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Unknown to History

C >> Charlotte M Yonge >> Unknown to History




"Feel,--nay, open it, and see if it be not, sir," cried Antony.

"I doubt not that so it is," said the captain; "but you know, Master
Babington, that it is the duty of all here in charge to let no packet
pass the gate which has not been viewed by my lord's officers."

"Then, sir, I will take it back again," said Antony, with a vain
attempt at making his brow frank and clear.

Instead of answering. Captain Talbot took the knife from his girdle,
and cut in twain the yarn that bound the packet. There was no doubt
about the whistle being there, nor was there anything written on the
wrapper; but perhaps the anxiety in Antony's eye, or even the old
association with boatswains, incited Mr. Talbot to put the whistle to
his lips. Not a sound would come forth. He looked in, and saw what
led him to blow with all his force, when a white roll of paper
protruded, and on another blast fell out into his hand.

He held it up as he found it, and looked full at Antony, who
exclaimed in much agitation, "To keep out the dust. Only to keep out
the dust. It is all gibberish--from my old writing-books."

"That will we see," said Richard very gravely.

"Mistress, be pleased to give this young gentleman some water to wash
his face, and attend to his bruises, keeping him in the guest-chamber
without speech from any one until I return. Master Babington, I
counsel you to submit quietly. I wish, and my Lord will wish, to
spare his ward as much scandal as possible, and if this be what you
say it is, mere gibberish from your exercise-books, you will be quit
for chastisement for a forbidden act, which has brought you into
suspicion. If not, it must be as my Lord thinks good."

Antony made no entreaties. Perhaps he trusted that what was
unintelligible to himself might pass for gibberish with others;
perhaps the headache caused by Humfrey's fists was assisting to
produce a state of sullen indifference after his burst of eager
chivalry; at any rate he let Mistress Talbot lead him away without
resistance. The other children would have followed, but their father
detained them to hear the particulars of the commission and the
capture. Richard desired to know from his son whether he had any
reason for suspecting underhand measures; and when Humfrey looked
down and hesitated, added, "On your obedience, boy; this is no slight
matter."

"You will not beat Cis, father?" said Humfrey.

"Wherefore should I beat her, save for doing errands that yonder lad
should have known better than to thrust on her?"

"Nay, sir, 'tis not for that; but my mother said she should be beaten
if ever she spake of the fortune yonder Tibbott told her, and we are
sure that she--Tibbott I mean--is a witch, and knows more than she
ought."

"What mean'st thou? Tell me, children;" and Cis, nothing loath,
since she was secured from the beating, related the augury which had
left so deep an impression on her, Humfrey bearing witness that it
was before they knew themselves of Cicely's history.

"But that is not all," added Cicely, seeing Mr. Talbot less impressed
than she expected by these supernatural powers of divination. "She
can change from a woman to a man!"

"In sooth!" exclaimed Richard, startled enough by this information.

"Yea, father," said Cicely, "Faithful Ekins, the carrier's boy, saw
her, in doublet and hose, and a tawny cloak, going along the road to
Chesterfield. He knew her by the halt in her left leg."

"Ha!" said Richard, "and how long hast thou known this?"

"Only yestermorn," said Cis; "it was that which made me so much
afraid to have any dealings with her."

"She shall trouble thee no more, my little wench," said Richard in a
tone that made Humfrey cry out joyously,

"O father! sweet father! wilt thou duck her for a witch? Sink or
swim! that will be rare!"

"Hush, hush! foolish lad," said Richard, "and thou, Cicely, take good
heed that not a word of all this gets abroad. Go to thy mother,
child,--nay, I am not wroth with thee, little one. Thou hast not
done amiss, but bear in mind that nought is ever taken out of the
park without knowledge of me or of thy mother."




CHAPTER VII. THE BLAST OF THE WHISTLE.



Richard Talbot was of course convinced that witchcraft was not likely
to be the most serious part of the misdeeds of Tibbott the
huckstress. Committing Antony Babington to the custody of his wife,
he sped on his way back to the Manor-house, where Lord Shrewsbury was
at present residing, the Countess being gone to view her buildings at
Chatsworth, taking her daughter Bessie with her. He sent in a
message desiring to speak to my lord in his privy chamber.

