Friend Olivia

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BY AMELIA E. BARR, Author of " Jan Vedder's Wife," "A Border Shepherdess," "A Daughter of Fife," " The Bow of Orange Ribbon" &=c. " Breathe on us for the passing day The charm of ancient story." ILrmBon : JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14, FLEET STREET. 1890. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. — The Kelders of Kelderby ... I II.— Blame Thyself 16 III.— "The Way to Rest" 35 IV. — John De Burg ... ... 50 V. — Anastasia and Olivia ... ... ... ... ... 77 VI. — Sorrow hath Many Feet ... 97 VII. — De Burg's First Move 114 VIII. — The King's Servants ... ... 135 IX. — The Baron and Anastasia ... 156 X— A Meeting 185 XI. — Olivia and Cromwell ... 204 XII. — Anastasia's Marriage ... ... ... ... ... 230 XIII. — Olivia and Anastasia Wanted ... 247 XIV. — John Reckons with Chenage 268 XV.— In Appleby Gaol 289 XVI.— Mistress of Chenage ... ... ... 304 XVII.— PartiDg 330 XVIII.— John De Burg's Failure 364 XIX.— Anastasia's Best Side 385 XX.— For Love's Sake 408 XXI.— Kelderby and Sandys

Chapter I. The Kelders Of Kelderby

Though. G-od, as one that is an householder, Called these to labour in His vineyard first, Before the husk of darkness was well burst : though the worst Burthen of heat was theirs, and the dry thirst ; Though God has since found none such as these were To do their work like them : because of this, Stand ye not idle in the market-place. WHEN Oliver Cromwell held the sceptre of England, Odinel Kelder was baron of Kelderby and Swaffham. He was not ignorant of the ancestors who had mingled his clay and tempered the spirit within him. For seven hundred years he knew their names and their deeds. The furthest away of whom he had knowledge he spoke of as " my fore-elder Jahl," and owned the peculiar blessings of his lot to be the result of Jahl's nobility of nature and of his adventurous spirit. For Jahl Kelder had been one of that earliest band of pilgrims who, to escape the tyranny of Harald Haarfager, sought liberty of mind and person among the eternal snows of Iceland.

A few years later Jahl joined his friend Toddi, or Dodd, in that southward search for a fairer home which resulted in their settlement on the shores of Cumberland and in the dales of Westmoreland. Toddi found the Whitehaven, and bought from the monks of St. Bees the great woods and lonely dales stretching back to Ennerdale. Jahl reached the solitary seaward stretches of Silverdale, the very region of mystic forgetfulness, with its rounded hills and wooded wastes, and its great ex panse of ribbed and wrinkled sand-flats — -a dim, misty sea, where the flood glides up to the land swift and treacherous, or, beaten by conflicting winds, is white with phantom foam and vexed with spray and spindrift. Behind him was a waste of sullen moss and craggy mounds, unfruitful solitudes so bare and desolate that he called them Hardanger — the old Norse name for a place of hunger and poverty.

But Jahl asked little of the land ; he looked to the sea. It raced round its numerous promontories and lay sleeping in its bays ; and he saw the grey wings of his ships peopling the pallid waste. They were his hands. They would reach him the good things that were not within his grasp. He built his big stone hall on the height of Silver Scar, and the lonely land, and the misty waves bowling in and out of the fog, became dear to him. Once his friend Toddi sailed southward to keep a feast with him, and he said, "Jahl, thou art not wise to build so high ; every wind of heaven will smite thee." But Jahl answered, " This is what I think, Toddi — the birds that build on the ground make very poor nests." Jahl built for his generations. They sat in his place and trod in his footsteps and kept his memory green.

