host. i will hear you, master fenton; and i will, at the
least, keep your counsel.
merry wives of windsor.
it becomes necessary to return to the detail of those circumstances which accompanied, and indeed occasioned, the sudden disappearance of tressilian from the sign of the black bear at cumnor. it will be recollected that this gentleman, after his rencounter with varney, had returned to giles gosling’s caravansary, where he shut himself up in his own chamber, demanded pen, ink, and paper, and announced his purpose to remain private for the day. in the evening he appeared again in the public room, where michael lambourne, who had been on the watch for him, agreeably to his engagement to varney, endeavoured to renew his acquaintance with him, and hoped he retained no unfriendly recollection of the part he had taken in the morning’s scuffle.
but tressilian repelled his advances firmly, though with civility. “master lambourne,” said he, “i trust i have recompensed to your pleasure the time you have wasted on me. under the show of wild bluntness which you exhibit, i know you have sense enough to understand me, when i say frankly that the object of our temporary acquaintance having been accomplished, we must be strangers to each other in future.”
“voto!” said lambourne, twirling his whiskers with one hand, and grasping the hilt of his weapon with the other; “if i thought that this usage was meant to insult me —”
“you would bear it with discretion, doubtless,” interrupted tressilian, “as you must do at any rate. you know too well the distance that is betwixt us, to require me to explain myself further. good evening.”
so saying, he turned his back upon his former companion, and entered into discourse with the landlord. michael lambourne felt strongly disposed to bully; but his wrath died away in a few incoherent oaths and ejaculations, and he sank unresistingly under the ascendency which superior spirits possess over persons of his habits and description. he remained moody and silent in a corner of the apartment, paying the most marked attention to every motion of his late companion, against whom he began now to nourish a quarrel on his own account, which he trusted to avenge by the execution of his new master varney’s directions. the hour of supper arrived, and was followed by that of repose, when tressilian, like others, retired to his sleeping apartment.
he had not been in bed long, when the train of sad reveries, which supplied the place of rest in his disturbed mind, was suddenly interrupted by the jar of a door on its hinges, and a light was seen to glimmer in the apartment. tressilian, who was as brave as steel, sprang from his bed at this alarm, and had laid hand upon his sword, when he was prevented from drawing it by a voice which said, “be not too rash with your rapier, master tressilian. it is i, your host, giles gosling.”
at the same time, unshrouding the dark lantern, which had hitherto only emitted an indistinct glimmer, the goodly aspect and figure of the landlord of the black bear was visibly presented to his astonished guest.
“what mummery is this, mine host?” said tressilian. “have you supped as jollily as last night, and so mistaken your chamber? or is midnight a time for masquerading it in your guest’s lodging?”
“master tressilian,” replied mine host, “i know my place and my time as well as e’er a merry landlord in england. but here has been my hang-dog kinsman watching you as close as ever cat watched a mouse; and here have you, on the other hand, quarrelled and fought, either with him or with some other person, and i fear that danger will come of it.”
“go to, thou art but a fool, man,” said tressilian. “thy kinsman is beneath my resentment; and besides, why shouldst thou think i had quarrelled with any one whomsoever?”
“oh, sir,” replied the innkeeper, “there was a red spot on thy very cheek-bone, which boded of a late brawl, as sure as the conjunction of mars and saturn threatens misfortune; and when you returned, the buckles of your girdle were brought forward, and your step was quick and hasty, and all things showed your hand and your hilt had been lately acquainted.”
“well, good mine host, if i have been obliged to draw my sword,” said tressilian, “why should such a circumstance fetch thee out of thy warm bed at this time of night? thou seest the mischief is all over.”
“under favour, that is what i doubt. anthony foster is a dangerous man, defended by strong court patronage, which hath borne him out in matters of very deep concernment. and, then, my kinsman — why, i have told you what he is; and if these two old cronies have made up their old acquaintance, i would not, my worshipful guest, that it should be at thy cost. i promise you, mike lambourne has been making very particular inquiries at my hostler when and which way you ride. now, i would have you think whether you may not have done or said something for which you may be waylaid, and taken at disadvantage.”
