The Black Douglas Page 3
CHAPTER II
MY FAIR LADY
The strong man of Carlinwark made no long job of the horseshoeing.For, as he hammered and filed, he marked the eye of the young Earlrestlessly straying this way and that along the green riverside paths,and his fingers nervously tapping the ashen casing of the smithywindow-sill. Malise MacKim smiled to himself, for he had not served aDouglas for thirty years without knowing by these signs that there wasthe swing of a kirtle in the case somewhere.
Presently the last nail was made firm, and Black Darnaway was led,passaging and tossing his bridle reins, out upon the green sward.Malise stood at his head till the Douglas swung himself into thesaddle with a motion light as the first upward flight of a bird.
He put his hand into a pocket in the lining of his "soubreveste" andtook out a golden "Lion" of the King's recent mintage. He spun it inthe air off his thumb and then looked at it somewhat contemptuously ashe caught it.
"I think you and I, Master-Armourer, could send out a better coinagethan that with the old Groat press over there at Thrieve!" he said.
Malise smiled his quiet smile.
"If the Earl of Douglas deigns to make me the master of his mint, Ipromise him plenty of good, sound, broad pieces of a nobledesign--that is, till Chancellor Crichton hangs me for coining in theGrassmarket of Edinburgh."
"That would he never, with the Douglas lances to prick you a way outand the Douglas gold to buy the good-will of traitorous judges!"
Half unconsciously the Earl sighed as he looked at the fair lakegrowing rosy in the light of the sunset. His boyish face wasoverspread with care, and for the moment seemed all too young to haveinherited so great a burden. But the next moment he was himself again.
"I know, Malise," he said, "that I cannot offer you gold in return foryour admirable handicraft. But 'tis nigh to Keltonhill Fair, do youdivide this gold Lion betwixt those two brave boys of yours. Faith,right glad was I to be Earl of Douglas and not a son of his masterarmourer when I saw you disciplining for their souls' good MessiresSholto and Laurence there!"
The smith smiled grimly.
"They are good enough lads, Sholto and Laurence both, but they will befor ever gnarring and grappling at each other like messan dogs round akirk door."
"They will not make the worse soldiers for that, Malise. I pray youforgive them for my sake."
The master armourer took the hand of his young lord on which he wasabout to draw a riding glove of Spanish leather. Very reverently hekissed the signet ring upon it.
"My dear lord," he said, "I can refuse naught to any of your great andgracious house, and least of all to you, the light and pleasure ofit--aye, and the light of a surly old man's heart, more even than theduty he owes to his own married wife! Oh, be careful, my lord, for youare the desire of many hearts and the hope of all this land."
He hesitated a moment, and then added with a kind of curiousbashfulness--
"But I am concerned about ye this nicht, William Douglas--I fear thatye could not--would not permit me--"
"Could not permit what--out with it, old grumble-pate?"
"That I should saddle my Flanders mare and ride after you. MaliseMacKim would not be in the way even if ye went a-trysting. He kensbrawly, in such a case, when to turn his head and look upon the hillsand the woods and the bonny sleeping waters."
The Earl laughed and shook his head.
"Na, na, Malise," he said, "were I indeed on such a quest the sight ofyour grey pow would fright a fair lady, and the mere trampling of thatclub-footed she-elephant of yours put to flight every sentiment oflove. Remember the Douglas badge is a naked heart. Can I ridea-courting, therefore, with all my fighting tail behind me as though Ibesought an alliance with the King of England's daughter?"
Silently and sadly the strong man watched the young Earl ride away tothe south along that fair lochside. He stood muttering to himself andlooking long under his hand after his lord. The rider bowed his headas he passed under the rich blazonry of the white May-blossom, which,like creamy lace, covered the Three Thorns of Carlinwark, now deeplystained with rose colour from the clouds of sunset.
WILLIAM OF DOUGLAS REINED UP DARNAWAY UNDERNEATHTHE WHISPERING FOLIAGE OF A GREAT BEECH.]
"Aye, aye," he said, "the Douglas badge is indeed a heart--but it is ableeding heart. God avert the omen, and keep this young man safe--forthough many love him, there be more that would rejoice at his fall."
The rider on Black Darnaway rode right into the saffron eye of thesunset. On his left hand Carlinwark and its many islets burned richwith spring-green foliage, all splashed with the golden sunset light.Darnaway's well-shod hoofs sent the diamond drops flying, as, withobvious pleasure, he trampled through the shallows. Ben Gairn andScreel, boldly ridged against the southern horizon, stood out in darkamethyst against the glowing sky of even, but the young rider never somuch as turned his head to look at them.
Presently, however, he emerged from among the noble lakeside treesupon a more open space. Broom and whin blossom clustered yellow andorange beneath him, garrisoning with their green spears and goldenbanners every knoll and scaur. But there were broad spaces of turfhere and there on which the conies fed, or fought terrible battles forthe meek ear-twitching does, "spat-spatting" at each other with theirfore paws and springing into the air in their mating fury.
