The Secret Chamber at Chad by Evelyn Everett Green

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The boy shook his head doubtfully.

"I would I were," he replied; "but methinks Brother Emmanuel
himself thinks that peril may menace him. I understand not rightly
these matters; but I saw that yesterday upon his face which showed
me that he felt he stood something in peril, albeit he has no fear.
He is not of the stuff of which cowards are made."

Julian's eyes were wide with affright.

"They say the Lollards and heretics are to be sought out and
burned, and that right soon," he said, in low, awe-struck tones.
"Some of our people heard it today from those at Mortimer. The Lord
of Mortimer has become very zealous to help the priests and monks
to scent out all suspected of heresy and make a great example of
them.

"Edred, thou dost not think they will take Brother
Emmanuel--and--burn--him?"

The last words were little more than a whisper.

"I will die sooner than see it done!" cried the boy passionately.
"But in these days no man may say who is safe. Therefore went I up
to the chamber this very day to set it in order;" and then he told
his brothers of the difficulty that had beset him there, and how he
felt no security for any person in hiding there so long as the
difficulty of conveying water to him remained so great.

Bertram grasped the situation in a moment. He well knew that if any
person were suspected of lying hidden in the house, a close watch
might well be kept upon every member of the household, and that it
might be hard indeed to pay more than a very occasional visit to
the prisoner. If, for instance, suspicion were to fall upon the
boys in this matter, it would be probable they would be placed
under some restraint; they might be carried off to the priory and
forced to do some penance there. It would never do for the prisoner
to be entirely dependent upon them for supplies of the precious
commodity; and yet what else was to be done?

"I must think about it," cried Bertram. "I shall never rest till I
have thought of some method. Would we had not left it so long! We
have had all these years to make our plans, and we have never
thought of this thing till trouble seems like to be at the very
doors.

"Still it may but be our fantasy. Neither Brother Emmanuel nor any
other may need the shelter of this room. We will trust it may be
so.

"Yet I will cudgel my brains for a plan. It would be a fearful
thing to know him to be shut up here, and yet to be unable to visit
him with the necessaries of life. How poor Warbel drank when he
issued forth that night. Methinks I see him now. One would have
thought he had never tasted water before."

"But we came not to talk of all this," interrupted Julian, who had
been evincing a few signs of impatience latterly; "we came to tell
of the fair held today and tomorrow at Chadwick. Our father says we
may go thither tomorrow if we will. Warbel says they will bait a
bull, and perhaps a bear; and that there will be fighting with the
quarterstaff and shooting with cross and long bow, and many other
like spectacles. He will attend us, and we may be off with the
light of day, an we will. That is what we came to tell thee,
Edred."

Edred was boy enough to be well pleased at this news. Any variety
in the day's round was pleasing to the lads, who found life a
little monotonous, albeit pleasant enough. It was a relief, too, to
turn from grave thoughts and anxious forebodings to the
anticipation of simpler pleasures, and the boys all ran to seek
Warbel and ask him what these village fairs were like; for they had
been much interrupted during the recent wars, and only now that
peace had been for some years established did they begin to revive
and gain their old characteristics.

At break of day on the morning following, the little party started
forth on foot to walk the five miles which separated them from the
village of Chadwick. It was a pleasant enough walk through the
green forest paths before the heat of the day had come. The three
boys and Warbel headed the party, and were followed by some eight
or ten men of various degree, some bent on a day's pleasure for
themselves, others there with a view of attending upon their
master's sons.

Bertram felt that he could have dispensed with any attendance save
that of Warbel; but Sir Oliver had given his own orders. With so
powerful and jealous a neighbour within easy reach of the village,
he felt bound to be careful of his children. They were but
striplings after all, and doubtless his unscrupulous neighbour
would be delighted to hold one or more as a hostage should excuse
arise for opening hostilities of any kind. He knew well the
unscrupulous character of the man with whom he had to deal, and he
acted with prudence and foresight accordingly.

