Siward

“ Through the waning winter days, as he lay brooding in bitterness, realising that it was all to do over again, Plank's shy visits became gradually part of the routine. But it was many days before Siward perceived in the big, lumbering, pink-fisted man anything to attract him beyond the faintly amused curiosity of one man for another who is in process of establishing himself as the first of a race. ”

“ Siward does not appear to have disdained the idea of exchanging the pine plank for the rush-strewed hall. At all events, he took the mystic banner and the advice of the venerable man, steered his course towards the Thames, and, reaching London, presented himself to the king. It was an age when men of huge proportions and fearless hearts were in great request; and Siward's reception was all that could have been wished.
The favour shown by the Danish king to Siward naturally made him the object of envy. ”

“ He leaned heavily toward Siward, stretching out his powerful arm:
“You marry her; and keep open your spiritual communication through her, if that is the way it has been established, and hang on to your God that way until your body is dead! I tell you, Siward, to marry her. I don't care how you do it; I don't care how you get her. Take her! Yours, of the two, is the stronger character, or she would not be where she is. Does she want what you cannot give her? Cure that desire—it is more contemptible than the craving that shatters you! I say, let the one-eyed lead the blind. ”

“ After a little while, either the toast or the tea appeared to act on Plank as a lingual laxative, for he began suddenly to talk, which is characteristic of bashful men; and Siward gravely helped him on when he floundered and turned shy. After a little, matters went very well with them, and Plank, much more at ease than he had ever dared to hope he could be with Siward, talked and talked; and Siward, his crutches across his knees, lay back in his arm-chair, chatting with that winning informality so becoming to men who are unconscious of their charm. ”

“ The day that Siward left New York to visit everybody's friend, Mr. Mulqueen, in the country, Plank called on him for the second time in his life, and was presently received in the south drawing-room, the library being limited to an informality and intimacy not for Mr. Plank.
Siward, still lame, and using unskilfully two shiny new crutches, came down the stairs and stumped into the drawing-room, which, in spite of the sombre, clustering curtains, was brightly illuminated by the winter sunshine reflected from the snow in the street. ”

“ His silky, Vandyke beard was all wet with the moisture. She noticed it, and unbidden arose the vision of the gun-room at Shotover: Quarrier's soft beard wet with rain; the phantoms of people passing and repassing; Siward's straight figure swinging past, silhouetted against the glare of light from the billiard-room. And here she made an effort to efface the vision, shutting her eyes as she rode there in the rain. But clearly against the closed lids she saw the phantoms passing—spectres of dead hours, the wraith of an old happiness masked with youth and wearing Siward's features! ”

“ And suddenly Quarrier's large, handsome eyes met Siward's for the briefest fraction of a second, then were averted. But into his face there crept an expressionless pallor that did not escape Siward—no, nor Sylvia Landis.
Presently under cover of a rapid fire of chatter she said: “Did you draw that?”
“Yes; I had no idea it was meant for him. You may imagine how likely I'd be to take any liberty with a man who already dislikes me.” ”

“ Ferrall, too, suddenly uncomfortable, stood up saying something about dressing; several men arose a trifle stiffly, feeling in every joint the result of the first day's shooting after all those idle months. Mortimer got up with an unfeigned groan; Siward followed, leaving his glass untouched.
One or two other men came in from the billiard-room. All greeted Siward amiably—all excepting one who may not have seen him—an elderly, pink, soft gentleman with white downy chop-whiskers and the profile of a benevolent buck rabbit. ”

“ When Siward himself afterwards lay on his death-bed, and felt the approach of dissolution, an old chronicler (Henry of Huntingdon) represents him as breaking out into sorrowful complaints, and exclaiming, “How shameful it is for me, that I have never been able to meet death in my numerous battles, but have been reserved to die with disgrace like an old cow. Clothe me at least in my impenetrable armour, gird me with my sword, cover my head with my helmet, place my shield in my left, and my gilded axe in my right hand, that I, the bold warrior, may also die like one.” ”

