Windsor Castle by William Harrison Ainsworth
BOOK II — HERNE THE HUNTER
CHAPTER II
In what manner Wolsey put his Scheme into Operation.
Foiled in his scheme of making Wyat the instrument of Anne
Boleyn's overthrow, Wolsey determined to put into immediate operation the
plan he had conceived of bringing forward a rival to her with the king. If a
choice had been allowed him, he would have selected some high-born dame for
the purpose; but as this was out of the question—and as, indeed, Henry
had of late proved insensible to the attractions of all the beauties that
crowded his court except Anne Boleyn-he trusted to the forester's fair
granddaughter to accomplish his object. The source whence he had received
intelligence of the king's admiration of Mabel Lyndwood was his jester,
Patch—a shrewd varlet who, under the mask of folly, picked up many an
important secret for his master, and was proportionately rewarded.
Before executing the scheme, it was necessary to ascertain whether the
damsel's beauty was as extraordinary as it had been represented; and with
this view, Wolsey mounted his mule one morning, and, accompanied by Patch and
another attendant, rode towards the forest.
It was a bright and beautiful morning, and preoccupied as he was, the
plotting cardinal could not be wholly insensible to the loveliness of the
scene around him. Crossing Spring Hill, he paused at the head of a long
glade, skirted on the right by noble beech-trees whose silver stems sparkled
in the sun shine, and extending down to the thicket now called Cooke's Hill
Wood. From this point, as from every other eminence on the northern side of
the forest, a magnificent view of the castle was obtained.
The sight of the kingly pile, towering above its vassal woods, kindled
high and ambitious thoughts in his breast.
"The lord of that proud structure has been for years swayed by me," he
mused, "and shall the royal puppet be at last wrested from me by a woman's
hand? Not if I can hold my own."
Roused by the reflection, he quickened his pace, and shaping his course
towards Black Nest, reached in a short time the borders of a wide swamp lying
between the great lake and another pool of water of less extent situated in
the heart of the forest. This wild and dreary marsh, the haunt of the bittern
and the plover, contrasted forcibly and disagreeably with the rich sylvan
district he had just quitted.
"I should not like to cross this swamp at night," he observed to Patch,
who rode close behind him.
"Nor I, your grace," replied the buffoon. "We might chance to be led by a
will-o'-the-wisp to a watery grave."
"Such treacherous fires are not confined to these regions, knave,"
rejoined Wolsey. "Mankind are often lured, by delusive gleams of glory and
power, into quagmires deep and pitfalls. Holy Virgin; what have we here?"
The exclamation was occasioned by a figure that suddenly emerged from the
ground at a little distance on the right. Wolsey's mule swerved so much as
almost to endanger his seat, and he called out in a loud angry tone to the
author of the annoyance-
"Who are you, knave? and what do you here?"
I am a keeper of the forest, an't please your grace, replied the other,
doffing his cap, and disclosing harsh features which by no means recommended
him to the cardinal, "and am named Morgan Fenwolf. I was crouching among the
reeds to get a shot at a fat buck, when your approach called me to my
feet."
"By St. Jude! this is the very fellow, your grace, who shot the hart-royal
the other day," cried Patch.
"And so preserved the Lady Anne Boleyn," rejoined the cardinal. "Art sure
of it, knave?"
"As sure as your grace is of canonisation," replied Patch. "That shot
should have brought you a rich reward, friend—either from the king's
highness or the Lady Anne," remarked Wolsey to the keeper.
"It has brought me nothing," rejoined Fenwolf sullenly.
"Hum!" exclaimed the cardinal. "Give the fellow a piece of gold,
Patch."
"Methinks I should have better earned your grace's bounty if I had let the
hart work his will," said Fenwolf, reluctantly receiving the coin.
"How, fellow?" cried the cardinal, knitting his brows.
"Nay, I mean no offence," replied Fenwolf; "but the rumour goes that your
grace and the Lady Anne are not well affected towards each other."
"The rumour is false," rejoined the cardinal, " and you can now contradict
it on your own experience. Harkee, sirrah! where lies Tristram Lyndwood's
hut?"
Fenwolf looked somewhat surprised and confused by the question.
