Chapter 7 of St. George and St. Michael, Volume 1 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Jordan. St. George and St. Michael, Volume 1 by George MacDonald. Chapter 7 Reflections left alone with Lady, his mayor, Richard could not help brooding rather than pondering over what the old woman had said. Not that for a moment he contemplated as a possibility the acceptance of the witch's offer to come himself into any such close relations with her as that would imply was in repulsiveness second only to the idea of subjecting Dorothy to her influences. For something to occupy his hands that his mind might be restless at will he gave his mayor a careful carrying than an extra feed of boats and then a gallop after which it was time to go to bed. I doubt if anything but the consciousness of crime will keep a healthy youth awake and as such consciousness is generally far from it youth seldom counts the watchers of the night. Richard soon fell fast asleep and dreamed that his patron saint alas for his Protestantism appeared to him, handed him a lance, headed with a single flashing diamond and told him to go and therewith kill the dragon. But just as he was asking the way to the dragon's den that he might perform his behest the saint vanished and feeling the lance melting away in his grasp he gradually woke to find it gone. After a long talk with his father in the study he was left to his own resources for the remainder of the day and as it passed and the night drew on the offer of the witch kept growing upon his imagination and his longing to see Dorothy became stronger and stronger until at last it was almost too intense to be born. He had never before known such a possession and was more than half inclined to attribute it to the arts of Mother Reese. His father was busy in his study below writing letters an employment which now occupied much of his time and Richard sat alone in a chamber in the upper part of one of the many gables of the house which he had occupied longer than he could remember. It's one small projecting lozenge-pained window looked towards Dorothy's home. Some years ago he had been able to see her window from it through a gap in the trees by favor of which indeed they had indulged in a system of communication by means of colored flags so satisfactory that Dorothy not only pressed into the service all the old frocks she could find but got into trouble for cutting up one almost new for the enlargement of the somewhat limited scope of their telegraphy. In this window he now sat sending his soul through the darkness milky with the clouded light of half an old moon towards the ancient sundial where time stood so still that sometimes Richard had known an hour there to pass in a moment. Never until now had he felt enmity in space it had been hitherto rather as a bridge to bear him to Dorothy than a gulf to divide him from her presence but now through the interpenetrative power of feeling their alienation had affected all around as well as within him and space appeared as a solid enemy and darkness as an unfriendly enchantress each doing what it could to separate betwixt him and the being to whom his soul was drawn as no there was no as for such drawing no opposition of mere circumstances could have created the feeling it was the sense of an inward separation taking form outwardly for Richard was now but too well convinced that he had no power of persuasion equal to the task of making Dorothy see things as he saw them the dividing influence of imperfect opposing goods is potent as that of warring good and evil with this important difference that the former is but for a season and will one day bind as strongly as it parted while the latter is essential absolute impossible eternal to Dorothy Richard seemed guilty of overweening arrogance and its attendant presumption she could not see the form ethereal to which he bowed to Richard Dorothy appeared the dupe of superstition he could not see the God that dwelt within the idol to Dorothy Richard seemed to be one who gave the holy name of truth to nothing but the offspring of his own vain fancy to Richard Dorothy appeared one who so little loved the truth that she was ready to accept anything presented to her as such by those who themselves loved the word more than the spirit and the chrysalis of safety better than the wings of power but it is only for a time that any good can do the good appear evil and at this very moment nature who in her blindness is stronger to bind than the farthest seeing intellect to loose was urging him into her presence and the heart of Dorothy not withstanding her initiative in the separation was leaning as lovingly as sadly after the youth she had left alone with the defaced sundial the symbol of times weariness had they however been permitted to meet as they would the natural result of ever-renewed dissension would have been a thorough separation in heart no heavenly twilight of loneliness giving time for the love which grows like the grass to recover from the scorching heat of intellectual jar and friction the waning moon at length peered wearily from behind a bank of cloud and her dim light melting through the darkness filled the night with a dream of the day Richard was no more of a poet or dreamer of dreams than is any honest youth so long as love holds the bandage of custom away from his eyes the poets are they who all their life long contrived to see over or through the bandage but they would I doubt have but few readers had not nature decreed that all youths and maidens shall for a period be it long or short become aware that they too are of the race of the singers shall in the journey of their life at least pass through the zone of song some of them recognize it as the region of truth and continue to believe in it still when it seems to have vanished from around them others scoff as it disappears and curse themselves for dupes through this zone Richard was now passing hence the moon water him a sorrowful face and he felt a vague sympathy in her regard that of one who was herself in trouble half the light of her lord's countenance withdrawn for science had not for him interfered with the shows of things by a partial revelation of their realities he had not learned that the face of the moon is the face of a corpse world that the sadness upon it is the sadness of utter loss that her light has in it no dissolved smile is but the reflex from a lifeless mirror that of all the orbs we know best she can have least to do with lovers longings and losses she alone having no love left in her the cold cinder of a quenched world not an out burnt cinder though she needs but to be cast again into the furnace of the sun as it was Richard had gazed at her hardly for a minute when he found the tears running down his face and starting up ashamed of the unmanly weakness hardly knew what he was doing before he found himself in the open air from the hall clock came the first stroke of 12 as he closed the door behind him it was the hour at which mother Reese had offered him a meeting with Dorothy but it was assuredly with no expectation of seeing her that he turned his steps towards her dwelling end of chapter seven chapter eight part one of st. George and st. Michael volume one this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Jordan st. George and st. Michael volume one by George McDonald chapter eight an adventure part one when he reached the spot at which he usually turned off by a gap in the hedge to needle his way through the unpathed wood he yielded to the impulses of memory and habit and sought the you circle where for some moments he stood by the dumb disfeatured stone which seemed to slumber in the moonlight a monument slowly vanishing from above a vanished grave indeed it might well have been the grave of buried time for what fit a monument could he have than a mutilated sundial what better enclosure than such a hedge of use and more suitable light than that of the dying moon or was it but that the heart of the youth receiving these things as into a concave mirror reprojected them into space all shadowy with its own ghostliness and gloom close by the dial like the dark way into regions where time is not yawned the mouth of the bleached alley beyond that was her window on which the moon must now be shining he entered the alley and walked softly towards the house suddenly down the dark tunnel came rushing upon him Dorothy's mastiff with a noise as of 20 soft feet and a growl as if his throat had been full of teeth changing to a boisterous welcome when he discovered who the stranger was fearful of disturbing the household Richard soon quieted the dog which was in the habit of obeying him almost as readily as his mistress and fearful of disturbing sleepers or watchers approached the house like a thief to gain a sight of Dorothy's window he had to pass that of the parlor and then the porch which he did on the grass that his steps might be noiseless but here the dog started from his heel and bounded into the porch leading after him the eyes of Richard who there upon saw what would have else remained undiscovered two figures namely standing in its deep shadow judging at his part as a friend of the family to see who at so late an hour and so near the house seemed to thus to avoid discovery Richard drew nearer and the next moment saw that the door was open behind them and that they were Dorothy and a young man the gates will be shut said Dorothy it is no matter old Eccles will open to me at any hour was the answer still it were well you went without delay said Dorothy and her voice trembled a little for she had caught sight of Richard now not only our anger and stupidity near of kin but when a man whose mental movements are naturally deliberate is suddenly spurred he is in great danger of acting like a fool and Richard did act like a fool he strode up to the entrance of the porch and said do you not hear the lady sir she tells you to go a voice as cool and self-possessed as the other was hasty and perturbed replied I am much in the wrong sir if the lady do not turn the command upon yourself until you have obeyed it she may perhaps see reason for withdrawing it in respect of me Richard stepped into the porch but Dorothy glided between them and gently pushed him out Richard Haywood she said who interjected the stranger softly you can claim no right she went on to be here at this hour pray go you will disturb my mother who is this man then whose right seems acknowledged asked Richard in ill suppressed fury when you