CHAPTER XXIX.
A WOUNDED PILGRIM.
IT was long ere Walter Espec, struck down wounded and bleeding atMansourah, recovered possession of his faculties sufficiently to recallthe scenes through which he had passed or even to understand what wastaking place around him. As time passed over, however, consciousnessreturned; and he one day became aware that he was stretched on a bed ina chamber somewhat luxuriously furnished, and tended by a woman advancedin years, who wore a gown of russet, and a wimple which gave her aconventual appearance.
Walter raised his head, and was about to speak, when she suddenly leftthe room, and the squire was left to guess, as he best might, where andunder whose care he was. He attempted to rise; but the effort was invain. He put his hand to his head; but he found that his long locks offair hair were gone. He tried to remember how he had got there; but, tryas he might, his memory would not bring him farther down the stream oftime, than the hour in which he fell at Mansourah. All the rest was ablank or a feverish dream of being rowed on a river by Saracen boatmen,and left at the portal of a house which he had never seen before.Gradually recalling all his adventures since he left the castle of Wark,he remembered and felt his hand for the amulet with which he had beengifted by King Louis when at Cyprus. The ring was there, and as Walterthought of the inscription he felt something like hope.
But Walter was still weak from loss of blood and the fever which hadbeen the consequence of wounds and exposure, and he soon sank into aslumber. When he again awoke to consciousness the woman in russet wasstanding near him, and conversing with a damsel whom Walter did not atfirst see, but whose tones, sweet and soft, manifested a strong interestin his recovery.
'He will yet live,' said the woman in russet, 'and rejoice we in it; forhe is a young man; and to such life must needs be dear.'
'He will live,' repeated the girl, 'and our lady be praised therefor;for it is sweet to live.'
'In truth, noble demoiselle,' said the woman in russet, 'the youth owesmuch to your solicitude; but for your anxiety on his behalf, I hardlythink he would have struggled through the fever. However, if you willremain and watch him for a brief space, I will attend to the commands ofmy lady the queen, and hasten to relieve you. Nay, it misbeseems notnoble maiden to tend a wounded warrior, especially a soldier of theCross; and, credit me, he will give you little trouble. He lies as quietand calm as if he were in his shroud.'
With these words the woman in russet departed; and the damsel, treadingso softly that her footstep made not the slightest noise, moved aboutthe room in silent thought, now turning to gaze on the wounded squire,now looking from the casement. Walter, now fully awake, began toexperience a strong feeling of curiosity; and turning his head directedhis gaze, not without interest, towards his youthful nurse. She was notmore than sixteen, and still more beautiful than young. She had featuresexquisitely lovely in their delicacy and expression, deep blue eyes withlong dark fringes, and dark brown hair which, according to the fashionof the period, was turned up behind and enclosed in a caul of network.Her form was already elegant in its proportions; but it inclined to betaller, and gave promise of great perfection. Her charms were set off bythe mourning dress which she wore, and by the robe called the quintise,which was an upper tunic without sleeves, with bordered vandyking andscalloping worked and notched in various patterns, worn so long behindthat it swept the floor, but in front held up gracefully with one handso as not to impede the step.
Walter was charmed, and a little astonished as his eye alighted on aface and form so fascinating; and, in spite of his prostration and utterweakness, he gazed on her with lively interest and some wonder.
'Holy Katherine!' exclaimed he to himself; 'what a lovely vision. Imarvel who she is, and where I am; and, as he thus soliloquised, thegirl turned round, and not without flutter and alarm perceived that hewas awake and watching her.
'Noble demoiselle, heed me not;' said Walter earnestly, 'but rathertell me, since, if I understand aright, I owe my life to you--how am Iever sufficiently to prove my gratitude?'
'Ah, sir squire,' replied she, 'you err in supposing the debt to be onyour side. It is I who owe you a life, and not you who owe a life to me;and,' added she, struggling to repress tears, 'my heart fills when Iremember how you did for me, albeit a stranger, what, under thecircumstances, no other being on earth would have ventured to do.'
'By Holy Katherine, noble demoiselle,' said Walter, wondering at herwords; 'I should in truth deem it a high honour to have rendered such asyou any service. But that is a merit which I cannot claim; for, untilthis hour, unless my memory deceives me, I never saw your face.'
The countenance of the girl evinced disappointment, and the tearsstarted to her eyes.
'Ah, sir, sir,' said she, with agitation; 'I am she whom, on the coastof Cyprus, you saved from the waves of the sea.'
Walter's heart beat rather quick as he learned that it was Adeline deBrienne who stood before him; for, though her very face was unknown tohim, her name had strangely mixed up with many of his day-dreams; and itwas not without confusion that, after a pause, he continued theconversation.
'Pardon my ignorance, noble demoiselle,' said he, 'and vouchsafe, I prayyou, to inform me where I now am; for I own to you that I am somewhatperplexed.'
'You are in Damietta.'
'In Damietta!' exclaimed Walter, astonished; 'and how came I toDamietta? My latest recollection is having been struck from my steed atMansourah, after my lord, the Earl of Salisbury, and all the Englishwarriors, had fallen before the weapons of the Saracens; and how I cometo be in Damietta is more than I can guess.'
'Mayhap; but I can tell you,' said a frank hearty voice; and, as Walterstarted at the sound, Bisset, the English knight, stood before him; andAdeline de Brienne, not without casting a kindly look behind, vanishedfrom the chamber.
'Wonder upon wonders,' cried Walter, as the knight took his hand; 'I amnow more bewildered than before. Am I in Damietta, and do I see you, andin the body?'
'Even so,' replied Bisset; 'and for both circumstances we are whollyindebted to Beltran, the Christian renegade. He saved you from perishingat Mansourah, and conveyed you down the Nile, and brought you to theportal of this palace; and he came to me when I was at Minieh under atree, sinking with fatigue, and in danger of bleeding to death; and hefound the means of conveying me hither also; so I say that, were he tentimes a renegade, he merits our gratitude.'
'Certes,' said Walter, 'and, methinks, also our prayers that his heartmay be turned from the error of his ways, and that he may return to thefaith which Christians hold.'
'Amen,' replied Bisset.
'But tell me, sir knight,' continued Walter, eagerly, what hashappened, since that dreadful day, to the pilgrim army? and if you knowaught of my brother-in-arms, Guy Muschamp?'
'Sir squire,' answered Bisset, sadly; 'for your first question, I grieveto say, that has come to pass which I too shrewdly predicted--all theboasting of the French has ended in disaster--the king and his noblesbeing prisoners, and most of the other pilgrims slain or drowned; and,for your second, as to Guy Muschamp, the English squire, who was a braveand gallant youth, I own I entertain hardly a doubt that, ere this, heis food for worms or fishes.'
Walter Espec uttered an exclamation of horror, and, without anotherword, sank back on his pillow.
Boy Crusaders: A Story of the Days of Louis IX. Page 30