“Such an injunction will do much good,” said Rigby, “and we must see that it is strictly obeyed. With so many zealous ministers as we have in the camp, a good effect cannot fail to be produced. Our men will fight all the better after listening to their discourses.”
Both Colonel Assheton and Colonel Moore concurred in the opinion that a day of fasting and supplication would do infinite good, and the order for its rigid observance on the morrow was issued accordingly.
Nor was the injunction neglected. In each camp, as we have said, there were several ministers—many more than were needed—but each had a certain number of listeners to whom he addressed his discourse. All preached against the countess, and all earnestly besought Heaven to aid them in their endeavours to drive her from her stronghold, denouncing her as a Papist and an idolatress.
One of the most infuriated amongst them took for his text the words of the Prophet: “Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord.”
The discourse of this zealot produced the desired effect upon his hearers, and they resolved to carry out his injunctions.
But the soldiers in the trenches were not allowed to pass the day in quiet. Already they had been disturbed in their devotions by an occasional cannon shot falling among them; and at last they were roused to action by shouts and a discharge of musketry that announced that the restless Cavaliers were again at hand.
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XX
How a Cannon-shot fired by the Besiegers burst into the Countess’s Chamber
THE Countess of Derby, as we have shown, was a very early riser, and generally appeared on the parade with her daughters before attending service in the chapel; but on the third morning after the successful attack had been made upon the enemy, she had not quitted her chamber at a somewhat later hour than usual, owing to the unfavourable state of the weather.
The room was situated at the end of the great gallery in the upper part of the mansion, and had a noble bay window, filled with stained glass, looking towards the south. The furniture was of oak, and richly carved, and the walls were covered with tapestry.
Attached to the room was an ante-chamber, furnished in precisely the same manner, except that it was not provided with a stately bed and a toilette-table. The rooms had formerly been occupied by Earl William and his countess, and in the couch, just alluded to, that pious lady had breathed her last.
On the morning in question the countess was in the ante-chamber, though the door between the rooms usually masked by a piece of arras, was left open. Her private devotions had been finished before she left her bedroom, and she was seated at a table making some additions to a journal, which she kept in the hope that her lord might one day peruse it.
The last records were very satisfactory. All had gone well. Though the besiegers had completed their trenches and mounted their batteries they could not hold them. Their guns had been silenced, their forts partially destroyed, and if they began the work again, she felt sure that with Heaven’s aid the like result would follow. Therefore she was of good heart.
As this journal was intended for no other eye than her lord’s, she put down within it her in-most thoughts, and these words now flowed from her pen:
“Oh, my dear lord, I have an arduous task to perform, and I trust strength may be given me from Above to accomplish it. At times I want support from thee. Oh! that thou wert with me now, to counsel and encourage me. I know the wish is vain, yet I cannot repress it. After all, I am only a woman.”
When the brave lady had finished this sentence, she closed the little volume, and her breast found relief in a deep sigh.
At that moment her countenance had a different expression from that which it habitually wore. The haughty and resolute look that usually marked her features had disappeared, and a feminine softness succeeded, and lasted so long as she was alone; but when Gertrude entered the room, she instantly shook off the feeling and became determined as ever.