He spoke his mind with candour, and to him the King
was still a man to whom the truth was to be told with
directness, which was the highest honour one man might
show another.
“Rank treason!” repeated Lord Rippingdale,
loudly. “Enderby has been in bad company,
your Majesty. If you are not wholly with the King,
you are against him. ’He that is not with
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me
scattereth abroad.’”
A sudden anger seized the King, and turning, he set
foot in the stirrup, muttering something to himself,
which boded no good for John Enderby. A gentleman
held the stirrup while he mounted, and, with Lord Rippingdale
beside him in the saddle, he turned and spoke to Enderby.
Self-will and resentment were in his tone. “Knight
of Enderby we have made you,” he said, “and
Knight of Enderby you shall remain. Look to it
that you pay the fees for the accolade.”
“Your Majesty,” said Enderby, reaching
out his hand in protest, “I will not have this
greatness you would thrust upon me. Did your Majesty
need, and speak to me as one gentleman to another
in his need, then would I part with the last inch
of my land; but to barter my estate for a gift that
I have no heart nor use for—your Majesty,
I cannot do it.”
The hand of the King twisted in his bridle-rein, and
his body stiffened in anger.
“See to it, my Lord Rippingdale,” he said,
“that our knight here pays to the last penny
for the courtesy of the accolade. You shall levy
upon his estate.”
“We are both gentlemen, your Majesty, and my
rights within the law are no less than your Majesty’s,”
said Enderby stoutly.
“The gentleman forgets that the King is the
fountain of all law,” said Lord Rippingdale
obliquely to the King.
“We will make one new statute for this stubborn
knight,” said Charles; “even a writ of
outlawry. His estates shall be confiscate to the
Crown. Go seek a King and country better suited
to your tastes, our rebel Knight of Enderby.”
“I am still an Enderby of Enderby, and a man
of Lincolnshire, your Majesty,” answered the
squire, as the King rode towards Boston church, where
presently he should pray after this fashion with his
subjects there assembled:
“Most heartily we beseech Thee
with Thy favour to behold our most gracious sovereign
King Charles. Endue him plenteously with Heavenly
gifts; grant him in health and wealth long to live;
strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome
all his enemies; and, finally, after this life,
he may attain everlasting joy and felicity.”
With a heavy heart Enderby turned homewards; that
is, towards Mablethorpe upon the coast, which lies
between Saltfleet Haven and Skegness, two ports that
are places of mark in the history of the kingdom, as
all the world knows.
He had never been so vexed in his life. It was
not so much anger against the King, for he had great
reverence for the monarchy of England; but against
Lord Rippingdale his mind was violent. Years before,
in a quarrel between the Earl of Lindsey and Lord
Rippingdale, upon a public matter which Parliament
settled afterwards, he had sided with the Earl of
Lindsey. The two Earls had been reconciled afterwards,
but Lord Rippingdale had never forgiven Enderby.