They married into the great Saxon families of Swaffham and Millom, and twice the Norman De Burgs added the quicksilver of their race to the THE K ELDERS OF KELDERBY. 3 life stream of the Scandinavian stock ; and as one or the other of the race distinctions predominated, so was the Kelder of his day. In the course of seven centuries the original stone hall had become a fine seat. Not that all the Kelders had been wise life tenants of it, but that the potency of the Saxon element had been frequent enough to repair losses and accumulate capital. So that at the beginning of the seventeenth century the Kelders were one of the great families of the North Country. Odinel, the nineteenth of his name, differed widely from his ancestor Jahl, but the differences were mainly in the inner man. Outwardly he had the great Norse frame, the lofty stature, and the blonde complexion of his northern kin.

His mother had been a De Burg, but he owed nothing to her except the high-bred nose and the haughty upper lip of the Norman race. He had a large compact forehead, eyes like tempered steel shining with a steady gleam, a square chin, a firm mouth, and a manner at once benignant and austere — the manner of a true liege man of Duty, kind, faithful, and intrepid. If he clasped hands, it was with a flesh-and-blood warmth of grip ; if he smiled, it was with the large, clear sincerity of a man without guile. He had the hearti ness of the Norse nature, the breadth of the Norse imagination, and the refreshing atmosphere of one who lived in the open air, who went alone into the heart of the mists, and into the silence of the starry sky, who knew the visionary majesties of the mountains and the pale, pensive glooms of the valleys, and who loved the flavour of the brine and the damp fresh air of the northern ocean.

He was sixty years of age, and he had played the man in Israel on every battlefield for liberty from long Marston Moor to Worcester. Life had been a stirring story to him. He was sitting one evening very quietly on his hearthstone, talking it over with the man within him. This mighty / was truth itself. It told him plainly that at Marston he might have been more merciful ; that at Dunbar, in that great strait between the sea and the Lammer muirs, he might have been more trustful ; that in the red streets of Worcester he might have been more just. And he was humbled amid his valiant memories, silently appealing from the accuser to Him who had made the atonement. The tall black chair in which he sat had been the baron's own for generations. One foot was on its footstool, the other pressed down the soft white wool of the hearthrug.

His left hand lay upon the basket hilt of his long rapier, his right hand shaded his eyes, his fine head drooped slightly forward. But though silent and motionless, he was not alone. On the opposite side of the rug Lady Kelder was spinning flax. The little black wheel, richly carved and tipped with silver, was at her knee, and between it and the snowy flax her white hands made monotonously graceful movements. She wore a dress of black silk, with a lawn kerchief pinned across her breast, and a black silk hood lined with white fell slightly backward from her white hair. A handsome woman of an unchanging countenance, compact and conscious, who knew what she meant and what she wanted, and in what she believed. But though she spoke not she glanced frequently towards her husband, and presently he caught her glance, and a loving smile flashed echo-like from face to face.

Then she said : " Nathaniel stays away so much longer than was spoken of. What think you, dear heart ? " " I think, Joan, that he will have business to be his excuse. Between here and London are many hard miles." " And also he may come by Kendal. Our cousin De Burg has a very fair daughter. I have heard that Anastasia has bettered all expectations of her beauty ; she may be reason enough to stay even a wise man." " Anastasia has Charles Stuart in all her thoughts. A Puritan gentleman is her mock, and nothing else. What agreement can there be between her and our son ? " " In troth and peace love has no politics. Any side will suit him." " Nathaniel's politics are the complexion of his creed. Joan, think not evil ofyour son." " As for creeds, he may take to one you think not of. There is a beaten path now between Kelderby and Sandys, and Mistress Prid " "Mistress Prideaux is a Quakeress.

Dear Joan, keep a rein on your thoughts. Nathaniel will give you a betterly sort of daughter than that." " I have the fear in my heart day and night, a fear unfaceable. There are things I would never submit to ; that is one of them. A Quakeress in Kelderby ! God forbid ! " " Calmly, Joan. 'Tis said they have spiritual gifts." " What is the Protector doing to suffer them ? I would he were more faithful to the truth." " A Quaker may privately enjoy his conscience, in both opinion and practice ; sure that is but reason. As for Nathaniel, I think he is such a man as swill take his own way if it sorts with his faith and duty." He rose as he spoke, and began to walk slowly about the long, low room, for the housekeeper Jael and a serving-man had entered, and the woman put aside Lady Kelder's spinning, and the man began to lay the table for the evening meal.

