CHAPTER XI

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A NEW NAME.

"She hath no scorn of common things, And, though she seem of other birth, Round us her heart entwines and clings, And patiently she folds her wings To tread the humble paths of earth." --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

"There is not any virtue the exercise of which even momentarily will not impress a new fairness upon the features."--RUSKIN.

The Black Horseman had ever been an inscrutable being, and never did he show himself more so than when, a week or so after the visit of the vicar and Primrose to Caer Caradoc, the latter, on his arrival late one evening at the cottage, presented him with the letter to her mother, upon which hung such new and exciting issues, telling him with much eagerness of its contents. She had hoped he would show great surprise and wonderment at this strange new turn in her fortunes, and be perplexed equally with herself and her foster-father at the interest thus curiously shown in her by a great and almost unknown lady. But the muscles of the Black Horseman's face relaxed nothing of their immovable gravity as he listened, and the piercing black eyes which he turned on Primrose, when she had concluded her tale, conveyed nothing beyond their usual intense scrutiny, whereby they seemed indeed to read her very soul, yet revealing no emotion of his own the while. "Are you not surprised?" cried Primrose, stamping her foot with impatience. "Methought I could at last tell you news that would startle you! Are you ever ready, good sir, to hear all things without surprise or wonder? I would I could take you unawares just once only, and make you put off that inscrutable face you wear, and perchance let fall some of your secrets! Your face is ever full of secrets, yet I could as soon drag good Master Jones into our little church on the hillside yonder as drag one of them out of your heart!" The Black Horseman stroked his fierce iron-grey moustache, and smiled at the girl's mock wrath--that rare smile which her winning ways alone seemed able to summon to his stern countenance. "It would be an unfaithful servant who should suffer himself to be taken unawares," he said; "also, were you of my age, fair Primrose, and an experienced physician to boot, you must needs be full of secrets. Methinks some part of our mother Eve's curiosity hath fallen even to your share!" Primrose blushed. "My life has an unfair share of mysteries, dear sir," she said with a smile, "and I think I may be pardoned if I have also an undue share of curiosity! But now I am at rest on one of those points over which I have pondered, for I know you to be a learned physician. Thus far you have betrayed yourself!"

"I am the physician honoured by your mother with her commands," he answered, "and entrusted with the care of her health. To such knowledge of me you are welcome, fair child! Nay, no more questionings! Let us to business. It is your wish to accompany the Lady Bryn Afon on her travels this winter." "My mother's wishes must be mine," answered Primrose. "My dear father here and our vicar counsel me to go, telling me it is good for me to see somewhat of other lands while I am young, and to learn the languages spoken by other people than ourselves, and to see their manners and customs; and so I feel myself, although I would fain not be parted from dad even for a day. Yet, if I am perchance some other maiden than I seem, it may be well not to slight so kind an offer, whereby I may profit myself, and become more worthy of my mother's name. Of all this she will judge, and I will abide by her answer." "That is well spoken," said the Black Horseman; "I will convey your letter to her with all safety, and return with her answer with what speed I may. Perchance in a week's time you may again see me; earlier I dare not promise, for travelling is tedious, and I am no longer so young as when I first made my journeys to and fro on your behalf, fair Primrose." Indeed, the physician's coal-black hair was now deeply tinged with grey, and his beard likewise, and somewhat of the ravages of Time began to be apparent in his rugged and powerful countenance. Yet he was not yet much past the prime of life, and the eagle glance of his eye was as keen as ever, and as he rose to depart Primrose could not but gaze at his tall, well-knit figure and handsome features with admiration. He stooped and kissed her little hand gallantly, and was gone in the deepening summer twilight, while she stood wondering with what further questionings she dared torment him.

