an accuser.
on being brought into the room by rodomont and mallet, derrick carver made a profound reverence to the queen, but none to philip and the cardinal. then addressing himself to constance, he said, “welcome, daughter! is the time come for our deliverance from bondage?”
“not yet,” she replied.
“how long, o lord! wilt thou suffer thy saints to be persecuted?” exclaimed the enthusiast. “it would be glad tidings to me to learn that the end of my weary pilgrimage was near at hand.”
“are you prepared to meet the death you seem to covet?” asked pole.
“i trust so,” replied carver. “i have prayed long and deeply.”
“and repented of your sins—of your murtherous designs against the life of his majesty?” pursued pole.
“i do not regard that design as sinful,” said carver. “repentance, therefore, is uncalled for.”
“and you believe yourself to be religious, mistaken man,” rejoined pole. “i tell you, if you die in this impenitent state, you will perish everlastingly. you are so blinded by pride and vain-glory that you cannot discern evil from good, and persuade yourself that you are actuated 224by high and noble motives, when in reality your motives are sinful and damnable. you are nothing more than an execrable assassin; so hardened in guilt that your heart is inaccessible to virtuous and honourable feelings. true religion you have none. you profess to believe in the tenets of the gospel, yet practise them not. our blessed saviour would never number you among his followers, but would cast you off as an unprofitable and faithless servant. you reject truths you do not understand, treat sacred rites as superstitious, and revile those who differ from you in opinion. go to! you ask for death, and yet you are unfit to die.”
“it is not for you to pass sentence upon me,” said carver. “heaven, to whom my secret motives are known, will judge me.”
“and condemn you, if you repent not,” said pole, “for your soul is charged with heavy offences. as i am informed by those who have heard you, you have prayed for her majesty’s destruction.”
“i have prayed heaven to touch her heart, so as to cause her to abandon idolatry, or to abridge her days,” rejoined carver. “better she be removed than false gods be set up in our temples.”
“and know you not that by giving utterance to such a prayer you incur the doom of a traitor?” said pole. “your offences are so rank and monstrous, that unless you exhibit some penitence, i cannot intercede in your behalf with her majesty.”
“i ask for no grace from her, and expect none,” replied carver. “had i twenty lives, i would lay them down for my religion and for my country. we have been delivered to a foreign yoke. but it will not bind us long.”
“peace!” cried rodomont. “knowest thou not that thou art in the presence of the king?”
“i know it well, and therefore i speak out,” rejoined carver. “i tell this proud prince of spain that england will never submit to his hateful and tyrannous rule. the country will rise up against him, and cast him off. he persuades himself that a son will be born to him, and that through that son he will govern. but he is 225puffed up with vain hopes. heaven will refuse him issue.”
“ha! this passes all endurance,” cried philip.
“have i touched thee, tyrant?” pursued carver, exultingly. “heaven, i repeat, will refuse thee issue. the support on which thou countest will be taken from thee. didst thou dare make the attempt, the accursed inquisition would at this moment be established amongst us. thou hast it in reserve for a future day, but ere that day arrives thy perfidy will be discovered. false to thy oaths, faithless to thy queen, treacherous to all, thou shalt meet thy just reward.”
“faithless to me!” exclaimed mary. “what wouldst thou dare insinuate, thou foul-mouthed villain?”
“that which i will dare maintain,” rejoined carver—“that the consort you have chosen and have placed on the throne beside you is false to his marriage vows.”
“away with him!” cried philip, furiously.
“stay!” exclaimed mary. “i would question him further.”
“forbear, i beseech you, madam,” interposed pole. “you only give him power to level his poisonous shafts against you.”
“his tongue ought to be torn from his throat for giving utterance to the lies his black heart has conceived!” cried philip.
“my tongue has uttered no lies,” said carver. “i have shown the queen how she has been deceived.”
“thou hast simply proved thine own wickedness and malevolence,” said pole. “her majesty despises thy slander.”
