A Legend of Reading Abbey Page 8

  VIII.

  The day before King Stephen marched from Oxenford to pursue thecountess, our lord abbat, who grieved to see that his brother ofAbingdon was influenced by the changes of the times and by the rumour ofthe great force which the Earl of Gloucester had brought with him, tookhis departure for his own abbey, and with us went Sir Alain de Bohun,who needs must restore his beloved son to his ladie and home ere hetried again the fortune of war or entered upon any new emprise. The lordof Caversham took with him a score of retainers, so that we were nowsixty-two well-armed men. The young Lord Arthur sometimes rode beforehis father, and sometimes a maneged horse by himself, for the boy wasnow in his tenth year, and had been taught by times to do that whichbefits a knight. A proud and happy man I wis was Sir Alain as he lookedupon his only son and thought of the great joy their return would giveto the Ladie Alfgiva. Much also did I converse with the young LordArthur on the road, and he did tell me how much he had grieved when SirIngelric had carried away from him his little playmate who had travelledwith him so many days in horse litters, and who had abided with him inso many castles that he could not tell the names of half of them. Ashrewd brave boy was the young Lord Arthur, and for his age marvellouslyadvanced in letters; and I, Felix, had at times given him instructionbefore that Sir Ingelric did steal him away from his home sofeloniously. Again, though through no fear, since our party was sostrong and warlike, we shunned the townships and castles that lay nearour road. Also did we choose another ford whereby to cross the river Ockwithout passing near the walls of that uncivil castellum that lay in theswamps; for we were all anxious to be home and had no tools for trying asiege; nay, had we not among us so much as a single scaling ladder. Yetwhen we came to our poor house at Pangbourne we heard that which did putus in heart to undertake the storming of a castle. It was dark nightwhen we arrived there, and the day had been a day of heavy snow withrain, and I was sitting with a few others by the kitchen fire in thechimney nook drying myself, when a little boy of the village came in andtugged me by the sleeve, and said that there was one without who wouldspeak with me. Such message liked me not, nor did the time of night, forI thought of Urswick and his hell-horse; nevertheless I soon followedthe boy to the house porch, and thereby I found a lonely man, sitting ona cold wet stone, with his face muffled, and his body bent to the earthlike one sore afflicted. Started I not back with the thought that theform that I saw was but the spectrum of Urswick! It spake not, nor didit move. I turned me round to grasp my conductor by the arm, but the boywas gone; and I stood alone with that lone and dolorous figure which Icould but faintly see, for there was no moon, and the stars wereovercast with black clouds, and verily my fears or my exceeding greatawe did not aid my eyesight. But at last the figure rose from the coldstone and said, "Is it thou, oh Felix? Is it thou, my once friend?"

  The voice was that of John-a-Blount from Maple-Durham; and before Icould say "It is even I," that erring novice clasped me by the hand andpeered into my face, and turned me towards the faint uncertain light,and then fell upon my neck, and wept aloud. I led him farther from thehouse-door, and when he grew calmer I communed with him where none mightoverhear his words; but I took not this step until he vowed to me thathis soul was penitent, and that he had come unto Pangbourne only to do agood deed. He confessed unto me that the love of woman had been hisundoing, that one of the countess's foreign damsels had practised uponhim and bewitched him, and that he had done many deadly sins on heraccount in battles and nightly surprisals, and the burning and stormingof towns. But after a season the young cockatrice had scorned his love,and had told him that she must mate with a great lord, and not with arunagate shaveling, who had neither house nor lands: and at her ownprayer her mistress, the Countess Matilda, had sent poor John-a-Blountaway to serve with Sir Ingelric of Huntercombe, and Sir Ingelric had fora long time left him in his castle with a gang of robbers andcut-throats.

  "Oh, John-a-Blount!" said I, "these foreign women be worse than paintedsepulchres. I doubt not that Urswick was entreated in like manner by hisleman."