Jael was a noticeable woman fifty years old, fresh and sturdy, the right hand of her mistress in all domestic concerns the loyal friend of the Kelders, bound so willingly by the kindly traditions of many generations. She pushed the logs together and added fresh ones, and then straightening herself watched for a moment the arrangement of the fine pewter service upon the table. This being satisfactory, she turned so as to face her mistress and said : " My Lady, Susan of Lambrigg and Jock, the second shepherd, want to marry. It puts me about a bit." " It is a fit marriage, I think, Jael." " True, my Lady, but not a fit time, with the spring cleaning to do in Kelderby, and the sheep casting their lambs on every fellside. It isn't reasonable. But what signifies talking ? You can't think what a couple of fools they be.

They stand to wedding through thick and thin." " Then wedding it will have to be. Dear me, Jael, how girls will run into trouble ! Is it raining ? " " Dreeping wet, and very airy ; the wind being nor'ard and west'ard. You can hear the billow bluster at the foot of the Scar." "Your young master is somewhere on the road between here and London. I pray God he come to no ill." " 111 keeps its own road, my Lady, and my young master is never found on it. He'll be here anon. Perhaps," and she stooped to move the logs as she spoke, " perhaps he is safe at Sandys." " Jael ! " "Yes, my Lady ; facts will be." " Facts give way to stronger facts. See that all the men and maids come in to prayers. Some have made a breach in the good custom lately. I will have them all in." " Speak to them yourself, my Lady ; it will be a long way better.

They have been backeninobadly in every right thing lately. I am often hard set to manage them." At this moment supper was served, and Jael threw a lamb's-wool shawl around her lady's shoulders and placed her seat at the table. In the midst of the meal she saw a sudden change on the face of the serving-man. The loutish chaos of his countenance coloured into life, and a gleam of pleasure brightened his pale eyes. He had heard a footstep that no one else had heard, and the pasty in his hand was only saved from a fall by his mistress's look of sharp inquiry. Before a word could be said the door opened with a swift, noiseless movement, and Captain Nathaniel Kelder entered. No one could have been more welcome ; but there was a calm gravity in his manner which repressed any extravagant demonstration of feeling.

Lady Kelder, however, had a kiss and a whispered word of tenderness which brought tears of joy to her eyes, and the baron such a grasp and glance as interprets the greeting of kindred souls. Then the meal was finished to that hurry of general conversa tion which usually follows an arrival. It flitted here and there, to persons and things and events, but touched none of the real subjects of interest until prayers were over, and the servants dismissed with the usual blessing : " God be with you, each and all ! " " And with you and yours, master." The head-man lingered a few minutes to render his account and to receive orders for the following day, and during this interval Lady Kelder looked with a fond speculation at her son. She thought of his cousin Anastasia De Burg, and of lovely Mistress Prideaux, and wondered if he really was in love with either.

She never doubted but both were in love with Nathaniel. If this opinion wanted any confirmation in her mind, she found it instantly in the beauty of the young man, leaning with unstudied grace against the high chimneypiece of black oak. It has long been the false and silly fashion to ridicule the Puritan garb ; it is now full time to acknowledge that Puritan gentlemen were dressed gracefully and picturesquely, and in the most perfect sobriety of good taste. They thought that dark or black garments were fittest for grave and earnest men. We are now all of the same opinion. They thought laces, perfumes, and jewellery marks of vanity and foppishness. Every true gentleman in Christendom now thinks with them. They thought it more rational to cut their hair a comfortable length than to wear it in womanish curls down the back.

