Two Penniless Princesses Read online

  CHAPTER 2. DEPARTURE

  'I bowed my pride, A horse-boy in his train to ride.'--SCOTT.

  The Lady of Glenuskie, as she was commonly called, was a near kinswomanof the Royal House, Lilias Stewart, a grand-daughter of King Robert II.,and thus first cousin to the late King. Her brother, Malcolm Stewart,had resigned to her the little barony of Glenuskie upon his embracingthe life of a priest, and her becoming the wife of Sir Patrick Drummond,the son of his former guardian.

  Sir Patrick had served in France in the Scotch troop who came to theassistance of the Dauphin, until he was taken prisoner by his nativemonarch, James I., then present with the army of Henry V. He had thenspent two years at Windsor, in attendance upon that prince, until bothwere set at liberty by the treaty made by Cardinal Beaufort. In themeantime, his betrothed, Lilias, being in danger at home, had beenbestowed in the household of the Countess of Warwick, where she hadbeen much with an admirable and saintly foreign lady, Esclairmonde deLuxembourg, who had taken refuge from the dissensions of her own vexedcountry among the charitable sisterhood of St. Katharine in the Docks inLondon.

  Sir Patrick and his lady had thus enjoyed far more training in thegeneral European civilisation than usually fell to the lot of theircountrymen; and they had moreover imbibed much of the spirit of thatadmirable King, whose aims at improvement, religious, moral, andpolitical, were so piteously cut short by his assassination. During thenine miserable years that had ensued it had not been possible, evenin conjunction with Bishop Kennedy, to afford any efficient support orprotection to the young King and his mother, and it had been as much asSir Patrick could do to protect his own lands and vassals, and do hisbest to bring up his children to godly, honourable, and chivalrousways; but amid all the evil around he had decided that it was well-nighimpossible to train them to courage without ruffianism, or to preventthem from being tainted by the prevailing standard. Even among theclergy and monastic orders the type was very low, in spite of theendeavours of Bishop Kennedy, who had not yet been able to found hisuniversity at St. Andrews; and it had been agreed between him and SirPatrick that young Malcolm Drummond, a devout and scholarly lad ofearnest aspiration, should be trained at the Paris University, andperhaps visit Padua and Bologna in preparation for that foundation,which, save for that cruel Eastern's E'en, would have been commenced bythe uncle whose name he bore.

  The daughter had likewise been promised in her babyhood to the Sirede Terreforte, a knight of Auvergne, who had come on a mission to theScotch Court in the golden days of the reign of James I., and being anold companion-in-arms of Sir Patrick, had desired to unite the familiesin the person of his infant son Olivier and of Annis Drummond.

  Lady Drummond had ever since been preparing her little daughter and herwardrobe. The whole was in a good state of forwardness; but it must beconfessed that she was somewhat taken aback when she beheld two youngladies riding up the glen with her husband, sons, and their escort; andfound, on descending to welcome them, that they were neither more norless than the two eldest unmarried princesses of Scotland.

  'And Dame Lilias,' proceeded her knight, 'you must busk and boune youto be in the saddle betimes the morn, and put Tweed between these puirlasses and their foes--or shall I say their ower well wishers?'

  The ladies of Scotland lived to receive startling intelligence, andLady Drummond's kind heart was moved by the two forlorn, weary-lookingfigures, with traces of tears on their cheeks. She kissed themrespectfully, conducted them to the guest-chamber, which was manyadvances beyond their room at Dunbar in comfort, and presently left herown two daughters, Annis and Lilias, and their nurse, to take care ofthem, since they seemed to have neither mails nor attendants of theirown, while she sought out her husband, as he was being disarmed by hissons, to understand what was to be done.

  He told her briefly of the danger and perplexity in which the presenceof the two poor young princesses might involve themselves, theirbrother, and the kingdom itself, by exciting the greed, jealousy, andemulation of the untamed nobles and Highland chiefs, who would try togain them, both as an excuse for exactions from the King and out ofjealousy of one another. To take them out of reach was the only readymeans of preventing mischief, and the Bishop of St. Andrews had besoughtSir Patrick to undertake the charge.

