The Knight of the Golden Melice Part 33

"Why, dame," answered the a.s.sistant, "is it a new thing for me to be absent one night? Bethink thee how often my occasions call me to the plantation?"

"Out upon the weariful plantation! O, sweetheart!" said the jealous but fond wife, "I like not these absences. But, how got you this hurt?" she inquired, parting his hair on the temple, and exposing the dried blood.

"It is only a scratch I received in the forest, and hardly worthy thy notice, dame. But where is Mistress Eveline? and I see not Prudence?"

"The young lady is still in her chamber, and, as for the waiting maid, I heard her but five minutes since singing away as if there were no music in the world but her own. Truly, it sounded more like a s.n.a.t.c.h from some profane ballad than a G.o.dly hymn. I will tutor her about this levity. Now do not be angry, dear life," added the dame, whose heart was made more tender, and her tongue more communicative, by the anxieties she had suffered during the night, on her husband's account; "but I have fancied that you looked at the girl oftener, sometimes, than was becoming in a man who had a wedded wife who never said him nay."

"Fie, Dame," said the a.s.sistant, laughing, and pinching, and kissing her still tempting cheek; "what crazy fancies be these? Consider my years, and profession, and dignity, and, most of all, my love for thee. Why, this is very midsummer madness."

"I suppose I am foolish," replied the dame, wiping a tear away, "but I feared, lest the girl might derive some encouragement from it, though otherwise, Prudence is a good la.s.s, and obedient, and I have no other fault to find with her; but I recollect now, when I was a girl, how I did feel when you came near me, and I have not got over all these feelings yet, nor do I choose that Prudence should have them. So, dear husband, it were safer for the girl that you should look oftener at me, and less at her."

"My good, and faithful, and loving wife!" exclaimed the a.s.sistant, enclosing her in his arms, and feeling something like compunction at the moment, "you deserve a better mate. But trouble not thyself with such misgivings. Do not this wrong, sweet, to thine own charms, and to my profession and station, as one of the congregation and a magistrate."

"Nay," answered the pleased wife, "I distrusted thee not so much as the presumption of the damsel; and if the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, as we know he does, from the precious book, what place is more likely for him to be in than these awful woods, filled with red heathens, whom I take to be little better than his children; and whom would he sooner devour, than a pretty maiden like Prudence?"

"Enough of this, dame," said the a.s.sistant, with difficulty suppressing a smile at his help-mate's simplicity. "Bethink thee, that though thy loving words are a feast to the spirit, the body requires more substantial fare?"

"True, and you shall have it forthwith, although, you wicked man, I did sleep hardly a wink for thinking of thee." So saying, the dame hurried off to hasten the morning meal.

The a.s.sistant watched the countenances of Eveline and her attendant that morning at breakfast, and, in spite of the efforts of the former to appear unconstrained, and the demureness of the latter, detected, he thought, sufficient to justify his suspicions. He doubted not that the girl had betrayed his weakness to her young mistress, and that all along he had been a laughing-stock for both. "I will teach them," he said to himself, as he reflected with bitterness on his failure, "how to offend one who has the power and the will to crush them. The banishment of her minion, who, a love-sick swain, has followed her across the sea, only to be sent back a disappointed fool, will answer for my young lady; and as for the girl, the slitting of Joy's ears and nose, and an acquaintance of her own pretty feet with the stocks, will suffice. It shall not be said that the sword of the magistrate was put into my hands in vain."

While the a.s.sistant was busying his brain with machinations like these, the opportune arrival of another ship from London, with letters to himself, containing accusations against Sir Christopher Gardiner, filled his heart with joy, and furnished additional means to facilitate his purpose. Without delay, he took them to Winthrop, and demanded a private audience. After reading the letters received by Spikeman, the Governor opened his desk, and handed to his councillor others addressed to himself, and which had arrived by the same opportunity. Greedily did the a.s.sistant devour their contents, and unbounded, though concealed, was his joy at finding them in one particular of the same purport as his own. His face, however, was sad, and his voice mournful, as, returning the epistles, he said--

"A grievous thing is it, that hypocrisy, so finished, should walk the earth. It is a day of rebuke and of scandal to us, as magistrates, that we should be so deceived."