The week dragged slowly, for both the old boatman and his foster-child felt that their hearts would be lighter when the matter was once settled, and Primrose too awaited with much interest and curiosity the new knowledge of her hitherto unknown baptismal name. Her heart beat fast when, once more as she stood upon the bridge one fair evening, she heard the well-known horse-hoofs clattering in the distance, and ran forward to greet the Black Horseman as he drew up beside the cottage. "Nay, I will not dismount," he said, "for I sleep to-night at Caer Caradoc, where it is my business to acquaint the Lady Rosamond with her charge concerning you. She has herself offered to conduct you safely to London, whither, as you will find, your lady mother bids you repair to join the Lady Bryn Afon early in the month of October." "Does Lady Rosamond then know my mother?" asked Primrose in surprise, "I know the Lady Rosamond," answered the Black Horseman, "and have been so fortunate as to learn her purpose of travelling to town, and her willingness to take you in charge. Doth this my knowledge so surprise you, fair Shanno? Perchance the Black Horseman, though himself unknown to this neighbourhood, may, notwithstanding, know more of some of its occupants than they wot of." "Shanno!"[1] exclaimed Primrose, forgetting her first surprise in a second. "Dear Black Horseman, is that my new name--my real name, that my mother gave me at my baptism?" "Like you its sound?" asked the mysterious physician with a smile. "Shanno!" the girl repeated to herself as if in a dream. "Shanno!" and her voice lingered lovingly over the last syllable in the sweet, musical fashion of her Welsh countrywomen; "yes, it is a name I have ever loved, and I am well content. Dad, what think you of my new name? Is it not one full of music and sweetness? Or is it but my vanity which gives it any beauty? For, like a child with a new toy, I am like to be vain of my new possession!" "Nay, I like it well," said Jack fondly; "but 'Primrose' thou wilt ever be to thy old foster-father. A pale winter Primrose wast thou put into my arms, and the little bud I have cherished in my bosom can have no new name for me, now that I watch it day by day opening into a full-blown flower." "I would not have you call me aught but my own dear, childish name, dad," she answered eagerly; "your Primrose I will ever be, nor think of myself as 'Shanno' save only on high days and holidays!" "That is well," said the Black Horseman, and again that rare smile lit up his austere countenance as he looked at the girl's sparkling face. "Now, fair child, and you, good Jack, I must bid you farewell, for the evening groweth apace, and the road to Caer Caradoc is long." And so saying he put spurs to his gallant steed, and galloped away down the narrow roadway alongside the river, and Primrose, entering the cottage, sat down at the boatman's feet to read her mother's letter. It ran as follows:--"My beloved daughter,--Since your sweet face hath won my Lady Bryn Afon's heart, it is my wish that you should travel with her as she desires, obeying her wish in all things, and striving, as far as in you lies, to comfort and solace her by your presence, and by the exercise of those tender and winning arts with which a good Providence hath, I rejoice to hear, gifted you, in addition to much beauty of countenance; for which good gifts I counsel you, my daughter, to thank Him with all humility, praying continually that they may never prove to you a snare unto sin. You may perchance marvel, and your dear foster-father likewise, that after my oft-repeated injunctions laid upon you to avoid the castle of Bryn Afon, I should thus, as it were, suffer you now to plunge into the very jaws of the lion, by becoming the companion for a season of its sorrowing mistress; but I pray you bid your dear father, from me, to take no thought upon this matter, seeing that the lady is well known by hearsay to myself, and I have no fear of committing you to her care, knowing that she will be to you a true friend and guardian during such time as you remain with her, nor suffer any breath of evil from her connection with her ill-starred house to fall on your fair head. At the close of the winter months, since she must needs return to her lord and husband, you will then likewise return to the care of your excellent foster-father, whom I pray you ever to cherish with fond affection. He will, when the time of your departure comes, commit you to the care of the Lady Rosamond of Caer Caradoc, whose offer to conduct you herself towards London hath been gratefully received by the Lady Bryn Afon, who looks with eagerness for your arrival, and who will, during your sojourn with her in town, make it her pleasure to overlook your wardrobe, making such additions thereto as she shall deem fitting for one whom she chooses for her travelling companion. Wherefore I send you gold in sufficiency, that you may feel yourself in no wise a burden upon her bounty. I pray you, sweet daughter, be not tempted by the glitter and glamour of the Court, and remember ever the sacred vow by which I bound you in your cradle, never to taste any manner of strong drink--the cause for which vow you shall know, should you be spared to the age of one-and-twenty, and I be likewise spared to tell you; to which good time, yet some long, weary years hence, I look forward with deep yearning, and pray God to bring us both!" "Then when I am twenty-one years old," said Primrose, when she and Jack had reached the conclusion of the letter, "my mother will, it would seem, take me to live with her. Think you not so, dear