address me like a gentleman such as I used to believe you may I presume to ask when you ceased to regard me as a gentleman mistress Dorothy as soon as I found that you had learned to despise law and religion answered the girl such a one will hardly succeed in acting the part of a gentleman even had he the blood of the summer sets in his veins I thank you mistress Dorothy said the stranger and will profit by the plain hint once more tell me to go and I will obey he must go first returned Dorothy Richard had been standing as if stunned but now with an effort recovered himself I will wait for you he said and turned away for whom sir asked Dorothy indignantly you have refused me the gentleman's name answered Richard perhaps I may have the good fortune to persuade himself to be more obliging I shall not keep you waiting long said the young man significantly as Richard walked away to do Richard justice and greatly he needs it I must make the remark that such had been the intimacy betwixt him and Dorothy that he might well imagine himself acquainted with all the friends of her house but the intimacy had been confined to the children the heads of the two houses although good neighbors had not been drawn towards each other and their mutual respect had not ripened into friendship hence many of the family and social relations of each were unknown to the other and indeed both families led such a retired life that the children knew little of their own relatives even and seldom spoke of any lady scudamore the mother of the stranger was first cousin to lady Vaughn they had been very intimate as girls but had not met for years hardly since the former married Sir John the son of one of King James's carpet knights hearing of her cousin's illness she had come to visit her at last under the escort of her son taken with his new cousin the youth had lingered and lingered and in fact Dorothy had been unable to get rid of him before an hour strange for leave taking in such a quiet and yet hospitable neighborhood Richard took his stand on the side of the public road opposite the gate but just as scudamore came which was hardly a minute after a cloud crept over the moon and as he happened to stand in a line with the bowl of a tree scudamore did not catch sight of him when he turned to walk along the road Richard thought he avoided him and making a great stride or two after him called aloud stop so stop you forget your appointments over easily I think oh you are there said the youth turning I am glad you acknowledge my presence said Richard not the better pleased with his new acquaintance that his speech and behavior had an easy tone of superiority which if indefinably felt by the homebred lad was not therefore to be willingly accorded his easy carriage his light step his still shoulders and lithe spine indicated both birth and training just the night for a serenade he went on heedless of Richard's remark bright but not too bright cloudy but not too cloudy sir said Richard amazed at his coolness oh you want a quarrel with me return the youth but it takes two to fight as well as to kiss and I will not make one tonight I know who you are well enough have no quarrel with you except indeed it be true as indeed it must for Dorothy tells me so that you have turned round head as well as your father what right have you to speak so familiarly of mistress Dorothy said Richard it occurs to me replied scudamore eerily that I had better ask you by what right you haunt her house at midnight but I would not willingly cross you in cold blood I wish you good a night and better luck next time you go courting the moon swam from behind a cloud and her overripe and fading light seemed to the eyes of Richard to gather upon the figure before him and their revive the youth had on a doublet of some reddish color ill brought out by the moonlight but it's silver lace and the rapier hilt inlaid with silver shone the kina against it a short cloak hung from his left shoulder trimmed also with silver lace and a little cataract of silver fringe fell from the edges of his short trousers into the wide tops of his boots which were adorned with ruffles he wore a large collar of lace and cuffs of the same were folded back from his bare hands a broad brimmed beaver hat its silver band fastened with a jewel holding a plume of willowy feathers completed his attire which he wore with just the slightest of a jaunty air it was hardly the dress for a walk at midnight but he had come in his mother's carriage and had to go home without it alas now for Richard's share in the freedom to which he had of late imagined himself devoted no sooner had the words last spoken entered his ears than he was but a driven slave ready to rush into any quarrel with the man who spoke them ere he had gone three paces he had stepped in front of him whatever writes mistress Dorothy may have given you he said she had none to transfer in respect of my father what do you mean by calling him a roundhead why is he not one ask the youth simply keeping his ground in spite of the unpleasant proximity of Richard's person i am sorry to have wronged him but i mistook him for a ringleader of the same name i heartily beg your pardon you did not mistake said Richard stupidly then i did him no wrong rejoined the youth and once more would have gone his way but Richard angrier than ever at finding he had given him such an easy advantage moved with his movement and kept rudely in front of him provoking a quarrel in clownish fashion it must be confessed by heaven said scudamore if Dorothy had not begged me not to fight with you and as he spoke he slipped suddenly past his antagonist and walked swiftly away Richard plunged after him and seized him roughly by the shoulder instantaneously he wheeled on the very foot once he was taking the next stride and as he turned his rapier gleamed in the moonlight the same moment it left his hand he scarce knew how and flew across the hedge Richard who is unarmed had seized the blade and almost by one in the same movement of his wrist wrenched the hilt from the grasp of his adversary and flung the thing from him then closing with the cavalier slider and less skilled in such encounters the roundhead almost instantly threw him upon the turf that bordered the road take that for drawing on an unarmed man he said no reply came the youth lay stunned then compassion woke in the heart of the angry Richard and he hastened to his help yeah he reached him however he made an attempt to rise but only to stagger and fall again curse you for a roundhead he cried you've twisted some of my tackle i can't stand i'm sorry returned Richard but why did you bear bilboe on a naked man i write malignant you are did i return scudamore you laid hands on me so suddenly i ask your pardon accepting the offered aid of Richard he rose but his right knee was so much hurt that he could not walk a step without great pain full of regret for the suffering he had caused Richard lifted him in his arms and seated him on a low wall of earth which was all that here enclosed lady Vaughn's shrubbery then breaking through the hedge on the opposite side of the way presently returned with the rapier and handed it to him scudamore accepted it cursiously with difficulty replaced it in its sheath rose and once more attempted to walk but gave a groan and would have fallen had not Richard caught him the devil is in it he cried with more annoyance than anger if i am not in my place at my lord's breakfast tomorrow there will be questioning that i had leave to accompany my mother makes the mischief if i had stolen away it would be another matter it will be hard to bear a buke and no frolic come home with me said Richard my father will do his best to atone for the wrong done by his son set foot across the threshold of a roundhead fanatic in the way of hospitality none of the choice labor tweaks that and my coffin cried the cavalier then let me carry you back to lady Vaughn's said Richard with a torturing pang of jealousy which only his sense of right now thoroughly roused enabled him to defy i dare not i should terrify my mother and perhaps kill my cousin your mother your cousin cried Richard yes returned scudamore my mother is there on a visit to her cousin lady Vaughn alas i am more to blame than i knew said Richard no scudamore went on heedless of Richard's lamentation i must crawl back to raglan as i may if i get there before morning i shall be able to show reason why i should not wait upon my lord at his breakfast you belong to the earl's household then said Richard yes and i fear i shall be gray headed before i belong to anything else he makes much of the ancient customs of the country i would he would follow them in the good old times i should have been made a squire at least by now if indeed i had not earned my spurs but his lordship will never be content without me to hand him his buttered egg at breakfast and fill his cup at dinner with his favorite claret and so i am neither more nor less than a page which rhymes with my age better than it suits it but the earl has a will of his own he is a master worth serving though and there is my lady elizabeth and my lady mary not to mention my lord herbert but he concluded rubbing his injured knee with both hands why do i pray to them to a roundhead why indeed returned Richard are they not the earl and all his people traitors and that of the worst are they not the enemies of the truth worshipers of idols bowing the knee to a woman and kissing the very toes of an old man so in love with ignorance that he tortures the philosopher who tells him the truth about the world and its motions go on master roundhead i can chastise you and that you know this cursed knee i will stand unarmed within your thrust and never budge a foot said Richard but no he added i dare not lest i should further injure one i have wronged already let there be a truce between us i am no papist return scudamore i speak only as one of the earl's household true men all for them i cast the word in your teeth you roundhead traitor for myself i am of the english church it is but the wolf and the wolf's cub said Richard prolactical episcopacy is but the old harlot veiled or rather for sooth her bloody scarlet blackened in the sulfur fumes of her coming desolation curse on roundhead side the youth i must crawl home once more he rose and made an effort to walk but it was of no use walk he could not i must wait till the morning he said when some christian wagoner may be passing leave me in peace nay i am no such