No,answered Leicester;but it deeply concerns me that it be carefully as well as hastily executed.I will spare neither care nor horse-flesh,answered Lambourne,and immediately took his leave.
So,this is the end of my private audience,from which I hoped so much!he muttered to himself,as he went through the long gallery,and down the back staircase.Cogs bones!I thought the Earl had wanted a cast of mine office in some secret intrigue,and it all ends in carrying a letter!Well,his pleasure shall be done,however;and as his lordship well says,it may do me good another time.The child must creep ere he walk,and so must your infant courtier.I will have a look into this letter,however,which he hath sealed so sloven-like.Having accomplished this,he clapped his hands together in ecstasy,exclaiming,The Countess the Countess!I have the secret that shall make or mar me.--But come forth,Bayard,he added,leading his horse into the courtyard,for your flanks and my spurs must be presently acquainted.Lambourne mounted,accordingly,and left the Castle by the postern gate,where his free passage was permitted,in consequence of a message to that effect left by Sir Richard Varney.
As soon as Lambourne and the valet had left the apartment,Leicester proceeded to change his dress for a very plain one,threw his mantle around him,and taking a lamp in his hand,went by the private passage of communication to a small secret postern door which opened into the courtyard,near to the entrance of the Pleasance.His reflections were of a more calm and determined character than they had been at any late period,and he endeavoured to claim,even in his own eyes,the character of a man more sinned against than sinning.
I have suffered the deepest injury,such was the tenor of his meditations,yet I have restricted the instant revenge which was in my power,and have limited it to that which is manly and noble.But shall the union which this false woman has this day disgraced remain an abiding fetter on me,to check me in the noble career to which my destinies invite me?No;there are other means of disengaging such ties,without unloosing the cords of life.In the sight of God,I am no longer bound by the union she has broken.Kingdoms shall divide us,oceans roll betwixt us,and their waves,whose abysses have swallowed whole navies,shall be the sole depositories of the deadly mystery.By such a train of argument did Leicester labour to reconcile his conscience to the prosecution of plans of vengeance,so hastily adopted,and of schemes of ambition,which had become so woven in with every purpose and action of his life that he was incapable of the effort of relinquishing them,until his revenge appeared to him to wear a face of justice,and even of generous moderation.
In this mood the vindictive and ambitious Earl entered the superb precincts of the Pleasance,then illumined by the full moon.The broad,yellow light was reflected on all sides from the white freestone,of which the pavement,balustrades,and architectural ornaments of the place were constructed;and not a single fleecy cloud was visible in the azure sky,so that the scene was nearly as light as if the sun had but just left the horizon.The numerous statues of white marble glimmered in the pale light like so many sheeted ghosts just arisen from their sepulchres,and the fountains threw their jets into the air as if they sought that their waters should be brightened by the moonbeams ere they fell down again upon their basins in showers of sparkling silver.The day had been sultry,and the gentle night-breeze which sighed along the terrace of the Pleasance raised not a deeper breath than the fan in the hand of youthful beauty.The bird of summer night had built many a nest in the bowers of the adjacent garden,and the tenants now indemnified themselves for silence during the day by a full chorus of their own unrivalled warblings,now joyous,now pathetic,now united,now responsive to each other,as if to express their delight in the placid and delicious scene to which they poured their melody.
Musing on matters far different from the fall of waters,the gleam of moonlight,or the song of the nightingale,the stately Leicester walked slowly from the one end of the terrace to the other,his cloak wrapped around him,and his sword under his arm,without seeing anything resembling the human form.
I have been fooled by my own generosity,he said,if I have suffered the villain to escape me--ay,and perhaps to go to the rescue of the *****eress,who is so poorly guarded.These were his thoughts,which were instantly dispelled when,turning to look back towards the entrance,he saw a human form advancing slowly from the portico,and darkening the various objects with its shadow,as passing them successively,in its approach towards him.
Shall I strike ere I again hear his detested voice?was Leicester's thought,as he grasped the hilt of the sword.But no!I will see which way his vile practice tends.I will watch,disgusting as it is,the coils and mazes of the loathsome snake,ere I put forth my strength and crush him.His hand quitted the sword-hilt,and he advanced slowly towards Tressilian,collecting,for their meeting,all the self-possession he could command,until they came front to front with each other.
Tressilian made a profound reverence,to which the Earl replied with a haughty inclination of the head,and the words,You sought secret conference with me,sir;I am here,and attentive.My lord,said Tressilian,I am so earnest in that which I have to say,and so desirous to find a patient,nay,a favourable hearing,that I will stoop to exculpate myself from whatever might prejudice your lordship against me.You think me your enemy?Have I not some apparent cause?answered Leicester,perceiving that Tressilian paused for a reply.