  "He was, and worse," quoth John; "and it did drive him into a boilingmadness, and into the doing of the most savage deeds."

  "Urswick had ever a wild heart and volage thoughts; Urswick perished inhis guilt," said I: "but thou are more fortunate in that thou livest torepent."

  "I know his fate," said John, "and may the saints now spare us the sightof him on his infernal steed! By all the saints that preside over ourhouse at Reading, I was penitent before; but the tale of these nightlyvisitings of my comrade Urswick did complete my guerison, and make meresolve to do that which I have now come hither to propose."

  "What good and expiatory deed is that?"

  "The delivering up of Sir Ingelric's detestable castle," repliedJohn-a-Blount.

  "That were a good deed if thou couldest do it."

  "I can," said John, "if a few will march thitherward with me; for therebe those within that will help me, captives that I can release fromtheir chains, and unwilling vassals of Sir Ingelric. Dost comprehend me,Felix?"

  I then asked whether the little Alice were safe within the castle, andwhether Sir Ingelric's second wife were a mate worthy of such a husband,for fame reported her to be so, and it was hard to think well of one whohad married the slayer of the husband of her youth. John gave meassurance that Alice was there, and harshly used by her step-mother, andthat the said dame was well nigh as merciless and rapacious as herpresent lord, keeping prisoners in the donjon and putting them to thetorture for their money.

  "But we lose time," said John; "the deed in hand must be done to-night,or some within the hellish cavern will be racked to-morrow morning. Solead me to the prior--to the new lord abbat I would say--that I maypropound my plan unto him or unto Sir Alain de Bohun. When the deedshall be done they will throw me into the abbey prison; but I am pastcaring for that, and have not long to live."

  I told him that our new abbat, the Lord Reginald, was the most indulgentof men, and Sir Alain the most generous, but he would not be comforted.While walking back to the porch of the Pangbourne house I did inquire ofhim how he so well knew about our coming and our party; and to this hemade answer that Sir Ingelric's castellan, who had gotten by hisstealthy movements and savage assaults the name of the Wolf, didconstantly keep in his pay some wretched serfs who acted as scouts andspies, and ofttimes lured heedless men to their destruction. "Ye werewatched," said John, "at your going unto Oxenford, and would have beenattacked if you had not been so well provided; and ye have been trackedand watched on the return, and I, upon the report of those espials, andupon a feigned show of great zeal, have been sent hither by SirIngelric's fit mate to see whether an attack might not be made duringthe darkness of the night upon my lord abbat's horses and baggage."

  "May the foul fiend reward that same unwomanly ladie for the impiousintention," said I.

  "He will," quoth John, "if the good lords will but take counsel of solowly and miserable a man as I am."

  When we came near unto the porch, the heart of my sad companion failedhim, and he said that he could not face the lord abbat so suddenly, andthat it were better I went in to prepare the way for him. I had nosuspicion of his penitence or his present good faith, but my shortexperience in war had made me wary, and I called to some men-at-armsthat were tending their horses in the stable, and bade them look to thestranger. My lord abbat and Sir Alain were already at their supper, andsavoury was the smell of the fried fish of Thamesis and the roastedmeats that were spread on the table before them; but before he heardhalf of that which I had to say, the abbat thrust aside his platter andgave thanks to Heaven as for the return of a prodigal son, and thankedthe patron saints of our abbey for so good a prospect of destroying anest of robbers; and Sir Alain gave thanks for the same, and for so faira hope of recovering the gentle little Alice; and the young Lord Arthur,who was eating at a side table placed near the fire, started to his feetand said that he would go with sword and pike to break open the wickedcastle and recover his playmate; and they
all three bade me hasten tothe porch and bring in John-a-Blount. Many a hardened sinner would havebeen brought to repentance if he could but have seen in how kindly amanner the lord abbat received the penitent stray sheep of his flock. Heraised John from the earth, he told him that his sins would be forgivenhim, he bade him be of good cheer, and to put some little present cheerinto the haggard trembling young man he gave him a cup of wine in hisown silver cup. Although he had been straitened by no siege and hadundergone no compulsory fast, the face of that black-eyed damsel thatwore a green kirtle was not more changed than that of John-a-Blount: andI almost shuddered as I looked upon it in the bright light of that room.The abbat and Sir Alain listened with eager attention to the unhappyyouth; and when they had heard him out his plan was speedily agreed. Hewould hasten back to the foul den he had left, and tell Sir Ingelric'speople that the weary travellers were buried in sleep, and that therewas the fittest opportunity in the world for seizing their cattle andbaggage, and bringing off a rich booty. The entire garrison of thecastle was barely two-score men. One half of these would sally to makethe booty, and these might all be seized on their march by an ambuscadeof my lord abbat's followers. Of those that would remain within thecastle sundry were ready to revolt, and John-a-Blount would release themany prisoners, and slay the castellan, that ravenous wolf, in the den.

