The Master of Appleby

saw my lady's face near-hand again, and sometimes I was glad for Richard Jennifer's sake, bu

his I disbelieved. Some such-like lie the baronet might have told, I thought; but when I saw him walk abroad with Margery on his arm, pacing back and forth beneath the oaks and bending low to catch her lightest w

t, and hate you have learned to call aversion or dislike. But we of that simple-hearted elder time were

ft was his. 'Twas not his face, for that was something less than handsome, to my fancy; nor yet his figure, though that was big and soldierly enough.

ss in maiden chastity or wifely vows. So he but gained his end he cared no whit what followed after; ruin, broken hearts, lo

hich burns like any miser's fever in the blood; but never love as lovers measure it. Why, then, had he proposed to Margery? The answer did not tarry. Since he wa

the king's cause waxed and grew more hopeful day by day. And in event of final victory a landless baronet, marrying

ther things than love to sway a woman's will. This volunteer captain with the winning way was of the haute noblesse, and he could make her Lady Falconnet.

tened, though then the light was but a flash and darkness followed quickly after. She came again and brought me a visitor; it was this same Father

o lets a creed obstruct a friendship. Moreover, this sweet-faced cleric was the friendliest of men; friendly,

rd, no sooner was the door closed behind her, and while he

om his well-worn cassock girded at the waist with a frayed bit of hempen cord he might have been a Little Brother of the Poor. But this I noted; that he was not tonsured, and his white hair, soft and fine as Margery's, was like an

content to learn him b

ed, when all was said. "'Tis but a hermit's life for any man of parts; and after

int of sword. Mais, mon ami, they have souls to save, these poor children of the forest, and they are far more

now them not as you do, for in my youth I knew them most in war. We called them brave but cruel then; and when

d. "But you must confess, Captain Ireton, that y

I have said, I was like any prisoner in a dungeon for lack of news, and so by degrees I fet

nty colonel. Lord Rawdon, in command of Lord Cornwallis's van, had come as far as Waxhaw Creek, but, being unsupported, had withdrawn to Hanging Rock. Our Mr. Rutherford was on his way to the Forks of Yadkin to engage the Tories g

land. So thought my kindly gossip; and, having naught to gain or lose in the great war, or rather having naught

r, my brain was busy putting two and two together. How came it that the British outpost still remained at Queensborough, with my Lord Rawdon withdrawn and the patriot home guard w

think on more when I should be alone. And when the priest had t

d why he came to Appleby Hundred, "but it was mam'selle's message brought me here

the West was fiercely Protestant and the Mothe

rgery is not a C

ve the protest

, my son. Has s

and yet I might have guessed it, since she had often spoken lovin

I stammered. "Surely, she told me she was of Hu

le was lenient still

life a Protestant, I think, but when she came to die she sent for me. And that is how her child was sent to France and

backwoods? It does you credit, Father Matthieu. The war fills all horizons now, mayhap, but

been six weeks on the way from Maryland hither, hiding in the forest by day and faring on at nig

or such as he. But not until he rose and, bidding me good day, left me to myself, did I so much as guess the thing his coming meant. When I had guessed it; when I put this to that

come and go, grinding me to dust and ashes in their pass

hall. For guests I thought there would be space enough and some to spare, for, as you know, our Mecklenburg was patriot to the core. But as to this, the bridegroom's troopers might fill out the tale, and in my heated fancy I cou

and before some makeshift altar lit with candles. And as he stands they come to kneel before him; my winsome Margery in all her royal beaut

oor wounded Richard-and later on, for Margery herself-possessed me? In which of these hot fever-gusts of rage the th

y turn and passage in it, and when the hour should strike I said I should go down and skulk among the guests, and at

in. And as for strength, I have learned this in war: that so the rage be hot eno

ay be sure I questioned him, and, if you know the blacks, you'll smile and say I had my labor for my pains-the which I had. His place was at the quarters,

mpty stomach into battle. For the same cause I drank a second cup of wine,-'twas old madeira

etting. With full-blood health and strength I might have gone bare-handed; but as it was, I feared to take the chance. So with a candle I went a-prowli

unting, and when the search was done the hazard seemed the less. So I could rush upon him unawares and put

o watch for the lighting of the great room at the front. This had two windows on my side,

rilly vocal, though to me the chirping din of frogs and insects hath ever stood for silence. Somewhere beyond the thicket-wall an owl was calling mournfully, and I bethought me of that superstition-ol

dismal howling of the timber wolves. Below, the house was silent as the grave, and this seemed strange to me. For in the time of my youth a wedding was a joyous thing. Ye

upon the chirping silence of the night. I looked and listened, straining eye and ear, hearing but litt

ord-clankings as of armed men dismounting, and then a few low-voiced words of welcome. Followed quickly the closing of the door and silence;

ed wedding." And then I raged within again to think of how my love should be thus dishon

s banded farther on by two broad beams o

d pulled again. 'Twas but a waste of strength. The door was fast with that contrivance wherewith my father used to bar me in what time I was a boy

and frenzy and I know not what besides, and all the blackness of the night swam sudden red before my eyes. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, the madness left me cool and sane, as if the fit had bee

on the outer wall there grew an ancient ivy-vine which more than once ha

ittings of my boyhood days had been but yesternight. A breathless minute later I was down and afoot on solid

goes there?

weapon. For this servant of my prefigurings pr

d no more, for he was down among the horses' hoofs and I

my of mine, and did but do-or seek to do-his duty. But he would fight or die, and I must fight or die; an

t his post. That done, I took his sword as surer for my purpose than a pistol; and hugging the deepest shadow of the wall, approached the nearer

t, no altar; only this: a table in the midst with bottles on it, and round it five men lounging at their ease and drinking to the king. Of these five