MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE.
In a former chapter we have seen Walter Arderne, after many and various adventures by flood and field, returning to the home and haunts of his childhood. The good and gallant youth (although from station and prospects he might reasonably have hoped for ease and happiness in life) had hitherto seemed but a step-son of fortune after all. And now, "like a younker and a prodigal" lean, rent, and tattered, having endured shipwreck and been sold to slavery by the insolent foe, by a sudden freak of fortune was once more safe in Warwickshire and with his beloved uncle at Clopton. The meeting between Sir Hugh and his nephew was extremely affecting. They were now all in all to each other, for both had experienced losses which to both were irreparable. The grief, however, they experienced for past sorrows had now considerably abated, so that they could hold converse upon bygone events and even find benefit from such communion.
Still, when Walter looked around him in his old neighbourhood, like Sir Hugh when he had first returned, he felt at times a sense of desolation which was almost insupportable. The loss of his old and tried friend, the eccentric Martin, was also a heavy blow to him; and in addition to this the absence and delinquency of the singular friend, whose conversation had made so great an impression upon them all during their short acquaintance, especially grieved him. The breath of slander, when he came to inquire into the facts leading to young Shakespeare's departure, had rendered that youth's conduct so reckless and even criminal that Walter was us much surprised as grieved at all he heard.
"It was a good thing," Mr. Doubletongue said, "that the Ne'er-do-well had made off with himself, or the Lord knew what he would be after next. Stealing of deer by night, and catching rabbits by day, would perhaps have been the least part of the story. Nay," he continued, "the lad (albeit he had a most comely female to wife) had as sharp an eye and as devilish a tongue for the lasses in Stratford as—"
When the lawyer accordingly entered, he made so many contortions of body, and bent and bowed so often and so humbly to the three gentlemen, never even venturing to lift his eyes from the floor, that the Knight of Clopton desired him to desist from his prostrations, and deliver himself.
Upon this Master Grasp muttered some words about his sorrow for past passages, and his desire to oblige the good Sir Hugh, and ended by depositing on the table the eternal blue bag he always carried; saying, as he did so, that he had no particular business at that moment with Sir Hugh Clapton at all.
"Then, if such is the case," said Sir Hugh, "as I especially hate law and all appertaining, Master Grasp, as speedily an convenient, remove yourself from our premises."
"Nay," said Grasp, "good Sir Hugh, I pray you bear with me, since I come to bring joyful tidings to one near and dear to you—even your worshipful nephew there, Master Walter Arderne. And in order to convince you thereof, with permission, I will enter upon the matter at once." As he said this, Grasp emptied the contents of his bag upon the table, and forthwith began to fumble amongst a whole heap of parchments, strewing them about in most admired disorder.
"Gad-be-here!" exclaimed the old knight, as he looked with astonishment upon the vast quantity of documents and deeds. "Here be matter enough to undo half the families in Warwickshire. 'Fore Heaven, I ne'er looked upon such a mass of parchments before. Lord help thee, Walter, and keep pen and ink out of thy hands, for an thou settest thy name to these deeds, thou'lt never be thine own man again. I pr'ythee," he continued to the lawyer, "leave sorting that mass, and explain thy business."
Grasp, however, had now made good his footing, and produced his impression. And, as he pointed with fore-finger from paper to paper, he began to recapitulate the various tracts of land, domains, and estates and all and sundry thereunto belonging, with messuages, tenements, and matters appertaining, so rapidly that Sir Hugh stood aghast, with eyes starting and face of wonder, as he listened.
At length, the knight put a stop to it all with a voice of thunder, and insisted upon a more clear demonstration of the matter in hand. "What, in the fiend's name," he said, "hath my nephew to do with your heirs male, your tenures, domains, your castles, windmills, your fee-simples, your tails and entails, your arable lands, wastes, commons, fishponds, and woodlands, and all the litany of impertinence you have been jittering for the last half hour?"
"In fact and in right," said Grasp, "de facto and de jure, all and every thing hath your nephew to do herewith."
"How so?" said Arderne. "I know nought about the lands you have named, unless it be that here, in Warwickshire, I have heard such places exist."
"Nevertheless, as sure as they exist, they to all appearance are at this moment your own, good Master Arderne," said Grasp.
"Mine?" said Arderne. "The man is mad. I pray you explain."
"I will so," said the lawyer. "May I be permitted to sit in this presence."
"Take a chair," said Sir Hugh. And the lawyer accordingly seated himself, wiped his glasses, and commenced again.
"You doubtless are aware that, by the father's side, you can claim kindred with the noble house of Plantagenet," he said.
