My Lady Rotha: A Romance. Weyman Stanley John

'but I dare say it is low.'

      'Then what is the matter?' my lady continued, looking at me somewhat curiously.

      'He says that they are Papists,' I answered. 'And it is true, as your excellency knows, but it is not for him to say it. The man will not be safe for an hour outside the walls, nor the girl much longer. And there is a small child besides. And they have no where else to go.'

      My lady's face grew grave while I spoke. When I stopped she rose and stood fronting me, tapping on the reading-desk with her fingers. 'This must not be allowed, Martin,' she said firmly. 'You were right to tell me.'

      'Master Hofman and the Minister-'

      'Yes,' she interposed, nodding quickly. 'Go to them. They will see Klink, and-'

      'They are just pushing him on,' I said, with a groan.

      'What!' she cried; and I remember to this day how her grey eyes flashed and how she threw back her head in generous amazement. 'Do you mean to say that this is being done in spite, Martin? That after escaping all the perils of this wretched war these men are so thankless as to turn on the first scape-goat that falls into their hands? It is not possible!'

      'It looks like it, my lady,' I muttered, wondering whether I had not perhaps carried the matter too far.

      'No, no,' she said, shaking her head, 'you must have made a mistake; but go to Klink. Go to Klink and tell him from me to keep the man for a week at least. I will be answerable for the cost, and we can consider in the meantime what to do. My cousin the Waldgrave Rupert visits me in a day or two, and I will consult him.'

      Still I did not like to go without giving her a hint that she might meet with opposition, and I hesitated, considering how I might warn her without causing needless alarm or seeming to presume. Fraulein Anna, who had listened throughout with the greatest impatience, took advantage of the pause to interfere. 'Come, Rotha,' she said. 'Enough trifling. Let us go back to Voetius and our day's work.'

      'My dear,' the Countess answered somewhat coldly, 'this is my day's work. I am trying to do it.'

      'Your work is to improve and store your mind,' Fraulein Anna retorted with peevishness.

      'True,' my lady said quietly; 'but for a purpose.'

      'There can be no purpose higher than the acquirement of philosophy-and, religion,' Fraulein Anna said. Her last words sounded like an afterthought.

      My lady shook her head. 'The duty of a Princess is to govern,' she said.

      'How can she govern unless she has prepared her mind by study and thought?' Fraulein Anna asked triumphantly.

      'I agree within limits,' my lady answered. 'But-'

      'There is no but! Nor are there any limits that I see!' the other rejoined eagerly. 'Let me read to you out of Voetius himself. In his maxims-'

      'Not this minute,' the Countess answered firmly. And thereby she interrupted not Fraulein Anna alone but a calculation on which, without any light from Voetius, I was engaged; namely, how long it would take a man to mow an acre of ground if he spent all his time in sharpening his scythe! Low matters of that kind however have nothing in common with philosophy I suppose; and my lady's voice soon brought me back to the point. 'What is it you want to say, Martin?' she asked. 'I see that you have something still on your mind.'

      'I wish your excellency to be aware that there may be a good deal of feeling in the town on this matter,' I said.

      'You mean that I may make myself unpopular,' she answered.

      That was what I did mean-that at the least. And I bowed.

      My lady shook her head with a grave smile. 'I might give you an answer from Voetius, Martin,' she said; 'that they who govern are created to protect the weak against the strong. And if not, cui bono? But that, you may not understand. Shall I say then instead that I, and not Hofman or Dietz, am Countess of Heritzburg.'

      'My lady,' I cried-and I could have knelt before her-'that is answer enough for me!'

      'Then go,' she said, her face bright, 'and do as I told you.'

      She turned away, and I made my reverence and went out and down the stairs and through the great court with my head high and my heart high also. I might not understand Voetius; but I understood that my lady was one, who in face of all and in spite of all, come Hofman or Dietz, come peace or war, would not blench, but stand by the right! And it did me good. He is a bad horse that will not jump when his rider's heart is right, and a bad servant that will not follow when his master goes before! I hummed a tune, I rattled my staff on the stones. I said to myself it was a thousand pities so gallant a spirit should be wasted on a woman: and then again I fancied that I could not have served a man as I knew I could and would serve her should time and the call ever put me to the test.

      The castle at Heritzburg, rising abruptly above the roofs of the houses, is accessible from the town by a flight of steps cut in the rock. On the other three sides the knob on which it stands is separated from the wooded hills to which it belongs by a narrow ravine, crossed in one place by a light horse-bridge made in modern days. This forms the chief entrance to the castle, but the road which leads to it from the town goes so far round that it is seldom used, the flight of steps I have mentioned leading at once and more conveniently from the end of the High Street. Half way down the High Street on the right hand side is the Market-place, a small paved square, shaded by tall wooden houses, and having a carved stone pump in the middle. A hundred paces beyond this on the same side is the Red Hart, standing just within the West Gate.

      From one end of the town to the other is scarcely a step, and I was at the inn before the Countess's voice had ceased to sound in my ears. The door stood open, and I went in, expecting to find the kitchen empty or nearly so at that hour of the day. To my surprise, I found at least a dozen people in it, with as much noise and excitement going forward as if the yearly fair had been in progress. For a moment I was not observed. I had time to see who were present-Klink, the two soldiers who had put themselves forward the evening before, and half a score of idlers. Then the landlord's eye fell on me and he passed the word. A sudden silence followed and a dozen faces turned my way; so that the room, which was low in the roof with wide beetle-browed windows, seemed to lighten.

      'Just in time, Master Schwartz!' cried one fellow. 'You, can write, and we are about a petition! Perhaps you will draw it up for us.'

      'A petition,' I said shortly, eyeing the fellow with contempt. 'What petition?'

      'Against Papists!' he answered boldly.

      'And favourers, aiders, and abettors!' exclaimed another in the background.

      'Master Klink, Master Klink,' I said, trying to frown down the crowd, 'you would do well to have a care. These ragamuffins-'

      'Have a care yourself, Master Jackanapes!' the same voice cried. 'This is a town meeting.'

      'Town meeting!' I said, looking round contemptuously. 'Gaol-meeting, you mean, and likely to be a gaol-filling. But I do not speak to you; I leave that to the constable. For Master Klink, if he will take a word of advice, I will speak with him alone.'

      They cried out to him not to speak to me. But Klink had still sense enough to know that he might be going too fast, and though they hooted and laughed at him-being for the most part people who had nothing to lose-he came out of the house with me and crossed the street that we might talk unheard. As civilly as I could I delivered my message; and as exactly, for I saw that the issue might be serious.

      I was not surprised when he groaned, and in a kind of a tremor shook his hands. 'I am not my own master, Schwartz,' he said. 'And that is the truth.'

      'You were your own master last night,' I retorted.

      'These fellows are all for "No Popery."'

      'Ay, and who gave them the cue?' I said sharply. 'It is not the first time that the fat burgher has raised the lean kine and been eaten by them. Nor will it be the last. It serves you right.'

      'I am willing enough to do what my lady wishes,' he whimpered; 'but-'

      'But you are not master of your own house, do you mean?' I exclaimed. 'Then fetch the constable. That is simple. Or the Burgomaster.'

      'Hush!'