THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Commodore Byron McCandless King Noanett Other Books by F. J. Stimson Guerndale The Sentimental Calendar The Residuary Legatee Pirate Gold In the Three Zones First Harvests The Crime of Henry Vane Labor in its Relations to Law American Statute Law Handbook of the Labor Law of the United States Stimson' s Law Glossary King Noanett A Story of Old Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay By F. J. Stimson (J. S. of Dale) "For -when God gives to as the clearest sight He does not touch our eyes with Love, but Sorrow" J. B. O'REILLY New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1899 Copyright, 1896, By Frederic Jesup Stimson. All rigbtt reserved The Norwood Prets 5. Cashing & Co. Berwick 6f Smith Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Ku To the Memory of John Boyle O'Reilly This Boek rwy Preface THE story of Bampfylde Carew, one of the earliest settlers on the upper Charles, is herein for the first time printed. Though first set down (as appears by the context) for the edification of the writer's children, Mr. Carew's views upon some subjects, notably Cromwell and the later Puritans, would have rendered their publication inopportune in New England at a time much before the present. But if he sets forth these matters in a somewhat novel light, he is severer still upon certain phases of early life in Virginia. He speaks without fear or favour, and I have printed it as written, altering only the spelling; and although occasionally he uses words only suited to the robuster stomachs of his time, I have let them stand : partly that the sweet and noble temper of his story atones for them, partly that our own stomachs are a trifle over queasy (as to words alone). To use his own, the fight- ing companies of the Old Dominion were but a "ribald crew"; and the events, even the incidents, which he narrates I have found curiously verified in memoirs nearly contemporary, notably the diaries of his acquaintance, Colonel Byrd of Westover. I have been at some pains x Preface to identify the military uprising in Virginia in which he and his hero, Miles Courtenay, took part ; it preceded by a few years Bacon's rebellion, though Ingram is an historical character. It was probably one of the numer- ous border forays which took place in those times. On the other hand, his account of "Springfield parish" (now Dover) I find exactly verified in the early records of Medfield, Dedham, and the Indian missions in the valley of the Charles. F. J. STIMSON. BOSTON, November, 1895. Contents Page I. In which I Begin Life at Slocombslade . . 1 II. In which I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn . . 7 III. In which I Find Myself 12 IV. In which is the Promise of my Life . . . 16 V. In which I Find a Cross . . . .22 VI. In which I Witness Penruddock's Rising . . 29 VII. In which I Visit Bridgewater Gaol . . 37 VIII. In which I Meet Miles Courtenay and Jennifer . 41 IX. In which Miles and I Plot Treason ... 49 X. In which I Witness a Wife-auction ... 59 XL In which I Grow Tobacco and Forget my Love . 69 XII. In which I Have a Talk with Miles ... 80 XIII. In which We Reason with Squire Smothergal . 84 XIV. In which We Join the Army of Virginia . . 89 XV. In which We Adopt Jennifer . . , . 95 XVI. In which We Secede from the Commonwealth . 103 XVII. In which We Flee and Feast Right Merrily . 108 xii Contents Page XVJII. In which, for Courtenay, I am a Brute . . 115 XIX. In which Miles Prays the Blessed Virgin . 1 24 XX. In which We Fight with the Susquehannocks against the Puritans . . . 1 27 XXI. In which We Come not Well to Boston . ' 131 XXII. In which I am Bound 'Prentice to a Cord- wainer . . . . . .136 XXIII. In which I Make a Pair of Lady's Shoes . 141 XXIV. In which My Shoes do Fit too Well .. . 147 XXV. In which I Go to the Barbadoes . . .155 XXVI. In which Miles Singeth his Song . . .165 XXVII. In which We Make Acquaintance with the Yeomen of Contentment . . .170 XXVIII. In which We Give a Dinner with the Men of Dedham 180 XXIX. In which We Meet the Apostle Eliot . .185 XXX. In which I Meet King Noanett . . .198 XXXI. In which We Build our Home . . .208 XXXII. In which We Become Versed in Indian Lore . 221 XXXIII. In which Miles Becometh a Mighty Hunter before the Lord . . . . .229 XXXIV. In which We See a Woman Whipt . .242 Contents xiii Page XXXV. In which King Noanett doth Fight with Water 252 XXXVI. In which Miles Hath a Vision . . .265 XXXVII. In which We Find why Miles Walked Lonely in the Wood ..... 276 XXXVIII. In which We do Battle at Meadneld . .282 XXXIX. In which Jennifer doth Find Miles' s Love . 292 XL. In which I Find Her . . . .303 XLI. In which my Lady Keeps her Promise . 3 1 1 XLII. In which I Learn to Know Miles Courtenay . 315 XLIII. Which Passeth the Love of Woman . 3 * 7 XLIV. In which is Earthly Ending . . .324 King Noanett In which 1 Begin Life at Slocombslade " WHAT last on earth you saw ? " thus spake The angel to me when I died. "I saw Alone, in a dark wood, at eve, her face. Her face, turned half away, and from it came A light that was not of the sea nor sky." " But after ? " "After that was nothing. But The brown leaves of the mountain fell around, Blown o' the last gale of summer ; and the storm Still was above ; only, from the pale West (Where since an hour the hidden sun had set) Came one cold level ray and touched her face, Her face, that was beside me, and her eyes." "But after that?" "Was nothing.'* "Forty years !" " Forty years ? I know not. But her face, As it looked out, so pure, to th' distant sea (We were together, she and I, alone) Her face, white in the night, beside me there, (She knew it not) was burned into my heart." B I Noanett " But forty years that followed ? " " What know I ? They may have been ; they are not ; I have told The last on earth I saw, as thou hast said." COURTENAY'S verses begin the story well enough. And the first light that I saw on the earth, as I remember, was the bright light of a September morning on the moors. And that morning and that evening have made my day of life. And whereas in my earlier days it was the evening that I remembered most often and most bitterly, now that I am in the eve of life myself, the thought of that bright morning lieth in my heart like a wine to make death gentle. Marriage and giving in marriage are not in heaven, we are told : but we are not told, there is no love; and that is all that I have found, within this world,eternal ; we but pretend to other things. I have heard, too, all that is said by priest or puritan. I have often thought also how strange our meet- ing was in what troubled soil, and in what lull of great world-tempests my love was sown ; and blos- somed there so tenderly, so hardily, like our first March meadow-flowers, that are the frailest ever. For it was that lull in the shock of steel coat and leather jerkin, joy and thought, Honour and Con- science, Charles and Cromwell, that made our two grandfathers thoughtless of our trifling hearts, and gave my own, just born, its chance of breath. For my grandfather, either that he was old or thought the crop uncertain, had turned squire and Life at Slocombslade let both his farms that year; and I had no labour, but was left to roam like a gentleman's son, only that I had neither tutors nor horses. So fair an August had I never known ; the warm rich sky lay over all the West of England, softly blue, above the scarlet heather and the golden gorse, and the sweet soft green where on the moors the new grass grew : the glory of those days stayed with me many sober years, and tinged their blankness faintly. The moors were mine, and the openness, and the sweet air of life. And from the Northern seacliffs to the ivy-clad valley of the Holne Chase, aye, West, to wilder Dartmoor, I was king. But most I liked, of all dominions, that central nest of moor and moss where Barle and the Lyn-stream rise, and the fields have no hedge, nor the heather any paths, save what the wild moor-ponies make ; even sheep roam not there, for the farmers dare not trust them in that wilderness. This year, though, they had been safe enough : for, all that season, not one armed man did I see, they being elsewhere engaged. And that the sheep had been there in older, gentler times, the heart of my domain was evidence. For, in a gentle fold of the valley, on the topmost moor, where the first soft crease