“ But while the huge wound baffled all the remedies they applied, a certain man of amazing size was seen to approach the litter of the sick man, and promised that Siward should straightway rejoice and be whole, if he would consecrate unto him the souls of all whom he should overcome in battle. ”

“ If I had fuel for it, then I might serve two more fineries and another chafery."
"Now he talks Hebrew. God is my life, I must learn this craft of yours that breeds such content in men and maids. Will you make me a hammerman, Siward?"
"Every man must be bred to his craft, my lord," Siward smiled. "Why, who comes so late?"
For some one beat, on the door and shouted his name, and when he opened there stood young Walter: "Siward, man, have any of your folk had sight—God be thanked, my lord. All our men are beating the woods for you." ”

“ He kissed Siward's wife, Elfrida, a large calm woman, he kissed the daughter Ursula and led Elfrida back to her chair, took Siward's, thrust Siward dovm on the bench at his side and vowed that neither man nor woman should lose a supper for him, and fell to.
It was a large household, large as Sir Walter's own, for below the salt sat Siward's workmen and their wives, a sturdy, jolly company, in no awe of master or King, but mannerly enough. "God's my life," said the King, "you are like a lord in his castle, friend Siward. You make good cheer for a goodly band."
"Who work hard must live well. ”

“ Gilbert laughed.
Sir Walter put out his hand. "Let us hold together, Siward. I promise you, I fear you."
So they went in to drink wine on it and the King plucked Siward apart. "Shall I blazon you a coat of arms, Sir Siward? I will give you two crossbow bolts gules upon vert. Oh rogue!"
Siward smiled in his beard. "And two knights enraged proper. Nay, good my lord, a beggar on horseback should be my crest. But you are too wise for me. I pray you keep my secret. What is a man to do when men will not see their own good?" ”

“ What Siward and John would not give no other would give. The iron-masters ever held together. The two rogues spoke for all. If he had time to spend, he might besiege Siward's hold and take it, but the need was instant. Though he pillaged that and every hammer in the weald, he could not seize what was gone or make unwilling men work heartily. And time was all in all. While he struggled for his equipment, the justiciar's host, furnished with all the stores of London and the rich south country, was marching on Leicester and Norfolk, who had nothing but men. ”

“ Then far away over sunny tree tops a big grouse sailed up, rocketing into the sky on slanted wings, breasting the height of green; dipped, glided downward with bowed wings stiffened, and was engulfed in the misty barriers of purpling woods.
“Vale!” said Siward aloud, “I salute you!”
He came strolling back across the crisp leaves, the dappled sunshine playing over his face like the flicker of a smile.
“Miles,” he said, “my nerve is gone. Such things happen. I'm all in. Come over here, my friend, and look at the sun with me.” ”

“ Mr. Plank,” as they arrived and seated themselves, “Mr. Siward has just admitted that he uses crutches only because they are ornamental. Leila, isn't this air delicious? All sorts of people, too, aren't there, Mr. Plank? Such curious-looking women, some of them—quite pretty, too, in a certain way. Are you hungry, St—Mr. Siward?”
“Are you, St—Mr. Siward?” mimicked Leila promptly.
“I am,” said Siward, laughing at Sylvia's significant colour and noting Plank's direct gaze as the waiter filled Leila's slender-stemmed glass. ”

“ Siward. A friendship between us would not be at all good for me. Things pass too swiftly—too intimately. There is too much mockery in you—” She ceased suddenly, watching the sombre alteration of his face; and, “Have I hurt you?” she asked penitently.
“No.”
“Have I, Mr. Siward? I did not mean it.” The attitude, the words, slackening to a trailing sweetness, and then the moment's silence, stirred him.
“I'm rather ignorant myself of violent emotion,” he said. “I suspect normal people are. You know better than I do whether love is usually a sedative.” ”