The little village when reached proved to be all en fete. Rude
arches of greenery crossed every pathway to the place, and all the
people had turned out in their holiday dresses upon the green to
join in the dances and see the sights. There was a miracle play
going on in one place, repeated throughout the day to varying
groups of spectators. In another corner some rude gipsy juggling
was to be seen, at which the rustic yokels gazed with wondering
eyes. There were all the usual country games in full swing; and the
baiting of a great bull, which was being led to the centre of the
green, attracted the attention of the bulk of the spectators, and
drew them away from other sports. The actors in the miracle play
threw off their dresses to come and witness this delightful
pastime, and hardly any of those present seemed to regard for a
moment the sufferings of the poor brute, or the savage nature of
the whole performance.

Edred, however, belonged to that very small minority, and whilst
his two brothers pressed into the ring, he wandered away elsewhere
to see what was to be seen. His attention was attracted by a little
knot of persons gathered together under the shade of a great oak
tree, rather far away from the green that was the centre of
attraction. The shade looked inviting, now that the heat was
growing greater, and the boy felt some curiosity to know what was
the attraction which kept this little group so compact and quiet.
On the green were shouting and yelling and noise of every
description; but Edred could hear no sound of any kind proceeding
from this little group till he approached quite near, and then he
was aware of the sound of a single voice speaking in low tones and
very earnestly.

When he got nearer still he saw that the speaker was a little
hunchback, and that he had in his hand a small book from which he
was reading aloud to the people about him. And this fact surprised
the boy not a little, for it was very unusual for any person in the
lower ranks of life to be able to read; and yet this man was
evidently in poor circumstances, for his clothes were shabby and
his hands were hardened by manual toil.

Drawing nearer in great curiosity, Edred became aware that what the
hunchback was reading was nothing more or less than a part of the
gospel narrative in the English tongue, to which the people about
him were listening in amazement, and with keen curiosity and
attention.

Edred was familiar enough with the Latin version of the Scriptures,
and had studied them under the guidance of Brother Emmanuel with
great care and attention; but he had never yet heard the words read
out in their entirety in his native tongue, and he was instantly
struck and fascinated by the freshness and suggestiveness of the
familiar language when used for this purpose. He was conscious that
it gave to the words a new life and meaning; that it seemed, as it
were, to drive them home to the heart in a new fashion, and to make
them the property of the listener as they could never be when a
dead language was used as the medium of expression. He felt a
strange thrill run through him as the story of Calvary was thus
read in the low, impassioned tones of the hunchback; and he was not
surprised to see that tears were running down many faces, and that
several women could hardly restrain their sobs.

Now and again the hunchback paused and added a few explanatory
words of his own; now and again he broke forth into a rhapsody not
lacking in a certain rude eloquence, in which he besought his
hearers to come to their Saviour with their load of sin--their
Saviour, who was the one and only Mediator between God and man.
Were not His own words enough--"Father, forgive them"? What need,
then, of the priest; the confessional; the absolution of man? To
God and to Him alone was the remission of sins. Let those who loved
their Lord seek to Him, and see what bliss and happiness resulted
from this personal bond between the erring soul and the loving
Saviour.

Edred shivered slightly as he stood, yet something in the
impassioned gestures of the hunchback, and the strange enthusiastic
light which shone in his eyes, attracted him in spite of himself.
That this was rank heresy he well knew. He knew that one of the
Lollard tenets had always been that confession was a snare devised
of man and not appointed by God. Edred himself could have quoted
many passages from Holy Writ which spoke of some need of confession
through the medium of man, and of sins remitted by God-appointed
ministers. He had been well instructed in such matters by Brother
Emmanuel, who, whatever his enemies might allege against him, was a
stanch son of the Church, even though he might be gifted with a
wide tolerance and a mind open to conviction; and his pupil was not
to be easily convinced against his will. Nor was Edred convinced of
the justice and truth of many things that this ignorant man spoke;
but what did strike him very greatly was his intense earnestness,
his fiery and impassioned gestures, the absolute confidence he
possessed in the righteousness of his own cause, and his utter
freedom from any kind of doubt or fear--the eloquence of one of
nature's orators that carries away the heart far more than the
studied oratory which is the result of practice and artifice.

Whilst the man spoke, Edred felt himself carried away in spite of
his inner consciousness that there was a flaw in the argument of
the preacher. He was intensely interested by the whole scene. He
could not help watching the faces of the group of which he made
one, watching the play of emotion upon them as they followed with
breathless attention their instructor's words, and drank in his
fiery eloquence as though it were life-giving water.