“but it cannot pass unpunished.” said philip. “let the false villain instantly retract the calumnies he has uttered, or he shall be tied to yon post and scourged till he shall confess himself a liar and a slanderer. let him be forced to recite the prayer for her majesty’s safe deliverance, on pain of further torture. and, until he manifest contrition for his offences, let his chastisement be daily repeated.”
“i will do none of these things,” rejoined carver, resolutely. 226“scourge me to death, and i will not retract a single word i have uttered. i will not pray that the queen, whom thou hast deceived and wronged, may bear thee a son, and so confirm thine authority. but i will pray to the last that my country may be delivered from oppression, that the papal power may be overthrown, and the protestant religion be re-established.”
“thy resolution shall be tested,” said philip.
“your majesty is justly incensed against this miserable man,” said pole to the king. “yet would i step between him and your anger, and entreat you to spare him the chastisement you have ordered to be inflicted upon him. i do not seek to extenuate his offences, they are many and heinous, and he must bear their punishment. but spare him additional suffering. spare him the scourge and the rack.”
“i will spare him nothing unless he retract,” replied philip, sternly.
“i would accept no grace procured by thee,” said carver to pole. “as the representative of antichrist, i regard thee with loathing and detestation, and will take nothing from thee.”
“were not thy mind distraught, thou couldst have no antipathy to one who would befriend thee,” replied the cardinal. “my religion teaches me to bless those that curse us, to pray for them that use us despitefully. be assured i shall not forget thee in my prayers.”
carver regarded him steadily, but made no answer.
“i shall pray that thy heart may be softened,” pursued pole, “that thou mayst understand thy sinfulness, and truly repent of it ere it be too late. once more i beseech your majesty to spare him the torture.”
“be it as you will. i can refuse your eminence nothing,” replied philip.
“this is all the revenge i would take,” said pole, turning to carver. “you have declared that you hate me—that you regard me as the representative of antichrist. you profess yourself to be a believer in the gospel. my practice is, at least, more conformable to its precepts than yours.”
carver made no reply, but his lip slightly quivered.
227“miserable man,” continued pole, looking at him compassionately, “i pity you, and would save you if i could. i see the struggle going on in your breast. wrestle with the demon who would gain the mastery over your soul, and cast him from you. pride stifles the better emotions of your heart. do not restrain them.”
“if i listen to him much longer, my resolution will fail me,” murmured carver. “i cannot resist his influence.”
“ere long you will be in a better frame of mind,” continued pole, “and more accessible to the arguments i would employ.”
“think it not,” interrupted carver, at once recovering his sternness. “you will never convert me to popery and idolatry.”
“i may at least make you sensible of your errors, and lead you to repentance,” said pole. “the rest lies with heaven.”
“he shall remain in your eminence’s charge during a short space,” said mary, “in the hope that you may be able to bring him to a full sense of his enormities, and prepare him for his end. his life is forfeited.”
“so the death to which i am doomed be the same as that wherewith the staunchest adherents of our faith are menaced, i am content,” said carver.
“thou shall have thy wish,” rejoined mary. “thy death shall be by fire.”
“then i shall gain my crown of martyrdom,” cried carver, exultingly.
“fire will not purge out your sins,” said the cardinal. “those will cling to the soul, which is indestructible. therefore repent.”
“and speedily,” added mary, “for thy time is short.”
hereupon her majesty arose, and, quitting the post room, proceeded to the chapel, to which, as we have previously intimated, there was access from the lower part of the lollards’ tower.
here mass was performed, and, by the queen’s express orders, both constance tyrrell and derrick carver were brought into the chapel during the service. at its close 228they were taken to the cells, while the royal pair proceeded with the cardinal to the banquetting chamber, where a collation was prepared.
the queen, however, declined to partake of the repast, saying she felt faint and ill, and two ladies who had accompanied her to the palace being hastily summoned, she retired with them.
