S. R. Crockett - The Black Douglas

S >> S. R. Crockett >> The Black Douglas

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

Satisfied that all was safe there, Sholto stepped gingerly over the
reclining forms of the first relief guard, who lay wrapped in their
cloaks, every man grasping his arms. Most of these were lying in the
dead sleep of tired men, whilst others restlessly moved about this
way and that, as if seeking an easier adaptation of their bones to the
corners of the blue whinstones and rough shell lime than had been
provided for when the castle was built by Archibald the Grim, Lord of
Thrieve and Galloway.

Close by the last turn of the turret staircase yawned the iron-sparred
mouth of the dungeon, in which in its time many a notable prisoner had
been immured. It was closed with a huge grid of curved iron bars, each
as thick as a man's arm, cunningly held together by a gigantic
padlock, the key of which was nightly taken to the sleeping-room of
the Earl--whether, as was now the case, the cell stood empty, or
whether it contained an English lord waiting ransom or a rebellious
baron expectant of his morning summons to the dule tree of the Black
Douglas.

Then taking the master-key from his belt, Sholto unlocked the sparred
gate leading from the _salle de garde_ into the turret stair which was
the sole communication with the upper floors of the castle.

Slowly, and with a step no louder than the beating of his own heart,
he went upwards, glancing in midway upon the banquet hall, where the
dim light from the postern without revealed a number of dark forms
wrapped in slumber lying on the dining-table and on the floor;
ascending yet higher he came to the floor where slept the Countess of
Douglas, the Lady Sybilla, and in the Earl's own chamber the Marshal
de Retz, ambassador of the King of France.

Sholto stood a moment with his hand raised in a listening attitude,
before he ventured to ascend those narrower stairs which led to the
uppermost floor of all, on which were the chambers occupied by the
little Maid Margaret and her companion and gossip Mistress Maud
Lindesay.

He told himself that it was his duty to see to the safety of the whole
castle; that he had special instructions to visit three times, during
the course of each night of duty, all the passages and corridors of
the fortress. But nevertheless it needed all his courage to enable
Sholto to perform the task which had been laid upon him. As he dragged
one foot after the other up the turret stairs, it seemed as if a
leaden clog had been attached to each pointed shoe.

He had also a vague sense of being watched by presences invisible to
him, but malign in their nature. Again and again he caught himself
listening for footsteps which seemed to dog his own. He heard
mysterious whisperings that flouted his utmost vigilance, and mocking
laughter that lurked in unseen crevices and broke out so soon as he
had passed.

Sholto set his hand firmly upon his sword handle and bit his lips,
lest even to himself he should own his uneasiness. It was not seemly
that the captain of the Douglas guard should be frightened by shadows.

Passing the corridor which led towards the sleeping rooms of the maid
and her companion, he ascended to the roof of the castle, thrusting
aside the turret door and issuing upon the wide, open spaces with an
assured step. The cool breeze from the west restored him to himself in
a moment. The waning moon cast a pale light across the landscape, and
he could see the tents on the castle island glimmer greyish white
beneath him. Beyond that again was the shining confluence of the
sluggish river about the isle, and the dark line of the woods of
Balmaghie opposite. He had begun to meditate on the rapid changes of
circumstance which had overtaken him, when suddenly a shrill and
piercing shriek rang out, coming up through the castle beneath, again
and again repeated. It was like the cry of a child in the grip of
instant and deadly terror.

Sholto's heart gave a great bound. That something untoward should
happen on this the first night of his charge was too disastrous. He
drew his sword and set in his lips the silver call which depended from
the chain of office the Earl had thrown about his neck when he made
him captain of his guard.

His feet hardly touched the stone stairs as he flew downwards, and
wings were added to his haste by the sounds of fear which continued to
increase. In another moment he was upon the last step of the turnpike
and at the entrance of the corridor which led to the rooms of the
little Lady Margaret and Maud Lindesay.

As Sholto came rushing down the steep descent from the roof he caught
sight of a dark and shaggy beast running on all fours just turning out
of the corridor, and taking the first step of the descent towards the
floor beneath. Without pausing to consider, Sholto lunged forward with
all his might, and his sword struck the fugitive quadruped behind the
shoulder. He had time to see in the pale bluish flicker of the
_cruisie_ lamp that the beast he had wounded was of a dark colour, and
that its head seemed immensely too large for its body.