  'We are bound to do all we can for their father's daughters,' DameLilias owned, 'alike as our King and the best friend that ever we had,or my dear brother Malcolm, Heaven rest them both! But have they noservants, no plenishing?'

  'That must we provide,' said Sir Patrick. 'We must be their servants,Dame. Our lasses must lend them what is fitting, till we come where Ican make use of this, which my good Lord of St. Andrews gave me.'

  'What is it, Patie? Not the red gold?'

  'Oh no! I have heard of the like. Ye ken Morini, as they call him, theLombard goldsmith in the Canongate? Weel, for sums that the Bishop willpay to Morini, sums owing, he says, by himself to the Crown--thoughI shrewdly suspect 'tis the other way, gude man!--then the Lombard'sfellows in York, London, or Paris, or Bourges will, on seeing this bitbond, supply us up to the tune of a hundred crowns. Thou look'st mazed,Lily, but I have known the like before. 'Tis no great sum, but mayhapthe maidens' English kin will do somewhat for them before they win totheir sister.'

  'I would not have them beholden to the English,' said Dame Lilias, notforgetting that she was a Stewart.

  Her husband perhaps scarcely understood the change made in the wholeaspect of the journey to her. Not only had she to hurry her preparationsfor the early start, but instead of travelling as the mistress of theparty, she and her daughter would, in appearance at least, be the mereappendages of the two princesses, wait upon them, give them the foremostplace, supply their present needs from what was provided for themselves,and it was quite possible have likewise to control girlish petulance andinexperience in the strange lands where her charges must appear at theirvery best, to do honour to their birth and their country.

  But the loyal woman made up her mind without a word of complaint afterthe first shock, and though a busy night was not the best preparationfor a day's journey, she never lay down; nor indeed did her namesakedaughter, who was to be left at a Priory on their way, there to decidewhether she had a vocation to be a nun.

  So effectually did she bestir herself that by six o'clock the nextmorning the various packages were rolled up for bestowal on the sumpterhorses, and the goods to be left at home locked up in chests, andcommitted to the charge of the trusty seneschal and his wife; a meal, tobe taken in haste, was spread on the table in the hall, to be swallowedwhile the little rough ponies were being laden.

  Mass was to be heard at the first halting-place, the Benedictine nunneryof Trefontana on Lammermuir, where Lilias Drummond was to be left, to bepassed on, when occasion served, to the Sisterhood at Edinburgh.

  The fresh morning breezes over the world of heather brightened thecheeks and the spirits of the two sisters; the first wrench of partingwas over with them, and they found themselves treated with much moreobservance than usual, though they did not know that the horsesthey were riding had been trained for the special use of the Lady ofGlenuskie and her daughter Annis upon the journey.

  They rode on gaily, Jean with her inseparable falcon Skywing, Eleanorwith her father's harp bestowed behind her--she would trust it to no oneelse. They were squired by their two cousins, David and Malcolm, who, inspite of David's murmurs, felt the exhilaration of the future as muchas they did, as they coursed over the heather, David with two greatgreyhounds with majestic heads at his side, Finn and Finvola, as theywere called.

  The graver and sadder ones of the party, father, mother, and the twoyoung sisters, rode farther back, the father issuing directions to theseneschal, who accompanied them thus far, and the mother watching overthe two fair young girls, whose hearts were heavy in the probabilitythat they would never meet again, for how should a Scottish Benedictinenun and the wife of a French seigneur ever come together? nor wouldthere be any possibility of correspo
ndence to bridge over the gulf.

  The nunnery was strong, but not with the strength of secular buildings,for, except when a tempting heiress had taken refuge there, conventswere respected even by the rudest men.

