when you joined your lot with my unhappy fortunes. 
 But there is still time. Fly abroad and redeem your 
 destiny. There are those that will welcome you at the 
 Hague. Ye would be fortunate there. Nay, if it so 
 please you, take with you that which you will, my lord, 
 seeing I desire only that you be safe and happy." 
 
 "You speak warmly," said Cherwell. "I fear you 
 take my peril too hardly. Yet your solicitude moves me. 
 You are generous." 
 
 At that, and quite unexpectedly, she broke out " I 
 am not generous," she cried, " but only a very selfish 
 woman. See, my lord, I will confess to you. I know 
 not on how many tides of feeling a poor girl's heart may 
 travel. Yet it is true ; a little ago when I spoke, 'twas 
 for myself God pardon me ! that I pleaded. I begged 
 you to cease, my lord, from what purpose you had, and 
 from this enterprise you are engaged in. Nay, I know 
 nothing clearly, but this is certain, that I pleaded for 
 myself when I was praying for your safety. I would 
 have you safe, but how much of that heat which I showed 
 sprang from another and a baser feeling ! I cannot tell. 
 There are in any human heart, my lord, passions that we 
 know not. They shall be measured for us some day, and 
 we shall be requited for them. My spirit has sinned, but 
 I cannot repent of that sin. Nay," she cried, her face 
 flushing in her eagerness, " I do not ; I boast my sin. 
 There i? pride of the heart and there is vanity, and these 
 are mine ; but there is something else below them all I 
 know not how it should lie there, nor what it feeds on,
 
 THE REBEL 285 
 
 but it moves mightily and I am shaken with it. See 
 these poor hands that I hold out to you, I that am your 
 wife, they tremble and are afraid, but not with fear, my 
 lord. I have a fire in my bosom that burneth out all 
 fear. Behold, I know not what I say to you ; I am 
 carried by this so galloping a madness beyond that which 
 becomes me." 
 
 " Why, what is this ? " cried my lord, interrupting in 
 amazement and staring at her glowing face. 
 
 " Let me go on," she said swiftly, with a gesture of 
 her hand. " 'Tis the last, maybe, I shall speak with you, 
 my lord. I grudge not what you have earned. Surely, 
 you shall have the authority over your body, to do that 
 which you will. I was wrong, but consider how I was 
 misled by my undisciplined fancies. But now I give you 
 back your vow, and that lady hers. The promise that I 
 wrung from her with tears on the plea of your safety shall 
 not be holy, seeing that it was in part to spare my poor 
 heart. It is better, my lord, that you should go abroad, 
 but let there be no embargo on your liberty. Chuse 
 where you will, and what you list." 
 
 My lord, seeing his wife so moved, was himself struck 
 with agitation ; he came closer, touching her on the arm. 
 " What is't ye bid me do ? " he asked softly. 
 
 She shook her head. " I bid you nothing," she answered 
 more quietly. " I release you from such poor obligations 
 as were laid on you. You took them generously upon 
 yourself, my lord, and they shall not constrain you longer. 
 All save these bonds shall be dissolved, and, alack, they 
 may not. Yet," she went on with a new outburst, " the 
 fault lies at your door, my lord. I warned ye to refrain. 
 I showed with what ye were threatened. You were
 
 286 THE REBEL 
 
 proud in your powers and laughed, and in saving me 
 undertook your own ruin. As God lives, my lord, the 
 fault is yours. These blind words embarrass you, doubt- 
 less, but I speak as one that parts for ever and goes down 
 a long and distant road. Let there be nothing false now 
 between us, between you who have preserved my honour 
 from the persecutors, and me that surrender you to those 
 to whom ye are owed. Go forthright hence, and visit 
 her, whoe'er she be, and tell her that I have no claims. 
 I am just now where I was ungenerous before. I lay 
 down my rights that are your generous gift, and she who 
 will may take them up, my lord. I am a poor maid, but I 
 have been thy wife, a maid that is wife, and a wife still 
 that is maid. What I have been, that do I remain, and 
 what I am, that was I always. I will encumber you no 
 more. I step forth from your life, my lord. May it be 
 prosperous and happy ! " 
 
 Trembling with her agitation, yet keeping a pale still 
 face, and with a great dignity, she ceased, and for a 
 moment met my lord's eyes. His glance fell, and he 
 moved away towards the window. 
 
 " God pardon me, you suy truly. God pardon me ! " 
 he said, and was silent, looking out into the blackness. 
 What would have passed then I know not, for they 
 seemed to have forgot that I was there ; but at that 
 instant the door opened and the Lady Katharine returned, 
 holding something in her hand. 
 
 " I beg you will forgive me for this trespass," said she, 
 and her voice rang with some exultation. " I know not 
 indeed on what I trespass, but I have some good news, 
 my lord, which my lady should be glad to learn." 
 
 He turned to her inquiringly, as did we all.
 
 THE REBEL 287 
 
 " You may go to your home," says she mockingly, 
 "and take my lady Cherwell without scruple. There 
 is no danger to you. I have here a message." She 
 hesitated, glancing from the paper she held towards the 
 Earl. Then she put it in his hands. My lord let his 
 eyes fall on it. * 
 
 " Whence comes this ? " he asked presently. 
 
 "A messenger from his Highness," she answered 
 eagerly, and flashed him a look. " Madam," she said 
 to the Countess, " you need be in no fear. My lord is 
 safe, so he shall accept what conditions his Highness has 
 granted." 
 
