Dead and Buried. A romance of Christchurch

Chapter I

My honoured father has often said in my hearing that parents should love their children all alike, and no doubt he spake truly : yet we all knew that Hal was our mother's favourite. Verily and I believe, as Patient Moreton used to say, she loved one of Hal's fingers more than our whole bodies ; but we took no umbrage, for Jack and I doated on each other, and together we doated on Hal, as who did not ? We three were the children of a worshipful knight, Sir Anthony Rogers, who dwelt in his own country-house at Christchurch- Twyneham, in the county of Hampshire, hard by the old Priory which had once been so rich and powerful, till King Harry of famous memory B suppressed it, with many others. Now the long aisles and little chapels are bare and empty, all the images have been taken from their niches, and the beautiful stone-work in the Lady Chapel and other parts has been cruelly ill-treated ; indeed I hear from one who hath visited the old town since we left it twenty years ago, that there is not a coloured window remaining, for the Roundheads destroyed them all.

But when I was a young maid it all stood much as the last abbot had left it, only bare and deserted, and we three children used to play in the churchyard near the keep, or sit by the river while Jack told us long stories of the good old times, when a fierce dragon used to live in the sea and try to keep good folk from coming in to say their prayers. Jack's stories were full of witches and fairies, or of brave knights that slew dragons ; for Hal would not listen to any others, and he laughed when I grew frighted. But when we were alone Jack used to tell me about the famous architect from Durham, who rebuilt the Priory in King- Stephen's days ; and of the French monks, who fled from Hal's dragon, and came here and built the nave. But I liked best the story of how the church was first built on the heights of St. Catherine, or at least begun there; for every night Jack said the wall was thrown down and all the stones moved to where the Priory now stands.

So at last the workmen built in the new place, and every day a stranger came and wrought with them ; but they never saw him eat, nor did he ever ask for wage, though he toiled more than all the rest. Moreover he did once a marvellous thing, for when one of the rafters was too short, he drew out the end, and so made it reach to the right place ; and this I know is true, for I have seen it with my own eyes, and it is called the " miraculous beam" unto this day. When the church was consecrated the stranger appeared not, but the monks knew then who it was who had built it, and they dedicated it to the name of Christ. b But I have wandered a long way from the history I meant to tell of my dear father. I was ever a wool-gatherer, as Mr. John Marston used to say. My father had not always been a knight; when Hal was but a babe, and Jack and I young children, he was a burgess with much pasture land, and over 100L to spend by the year.

This, as all may see, was passing rich, and the king therefore made him knight : no doubt he honoured father as all did who knew him. But Sir Anthony himself would laugh when we said this, and turning to mother would say, — " Was the honour for thy husband, dame, or his good red gold, think you ? " And then he would pat Jack on the head and say,— " 'Tis better to have money for thy spending than a handle to thy name, lad, so the handle come not from honour." There was not much money to our spending certainly, and often have I heard mother wish herself once more plain mistress with a purseful for her needs : but we children needed nought. A new groat at Christmas would buy all that we cared to choose from the shop or the pack of any chance pedlar ; and as to new suits, we liked best to be without them, except on Easter Day, when all the town made a brave show of their finery at church.

When Jack and I were nine, we were sent to school with Mr. John Marston, our vicar, for we could not go to the parish school. Mother said it was not fitting. So Parson Marston taught us in St. Michael's loft, which is over the Lady Chapel in the Priory. Since those times it has been used for a public school, but in my young days only we three children learned our book there under our learned and pious vicar. He was heavy in the hand when angered, and many a time has he bruised my knuckles for making a false quantity, while Hal seldom passed a day without severe correction with the rod. But Jack loved study, and he was Mr. Marston's favoured scholar. Our mother used to say that Jack was only fit to be a psalmsinger like Colonel Moreton, who lived with his little daughter Patient across the moors at Poole ; but dear father used to add that if Jack made as brave a soldier also, he for one would not fall foul of his love of study : it needed forethought as well as daring to make a soldier, and in that Hal would do well to copy his brother.

