"For shame, Morton-an orphan boy!-Hearken thee, my child-Thou hast told me some of thy accomplishments-canst thou speak truth ?" 66 Ay, my lord, when it serves my turn," replied Græme. "It shall serve thy turn now," said the Regent; "and falsehood shall be thy destruction. How much hast thou heard or understood of what we two have spoken together?" "But little, my lord," replied Roland Græme boldly, "which met my apprehension, saving that it seemed to me as if in something you doubted the faith of the Knight of Avenel, under whose roof I was nurtured." "And what hast thou to say on that point, young man ?" continued the Regent, bending his eyes upon him with a keen and strong expression of observation. "That," said the page, "depends on the quality of those who speak against his honour whose bread I have long eaten.-If they be my inferiors, I say they lie, and will maintain what I say with my batton; if my equals, still I say they lie, and will do battle in the quarrel, if they list, with my sword if my superiors"-he paused. "Proceed boldly," said the Regent-"What if thy superiors said aught that nearly touched your master's honour ?" "I would say," replied Græme, "that he did ill to slander the absent, and that my master was a man who could render an account of his actions to any one who should manfully demand it of him to his face." "And it were manfully said,” replied the Regent-" what thinkst thou, my Lord of Morton ?" "I think," replied Morton, " that if the young galliard resemble a certain ancient friend of ours, as much in the craft of his disposition as he does in eye and in brow, there may be a wide difference betwixt what he means and what he speaks." "And whom meanest thou that he resembles so closely ?" said Murray. "Even the true and trusty Julian Avenel," replied Morton. "But this youth belongs to the Debateable Land," said Murray. "It may be so; but Julian was an outlying striker of venison, and made many a far cast when he had a fair doe in chase." "Pshaw!" said the Regent, "this is but idle talk-Here, thou Hyndman-thou curiosityconduct this youth to his companion-You will both," he said to Græme, "keep yourselves in readiness to travel on short notice."-And then motioning to him courteously to withdraw, he broke up the interview. CHAPTER XIX. It is and is not 'tis the thing I sought for, Have kneel'd for, pray'd for, risk'd my fame and life for, Upon the hard, cold, flat, and polish'd mirror, Is the warm, graceful, rounded, living substance Old Play. THE usher, with gravity which ill concealed a jealous scowl, conducted Roland Græme to a lower apartment, where he found his comrade the falconer. The man of office then briefly acquainted them that this would be their residence till his Grace's further orders; that they were to go to the pantry, to the buttery, to the cellar, and to the kitchen, at the usual hours, to receive the allowances becoming their station,-instructions which Adam Woodcock's old familiarity with the court made him perfectly understand-" For your beds," he said, "you must go to the hostelrie of Saint Michael's, in respect the palace is now full of the domestics of the greater nobles." No sooner was the usher's back turned than Adam exclaimed, with all the glee of eager curio sity, "And now, Master Roland, the news-the news-come, unbutton thy pouch, and give us thy tidings-What says the Regent? asks he for Adam Woodcock?-and is all soldered up, or must the Abbot of Unreason strap for it ?" "All is well in that quarter," said the page; "and for the rest-But, hey-day, what! have you taken the chain and medal off from my bonnet?" "And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, began to inquire what popish trangam you were wearing-By the mass, the metal would have been confiscated for conscience-sake, like your other rattle-trap yonder at Avenel, which Mrs Lilias bears about on her shoes in the guise of a pair of shoe-buckles-This comes of carrying popish nicknackets about you." "The jade!" exclaimed Roland Græme, "has she melted down my rosary into buckles for her clumsy hoofs, which will become such a garnish well nigh as well as a cow's might-But, hang her, let her keep them-many a dog's trick have I played old Lilias, for want of having something better to do, and the buckles will serve for a remembrance. Do you remember the verjuice I put into the comfits, when old Wingate and she were to breakfast together on Easter morning?" "In troth do I, Master Roland-the major-domo's mouth was as crooked as a hawk's beak for the whole morning afterward, and any other page in your room would have tasted the discipline of the porter's lodge for it.—But my lady's favour stood between your skin and many a jerking-Lord send you may be the better for her protection in such matters." "I am at least grateful for it, Adam; and I am glad you put me in mind of it." 66 Well, but the news, my young master," said Woodcock, "spell me the tidings-what are we to fly at next?-what did the Regent say to you?" Nothing that I am to repeat again," said Roland Græme, shaking his head. 66 "Why, hey-day," said Adam, "how prudent we are become all of a sudden! You have advanced rarely in brief space, Master Roland. You have well nigh had your broken head, and you have gained your gold chain, and you have made an enemy, Master Usher to wit, with his two legs like hawk's perches, and you have had audience of the first man in the realm, and bear as much mystery in your brow, as if you had flown in the court-sky ever since you were hatched.-I believe, in my soul, you would run with a piece of the egg-shell on your head like the curlieus, whom (I would we were after them again) we used to call whaups in the Halidome and its neighbourhood.—But sit thee down, boy; Adam Woodcock was never the lad to seek to enter into forbidden secrets-sit thee down, and I will go fetch the vivers-I know the butler and the pantler of old." |