“thou art an honest man, mine host,” said tressilian, after a moment’s consideration, “and i will deal frankly with thee. if these men’s malice is directed against me — as i deny not but it may — it is because they are the agents of a more powerful villain than themselves.”
“you mean master richard varney, do you not?” said the landlord; “he was at cumnor place yesterday, and came not thither so private but what he was espied by one who told me.”
“i mean the same, mine host.”
“then, for god’s sake, worshipful master tressilian,” said honest gosling, “look well to yourself. this varney is the protector and patron of anthony foster, who holds under him, and by his favour, some lease of yonder mansion and the park. varney got a large grant of the lands of the abbacy of abingdon, and cumnor place amongst others, from his master, the earl of leicester. men say he can do everything with him, though i hold the earl too good a nobleman to employ him as some men talk of. and then the earl can do anything (that is, anything right or fitting) with the queen, god bless her! so you see what an enemy you have made to yourself.”
“well — it is done, and i cannot help it,” answered tressilian.
“uds precious, but it must be helped in some manner,” said the host. “richard varney — why, what between his influence with my lord, and his pretending to so many old and vexatious claims in right of the abbot here, men fear almost to mention his name, much more to set themselves against his practices. you may judge by our discourses the last night. men said their pleasure of tony foster, but not a word of richard varney, though all men judge him to be at the bottom of yonder mystery about the pretty wench. but perhaps you know more of that matter than i do; for women, though they wear not swords, are occasion for many a blade’s exchanging a sheath of neat’s leather for one of flesh and blood.”
“i do indeed know more of that poor unfortunate lady than thou dost, my friendly host; and so bankrupt am i, at this moment, of friends and advice, that i will willingly make a counsellor of thee, and tell thee the whole history, the rather that i have a favour to ask when my tale is ended.”
“good master tressilian,” said the landlord, “i am but a poor innkeeper, little able to adjust or counsel such a guest as yourself. but as sure as i have risen decently above the world, by giving good measure and reasonable charges, i am an honest man; and as such, if i may not be able to assist you, i am, at least, not capable to abuse your confidence. say away therefore, as confidently as if you spoke to your father; and thus far at least be certain, that my curiosity — for i will not deny that which belongs to my calling — is joined to a reasonable degree of discretion.”
“i doubt it not, mine host,” answered tressilian; and while his auditor remained in anxious expectation, he meditated for an instant how he should commence his narrative. “my tale,” he at length said, “to be quite intelligible, must begin at some distance back. you have heard of the battle of stoke, my good host, and perhaps of old sir roger robsart, who, in that battle, valiantly took part with henry vii., the queen’s grandfather, and routed the earl of lincoln, lord geraldin and his wild irish, and the flemings whom the duchess of burgundy had sent over, in the quarrel of lambert simnel?”
“i remember both one and the other,” said giles gosling; “it is sung of a dozen times a week on my ale-bench below. sir roger robsart of devon — oh, ay, ’tis him of whom minstrels sing to this hour,—
‘he was the flower of stoke’s red field,
when martin swart on ground lay slain;
in raging rout he never reel’d,
but like a rock did firm remain.’
7
ay, and then there was martin swart i have heard my grandfather talk of, and of the jolly almains whom he commanded, with their slashed doublets and quaint hose, all frounced with ribands above the nether-stocks. here’s a song goes of martin swart, too, an i had but memory for it:—
‘martin swart and his men,
saddle them, saddle them,
martin swart and his men;
saddle them well.’”
8
“true, good mine host — the day was long talked of; but if you sing so loud, you will awake more listeners than i care to commit my confidence unto.”
