“ruined love, when it is built anew,
grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.”
—romeo and juliet, act i., scene i.
as hilary kept guard over her lover through those long hours of waiting, seeing the pain which she could do nothing to relieve, fearing, as she watched his failing strength, that the end was indeed drawing near, it seemed to her that the punishment of all her pride and perversity was falling on her with overwhelming force.
when conscious, he lay absolutely still, too much exhausted to speak, and when drifting back into a semi-conscious state his moans tore her heart, and filled her, moreover, with terror lest some villager crossing the churchyard should possibly hear the sound.
at last, when it was growing dusk, she heard horsemen on the road, and, after an interval, when doubtless the travellers were leaving their horses with zachary in the stable-yard, came the welcome summons from below which had been agreed upon. durdle clambered down the step-ladder and unbolted the door, and in another minute the vicar and dr. harford made their way into the dim tower room.
looking up into the physician’s strong, calm face, hilary felt as if a load of care had been suddenly lifted from her shoulders. he greeted her with more than his usual cordiality, understanding well enough how sore her heart must be. then he knelt down beside the mattress and looked with keen anxiety at his son.
“will there be any risk in having a light?” he asked.
the vicar thought not, and, producing a tinder-box, began to strike a flint and steel and to kindle the lantern that had been brought from the house.
then when the light fell on the white face drawn with pain, the doctor regretted that he had not brought gabriel’s mother, for not even at notting hill had he seemed so near death.
hilary saw the change in his manner and her heart sank. yet it comforted her a little when dr. harford proceeded to examine the shattered arm, for surely, she argued to herself, had there been no hope he would have left his son’s last moments undisturbed.
“i did the best i could for him in the orchard,” said the vicar; “but fear it was but rough-and-ready treatment.”
“the duel would have been enough to defeat the most skilful surgery,” said the doctor; “and clearly the bone must have been broken as he fell. but he hath great rallying power, and i don’t despair of him yet.”
on those words hilary stayed her failing heart all through that terrible night, while gabriel passed from one fainting fit to another, and it seemed as if the angel of death hovered above him ready at any moment to bear him away from her.
at length towards daybreak he slept for a time, and woke with a look of renewed life in his face which cheered them.
“the despatches?” he asked, looking from his father to the vicar.
“dr. coke has given them to me,” said the physician.
“and you will bear them without delay?” said gabriel, anxiously.
dr. harford’s face clouded.
“to leave you now may mean your death,” he replied. “i do not think i can leave you.”
“but i promised to guard them with my life, and they are urgent,” pleaded gabriel. “let me still serve.”
hilary’s eyes grew dim, but she spoke in a low, steady voice.
“i will do all that you bid me, sir,” she said. “surely good nursing may save him.”
“well, my dear,” said the physician, “if anyone can keep him in life, i verily believe ’tis you; and if he urges me to go, i cannot say him nay.”
“you will see them both yourself,” said gabriel.
“ay, the despatches shall be placed in their own hands.”
“and tell general cromwell,” said gabriel, “that if i recover, i more than ever desire to serve the wounded.”
with many last directions, the physician at length tore himself away, well knowing that it was doubtful whether he should ever again look on his son.
the vicar went to see him mount, glad that he should leave bosbury before the village was astir, and as they quitted the tower gabriel turned to hilary with a look that made her heart bound.
“now do you repay a hundredfold all the suffering of these years,” he said. “living or dying, i am content.”
she bent down and kissed him tenderly. and long before the vicar rejoined them he had sunk into a dreamless sleep.
cheering himself with the old family motto, dr. harford rode with all speed to windsor, where he was able to deliver the despatches to sir thomas fairfax and to give him an account of prince rupert’s doings in herefordshire. he found, however, that cromwell had quitted windsor, and, after taking blechington house, was sweeping round oxford, taking possession of all the draught horses in the neighbourhood, and thus disorganising the king’s plan of campaign by preventing prince maurice from removing the heavy guns from oxford. it was not until the night of the 28th april that the physician was able to overtake him near farringdon, as he was on his way to rejoin fairfax, after defeating sir henry vaughan at bampton.
the troops had halted for a couple of hours beside the lambourn, and the physician on asking to be taken to cromwell, was conducted by a burly corporal to a pollard willow beside the stream. here, with his armour removed, and a little gilt-edged volume in his hand, rested the tired leader, his back against the tree trunk, the expression of his face more that of a prophet than a soldier. clearly what massey would have termed the “enoch” side of his character was now uppermost, and the “david” side no longer visible.
as the corporal mentioned the name of the physician, he promptly slipped the little volume into his pocket, and with a brief and not particularly ceremonious greeting, received from dr. harford’s hands the blood-stained despatches.
