by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXV: THE UNBIDDEN GUEST
No human quality is so well wove In warp and woof, but there 's some flaw in it: I've known a brave man fly a shepherd's cur, A wise man so demean him, drivelling idiocy Had wellnigh been ashamed on't. For your crafty, Your worldly wise man, he, above the rest, Weaves his own snares so fine, he 's often caught in them.
OLD PLAY
Quentin, during the earlier part of the night journey, had to combatwith that bitter heartache which is felt when youth parts, and probablyforever, with her he loves. As, pressed by the urgency of the moment,and the impatience of Crevecoeur, they hasted on through the richlowlands of Hainault, under the benign guidance of a rich and lustrousharvest moon, she shed her yellow influence over rich and deep pastures,woodland, and cornfields, from which the husbandmen were using her lightto withdraw the grain, such was the industry of the Flemings, even atthat period, she shone on broad, level, and fructifying rivers, whereglided the white sail in the service of commerce, uninterrupted by rockand torrent, beside lively quiet villages, whose external decency andcleanliness expressed the ease and comfort of the inhabitants,--shegleamed upon the feudal castle of many a Baron and Knight, with its deepmoat, battlemented court, and high belfry--for the chivalry of Hainaultwas renowned among the nobles of Europe--and her light displayed at adistance, in its broad beam, the gigantic towers of more than one loftyminster.
Yet all this fair variety, however, differing from the waste andwilderness of his own land, interrupted not the course of Quentin'sregrets and sorrows. He had left his heart behind him when he departedfrom Charleroi, and the only reflection which the farther journeyinspired was that every step was carrying him farther from Isabelle. Hisimagination was taxed to recall every word she had spoken, every lookshe had directed towards him, and, as happens frequently in such cases,the impression made upon his imagination by the recollection of theseparticulars, was even stronger than the realities themselves hadexcited.
At length, after the cold hour of midnight was past, in spite alike oflove and of sorrow, the extreme fatigue which Quentin had undergone thetwo preceding days began to have an effect on him, which his habitsof exercise of every kind, and his singular alertness and activityof character, as well as the painful nature of the reflections whichoccupied his thoughts, had hitherto prevented his experiencing. Theideas of his mind began to be so little corrected by the exertions ofhis senses, worn out and deadened as the latter now were by extremity offatigue, that the visions which the former drew superseded or pervertedthe information conveyed by the blunted organs of seeing and hearing,and Durward was only sensible that he was awake, by the exertions which,sensible of the peril of his situation, he occasionally made toresist falling into a deep and dead sleep. Every now and then, strongconsciousness of the risk of falling from or with his horse roused himto exertion and animation, but ere long his eyes again were dimmed byconfused shades of all sorts of mingled colours, the moonlight landscapeswam before them, and he was so much overcome with fatigue, that theCount of Crevecoeur, observing his condition, was at length compelledto order two of his attendants, one to each rein of Durward's bridle, inorder to prevent the risk of his falling from his horse.
When at length they reached the town of Landrecy, the Count, incompassion to the youth, who had now been in a great measure withoutsleep for three nights, allowed himself and his retinue a halt of fourhours, for rest and refreshment. Deep and sound were Quentin's slumbers,until they were broken by the sound of the Count's trumpet, and the cryof his Fouriers [subordinate officers who secure quarters for the armywhile manoeuvring] and harbingers, "Debout! debout! Ha! Messires, enroute, en route! [arise, let us set out!]"
Yet, unwelcomely early as the tones came, they awaked him a differentbeing in strength and spirits from what he had fallen asleep. Confidencein himself and his fortunes returned with his reviving spirits, andwith the rising sun. He thought of his love no longer as a desperateand fantastic dream, but as a high and invigorating principle, to becherished in his bosom, although he might never purpose to himself,under all the difficulties by which he was beset, to bring it to anyprosperous issue.
"The pilot," he reflected, "steers his bark by the polar star, althoughhe never expects to become possessor of it, and the thoughts of Isabelleof Croye shall make me a worthy man at arms, though I may never seeher more. When she hears that a Scottish soldier named Quentin Durwarddistinguished himself in a well fought field, or left his body on thebreach of a disputed fortress, she will remember the companion ofher journey, as one who did all in his power to avert the snares andmisfortunes which beset it, and perhaps will honour his memory with atear, his coffin with a garland."
