H. C. Bailey

“ King John staggered to his feet. “I will do it, oh, I will do it speedily, and they shall be the very apple of my eye, even as thou. And thou, good father,” he cringed, “thou wilt put up that cruel parchment and sail away and stay that devil Philip?”
“I will be gone when the work here is done, and Pandulf the sub-deacon shall come to take thy homage to the Lord Pope, and Stephen Langton shall shrive thee.”
“So may God give me salvation!” the King cried. “I go, I go, and, good father, do thou go too.” He fled, and spent the bitter rage of fear upon his men. ”

“ Together they went to the preceptory, and Master Bernard stole away. The shrieks from the fire had fallen silent. Beyond sight of it he stayed, and, with bowed head, “Salvator mundi, miserere,” he murmured. “O Deus omnipotens, populo subvenias!”
“Hast thou seen enough?” A harsh voice spoke in his ear.
He opened his eyes upon Craddock's white rage. “I would that I had a quicker mind,” he said.
“Let us be gone. Each hour we linger is sin unpardonable.”
“The Sieur Gilbert d'Avranches went in to the King,” said Master Bernard, “I would see him out again.” ”

“ Turning, smiling, Master Bernard saw Alais bring her father and mother out to the glad light again. She laughed through tears, and they tried to speak and failed, and tried still. “Up drawbridge!” she cried. “Portcullis down! Invicta, ay, invicta still!”
Master Bernard cocked his ear to the creak of the chains. He pruned himself. “Surely this world hath nothing pleasanter than power,” said he—then his eyes fell on the girl, every line of her rippling with delicious life as she clung to her mother and father, and they held her close—“if a man could believe it.”
Craddock was at his elbow. ”

“ Nay, Craddock, it is not written, Render under Cæsar the things that are your own. Will any martyr have heart enough to give us two saints a lodging, despite King Devil?”
“The castle had a warm hearth of old.”
“Forward with galliard foot! This weeping fog of your land makes my marrow shiver. Master Adam hath a syllogism to prove that the pains of hell are raw cold. No honest Englishman could think so. But for me, 'tis an almighty spur to godliness.”
“If this were thine own land, thy heart would not mock.”
“Why not? I am ever blithe when I see men sorrowful. They prove me my great soul.” ”

“ Thou shalt submit thine all unto the vicar of God. Thou shalt receive the reverend father Stephen Langton into Canterbury, and all the holy men whom thou hast plundered. Thou shalt keep peace with thy people; yea, thou shalt go forth from this castle leaving its good lord and lady and their maiden daughter scathless of thy villainy ”

“ It was a gay young gentleman, a swarthy Poitevin, who spurred up to the barbican, laughing. “If goodwife Eleanor opens not her gate straightway that the King may come into his castle, if she gives not her blithe maiden daughter to his hand to be wife for the Sieur Eude de Laon, then shall goodman Gilbert hang here and his limbs be burnt before his eyes, according to the right doom of a traitor.”
The girl cried out. She was red, and her eyes flamed; but her mother made no sound nor sign. Long and long she gazed at her lord held in the grip of death. ”

“ I have no heart for thee. What baseness is it that fears a death more than this shame?”
She moaned his name.
“Good words, good words!” Ivo put a heavy hand on his shoulder, and with a rough kindliness. “Make not ill worse. Death is near, and I never knew a rage soothe it.”
But Gilbert d'Avranches shook him off. “Let knaves counsel knaves! And for thee, woman, I would hear no more of thy wailings. Thou hast failed me at most need.”
“God forgive thee,” she muttered. “Gilbert—'tis not thou nor I could judge. What were life for Alais if she had let thee die?” ”

“ Master Bernard shrugged. “If the devil had no strength, would he stay the devil?”
King John's strength was not of Englishmen, They came upon a babel of tongues, Flemish and Provençal loudest. Master Bernard held Craddock's sleeve and stayed behind a hedgerow at gaze. It was a great host, built of dangerous men, scarred mercenaries of many wars. ”

