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"Wretched boy!" said the Lady Godiva, and hid her face in her hands; "and more wretched I, to have brought such a son into the world!" The monk had hardly finished his doleful story, when there was a pattering of heavy feet, a noise of men shouting and laughing outside, and a voice, above all, calling for the monk by name, which made that good man crouch behind the curtain of Lady Godiva's bed.
His knees, wrists, and throat were tattoed in bright blue patterns; and he carried sword and dagger, a gold ring round his neck, and gold rings on his wrists. He was a lad to have gladdened the eyes of any mother: but there was no gladness in the Lady Godiva's eyes as she received him; nor had there been for many a year.
You are the great Countess!" "Yes, I was that woman once, if all be not a dream. I am now I know not what, seeking hospitality if I can believe my eyes and ears of Godiva's son." "And from Godiva's son you shall have it, as though you were Godiva's self. God so deal with my mother, madam, as I will deal with you."
Martin Lightfoot whistled and obeyed, while Torfrida walked away proudly and silently with a beating heart. Again Godiva's words came over her. Should she end in the convent of Crowland? And suspecting, fearing, imagining all sorts of baseless phantoms, she hardened her heart into a great hardness. Martin had gone with the letter, and Torfrida never heard any more of it.
There are several such interpolations in the volume. This year y^e severall Companies had new streamers, and attended y^e Mayor to proclaim y^e faire, and each company cloathed one boy or two to augment y^e show." The latter MS. elsewhere speaks of the story of Godiva's ride as "comonly known, and yearly comemorated by the Mayor, Aldermen, and y^e severall companies." MS., Brit.
Her satiny hair, wound round her small head, conveyed the idea that if unbound it would enshroud her, like Lady Godiva's, in a veil. The rich glowing colours of the furniture and hangings formed themselves into a harmonious background for the graceful figure. Mrs. Tell was quietly observing the new-comer, and silently deciding that the chances were in his favour.
Their statement as to Godiva's being unseen refers to the hair which covered her; and the latter informs us, with a touch of rhetoric, that Leofric regarded it as a miracle. Rudder, p. 307. The Rev. W. Taprell Allen, M.A., Vicar of St.
If this be so, however, it is difficult to account for the manner in which her figure is referred to by the writer, unless there were some personal reason connected with James Swinnerton, or his son, undiscoverable by us at this distance of time. But whatever doubt may exist as to Godiva's share in the early processions, there appears no less as to the episode of Peeping Tom.
All these tales include the Peeping Tom incident; and it appears, indeed, so obvious a corollary to the central thought of Lady Godiva's adventure that it is hardly likely to have required centuries for its evolution. From some traditions, however, it is absent.
I shall, in conclusion, relate here the story of Maldonada, which is not generally known, although familiar to Buenos Ayreans as the story of Lady Godiva's ride through Coventry is to the people of that town.
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