Would they have music? To be sure! Who would not music while he ate must be a Flemish dunderkopf, said they. So Nick and Cicely stood at one side of the room upon a bench by the server's board, and sang together, while he played upon Mistress Davenant's gittern:

"Hey, laddie, hark to the merry, merry lark! How high he singeth clear: 'Oh, a morn in spring is the sweetest thing That cometh in all the year! Oh, a morn in spring is the sweetest thing That cometh in all the year!'

"Ring, ting! it is the merry springtime; How full of heart a body feels! Sing hey, trolly-lolly! oh, to live is to be jolly, When springtime cometh with the summer at her heels!

"God save us all, my jolly gentlemen, We'll merry be to-day; For the cuckoo sings till the greenwood rings, And it is the month of May! For the cuckoo sings till the greenwood rings, And it is the month of May!"

Then the men at the table all waved their pewter pots, and thumped upon the board, roaring, "Hey, trolly-lolly! oh, to live is to be jolly!" until the rafters rang.



"What, lad!" cried good Dame Davenant, "come, stay with me all year and sing, thou and this little maid o' thine. 'Twill cost thee neither cash nor care. Why, thou'ldst fill the house with such a throng as it hath never seen!" And in the morning she would not take a penny for their lodging nor their keep. "Nay, nay," said she; "they ha' brought good custom to the house, and left me a brave little tale to tell for many a good long year. We inns-folk be not common penny-grabbers; marry, no!" and, furthermore, she made interest with a carrier to give them a lift to Woodstock on their way.

When they came to Woodstock the carrier set them down by the gates of a park built round by a high stone wall over which they could not see, and with his wain went in at the gate, leaving them to journey on together through a little rain-shower.

The land grew flatter than before. There were few trees upon the hills, and scarcely any springs at which to drink, but much tender grass, with countless sheep nibbling everywhere. The shower was soon blown away; the sun came out; and a pleasant wind sprang up out of the south. Here and there beside some cottage wall the lilacs bloomed, and the later orchard-trees were apple-pink and cherry-white with May.

They came to a puddle in the road where there was a dance of butterflies. Cicely clapped her hands with glee. A goldfinch dipped across the path like a little yellow streak of laughter in the sun. "Oh, Nick, what is it?" she cried.

"A bird," said he.

"A truly bird?" and she clasped her hands. "Will it ever come again?"

"Again? Oh, yes, or, la! another one—there's plenty in the weeds."

And so they fared all afternoon, until at dusk they came to Chipping Norton across the fields, a short cut to where the thin blue supper-smoke curled up. The mists were rising from the meadows; earth and sky were blending on the hills; a little silver sickle moon hung in the fading violet, low in the western sky. Under an old oak in a green place a fiddler and a piper were playing, and youths and maidens were dancing in the brown light. Some little chaps were playing blindman's-buff near by, and the older folk were gathered by the tree.

Nick came straight to where they stood, and bowing, he and Cicely together, doffed his cap, and said in his most London tone, "We bid ye all good-e'en, good folk."

His courtly speech and manner, as well as his clothes and Cicely's jaunty gown, no little daunted the simple country folk. Nobody spoke, but, standing silent, all stared at the two quaint little vagabonds as mild kine stare at passing sheep in a quiet lane.

"We need somewhat to eat this night, and we want a place to sleep," said Nick. "The beds must be right clean—we have good appetites. If ye can do for us, we will dance for you anything that ye may desire—the 'Queen's Own Measure,' 'La Donzella,' the new 'Allemand' of my Lord Pembroke, a pavone or a tinternell, or the 'Galliard of Savoy.' Which doth it please you, mistresses?" and he bowed to the huddling young women, who scarcely knew what to make of it.

"La! Joan," whispered one, "he calleth thee 'mistress'! Speak up, wench." But Joan stoutly held her peace.

"Or if ye will, the little maid will dance the coranto for you, straight from my Lord Chancellor's dancing-master; and while she dances I will sing."

"Why, hark 'e, Rob," spoke out one motherly dame, "they two do look clean-like. Children, too—who'd gi' them stones when they beg for bread? I'll do for them this night myself; and thou, the good man, and Kit can sleep in the hutch. So there, dears; now let's see the Lord Chancellor's tantrums."

"'Tis not a tantrums, goody," said Nick, politely, "but a coranto."

"La! young master, what's the odds, just so we sees it done? Some folks calls whittles 'knives,' and thinks 't wunnot cut theys fingers!"

Nick took his place at the side of the ring. "Now, Cicely!" said he.

