The Casque's Lark; or, Victoria, the Mother of the Camps
Page 3
CHAPTER I.
SCHANVOCH AND SAMPSO.
The morning of the day that I am telling of, I quitted my bed with thedawn, leaving my beloved wife Ellen soundly asleep. I contemplated herfor an instant. Her long loose hair partly covered her bosom; her sweetand beautiful head rested upon one of her folded arms, while the otherreclined on your cradle, my son, as if to protect you even during hersleep. I lightly kissed both your foreheads, fearing to awake you. Itrequired an effort on my part to refrain from tenderly embracing youboth again and again. I was bound upon a venturesome expedition;perchance, the kiss that I hardly dared to give you was the last youwere ever to receive from me. I left the room where you slept andrepaired to the contiguous one to arm myself, to don my cuirass over myblouse, and take my casque and sword. I then left the house. At ourthreshold I met Sampso, my wife's sister, as gentle and beautiful asherself. She held her apron filled with flowers of different colors;they were still wet with the dew. She had just gathered them in ourlittle garden. Seeing me, she smiled and blushed surprised.
"Up so early, Sampso?" I said to her. "I thought I was the first onestirring. But what is the purpose of these flowers?"
"Is it not to-day a year ago that I came to live with my sister Ellenand you--you forgetful Schanvoch?" she answered with an affectionatesmile. "I wish to celebrate the day in our old Gallic fashion. I wentout for the flowers in order to garland the house-door, the cradle ofyour little Alguen, and his mother's head. But you, where are you boundto this morning in full armor?"
At the thought that this holiday might turn into a day of mourning formy family I suppressed a sigh, and answered my wife's sister with asmile that was intended to allay suspicion.
"Victoria and her son charged me yesterday with some military orders forthe chief of a detachment that lies encamped some two leagues from here.It is the military custom to be armed when one has such orders incharge."
"Do you know, Schanvoch, that you must arouse jealousy in many abreast?"
"Because my foster-sister employs my soldier's sword during war and mypen during truces?"
"You forget to say that that foster-sister is Victoria the Great, andthat Victorin, her son, entertains for you the respect that he wouldhave for his mother's brother. Hardly a day goes by without Victoria'scalling upon you. These are favors that many should envy."
"Have I ever sought to profit by these favors, Sampso? Have I notremained a simple horseman, ever declining to be an officer, andrequesting the only favor of fighting at Victorin's side?"
"Whose life you have already twice saved when he was at the point ofperishing under the blows of those barbarous Franks!"
"I did but my duty as a soldier and a Gaul. Should I not sacrifice mylife to that of a man who is so necessary to our country?"
"Schanvoch, we must not quarrel; you know how much I admire Victoria;but--"
"But I know your uncharitableness towards her son," I put in with asmile, "you austere and severe Sampso!"
"Is it any fault of mine if disorderly conduct finds no favor in myeyes--if I even consider it disgraceful?"
"Certes, you are right. Nevertheless I can not avoid being somewhatindulgent towards the foibles of Victorin. A widower at twenty, shouldhe not be excused for yielding at times to the impulses of his age? Dearbut implacable Sampso, I let you read the narrative of my ancestressGenevieve. You are gentle and good as Jesus of Nazareth, why do you notimitate his charity towards sinners? He forgave Magdalen because she hadloved much. In the name of the same sentiment pardon Victorin!"
"There is nothing more worthy of forgiveness than love, when it issincere. But debauchery has nothing in common with love. Schanvoch, itis as if you were to say to me that my sister and I could be comparedwith those Bohemian girls who recently arrived in Mayence."
"In point of looks they might be compared with you or Ellen, seeing thatthey are said to be ravishingly beautiful. But the comparison endsthere, Sampso. I trust but little the virtue of those strollers, howevercharming, however brilliantly arrayed they may be, who travel from townto town singing and dancing for public amusement--even if they indulgenot in worse practices."
"And for all that, I make no doubt that, when you least expect it, youwill see Victorin the general of the army, one of the two Chiefs ofGaul, accompany on horseback the chariot in which these Bohemian girlspromenade every evening along the borders of the Rhine. And if I shouldfeel indignant at the sight of the son of Victoria serving as escort tosuch creatures, you would surely say to me: 'Forgive the sinner, just asJesus forgave Magdalen the sinner.' Go to, Schanvoch, the man who candelight in unworthy amours is capable of--"
But Sampso suddenly broke off.
"Finish your sentence," I said to her, "express yourself in full, I prayyou."
"No," she answered after reflecting a moment; "the time has not yet comefor that. I would not like to risk a hasty word."
"See here," I said to her, "I am sure that what you have in mind is oneof those ridiculous stories about Victorin that for some time have beenfloating about in the army, without its being possible to trace theslanders to their source. Can you, Sampso, you, with all your good senseand good heart, make yourself the echo of such gossip, such unworthycalumnies?"
"Adieu, Schanvoch; I told you I was not going to quarrel with you, dearbrother, on the subject of the hero whom you defend against all comers."
"What would you have me do? It is my foible. I love his mother as an ownsister. I love her son as if he were my own. Are you not as guilty asmyself, Sampso? Is not my little Alguen, your sister's son, as dear toyou as if he were your own child? Take my word for it, when Alguen willbe twenty and you hear him accused of some youthful indiscretion, youwill, I feel quite sure, defend him with even more warmth than I defendVictorin. But we need not wait so long, have you not begun your role ofpleader for him, already? When the rascal is guilty of some misconduct,is it not his aunt Sampso whom he fetches to intercede in his behalf? Heknows how you love him!"
"Is not my sister's son mine?"
"Is that the reason you do not wish to marry?"
"Surely, brother," she answered with a blush and a slight embarrassment.After a moment's silence she resumed:
"I hope you will be back home at noon to complete our little feast?"
"The moment my mission is fulfilled I shall return. Adieu, Sampso!"
"Adieu, Schanvoch!"
And leaving his wife's sister engaged in her work of garlanding thehouse-door, Schanvoch walked rapidly away, revolving in his mind thetopic of the conversation that Sampso had just broached.