The Brown Mask

P >> Percy J. Brebner >> The Brown Mask

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Had he really deserted her? The question came through the long, wakeful
hours of the night. It came with the memory of that little cadence of
notes, the same notes in which his fiddle laughed. He had sung them in a
foolish fashion when the men surrounded the coach; had he meant to speak
to her by them? The thought brought hope and sleep, sleep giving
strength, hope bringing new courage when the day came.

"To help Mr. Crosby I must Speak with Judge Marriott, who is in
Dorchester," she told Harriet Payne. "You must find him and ask him to
come to me."

"Will he come, madam?"

"I think so."

"Alas, you have need of help yourself now."

"Perhaps not such need as may appear. To arrest me does not prove me
guilty of treason."

"It is not only the guilty who are suffering."

"Out upon you, girl, for whining so easily," said Barbara. "Courage
lends help against every ill, even against death itself. You will find
where Judge Marriott is lodged, and tell him where I am."

"They may not let me have speech with the judge."

"You must contrive, use art, use--Ah, you are a woman, and need no
lesson from me."

So Harriet Payne went upon her mission, and Barbara was impatient until
her return. Disappointment was upon the girl's face when she came back.
It had been easy to find out the judge's lodgings, but impossible to get
speech with him. He was too engaged to see anyone that day.

"I must try again to-morrow," said the girl.

"Yes, and the next day and the next," said Barbara. "Did anyone carry a
message for you?"

"I contrived so far, but whether it came to the judge's ears or not I
cannot tell."

"I'll ask this man Watson to take a message," said Barbara.

"Not yet," said the girl. "That might be dangerous. Wait until I have
entirely failed"; and, to prove how dangerous it might be, she began to
tell her mistress some of the gloomy forebodings which were whispered
about the town.

Dorchester was in terror, and spoke its fears with bated breath. There
were three hundred prisoners awaiting judgment, and the dreaded Jeffreys
was coming; the cruel, the brutal, the malignant judge whose fame, like
an evil angel, came before him, speaking of death. There was to be no
pity, no mercy. If Alice Lisle, for no greater fault than compassion for
two fugitives, was condemned with all the barbarity that the inhuman law
could render possible; if the appeal of clergy, of ladies of high
degree, of counsellors at Whitehall, of Feversham himself, could only
move the King to grant that she should be beheaded instead of burned
alive, what hope for the prisoners in Dorchester who would have no such
powerful appeal made in their favour?

The Court was already prepared, its hangings of scarlet. Judge Marriott,
busily awaiting his learned brother, chuckled at the innovation. It was
like Jeffreys--an original thing, a stroke of genius. Men quaked because
of those scarlet hangings; this was to be no ordinary assizes, but a
marked occasion which should put fear into the souls of all who should
even think upon rebellion. Some man, in an awed undertone, spoke of it
as a bloody assizes, and the name passed from lip to lip until it
reached Judge Marriott's lodging. He chuckled still more, and said to
those about him that Jeffreys would act up to the name, here and
wherever else in this cursed West Country there were prisoners to be
punished.

Bloody Assizes! It was almost the first articulate sound that Lord
Rosmore heard as he galloped into the town, a troop of men about him,
and those who watched him pass knew that the judge must be on his way
from Winchester. Rosmore laughed, but his thoughts were complex, schemes
ran riot in his brain. Immediately upon entering his lodging he sent for
Watson and Sayers, and was restless until they came.

He looked quickly towards the door as it opened.

"The lady is safe in Dorchester," said Watson.

"And the fugitive?"

"We followed him to Witley. We should have run him to earth, only your
orders were not to go beyond Witley."

"This cursed fellow Crosby, what of him?"

"He was with this fugitive."

"And you let him go!" exclaimed Rosmore, stamping his foot passionately.

"We obeyed orders, sir, and it is well we did so. We, Sayers and I, were
in Witley when the coach arrived. I had speech with Mistress Payne."

A grim smile overspread Sayers' face as he remembered the box on the ear
his companion had received, but he saw that Lord Rosmore was in no mood
to relish such a tale just now, and held his tongue.

"I told her something of what was to happen, and the place," said
Watson, "but had I not known at what hour the coach was to start, and
when we might expect it at the spot chosen, we should have been
outwitted. In the morning that fiddler from Aylingford caught the coach,
and in some manner had got wind that a trap was set. He persuaded the
lady to take a by-road. I waited, and then, marvelling at the delay,
ordered the troop to ride forward to meet the coach. At the corner where
this by-way turns from the high road, we found a handkerchief lying on
the grass--Mistress Payne's handkerchief. Had it not been for such a
signal we had ridden past, and might have failed to catch them."