 " They are granted unto you ? " said Cherwell slowly. 
 
 " 'Tis brought me this instant," she said, smiling. 
 
 " By the man, Fargus ? " I said, as a sudden guess. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. " I know no names. It is 
 my desire and that of all his friends to secure my lord." 
 
 My lord took the letter and tore it deliberately across, 
 throwing the fragments in the fire. 
 
 " I do believe," said he slowly, " that were I to make 
 terms with his Highness I should lie justly under the 
 condemnation of God and all good men." 
 
 " My lord, you are mad," cried Lady Katharine, and 
 would have snatched the pieces from the fire, but the 
 smoke broke into flame and consumed them. " You are 
 mad," she repeated, displaying some anxiety. " This was 
 your security. This was what my lady Cherwell asked 
 of me." 
 
 " You have destroyed your freedom ? " cried the 
 Countess pitifully. 
 
 He looked at her. " I have yet to learn that my life 
 is not my own to do what I desire with," he said. " I
 
 288 THE REBEL 
 
 will make no peace with the Duke. He is gone too far 
 and offended too deeply." 
 
 Lady Katharine shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Go," said my lord to his wife, " settle yourself to rest 
 here this night ; and we will ride back to-morrow." 
 
 She seemed as if she would open her mouth to protest, 
 but her eyes caught his, and she was silent. 
 
 " Cousin," said he to me, " I charge you to attend my 
 lady's comfort. See her so disposed that she may sleep in 
 peace, after what refreshment is needed. I have work to 
 do. Go, child," said he, " rest in quiet and assurance." 
 
 My lady passed from the room in silence, with a 
 wondering look upon her face, and I followed after 
 her. 
 
 It seems that when we were gone Lady Katharine 
 Roodhouse turned to him, and says she again 
 
 " This is madness. What means this madness ? I had 
 assured your safety. With great pains I purchased it 
 from his Highness. Yet there is time still, my lord. You 
 must fly abroad. Be not so foolish as to continue in this 
 war with the Duke who shall be King." 
 
 " No," said he quietly ; " I fear I may not satisfy you, 
 madam. I have suffered too grievously at his Highness's 
 hands." 
 
 " Oh ! " she cried, throwing up her arms in impatience, 
 "you have a devil. I believe he domineers you ; and I 
 waste my time upon you. What hinders you to go 
 abroad, and after to make your resignation ? " 
 
 He answered nothing, but said, "What noise is that ? " 
 for at that moment there arose the sound of wheels from 
 the courtyard, and many voices, with the clatter of 
 horses' hoofs.
 
 THE REBEL 289 
 
 " Oh, 'tis some one that has arrived late," she said, and 
 looked forth. 
 
 Then she pulled-to the curtains sharply and approached 
 my lord. "I would urge upon you to fly," she said earnestly, 
 laying a hand upon his arm. " Believe me that 'tis 
 necessary you should take this course." 
 
 " I will not fly," says he, shaking off her hand gently ; 
 " I have work that I must do." 
 
 He stood looking before him at the fire, and the Lady 
 Katharine watched him in silence for some minutes. 
 Then she shrugged her fine shoulders once again and 
 went swiftly forth.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 HOW MY LORD MET THE DUKE FACE TO FACE 
 
 MY lord sate before the fire for the space of one hour, 
 sunk in meditation, until the embers fell black, and he 
 awoke to find the chamber cold. Then he rose up and 
 went into the corridor. It was quite dark, save for the 
 swinging lanthorn, but as he stood there he was aware of 
 feet that drew up the stair and came slowly by. There 
 was one that passed him in the shadows quietly, and in 
 that low light my lord turned his head and watched, 
 and it seemed to him that the figure and the gait were 
 familiar. Next in a flash he knew it. 'Twas the Duke 
 himself. 
 
 My lord marvelled to see him there, not knowing that 
 his Highness had driven from Portsmouth, and was now 
 upon the way to Windsor. Yet he recalled the noises in 
 the courtyard that witnessed to the arrival of some person 
 of note, and pondered on so strange a coincidence. If so 
 be the Duke learned he was in the inn, it might indeed 
 be to his undoing, for he would be taken by the guard. 
 Cherwell stood thinking a little, and then he swiftly 
 pursued the figure along the gallery. Presently the Duke 
 reached a door, which he opened and disappeared within j 
 
 290
 
 THE REBEL 291 
 
 which set my lord considering again. He went back to 
 his room, and stared at the black ashes ; but presently 
 issued forth once more, and returning along the corridor, 
 moved the handle and opened the door through which 
 he had seen his Highness vanish. 
 
 He perceived at once that he had come into a large 
 bed-chamber, in which a light was burning, and the first 
 thing was that his eyes fell on the Duke, who stood in the 
 middle of the room alone. There was a frown upon the 
 Duke's face, but when he looked up and saw my lord 
 Cherwell, a quick change spread there, and from being 
 annoyed or impatient, as he had appeared, he showed a 
 startled countenance, in which his eyes moved restlessly. 
 It was my lord that spoke first 
 
 " I am not come to assassinate your Highness," said he 
 with a sneer, " but indeed I think that there is something 
 between us that we must settle. I have been held by 
 other matters of business from an interview with your 
 Highness ; but now the time has come, when all things 
 may be settled." 
 