In this manly mood of bearing his misfortune, Quentin felt himself moreable to receive and reply to the jests of the Count of Crevecoeur, whopassed several on his alleged effeminacy and incapacity of undergoingfatigue. The young Scot accommodated himself so good humouredly to theCount's raillery, and replied at once so happily and so respectfully,that the change of his tone and manner made obviously a more favourableimpression on the Count than he had entertained from his prisoner'sconduct during the preceding evening, when, rendered irritable by thefeelings of his situation, he was alternately moodily silent or fiercelyargumentative. The veteran soldier began at length to take notice of hisyoung companion as a pretty fellow, of whom something might be made, andmore than hinted to him that would he but resign his situation in theArcher Guard of France, he would undertake to have him enrolled in thehousehold of the Duke of Burgundy in an honourable condition, andwould himself take care of his advancement. And although Quentin, withsuitable expressions of gratitude, declined this favour at present,until he should find out how far he had to complain of his originalpatron, King Louis, he, nevertheless, continued to remain on goodterms with the Count of Crevecoeur, and, while his enthusiastic mode ofthinking, and his foreign and idiomatical manner of expressing himself,often excited a smile on the grave cheek of the Count, that smile hadlost all that it had of sarcastic and bitter, and did not exceed thelimits of good humour and good manners.
Thus travelling on with much more harmony than on the preceding day, thelittle party came at last within two miles of the famous and strong townof Peronne, near which the Duke of Burgundy's army lay encamped, ready,as was supposed, to invade France, and, in opposition to which, Louis XIhad himself assembled a strong force near Saint Maxence, for the purposeof bringing to reason his over powerful vassal.
Perrone, situated upon a deep river, in a flat country, and surroundedby strong bulwarks and profound moats, was accounted in ancient as inmodern times, one of the strongest fortresses in France. [Indeed, thoughlying on an exposed and warlike frontier, it was never taken by anenemy, but preserved the proud name of Peronne la Pucelle, until theDuke of Wellington, a great destroyer of that sort of reputation, tookthe place in the memorable advance upon Paris in 1815. S.] The Count ofCrevecoeur, his retinue, and his prisoner, were approaching the fortressabout the third hour after noon, when riding through the pleasant gladesof a large forest, which then covered the approach to the town on theeast side, they were met by two men of rank, as appeared from the numberof their attendants, dressed in the habits worn in time of peace, andwho, to judge from the falcons which they carried on their wrists,and the number of spaniels and greyhounds led by their followers, wereengaged in the amusement of hawking. But on perceiving Crevecoeur, withwhose appearance and liveries they were sufficiently intimate, theyquitted the search which they were making for a heron along the banks ofa long canal, and came galloping towards him.
"News, news, Count of Crevecoeur," they cried both together, "will yougive news, or take news? or will you barter fairly?"
"I would barter fairly, Messires," said Crevecoeur, after saluting themcourteously, "did I conceive you had any news of importance sufficientto make an equivalent for mine."
The two sportsmen smiled on each other, and the elder of the two, afine baronial figure, with a
dark countenance, marked with that sort ofsadness which some physiognomists ascribe to a melancholy temperament,and some, as the Italian statuary augured of the visage of Charles I,consider as predicting an unhappy death, turning to his companion, said,"Crevecoeur has been in Brabant, the country of commerce, and he haslearned all its artifices--he will be too hard for us if we drive abargain."
"Messires," said Crevecoeur, "the Duke ought in justice to have thefirst of my wares, as the Seigneur takes his toll before open marketbegins. But tell me, are your news of a sad or a pleasant complexion?"
The person whom he particularly addressed was a lively looking man,with an eye of great vivacity, which was corrected by an expressionof reflection and gravity about the mouth and upper lip--the wholephysiognomy marking a man who saw and judged rapidly, but was sage andslow in forming resolutions or in expressing opinions. This was thefamous Knight of Hainault, son of Collara, or Nicolas de l'Elite, knownin history, and amongst historians, by the venerable name of Philip deComines, at this time close to the person of Duke Charles the Bold, andone of his most esteemed counsellors. He answered Crevecoeur's questionconcerning the complexion of the news of which he and his companion, theBaron D'Hymbercourt, were the depositaries.
[Philip de Comines was described in the former editions of this workas a little man, fitted rather for counsel than action. This was adescription made at a venture, to vary the military portraits with whichthe age and work abound. Sleidan the historian, upon the authority ofMatthieu d'Arves, who knew Philip de Comines, and had served in hishousehold, says he was a man of tall stature, and a noble presence.The learned Monsieur Petitot... intimates that Philip de Comines made afigure at the games of chivalry and pageants exhibited on the wedding ofCharles of Burgundy with Margaret of England in 1468.... He is the firstnamed, however, of a gallant band of assailants, knights and noblemen,to the number of twenty, who, with the Prince of Orange as their leader,encountered, in a general tourney, with a party of the same number underthe profligate Adolf of Cleves, who acted as challenger, by the romantictitle of Arbre d'or. The encounter, though with arms of courtesy, wasvery fierce, and separated by main force, not without difficulty. Philipde Comines has, therefore, a title to be accounted tam Martre quamMercurio... S.]