"Fairley! Then you have him too?"

"We had, sir, but he escaped."

"Escaped!"

"I have the two men who let him go under arrest," Watson answered. "One
so badly hurt by the fall from his horse that it will be weeks before he
can fling his leg across saddle again."

"You fools! The girl has more sense in her finger than you can muster in
the whole of your carcasses. How did he get away?"

"By a trick," said Sayers. "He was taken to the rear to keep him from
his mistress, and, on pretence of losing his stirrups, got the men
beside him to come close, when he spurred their horses, striking the men
at the same time. He was round in a minute and galloping back upon the
road. Half a dozen of us went in pursuit, when the shots fired after him
failed to stop him. We went the whole way back to Witley, and there, at
the inn, found the horse lathered with foam. The animal had entered the
yard riderless!"

"What fools I have to serve me!" said Rosmore, laughing derisively.
"Apart from the woman, it would have been failure from beginning to
end."

The derision hurt Watson.

"Care must be taken even of her, my lord."

"What do you mean?"

"There is generally a tender spot in a woman somewhere, and Mistress
Lanison may chance to find it in Harriet Payne."

"Mistress Payne is to be trusted, Watson. I'll see to that."

"She would turn her wits against you, my lord, if she thought she were
deceived. That's as sure as the coming of the Sabbath."

"Do you suppose, Watson, I throw away the skin before I have used all
the fruit? Send the girl to me to-night."

The men saluted and turned.

"And Watson, you might put a little misery into your face and
commiserate with Mistress Lanison on her position. It might interest her
to hear the story of Alice Lisle of Winchester. She is high-spirited,
and I would have that spirit broken."

"I will play Jeremiah, sir, like any Puritan."

"And Sayers, keep your eyes open in Dorchester. Crosby and this fiddler
are too cunning not to be dangerous. I warrant they are not far away
from Mistress Lanison. By Heaven! if you let her slip through your
fingers now, you shall suffer for it!"

Bloody Assizes! Along West Street the name travelled to the "Anchor
Inn," that hostelry of mean repute in Dorchester, and to a small upper
room where three men sat. They leaned towards each other as they spoke.

"I have failed to find out where they have taken her." said one. "It
must have been dark when they entered Dorchester; I can find no one who
remembers such a cavalcade in the streets. I am at a loss how to
discover her prison."

"Think, Martin."

"I have never been so barren of schemes as I am how. Have you no
suggestion, Crosby?"

"I want to kill Rosmore."

"And you, Mr. Fellowes?"

"Here I may be of service. I am known as a soldier and a King's man," he
answered. "My presence in Dorchester will not be called in question, and
I may learn what is the real plot on foot. Until we know it, we can
hardly scheme to prevent it."

"An excellent plan," said Martin. "There is another scheme half-born
within me. I will let it mature to-night. Courage, comrades. Three
honest men are worth many scoundrels. Three lovers of one woman, for so
we are in our different fashions."

"That is true," said Crosby.

"Quite true," murmured Fellowes.

"And we strive together," said Martin, letting his hand fall on the
table. It was covered immediately by the other men's hands.

"Heart and soul for Mistress Lanison," said Fellowes.

"Heart and soul," said Crosby.

"Three honest and true men," murmured Fairley, and tears were in his
eyes. "A triple alliance."

CHAPTER XXI

LORD ROSMORE DICTATES TERMS

Lord Rosmore thought little about the assizes as he supped alone and
drank his wine, unconscious of the many times he filled and emptied the
glass. The hunting of fugitives was not to his taste, unless the
fugitive chanced to be his personal enemy. He was sick at some of the
cruelties he had been forced to witness; he hated and despised Judge
Jeffreys, and almost shuddered at the thought of the punishment which
was about to fall upon the crowd of ignorant peasants imprisoned in
Dorchester. Had he been judge he would have treated them leniently, and
probably no fear of the King's displeasure would have made him act
otherwise; but for the furtherance of his own desires he had another
standard of morality. It was not a standard made to suit the present
circumstances, but one that had guided him through life, the primitive
ideal that what a man desires he must fight for and take as best he may.
From his youth upwards he had coveted little that he had not obtained;
the success was everything, the means used did not trouble him. If fair
ones failed, foul ones were resorted to, and his conscience troubled him
not at all. If, without hindrance to himself, he could return some
service for one rendered, he did so, and with a certain class of men and
women won for himself a name for generosity. To withstand him, however,
no matter in how small a thing, to baulk his aims and desires, directly
or indirectly, was to turn him into an implacable enemy, the more
dangerous because no scruple of honour would weigh with him or direct
his actions. At the present moment he knew three persons were opposed to
him--Gilbert Crosby; the fiddler, Martin Fairley; and Barbara Lanison.
Had the first two been in his hands he would have destroyed them. If, to
accomplish this, false witnesses had to be found, he would have found
them, and would have slept not one whit the less at night. He hated them
both, and was still scheming for their downfall. Had circumstances so
chanced that these two were powerless to be of further danger to him, he
would still have hated them, would still have crushed them at the first
opportunity. He was not a man to forgive an injury.