 " What is it you ask, my lord ? " inquired the Duke, 
 in somewhat troubled tones. 
 
 " Why," says Cherwell, " here is an opportunity to 
 discuss with your Highness in your Highness's room 
 certain affairs to which we both are privy." 
 
 There was a change again in the Duke's face, as he 
 heard this, and he drew in a little breath, as if he had 
 been relieved. 
 
 "The time is ill considered and ill chosen, my lord," 
 said he sharply ; " I am weary and would rest." 
 
 " I would not stand betwixt your Highness and his 
 rest," said my lord, with a bow. " Nay, but perhaps
 
 292 THE REBEL 
 
 your Highness will sleep the sounder for what passes 
 between us." 
 
 The Duke cast on him a doubtful glance, as if won- 
 dering what these sinister words might portend. My 
 lord was very cool, and very swift in his speech. He 
 hesitated not. 
 
 " My lord, I will speak with you on a more convenient 
 season," said the Duke impatiently. " I beg you to be 
 gone." 
 
 For answer my lord turned the key in the lock. 
 " There is none that may now interrupt us," he said 
 simply. 
 
 " This is an outrage, my lord," said James angrily. 
 " I bid you stand aside and suffer me to pass. You forget 
 what is due between us." 
 
 "'Tis because I remember very well that I act so," 
 answered Cherwell. " You shall hear me, and what I 
 purpose, by your Highness's favour." 
 
 " Well ? " said the Duke, considering, I suppose, that 
 it were better to humour this madman. 
 
 " Sir," said my lord gravely, " there is a matter of some 
 account between us, you that shall be King of this realm 
 and me that shall be your liege. I think that in this 
 room there need be no pretences. Let your Highness 
 feign nothing, for I am here to speak and hear the truth, and 
 I will endure no feints. I speak as a man and not as one 
 that inhabits Courts, and nothing shall withstand my sin- 
 cerity. God knows with what purpose in your cruel 
 heart you have this long time persecuted an innocent lady. 
 You have a libidinous soul, your Highness, and I warn 
 you that it stinketh. What was it ye pestered ? Why, 
 a poor child that was betrayed of her friends and was
 
 THE REBEL 293 
 
 beggared of all but her virtue. Her did I defend, and in 
 defending have offended against his Majesty's brother and 
 your Grace's Highness. That would I do again and yet 
 again yea, though it were a thousand princes. What ye 
 have done, ye know well, better than I, even to the im- 
 prisonment of her who is my wife, driven to that refuge 
 by your persecutions." 
 
 " My lord," said the Duke coldly, " you are mistook. 
 I listen to your extravagant accusations as to those of one 
 insane. I know nothing of this imprisonment." 
 
 " You lie," cried my lord sharply, his face lowering. 
 " You are responsible for your creatures who now lie dead 
 and rotten, as you yourself perchance shall lie. I am here 
 not to mingle you flattery as courtiers do, but to undress 
 for you your naked soul and shame you for what you are 
 a whited sepulchre. Base and cruel is your race, and 
 base and cruel is your Highness. Think you that I for- 
 get how you have ruined this child's life and mine with 
 it ? You have deemed yourself supreme, and able to 
 purchase any woman's honour and any man's spirit. You 
 have learned you are wrong, and how wrong you shall 
 yet learn. For I am not done with your Highness." 
 
 His voice rose with his growing anger, but the Duke, 
 troubled by this exhibition, made an exclamation. 
 
 " My lord, I am weary of this wildness. Let me pass," 
 he said. 
 
 " Now, by Heaven, you shall not go from this room till 
 I chuse," he cried in a fury, " and whether ye go forth 
 feet foremost I shall yet determine." 
 
 " My lord," cried the Duke, his face blanching a little 
 at this terrible menace. 
 
 " Ye have put a mock on me, and would have fastened
 
 294 THE REBEL 
 
 shame there," he cried, beside himself. " Ye would have 
 stained a woman's soul with your pollution. For these 
 any man should die. I ask you, why should you not also, 
 James Stewart, die where you stand ? " 
 
 " Stand aside," cried the Duke, with a trembling lip, 
 but in a commanding voice. 
 
 My lord drew his sword, his eyes flashing. " We shall 
 see fair play together," he cried, with a harsh laugh. 
 
 "You may not draw on me, my lord," remonstrated 
 the Duke, in anger and alarm. " Madman, put that 
 down." 
 
 " I would draw on the devil, and that is you," said my' 
 lord, between his teeth, and he made a step towards the 
 Duke. His Highness stepped back with a cry of dismay, 
 and put his hand towards his scabbard ; but he got no 
 further than this act. 
 
 Suddenly there was a sound in the chamber as of a door 
 opening, and simultaneous with that of a frightened cry ; 
 and the next moment the door into the inner room was 
 thrust aside, and there stood my lady Cherwell on the 
 threshold, clad in her night-robe, her face drawn with 
 terror and agitation. 
 
 My lord let his point fall, staring at her in bewilder- 
 ment, and still reeking with the fumes of his anger. 
 
 " What do you here ? " he asked harshly, and his 
 thoughts began to ply about the situation after his swift 
 habit. My lady said nought, parting her lips, but being 
 too deeply moved to speak. 
 
 " This is your room, madam ! " said my lord slowly, as 
 the sense of what had happened came to him. 
 
 Still she made no sign, only standing there with a 
 piteous face.
 