Sir Anthony was right, of course. He ever was so ; but we all admired Hal's daring, particularly Patient, Colonel Moreton' s daugh ter. She was a prim little maid, about Hal's age, and as fond of learning as Jack. She never joined when we romped, unless Hal made her ; but she loved to watch him as we all did, and she would often coax him out of some mad prank that he was bent on playing, though it would surely cause him to feel my father's or Mr. Marston's rod. She was motherless, so my dear mother often bid Colonel Moreton bring her to see us when he rode into Christchurch, and then we would ail coax him to leave her for a few days, and fetch her next time he came, or let our honoured father take her back when he passed through Poole to Wareham. We lived in great peace for those first years of our life, learning our tasks and playing about the old Priory and near the keep, and saving for rare visits from Patient, nothing seemed to happen to us.

Our father did not often leave home. He minded his farm lands, and mother oversaw her household. Now and again they went together to dine or sup with a neighbour ; and sometimes they had company at home. At such times we three youngsters were forced to put on our clean suits and best behaviour, and to listen in silence while our betters spoke together of evil times and the king's extravagance, and we grew very weary thereof. Then we would creep away into the window, and Jack would tell us a story till some one remembered us, and bade us go to bed ; or the guests said fare well, and we could run out once more and shout. We had to tell very quiet stories on those days for fear of a chiding and perhaps a beating afterwards ; and Jack always told one that Hal liked as well as I. It was about a poor knight who fought in the Holy Land so bravely, but came home full of a dreadful disease ; leprosy, Jack said, only much worse than English leprosy, and he was so sorely diseased that they thrust him away from his own kith and kin, and he became an outcast.

But he was a good man, as all brave knights were, so he built him a chamber by the Priory wall, with a tiny window in it, and through that window he used to receive the Holy Sacrament on the end of a long staff, for the priest dare not touch him for fear of catching the disease ; and he allowed all the poor lepers of the town to come into his chamber every Sunday and Holy Day, that they also might hear mass and receive the Sacrament. There were always a great many lepers in the town ; that is why they built the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen for them : they got the disorder from eating too much red fish,1 and that is why the 'prentices may not be fed with it more than thrice in the week nowadays. After the good knight died, the lepers came and buried him in his own chamber, and the Austin brothers sang masses for him in the church ; and the chamber was used as a lepers' chapel for many years after.

When Jack told this story, we used to steal out of doors, if it were daytime, and run into the Priory churchyard, where the knight's chamber was still standing, and look up at the little window in the wall. Hal and I always longed to climb up and peep through, but Jack never would let us : he said an old witch lived there now, and that if we spoke to her she might get us into her power and work an ill spell on us. I asked our old nurse about it, and she said Jack was right ; but Hal laughed and said it was but an old wife's fable, and for his part he meant to look one day. Old nurse 1 Salmon, for which Christchurch is still famous. shook her head and said he would rue the day if ever he did so ; and then she would speak of other matters, and Hal forgot the witch till next time Jack told the story.

Chapter II

Thus we three young Rogers passed the first years of our lives, never heeding, nor indeed hearkening to the public news of our country's history, which stirred the minds of our elders, when any reached our quiet corner of Hamp shire. Indeed I cannot call back any act or deed worthy of remembrance until the year of grace 1631, when Hal played a prank that Jack and I will never forget till our life's end. It was summer time, aud Patient Moreton was with us, helping in her sober way to make merry for our birthday, Jack's and mine ; we were thirteen. It was very hot, and as we had half a holiday we agreed to pass the time out of doors. We filled a basket with gooseberries, and carried them into the churchyard, where was a shady yew-tree just within the gate, under which Jack and I seated ourselves.

Hal and Patient went to the river's brink and tried to fish, while Jack read, and I sat by him with my sev/ing. Of course the fish would not bite in such hot weather, so Hal grew weary of the effort to snare them, and presently we saw him throw down the rod and come up the bank, followed by Patient. " So ends our reading," said Jack, watching them. " Not so. See, Jack ! they are going round the other side of the church," I answered ; " go on with the book." " Patient is with him," said Jack thoughtfully ; " or I would go after ; for Hal is in a mad mood to-day, and one never knows what foolhardy tricks he will be at." " He is safe with Patient," I replied eagerly. " No fear of ill so long as she is by. Go on reading, Jack." So Jack took up the book once more, and soon we forgot the other two, while attending to the brave and daring deeds of Robin Hood.

