The Coming of the King Part 63

"_One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after._

"_That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life._"

After this I heard the voice of John Day, the man who had been the minister of the parish church of St. Martin's.

"My friends," he said, "I feel constrained to speak a few words of comfort and hope to you, for truly the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad; but before I try to expound G.o.d's holy word, let us ask Him for wisdom and light, so that I may speak his words with wisdom, rightly dividing the word of truth."

"It will be well that one of us do go out and watch," said a voice, "for the magistrates be very bitter against us. John Ireton and many others have been sent to gaol to-day, and I do hear that orders have been given to watch some of us, and especial mention hath been made of you, Master Day."

"I do not fear," said the old clergyman; "the Lord hath called me to preach the Gospel, and I may not hold my peace. Still, seeing we live in evil times, it may be as you say, therefore do one of you watch while we seek to eat of the Bread of Life."

I had come up to the cottage unheeded by the worshippers. As far as I could gather there were not a dozen in all, who were evidently labouring men and their wives. Standing where I was, however, I could see the cottage plainly, and I noticed that one of their number went out, and stood at a place where he could take note of any that might come.

After Master John Day had prayed, he began to speak to the people. First of all he expounded the Scriptures to them, and then he sought to enforce his teaching concerning G.o.d's providence by example. "You know, my friends," he said, "how I have been put to great straits for bread.

You have helped me all you could; but you have had barely enough for your own necessities. I have tried to obtain service at the hands of those who employ labour, but few would hire me. In truth, I should have starved, but for one dear friend who shall be nameless. Then the time came when even she was powerless, and yesterday I and my little ones would have starved had not the Lord sent a stranger along the road, who hath given us enough for our necessities for several days. Shall we doubt the Lord, dear friends? It is true we have been driven from our home, and we have even been forbidden to take religious exercises together, yet hath the Lord watched over us, ay, and He will watch over us, even to the last."

He had scarcely said these words than the man who had been appointed as a watcher rushed in.

"The constables!" he cried; "they will be here in a minute more."

"Shall we stay and meet them boldly?" said Master John Day.

"What good will it do?" one cried. "I know that the Quakers take no note of them, but we be wiser than they. We must e'en disband."

"Nay, but I will gladly suffer for Christ's sake," said John Day.

"Still, I must remember my wife, and my dear little ones."

Upon this the light was extinguished, and a few seconds later I heard hurrying footsteps.

I waited hidden behind a thick bush, and presently I heard stealthy footsteps approaching.

"All is dark," said a voice.

"Ay, but they have been here."

"Yes, but they are gone. Let us go in and see if Master Day is there."

"That will be no use. If we go in it will make them more watchful against another time."

"Perhaps that is so. We have missed them this time, but we will pounce upon them unawares another time. You know that Parson Gilloch told us we should have a crown apiece and a gallon of strong ale if we caught Master Day in the act of preaching."

"Ay, that is so. Well, we had better go for the night."

I heard them creep away as silently as they had come, and in a few more minutes all was still. The worshippers had evidently gone to their homes, and not a sound could I hear disturbing the stillness of the night.

Still I waited. I felt that here was my opportunity of finding out the truth concerning the whereabouts of Constance, and I determined to remain where I was until the minister's fears were stilled, after which I would try and have speech with him.

After a time a light twinkled in the cottage again, and I heard the low murmur of voices. The night had become perfectly still, and not a breath of wind moved the bare tree branches. I thought I smelt the breath of spring in the air, the thought of which gave me joy, I knew not why.

"She cannot be coming here to-night," I thought. "It is now wellnigh midnight, and this place must be at least three miles from Goodlands, even although there be a short cut across the fields." This thought made my heart cold, and yet I stayed there in hope, my eyes hungering for a sight of her face. How long I stayed I know not, but presently I thought the voices grew louder, whereupon I crept silently forward, until I could hear more plainly.

"It is because of the goodness of G.o.d that you have come to me, my child," the old clergyman said, "and we thank you beyond all telling.

Yet do I wish you had not come. The way is long to your hiding place, and the night is dark. Besides, G.o.d hath ministered to our necessities.