bore said Richard do you think you could ride i could try i will bring you the best mare in gwent but tell me your name that i may know with whom i have the honor of a feud my name is roland scudamore answered the youth yours i know already and roundhead as you are you have some snatch of honor in you with an air of condescension he held out his hand which is adversary oppressed with a sense of the injury he had done him did not refuse Richard hurried home and to the stable where he saddled his mare but his father who is still in his study heard the sound of her hoofs on the paved yard and met him as he led her out on the road with an inquiry as to his destination at such an hour Richard told him that he had had a quarrel with a certain young fellow of the name of scudamore a page of the Earl of Worcester whom he had met at Lady Vaughns and recounted the result was your quarrel a just one my son no sir i was in the wrong then you are so far in the right now and you are going to help him home yes sir have you confessed yourself in the wrong yes sir then go my son but beware of private quarrel in such a season of strife this youth and thyself may meet someday in mortal conflict on the battlefield and for my part i know not how it may be with another in such a case i would rather slay my friend than my enemy enlightened by the inward experience of the moment Richard was able to understand and respond to the feeling how different a sudden action flashed off the surface of a man's nature may be from that which had time been given would have unfolded itself from its depths end of chapter eight part one chapter eight part two of st. George and st. Michael volume one this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Jordan st. George and st. Michael volume one by George McDonald chapter eight an adventure part two bareheaded Roger Haywood walked beside his son as he led the mayor to the spot where Scudamore Perforce awaited his return they found him stretched on the roadside plucking handfuls of grass and digging up the turf with his fingers thus and thus alone betraying that he suffered mr. Haywood at first refrained from any offer of hospitality believing he would be more inclined to accept it after he had proved the difficulty of riding in which case a previous refusal might stand in the way but although a slight groan escaped as they lifted him to the saddle he gathered up the reins at once and sat erect while they shortened the stirrup leathers lady seemed to know what was required of her and stood as still as a vaulting horse until Richard took the bridle to lead her away I see said scudmore you can't trust me with your horse not so sir answered mr. Haywood we cannot trust the horse with you it is quite impossible for you to ride so far alone if you will go you must submit to the attendance of my son on which I am sorry to think you have so good a claim but will you not yet change your mind and be our guest for the night at least we will send a messenger to the castle at earliest dawn Scudamore declined the invitation but with perfect courtesy for there was that about Roger Haywood which rendered it impossible for any man who was himself a gentleman whatever his judgment of him might be to show him disrespect and the moment the mayor began to move he felt no further inclination to object to Richard's company at her head for he perceived that should she prove in the least troublesome it would be impossible for him to keep his seat he did not suffer so much however as to lose all his good spirits or fail in his part of a conversation composed chiefly of what we now call chaff both of them for a time avoiding all such topics as might lead to a dispute the one from a sense of wrong already done the other from a vague feeling that he was under the protection of the foregone injury have you known my cousin Dorothy long asked scudmore longer than i can remember answered Richard then you must be more like brother and sister than lovers that i fear is her feeling replied Richard honestly you need not think of me as a rival said scudamore i never saw the young woman in my life before and although anything of yours being around heads is fair game your humble servant sir cavalier interjected Richard pray use your pleasure i tell you plainly scudmore went on without heeding the interruption though i admire my cousin as i do any young woman if she be but a shade beyond the passable the ape the coxcomb said Richard to himself i am not therefore dying for her love and i give you this one honest warning that though i would rather see mistress Dorothy in her winding sheet than dame to a roundhead i should be yes i may be a more dangerous rival in respect of your mare than of any lady you are likely to set eyes upon what do you mean said Richard gruffly i mean that the king having at length resolved to be more of a monarch and less of a saint a saint echoed Richard but the echo was rather a loud one for it startled the mare and shook her rider don't shout like that cried the cavalier with an oath saint or sinner i care not he is my king and i am his soldier but with this knee you have given me i shall be fitter for garrison than field duty dammit you do not mean that his majesty has declared open war against the parliament exclaimed Richard faithless puritan i do answered scudmore his majesty has at length with reluctance i am sorry to hear taken up arms against his rebellious subjects land will be cheap by and by many such rumors have reached us returned Richard quietly the king spares no threats but for blows well insolent fanatic shouted Vaughn i tell you his majesty is on his way from scotland with an army of savages and london has declared for the king Richard and his mare simultaneously quickened their pace then it is time you were in bed mr scudmore for my mare and i will be wanted he cried god be praised i thank you for the good news it makes me young again to hear it what the devil do you mean by joking this cursed knee of mine so shouted scudmore faith you were young enough in all conscience already you fool you want to keep me in bed as well as send me there well out of the way you think but i give you honest warning to look after your mare for i vow i have fallen in love with her she's worth three at least of your mistress dorothy's you talk like a dutch bore said Richard saith an english lout retorted scudmore but all things being lawful in love and war not to mention hate and rebellion this mare if i am blessed with a chance shall be well shall be translated you mean from red ware to raglan where she shall be entertained in a manner worthy of her which is saying no little if all her paces and points be equal to her walk and her crest i trust you will be more pitiful to my poor lady said richard quietly if all they say be true raglan stables are no place for a mare of her breeding what do you mean roundhead folks say your stables at raglan are like other some raglan matters of the infernal sort scudmore was silent for a moment whether the stables be under the pavement or over the leads he returned at last there are not a few in them as good as she of which i hope to satisfy my lady someday he added patting the mare's neck were thou not hurt already i would pitch thee out of the saddle said richard were i not hurt in the knee thou couldst not said scudmore i need not lay hand upon thee were thou as sound in limb as thou art in wind thou wouldst feel thyself on the road ere thou newest thou had taken leave of the saddle did i but give the mare the sign she knows by god's grace said the cavalier she shall be mine and teach me the trick of it richard answered only with a grim laugh and again but more gently this time quickened the mare's pace little more had passed between them when the six-sided towers of raglan rose on their view richard had from his childhood been familiar with their aspect especially that of the huge one called the alo tower but he had never yet been within the walls that encircled them at any time during his life almost up to the present hour he might have entered without question for the gates were seldom closed and never locked the portcullises sheathed in the wall above hung moveless in their rusty chains and the drawbridges spanned the moat from scarf to counterscarp as if from the first their beams had rested there in solid masonry and still during the day there was little sign of change beyond an indefinable presence of busier life even in the hush of the hot autumnal noon but at night the drawbridges rose and the portcullises descended each with its own peculiar creek and jar and scrape setting the young rooks coying in reply from every pinnacle and treetop never later than the last moment when the water could see anything larger than a cat on the brow of the road this side the village for who could tell when or with what force at their command the parliament might claim possession and now another of the frequent reports had arrived that the king had at length resorted to arms it was altogether necessary for such as occupied a stronghold unless willing to yield it to the first two demanded entrance to keep watch and ward admitted at the great brick gate the outermost of all and turning aside from the steps leading up to the white stone gate and main entrance beyond with its drawbridge and double portcullis richard by his companion's direction led his mayor to the left and rounding the moat of the citadel sought the western gate of the castle which seemed to shelter itself under the great bulk of the yellow tower the cannon upon more than one of whose bastions closely commanded it and made up for its inferiority in defense of its own scudamore had scarcely called either water who had been waked by the sound of the horse's feet began to set the machinery of the portcullis in motion what wounded already master scudamore he cried as they rode under the archway yes eckles answered scudamore wounded and taken prisoner and brought home for ransom as they spoke richard made use of his eyes with a vague notion that some knowledge of the place might one day or other be of service but it was little he could see the moon was almost down and her low light prolific of shadows shone strays in through the lifted portcullis but in the gateway where they stood there was nothing for her to show but the groined vault the massy walls and the huge iron stuttered gate beyond curse you for a roundhead cried scudamore in the wroth engendered of a fierce twinge as haywood sought to help his lame