"Thou'lt call 'Sa—sa!' and give me the time of the coup d'archet?" she whispered, timidly hesitant, as she stepped to the midst of the ring.

"Ay, then," said he, "'tis off, 'tis off!" and struck up a lively tune, snapping his fingers for the time.

Cicely, bowing all about her, slowly began to dance.

It was a pretty sight to see: her big eyes wide and earnest, her cheeks a little flushed, her short hair curling, and her crimson gown fluttering about her as she danced the quaint running step forward and back across the grass, balancing archly, with her hands upon her hips and a little smile upon her lips, in the swaying motion of the coupee, courtesying gracefully as one tiny slippered foot peeped out from her rustling skirt, tapping on the turf, now in front and now behind. Nick sang like a blackbird in the hedge. And how those country lads and lasses stared to see such winsome, dainty grace! "La me!" gaped one, "'tis fairy folk—she doth na even touch the ground!" "The pretty dear!" the mothers said. "Doll, why canst thou na do the like, thou lummox?" "Tut," sighed the buxom Doll, "I have na wingses on my feet!"

Then Cicely, breathless, bowed, and ran to Nick's side asking, "Was it all right, Nick?"

"Right?" said he, and stroked her hair; "'twas better than thou didst ever dance it for M'sieu."

"For why?" said she, and flushed, with a quick light in her eyes; "for why—because this time I danced for thee."

The country folk, enchanted, called for more and more.

Nick sang another song, and he and Cicely danced the galliard together, while the piper piped and the fiddler fiddled away like mad; and the moon went down, and the cottage doors grew ruddy with the light inside. Then Dame Pettiford gave them milk and oat-cakes in a bowl, a bit of honey in the comb, and a cup of strawberries; and Cicely fell fast asleep with the last of the strawberries in her hand.

So they came up out of the south through Shipston-on-Stour, in the main-traveled way, and with every mile Nick felt home growing nearer. Streams sprang up in the meadow-lands, with sedgy islands, and lines of silvery willows bordering their banks. Flocks and herds cropped beneath tofts of ash and elm and beech. Snug homes peeped out of hazel copses by the road. The passing carts had a familiar look, and at Alderminster Nick saw a man he thought he recognized.

Before he knew that he was there they topped Edge Hill.

There lay Stratford! as he had left it lying; not one stick or stack or stone but he could put his finger on and say, "This place I know!" Green pastures, grassy levels, streams, groves, mills, the old grange and the manor-house, the road that forked in three, and the hills of Arden beyond it all. There was the tower of the guildhall chapel above the clustering, dun-thatched roofs among the green and blossom-white; to left the spire of Holy Trinity sprang up beside the shining Avon. Bull Lane he made out dimly, and a red-tiled roof among the trees. "There, Cicely," he said, "there—there!" and laughed a queer little shaky laugh next door to crying for joy.

Wat Raven was sweeping old Clopton bridge. "Hullo, there, Wat! I be come home again!" Nick cried. Wat stared at him, but knew him not at all.

Around the corner, and down High street. Fynes Morrison burst in at the guildschool door. "Nick Attwood's home!" he shouted; and his eyes were like two plates.

Then the last lane—and the smoke from his father's house!

The garden gate stood open, and there was some one working in the yard. "It is my father, Cicely," he laughed. "Father!" he cried, and hurried in the lane.

Simon Attwood straightened up and looked across the fence. His arms were held a little out, and his hands hung down with bits of moist earth clinging to them. His brows were darker than a year before, and his hair was grown more gray; his back, too, stooped. "Art thou a-calling me?" he asked.

Nick laughed. "Why, father, do ye na know me?" he cried out. "'Tis I—'tis Nick—come home!"

Two steps the stern old tanner took—two steps to the latchet-gate. Not one word did he speak; but he set his hand to the latchet-gate and closed it in Nick's face.



CHAPTER XXXVII

TURNED ADRIFT

Down the path and under the gate the rains had washed a shallow rut in the earth. Two pebbles, loosened by the closing of the gate, rolled down the rut and out upon the little spreading fan of sand that whitened in the grass.

There was the house with the black beams checkering its yellow walls. There was the old bench by the door, and the lettuce in the garden-bed. There were the beehives, and the bees humming among the orchard boughs.

"Why, father, what!" cried Nick, "dost na know me yet? See, 'tis I, Nick, thy son."

A strange look came into the tanner's face. "I do na know thee, boy," he answered heavily; "thou canst na enter here."

"But, father, indeed 'tis I!"

