"After her, after her!" cried the gentleman; "the brute will show us no sport. As I live she will let Margery strike her in the water. No, no, there she goes up!--After her, after her;" and away he galloped, accompanied by the lady on the galloway, and the three lads with their poles.
The younger lady paused, however, and reined in her jennet, notwithstanding all its struggles to follow the rest. Her eyes were fixed upon the boat, which, rowed by two stout men with the full current of the stream, now rapidly approached the spot where she was. The next minute she slipped from the saddle, her eyes bright, and her whole face glowing; and with the bridle over her left arm, approached the very brink of the water, holding out her hand, which in another instant was clasped in that of William Seymour.
He sprang at once on shore; and, while Arabella strove to conceal from the eyes of the boatmen the joy that was in her heart, there was quite enough in her countenance to sweep away all jealousy for ever from the heart of her lover, if ever he entertained it.
"Is this accident or design?" asked Arabella, in a low tone.--"It is very pleasant, Seymour, whatever it is.--But where have you been since?"
"Three days I was kept at Hampton Court," answered Seymour; "then took my departure for Cambridge, cut across thence to Oxford, and then, knowing well that I should have a welcome from the Countess, came down the river with my two men in the boat.--Run her into the first creek you can find," he continued, turning to the boatmen, "and come up to Lord Shrewsbury's house at Malvoisie. Where can these men find a creek, falconer, in which the boat will be in safety?"
"Not a quarter of a mile down, sir," replied a man, who was settling the falcon, which had previously struck a heron, upon a perch formed of four rollers of wood, in the shape of a square, which hung from the neck of a boy, placed in the centre thereof, much like the pails of a London milkwoman:--"they will find a creek, and a boat-house belonging to my Lord too. There will be room enough for your boat beside the Earl's barge. Then, if they follow the path, it will take them to the house.--But I must run after the hawk, my Lady; 'twere a shame if she struck the quarry, and I not there.--There they go over Lawson's lea."
"Go, go, Harry," cried Arabella; "and tell my uncle I am following."
The man and the boy hurried away; and after pausing to speak a word or two more, Seymour replaced Arabella in her saddle; and then, with his hand resting on the croup, walked slowly on beside her, gazing up into her face, and drinking in sweet draughts of pure, and high, and holy affection. It was a beautiful contrast to the dark scene of strong but evil passion, which it has been lately our unpleasing task to paint.
"I am sure they will receive you kindly," said Arabella, after a short pause, in answer to something Seymour had said; "but I doubt, William, indeed I doubt, that either will approve of your staying long."
"Doubt not--doubt nothing, dearest Arabella," replied Seymour. "I saw the Countess in London before I went down to Hampton Court. She taxed me with my love; and I did not deny it; and she owned that such constancy, on your part and on mine, deserved its reward. I have had a letter from her, too, since she heard of that scene before the Council, which she pronounces scandalous and wicked, and says it is high time you should be freed from the thraldom in which you are kept, and your heart suffered to have its liberty. 'Tis by her invitation, indeed, that I came."