CHAPTER IX.
MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE LEAVES THE WIZARD'S HOUSE FOR THE GREAT WORLD.
"Right glad am I," said Nicholas, "to see you so stout and hearty, for
I am the bearer of good news. Though I have been away, I have not
forgotten you; and it so chanced that I went yesterday to attend my
Lord of Warwick with some nowches [buckles and other ornaments] and
knackeries, that he takes out as gifts and exemplars of English work.
They were indifferently well wrought, specially a chevesail, of which
the--"
"Spare me the fashion of thy mechanicals, and come to the point,"
interrupted Marmaduke, impatiently.
"Pardon me, Master Nevile. I interrupt thee not when thou talkest of
bassinets and hauberks,--every cobbler to his last. But, as thou
sayest, to the point: the stout earl, while scanning my workmanship,
for in much the chevesail was mine, was pleased to speak graciously of
my skill with the bow, of which he had heard; and he then turned to
thyself, of whom my Lord Montagu had already made disparaging mention.
When I told the earl somewhat more about thy qualities and disposings,
and when I spoke of thy desire to serve him, and the letter of which
thou art the bearer, his black brows smoothed mighty graciously, and
he bade me tell thee to come to him this afternoon, and he would judge
of thee with his own eyes and ears. Wherefore I have ordered the
craftsman to have all thy gauds and gear ready at thine hostelrie, and
I have engaged thee henchmen and horses for thy fitting appearance.
Be quick: time and the great wait for no man. So take whatever thou
needest for present want from thy mails, and I will send a porter for
the rest ere sunset."
"But the gittern for the damozel?"
"I have provided that for thee, as is meet." And Nicholas, stepping
back, eased the groom of a case which contained a gittern, whose
workmanship and ornaments delighted the Nevile.
"It is of my lord the young Duke of Gloucester's own musical-vendor;
and the duke, though a lad yet, is a notable judge of all appertaining
to the gentle craft. [For Richard III.'s love of music, and patronage
of musicians and minstrels, see the discriminating character of that
prince in Sharon Turner's "History of England," vol. IV. p. 66.] So
despatch, and away!"
Marmaduke retired to his chamber, and Nicholas, after a moment spent
in silent thought, searched the room for the hand-bell, which then
made the mode of communication between the master and domestics. Not
finding this necessary luxury, he contrived at last to make Madge hear
his voice from her subterranean retreat; and on her arrival, sent her
in quest of Sibyll.
The answer he received was, that Mistress Sibyll was ill, and unable
to see him. Alwyn looked disconcerted at this intelligence, but,
drawing from his girdle a small gipsire, richly broidered, he prayed
Madge to deliver it to her young mistress, and inform her that it was
the fruit of the commission with which she had honoured him.
"It is passing strange," said he, pacing the hall alone,--"passing
strange, that the poor child should have taken such hold on me. After
all, she would be a bad wife for a plain man like me. Tush! that is
the trader's thought all over. Have I brought no fresher feeling out
of my fair village-green? Would it not be sweet to work for her, and
rise in life, with her by my side? And these girls of the city, so
prim and so brainless!--as well marry a painted puppet. Sibyll! Am I
dement? Stark wode? What have I to do with girls and marriage?
Humph! I marvel what Marmaduke still thinks of her,--and she of him."
While Alwyn thus soliloquized, the Nevile having hastily arranged his
dress, and laden himself with the moneys his mails contained, summoned
old Madge to receive his largess, and to conduct him to Warner's
chamber, in order to proffer his farewell.
With somewhat of a timid step he followed the old woman (who kept
muttering thanks and benedicites as she eyed the coin in her palm) up
the ragged stairs, and for the first time knocked at the door of the
student's sanctuary. No answer came. "Eh, sir! you must enter," said
Madge; "an' you fired a bombard under his ear he would not heed you."
So, suiting the action to the word, she threw open the door, and
closed it behind him, as Marmaduke entered.
The room was filled with smoke, through which mirky atmosphere the
clear red light of the burning charcoal peered out steadily like a
Cyclop's eye. A small, but heaving, regular, labouring, continuous
sound, as of a fairy hammer, smote the young man's ear. But as his
gaze, accustoming itself to the atmosphere, searched around, he could
not perceive what was its cause. Adam Warner was standing in the
middle of the room, his arms folded, and contemplating something at a
little distance, which Marmaduke could not accurately distinguish.
