THE TWO friends kept the secret of the Eyry to themselves for alittle while, now and then visiting the old tower to rummageamong the lumber stored in the lower room, or to loiter away theafternoon in the windy solitudes of the upper heights. And inthat little time, when the ancient keep was to them a small worldunknown to any but themselves--a world far away above all thedull matters of every-day life--they talked of many things thatmight else never have been known to one another. Mostly theyspoke the crude romantic thoughts and desires of boyhood'stime--chaff thrown to the wind, in which, however, lay a fewstray seeds, fated to fall to good earth, and to ripen tofruition in manhood's day.
In the intimate talks of that time Myles imparted something ofhis honest solidity to Gascoyne's somewhat weathercock nature,and to Myles's ruder and more uncouth character Gascoyne lent atone of his gentler manners, learned in his pagehood service asattendant upon the Countess and her ladies.
In other things, also, the character and experience of the onelad helped to supply what was lacking in the other. Myles wasreplete with old Latin gestes, fables, and sermons picked upduring his school life, in those intervals of his more seriousstudies when Prior Edward had permitted him to browse in thegreener pastures of the Gesta Romanorum and the DisciplinaClericalis of the monastery library, and Gascoyne was never wearyof hearing him tell those marvellous stories culled from thecrabbed Latin of the old manuscript volumes.
Upon his part Gascoyne was full of the lore of the waiting-roomand the antechamber, and Myles, who in all his life had neverknown a lady, young or old, excepting his mother, was never tiredof lying silently listening to Gascoyne's chatter of the gaydoings of the castle gentle-life, in which he had taken part sooften in the merry days of his pagehood.
"I do wonder," said Myles, quaintly, "that thou couldst ever findthe courage to bespeak a young maid, Francis. Never did I do so,nor ever could. Rather would I face three strong men than oneyoung damsel."Whereupon Gascoyne burst out laughing. "Marry!" quoth he, "theybe no such terrible things, but gentle and pleasant spoken, andsoft and smooth as any cat.""No matter for that," said Myles; "I would not face one such forworlds."It was during the short time when, so to speak, the two owned thesolitude of the Brutus Tower, that Myles told his friend of hisfather's outlawry and of the peril in which the family stood. Andthus it was.
"I do marvel," said Gascoyne one day, as the two lay stretched inthe Eyry, looking down into the castle court-yard below--"I domarvel, now that thou art 'stablished here this month and more,that my Lord doth never have thee called to service uponhousehold duty. Canst thou riddle me why it is so, Myles?"The subject was a very sore one with Myles. Until Sir James hadtold him of the matter in his office that day he had never knownthat his father was attainted and outlawed. He had accepted thechange from their earlier state and the bald poverty of theirlife at Crosbey-Holt with the easy carelessness of boyhood, andSir James's words were the first to awaken him to a realizationof the misfortunes of the house of Falworth. His was a broodingnature, and in the three or four weeks that passed he hadmeditated so much over what had been told him, that by-and-by italmost seemed as if a shadow of shame rested upon his father'sfair fame, even though the attaint set upon him was unrighteousand unjust, as Myles knew it must be. He had felt angry andresentful at the Earl's neglect, and as days passed and he wasnot noticed in any way, his heart was at times very bitter.
So now Gascoyne's innocent question touched a sore spot, andMyles spoke with a sharp, angry pain in his voice that made theother look quickly up. "Sooner would my Lord have yonderswineherd serve him in the household than me," said he.
"Why may that be, Myles?" said Gascoyne.
"Because," answered Myles, with the same angry bitterness in hisvoice, "either the Earl is a coward that feareth to befriend me,or else he is a caitiff, ashamed of his own flesh and blood, andof me, the son of his one-time comrade."Gascoyne raised himself upon his elbow, and opened his eyes widein wonder. "Afeard of thee, Myles!" quoth he. "Why should he beafeared to befriend thee? Who art thou that the Earl should fearthee?"Myles hesitated for a moment or two; wisdom bade him remainsilent upon the dangerous topic, but his heart yearned forsympathy and companionship in his trouble. "I will tell thee,"said he, suddenly, and therewith poured out all of the story, sofar as he knew it, to his listening, wondering friend, and hisheart felt lighter to be thus eased of its burden. "And now,"said he, as he concluded, "is not this Earl a mean-heartedcaitiff to leave me, the son of his one-time friend and kinsman,thus to stand or to fall alone among strangers and in a strangeplace without once stretching me a helping hand?" He waited, andGascoyne knew that he expected an answer.
