Osbert

“ For my own part, I have a personal antipathy to Philip. He has done me a grievous injury, and I will never rest till I requite him. Some day or other his life will be in my hands and then he shall feel my vengeance.”
“My wrongs are greater than yours,” cried Osbert. “I have thrown off all allegiance to him, and am henceforth his deadly foe. He has stepped between me and her whom I love dearer than life, and has sought to sacrifice her to his unhallowed desires. He is unworthy to be the Queen’s consort—unworthy to govern Englishmen. ”

“ Much Osbert sought the company of Torfrida, and though she would have kept aloof, she knew that [86] her father wished her to wed him and dare not thwart him openly. So he ran daily to do her bidding and many services he rendered, thinking to put her in his debt, but she treated him ill until her father seeing, spoke.
“Thy father wills that thou shouldst marry the prince Osbert who is a great and comely man, and such as the daughter of the proudest king might wed with.” ”

“ You shall go with me—I think I can trust myself with you.”
“I will guard your Highness with my life,” said Osbert, resolutely. “But I cannot conceal from you that it is a hazardous step you are about to take.”
“Hazardous or not, I am resolved upon it,” said Philip. “I like a nocturnal adventure, and the opportunity for one now offers, under circumstances that heighten its zest. My nobles would infallibly oppose my design, and therefore must know nothing of it. One person alone can be trusted, the Count D’Egmont, and he will lend me aid. ”

“ Let them not be wasted in idle discussion. I will not fly from the death prepared for me. The stake is ready, and shall not want the victim. I know you will readily do me a service. Seek out my poor wife and children at Brightelmstone, and bid them farewell for me.”
“I have already seen them,” replied Osbert. ”

“ On the King’s departure from the sacristy, as previously narrated, Constance immediately released Osbert from the ambry, and the unhappy lovers, rushing into each other’s arms, forgot for a short space the perilous position in which they were placed. At last, Osbert, partially disengaging himself from the mistress of his heart, exclaimed with bitterness,—
“What have we done that we should suffer thus severely? Heaven seems never weary of persecuting us. Yet we have committed no fault save that of loving each other.” ”

“ Youth and beauty weigh very little with him. ’Tis enough to drive one mad to think that so lovely a creature should be his victim!”
“She never shall be!” exclaimed Osbert, moodily.
“How will you hinder it?” said De Noailles. “Can you snatch her from his grasp if he once secures her? Can you unlock the prison in which she will be immured? Dare you even approach her now? How, then, will you be able to free her, when she is led to the stake, escorted by a guard as strong as that which accompanied the poor wretch who has just been sacrificed?”
“Torture me not thus!” cried Osbert. ”

“ So when the thane turned fiercely upon the wild man she thought of her mother and of Feargus and his clansmen, who had done so much for her, and her heart was full of pity for him, and again she appealed to Osbert to spare him. Then seeing he did not heed, she rode forward, and speaking in the Pictish tongue said: “Draw thy spear, brave stranger, and defend thee, for a great swordsman hast thou now to deal with, but shed not his blood, I charge thee, for thine own sake; and if thou dost as I tell thee, I will befriend thee and no hurt shalt thou get.” ”

“ And Derrick Carver strode into the room. “Heaven will not desert them in their need. Thou hast uttered threats against them which thou wilt never live to execute. Thou has ventured into this dwelling, but wilt never return from it. My hand failed me when I first struck at thee, but it will not fail me now.”
“Make the attempt, then, if thou think’st so, assassin!” cried Philip, keeping his eye steadily upon him.
“Hold!” exclaimed Osbert. “His life is sacred.” ”

“ At this moment the lamp was suddenly thrown down, and the crypt plunged in darkness.
“Traitors, before to-morrow you shall be all clapped in the Tower!” cried a voice.
“’Tis the King!” mentally ejaculated Osbert Clinton. And he sprang towards the door.
“Perdition! we have a spy among us,” cried Stafford. “Seize him and put him to death!”
And, as he spoke, swords were drawn by the conspirators.
“Let no one go forth, but let each man answer for himself. Where is Osbert Clinton?” ”