 THE REBEL 295 
 
 " It seems that I have wronged your Highness," he 
 said, still slowly eyeing the woman, " and that you must 
 die upon another pretext." 
 
 " The lady is innocent," said the Duke quietly. 
 
 " Nay, you are a judge of innocence," said Cherwell, 
 with a sneer, passing his blade through his fingers with a 
 savage restless movement. 
 
 My lady ran forward and cast herself at his feet. " Oh, 
 my lord, my lord," she sobbed. " You are cruel, how 
 cruel you are ! " 
 
 ft What is it ? " he asked, beginning to wonder at this 
 puzzle. 
 
 u Think you so lightly of that honour which I have so 
 long defended, my lord, and you, my lord ? " she sobbed. 
 "Could you suppose that which has been so distressfully 
 preserved should be so wantonly cast away ? " 
 
 A comprehension was now dawning on Cherwell. 
 "Then is he here in this chamber against your will r" he 
 asked. 
 
 She bowed her head. " I know not whence his High- 
 ness came from," she murmured, hiding her face. 
 
 " Asperse not the lady," said the Duke, breaking in, 
 and speaking with some dignity. " She was not privy to 
 my coming here, and most unwilling." 
 
 " Ah ! " says Cherwell, looking on him afresh. " Ale- 
 thea, I crave your pardon for my thought, which was of 
 the moment's heat. 'Twas yonder then you fled for 
 refuge. But fear not. This Satyr shall perish." 
 
 She rose clinging to him. " No, no," she sobbed. 
 " Let us go hence. Let us depart. It would be to 
 destroy yourself." 
 
 He disengaged himself with a swift act and dashed his
 
 296 THE REBEL 
 
 scabbard to the floor. " Now, by God," he said again, 
 " he is doubly damned, and doubly shall he die," and he 
 threw out his rapier towards the Duke furiously. 
 
 But my lady, being now gotten upon her feet, stood for 
 an instant, wildly gazing, and then, stooping, she picked 
 up a dagger that had dropped in my lord's movement. 
 
 " Whether you be slain or whether you live, you die 
 equally, my lord," she cried ; " I am a sword among ye 
 to bring strife. This poor body is not worthy. Ye 
 shall not die for me," and ere either was aware she had 
 plunged the dagger which she held into her bosom. 
 
 The Duke uttered a cry of horror, but my lord sprang 
 forward, and snatched at her hand, seizing the wrist as 
 the point struck her delicate flesh. The force of that 
 blow which had been delivered in the pitch of her high 
 passion was great, yet this act arrested it. The shining 
 edge tore through the robes she wore and opened the 
 white breast, so that she fell down, the blood streaming 
 from her side, and lay heaped in a swound upon the 
 floor. 
 
 My lord dropped beside her body, and with his kerchief 
 staunched the blood, kissing her on the lips. Then he 
 left her there unconscious, and stood up, facing the 
 Duke. 
 
 " Guard ! " he said in a low voice, " guard ! or I will 
 slice your rottenness in pieces." 
 
 He made at the Duke so furiously that he was forced 
 to give way, and, reading death in my lord's eyes, drew 
 his sword and made play. His Highness was no coward 
 and no mean swordsman, yet this contest must have irked 
 his temper and his courage. The circumstances of the 
 fight, and that black passion of his adversary, moved him
 
 THE REBEL 297 
 
 to apprehension. He retired on the defence, and drew 
 to the wall, and it seemed likely that yet one more should 
 fall in that fatal struggle about one poor child, and he the 
 chiefest of all, and one whose ending should make such a 
 noise as would set the world in a consternation. 
 
 Cherwell pressed his Highness hard, ignoring much of 
 skill, but instant only to butcher the man he hated on 
 the spot. His lady lay dead, as he supposed, and he 
 himself was possessed with a thousand furies that cried 
 eloquently for vengeance. It is vain to ask what fears 
 and what feelings animated his Highness then. There 
 was none who could read at any time that cold secretive 
 face. Yet there can be no question that he fought with 
 a growing horror, and an increasing despair that he could 
 escape this mad enemy. Perhaps too he spared even 
 then a thought for the young virgin body that lay there 
 stretched in her blood, and repented of that which had 
 brought her to this evil. The fiend that was in Cherwell 
 leaped out in his onset, and the Duke went back against 
 the wall ; but in the nick of that perilous moment there 
 was a great noise at the door, and, cloven asunder, it fell 
 in pieces, admitting a gentleman with some soldiers, who, 
 taking in the scene, rushed upon my lord. 
 
 But he heard and saw nothing, until his sword was 
 wrested from his fingers and he was in the hands of 
 several captors. For a while he struggled blindly, and 
 then was still, looking towards the Duke. James was 
 holding his arm where my lord's point had taken him, 
 and breathing very hardly. 
 
 " Your Highness ! Your Highness ! " cried the 
 gentleman who had entered, in dismay and wonder, 
 gazing at the scene, and at the Countess's body.
 
 298 THE REBEL 
 
 The Duke came to himself. " Get him away," says 
 he. " He is mad ; get him away, Sir Ralph." 
 
 " He shall be secured, fear not, your Highness," said 
 the gentleman, to whom my lord was unknown. 
 
 " How came you hither ? " asked his Highness. 
 
 "We were awoke by an alarm," said the officer. 
 " 'Twas a lady spread a rumour of your danger, direct- 
 ing us hither." 
 