of green showed in the stern purple high- lands, only just hidden, yet safe beyond all seeking (as a lady's love-letter in her bosom), lay my home my true home. It was an old abandoned sheep- fold (held, we called it) built of stone ; a square rod only, in extent, but yet like a little fortalice : for at one corner of the thick stone wall, and that the low- ermost, rose a round stone tower, so that it made a 4 King Noanett sort of sentry-post and cover at the top ; and below (which had been the shepherd's room) a room for me. And this was my true home ; here my being was ; my seeming (at mealtimes, and of nights, when I could not get away) was at my grandfather's. In the stone enclosure I kept a wild moor-pony, that I had caught and bridled with a rope ; no longer wild now, for he neighed to me at the dawn, and made sleepy, comfortable noises, when I sang to him in the evening. No man (so far as I knew) came to this place. It was long since sheep had been pastured there ; I fancied that its owner was dead, and it forgotten by his heirs. So I called it mine. And on the first of those forty days that I remember, it was early of a Monday morn that I started from my grandfather's ; the sun-rise sunlight lay freshly on the moors, as I started Northward, skirting the dangerous bogs for haste to get there and see my pony : for my grand- father had had a sermon-fit the day before, and kept me indoors all the Sunday. On such occasions poor Noll, the pony, had to find new grass as best he might in the courtyard, and beware lest he kick over the water-trough. All my life I have believed there was enchant- ment in the air that day. I was conscious of it before I came to my sheep tower ; and the dread Mole's Chamber, lying in the sink of the down upon my left, had veiled its evil surface in a rosy cloud. Noll whinnied at seeing me, though his water-trough was full. I brought him grass, and he seemed not hungry ; and then I sat on the little slope of grass that lay sunward, above the brook, leaning on the Life at Slocombslade last dense wall of heather, now full of bloom and fragrant. And the water made soft murmurs, and I * dreamed. Then became I conscious of the spell. There was a presence there ; I felt that I was not alone. So strong grew this upon me that I fancied I heard a breathing, and it was not Noll's nor mine. I lay just beneath the little corner tower, and it seemed to come from there. At last I could resist no longer, and I went back to the fold, and entered it, and went to the little wall-stairway of projecting stones (Noll pressing after me and snuffing at my elbow) and climbed this ; and entered the little tower cell. Two long slits were in the wall of this for shooting culverins ; and now through one of them shot a shaft of sunlight, athwart the stone chamber ; and beyond this, lying on a bed of heather I had made, her lips just parted, softly breathing, lay a slender maid asleep. 1 went back to my hill-slope, and thought about it. For I never had seen a young lady before, and they were not in my thoughts. Old women were plenty round about us ; and there were a few farmers' daughters in the neigh- bourhood, but not many ; for our land had been but a poor place for the marrying and giving in marriage, those dozen years before, harried first by Prince Rupert, for his Majesty, and then by my Lord Fairfax, for the Protector. But this, I had seen (though I had hardly seen how old she was), was a young lady. How had she got lost upon the moors ? or rather (for the losing was no great matter to make), how 6 King Noanett had she gone upon the moor to lose herself? And, if lost, how came it she was gently sleeping, fearing not loneliness in my old stone tower ? And this most of all, and last, how was I to wake her, and set her back again upon her way ? Then it occurred to me that, barring my pony neighed, which he would not, unless hungry, the next sweetest sound was singing. And either sound would frighten her less than by direct address. So I began to sing; at first, timijily (for I was a bit frightened myself), then louder, and louder yet old country songs, we all knew, then and after a bit, I fancied, she woke, and put her head out of window. Then, she saw me (though I kept my head turned away), and then she came down the stairway, and out the sheepfold, and along the grassy path behind me. I felt her approach ; and when she was nigh, I arose, and turned me to her, and bowed low. And when I slowly straightened up from this bow, my eyes met hers. And here I saw her; and her eyes were like the Mother Mary's eyes in heaven. II In which I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn I HAVE great pity for all such as have gone through this world untouched by love ; the true, I mean, little light, little selfish, only unending in eternity and bringing a soul unto men on earth. For, as I muse on it now, it seemeth a rare experience, even among you Puritans ; rarer still, in that old time of my youth when, to the one world, all that was not pleasure was food for jest, and, to the other, all that was not sanctimonious was sin. There was one Parson Herrick, a poet, not far from us ; he wrote most sweetly of maids and blossoms, and what he called love ; yet never wrote he a line of love as I have known it. And as for the Puritans then, they had no heart for it, nor charity ; but only head, and faith in sour dogmas and getting on in this world. Truly, as I believe, the most of men are not blest to have known my love, which by the grace of God hath so lighted my life that absence aye, and death, without doubt could not darken it. Even Shakspere seemeth to me hardly to divine it ; his loves are but a courtier's, or at best a shepherd's, tending to pos- session, and ending then. Whereas, with mine, the knowing her was all; the being in the world ; and if so be my heart met understanding and response, 8 King Noanett it could die no more, and the purpose of the world was full. So is it that after three score years, my dim eyes still see her brightly. Slender she was, yet lithe and strong like the straight birch-tree ; her face I may not so well describe to you ; for I hardly ever saw her face, but only her eyes ; nor even saw I her eyes to describe them well, but only herself in them. I think they had the colour of the midmost of a mighty wave at sea ; I only know that they were brave, yet marvellous gentle ; and in them they- had, with pity and sweet honour, the meaning of the world. For when I looked in them, even on the second time that morning, I felt that all the good in me was known: so the evil could no longer be. She was not lost (it seemed, she knew the moor as well as I) ; only had walked too far since a cool dawn, and now was resting from the drowsy heat of the August mid-morn, fearing not the moor, but liking the remoteness of it. By Combe Park had she come, and from the Abbey ; a longish way, so that (perhaps but for the putting of me at greater ease) she was willing to ask if there might not be a shorter, else a leveller way home. For my tower was over by the Sadler's stone, snugged in 'twixt Exehead and mighty Chapman Barrows, thrice the height of these Massachusetts hills we have here ; and she had had to cross, by down and up, two of our deepest combes, in coming. Then I told her, surely there was a shorter way, so that she might be home even by noonday ; but that the byre with its little watch-tower was not mine, only that I and my I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn pony had discovered it just as she had ; and that I would go away, if she wished to sleep. And at this she smiled, and said No, she was done with sleeping, only she liked the quiet there, coming from a house full of armed men. And by her manner, you would have thought she was a queen grown, and I (as I was) but a child. Then (forgetting I had said the watch-tower was not mine) I wanted to tell her, she might come there as often as she would ; but my tongue was clumsy with it, and my cheeks burned red ; so I made a show only to tell her how quiet and safe it was, and how I liked it for the great hills guarding it to east and west, and the deep scoop to the blue northern sea, and the dim blue mountains beyond, where were giants still, and they spoke even a language that was not ours. " But how came your house full of armed men, sithen the time is peace ? " said I, too bluntly ; for her face crimsoned