We never gave them another thought till the ballad was finished, and just as Jack closed the book we saw them coming towards us. "What has mischanced ? " said Jack. "I believe Patient is crying." Truly the poor maid looked doleful enough as she came towards us holding her apron to her eyes, and sobbing bitterly. Hal walked beside her looking somewhat sulky, but as Jack stepped to meet them he put his arm about her neck, saying, " Peace, peace, my dear ! See, no harm is done, and thou shalt have my next crownpiece. I sware it." " Nay, Hal, sware not ; that but adds to thy misdeeds," she returned, and began to cry again. " What is it ? " asked Jack. " Whish, dear heart ! What ails thee to cry ? What is it, Hal ? " " I did but borrow a groat of Patient, and now 'tis spent, she wishes for it back," said Hal.

Patient had thrown herself on the grass near me, her faco still hidden in her apron ; but as Hal answered thus she looked up. " Nay, Hal," she cried with anger. " The money is nought, though it were my all ! Yet I grieve that I let thee have it for such a purpose." "What purpose?" asked Jack. "Speak, lad, and tell us." " I did but cross the witch's palm with it," Hal burst out ; " and after all there was but rhyme and no reason in the fortune she told me." " The witch ! " we said in horror. " Hast thou spoken with her, Hal ? " " Why, yes ! " and he laughed. " She is no witch ; nought but a sick old woman who mumbles folly. I set no faith on her words." " What were her words ? Do tell me about it, Hal," I said. " How did you come to speak with her ? " " We went round to the leper's chapel, and I was telling Patient of your favourite knight and the old witch, when she said she doubted if one would dwell near the house of God, and dared me to find out."

" Nay, Hal, I dared thee not," said Patient, pleadingly. " I was wrong to doubt thee, but I begged thee to come away and not speak." " But I climbed up to the little window," Hal went on, " and called out, ' Old witch, art in thy chamber ? ' and a croaking voice said, ' Who calls on the witch of Twyneham ? ' Then Patient tried to pull me down, but I stayed and said, ' Hal Rogers calls. Tell me my fortune.' ' Cross my palm with silver,' she croaked out. But I had none, so I borrowed a groat of Patient." " Oh, why did I give it ! Father will chide me ! " sighed Patient. " Nay, my joy ; none will chide thee," I said, kissing her. " Well, Hal, go on." Hal proceeded. " I threw the groat through the little window, and I heard her chuckle as she picked it up. Then she said, ' Hal Rogers will be a soldier ! ' * True, old witch,' I said ; ' but what will happen then?

Shall I be slain in fair fight, or shall the king raise me ? ' Then she croaked out ; but it was in rhyme. Repeat it, Patient ; I cannot remember, though she said it three times. How was it ? " Patient shook her head sadly, and repeated in awestruck tones these four lines : — - " Thou'lt not be slain, but raised ; Raised not to life, But to be buried twice By men of strife." " Yes ; that was it," said Hal. " I asked for the meaning : for how can one be raised to be buried.' But each time I spoke she said the lines again, and would speak nothing else, so at last we came away." " 'Tis very strange," said Jack thoughtfully. " Buried twice. Only great men and saints had two burials. She prophecies greatness for thee, Hal. I would I knew more." " Well, take a groat and ask her thyself," said Hal carelessly ; and he turned off to the river to collect his fishing tackle.

Jack said no more then, but he looked full of thought, and wore a sad brow all the evening. I comforted Patient as much as lay in me, promising to give her another groat ; but she said there was no need, only she had been wrong to talk with witches, and Colonel More ton would be wroth at such ill-doing. I held my peace, but I knew her father was an ill doer himself, for though he hated witches, did he not hold a conventicle in his house every Sunday for the fisher-folk, which was unlawful ? I often thought that it was strange why one man should not teach others the way of righteousness as well as the way of warfare, or what not ; but so it is. Patient got so unhappy when we spoke of the witch that we pretended to forget about it, and I think Hal did. But I thought often thereon, and longed to know what the witch meant by her rhymes.

I would have liked to visit her myself, only I lacked c courage, and besides I never did anything without Jack, and was half afraid to tell him of my wish. The very morning, however, that Colonel Moreton took Patient away with him, Hal riding with them as far as the stream on the moorland, Jack came to me as soon as his task was said, and told me to come out with all speed. I made haste to obey, and followed him to the churchyard gate, which was ever our trysting-place. "Joan, look here!" he said, taking me by the hand. " See this groat. I am going to the witch in the leper's chapel. Come with me." These words filled me with astonishment and joy- " I have longed to go, Jack," I said, " ever since Hal tried his luck ; but I dared not alone, With thee I will go anywhere." Hand in hand we stole round to the little chamber, and soon stood beneath the leper's window.