 The Duke was silent, and he moved towards the door. 
 " Come," he said ; " leave your prisoner and conduct me 
 hence." 
 
 " But, your Highness " began the astonished 
 
 man. 
 
 a Cross me not, cross me not," said the Duke im- 
 patiently. " Have you not my orders ? You are to leave 
 this gentleman to himself," and his eyes fell upon my 
 lady's body, "and have assistance fetched to this poor 
 lady," he added, as coolly as he might. 
 
 He went by, avoiding the sight of my lord's eyes 
 which followed him, and his escort tramped after him, 
 leaving my lord alone in the room with his wife. He 
 stooped and placed a hand upon her bosom, where the 
 heart still throbbed. Then he lifted her as she was in 
 his arms, and striding across the chamber laid her on the 
 bed, sitting down by her side.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHAT MY LORD SAID TO THE KING, AND WHAT 
 ENSUED 
 
 OF these things which had happened during that 
 remarkable night I knew nought, but slept undisturbed 
 till the morning. Then a rumour reached me of some- 
 thing strange, and I hastened to my lady's room, where 
 I was told my lord was. There I found him as he had 
 sate through the night by the bedside, watching his wife, 
 who lay sleeping like unto death. Yet she was not 
 greatly wounded with her act, but rather worn by the 
 long strain upon her life, and broken in spirit. She had 
 been prudently tended, and had taken a draught of physick 
 under which she slept. But my lord still kept watch. 
 
 He looked up when I entered, and gave me good- 
 morning. " The Duke is gone," said he. 
 
 " What Duke ? " I asked, for I had heard nothing, 
 and thought he wandered. 
 
 " His Highness is departed," he said, and rose. " Will 
 you do me a kindness, cousin ? " he asked. " Watch 
 here while I return.'* 
 
 He went forth, leaving me amazed by all this, ana 
 
 when he returned he sate down again quietly. 
 
 299
 
 300 THE REBEL 
 
 " There is none left of that transaction," he said. 
 " Man and woman all are fled. And so we close the 
 book," and he put out a hand and stroked my lady's 
 white arm very gently. But she stirred under the 
 clothes, and opened her eyes, which fell on him in a 
 little wonder, doubting and troubled. 
 
 " Sweetheart," says he, " ye are better. Ye have slept 
 well. I bid ye mend, for we have a journey to our 
 home." 
 
 There was some brightness sprang up out of her face 
 on that instant, and the bewildered look wavered and 
 broke ; but I turned away and came forth of the 
 room into the courtyard, where the sun was shining 
 joyously. 
 
 My lord and his wife remained three days at Farnham, 
 meeting no interruption and experiencing no interference. 
 What I have set forth concerning the events of that 
 night I gathered in that time from my lord himself partly, 
 but partly from Sir Ralph Morris subsequently. 'Twas 
 clear that the Duke would have been slain, and my lord 
 a ruined man, had it not been for the arrival of the soldiers; 
 and there is no doubt but 'twas Lady Katharine Rood- 
 house who raised the alarm in the hope to hinder so 
 terrible a calamity. How far she was privy to the Duke's 
 design I cannot guess, but being what she was, of an 
 indolent and voluptuous nature, with pretty affectations 
 and a tolerant good-humour, it is possible she may have 
 been acquainted with his purpose, nay, have inspired it. 
 'Tis not profitable after this long lapse of time to wonder 
 upon what can never be discovered. It is enough that 
 the Duke left Farnham without taking any steps against 
 Cherwell, and that this was the signal for the Lady
 
 THE REBEL 301 
 
 Katharine's departure also. No doubt that she was 
 frightened by what this intrigue had issued in. 
 
 But though there was yet silence on the Duke's part, 
 who cannot have desired to stir up this unpleasant scandal, 
 my lord was not safe. He was too deeply committed in 
 other ways, and he might not move abroad without fear 
 of arrest. He himself was sufficiently careless as ever, 
 but I prevailed upon him that I should ride to London 
 and there use such means and influence as I could in his 
 favour. He had somewhat of a change in his posture, 
 and was brought to see that he would be profited if the 
 King should pardon his extravagances. So that I rode 
 to Town the same day on which my lady, who was 
 better of her wound, accompanied my lord to Heriot 
 Deane. The soldiers were gone from the village, leaving 
 but one stranger, whom my lord judged to be keeping 
 him in charge. And no doubt this was so. Yet it pre- 
 vailed nothing upon CherwelPs new temper. My lady 
 mended quickly, and the month was May, with springing 
 of flowers and singing of birds in the woods. 
 
 'Twas early in June, the Duke having as yet made no 
 sign, that my lord resolved, mainly upon consideration of 
 his wife, to make an attempt at pacification not with 
 his Highness, whom he vowed always he would, in his 
 rough words, "spew out of his mouth," but with his 
 Majesty, for whom he had a fondness. Thus he would 
 join me in London and add to mine his efforts for a 
 conciliation. I had found his enemies were many and 
 sore, for he was never used to spare his words or his 
 opinions on them. Moreover there were people who 
 considered him a firebrand, and a dangerous man, and 
 would be glad to see him disposed of, for they said they
 
 302 THE REBEL 
 
 could be sure of nothing whilst he intermeddled. But 
 now my lord would advocate his own cause, and that 
 before the King, which brought him to Town in very 
 high spirits. 
 
