A Monk of Fife Read online

  CHAPTER VI--HOW NORMAN LESLIE ESCAPED OUT OF CHINON CASTLE

  Down and down I sank, the water surging up into my nostrils and soundingin my ears; but, being in water, I was safe if it were but deep enough.Presently I struck out, and, with a stroke or two, came to the surface.But no sooner did my head show above, and I draw a deep breath or twain,looking for my enemy, than an arbalest bolt cleft the water with aclipping sound, missing me but narrowly. I had but time to see thatthere was a tumult on the bridge, and swords out (the Scots, as Iafterwards heard, knocking up the arbalests that the French soldierslevelled at me). Then I dived again, and swam under water, makingtowards the right and the castle rock, which ran sheer down to the moat.This course I chose because I had often noted, from the drawbridge, ajutting buttress of rock, behind which, at least, I should be out ofarrow-shot. My craft was to give myself all the semblance of a drowningman, throwing up my arms, when I rose to see whereabout I was and to takebreath, as men toss their limbs who cannot swim. On the second time ofrising thus, I saw myself close to the jut of rock. My next dive took mebehind it, and I let down my feet, close under the side of this naturalbuttress, to look around, being myself now concealed from the sight ofthose who were on the bridge.

  To my surprise I touched bottom, for I had deemed that the water was verydeep thereby. Next I found that I was standing on a step of hewn stone,and that a concealed staircase, cut in the rock, goes down, in thatplace, to the very bottom of the moat; for what purpose I know not, butso it is. {11} I climbed up the steps, shook myself, and wrung the waterout of my hair, looking about the while for any sign of my enemy, who hadblasphemed against my country and the Maiden. But there was nothing tosee on the water save my own cloth cap floating. On the other side ofthe fosse, howbeit, men were launching a pleasure-boat, which lay by astair at the foot of the further wall of the fosse. The sight of themmade me glad to creep further up the steps that rounded a sharp corner,till I came as far as an iron wicket-gate, which seemed to cut off myretreat. There I stopped, deeming that the wicket must be locked. Themen were now rowing the boat into the middle of the water, so, withoutexpecting to find the gate open, I tried the handle. It turned, to my nolittle amazement; the gate swang lightly aside, as if its hinges had beennewly oiled, and I followed the staircase, creeping up the slimy steps inthe half-dark. Up and round I went, till I was wellnigh giddy, and thenI tripped and reeled so that my body struck against a heavy ironed door.Under my weight it yielded gently, and I stumbled across the threshold ofa room that smelled strangely sweet and was very warm, being full of thesun, and the heat of a great fire.

  "Is that you, Robin of my heart?" said a girl's voice in French; and,before I could move, a pair of arms were round my neck. Back she leaped,finding me all wet, and not the man she looked for; and there we bothstood, in a surprise that prevented either of us from speaking.

  She was a pretty lass, with brown hair and bright red cheeks, and wasdressed all in white, being, indeed, one of the laundresses of thecastle; and this warm room, fragrant with lavender, whereinto I hadstumbled, was part of the castle laundry. A mighty fire was burning, andall the tables were covered with piles and flat baskets of white linen,sweet with scented herbs.

  Back the maid stepped towards the door, keeping her eyes on mine; and, asshe did not scream, I deemed that none were within hearing: wherein I waswrong, and she had another reason for holding her peace.

  "Save me, gentle maid, if you may," I cried at last, falling on my knees,just where I stood: "I am a luckless man, and stand in much peril of mylife."

  "In sooth you do," she said, "if Robert Lindsay of the Scottish Archersfinds you here. He loves not that another should take his place at atryst."

  "Maiden," I said, beginning to understand why the gate was unlocked, andwherefore it went so smooth on its hinges, "I fear I have slain a man,one of the King's archers. We wrestled together on the drawbridge, andthe palisade breaking, we fell into the moat, whence I clomb by thehidden stairs."