softly a bit, like a shell that is held to the dawn. Then she turned and spoke to me truly, simply, as one who sees in life no other way ; only her eyes on mine as she spoke (and there, I think, already began my happiness ; only men, and surely Master Herrick, would not call it so). "I have seen none but armed men about my grandfather since King Charles, God bless him ! was slain." And I bowed at her blessing, though amazed ; for of my grandfather I heard more curses than blessings ('tis true we Protestants pray not for souls of the dead, and most of those we then had cause to curse were main alive), and the very name of God served but as handle to strong blows given io King Noanett here on earth. And I had the breeding not to ask her more ; for we, at Slocombslade, were Parliament men. Only, I thanked me that the fighting now was over. "And to-day," she added, simply, "my uncle St. Aubyn is come over from Challacombe, and even my Lord Say and Sele from Lundy. So my grandfather bade me run and play " (she ended with a smile), " and I am here." Then I could not question her; and I might have been hard put to it to find anything worthy the saying to her, but that she seeing this began to question me ; and I told her much about our country, and something of the pony, and not a little, as I fancy, of myself; for next to talking of her life with her, it was sweet to have her talk of my life with me. And she had that wonderful way of seeing all the world, largely, with her wise, kind eyes ; and all that there might be in a man at the first looking at him. But the day was a day of gossamer, fairy-spun ; and soon the spell of it took us outward to the moors to the secretest dingle of it, where the flowers could grow in shade by little trees that were born at the birth of Farley water. Here its young life made but a greenness in the sod; and here, beneath a shelter of little ancient cedars, the fairies had indeed spun their web, even to a mighty pavilion of the gossamer skein, a half a rood in largeness, its silver roof glistening yet with the frosty dew and heaped and tented into peaks upon the taller stalks and flowers. We looked over to the Countisbury hill and the higher moors ; and westward the heather waves rolled ever lower, into, at last, a mazy glistering of I Meet Mistress St. Aubyn n gold ; while all before us were blue spheres of sea. And then she told me of her father's battling in the wars, and of her following, a little child, from keep to keep, as each in turn was taken. Now it was all but a dream to her, even as the knights in Arthur's tale ; only that her old grandfather had grown more fierce, since his son's death and the King's ; and would ever talk to her of them ; and made the Abbey but a camp for men at arms. And then I must tell her what I knew : which was little save the knowing of the hills and fields, and some old country tales of Palomyd or Iseult and the older Christian kingdom, that we learned in our country of our nurses still. And then she must go home ; and she rode upon my pony, and let me lead him (not that he needed it, but the way was new). And I led them by Para- combe and Halwell castle, and so by Bonvile, where her own people had lived, to the Abbey. And that was all she told me on that day ; but the telling of it made my life's tale. Ill In which I Find Myself THAT September morning lasted six weeks. And then, I remember, I came home one noon and found my grandfather waiting me. " Where hast been," said he, " where hast been, Bampfylde Moore Carew ? " (He always called me Bampfylde Moore Carew, at length, because he hated me. His name was Slocombe, Farmer Slocombe, of Slocombslade and my father had married his daughter.) " Hast been to th' Abbey, I'll be bound." I nodded ; surlily, I suppose, for he went on, more angrily, " Nor the first time, nuther, since that old fox, Penruddock, ran to earth ? " Now I had been there every day six weeks, since that first bright morning when I found her lost near the old sheepcote by Exehead Barrows ; so this time I kept silence, confession leading further than the old man was likely to imagine ; yet knew I only as by instinct what thing it was that I would not confess. " Humph ! " said my grandfather, " I can guess the old Royalist hath brought some pretty spawn of his'n to bait his traitor's hook with " At this my ire rose. " He hath brought his orphan granddaughter, as I am yours " " Some byblow from the court " I Find Myself 13 "A fairer, purer maid lives not in Devon " " Ho, ho," said my grandfather, and he peered at me closely, and there was malice in his eye, " a fair maid, quotha ? A maid thou callst this highborn lady ? Thou wouldst marry her, thou, this gentle- man's daughter ? Thou, the beggar's son, whom I took in for charity ! " Now God knows I had no thought of marrying, and knew that she was worlds above me, but that He made her so, not man. And the thought thus put in my heart, I plucked up heart to answer, " I may not marry her, but I may serve her still yet who knows ? My father was a gentleman, at least." "A pretty gentleman, indeed! A beggar, and a beggarly sailor ! and worse, if all is true ; for he was well hanged by the Spaniards for a thief, at Port-of- Spain." Now this I had never heard ; and my heart gave a plunge within me. " A beggar ? " I faltered. " Ay, and king of beggars was he called, until he broke the gaol, at Bridgewater, and took to pirating. And my only child must marry him, Bampfylde Carew, because he was a gentleman, forsooth ! And so she came home, and lay upon my doorstone, in travail with thee ; and I took her in, before she died, as I might have taken in any woman from the road. So, Sir," ended my grandfather, " thou mayst go to old Penruddock, and show him thy pedigree, the proud fool ! and ask to quarter thy beggar's arms with his. But the gibbet, thy crest, I dare say, will do for both." And the old man strode into the house, and I heard him settle himself for the day before his leathern Bible. 14 King Noanett For it was Sunday. I know not what I felt ; but I went up into the moors, by the old stone bield and tower where first I found her ; and there in the long grass by the bright stream I pressed my fevered face and wept into the cool waters. They ran so brightly by, all sparkling; never was the blue heaven more deeply blue, nor the warm sunlight more glorious; and all the sweet home wildflowers grew about my face as it lay there, close to earth in that soft green valley, and found no better thing than tears. And there was one flower that they call the Easter-flower I had never seen on the moors before, and it was out of season ; blue with a golden heart; and I remembered it until I saw it once again. In the afternoon, I rose and bathed my face in the water Farley water was it called, and please God, it flows there still would I go to her again? Aye, though every minute with her bred a year of after sorrow only to look once more into those her eyes ! It seemed, if I could but carry their look away with me, they might bear me through my life alone. Just once more only once more, I prom- ised myself. I did not then know what usury of years we pay on minutes .of joy so stolen. But had I known, I should still have gone to her. Who loves and would not barter his own life, year by year for hour by hour, with hers? My grandfather was sitting by his doorstep, when I went in to get my best doublet; and I took down my father's sword boldly before him, though I had never taken it before. I was ready for his anger; I Find Myself 15 but he only looked up grimly. I thought for once perhaps his Bible reading had softened him. "So," said he, "thou'dst be a gentleman, too, and put thy own neck in the noose? Tell me what the old fox says to thee if thou couldst but find when he means to break covert, some good might come of all thy fooling." I Jooked at him and buckled the sword around me. I was twenty, then, and well grown for my years. " Tell me this, Sir," I answered, " if my father was hanged for a thief if he were hanged on the Spanish Main how came his sword here by you ? " His eyes sought the floor, and he muttered some- thing; but all I heard was "fool of a Royalist." I strode away and left him there. IV In which is the Promise of my Life THE sun was hanging above the western sea, still three hours high. But I thought only of Miss St. Aubyn ; one look of her I craved, or the sun