Truly, they were almost powerless to baulk him now, he argued, as he
drained his glass again. What could two men do in Dorchester at the
present moment, with the town full of soldiers, and Jeffreys at hand to
deal out summary justice? The brown mask no longer hid a person of
mystery; the features of Gilbert Crosby were known to dozens of men who
had been outwitted by him. He would not dare to walk the streets by day.
As for this fiddler fellow, what power had he to cajole rough soldiery?
He might work upon the superstition of Sir John Lanison at Aylingford,
might play upon the heartstrings of a woman, but these hard-drinking,
hard-swearing men were not likely to fall victims to his fooleries. Even
if he discovered where his mistress was lodged, he would not be able to
come near her.

"I have played the trump card and taken the trick," laughed Rosmore.
"Now comes the taming of Mistress Lanison. I should hate her for defying
me did I not desire her so much."

What he chose to think love was perhaps not far removed from hate. He
longed to possess, to bend to his will, to have the woman who stood for
so much in the estimation of so many men. Self-gratification controlled
him, the desire that men should once again know how useless it was to
attempt rivalry with him. He had a reputation to maintain, and he would
maintain it at all hazards. He had begun to weigh carefully in his mind
the plans he had formed, when the door opened.

"Ah! you loveable little trickster!" he exclaimed as Harriet Payne
entered. "Come and let me thank you. Gold and trinkets I have none
to-night; but--"

"I do not want them," she said.

"Love and kisses, my love and kisses," he said, drawing her on to his
knee. "I've spent wakeful nights thinking of you; now I am happy again."

After a while she disengaged herself a little from his embrace.

"Playing the traitor is not pleasant," she said.

"It is a despicable game," he answered, filling a glass with wine and
handing it to her. "Drink confusion to all traitors."

"That would be to curse myself."

"You are so clever that I wonder you should think me capable of asking
you to do a treacherous action, even for love of me," said Rosmore. "You
shall know my great scheme now that you have so well earned full
partnership in it. But tell me the whole story first. I heard of the
dropped handkerchief. That was excellently conceived."

Harriet told him of her visit to Barbara Lanison in London, repeating
almost word for word what had been said. She told him of the journey to
Dorchester, almost acted for his benefit the part of sobbing and
frightened woman which she had played so well, and Rosmore laughed and
applauded her.

"Excellent! Most excellent!"

"And now?" said the girl, "what is to happen? What is in store for her
now she is in Dorchester? You swore to me that I should not be bringing
her into the hands of Judge Jeffreys. Into whose hands have I delivered
her?"

"Into mine," said Rosmore.

"For what purpose?"

"To save her from herself. It is a long story, but you shall have it
presently. I shall still want your help."

"You do not love her?" the girl questioned almost fiercely, "There are
those about you who believe that I am your plaything, useful to do your
bidding, only to be thrown aside when you have no more need of me."

"Who has dared to say so? Tell me!" Rosmore was splendid in his sudden
wrath, and Harriet Payne was a little frightened.

"Nay, I will not injure anyone. It is natural for a man to think so
seeing what you are and what I am."

Rosmore turned her towards a mirror on the wall.

"Learn, mistress, to value yourself at something nearer your true worth.
I see in the mirror as dainty a piece of womanhood as this fair land,
with all its treasures of beauty, holds. Hast heard of Trojan Helen,
that woman who was a world's desire, whose beauty made men sigh for her
until they fell ill with their desire; for whom two nations fought,
pouring out their noblest blood for her possession through ten long
years, and at the end dooming a city to flames and massacre? I would not
have you so like this ancient Helen that all the world should be my
rival, for then could I not hope to have my arms about you as now they
are; but as she was fair, so are you; as beside her all women were
naught, so to me are all women naught beside you. Kiss me, and, if you
will not tell me who has done me such slander, at least know this that
they were lying words which he spoke."

