Under One Sceptre, or Mortimer's Mission: The Story of the Lord of the MarchesHolt, Emily Sarah
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Under One Sceptre, or Mortimer's Mission: The Story of the Lord of the Marches
Holt, Emily Sarah
Historical fiction; Mortimer, Roger de, Earl of March, 1328-1360 -- Fiction
"Aye," pursued the aged bard, dreamily. "Some false things to be made
true, and crooked things to be made straight, and justice to be done by
the great Judge that day. It will be a long day, that—the longest earth
shall know. It may well take a thousand years." He turned to the
corpse. "Sleep till the morning come, golden-haired love of Erin! We
shall all be there, every one, the accuser and the accused, the
oppressor and the oppressed, the murderer and the slain. There will be
some of us who would be glad to change. Peace be on thee, and God
forgive us all!"
And the old bard, with the harp bound upon his back, went slowly out of
the hall: and Mr. Robesart, looking after him, murmured, "_Pax tecum!_"
In the upper chambers of Trim Castle, the scenes were nearly as sad as
in the hall beneath. In the private rooms of the ladies’ tower, the
dead father’s darling had wept herself to sleep, when exhausted nature
could bear no more grief for the moment: and in an upper chamber of the
adjoining tower, Lawrence Madison lay in fever and delirium. Between
the two Guenllian came and went, with light steps and heavy heart: and
Beatrice sat by the velvet bed, watching for the child to wake, and
longing to comfort her.
There were two reasons why Guenllian kept Beatrice out of the sick
chamber, but neither of them was the one which would occur to a modern
nurse. Our fathers, at that time, had little fear of contagion, for
they scarcely realised its existence: when an infectious disease broke
out, they immediately thought the wells had been poisoned—which perhaps
they had, though not by deliberate malice, as was then imagined. One of
Guenllian’s motives was a desire to keep the young girl from hearing
poor Lawrence’s perpetual repetition of the dreadful scene just enacted
at Kenles—that was one of the two topics on which his fevered thoughts
ran endlessly: and the other—motive and topic alike—was that Lawrence in
his delirium had told Guenllian a secret, which she wanted time to
consider whether it would be well to share with Beatrice. Guenllian had
entertained some suspicion of the truth already, but she knew now with
certainty that Lawrence loved Beatrice, and that he felt certain she did
not love him. On the latter point Guenllian was entirely ignorant, for
if Beatrice had any secret feelings of this kind, she confided them to
no one. The former was inclined to think that any partiality which
Beatrice might feel for Lawrence was only the sisterly kindness which
had always existed between them, and if that were so, she was very sorry
for Lawrence. Guenllian knew him well enough to be aware that his love,
once given, would be given for ever, and that there could be no second
time for him. But it was only now and then that Beatrice’s name came
into the passionate flood of words which were poured forth from the
unguarded lips of the sufferer. Nearly all night through he was at
Kenles, going over, over, over that awful scene, but—Guenllian
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