  Numerous unkempt and barely-clothed figures were coming away from thegates, a pilgrim or two with brown gown, broad hat, and scallop shell,the morning's dole being just over; but a few, some on crutches,some with heads or limbs bound up, were waiting for their turn of thesister-infirmarer's care. The pennon of the Drummond had already beenrecognised, and the gate-ward readily admitted the party, since thehouse of Glenuskie were well known as pious benefactors to the Church.

  They were just in time for a mass which a pilgrim priest was about tosay, and they were all admitted to the small nave of the little chapel,beyond which a screen shut off the choir of nuns. After this the ladieswere received into the refectory to break their fast, the men folk beingserved in an outside building for the purpose. It was not sumptuousfare, chiefly consisting of barley bannocks and very salt and dry fish,with some thin and sour ale; and David's attention was a good deal takenup by a man-at-arms who seemed to have attached himself to theparty, but whom he did not know, and who held a little aloof from therest--keeping his visor down while eating and drinking, in a somewhatsuspicious manner, as though to avoid observation.

  Just as David had resolved to point this person out to his father, SirPatrick was summoned to speak to the Lady Prioress. Therefore the youththought it incumbent upon him to deal with the matter, and advancingtowards the stranger, said, 'Good fellow, thou art none of ourfollowing. How, now!' for a pair of gray eyes looked up with recognitionin them, and a low voice whispered, 'Davie Drummond, keep my secret tillwe be across the Border.'

  'Geordie, what means this?'

  'I canna let her gang! I ken that she scorns me.'

  'That proud peat Jean?'

  'Whist! whist! She scorns me, and the King scarce lent a lug to myfather's gude offer, so that he can scarce keep the peace with theirpride and upsettingness. But I love her, Davie, the mere sight of her issunshine, and wha kens but in the stour of this journey I may have thechance of standing by her and defending her, and showing what a lealScot's heart can do? Or if not, if I may not win her, I shall still bein sight of her blessed blue een!'

  David whistled his perplexity. 'The Yerl,' said he, 'doth he ken?'

  'I trow not! He thinks me at Tantallon, watching for the raid theMackays are threatening--little guessing the bird would be flown.'

  'How cam' ye to guess that same, which was, so far as I know, onlydecided two days syne?'

  'Our pursuivant was to bear a letter to the King, and I garred him letme bear him company as one of his grooms, so that I might delight mineeyes with the sight of her.'

  David laughed. His time was not come, and this love and admiration forhis young cousin was absurd in his eyes. 'For a young bit lassie,' hesaid; 'gin it had been a knight! But what will your father say to mine?'

  'I will write to him when I am well over the Border,' said Geordie, 'andgin he kens that your father had no hand in it he will deem no ill-will.Nor could he harm you if he did.'

  David did not feel entirely satisfied, on one side of his mind as to hisown loyalty to his father, or Geordie's to 'the Yerl,' and yet there wassomething diverting to the enterprising mind in the stolen expedition;and the fellow-feeling which results in honour to contemporaries madehim promise not to betray the young man and to shield him from notice asbest he might. With Geordie's motive he had no sympathy, having hadtoo many childish squabbles with his cousin for her to be in his eyes asublime Princess Joanna, but only a masterful Jeanie.

  Sir Patrick, absorbed in orders to his seneschal, did not observe theaddition to his party; and as David acted as his squire, and had beenseen talking to the young man, no further demur was made until the timewhen the home party turned to ride back to Glenuskie, and Sir Patrickmade a roll-call of his followers, picked men who could fairly betrusted not to embroil the company by excesses or imprudences in Englandor France.

  Besides himself, his wife, sons and daughters, and the two princesses,the party consisted of Christian, female attendant for the ladies, thewife of Andrew of the Cleugh, an elderly, well-seasoned man-at-arms, towhom the banner was entrusted; Dandie their son, a stalwart youth of twoor three-and-twenty, who, under his father, was in charge of the horses;and six lances besides. Sir Patrick following the French fashion, whichgave to each lance two grooms, armed likewise, and a horse-boy. Foreach of the family there was likewise a spare palfrey, with a servantin charge, and one beast of burthen, but these last were to be freshlyhired with their attendants at each stage.