Simon Attwood looked across the town; yet he did not see the town: across the town into the sky, yet he did not see the sky, nor the drifting banks of cloud, nor the sunlight shining on the clouds. "I say I do na know thee," he replied; "be off to the place whence ye ha' come."

Nick's hand was almost on the latch. He stopped. He looked up into his father's face. "Why, father, I've come home!" he gasped.

The gate shook in the tanner's grip. "Have I na telled thee twice I do na know thee, boy? No house o' mine shall e'er be home for thee. Thou hast no part nor parcel here. Get thee out o' my sight."

"Oh, father, father, what do ye mean?" cried Nick, his lips scarcely able to shape the words.

"Do na ye 'father' me no more," said Simon Attwood, bitterly; "I be na father to stage-playing, vagabond rogues. And be gone, I say. Dost hear? Must I e'en thrust thee forth?" He raised his hand as if to strike.

Nick fell away from the latchet-gate, dumb-stricken with amazement, shame, and grief.

"Oh, Nick," cried Cicely, "come away—the wicked, wicked man!"

"It is my father, Cicely."

She stared at him. "And thou dost hate my father so? Oh, Nick! oh, Nick!"

"Will ye be gone?" called Simon Attwood, half-way opening the gate; "must I set constables on thee?"

Nick did not move. A numbness had crept over him like palsy. Cicely caught him by the hand. "Come, let us go back to my father," she said. "He will not turn us out."

Scarcely knowing what he did, he followed her, stumbling in the level path as though he were half blind or had been beaten upon the head. He did not cry. This was past all crying. He let himself be led along—it made no matter where.

In Chapel lane there was a crowd along the Great House wall; and on the wall Ned Cooke and Martin Addenbroke were sitting. There were heads of people moving on the porch and in the court, and the yard was all a-bustle and to-do. But there was nobody in the street, and no one looked at Nick and Cicely.

The Great House did look very fair in the sun of that May day, with its homely gables of warm red brick and sunburnt timber, its cheery roof of Holland tile, and with the sunlight flashing from the diamond panes that were leaded into the sashes of the great bay-window on the eastern garden side.

In the garden all was stir-about and merry voices. There was a little green court before the house, and a pleasant lawn coming down to the lane from the doorway porch. The house stood to the left of the entry-drive, and the barn-yard to the right was loud with the blithe crowing of the cocks. But the high brick wall shut out the street where Nick and Cicely trudged dolefully along, and to Nick the lane seemed very full of broken crockery and dirt, and the sunlight all a mockery. The whole of the year had not yet been so dark as this, for there had ever been the dream of coming home. But now—he suffered himself to be led along; that was enough.

They had come past the Great House up from Chapel street, when a girl came out of the western gate, and with her hand above her eyes looked after them. She seemed in doubt, but looked again, quite searchingly. Then, as one who is not sure, but does not wish to miss a chance, called out, "Nick Attwood! Nick Attwood!"

Cicely looked back to see who called. She did not know the girl, but saw her beckon. "There is some one calling, Nick," said she.

Nick stopped in a hopeless sort of way, and looked back down the street.

When he had turned so that the girl at the gate could see his face, she left the gate wide open behind her, and came running quickly up the street after them. As she drew nearer he saw that it was Susanna Shakspere, though she was very much grown since he had seen her last. He watched her running after them as if it were none of his affair. But when she had caught up with them, she took him by the shoulder smartly and drew him back toward the gate. "Why, Nicholas Attwood," she cried, all out of breath, "come straightway into the house with me. My father hath been hunting after thee the whole way up from London town!"



CHAPTER XXXVIII

A STRANGE DAY

There in the Great House garden under the mulberry-trees stood Master Will Shakspere, with Masters Jonson, Burbage, Hemynge, Condell, and a goodly number more, who had just come up from London town, as well as Alderman Henry Walker of Stratford, good old John Combe of the college, and Michael Drayton, the poet of Warwick. For Master Shakspere had that morning bought the Great House, with its gardens and barns, of Master William Underhill, for sixty pounds sterling, and was making a great feast for all his friends to celebrate the day.

The London players all clapped their hands as Nick and Cicely came up the garden-path, and, "Upon my word, Will," declared Master Jonson, "the lad is a credit to this old town of thine. A plucky fellow, I say, a right plucky fellow. Found the lass and brought her home all safe and sound—why, 'tis done like a true knight-errant!"



Master Shakspere met them with outstretched hands. "Thou young rogue," said he, smiling, "how thou hast forestalled us! Why, here we have been weeping for thee as lost, strayed, or stolen; and all the while thou wert nestling in the bosom of thine own sweet home. How is the beloved little mother?"