  "My son," said the abbat, as John was taking his hasty departure, "dowhat thou wilt with the Wolf, but spare Sir Ingelric's wife."

  "And," said Sir Alain, "as thou valuest thine own life, or the futurehealth of thy repentant soul, have a care of the little Alice in theaffray."

  John laid his right hand upon his breast, and bowed lowly. Following himalmost to the door of the room our kind-hearted lord abbat said, "Stillthere is one thought that doth spoil my present hope and joy: thoumayest fail in thine enterprise, and if thou art but suspected thou wiltbe murthered by that bloody Wolf. Bethink thee, my son! Peradventure itmay be better that thou stayest in safety where thou art, and that weleave this vile castellum to be reduced by regular siege at some futureday."

  "My lord and father," said John, dropping on his knee, and kissing theabbat's hand, "should I die in the attempt to perform a good deed, thouwilt have prayers and masses said for me. But I shall not die to-night,and I see no chance of miscarriage. I could wish that for me the dangerwere greater, that it might the better stand as an atonement for my manytransgressions."

  "Go then, my son, and God speed thee! And then will we ourselves shrievethee, and absolve thee after some due penitence, and make thee sound inconscience, and heart-whole and happy again."

  John-a-Blount kissed the abbat's hand once more, and prayed the saintsto bless him: but as he rushed out at the door we saw big tears in hiseyes, and heard him mutter that he should never be happy again in thisworld.

  "That poor boy," quoth Sir Alain, "hath not yet forgotten the youngsyren that led him astray."

  "'Tis witchcraft and sortilege, _maleficium et sortilegium_," said theabbat. "But by the help of our prayers and relics we will disenchanthim."

  Sir Alain shook his head, but said no word.