leg over the saddle dismount on this side then said richard regardless of the insult but the water had caught the word roundhead he exclaimed scudamore did not answer until he found himself safe on his feet and by that time he had recovered his good manners this is young mr. haywood of redware he said and moved towards the wicked leaning on richard's arm but the old water stepped in front and stood between them and the gate not a damned roundhead of the pack shall set foot across this door sill so long as i hold the gate he cried with a fierce gesture of the right arm and therewith he set his back to the wicked tut tut eckles returned scudamore impatiently good words are worth much and cost little if the old dog bark he gives counsel rejoined eckles immovable haywood was amused and stood silent waiting the result he had no particular wish to enter and yet would have liked to see what could be seen of the court where the doorkeeper is a chiral what will folks say of the master of the house said scudamore they may say as they list it will neither hurt him nor me said eckles make haste good fellow and let us through pleaded scudamore by saint george but my leg is in great pain i fear the kneecap is broken in which case i shall not trouble thee much for a week of months as he spoke he stood leaning on richard's arm and behind him stood lady still as a horse of bronze i will but drop the portcullis said the water and then i will carry thee to thy room in my arms but not a cursed roundhead shall enter here i swear let us through it once said scudamore trying the imperative not if the earl himself gave the order persisted the man oh what is that you say let the gentleman through cried a voice from somewhere the water opened the wicket immediately stepped inside and held it open while they entered nor uttered another word but as soon as richard had got scudamore clear of the threshold to which he lent not a helping finger he stepped quietly out again closed the wicket behind him and taking lady by the bridle led her back over the bridge towards the bowling green scudamore had just time to whisper to haywood it is my master the earl himself when the voice came again what wounded roland how is this and who have you there but that moment richard heard the sound of his mayor's hoofs on the bridge and leaving scudamore to answer for both of them bounded back to the wicket darted through and called her by name instantly she stood stock still not withstanding a vicious kick in the ribs from eckles not unseen of haywood enraged at the fellow's insolence he dealt him a sudden blow that stretched him at the mayor's feet vaulted into the saddle and had reached the outer gate before he had recovered himself the sleepy porter had just let him through when the water's signal to let no one out reached him richard turned with a laugh when next you catch a roundhead he said keep him and giving lady the rain galloped off leaving the porter staring after him through the bars like a half-roused wild beast not doubting the rumor of open hostilities the warder's design had been to secure the mayor and pretend she had run away for a good horse was now more precious than ever the Earl's study was over the gate and as he suffered much from gout and slept ill he not unfrequently sought refuge in the night-watchers with his friends Chaucer Gower and Shakespeare Richard drew rain at the last point whence the castle would have been visible in the daytime all he saw was a moving light the walls whence it shone were one day to be as the shell around the kernel of his destiny end of chapter 8 part 2 chapter 9 of st. George and st. Michael volume 1 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Jordan st. George and st. Michael volume 1 by George McDonald chapter 9 love and war when Richard reached home and recounted the escape he had had an imprecation the first he had ever heard him utter broke from his father's lips with the indiscrimination of party spirit he looked upon the warder's insolence and attempted robbery as the spirit and behavior of his master the Earl being in fact as little capable of such conduct as mr. Haywood himself immediately after their early breakfast the next morning he led his son to a chamber in the roof of the very existence of which he had been ignorant and there discovered to him good store of such armor of both kinds as was then in use which for some years past he had been quietly collecting in view of the time which in the light of the last rumour seemed to have at length arrived when strength would have to decide the antagonism of opposed claims probably also it was in view of this time seen from afar in silent approach that from the very moment when he took his education into his own hands he had paid thorough attention to Richard's bodily as well as mental accomplishment encouraging him in all manly sports such as wrestling boxing and riding to hounds with the more martial training of sword exercises with and without the target and shooting with the carbine and the new-fashioned flintlock pistols the rest of the morning Richard spent in choosing a headpiece and male plates for breast back neck shoulders arms and thighs the next thing was to set the village tailor at work upon a coat of that thick strong leather dressed soft and pliant which they called buff to wear under his armor after that came the proper equipment of lady and that of the twenty men whom his father expected to provide from amongst his own tenants and for whom he had already a full provision of clothing and armor they had to be determined on conferred with and fitted one by one so as to avoid drawing attention to the proceeding hence both mr. Haywood and Richard had enough to do and the more that faithful stop chase on whom was their chief dependence had not yet recovered sufficiently from the effects of his fall to be equal to the same exertion as formerly of which he was the more impatient that he firmly believed he had been a special object of satanic assault because of the present value of his councils and the coming weight of his deeds on the side of the well-affected thus occupied the weeks past into months during this time Richard called again and again upon Dorothy ostensibly to inquire after her mother only once however did she appear when she gave him to understand she was so fully occupied that although obliged by his attention he must not expect to see her again but i will be honest Richard she added and let you know plainly that were it otherwise in respect of my mother i yet should not see you for you and i have parted company and are already so far asunder on different roads that i must bid you farewell at once while yet we can hear each other speak there was no anger only a cold sadness in her tone and manner while her bearing was stately as towards one with whom she had never had intimacy even her sadness seemed to Richard to have respect to the hopeless condition of her mother's health and not at all to the changed relation between him and her i trust at least mistress Dorothy he said with some bitterness you will grant me the justice that what i do i do with a good conscience after all that has been betwixt us i ask for no more what more could the best of men ask for i who am far from making any claim to rank with such i am glad to know it interjected Dorothy am yet capable of hoping that an i at once keener and kinder than yours may see conscience at the very root of the actions which you Dorothy will doubtless most condemn was this the boy she had despised for indifference was it conscience drove you to sprain my cousin Roland's knee she asked Richard was silent for a moment the sting was too cruel pray hesitate not to say so if such be your conviction and a Dorothy no replied Richard recovering himself i trusted is not such a serious matter as you say but anyhow it was not conscience but jealousy and anger that drove me to that wrong did you see the action such at the time no surely else i would not have been guilty of that for which i am truly sorry now then perhaps the day will come when looking back on what you do now you will regard it with the like disapprobation god grant it may she added with a deep sigh that can hardly be mr. Dorothy i am in the matters to which you refer under the influence of no passion no jealousy no self-seeking no perhaps a deeper search might discover in you each and all of the bosom sins you so stoutly abjure interrupted Dorothy but it is needless for you to defend yourself to me i am not your judge so much the better for me returned Richard i should else have an unjust as well as severe one i on my part hope the day may come when you will find something to repent of in such harshness towards an old friend whom you choose to think in the wrong Richard Haywood god is my witness it is no choice of mine i have no choice what else is there to think i know well enough what you and your father are about but there is nothing save my own conscience and my mother's love i would not part with to be able to believe you honorably right in your own eyes not in mind god forbid that can never be not until fair is foul and foul is fair so saying she held out her hand god be between thee and me Dorothy said Richard with solemnity as he took it in his he spoke with a voice that seemed to him far away and not his own until now he had never realized the idea of a final separation between him and Dorothy and even now he could hardly believe she was in earnest but felt rather like a child whose nurse threatens to forsake him on the dark road and who begins to weep only from the pitiful imagination of the thing and not any actual fear of her carrying the threat into execution the idea of retaining her love by ceasing to act on his convictions the very possibility of it had never crossed the horizon of his thoughts had it come to him in the nearest intellectual notion he would have perceived at once of such a loyal stock did he come and so loyal had he himself been to truth all his days that to act upon her convictions instead of his own would have been to widen a gulf at least measurable to one infinite and impossible she withdrew the hand which had solemnly pressed his and left the room for a moment he stood gazing after her even in that moment the vague fear that she would not come again grew to a plain conviction and forcibly repressing the misery that rose in bodily presence from his heart to his throat he left the house hurried down the bleached alley to the old sundial threw himself