"I ha' na seen my mother," faltered Nick. "Father will na let me in."

"What? How?"

"My father will na have me any more, sir—saith I shall never be his son again. Oh, Master Shakspere, why did they steal me from home?"

They were all crowding about now, and Master Shakspere had hold of the boy. "Why, what does this mean?" he asked. "What on earth has happened?"

Between the two children, in broken words, the story came out.

"Why, this is a sorry tale!" said Master Shakspere. "Does the man not know that thou wert stolen, that thou wert kept against thy will, that thou hast trudged half-way from London for thy mother's sake?"

"He will na leave me tell him, sir. He would na even listen to me!"

"The muckle shrew!" quoth Master Jonson. "Why, I'll have this out with him! By Jupiter, I'll read him reason with a vengeance!" With a clink of his rapier he made as if to be off at once.

"Nay, Ben," said Master Shakspere; "cool thy blood—a quarrel will not serve. This tanner is a bitter-minded, heavy-handed man—he'd only throw thee in a pickling-vat"

"What? Then he'd never tan another hide!"

"And would that serve the purpose, Ben? The cure should better the disease—the children must be thought about."

"The children? Why, as for them," said Master Jonson, in his blunt, outspoken way, "I'll think thee a thought offhand to serve the turn. What? Why, this tanner calls us vagabonds. Vagabonds, forsooth! Yet vagabonds are gallows-birds, and gallows-birds are ravens. And ravens, men say, do foster forlorn children. Take my point? Good, then; let us ravenous vagabonds take these two children for our own, Will,—thou one, I t' other,—and by praiseworthy fostering singe this fellow's very brain with shame."

"Why, here, here, Ben Jonson," spoke up Master Burbage, "this is all very well for Will and thee; but, pray, where do Hemynge, Condell, and I come in upon the bill? Come, man, 'tis a pity if we cannot all stand together in this real play as well as in all the make-believe."

"That's my sort!" cried Master Hemynge. "Why, what? Here is a player's daughter who has no father, and a player whose father will not have him,—orphaned by fate, and disinherited by folly,—common stock with us all! Marry, 'tis a sort of stock I want some of. Kind hearts are trumps, my honest Ben—make it a stock company, and let us all be in."

"That's no bad fancy," added Condell, slowly, for Henry Condell was a cold, shrewd man. "There's merit in the lad beside his voice—that cannot keep its freshness long; but his figure's good, his wit is quick, and he has a very taking style. It would be worth while, Dick. And, Will," said he, turning to Master Shakspere, who listened with half a smile to all that the others said, "he'll make a better Rosalind than Roger Prynne for thy new play."

"So he would," said Master Shakspere; "but before we put him into 'As You Like It,' suppose we ask him how he does like it? Nick, thou hast heard what all these gentlemen have said—what hast thou to say, my lad?"

"Why, sirs, ye are all kind," said Nick, his voice beginning to tremble, "very, very kind indeed, sirs; but—I—I want my mother—oh, masters, I do want my mother!"

At that John Combe turned on his heel and walked out of the gate. Out of the garden-gate walked he, and down the dirty lane, setting his cane down stoutly as he went, past gravel-pits and pens to Southam's lane, and in at the door of Simon Attwood's tannery.

* * * * *

It was noon when he went in; yet the hour struck, and no one came or went from the tannery. Mistress Attwood's dinner grew cold upon the board, and Dame Combe looked vainly across the fields toward the town.

But about the middle of the afternoon John Combe came out of the tannery door, and Simon Attwood came behind him. And as John Combe came down the cobbled way, a trail of brown vat-liquor followed him, dripping from his clothes, for he was soaked to the skin. His long gray hair had partly dried in strings about his ears, and his fine lace collar was a drabbled shame; but there was a singular untroubled smile upon his plain old face.

Simon Attwood stayed to lock the door, fumbling his keys as if his sight had failed; but when the heavy bolt was shut, he turned and called after John Combe, so that the old man stopped in the way and dripped a puddle until the tanner came up to where he stood. And as he came up Attwood asked, in such a tone as none had ever heard from his mouth before, "Combe, John Combe, what's done 's done,—and oh, John, the pity of it,—yet will ye still shake hands wi' me, John, afore ye go?"

John Combe took Simon Attwood's bony hand and wrung it hard in his stout old grip, and looked the tanner squarely in the eyes; then, still smiling serenely to himself, and setting his cane down stoutly as he walked, dripped home, and got himself into dry clothes without a word.

But Simon Attwood went down to the river, and sat upon a flat stone under some pollard willows, and looked into the water.