Francis Talbot came to him. "Is it matter of great moment, Dick?" he
said, "for my father is so fretted and chafed, I would fain not vex
him further to-night.--What! know you not? Here are tidings that my
lady hath married Bess--yes, Bess Cavendish, in secret to my young
Lord Lennox, the brother of this Queen's unlucky husband! How he is
to clear himself before her Grace of being concerned in it, I know
not, for though Heaven wots that he is as innocent as the child
unborn, she will suspect him!"

"I knew she flew high for Mistress Bess," returned Richard.

"High! nothing would serve her save royal blood! My poor father says
as sure as the lions and fleur-de-lis have come into a family, the
headsman's axe has come after them."

"However it is not our family."

"So I tell him, but it gives him small comfort," said Frank, "looking
as he doth on the Cavendish brood as his own, and knowing that there
will be a mighty coil at once with my lady and these two queens. He
is sore vexed to-night, and saith that never was Earl, not to say
man, so baited by woman as he, and he bade me see whether yours be a
matter of such moment that it may not wait till morning or be
despatched by me."

"That is for you to say, Master Francis. What think you of this for
a toy?" as he produced the parcel with the whistle and its contents.
"I went home betimes to-day, as you know, and found my boy Humfrey
had just made young Master Babington taste of his fists for trying to
make our little wench pass this packet to yonder huckster-woman who
was succoured some months back by the Queen of Scots."

Francis Talbot silently took the whistle and unrolled the long narrow
strip of paper. "This is the cipher," said he, "the cipher used in
corresponding with her French kin; Phillipps the decipherer showed me
the trick of it when he was at Tutbury in the time of the Duke of
Norfolk's business. Soh! your son hath done good service, Richard.
That lad hath been tampered with then, I thought he was over thick
with the lady in the lodge. Where is he, the young traitor?"

"At Bridgefield, under my wife's ward, having his bruises attended
to. I would not bring him up here till I knew what my Lord would
have done with him. He is but a child, and no doubt was wrought with
by sweet looks, and I trust my Lord will not be hard with him."

"If my father had hearkened to me, he should never have been here,"
said Francis. "His father was an honest man, but his mother was, I
find, a secret recusant, and when she died, young Antony was quite
old enough to have sucked in the poison. You did well to keep him,
Richard; he ought not to return hither again, either in ward or at
liberty."

"If he were mine, I would send him to school," said Richard, "where
the masters and the lads would soon drive out of him all dreams about
captive princesses and seminary priests to boot. For, Cousin
Francis, I would have you to know that my children say there is a
rumour that this woman Tibbott the huckstress hath been seen in a
doublet and hose near Chesterfield."

"The villain! When is she looked for here again?"

"Anon, I should suppose, judging by the boy leaving this charge with
Cis in case she should come while he is gone to Chatsworth."

"We will take order as to that," said Francis, compressing his lips;
"I know you will take heed, cousin, that she, or he, gets no breath
of warning. I should not wonder if it were Parsons himself!" and he
unfolded the scroll with the air of a man seeking to confirm his
triumph.

"Can you make anything of it?" asked Richard, struck by its
resemblance to another scroll laid up among his wife's treasures.

"I cannot tell, they are not matters to be read in an hour," said
Francis Talbot, "moreover, there is one in use for the English
traitors, her friends, and another for the French. This looks like
the French sort. Let me see, they are read by taking the third
letter in each second word." Francis Talbot, somewhat proud of his
proficiency, and perfectly certain of the trustworthiness of his
cousin Richard, went on puzzling out the ciphered letters, making
Richard set each letter down as he picked it out, and trying whether
they would make sense in French or English. Both understood French,
having learned it in their page days, and kept it up by intercourse
with the French suite. Francis, however, had to try two or three
methods, which, being a young man, perhaps he was pleased to display,
and at last he hit upon the right, which interpreted the apparent
gibberish of the scroll--excepting that the names of persons were
concealed under soubriquets which Francis Talbot could not always
understand--but the following sentence by and by became clear:--
"Quand le matelot vient des marais, un feu peut eclater dans la meute
et dans la melee"--"When the sailor lands from the fens, a fire might
easily break out in the dog-kennel, and in the confusion" (name could
not be read) "could carry off the tercel gentle."

"La meute," said Francis, "that is their term for the home of us
Talbots, and the sailor in the fens is this Don John of Austria, who
means, after conquering the Dutchmen, to come and set free this
tercel gentle, as she calls herself, and play the inquisitor upon us.
On my honour, Dick, your boy has played the man in making this
discovery. Keep the young traitor fast, and take down a couple of
yeomen to lay hands on this same Tibbott as she calls herself."