She kissed him, contented.

"Then you will not treat her harshly?" the girl said. "Mistress Lanison
is a true, brave woman; I would not have her hurt in any way."

"It is my desire to help her, as I will show you presently," Rosmore
returned. "Tell me what she has said to you. Two women in adversity ever
grow confidential."

"I do not know whether she loves Mr. Crosby--I think there are barriers
which even love cannot break down--but she is willing to make some great
sacrifice for him, that is why she consented to come to the West. No
sooner were we lodged in Dorchester than she sent me with a message to
Judge Marriott praying him to go to her."

"And you delivered the message."

"I made pretence of doing so, but told her that I could not get speech
with the judge."

"You are as wise as you are fair," said Rosmore. "I must see Marriott at
once. He is a blundering fool, this judge, and might ruin everything.
Tell me, have you seen Mr. Crosby since he fled from Lenfield?"

"And you threatened to have my shoulders bared and whipped!" laughed the
girl. "No, I have not seen him since then."

"It was the bare shoulders I thought of, not the whipping, you witch."

"Now, tell me your purpose concerning Mistress Lanison," said the girl.

"She is a woman in love," said Rosmore, "and loves not as her guardian
would have her do. It is the usual way of women who have guardians. Had
you such an ogre to direct your actions and you loved me, he would be
certain to have some other lover for you and would hate me. This is
Mistress Lanison's case, and although she does not like me, I would do
her a service and outwit her guardian. I would--"

He stopped suddenly. There were footsteps in the passage, and Harriet
slipped from his knee and was standing sedately at a little distance
from him when the door opened and a servant entered.

"Judge Marriott is asking to see you, my lord."

"I was thinking of him. Bring him in." Then, as the servant departed, he
turned to Harriet: "Come this way, into this other room."

"Your room!" she exclaimed. "I would not have anyone find me here."

"No one shall enter unless they kill me first upon the threshold. Have
no fear. You could not leave the house unseen by Judge Marriott, and I
would not have him see you for the world. He is foul-mouthed and
foul-minded. Let the curtain fall close, so, to keep from you as much of
his conversation as possible."

Lord Rosmore crossed the room to meet his guest as the door opened.

"This assize work makes one thirsty, Rosmore, and, hearing you had
arrived, a longing came over me to drink a bottle with you."

"You are welcome. Within a few minutes I should have been knocking at
your door had you not come."

"Good! Then we may have an hour's peace. The town's astir, Rosmore;
there'll be great doings in Dorchester. Do you hear what that wag
Jeffreys has done? He has had the court hung with scarlet to mark the
occasion. He does not mean his lesson to die quickly out of the memory."

"That is what they mean, then, by 'Bloody Assizes.' I heard the name
whispered as I entered the town."

"Oh, they were quick enough to see that this was no ordinary
dispensation of law," laughed Marriott. "The dogs are sleepless and
trembling to-night, I warrant."

"Aye, it is certainly the King's turn now, and I would he were making
better use of his opportunity."

"What a glutton you are, Rosmore. There are over three hundred prisoners
in Dorchester alone."

"And most of them might be released," was the answer. "Such clemency
would do more for the King" than will be accomplished by this revengeful
spirit."

"Since when have you turned sentimental?"

"I think I was born with a horror of wholesale injustice."

Marriott laughed, then grew serious.

"We are old friends, Rosmore, and there is no danger in free speech
between us, but it would not be wise to say such things in the hearing
of Jeffreys."

"Even Jeffreys may have a weak spot to touch which would be to compel
him to silence. Most men have."

"They hide it successfully as a rule."

"Or think so," said Rosmore. "Amongst these three hundred prisoners are
there any of importance?"

The judge shrugged his shoulders.

"Not in our world. I dare say in this neighbourhood there are a few with
some standing."

"You have had no personal appeals made to you?"

"Many, but none which counted," and then Marriott dropped his voice to a
whisper. "The escape of anyone you are interested in might be arranged."

"I might even contrive that without your assistance, eh, Marriott,"
laughed Rosmore. "He who holds the key can easiest open the door. Don't
look so astonished, man. It is an open secret that, from the King
downwards, personal aims enter into this rebellion. Jeffreys has his, a
stretching out towards power; you have yours, which are no concern of
mine; I have mine, which are nothing to you."