What sensible man of to-day will contradict them ? High Churchmen who still delight to nickname them " Roundheads " make a point of cutting their own hair much closer. Yes, even in the matter of dress, the Puritan was wise and brave beyond his time. Nathaniel Kelder could have chosen no dress more becoming, even if dress had been a subject about which he was troubled. His jack-boots covered his knees. His breeches were of black leather, dressed until it was as soft as velvet. His dark doublet showed undersleeves of white linen, and round his neck was a scarf of fine lawn, broidered at the edge with a band of needlework, done by his mother's fingers. He was very tall, and had a bright, spiritual face, set in soft brown hair — a face so fine that it gave the impression of being formed of some rarer thing than flesh and blood.

A smile made it luminous. His grey eyes were large and dreamy, the downward sweep of the eyebrows towards the lashes of the eyes when they were raised indicating not only a tender heart, but a disposition to melancholy. A mouth of great refinement, candid and loyal, softened the threat of his resolute chin, and he had an air of distinction which was not conse quent alone to the condition of his good birth, but was partly the result of acquired self-restraint. Nathaniel Kelder had the mastery over his spiritual man. He could cross his will without a mutiny. It was a relief to the family when the door was closed upon them, and they could speak freely together, for servants if more faithful in those days were not less curious, and Master Nathaniel's journey to London had been a matter of speculation among them.

"There be a woman in it," the head-man said among his fellows ; " there be a woman in it. I met De Burg's man in Kendal Market, and I dilly dallied an hour with him, talking of Mistress De Burg, and what gentlemen were her servants now ; but at the long end, what signified ? He let no light into things. I could make naught of him, back nor edge." " You had much to do to name your master with Mistress De Burg — a proud-souled madam that is hey-go-mad for the Stuarts and their kind." " There's no need to be put about, Jael. It breaks no squares to say that whether Stuart or Cromwell be master, we be servants ; and I do think that young master have been in London about the De Burgs. It'll turn out so, you'll see it will." Primitive natures who trust to their natural instinct are rarely mistaken.

Nathaniel Kelder had been to London in the interest of the De Burgs. For although the friendship between the families had been broken by political differences, the tie of kinship was of stronger stuff; and when De Burg was threatened by the law, and his lands in danger of confiscation, Kelder had voluntarily offered himself as his cousin's security. " What success, Nathaniel ? " he asked. " Better than was to be hoped for, father. I had two interviews with the Lord Protector, and at the first moment he remembered you. He said, ' Kelder's word is bond for a dukedom ' ; and then he asked how you fared, and anon he turned to his desk and wrote somewhat concerning the business ; afterwards he bid me dine that night at the palace." " What think you of him now ? " " What I have ever thought. There is no man in England to stand beside him.

The glance of his eyes pierced me like a spear. While I was present an officer entered with a report concerning the plot of the Fifth Monarchy Men. His anger was great, but he shut close his mouth, and I saw he was reining up by a strong effort the prancing passions within him." Kelder was much moved by this information. In his own heart was a strong leaning towards these fervent visionary watchers for the visible coming of Christ the King and the reign of the saints on earth. Unknown to any soul he had cherished the same longing. There was a high hill behind Kelderby, and many a morning he had climbed it, and, looking towards the east, watched for the glory of the Second Advent. He was sorry that those who watched with him should take up carnal weapons and make divisions, and could hardly believe it until Nathaniel said : " This officer brought with him the standard which they had prepared — a fine one truly. 'Twas folded close, but Cromwell, with a strange power, shook it open.

So I saw that it was a lion couchant, and the motto written, ' Who shall rouse him up ? ' I would you had seen the Lord Protector as he stood holding the standard. His face was like a battle-cry, but oh, the sadness in his eyes ! I shall never forget it." " Sure 'tis a wonder that so great a man should think of dining ; but I'll warrant he kept his dinner hour, plots and standards and all to them ! And pray what palace honours he now ? " " He is at Hampton Court, mother." " Those Cromwells at Hampton Court ! Sure 'tis a sight to make one think. Elizabeth Cromwell in the seat of the queen ! I marvel not if she forget whence she came." " Dear heart, let the women alone. Oliver holds the sceptre of England by right divine, and Mistress Cromwell is a godly consort to him." " He has long wanted the king's place ; he has gotten it, then, it seems."