 My lady Cherwell had so far contested his resolution, 
 pleading always that they should go to Holland or else- 
 where and live immune. Yet when she saw him deter- 
 mined to stake all upon the one hazard, she said no more, 
 only praying him that he would diligently guard his safety. 
 
 " I go," said he, " to set that right which is wrong and 
 must be straightened." 
 
 " Ye go freely .upon this journey and without dis- 
 couragement ? " she asked. 
 
 " I am discouraged by this absence," he replied, smiling, 
 " but I have a great reward in promise for thee and thine, 
 which is mine also." 
 
 She turned, as I fancy, of a feint redness, speaking in 
 those soft and trembling tones. 
 
 " God deliver thee rightly, my lord, as ye have delivered 
 me." 
 
 "And as thou shalt be delivered," says he quickly, 
 referring to that which was now known to him. 
 
 These were the last words between them ere he set 
 forth, leaving her among the formal hedges of the Italian 
 garden. 
 
 He reached Town on the sixth of June, and took up 
 his quarters with me at the " Boar " tavern, where I was 
 wont to lie. Unhappily I had little of advantage to 
 report to him, but he was quite content, nodding his head, 
 and saying with a laugh that he would set all right, and 
 that if Charles should not consent he would yet lead a 
 more dangerous rebellion than that of Taunton. But he
 
 THE REBEL 
 
 303 
 
 lay close till the following day, and saw none, inscribing 
 a letter to my lady Cherwell, which was as follows 
 
 " My very deare Harte, 
 
 " / /aye last night with my cozen in this house, 
 hearing what he did and how he has contrived his time. 
 For which I am greatly indebted to him, and I do expect that 
 what we shall both accomplish will be towards my deliverance 
 and your ease. I shall endeavour to see the King to-day, 
 which done, I will send you word. There is a great heat in 
 this Town which is rained from bright and shining skies every 
 day, so that ladies are determined (so they say) to go about as 
 naked as they may dare. Ravel (the rogue) being fool 
 enough to celebrate his visiting of London by a drunken orgy, 
 was drawn last night into a noisy brawl, and so, falling 
 among some desperate characters, was carried, with empty 
 pockets, and fouled with dirt, into the fields, where he slept 
 till morning. The villain returned to-day very sheeplike and 
 humble, and groaning with aches in all his body. It is said 
 that my lady Bellamy is dismissed the Court, having pushed 
 herself too far, and that Sir John Richardson had some hand 
 in this. She was handsome enough when I remember her, 
 but of an ugly spirit. The King's health is better, for the 
 which I am glad for many reasons. I would desire to walk 
 in those meadows about the river in your company this day, 
 and to heare once again the quire of singing birds in the elms, 
 a great assemblage of musick. These streets have no passion 
 in them, but only a mocking echo and an ugly semblance ; and 
 the taynte and distortion of such graces as become and adorn 
 your loveliness. Adieu, my deare lady. Ye have that which 
 I desire in you, and what you desire I shall accomplish shortly. 
 "Your affectionate and faithful husband, 
 
 w CHERWELL."
 
 304 THE REBEL 
 
 Through the offices of Lord Hammond, who was 
 friendly to him, Lord Cherwell put his request before the 
 King, who appointed the next evening to see him in his 
 private rooms in Whitehall, saying to Hammond that he 
 dared not be under the reproach of flying an enemy. 
 This Hammond carried to Cherwell, who laughed a little 
 bitterly and said 
 
 " Maybe it would be wiser in them to catch me here, 
 lest I conceal some weapon about me." 
 
 Yet the King, although he gave this meeting, received 
 my lord with great coldness and satire. 
 
 " I know not what brings you hither, my lord," he 
 said, "unless it be to gloat upon the ruin you have 
 wrought." 
 
 " Your Majesty " said Cherwell in surprise. 
 
 " Nay, I knew not that I was still so privileged as to 
 hold that title," continued the King. " I should thank 
 you for that mercy." 
 
 My lord flushed. " I am here to beg a favour of your 
 Majesty," he said. 
 
 The King raised his eyebrows. " Ah ! " he said, " I 
 am clearly bigger than I thought. I shall soon pinch 
 myself to see if I am wholly come together ; my lord 
 Cherwell, you reassure me." 
 
 My lord answered nothing, but waited, and presently 
 the King said 
 
 " What is this favour which I still seem to have the 
 privilege of rendering to a rebel against me ? " 
 
 " Sire," said my lord, " I desire and crave of you 
 pardon, and to live peaceably." 
 
 " It would be excellent news if you should live peace- 
 ably," said the King, " though news too good to carry
 
 THE REBEL 305 
 
 weight. But pardon I know not. It is not of me that 
 you should ask pardon, but go on your knees to the law. 
 Faith, my lord, they set the King a little lower than the 
 law in these days." 
 
 " Sire," said Cherwell, " 'tis unprofitable to dig up 
 what is buried lest it stink too rankly. Yet there are 
 offences against me which should weigh in your Majesty's 
 eyes against what errors and follies I have committed." 
 
 The King was silent for a moment. "I know not 
 what you mean in all this, my lord," he said sharply ; 
 " but I have a notion that you have exceeded the mistakes 
 that may be forgiven mortal men. How shall justice be 
 dealt to one and not to another ? These poor men that 
 you have misled are gone to death in one fashion or 
 another, and you must ask to live on and be happy. I 
 marvel at your assurance, my lord, as at your shame- 
 lessness." 
 
