In Love and War. A romance

Front matter

n WAR " There was a May, and a weel-far'd May, Lived high up in yon glen ; Her name was Katherine Janfarie, She was courted by niony men." The Ballad of Katherine Janfarie. WAK 3V g}0ntftn;*. BY CHARLES GIBBON, AUTHOR OF "IN HOKOUR BOUND," "ROBIN GRAY," "WHAT WILL THE WORLD SAY?" "FOR LACK OF GOLD," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: EICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, NEAV BURLINGTON STREET. 1877. (All rights reserved.) CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHATTKR PAGE I. The Combat ... ... ... 1 II. Linlithgow ... ... ... 28 III. The King's Favourites ... ... 40 IV. His Majesty James III. ... 57 V. The Secret Passage ... ... 83. VI. In the Oratory ... ... 96 VII. The Conspiracy ... ... ... 118 VIII. The Storm-cloud bursts ... 133 IX. The Fate of Mar ... ... 155 X. The Attack on the King ... 176 XI. Which is the Traitor? ... ... 198 XII. The Queen's Victory ... ... 226 XIII. The Dungeon of the Palace ... 250 XIV. In Jeopardy ... ... ... 273 XV. A Fatal Love ... ... ... WAB.

Chapter I. The Combat

" ' I will not fight with you, Mac Van, You never me offended ; And if I aught to you have done, I'll own my fault and mend it.' " ' Does this become so brave a knight ? Does blood so much surprise you ? And if you do refuse to fight I'll like a dog chastise you.' " Sir Niel and MacVan. HE men made no movement to advance upon their victim. Acting evidently on the command of their chief, they only stepped AVAR. forth from their hiding places, and halted Avith arms in readiness for action. The object seemed to be to make him aware of his position, and of the impossibility of escape rather than to assault him sud denly, and so take adA*antage of his surprise to despatch bim before he could use any strategy in his defence. This purpose was certainly accom plished as satisfactorily as the framer of the scheme could have desired.

Lamington instantly became conscious of the whole peril in which he stood, and bitterly enraged with himself for having fallen so blindly into the trap. Janfarie waited to note the effect of this revelation of his power, and his followers stood like dark executioners of a dire pur pose — silent, motionless, and ready to clo their fell work at the slightest signal from their leader. THE COMBAT. 3 Lamington having surveyed the men, turned with a scornful look to his betrayer. " Your treachery has succeeded," he said, calmly ; " and now that you have caught me in this ambush, what is your purpose ? " " My purpose you already know ; as for the treachery, as you call it, none would have been used against you had not your nice sense of kinship rendered you so averse to cross weapons with me, that no choice was left save to place you in a position from which nothing but your sword could rescue you."

" And it shall do so, since there is no help for it. But stand you aside ; for Katherine's sake do not force me to the risk of staining my hand with your blood." " It is with me alone you have to deal." " Stand you aside, I say, and lei your four cut-throats clo their worst upon me ; IN LOA'E AND WAR. but at least let me fall by any hand save one so near to her as yours." This earnest appeal only roused the angry nature of Janfarie to contempt. " If you are worthy to bear a sword — if you have any claim to be called a man, you will draw and defend yourself, without further words." " But not against you." "Ay, against me; for, by heaven, and by tbe vow I pledged to my dead father, you shall fall by no other hand than mine. You call me traitor, but I give you a fair chance of life." " A chance you know I dare not accept."

" I giA*e you the chance and you must accept. You see those men — at any moment during our journey hither any one of them might haAre struck you to the earth ; even now, Avhere you stand, they might rush upon you, and if you escaped TnE COMBAT. them, they would be clumsier fellows than they have proved themselves. But that would not satisfy me." " What will satisfy you ? " " Nothing but your fall under my hand — there is no other way to redeem the pledge I gave my father ; there is no other way to atone for his fate. Draw, then, for I am your only foe. Over my dead body you may pass freely, for yonder fellows have strict commands to lay no touch upon you if I fall, and to give you free passage, unless you attempt to fly before you have proved yourself against me." The Borderer spoke with a proud, passionate utterance ; and it must be understood that his deadly hate and his apparently unreasonable persistence in attempting to wreak vengeance for his father's fate upon Lamington was a charac teristic of the feuds of the times.