“i crave pardon, my worshipful guest,” said mine host, “i was oblivious. when an old song comes across us merry old knights of the spigot, it runs away with our discretion.”
“well, mine host, my grandfather, like some other cornishmen, kept a warm affection to the house of york, and espoused the quarrel of this simnel, assuming the title of earl of warwick, as the county afterwards, in great numbers, countenanced the cause of perkin warbeck, calling himself the duke of york. my grandsire joined simnel’s standard, and was taken fighting desperately at stoke, where most of the leaders of that unhappy army were slain in their harness. the good knight to whom he rendered himself, sir roger robsart, protected him from the immediate vengeance of the king, and dismissed him without ransom. but he was unable to guard him from other penalties of his rashness, being the heavy fines by which he was impoverished, according to henry’s mode of weakening his enemies. the good knight did what he might to mitigate the distresses of my ancestor; and their friendship became so strict, that my father was bred up as the sworn brother and intimate of the present sir hugh robsart, the only son of sir roger, and the heir of his honest, and generous, and hospitable temper, though not equal to him in martial achievements.”
“i have heard of good sir hugh robsart,” interrupted the host, “many a time and oft; his huntsman and sworn servant, will badger, hath spoken of him an hundred times in this very house. a jovial knight he is, and hath loved hospitality and open housekeeping more than the present fashion, which lays as much gold lace on the seams of a doublet as would feed a dozen of tall fellows with beef and ale for a twelvemonth, and let them have their evening at the alehouse once a week, to do good to the publican.”
“if you have seen will badger, mine host,” said tressilian, “you have heard enough of sir hugh robsart; and therefore i will but say, that the hospitality you boast of hath proved somewhat detrimental to the estate of his family, which is perhaps of the less consequence, as he has but one daughter to whom to bequeath it. and here begins my share in the tale. upon my father’s death, now several years since, the good sir hugh would willingly have made me his constant companion. there was a time, however, at which i felt the kind knight’s excessive love for field-sports detained me from studies, by which i might have profited more; but i ceased to regret the leisure which gratitude and hereditary friendship compelled me to bestow on these rural avocations. the exquisite beauty of mistress amy robsart, as she grew up from childhood to woman, could not escape one whom circumstances obliged to be so constantly in her company — i loved her, in short, mine host, and her father saw it.”
“and crossed your true loves, no doubt?” said mine host. “it is the way in all such cases; and i judge it must have been so in your instance, from the heavy sigh you uttered even now.”
“the case was different, mine host. my suit was highly approved by the generous sir hugh robsart; it was his daughter who was cold to my passion.”
“she was the more dangerous enemy of the two,” said the innkeeper. “i fear me your suit proved a cold one.”
“she yielded me her esteem,” said tressilian, “and seemed not unwilling that i should hope it might ripen into a warmer passion. there was a contract of future marriage executed betwixt us, upon her father’s intercession; but to comply with her anxious request, the execution was deferred for a twelvemonth. during this period, richard varney appeared in the country, and, availing himself of some distant family connection with sir hugh robsart, spent much of his time in his company, until, at length, he almost lived in the family.”
“that could bode no good to the place he honoured with his residence,” said gosling.
“no, by the rood!” replied tressilian. “misunderstanding and misery followed his presence, yet so strangely that i am at this moment at a loss to trace the gradations of their encroachment upon a family which had, till then, been so happy. for a time amy robsart received the attentions of this man varney with the indifference attached to common courtesies; then followed a period in which she seemed to regard him with dislike, and even with disgust; and then an extraordinary species of connection appeared to grow up betwixt them. varney dropped those airs of pretension and gallantry which had marked his former approaches; and amy, on the other hand, seemed to renounce the ill-disguised disgust with which she had regarded them. they seemed to have more of privacy and confidence together than i fully liked, and i suspected that they met in private, where there was less restraint than in our presence. many circumstances, which i noticed but little at the time — for i deemed her heart as open as her angelic countenance — have since arisen on my memory, to convince me of their private understanding. but i need not detail them — the fact speaks for itself. she vanished from her father’s house; varney disappeared at the same time; and this very day i have seen her in the character of his paramour, living in the house of his sordid dependant foster, and visited by him, muffled, and by a secret entrance.”
