And then I took my dear Hubert to see Master Montgomery, who was
mightily pleased with him, and told us that he had prayed for me
every day since first I went to Isleworth, in the old church in which
he ministered. He was immensely interested to hear of all that I had
passed through, and the work that had been given me to do, and my
love for my dear lady, of whose terrible fate he had only hitherto
received a garbled and imperfect account. And, as I told him the sad
story, lit up here and there with gleams of beauty from my lady's
faith and hope, sitting safely there in his quaint study, between him
and my dear knight, the whole history took shape in my mind, and I
knew how I should best be able to tell it with pen, ink and paper.
A few days after that we heard that Master Montgomery, together with
other Protestant ministers, was to be turned out of his benefice; but
before that happened he married me and Sir Hubert Blair in the old
church, where my mother was buried, and where I had worshipped almost
all my life.
The living was then handed over to a Roman Catholic priest, and my
father took his good old friend, Master Montgomery, into his own
house, where he prayed and preached to the household, in our private
chapel, besides instructing my brothers in Greek and Latin, and the
way in which they should conduct themselves, and the Faith as it is
revealed to us in the Testament of our Lord.
My dear husband carried me off to his beautiful place, Harpton Hall,
where I have found a most happy home with him, and where our good
friend, Master Jack Fish, often visits us, bringing with him his
estimable wife, who is no other than Mistress Ellen: for, after my
departure from London, discovering that they were congenial souls,
and she being in great need of a protector, and his chivalrous nature
requiring some one to protect, they agreed to marry. Saul, who is
Master Fish's servant, usually accompanies them, and always looks for
a little kindly notice from me, and a few words, showing that I have
not forgotten how he helped me in the past, when I was in danger of
what was for me far worse than death.
Here, too, my brothers, Jack and Hal, now bearded men, delight to
come. For the shooting, or the fishing, or the hunting, they say,
though I know that they like to see their sister incidentally, and
her husband too, whom they admire greatly.
And here I have, at length, after long years, completed the task
given to me by my dear lady, in memory of whom I have named our
little daughter Jane, whilst our boy, our only son, we called Tom,
after Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the hope that he may grow as brave and
heroic as the knight in, we trust, a far happier cause.
The sun is sinking in the west as I lay down my pen, and the shadows
fall across the old stone sundial on the lawn, around which Sir
Hubert has had inscribed, in letters of gold--
'Hold to the Road that leads Above; and Justice with Prudence by all
means pursue.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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