Oddsfish!

first we saw the Norman church upon the

med Jenny which mightily became her. We lay at the Four Swans at Waltham Cross, and went out before supper to see the Cross which was erected where Queen Eleanor's body had lain-of which the last was at Charing Cross-and I was astonished that the Puritans had not more mutilated it. The beds were pretty comfortable, and the ale excellent, so that once more my Cousin Tom drank too much of it. And so, early in the morning we took horse again, and rode through Puckeridge, where we left for the first time the

gh never as a daughter should not; and told me how distressed she was sometimes at the quantity of ale and strong waters that he drank. She told me also how seldom it was that a Catholic could hear mass at Hare Street: sometimes, she said, a priest would lie there, and say mass in the attic; but not very often; and sometimes if a priest were in the

, was pretty weary as we came in sight of the church of Hormead Parva; for I had

id my Cousin Dorothy; an

uch a word," I said: "for

to have said it; for nothing is easier than to touc

t, cousin," I went on presently: "fo

l find it so, c

(all of which were marked upon the map with great accuracy), by which drovers brought their sheep to the highway. I saw also a good many fields of corn. The hills were lowi

the road by limes, in the midst of which was the gateway, and the house twenty yards within. My Cousin Tom came up with

or ten miles round," he said, "

barking of dogs set up; and two or three men ran out. I helped my Cousin Dorothy from

oom. Beyond the little passage was the staircase, panelled all the way up, with the instruments of the Passion and other emblems carved on a row of the panels; and at the foot of the staircase on the right lay a little parlour, very pretty, with hangings presenting the knights of the Holy Grail riding upon their Quest. Upon the left of the staircase, lay a paved hall, with a little pa

n them. Now Hare Street House was one of the first kind. This very day that I first set eyes on it, it was as if I had lived there as a child. The sunlight streamed into the Great Chamber, an

I might wash my hands and face before dinner; and my heart smote me a little for all my thoughts of him, for, when all was said, he had r

a little closet where your man can hang your clothes; it looks

d again for his kindne

*

ere put in through a little hatch from the kitchen passage. My man James waited with the rest, and acquitted himself very well. Th

d, when he had me standing there; "and see if t

and that but saw n

f Master Owen," he sai

he was a Jesuit lay-b

e made hiding-ho

at work here. Look a

very pretty sight too!)-but there was nothing else to b

e the cellars," s

ere and there; but to no purp

oof of the pantry, onl

or into the paved hall, there was a space large enough to hold three or four men; and

Tom delightedly; "and if the sentry was at the one side, he might be fed from the other. It i

please him; and indeed it w

days are do

me himself). "Some priest might very well be flying for his life along

n that point; though

shew you in your own chamber; if you

the wall, how one of the panels slid back from its place, discovering a li

said, "knows of that,

to use that, Cousin

m; and said

h it all. My Cousin Dorothy shewed me the rooms. Her own was a little one at the

t is a tall old, woman, they say, who comes up the sta

fire-place and one without: then was my chamber, and then her father's: and upstairs

I loved her simplicity and her quietness and her discretion. Her father bade her expressly to shew me all the house; or she would not have done it, for she was very maidenly and modest; but as soon as he said that, she did it without affectation. She shewed me the parlour too, with the hangings upon the walls, and the chapel of the Grail, with the Grail itself upon an altar within, flanked by two candlesticks, that was represented over the

r's affection only. (We were walking at the time up and down in the pasture below the garden;

soon as poor Tom Jermyn dies: and I may die any day, for I am short in the neck, and might very well be taken with an apoplexy. I wish above all things then, to see her safely marr

ee what he would be at; for gentlemen do not usually fling their daughters at the head of any man; and he knew n

otection of my Lady Arlington. But the Court is no place for a maiden who knows nothing of the worl

t he looked

house among its gardens. Here we might live a life which even the angels might envy-harmless, innocent, separate from sinners, as the Apostle says-not accomplishing, maybe, any great things, but at least refraining from the hindering of God's Kingdom. The summers would come and go, and we still be here, with our children growing about us, to inherit the place and the name, such as it was. And no harm done, no vows broken, no offence to any. Such thoughts as these did not as yet shew any very great ardour of love in me; and indeed I had not got this yet; but she was the first maid I had ever had any acquaintance with, at least for some while; and this no doubt, had its effect upon me. All this came upon me of a sudden; and as I lifted my e

you so far as concerns the Court: I cannot think that any Catholic father should send his daughter into such a den o

said, if his mouth did not, that now we understood one another; and were upon the same side, or at

ade me observe an old ram that was regarding us, with a face not

*

they of us. The parson of Hormead came to see us now and again, and behaved very civilly: but during those six weeks we had no sight of a priest, except once when we rode to Standon to hear mass. After dinner, I gave myself up to writing; for I thought that I could best serve His Holiness in this way, making my diary each day in shorthand (as I had learned from an Italian); and it is from that very diary that this narrative is c

the country hour; and after that,

and I was able to prick down for them too some Italian music I remembered, which she set for the two instruments. Sometimes, too, when Cousin Tom was not too drowsy after his day and his ale, the three would sing and I would listen; for my Cousin Tom sang a plump bass very well when he was in the mood for it. As for me, I had but a monk's voice, that is very well when all the choir

*

ate with the candlelight upon them and their dresses or sometimes when the evening was fair and warm I would sit out upon the lawn, and they at the window, and listen to the singing coming out of the candlelight, and see them move agai

rance of what he had said came over me with a kind of sickness, and I could not say one word that might seem to set me on his side against her; and so I was torn

there any hope of marrying her to a Catholic; and as for his talk about my Lady Arlington I did not believe one word of it. Therefore, since I was at hand, and would be a wealthy

*

life, ever since my audience with our Most Holy Lord the Pope, had been but a prelude, properly began-those adventures for whose sa

tended to hear mass again at Standon) my Cousin Dorothy came down a little late, and found us already over

ll," she said;

back of the house, she came out and beckoned me in; and I saw that somethi

looked hollow. "And I dare not tell my father my fancies," she said, "for he is

said; for I had not forgotte

ly-"and yet I was not at all afraid when

e whole tal

I did so, I heard a soft step coming up the stairs. One of the maids, thought I, late abed or early rising, for sickness. When the steps came to my door they ceased; and a hand was laid upon the latch; and at that I made to move; but could not. Yet it was not fear that held me there, though it was like a gentle pricking all over me. Then the latch was lifted, and still I could not move, not even my eyes; and a person came in, and across the floor to my be

time; and her blue eyes were set wide open.

id; "it was the memory of

head; but sh

er had it bef

," she

er chamber for a week

her would know of it." And she spoke

t comes again. You can have

that," she s

rmit these things to provi

quiet her; "but be sure t

r father calling he

et, Cousin Roger; there mu

ould see what a spirit she had; a

he clouds that are called cumuli began to gather. The air was so hot too that I could scarcely bear to work, for I had set myself t

h tint that marked the approach of thunder; and at that grew reassured again; and not only for myself but for my Cousin Dorothy, whose tale had lain close on my h

awakened it was near supper-time, and the heaviness w

, I heard music from the Great Chamber beneath. They were singing together a song I had not heard before; a

next verse, even before it was finished, I heard the hoofs again, through the music; I ran to the window to see who rode so fast; and was barely in time to see a courier, in

he inner lobby, and her face, in the dusk, was as white as pape

t?" cried she; and clu

e had taken down a pistol that hung upon the wall, for the highwaymen w

and there, in the twilight I opened and read it. It was from M

you order my horse for me; and another for this

at me from the dusk of the inner hall, and knew what was in her m