might sink forever, for all me. I crossed the Mole's Chamber, and the high barrows over Dean, and then strode rapidly down to the fair lawn of Leigh Abbey. And there my love stood, on the pleasaunce, tending flowers; flowers whose blooming we should never see. And then, she looked up ; and I saw far within her eyes. My heart drank deeply ; for were not the days of drought to come ? And she looked at me bravely she had a marvellous still look in them, a look, I think, that is given by peace and pure friendliness and then, " I thought that you would come," she said. Something in this speech made sweet within me perhaps she saw it, for she said hastily, " I thought that you would come to-day; for it it is for to-morrow " She hesitated, confused; but this speech I liked not so well; and I broke in, and cried, "What is to-morrow what is to-morrow to us to-day?" " But my grandfather says that you must not come any more." I looked at her, and her eyes met mine once more. 16 The Promise of my Life 17 The love made heaven within them, and I minded not her words. One day was an eternity to me. And so we walked off, over the moor ; for this day, at least, was mine. "You uphold the Lord Protector," said she, " and we, the King." I thought then of the divi- sion that was between us, not only this, but the other matter; and my steps grew heavy until that day I had never thought that this could end ! But now, this was, perhaps, our last day on earth. And I walked beside her, like a miser, counting her steps by my side. (Her walk was like the waving of the barley to a gentle wind.) We went up the long sweep of Exmoor, with the sinking sun behind us, and I watched her light feet fall upon the heather. And at the highest point of that down, a bit of grey stone breaks through the turf; and she sat on this enthroned, for the level sunbeam made a radiance round her face. I knelt beside her; the heather curved downward from us, toward the South, and far in the dip of the valley was the grey little church of North Molton, nestling in the trees. " And I too," said I, " I am forbid to see you any more," and I laughed, so little then I knew. Then I told her, or I tried to tell her, what my grandfather had said. But I could not say it all. She listened, to the end ; and then she smiled. " Thou art a gentleman, I see, so have no fear beside, what dost thou know of me ? " " 4 Th' four wheels of Charles's wain, Grenvile, Godolphin, St. Aubyn, Slanning, slain !" cried I, "all Devon knows of that, alas! My 1 8 King Noanett grandfather was at Launceston, with the Parliament men, and came home with half a coat, swearing ; for the two thousand Cornishmen had beat seven thousand that were with him, righting with naked swords against bullets when their powder gave out and then, at Lansdowne-hill, they cried, the Cornish foot, that ' they might have leave to fetch those cannon ! ' : " 'Twas there my father died. But my grand- father "she checked herself. "But let us go on walking." We went on, over the heather, ruddy or deep purple in the sunset or the shadow ; and so walk- ing, we came by the little sheepscote where I had jain that morning, and the still, sparkling stream. The sweet fields and rills, the sunny hills and the bright water, fresh as when the hand of their Creator left them ; the fields seemed still to wear his smile, the water to run his will, as on the day he left them, saying, " It is good ! " And I thought how I had prayed the Virgin on that morning (for it was the eighth of September, the day of the Nativity) that I might see my lady there once more ; and now it was granted me, on the very spot where I had seen the world so hopeless, and had had my tears. So then I made a vow, that I would trust my love and heaven, and fearless take the way they .showed to me. Then I said to her, " Mistress St. Aubyn, may I come to see you soon again ? " and the spell was broken. " No I do not know," said she, coldly or sadly ah me, the doubt of which it was ! and when I im- plored her, she would not say, but only looked at me sadly. The Promise of my Life 19 " We must go back," said she, at last ; and we turned and went in silence. Our steps lay down- ward ; the sun had set, and only its last radiance remained to light her face. It seemed, there was an autumn wind, the first of winter, upspringing from the sea ; the cold light fell upon her eyes and lips ; and I stumbled as I walked, looking at her, for some instinct bade me stamp her portrait on my heart that day. Only, it lay blurred upon my memory, dazzled in the light that dwelt within her eyes : I saw them once again. Alas, we were al- ready by the vale of rocks ! But the last turns of the path were longer : bless the long moor that lies 'twixt there and Leigh ! Her face shone pure and white, against the shadowed moor. And the two turns still to make before we reached the carved lions of the gate, I hoarded to my heart. But ah ! there we met Colonel Penruddock, his iron-grey hair still long in curls, and laces showing at the collar of the steel corslet he wore, standing grimly, as if he waited for us. " Present me to this gentleman," said he " but first, you, Sir do you know her?" "Miss Mistress St. Aubyn," stammered I. " Lady Lady," he corrected me; "daughter and heiress of that Lord St. Aubyn, who with his cousin Bevil Grenvile, fell at Lansdowne ; and niece of Sir Richard Grenvile, he who fought a fleet of Spaniards in his single ship, and said, ' Here die I, Richard Grenvile, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do " ' Fighting for his country, queen, religion, and honour ! ' ' said I, taking off my hat. 2O King Noanett " So thou art a gentleman," he said ; and then turning to her, " What is his name ? " Trembling, but bravely, she pronounced it. I thought he frowned ; but it may have been my fear. " And grandson of the churlish farmer here ? So ; how long has this been going on ? Well, well ; there may be little more. Thou art a Roundhead ; if thou wouldst be a gentleman " my heart bounded within me " then come no more." I bowed; and faced him. "At least, I may go with her to the Abbey ? " She had left us while we spoke; and I ran after her. "Once more only once more," I begged ; " to-morrow ? " She looked at me, and I am sure she saw my heart dying in my eyes. " Perhaps perhaps to-morrow," she said gen- tly ; and then, " Oh, go away forgive me, go away ! " " I must see you once more," I cried ; for already I felt her features fading from my heart, so hard it is to bring to memory the features of the face you love too much. " Only once more to-morrow ? Promise me that I shall see you to-morrow ? " She shook her head, and looked away far over the grey sea ; and I felt a cry within me to fix this moment by some vow. " Promise me you will not believe what story my grandfather or other men may tell about my father or of me and promise to have faith in me," I ended; for I did not dare to say what I wished. And the memory of those words unsaid haunted me for many years. The Promise of my Life 11 She looked brightly at me, smiling. " That is easy," she said. " Then, to show that it is true, let me see you once more to-morrow. I will ask your grandfather why I may not come." " Oh, not, not that," cried out my lady, wildly. " He will he will " (" He will bid you stay," I know now that she said ; but the last three words were drowned in tears.) " Then promise," I said, laying boldly my hand to hers. " I promise that you shall see me once more some time," she murmured, and ran through the courtyard into the house. And with this, her promise, I walked home beneath the stars. V In which I Find a Cross I SANG while I walked ; for my heart was light that night, as it had been heavy in the morn- ing. Though a lover have but one more meeting in prospect, he looks not beyond it ; but forward to that morrow, or next week, or even next year, if need be, and he have but due assurance of it, as to such infinity of blessedness that it needs no eternity ; but that the morrow and all the days that lead to it are made glorious thereby. And, as I sang, I heard a plaintive cadence of melody over the evening moor ; it was a man's voice, but no roist- ering cavalier melody, only just that sad and simple little tune to which the cause of the Stuarts died : " Her whom ye love For him ye shall leave, He is thy King, if Queen she shall ever be; Now ye may prove How both ye do love, Dying