Nevertheless, the thing did not fall, but ran on and vanished out of
Sholto's sight. The young man again set the silver call to his lips
and blew. The next moment he could hear the soldiers of the guard
clattering upward from their hall, and he himself ran along the
corridor towards the place whence the screams of terror seemed to
proceed.

CHAPTER XVI

SHOLTO CAPTURES A PRISONER OF DISTINCTION

He found that the noise came from the chamber occupied by the little
Lady Margaret. When he arrived at the door it stood open to the wall.
The child was sitting up on her bed, clothed in the white garmentry of
the night. Bending over her, with her arms round the heaving shoulders
of the little girl, Sholto saw Maud Lindesay, clad in a dark, hooded
mantle thrown with the appearance of haste about her. The door of the
next chamber also stood wide, and from the coverlets cast on the floor
it was obvious that its occupant had left it hastily in order to fly
to her friend's assistance.

At the sound of hasty footsteps Maud Lindesay turned about, and was
instantly stricken pale and astonished by the sight of the young man
with his sword bare. She cried aloud with a stern and defiant
countenance, "Sholto MacKim, what do you here?"

And before he had time to answer, the little girl looked at him out of
her friend's arms and called out: "O Sholto, Sholto, I am so glad you
are come. I woke to find such a terrible thing looking at me out of
the night. It was shaped like a great wolf, but it was rough of hide,
and had upon it a head like a man's. I was so terrified that at first
I could not cry out. But when it came nearer, and gazed at me, then I
cried. Do not go away, Sholto. I am so glad, so glad that you are
here."

Maud Lindesay had again turned towards Margaret.

"Hush," she said soothingly, "it was a dream. You were frighted by a
vision, by a nightmare, by a succubus of the night. There is no beast
within the castle."

"But I saw it plainly," the maid cried. "It opened the door as if it
had hands--I saw it stand there by the bed and look at me--oh, so
terribly! I saw its teeth glisten and heard them snap together!"

"Little one, be still, it was but a dream," said Sholto, untruthfully;
"nevertheless I will go and search the rest of the castle."

And with these words he went along the corridor, finding the men whom
he had summoned by means of his captain's silver call clustered upon
the landing of the turret stair which communicated with the third
floor. As he glanced along the oak-panelled corridor, it seemed to
Sholto that he discerned a figure vanishing at the further end.
Instantly he resolved on searching, and summoning his men to follow,
he led the way down the passage, sword in hand. As he went he snatched
the lamp from its pin on the wall, and held it in his left high above
his head.

At the further end of the corridor was the door of a little chamber,
and it seemed to Sholto that the shape he had seen must have
disappeared at this point.

He knocked loudly on the door with the hilt of his sword, and cried,
"If any be within, open--in the name of the Earl!"

No voice replied, and Sholto boldly set his foot against the lower
panelling, and drove the door back to the wall with a clang.

Then at sight of a something dark, wrapped in a cloak, standing
motionless against the window, the young captain of the guard elevated
his lamp, and let the flicker of the light fall on the erect figure
and haughty face of a young man, who, with his hand on his hip, stood
considering the rude advance of his pursuers with a calm and
questioning gaze.

It was the Earl of Douglas himself.

Sholto stood petrified at sight of him, and for a long minute could in
no wise recover his self-control nor regain any use of his tongue.

"Well," said the Earl, haughtily, "whence this unseemly uproar? What
do you here, Sholto?"

Then the spirit of his father came upon the young captain of the
guard. He knew that he had only done his duty in its strictness, and
he boldly answered the Earl: "Nay, my lord, were it not for courtesy,
I have more right to ask you that question. Your sister hath been
frighted, and at sound of her terror all we who were dispersed
throughout the castle rushed to the spot. As I came down the stairs
from the roof at speed, I saw something like to a great wolf about to
descend the turret before me. With my sword I struck at it, and to all
appearance wounded it. It vanished, and after searching the castle I
can find neither wolf nor dog. But I saw, as it seemed, a figure enter
this room, and upon opening it I find--the Earl of Douglas. That is
all I know, and I leave the matter in my lord's own hands."

The haughty look gradually disappeared from the face of the Earl as
Sholto spoke.

Smilingly he dismissed the guard with a word, saying that he would
inquire into the cause of the disturbance in person, and then turned
to Sholto.