William of Douglas reined up Darnaway underneath the whisperingfoliage of a great beech, for all at unawares he had come upon a sightthat interested him more than the noble prospect of the May sunset.
In the centre of the golden glade, and with all their faces mistilyglorified by the evening light, he saw a group of little girls,singing and dancing as they performed some quaint and gracefulpageant of childhood.
Their young voices came up to him with a wistful, dying fall, and theslow, graceful movement of the rhythmic dance seemed to affect theyoung man strangely. Involuntarily he lifted his close-fittingfeathered cap from his head, and allowed the cool airs to blow againsthis brow.
_"See the robbers passing by, passing by, passing by, See the robbers passing by, My fair lady!"_
The ancient words came up clearly and distinctly to him, and softenedhis heart with the indefinable and exquisite pathos of the refrainwhenever it is sung by the sweet voices of children.
"These are surely but cottars' bairns," he said, smiling a little athis own intensity of feeling, "but they sing like little angels. Idaresay my sweetheart Magdalen is amongst them."
And he sat still listening, patting Black Darnaway meanwhile on theneck.
_"What did the robbers do to you, do to you, do to you, What did the robbers do to you, My fair lady?"_
The first two lines rang out bold and clear. Then again thewistfulness of the refrain played upon his heart as if it had been aninstrument of strings, till the tears came into his eyes at thewondrous sorrow and yearning with which one voice, the sweetest andpurest of all, replied, singing quite alone:
_"They broke my lock and stole my gold, stole my gold, stole my gold, Broke my lock and stole my gold, My fair lady!"_
The tears brimmed over in the eyes of William Douglas, and a deepforeboding of the mysteries of fate fell upon his heart and abodethere heavy as doom.
He turned his head as though he felt a presence near him, and lo!sudden and silent as the appearing of a phantom, another horse wasalongside of Black Darnaway, and upon a white palfrey a maiden dressedalso in white sat, smiling upon the young man, fair to look upon as anangel from heaven.
Earl William's lips parted, but he was too surprised to speak.Nevertheless, he moved his hand to his head in instinctive salutation;but, finding his bonnet already off, he could only stare at the visionwhich had so suddenly sprung out of the ground.
The lady slowly waved her hand in the direction of the children, whoseyoung voices still rang clear as cloister bells tolling
out theAngelus, and whose white dresses waved in the light wind as theydanced back and forth with a slow and graceful motion.
"You hear, Earl William," she said, in a low, thrilling voice,speaking with a foreign accent, "you hear? You are a good Christian,doubtless, and you have heard from your uncle, the Abbot, how praiseis made perfect 'out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.' Hark tothem; they sing of their own destinies--and it may be also of yoursand mine."
And so fascinated and moved at heart at once by her beauty and by herstrange words, the Douglas listened.
_"What did the robbers do to you, do to you, do to you, What did the robbers do to you, My fair lady?"_
The lady on the delicately pacing palfrey turned the darkness of hereyes from the white-robed choristers to the face of the young man.Then, with an impetuous motion of her hand, she urged him to listenfor the next words, which swept over Earl William's heart with acadence of unutterable pain and inexplicable melancholy.
_"They broke my lock and stole my gold, stole my gold, stole my gold, Broke my lock and stole my gold, My fair lady!"_
He turned upon his companion with a quick energy, as if he were afraidof losing himself again.
"Who are you, lady, and what do you here?"
The girl (for in years she was little more) smiled and reined hersteed a little back from him with an air at once prettily petulant andteasing.
"Is that spoken as William Douglas or as the Justicer of Galloway--acountry where, as I understand, there is no trial by jury?"
The light of a radiant smile passed from her lips into his soul.
"It is spoken as a man speaks to a woman beautiful and queenly," hesaid, not removing his eyes from her face.
"I fear I may have startled you," she said, without continuing thesubject. "Even as I came I saw you were wrapped in meditation, and mypalfrey going lightly made no sound on the grass and leaves."
Her voice was so sweet and low that William Douglas, listening to it,wished that she would speak on for ever.
"The hour grows late," he said, remembering himself. "You must havefar to ride. Let me be your escort homewards if you have none worthierthan I."
"Alas," she answered, smiling yet more subtly, "I have no home nearby. My home is very far and over many turbulent seas. I have but amaiden's pavilion in which to rest my head. Yet since I and my companymust needs travel through your domains, Earl William, I trust you willnot be so cruel as to forbid us?"
"Yes,"--he was smiling now in turn, and catching somewhat of the gayspirit of the lady,--"as overlord of all this province I do forbid youto pass through these lands of Galloway without first visiting me inmy house of Thrieve!"
The lady clapped her hands and laughed, letting her palfrey paceonwards through the woodland glades bridle free, while Black Darnaway,compelled by his master's hand, followed, tossing his head indignantlybecause it had been turned from the direction of his nightly stable onthe Castle Isle.