Grisly Grisell | Page 5

at least will not let the murderous traitors of
Somerset and the Queen prevail over the loyal friends of York and the
nation."
"There is happily no murder in the case. Praise be to the saints," said
Countess Alice, "your little maid--"
"Aye, that's what they said as to the poor good Duke Humfrey,"
returned the irate lady; "but that you, madam, the good-sister of the
noble York, should stand up for the enemies of him, and the friends of
France, is more than a plain North Country woman like me can
understand. And there--there, turning round upon the steep steps, there
is my Lord Earl hand and glove with that minion fellow of Somerset,
who was no doubt at the bottom of the plot! None would believe it at
Raby."
"None at Raby would believe that my lord could be lacking in courtesy

to a guest," returned Lady Salisbury with dignity, "nor that a North
Country dame could expect it of him. Those who are under his roof
must respect it by fitting demeanour towards one another."
The Lady of Whitburn was quenched for the time, and the Countess
asked whether she did not wish to see her daughter, leading the way to
a chamber hung with tapestry, and with a great curtained bed nearly
filling it up, for the patient had been installed in one of the best
guest-chambers of the Castle. Lady Whitburn was surprised, but was
too proud to show herself gratified by what she thought was the due of
the dignity of the Dacres. An old woman in a hood sat by the bed,
where there was a heap of clothes, and a dark-haired little girl stood by
the window, whence she had been describing the arrivals in the Castle
court.
"Here is your mother, my poor child," began the Lady of Salisbury, but
there was no token of joy. Grisell gave a little gasp, and tried to say
"Lady Mother, pardon--" but the Lady of Whitburn, at sight of the
reddened half of the face which alone was as yet visible, gave a cry,
"She will be a fright! You evil little baggage, thus to get yourself
scarred and made hideous! Running where you ought not, I warrant!"
and she put out her hand as if to shake the patient, but the Countess
interposed, and her niece Margaret gave a little cry. "Grisell is still very
weak and feeble! She cannot bear much; we have only just by Heaven's
grace brought her round."
"As well she were dead as like this," cried this untender parent. "Who
is to find her a husband now? and as to a nunnery, where is one to take
her without a dower such as is hard to find, with two sons to be fitly
provided? I looked that in a household like this, better rule should be
kept."
"None can mourn it more than myself and the Earl," said the gentle
Countess; "but young folks can scarce be watched hour by hour."
"The rod is all that is good for them, and I trusted to you to give it them,
madam," said Lady Whitburn. "Now, the least that can be done is to
force yonder malapert lad and his father into keeping his contract to her,

since he has spoilt the market for any other."
"Is he contracted to her?" asked the Countess.
"Not fully; but as you know yourself, lady, your lord, and the King, and
all the rest, thought to heal the breach between the houses by planning a
contract between their son and my daughter. He shall keep it now, at
his peril."
Grisell was cowering among her pillows, and no one knew how much
she heard or understood. The Countess was glad to get Lady Whitburn
out of the room, but both she and her Earl had a very trying evening, in
trying to keep the peace between the two parents. Sir William Copeland
was devoted to the Somerset family, of whom he held his manor; and
had had a furious quarrel with the Baron of Whitburn, when both were
serving in France.
The gentle King had tried to bring about a reconciliation, and had
induced the two fathers to consent to a contract for the future marriage
of Leonard, Copeland's second son, to Grisell Dacre, then the only
child of the Lord of Whitburn. He had also obtained that the two
children should be bred up in the household of the Earl of Salisbury, by
way of letting them grow up together. On the same principle the Lady
of Whitburn had been made one of the attendants of Queen
Margaret--but neither arrangement had been more successful than most
of those of poor King Henry.
Grisell indeed considered Leonard as a sort of property of hers, but