"If I remember right," said Richard, "she was said to be the sister
or aunt to one of the grooms or prickers."

"So it was, Guy Norman, methinks. Belike he was the very fellow to
set fire to our kennel. Yea, we must secure him. I'll see to that,
and you shall lay this scroll before my father meantime, Dick. Why,
to fall on such a trail will restore his spirits, and win back her
Grace to believe in his honesty, if my lady's tricks should have made
her doubtful."

Off went Francis with great alacrity, and ere long the Earl was
present with Richard. The long light beard was now tinged with gray,
and there were deep lines round the mouth and temples, betraying how
the long anxiety was telling on him, and rendering him suspicious and
querulous. "Soh! Richard Talbot," was his salutation, "what's the
coil now? Can a man never be left in peace in his own house, between
queens and ladies, plots and follies, but his own kinsfolk and
retainers must come to him on every petty broil among the lads! I
should have thought your boy and young Babington might fight out
their quarrels alone without vexing a man that is near driven
distracted as it is."

"I grieve to vex your lordship," said Richard, standing bareheaded,
"but Master Francis thought this scroll worthy of your attention.
This is the manner in which he deciphered it."

"Scrolls, I am sick of scrolls," said the Earl testily. "What! is it
some order for saying mass,--or to get some new Popish image or a
skein of silk? I wear my eyes out reading such as that, and racking
my brains for some hidden meaning!"

And falling on Francis's first attempt at copying, he was scornful of
the whole, and had nearly thrown the matter aside, but when he lit at
last on the sentence about burning the meute and carrying off the
tercel gentle, his brow grew dark indeed, and his inquiries came
thickly one upon the other, both as to Antony Babington and the
huckstering woman.

In the midst, Frank Talbot returned with the tidings that the pricker
Guy Norman was nowhere to be found. He had last been seen by his
comrades about the time that Captain Richard had returned to the
Manor-house. Probably he had taken alarm on seeing him come back at
that unusual hour, and had gone to carry the warning to his supposed
aunt. This last intelligence made the Earl decide on going down at
once to Bridgefield to examine young Babington before there was time
to miss his presence at the lodge, or to hold any communication with
him. Frank caused horses to be brought round, and the Earl rode down
with Richard by a shaded alley in an ordinary cloak and hat.

My Lord's appearance at Bridgefield was a rarer and more awful event
than was my Lady's, and if Mistress Susan had been warned beforehand,
there is no saying how at the head of her men and maids she would
have scrubbed and polished the floors, and brushed the hangings and
cushions. What then were her feelings when the rider, who dismounted
from his little hackney as unpretendingly as did her husband in the
twilight court, proved to have my Lord's long beard and narrow face!

Curtseying her lowest and with a feeling of consternation and pity,
as she thought of the orphan boy, she accepted his greeting with
duteous welcome as he said, "Kinswoman, I am come to cumber you,
whilst I inquire into this matter. I give your son thanks for the
honesty and faithfulness he hath shown in the matter, as befitted his
father's son. I should wish myself to examine the springald."

Humfrey was accordingly called, and, privately admonished by his
father that he must not allow any scruples about bringing his
playmate into trouble to lead him to withhold his evidence, or shrink
from telling the whole truth as he knew it, Humfrey accordingly stood
before the Earl and made his replies a little sullenly but quite
straightforwardly. He had prevented the whistle from being given to
his sister for the huckstress because the woman was a witch, who
frightened her, and moreover he knew it was against rules. Did he
suspect that the whistle came from the Queen of Scots?

He looked startled, and asked if it were so indeed, and when again
commanded to say why he had thought it possible, he replied that he
knew Antony thought the Queen of Scots a fair and gracious lady.

Did he believe that Antony ever had communication with her or her
people unheard by others?

"Assuredly! Wherefore not, when he carried my Lady Countess's
messages?"

Lord Shrewsbury bent his brow, but did not further pursue this branch
of the subject, but demanded of Humfrey a description of Tibbott,
huckster or witch, man or woman.

"She wears a big black hood and muffler," said Humfrey, "and hath a
long hooked stick."

"I asked thee not of her muffler, boy, but of her person."

"She hath pouncet boxes and hawks' bells, and dog-whistles in her
basket," proceeded Humfrey, but as the Earl waxed impatient, and
demanded whether no one could give him a clearer account, Richard
bade Humfrey call his mother.