"You are right," he said, "you have entirely done your duty and
justified my appointment."

He paused, looked this way and that along the corridor, and continued:

"It chanced that in the tower without I could not sleep, and feeling
uneasy concerning my guests, I entered the castle by the private door
and staircase which leads into the apartment corresponding to this on
the floor beneath. I was assuring myself that you were doing your duty
when, being disturbed by the sudden hubbub, and judging it needless
that the men-at-arms should know of my presence in the castle, I came
in hither till the matter should have blown over. And so, but for your
good conscience and the keenness of your vision, the matter would have
ended."

Sholto bowed coldly.

"But, my lord," he said, ignoring the Earl's explanation, "the matter
grows more mysterious than ever. Your sister, the little Lady
Margaret, hath been grievously frighted by an appearance like a great
beast which (so she affirms) opened the door of her chamber and looked
within."

"She but dreamed," said the Earl, carelessly; "such visions come from
supping late."

"But, with all respect, your lordship," continued Sholto, "I also saw
the appearance even as I ran down the stairs from the roof at the
noise of her crying."

"You were startled--excited, and but thought you saw."

Sholto reversed his sword, which he had held with the point towards
the ground while he was speaking with his lord the Earl.

Holding the blade midway with much deference, he presented the hilt to
William Douglas.

"Will you examine the point of this sword?" he said.

The Earl came a step nearer to him and Sholto advanced the steel till
it was immediately beneath the lamp. There was blood upon the last
inch or so of the blade. The Earl suddenly became violently agitated.

"This is indeed passing strange. There is no hound within the castle
nor has there been for years. Even the presence of a lap-dog will fret
my mother, so in my father's time they were every one removed to the
kennels at the further end of the isle of Thrieve, whence even their
howling cannot be heard. But let us proceed to the Lady Margaret, and
on our way examine the place where you saw the apparition."

Sholto stood aside for the Earl to pass, but with a wave of his hand
the latter said courteously, "Nay, but do you lead the way, captain of
the guard."

They passed the door of the chamber where lay the Lady Sybilla. The
niece of the ambassador must have been a heavy sleeper, for there was
no sound within. Opposite was the chamber of the Earl's mother. She
also appeared to be undisturbed, but the increasing deafness of the
Countess offered a complete explanation of her tranquillity.

Next the two young men came to the door of the marshal's chamber. As
they were about to pass, it opened silently, and a man-servant with a
closely cropped obsequious head appeared within. He unclosed the door
no further than would permit of his exit, and then he shut it again
behind him, and stood holding the latch in his hand.

"His Excellency, being overfatigued, hath need of a little strong
spirit," he said, with a curious gobbling movement of his throat as if
he himself had been either thirsty or in deadly and overmastering
fear.

The Earl ordered Sholto to wake the cellarer and bid him bring the
ambassador of France that which he required. He himself would go
onward to his sister's chamber. Sholto somewhat sullenly obeyed, for
his heart was hot and angry within him. He thought that he began to
see clearly the motive of the Earl's presence in the castle. The youth
was himself so deeply and hopelessly in love with Mistress Maud
Lindesay that he could not understand any other of his sex being
insensible to the charm of her beauty and myriad winsome graces.

As he went down the stairs he recalled a thousand circumstances to
mind which now seemed capable of but one explanation. It was evident
that the Earl William came to visit some one by means of the private
staircase under cloud of night. Nay, more, Maud Lindesay and he might
be already privately married, and the matter kept secret on account of
the pride of his family, who devised another match for him. For though
the daughter of a knight, Maud Lindesay was assuredly no fit mate for
the head of the more than regal house of Douglas. He remembered how on
Sundays and saints' days Earl William always rode to and from the kirk
with his sister on one side and Maud Lindesay on the other. That the
young Earl was by no means insensible to beauty, Sholto knew well,
and he remembered his words to his own father, when he had asked to be
allowed to accompany him on his Flanders mare, that such attendance
was not seemly when a man was going a-courting.

As is always the case, he grew more and more confirmed in his ill
humour, so soon as the eye of jealousy began to view everything in the
light of prepossession.

Sholto awaked the cellarer out of his crib, who, presently, with
snorts of disdain and much jangling of steel keys, drew half a tankard
from a keg of spirit in the cellar on the dungeon floor and handed it
grudgingly to the captain of the guard.

