الفصل الفصل 27 · In Prison.
. In Prison.
The cells were all crowded; so the two friends were chained in a large
room where persons charged with trifling offences were commonly kept.
They had company, for there were some twenty manacled and fettered
prisoners here, of both sexes and of varying ages,--an obscene and noisy
gang. The King chafed bitterly over the stupendous indignity thus put
upon his royalty, but Hendon was moody and taciturn. He was pretty
thoroughly bewildered; he had come home, a jubilant prodigal, expecting
to find everybody wild with joy over his return; and instead had got the
cold shoulder and a jail. The promise and the fulfilment differed so
widely that the effect was stunning; he could not decide whether it
was most tragic or most grotesque. He felt much as a man might who had
danced blithely out to enjoy a rainbow, and got struck by lightning.
But gradually his confused and tormenting thoughts settled down into
some sort of order, and then his mind centred itself upon Edith. He
turned her conduct over, and examined it in all lights, but he could not
make anything satisfactory out of it. Did she know him--or didn’t she
know him? It was a perplexing puzzle, and occupied him a long time; but
he ended, finally, with the conviction that she did know him, and had
repudiated him for interested reasons. He wanted to load her name with
curses now; but this name had so long been sacred to him that he found
he could not bring his tongue to profane it.
Wrapped in prison blankets of a soiled and tattered condition, Hendon
and the King passed a troubled night. For a bribe the jailer had
furnished liquor to some of the prisoners; singing of ribald songs,
fighting, shouting, and carousing was the natural consequence. At last,
a while after midnight, a man attacked a woman and nearly killed her by
beating her over the head with his manacles before the jailer could
come to the rescue. The jailer restored peace by giving the man a sound
clubbing about the head and shoulders--then the carousing ceased;
and after that, all had an opportunity to sleep who did not mind the
annoyance of the moanings and groanings of the two wounded people.
During the ensuing week, the days and nights were of a monotonous
sameness as to events; men whose faces Hendon remembered more or less
distinctly, came, by day, to gaze at the ‘impostor’ and repudiate
and insult him; and by night the carousing and brawling went on with
symmetrical regularity. However, there was a change of incident at
last. The jailer brought in an old man, and said to him--
“The villain is in this room--cast thy old eyes about and see if thou
canst say which is he.”
Hendon glanced up, and experienced a pleasant sensation for the first
time since he had been in the jail. He said to himself, “This is Blake
Andrews, a servant all his life in my father’s family--a good honest
soul, with a right heart in his breast. That is, formerly. But none are
true now; all are liars. This man will know me--and will deny me, too,
like the rest.”
The old man gazed around the room, glanced at each face in turn, and
finally said--
“I see none here but paltry knaves, scum o’ the streets. Which is he?”
The jailer laughed.
“Here,” he said; “scan this big animal, and grant me an opinion.”
The old man approached, and looked Hendon over, long and earnestly, then
shook his head and said--
“Marry, _this_ is no Hendon--nor ever was!”
“Right! Thy old eyes are sound yet. An’ I were Sir Hugh, I would take
the shabby carle and--”
The jailer finished by lifting himself a-tip-toe with an imaginary
halter, at the same time making a gurgling noise in his throat
suggestive of suffocation. The old man said, vindictively--
“Let him bless God an’ he fare no worse. An’ _I_ had the handling o’
the villain he should roast, or I am no true man!”
The jailer laughed a pleasant hyena laugh, and said--
“Give him a piece of thy mind, old man--they all do it. Thou’lt find it
good diversion.”
Then he sauntered toward his ante-room and disappeared. The old man
dropped upon his knees and whispered--
“God be thanked, thou’rt come again, my master! I believed thou wert
dead these seven years, and lo, here thou art alive! I knew thee the
moment I saw thee; and main hard work it was to keep a stony countenance
and seem to see none here but tuppenny knaves and rubbish o’ the
streets. I am old and poor, Sir Miles; but say the word and I will go
forth and proclaim the truth though I be strangled for it.”