on the grass under the use and wept and longed for war but war was not to be just yet autumn withered and sank into winter the rain came down on the stubble and the red cattle waded through red mire to and from their pasture the skies grew pale above and the earth grew bare beneath the winds grew sharp and seemed unfriendly the brooks ran foaming to the rivers and the rivers ran roaring to the ocean then the earth dried a little and the frost came and swelled and hardened it the snow fell and lay vanished and came again but even out of the depth of winter quivered airs and hints of spring until at last the mighty weakling was born and all this time rumor beat the alarm of war and men were growing harder and more determined on both sides some from self-opinion some from party spirit some from prejudice antipathy animosity some from sense of duty mingled more and less with the alloys of impulse and advantage but he who was most earnest on the one side was least aware that he who was most earnest on the other was honest as himself to confess uprightness in one of the opposite party seemed to most men to involve treachery to their own or if they were driven to the confession it was too often followed with an attempt at discrediting the noblest of human qualities the hearts of the two young people fared very much as the earth under the altered skies of winter and behaved much as the divided nation a sense of wrong endured kept both from feeling at first the full sorrow of their separation and by the time that the tide of memory had flowed back and covered the rock of offence they had got a little used to the dullness of a day from which its brightest hour had been blotted dorothy learned very soon to think of richard as a prodigal brother beyond seas and when they chanced to meet which was but seldom he was sad to her as a sad ghost in a dream to richard on the other hand she looked a lovely but scarce worshipful celestial with merely might enough to hold his heart swelling with a sense of wrong in her hand and squeeze it very hard his consolation was that he suffered for the truth's sake for to decline action upon such insight as he had was a thing as impossible as to alter the relations between the parts of a sphere dorothy longed for peace and the return of the wandering chickens of the church to the shelter of her wings to be led by her about the paled yard of obedience picking up the barley of righteousness richard longed for the trumpet blast of liberty to call her sons together to a war whose battles should never cease until men were free to worship god after the light he had lighted within them and the dragon of priestly authority should breathe out his last fiery breath no more to drive the feeble brethren to seek refuge in the house of hypocrisy at home dorothy was under few influencers except those of her mother and through his letters of mr matthew herbert upon the former a lovely spiritual repose had long since descended her anxieties were only for her daughter her hopes only for the world beyond the grave the latter was a man of peace who having found in the ordinances of his church everything to aid and nothing to retard his spiritual development had no conception of the nature of the puritanical opposition to its government and rights through neither could dorothy come to any true idea of the questions which agitated the politics of both church and state to her the king was a kind of demigod and every priest a fountain of truth her religion was the sedate and dutiful acceptance of obedient innocence a thing of small account indeed where it is rooted only in sentiment and customary preference but of inestimable value in such cases as hers where action followed upon acceptance richard again was under the quickening masterdom of a well-stored active mind a strong will a judgment that sought to keep its balance even and whose descended scale never abounded a conscience which through all the mists of human judgment eyed ever the blotting glimmer of some light beyond and all these elements of power were gathered in his own father in whom the customary sternness of the puritan parent had at length blossomed in confidence a phase of love which to such a mind as richards was even more enchanting than tenderness to be trusted by such a father to feel his mind and soul present with him acknowledging him a fit associate in great hopes and noble aims was surely and ought to be whatever the sentimentalist may say some comfort for any sorrow a youth is capable of such being in general only too lightly remediable i wonder if any mere youth ever suffered from a disappointment in love half the sense of cureless pain which with one protracted pang gnaws at the heart of the avaricious old man who has dropped a sovereign into his draw well but the relation of dorothy and richard although ordinary in outward appearance was of no common kind and while these two thus fell apart from each other in their outer life each judging the other insensible to the call of highest rectitude neither of them knew how much his or her heart was confident of the others integrity in respect of them the lovely simile in christabelle of the parted cliffs may be carried a little father for under the dreary sea flowing between them the rock was one still such a faith may sometimes perhaps often does lie in the heart like a seed buried beneath the reach of the sun thoroughly alive though giving no sign to grow too soon might be to die things had indeed gone farther with dorothy and richard but the lobes of their loves had never been fairly exposed to the sun and wind ere the swollen clods of winter again covered them once in the cold noon of a lovely day of frost when the lightest step crackled with the breaking of multitudinous crystals when the trees were fringed with furry white and the old spiderwebs glimmered like filigrane of fairy silver they met on a lonely country road the sun shone red through depths of half frozen vapor and tinged the whiteness of death with a faint warmth of feeling and hope along the rough lane richard walked reading what looked like a letter but was a copy his father had procured of a poem still only in manuscript the licidas of milton in the glow to which the alternating hot and cold winds of enthusiasm and bereavement had fanned the fiery particle within him richard was not only able to understand and enjoy the thought of which the poem was built but was born aloft on its sad yet hopeful melodies as upon wings of an upsoring seraph the flow of his feeling suddenly broken by an almost fierce desire to share with dorothy the tenderness of the magic music of the stately monody and then ere the answering waves of her emotion had subsided to whisper to her that the marvellous spell came from the heart of the same wonderful man from whose brain had issued like palace from joves what animate versions upon the remonstrance defense against smectamous the pamphlet which had so roused all the abhorrence her nature was capable of he lifted his head and saw her but a few paces from him dorothy caught a glimpse of a countenance radiant with feeling and eyes flashing through a watery film of delight her own eyes fell she said good morning richard and passed him without deflecting an inch the bird of song folded its wings and called in its shining the sun lost half his red beams the sprinkled seed pearls vanished and ashes covered the earth he folded the paper laid it in the breast of his doublet and walked home through the glittering meadows with a fresh hurt in his heart dorothy's time and thoughts were all but occupied with the nursing of her mother who contrary to the expectation of her friends outlived the winter and revived as the spring drew on she read much to her some of the best books had drifted into the house and settled there but although english printing was now nearly two centuries old they were not many we must not therefore imagine however that the two ladies were ill supplied with spiritual pabulum there are few houses of the present day in which though there be ten times as many books there is so much strong food if there was any lack it was rather of diluents amongst those she read were queen elizabeth homilies hooker's polity dunn sermons and george herbet's temple to the dying lady only less dear than her new testament but even with this last it was only through sympathy with her mother that dorothy could come into any contact the gems of the mind which alone could catch and reflect such light layers yet under the soil and much plowing and breaking of the clods was needful if they could come largely to the surface but happily for dorothy there were amongst the books a few of those precious little quartos of shakespeare the first three books of the fairy queen and the countess of pembrokes arcadia then much read if we may judge from the fact that although it was not published till after the death of sydney the eighth edition of it had now been nearly ten years in lady vaughn's possession then there was in the drawing room an old spinot sadly out of tune on which she would yet in spite of the occasional jar and shudder of respondent nerves now and then play at a sitting all the little music she had learned and with whose help she had sometimes even tried to find out an air for words that had taken her fancy also she had the house to look after the livestock to see to her dog to play with and teach a few sad thoughts and memories to discipline a call now and then from a neighbor or a longer visit from some old friend of her mother's to receive and the few cottages on all that was left of the estate of vaughn to care for so that her time was tolerably filled up and she felt little need of anything more to occupy at least her hours and days meanwhile through all nature's changes through calm and tempest rain and snow through dull refusing winter and the first passing visits of open-handed spring the hearts of men were awaiting the outburst of the thunder the blue peaks of whose cloud-built cells had long been visible on the horizon of the future every now and then they would start and listen and ask each other was it the first growl of the storm or but the rumbling of the wheels of the government to the dwellers in raglan castle it seemed at least a stormy sign of which the news reached them in the dull november weather that the parliament had set a guard upon wooster house in the strand and searched it for persons suspected of high treason lord hobart doubtless first of all the direction and