The youth took courage, and approached. "Honoured mine host," said
he, "I thank thee for hospitality and kindness, I crave pardon for
disturbing thee in thy incanta--ehem!--thy--thy studies, and I come to
bid thee farewell."
Adam turned round with a puzzled, absent air, as if scarcely
recognizing his guest; at length, as his recollection slowly came back
to him, he smiled graciously, and said: "Good youth, thou art richly
welcome to what little it was in my power to do for thee.
Peradventure a time may come when they who seek the roof of Adam
Warner may find less homely cheer, a less rugged habitation,--for look
you!" he exclaimed suddenly, with a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm
--and laying his hand on Nevile's arm, as, through all the smoke and
grime that obscured his face, flashed the ardent soul of the
triumphant Inventor,--"look you! since you have been in this house,
one of my great objects is well-nigh matured,--achieved. Come
hither," and he dragged the wondering Marmaduke to his model, or
Eureka, as Adam had fondly named his contrivance. The Nevile then
perceived that it was from the interior of this machine that the sound
which had startled him arose; to his eye the THING was uncouth and
hideous; from the jaws of an iron serpent, that, wreathing round it,
rose on high with erect crest, gushed a rapid volume of black smoke,
and a damp spray fell around. A column of iron in the centre kept in
perpetual and regular motion, rising and sinking successively, as the
whole mechanism within seemed alive with noise and action.
"The Syracusan asked an inch of earth, beyond the earth, to move the
earth," said Adam; "I stand in the world, and lo! with this engine the
world shall one day be moved."
"Holy Mother!" faltered Marmaduke; "I pray thee, dread sir, to ponder
well ere thou attemptest any such sports with the habitation in which
every woman's son is so concerned. Bethink thee, that if in moving
the world thou shouldst make any mistake, it would--"
"Now stand there and attend," interrupted Adam, who had not heard one
word of this judicious exhortation.
"Pardon me, terrible sir!" exclaimed Marmaduke, in great trepidation,
and retreating rapidly to the door; "but I have heard that the fiends
are mighty malignant to all lookers-on not initiated."
While he spoke, fast gushed the smoke, heavily heaved the fairy
hammers, up and down, down and up, sank or rose the column, with its
sullen sound. The young man's heart sank to the soles of his feet.
"Indeed and in truth," he stammered out, "I am but a dolt in these
matters; I wish thee all success compatible with the weal of a
Christian, and bid thee, in sad humility, good day:" and he added, in
a whisper--"the Lord's forgiveness! Amen!"
Marmaduke then fairly rushed through the open door, and hurried out of
the chamber as fast as possible.
He breathed more freely as he descended the stairs. "Before I would
call that gray carle my father, or his child my wife, may I feel all
the hammers of the elves and sprites he keeps tortured within that
ugly little prison-house playing a death's march on my body! Holy
Saint Dunstan, the timbrel-girls came in time! They say these wizards
always have fair daughters, and their love can be no blessing!"
As he thus muttered, the door of Sibyll's chamber opened, and she
stood before him at the threshold. Her countenance was very pale, and
bore evidence of weeping. There was a silence on both sides, which
the girl was the first to break.
"So, Madge tells me thou art about to leave us?"
"Yes, gentle maiden! I--I--that is, my Lord of Warwick has summoned
me. I wish and pray for all blessings on thee! and--and--if ever it
be mine to serve or aid thee, it will be--that is--verily, my tongue
falters, but my heart--that is--fare thee well, maiden! Would thou
hadst a less wise father; and so may the saints (Saint Anthony
especially, whom the Evil One was parlous afraid of) guard and keep
thee!"
With this strange and incoherent address, Marmaduke left the maiden
standing by the threshold of her miserable chamber. Hurrying into the
hall, he summoned Alwyn from his meditations, and, giving the gittern
to Madge, with an injunction to render it to her mistress, with his
greeting and service, he vaulted lightly on his steed; the steady and
more sober Alwyn mounted his palfrey with slow care and due caution.
As the air of spring waved the fair locks of the young cavalier, as
the good horse caracoled under his lithesome weight, his natural
temper of mind, hardy, healthful, joyous, and world-awake, returned to
him. The image of Sibyll and her strange father fled from his
thoughts like sickly dreams.