[D'Hymbercourt, or Imbercourt, was put to death by the inhabitantsof Ghent, with the Chancellor of Burgundy, in the year 1477. Mary ofBurgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold, appeared in mourning in themarketplace, and with tears besought the life of her servants from herinsurgent subjects, but in vain. S.]
"They were," he said, "like the colours of the rainbow, various in hue,as they might be viewed from different points, and placed against theblack cloud or the fair sky.--Such a rainbow was never seen in France orFlanders, since that of Noah's ark."
"My tidings," replied Crevecoeur, "are altogether like the comet,gloomy, wild, and terrible in themselves, yet to be accounted theforerunners of still greater and more dreadful evils which are toensue."
"We must open our bales," said Comines to his companion, "or our marketwill be forestalled by some newcomers, for ours are public news.--In oneword, Crevecoeur--listen and wonder--King Louis is at Peronne."
"What!" said the Count in astonishment, "has the Duke retreated withouta battle? and do you remain here in your dress of peace, after the townis besieged by the French?--for I cannot suppose it taken."
"No, surely," said D'Hymbercourt, "the banners of Burgundy have not goneback a foot, and still King Louis is here."
"Then Edward of England must have come over the seas with his bowmen,"said Crevecoeur, "and, like his ancestors, gained a second field ofPoictiers?"
"Not so," said Comines. "Not a French banner has been borne down, nota sail spread from England--where Edward is too much amused among thewives of the citizens of London to think of playing the Black Prince.Hear the extraordinary truth. You know, when you left us, that theconference between the commissioners on the parts of France and Burgundywas broken up, without apparent chance of reconciliation."
"True, and we dreamt of nothing but war."
"What has followed has been indeed so like a dream," said Comines, "thatI almost expect to awake, and find it so. Only one day since, the Dukehad in council protested so furiously against farther delay that it wasresolved to send a defiance to the King, and march forward instantlyinto France. Toison d'Or, commissioned for the purpose, had put on hisofficial dress, and had his foot in the stirrup to mount his horse, whenlo! the French herald Montjoie rode into our camp.
"We thought of nothing else than that Louis had been beforehand withour defiance, and began to consider how much the Duke would resent theadvice which had prevented him from being the first to declare war. Buta council being speedily assembled, what was our wonder when the heraldinformed us, that Louis, King of France, was scarce an hour's ridingbehind, intending to visit Charles, Duke of Burgundy, with a smallretinue, in order that their differences might be settled at a personalinterview!"
"You surprise me, Messires," said Crevecoeur, "yet you surprise me lessthan you might have expected, for, when I was last at Plessis les Tours,the all trusted Cardinal Balue, offended with his master, and Burgundianat heart, did hint to me that he could so work upon Louis's peculiarfoibles as to lead him to place himself in such a position with regardto Burgundy that the Duke might have the terms of peace of his ownmaking. But I never suspected that so old a fox as Louis could havebeen induced to come into the trap of his own accord. What said theBurgundian counsellors?"
"As you may guess," answered D'Hymbercourt, "talked much of faith to beobserved, and little of advantage to be obtained by such a visit, whileit was manifest they thought almost entirely of the last, and were onlyanxious to find some way to reconcile it with the necessary preservationof appearances."
"And what said the Duke?" continued the Count of Crevecoeur.
"Spoke brief and bold as usual," replied Comines. "'Which of you wasit,' he asked, 'who witnessed the meeting of my cousin Louis andme after the battle of Montl'hery, when I was so thoughtless as toaccompany him back within the intrenchments of Paris with half a scoreof attendants, and so put my person at the King's mercy?' I replied,that most of us had been present, and none could ever forget the alarmwhich it had been his pleasure to give us. 'Well,' said the Duke, 'youblamed me for my folly, and I confessed to you that I had acted likea giddy pated boy, and I am aware, too, that my father of happy memorybeing then alive, my kinsman, Louis, would have had less advantageby seizing on my person than I might now have by securing his. But,nevertheless, if my royal kinsman comes hither on the present occasion,in the same singleness of heart under which I then acted, he shall beroyally welcome.--If it is meant by this appearance of confidence tocircumvent and to blind me, till he execute some of his politic schemes,by Saint George of Burgundy, let him to look to it!' And so, havingturned up his mustaches and stamped on the ground, he ordered us all toget on our horses, and receive so extraordinary a guest."