  Geordie, used to more tumultuous and irregular gatherings, where any manwith a good horse and serviceable weapons was welcome to join the raid,had not reckoned on such a review of the party as was made by the oldwarrior accustomed to more regular warfare, and who made each of hiseight lances--namely, the two Andrew Drummonds, Jock of the Glen, Jockieof Braeside, Willie and Norman Armstrong, Wattie Wudspurs, and TamTelfer--answer to their names, and show up their three followers.

  'And who is yon lad in bright steel?' Sir Patrick asked.

  'Master Davie kens, sir,' responded old Andrew. David, being called,explained that he was a leal lad called Geordie, whom he had seen inEdinburgh, and who wished to join them, go to France, and see the worldunder Sir Patrick's guidance, and that he would be at his own charges.'And I'll be answerable for him, sir,' concluded the lad.

  'Answer! Ha! ha! What for, eh? That he is a long-legged lad like yourain self. What more? Come, call him up!'

  The stranger had no choice save to obey, and came up on a strong whitemare, which old Andrew scanned, and muttered to his son, 'The Mearnsbreed--did he come honestly by it?'

  'Up with your beaver, young man,' said Sir Patrick peremptorily; 'no manrides with me whose face I have not seen.'

  A face not handsome and thoroughly Scottish was disclosed, with keenintelligence in the gray eyes, and a certain air of offended dignity,yet self-control, in the close-shut mouth. The cheeks were sunburnt andfreckled, a tawny down of young manhood was on the long upper lip, andthe short-cut hair was red; but there was an intelligent and trustworthyexpression in the countenance, and the tall figure sat on horseback withthe upright ease of one well trained.

  'Soh!' said Sir Patrick, looking him over, 'how ca' they you, lad?'

  'Geordie o' the Red Peel,' he answered.

  'That's a by-name,' said the knight sternly; 'I must have the full nameof any man who rides with me.'

  'George Douglas, then, if nothing short of that will content you!'

  'Are ye sib to the Earl?'

  'Ay, sir, and have rid in his company.'

  'Whose word am I to take for that?'

  'Mine, sir, a word that none has ever doubted,' said the youth boldly.'By that your son kens me.'

  David here vouched for having seen the young man in the Angus following,when he had accompanied his father in the last riding of the ScotsParliament at Edinburgh; and this so far satisfied Sir Patrick thathe consented to receive the stranger into his company, but only oncondition of an oath of absolute obedience so long as he remained in thetroop.

  David could see that this had not been reckoned on by the high-spiritedMaster of Angus; and indeed obedience, save to the head of the name, wasso little a Scottish virtue that Sir Patrick was by no means unpreparedfor reluctance.

  'I give thee thy choice, laddie,' he said, not unkindly; 'best make upyour mind while thou art still in thine own country, and can win backhome. In England and France I can have no stragglers nor loons like tohelp themselves, nor give cause for a fray to bring shame on the hailltroop in lands that are none too friendly. A raw carle like thyself, oreven these lads of mine, might give offence unwittingly, and then I'dhave to give thee up to the laws, or to stand by thee to the peril ofall, and of the ladies themselves. So there's nothing for it but strictkeeping to orders of myself and Andrew Drummond of the Cleugh,
who kensas well as I do what sorts to be done in these strange lands. Wilt thouso bind thyself, or shall we part while yet there is time?'

  'Sir, I will,' said the young man, 'I will plight my word to obeyyou, and faithfully, so long as I ride under your banner in foreignparts--provided such oath be not binding within this realm of Scotland,nor against my lealty to the head of my name.'

  'Nor do I ask it of thee,' returned Sir Patrick heartily, but regardinghim more attentively; 'these are the scruples of a true man. Hast thouany following?'

