The Well in the Desert Part 16

"Is she come forth yet?" asked Guy.

Annora shook her flaxen curls. Guy went to the little window, and glanced within. The grey figure was plainly visible, kneeling in prayer, with the head bent low, and resting against a ledge of the rock which formed the walls of the little dwelling. The monk sat down on a piece of rock outside the cell, and soon so completely lost himself in thought that Annora grew weary of her amus.e.m.e.nt before he spoke again.

She did not, however, leave him; but when she had thrown away her flowers, and had spent some minutes in a vain search for a four-leaved clover, fairly tired out, she came and stood before him.

"The shadow is nearly straight, Father Guy. Will she be much longer, do you think?"

Guy started suddenly when Annora spoke.

"There is something amiss," he replied, in a tone of apprehension. "I never knew her so long before. Has she heard my news already?"

He looked in again. The grey veiled figure had not changed its position. After a moment's irresolution, Guy laid his hand upon the latch. The monk and the child entered together,--Guy with a face of resolute endurance, as though something which would cost him much pain must nevertheless be done; Annora with one of innocent wonder, not unmixed with awe.

Guy took one step forward, and stopped suddenly.

"O Father Guy!" said Annora in a whisper, "the Grey Lady is not praying,--she is asleep."

"Yes, she is asleep," replied Guy in a constrained voice. "'So He giveth His beloved sleep.' He knew how terribly the news would pain her; and He would let none tell it to her but Himself. 'I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth!'"

"But how strangely she sleeps!" cried Annora, still under her breath.

"How white she is! and she looks so cold! Father Guy, won't you awake her? She is not having nice dreams, I am afraid."

"The angels must awake her," said Guy, solemnly. "Sweeter dreams than hers could no man have; for far above, in the Holy Land, she seeth the King's face. Child, this is not sleep--it is death."

Ay, in the att.i.tude of prayer, her head pillowed in its last sleep on that ledge of the rock, knelt all that was mortal of Isabel La Despenser. With her had been no priest to absolve--save the High Priest; no hand had smoothed her pathway to the grave but the Lord's own hand, who had carried her so tenderly through the valley of the shadow of death. Painlessly the dark river was forded, silently the pearl-gates were thrown open; and now she stood within the veil, in the innermost sanctuary of the Temple of G.o.d. The arras of her life, wrought with such hard labour and bitter tears, was complete now. All the strange chequerings of the pattern were made plain, the fair proportions no longer hidden: the perfected work shone out in its finished beauty, and she grudged neither the labour nor the tears now.

Guy of Ashridge could see this; but to Annora it was incomprehensible.

She had been told by her mother that the Grey Lady had pa.s.sed a life of much suffering before she came to Sempringham; for silent as she was concerning the details of that life, Isabel had never tried to conceal the fact that it had been one of suffering. And the child's childish idea was the old notion of poetical justice--of the good being rewarded, and the evil punished, openly and unmistakably, in this world; a state of affairs frequently to be found in novels, but only now and then in reality. Had some splendid litter been borne to the door of the little cell, and had n.o.blemen decked in velvet robes, shining with jewels, and riding on richly caparisoned horses, told her that they were come to make the Grey Lady a queen, Annora would have been fully satisfied. But here the heavenly chariot was invisible, and had come noiselessly; the white and glistering raiment of the angels had shone with no perceptible l.u.s.tre, had swept by with no audible sound. The child wept bitterly.

"What troubleth thee, Annora?" said Guy of Ashridge, laying his hand gently upon her head.

"Oh!" sobbed Annora, "G.o.d hath given her nothing after all!"

"Hath He given her nothing?" responded Guy. "I would thou couldst ask her, and see what she would answer."

"But I thought," said the child, vainly endeavouring to stop crying, "I thought He had such beautiful things to give to people He loved. She used to say so. But He gave her nothing beautiful--only this cell and those grey garments. I thought He would have clad her in golden baudekyn [see Note 1], and set gems in her hair, and given her a horse to ride,--like the Lady de Chartreux had when she came to the Convent last year to visit her daughter, Sister Egidia. Her fingers were all sparkling with rings, and her gown had beautiful strings of pearl down the front, with perry-work [see Note 2] at the wrists. Why did not G.o.d give the Grey Lady such fair things as these? Was she not quite as good as the Lady de Chartreux?"

"Because He loved her too well," said Guy softly. "He had better and fairer things than such poor gauds for her. The Lady de Chartreux must die one day, and leave all her pearls and perry-work behind her. But to the Lady Isabel that here lieth dead, He gave length of days for ever and ever; He gave her to drink of the Living Water, after which she never thirsted any more."

"Oh, but I wish He would have given her something that I could see!"

sobbed Annora again.

"Little maid," said Guy, his hand again falling lightly on the little flaxen head, "G.o.d grant that when thy few and evil days of this lower life be over, thou mayest both see and share what He hath given her!"

And slowly he turned back to "her who lay so silent."

"Farewell, Isabel, Countess of Arundel!" he said almost tenderly. "For the corruptible coronet whereof man deprived thee, G.o.d hath given thee an incorruptible crown. For the golden baudekyn that was too mean to to clothe thee,--the robes that are washed white, the pure bright stone [see Note 3] whereof the angels' robes are fashioned. For the stately barbs which were not worthy to bear thee,--a chariot and horses of fire.