“ And on a day he rode again with Bran to Siward's hold where the hammers beat a dizzy tune and Siward came red and wringing sweat from his beard to greet him.
"You work well, friend," the King said.
"The land needs iron, my lord."
"Aye, aye, by my soul. Iron is the master of all. Good thanks, friend."
"I know not why, my lord."
"You know and I know. We be too wise for our day."
"We do the work of our day. But if I am aught it is you that have made me, my lord."
"The King's work is all men's work. I have builded better than I knew. It stands. ”

“ And an honest man are you. Tell me true then, and you, Walter, hear him, have you seen Sir Walter's men come to kill on my land?"
"I? My lord, not I." Siward was duly aghast.
"No, nor Gilbert's men come killing here," Sir Walter said. "But so it is. A hart of ten, with one of Gilbert's arrows in it across the King's chase."
"And a hart of ten, deep in my coverts, killed by a bolt of yours two days since. You struck first."
"God's death, do you own the shot then?"
"My lords, my lords," Siward spread out his hands between them. "More wrong will not make wrong right. ”

“ His stern heart moved by the distress of his King, and not the less for the unwonted firmness which Edward displayed, Siward here approached, knelt, and took the King’s hand.
“Siward can give no niddering counsel to his King; to save the blood of his subjects is never a king’s disgrace. Yield thou to mercy, Godwin to the law!” ”

“ But if Siward suspected something of this it was not from Plank that he learned it.
“Plank,” he said at last, “there is nothing in the world that men admire more than a man. It is a good deal of a privilege for me to tell you so.”
Plank turned red with surprise and embarrassment, stammering out something incoherent.
That was all that was said about the victory. Siward, unusually gay for awhile, presently turned sombre; and it was Plank's turn to lift him out of it by careless remarks about his rapid convalescence, and the chance for vacation he so much needed. ”

“ Marion received the cup, lifted it in both hands, and said distinctly, “Good Hunting!” as she drank to Quarrier. Her brother Gordon took it, and drank entirely too much. Then Sylvia lifted it, her white hands half buried among the orchids: “To you!” she murmured for Siward's ear alone; then drank gaily, mischievously, “To the best shot at Shotover!” And Siward took the cup: “I salute victory,” he said, smiling, “always, and everywhere! To him who takes the fighting chance and wins out! To the best man! Health!” ”

“ Her voice ceased; the white setter, cutting up his ground ahead, had stopped, rigid, one leg raised, jaws quivering and locking alternately.
“Isn't that a stunning picture!” said Siward in a low voice. “What a beauty he is—like a statue in white and blue-veined marble. You may talk, Miss Landis; woodcock don't flush at the sound of the human voice as grouse do.”
“See his brown eyes roll back at us! He wonders why we don't do something!” whispered the girl. “Look, Mr. Siward! Now his head is moving—oh so gradually to the left!”
“The bird is moving on the ground,” nodded Siward ”

“ Drifting from one topic to another through the haze of their cigars, silent when it pleased them to be so, there could be no doubt of their liking for each other upon a basis at least superficially informal; and if Plank's manner retained at times a shade of quaint reserve, Siward's was perhaps the more frankly direct for that reason. ”

“ She seated herself; and, as he continued to remain standing, she stripped off her shooting-gloves and glanced up at him inquiringly: “Well, Mr. Siward, I am literally at your feet.”
“Which redresses the balance a little,” he said, finding a place near her.
“That is very nice of you. Can I always count on you for civil platitudes when I stir you out of your day-dreams?”
“You can always count on stirring me without effort.”
“No, I can't. Nobody can. You are never to be counted on; you are too absent-minded. ”

“ Years passed over, and Siward was keeping his court at York, and ruling Northumberland with complete success, when the unfortunate conflict between the townsmen of Dover and the train of Eustace of Boulogne brought the quarrel of Edward and Godwin to a crisis. Siward and Leofric were then summoned to the king's aid, and commanded to lead their fighting men against the forces of the refractory earl. Both obeyed, and, at their call, the inhabitants of Northumberland and Mercia took up arms. ”