  'Only a boy to lead my horse to grass,' replied George, giving apeculiar whistle, which brought to his side a shock-headed, barefootedlad, in a shepherd's tartan and little else, but with limbs as active asa wild deer, and an eye twinkling and alert.

  'He shall be put in better trim ere the English pock-puddings see him,'said Douglas, looking at him, perhaps for the first time, as somethingunsuited to that orderly company.

  'That is thine own affair,' said Sir Patrick. 'Mine is that he shouldcomport himself as becomes one of my troop. What's his name?'

  'Ringan Raefoot,' replied Geordie Sir Patrick began to put the oath ofobedience to him, but the boy cried out--

  'I'll ne'er swear to any save my lawful lord, the Yerl of Angus, and mylord the Master.'

  'Hist, Ringan,' interposed Geordie. 'Sir, I will answer for his faith tome, and so long as he is leal to me he will be the same to thee; but Idoubt whether it be expedient to compel him.'

  So did Sir Patrick, and he said--

  'Then be it so, I trust to his faith to thee. Only remembering that ifhe plunder or brawl, I may have to leave him hanging on the next bush.'

  'And if he doth, the Red Douglas will ken the reason why,' quoth Ringan,with head aloft.

  It was thought well to turn a deaf ear to this observation. Indeed,Geordie's effort was to elude observation, and to keep his uncouthfollower from attracting it. Ringan was not singular in running alongwith bare feet. Other 'bonnie boys,' as the ballad has it, trottedalong by the side of the horses to which they were attached in the likefashion, though they had hose and shoon slung over their shoulders, tobe donned on entering the good town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

  Not without sounding of bugle and sending out a pursuivant to examineinto the intentions and authorisation of the party, were they admitted,Jean and Eleanor riding first, with the pursuivant proclaiming--'Place,place for the high and mighty princesses of Scotland.'

  It was an inconvenient ceremony for poor Sir Patrick, who had to handover to the pursuivant, in the name of the princesses, a ring fromhis own finger. Largesse he could not attempt, but the proud spirit ofhimself and his train could not but be chafed at the expectant facesof the crowd, and the intuitive certainty that 'Beggarly Scotch' was inevery disappointed mind.

  And this was but a foretaste of what the two royal maidens' presencewould probably entail throughout the journey. His wife added to thiscare uneasiness as to the deportment of her three maidens. Of Annis shehad not much fear, but she suspected Jean and Eleanor of being as wildand untamed as hares, and she much doubted whether any counsels mightnot offend their dignity, and drive them into some strange behaviourthat the good people of Berwick would never forget.

  They rode in, however, very upright and stately, with an air of takingpossession of the place on their brother's behalf; and Jean bowed with acertain haughty grace to the deputy-warden who came out to receive them,Eleanor keeping her eye upon Jean and imitating her in everything. ForEleanor, though sometimes the most eager, and most apt to commit herselfby hasty words and speeches, seemed now to be daunted by the strangenessof all around, and to commit herself to the leading of her sister,though so little her junior.

  She was very silent all through the supper spread for them in the hallof the castle, while Jean exchanged conversation with their host uponIceland hawks and wolf and deer hounds, as if she had been a young ladykeeping a splendid court all her life, instead of a poverty-strickenprisoner in castle after castle.

  'Jeanie,' whispered Eleanor, as they lay down on their bed together,'didst mark the tall laddie that was about to seat himself at the hightable and frowned when the steward motioned him down?'

  'What's that to me? An ill-nurtured carle,' said Jean; 'I marvel SirPatie brooks him in his meinie!'

  Eleanor was a little in awe of Jeanie in this mood, and said no more,but Annis, who slept on a pallet at their feet, heard all, and guessedmore as to the strange young squire.

  Fain would she and Eleanor have discussed the situation, but Jean's blueeyes glanced heedfully and defiantly at them, and, moreover, the younggentleman in question, after that one error, effaced himself, and wasforgotten for the time in the novelty of the scenes around.