 " I misled none," cried Cherwell quickly, " and what 
 chances of death were before others were before me, 
 Sire." 
 
 " And what of judgment r " asked the King, with a 
 sardonic smile. 
 
 " Your Majesty shall judge me," says my lord, bowing, 
 and with dignity. " It is for that I am here." 
 
 " I am no Court of Justice," said Charles shortly ; " I 
 have other work for myself than to trouble with rebels." 
 
 " They call you, Sire," said my lord firmly, " the 
 source of all justice and the fount of all honour." 
 
 "On the contrary," said the King, dryly. "That 
 fancy went out with my father. I am dependent upon 
 my subjects both for justice and for honour." 
 
 " I ask nothing but justice," says my lord, " but that
 
 3 o6 THE REBEL 
 
 justice which will weigh all things and take account of 
 what has lain secret and may be proffered to no Courts." 
 
 The King looked at him. " What influence has 
 turned you to this course ? " he asked in astonishment. 
 " Is't for love of me, my lord ? " 
 
 " Nay," said my lord boldly, " but yet it is for love." 
 
 The King rapped his knuckles impatiently on the arm 
 of his chair. " Must ye learn, my lord, that 'tis not so 
 difficult for one man to be taken in this country, even 
 though he should be yourself ? Why d'ye suppose you 
 are at large, and unsecured, so that it is become a scandal 
 in the Town ? Think you the whole world is afraid of 
 you ? You have reached the limits of my mercy. My 
 prerogative can go no further. I will hold justice back 
 no longer. You have had your chance ; nay, you have 
 it still. The road lies open to you to Dover. But I tell 
 you plain, my lord, that I can hold the hounds in leash 
 no longer ; no, and I desire not to do so, my lord." 
 
 My lord lifted his head higher and confronted his 
 Majesty with spirit and animation. 
 
 " Then your Majesty has judged me," he said swiftly. 
 " I am condemned of you." 
 
 The King made a gesture of impatience. " It were 
 best you should go to your friends at the Hague," he said 
 shortly. 
 
 " Listen, Sire," said Cherwell firmly. " It may be 
 that you do not understand or cannot credit what are my 
 wrongs. I will rehearse them for you. I had the honour 
 to defend a poor child's innocence from those who were 
 assailing it in treachery and by guile. Yet for this simple 
 act I am involved in hostilities with princes, who should 
 rather be protecting than persecuting, and to whom inno-
 
 THE REBEL 307 
 
 cence and helplessness should alike make appeal. Nay, 
 more this maid became my wife wife to one derived of 
 an honourable stock that served your Majesty's fathers, 
 and shed blood in their behalf. Would you not suppose, 
 Sire, that such a conspiracy against honour was not to be 
 suffered, but that those who cruelly pursued the maiden 
 should at least refrain when she had made choice ? But 
 it was not so, and my name was to be stained and my 
 honour assoiled with her virgin heart, to glut this satyr of 
 his passion. Your Majesty, if I stand condemned in my 
 rashness and my folly, I stand also deeply wronged by his 
 Highness. My offences are against your Majesty ; my 
 injuries are to him. I will desire and I will suffer no 
 man's pity." 
 
 "My lord, you speak very glibly," said the King, "but 
 indeed I desire no history of your wrongs. These annals 
 are tedious. I have nought to do with my brother, and 
 you admit that you have offended against me. I cannot 
 intervene longer, but you shall have three days for your 
 escape." 
 
 My lord now grew very angry, as was his wont, and 
 his blood mounted in his head, and his eyes brightened. 
 " Sire," he answered, " I have suffered greatly from your 
 House, and I will have recompense. I will not go abroad 
 at your Majesty's invitation. I will stay, rather, and 
 demand justice." 
 
 "That ye shall have," says the King in a dry voice. 
 
 "Sire," said my lord, "you talk of justice, yet consider 
 what it is that a king should exercise towards his subjects. 
 You are placed here by a high decree of God, which 
 some think inalienable. But should the Almighty revoke 
 that fiat, what right or what order have ye ? You are
 
 308 THE REBEL 
 
 but a blind instrument of His will, and must subject 
 yourself thereto. If ye fail of that sovereign duty, ye 
 abdicate from your great office, and lay by in that act 
 your prerogative. You have the power of life and death, 
 and to be an authority over all the commonweal. Them 
 that lightly consider this office God shall not pardon or 
 let go unrebuked. Your Majesty's father betrayed his 
 obligations to his people, and to what cost to himself and 
 the happiness of this realm ! 'Twas drenched in blood, 
 which flowed so thickly as to make a stream of guilt to be 
 an example to all time. Sire, when the Court of Justice 
 is shut in the face of the people they know not where 
 they go, but run about blindly, each taking upon himself 
 the burthen of avenger and exacting retribution. I am a 
 leal subject of your Majesty's, and 'tis not against your 
 Majesty that I have raised arms. Nay, but against one 
 other who has evilly wronged me and those I love. Now 
 stand I here before you, Sire, with this one plea and cry 
 for justice ; and as I shall be judged, so also let him that 
 is my enemy and my troubler be judged." 
 
 The King moved in his chair and put his hand above 
 his eyes, as though to shadow them from the light. 
 