"It lies on the other side of yonder rising ground, about half a mile
hence," he said. "But if your grace is seeking old Tristram, you will not
find him. I parted with him, half-an-hour ago, on Hawk's Hill, and he was
then on his way to the deer-pen at Bray Wood."
"If I see his granddaughter Mabel, it will suffice," rejoined the
cardinal. "I am told she is a comely damsel. Is it so?"
"I am but an indifferent judge of beauty," replied Fenwolf moodily.
"Lead my mule across this swamp, thou senseless loon," said the cardinal,
"and I will give thee my blessing."
With a very ill grace Fenwolf complied, and conducted Wolsey to the
farther side of the marsh.
If your grace pursues the path over the hill," he said, "and then strikes
into the first opening on the right, it will bring you to the place you
seek." And, without waiting for the promised blessing, he disappeared among
the trees.
On reaching the top of the hill, Wolsey descried the hut through an
opening in the trees at a few hundred yards' distance. It was pleasantly
situated on the brink of the lake, at the point where its width was greatest,
and where it was fed by a brook that flowed into it from a large pool of
water near Sunninghill.
From the high ground where Wolsey now stood the view of the lake was
beautiful. For nearly a mile its shining expanse was seen stretching out
between banks of varied form, sometimes embayed, sometimes running out into
little headlands, but everywhere clothed with timber almost to the water's
edge. Wild fowl skimmed over its glassy surface, or dipped in search of its
finny prey, and here and there a heron might be detected standing in some
shallow nook, and feasting on the smaller fry. A flight of cawing rooks were
settling upon the tall trees on the right bank, and the voices of the thrush,
the blackbird, and other feathered songsters burst in redundant melody from
the nearer groves.
A verdant path, partly beneath the trees, and partly on the side of the
lake, led Wolsey to the forester's hut. Constructed of wood and clay, with a
thatched roof, green with moss, and half overgrown with ivy, the little
building was in admirable keeping with the surrounding scenery. Opposite the
door, and opening upon the lake, stood a little boathouse, and beside it a
few wooden steps, defended by a handrail, ran into the water. A few yards
beyond the boathouse the brook before mentioned emptied its waters into the
lake.
Gazing with much internal satisfaction at the hut, Wolsey bade Patch
dismount, and ascertain whether Mabel was within. The buffoon obeyed, tried
the door, and finding it fastened, knocked, but to no purpose.
After a pause of a few minutes, the cardinal was turning away in extreme
disappointment, when a small skiff, rowed by a female hand, shot round an
angle of the lake and swiftly approached them. A glance from Patch would have
told Wolsey, had he required any such information, that this was the
forester's granddaughter. Her beauty quite ravished him, and drew from him an
exclamation of wonder and delight. Features regular, exquisitely moulded, and
of a joyous expression, a skin dyed like a peach by the sun, but so as to
improve rather than impair its hue; eyes bright, laughing, and blue as a
summer sky; ripe, ruddy lips, and pearly teeth; and hair of a light and
glossy brown, constituted the sum of her attractions. Her sylph-like figure
was charmingly displayed by the graceful exercise on which she was engaged,
and her small hands, seemingly scarcely able to grasp an oar, impelled the
skiff forwards with marvellous velocity, and apparently without much exertion
on her part.
Unabashed by the presence of the strangers, though Wolsey's attire could
leave her in no doubt as to his high ecclesiastical dignity, she sprang
ashore at the landing-place, and fastened her bark to the side of the
boathouse.
"You are Mabel Lyndwood, I presume, fair maiden?" inquired the cardinal,
in his blandest tones.
"Such is my name, your grace," she replied; "for your garb tells me I am
addressing Cardinal Wolsey."
The cardinal graciously inclined his head.
"Chancing to ride in this part of the forest," he said, "and having heard
of your beauty, I came to see whether the reality equalled the description,
and I find it far transcends it."
Mabel blushed deeply, and cast down her eyes.
"Would that Henry could see her now!" thought the cardinal, "Anne Boleyn's
reign were nigh at an end.—How long have you dwelt in this cottage,
fair maid?" he added aloud.
"My grandsire, Tristram Lyndwood, has lived here fifty years and more,"
replied Mabel, "but I have only been its inmate within these few weeks.
Before that time I lived at Chertsey, under the care of one of the lay
sisters of the monastery there—Sister Anastasia."