  The sub-warden of Berwick, mindful of his charge to obviate alloccasions of strife, insisted on sending a knight and half-a-dozen mento escort the Scottish travellers as far as Durham. David Drummond andthe young ladies murmured to one another their disgust that the Englishpock-pudding should not suppose Scots able to keep their heads withtheir own hands; but, as Jean sagely observed, 'No doubt he would notwish them to have occasion to hurt any of the English, nor Jamie to haveto call them to account.'

  This same old knight consorted with Sir Patrick, Dame Lilias, andFather Romuald, and kept a sharp eye on the little party, allowing nostraggling on any pretence, and as Sir Patrick enforced the command, allwere obliged to obey, in spite of chafing; and the scowls of the EnglishBorderers, with the scant courtesy vouchsafed by these sturdy spirits,proved the wisdom of the precaution.

  At Durham they were hospitably entertained in the absence of the Bishop.The splendour of the cathedral and its adjuncts much impressed LadyDrummond, as it had done a score of years previously; but, thoughMalcolm ventured to share her admiration, Jean was far above allowingthat she could be astonished at anything in England. In fact, sheregarded the stately towers of St. Cuthbert as so much stolen familyproperty which 'Jamie' would one day regain; and all the other youngpeople followed suit. David even made all the observations his ownsense of honour and the eyes of his hosts would permit, with a view to afuture surprise. The escort of Sir Patrick was asked to York by a Canonwho had to journey thither, and was anxious for protection from theoutlaws--who had begun to renew the doings of Robin Hood under the laxerrule of the young Henry VI, though things were expected to be bettersince the young Duke of York had returned from France.

  Perhaps this arrangement was again a precaution for the preservation ofpeace, and at York there was a splendid entertainment by Cardinal Kemp;but all the 'subtleties' and wonders--stags' heads in their horns,peacocks in their pride, jellies with whole romances depicted in them,could not reconcile the young Scots to the presumption of the Archbishopreckoning Scotland into his province. Durham was at once too monasticand too military to have afforded much opportunity for recruitingthe princesses' wardrobe; but York was the resort of the merchants ofFlanders, and Christie was sent in quest of them and their wares, fortruly the black serge kirtles and shepherd's tartan screens that hadmade the journey from Dunbar were in no condition to do honour to royaldamsels.

  Jean was in raptures with the graceful veils depending from the hornedheadgear, worn, she was told, by the Duchess of Burgundy; but Eleanorwept at the idea of obscuring the snood of a Scottish maiden, and wouldnot hear of resigning it.

  'I feel as Elleen no more,' she said, 'but a mere Flanders popinjay. Ithas changed my ain self upon me, as well as the country.'

  'Thou shouldst have been born in a hovel!' returned Jean, raising herproud little head. 'I feel more than ever what I am--a true princess!'

  And she looked it, with beauty enhanced by the rich attire which onlymade Eleanor embarrassed and uncomfortable.

  Malcolm, the more scrupulous of the Drummond brothers, begged of GeorgeDouglas, when at Durham, to write to his father and declare himself toSir Patrick, but the youth would do neither. He did not think himselfsufficiently out of reach, and, besides, the very sight of a pen wasabhorrent to him. There w
as something pleasing to him in the liberty ofa kind of volunteer attached to the expedition, and he would not give itup. Nor was he without some wild idea of winning Jean's notice by somegallant exploit on her behalf before she knew him for the object of herprejudice, the Master of Angus. As to Sir Patrick, he was far too busytrying to compose Border quarrels, and gleaning information about theGloucester and Beaufort parties at Court, to have any attention to sparefor the young man riding in his suite with the barefooted lad ever athis stirrup.

  Geordie never attempted to secure better accommodation than the otherlances; he groomed his steed himself, with a little assistance fromRingan, and slept in the straw of its bed, with the lad curled up at hisfeet; the only difference observable between him and the rest being thathe always groomed himself every night and morning as carefully as thehorse, a ceremony they thought entirely needless.