KENILWORTH - Penn State University

Kenilworth“Was Tressilian there with her?” said Leicester, in the samehurried tone.“No, my lord. You may remember,” answered Varney, “thathe was that night placed with Sir Nicholas Blount, under aspecies of arrest.”“Did Carrol, or the other fellows, know who she was?” demandedLeicester.“No, my lord,” replied Varney; “Carrol and the Warder hadnever seen the Countess, and Lambourne knew her not in herdisguise. But in seeking to prevent her leaving the cell, heobtained possession of one of her gloves, which, I think, yourlordship may know.”He gave the glove, which had the Bear and Ragged Staff,the Earl’s impress, embroidered upon it in seed-pearls.“I do—I do recognize it,” said Leicester. “They were myown gift. The fellow of it was on the arm which she threwthis very day around my neck!” He spoke this with violentagitation.“Your lordship,” said Varney, “might yet further inquire ofthe lady herself respecting the truth of these passages.”“It needs not—it needs not,” said the tortured Earl; “it iswritten in characters of burning light, as if they were brandedon my very eyeballs! I see her infamy-I can see nought else;and—gracious Heaven!—for this vile woman was I about tocommit to danger the lives of so many noble friends, shake thefoundation of a lawful throne, carry the sword and torch throughthe bosom of a peaceful land, wrong the kind mistress whomade me what I am, and would, but for that hell-framed marriage,have made me all that man can be! All this I was ready todo for a woman who trinkets and traffics with my worst foes!—And thou, villain, why didst thou not speak sooner?”“My lord,” said Varney, “a tear from my lady would haveblotted out all I could have said. Besides, I had not these proofsuntil this very morning, when Anthony Foster’s sudden arrivalwith the examinations and declarations, which he hadextorted from the innkeeper Gosling and others, explainedthe manner of her flight from Cumnor Place, and my ownresearches discovered the steps which she had taken here.”“Now, may God be praised for the light He has given! sofull, so satisfactory, that there breathes not a man in Englandwho shall call my proceeding rash, or my revenge unjust.—And yet, Varney, so young, so fair, so fawning, and so false!402