“and this, then, is the cause of your quarrel? methinks, you should have been sure that the fair lady either desired or deserved your interference.”
“mine host,” answered tressilian, “my father — such i must ever consider sir hugh robsart — sits at home struggling with his grief, or, if so far recovered, vainly attempting to drown, in the practice of his field-sports, the recollection that he had once a daughter — a recollection which ever and anon breaks from him under circumstances the most pathetic. i could not brook the idea that he should live in misery, and amy in guilt; and i endeavoured to-seek her out, with the hope of inducing her to return to her family. i have found her, and when i have either succeeded in my attempt, or have found it altogether unavailing, it is my purpose to embark for the virginia voyage.”
“be not so rash, good sir,” replied giles gosling, “and cast not yourself away because a woman — to be brief — is a woman, and changes her lovers like her suit of ribands, with no better reason than mere fantasy. and ere we probe this matter further, let me ask you what circumstances of suspicion directed you so truly to this lady’s residence, or rather to her place of concealment?”
“the last is the better chosen word, mine host,” answered tressilian; “and touching your question, the knowledge that varney held large grants of the demesnes formerly belonging to the monks of abingdon directed me to this neighbourhood; and your nephew’s visit to his old comrade foster gave me the means of conviction on the subject.”
“and what is now your purpose, worthy sir?— excuse my freedom in asking the question so broadly.”
“i purpose, mine host,” said tressilian, “to renew my visit to the place of her residence tomorrow, and to seek a more detailed communication with her than i have had today. she must indeed be widely changed from what she once was, if my words make no impression upon her.”
“under your favour, master tressilian,” said the landlord, “you can follow no such course. the lady, if i understand you, has already rejected your interference in the matter.”
“it is but too true,” said tressilian; “i cannot deny it.”
“then, marry, by what right or interest do you process a compulsory interference with her inclination, disgraceful as it may be to herself and to her parents? unless my judgment gulls me, those under whose protection she has thrown herself would have small hesitation to reject your interference, even if it were that of a father or brother; but as a discarded lover, you expose yourself to be repelled with the strong hand, as well as with scorn. you can apply to no magistrate for aid or countenance; and you are hunting, therefore, a shadow in water, and will only (excuse my plainness) come by ducking and danger in attempting to catch it.”
“i will appeal to the earl of leicester,” said tressilian, “against the infamy of his favourite. he courts the severe and strict sect of puritans. he dare not, for the sake of his own character, refuse my appeal, even although he were destitute of the principles of honour and nobleness with which fame invests him. or i will appeal to the queen herself.”
“should leicester,” said the landlord, “be disposed to protect his dependant (as indeed he is said to be very confidential with varney), the appeal to the queen may bring them both to reason. her majesty is strict in such matters, and (if it be not treason to speak it) will rather, it is said, pardon a dozen courtiers for falling in love with herself, than one for giving preference to another woman. coragio then, my brave guest! for if thou layest a petition from sir hugh at the foot of the throne, bucklered by the story of thine own wrongs, the favourite earl dared as soon leap into the thames at the fullest and deepest, as offer to protect varney in a cause of this nature. but to do this with any chance of success, you must go formally to work; and, without staying here to tilt with the master of horse to a privy councillor, and expose yourself to the dagger of his cameradoes, you should hie you to devonshire, get a petition drawn up for sir hugh robsart, and make as many friends as you can to forward your interest at court.”
“you have spoken well, mine host,” said tressilian, “and i will profit by your advice, and leave you tomorrow early.”