strength of whose political drift suspicious from the first because of his religious persuasion could hardly be any longer doubtful to the most liberal of its members the news of the terrible insurrection of the catholics in ireland followed richard kept his armor bright his mare in good fetal himself and his men in thorough exercise read and talked with his father and waited sometimes with patience sometimes without at length in the early spring the king withdrew to york and a bodyguard of the gentleman of the neighborhood gathered around him richard renewed the flints of his carbine and pistols in april the king refused entrance into the town of hull proclaimed the governor a traitor the parliament declared the proclamation a breach of its privileges richard got new girths the summer passed in various disputes towards its close the governor of portsmouth declined to act upon a commission to organize the new levies of the parliament and administered instead thereof an oath of allegiance to the garrison and inhabitants thereupon the place was besieged by essics the king proclaimed him a traitor and the parliament retorted by declaring the royal proclamation a libel richard had his mare new shod on a certain day in august the royal standard with the motto give to Caesar his dew was set up at nottingham richard mounted his mare and taking leave of his father led stock chase and nineteen men more all fairly mounted to offer his services to the parliament as represented by the earl of essics end of chapter nine chapter ten of saint george and st michael volume one this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by jordan st george and st michael volume one by george mcdonald chapter ten dorothea's refuge with the decay of summer lady vorn began again to sink and became at length so weak that dorothea rarely left her room the departure of richard haywood to join the rebels affected her deeply the report of the utter route of the parliamentary forces at edge hill lighted up her face for the last time with a glimmer of earthly gladness which the very different news that followed speedily extinguished and after that she declined more rapidly mrs reese told dorothea that she would yield to the first frost but she lingered many weeks one morning she signed to her daughter to come nearer that she might speak to her dorothea she whispered i wish much to see could mr herbert prithee sent for him i know it is an evil time for him to travel being an old man and feeble but he will do his endeavor to come to me i know if but for my husband's sake whom he loved like a brother i cannot die in peace without first taking counsel with him how best to provide for the safety of my little eulam until these storms are overblown alas alas i did look to richard haywood she could say no more do not take thought about the morrow for me any more than you would for yourself madame said dorothea you know master herbert says the one is as the other she kissed her mother's hand as she spoke then hastened from the room and dispatched a messenger to langetalk before the worthy man arrived lady vorn was speechless by signs and looks definite enough and more eloquent than words she committed dorothea to his protection and died dorothea behaved with much calmness she would not in her mother's absence actors would have grieved her presence little past between her and mr herbert until the funeral was over then they talked of the future her guardian wished much to leave everything in charge of the old bailiff and take her with him to langetalk but he hesitated a little because of the bad state of the roads in winter much because of their danger in the troubled condition of affairs and most of all because of the uncertain indeed perilous position of the episcopalian clergy who might soon find themselves without a roof to shelter them fearing nothing for himself he must yet in arranging for dorothea contemplate the worst of threatening possibilities and one thing was pretty certain that matters must grow far worse before they would even begin to mend but they had more time for deliberation given them than they would willingly have taken mr herbert had caught cold while reading the funeral service and was compelled to delay his return the cold settled into a sort of low fever and for many weeks he lay helpless during this time the sudden affair at brentford took place after which the king having lost by it far more than he had gained withdrew to oxford anxious to reopen the treaty which the battle had closed the country was now in a sad state whichever party was uppermost in any district sought to ruin all the opposite faction robbery and plunder became common and that not only on the track of armies or the route of smaller bodies of soldiers for bands of mere marauders taking up the cry of the faction that happened in any neighborhood to have the ascendancy plundered houses robbed travelers and were guilty of all sorts of violence hence it had become as perilous to stay at home in an unfortified house as to travel and many were the terrors which during the winter tried the courage of the girl and checked the recovery of the old man at length one morning after a midnight alarm Mr. Herbert thus addressed Dorothy as she waited upon him with his breakfast it fears me much my dear Dorothy that the time will be long air any but fortified places will be safe abodes it is a question in my mind whether it would not be better to seek refuge for you but stay let me suggest my proposal rather than startle you with it in sudden form complete you are related to the summer sets are you not yes distantly is the relationship recognized by them i cannot tell sir i do not even distinctly know what the relationship is and assuredly sir you may not to propose that i should seek safety from bodily peril with a household which is to say the least so unfriendly to the doctrines you and my blessed mother have always taught me you cannot or indeed must you not have forgotten that they are papists Dorothy had been educated in such a fear of the Catholics and such a profound disapproval of those of their doctrines rejected by the reformers of the church of England as was only surpassed in intensity by her absolute abhorrence of the assumptions and negations of the Puritans these indeed roused in her a certain sense of disgust which she had never felt in respect of what were considered by her teachers the most erroneous doctrines of the Catholics but mr Herbert although his prejudices were nearly as strong and his opinions if not more indigenous at least far better acclimatized than hers had yet reaped this advantage of a longer life that he was better able to atone his dislike of certain opinions with personal regard for those who held them and therefore did not like Dorothy recoil from the idea of obligation to one of a different creed provided always that creed was Catholicism and not Puritanism for to the church of England the Catholics in the presence of her more rampant foes appeared harmless enough now he believed that the honorable feelings of Lord Wooster and his family would be hostile to any attempt to proselytize his ward but as far as she was herself concerned he trusted more to the strength of her prejudices than the rectitude of her convictions honest as the girl was to prevent her from being over influenced by the change of spiritual atmosphere for in proportion to the simplicity of her goodness must be her capacity for recognizing the goodness of others Catholics or not and for being wrought upon by the virtue that went out from them his hope was that England would have again become the abode of peace long air any risk to her spiritual well-being should have been incurred by this mode of securing her bodily safety and comfort but there was another fact in the absence of which he would have had far more hesitation in seeking for his you lamb the protection of sheep the guardians of whose spiritual fold had but too often proved wolves in sheepdog's clothing within the last few days the news had reached him that an old friend named Bailey a true man a priest of the English church and a doctor of divinity had taken up his abode in raglan castle as one of the household chaplain indeed as report would have it though that was hard of belief save indeed it were for the sake of the Protestants within its walls however that might be there was a true shepherd to whose care to entrust his lamb and it was mainly on the strength of this consideration that he had concluded to make his proposal to Dorothy namely that she should seek shelter within the walls of raglan castle until the storm should be so far overblown as to admit either of her going to langatoch or returning to her own home he now discussed the matter with her in full and notwithstanding her very natural repugnance to the scheme such was Dorothy's confidence in her friend that she was easily persuaded of its wisdom what the more inclined her to yield was that mr. Haywood had written her a letter hardly the less unwelcome for the kindness of its tone in which he offered her the shelter and hospitality of redware until better days better days exclaimed Dorothy with contempt if such days as he would count better should ever arrive his house is the last place where i would have them find me she wrote a polite but cold refusal and rejoiced in the hope that he would soon hear of her having sought and found refuge in raglan with the friends of the king meanwhile mr. Herbert had opened communication with dr. Bailey had satisfied himself that he was still a true son of the church and had solicited his friendly mediation towards the receiving of mistress Dorothy Vaughn into the family of the Marquis of Worcester to the dignity of which title the Earl had now been raised the parliament to be sure declining to acknowledge the patent conferred by his majesty but that was of no consequence in the estimation of those chiefly concerned on a certain spring morning then the snow still lying in the hollows of the hills Thomas Bailey came to Waifern to see his old friend Matthew Herbert he was a courteous little man with a courtesy vibrating on a knife edge of deflection towards obsequiousness on the one hand and condescension on the other for neither of which however was his friend Herbert an object his eye was keen and his forehead good but his carriage inclined to the pompous and his speech to the formal ornate and prolix the shape of his mouth was honest but the closure of the lips indicated self-importance