"I am not altogether convinced," said Winthrop, who, steady in his friendships, and prepossessed from the beginning in favor of the Knight, was loth to think evil of him, "that these charges are true.

My own letters mention them only as reports--thine speak of them more positively. Vouch you for the truth of your correspondent?"

"There is no man more truthful," answered Spikeman, who, had it been necessary, would have been a guaranty for Beelzebub himself. "I have known him long. He has never deceived me, nor can I imagine motive therefor now."

"So fair, and yet so false!" murmured Winthrop; "and yet we know that the evil one appears sometimes as an angel of light. I will not trust in human appearance more. What shall be done with him on his return?"

"Let him be sent out of the colony, and they who are leagued in his plots with him," said Spikeman. "I understand now the wonderful eagerness of Master Arundel to be joined with him in this emba.s.sy.

Birds of a feather, says the proverb, do fly with greatest joy together. Out upon this false Knight, for his pretended love of retirement; upon his leman, this lady Geraldine, forsooth; and this squire of dames, Master Miles Arundel, whose counterfeited affection for my ward may be only another cloak for most pernicious plots."

"Thou art becoming suspicious of all the world. Master Spikeman," said Winthrop, smiling.

"And is it not time to be suspicious, when those who have been honored with the confidence of our government, and to whom we have entrusted an important matter, are discovered to be no better than landlaufers and conspirators?"

"Dost distrust the good faith of the Knight in his emba.s.sy?" inquired the Governor.

"A bitter fountain cannot send forth sweet water, and should even the undertaking of this false Knight be successful in appearance, would not my suspicion be quieted."

"Come, Master Spikeman, remember that you may be called to sit as a judge on the fate of this gentleman, and that it becomes men in our positions to keep the mind free from injurious prepossessions, for only thus may justice, which is a ray from the effulgent countenance of Him who sits on the circle of the heavens, be attained."

"This is no private matter of mine own," answered the a.s.sistant, "but a thing of public concernment; and I humbly trust, should ever my voice be demanded in its decision, that it will be raised to the glory of G.o.d, and the advancement of the interests of the colony which he has planted. But I should consider myself derelict to duty, and unworthy of the trust committed to me, were I to hold back my honest judgment, in view of the evidence now before me, subject to such modification as further examination may give rise to, especially when that judgment is asked for by the honored head of our oppressed Israel."

"It is my purpose," said Winthrop, rising, wherein he was imitated by the other, "to call together, this evening, at this place, for the due consideration of this subject, such of the a.s.sistants as may be here present in Boston, and to advise with them thereupon, when and where I shall hope to be favored with the presence and counsel of my friend, whose zeal is never slack in aught that may redound to the welfare of the Commonwealth."

"My presence, G.o.d willing, may be depended on, worshipful sir,"

answered Spikeman.

A meeting of the a.s.sistants was accordingly held at the house of the Governor the same evening, and the subject of the letters received from England, and the course to be pursued in view of their contents, considered in all their aspects. No great diversity of opinion prevailed in respect to the necessity of caution, in reposing any further confidence in Sir Christopher; but as for the proceedings to be adopted on his return, there was a considerable difference of sentiment. The more moderate, and least prejudiced against the Knight, at the head of whom was Winthrop, advised that he should be received with all honor, and the charges laid privately before him, in the first instance, and an opportunity afforded him to refute them. This they urged was the more just and honorable mode, inasmuch as the accusations came not before them invested with any judicial authority.

But an opposite party, headed by Spikeman, strenuously insisted on another course. They contended, that in a matter of the kind, severity, and even what might look like precipitation, was better than a slackness, which might defeat their object. They pressed the point, that such was the number of letters received (some of them by private persons) reflecting on the character of Sir Christopher, it was impossible the information they contained should be concealed from the public, and that, consequently, even before the return of the Knight, news of it would reach his house. This, they said, would put the false Lady Geraldine on her guard, and afford opportunity to destroy papers, or whatever else might be in existence to inculpate the Knight. It was, therefore, their opinion, that the lady, with whatever might be found in the house to a.s.sist their judgment, should be instantly seized, and such other measures taken as to insure the arrest of Sir Christopher. There was, however, too much n.o.bleness of feeling in a majority of the Council to relish invading the privacy of a female, on mere suspicion, while her protector was absent, engaged in business of the State. Winthrop looked displeased at the suggestion, and even the brow of the rough Dudley was corrugated into a haughty frown. As usually happens between differing opinions, a half measure was resolved upon, which satisfied neither party. It was to keep so strict a watch, that the moment of Sir Christopher's return should be known, and a file of armed men despatched by night, who should serve partly as a guard of honor, and partly as a restraint upon the person, to escort him to Boston. At the same time, with apologies for its necessity, his books and papers were to be secured, and the lady brought in all honor with him. This was the plan, should the Knight visit his house before coming to Boston; but if he arrived at the settlement first, he was to be detained and examined, after an account of his mission had been received.