"The Frenchman wants it, does he?" he growled. "Had the messenger been
old Landless Jock, I had known down whose Scottish throat it had gone,
but this one is surely too young for such tricks. See that you spill
it not by the way, Master Sholto," he called out after him, as that
youth betook himself up to the chamber of the ambassador of France.

At the shut portal he paused and knocked. His hand was on the pin to
enter with the tankard as was the custom. But the door opened no more
than an inch or two, and the dark face of the cropped servitor
appeared in the crevice.

"In a moment, sir," he said, and again vanished within, while a strong
animal odour disengaged itself almost like something tangible from the
chinks of the doorway.

Sholto stood in astonishment with the _eau de vie_ in his hand, till
presently the door was opened again very quickly. The form of the
servitor was seen, and with a swift edging motion he came out, drawing
the door behind him as before. He held a bar of iron in his hand like
the fastening of a window, and a little breath of heat told the
smith's son that though black it was still warm from the fire.

"Take this iron," he said abruptly, "and bring it to me fully heated.
I am finishing a little device which his Excellency needs for the
combat of the morrow."

The captain of the guard was nettled at the man's tone. Also he
desired much to know what his master was doing on the floor above.

"Heat it at your own nose, fellow," he said rudely; "I am captain of
the castle-guard, and must attend to my own business. Take the spirit
out of my hand if you do not want it thrown in your face."

The swarthy, bullet-headed man glared at him with eyes like burning
coals, but Sholto cared no jot for his anger. Forthwith he turned his
back upon him, glad at heart to have found some one to quarrel with,
and hoping that the ambassador's squire might prove courageous and
challenge him to fight on the morrow.

But the man only replied: "I am Henriet, servant of the marshal. I bid
you remember that I shall make you live to regret these words."

CHAPTER XVII

THE LAMP IS BLOWN OUT

The door of Margaret Douglas's chamber still stood open, and Sholto
found Earl William seated upon the foot of the bed, endeavouring by
every means in his power to distract his sister's attention from her
fears. Maud Lindesay, now more completely dressed than when he had
first seen her, sat on the other side of the little lady's couch. She
was laughing as he entered at some merry jest of the Earl's. And at
the sound of her tinkling mirth Sholto's heart sank within him. So
soon as she caught sight of the new captain of the guard the gladness
left her face, and she became grave and sober, like a gossip long
unconfessed when the holy father comes knocking at the door.

At sight of her emotion Sholto resolved that if his fears should prove
to be well founded, he would resign his honourable office. For to
abide continually in the castle, and hourly observe Maud Lindesay's
love for another, was more than his philosophy could stand.

In the meantime there was only his duty to be done. So he saluted the
Earl, and in a few words told him that which he had seen. But the soul
of William Douglas was utterly devoid of suspicion, both because he
held himself so great that none could touch him, and also because,
being high of spirit and open as the sky, he read into the acts of
others his own straightforwardness and unsuspicion.

The Earl rose smilingly, declaring to Margaret that to-morrow he would
hang every dog and puppy in Galloway on the dule tree of Thrieve,
whereupon the child began to plead for the life of this cur and that
other of her personal acquaintances with a tearful earnestness which
told of a sorely jangled mind.

"Well, at least," cried Earl Douglas, "I will not have such brutes
prowling about my castle of Thrieve even in my sister's dreams.
Captain Sholto, do you station a man of your guard in the angle of the
staircase where it looks along each corridor. Pick out your prettiest
cross-bowmen, for it were not seemly that my guests should be
disturbed by the rude shots and villanous reek of the fusil."

Sholto bowed stiffly and waited the further pleasure of his master.
Then the two young men went out without Maud Lindesay having uttered a
word, or manifested the least surprise at the advancement which had
befallen the heir of the master armourer of Carlinwark.

As soon as the door had closed upon the two maidens, the Earl turned a
face suddenly grave and earnest on his young captain of the guard.

"What think you," he said, "was this appearance real?"

"Real enough to leave these upon the floor," answered Sholto, pointing
to sundry gouts and drops of blood upon the turret stairs.