If a man fell in fight his friends declared feud, not only against the man Avho had actually struck the blow, but also against his kin ; and more esjiecially against the one who might be presumed to have been the originator of the quarrel in which the first blood had been shed. Thus Richard Janfarie was simply obeying the barbarous law which regulated feuds AAdien he persistently sought to retaliate upon Lamington the death of Sir Hugh ; but his rancour was heightened and goaded to a species of frenzy by the cunning suggestions of Cochrane. Some thing of this Lamington was conscious of when he made a last attempt to pacify the foe with whom he would so gladly have made terms for Katherine's sake. " I hope the merit of my sword has been proved too often," he said, almost sadly, "for even a foe to doubt my right to bear it " J3 " By the Sacred Mother I shall doubt it much," cried Janfarie, hotly, " if you do not show it to me speedily."

" Not yet, Janfarie — at least not till I have spoken. You have for the last hour or more had my life at your mercy — any of your fellows might have taken it whilst I was passing through the glen. You have not availed yourself of that treacherous advantage, and I recognize some generosity in your forbearance despite the hatred with which you pursue me." He spoke rapidly and earnestly ; but he paused to note the impression his words made upon the hearer. He was disappointed, for Janfarie only frowned and muttered impatiently : "Well?" " Well, give me time to satisfy you that you have judged me wrongly ; give me time to save your sister from the hands of the knave whose counsels have poisoned your mind ; and if I do not prove to you how false are all his pledges, and how base are all his motives, then call upon me Avhen you will, and where you will, and denounce me as a coward if I do not meet you.

Janfarie was not apparently affected in the least by the sincerity of this appeal. He listened with the restless bearing of one Avhose mind is quite made up, and whose resolution cannot be altered. " Have you clone ? " he said. " All that I can say is said," answered Lamington. " On my soul, I am glad of that ; for now, perhaps, you will show yourself better than I begin to think you are. Be Coch rane what he may, I have pledged myself to him whose sword I carry, that when you and I should meet, one of us should bite the dust. No more words, then, for they will be useless." Lamington slowly unfastened his cloak, and permitted it to drop to the ground. Janfarie, with an ejaculation of satisfaction at seeing him prepare for the combat, rested the point of his weapon on the sod, and waited eagerly for him to cry ready.

Gordon found himself placed in a cruel dilemma. Already denounced as an accomplice in her father's fall, how could he ever look in her face if it should happen that her brother's fate also should be laid to his charge ? Yet how could he help himself ? The very necessity to speed on his way to her aid had led him into the trap, and left him no alternative save to draw upon Janfarie or leave her at the mercy of Cochrane. "Not ready yet?" muttered Janfarie, exasperated by the slow movements of his antagonist; "by the Sacred Mother, I never knew a man so slow to defend all that was most precious to him ! " Lamington, with a reluctance he had never before experienced, unsheathed his sword. " One moment," he said, coldly, for the relentless fury of Janfarie was beginning to quicken his pulse ; " one moment — if you should fall, will it be necessary for me to make way through your guards also ?

" Janfarie shouted to the men — ■ " Hearken, lads ! " They made signals of attention. "I have given you my command, that if I fall this gentleman is to pass without let or hindrance from you. Pledge him your word that you will make no attempt to bar his way." " We promise, since you command it," answered the men. " You hear," continued Janfarie, turning to Gordon, " and you can trust a Borderer's Avord." " I accept the pledge." " You are prepared at last, then ? " Lamington inclined his head sadly, and the swords were crossed. There was a pause, during which the combatants, foot to foot, eyed each other narrowly, and appeared to await the first movement to ward or to thrust. Lamington's gaze was calm, steady, and sorrowful ; he had no humour for the con test, and the chances of the issue seemed to be all against him in consequence.