"It's a far-away relationship then," said Arderne. "Nevertheless I believe such is the case; but what of that?"
"You know it well enough, good Master Arderne," said Grasp; "for it is a thing to thank God and to be proud of; and you also know that the Lady Clara de Mowbray was also akin to you. As thus:—Geoffrey Plantagenet wedded with——."
"Well, a truce with all matter of that sort," interrupted Arderne. "I know my lineage well as thou canst tell it me, Master Grasp. But what of Clara de Mowbray? Granting I am her distant kinsman, and distant indeed must the relationship be——."
"Nevertheless it is true, as I am in a condition to prove," said Grasp. "Nay, not only are you her kinsman, but you are her sole remaining kinsman, and to obviate all controversy about succession, she hath constituted and appointed you her sole heir."
"You do, indeed, astonish me," said Arderne; "is then the beautiful Clara de Mowbray dead?"
"'Tis so rumoured, set down, and given out," said Grasp.
"She is said to have gone to foreign parts," said Sir Hugh; "died she there!"
"She did," said Grasp.
"Alas! my poor daughter's dear and only friend!" exclaimed Sir Hugh. And then there was a pause of some moments amongst the party, whilst Grasp, whose heart was as hard and dry as the parchment he idolized, became again so deeply involved amongst his papers, that he seemed to lose sight of everything else around him; nay, even Sir Hugh and Arderne seemed totally to have forgotten his presence. Arderne, indeed, was lost in the thoughts this intelligence had conjured up. He called to mind the exceeding beauty of the high-born lady who thus had made him the heir to all her vast possessions; and as he did so, many little passages between them, during his intimacy with his cousin Charlotte, flashed across his brain. At length, as his eye fell upon Grasp, he again questioned him.
"You were apparently employed," he said, "by the Lady Clara de Mowbray as her lawyer, Master Grasp?"
"I had that honour," said Grasp. "I was the instrument by which, under direction of her major-domo, or house steward, she gathered in her various rents. May I hope for a continuance of favour for the like, from your honour?"
"Know you the circumstances of the lady's decease, and where she died?" inquired Arderne.
"I do," said Grasp, "inasmuch as having been bound for the term of one year to keep the circumstances pertaining to the event secret; that time having now expired, I am at liberty to divulge to this honoured company all I know thereof."
"I pray you to proceed," said Arderne.
"It seemeth, then," said Grasp, "as I am given to understand by the steward or major-domo before-named, that since the melancholy fate of the daughter of the honoured master of this house, and who was (under favour for mentioning it) buried alive——"
"How! buried alive?" said the captain, laying down his pipe, whilst Sir Hugh groaned aloud, rose from his seat, and walked to the window, and Walter Arderne started as if he had received a bullet through his brain.
"Buried alive!" iterated Grasp, as he watched his auditors with the utmost satisfaction and curiosity. "I conceive it is no libel to say so much, inasmuch as it is well known, and has indeed made some talk at the time."
"I pray you," said Arderne sternly, "to continue your relation, without further circumstance. You pain us all by such unnecessary particulars."
"Nay," said Grasp, "I crave pardon; but as the particularly horrible nature of that young lady's end was in some sort necessary to what follows, I felt obliged, in some sort, to refer to it. Howbeit, I will now expedite my narrative, taking it from the events I have thus brought back to your remembrance. It seems, I say, that the particularly awful nature of the said Miss Charlotte Clopton's death made a great impression upon the mind of the before-named Lady Clara de Mowbray, and whose intimate friend the before-mentioned Charlotte was; and that moreover the said Clara de Mowbray mourned over her said friend's sad fate with strict observance of privacy for many months. Nay, that on the news first being told her of Mistress Charlotte's having been buried, she, in fact, shut herself up from all communion with the world."
"We heard as much," said Arderne; "I pray you to proceed. She resided at Shottery Hall at that time I think?"
"She did so," continued Grasp, "and where, somewhat on the sudden (as I learn from her confidential servant,—also my client,) she conceived the idea of changing the current of her thoughts and ameliorating her grief by seeing foreign lands. In pursuance of which design she fitted out a vessel, hired a crew, engaged a gentleman of approved valour as captain, and sailed for the New World."
"How! said ye," exclaimed Captain Fluellyn, "fitted out a ship, engaged a crew and captain, and adventured to the New World?"
"What ship did she sail in, Master Lawyer Rasp?"
"Grasp, good sir, and it so please ye," said the lawyer.