She, however, could say nothing as to the woman's appearance. She
had gone to Norman's cottage to offer her services after the supposed
accident, but had been told that the potticary of the Queen of Scots
had undertaken her cure, and had only seen her huddled up in a heap
of rags, asleep. Since her recovery the woman had been several times
at Bridgefield, but it had struck the mistress of the house that
there was a certain avoidance of direct communication with her, and a
preference for the servants and children. This Susan had ascribed to
fear that she should be warned off for her fortune-telling
propensities, or the children's little bargains interfered with. All
she could answer for was that she had once seen a huge pair of
grizzled eyebrows, with light eyes under them, and that the woman, if
woman she were, was tall, and bent a good deal upon a hooked stick,
which supported her limping steps. Cicely could say little more,
except that the witch had a deep awesome voice, like a man, and a
long nose terrible to look at. Indeed, there seemed to have been a
sort of awful fascination about her to all the children, who feared
her yet ran after her.

Antony was then sent for. It was not easy to judge of the expression
of his disfigured countenance, but when thus brought to bay he threw
off all tokens of compunction, and stood boldly before the Earl.

"So, Master Babington, I find you have been betraying the trust I
placed in you--"

"What, trust, my Lord?" said Antony, his bright blue eyes looking
back into those of the nobleman.

"The cockerel crows loud," said the Earl. "What trust, quotha! Is
there no trust implied in the coming and going of one of my
household, when such a charge is committed to me and mine?"

"No one ever gave me any charge," said Antony.

"Dost thou bandy words, thou froward imp?" said the Earl. "Thou hast
not the conscience to deny that there was no honesty in smuggling
forth a letter thus hidden. Deny it not. The treasonable cipher
hath been read!"

"I knew nought of what was in it," said the boy.

"I believe thee there, but thou didst know that it was foully
disloyal to me and to her Majesty to bear forth secret letters to
disguised traitors. I am willing to believe that the smooth tongue
which hath deluded many a better man than thou hath led thee astray,
and I am willing to deal as lightly with thee as may be, so thou wilt
tell me openly all thou knowest of this infamous plot."

"I know of no plot, sir."

"They would scarce commit the knowledge to the like of him," said
Richard Talbot.

"May be not," said Lord Shrewsbury, looking at him with a glance that
Antony thought contemptuous, and which prompted him to exclaim, "And
if I did know of one, you may be assured I would never betray it were
I torn with wild horses."

"Betray, sayest thou!" returned the Earl. "Thou hast betrayed my
confidence, Antony, and hast gone as far as in thee lies to betray
thy Queen."

"My Queen is Mary, the lawful Queen of us all," replied Antony,
boldly.

"Ho! Sayest thou so? It is then as thou didst trow, cousin, the
foolish lad hath been tampered with by the honeyed tongue. I need
not ask thee from whom thou hadst this letter, boy. We have read it
and know the foul treason therein. Thou wilt never return to the
castle again, but for thy father's sake thou shalt be dealt with less
sternly, if thou wilt tell who this woman is, and how many of these
toys thou hast given to her, if thou knowest who she is."

But Antony closed his lips resolutely. In fact, Richard suspected
him of being somewhat flattered by being the cause of such a
commotion, and actually accused of so grand and manly a crime as high
treason. The Earl could extract no word, and finally sentenced him
to remain at Bridgefield, shut up in his own chamber till he could be
dealt with. The lad walked away in a dignified manner, and the Earl,
holding up his hands, half amused, half vexed, said, "So the spell is
on that poor lad likewise. What shall I do with him? An orphan boy
too, and mine old friend's son."

"With your favour, my Lord," said Richard, "I should say, send him to
a grammar school, where among lads of his own age, the dreams about
captive princesses might be driven from him by hard blows and merry
games."

"That may scarce serve," said the Earl rather severely, for public
schools were then held beneath the dignity of both the nobility and
higher gentry. "I may, however, send him to study at Cambridge under
some trusty pedagogue. Back at the castle I cannot have him, so must
I cumber you with him, my good kinswoman, until his face have
recovered your son's lusty chastisement. Also it may be well to keep
him here till we can lay hands on this same huckster-woman, since
there may be need to confront him with her. It were best if you did
scour the country toward Chesterfield for her, while Frank went to
York."

Having thus issued his orders, the Earl took a gracious leave of the
lady, mounted his horse, and rode back to Sheffield, dispensing with
the attendance of his kinsman, who had indeed to prepare for an early
start the next morning, when he meant to take Humfrey with him, as
not unlikely to recognise the woman, though he could not describe
her.