“No,” said Hendon; “thou shalt not. It would ruin thee, and yet help
but little in my cause. But I thank thee, for thou hast given me back
somewhat of my lost faith in my kind.”
The old servant became very valuable to Hendon and the King; for
he dropped in several times a day to ‘abuse’ the former, and always
smuggled in a few delicacies to help out the prison bill of fare; he
also furnished the current news. Hendon reserved the dainties for the
King; without them his Majesty might not have survived, for he was
not able to eat the coarse and wretched food provided by the jailer.
Andrews was obliged to confine himself to brief visits, in order to
avoid suspicion; but he managed to impart a fair degree of information
each time--information delivered in a low voice, for Hendon’s benefit,
and interlarded with insulting epithets delivered in a louder voice for
the benefit of other hearers.
So, little by little, the story of the family came out. Arthur had
been dead six years. This loss, with the absence of news from Hendon,
impaired the father’s health; he believed he was going to die, and he
wished to see Hugh and Edith settled in life before he passed away; but
Edith begged hard for delay, hoping for Miles’s return; then the letter
came which brought the news of Miles’s death; the shock prostrated Sir
Richard; he believed his end was very near, and he and Hugh insisted
upon the marriage; Edith begged for and obtained a month’s respite,
then another, and finally a third; the marriage then took place by
the death-bed of Sir Richard. It had not proved a happy one. It was
whispered about the country that shortly after the nuptials the bride
found among her husband’s papers several rough and incomplete drafts of
the fatal letter, and had accused him of precipitating the marriage--and
Sir Richard’s death, too--by a wicked forgery. Tales of cruelty to the
Lady Edith and the servants were to be heard on all hands; and since the
father’s death Sir Hugh had thrown off all soft disguises and become
a pitiless master toward all who in any way depended upon him and his
domains for bread.
There was a bit of Andrew’s gossip which the King listened to with a
lively interest--
“There is rumour that the King is mad. But in charity forbear to say
_I_ mentioned it, for ’tis death to speak of it, they say.”
His Majesty glared at the old man and said--
“The King is _not_ mad, good man--and thou’lt find it to thy advantage
to busy thyself with matters that nearer concern thee than this
seditious prattle.”
“What doth the lad mean?” said Andrews, surprised at this brisk assault
from such an unexpected quarter. Hendon gave him a sign, and he did not
pursue his question, but went on with his budget--
“The late King is to be buried at Windsor in a day or two--the 16th of
the month--and the new King will be crowned at Westminster the 20th.”
“Methinks they must needs find him first,” muttered his Majesty; then
added, confidently, “but they will look to that--and so also shall I.”
“In the name of--”
But the old man got no further--a warning sign from Hendon checked his
remark. He resumed the thread of his gossip--
“Sir Hugh goeth to the coronation--and with grand hopes. He confidently
looketh to come back a peer, for he is high in favour with the Lord
Protector.”
“What Lord Protector?” asked his Majesty.
“His Grace the Duke of Somerset.”
“What Duke of Somerset?”
“Marry, there is but one--Seymour, Earl of Hertford.”
The King asked sharply--
“Since when is _he_ a duke, and Lord Protector?”
“Since the last day of January.”
“And prithee who made him so?”
“Himself and the Great Council--with help of the King.”
His Majesty started violently. “The _King_!” he cried. “_What_ king,
good sir?”
“What king, indeed! (God-a-mercy, what aileth the boy?) Sith we have
but one, ’tis not difficult to answer--his most sacred Majesty King
Edward the Sixth--whom God preserve! Yea, and a dear and gracious
little urchin is he, too; and whether he be mad or no--and they say he
mendeth daily--his praises are on all men’s lips; and all bless him,
likewise, and offer prayers that he may be spared to reign long in
England; for he began humanely with saving the old Duke of Norfolk’s
life, and now is he bent on destroying the cruellest of the laws that
harry and oppress the people.”