 " You ask me to believe that you are a loyal subject, 
 my lord," he said. " Yet I find it hard to catch such a 
 meaning out of these wild words. You are gone beyond 
 yourself. But if this is, indeed, yourself that speaks, it is 
 high time that we were done with the Earl of Cherwell." 
 
 My lord's eyes sparkled. " It is right," said he, " it is 
 very meet and right that I should demand justice of you, 
 and I ask you to judge between me and James Stewart." 
 
 " My lord ! " cried the King in anger, rising from his 
 chair.
 
 THE REBEL 309 
 
 " You shall hear me, Sire," he cried, swoln with his 
 passion. " I have put my injuries before you, and what 
 do I receive ? Why, there is a tale of what I have 
 committed through these injuries and by hopes to cure 
 them. There is no response made me on what I allege. 
 You will not front the charges. This Duke will drag 
 you down. What, think you, is spoken of him in the 
 country, where he is abominated as one that will betray 
 his people ? Sire, they have an affection for you, these 
 wayward people, but they hold his Highness in abhorrence, 
 as I do, and they will exact of him, when he reigns in 
 your Majesty's place, that which he has owed them. 
 They are a mild people, but they suffer sadly, keeping a 
 remembrance of what they and their fathers have endured. 
 So shall your Majesty discover, and that it is wiser to be 
 loved than to be feared, and to be feared than to be hated. 
 There is that in your House, Sire," cried my lord, carried 
 beyond himself, " which shall bring it to the earth. You 
 betray your friends. There is none living among men 
 who hath not tasted of that treachery, and none who 
 does not regret that he had placed his trust in princes." 
 
 " My lord," cried the King in a fury, " you have 
 spoken falsity and treason. Go." 
 
 *' I go," said he, " yet I will break my sword before 
 you. You shall do what you will," and he snapped the 
 blade across his knee and threw the pieces to the floor, 
 turning to go without a reverence. 
 
 There was one about the Court from whom I heard 
 many years later some account of these things. He it was 
 that admitted my lord and remained in attendance within 
 a closet near by. When my lord came forth, he looked 
 neither to right nor to left, but marched swiftly towards 
 the outer doors, and this other, astounded by what he had
 
 310 THE REBEL 
 
 heard, stood watching him. The King himself came 
 next, as he told me, seeming to be deeply moved against 
 his custom. He leaned on the courtier's arm, and looked 
 after my lord. 
 
 " Nothing will tame that fellow," he said musingly. 
 "There is no chance to break him. Yet it is needful 
 that he have a lesson. He goes beyond all wildness," 
 and then he added with a sigh, " Poor Tony ! " 
 
 But my lord strode from Whitehall, until he was come 
 to Charing Cross, where he entered in the " Boar," and 
 asked for me. There I heard so much of this interview 
 as he was able to render me in his agitation. 
 
 "I will not fly ; I will stay," said he over and over 
 again. " Let them do their worst." 
 
 So restless was he that when he had sate down to write 
 an epistle to my lady he stood up a dozen times; and 
 when he threw down the paper, he had got no further 
 than a dozen sentences. He went out of the door into 
 the street, and I followed, endeavouring to bring him to 
 reason, and arguing upon what the King had said. I 
 said that his Majesty wished him well, as all this proved, 
 and that it were more prudent to yield to the storm for 
 the time. But he repeated only that he was denied 
 justice, and that the Duke was but one man like himself, 
 whom he would spit upon his sword for a coward. And 
 in this grievous state he had come, without perceiving it, 
 into the lower parts of the Town. 
 
 The hour was very late, for he had been long with 
 the King. Suddenly he came to a pause, considering me. 
 
 " What do you here, Hilary ? " said he. " Go you to 
 your bed. This is no place for you. You know not what 
 I plot." 
 
 I remonstrated with him, urging him to come with me,
 
 THE REBEL 311 
 
 and protesting against so great a madness that would drive 
 him maybe into an act of wickedness. But he flung me 
 off and strode away, and I watched him pass down a 
 narrow alley, where the light was faint. But in that 
 instant of watching I beheld some figure that drew out of 
 the blackness and came near him. Ere I was aware, this 
 new shadow sprang forward, and there was an exclamation ; 
 and suddenly the scene dissolved into one that fled down 
 the ill-lighted street, and one that lay upon the stones. 
 Yet in that moment I had recognized the shadow that 
 fled for that which I had seen in the courtyard of the 
 " Bush " at Farnham. 
 
 I ran to my lord, and bent over him. 
 
 "Who is this?" he asked. "Is it thou, Hilary? I 
 
 had thought " and then he murmured. " The third 
 
 time," and after that, <c What I have done I have done," 
 and with a little heaving of his breast was quiet. 
 
 The letter which my lord had begun I took to my lady 
 at Heriot Deane, but what it contained I never knew, for 
 I sealed it without reading. The villain Fargus was 
 hanged on the succeeding twentieth of July, keeping to 
 the end a close silence as to what he knew. So died 
 Anthony, the fourth Earl of Cherwell, in the thirty-first 
 year of his age, on the ninth of June 1 684. Anthony, 
 the fifth Earl, who was the last of that House, was born 
 in January 1685, at Heriot Deane, and was cut off 
 untimely at the age of thirteen, in the year of his mother's 
 death, Alethea, Countess of Cherwell. 
 
 THE END
 
 RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, 
 LONDON & BUNGAY.
 
 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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