Speak not to me of countesses and of ceremonies, said Bridgenorth; grief and anger leave me no leisure for idle observances to humour the vanity of overgrown children. O Christian worthy, well worthy, of the name thou didst bear! My friend my brother the brother of my blessed Alice the only friend of my desolate estate! art thou then cruelly murdered by a female fury, who, but for thee, had deservedly paid with her own blood that of Gods saints, which she, as well as her tyrant husband, had spilled like water! Yes, cruel murderess! he continued, addressing the Countess, he whom thou hast butchered in thy insane vengeance, sacrificed for many a year the dictates of his own conscience to the interest of thy family, and did not desert it till thy frantic zeal for royalty had well-nigh brought to utter perdition the little community in which he was born. Even in confining thee, he acted but as the friends of the madman, who bind him with iron for his own preservation; and for thee, as I can bear witness, he was the only barrier between thee and the wrath of the Commons of England; and but for his earnest remonstrances, thou hadst suffered the penalty of thy malignancy, even like the wicked wife of Ahab.
Master Bridgenorth, said the Lady Peveril, I will allow for your impatience upon hearing these unpleasing tidings; but there is neither use nor propriety in farther urging this question. If in your grief you forget other restraints, I pray you to remember that the Countess is my guest and kinswoman, and is under such protection as I can afford her. I beseech you, in simple courtesy, to withdraw, as what must needs be the best and most becoming course in these trying circumstances.
Nay, let him remain, said the Countess, regarding him with composure, not unmingled with triumph; I would not have it otherwise; I would not that my revenge should be summed up in the stinted gratification which Christians death hath afforded. This mans rude and clamorous grief only proves that the retribution I have dealt has been more widely felt than by the wretched sufferer himself. I would I knew that it had but made sore as many rebel hearts, as there were loyal breasts afflicted by the death of my princely Derby!
So please you, madam, said Lady Peveril, since Master Bridgenorth hath not the manners to leave us upon my request, we will, if your ladyship lists, leave him, and retire to my apartment. Farewell, Master Bridgenorth; we will meet hereafter on better terms.
Pardon me, madam, said the Major, who had been striding hastily through the room, but now stood fast, and drew himself up, as one who has taken a resolution; to yourself I have nothing to say but what is respectful; but to this woman I must speak as a magistrate. She has confessed a murder in my presence the murder too of my brother-in-law as a man, and as a magistrate, I cannot permit her to pass from hence, excepting under such custody as may prevent her farther flight. She has already confessed that she is a fugitive, and in search of a place of concealment, until she should be able to escape into foreign parts. Charlotte, Countess of Derby, I attach thee of the crime of which thou hast but now made thy boast.
I shall not obey your arrest, said the Countess composedly; I was born to give, but not to receive such orders. What have your English laws to do with my acts of justice and of government, within my sons hereditary kingdom? Am I not Queen in Man, as well as Countess of Derby? A feudatory Sovereign indeed; but yet independent so long as my dues of homage are duly discharged. What right can you assert over me?
That given by the precepts of Scripture, answered Bridgenorth Whoso spilleth mans blood, by man shall his blood be spilled. Think not the barbarous privileges of ancient feudal customs will avail to screen you from the punishment due for an Englishman murdered upon pretexts inconsistent with the act of indemnity.
Master Bridgenorth, said the Lady Peveril, if by fair terms you desist not from your present purpose, I tell you that I neither dare, nor will, permit any violence against this honourable lady within the walls of my husbands castle.
You will find yourself unable to prevent me from executing my duty, madam, said Bridgenorth, whose native obstinacy now came in aid of his grief and desire of revenge; I am a magistrate, and act by authority.
I know not that, said Lady Peveril. That you were a magistrate, Master Bridgenorth, under the late usurping powers, I know well; but till I hear of your having a commission in the name of the King, I now hesitate to obey you as such.
I shall stand on small ceremony, said Bridgenorth. Were I no magistrate, every man has title to arrest for murder against the terms of the indemnities held out by the Kings proclamations, and I will make my point good.
What indemnities? What proclamations? said the Countess of Derby indignantly. Charles Stuart may, if he pleases (and it doth seem to please him), consort with those whose hands have been red with the blood, and blackened with the plunder, of his father and of his loyal subjects. He may forgive them if he will, and count their deeds good service. What has that to do with this Christians offence against me and mine? Born a Mankesman bred and nursed in the island he broke the laws under which he lived, and died for the breach of them, after the fair trial which they allowed. Methinks, Margaret, we have enough of this peevish and foolish magistrate I attend you to your apartment.
Major Bridgenorth placed himself betwixt them and the door, in a manner which showed him determined to interrupt their passage; when the Lady Peveril, who thought she already showed more deference to him in this matter than her husband was likely to approve of, raised her voice, and called loudly on her steward, Whitaker. That alert person, who had heard high talking, and a female voice with which he was unacquainted, had remained for several minutes stationed in the anteroom, much afflicted with the anxiety of his own curiosity. Of course he entered in an instant.
Let three of the men instantly take arms, said the lady; bring them into the anteroom, and wait my farther orders.
CHAPTER VI
You shall have no worse prison than my chamber,
Nor jailer than myself.
The command which Lady Peveril laid on her domestics to arm themselves, was so unlike the usual gentle acquiescence of her manners, that Major Bridgenorth was astonished. How mean you, madam? said he; I thought myself under a friendly roof.
And you are so, Master Bridgenorth, said the Lady Peveril, without departing from the natural calmness of her voice and manner; but it is a roof which must not be violated by the outrage of one friend against another.
It is well, madam, said Bridgenorth, turning to the door of the apartment. The worthy Master Solsgrace has already foretold, that the time was returned when high houses and proud names should be once more an excuse for the crimes of those who inhabit the one and bear the other. I believed him not, but now see he is wiser than I. Yet think not I will endure this tamely. The blood of my brother of the friend of my bosom shall not long call from the altar, How long, O Lord, how long! If there is one spark of justice left in this unhappy England, that proud woman and I shall meet where she can have no partial friend to protect her.