Janfarie's eyes glittered with a sort of ferocious resolution ; but he maintained a steadfast bearing. His passion was intense, but it did not render him unwary ; his IN LOA'E AND AVAR. thirst for vengeance was deep, but it did not make him so hasty in seeking its achievement as to give his opponent the advantage — at least, whatever advantage his excessive eagerness might have afforded, was more than counterbalanced by the other's unwillingness to take action. At length Janfarie slowly, but with a giant's power, pressed down the weapon of his antagonist — pressed it down until it nearly touched the ground, and the breasts of both Avere left uncovered. He made a rapid feint as if to strike the SAVord arm of Lamington, and followed it by a vigorous thrust at his heart. But the feint was understood, and the thrust was parried with perfect calmness, and with a force which for an instant left Janfarie at the mercy of his generous foe.

Uttering a sharp, short exclamation of rage, he renewed the attack with more vigour and with no less skill than before. But with superior skill Lamington maintained his defensive tactics ; and once more he broke down the guard of his enemy with such force that he might have run him through ; and again he would not avail himself of his fairly won opportunity of deciding the victory. This generosity had anything rather than a soothing influence upon Janfarie. Instead of serving to open his eyes to the malignance of his own course, and to the kindliness of that of the man who was so unwillingly opposed to him, it quickened his rage to a degree of frenzy. He was rapidly losing the self-possession with which he had opened the combat, and which placed him on equal terms with Gordon ; he was even losing the control of his weapon, and cut and thrust with a blind wrath, which with any other WAR. person opposed to him would have cost him his life before many minutes had elapsed.

" You are playing with me," he shouted, passionately, whilst he continued his fierce assault. " Strike, when you can, for by my father's soul you shall have no mercy from me. Take your fair vantage, then, and save yourself — you shall go scathless for the deed." " That cannot be," answered Gordon, calmly ; " for when you fall beneath my hand, the same bloAV which cuts you down severs the bond which links your sister to me." " Curse her — curse you for the woe you have both wrought our house! Guard well, for I will strike at you Avhilst I have power to raise my hand." His passion seemed to give him new strength, and he broke down the guard of his opponent repeatedly ; but despite his strength and fury he was not able to thrust or strike before the guard was resumed. He, however, succeeded in in flicting several slight wounds, one upon the sword arm, and the other upon the left shoulder of Lamington.

The latter now began to move backward, still defending himself dexterously ; but the movement was such an apparent sign of weakness, that Janfarie gave vent to a short cry of satisfaction. His satisfaction was excited not only by this sign of yielding on the part of his foe, but also on account of his observation, that he was moving back upon the deep pit, or murder-hole, which was half filled with water, and into which Lamington would certainly stumble if he did not presently observe his peril. That he had no chance of doing, for he AVAR. was obliged to devote his whole attention to his defence, and Janfarie redoubled his exertions, in order to render it impossible for even a momentary glance to betray the peril which was to relieve him of one Avhose skill kept him so completely at bay, in spite of all his efforts.

Defending himself at every step, Lam ington continued to move backward, direct toward the pit, which seemed to be yawn ing to receive him. His object throughout the combat had been to exhaust his foe; and that object seeming to be near attainment, he uoav sought to lead him beyond the range of the four Borderers, so that he might dis arm him and escape. He was within three paces of the mouth of the pit, when Janfarie, too eager to seize the opportunity which was offered to him, made a furious lounge at his opponent, but Lamington swiftly carried down the point of his sword, which struck upon a stone, and being pressed upon by all the weight of Janfarie's body, the weapon snapped and broke near the hilt. For an instant he stood glaring in dumb fury upon the remnant of the sword which he still grasped in his hand.

