CHAPTER X.
THE CAMP IN THE FOREST.
As the stranger made his announcement, I chanced to turn my eyes onthe Waldgrave's face; and if there was one thing more noteworthy atthe moment than the speaker's air of perfect and assured composure, itwas my lord's look of chagrin. I could imagine that this sudden andunexpected discovery of a kinsman was little to his mind; while thestranger's manner was as little calculated to reconcile him to it. Butthere was something more than this. I fancy that from the moment heheard Tzerclas' name he scented a rival.
My lady, on the other hand, did not disguise her satisfaction. 'I ampleased to make your acquaintance,' she exclaimed, looking at thestranger with frank surprise. 'Your name, General Tzerclas, has longbeen known to me. But I was under the impression that you were atpresent in command of a body of Saxon troops in Bohemia.'
'My troops, such as they are, lie a little nearer,' he answered,smiling; 'so near that they and their leader are equally at yourservice, Countess.'
'For the present I shall be content to claim your hospitality only,'my lady answered lightly. 'This is my cousin, the Waldgrave Rupert.'
'Of Weimar?' the general said, bowing.
'Of Weimar, sir,' the young lord answered.
The stranger said no more, but saluting him with a kind of carelesspunctilio, took hold of my lady's rein and led her horse forward intothe firelight.
While he assisted her to dismount I had time to glance round; and thecheerful glow of the fire, which disclosed arms and accoutrements andcamp equipments flung here and there in splendid profusion, did notblind me to other appearances less pleasant. Indeed, that veryprofusion did something to open my eyes to those appearances, andthereby to the nature of the men amongst whom we had come. Theglittering hilts and battered plate, the gaudy cloaks and velvethousings which I saw lying about the roots of the trees, seemed tosmack less of a travellers' camp than a robbers' bivouac; while thefierce, swarthy faces which clustered round the farther fire, remindedme of nothing so much as of the swash-buckling escort which had morethan once accompanied Count Tilly to Heritzburg. Then, indeed, underthe old tiger's paw Tilly's riders had been as lambs. But we were notnow at Heritzburg, nor was Count Tilly here. And whether these knaveswould be as amenable in the greenwood, whether the Waldgrave had notdone us all an ill service when he voted for moving on, were questionsI had a difficulty in answering to my satisfaction; the more as, evenbefore we were off our horses, the rude stare the men fixed on my ladyraised my choler.
On the other hand their leader's bearing left nothing to be desired.He welcomed my mistress to the camp with perfect good breeding, theWaldgrave with civility. He hastened the preparation of supper, and inevery way seemed bent on making us comfortable; sending his knaves toand fro with a hearty good-will, which showed that whoever stood inawe of them, he did not.
Meanwhile, I had a third fire kindled a score of paces away, where asmall thicket held out the hope of privacy, and here I placed ourwomen, bidding three or four of the steadier men remain with them. Theinjunction was scarcely needed however. Our servants were simplefellows born in Heritzburg. They eyed with shyness and awe theswaggering airs and warlike demeanour of Tzerclas' followers, andwould not for a year's wages have intruded on their circle withoutinvitation.
The moment I had seen to this I returned to my lady, and then for thefirst time I had an opportunity of examining our host. A man of middleheight, sinewy and well-formed, with an upright carriage, he lookedfrom head to foot the model of a soldier of fortune, and moved with acareless grace, which spoke of years of manly exercise. His face washandsome, cold, dark, stern; the nose prominent, the forehead high andnarrow. Trimly pointed moustachios and a small pointed beard, bothperfectly black, gave him a peculiar and somewhat cynical aspect; andnothing I ever witnessed of his dealings with his troops led me tosuppose that this belied the man. He could be, as he was now,courteous, polished, almost genial. I judged that he could be also thereverse. He was richly, even splendidly, dressed, and seemed to beabout forty years of age.
My lady sent me for Fraulein Max, who had been overlooked, and wasfound cowering beside the newly kindled fire in company with MarieWort and the women. Though I think she had only herself to thank forher effacement, she was inclined to be offended. But I had no time towaste on words, and disregarding her ill temper I brought her, feeblysniffing, to my lady, who introduced her to her new-found kinsman.
'Pardon me,' he said, looking negligently round him. 'That reminds me.I, too, have a presentation to make. Where is--oh yes, here is friendVon Werder. I thought, my friend,' he continued, addressing the otherand older man whom we had seen by his fire, 'that you had disappearedas mysteriously as you came. Herr von Werder, Countess, was my firstchance guest to-night. You are the second.'