What his thoughts were no one knew, nor ever shall know; but he was fighting with himself, and more than once groaned bitterly. At first he only shut his teeth and held his temples in his hands; but after a while he began to cry to himself, over and over again, "O Absalom, my son, my son! O my son Absalom!" and then only "My son, my son!" And when the day began to wane above the woods of Arden, he arose, and came up from the river, walking swiftly; and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, came up to the Great House garden, and went in at the gate.

At the door the servant met him, but saw his face, and let him pass without a word; for he looked like a desperate man whom there was no stopping.

So, with a grim light burning in his eyes, his hat in his hand, and his clothes all drabbled with the liquor from his vats, the tanner strode into the dining-hall.



CHAPTER XXXIX

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

The table had been cleared of trenchers and napkins, the crumbs brushed away, and a clean platter set before each guest with pared cheese, fresh cherries, biscuit, caraways, and wine.

There were about the long table, beside Master Shakspere himself, who sat at the head of the board, Masters Richard and Cuthbert Burbage, Henry Condell, and Peter Hemynge, Master Shakspere's partners; Master Ben Jonson, his dearest friend; Thomas Pope, who played his finest parts; John Lowin, Samuel Gilburne, Robert Nash, and William Kemp, players of the Lord Chamberlain's company; Edmund Shakspere, the actor, who was Master William Shakspere's younger brother, and Master John Shakspere, his father; Michael Drayton, the Midland bard; Burgess Robert Getley, Alderman Henry Walker, and William Hart, the Stratford hatter, brother-in-law to Master Shakspere.

On one side of the table, between Master Jonson and Master Richard Burbage, Cicely was seated upon a high chair, with a wreath of early crimson roses in her hair, attired in the gown in which Nick saw her first a year before. On the other side of the table Nick had a place between Master Drayton and Robert Getley, father of his friend Robin. Half-way down there was an empty chair. Master John Combe was absent.

It was no common party. In all England better company could not have been found. Some few of them the whole round world could not have matched then, and could not match now.

It would be worth a fortune to know the things they said,—the quips, the jests, the merry tales that went around that board,—but time has left too little of what such men said and did, and it can be imagined only by the brightest wits.

'Twas Master Shakspere on his feet, welcoming his friends to his "New Place" with quiet words that made them glad to live and to be there, when suddenly he stopped, his hands upon the table by his chair, and stared.

The tanner stood there, silent, in the door.

Nick's face turned pale. Cicely clung to Master Jonson's arm.

Simon Attwood stepped into the room, and Master Shakspere went quickly to meet him in the middle of the floor.

"Master Will Shakspere," said the tanner, hoarsely, "I ha' come about a matter." There he stopped, not knowing what to say, for he was overwrought.

"Out with it, sir," said Master Shakspere, sternly. "There is much here to be said."

The tanner wrung his hat within his hands, and looked about the ring of cold, averted faces. Soft words with him were few; he had forgotten tender things; and, indeed, what he meant to do was no easy thing for any man.

"Come, say what thou hast to say," said Master Shakspere, resolutely; "and say it quickly, that we may have done."

"There's nought that I can say," said Simon Attwood, "but that I be sorry, and I want my son! Nick! Nick!" he faltered brokenly, "I be wrung for thee; will ye na come home—just for thy mother's sake, Nick, if ye will na come for mine?"

Nick started from his seat with a glad cry—then stopped. "But Cicely?" he said.

The tanner wrung his hat within his hands, and his face was dark with trouble. Master Shakspere looked at Master Jonson.

Nick stood hesitating between Cicely and his father, faithful to his promise, though his heart was sick for home.

An odd light had been struggling dimly in Simon Attwood's troubled eyes. Then all at once it shone out bright and clear, and he clapped his bony hand upon the stout oak chair. "Bring her along," he said. "I ha' little enough, but I will do the best I can. Maybe 'twill somehow right the wrong I ha' done," he added huskily. "And, neighbors, I'll go surety to the Council that she shall na fall a pauper or a burden to the town. My trade is ill enough, but, sirs, it will stand for forty pound the year at a fair cast-up. Bring the lass wi' thee, Nick—we'll make out, lad, we'll make out. God will na let it all go wrong."

Master Jonson and Master Shakspere had been nodding and talking together in a low tone, smiling like men very well pleased about something, and directly Master Shakspere left the room.

"Wilt thou come, lad?" asked the tanner, holding out his hands.

"Oh, father!" cried Nick; then he choked so that he could say no more, and his eyes were so full of mist that he could scarcely find his father where he stood.

But there was no need of more; Simon Attwood was answered.