the greeting between them was simple and genuine and there they parted Bailey had promised to do his best in representing the matter to the Marquis his daughter-in-law lady Margaret the wife of lord Herbert and his daughter lady Anne who although the most rigid Catholic in the house was already the doctor's special friend it would have been greatly unlike the Marquis or any of his family to refuse such a prayer had not their house been for centuries the abode of hospitality the embodiment of shelter on the mere representation of Dr Bailey and the fact of the relationship which although distant was well enough known within two days mistress Dorothy Vaughn received an invitation to enter the family of the Marquis as one of the gentle women of lady Margaret's suite it was of course gratefully accepted and as soon as Mr Herbert thought himself sufficiently recovered to encounter the fatigues of traveling he urged on the somewhat laggard preparations of Dorothy that he might himself see her safely housed on his way to Langatoch with her he was most anxious to return it was a lovely spring morning when they set out together on horseback for Raglan the son looked down like a young father upon his earth-mothered children peeping out of their beds to greet him after the long winter night the rooks were too busy to core dibbling deep in the soft red earth with their great beaks the red cattle flaked with white spotted the clear fresh green of the meadows the bear trees had a kind of glory about them like old men waiting for their youth which might come suddenly a few slow clouds were drifting across the pale sky a gentle wind was blowing over the wet fields but when a cloud swept before the sun it blew cold the roads were bad but their horses were used to such and picked their way with the easy carefulness of experience the winter might yet return for a season but this day was of the spring and its promises earth and air field and sky were full of peace but the heart of england was troubled troubled with passions both good and evil with righteous indignation and unholy scorn with the love of liberty and the joy of license with ambition and aspiration no honest heart could yield long to the comforting of the fair world knowing that some of her fairest fields would soon be crimson to fresh with the blood of her children but Dorothy's sadness was not all for her country in general had she put the question honestly to her heart she must have confessed that even the loss of her mother had less to do with a certain weight upon it which the loveliness of the spring day seemed to render heavier than the rarely absent feeling rather than thought that the playmate of her childhood and the offered lover of her youth had thrown himself with all the energy of dawning manhood into the quarrel of the lawless and self-glorifying nor was she altogether free from a sense of blame in the matter had she been less imperative in her mood and bearing more ready to give than to require sympathy but ah she could not change the past and the present was calling upon her at length the towers of raglan appeared and a pang of apprehension shot through her bosom she was approaching the unknown like one on the verge of a second sight her history seemed for a moment about to reveal itself where it lay like a bird in its egg within those massive walls warded by those huge ascending towers brought up in a retirement that some would have countered loneliness and although used to all gentle and refined ways yet familiar with homeliness and simplicity of mode and ministration she could not help feeling awed at the prospect of entering such a zone of rank and statelyness and observance as the household of the maquis who lived like a prince in expenditure attendance and ceremony she knew little of the fashions of the day and like many modest young people was afraid she might be guilty of some solicism which would make her appear ill-bred or at least awkward since her mother had left her she had become aware of a timidity to which she had hitherto been a stranger ah she said to herself if only my mother were with me at length they reached the brick gate were admitted within the outer wall and following the course taken by scudamore and hayward skirted the moat which enringed the huge blind citadel or keep and arrived at the western gate the portcullis rose to admit them and they rode into the echoes of the vaulted gateway turning to congratulate dorothy on their safe arrival mr herbert saw that she was pale and agitated what ails my child he said in a low voice for the warder was near i feel as if entering a prison she replied with a shiver is thy god the god of the grange and not of the castle returned the old man but sir said dorothy i have been accustomed to a liberty such as few have enjoyed and these walls and towers he'd not the look of things interrupted her guardian believe in the will that wither thought can turn the shadow of death into the morning give gladness for weeping and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness end of chapter 10 chapter 11 of st george and st michael volume one this libra vox recording is in the public domain recording by jordan st george and st michael volume one by george mcdonald chapter 11 raglan castle while he yet spoke their horses of their own accord passed through the gate which eckles had thrown wide to admit them and carried them into the fountain court here indeed was a change of aspect all that dorothy had hitherto contemplated was the side of the fortress which faced the world frowning and defiant although here and there on the point of breaking into a half-smile for the grim suspicious altogether repellent look of the old feudal castle had been gradually vanishing in the additions and alterations of more civilized times but now they were in the heart of the building and saw the face which the house of strength turned upon its own people the spring sunshine filled half the court over the rest lay the shadow of the huge keep towering massive above the three-storeyed line of building which formed the side next to it here was the true face of the janus building full of eyes and mouths for many bright windows looked down into the court in some of which shone the smiling faces of children and ladies peeping out to see the visitors whose arrival had been announced by the creaking chains of the portcullis and by the doors issued and entered here a lady in rich attire there a gentleman half in armor and here again a serving man or maid nearly in the center of the quadrangle just outside the shadow of the keep stood the giant horse rearing its white marble almost dazzling in the sunshine from whose nostrils spouted the jets of water which gave its name to the court opposite the gate by which they entered was the little chapel with its triple lancet windows over which lay the picture gallery with its large orial lights far above their roof ascended from behind that of the great hall with its fine lantern window seated on the ridge from the other court beyond the hall that upon which the main entrance opened came the sound of heavy feet in intermittent but measured tread the clanking of arms and a returning voice of loud command the troops of the garrison were being exercised on the slabs of the pitched court from each of the many doors opening into the court they had entered a path paved with coloured tiles led straight through the finest of turf to the marble fountain in the center into whose shadowed basin the falling water seemed to carry captive as into a prison the sunlight it caught above its music as it fell made a lovely but strange and sad contrast with the martial sounds from beyond it was but a moment they had to note these things eyes and ears gathered them all at once two of the water's men already held their horses while two other men responsive to the water's whistle came running from the hall and helped them to dismount hardly had they reached the ground air a man's servant came who led the way to the left towards a porch of carved stone on the same side of the court the door stood open revealing a flight of stairs rather steep but wide and stately going right up between two straight walls at the top stood lady margaret's gentleman usher mr harcourt by name who received them with much courtesy and conducting them to a small room on the left of the landing went to announce their arrival to lady margaret to whose private parlor this was the anti-chamber returning in a moment he led them into her presence she received them with a frankness which almost belied the statelyness of her demeanor through the haze of that reserve which her consciousness of dignity whether true or false so often generates the genial courtesy of her irish nature for she was an o'brien daughter of the earl of thomond shone clear and justified her Celtic origin welcome cousin she said holding out her hand while yet distant half the length of the room across which up born on slow firm foot she advanced with even stately motion and you also reverend sir she went on turning to mr herbert i am told we are indebted to you for this welcome addition to our family how welcome none can tell but ladies shut up like ourselves dorothy was already almost at her ease and the old clergyman soon found lady margaret so sensible and as well as courteous prejudiced yet further in her favor it must be confessed by the pleasant pretense she made of claiming cousinship on the ground of the identity of her husband's title with his surname that he left the castle liberal as he had believed himself he was nevertheless astonished to find how much of friendship had in that brief space been engendered in his bosom towards a catholic lady whom he had never before seen since the time of elizabeth when the fear and repugnance of the nation had been so greatly and justly excited by the apparent probability of a marriage betwixt their queen and the detested philip of spain a considerable alteration had been gradually wrought in the feelings of a large portion of it in respect of their catholic countrymen a fact which gave strength to the position of the puritans in asserting the essential identity of episcopalian with catholic politics almost 40 years had elapsed since the gunpowder plot the queen was a catholic the episcopalian party was itself at length endangered by the extension and development of the very principles on which they had themselves broken away from the church of rome and the catholics were friendly to the government