  Forty men of us put on harness and followed in the track ofJohn-a-Blount when he had been gone some short time. Sir Alain wouldhave willed the lord abbat to tarry in the house with Arthur, but theabbat would on no account be left out of the adventure, saying, that hispresence and exhortations might spare unnecessary bloodshed; yet whilehe was saying the words he was feeling the point of his lance, and hetook with him his heavy battle mace. We all journeyed on foot, for warhorses would be but an incumbrance at Sir Ingelric's castle, and byneighing or making other noise they might spoil our ambuscade on theroad. That road was a very rough one, and the night continued ratherdark; hence divers of us stumbled, and fell more than once: neverthelesswe kept up a good pace, and in little more than an hour came to a woodedhollow, about midway between Pangbourne and Speen, through which therobbers must pass on the way from their castle to our manor-house. Thetrees were all leafless and bare; but the trunks of the ancient oakswere thick, and so every man of us got him behind an oak, twenty on thisside the narrow road and twenty on that, and there we all stoodconcealed from view, and silent as grave stones. I, Felix, had a badcatarrh, yet did I neither cough nor sneeze all the while I was there,for I had prayed unto the saint that hath controul over coughs andcolds. For a space that seemed to us very long we heard no sound, and inthat wooded hollow and night-darkness we could see but a very littleway. I began to think that the good strategem had miscarried, and tomoan inwardly for John-a-Blount as a murthered man. But at last weheard, not voices, for the ungodly Philistines were as silent as we, butthe heavy tread of footsteps on the broad heath, just above the hollow;and these sounds rapidly came nearer; and then, by peeping round thebole of my covering tree, I did faintly discern a score or more of darkfigures descending in loose and careless array into the hollow. As wehad been bidden, we all stood stock still until the robbers were at thebottom of the hollow, and between us; but so soon as they were there asin a trap, Sir Alain shouted "Now for the onslaught in the name of KingStephen!" and our abbat shouted "Down, traitors, down!" and the valorousLord of Caversham and our not less valorous lord abbat, and every man ofus, from this side of the pathway and from that, sprung from behind thetrees and hemmed in the evil-doers; and in less time than I can say itthe heavy mace of our lord abbat laid two of the robbers on the earthwith bleeding pates, and Sir Alain's lance went through the body of onethat seemed the leader, and pinned him to the very oak behind which Ihad been standing. The rest, after making vain effort to retreat the waythey had come, laid down their arms and cried piteously for quarter andfor that mercy which they had never shown to other men. There were ascore of them besides the three that had gotten their death-warrants. Webound the score with the cords and thongs we had brought with us, andputting them in motion with the sharp heads of our lances, we proceededrapidly to the foul donjon at Speen, our lord abbat saying that thus farwas well, and some of our captives already beginning to say to Sir Alainthat they would change banners and fight for King Stephen if hislordship would spare their lives and accept their services. The darkwintry clouds rolled away, and the stars shone out brightly as if inapprobation of our enterprise, and in no long while we did see thatequable little river the Lambourne, which neither overflows in winternor shrinks in summer, but is at all seasons the same (its pike be palein colour, and in taste not to compare with those of Ock), gliding tojoin our own swift, sweet Kennet at the township of Shaw; and we sawstill clearer the swift Kennet gliding before us, on its way from Speento our abbey walls at Reading and the broad Thamesis. And then, as wehurried on our way, and as the stars shone out with still morebrightness, we discovered broken columns and fragments of walls,standing up from the ground like spectres on a heath; and anon we heardthe owls hooting to one another among these ancient ruins. And ancientin sooth they were, for the Romans in the days of the Caesars had builtthem a city at Spinae which men do now call Speen, and these dark andfantastically shaped fragments and ruins were all that remained of it;for the men of Newbury, who have ever had a great envy to othertownships and a great liking for the property of other men, had levelledmost of the Roman walls and had carried away the stones and bricksthereof to enlarge their own town; and people of other townships hadhelped themselves at Spinae as though it had been a common quarry. Suchfate befalls towns in decay; but such will never befall our gloriousabbey at Reading, for the saints and angels have custody thereof, evenas we have meetly expressed, in large letters graven upon the left doorof our gate-house under the abbey arms, ANGELI TUI CUSTODIANT MUROSEIUS. But I wis it was not on this night that I did think of therenowned Romans, or make these sanctifying reflections. True, I walkedin the paths of pensive thought; but it was only to think ofJohn-a-Blount and of the emprise we had in hand. And when we reached thelonely mill on the Kennet, a few bow-shots below Sir Ingelric's castleat Speen, we hid ourselves behind the mill and blew three blasts upon atrumpet, for this was the onl
y signal which John-a-Blount had asked for."And now," said our lord abbat, telling his beads, "may the saintsbefriend the brave boy from Maple-Durham. The token of his success willbe three corresponding blasts. Let us be motionless and silent until wehear them." For a space the sound of our own brazen instrument floatedalong the waters, and was given back in echoes by the sleeping hills;and then for a longer space, during which an expeditious mass-priestmight have said a camp-mass, nought was heard but the plash and rippleof the ever sweet and clear Kennet, and the faint moaning of some treeswhose bare branches were shaken by the fresh gale which had blown awaythe clouds, and brought forth the lustrous and approving stars. Butthen, I wis, there came from the evil den the sounds of a mighty crashand clangour of arms that made us all start, and then sounds of woe andlamentation, shrieks and yells like those of the damned, which made usall shudder and cross ourselves. And, anon, upon these hellish soundscame three blasts from a trumpet, loud and shrill; and at the hearingthereof our lord abbat clasped his hands and said joyously, "The boldyouth is safe, the deed is done; so now to the castle, which is ours!"

