The Pigeon Pie Page 7

  CHAPTER VII.

  FOREST LEA that night was a house of sorrow: the mother and two sons wereprisoners in their separate rooms, and the anxieties for the future weredreadful. Rose longed to see and help her mother, dreading the effect ofsuch misery, to be borne in loneliness, by the weak frame, shattered byso many previous sufferings. How was she to undergo all that might yetbe in store for her—imprisonment, ill-treatment, above all, the loss ofher eldest son? For there was little hope for Edmund. As a friend andfollower of Prince Rupert, he was a marked man; and besides, AlgernonSydney, the commander of the nearest body of forces, was known to be agood deal under the influence of the present owner of Woodley, who waslikely to be glad to see the rightful heir removed from his path.

  Rose perceived all this, and her heart failed her, but she had no time topause on the thought. The children must be soothed and put to bed, and ahard matter it was to comfort poor little Lucy, perhaps the most of allto be pitied. She relieved herself by pouring out the whole confessionto Rose, crying bitterly, while Eleanor hurried on distressing questionswhether they would take mamma away, and what they would do to Edmund.Now it came back to Lucy, “O if I had but minded what mamma said aboutkeeping my tongue in order; but now it is too late!”

  Rose, after doing her best to comfort them, and listening as near to hermother’s door as she dared, to hear if she were weeping, went to her ownroom. It adjoined Walter’s, though the doors did not open into the samepassage; and she shut that which closed in the long gallery, where herroom and that of her sisters were, so that the Roundhead sentry might notbe able to look down it.

  As soon as she was in her own room, she threw herself on her knees, andprayed fervently for help and support in their dire distress. In thestillness, as she knelt, she heard an interchange of voices, which sheknew must be those of her brothers in the next room. She went nearer tothat side, and heard them more distinctly. She was even able todistinguish when Edmund spoke, and when Walter broke forth in impatientexclamations. A sudden thought struck her. She might be able to join inthe conversation. There had once been a door between the two rooms, butit had long since been stopped up, and the recess of the doorway wasoccupied by a great oaken cupboard, in which were preserved all the oldstores of rich farthingales of brocade, and velvet mantles, which hadbeen heirlooms from one Dame of Mowbray to another, till poverty hadcaused them to be cut up and adapted into garments for the littleWoodleys.

  Rose looked anxiously at the carved doors of the old wardrobe. Had shethe key? She felt in her pouch. Yes, she had not given it back to hermother since taking out the sheets for Mr. Enderby. She unlocked thefolding doors, and, pushing aside some of the piles of old garments, sawa narrow line of light between the boards, and heard the tones almost asclearly as if she was in the same room.

  Eager to tell Edmund how near she was, she stretched herself out, almostcrept between the shelves, leant her head against the board on theopposite side, and was about to speak, when she found that it yielded insome degree to her touch. A gleam of hope darted across her, she drewback, fetched her light, tried with her hand, and found that the back ofthe cupboard was in fact a door, secured on her side by a wooden bolt,which there was no difficulty in undoing. Another push, and the dooryielded below, but only so as to show that there must be anotherfastening above. Rose clambered up the shelves, and sought. Here itwas! It was one of the secret communications that were by no meansuncommon in old halls in those times of insecurity. Edmund might yet besaved! Trembling with the excess of her delight in her new-found hope,she forced out the second bolt, and pushed again. The door gave way, thelight widened upon her, and she saw into the room! Edmund was lying onthe bed, Walter sitting at his feet.

  Both started as what had seemed to be part of the wainscoted wall opened,but Edmund prevented Walter’s exclamation by a sign to be silent, and thenext moment Rose’s face was seen squeezing between the shelves.

  “Edmund! Can you get through here?” she exclaimed in a low eagerwhisper.

  Edmund was immediately by her side, kissing the flushed anxious forehead:“My gallant Rose!” he said.

  “Oh, thank heaven! thank heaven! now you may be safe!” continued Rose,still in the same whisper. “I never knew this was a door till thismoment. Heaven sent the discovery on purpose for your safety! Hush,Walter! Oh remember the soldier outside!” as Walter was about to breakout into tumultuous tokens of gladness. “But can you get through,Edmund? Or perhaps we might move out some of the shelves.”

  “That is easily done,” said Edmund; “but I know not. Even if I shouldescape, it would be only to fall into the hands of some fresh troop ofenemies, and I cannot go and leave my mother to their mercy.”

  “You could do nothing to save her,” said Rose, “and all that they may doto her would scarcely hurt her if she thought you were safe. O Edmund!think of her joy in finding you were escaped! the misery of her anxietynow!”

  “Yet to leave her thus! You had not told me half the change in her! Iknow not how to go!” said Edmund.