  "One of the archers!" cried she, as pale as a lily, and catching at herside with her hand. "Was he a Scot?"

  "No, maid, but I am; and I pray you hide me, or show me how to escapefrom this castle with my life, and that speedily."

  "Come hither!" she said, drawing me through a door into a small, square,empty room that jutted out above the moat. "The other maids are at theirdinner," she went on, "and I all alone--the season being Lent, and Iunder penance, and thinking of no danger."

  For which reason, I doubt not, namely that the others had gone forth, shehad made her tryst at this hour with Robin Lindsay. But he, if he was,as she said, one of the Scottish archers that guarded the gate, was busyenough belike with the tumult on the bridge, or in seeking for the bodyof mine enemy.

  "How to get you forth I know not," she said, "seeing that from yonderroom you pass into the kitchen and thence into the guard-room, and thenceagain by a passage in the wall behind the great hall, and so forth to thecourt, and through the gate, and thereby there is no escape: for see youthe soldiers must, and will avenge their comrade."

  Hearing this speech, I seemed to behold myself swinging by a tow from atree branch, a death not beseeming one of gentle blood. Up and down Ilooked, in vain, and then I turned to the window, thinking that, asbetter was not to be, I might dive thence into the moat, and take mychance of escape by the stairs on the further side. But the window washeavily barred. Yet again, if I went forth by the door, and lurked onthe postern stair, there was Robin Lindsay's dirk to reckon with, when hecame, a laggard, to his love-tryst.

  "Stop! I have it," said the girl; and flying into the laundry, shereturned with a great bundle of white women's gear and a gown of linen,and a woman's white coif, such as she herself wore.

  In less time than a man would deem possible, she had my wet hair, that Iwore about my shoulders, as our student's manner was, tucked up under thecap, and the clean white smock over my wet clothes, and belted neatlyabout my middle.

  "A pretty wench you make, I swear by St. Valentine," cried she, fallingback to look at me, and then coming forward to pin up something about mycoif, with her white fingers.

  I reckoned it no harm to offer her a sisterly kiss.

  "'Tis lucky Robin Lindsay is late," cried she, laughing, "though evenwere he here, he could scarce find fault that one maid should kissanother. Now," she said, snatching up a flat crate full of linen, "carrythese, the King's shirts, and sorely patched they are, on your head;march straight through the kitchen, then through the guard-room, and thenby the door on the left into the long passage, and so into the court, andbegone; they will but take you for a newly come blanchisseuse. Onlyspeak as little as may be, for your speech may betray you." She kissedme very kindly on both cheeks, for she was as frank a lass as ever I met,and a merry. Then, leading me to the door of the inner room, she pushedit open, the savoury reek of the kitchen pouring in.

  "Make good speed, Margot!" she cried aloud after me, so that all couldhear; and I walked straight up the King's kitchen, full as it was of menand boys, breaking salads, spitting fowls, basting meat (though it wasLent, but doubtless the King had a dispensation for his health's sake),watching pots, tasting dishes, and all in a great bustle and clamour. Thebasket of linen shading my face, I felt the more emboldened, though mylegs, verily, trembled under me as I walked. Through the room I went,none regarding me, and so into the guard-room, but truly this was anothermatter. Some soldiers were dicing at a table, some drinking, somebrawling over the matter of the late tumult, but all stopped and lookedat me.

  "A new face, and, by St. Andrew, a fair one!" said a voice in the accentof my own country.

  "But she has mighty big feet; belike she is a countrywoman of thine,"quoth a French archer; and my heart sank within me as the other cast atankard at his head.

  "Come, my lass," cried another, a Scot, with a dice-box in his hand,catching at my robe as I passed, "kiss me and give me luck," and,striking up my basket of linen, so that the wares were all scat
tered onthe floor, he drew me on to his knee, and gave me a smack that reekedsorely of garlic. Never came man nearer getting a sore buffet, yet Iheld my hand. Then, making his cast with the dice, he swore roundly,when he saw that he had thrown deuces.