Voices buzzed about the room. The servants whispered in the hall. Nick held his father's gnarled hand in his own, and looked curiously up into his face, as if for the first time knowing what it was to have a father.

"Well, lad, what be it?" asked the tanner, huskily, laying his hand on his son's curly head, which was nearly up to his shoulder now.

"Nothing," said Nick, with a happy smile, "only mother will be glad to have Cicely—won't she?"

Master Shakspere came into the room with something in his hand, and walking to the table, laid it down.

It was a heavy buckskin bag, tied tightly with a silken cord, and sealed with red wax stamped with the seals of Master Shakspere and Master Jonson.

Every one was watching him intently, and one or two of the gentlemen from London were smiling in a very knowing way.

He broke the seals, and loosening the thong which closed the bag, took out two other bags, one of which was just double its companion's size. They also were tied with silken cord and sealed with the two seals on red wax. There was something printed roughly with a quill pen upon each bag, but Master Shakspere kept that side turned toward himself so that the others could not see.

"Come, come, Will," broke in Master Jonson, "don't be all day about it!"

"The more haste the worse speed, Ben," said Master Shakspere, quietly. "I have a little story to tell ye all."

So they all listened.

"When Gaston Carew, lately master-player of the Lord High Admiral's company, was arraigned before my Lord Justice for the killing of that rascal, Fulk Sandells, there was not a man of his own company had the grace to lend him even so much as sympathy. But there were still some in London who would not leave him totally friendless in such straits."

"Some?" interrupted Master Jonson, bluntly; "then o-n-e spells 'some.' The names of them all were Will Shakspere."

"Tut, tut, Ben!" said Master Shakspere, and went on: "But when the charge was read, and those against him showed their hand, it was easy to see that the game was up. No one saw this any sooner than Carew himself; yet he carried himself like a man, and confessed the indictment without a quiver. They brought him the book, to read a verse and save his neck, perhaps, by pleading benefit of clergy. But he knew the temper of those against him, and that nothing might avail; so he refused the plea quietly, saying, 'I am no clerk, sirs. All I wish to read in this case is what my own hand wrote upon that scoundrel Sandells.' It was soon over. When the judge pronounced his doom, all Carew asked was for a friend to speak with a little while aside. This the court allowed; so he sent for me—we played together with Henslowe, he and I, ye know. He had not much to say—for once in his life,"—here Master Shakspere smiled pityingly,—"but he sent his love forever to his only daughter Cicely."

Cicely was sitting up, listening with wide eyes, and eagerly nodded her head as if to say, "Of course."

"He also begged of Nicholas Attwood that he would forgive him whatever wrong he had done him."

"Why, that I will, sir," choked Nick, brokenly; "he was wondrous kind to me, except that he would na leave me go."

"After that," continued Master Shakspere, "he made known to me a sliding panel in the wainscot of his house, wherein was hidden all he had on earth to leave to those he loved the best, and who, he hoped, loved him."

"Everybody loves my father," said Cicely, smiling and nodding again. Master Jonson put his arm around the back of her chair, and she leaned her head upon it.

"Carew said that he had marked upon the bags which were within the panel the names of the persons to whom they were to go, and had me swear, upon my faith as a Christian man, that I would see them safely delivered according to his wish. This being done, and the end come, he kissed me on both cheeks, and standing bravely up, spoke to them all, saying that for a man such as he had been it was easier to end even so than to go on. I never saw him again."

The great writer of plays paused a moment, and his lips moved as if he were saying a prayer. Master Burbage crossed himself.

"The bags were found within the wall, as he had said, and were sealed by Ben Jonson and myself until we should find the legatees—for they had disappeared as utterly as if the earth had gaped and swallowed them. But, by the Father's grace, we have found them safe and sound at last; and all's well that ends well!"

Here he turned the buckskin bags around.

On one, in Master Carew's school-boy scrawl, was printed, "For myne Onelie Beeloved Doghter, Cicely Carew"; on the other, "For Nicholas Attewode, alias Mastre Skie-lark, whom I, Gaston Carew, Player, Stole Away from Stratford Toune, Anno Domini 1596."

Nick stared; Cicely clapped her hands; and Simon Attwood sat down dizzily.

"There," said Master Shakspere, pointing to the second bag, "are one hundred and fifty gold rose-nobles. In the other just three hundred more. Neighbor Attwood, we shall have no paupers here."

Everybody laughed then and clapped their hands, and the London players gave a rousing cheer. Master Ben Jonson's shout might have been heard in Market Square.

