Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-12-02
THE CURFEW.

It lacked quite half an hour of curfey
toll. The old bell ringer came from unde,
the wattled roof of his cottage stoop and
stood with uncovered head in the clear,
sweet scented air. He had grown blind
and deaf in the service, but his arm was
as muscular as ever. and he who listened
this day marked no faltering in the heavy
metallic throbs of the cathedral bell. Old
Jasper had lived through many changes.
He had tolled out its notes of mourning
for good Queen Bess, and, with tears
scarcely dry, he had rung the glad tidings
of the coronation of James, ChaxSss had
been crowned, reigned, and expaated his
weakness before all England in Jasper's
time, and now he who under his army
held all the commonwealth in the hollow
Of his hand ruled as more than monarch,
and still the old man, with the habit of a
long life upon him, rang his matin and
sorrow.
Jasper stood alone now, lifting his dim
med eyes up to the softly dappled sky.
The walls of his memory seemed SO writ
ten over-so crossed and recrossed by the
annals of the life that had gone before that
there seemed little room for anything in
the present. Little rocked he that Crom-
Wells spearsmen were camped on the
moor beyond the village-that Cromwell
himself rode with his guardsmen league
away; he only knew that the bell that had
been rung in the tower when William the
Conqueror had made curfew law had
been spared by Puritan and Roundhead,
and that his arm for sixty years had never
failed him at eventide.
He was moving with slow step toward
the gate, when woman came hurriedly
in from the street and stood beside him
lovely woman, but with face so blanc!ied
that it seemed carved in the whitest OF
marble with all its roundness and dimples
Her great, solemn eyes were raised to the
aged face III pitiful appeal, and the lips
were forming words that he could not
understand.
'Speak up, lass. am deaf and cannot
hear your CHATTER"
The voice raised, and the hands clasped
and unclasped, and rung themselves to-
gether, palm and palm.
''For heavens sake. Jasper, do not ring
the curfew tonight"
daft, lassie."
Jasper, for sweet heavens sake-for my
sake-for one night in all your long life for
get to ring the bell! Fail this once, and my
lover shall live, whom Cromwell says shall
die at curfew toll. Do you hear? My
lover-Richard Temple See, Jasper, here
is money to make your old age happy. ]
sold my jewels that the Lady Maud gave
me, and the gold shall be yours for one
curfew."
"Would you bride me, Lily de We're!
Ye're changeling. Ye've ma the blood of
the Plantagenets in ye're veins as ye're
mother had. What! corrupt the bell ringer
under her majesty, good Queen Bess? Not
for all the gold that Lady Maud could
bring me! What is your lover to me?
Babes have been born and strong men have
died before now at the ringing of my bell.
Ava! awa'W
And out on the village green, with the
shadows of the lindens lengthening over it,
strong man awaited the curfew to toll fol
his death. He stood, handsome, brave and
tall-taller by an inch than the tallest pike
man who guarded him.
What had he done that he should dief
Little it mattered in those days, when the
sword that the great Cromwell welded
was SO prone to fall, what he or others had
done. He had been scribe to the late lord
up at the castle, and Lady Maud, forget
ting that man must woo and woman must
| wait. had given her heart to him without the
asking, while the gentle Lily de We're, dis
tant kinswoman and poor companion to her
had without seeking found the treasures OF
his true love and held them fast. Then he
had Joined the army and made one of the
pious soldiers whose evil passions had
never been stirred but by sign Or symbol
of popery. But a scorned woman's hatred
| had reached him even there. Enemies and
deep plots had comprised him about and
conquered him. Tonight he was to die.
The beautiful world lay as a vivid pic
| ture before him. The dark greenwood
above the rocky hill where Robin Hood
and his merry men had dwelt; the frown
| ing castle, with it's drawbridge and square
towers; the long stretch of moor with the
| purple shadows upon it; the green, straight
| walks Of the village; the birds overhead
even the daisies at his feet he saw But
ali, more wildly than all, he saw the great
red sun with its hazy veil lingering above
| the trees, as though it pitied him with
| more than human pity.
He was God fearing and God serving
man. He had long made his peace with
| heaven Nothing stood between him and
death-nothing rose pleading between him
| and those who were to destroy him but
| the sweet face of Lily De We're, whom he
loved. She had knelt at Cromwell's feet
and pleaded for his life. She had wearied
heaven with her prayers, but all without
| avail.
! Slowly now the great sun went down
| Slowly the last red rim was hid behind the
greenwood. Thirty seconds more and his
soul would be with his God. The color
| did not forsake his cheeks. The dark
rings of hair lay upon a warm brow. 1t
was his purpose to die as martyrs and
brave men die. What was life that he
should cling to it? He already felt the all
| pulsate with the first heavy roll OF the
death knell But no sound came. Still
| facing the soldiers with his clear gray eyes
/ upon them he waited. The crimson ban
ners in the west were paling to pink. The
kline had ceased their lowing and had beer
| gathered into the barnyards.
| All nature had sounded her curfew, but
| old Jasper was silent.
| The bell ringer, with his gray head YET
| barred, had traversed half the distance that
| lay between hiscottage and the ivory Gov
| cred tower when form went lifting past
him with pale, shadowy robes floating
around it, and hair that the low western
lights touched and tinted as with a halo.
"Ah, Huldah, Huldah1' the old man
muttered, chow swift she flies! | will
| come soon, dear. My work is almost done. u
Huldah was the good wife who had gone
from him in her early womanbood, and fol-
whom he had incurred all his long life
But the feeting form was not Huldah's; it
was Lily De We're, hurried bya sudden and
desperate purpose toward the cathedral.
$50 help me God, curfew shall not ring
| tonight Cromwell and his dragons come
bhis way, Once more I will kneel at his
feet and plead''
She entered the ruined arch. She
wrenched from its fastenings the carved
and worm eaten door thas barred the way
to the tower. She. asca&ded with flying
and frenzied feet the steps; her h seEt lifted
up to God for Richards deliverance from
peril. The bats flew out and shook the
dust of centuries from the black carvings
AS she went up she caught glimpses of the
interior of the great building, with its
groined roof, it's chevrons and clustered