“ Isel sat looking at Osbert in astonishment, with a piece of pie transfixed on the end of her knife.
“You see, if I did not know, I shouldn’t get so much bothered with folks asking me questions: so I thought I’d let it be.”
That Osbert’s “folks” might more properly be read “Anania,” Isel knew full well.
“Saints love us!—but I would have got to know who was my sister-in-law, if I’d been in your place.”
“To tell the truth, Aunt, I don’t care, so long as she is a decent woman who will make Stephen comfortable; and I think he’s old enough to look out for himself.” ”

“ And he moved towards the window.
“It is needless, Sire,” rejoined Osbert. “Our determination is taken.”
“Then prepare to part for ever,” said Philip, sternly. “As to you, audacious and insensate traitor, you shall learn whose anger you have braved. It will be small alleviation, methinks, to your imprisonment to know that your mistress is in my power.”
“Fear not the threat, Osbert,” said Constance. “I will never yield to him.”
174“I do not ask your consent,” rejoined Philip, derisively. “You are caught in a net from which there is no escape.” ”

“ He adds that although his need had been great, he had never disgraced himself by engaging in trade, but he had been supported by the generous gifts of his friends. Shortly afterwards, however, Osbert was not only restored to his monastery, but was elected prior. ”

“ I pray you to be ruled by me, and enter the hospital till a guard be procured.”
“I am well content to do so, if you will tarry with me,” answered Philip. “But who will bring the guard?”
“Be that task mine,” cried Osbert. “As soon as your Highness is in safety, I will fly to procure assistance.”
62“Nay, you must not go, Sir,” said Constance. “The peril will be as great to you as to the Prince himself. You will only throw away your life in the attempt. I will summon the watch. I shall run no risk.” ”

“ Anything to avoid him.”
“Fresh shouts! more light against yon windows! They are adding fuel to the fire!” cried Constance. “’Twill be over soon.”
“And then the King will come hither,” said Osbert. “Are you prepared for him?”
“Fully prepared,” she rejoined. “Return to your place of concealment, lest he should appear suddenly.”
“No, I will remain here, and brave his anger,” said Osbert.
“Oh, do not act thus rashly!” she exclaimed. “You can render me no aid, and will only place yourself in needless peril.”
“I have no desire to live. Let the tyrant wreak his utmost vengeance upon me if he will. ”

“ While she was thus engaged, Osbert glanced anxiously around in search of some means of escape, but could discover none. The sacristy was lighted by two lancet-shaped windows, but they were narrow, and barred outside.
“Despair!” he exclaimed, in half-frenzied accents, as his search concluded. “Flight is impossible. We are lost.”
But Constance’s thoughts were with the martyr in Smithfield, and the appalling scene seemed to be passing before her eyes. Suddenly she shrieked out, “The fire is kindled. I can see the red reflection of the flames through yonder windows. Oh, it is horrible. ”

“ Yet it is doubtful whether any preliminary hinting could have made Osbert believe that his adored one could possibly be contemplating the treachery of jilting him.
The thing was done. It had to be done, for Virginia had given her lover a whole year, and a maiden's market is short. Unfortunately, the young man involved belonged to that pitiable but happily small minority with whom to love seems final, who cannot rally from the blow given by the beloved hand.
Everything was against Gaunt's recovery. He had no friends. ”

“ We will release all those imprisoned for heresy.”
“We will release our preachers and pastors,” cried Stafford, leaping upon the bench, “and punish their judges. We will hang Gardiner and Bonner.”
Shouts and terrific yells responded to this proposition.
“Here come the arquebusiers!” shoutedshouted several voices, as the trampling of horses and the clanking of arms were heard.
“Close up, and stand firm!” cried Osbert, springing from the bench and making his way towards the head of the crowd, which now, in obedience to his commands, had formed itself into a compact mass. ”

“ But now that you are departing, Sire, leave me not to wretchedness and despair. Pity Osbert, Sire—overlook 409his offences, and pardon him. By so doing, you will save yourself from a remorse which no penitence will remove, but which will ever haunt you if you doom us both to death. But no, Sire, I see you relent—your nobler and better feelings triumph—you are yourself—the worthy son of Charles V. You forgive me—you pardon Osbert Clinton?”
“Arise, Constance,” said Philip, taking her hand and raising her; “you have conquered. ”