This news struck his Majesty dumb with amazement, and plunged him into
so deep and dismal a reverie that he heard no more of the old man’s
gossip. He wondered if the ‘little urchin’ was the beggar-boy whom
he left dressed in his own garments in the palace. It did not seem
possible that this could be, for surely his manners and speech would
betray him if he pretended to be the Prince of Wales--then he would be
driven out, and search made for the true prince. Could it be that the
Court had set up some sprig of the nobility in his place? No, for his
uncle would not allow that--he was all-powerful and could and would
crush such a movement, of course. The boy’s musings profited him
nothing; the more he tried to unriddle the mystery the more perplexed he
became, the more his head ached, and the worse he slept. His
impatience to get to London grew hourly, and his captivity became almost
unendurable.
Hendon’s arts all failed with the King--he could not be comforted; but a
couple of women who were chained near him succeeded better. Under their
gentle ministrations he found peace and learned a degree of patience.
He was very grateful, and came to love them dearly and to delight in
the sweet and soothing influence of their presence. He asked them why
they were in prison, and when they said they were Baptists, he smiled,
and inquired--
“Is that a crime to be shut up for in a prison? Now I grieve, for I
shall lose ye--they will not keep ye long for such a little thing.”
They did not answer; and something in their faces made him uneasy. He
said, eagerly--
“You do not speak; be good to me, and tell me--there will be no other
punishment? Prithee tell me there is no fear of that.”
They tried to change the topic, but his fears were aroused, and he
pursued it--
“Will they scourge thee? No, no, they would not be so cruel! Say they
would not. Come, they _will_ not, will they?”
The women betrayed confusion and distress, but there was no avoiding an
answer, so one of them said, in a voice choked with emotion--
“Oh, thou’lt break our hearts, thou gentle spirit!--God will help us to
bear our--”
“It is a confession!” the King broke in. “Then they _will_ scourge
thee, the stony-hearted wretches! But oh, thou must not weep, I cannot
bear it. Keep up thy courage--I shall come to my own in time to save
thee from this bitter thing, and I will do it!”
When the King awoke in the morning, the women were gone.
“They are saved!” he said, joyfully; then added, despondently, “but woe
is me!--for they were my comforters.”
Each of them had left a shred of ribbon pinned to his clothing, in token
of remembrance. He said he would keep these things always; and that
soon he would seek out these dear good friends of his and take them
under his protection.
Just then the jailer came in with some subordinates, and commanded that
the prisoners be conducted to the jail-yard. The King was overjoyed--it
would be a blessed thing to see the blue sky and breathe the fresh air
once more. He fretted and chafed at the slowness of the officers, but
his turn came at last, and he was released from his staple and ordered
to follow the other prisoners with Hendon.
The court or quadrangle was stone-paved, and open to the sky. The
prisoners entered it through a massive archway of masonry, and were
placed in file, standing, with their backs against the wall. A rope
was stretched in front of them, and they were also guarded by their
officers. It was a chill and lowering morning, and a light snow which
had fallen during the night whitened the great empty space and added
to the general dismalness of its aspect. Now and then a wintry wind
shivered through the place and sent the snow eddying hither and thither.
In the centre of the court stood two women, chained to posts. A glance
showed the King that these were his good friends. He shuddered, and
said to himself, “Alack, they are not gone free, as I had thought. To
think that such as these should know the lash!--in England! Ay, there’s
the shame of it--not in Heathennesse, Christian England! They will be
scourged; and I, whom they have comforted and kindly entreated, must
look on and see the great wrong done; it is strange, so strange, that
I, the very source of power in this broad realm, am helpless to protect
them. But let these miscreants look well to themselves, for there is a
day coming when I will require of them a heavy reckoning for this work.
For every blow they strike now, they shall feel a hundred then.”
A great gate swung open, and a crowd of citizens poured in. They
flocked around the two women, and hid them from the King’s view. A
clergyman entered and passed through the crowd, and he also was hidden.