Then he hurled the useless hilt from him, and it fell into the pit, splashing amongst the water. Before it had sunk he had draAvn a large Spanish poiniard — a gift from Cochrane — and sprang madly upon Lam ington. The latter had no time to weigh consequences, but with the instinct of self preservation raised the point of his sword, which penetrated the descending arm of his foe, and diverted the deadly thrust, aimed at his heart. The dagger dropped from Janfarie's hand ; and Lamington, IN LOA'E AND AA'AR. quickly withdrew his weapon from the wound. Janfarie instantly with his left hand clutched at his opponent's throat and endeavoured with one mighty effort to accomplish his purpose by hurling him into the pit. Lamington dropped his sword and grappled with the frenzied man. The fingers had closed upon his throat, he felt their grasp tightening like a vice, and he knew that a few minutes would suffice to stifle him.

There was a short, sharp struggle : but the Borderer was exhausted by his passionate exertions, whilst his antagonist was still calm and vigorous. They approached the very edge of the murder-hole, and then Lamington, making a desperate effort to relieA'e himself, flung his antagonist from him. The man reeled an instant, made a wild effort to regain his balance, and then pitched head foremost into the pit, the dark, muddy water closing over him. There was a shout of dismay and wrath from the men who had been mute specta tors of this fierce combat, and they has tened from their posts to the spot where their leader had fallen. But they had not made more than a dozen paces toward him before Lamington had recovered from the surprise with which he had been affected by the unmedi tated fatality of the struggle.

Calling to the men to hasten, he leaped into the Avater, and having noticed the spot where his foe had sunk, he soon grasped the insensible body and dragged it to the surface. The sides of the pit Avere straight and slimy, and the depth of the water being probably tAvelve feet, Lamington could WAR. neither obtain a footing nor climb out of the hole with his burden without assistance. He kept afloat, however, by considerable exertion, and at length the Borderers bent over the edge, looking down on him as much in wonder at his singular attempt to rescue his foe, as in anxiety for the fate of their chief. " Reach doAvn the shaft of one of your axes and draw us up," cried Lamington. Two of the men immediately obeyed this command. Kneeling on the edge of the pit, they reached him the stout pole of a long halberd, which the knight grasped tightly, and the men dragged him slowly up with his apparently lifeless companion.

The Borderers, with gloomy counten ances, gathered round him as he laid their chief upon the sod ; and when they observed a red gash on the brow of the insensible man, and the bloody marks on the sword arm, they muttered angrily amongst them selves. The promise which they had given to let the victor go scathless, threatened to be poorly observed, if observed at all. Lamington paid no attention to these unpleasant symptoms of a breach of faith. His eyes were fixed upon the ghastly form at his feet, begrimed with mud, the face and a portion of the clothes discoloured with blood. He was himself dripping wet and besmeared with ooze ; but he had no thought for his own discomfort — no thought even of the mission which had been thus unhappily interrupted ; he saw only the ghastly face of Katherine's brother, and his only thought was that by this act he had placed her for ever beyond his reach.

Evidently, in falling into the pit, Janfarie's head had struck against some AVAR. stone, which had caused the Avound on his broAv, and his present insensibility. " He is badly hurt, but not dead," cried Lamington, dropping on his knees beside him, and seeking anxiously for some in dication of life. He drew a long breath of relief when he discovered that the heart was still beating, although very faintly. He hastily directed one of the men to run to the nearest streamlet and fill his steel cap with water. Then he thrust his hand into the pouch of his jerkin and drew out a fine silk hand kerchief, with which, when the Borderer had returned with the water, he bathed the broAV of the wounded chief, and finally bandaged it. The men looked on in gloomy silence. Janfarie presently began to show symp toms of reanimation by breathing heaA*ily.