“pray be seated, sir,” he said, resuming his place under the tree, with the fatigued air of one who has for many days known scant rest. then without comment he broke the seal and hastily read massey’s communication.
“you have done me a greater service than you know by bearing this,” he said, glancing up from the closely-written sheet.
“sir, i am but my son’s ambassador,” said the physician. “he would have delivered the despatch himself, but was attacked and grievously wounded as he rode from ledbury.”
cromwell glanced at the blood-stained letter, which told its own tale.
“i remember captain harford well,” he said. “he did excellent work at newbury, and again, two months ago, when we were in wiltshire.”
“’twas only through his great wish to serve you that i have consented to leave him in a risky hiding-place, and in grave peril of death from his wounds,” said the physician.
“poor lad!” said cromwell, his stern face softened to such tenderness as amazed dr. harford. “the moral courage of his nature is a thousandfold more needed in england than mere animal bravery. there is one of my troopers, passey by name, who was his fellow prisoner in oxford castle, and he hath told me how no skilled physician could have shown a more tender care for the fever-stricken inmates.”
“should he recover, he more than ever longs to serve the sick and wounded,” said dr. harford.
“then in god’s name bid him do it,” cried cromwell. “i urged him at newbury to wait for clearer guidance, bidding him beware of men and to look up to the lord, letting him be free to speak and command in his heart, and without consulting flesh and blood to do valiantly for god and his people. and here, doubtless, in this pain he hath passed through, his guidance hath come.”
“should i find him living on my return, i will repeat your words to him,” said dr. harford.
“god grant that he may be spared to you, sir,” said cromwell. “i know too well what the loss of a first-born son means to the heart of a father. look you, an’ it should chance that parliament still desires to retain my services in the army, let your son act as one of the mates to the surgeon of my troop, thus would he gain knowledge whilst still serving the cause.”
dr. harford welcomed the suggestion, and anxious to lose no time on his return journey, took leave of the great leader, understanding better than he had done before what it was that gave this man his extraordinary power. he had the insight to perceive what the greatest of modern historians has called cromwell’s “all-embracing hospitality of soul,” and to understand that this, combined with a rare sagacity in seeing what was practically possible and a matchless faith and courage, marked him out as the true steersman in those troubled times.
during these days peter waghorn had in deep depression brooded over the utter defeat of his schemes. his fruitless search for gabriel in malvern had not improved his temper, and on going next day to canon frome manor to interview norton he learnt to his dismay that the governor had been carried home from bosbury desperately wounded and was raving in delirium. nobody knew how he had met with his wound, but farmer chadd had found him lying unconscious in his orchard, and it was conjectured that the mishap must have occurred while he was seeking to arrest some of massey’s men in their flight.
waghorn kept his thoughts to himself and trudged back to bosbury, guessing shrewdly that captain harford had all the time been within earshot, and, in spite of his wound, had managed to fight his rival. had he encountered hilary he would probably have asked her some direct question, but the villagers reported that she was ill and obliged to keep the house, a rumour which was confirmed by her non-appearance at church on the following sunday.
on the thursday a soldier rode up to the wood-carver’s house, and waghorn, in some trepidation, went out to him.
“the governor bids you come with all speed to him at canon frome manor to report on some work undertaken for him,” said the messenger, looking with some curiosity at the austere puritan.
“good; i will come anon,” said waghorn. “doth the colonel recover him of his wound?”