  “You must, you must!” said Rose and Walter, both at once. And Roseadded, “Your death would kill her, I do believe!”

  “Well, then; but I do not see my way even when I have squeezed betweenyour shelves, my little sister. Every port is beset, and our hidingplaces here can no longer serve me.”

  “Listen,” said Rose, “this is what my mother and I had planned before.The old clergyman of this parish, Dr. Bathurst, lives in a little houseat Bosham, with his daughter, and maintains himself by teaching thewealthier boys of the town. Now, if you could ride to him to-night, hewould be most glad to serve you, both as a cavalier, and for my mother’ssake. He would find some place of concealment, and watch for the timewhen you may attempt to cross the Channel.”

  Edmund considered, and made her repeat her explanation. “Yes, that mightanswer,” he said at length; “I take you for my general, sweet Rose. Buthow am I to find your good doctor?”

  “I think,” said Rose, after considering a little while, “that I hadbetter go with you. I could ride behind you on your horse, if the rebelshave not found him, and I know the town, and Dr. Bathurst’s lodging. Ionly cannot think what is to be done about Walter.”

  “Never mind me,” said Walter, “they cannot hurt me.”

  “Not if you will be prudent, and not provoke them,” said Edmund.

  “Oh, I know!” cried Rose; “wear my gown and hood! these men have onlyseen us by candle-light, and will never find you out if you will only becareful.”

  “I wear girl’s trumpery!” exclaimed Walter, in such indignation thatEdmund smiled, saying, “If Rose’s wit went with her gown, you might beglad of it.”

  “She is a good girl enough,” said Walter, “but as to my putting on herpetticoat trash, that’s all nonsense.”

  “Hear me this once, dear Walter,” pleaded Rose. “If there is a pursuit,and they fancy you and Edmund are gone together, it will quite misleadthem to hear only of a groom riding before a young lady.”

  “There is something in that,” said Walter, “but a pretty sort of lady Ishall make!”

  “Then you consent? Thank you, dear Walter. Now, will you help me intoyour room, and I’ll put two rolls of clothes to bed, that the captain mayfind his prisoners fast asleep to-morrow morning.”

  Walter could hardly help laughing aloud with delight at the notion of thedisappointment of the rebels. The next thing was to consider of Edmund’sequipment; Rose turned over her ancient hoards in vain, everything thatwas not too remarkable had been used for the needs of the family, and hemust go in his present blood-stained buff coat, hoping to enter Boshamtoo early in the morning for gossips to be astir. Then she dressedWalter in her own clothes, not without his making many faces of disgust,especially when she fastened his long curled love-locks in a knot behind,tried to train little curls over the sides of his face, and drew herblack silk hood forward so as to shade it. They were nearly of the sameheight and complexion,
and Edmund pronounced that Walter made a verypretty girl, so like Rose that he should hardly have known them apart,which seemed to vex the boy more than all.

  There had been a sort of merriment while this was doing, but when it wasover, and the moment came when the brother and sister must set off, therewas lingering, sorrow, and reluctance. Edmund felt severely the leavinghis mother in the midst of peril, brought upon her for his sake, and hisone brief sight of his home had made him cling the closer to it, andstirred up in double force the affections for mother, brothers, andsisters, which, though never extinct, had been comparatively dormantwhile he was engaged in stirring scenes abroad. Now that he had oncemore seen the gentle loving countenance of his mother, and felt hertender, tearful caress, known that noble-minded Rose, and had a glimpseof those pretty little sisters, there was such a yearning for themthrough his whole being, that it seemed to him as if he might as well dieas continue to be cast up and down the world far from them.

  Rose felt as if she was abandoning her mother by going from home at sucha time, when perhaps she should find on her return that she had beencarried away to prison. She could not bear to think of being missed onsuch a morning that was likely to ensue, but she well knew that thegreatest good she could do would be to effect the rescue of her brother,and she could not hesitate a moment. She crowded charge after chargeupon Walter, with many a message for her mother, promise to return assoon as possible, and entreaty for pardon for leaving her in such astrait; and Edmund added numerous like parting greetings, with counseland entreaties that she would ask for Colonel Enderby’s interference,which might probably avail to save her from further imprisonment andsequestration.

  “Good-bye, Walter. In three or four years, if matters are not rightedbefore that, perhaps, if you can come to me, I may find employment foryou in Prince Rupert’s fleet, or the Duke of York’s troop.”

  “O Edmund, thanks! that would be—”

  Walter had not time to finish, for Rose kissed him, left her love andduty to her mother with him, bade him remember he was a lady, and thenholding Edmund by the hand, both with their shoes off, stole softly downthe stairs in the dark.