CHAPTER XXVII

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BEFORE THE WEDDING.

"Let come what will, there is one thing worth, To have had fair love in the life upon earth." --SWINBURNE.

The winter months wore away quickly and happily for Primrose. Under Lady Rosamond's roof the days could hardly be dull or uneventful, even when they brought her into no communication with her mother or affianced husband; for her warm-hearted friend, whom Lord Bryn Afon might rightly call "madcap," was ever ready with the suggestion of some new diversion wherewith to chase away the slightest shadow from her young guest's brow, though indeed but little diversion was needed outside the walls of her own nurseries, where Primrose would willingly have spent whole days in playing with the little new-born heir of Caer Caradoc, the baby Elidore, who, after their many years of wedded life, had this winter come to the fond parents as a blessed Christmas gift, almost overpowering in the new joy and delight it brought them, and right royally welcomed to their hitherto childless home. But amid the new joys and cares of motherhood Lady Rosamond entered into the joy of her young friend's betrothal and future prospects with an eagerness of sympathy and delight which greatly cheered the girl's heart under circumstances which she might otherwise have found to be somewhat trying. For the restraint she was ever bound to maintain in those occasional meetings with the earl which her mother judged it wise to permit, and which, in the Court life into which she entered with Lady Rosamond, could not well be avoided, was an effort to her greater than any one knew, so fondly did her girlish heart yearn towards this gay and handsome father, and long to know the sad secret which had already drawn deep furrows on his brow, and which often clouded his merry blue eyes with its horrid shadow--those blue eyes which in her childhood had so strangely fascinated her, but in which she now often noticed a certain wild glitter, which terrified her against her will. Her mother and Percival visited her at frequent intervals, and these visits of the chaplain were a source of great delight to Lady Rosamond, who was wont to tease him and her young charge most unmercifully, assuring Primrose that he had most certainly in time past pronounced her to be a child of the Evil One, and that had she but heard the exorcisms which passed his lips as he stood by the lake's edge on that eventful Midsummer Eve, daring her to rise again from the dark waters to torment him, she could never have summoned courage to consent to be his bride! For which banter the grave Sir Ivor brought her to task frequently and severely; but it fell lightly enough on the ears of the lovers themselves, who on these happy occasions of meeting were able to hear little beyond the sound of each other's voice.

Whatever curiosity Sir Ivor and Lady Rosamond might feel as to Primrose herself, and her fitness by birth to mate with one of such ancient lineage as their favourite Sir Galahad, they were obliged to restrain until such time as Lady Bryn Afon thought fit to reveal to them the secret of her fair young attendant's parentage; but such was their regard for the beautiful girl, and their appreciation of her innate nobleness, that they could but give to his choice their fullest approval, and this, from well-known and valued friends of his mother's family, Percival received with pleasure, though content, in his inmost heart, to love and cherish his river-maiden, if need be, against the opinion of the whole world. And of all the kindnesses received by the lovers during those happy months of renewed intercourse, none were so dearly treasured as the words of blessing on their union spoken by the honoured lips of their loved king himself, who in the midst of his own thickly-gathering sorrows yet found space to enter with deep interest and kindliness into their love-story, and made Shanno's heart to glow with a never-to-be-forgotten devotion by the words of love and praise in which he spoke to her of her pure and true knight, Sir Galahad, and congratulated her on having won the love of so holy and devoted a servant of God; while he also praised to Percival the marvellous beauty and grace of his intended bride, showing so keen a discernment of that beautiful soul within, which looked forth from her glorious eyes, that the chaplain's heart swelled with pride and joy in such kingly discernment. And among other kind expressions of interest and affection, valued not much less than the former, were such as were spoken by Master John Milton and Master Jeremy Taylor, both of whom were frequent guests in Lady Rosamond's house, and who, in spite of their widely-differing opinions on matters of Church and State, found a common meeting-ground in their warm affection for Percival Vere, to whose side both were attracted equally, and with regard to whose special companionship each maintained with the other a generous rivalry. To Master Taylor, however, the chaplain could not fail to be personally drawn in an especial love and sympathy, their mutual love and devotion to the cause of their church and their king knitting their hearts together in a bond of union which every day grew stronger as the strife of parties waxed bolder, and grew daily more fiercely apparent. To Master Milton, on the other hand, his senior by some few years, he was the rather drawn by the power of an immense intellectual admiration, while the strong line already openly taken by the magnificent young poet on the side of Republicanism and religious independence raised between them a barrier of thought which stood in the way of such an intimate communion of spirit as he enjoyed with his friend Jeremy. Yet in spite of these strong differences of opinion--so strong indeed that the discussion of matters religious and political was tacitly avoided by the three friends in their intercourse with each other--they shared alike one common aim and lofty ideal, in their mutual strife after a life of such purity and holiness as was attained by few men of their time, and in which strife they found a union destined to outlive all outward disturbance and disagreement. Master Milton's poetic pen was at this time almost wholly laid by, while in his quiet school-house in Aldersgate Street he plunged hotly into all the controversies of the day; and to the entreaties of his two young friends, that he would indite more glorious verse rather than waste his energies on the pouring forth of pamphlets against bishops and others in high estate, he made no answer, save by promising, with a quiet smile, that for the sake of his friend Jeremy he would e'en for the present spare the great Archbishop Laud the scathing censure of his political pen.