The Earl took the lamp from his hand and earnestly scrutinised each
step in a downward direction. The spots ran irregularly as if the
wounded beast had shaken his head from side to side as he ran. They
turned along towards the corridor where at the first alarm Sholto had
found the Earl, and in the very midst of it abruptly stopped. While
Sholto and William Douglas were examining the floor, they both looked
over their shoulders, uneasily conscious of a regard upon them, as if
some one, unseen himself, had been looking down from behind.

"Do you place your men as I told you," said the Earl, abruptly, "and
bring me a truckle bed out of the guardroom. I shall remain in this
closet till morning. But do you keep a special lookout on the floor
above, that the repose of my sister and her friend be not again
disturbed."

Sholto bowed without speech, and hastening down to the guardroom he
commanded two of his best bowmen to follow him with their apparatus,
while he himself snatched up the low truckle couch which custom
assigned to the captain of the guard should he desire to rest himself
during the night, and on which Landless Jock had always passed the
majority of his hours of duty. This he carried to the Earl, and
placing it in the angle he saw his youthful master stretch himself
upon it, wrapped in his cloak and with a naked sword ready to his
hand.

"A good and undisturbed slumber to you, my lord," said Sholto, curtly,
as he went out.

He saw that his two men were duly posted upon the lower landing of the
stair, and then betook himself to the upper floor where slept the
little Maid of Galloway.

He walked slowly to the end of the passage scrutinising every recess
and closet door, every garde-robe and wall press from which it was
possible that the beast he had seen might have emerged. He was wholly
unsuccessful in discovering anything suspicious, and had almost
resolved to station himself at the turn of the staircase which led
down from the roof, when, looking back, at the sharp click of a latch,
he saw Maud Lindesay coming out of the chamber of the little Maid of
Galloway.

Softly closing the door behind her, she paused a moment as if
undecided, and then more with her chin than with her finger she
beckoned him to approach.

"She sleeps," said the girl, softly, "but so uncertainly and with so
many startings of terror, that I will not leave her alone. Will you
aid me to remove the mattress of my couch and lay it on the floor
beside her?"

Sholto signified his willingness. His mind was more than ever
oppressed by the thought that the Earl of Douglas loved this girl,
whom he had found listening to his jests with such frank joyousness.

Maud stayed him with one of the long looks out from under her
eyelashes. The dark violet orbs rested upon him a moment reproachfully
with a hurt expression in their depths, and were then dropped with a
sigh.

"You are still angry with me," she said, a little wistfully, "and I
wanted to tell you how happy it made me--made us, I mean--when we
heard that you were to be captain of the castle-guard instead of that
grumbling old curmudgeon, Jock of Abernethy."

The heart of Sholto was instantly melted, more by her looks than by
her words, though deep within him he had still an angry feeling that
he was being played with. All the same, and in spite of his resolves,
the eyeshot from under those dark and sweeping lashes did its usual
and deadly work.

"I did not know that aught which might befall me could be anything to
Mistress Maud Lindesay," said Sholto, with the last shreds of dignity
in his voice.

"I said not to me, but to _us_," she corrected, smiling; "but tell me
what think you of this appearance which has so startled our Margaret.
Was it ghost or goblin or dream of the night? We have never had either
witch or warlock about the house of Thrieve since the old Abbot Gawain
laid the ghost of Archibald the Grim with four-and-forty masses, said
without ever breaking his fast, down there in the castle chapel."

"Nay, ask me not," answered Sholto, "I am little skilled in matters
spiritual. I should try sword point and arrowhead on such gentry, and
if these do them no harm, why then I think they will not distress me
much."

But all the same he said nothing to the girl about the red blood on
his sword or the splashed gouts on the steps of the staircase.

He followed Maud Lindesay into her chamber, and being arrived there,
lifted couch and all in his arms, with an ease born of long
apprenticeship to the forehammer. The girl regarded him with
admiration which she was careful not to dissemble.

"You are very strong," she said. Then, after a pause, she added,
"Margaret and I like strong men."

The heart of the youth was glad within him, thus to be called a man,
even though he kept saying over and over to himself: "She means it
not! She means it not! She loves the Earl! I know well she loves the
Earl!"

Maud Lindesay paused a moment before the chamber door of her little
charge, finger on lip, listening.

"She sleeps--go quietly," she whispered, holding the door open for
him. He set down the bed where she showed him--by the side of the
small slumbering figure of the Maid of Galloway.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28