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
SO time went on, and the rule of the House of York in England seemed
established, while the exiles had settled down in Burgundy, Grisell to
her lace pillow, Leonard to the suite of the Count de Charolais. Indeed
there was reason to think that he had come to acquiesce in the change of
dynasty, or at any rate to think it unwise and cruel to bring on another
desperate civil war. In fact, many of the Red Rose party were making
their peace with Edward IV. Meanwhile the Duchess Isabel became
extremely fond of Grisell, and often summoned her to come and work by her
side, and talk to her; and thus came on the summer of 1467, when Duke
Philip returned from the sack of unhappy Dinant in a weakened state, and
soon after was taken fatally ill. All the city of Bruges watched in
anxiety for tidings, for the kindly Duke was really loved where his hand
did not press. One evening during the suspense when Master Lambert was
gone out to gather tidings, there was the step with clank of spurs which
had grown familiar, and Leonard Copeland strode in hot and dusty,
greeting Vrow Clemence as usual with a touch of the hand and inclination
of the head, and Grisell with hand and courteous voice, as he threw
himself on the settle, heated and weary, and began with tired fingers to
unfasten his heavy steel cap.
Grisell hastened to help him, Clemence to fetch a cup of cooling Rhine
wine. “There, thanks, mistress. We have ridden all day from Ghent, in
the heat and dust, and after all the Count got before us.”
“To the Duke?”
“Ay! He was like one demented at tidings of his father’s sickness. Say
what they will of hot words and fierce passages between them, that father
and son have hearts loving one another truly.”
“It is well they should agree at the last,” said Grisell, “or the Count
will carry with him the sorest of memories.”
And indeed Charles the Bold was on his knees beside the bed of his
speechless father in an agony of grief.
Presently all the bells in Bruges began to clash out their warning that a
soul was passing to the unseen land, and Grisell made signs to Clemence,
while Leonard lifted himself upright, and all breathed the same for the
mighty Prince as for the poorest beggar, the intercession for the dying.
Then the solemn note became a knell, and their prayer changed to the De
Profundis, “Out of the depths.”
Presently Lambert Groot came in, grave and saddened, with the
intelligence that Philip the Good had departed in peace, with his wife
and son on either side of him, and his little granddaughter kneeling
beside the Duchess.
There was bitter weeping all over Bruges, and soon all over Flanders and
the other domains united under the Dukedom of Burgundy, for though Philip
had often deeply erred, he had been a fair ruler, balancing discordant
interests justly, and maintaining peace, while all that was splendid or
luxurious prospered and throve under him. There was a certain dread of
the future under his successor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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