  And we all ran from behind the mill to the foul den, driving ourcaptives with us at the spear point as before. Short was the distance,and great our speed; yet before we reached the castle moat thedraw-bridge was down, the gate was open, and under the archway, in themidst of a company of men who had still chains and fetters on theirlegs, but who held flaming torches in their hands, stood John-a-Blountwith the gashful, blood-dripping head of the Wolf fixed on his lance.John had released the army of prisoners at the opportune moment, andbeing joined by some of Sir Ingelric's people, he had made himselfmaster of the castle without need of any aid from us: but the Wolf andsome of his evil band who could expect no quarter had made a desperateresistance, and had been slain to a man. The warder who had raised theportcullis and the few others who had aided in the emprise were nowshouting for King Stephen, and Sir Alain de Bohun and the lord abbat ofReading, and the terrified captives we had with us, joined in thesecries with such voice as their fears and astonishment allowed them toraise. As we all marched in at the gate the abbat said, "John, my son, Ifear thou hast been somewhat too hasty and violent! I would have putsome questions to that wild beast before sending him hence; yet is theWolf better dead than alive! But, my son, I trust thou hast not allowedharm to be done unto the dark ladie of this most dark and bloody lair?"

  "The evil woman is safe in her bower; I did lock her up before Iunlocked the prisoners whose hearts were steeled against her," saidJohn.

  "And where," asked Sir Alain, "is the gentle flower that was not made tobloom in this horrent place?"

  "There," quoth John, pointing to one of the female captives who camerunning across the quadrangle of the castle with the little Alice in herarms. "She is there, the true and worthy child of her gentle andmartyred mother, and may she long live to make compensation to the worldfor the many cruelties and crimes of her unnatural father;" and as hespake John threw far from him into a dark corner the bleeding head ofthe Wolf, lest Alice should be scared by the sight thereof.

  The dear child was presently in the arms of the good Lord of Caversham;and though she had not seen his face for eighteen long months, andthough she had not quite recovered from her great terror on beingstartled from her sleep by the clashing of arms and those shrieks andyells, she soon knew Sir Alain, and clung round his neck with many afond kiss, and with many a fond inquiry after her own dear mother theLadie Alfgiva and her companion and champion Arthur, whom she had leftin sad case at Oxenford.

