The Foster Lover
Up the hill from Horsebridge, dust-clogged in every pore, jaded and
saddle-worn, I urged my weary nag--the second that I had spent since
leaving London at daybreak on my traitor's errand. On the hill's crest I
drew rein, as much out of instinct and sheer habit as out of mercy for
the poor beast that bore me.
On my left a long line of shadow, tall and black, stretched the trees of
Dunstock Park adown the hill half-way to Romsey town. And yonder, through
the thinning topmost branches, was a golden glory where the moon was
rising, big as a millstone, yellow as a guinea. Here, close at hand, atop
its flight of terraces, stood Dunstock House, holding the thing dearest
to me in all the world; and Dunstock House, to my vast surprise, was now
one blaze of light, its windows glowing like jewels in the setting of the
cool, fragrant night.
Sir William entertained--that much was plain--and I had known nothing of
it; but then, where was the wonder of that, since for three weeks I had
lain close in London, waiting to receive and bear my lord the news for
which all true lovers of King James, the exile, were now athirst? A ball, it seemed, was toward. The scrape of fiddles reached me there at the park gates; aye, and the shuffle of feet, I could have sworn, so calm and silent was the summer night.
I sat awhile, what time my horse, with pendent head and neck
outstretched, breathed raucously in its greed for air. And as I waited
there the gavotte came to an end, the fiddling ceased, and in its room
arose a babble of many voices, touched off with frequent laughter, and
out on to the terrace came by twos and threes Sir William's guests to
breathe the grateful cool.
It occurred to me then that I need ride no farther. Here was my goal; for
if Sir William entertained, there was little doubt--aye, and the thought
was bitter enough, God knows!--that here I should find my lord. So I
roused the mare and urged her through the gates and up the broad avenue, black now in the shadow of the elms. A truer motive lay, no doubt, in the hope of seeing another than my lord--Alicia, whom I never tired of seeing whom I sought every chance to see, although I knew that she was not for me. She was a matter that lay between Captain Percy, whom she loved, and my lord, whom she detested, yet who was insistent and persistent, and being a great man, had, every hope of winning her, her detestation notwithstanding. As for me--But why say more of myself, who, afterall, am of small account--the foster-lover, no more--in this tale of that sweet lady's nuptials?
Erebus was not so black as were the shadows there beneath the elms, and
when my horse had stumbled twice I thought I should be safer afoot. I
tethered the brute to a tree and went on. Quitting the avenue, I struck a
well-known shorter road, a pathway through the shrubbery, leading to the
lower terrace; and Fate herself, I think, must have been leading me.
At the shrubbery's end I paused, however, on the edge of the gloom. The
sweep of lawn before me was now alight from the risen moon, and I
bethought me that I was proceeding a thought recklessly. How should I, charged with that secret business, present myself thus, all grimed and dusty from the road, to seek my lord among Sir William's guests? Such an advent must fire the train of much surmising; and all surmising was dangerous to my lord and me, and to the Cause itself. I paused then and pondered. Aye, I were better away to Romsey, to await my lord's coming. But since my lord would not yet be leaving--you see, I had no doubt touching his presence at that dance--there was time to spare, and it was sweet and fragrant in the shrubbery after the dust of the high road; sweet it was to know--although the stiffness and the impression of it still abode with me--that there was no horse between my knees; sweet to spy upon the merry-makers, what time I stretched my legs and snatched a brief rest, to which the great diligence I had made that day gave me the title; and there was the greatest sweet of all--and this may have been the real truth of my abiding--the chance of a glimpse of my dear Alicia.