so loyally, living so tenderly . . . ' Lillibullero it was ; poor, plaintive, little tune of a lost cause ; to one's ears now it hath a " dying fall " indeed. Of course I had heard it often enough before, but to bolder words, and resented it; for Slocombslade, our parish, had sided with the Com- monwealth, but somehow these new words seemed I Find a Cross 23 to wind themselves about my heart that night ; who sang them I did not know, nor why ; it was a man's strong voice tempered to sweetness either by the words themselves, or by the lonely moor, or by the unsafety of such singing in such times. But my ear caught up the tune, as my heart the voice ; and I came into our farmyard humming it softly. My grandfather looked up sharply from his doorstone, where he sat smoking his pipe. " Bampfylde Moore Carew, what hast thou learned ? " said he. I looked at him innocently enough. " What advantage hast thou of thy folly ? Will the old fox break covert in the morning ? " Even then the reason did not come to me ; I am not slow-witted, but my mind was full of her. " Art thou going back in the morn ? " I felt again like a miser whose treasure has been half uncovered by some rough step. I hung my sword upon the rack, but gave no speech. " I trow not," he grumbled. " Lad, thee must ride even to Bideford the morrow, and bring back the Lord Protector's soldiery." Like a blow this order fell upon me, and I turned and faced him. " I will not," I said, " and I am going back in the morning." I looked to see him fire with choler ; but he only laid his pipe down, and clasping his knees, he rocked his long beard to and fro, and chuckled softly. "Ah, ah, the bird is not yet flown," he muttered. " Let them make head, let them make head. The old cock will not fly till the nest is clear. What dost thou call her ? " he cried to me suddenly. " Penruddock, or St. Aubyn ?" 14 King Noanett Now, her name for me (so far as she needed name) had been Miss St. Aubyn, and more than this I did not know. And so foolish was I that I would not confess this even to the old yeoman; but went upstairs to bed. And there I opened the win- dow to look at the upward sweep of moorland to the stars. For, as some of you may know, God help you, or may come to know aye, and God help you soothlier if you never do I would not have lost in sleep one minute of those bright hours that lay between me and my darling. Hours enough for sleep might come thereafter, when I could sleep no more. The night was fine till nearly dawn ; but then a mist came stealing from the earth, and the stars paled and, one by one, went out in the cold, slow Northern wind that began the winter, and sucked the warmth and sweetness from our soft uplands. I shivered then, and arose and dressed me. And all that day the fog enveloped me, where'er I went, and the sun was gone ; and the darkness of it lies still about that day in memory. For I went to Leigh Abbey long before it was noon (there was no sun to the day, and how could I tell the time ?) and I watched for her, but she did not come. And I walked slowly on the ridge of the moor, against the sky where she might see me, all along by the side of the old Abbey where her chamber was ; and saw no answering sign. Then at last I went to the door and knocked ; and an old serving-woman came to my call. " Her bean't here," she said. Now this I knew was not true ; for she had promised me that I should I Find a Cross 25 see her ; and had I not been in sight of her dwelling since the dawn ? (and no one had departed from it). So I said nothing, but hung my head ; and went up to the great beetling rock that hangs over against Leigh Abbey by the sea ; and there I watched and waited. Had she not promised to see me ? And I, who had asked her to believe in me, truly I must well believe in her. All day I sat there, without food or drink, and saw no sign of her. But many companies of mounted troopers I saw come to the Abbey, and more depart. And at last, in the after- noon, I went back and. clamoured at the door ; and this time it was a soldier that appeared ; and he looked at me and asked if I was an honest gentle- man and came from Bideford disguised ; I told him that I sought to see the lady St. Aubyn ; and at this he rudely laughed, and shut the door in my face. And so I must fain go back half crying, not so much at losing her, but that she had broken her word to me one of the two poor promises she gave to let me see her once more ; nor in absence to think ill of me. What if she broke the other too ? The time for sunset came, but the mist was break- ing into driven rain, and clearing coldly. Yet some hours more I sat there, until, about eight in the evening, it seemed to me I saw two gowned figures issue from the side door ; and two or three horses stood there in waiting. I went down and came close to them in the dark, and then I saw that they were priests. Now I had been bred a good Protestant; but my father was of the older religion ; for nothing worse than Papist knave had my grandfather called him until that day ; besides, in those days in our i6 King Noanett country we still kept many of the feasts, and even prayed to Mary, that here they think but Popish idolatry. So I was about to speak to them, when, seeing me, they stopped and crossed themselves ; and one spoke, timidly as it seemed, the words " South Molton." " South Molton ? " said I. " Are you from Bideford ? " " Nay," said I ; " my grandfather bade me go there." "And who is thy grandfather, lad?" said the priest, now boldly. " Farmer Slocombe, of Slocombslade " Hardly had I said the words ere they were in the saddle and clapped spurs to their horses. " A spy," cried one ; and the other had already vanished. I stood in the dark, looking after them, not noticing their servant, who was mounting clumsily, turning his horse about and around, and tripping over a long blunderbuss he carried ; and as he got up in his seat, he brought it fairly to his shoulder and fired full at me. The horse had started, and the bullets rattled harmlessly enough against the stone Abbey wall a yard ahead of me ; and before I had come out of my daze the varlet had followed his masters up over the moor. The night was clearing rapidly ; and as I looked after him, I saw the red glow of the balefire on Dunkery beacon, fifteen miles away, flushed in the clouds. And suddenly, there was a light behind me, and I turned and saw a tongue of flame leap from the Abbey window by my side. I rushed to the little door, but it was fast barred and would not give ; then I ran around to the great Abbey entrance, but it was fast also. Then I prayed I Find a Cross 27 Heaven that it might be true, that she had broke her promise, and had left without meaning to see me again. Another window burst out in flame ; and then another, and another. The fire was in the back of the building; and already little spurts and jets came out and licked up the mosses on the low gable. No sound came from within : but what if she was still there, sleeping perhaps, while her grand- father and all his company were away ? For I felt sure some business was going forward that night ; what, I did not know. The blood was in my head ; I rushed wildly back to the great hall entrance, and dashed my arm against the lattice of a window. It fell inward with a clatter on the stone floor ; and I made my way in, despite the cloud of smoke that poured from the broken window. I found myself in the great hall, already litten with a ruddy glow ; and I ran up the stairway, seeking where I thought her room might be. Door, after door, I opened, but only found breast- plates, boots and suchlike matters ; and I made my way hardly through the blinding smoke. I cried her name aloud, but vainly ; and beneath me I could hear the crashing of the falling timbers. At last I opened the door of what seemed to be a little cham- ber ; a door opened from it, and groping in the stifling dark, I felt a crucifix upon an altar. I ran back into the hall stairway, which was already flam- ing, and I twisted out one of the burning balusters for a torch. Back in the little room, I could have cried for joy ; for there was a couch empty, and one of the robes, lying carelessly across it as if left in haste, I knew for hers. I knelt down beside it one 28 King Noanett moment and kissed her gown ; and there was a little book of hours beside the little cross, and I took this book ; then throwing