of the king under which their condition was one of comfort if not influence while under that of the parliament they had every reason to anticipate a revival of persecution not a few of them doubtless cherished the hope that this revelation of the true spirit of dissent would result in driving the king and his party back into the bosom of the church the king on the other hand while only too glad to receive what aid he might from the loyal families of the old religion yet saw that much caution was necessary lest he should alienate the most earnest of his protestant friends by giving ground for the suspicion that he was inclined to purchase their cooperation by a return to the creed of his Scottish grandmother Mary Stuart and his English great great grandmother Margaret Tudor on the part of the clergy there had been for some time a considerable tendency chiefly from the influence of lord to cultivate the same spirit which actuated the larger portion of the catholic priesthood and although this had never led to retrograde movement in regard to their politics the fact that both were accounted by a third party and that far the most dangerous of either of the two was in spirit and object one and the same naturally tended to produce a more indulgent regard of each other than had hitherto prevailed and hence in part it was that it had become possible for Episcopalian Dr Bailey to be an inmate of Raglan Castle and for good Protestant Matthew Herbert to seek refuge for his ward with good Catholic Lady Margaret. Eager to return to the duties of his parish through his illness so long neglected Mr Herbert declined her Ladyship's invitation to dinner which she assured him consulting a watch that she wore in a ring on her little finger must be all but ready seeing it was now a quarter to eleven and took his leave accompanied by Dorothy's servant to bring back the horse if indeed they should be fortunate enough to escape the requisition of both horses by one party or the other at present however the king's affairs continued rather on the ascended and the name of the marquee in that country was as yet a tower of strength Dorothy's horse was included in the hospitality shown his mistress and taken to the stables under the midday shadow of the library tower as soon as the parson was gone Lady Margaret touched a small silver bell which hung in a stand on the table beside her conduct mistress Dorothy Vaughn to her room wait upon her there and then attend her hither she said to the maid who answered it I would request a little not unneedful haste cousin she went on for my lord of Worcester is very precise in all matters of household order and likes ill to see anyone enter the dining room after he is seated it is his desire that you should dine at his table today after this I must place you with the rest of my ladies who dine in the housekeeper's room as you think proper madam returned Dorothy a little disappointed but a little relieved also the bell will ring presently said lady Margaret and a quarter of an hour thereafter we shall all be seated she was herself already dressed in a pale blue satin with full skirt and close fitting long peaked bodice fastened in front by several double clasps set with rubies her shoulders were bare and her sleeves looped up with large round star-like studs set with diamonds so that her arms also were bare to the elbows round her neck was a short string of large pearls you take no long time to attire yourself cousin said her ladyship kindly when Dorothy returned little time was needed madam answered Dorothy for me there is but one color I fear I shall show but a dull bird amidst the gay plumage of raglan but I could have better adorned myself had not I heard the bell ere I had begun and feared to lose your ladyship's company and in very deed make my first appearance before my lord as a transgressor of the laws of his household you did well cousin Dorothy for everything goes by law and order here all is reason and rhyme too in this house my lord's father although one of the best and kindest of men is as I said somewhat precise and will as he says himself be king in his own kingdom thinking doubtless of one who is not such I should not talk thus with you cousin were you like some young ladies I know but there is that about you which pleases me greatly and which I take to indicate discretion when first I came to the house not having been accustomed to so severe a punctuality I gave my lord no little annoyance for oftener than once or twice I walked into his dining room not only after grace had been said but after the first course had been sent down to the hall tables my lord took his revenge in calling me the wild Irish woman here she laughed very sweetly the only one she resumed who does here as he will is my husband even lord Charles who is governor of the castle must be in his place to the moment but for my husband the bell rang a second time lady Margaret rose and taking Dorothy's arm led her from the room into a long dim-lighted corridor arrived at the end of it where a second passage met it at right angles she stopped at a door facing them I think we shall find my lord of Wooster here she said in a whisper as she knocked and waited a response he is not here she said he expects me to call on him as I pass we must make haste the second passage in which were several curves and sharp turns led them to a large room nearly square in which were two tables covered for about thirty by the door and along the sides of the room were a good many gentlemen some of them very plainly dressed and others in gay retire amongst whom Dorothy as they passed through recognized her cousin Scudamore whether he saw and knew her she could not tell crossing a small anti chamber they entered the drawing room where stood and sat talking a number of ladies and gentlemen to some of whom lady Margaret spoke and presented her cousin greeting others with a familiar nod or smile and yet others with a stately courtesy then she said ladies I will lead the way to the dining room my lord Marquis would the less willingly have us late that something detains himself those who dined in the Marquis room followed her scarcely had she reached the upper end of the table when the Marquis entered followed by all his gentlemen some of whom withdrew their service over for the time while others proceeded to wait upon him and his family with any of the nobility who happened to be his guests at the first table I am the laggard today my lady he said cheerily as he bore his heavy person up the room towards her ah he went on as lady Margaret stepped forward to meet him leading Dorothy by the hand who is this sober young damsel under my wild Irish woman's wing a young cousin Vaughn doubtless whose praises my worthy Dr Bailey has been sounding in my ears he held out his hand to Dorothy and bade her welcome to Raglan the Marquis was a man of noble countenance of the type we are ready to imagine peculiar to the great men of the time of Queen Elizabeth to this his unwieldy person did not correspond although his movements were still far from being despoiled of that charm which naturally belonged to all that was his nor did his presence owe anything to his dress which was of that long haired coarse woollen stuff they called freeze worn probably by not another nobleman in the country and regarded as fitter for a yeoman his eyes though he was yet but 65 or so were already hazy and his voice was husky and a little broken results of the constantly poor health and frequent suffering he had had for many years but he carried it all with to quote the prince of courtesy Sir Philip Sydney with the right old man's grace that will seem livelier than his age will afford him the moment he entered the sower in the antechamber at the other end of the room had given a signal to one waiting at the head of the stair leading down to the hall and his lordship was hardly seated air although the kitchen was at the corner of the pitched court diagonally opposite he bore the first dish into the room followed by his assistance laden each with another Lady Margaret made Dorothy sit down by her a place on her other side was vacant where is this true and husband of thine my lady asked the marquee as soon as Dr Bailey had said grace no you whether he eats at all or when or where it is now three days since he has filled his place at thy side yet is he in the castle thou knowest my lady I deal not with him who is so soon to sit in this chair as with another but I like it not know you what occupies him today I do not my lord answered lady Margaret I have had but one glimpse of him since the morning and if he looks now as he looked then I fear your lordship would be minded rather to drive him from your table than welcome him to a seat beside you as she spoke Lady Margaret caught a glimpse of a peculiar expression on Scudamore's face where he stood behind his master's chair your page my lord she said seems to know something of him if it pleased you to put him to the question hey Scudamore said the marquee without turning his head what have you seen of my lord Herbert as much as could be seen of him my lord answered Scudamore he was new from the powder mill and his face and hands were as he had been blown three times up the whole chimney I would thou didst pay more heed to what is fitting thou monkey and newest either place or time for thy foolish jests it will be long ere thou soil one of thy white fingers for king or country said the marquee neither angrily nor merrily get another flask of claret he added and keep thy wit for thy mates boy Dorothy cast one involuntary glance at her cousin his face was red as fire but as it seemed to her more with suppressed amusement than shame she had not been much longer in the castle before she learned that in the opinion of the household the marquee did his best or worst rather to ruin young Scudamore by indulgence the judgment however was partly the product of jealousy although doubtless the marquee had in his case a little too much relaxed the bonds of discipline the youth was bright and ready and had as yet been found trustworthy his wit was tolerable and a certain gay naivety of speech and manner set off to the best advantage what there was of it but his laughter was sometimes mischievous and on the present occasion Dorothy could not rid herself of the suspicion that he was laughing in his sleeve at his master which caused her to redden in her turn Scudamore saw it and had his own fancies concerning the phenomenon End of chapter 11