With Ring of Shield Part 1

With Ring of s.h.i.+eld.

by Knox Magee.

CHAPTER I

SIR FREDERICK HARLESTON

In these days, when the air is filled with the irritating, peevish sounds of chattering gossips, which tell of naught but the scandals of a court, where Queens are as faithless as are their lives brief, methinks it will not be amiss for me to tell a story of more martial days, when gossips told of armies marching and great battles fought, with pointed lance, and with the bright swords' flash, and with the l.u.s.ty ring of s.h.i.+eld.

Now, my friend Harleston doth contend, that peace and quiet, without the disturbing clamour of war's dread alarms, do help to improve the mind, and thus the power of thought is added unto. This, I doubt not, is correct in the cases of some men; but there are others, to whom peace and quiet do but bring a lack of their appreciation. I grant that to such a mind as Harleston's, peaceful and undisturbed meditation are the fields in which they love to stroll, and pluck, with tender hand, and thought-bowed head, the most beautiful and most rare of flowers: but then, such even-balanced brains as his are few and far between; and even he, so fond of thought and study, did love to dash, with levelled lance and waving plumes, against the best opponent, and hurl him from his saddle.

And there is Michael, which ever thinks the same as do myself, and longs for fresh obstacles to lay his mighty hand upon and crush, as he would a reed.

It is of those bygone days of struggle and deep intrigue that I now shall write. I do hope that some of ye--my sons and grandsons--may, after I am laid to rest, have some worthy obstacles to overcome, in order that ye may the better enjoy your happiness when it is allotted unto you. Still do I pray, with my old heart's truest earnestness, that no one of my blood may have as great trials as I went through; but in which I had the n.o.ble a.s.sistance and sympathy of the best friends ever man was blest with. I shall now tell of my meeting with the first of these, and later in the tale I shall tell ye of the other.

I, Walter Bradley, then a faithful servant of his Majesty King Edward IV, was sitting one evening in my room at the palace of the aforesaid King, at Windsor, engaged in the examination of some of mine arms, to make sure that my servants had put them all in proper order for our expedition into Scotland, with the King's brother, the Duke of Gloucester. A knock came at my door and, upon opening, I beheld Lord Hastings, then the Chancellor of the Kingdom, and at his side a gentleman which I had not before seen. This stranger was a man of splendid physique, about mine own height; long, light brown, waving hair; blue eyes, that looked me fairly in mine own; sharp features; and yet, with all his look of unbending will, and proud bearing, he had a kindly expression in his honest eyes.

"This is my young friend, Sir Frederick Harleston, just now arrived from Calais," said Hastings, as they both entered at mine invitation, and he introduced us to each other.

The Chancellor stayed but until he got our conversation running freely, and then he spoke of some business of state that did demand his immediate attention, and left us to become better acquainted.

Of course the expedition into Scotland was the chiefest subject of our conversation; and I learned from Harleston that he too did intend accompanying the Duke, as the King had that day granted him the desired permission.

"And what kind of man is Duke Richard?" asked my new acquaintance, when we had at length discussed the other leaders of our forces.

"Hast thou never seen him?"

"Ay, I have seen him, though I am unknown to him; but I mean what kind of man is he inwardly, not physically?"

"As for that, I do not care to speak. Thou, no doubt, hast heard of some of his Royal Highness' acts; men must be judged but by their acts, and not by the opinions of such an one as I," I replied cautiously; for I hesitated to express mine own opinion--the which, in this case, was not the most favourable--to one which I had but just met. Remember, my dears, those were times in which a silent tongue lived longer than did a loose one.

Harleston's color heightened, but with a smile, he said:--"Thou art in the right. 'Twas impertinent of me to ask thee, who know me not, a question of that sort. I had forgot that this is England, and not Calais; for there we discuss, freely, the King, as though he were but a plain man."

The frankness of this man, together with his polite and gentlemanly speech, made me to feel ashamed of my caution, so I said:--"Duke Richard hath never been popular with the friends of her Majesty the Queen; though of late he hath made himself liked better by them, than he was for many a long day."

"But he is a valiant soldier, is he not?"

"Ay, verily, that he is. He is as brave as the lions upon his banner, and besides, he knoweth well the properest way in which to distribute his forces in the field. There it is that the good qualities of Richard do show up like stars in a deep, dark sky."

"Then the sky is truly black?" asked Sir Frederick, with a smile.

I could not help but laugh at the way I had at last unconsciously expressed mine opinion of the Duke, after having declined to do so, but a breathing-s.p.a.ce before. I cared not now that I had spoken my mind of Richard; for the more I looked into the honest face before me, the more did I trust to his discretion.

Then our conversation changed to the gossip of the court, of which I told him all. The only part of this in which he showed interest was when I spoke of the King's health.

"I fear," said he, "that his Majesty's reign is nearing an untimely end. When a man hath lived the life that the n.o.ble Edward hath, and kept up, with unbated vigor, his licentious habits, even when his body hath broken down, it doth take but little to blow the candle out. Some morning we shall awaken to find that Edward IV is dead, and his infant son is our new king."