He spoke in a tone of easy patronage, with his back half turned to theperson he mentioned. I looked at the man. He seemed to be over fiftyyears old, tall, strong, and grey-moustachioed. And that was almostall I could see, for, as if acknowledging an inferiority, andadmitting that the terms on which he had been with his host were nowaltered, he had withdrawn himself a pace from the fire. Sitting on theopposite side of it near the outer edge of light and wearing a heavycloak, he disclosed little of his appearance, even when he rose inacknowledgment of my lady's salute.
'Herr von Werder is not travelling with you, then?' my lady said;chiefly, I think, for the sake of saying something that should includethe man.
'No, he is not of my persuasion,' the general answered in the sametone of good-natured contempt. 'Whither are you bound, my friend?' hecontinued, glancing over his shoulder and throwing a note of commandinto his voice. 'I did not ask you, and you did not tell me.'
'I am going north,' the stranger answered in a husky tone. 'It may beas far as Magdeburg, general.'
'And you come from?'
'Last, sir? Frankfort.'
'Well, as you say last, whence before that?'
'The Rhine Bishoprics.'
'Ah! Then you have seen something of the war? If you were there beforeit swept into Bavaria, that is. But a truce to this,' he continued.'Here is supper. I beg you not to judge of my hospitality by thisnight's performance, Countess. I hope to entertain you more fittinglybefore we part.'
Though he made this apology, the supper needed none. Indeed, it wassuch as made me stare--there in the forest--and was served in a styleand with accompaniments I little expected to find in a soldiers' camp.Silver dishes and chased and curious flagons, flasks of old Rhenishand Burgundy, glass from Nuremberg, a dozen things which made mylady's road equipage seem poor and trifling, appeared on the board.And the cooking was equal to the serving. The wine had not gone roundmany times before the Waldgrave lost his air of reserve. Hecomplimented our host, expressed his surprise at the excellence of theentertainment, asked with a laugh how it was done, and completelyresumed his usual manner. Perhaps he talked a little too freely, alittle too fast, and viewed by the other's side, he grew younger.
What my lady saw or thought as she sat between the two men it wasimpossible to say, but she seemed in high spirits. She too talkedgaily and laughed often; and doubtless the novelty of the scene, thegreat fires, the dark background, the burnished trunks of the beeches,the bizarre splendour of the feast, the laughter and snatches of songwhich came from the other fire, were well calculated to excite andamuse her.
'These are not all your troops?' I heard her ask.
'Not quite,' the general answered drily. 'My men lie six hours southof us. I hope that you will do me the honour of reviewing themto-morrow.'
'You are marching south, then?'
'Yes. Everything and every one goes south this year.'
'To join the King of Sweden?'
'Yes,' the general answered, holding out his silver cup to be filled,and for that reason perhaps speaking very deliberately, 'to join theKing of Sweden--at Nuremberg. But you have not yet told me, countess,'he continued, 'why you are afield
. This part is not in a very settledstate, and I should have thought that the present time was----'
'A bad one for travelling?' my lady answered. 'Yes. But, I regret tosay, Heritzburg is not in a very settled state either.' And thereon,without dwelling much on the cause of her troubles, she told him themain facts which had led to her departure.
I saw his lip curl and his eyes flicker with scorn. 'But had you nogunpowder?' he said, turning to the Waldgrave.
'We had, but no cannon,' he answered confidently.
'What of that?' the general retorted icily. 'I would have made a bomb,no matter of what, and fired it out of a leather boot hooped withcask-irons! I would have had half a dozen of their houses burningabout their ears before they knew where they were, the insolents!'
The Waldgrave looked ashamed of himself. 'I did not think of that,' hesaid; and he hastened to hide his confusion in his glass.
'Well, it is not too late,' General Tzerclas rejoined, showing histeeth in a smile. 'If the Countess pleases, we will soon teach hersubjects a lesson. I am not pushed for time. I will detach four troopsof horse and return with you to-morrow, and settle the matter in atrice.'
But my lady said that she would not have that, and persisted so firmlyin her refusal that though he pressed the offer upon her, and I couldsee was keenly interested in its acceptance, he had to give way. Thereasons she put forward were the loss of his time and the injury tohis cause; the real one consisted, I knew, in her merciful reluctanceto give over the town to his troops, a reluctance for which I honouredher. To appease him, however, for he seemed inclined to take herrefusal in bad part, she consented to go out of her way to visit hiscamp.