  The first thing we did within the castle was to secure our prisonerswith the chains which Sir Ingelric's unhappy captives had been wearing,and to hurl them into that horrible and feculent prison where so manygood and peaceful men had long been rotting. Next we gave food to someof the released captives who had been so tortured by fast that theirbones were cutting through their skin. And then we did all assemble inthe great hall with a great glare of torches and tapers, and the lordabbat and Sir Alain being seated on the dais at the head of the hall inthe massy chairs in which Sir Ingelric and his dame had been wont to sitin the days of their pride and evil power, that dark ladie was summonedfrom her uneasy bower to that august presence. A dark dame was she, andfierce as an untamed she-wolf as she came into the hall, screaming thatthe empress-queen and her husband Sir Ingelric would know how to avengethe traitorous deeds of this night, and the foul surprisal of a loyalcastle. These her words, and others that were more vituperative, chafedour good lord abbat, and with a solemn and severe countenance he saidunto her, "Peace, woman! peace! these be not words to be heard by thecompany here assembled, who be all true men and faithful lieges to KingStephen. Most fit mate for a bloodthirsty and ungodly lord who hathchanged his party as men change their coats, who hath never had in viewought else than his own interest, and who for these eighteen months lastpast hath stopped at no crime whereby he might enrich himself; dost callit loyalty to the queen or countess to turn thy castle into a den ofrobbers and torturers, to waste the country round about it until itlooks like unto a Golgotha,--to seize, rob, imprison, and torment allmanner of men, as well the secret partisans of Matilda as the openpartisans of King Stephen, as well the poor and lowly as the rich andgreat, and as well the quiet franklins and toiling serfs, who be of noparty and who only seek to live in peace, as the knights and trained menof war that go forth to battle? Call ye this loyalty and faithfulness toa party? Honourable men, alas! may have honestly differed in theseunhappy disputes, but thy husband hath been but a robber, and it is forthat there be so many like him in the land that these wars have lastedso long. Dost call the seizing of priests and monks upon the highwayloyalty? Dost call it Christian duty and reverence to mother church tokidnap the servants of the altar and put them to the rack as thy peoplehave done? Oh, woman, the holy water that baptised thee was thrown away!But thou shalt away hence to some sure keeping in a lonely cell, wherethou mayest have time for repentance and prayer. We did only send forthee that we might remind thee of thy many sins, and get from thee thekeys of thy ill-acquired treasures, and some list or knowledge of thosewho have been robbed by thee, to the end that we may make restitution."

  No ways humbled or abashed, the dark ladie of the castle called my lordabbat robber and housebreaker, and said that she had only levied tollsand baronial droits; that Sir Ingelric had taken away most of the moneyto give it to the misused and distressed queen; and that it was but asmall matter that which remained in the house. And then, with greatpride and insolency, she threw down upon the table one heavy key, sayingthat that was the key to the only treasure.

  "The foul dame lies in her throat," cried one of her own people, "shehath treasure in other places; she hath gold, and silver, and jewels,aye, and church-plate stolen from the very altar, hid in most secrethiding-places; and, my lords, ye will not get to the full knowledgethereof unless ye do put her in her own crucet-house!"

  Albeit, they were fully resolved to come at this great wealth, Sir Alainde Bohun shuddered at the mention of that terrible engine of torture,and the lord abbat said that such things were accursed by the church,and that verily he would never crucet a woman.

  "Then will ye never get at the silver and gold!" said the man who hadbefore spoken.

  But at this juncture the repentant old warder of the castle stood up,and said that his daughter, who had been handmaiden to Sir Ingelric'swife, knew the whole secret, having watched her mistress with femininecuriosity, and could so point out every recess and hiding-place; and atthe hearing of these words the dark woman uttered a shriek, and fell tothe ground as if her heart had been cleft in twain; so fearfully had sheand her lord sold themselves to Lucifer, and made a god of money. Thesight of blood and of the foe standing triumphant on her own hearth hadnot made her quail, nor had the mention of the crucet-house caused herto tremble; but the thought of losing all her accursed spoil had gonethrough her like a knife. We could not leave her where she was, lestsome of her lately released captives should lay violent hands upon he
r;so we carried her to a turret-chamber, and having bound her so that sheshould not lay violent hands upon herself in a maniacal mood, and havingplaced one of her women to watch by her, we made fast that door and wentin search of the treasure, being guided by the warden and his daughter.It was, in truth, but a small matter that which we found under the lockto which the dark ladie had given us the key; but, in the hiding-places,within the thick walls, and under the stone floors of the dark ladie'sbower (places so invisible and recondite that of ourselves we nevercould have found them), were piled silver and gold, and wrought-plateand jewels, that seemed to me enough to pay a king's ransom, and thatmade mine eyes twinkle as I looked upon them by that light from manytorches. When he had gathered it all together in a mighty great heap, inthe middle of the room, our abbat made fast that door also, and hung acrucifix to the door-post, and threatened with excommunication all suchas should approach the door until ordered by him so to do. "Souls havebeen lost," said he, "in the getting together of that heap, and his soulwill assuredly perish that touches it for his own use. It is all theproperty of the church, or the property of the poor, or the heavy ransomof tortured victims. The malison of heaven will go along with every partof it that is not restored to its rightful owners. So now, my childrenall, follow me down these flinty stairs to refresh yourselves with meatand drink; for the day is dawning in the east, and we shall have hardwork at daylight. This infamous donjon must down: not a stone must beleft upon another."