“nay, leave me to-night, sir, before tomorrow comes,” said he landlord. “i never prayed for a guest’s arrival more eagerly than i do to have you safely gone, my kinsman’s destiny is most like to be hanged for something, but i would not that the cause were the murder of an honoured guest of mine. ‘better ride safe in the dark,’ says the proverb, ‘than in daylight with a cut-throat at your elbow.’ come, sir, i move you for your own safety. your horse and all is ready, and here is your score.”
“it is somewhat under a noble,” said tressilian, giving one to the host; “give the balance to pretty cicely, your daughter, and the servants of the house.”
“they shall taste of your bounty, sir,” said gosling, “and you should taste of my daughter’s lips in grateful acknowledgment, but at this hour she cannot grace the porch to greet your departure.”
“do not trust your daughter too far with your guests, my good landlord,” said tressilian.
“oh, sir, we will keep measure; but i wonder not that you are jealous of them all.— may i crave to know with what aspect the fair lady at the place yesterday received you?”
“i own,” said tressilian, “it was angry as well as confused, and affords me little hope that she is yet awakened from her unhappy delusion.”
“in that case, sir, i see not why you should play the champion of a wench that will none of you, and incur the resentment of a favourite’s favourite, as dangerous a monster as ever a knight adventurer encountered in the old story books.”
“you do me wrong in the supposition, mine host — gross wrong,” said tressilian; “i do not desire that amy should ever turn thought upon me more. let me but see her restored to her father, and all i have to do in europe — perhaps in the world — is over and ended.”
“a wiser resolution were to drink a cup of sack, and forget her,” said the landlord. “but five-and-twenty and fifty look on those matters with different eyes, especially when one cast of peepers is set in the skull of a young gallant, and the other in that of an old publican. i pity you, master tressilian, but i see not how i can aid you in the matter.”
“only thus far, mine host,” replied tressilian —“keep a watch on the motions of those at the place, which thou canst easily learn without suspicion, as all men’s news fly to the ale-bench; and be pleased to communicate the tidings in writing to such person, and to no other, who shall bring you this ring as a special token. look at it; it is of value, and i will freely bestow it on you.”
“nay, sir,” said the landlord, “i desire no recompense — but it seems an unadvised course in me, being in a public line, to connect myself in a matter of this dark and perilous nature. i have no interest in it.”
“you, and every father in the land, who would have his daughter released from the snares of shame, and sin, and misery, have an interest deeper than aught concerning earth only could create.”
“well, sir,” said the host, “these are brave words; and i do pity from my soul the frank-hearted old gentleman, who has minished his estate in good housekeeping for the honour of his country, and now has his daughter, who should be the stay of his age, and so forth, whisked up by such a kite as this varney. and though your part in the matter is somewhat of the wildest, yet i will e’en be a madcap for company, and help you in your honest attempt to get back the good man’s child, so far as being your faithful intelligencer can serve. and as i shall be true to you, i pray you to be trusty to me, and keep my secret; for it were bad for the custom of the black bear should it be said the bear-warder interfered in such matters. varney has interest enough with the justices to dismount my noble emblem from the post on which he swings so gallantly, to call in my license, and ruin me from garret to cellar.”
“do not doubt my secrecy, mine host,” said tressilian; “i will retain, besides, the deepest sense of thy service, and of the risk thou dost run — remember the ring is my sure token. and now, farewell! for it was thy wise advice that i should tarry here as short a time as may be.”
“follow me, then, sir guest,” said the landlord, “and tread as gently as if eggs were under your foot, instead of deal boards. no man must know when or how you departed.”
by the aid of his dark lantern he conducted tressilian, as soon as he had made himself ready for his journey, through a long intricacy of passages, which opened to an outer court, and from thence to a remote stable, where he had already placed his guest’s horse. he then aided him to fasten on the saddle the small portmantle which contained his necessaries, opened a postern door, and with a hearty shake of the hand, and a reiteration of his promise to attend to what went on at cumnor place, he dismissed his guest to his solitary journey.