He hath sent a friend to help us."

"Who hath he sent?"

My heart almost stood still! It was the voice of Constance which I heard, and in an instant it seemed to me as though my full strength had come back again. My weakness I felt not, and my weariness had pa.s.sed away, even as snow ceases to be when the hot sun shines.

"It was yester eve," said the old clergyman. "I was in despair because I had no food for my wife and children, and because I was afraid harm had happened to them. While I was waiting for them, a youth came along riding a raven black horse. We fell to speaking together, and the Lord touched his heart."

"Did he tell you his name?"

"Ay, my child, and although you have told me nought, I cannot help believing that his coming will be good news to you. His name is Roland Rashcliffe."

"Tell me more! Tell me more!"

After that I could not stay outside a moment longer, for she spoke with eagerness and joy. I called to mind the look she had given me when we stood together in the presence of the king, and I felt that she had not forgotten me.

Without ado I opened the door, and stood before them. At first I thought she looked afraid, and this made me say what I should not have dared to say otherwise.

"Constance," I said, "I could not come before, but I have loved you all the time, even as I told you I should."

Her eyes were lifted to mine as if in great wonder, then I saw the tears well up in them; but they were not tears of sorrow.

"You are not angry with me, are you?" I said.

And then she burst out sobbing upon my shoulder, while I, unheeding Master Day and his wife, strained her to my heart.

We did not stay long at the cottage. I gave Master Day enough money to meet his needs for some time to come, and then Constance and I walked to Goodlands together along the silent, lonely road whither she had come.

I will not write of all the things we spoke about during that long journey. Enough to say that she had escaped from the king's palace as my father had told me, and had made her way to Goodlands, which she entered by a secret known only to herself, and to the faithful farmer who occupied the kitchen part of the house and looked after the Goodlands estate. Here she was able to remain unmolested. The entrance to the house, she told me, was by a secret underground pa.s.sage, the opening of which could only be discovered with great difficulty. Here, moreover, were rooms in which her forefathers had been hidden in the days of Queen Mary, the secret of which had defied all searchers. It was here she had hidden Father Solomon, whose real name was John Walters, and her sister Dorcas, and it was from here she had sent her sister to Holland to meet her husband.

She told me, moreover, that this old man, who claimed to be the father of Lucy Walters, had been driven wellnigh mad because of his daughter's shame, and that he had left his wife because she encouraged her child in her evil ways. He had, moreover, become friendly with Sir Charles Denman, who had given him the right to live in the lonely house. For years he had been a student of the occult sciences, in order, he said, to find out the hiding place of the marriage contract between his daughter and the king, and it was here that her sister came, after she, in a fit of religious frenzy, had sought to take the life of General Monk.

Constance told me, moreover, that she had been taught to fear this old man; yet did she visit him for her sister's sake, on the night when we first met. Whether the marriage contract was genuine, or whether it had been forged by the old man or no, she could not tell, neither did she know where he was now. Directly after her sister had escaped to Holland, he also had disappeared; but before he went he declared that he would yet see his daughter owned as the king's wife, while her son should be king of England.

But it was not these things which troubled me as I walked by Constance's side that dark night in March. I was thinking rather of my great love for her, and how I could take her from the hands of her enemies. For she was now all alone in the world. Her father was dead, hanged by the king, while her sister had rejoined her husband, a man whom Constance regarded with fear and anger.

Although she had stayed long at Goodlands, she felt that her stay there must soon come to an end. She could not live much longer under such circ.u.mstances, especially as she felt sure that she was suspected of being hidden in the house.

Of the love we confessed one to another I will not write, for that is not the affair of those who may read this; but that she did love me I did not doubt. How could I doubt it when for me she had defied the king?

How could I doubt after the way she had sobbed out her love for me in Master John Day's cottage?

Thus it was that the long walk was to me a joy beyond words. At last my love was by my side, and so I did not dread the dark clouds that hung in our sky, I did not fear the enemies which beset her on every hand.

"There is nought for us to fear," I said to her, for at that moment everything seemed possible to me.