“ Craddock turned upon him. “Sayest thou so? And is it God's will to give a maiden into the hands of Eude de Laon, the prime minister of his master's passions, the exemplar of all wickedness?”
“God's ways are manifold,” quoth Master Bernard. “Yield!”
The mother gazed at him with eyes that bore her pain to his soul. About them rose a murmur of rage. Geoffrey, the seneschal, was there, and Ranulf, the captain of the main guard, and other high servants, and Ranulf spoke out: “My master would say, fight! He would never buy life with a maiden. ”

“ The loves of our fair Eude live hard. Come close, good wife; goodman hath much to thank thee for.”
With faltering steps, trusting to the girl's strength, she came. Her fear-strained eyes were not for the King but for her lord. His brows were drawn in passion. The King looked from one to other, smiling gay.
“Ivo, hale the gentle souls away together. They would have some love talk before we carve them for the devil.”
Ivo, a ruddy Angevin, pulled Gilbert d'Avranches to the ground and his men snatched the wife and drove them on.
“Thy promise!” Alais's cry rang brave challenge to the King. ”

“ Gilbert d'Avranches fixed on them a dull, careless stare. He was plainly slow of mind as of heavy limb, but both might be sinewy. His wife had the graces. Her form was of motherly strength, and the mother's vision of life had quenched the light of her eyes and lined her full brow, but the spirit of youth dowered her still. She drew her cloth of gold about her and made them place at her side. “God's couriers are goodly guests.”
“I would that all England said so,” quoth Craddock the Englishman. ”

“ Alais led her mother down. Craddock gripped Master Bernard's arm. “Our Lord the Pope shall hear of this hour,” he growled.
“Of each moment. From my lips.” He followed the women down to the courtyard.
The host on the steep hill side was mingled and broken. When drawbridge was down and portcullis raised, King John rode in the first with Gilbert d'Avranches bound still and gagged by his side, and he jested as he came. “Who could have thought any woman so mad as to hold thy carcass dear? I will see to it that the tender Dame Eleanor is by when we get the butcher to work on thee at last. ”

“ What end? O fool, to trust the brood of Aquitaine! She is doomed, and we die, and die with shame.”
And the woman moaned, “O Lord Christ, be kind.”
Suddenly a shrill roar rent the air. Ivo started out, swearing. “What dog has bitten fat John now?” and suddenly all was silent again.
When Master Bernard came with his parchment, Eude de Laon made to buffet him aside, but a horseman on the King's right hand, a heavy man of long wooden face, thrust out a sturdy arm and took the parchment. His eyes changed a long look with Master Bernard. Then he gave the parchment to the King, showing the seal. ”

“ Is that thy tale for the Holy Father?”
“Good friend Craddock, if the Lord Pope had wanted a saint's thoughts on thy land, he had never sent me. I always tell the truth. There is nothing which more deludes the weaker brethren.”
“A man's words tell his heart,” the Englishman growled, “and so do thine.”
There was no answer save a gentle ripple of laughter, and the Englishman allowed himself unholy muttering. He liked King John's grinding tyranny, his defiance of its punishment, the interdict upon all the rites of God, better than this smooth mirth ”

“ There was a mutter in the crowd, and a gaunt yeoman spoke out. “The King shears us so close that we cannot live, and quarrels with God so that we cannot comfortably die. Brothers, I have heard of a knight that cut off his legs for the fun of hurting them.” ”

“ Then there was turmoil in the courtyard, and soon his host streamed away down the hill, muttering sourly as they went. By the barbican Master Bernard watched and smiled. Hubert de Burgh, who held the rear, checked at his side an instant. The wise eyes met. “Hath Rome kept tryst?”
“She strikes for the people to-day,” said Hubert under his breath. ”

“ Cunningly he'll visit the sins of the father upon the maid. 'Tis a man of dainty fancy. Ha, here is the good wife.” He laughed out, beckoning her. “Good wife and fair maid. I doubt she will not make as hale a spouse as thou. ”