"Yes, that is what we must soon expect, for kings must die as well as subjects; especially, as thou most wisely saidst, kings which insist upon living a life of three score and ten years in a trifle more than two score."

"And then G.o.d help poor England," said my new acquaintance devoutly.

"Why dost thou take such a pessimistic view of the situation in case of King Edward's death?" I asked; for the solemn manner in which Harleston had last spoken strangely thrilled me.

He regarded me thoughtfully whilst one might, with leisure, tell a score, ere he did answer my question; then he said:--"It hath ever been a rule of mine, as it evidently is of yours, to not speak mine opinions unto strangers; but on the contrary to let the other party speak his mind most freely. I have found this plan to be of exceeding worth in enabling me to gather most useful information, without a payment in return."

I felt my face flush red, and I was about to express, in no mild speech, mine opinion of his action in thus obtaining from me all the information that I did possess, and then, when I did ask him to explain the meaning of his own remarks, to thus answer me.

He took no notice of my movement or look, but continued speaking in that same quiet voice, that never did seem to be disturbed by pa.s.sion, and yet had in it something of a force that ever made it to command attention.

"Many years have I spent in France, and therefore a stranger have I come to look on as a foreigner. Now that I am returned again unto my native land methinks that I will let my judgment take the place of mine old rule, and speak out freely to those whom I take to be honest. Thee do I place in this cla.s.s, which I do regret is very small."

I was prodigiously surprised that a stranger would thus speak unto me as though I were some disinterested outsider of whom he was speaking.

Again did I flush up and commence to attire myself in my dignity; but Harleston's honest and inoffensive look of candor did again disarm me, and he continued, uninterrupted, with his speech.

"For several years have I been acquainted with my Lord Hastings, whilst he was the governor of Calais. From him did I learn much of the situation here; but never did he speak of the characters of those in power; for Hastings, though a proper man, is still a politician and, as such, must keep his opinions to himself. It is a pleasure to me then to be permitted to thus discuss the probabilities of England's future with one not bound by the bonds of policy."

I bowed, and he continued:--

"So far as I can see, if the King dies ere the Prince of Wales be old enough to take full charge of the government, the people shall be obliged to choose a protector to rule in the young king's stead, until such time as the child doth come unto years of proper judgment."

"True," I a.s.sented.

"Do then but cast thine eye over the congregation of eager applicants for this seat of power, and thou shalt behold one whose advantage over the others doth raise him to a vast height above their heads, and consequently his chances of success in this great compet.i.tion are a.s.sured; that one can be no other than Richard, Duke of Gloucester."

"Ay, truly, there is no other with sufficient power to rule England, in case the King should die."

"Now if Gloucester doth come thus into power will he not desire to have his revenge upon those which have ever been his enemies?"

"'Tis like he will."

"And will not this lead to uprisings throughout the land? Yea," he continued, "we have had one example of the troubles, and b.l.o.o.d.y wars brought about through the King dying and leaving a child to grasp with its weakly hands the sceptre and the sword of chastis.e.m.e.nt. Pray G.o.d we do not have another, and yet I fear that it will be unavoidable. I have expressed mine own poor opinion, without its being prejudiced by any others' thoughts; see whether I shall be right or wrong."

Now such a view of that which might soon happen had never been taken by me; and yet I had spent several years at court, and thought myself well acquainted with all the intrigues and possibilities of court life. And here was a young man--in fact not older than myself--which had never in his life lived at court, prophesying as to what the future would bring forth. His words were indeed bold, and yet I could not deny that they were reasonable, and liable to be fulfilled.

I now did admire this handsome and thoughtful stranger, and therefore methought it a duty put upon me to give him some warning that might serve to keep that well-shaped head, for a little longer s.p.a.ce, upon its broad, square shoulders. I therefore said:--

"Thine opinions, I have a fear, stand in some likelihood of being proven true; yet do I pray with my full heart that they may be wrong.

However, whether thou art right or wrong--the which time will prove--let me now warn thee, which art a stranger here, to keep those thoughts to thyself. There are those about this place--the more's the pity--whose shoulders are not bent by the weight of honor they carry, but from their habit of holding their ears to the keyhole."

"Thanks for thy kind intent," he replied. "After I have had some little experience at court I do hope that I may acquire the habit of smiling whilst, with my dagger, I kill my partner in the conversation.

This, I have heard, is the fas.h.i.+on of the Duke of Gloucester; and if I do prove a true prophet all good courtiers must soon adopt it."

That night as Harleston was leaving my room I promised to see him early in the morning, and show him through the castle and parks.

As we shook hands at the door I felt as though I had known him for long, and that we had ever been the best of friends.

That, my dears, was how I became acquainted with Sir Frederick Harleston, who, since that day, hath ever been close by my side, through many harsh experiences, as well as through many sunny days of happiness.