Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

JANUARY 1925 Pictures and Pic nwepuer 37 Her father's lips set and he took her wrist. " Do you know that the son of Rutland is a prisoner and will die unless you consent to marry your cousin Malcolm?" he said in a low voice. " Father," she sobbed, " you cannot mean it?" " Can and do," smiled the old man. " He will be tortured and then hanged unless we keep our bargain with our cousin's. What say you now?" She said, in cold words, very little, but when again her lather laid the marriage agreement before her, with a trembling hand she signed it. ""That night she took her maid Jennie Faxton into her confidence. "I want you, Jennie," she said, " to take a message to Rutland Castle for me. It is a secret message and no one must know. It is for Sir John Manners. My father believes that I love him, and has balanced his life against my marriage with my cousin Malcolm. Yes, my father believes that I love him, before I can believe it myself. But I believe it now. My father is right. He has seen what I have been feeling. Though I shall marry Malcolm it is John I shall love." And that night Jennie went to Rutland Castle, being taken within by a sister of hers who was in the employment of the old Earl. And when by stealth she crept up to the room of young Sir John to deliver the message it was a strange sight which met her eyes. A prisoner Sir John was indeed, though not an enforced one. On his way back from Lochleven the party had passed through an ambush and Sir John it was who fell. He was still weak from his wounds, and when, during a midnight audience of Queen Mary, he tottered and would have fallen, she held out her arms and it was into them that he staggered. At that moment the curtains parted and Jermie Faxton peeped in. To see Sir John Manners in the arms of Mary, 'Queen of Scots. . . When she began the weary way back to Haddon Hall under the pale light of the moon, she carried with her a message that had never been delivered. Upon the next morning, amid a great flourishing of trumpets. a great shaking of lances and spears and a vast waving of gaily coloured flags, in a litter of silver and fairest lace, and accompanied by a retinue five hundred strong, Queen Elizabeth arrived at Haddon Hall for the wedding of Dorothy Vernon. Never before m that generation had such joyous scenes been witnessed in that corner ol Derbj shire. The servants were lined along the terrace top waving bunting and little Bags. The foot soldiers of the Queen held the way up the terrace steps. And at the foot of the steps, in the sight of a vast gathering of countrymen and countrywomen, Sir George Vernon waited to welcome his Qui i What a roar of greeting arose as the litter drew up. Sir George steppi d forward, the Queen stepped down, Sir George knelt, the populace cheered, the foot soldiers presented arms, Sir George kissed the royal hand and then, rising, bowed low. " Your daughter is not here to receive us," said the Queen tartly. Sir George glanced round. "Your Majesty," he faltered, "she was here but a moment ago. I cannot think where she can be." ■"The Queen passed on, ignoring his explanations or lack of them, and he felt that he would never again hold his head up in face of this slight that had been offered the great Queen. And then Dorothy came into view running, to pull up and drop a dainty curtsey before the royal lady. But the royal lady was in one of her less-pleasing moods that day, having travelled far and long from London, and she swept by without acknowledgment. Sir George angrily drew his daughter aside. " You have offended the Queen and cast a shadow on the whole ceremony," he said. " Never — " "Father!" she whispered. "T must have .in audience of the Queen ai once and privately. 1 have been talking to Jennie Faxton who is back from Rutland GaStle but these twelve minutes with terrible news. Mary oi Scots is there! And there is a plot, with the Rutland* behind it, to place In r on the throne of England I" "What!" the old man fell back apace, staring at his daughter as if hehad imagined the dreadful tidings and her lips had not moved. Then taking her hand he led her before the Qu< en and begged her to recount her news. Elizabetth listened attentively and when at length she spoke it was plain that she had forgiven the Vernons their lapse. " You have done good work which I shall not forget," she said. And then, summoning a foot soldier : "Take a hundred men of foot," she commanded, " and set a guard on Rutland Castle. Mary of Scots is there. Seize her. Take also the Rutlands, father and son. Hold them against my next command, and bring me news if your mission is attended with success." In the excitement occasioned by the tidings Dorothy could wander a little from the seething concourse to a quiet 9pot along the terrace where she could be alone with her thoughts. And what bewildering thoughts they were ! Suddenly she realised that this was her lover she had betrayed — John Manners, her ideal, her fairy prince come true. But few times had she met him; on that first memorable meeting in the rose garden, and two or three times since. But she realised that it was this man that she had sent in all likelihood to the block who was the only man in all the world to her. This this traitor ! Her lover. . . Quicker than thought — for her thoughts were ^Bjjjjjjj^^^ poor lame things that She threw a wide cloak over htm and sat herself on his knee, but alack ! Four feet and two of them a man's were peeping out from under her dress.