CHAPTER VII.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 217, 22 June 1877, Page 1

CHAPTER VII.

" Alas !" said she. sadly ;" I know my father t^o well ; his word once passed will not be broken. And consider, Walter, the disgrace and ruin it would bring on him The queen would banish him at once, perhaps do even worse. Oh no, Walter ; it is we who must submit." "But Constance cannot ask me to stoop to dishonour ?" " Dearest, it is not dishonour. Surely the prisoner who feigned in order to outwit his jailer, and escaped, would be fully justiiied ; and England now is one great prison, where we da c not say or do as we list, but as pleasures the queen. Walter, you h»ve such wild notions," continued she, looking playfully up at him, "fit only for the times of the crusades ; this i 3 what half the world does now, why should you scruple ?" "If it were lawful, my Constance, we should not see half the nobility of England exiled from the court, fined, itnorisoned, and in constant suffering. Men are not so in love with all this as not gladly to escape from it, if conscience permitted. No, Constance, my beloved, do not urge me to do that which you would yourself hereafter despise me for." Constance endeavoured to disengage herself from the close em brace in which she was held. " It is time we p irt, then/ said she, as haughtily as she could. " Constance, you will not leave me in ansjer ?" " I have tarried too long," said she. "It is not a maiden's part to be rejected; you count a sacrifice of feeling too great to win my hand." " Constance, have you no mercy ?" said he, in a tone o£ anguish ; " it is my honour and my faith that stund between us." " No, no," sdd she, "it is not so ; let me go, Walter ; choose quickly between my love and happiness, and lh« vision of honour you conjure up- I will never disobey my father. Seek me, as he bade you, or eeek me not all. We part for ever." She whb gone. He watched the flutter of her white dress along the terrace. He •aw her lean on Rose, who had been waiting at a distance. He s.iw her gather the flowers as she went along, and those she misliked she cast down at her feet. She stood for an instant on the steps, and the moonlight cast an unearthly radiance on her snowy robe and golden hair. She looked like some vision from fairy-land, as she disappeared witbiu the house. He followed the path he 1 tiny feet had trodden j he picked up those scattered leaves of auUimn roses, and laid them next his heart, and th^n he went to his own chamber, M'eut to the struggle with himself for life or death. The breeze whistled blithely by that cool bright evening ; the round of life went on, but though mortal eyes saw them not, and mortal ears henrd them not, intent upon the scene, bent the gaze of heavenly intelligences, and keenly they listened to every sigh and groan that burst from that aching heart in Walter de Lisle's lonely chamber. Differently, in truth, was that night spent by the betrothed. Constance never entertained the thought of losing her lover. She was flu.-hed with triumph, she had performed her father's behest — resisted Walter's arguments, and she did not doubt the next day would bring him a captivo to her feet, and she pictured to herself bright visions — bow the Baroness de Lisle would comport herself in the proud court of Elizabeth, how rapidly Walter would advance in favour and trust, and how, through it all, she would be the star that led him on, the best cherished of that noble heart. The light in her eye, and the smile that sat on her lip, reassured her father that victory was secure, so that though Walter was missed from the supper-table, he did not feel anxious. No, Walter did not sup that night, neither when the weary inhabitants of the house sought their beds did he follow the example. Conetanco elept soundly, smiling iv her sleep.

On the ground, fighting with his anguish, lay "Walter de Lisle ; close beside was the invisible tempter, busy at his work. " But for a little time," he whispered. " Elizabeth must ere long recognise the rights of her Catholic subjects, and queens d > not live for ever. Can you not even secretly serve your p krty by your influence ? Deceit, oh ! call it not by that name, it is not that ; it is understood by everybody in these days, when religion has changed with each Tudor that has sat on the throne ; it is only a scruple of yours thus to relinquish all the sweetness of life. What will life be without her ?" And then, in glowing colmrs, he painted the future wiih Constance, and in hues that male the heart shrink back — the future without her ! Walrer half yielded ; he began to form plans, how much he would give up ; he would see Lord Beauville again — would argue it with him once more. He would show Constance bis meaning more cleirly. It was a fearful crisis in Walter's life ; but in the darkest hour we are not left alone, and if the tempter were on the one side, an angel, in glorious array , was on the other, strengthening, pleading, bringing back by-gone memories of innocent and happy days. The eyes of angels and saints were bent up^nth-it lonely boy, and in the the courts of heaven there went up many a praydr for him from the whiterobed throng. On earth too, in ths vigil he was wont to keep, Father Mordaunt prayed in the chapel of the college at Rheims, and, impelle J by a sudden memory of the boy he had loved so much, he prayed especially for Walter. Walter at last fell asleep, still lyins; on the ground, and he dreamt strangely and coa.usedly. He wai bafk at Rheims in the old chapel : theie was a figure all m white ; he coald not see who it was ; yes, it showed his mother's face, and vanished slowly away ; then again, he too was clothed i\ whi:e, lie was to serre Father Mordaunt's mass, bur, the chapel see ued 'o move about in a marvellous manner. The falling of some heavy w»i,jb.t <yoke him up ; he awoke saying aloud, " Ne nos itiducas in tentationem, ted libera uom a malo."

Notr — " But if such person or child so passing, or sent, shall after become conformable and obedient to the laws of the Church, and shall rupair to church, and continue in such conformity, he shall, duiiug such term as he sh ill so continue, be discharged of every such disability and incapacity."— B unu % EKltsicuUcal Lav.