"You are too honest, and perhaps you bark too loudly," said the judge,
glancing round the room.

"I take care to examine walls well before I live between them," said
Rosmore; "but see for yourself. This curtain hangs before the door of my
bedroom, this before a window looking into a side street," and he drew
the curtains aside for a moment to show that he spoke truly.

Marriott nodded and drank more wine.

"We can talk quite freely," said Rosmore, seating himself again at the
table opposite to his guest. "There is a woman you have promised to help
should she ask you."

"No; you are mistaken."

"Think, Marriott. The promise may have been made at Aylingford Abbey."

"Do you mean Mistress Lanison?"

Rosmore nodded his head slowly.

"Ah, yes, I did make some kind of promise," said Marriott. "A gallantry,
Rosmore, and I would make my words good if I had the chance."

"And the bribe?" Rosmore asked.

"As you have just said, that can be no concern of yours."

"That is not so certain. It happens that you have the chance. Mistress
Lanison is in Dorchester--a prisoner."

Marriott sprang to his feet.

"The devil! Who had her arrested?"

Rosmore shrugged his shoulders.

"I do not know, but the fact remains, she is a prisoner. This I can tell
you, she journeyed to the West to appeal to you on behalf of Gilbert
Crosby, and was arrested on the way."

"But Crosby has not been captured?"

"Don't you think you and I could make up our minds that he has?" said
Rosmore.

"I do not see the necessity. My influence will have to be exerted to
procure her release. I shall have kept my word, and--"

"And the reward?" asked Rosmore.

"It will not be so great that it will be beyond her power to pay," was
the answer.

"Shall I make a guess?" said Rosmore. "If your influence is exerted,
Barbara Lanison becomes the wife of Judge Marriott. Ah! I see I have hit
near the mark. I have another plan. You shall write me two orders, one
for the release of Mistress Lanison, the other for the release of
Gilbert Crosby. The execution of these orders shall be at my discretion
as to time. They may be given because of your love for her, if you will,
but you must be self-sacrificing and claim no reward."

"My dear Rosmore, if you are serious, your impudence is colossal, if you
are in jest, I fail to see the point of it."

"I have not come to the point, for jest it is, and one you may profit
by. Sit down again and fill your glass--we can enjoy the joke together.
Although you do not ask for any reward, you get one--five hundred or a
thousand guineas, the exact amount we can decide, but at any rate a
goodly sum for two scraps of paper. I should advise you to close with
such an offer."

"Still the jest does not appeal to me."

"No?"

"You want Mistress Lanison--"

"Released," Rosmore interrupted sharply.

"She shall be, but in my own fashion."

"In mine, I think," said Rosmore quietly.

Marriott rose to his feet again, his face purple with anger. A string of
oaths and invectives poured suddenly from his lips.

"You are not in court, Marriott, and I am not a prisoner," said Rosmore
quietly. "Do you happen to remember a prisoner who was tried some months
ago? Was his name Josiah Popplewell?"

The judge was suddenly silent, and his purple face became livid.

"He was a rich merchant in the City, I fancy, full of crime and treason,
and, moreover, very wealthy. His wealth was tempting to--let us say to
those in high authority, and there was plenty of evidence against him,
manufactured, perhaps, but still apparently irrefutable. At the crucial
moment, however, there came forward a witness who, in the clearest
manner, was able to prove that the evidence was false, and Popplewell
got off. That is the case from the world's point of view. But there was
another side to it. This witness was well paid, and by whom do you
think? By the judge himself, who accepted an immense bribe from the
prisoner. I wonder what the King would have to say if he knew, or in
what estimation Judge Jeffreys would hold his learned brother? Do you
remember the case?"

"A pretty story. I wonder if you could prove it?"

"Easily. The witness named Tarrant is in my employment. He declares that
the judge made an effort to have him accidentally killed, not unwisely,
perhaps, for the man has in his possession a scrap of writing which
would ruin the judge."

"It is a lie."

"I have seen the writing," said Rosmore. "I could lay the case before
Jeffreys whilst he is in Dorchester. That might make a sensation.
Amongst the gibbeted wretches we might see hanging one of the judges who
had been sent to punish them; that would be more original than a court
hung with scarlet."

Marriott sat down slowly.

"Your glass is empty, let me fill it," said Rosmore. "Shall we say five
hundred guineas for the two orders, no further questions asked, and
presently, when the prisoners are in safety, the return of that
incriminating scrap of paper?"

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