And was it wonderful this should be so? the youth asked of himself.
Were not these poor people fairly starving for want of spiritual
food? and what food did they receive from the hands of their parish
priest? Edred knew the old man well. He was a kind-hearted
sexagenarian, and in those days that was accounted an immense age.
He mumbled through the mass on Sundays; he baptized the children
and buried the dead when need arose; and if sent for by some person
in extremity, would go and administer the last rites of the Church.
But beyond that his duties did not go, and no living soul in the
place remembered hearing him speak a word of instruction or
admonition on his own account. He had a passion for gardening, and
spent all his spare time with his flowers; and his people went
their way as he did his, and their lives never touched on any
point.

Such being the case, was it wonderful that the people should come
with eagerness to hear of the Saviour from whomsoever would tell
them of Him? Edred well remembered Brother Emmanuel's words about
the four God-given channels of grace--the living ministry by which
He had meant His Church to be perfected. But how when the streams
grew choked? how when the ministry had become a dead letter? Was
the Church, were the people, to die of inanition? Might not God
pardon them for listening to any messenger who came with His name
upon his lips? Surely He who lived in the heavens would pardon them
even if it were sin, seeing that it was the instinctive love of His
own wandering sheep which brought them crowding round any shepherd
who would teach them of Him, even though he did not come in the
God-directed order.

Some such thoughts in a more chaotic form surged through Edred's
head as he stood listening, almost causing him to lose the words of
the preacher, though the tenor of his discourse was plain. He
almost wished he might enter into a discussion with this
enthusiast, and point out to him where he thought him extravagant
and wrong; but young as he was, Edred yet knew something of the
futility of argument with those whose minds are made up, and
caution withheld him from entering into any argument with one who
was plainly a Lollard preacher. So, after listening with sympathy
and interest for a long while, he quietly stole away again.

The bull baiting was over by this time. The games and other sports
were recommencing with greater energy after this brief interruption.
The miracle play was again represented, and Edred stood a few minutes
to watch, thinking within his heart that this representation, half
comical, half blasphemous (though the people who regarded it seemed
in no way aware of this), was a strange way of bringing home the
realities of the Scriptures, when it could be done so far more
faithfully and eloquently by simply reading the gospel words in the
tongue of the common people.

His eye roved from the actors, with their mincing words and
artificial gestures, to the group still collected beneath the tree,
and he could not but contrast the two methods in his own mind, and
wonder for a moment whether the Lollards could be altogether so
desperately wicked as their enemies would make out.

He was half afraid of allowing himself to think too much on such
themes, and went in search of his brothers. He found Warbel looking
out for him in some anxiety. He had missed the boy for some little
while from his charge, and as the field was filling fast with
followers and servants wearing the Mortimer livery, he was glad to
have the three boys all together beneath his care.

He would have been glad to get them to leave the place, but Bertram
would not hear of it. He wished to try his own skill at some of the
sports; and Julian, of course, must needs follow his example.

The skill and address of the Chadgrove brothers won the hearty
admiration of the rustics, but it also brought them more than once into
rivalry and collision with some of Mortimer's gentlemen-at-arms, who
were not best pleased to be overmatched by mere striplings. It was also
galling and irritating to them to note the popularity of these lads
with the rustics. Any success of theirs was rewarded by loud shouting
and applause, whilst no demonstration of satisfaction followed any feat
performed by those wearing the livery of Mortimer. And if the lads
scored a triumph over any of these latter, the undisguised delight of
the beholders could not pass unnoticed by the vanquished.

Altogether there were so much jealousy and ill will aroused that
little scuffles between the followers of Chad and Mortimer had
already taken place in more than one part of the field. Warbel was
getting very uneasy, and had persuaded Edred to use his influence
with his brothers to return home before any real collision should
have occurred, when a great tumult and shouting suddenly arose to
interrupt the whispered colloquy, and Edred saw a great rush being
made in the direction of the oak tree, where the hunchback preacher
had been keeping his station the whole day long, always surrounded
by a little knot of listeners.

Shouts and yells were filling the air, the voices being those of
Mortimer's following.