"And your parents—where are they?" asked the cardinal curiously.
"Alas! your grace, I have none," replied Mabel with a sigh. "Tristram
Lyndwood is my only living relative. He used to come over once a month to see
me at Chertsey—and latterly, finding his dwelling lonely, for he lost
the old dame who tended it for him, he brought me to dwell with him. Sister
Anastasia was loth to part with me—and I was grieved to leave
her—but I could not refuse my grandsire."
"Of a surety not," replied the cardinal musingly, and gazing hard at her.
"And you know nothing of your parents?"
"Little beyond this," replied Mabel:-" My father was a keeper of the
forest, and being unhappily gored by a stag, perished of the wound—for
a hurt from a hart's horn, as your grace knows, is certain death; and my
mother pined after him and speedily followed him to the grave. I was then
placed by my grandsire with Sister Anastasia, as I have just
related—and this is all my history."
"A simple yet a curious one," said Wolsey, still musing. "You are the
fairest maid of low degree I ever beheld. You saw the king at the chase the
other day, Mabel?"
"Truly, did I, your grace," she replied, her eyes brightening and her
colour rising; "and a right noble king he is."
"And as gentle and winning as he is goodly to look upon," said Wolsey,
smiling.
"Report says otherwise," rejoined Mabel.
"Report speaks falsely," cried Wolsey; "I know him well, and he is what I
describe him."
"I am glad to hear it," replied Mabel; "and I must own I formed the same
opinion myself—for the smile he threw upon me was one of the sweetest
and kindliest I ever beheld."
"Since you confess so much, fair maiden," rejoined Wolsey, "I will be
equally frank, and tell you it was from the king's own lips I heard of your
beauty."
"Your grace! " she exclaimed.
"Well, well," said Wolsey, smiling, " if the king is bewitched, I cannot
marvel at it. And now, good day, fair maiden; you will hear more of me."
"Your grace will not refuse me your blessing? "said Mabel.
"Assuredly not, my child," replied Wolsey, stretching his hands over her.
"All good angels and saints bless you, and hold you in their keeping. Mark my
words: a great destiny awaits you; but in all changes, rest assured you will
find a friend in Cardinal Wolsey."
"Your grace overwhelms me with kindness," cried Mabel; nor can I conceive
how I have found an interest in your eyes—unless Sister Anastasia or
Father Anslem, of Chertsey Abbey, may have mentioned me to you."
"You have found a more potent advocate with me than either Sister
Anastasia or Father Anselm," replied Wolsey; "and now, farewell."
And turning the head of his mule, he rode slowly away.
On the same day there was a great banquet in the castle, and, as usual,
Wolsey took his station on the right of the sovereign, while the papal legate
occupied a place on the left. Watching a favourable opportunity, Wolsey
observed to Henry that he had been riding that morning in the forest, and had
seen the loveliest damsel that eyes ever fell upon.
"Ah! by our Lady! and who may she be?" asked the king curiously.
"She can boast little in regard to birth, being grandchild to an old
forester," replied Wolsey; "but your majesty saw her at the hunting party the
other day."
"Ah, now I bethink me of her," said Henry. "A comely damsel, in good
sooth."
"I know not where her match is to be found," cried the cardinal. "Would
your majesty had seen her skim over the lake in a fairy boat managed by
herself, as I beheld her this morning. You would have taken her for a
water-sprite, except that no water-sprite was half so beautiful."
"You speak in raptures, cardinal," cried Henry. "I must see this damsel
again. Where does she dwell? I have heard, but it has slipped my memory."
"In a hut near the great lake," replied Wolsey. "There is some mystery
attached to her birth, which I have not yet fathomed."
"Leave me to unriddle it," replied the king laughingly.
And he turned to talk on other subjects to Campeggio, but Wolsey felt
satisfied that the device was successful. Nor was he mistaken. As Henry
retired from the banquet,he motioned the Duke of Suffolk towards him, and
said, in an undertone -
"I shall go forth at dusk to-morrow even in disguise, and shall require
your attendance."
"On a love affair? " asked the duke, in the same tone.
Perchance," replied Henry; "but I will explain myself more fully
anon."
This muttered colloquy was overheard by Patch, and faithfully reported by
him to the cardinal.