dad?" "It would seem so," answered Jack half sadly. "It were only just and right that mother and child should after so long and passing strange a separation be at last united, and I will not grudge you whatever! yet my poor heart doth verily fail me at the thought, and I confess I like not greatly even now the prospect of my lonesome winter hearth. I fear me, Primrose, in foreign lands you will forget the language of Wales, and esteem it but a barbarous tongue on your return; yet I pride myself the king himself can find no fault with your English! And for that I must needs thank our good vicar, and rejoice that we have had among us so apt a scholar, and one so well versed in the English tongue and customs, at whose feet you have learned what a well-born maiden should. It is well that our youths should as now boast themselves of their training in the noble schools and universities of England, and I pray this may ever be their ambition, since there is much need of good learning among our Welsh clergy in these sad days, when heresy and schism are creeping all unawares into our principality, and subtle whispers reviling us for our national loyalty to our church and our king may be heard going from ear to ear in this our once peaceful valley. Ah me! it was an evil day when Master Jones set foot among us, bringing his false doctrines and his hatred of princes to be sown like pestilent seed amongst us! Our good rector has told me it was at Cardiff he picked up such ill notions from one who is even now preaching there scurrilous teachings against what he and his party are pleased to call the 'wickedness of popery and prelacy.' I thank God I have ever loyally striven to keep you from such teachings, dear heart, and that I may truly say that I can send you forth into the presence of the king and the archbishop themselves with no feeling of shame or disloyalty to my king and country! You love both right well; is it not so, my darling?" "As well as any English maiden I am like to see," answered Primrose stoutly, "and maybe even better, since you tell me there is already much disloyalty in England, whereas our little Wales has yet a right loyal heart, in spite of some few such mischief-makers as Master Jones! And should I have the honour of speech with his Majesty," she added with a laugh, "I will tell him that he has no braver subject in his United Kingdom than my dear foster-father, Jack the boatman, and will e'en assure him that Wales had nought to do with that most wicked and treacherous Gunpowder Plot made against his royal father, of which you and our vicar have told me so many tales. I can scarce believe, dear dad, that ere long I shall see for myself those grand Houses of Parliament, and perchance even be permitted to look into the very cellar where the wicked Guy Fawkes lay hid! And I cannot forbear hoping that the Lady Bryn Afon may some day let fall some tale about the castle here, and its curse, of which I fain would know the cause! It is surely strange that no one in all the country-side should have knowledge of so curious a history?" "There are many tales thereupon," said Jack, "but none may say if any one among them has any truth whatever. There is a tale of treachery on the part of one of the ancient lords of the castle, on which account some say the curse was uttered; but the rights of the story I know not, nor whether the curse fell from the mouth of a mortal man, or, as some say, from the lips of the Evil One himself. It is a mystery, I trow, which no vain curiosity on our part, sweet one, may solve." "I will believe no treachery," said Primrose valiantly. "So noble and ancient a house could never have been guilty of deeds of shame and dishonour. My lord, the present earl, has too noble a countenance to have traitors for his ancestors!" "Thou art ever faithful to thy noble friend, my darling!" said Jack with a smile, "and I love him dearly also. Yet, methinks, with all his beauty of countenance and dignity of presence, there is somewhat in his eye which I trust not wholly. Think you not so?" "Nay, I was but a child when I last saw him," answered Primrose, "and his eyes seemed to me the most beautiful and blue and glittering I had ever seen! I have ever looked upon him as a brave and unfortunate hero, and I will not be disenchanted! You gaze upon his eyes with superstition in your own, dear dad, and hence you see in them ghosts and goblins and all manner of evil and uncanny shadows! For my part, I would that you and I might dwell in the castle for one whole year, with some trusty guardsman at our side, and I believe we would soon show that the curse is but an old wives' fable!" "Heaven forbid that you should ever enter its accursed walls!" said Jack, crossing himself devoutly. "I pray it may ne'er be my lot so to do. Come, I will walk across the fields with you to Evensong, for my heart groweth heavy with the thought of losing thee, sweetheart, and methinks the prayers will sound comforting to mine ears." "And I must tell dear Master Rhys my new name," said Primrose, rising eagerly from her low stool at his feet, "and let him know that he must now finish his instructions for my confirmation with all speed, that I may not lose our good Bishop's blessing ere I depart. I pray you, dear dad, not to be sorrowful at my leaving you, for it is but for a few short months that I go. And if you are sorrowful, what must I needs be, seeing that I must go out into the great world at the side of a stranger, and be forced to learn terrible new tongues, and look upon strange foreign faces which are like to terrify my poor wits even with the thought of them!"