"A Lollard, a Lollard! A heretic! Down with him! Away with him! To
the fire with him! A Lollard, a Lollard!"

A deep flush overspread Edred's face. He made a spring forward; but
Warbel laid a detaining hand upon his arm.

"It is no case for us to interfere in," he said, with clouded brow.
"If they have a heretic to deal with we must not meddle. It is not
England's way for a score to attack one; but we must not interpose
betwixt Mortimer and a heretic. That would be too much peril."

But almost before the man had done speaking Edred broke away,
crying out excitedly: "My brothers, my brothers! they are there in
the thick of it!" and with a groan of terror and dismay Warbel
recognized the voice of Bertram raised in angry scorn.

"Stand back, you cowards! Who ever heard of fifty men against one,
and he a cripple? The first who touches him I strike dead. A
heretic! Pooh! nonsense. He is but a poor travelling peddler with
his pack. See, here is the pack to speak for itself. For shame to
mar a merry holiday in this unmannerly fashion! No; I will not give
him up! Ye are no better than a pack of howling, ravening wolves. I
am the Lord of Chad, and I will see that no violence is done this
day. Back to your sports, ye unmannerly knaves. Are ye fit for
nothing but to set upon one helpless man and worry him as dogs
worry their helpless prey?"

Howls, execrations, oaths followed freely; but the village people
were to a man with their young lord, and the scions of Mortimer
felt it by instinct.

"Who is he? Whence came he?" was being asked on all sides; but none
could give an answer. He was a stranger to the village, but all
those who had been drinking in his words rallied round him, and
declared he was but a simple peddler whose wares they had been
buying; and Bertram, who really thought so, stood beside the tree,
opened the bundle, and showed the innocent nature of the wares.

His brothers had forced their way to his side by this time, and
helped to make a ring round the poor hunchback; and Edred kept a
very sharp eye upon the emptying of the pack, resolved if there
should be any book at the bottom to contrive that it should not
reach the eyes of any of the vindictive followers of Mortimer.

But there was nothing of the sort to be seen. The man was both too
poor and too wary to carry such dangerous things with him. His own
thin volume had been slipped into some secret receptacle about his
person, and his calmness of bearing helped to convince all who were
open to conviction that he was innocent of the charge brought
against him.

With dark, lowering faces, and many muttered threats, the Mortimer
retainers drew off, seeing that with public feeling dead against
them they could not prevail to work their will upon the intended
victim. But Warbel was made very anxious by the words he heard
openly spoken on all sides, and he would have given much to have
hindered this act of Bertram's, generous and manly though he knew
it to have been.

"It is ill work drawing down the charge of heresy," he remarked, as
he got the boys at last in full march homeward. "Any other charge
one can laugh to scorn; but no man may tell where orthodoxy ends
and heresy begins. Godly bishops have been sent to prison, and
priests to the stake. How may others hope to escape?"

"Tush!" answered Bertram lightly; "there was never a heretic at
Chad yet, and never will be one, I trow. Was I to see a poor
cripple like that done to death without striking a blow in his
defence--he in Chadwick, of which my father is lord of the manor?
Was I to see Mortimer's men turning a gay holiday into a scene of
horror and affright? Never! I were unworthy of my name had I not
interposed. The man was no heretic, and if he had been--"

"Have a care, sir, how thou speakest; have a care, I entreat thee!
Thou knowest not what ears may be listening!" cried Warbel, in a
real fright.

Bertram laughed half scornfully.

"I have no need to be ashamed of what I think. I am a true son of
the Church, and fear not what the vile Mortimer scum may say. But
to pleasure thee, good Warbel, I will say no more. We will make our
way home with all speed, and tell the tale to our father. I doubt
not he will say it was well done. The Lord of Chad would ever have
the defenceless protected, and stand between them and the false and
treacherous bloodhounds of Mortimer. I have no fear that he will
blame me. He would have done the same in my place."

"I trow he would," answered Warbel in a low voice; "but that does
not make the deed done without peril of some sort following to the
doer."

Chapter V: A Warning.

Sir Oliver and his wife listened with some anxiety to the boys'
story of the rescue of the peddler. Bertram observed the cloud upon
his father's brow, and eagerly asked if he had done wrong.