wide the casement (for all the central hall was furious fire now), I dropped from its little balcony and fell unhurt upon the grass. When I reached home, my grandfather was wait- ing up for me, though it was midnight. He looked at me, and saw my sad visage, and then he smiled. "The old earth is burning," said he. "Thou'lt take the mare and ride to Bideford this night. I see by thy looks 'tis time." " That will I not," said I ; for now I knew what business might be forward. " Then roof of mine shall shelter thee no more." He made as if to strike me ; but I met his glance, and once again it sought the ground. I turned from him and took my father's sword (which I had left behind, that day that I had thought a tryst for seeing her) and I stopped in the larder for a crust of bread. And this was all I took from what had been my mother's house ; and so, penniless and hungry as she had entered it again, twenty years before, I turned my face to the moor and left him there. I slackened not until I came to the highest point, near the Exehead ; and there I lay upon the moss and ate my bread ; and my heart was cold within me. For the day had gone that she had promised should be mine, and yet I had not seen her. And the night came on the colder as it wore to dawn ; and it was now the second day since I had look of her, and I pressed my face to the wet turf and wished God forgive me that I might die. VI In which I Witness Penruddock's Rising AT dawn the mist was heavy again ; and I rose and stumbled feebly (for I was faint with hunger) on the road to South Molton. Fo/ the priest had said South Molton ; it might have been a mere password, but it was my only clue. Now the little village of Simonsbath lies in a hollow of the moor where trees may grow, and is wont to be silent as any combe in Devon ; but, as I came over the hill above it, I heard great shouting, and the clash of muskets grounded and being loaded. I looked down, but the little cup-like vale was full of mist, and I could see nothing, though the sound seemed to come the clearer. So I went down and mingled among them ; at first cautiously, then boldly, for I saw it was only the neighbours armed. They said they were waiting for the soldiers ; and I soon gath- ered that the old man Penruddock was the object of their array, and that he indeed was believed to be at South Molton, making head against the Commonwealth, and that the Rump soldiers were coming from Bideford to put him down. I waited for nothing more, not even to eat, but went back by the way I came, lest they should suspect my errand ; and I dared not go by the straight road ; jo King Noanett but when I got upon the moor alone, I circled about, and made hard for South Molton town. But I was too faint for want of food ; my run came to a hobble, and the hobble to a walk, and my heart was pounding against my ribs. Some miles yet I struggled on, until I saw a lonely shep- herd's cottage ; and I made for this, and the sky turned black, and I fell fainting against the door. I got over this weakness as quickly as I could ; and then I saw a crackling fire of furze, and a young man was rubbing my hands, and better than half a dozen children looking on with their large eyes, for they had learned young the lack of food. When my eyes opened, the father came to me with a bowl of smoking barley broth and spoke to me kindly, and the sour smoke of the furze got in my eyes and brought the tears there. It was no shep- herd, but old Parson Berry of South Molton. I knew little of him then, save that I had often heard my grandfather call him fool ; but I had often seen him when, in his rusty old cassock, he used to come to the farmers round about, begging milk for his two babies ; for the mother had died that spring. For Mr. Daniel Berry, being a very loyal as well as learned divine, fell under the ruins of the church and state in the grand rebellion, in the days of King Charles the First, which he vigorously, though in vain, endeavoured, according to his conscience and duty, to support. For which reason the very zealous, tender-conscioned reformers of those times thought fit to turn him out of his benefice (which was his freehold), contrary to all law and justice ; and not only so, but to strip him of all he had, I Witness Penruddock's Rising 31 even to the bed he lay upon. Which goods and movables of his thus seized upon were sold by the sequestrators at a public survey (as it is called, a kind of auction long practiced in our parts), all, except his books ; and those, being of good value, were liberally bestowed on that famous, independent preacher, Mr. Lewis Steukley, who sometime lorded it at Exeter with more than prelatical rigour, for which this great zealot, as he had not the conscience at first to refuse them, so had he never after the honesty to restore the value of one farthing for them ; though there were no less than nine horse- loads of them, and the family reduced to very great extremities. With the grief of which barbarous treatment, Mrs. Berry contracted such distempers and diseases as at length brought her to her grave, leaving behind her, to the Divine protection, her nine small children. And here they were living in this shepherd's hut, little better than a linhay for the sheep ; for the chimney was but a hole in the roof, and the floor was earth. And before he gave me the broth, he must needs read something out of an old church Bible, which, I verily believe, was the only book he had ; for they would not let him read services in the church there in those times. But I made short work of this ; for I told him what the men of Simonsbath were doing, and how Colonel Penruddock was at South Molton, and Noll's troops marching at him from either side, and I had started out to warn him, but thus had fallen by the way. After this, he read but one short collect, and put back his gilded book carefully on the only shelf that had been fashioned in the side of that hut; 32 King Noanett then, coming back, he said to the eldest, " John, you must go " then breaking off, he looked at me sharply. " Are you an honest gentleman ? " "At least, I am no liar," said I. "John, you will run to town and as ye may not come back to me, take thy poor sword. God bless thee, my boy, and mayst thou serve him only ' whose service is perfect freedom ' ! " At this, John went off over the moor, and the eight smaller chil- dren set up a great cry, and I finished the broth alone, the old vicar standing at the open door to watch his son. Then I too got up to go. " Poor boy, not yet," said the vicar, suddenly turn- ing some of the love that was in his face to me. I cried a bit again, for it was, save hers, the first kind word my life had known but I had more to make me go there than had his John. So when the brother had gone, I thanked this poor parson, and started too. When I got to the town, there, by the door of the inn, stood Colonel Penruddock, an old man already, yet with iron-moulded features, his blue eyes fixed, his thin grey hair (for he had laid aside his iron headpiece and his wig) whipping in the wind. Around him stood some dozen or two of gentlemen, and in the village street some scores of their followers ; and in the ground before them had been planted the royal standard. The idle villagers looked on, agape and curious ; and he finished speak- ing to them as I arrived. " Here set I first the royal standard of King Charles," he ended ; " now let all England follow it." " King Charles ! " cried out the gentry. " Long live Charles the Second ! " I Witness Penruddock's Rising 33 There was some thin cheering from his followers, but no one of the villagers moved. Then I saw first on Penruddock's stern face that other-world light that marked the fanatic. " To-night we go to Bridgewater," said he. "To-morrow, Exeter will rise." " To-night, thou'lt go to Bridgewater gaol," I heard a voice behind me say, and I turned and saw my grandfather. But just then, there was a ringing of horse, and a cavalcade of well-armed gentlemen was seen, defiling down the moor-track from the South. They had come from Pendennis castle, it was whispered, and they all wore the white cockade. So large did a few score horsemen look in that lonely place that the villagers began to waver, being more afraid than unwilling ; and perhaps half a hundred came over and took arms, of which there was a great store heaped up in the inn yard. And then there was a great outcry, and all the people ran to be the first. My grandfather touched my elbow. " Wilt come back with me, once for all ? " said he. " Nay," said I, for I was thinking how I might see her, now her grandfather was here. " Thou fool," said my grandfather again, " dost know, the troops even now are closing in from Taunton and from Minehead way ? And they of Bideford may yet be here ere nightfall." " More need for me to warn him, then," answered I ; and I think the old man would have struck at me, but that he saw it hardly safe to make a stir. For, by this time, that little Devon village was King Charles's, though all the rest of England were Roundhead still. 