And ere we pass from these scenes we must not omit to make mention of Sir Tristram Ap Thomas, who, though in constant attendance upon bevies of fair ladies, must needs for ever haunt the steps of Lady Rosamond's beautiful companion like some dismal sprite, assuring her that his affection for her was undying, and that he did but play with other damsels awhile, to hide the breaking of his heart, which he would smite valiantly with his hand as he sank on one knee before her in tragic attitude of grief and misery, raising to her face eyes of such woful despair that Primrose could have wept for his sorrows, had she not been fain, but some moments later, to burst into laughter, as she again beheld him disporting with a gay companion in some far corner, with heart as sound as ever. Whereupon she one day asked her lover saucily whether all men's hearts were fashioned after so strange a manner, and whether he could likewise so easily forget his sorrow did she bid him depart from her. On which he made answer, that were it ever the will of God that she should bid him take up so grievous a burden, she should then see the answer to her query, and know the love eternal and unalterable of which some men's hearts were capable. Which words were destined to bring to her own heart a future comfort, the need of which she yet but little dreamed.

After remaining in town some two or three months, until the Christmas season was well over and the New Year had gained a firm foothold for its brighter days and dawning promises of spring-tide joys, Primrose returned, by her mother's and her own wish, to spend the last few weeks of her girlhood in her own sheltered home on the banks of the Gwynnon, where for a short time she again gladdened the heart of her old grandfather by her bright presence, and ministered with tender hands and willing feet to the wants of the scattered villagers, who from her childhood had loved her dearly, and had lately looked forward with rejoicing to the happy time when she would come to dwell among them as their new vicar's bride. Even Master Jones could not find it in his heart to speak one word of harshness or utter one gloomy foreboding to one so sweet and fair as the far-famed Maid of Gwynnon, although behind her back he was heard to lament with grievous nasal whine over the increase of Popery, which, on the arrival of a new vicar, but lately fresh from an Oxford Fellowship and known to be a zealous adherent of King Charles and his Popish Queen, and moreover gifted by Satan with the gifts of powerful eloquence and great charm of presence, could not fail to drown the whole valley in perdition. Wherefore he and his most zealous followers made long prayers night after night in the chapel, commending their king and their church, whom they had forsworn, to the Evil One, and invoking the blessing of Providence on their own heresy and schism, which they hastened to sow yet more broadcast through the valley, wearing ever sadder countenances, and rolling more dismally the whites of their eyes than before. Seeing which, the good old vicar, whose days of labour were well-nigh ended, rejoiced more and more in the thought that ere long his troublous and anxious charge would be resigned into the hands of one with strong and willing hands and heart, better able than he to call back the simple village folk from the errors but of late years grown rife among them, and to fight for his church and country. And many a time, when Primrose sat with him in his beloved library, thinking with strange feelings how soon she would sit there, no longer to pore over the fortunes of the ideal Sir Galahad, but sharing those of her own true, living knight, they talked much together over the great work which Percival would find to do in the valley; and good old Master Rhys would sorely lament that his books had ever been to him a snare, perchance keeping him far more often than he had dreamed from the performance of other sacred duties. Whereupon Primrose cheered him to the best of her power, and oft prayed at evensong, as she saw his venerable hands uplifted to Heaven, that she and her husband might be found worthy to walk in the footsteps of so good and holy a servant of God. So passed the days away, and early in March came, to her great delight, the Lord and Lady Bryn Afon to their castle on the hill-top, there to remain until her presentation to her father, so long dreaded and yet hoped-for, and the wedding itself--dream of bliss as yet scarce fully realised in thought--should be over. And with them came the chaplain and the Black Horseman, ever in faithful attendance; and Percival, being inducted to his living, entered upon his new work in all the joy and gladness of his marriage prospects, drowning his impatience for his bride by incessant labour and study, varied only by those preparations in the now-vacated vicarage which were necessary ere they entered it together as their home. Those well-loved volumes, cherished companions of Shanno's childhood and youth, were, to her great joy, not far removed, Master Rhys choosing still to reside in the parish, and taking for himself a snug, ivy-covered cot but a stone's-throw from the parsonage door, where she herself arranged for him his treasured books in the order he loved, and which she knew so well. And so, the wedding being fixed to take place in the merry month of May, Lady Bryn Afon, ere presenting her daughter to her still unknown father, or permitting her birth to be made known in the neighbourhood, took her once more--during a brief visit of the earl to town--to the lonely farmstead Glyn Melen, to spend some few last days with her alone in the quiet solitudes below Craig Aran heights, and there to gain strength herself for the impending revelation.

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