"The place wanted him. I, and many of my judgment, know that England is pleased and well content that he should be there." " Not all content, as these Fifth Monarchy Men show." " Such out of a godly jealousy misunderstand him. In time he will make his work clear." " But herein others are of a like dissatisfied mind," said Nathaniel. " Many Christians of good quality complain of the spiritual bondage in which he leaves them. A deputation of the people called Quakers was waiting at Hampton Court. I saw not its manner of reception, but they also say that ' Crom well understands them not ' ; nor are they wiser con cerning his way of dealing with them." " 'Tis most likely," interrupted Lady Kelder, scornfully. " They are a silly set, so full of them selves that they have no room for the grace of God.

Quakers, forsooth ! God give us patience when we speak of them ! And as for the Lord Protector being beyond their wisdom, 'tis most likely. A down day for General Cromwell when he can fold himself to their size ! If you will tell me shortly what is to be done with your cousins De Burg I will leave you to discuss the Cromwells. I find them not so pleasant a subject for my sleeping thoughts." " De Burg has permission to remain within his domains. He is not to go beyond them." " God knows he will cross seas whenever he has matter to carry the king. I mean Charles Stuart." " He is to give his word not to cross seas." " His tenfold oath would not bind him." " Then you must know that my father is surety for his word. If it cannot be depended upon we stand to lose ten thousand pounds forfeit." " Baron, you have done a wicked thing.

Why should you endanger your own estate to save De Burg's? Conceive how merry a business it will be for him to cheat and mock his Puritan cousin ! I say, it was ill done to pledge your land." " Dear Joan, I pledged my word. I will pillar my word with my land. Is my land worth more than my word ? I trow not." " De Burg called you traitor, and in the beginning of this fight he did you many an ill turn. The Lord of Hosts has given our side the victory ; 'tis an open insult to His mercy to make friends with your foes." " De Burg was my cousin before he was mine enemy. My mother was his mother's sister." " David says " " Joan, I go not back to Sinai. He that came out of Nazareth said, ' Love your enemies ; do good to them that do ill to you.' " Then there was a little silence. Lady Kelder was trembling with anger.

A verse of Scripture may bring a wise decision in a question of right or wrong, but it oftener comes like a sword than as a peace maker. So though it was impossible for her at the moment to dispute so plain an order, she felt that there were ways of meeting it, and she held these in reserve. Then Nathaniel leaned forward and took her hand, and his bright face drove away the gathering shadows on her brow. " We had a poor dinner," he said. " If I had been curious about my food I should have wished myself at your table, dear mother." " Mistress Cromwell knows neither how to cook nor how to let cooking alone. 'Tis a strange ordering which puts her in royal rooms and royal dress ; but many heads have learned to lift themselves not before used to it." " She is very quiet, and her dress not so brave nor so becoming as your own.

A black velvet she wore, but shabby ; and the lawn broidery poor and darned, and wanting that spotless purity which is better in my eyes than broidered bands." " I have heard that Mistress Cromwell was not too neat — a bad fault in a woman ; and the Lord Pro tector was but a sloven ere the days of wearing steel corselets and of sceptre holding." "As for the room, there were some fine tapestry hangings and window curtains of scarlet baize, and a couch covered with fly-coloured damask. And the Lord Protector had an elbow chair, and there were backed stools for the rest of the company. But the long black table compares not with the carved oak table and chairs of this room ; and the andirons were neither so heavy nor so bright as these " ; and Nathaniel, as he laid a fresh log across them, lightly touched the brass hearth furnishings which were his mother's pride.