  "I did help to build it," said Sir Alain, "but will now be more happy indestroying it! Not a nook must be left to be repaired of myfalse-hearted ravenous friend, or of any other wolf of his choosing."

  "Humanity will bless the destruction! Tears of joy will be shed forleagues round about," said one of the released captives; "and when alldens of the like sort be a-level with the earth, England will be Englandagain."

  It was a marvellous and a provoking thing to see how well the foulrobbers had been victualled and provided; gaunt hunger ranged all roundthem, and filled the fertile but untilled valleys with its cries andscreams; but their buttery was crammed with the best of meat, theirstalls were filled with beeves and sheep, their cellars were full ofale, mead, and wine, their granaries with corn, their stables with thebest of horses. Rarely have I seen so sumptuous a feast as that to whichwe did sit down in the castle hall, with our sharp winter-morningappetites.

  By the time this goodly collation was finished it was broad daylight."So now," said the lord abbat, "will we think of carrying out thesegoods and chattels, and then of destroying tougher crusts than those ofvenison-pasties. Bring me forth the rascaille-people from theprison-house, that they may lend us their shoulders and aid us indestroying their own foul nest."

  Being boyishly and unwisely curious to see with mine own eyes theabominable pit of which I had heard so much, I went with those thatrepaired to the house of captivity and torture, and one who had beenreleased over-night did follow me thither to explain its horriblemysteries, as one who had full experience of them all. Misericordia Dei,into what a bolge of hell did my staggering feet carry me! And what anatmosphere was that which made my head turn giddy and my stomach sick!Deep in the bowels of the earth, within the foundations of the keep ofthe castellum, was a great chamber paved with the sharpest flints, and,dimly lighted from above by a few chinks, so narrow that the bats couldscarce have crept through them. The noisome air, never fanned by thesweet breath of heaven, was made more foul and poisonous by accumulatedfilth and stagnant pools of blood, and a fetid smell of smoke. Thetorches we brought in to give us light to discover all the mysteries ofthe place burned with a sickly and uncertain flame.

  "Can man live here?" said I.

  "I lay dying here the full length of nine moons," said my guide.

  "And what is this?" said I, looking into a short narrow chest not muchunlike the coffin of a child, but half-filled within with sharp stonesand spikes of iron.

  "Curses on it, that is the crucet-house," replied the man, "and thereinthey did thrust the body of a full-grown man, breaking his limbs andcausing him exquisite torture. That was one of their processes forgratifying their cruelty or for extorting money. And this," continuedthe man, kicking a monstrous great beam which seemed loaded with iron,and to be heavy enough to bear down and crush two or three of thestrongest men, "this is one of their sachenteges, which they would layupon one poor man, and these iron collars with the sharp steel spikesare what they put round men's throats and necks, so that they could inno direction sit, or lie down, or sleep, for these collars be fastenedby these strong iron chains to the stone walls. In my time I have seentwo men and a woman perish with these hell-collars about their necks."

  "And what be these sharp knotted strings?" said I, growing more and morefaint and sick.

  "These strings," replied the man, "they twisted round the head until thepain went to the brain. And see! these be the thumb-screws. And seeabove-head that pulley and foul rope! At times they pulled us up by thethumbs, and hung heavy coats of mail to our feet; at other times theyhanged us up by the feet and smoked us with foul smoke until our bloodand brain...."

  "By our Ladie of Mercy, say no more--show me no more;" and so saying, Irushed out of the infernal place with a cold sweat upon my brow and mylimbs all quivering.