The old boatman looked lovingly into the girl's sweet upturned face, and kissed her glowing cheeks with lips that trembled somewhat; and though he smiled upon her as she took his hand and they sallied forth, he smothered at the same time a deep sigh, which welled up from a heart heavier than he dared confess.

Who, in that far distant and strange land of Italy, could comfort his darling with that silent sympathy, at such times far better than words, which she so sorely needed when that strange, mysterious shadow crept, as it was wont at long intervals, over her bright young spirit--a shadow unconfessed to any one but himself, and between the times of its unwelcome and sudden visitation as completely forgotten by the girl herself as if it had never existed? Who could tell what depth of loneliness and isolation her childish heart might suffer, when there was no one at her side to understand this curious and mysterious form of suffering which she seemed called upon to bear for a season? Often had Jack wondered whether to confess this unknown shadow of evil, which, whether a mental or physical disturbance, was none the less an actual source of occasional very real suffering, to the sagacious Black Horseman, or even to the girl's mother herself; but he always returned to the conclusion that it would perhaps be soonest forgotten and outgrown the less it was talked of or dwelt upon by any of those around her, and since after all it came but very seldom, and passed so utterly away between whiles, he shrank from any recognition of it which might in the slightest degree emphasise its existence upon her mind. And daily, during the few remaining summer weeks before the coming confirmation, did the good old man pray that the Holy Spirit of God might then so fully overshadow her sweet girlish soul, that no designs of the Evil One might ever have power to harm her. It was on a fair September forenoon that Primrose, to his fond eyes the very picture, in her soft white robe, of unconscious loveliness and girlish purity and innocence, responded with brave, unfaltering voice to her new name, "Shanno," in the fine old church of Caer Cynau, and knelt before the good Bishop of St. David's to receive the blessing she had long humbly desired. And many who were present in the congregation remembered for many a long day afterwards the wonderful beauty of expression on the sweet face of the boatman's mysterious foster-daughter, in whose deep grey eyes the very light of Heaven itself seemed to shine, and on whose wondrous wealth of golden hair the bright sun shone till her head seemed verily surrounded with an angelic halo. For as in the days of her early childhood, the superstitious country folk still looked upon Primrose as a being scarce of earth, not indeed from any want on her part of truly human delight in all the joys, or of tears in all the sorrows, of earth, but that they had many of them such lingering belief in wood-nymphs and water-sprites, and in fairyland in general, that her mysterious committal to the old boatman's charge was to their minds easiest to be accounted for in some such romantic fashion; and more than one old village crone had aroused Jack's ire by venturing to prophesy that ere many more years should pass, the maiden would be once more claimed by her own invisible people, and vanish from his side as suddenly as she had come! Alas, it was but too soon that she was now indeed to vanish, though for a season only, from his sight! And it was with a feeling of vague disquietude mingled with his pain that he parted from her some days after the confirmation, and sent her forth under the care of the gay-hearted Lady Rosamond and her trusty suite into the great world, which seemed very far away from the peaceful Gwynnon Valley.

[1] The author has taken the liberty of spelling this name according to its sound as expressed by English spelling.

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