“ Let the others go, but spare not the murderer,” and so he ran towards where he believed Osbert [234] to be, and it was then about the dawn so that he could well distinguish faces. Soon there started one up before him and struck the weapon suddenly from his hand, saying, “Ha! king of Lindesey, I have sought thee long; my time and thy time have come together,” and so he rushed upon him, fury in his eyes.
“Nay, not so fast—thou canst war well on old men and boys; thou art able to fight bigger folk, and here is one for thee,” said Duncan, “thou and I have long been debtors each to other.” ”

“ Shortly after his return from his Scottish expedition, he was stricken with dysentery, which rapidly grew worse, and he lay in his vice-regal mansion at York without hope of recovery. When he felt his last moments approaching he suddenly started up from his couch and exclaimed, "Let me not die the death of a cow! If it be not my fate to die gloriously on the field of battle, as my brave boy, Osbert, has done, with all his wounds in front, at least let me die in the guise of a warrior. ”

“ Let Constance Tyrrell and Derrick Carver, both of whom I see with you, be delivered up to us, and we will trouble you no further.”
“And what will you do if I refuse?” said the Cardinal, sternly.
“We will take them,” rejoined Osbert. “But I beseech your Eminence not to compel us to have recourse to violence.”
“Hear me, misguided man,” said Pole; “and hear me all of ye,” he continued, addressing the insurgents in a louder tone, “I will not affect to misunderstand the character in which you come. You are rebels and traitors to the Queen, and have risen in arms against her.” ”

“ The numerous manuscripts of Osbern's ‘Life’ fall into two classes, which possibly represent two editions issued by the author; but more probably the second was due to the corrections of a later hand after Eadmer's adverse criticism (Stubbs, Introduction, pp. xxxiii, xliii–xlviii) . There is another ‘Life’ which passes under the name of Osbert, and is printed by Mabillon (sæc. v. 684–95) , who thinks that Osbert lived about 1120; others suppose that Osbert was identical with Osbern; but seemingly this life is really the work of Eadmer (Hardy, i. 604) . ”

“ And so the wild man was allowed to stay about the court of Sigmund, though Osbert tried hard to get him away, and even set two of his own men to slay him; but the stranger broke the skull of one and the leg of the other and himself escaped without scath. Now one day it chanced that the ladies of the court were out hunting in the forest of Sherwood, which came down near to the town of Nottingham where they were staying, and they had no escort save one or two pages and the stranger, who being able to keep pace with a horse, so fleet was he, followed the party. ”

“ Remembering what he owed to his connection with the Especs, the Lord de Roos received Walter into his castle of Wark, to be trained to arms; and another kinsman, who was a prior in France, received Osbert into his convent, to be reared as a monk. The orphans, who had never before been separated, and who were fondly attached, parted after many embraces, and many tears; and, with as little knowledge of the world into which they were entering as fishes have of the sea in which they swim, each went where destiny seemed to point the way. ”

“ Some of them you know.”
“I know Sir Henry Dudley, Sir Anthony Kingston, and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton,” replied Osbert, saluting the three persons he named, “but the rest are strangers to me.”
“This is honest Master Udal, and this bold Master Staunton, both good Protestants, and hearty haters of the Spaniard and Popish idolatry,” said Sir Henry Dudley. And after salutations had passed by Osbert and the persons indicated, he went on: “These gentlemen,” bringing forward two others, “are Masters Peckham and Werne. You have heard of them, I make no doubt?” ”

“ Oh, he’ll be all right! Stephen has nine lives, like a cat. He always falls on his feet.”
“But it don’t seem natural like!”
Osbert laughed. “I suppose it is natural to a woman to have more curiosity than a man. I never had much of that stuff. Anania’s got enough for both.”
“Well, I’m free to confess she has. Osbert, how do you manage her? I can’t.”
“Let her alone as long as I can, and take the mop to her when I can’t,” was the answer.
“I should think the mop isn’t often out of your hand,” observed Haimet with painful candour.
“It wears out by times,” returned Osbert drily. ”