"The boy merits well to go forth with me," said he. "He hath done
yeoman's service, and proved himself staunch and faithful."

"Was there matter in that scroll?" asked Susan.

"Only such slight matter as burning down the Talbots' kennel, while
Don John of Austria is landing on the coast."

"God forgive them, and defend us!" sighed Susan, turning pale. "Was
that in the cipher?"

"Ay, in sooth, but fear not, good wife. Much is purposed that ne'er
comes to pass. I doubt me if the ship be built that is to carry the
Don hither."

"I trust that Antony knew not of the wickedness?"

"Not he. His is only a dream out of the romances the lads love so
well, of beauteous princesses to be freed, and the like."

"But the woman!"

"Yea, that lies deeper. What didst thou say of her? Wherefore do
the children call her a witch? Is it only that she is grim and
ugly?"

"I trow there is more cause than that," said Susan. "It may be that
I should have taken more heed to their babble at first; but I have
questioned Cis while you were at the lodge, and I find that even
before Mate Goatley spake here, this Tibbott had told the child of
her being of lofty race in the north, alien to the Talbots' kennel,
holding out to her presages of some princely destiny."

"That bodeth ill!" said Richard, thoughtfully. "Wife, my soul
misgives me that the hand of Cuthbert Langston is in this."

Susan started. The idea chimed in with Tibbott's avoidance of her
scrutiny, and also with a certain vague sense she had had of having
seen those eyes before. So light-complexioned a man would be easily
disguised, and the halt was accounted for by a report that he had had
a bad fall when riding to join in the Rising in the North. Nor could
there now be any doubt that he was an ardent partisan of the
imprisoned Mary, while Richard had always known his inclination to
intrigue. She could only agree with her husband's opinion, and ask
what he would do.

"My duty must be done, kin or no kin," said Richard, "that is if I
find him; but I look not to do that, since Norman is no doubt off to
warn him."

"I marvel whether he hath really learnt who our Cis can be?"

"Belike not! The hint would only have been thrown out to gain power
over her."

"Said you that you read the cipher?"

"Master Frank did so."

"Would it serve you to read our scroll?"

"Ah, woman! woman! Why can thy kind never let well alone? I have
sufficient on my hands without reading of scrolls!"

Humfrey's delight was extreme when he found that he was to ride forth
with his father, and half-a-dozen of the earl's yeomen, in search of
the supposed witch. They traced her as far as Chesterfield; but
having met the carrier's waggon on the way, they carefully examined
Faithful Ekins on his report, but all the youth was clear about was
the halt and the orange tawny cloak, and after entering Chesterfield,
no one knew anything of these tokens. There was a large village
belonging to a family of recusants, not far off, where the pursuers
generally did lose sight of suspicious persons; and, perhaps, Richard
was relieved, though his son was greatly chagrined.

The good captain had a sufficient regard for his kinsman to be
unwilling to have to unmask him as a traitor, and to be glad that he
should have effected an escape, so that, at least, it should be
others who should detect him--if Langston indeed it were.

His next charge was to escort young Babington to Cambridge, and
deliver him up to a tutor of his lordship's selection, who might draw
the Popish fancies out of him.

Meantime, Antony had been kept close to the house and garden, and not
allowed any intercourse with any of the young people, save Humfrey,
except when the master or mistress of the house was present; but he
did not want for occupation, for Master Sniggius came down, and gave
him a long chapter of the Book of Proverbs--chiefly upon loyalty, in
the Septuagint, to learn by heart, and translate into Latin and
English as his Saturday's and Sunday's occupation, under pain of a
flogging, which was no light thing from the hands of that redoubted
dominie.

Young Babington was half-flattered and half-frightened at the
commotion he had excited. "Am I going to the Tower?" he asked, in a
low voice, awestricken, yet not without a certain ring of self-
importance, when he saw his mails brought down, and was bidden to put
on his boots and his travelling dress.

And Captain Talbot had a cruel satisfaction in replying, "No, Master
Babington; the Tower is not for refractory boys. You are going to
your schoolmaster."

But where the school was to be Richard kept an absolute secret by
special desire, in order that no communication should be kept up
through any of the household. He was to avoid Chatsworth, and to
return as soon as possible to endeavour to trace the supposed
huckster-woman at Chesterfield.

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