"What ship, quotha—let me see. I have a document here, signed by one of her followers, and which states the name of the ship, the number of her crew, the title of the said captain, and all thereunto appertaining and belonging. Ah! let me see," he continued, (fumbling about amongst his papers.) "the 'Eagle'—the 'Estridge'—the 'Heron'—the 'Hawk'—no, it was none of those. The—ah! here it is—the 'Falcon,' that was the vessel; Fluellyn, captain commanding; owner, Count Falconara."
The Captain looked at Walter Arderne, in whose face was reflected the astonishment depicted in his own; and both, as if by common impulse, rose from their seats, and walked forth into the open air.
Arderne took a turn along the dark walk which led to the rivulet at the bottom of the garden, ere he spoke. At length he approached the Captain (who, out of respect, had remained near the house).
"This is a strange matter!" said Fluellyn.
"It is indeed!" said Arderne. "It seems to me like something unreal. I can scarce believe that Clara de Mowbray hath perished in such a venture."
"You knew the lady, then?" said the Captain.
"I did," said Arderne. "She was the friend and intimate of Charlotte Clopton, she of whom ye have heard me speak, and consequently in former days much here; nay, she rented a mansion at Shottery for the purpose of being near her friend."
"Perhaps" said the Captain, "for the purpose of being near her friend's friend. 'Tis evident she loved you, and you saw it not."
"Nay!" said Arderne, "she knew I was betrothed to my cousin."
"Tush, man! that mattered not amaravedi," said the Captain; "she loved you, spite of fate, and against hope. 'Tis not uncommon with women. She heard of your desolate condition through the worthy Martin; and (urged by her strong love) she persuaded him to adventure with her, in the hope of discovering and rescuing you from your desolate situation: so much I can myself answer for. How she bore herself in that adventure, I have also reason to know. All we required to know further was the name of this Count of quality, and, behold! we have it. Come—thou art at least a richer man by the knowledge."
"Would to Heaven," said Arderne mournfully, "she were in the enjoyment of her own wealth. I seem to make shipwreck of all that interest themselves in my welfare."
"Ah!" said the blunt Captain, "I doubt thee not, good Master Arderne. Such a woman were worthy of an emperor's love; one to worship in life, and evermore sigh for when dead. But come—no more sad brow and sighing breath. Thou art the likeliest man in all the country,—hast fair domains, castles, parks, and warrens, according to yonder scrivener. Such an one need not sigh for a wife methinks. Let us in, lest the old knight and the law-man fall to buffets, spite of the news brought."
"Sir Hugh must indeed not know of this," said Arderne, "at least, not at present; 'twould but revive his grief for Martin's loss. Over a cup of Canary after dinner we will relate the story."
And thus did Walter Arderne become the possessor of many fair domains in Warwickshire and other countries; for as there was none at that time to dispute possession, and as their former possessor was fairly identified, and her death deposed to by more than one of her own followers, so there was nothing to hinder him in the succession.
There was, however, a certain degree at melancholy attached to the whole affair, which seemed to throw a gloom over the estates, as he in turn visited them,—a something wanting—a deserted look—an inexpressible feeling of dislike to assume the mastery and ownership of these fair and fertile lands. "I can even yet hardly reconcile to myself the right of proprietorship here," he said to Sir Hugh, as they looked forth one day from the towers at Hill Morton upon a vast chase below. "It seems to me that I am an interloper—an usurper here."
"Tush—man!" said Sir Hugh; "this is to be overscrupulous. Take the good the gods send, and make no words on't."
And thus matters rested quietly for days, weeks, and months, and then there arose matter which took the thoughts of men, throughout the land, from their own particular concerns, and (whilst the whole nation rang with the news) called up the energies of all.
Sir Hugh was with his nephew and friend when the first intimation of the certainty of this event reached Clopton. The day was hot, for it was just at the end of April, and the knight had ordered the dinner to be served in the hall, where they were enjoying the half hour after their meal "with pippins and cheese" and a whiff or two of the pleasant weed.
The soothing influence of his pipe was just composing the old knight to sleep when the sharp sound of hoofs were heard in the court without, and a messenger, "bloody with sparring, fiery red with haste," came clanking into the presence.
The sealed brief he handed to Sir Hugh—with the words, ride, ride, ride, upon the cover, in a few minutes after its perusal effectually dispelled the influence of the weed Sir Walter loved, inasmuch as it was from Sir Walter himself, and dated from Deptford.
"Come forth, my old friend," said the letter, "the time hath arrived for all to be stirring, 'Tis now certain the Armada is about to sail. Let your nephew look to his command and bring up his companions. Our ships are ready for sea and men are wanted. 'Fore Heaven, we will singe the Dons whiskers for him,[19] or smoke for it ourselves."