The King now heard talking, back and forth, as if questions were being
asked and answered, but he could not make out what was said. Next there
was a deal of bustle and preparation, and much passing and repassing of
officials through that part of the crowd that stood on the further side
of the women; and whilst this proceeded a deep hush gradually fell upon
the people.
Now, by command, the masses parted and fell aside, and the King saw a
spectacle that froze the marrow in his bones. Faggots had been piled
about the two women, and a kneeling man was lighting them!
The women bowed their heads, and covered their faces with their hands;
the yellow flames began to climb upward among the snapping and crackling
faggots, and wreaths of blue smoke to stream away on the wind; the
clergyman lifted his hands and began a prayer--just then two young girls
came flying through the great gate, uttering piercing screams, and threw
themselves upon the women at the stake. Instantly they were torn away
by the officers, and one of them was kept in a tight grip, but the other
broke loose, saying she would die with her mother; and before she could
be stopped she had flung her arms about her mother’s neck again. She
was torn away once more, and with her gown on fire. Two or three men
held her, and the burning portion of her gown was snatched off and
thrown flaming aside, she struggling all the while to free herself, and
saying she would be alone in the world, now; and begging to be allowed
to die with her mother. Both the girls screamed continually, and fought
for freedom; but suddenly this tumult was drowned under a volley of
heart-piercing shrieks of mortal agony--the King glanced from the
frantic girls to the stake, then turned away and leaned his ashen face
against the wall, and looked no more. He said, “That which I have seen,
in that one little moment, will never go out from my memory, but will
abide there; and I shall see it all the days, and dream of it all the
nights, till I die. Would God I had been blind!”
Hendon was watching the King. He said to himself, with satisfaction,
“His disorder mendeth; he hath changed, and groweth gentler. If he had
followed his wont, he would have stormed at these varlets, and said he
was King, and commanded that the women be turned loose unscathed. Soon
his delusion will pass away and be forgotten, and his poor mind will be
whole again. God speed the day!”
That same day several prisoners were brought in to remain over night,
who were being conveyed, under guard, to various places in the kingdom,
to undergo punishment for crimes committed. The King conversed with
these--he had made it a point, from the beginning, to instruct himself
for the kingly office by questioning prisoners whenever the opportunity
offered--and the tale of their woes wrung his heart. One of them was
a poor half-witted woman who had stolen a yard or two of cloth from a
weaver--she was to be hanged for it. Another was a man who had been
accused of stealing a horse; he said the proof had failed, and he had
imagined that he was safe from the halter; but no--he was hardly free
before he was arraigned for killing a deer in the King’s park; this was
proved against him, and now he was on his way to the gallows. There was
a tradesman’s apprentice whose case particularly distressed the King;
this youth said he found a hawk, one evening, that had escaped from its
owner, and he took it home with him, imagining himself entitled to it;
but the court convicted him of stealing it, and sentenced him to death.
The King was furious over these inhumanities, and wanted Hendon to break
jail and fly with him to Westminster, so that he could mount his throne
and hold out his sceptre in mercy over these unfortunate people and
save their lives. “Poor child,” sighed Hendon, “these woeful tales
have brought his malady upon him again; alack, but for this evil hap, he
would have been well in a little time.”
Among these prisoners was an old lawyer--a man with a strong face and a
dauntless mien. Three years past, he had written a pamphlet against the
Lord Chancellor, accusing him of injustice, and had been punished for
it by the loss of his ears in the pillory, and degradation from the
bar, and in addition had been fined 3,000 pounds and sentenced to
imprisonment for life. Lately he had repeated his offence; and in
consequence was now under sentence to lose _what remained of his ears_,
pay a fine of 5,000 pounds, be branded on both cheeks, and remain in
prison for life.
“These be honourable scars,” he said, and turned back his grey hair and
showed the mutilated stubs of what had once been his ears.
The King’s eye burned with passion. He said--
“None believe in me--neither wilt thou. But no matter--within the
compass of a month thou shalt be free; and more, the laws that have
dishonoured thee, and shamed the English name, shall be swept from the
statute books. The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to
their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.” {1}