CHAPTER XXIV.

"The flying rumors gathered as they rolled; Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told; And all who told it added something new, And all who heard it made enlargement too;-- In every ear it spread--on every tongue it grew."

POPE'S "_Temple of Fame_."

Ignorant, of course, of the events which had occurred during his absence, the Knight started from the Indian village in high spirits, as it appeared to Arundel, at the success of his emba.s.sy.

"These savages are more placable than I antic.i.p.ated," said Sir Christopher, "for it must be admitted that, in appearance at least, they have cause for grievous resentment. One might almost suspect that, since their late defiance, a suspicion of the truth had somehow penetrated their untutored minds. At any rate, no war-whoop will be heard for the present, and we have been received and treated with all courtesy."

"A gentler race of wild chivalry," said the young man, "doth surely nowhere exist. Their free and careless lives make me more than ever in love with nature, and long shall I remember the n.o.ble Taranteens with pleasure."

"Admired you them enough to cast in your lot with them," said the Knight, with a smile, "I doubt not that you might become a king over regions as extensive as those which owe allegiance to the sceptre of our gracious monarch, Charles."

"My admiration soars not to that height; yet, to my imagination, is there something delightful in the condition of these children of nature, thoughtful only of to-day, and careless of tomorrow, when compared with that of the painful delvers of civilization. The former are birds flying freely in the air; the latter, poultry scratching in a barn-yard."

Sir Christopher laughed good naturedly at the sally of his friend.

"Verily," he said, "were it not for thy mistress, I do believe thou hadst remained amongst the Taranteens. Unfortunate for them is it that civilization has an ally in love. Were this life all," he added, gravely, his whole manner changing, "there were some reason in what you say. It were wisdom, then, to sport like insects in sunbeams--to sink at night into dreamless sleep. But such is not man's destiny.

What infinite concernments hang on the present moment! How imperative and urgent is our duty to wean these poor heathen from their wild ways and false creed, that they may be rescued from the intolerable perdition that awaits all who are not of Holy Church."

"It surely is a lamentable future for the poor creatures," said the young man; "and yet I suppose it must be so, because the learned of all creeds, which call themselves Christian, do agree therein. Ah, me!

poor Sa.s.sacus!"

"I opine," said the gentle Knight, "that the flames of h.e.l.l will be tempered to such poor wretches, in consideration of their ignorance."

"It is horrible to think of," said Arundel, shuddering; and, as if desirous to change the subject, he inquired, "May I ask, without offence, after the country of Sa.s.sacus?"

"a.s.suredly you may. It is some hundred miles to the south of Boston--the princ.i.p.al villages of the Pequots being on a river of the same name, and on a lesser stream called the Mystic, and along the reverberating sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic. It is a pleasant land of bright waters, and fair valleys, and towering hills, fit to produce a race of hardy warriors."

"Hast thou visited it thyself?"

"Once, on a hunting expedition, did I wander thus far, and partake of the hospitality of the Pequot Chief, who, in return, was prevailed upon to visit my poor quarters."

"I wonder what induces the n.o.ble savage to linger so long about Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, after having made his visit to you, and confess to some apprehensions on his account."

"Have no fear on that score," said the Knight, cheerfully. "Sa.s.sacus is prudent as well as brave, and, as you saw on the night when he was attacked by the Taranteens, has some of his men with him; besides, the Aberginians are at peace with his tribe."

"It is only the ingenious malice of the a.s.sistant Spikeman that I dread."