"I say not so, my son," replied the knight. "I would ever have a
child of mine merciful and just--the protector of the oppressed,
and the champion of the defenceless; nevertheless--"

"And it was those bloodhounds of Mortimer's who were setting upon
him," broke in Julian vehemently. "What right had they to molest
him? Could we of Chad, upon our own soil, stand by and see it done?
I trow, father, that thou wouldst have done the same hadst thou
been there."

A smile flitted over the face of the knight. He loved to see the
generous fire burning in his boys' eyes; but for all that his face
was something anxious as he made reply:

"Belike I should, my son, albeit perhaps in a something less
vehement fashion. My authority would have served to keep down riot,
and the charge against the peddler could have been forthwith
examined, and if found false the man could then have been sent on
his way in safety. But it is dangerous work just now to appear to
side with those against whom the foul charge of heresy is brought.
Knowest thou--know any of ye--what gave rise to the sudden
suspicion?"

Edred, who knew much more of the real nature of the peddler's
occupation that day, kept his lips close sealed. He would not for
worlds have told what he had seen and heard. His brothers were
plainly ignorant of the peddler's exhortation, reading, and
preaching. It was not for him to add to the anxieties of his
parents.

Julian was the first to answer the question.

"It was but the idle spite of the people of Mortimer," he answered.
"They had baited the bull and the bear, and they had the mind to
bait or burn a heretic whilst their blood was up, as a fit end to
their day's pleasuring. I saw them prowling round the tree where
the fellow was talking to the women and showing his wares; and
suddenly they raised the shout. I called out to Bertram that
Mortimer's people were bent on a mischief, and he sprang to the
peddler's side before any had touched him, and we disappointed the
hell hounds of their prey. He had nothing in his pack but such
wares as all peddlers have; and the people vowed he had done naught
all the day but sell to all who came. It would have been sin and
shame for us of Chad to have stood by to see him hounded perhaps to
death. We could not choose but balk those evil men of their will.
None of our blood could have stood by to see such ill done!"

"I cannot blame ye, my sons," said the knight. "Ye have the blood
of your forefathers in your veins, and it goes against all of us at
Chad to see injustice and unrighteousness committed. I do but wish
the cry raised against yon man had been anything else than that of
heresy. The priests and magistrates are very busy now searching out
all those suspected of that vile sin, and those who shelter them
are accounted as guilty as those who are proved tainted. Our foe of
Mortimer is very zealous in the good cause, and will not scruple to
employ against us every weapon in his power. It would be an
excellent thing in his eyes to show how mine own children had stood
up to defend a Lollard heretic. I would we knew something more
anent this man and his views.

"Warbel, didst thou know him? Is he anyone known in and about
Chad?"

"I never saw his face before, sir," answered Warbel. "I know not so
much as his name. I had thought of making some inquiries of the
village folks. All I noted was that he seemed always to have plenty
of persons around and about him, and his wares were nothing very
attractive. Still, it is often the tales peddlers tell and the way
they have with them that keeps a crowd always about them. Some of
the folks of the place must know who and what he is."

"Yes, verily; and it would be well for thee to ride over tomorrow
and make all needful inquiry. It would set my mind at rest to know
that there was no cause of complaint against him. We cannot be
blind to the fact that heretical doctrines are widely spread by
those purporting to be hawkers and peddlers. Yet there must be many
honest men who would scorn to be so occupied, and who know not even
the name of these pestilent heresies."

And with that charge the knight tried to dismiss the subject from
his mind; whilst Edred went to bed feeling terribly uneasy, and
dreamed all night of the secret chamber, and how the time came when
they were all forced to take refuge in it from the hatred of the
Lord of Mortimer and his bloodthirsty followers.

But not even to his brothers did he tell all that he had heard and
all that he knew. The words of the gospel in the familiar language
of his country haunted him persistently. He felt a strange wish to
hear more, although he believed the wish to be sin, and strove
against it might and main. Some of the passages clung tenaciously
to his memory, and he fell asleep repeating them. When he woke the
words were yet in his mind, and they seemed to get between him and
the words of his task that day when the boys went to their tutor
for daily instruction.

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