And for the delicate cates of royal tables, which were not sweet enough for thee,--the Bread of Life, which whosoever eateth shall never hunger, the Water of Life, which whosoever drinketh shall never thirst.

"'_O retributio! stat brevis actio, vita perennis; O retributio! caelica mansio stat lue plenis._'"

See Note 4 for a translation.

"How blessed an exchange, how grand a reward! I trust G.o.d, but thou seest Him. I believe He hath done well, with thee, as with me, but thou knowest it."

"'Jamais soyf n'auras A l'eternite!'"

Note 1. Baudekyn, the richest variety of this rich silk, in which threads of gold were probably intermingled.

Note 2. Perry-work: goldsmiths' work, often set with precious stones.

Note 3. In Revelations xv. 6, the most ancient MSS., instead of "pure and white linen," read "a pure bright stone."

Note 4:

"'O happy retribution!

Short toil, eternal rest; For mortals and for sinners A mansion with the blest!'"

Neals's _Translation_.

APPENDIX.

Some readers of this tale may desire to know on what historical foundation it rests, and in what points the fiction departs from truth.

The Order of Predicant Friars was inst.i.tuted by Dominic in 1215, with the avowed object of maintaining Roman doctrine and supremacy, and of opposing and superseding the wandering preachers sent out by the Waldensian Church into all parts of Europe, and known chiefly as _Boni-Homines_, or _Poor Men of Lyons_. But the Waldensian Church was acute enough to take advantage of this movement; and no sooner had the Order been founded than an army of "Gospellers" (as even thus early they were called), issued forth under its shelter. It appears probable that at an early period of their preaching, a very large percentage of the Predicant Friars were Gospellers. It is, moreover, an historical fact, that during the struggle between Edward the Second and his wretched Queen, the Predicant Friars ranged themselves on the side of the King, who had always been their friend, and whose own confessor, Luke de Wodeford, was of their Order. (_Rot. Ex., Pasc_, 2 Ed. III.) That the Despensers also patronised them is rather an inference founded upon fact, yet on such facts as very decidedly point to this conclusion. It should not be forgotten, that all accounts of the reign and character of Edward the Second which have come down to us were written by monks, or by persons educated in the opinions of the monks; and the Church of Rome has never, at any period of her history, hesitated to accuse of the vilest crimes any who endeavoured to escape from her toils into the pure light of the Gospel of Christ.

That Hugh Le Despenser the Elder was an unprincipled and avaricious man, there can be little question. With him, if he embraced the principles of the _Boni-Homines_ at all, it was evidently a mere matter of intellectual opinion. Much less evidence can be found against his son, whose chief crime seems to have been that he aroused the hatred of the "she-wolf of France." Joan La Despenser (the ladies of the family are always distinguished as _La_ Despenser in contemporary records) lived to a good age, for she was probably born about 1310, and she died in her nunnery of Shaftesbury, November 8, 1384 (I.P.M. 8 Ric. II., 14).

Richard Earl of Arundel, surnamed _Copped-Hat_, the elder of the two sons of Earl Edmund and Alesia, heiress of Surrey, was born about 1308, and died January 24, 1376. (Arundel MS. 51, fol. 18.) His father was beheaded with Hugh Le Despenser the Elder, October 8 or 27, 1326; his mother died before May 23, 1338. (Froissart's Chronicles, Book I., chapter xi.; _Rot. Pat_. 12 Ed. III., Part 2.) His first marriage was before February 2, 1321 (_Ib_. 14 Ed. II., Pt. 2); and his baby Countess was probably not more than three years old at that time. Her divorce immediately preceded the second marriage, and it was apparently just before June 24, 1345. On that day, "Isabel La Despenser, and Alianora daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster," are returned among the tenants of Richard Earl of Arundel (_Ib_., 19 Ed. III., Pt. 1): the designation showing that on that day neither was Countess of Arundel, but that the marriage-settlements of Alianora were already executed. After this date all trace of Isabel disappears, until we meet with the name of "Dame Isabel, daughter of Sir Hugh Spencer," among the persons buried in the

Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. (Harl. MS. 544, fol. 78.) The Countess Alianora, at the time of her marriage, was the widow of John Lord Beaumont, and the mother of two infant children; she had only just returned from a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella.