At this tremendous uproar the servants peeped at the doors and windows; and Tom Boteler, peering in from the buttery hall, and seeing the two round money-bags plumping on the table, crept away with such a look of amazement upon his face that Mollikins, the scullery-maid, thought he had seen a ghost, and fled precipitately into the pantry.

"And what's more, Neighbor Tanner," said Master Richard Burbage, "had Carew's daughter not sixpence to her name, we vagabond players, as ye have had the scanty grace to dub us, would have cared for her for the honour of the craft, and reared her gently in some quiet place where there never falls even the shadow of such evil things as have been the end of many a right good fellow beside old Kit Marlowe and Gaston Carew."

"And to that end, Neighbor Attwood," Master Shakspere added, "we have, through my young Lord Hunsdon, who has just been made State Chamberlain, Her Majesty's gracious permission to hold this money in trust for the little maid as guardians under the law."

Cicely stared around perplexed. "Won't Nick be there?" she asked. "Why, then I will not go—they shall not take thee from me, Nick!" and she threw her arms around him. "I'm going to stay with thee till daddy comes, and be thine own sister forever."

Master Jonson laughed gently, not his usual roaring laugh, but one that was as tender as his own bluff heart. "Why, good enough, good enough! The woman who mothered a lad like Master Skylark here is surely fit to rear the little maid."

The London players thumped the table. "Why, 'tis the very trick," said Hemynge. "Marry, this is better than a play."

"It is indeed," quoth Condell. "See the plot come out!"

"Thou'lt do it, Attwood—why, of course thou'lt do it," said Master Shakspere. "'Tis an excellent good plan. These funds we hold in trust will keep thee easy-minded, and warrant thee in doing well by both our little folks. And what's more," he cried, for the thought had just come in his head, "I have ever heard thee called an honest man; hard, indeed, perhaps too hard, but honest as the day is long. Now I need a tenant for this New Place of mine—some married man with a good housewife, and children to be delving in the posy-beds outside. What sayst thou, Simon Attwood? They tell me thy 'prentice, Job Hortop, is to marry in July—he'll take thine old house at a fair rental. Why, here, Neighbor Attwood, thou toil-worn, time-damaged tanner, bless thy hard old heart, man, come, be at ease—thou hast ground thy soul out long enough! Come, take me at mine offer—be my fellow. The rent shall trickle off thy finger-tips as easily as water off a duck's back!"

Simon Attwood arose from the chair where he had been sitting. There was a bewildered look upon his face, and he was twisting his horny fingers together until the knuckles were white. His lips parted as if to speak, but he only swallowed very hard once or twice instead, and looked around at them all. "Why, sir," he said at length, looking at Master Shakspere, "why, sirs, all of ye—I ha' been a hard man, and summat of a fool, sirs, ay, sirs, a very fool. I ha' misthought and miscalled ye foully many a time, and many a time. God knows I be sorry for it from the bottom of my heart!" And with that he sat down and buried his face in his arms among the dishes on the buffet.

"Nay, Simon Attwood," said Master Shakspere, going to his side and putting his hand upon the tanner's shoulder, "thou hast only been mistaken, that is all. Come, sit thee up. To see thyself mistaken is but to be the wiser. Why, never the wisest man but saw himself a fool a thousand times. Come, I have mistaken thee more than thou hast me; for, on my word, I thought thou hadst no heart at all—and that is far worse than having one which has but gone astray. Come, Neighbor Attwood, sit thee up and eat with us."

"Nay, I'll go home," said the tanner, turning his face away that they might not see his tears. "I be a spoil-sport and a mar-feast here."

"Why, by Jupiter, man!" cried Master Jonson, bringing his fist down upon the board with a thump that made the spoons all clink, "thou art the very merry-maker of the feast. A full heart's better than a surfeit any day. Don't let him go, Will—this sort of thing doth make the whole world kin! Come, Master Attwood, sit thee down, and make thyself at home. 'Tis not my house, but 'tis my friend's, and so 'tis all the same in the Lowlands. Be free of us and welcome."

"I thank ye, sirs," said the tanner, slowly, turning to the table with rough dignity. "Ye ha' been good to my boy. I'll ne'er forget ye while I live. Oh, sirs, there be kind hearts in the world that I had na dreamed of. But, masters, I ha' said my say, and know na more. Your pleasure wunnot be my pleasure, sirs, for I be only a common man. I will go home to my wife. There be things to say before my boy comes home; and I ha' muckle need to tell her that I love her—I ha' na done so these many years."

"Why, Neighbor Tanner," cried Master Jonson, with flushing cheeks, "thou art a right good fellow! And here was I, no later than this morning, red-hot to spit thee upon my bilbo like a Michaelmas goose!" He laughed a boyish laugh that did one's heart good to hear.

