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Page 28
'"And now," said De Aquila, "half the great Barons of the North and West
are out against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury, and half the
other half wait to see which way the game shall go. They say Henry is
overly English for their stomachs, because he hath married an English
wife and she hath coaxed him to give back their old laws to our Saxons.
(Better ride a horse on the bit he knows, _I_ say!) But that is only a
cloak to their falsehood." He cracked his finger on the table, where the
wine was spilt, and thus he spoke:--
'"William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after
Santlache. _I_ had my share too," he said, and clapped Hugh on the
shoulder; "but I warned him--I warned him before Odo rebelled--that he
should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in
Normandy if they would be English lords. Now they are all but princes
both in England and Normandy--trencher-fed hounds, with a foot in one
trough and both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word
that if they do not fight for him in England he will sack and harry out
their lands in Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, FitzOsborne has
risen, Montgomery has risen--whom our First William made an English
Earl. Even D'Arcy is out with his men, whose father I remember a little
hedge-sparrow knight nearby Caen. If Henry wins, the Barons can still
flee to Normandy, where Robert will welcome them. If Henry loses,
Robert, he says, will give them more lands in England. Oh, a pest--a
pest on Normandy, for she will be our England's curse this many a long
year!"
'"Amen," said Hugh. "But will the war come our ways, think you?"
'"Not from the North," said De Aquila. "But the sea is always open. If
the Barons gain the upper hand Robert will send another army into
England for sure, and this time I think he will land here--where his
father, the Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your pigs to a pretty
market! Half England alight, and gold enough on the ground"--he stamped
on the bars beneath the table--"to set every sword in Christendom
fighting."
'"What is to do?" said Hugh. "I have no keep at Dallington; and if we
buried it, whom could we trust?"
'"Me," said De Aquila. "Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who
is my dog, knows what is between them." He drew a curtain by the
shot-window and showed us the shaft of a well in the thickness of the
wall.
'"I made it for a drinking-well," he said, "but we found salt water, and
it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!" We heard the water whistle and
blow at the bottom. "Will it serve?" said he.
'"Needs must," said Hugh. "Our lives are in thy hands." So we lowered
all the gold down except one small chest of it by De Aquila's bed, which
we kept as much for his delight in its weight and colour as for any of
our needs.
'In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: "I do not say
farewell; because ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for
sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have a care," he said, laughing, "lest
I use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but return!"'
Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly.
'In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors--from the Manors which
had been ours.'
'And were the children quite well?' said Una.
'My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.'
Sir Richard was talking to himself. 'It would have broken their hearts
if we had taken back our Manors. They made us great welcome, but we
could see--Hugh and I could see--that our day was done. I was a cripple
and he a one-armed man. No!' He shook his head. 'And therefore'--he
raised his voice--'we rode back to Pevensey.'
'I'm sorry,' said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful.
'Little maid, it all passed long ago. They were young; we were old. We
let them rule the Manors. "Aha!" cried De Aquila from his shot-window,
when we dismounted. "Back again to earth, old foxes?" but when we were
in his chamber above the Hall he puts his arms about us and says,
"Welcome, ghosts! Welcome, poor ghosts!" ... Thus it fell out that we
were rich beyond belief, and lonely. And lonely!'
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