34 King Noanett " Farewell, then, since thou must e'en go thy father's way." And he disappeared amid the press, and no one offered to stop him, for it was free com- ing and going all that day. So I went up to the inn ; but I was told the commander-in-chief (such hopes did old Penruddock give himself) and the gentlemen from the South were in earnest council, and he might not be importuned with the visit of a stripling such as I. But among the crowd I saw one that had been serving-man at the Abbey ; and I asked him whether his young mistress were within. " Nay, God forbid she left last night," said he. " Please God, she is well on her way to the North by now." She had left the day before ! I fell back amid the crowd, and knew not where in all the world to turn my head, now that my heart was gone. For she had deceived me knowingly, and while I left her but for the few hours, she had made the promise, knowing I should never see her, no, not even the once, more. She was all my life, and I was none of hers. I did not know she had done this in kindness, knowing that my love was beyond hope, and think- ing by this sooner nip of frost to cure it (as young trees are saved by cold days coming quick upon the warm, in winter). Alas, we should do our natures, if they be kind, and leave other things to God, who seeth far; nor choke down our hearts when they would speak ; a gentle lady should be brave, and pure let who will be discreet ; discretion needeth to be taught to maids of modest station. For a true man will live a lifetime on a kind word, yet never trouble the speaker. And afterwards, it was for this I Witness Penruddock's Rising 35 I wandered in the wilderness, and almost lost the heart to live. So all that day I stayed about the place. The gay flag flaunted still by the inn door, and I sat there, on a mounting-stone, and looked on idly. By twos and threes a few rustics came in, in the after- noon ; but I saw by the looks of the gentlemen when they came to the door, that they were griev- ously put about. John Berry came not, and I knew afterwards that he had fallen in with a party of Commonwealth men, and wisely made no sign of his errand. And at last, toward nightfall, a mes- senger ran in breathless, and said that the soldiers were coming. Old Penruddock came out from the door and drew up his men. "'Tis at most a company," I heard him say to another, one Hayes, that was with him. " Two companies, at the least, and what are we ? " and he pointed sadly to the scanty line of gentlemen and the ragged crowd of countrymen, huddled like sheep behind, half-armed, undrilled, and some that were plainly starting to waver and looking for a chance to slink away. " Now, Heaven forbid that any score of honest gentlemen turn tail before a pair of companies of Noll's hired raffle," he answered ; but just then there came a crash of musketry and a hail of bullets through the street ; and from the side, we saw a line of leather-jerkined troops advancing, and I saw my grandfather with the officer at the head, showing the way. Penruddock's recruits turned the other way to fly, and were met by the two companies we had 36 King Noanett first seen, coming down from the moor to the South ; the others were the Bideford men, as I have been told. Some of the gentry got to horse, and these escaped ; old Colonel Penruddock grasped the ban- ner and stood there, seeking to face both ways with his sword. He made nimble play with this ; and, with the dozen men he still had with him, gave good account of the first rank that met him, who had discharged their muskets ; but it was soon over. And I stood there, and looked on, so heartless was I ; only that when a soldier sought once to give the old man a thrust as he faced the other way, I brought my flat sword down on his arm ; but even as I did this, Penruddock was seized and quickly bound. And we were chained together, two by two, and my grandfather's word proved true ; for so we marched all night, and before the dawn came, we were lodged in Bridgewater gaol. I doubt King Charles ever more than heard of this. Yet, this thing happened, and it was scarce six years before he entered London, 'mid all England decked in flowers and the fountains spouting wine. VII In which I Visit Bridgewater Gaol THEY did not keep us long in gaol; so I need not say what things I suffered there. Only, the worst was that I had no word of her. I knew her grandfather had been taken, and was there with me ; I fancied she found means to write him letters there. But it was scarce a week, and they led us to the assize, which was held in a room of the prison ; and when I entered it, the unwonted light blinded me so that I could see nothing, only that there was a great company ; the crowd of common folk behind us, and we pris- oners in the centre ; and, behind the judge, a gaily dressed group of lords and ladies. But I soon saw that these last were no enemies, but rather felt for us. And slowly my eyes became used to the light, and the clerk of justice was reading something, and I felt my heart was thrilling with a presence in the room ; and I looked up, and there, behind the jus- tice of the Commonwealth, I saw my love. So it was that I met her that once more. My knees gave way beneath me, my lips parted ; she laid her finger on her lips. But when it came over me how she had not seen me after her promise that last time, I looked into her beautiful grey eyes, and tried to make mine look as if they saw a stone. But at this she only 37 38 King Noanett smiled, and made at me as if she nodded slightly and did not dare to more. Her grandfather was sitting with us, but on the end, so that she could bend over the bar and speak to him. I saw her whisper, and he looked at me. He was still richly dressed, and he wore his sword, and some one had given him a red rose and a white one, which he held and smelt of delicately, now and then, as had he been at court. You could not see that his hair was grey, for he wore a courtly wig, flowing and long. And she was very pale, and did not smile again, and I saw him touch her hand as if to comfort her. " Stand up," said somebody, and I became con- scious that we were being tried. We all stood up, and the judge made a long speech, the most of which I do not remember, for I was looking at Miss St. Aubyn ; but the purport of it was, that we had been found in arms against the Commonwealth, and were like to be all taken out and shot. All except Colo- nel Penruddock ; his turn would come later, said the judge. And at this the old man only smiled, and fingered the roses in his hand. " But no man shall henceforth in England be con- demned except upon fair trial and good evidence," then said the judge, in closing. " Harry Champer- nowne, what hast thou to say? The rest of ye, be seated. Now, what art thou ? " " I am a Captain in the service of King Charles," said my neighbour. Short work was made of him; the sentence passed, the justice turned to me. " Bampfylde Moore Carew, art thou of King or Commonwealth ? " I Visit Bridgewater Gaol 39 (As the judge began to speak, I saw that she had now the roses in her hand. And as he ended, her eyes made appeal to me, and I saw her hold the red one up. And her lips made motion of the longer word.) "I beg your Honour's grace he is my grand- son," said a voice; and lo ! it was my grandfather. "Thy grandson, Farmer Slocombe? How came he in this evil company? The man's well known to me," I heard him say to a grave person that sat beside him, and seemed to be some personage of state. " I sent the lad as messenger to bring the troops from Bideford," said my grandfather, " and he was taken by the way. He served but as my spy." Now Heaven tame our haughty hearts, I was not so touched by the old man's