So the brass andirons and the carved oak furniture, though but dumb com forters, softened the first stinging sense of the Baron's improvident translation of the great Nazarene's command. In the morning it was decided to inform De Burg as early as possible of the mercy shown him, especially as it was necessary to be explicit concerning the restraints and obligations upon which it was to be continued. " 'Tis only kind to ride over to Kendal at once, Nathaniel," said the Baron. " Suspense is ill company, and De Burg must be an anxious man." " 'Tis you, Odinel, that should be the anxious man," said Lady Kelder. "De Burg counts the years of Cromwell's life, and assures himself that with Cromwell dies the Commonwealth. His estate is now loaded with debt. The King returning will cancel all claims.

King or Cromwell, he need not fret himself very much. And why go not you your self? 'Tis but right he should take the favour from your hands, and the orders which bind it ; right also that he should give you thanks for your kindness. I think not of his promises. I trow he will keep none that sort not with his interest and his inclination." " De Burg hates an obligation, especially from me. Why force him to say words he means not ? I have the approval I want already." "Consider your own unreason, Baron. You will keep De Burg out of the temptation to say false words, and you will send your own son into snares laid by the flesh and the devil hard for any man to resist." Nathaniel smiled. " Vainly is the net spread in the sight of any bird, mother. My cousin Anastasia is known to me. I acknowledge her beauty, but I feel it not."

" Nathaniel, the self-confident fall before they know that they are in danger. Anastasia suffers no man to escape her witcheries." " I have seen her frequently ; I am not bewitched." " The pitcher goes often to the well, and gets broken at last." " Anastasia will not break my heart, dear mother. I can watch all her wiles, and slip away from them." " From afar things appear so easy to do. But if you are determined to try experiments with yourself, Nathaniel, at least do it with deliberate question and answer." Then the horses were brought to the door, and Nathaniel kissed his mother's hand and mounted. His father was to ride part of the way with him, and the two men went slowly together across the moor and up the hill. A couple of lurchers flashed like grey snakes through the bracken around them ; and the colts came whinnying with staring eyes and streaming manes to watch and wonder at the splendid thrall of their bridled kind.

Indifferent to all such matters, they went calmly forward, talking not so much of the business with De Burg as of the Lord's great dealings by General Cromwell. And afar off Lady Kelder watched them winding round the fells. " I wish this day's work bring not misfortune and ruin," she whispered, and her heart sighed as she passed inside the door with that still, drawling step too often prelusive of sorrow. She was a brave woman by nature, and yet she tainted the sweet spring air with whispers of apprehension. Oh, how difficult it is to speak good-omened words !

CHAPTER I

I. BLAME THYSELF. O woman, woman, woman ! All the gods Have not such power of doing good to men, As you of doing harm. A generous fierceness dwells with innocence, And conscious virtue is allowed some pride. Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent, or any such as come nigh wild beasts? ... An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw thee into a pit ; he will weep with his eyes, but if he find opportunity he will not be satisfied with blood. — Eccles. xii. 13-16. NATHANIEL entered Kendal early in the afternoon. It was then a very aristocratic town, full of fine houses built of the mountain limestone. The ripple of the swift-running Kent, the pleasant stir of the fresh wind in the poplars, the jubilant notes of the church bells — all these sounds but deepened the silence and peace of the proud and beautiful city.

It seemed to be a proper home for gentlemen and gentlewomen who lived at their ease and who had given their own air of serenity and spotlessness to the place. In Stricklandgate Nathaniel met the great beauty Mary Bellingham. She was riding a superb Barbary mare, walking it slowly up the wide street, pleasantly conscious of her own loitering and of the creature's impatience at it. It lifted high its dainty feet and let them fall with distinct yet rebellious efforts to realise its rider's dreamy mood. Nathaniel passed her bare headed, and the royalist beauty vouchsafed him the shadow of a cold smile. In the thoughtless days of childhood she had once chosen Nathaniel for her valentine. What heartburnings, what loss of life and love, lay between that hour and the present ! Ere he reached De Burg Hall many sad thoughts had followed that glimpse of the lovely face of his boyish sweetheart.