We listened, but could hear no sound save our own breathing, for our hearts beat fast at our daring. Then Jack loosed my hand, and, going close to the opening, said in a bold voice, — " Art thou there, wise woman ? " Instantly came the answer in a low, croaking tone, but quite clear, — " Who calls on the wise woman of Twyne ham ? " " Jack and Joan Rogers," answered Jack ; " my brother heard his fortune told, and we want ours likewise." " Cross my palm with silver," said the voice again. Jack climbed up and laid the groat just with in the opening ; and as I drew back to see what happened, but holding my breath for fear, there appeared one skinny finger, quite brown and shrivelled like a dry twig, and drew away the coin, and then there followed a low chuckle. I took Jack's hand and held it hard, waiting for what might come next.

There was silence for the space of a minute, and then we heard the voice again, and thus it spake : — c " They'll not be slain, but raised ; Raised not to life, But to be buried twice By men of strife." Jack and I looked on one another, and our faces fell, for these were much the same words that Hal had heard. But after a pause, the voice proceeded — Can living twins have rest When dead have none 1 Agree betwixt ye, Let ten dead be one." Again we looked in each other's faces ; but now with awe. The voice had ceased, and no sound was heard but our breathing, and the whisper of the breeze among the trees. Then Jack pressed my hand and called out, " Speak again, wise woman ! We take thee not." I shivered with dread, and once more the witch spoke, — " Can living twins have rest When dead have none ?

Agree betwixt ye, Let ten dead be one." It was the last four lines again. We knew now that she would say nothing more, so after waiting yet a little space, Jack led me away from the little chamber through the sunny, warm churchyard, and thence into our own garden, all without speaking one word. Then I said in a low, frightened voice, for even now sitting in our own ground I felt that the witch might hear, — " How did she know we are twins, Jack ? We never told her." Jack shook his head, and then said, — " What did she mean, Joan ? I want the oracle declared. I thought I knew before, but now — " and he shook his head again. " Why, Jack, what was it ? Thou knewest, but never told thy Joan. Declare me the secret now." " I cannot, Joan. I am fairly puzzled now. When Hal told us I said within myself, 'It means that Hal and Patient shall wed with one another, that Hal shall be a great soldier, and the king shall raise him in the State, and that when he died and was buried, perhaps here, that great men shall take him and bury him again with much mourning and magnificence in London or some other great city."

" Oh, Jack ! How magnifical ! " I cried. " Aud why cannot that be now ? " " It may be," said Jack, knitting his brows, " only see, he — nay they will not rest, so we twins must not. What means that ? Like the good St. Swithin, think you, who would not rest when they moved him ? But then the end, ' Make the ten dead one ; ' that speaks of many men, not of Hal and Patient. Nay, I am fairly puzzled." Before I could answer, mother called, and we went to do her bidding, and spoke no more of the witch's words, riddle, prophecy, or what you will ; nor could we speak again privately for some hours, but in the evening when our parents were talking and we sitting by, Jack whispered me, — " Tell no one of the witch. Forget the trash." Once or twice after I spoke to him, but he always bade me cease, saying that such folly meant nothing, and we must put away childish things.

But I did not forget it, though I was never brave enough to venture again to the leper's chapel ; and I often said over the words to myself which I had writ fair in a red leather pocket-book that father gave me for Christmas, so I never forgot them.

Chapter III

Aftee that the days passed on much as before. We made progress in learning under Parson Marston, and walked and rode about the lovely country-side. Our honoured parents bade their neighbours to dinner and supper as before, and spake more and more earnestly of the papist Queen Mary;1 of the king's doing, the fisheries, ship money, and many heavy taxes ; and they shook their heads and said our dear old England was in a fair way to be ruined. Hal used to grind his teeth and threaten to fight against such tyranny when he was a soldier, and Jack used to think he would write a learned treatise on the nation's wrongs, and set it before the Parliament that the kinr* might be persuaded to do justice. 1 Henrietta Maria, igife of Charles L, was so styled. Sometimes young folks came with their parents to our house, and then we drove away all these dull thoughts, and played merry games, such as hot cockles and hoodman blind, in which our elders joined sometimes.