At this point my lady sent me on an errand to her women, which causedme to be away some minutes. When I came back I found that a change hadtaken place. The Waldgrave was speaking, and, from his heated face andthe tone of his voice, it was evident that the old wine which hadbegun by opening his heart had ended by rousing his pugnacity.
'Pooh! I protest _in toto!_' he said as I came up. 'I deny italtogether. You will tell me next that the Germans are worse soldiersthan the Swedes!'
'Pardon me, I did not say so,' General Tzerclas answered. The wine hadtaken no effect on him, or perhaps he had drunk less. He was as suaveand cold as ever.
'But you meant it!' the younger man retorted.
'No, I did not mean it,' the general answered, still unmoved. 'What Isaid was that Germany had produced no great commander in this war,which has now lasted thirteen years.'
'Prince Bernard of Weimar, my kinsman!' the Waldgrave cried.
'Pardon me,' Tzerclas replied politely. 'Pardon me again if I say thatI do not think he has earned that title. He is a soldier of merit. Nomore.'
'Wallenstein, then?'
'You forget. He is a Bohemian.'
'Count Tilly, then?'
'A Walloon,' the general answered with a shrug. 'The King of Sweden? ASwede, of course.'
'A German by the mother's side,' my lady said with a smile.
'As you, Countess, are a Walloon,' Tzerclas answered with a low bow.'Yet doubtless you count yourself a German?'
'Yes,' she said, blushing. 'I am proud to do so.'
What courteous answer he would have made to this I do not know. Shehad scarcely spoken before a deep voice on the farther side of thefire was heard to ask 'What of Count Pappenheim?'
The speaker was Von Werder, who had long sat so modestly silent that Ihad forgotten his presence. He seemed scarcely to belong to the party;though Fraulein Max, who sat on the Waldgrave's left hand, formed asort of link stretched out towards him. Tzerclas had forgotten himtoo, I think, for he started at the sound of his voice and gave himbut a curt answer.
'He is no general,' he said sharply. 'A great leader of horse he is;great at fighting, great at burning, greatest at plundering. No more.'
'It seems that you allow no merit in a German!' the Waldgrave criedwith a sneer. He had drunk too much.
But Tzerclas was not to be moved. There was something fine in thetoleration he extended to the younger man. 'Not at all,' he saidquietly. 'Yet I am of opinion that, even apart from arms, Germany hasshown since the beginning of this war few men of merit.'
'The Duke of Bavaria,' the same deep voice beyond the fire suggested.
'Maximilian?' Tzerclas answered. This time he did not seem to resentthe stranger's interference. 'Yes, he is something of a statesman.You are right, my friend. He and Leuchtenstein, the Landgrave'sminister--he too is a man. I will give you those two. But even theyplay second parts. The fate of Germany lies in no German hands. Itlies in the hands of Gustavus Adolphus and Oxenstierna, Swedes; ofWallenstein, a Bohemian; of--I know not who will be the nextforeigner.'
'That is all very well; but you are a foreigner yourself,' theWaldgrave cried.
'Yes, I am a Walloon,' Tzerclas said, still quietly, though this timeI saw his eyes flicker. 'It is true; why should I deny it? Yourepresent the native, and I the foreign element. The Countess standsbetween us, representing both.'
The Waldgrave rose with an oath and a flushed face, and for a moment Ithought that we were going to have trouble. But he remembered himselfin time, and sitting down again in silence, gazed sulkily at the fire.
The movement, however, was enough for my lady. She rose to her feet tobreak up the party; and turning her shoulder to the offender, began tothank General Tzerclas for his entertainment. This made the Waldgrave,who was compelled to stand by and listen, look more sulky than ever;but she continued to take no notice of him, and though he remainedawkwardly regarding her and waiting for a word, as long as she stood,she went away without once turning her eyes on him. The generalsnatched a torch from me and lighted her with his own hand to our partof the camp, where he took a respectful leave of her; adding, as hewithdrew, that he would march at any hour in the morning that mightsuit her, and that in all things she might command his servants andhimself.
He had sent over for her use a small tent, provided originally, nodoubt, for his own sleeping quarters; and we found that in a hundredother ways he had shown himself thoughtful for her comfort. She stooda moment looking about her with satisfaction; and when she turned todismiss me, there was, or I was mistaken, a gleam of amusement in hereye. After all, she was a woman.
My Lady Rotha: A Romance Page 11