"Ay," said Master Shakspere, smiling, as he and Simon Attwood looked into each other's eyes. "Come, neighbor, I know thou art my man—so do not go until thou drinkest one good toast with us, for we are all good friends and true from this day forth. Come, Ben, a toast to fit the cue."

"Why, then," replied Master Jonson, in a good round voice, rising in his place, "here's to all kind hearts!"

"Wherever they may be!" said Master Shakspere, softly. "It is a good toast, and we will all drink it together."

And so they did. And Simon Attwood went away with a warmth and a tingling in his heart he had never known before.

"Margaret," said he, coming quickly in at the door, as she went silently about the house with a heavy heart preparing the supper, "Margaret."

She dropped the platter upon the board, and came to him hurriedly, fearing evil tidings.

He took her by the hands. This, even more than his unusual manner, alarmed her. "Why, Simon," she cried, "what is it? What has come over thee?"

"Nought," he replied, looking down at her, his hard face quivering; "but I love thee, Margaret."

"Simon, what dost thou mean?" faltered Mistress Attwood, her heart going down like lead.

"Nought, sweetheart—but that I love thee, Margaret, and that our lad is coming home!"

Her heart seemed to stop beating.

"Margaret," said he, huskily, "I do love thee, lass. Is it too late to tell thee so?"

"Nay, Simon," answered his wife, simply, "'tis never too late to mend." And with that she laughed—but in the middle of her laughing a tear ran down her cheek.

FROM the windows of the New Place there came a great sound of men singing together, and this was the quaint old song they sang:

"Then here's a health to all kind hearts Wherever they may be; For kindly hearts make but one kin Of all humanity.

"And here's a rouse to all kind hearts Wherever they be found; For it is the throb of kindred hearts Doth make the world go round!"

"Why, Will," said Master Burbage, slowly setting down his glass, "'tis altogether a midsummer night's dream."

"So it is, Dick," answered Master Shakspere, with a smile, and a far-away look in his eyes. "Come, Nicholas, wilt thou not sing for us just the last few little lines of 'When Thou Wakest,' out of the play?"

Then Nick stood up quietly, for they all were his good friends there, and Master Drayton held his hand while he sang:

"Every man shall take his own, In your waking shall be shown: Jack shall have Jill, Nought shall go ill, The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well!"

They were very still for a little while after he had done, and the setting sun shone in at the windows across the table. Then Master Shakspere said gently, "It is a good place to end."

"Ay," said Master Jonson, "it is."

So they all got up softly and went out into the garden, where there were seats under the trees among the rose-bushes, and talked quietly among themselves, saying not much, yet meaning a great deal.

But Nick and Cicely said "Good-night, sirs," to them all, and bowed; and Master Shakspere himself let them out at the gate, the others shaking Nick by the hand with many kind wishes, and throwing kisses to Cicely until they went out of sight around the chapel corner.

When the children came to the garden-gate in front of Nick's father's house, the red roses still twined in Cicely's hair, Simon Attwood and his wife Margaret were sitting together upon the old oaken settle by the door, looking out into the sunset. And when they saw the children coming, they arose and came through the garden to meet them, Nick's mother with outstretched hands, and her face bright with the glory of the setting sun. And when she came to where he was, the whole of that long, bitter year was nothing any more to Nick.

For then—ah, then—a lad and his mother; a son come home, the wandering ended, and the sorrow done!

She took him to her breast as though he were a baby still; her tears ran down upon his face, yet she was smiling—a smile like which there is no other in all the world: a mother's smile upon her only son, who was astray, but has come home again.

Oh, the love of a lad for his mother, the love of a mother for her son—unchanged, unchanging, for right, for wrong, through grief and shame, in joy, in peace, in absence, in sickness, and in the shadow of death! Oh, mother-love, beyond all understanding, so holy that words but make it common!

"My boy!" was all she said; and then, "My boy—my little boy!"

And after a while, "Mother," said he, and took her face between his strong young hands, and looked into her happy eyes, "mother dear, I ha? been to London town; I ha' been to the palace, and I ha' seen the Queen; but, mother," he said, with a little tremble in his voice, for all he smiled so bravely, "I ha' never seen the place where I would rather be than just where thou art, mother dear!"

The soft gray twilight gathered in the little garden; far-off voices drifted faintly from the town. The day was done. Cool and still, and filled with gentle peace, the starlit night came down from the dewy hills; and Cicely lay fast asleep in Simon Attwood's arms.

THE END