(_Rot. Pat_. 18 Ed. III., Pt 1.) She died January 11, 1372 and was buried at Lewes. (Reg. Lewes, fol. 108.) Her second family consisted of three sons and three daughters--Richard, John, Thomas, Joan, Alesia, and Alianora. The last-named died in childhood; all the rest survived their parents.--Richard, a well-meaning and brave, but pa.s.sionate and narrow-minded man, was governed by his stronger-minded brother Thomas, and under his evil influence entered upon a treasonable conspiracy, for which he paid the penalty on Tower Hill in the spring of 1397.--John is chiefly remarkable for having married the heiress of Maltravers, and becoming eventually the root of the family.--Thomas became Bishop of Ely and Archbishop of Canterbury--the persecuting Archbishop Arundel who will perhaps be remembered by the readers of "Mistress Margery"--and after suffering for his treasonable practices a richly-deserved banishment, was at once recalled and restored by his friend and fellow-conspirator, Henry the Fourth. He died in 1413. That the House of Arundel had no "Gospel" sympathies is shown by more evidences than one; though the Archbishop himself had at one time pretended friendship towards the Lollards. It did not last long; he would scarcely have been a true Arundel had it done so.--Joan Fitzalan was a woman of intense energy and terrible pa.s.sions. She did not live happily with her husband, Humphrey Earl of Hereford, as appears from a curious and unique entry on the Patent Rolls (33 Ed. III., Pt. 3), providing that Humphrey should not divorce Joan on any pretence of precontract. The Earl, however, died at the early age of thirty-one, and Joan, whose two daughters were married to Princes (Alianora to Thomas Duke of Gloucester, Mary to Henry the Fourth), became a very powerful and wealthy widow. One anecdote will show what her character was better than volumes of description. She presided in person at the execution of John Duke of Exeter (brother of her sister Alesia's husband), he being loyal to his half-brother, King Richard, while Joan was a vehement partisan of her son-in-law, Henry the Fourth. When no one came forward, in answer to her appeal, as the Duke's executioner, Joan exclaimed, "Cursed be you villains! are none of you bold enough to kill a man?" A squire volunteered to officiate, but when he had seen and heard the man whom he was to slay, he shrank from the terrible task. "Madam," was his remonstrance to the Countess, "for all the gold in the world, I cannot kill such a Lord!" "Thou shalt do what thou hast promised," said Joan, "or I will cut thy head off." And, probably knowing that she was likely to "do what she had promised," the squire preferred the fall of the Duke's head to his own. (_Lystoire de la Traison et Mort du Roy Richart_, pp. 98-9.) This strong-minded woman died April 7, 1419, and was buried at Walden, having previously been admitted a sister of the Grey Friars in her brother's Cathedral of Canterbury. (I.P.M. 7 H.V., 59:--Arundel MS. 51, fol. 18:--_ib_. 68, fol. 51, b.) Of Alesia, Countess of Kent, little personal is known. She left no mark on her time, though the members of her numerous family were very prominent characters. She died March 17, 1416 (I.P.M. 4 H.V., 51).

By all genealogists who have hitherto written on the Arundel family, two more daughters are ascribed to Earl Richard the Copped-Hat. These are Philippa Sergeaux, the heroine of the tale; and Mary L'Estrange. At the time when this story was written, I was misled to follow this supposition, though I had already seen that in that case, Isabel, and not Alianora, must have been the mother of Philippa. Some months after the story was first published, I began to suspect that this was also the case with regard to Mary L'Estrange. But I was not prepared for the discovery, made only last May, that Philippa Sergeaux was not the daughter of Earl Richard at all! In two charters recorded on a Close Roll for 20 Ric. II., she distinctly styles herself "daughter of Sir Edmund of Arundel, Knight," This was a younger brother of Earl Richard; and his wife was Sybil Montacute, a daughter of the Lollard House of Salisbury. It is probable, though no certainty has yet been found, that Mary L'Estrange was also a daughter of Sir Edmund, since dates conclusively show that she cannot have been the daughter of Alianora of Lancaster. She died August 29, 1396, leaving an only child, Ankaretta Talbot. (I.P.M. 20 R. II., 48).

As early, therefore, as I have the opportunity of doing it, I make the _amende honorable_ to my readers for having unwittingly misled them on this point. It is scarcely a discredit not to have known a fact which was known to none. The tale must therefore be regarded as pure fiction, so far as Philippa is concerned; for Isabel La Despenser apparently had no child. The facts remain the same as regards other persons, where their history is not affected by the discovery.

Philippa Sergeaux is represented in the opening of the story as a child of three years old. It is more than probable that she was about ten years younger. The date of her marriage is not on record. She was eventually the mother of five children, though all were born subsequent to the period at which my story closes. They were--Richard, born December 21, 1376, and died issueless, June 24, 1396; Elizabeth, born 1379, wife of Sir William Marny; Philippa, born 1381, wife of Robert Pa.s.sele; Alice, born at Kilquyt, September 1, 1384, wife of Guy de Saint Albino; Joan, born 1393, died February 21, 1400. Philippa became a widow, September 30, 1393, and died September 13, 1399. (I.P.M., 17 Ric. II., 53; 21 Ric. II., 50; 1 H. IV., 14, 23, 24.)

Some of the Christian names may strike the reader as having a very modern sound. I may therefore note that not one name occurs in the story which is not authenticated by its appearance in the state papers of the time.

It only remains to be added, that the fict.i.tious characters of the tale are Giles de Edingdon and Guy of Ashridge, the nurse Alina, Agnes the lavender, the nuns Laura and Senicula, and the woodcutter's children Elaine and Annora. The details given of Earl Richard's will are true; but the presence of the Earl and Sir Richard Sergeaux in the train of John of Gaunt in Guienne, has been a.s.sumed for the purposes of the story.