Once in a way the fiddler came in; he was our serving-man's brother, and then we danced ; but this could not be if Colonel Moreton or Mr. James Haslam were present, for both were of a serious turn, and held that such doings were not fit for Christians. Hal and I thought it hard, and I said I would show my Psalter to Colonel Moreton, where I read, " Praise Him in the cymbals and dances ;" but Jack bade me remember the Catechism, and order my self lowly to my betters, and Patient begged me not to anger her father by gainsaying him, for he always took it amiss. This happened one evening near Christmas, when we were all sitting round the fire in the red parlour roasting chestnuts. It was bitterly cold weather, and we were glad to frame an excuse to creep near the hearth ; especially in Bttried. 26 the dusk when there was no fun without doors even for lads; and we maids had been sent in quite early to do our sewing.

" It seems to me, Patient," I said, " that thy father grows yearly more strict. Had I my way, he should leave thee with us, and only come to carry thee hence by-and-by. Then we could dance an' we pleased." " Nay, Joan," she replied, looking ashamed at my speech ; " were I here without my father I must still obey his commands, and I tell him all that happens when we meet again." " Never mind," Hal put in, as he presented Patient with two fine nuts he had just peeled ; " if we must lose our dancing, we can yet enjoy our Christmas dinner. It is not ungodly to eat mince pies and a pudding." " Verily and indeed it is, Hal," said Patient. " I may none of the pies, they are remnants of Popery." " This is trash ! " said Hal angrily, " whv it is scarce a Christmas without the pies." Patient sighed; she never liked Hal to be wroth with her, but she went on in a low voice, — "My honoured father holds not with the keeping of Christmas at all, and he said last night we should ride hence the day before the feast."

At this we all cried out, and said it must not be ; we would keep Patient, even if her father departed ; and the poor girl was begin ning to weep and protest that though she loved us all she must cleave to her father ; when the door opened and old nurse hobbled into the room. She was crippled with rheumatism, and walked with a stick, which made her seem a very ancient woman indeed. Jack pushed up the big chair for her and I fetched a footstool, while Hal ran to give her his shoulder for auother staff, he said, which pleased her mightily. She sat down in our midst, but would accept none of the chestnuts we offered. " I have no teeth to grind them withal, honey," she said, putting them back into my hand, " and to swallow one whole would suffice to lay me as stark as the old beldam yonder, God rest her soul, if it be not already sold to His fiend, as I fear."

" Who is it, nurse ? " we asked ; " what old dame is dead ? " " Ask not," quoth Patient, in the grave tones that made me think of Colonel Moreton, " an' she hath sold her soul, let us not think on her more." " Nay, Patient, let us think the more, and ask Parson Marston to pray for her," said Jack. " John Rogers, if thou pratest so profanely, I may not stay with thee," answered Patient, and rising up, she made as though she would leave us. But Hal held her gown, and made her sit down again, and I said, — " Nurse, tell us who it is." Her answer was but a mournful shaking: of the head. " Can it be the old witch? " I said. Jack frowned at me, but nurse shook her head again, and said, — "Witch, or no witch, she is frozen dead; and may God have mercy on her ! " " Is it so ? " cried Jack. " Who found her ?

I thought no man dare go nigh her dwelling, much less enter it." " I dared once," said Hal. " Dost remember, Jack? That day in the summer, when she told me my fortune ; a pretty fortune, too ! " " Child ! " said old nurse, in a low voice, " speakest thou truth ? Did he so, Joan ? " " Yes, verily," Patient said, before I had time to speak ; " and I went with him, mistress, and bitterly have I rued the day." Tears came into her eyes as she spoke. Hal laughed. " Why, Patient ! " he said, " still on my mis deeds ! I thought that act had long since been forgot. Now whish, my dear, weep not. We will talk no more of the witch." " What did she say to thee, Hal ? " said nurse. "Oh! some rhyming nonsense," he answered; " I cannot recall it now. Ask Jack there, he can rehearse anything once heard. Come, my bird, we will go into the great hall, and leave these folks to finish their doleful cracks in the gloom."