[After the battle of Montl'hery, in 1465, Charles... had an interviewwith Louis under the walls of Paris, each at the head of a small party.The two Princes dismounted, and walked together so deeply engagedin discussing the business of their meeting, that Charles forgot thepeculiarity of his situation; and when Louis turned back towards thetown of Paris, from which he came, the Count of Charalois kept himcompany so far as to pass the line of outworks with which Paris wassurrounded, and enter a field work which communicated with the town bya trench.... His escort and his principal followers rode forward fromwhere he had left them. ... To their great joy the Count returneduninjured, accompanied with a guard belonging to Louis. The Burgundianstaxed him with rashness in no measured terms. "Say no more of it," saidCharles; "I acknowledge the extent of my folly, but I was not awarewhat I was doing till I entered the redoubt." Memoires de Philippe deComines.--S.]
"And you met the King accordingly?" replied the Count of Crevecoeur."Miracles have not ceased--How was he accompanied?"
"As slightly as might b
e," answered D'Hymbercourt, "only a score or twoof the Scottish Guard, and a few knights and gentlemen of his householdamong whom his astrologer, Galeotti, made the gayest figure."
"That fellow," said Crevecoeur, "holds some dependence on theCardinal Balue--I should not be surprised that he has had his share indetermining the King to this step of doubtful policy. Any nobility ofhigher rank?"
"There are Monsieur of Orleans, and Dunois," replied Comines.
"I will have a rouse with Dunois," said Crevecoeur, "wag the world as itwill. But we heard that both he and the Duke had fallen into disgrace,and were in prison."
"They were both under arrest in the Castle of Loches, that delightfulplace of retirement for the French nobility," said D'Hymbercourt,"but Louis has released them, in order to bring them with him--perhapsbecause he cared not to leave Orleans behind. For his other attendants,faith, I think his gossip, the Hangman Marshal, with two or three of hisretinue, and Oliver, his barber, may be the most considerable--and thewhole bevy so poorly arrayed, that, by my honour, the King resemblesmost an old usurer, going to collect desperate debts, attended by a bodyof catchpolls."
"And where is he lodged?" said Crevecoeur.
"Nay, that," replied the Comines, "is the most marvellous of all. OurDuke offered to let the King's Archer Guard have a gate of the town, anda bridge of boats over the Somme, and to have assigned to Louis himselfthe adjoining house, belonging to a wealthy burgess, Giles Orthen, but,in going thither, the King espied the banners of De Lau and Pencil deRiviere, whom he had banished from France, and scared, as it would seem,with the thought of lodging so near refugees and malcontents of his ownmaking, he craved to be quartered in the castle of Peronne, and there hehath his abode accordingly."
"Why, God ha' mercy!" exclaimed Crevecoeur, "this is not only not beingcontent with venturing into the lion's den, but thrusting his head intohis very jaws.--Nothing less than the very bottom of the rat trap wouldserve the crafty old politician!"
"Nay," said Comines, "D'Hymbercourt hath not told you the speech ofLe Glorieux [the jester of Charles of Burgundy of whom more hereafter.S.]--which, in my mind, was the shrewdest opinion that was given."
"And what said his most illustrious wisdom?" asked the Count.
"As the Duke," replied Comines, "was hastily ordering some vessels andornaments of plate and the like, to be prepared as presents for the Kingand his retinue, by way of welcome on his arrival:
"'Trouble not thy small brain about it, my friend Charles,' said LeGlorieux, 'I will give thy cousin Louis a nobler and a fitter gift thanthou canst, and that is my cap and bells, and my bauble to boot, for,by the mass, he is a greater fool than I am, for putting himself in thypower.'
"'But if I give him no reason to repent it, sirrah, how thou?' said theDuke.
"'Then, truly, Charles, thou shalt have cap and bauble thyself, as thegreatest fool of the three of us.'
"I promise you this knavish quip touched the Duke closely--I saw himchange colour and bite his lip. And now, our news are told, nobleCrevecoeur, and what think you they resemble?"
"A mine full charged with gunpowder," answered Crevecoeur, "to which,I fear, it is my fate to bring the kindled linstock. Your news and mineare like flax and fire, which cannot meet without bursting into flame,or like certain chemical substances which cannot be mingled without anexplosion. Friends--gentlemen--ride close by my rein, and when I tellyou what has chanced in the bishopric of Liege, I think you will be ofopinion that King Louis might as safely have undertaken a pilgrimage tothe infernal regions as this ill timed visit to Peronne."
The two nobles drew up close on either hand of the Count, and listened,with half suppressed exclamations, and gestures of the deepestwonder and interest, to his account of the transactions at Liegeand Schonwaldt. Quentin was then called forward, and examined andre-examined on the particulars of the Bishop's death, until at lengthhe refused to answer any farther interrogatories, not knowing whereforethey were asked, or what use might be made of his replies.
They now reached the rich and level banks of the Somme, and the ancientwalls of the little town of Peronne la Pucelle, and the deep greenmeadows adjoining, now whitened with the numerous tents of the Duke ofBurgundy's army, amounting to about fifteen thousand men.