Grisly Grisell; Or, The Laidly Lady of Whitburn: A Tale of the Wars of the RosesYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
History
Grisly Grisell; Or, The Laidly Lady of Whitburn: A Tale of the Wars of the Roses
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485 -- Fiction
The pattern needed much care, and Lambert induced Hans Memling himself,
who drew it so that it could be pricked out for the cushion. In after
times it might have been held a greater honour to work from his pattern
than for the Duchess, who sent to inquire after it more than once, and
finally desired that Mistress Grisell should bring her cushion and show
her progress.
She was received with all the same ceremonies as before, and even the
small fragment that was finished delighted the Princess, who begged to
see her at work. As it could not well be done kneeling, a footstool,
covered in tapestry with the many Burgundian quarterings, was brought,
and here Grisell was seated, the Duchess bending over her, and asking
questions as her fingers flew, at first about the work, but afterwards,
“Where did you learn this art, maiden?”
“At Wilton, so please your Highness. The nunnery of St. Edith, near to
Salisbury.”
“St. Edith! I think my mother, whom the Saints rest, spoke of her; but I
have not heard of her in Portugal nor here. Where did she suffer?”
“She was not martyred, madame, but she has a fair legend.”
And on encouragement Grisell related the legend of St. Edith and the
christening.
“You speak well, maiden,” said the Duchess. “It is easy to perceive that
you are convent trained. Have the wars in England hindered your being
professed?”
“Nay, madame; it was the Proctor of the Italian Abbess.”
Therewith the inquiries of the Duchess elicited all Grisell’s early
story, with the exception of her name and whose was the iron that caused
the explosion, and likewise of her marriage, and the accusation of
sorcery. That male heirs of the opposite party should have expelled the
orphan heiress was only too natural an occurrence. Nor did Grisell
conceal her home; but Whitburn was an impossible word to Portuguese lips,
and Dacre they pronounced after its crusading derivation De Acor.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE DUKE’S DEATH
Wither one Rose, and let the other flourish;
If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.
SHAKESPEARE, _King Henry VI._, Part III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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