relenting over his own flesh-and-blood, as I could have killed him for that lie, and for the look that passed over my lady's face. A scarlet flush swept over it; and her eyes (which till then had never left me) were turned away. And I saw her grandfather smile to her grimly, and her glance sank to the floor; and I knew that henceforth I was naught to her. Her lips no longer formed the message; she cared not that I told the truth, now that she believed me not. And then, resentment for her leaving me, and rage that I had lost her, choked my thoughts ; and the justice repeated his question impatiently, and they thought I was afraid. " I am for King Charles," said I, loudly. " It is a lie that I took a message to Bideford." Oh, pale that was so red ! Her lips blanched as she looked at me, and I saw her eyes again; then 40 King Noanett she turned quickly to her grandfather, and he stood up and spoke. " He is no recruit of mine," said he. " I never saw him under arms." " He was taken fighting," said the justice, doubting. "Only to save my life I had known the lad a little he but struck a musket down that was aimed at me, as I was being taken." "Pish we can't waste time over the fellow let him be sent to the colonies. Who's next?" The others were rapidly disposed of. And then, at last, they took up Penruddock himself; and we were filed away, all chained together ; but as I passed in front of where my love was sitting, I said quickly, " Believe not what they say of me," and I looked my last within her eyes. But she turned hers away. And then, as we left the court room, I heard her cry aloud, and saw her fall ; for her grandfather was sen- tenced for high treason, to be hanged and quartered. VIII In which I Meet Miles Courtenay and Jennifer ORE than a year it was before the rumour came to us, through some kind under- gaoler, that the ship at last was ready. And in that year I heard nothing of Miss St. Aubyn nor of the fate of her grandfather. It was a bright June morning that we were marched, still chained in threes and fours, out into the sunlit streets, and to the docks at Plymouth, where we saw the fair blue water. We were led into the fore part of the vessel, and penned like sheep, 'twixt mast and forecastle ; and that same afternoon the ship got under way. How fair the chequered fields of Devon look, to men who are leaving them in chains ! So I left England, with my heart behind me for that they could not chain a convict, with convicts for the colonies. But on the next day, when that dear land was already sunk behind the sea, they took our chains off, from such of us as had not been male- factors, and I took a long breath of the free sea air, and vowed to myself that I would be true to her though she knew it not, and some day return, when no longer a disgrace to her; as soon as I might, I would go back to find her. And if I found her happy, I would never more reveal myself; but go back again to that new country we were sailing to, and do a man's work while I lived. 41 42 King Noanett A sad ship's company we had. First, there were regular convicts, old offenders, who were shipped for no particular reason but to get them out of England. Then ourselves, the enemies of the Commonwealth, as they called us, and many servants, who had bound themselves, perhaps for years, to labour for their freedom in the colonies; redemptioners, these were called. And there were many women ; some going out to become wives to the colonists, others, I fear, because they had ruined themselves at home; but the most of them belonged to neither class, Irish, many of them, but seemed like gentlefolk, or at least not like the others, and were crying bitterly. Among these last were several young maids, some with their mothers, some alone, but never a man or brother with them; hardly in their teens, poor things, with fresh, childlike faces; enough to make your heart bleed. At first, all of us were most miserable ; Heaven forbid my describing such scenes as there we saw, all penned together. I noticed one young gentle- man he seemed always cheery, doing all he could for those poor women ; a handsome fellow with dark curling hair and deep blue eyes. He was full of songs and stories ; so that he even made some favour with the captain, and got permission to carry some of the poor things up to the poop deck, where they could have some room, and rest from the foul air and often fouler speech of the place where we were penned. He lay by me at night, and we used to talk together and keep awake ; for we had to get up now and then, to get fresh water for the women, or perhaps a bit of physic from the ship's doctor Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 43 for any one who might be plainly ill ; although one had to be at death's door to get much comfort from the crew of that ship ; ay, and beyond, 'twas but a scant shroud, and their poor bodies were hardly cold ere they were hurled into the blue waves that closed so tranquilly over them. One night, I made bold to ask this gentleman his name. " Courtenay Miles Courtenay," he said, laugh- ing. " Faith, 'tis a better name than the man de- serves, or the place requires." I remembered the name well, in Devon they were people that had vast estates in Ireland and had lost them, as our gentry had a way of doing, with such kings as Charles. And I told him my name (with some misgiving), and how I had lost it by declaring for the second Charles, whom I had never seen nor cared for. But I did not tell him how this came about. " Bampfylde Carew ? Why, { Jack ' Carew, we called him, was your father, then ? A brave man was he, and a soldier of the King's, God rest his soul." And he made as if to doff his hat, though we were lying like herrings in a box, and hats had none. But I my heart was in my mouth, and I was glad for the night, that he could not see me blush. " Then he was not then he was not hanged " Courtenay shouted an oath out fiercely, and I was fain to pluck his sleeve, to keep him quiet. " Now, what foul, crop-eared cur has slandered an honest gentleman ? " I kept silent, for shame of my grandfather. 44 King Noanett " Then he was not hanged by the Spaniards at Port-of-Spain ? " " I know not where Port-of-Spain may be, and I doubt not many Spaniards had been glad to hang him, there or elsewhere ! But nay, it was the Crom- well did it ; and he died on the block like a gentle- man, did Captain John Burleigh Carew. For they had the King penned up in Carisbrook Castle, like a rat at cheese ; and this was too much for thy poor father ; so, being in command at Newport, he caused a drum to be beat at quarters, for God and King Charles ; and thereupon was found guilty of high treason, for levying war against the King, al prosecution of one Sergeant Wilde, who at the saint assize acquitted one Rolf, that had sought to assas- sinate his Majesty, of all offence ! And I have heard, that for both these acts, the shedding thy father's honest blood, and saving the life of the other, a murderous, bloody villain, this Wilde re- ceived a thousand pounds for each, out of Noll's privy purse at Darby-house. Han-a-mon Dhiaoul ! " And Courtenay closed with, " the curse of Crom- well," so it sounded, gritting his teeth ; but I was full of sorrow for my father, and thinking how I should contrive to let her know. Meantime, Courtenay hummed a tune, " l They rode till they came to a Sea Town IVhere ships were sailing in the Downs, And now sweet Betsy's upon the salt wave, Sweet Betsy's gone for an arrant slave' ' " How did you come to be here ? " I asked suddenly. Miles Courtenay and Jennifer 45 " c Of a Brazier's daughter you shall hear, A pretty story you shall hear, For she would up to London go To seek a service, you shall " I'm even a prisoner of State, like yourself," he laughed. " Sure, the State takes more trouble o' me gone wrong than it ever did of me the pillar of it." I wondered that an officer like himself had got off with his life. "Sergeant," said he, "only sergeant the Tower is not for the likes of me. Sure, I'm just a poor fellow taken fighting, like yourself, and they shipped me out to populate his Majesty's dominions when his Majesty comes by his own again." And the moonlight that slanted down to his eye just then showed me so merry a look, that I wondered if losing his country was a thing to make a man happy. "I'll tell ye all about it some day," said he, and hummed under his breath,