“ay, ’tis healing, and his head is clear, but i counsel you to come with all speed, for he’s in a devilish ill-humour, and to be kept waiting is what he can’t abide.”
waghorn laid aside his work, and in very low spirits tramped over to canon frome. to do him justice, he was ill at ease, and detested his alliance with an officer of norton’s type. it might be permissible to use the ungodly as tools, but as he recalled hilary’s appeal to him in the orchard, and reflected that he had left her wholly at the mercy of the colonel, his conscience pricked him. he had, as a matter of fact, forgotten everything in the burning desire to prevent gabriel harford’s escape.
evidently the soldier had drawn a truthful picture of norton’s state, for, as the wood-carver was ushered into his room, he peremptorily ordered his servant to quit him, and beckoning waghorn to come near to the bed, looked up at him with an angry scowl.
“well, scarecrow! what news do you bring?”
“no news, sir,” said waghorn, gloomily.
“you great bungling idiot! of course, i know you didn’t find captain harford in malvern; he was lying within a stone’s throw of us behind the hedge.”
“and challenged you in order to save mistress hilary?—i guessed as much,” said the wood-carver. “i like your doings very ill, sir, and you well deserve what you got.”
“you vile hypocrite! do you sit in judgment on me?” said norton. “you! a turncoat—a spy! why, you can’t even carry out the dirty work you undertake. prate no more, but tell me what they did with captain harford. we fell at the same moment, and he, as i well remember, had death in his face as he ran me through.”
“i know not where they bore him, sir, and had there been a burial at bosbury i must surely have known of it.”
“maybe, then, he still lives, and they have hidden him away somewhere. doubtless the vicar hath sheltered him; he is one of those soft-hearted fools who seek to overcome evil with good, and models his life after the sermon on the mount, not in your fashion, on the cursing psalms.”
there was enough truth in this remark to cause waghorn another twinge of conscience.
“i may have been ill-advised to leave you in the orchard with mistress hilary,” he admitted. “but the flesh is weak, and i remembered only the duty of securing that half-hearted sparer of crosses. the lady told a most shameless lie, and if her lover was slain in the duel his blood will be on her head.”
“that may be a very soothing reflection for you,” said norton, with a grim smile, “but it doth not better my case. now, look you here, i will do anything in reason for you if you discover this man’s whereabouts. you think, had he died, you would have heard of it. well, by hook or by crook, you can surely find out where they have stowed him away. have you seen aught of mistress hilary?”
“nay; she keeps the house, i hear, and is ill.”
“a blind! a mere trick!” cried norton, angrily. “depend upon it, she keeps the house to nurse that accursed lover of hers. oh! if i had but the strength to mount my horse, i would soon track him down.”
“i could keep watch on the house, sir,” said waghorn, “and let you know who comes and goes.”
“well, do that, it may serve,” said norton; “for i will not live to be thwarted by that puritan captain. and, look you, waghorn, you might do me a service by worrying the vicar. go and seize the prayer-book in the church, and bid him obey the parliamentary order and use this blessed directory they have concocted. ’s life! what wouldn’t i give to see his face when you confront him with it.”
and he broke into a laugh, which was cut short by a paroxysm of pain.
“i could do that,” said waghorn, sternly, a gleam of satisfaction kindling in his eyes. “i reckon he would take it even more to heart than the breaking of his painted window. ay, i could do that.”
“do it then,” said norton, mockingly, “and serve the cause that you are for ever prating about. i care not a jot, for it will serve me.”
with that he dismissed the wood-carver, and waghorn walked straight to ledbury, where he had the good fortune to find a trusty waggoner who was willing to carry a letter for him to gloucester and bear back the reply. he then adjourned to a small alehouse, where he laboriously wrote an order to one of his puritan friends for a copy of the directory, which was already in use in gloucester, but had not yet been enforced in herefordshire.
having accomplished this work to his entire satisfaction, he tramped back in the dusk of the evening to bosbury, but had only gone about half the distance when the sound of a horseman following him made him look round. he saw with a start of surprise that it was none other than dr. bridstock harford.
“good e’en to you, sir,” he said, touching his hat.
“good evening,” said the doctor, as he galloped past.
“now what should that bode?” muttered waghorn. “where hath he been? and whither doth he ride now? i’ll light my lantern when i reach home, and see if the hoof-prints stop at the vicarage.”