  "Lucky in love, unlucky in gaming. Lug out your losings," said hisadversary with a laugh; and the man left hold of my waist and beganfumbling in his pouch. Straightway, being free, I cast myself on thefloor to pick up the linen, and hide my face, which so burned that itmust have seemed as red as the most modest maid might have deemed seemly.

  "Leave the wench alone; she is new come, I warrant, and has no liking foryour wantonness," said a kind voice; and, glancing up, I saw that he whospoke was one of the gentlemen who had ridden with the Maiden fromVaucouleurs. Bertrand de Poulengy was his name; belike he was waitingwhile the King and the nobles devised with the Maiden privately in thegreat hall.

  He stooped and helped me to pick up my linen, as courteously as if I hadbeen a princess of the blood; and, because he was a gentleman, I suppose,and a stranger, the archers did not meddle with him, save to breakcertain soldiers' jests, making me glad that I was other than I appeared.

  "Come," he said, "my lass, I will be your escort; it seems that Fortunehas chosen me for a champion of dames."

  With these words he led the way forth, and through a long passage litfrom above, which came out into the court at the stairs of the greathall.

  Down these stairs the Maiden herself was going, her face held high and aglad look in her eyes, her conference with the King being ended. Poulengyjoined her; they said some words which I did not hear, for I deemed thatit became me to walk forward after thanking him by a look, and bending myhead, for I dared not trust my foreign tongue.

  Before I reached the gateway they had joined me, which I was glad of,fearing more insolence from the soldiers. But these men held theirpeace, looking grave, and even affrighted, being of them who had heardthe prophecy of the Maiden and seen its fulfilment.

  "Have ye found the body of that man?" said Poulengy to asergeant-at-arms.

  "Nay, sir, we deem that his armour weighed him down, for he never roseonce, though that Scot's head was seen thrice and no more. Belike theyare good, peaceful friends at the bottom of the fosse together."

  "Of what man speak you?" asked the Maiden of Poulengy.

  "Of him that blasphemed as we went by an hour ago. Wrestling with a Scoton some quarrel, they broke the palisade, and--lo! there are joinersalready mending it. 'Tis old and frail. The gentle Dauphin is over poorto keep the furnishings of his castle as a king should do."

  The Maiden grew wan as sun-dried grass in summer when she heard thisstory told. Crossing herself, she said--

  "Alas! I warned him, but he died unconfessed. I will do what I may tohave Masses said for the repose of his soul, poor man: and he so young!"

  With that she wept, for she wept readily, even for a less thing than sucha death as was that archer's.

  We had now crossed the drawbridge, whereat my heart beat more lightly,and the Maiden told Poulengy that she would go to the house where shelodged, near the castle.

  "And thence," she said, "I must fare into the town, for I have promisedto visit a damsel of my friends, one Heliote Poulvoir, if I may find myway thither. Know you, gentle damsel," she said to me, "where sheabides? Or perchance you can lead me thither, if it lies on your way."

  "I was even going thither, Pucelle," I said, mincing in my speech;whereat she laughed, for of her nature she was merry.

  "Scots are Heliote and her father, and a Scot are not you also, damsel?your speech betrays you," she said; "you all cling close together, youScots, as beseems you well, being strangers in this sweet land ofFrance"; and her face lighted up as she spoke the name she loved, and myheart worshipped her with reverence.

  "Farewell," she cried to Poulengy, smiling graciously, and bowing withsuch a courtesy as a queen might show, for I noted it myself, as did allmen, that this peasant girl had the manners of the Court, being schooled,as I deem, by the greatest of ladies, her friends St. Margaret and St.Catherine.

  Then, with an archer, who had ridden beside her from Vaucouleurs,following after her as he ever did, the Maiden and I began to go down thesteep way that led to the town. Little she spoke, and all my thought wasto enter the house before Elliot could spy me in my strange disguise.