  "I am told," said the old captive, who followed me, "that there be stillworse prison-houses than this, and that there be many scores of them inthe land."

  "May they all down!" said I; "and may men in after days not believe thatthey ever stood! But, franklin, I do pray thee say no more, for I feelthose collars on mine own neck, and the anguish at the brain!" And, intruth, I was in so bad case that I could do nothing until Philip thelay-brother did bathe my brow with some cold Kennet-water, and make medrink a cup of wine.

  The evil castle was soon cleared of whatsoever it contained (not evenexcepting a poor maimed Jew that had been so misused in the crucet-housethat he could neither walk nor crawl), and so soon as everything wastaken up we began to demolish the abominable walls. Many poor men wholived in that neighbourhood came to our assistance, and being firstrefreshed by meat and drink, they laboured with astonishing vigour,giving joyous shouts whenever a great piece of the building was broughtdown. By commandment of our lord abbat the instruments of torture wereall heaped together in that foul cell under the keep, and a great supplyof wood, brush-wood, and straw being placed therein, fire was set to thewhole, and so mighty a combustion was made that the stones cracked, andthe flints seemed to melt, and every beam or other piece of timbertaking fire, the greater part of the tower fell in with a terrificnoise, and a most hellish smoke. While the castle was burning it wasterrible to see how the impenitent dark ladie did gnash her teeth andstamp her feet, as likewise to hear how she did curse Sir Alain de Bohunand our good abbat, and all of us that were there present. Surely inthat horrid frenzy she would have died the death of Judas Iscariot ifwe had not bound her hands, and kept a strong guard over her. When thesmoke cleared away, and we saw that the keep was nearly all down, ourlord abbat distributed the victual and sheep and cattle among thefamishing men who had come to help us, and who engaged not to leave theplace until the moat should be filled up, and the walls all made level;and then we departed with our prisoners and all the treasure toPangbourne, rejoicing as we went. Only no joy could be gotten into thesad heart of John-a-Blount; the commendations of that great man of war,the Lord of Caversham, did not cheer him, nor was he made the happier byour good abbat's telling him that he would provide well for him in someother manner of life than the monastic, for which he never could havehad the due vocation. John thanked the lord abbat, but there was no joyin his gratitude. As I walked by his side I did try to comfort him bytelling him that he had broken none of the greater vows of our order, ashe was happily only in his noviciate; but he only shook his head at thismy remark, and said, "Felix, it is not so much a wounded conscience andremorse, as something else that is leading me to the grave!" And then Isaw that he was thinking of that foreign damsel that had led
him intosin, and had then spurned his love, and I did thrice cross myself andfall to telling my beads, for verily phantasms of that other black-eyedmaiden in the green kirtle came flashing through mine own weak brain,aye, lively effigies of her, both as I saw her first in her pride andbeauty in our abbey garden, and as I saw her last, famine-wasted andcrushed with fear in the castle-yard at Oxenford. But the saints gaveme strength to expel the visions, and I never saw those living perilouseyes again.

  To me the most tender and beautiful thing in all this our greatadventure and emprise was the meeting of little Arthur and Alice. Ourgood abbat was certainly of my mind, for he almost danced with joy atthe sight thereof, and kept long repeating in his most joyous tones,"These children were made the one for the other! It is not man that canseparate them, or keep them long asunder! My predecessor abbat Edwardsaid the words, and the gift of prophecy was in him before he died."

  The day being far advanced before we got back from the evil castle, wetarried that night at our poor-house at Pangbourne, keeping good watch;for albeit we knew that our great enemies were afar off, yet were we andour poor serfs but as lambs among most ravenous wolves, bears, andlions--_in medio luporum rapicissimorum, ursorum, et leonum_. A trustymessenger had been sent to Reading Abbey and the castle of Caversham thenight before, and now we despatched another to bid the stay-at-homemonks prepare a Te Deum, and a feast for us on the morrow.