As soon as Lamington perceived that, he sprang to his feet. " You have your horses at hand, I sup pose ? " he said, in a quick undertone, addressing the men. One of them — he who had gone for the water, and who seemed to be the most good-natured, as well as clearest-headed of the party — answered : " Ay, master, they are close by." " Convey your leader, then, with all gentle care to the tower of Lamington, which stands near the Ken, and to the south of Craigdarroch. Give those in charge this token, and they will attend to your master as faithfully as he would be cared for in his own home." He had cut from his belt one of the small silver ornaments, on which was stamped the ensign of his house— a boar's head — and that he handed to the Borderer. " You think he is likely to come round, then ?

" said the man. WAR. " Assuredly, or I should be ill-contented in leaving him. Look, he is moving — die must not see me when he recovers. Here are four gold pieces to help you all to think better of me than as your master's foe. Look well to him, on your lives." The presentation of the money was a species of generosity which the rough troopers could thoroughly appreciate ; it immediately altered their A*iew of the transaction they had witnessed, and the upshot of which they had been disposed to resent, notwithstanding their pledge to the contrary. Three of the men bluntly expressed their satisfaction, but the fourth — one of those who had received a drub bing at Dumfries — accepted his gift in surly silence. But Lamington was indifferent, he was only anxious now to escape before Janfarie recovered sufficiently to be able to make any effort to stay him.

He hastily searched for his sword, hat, and cloak, and having found them, cast one last glance toward Katherine's brother, and hurried away from the Druid's Circle, to seek his horse and continue his journey. It was not until he had reached the den that he discovered the absence of the hound Stark. He whistled shrilly for the dog and called it by name, but without effect ; and at last he was obliged to conclude that Stark, annoyed by the neglect with which its repeated warnings had been received, had deserted him. He soon regained the road, and there he mounted his horse. After pausing a few minutes, and listening for any sound that might indicate the approach of Muckle Will, without being gratified by any such indication, he urged his horse forward. He was too eager to regain some of the time so disagreeably wasted to think any- IN LOA'E AND AA'AR. thing of the discomforts of his wet and soiled habiliments.

He proposed obtaining a change at the first hostelry or friendly house which he might reach. The change Avould add to his comfort, and would at the same time serve as a useful disguise until he reached Linlithgow, where he might obtain garments suitable for his appearance at the palace. He was disturbed by many conflicting thoughts, and it was not until he had ridden several miles that he remembered the tablet containing the list of friendly names with which the Abbot had entrusted him. He hurriedly searched his pouch for the list, and to his dismay he discoA*ered that it was gone. He remembered the warning and solici tude with which the Abbot had presented it to him, and, with a jerk of the rein, he brought his horse to a sudden stand, uncertain whether to proceed or turn back. He searched his pouch again ; he searched every corner in which he might haA*e stowed the tablet, but it was gone ; and it became clear that in the recent struggle he must have lost it.

His only hope was that it might haA*e fallen — as was, indeed, most probable — into the pit during the struggle at its edge ; but in any case it was too late to turn back now, for the tablet would be by this time in the hands of the enemy, if they were to find it at all ; and Katherine's safety was of more importance to him than that of all the world beside.

Chapter II. Linlithgow

" Of all the palaces so fair, Built for the royal dwelling, In Scotland, far beyond compare, Linlithgow is excelling ; And in its park in jovial June, How sweet the merry linnet's tune, How blithe the blackbird's lay ! The wild buck-bells from ferny brake, The coot dives merry on the lake, The saddest heart might pleasure take To see all nature gay." Marmion. NDER any circumstances the ride from Kells to LinlithgoAv was a long and tiresome one to be performed without a halt for proper LINLITHGOW. 29 rest; but it was especially wearisome to Katherine whose mind was distracted by the terror of the purpose for which her brother had remained behind, and by the companionship of Cochrane. She glanced backwards repeatedly, but her eyes were not relieved by any sign of following friends. Her pulse quickened at every sound of approaching horses ; but only to relax into a state of sickening weariness as the sound faded aAvay or a stray horseman appeared in the opposite direction.

The fatigue of the journey was a merciful hardship to her, for it helped to stultify the poignancy of the pangs Avhich her reflections inflicted. Otherwise the dread of what might be passing amidst the dreary Glenkens, and the dread of Avhat might be the upshot of this excursion, would have proved too much for her to hold up against with any degree of calm- IN LOA'E AND WAR. ness. And that was the quality of which she felt most in need at this crisis. Cochrane was true to his word so far that he showed no inclination to tarry on the road ; indeed, he had good reasons for desiring to stand in the presence of his royal master at the earliest possible mo ment. First, that his version of the recent events might obtain the advantage of forestalling any other which might be laid before his Majesty ; this he kneAv would be a considerable advantage in the present instance, for King James was aj)t to form an opinion on the impulse of the moment, and to adhere to it obstinately afterwards in spite of any proofs to the contrary that might be offered to him.

His second reason for haste was one of graver import, for it related to certain intrigues involving the honour and lives of high personages, and the arrival at the LINLITHGOW. 31 palace of the Abbot Panther before him might proA-e fatal to the schemes on which his ambition had ventured its boldest flight. On these grounds he was as eager to push forward as Katherine could have desired. He maintained toward her a coldly respectful bearing, scarcely address ing a word to her except when at several halting places he requested her to partake of some refreshment. But although she could take little food of any kind, he used no persuasion ; he left her as freely to her own humour in that respect as on the road he left her free to her own thoughts. He still carefully retained the leading rein, but otherwise he did not attempt to interfere with her.

By the time they were nearing Lanark, the fatigue had begun to tell upon her, and displayed itself in an IN LOVE AND WAR. unusual pallor and a sunken, Avorn look in the eyes. This effect he observed, and he was well pleased even in such a petty way as this to punish her for the scorn she had cast on him. Besides, with a wearied body, and an exhausted mind, she would be less formidable when presented to the King than she might have been with all her faculties fresh and alert. At Lanark it became necessary to change horses ; and as only four could be pro cured, after an hour's halt, Cochrane and Katherine, followed by only two of the men, continued the route to Linlithgow. The remaining Borderers were quartered at the Lanark hostelry for the night, under com mands to ride forward in the morning, by Avhich time their nags would be sufficiently rested.

It was late in the evening when they LINLITHOOW. 33 rode into the town, and in the darkness they passed along the main street with its irregular lines of buildings, the gables of which fronted the thoroughfare, without much heed being paid to them by the burgesses, who, during the residence of the court at the palace, were accustomed to the sound of traffic at all hours. The city — for so it was legally desig nated — was of much higher importance, although somewhat less in extent in those days than in the present. The convenience afforded by the surrounding district for the sports of hunting and falconry had rendered the toAvn a favourite place of resort for Majesty and its troupe of attendant courtiers. The armorial bearings of the city represent a black greyhound bitch, tied to a tree, and suggest at once the origin of the place.

Tradition, however, ascribes the emblem to another and less pleasant IN LOA'E AND AVAR. source — namely, to a witch who was in the habit of assuming the form of a hound the better to carry out her evil intents upon the inhabitants, and who at length, being caught in her unnatural form, was firmly bound to a tree by a cord which had been dipped in sanctified water. After that the beldame was unable to release her self, notwithstanding her friendly relations to the powers of darkness, and she had been left to perish whilst the city prospered. A Celtic explanation of the emblem finds its meaning in the name of the place — that is, lin-liath-cu, the Lake of the Greyhound. But a famous historian claims a Gothic derivation for the name — that is, lin-lyth gow, or the Lake of the Great Yale. Be that as it may, the beauty of the district, with its undulating and wooded plains, coursed by glittering streamlets, traversed by the Avon, and bordered by the Forth, LINLITHGOW. 35 whilst northward rise towering and snoAv covered mountains, renders it one of the most picturesque straths in Scotland.