Fair Margaret

by H. Rider Haggard

  CHAPTER XXI

  BETTY STATES HER CASE

  Seven days had passed, during which time Margaret and her father hadrested quietly in the prison, where, indeed, they dwelt more as gueststhan as captives. Thus they were allowed to receive what visitors theywould, and among them Juan Bernaldez, Castell's connection and agent,who told them of all that passed without. Through him they sentmessengers to meet Betty on her road and apprise her of how thingsstood, and of the trial in which her cause would be judged.

  Soon the messengers returned, stating that the "Marchioness of Morella"was travelling in state, accompanied by a great retinue, that shethanked them for their tidings, and hoped to be able to defend herselfat all points.

  At this news Castell stared and Margaret laughed, for, although she didnot know all the story, she was sure that in some way Betty had themastery of Morella, and would not be easily defeated, though how shecame to be travelling with a great retinue she could not imagine. Still,fearing lest she should be attacked or otherwise injured, she wrote ahumble letter to the queen, praying that her cousin might be defendedfrom all danger at the hands of any one whomsoever until she had anopportunity of giving evidence before their Majesties.

  Within an hour came the answer that the lady was under the royalprotection, and that a guard had been sent to escort her and her partyand to keep her safe from interference of any sort; also, that for hergreater comfort, quarters had been prepared for her in a fortressoutside of Seville, which would be watched night and day, and whence shewould be brought to the court.

  Peter was still kept apart from them, but each day at noon they wereallowed to meet him in the walled garden of the prison, where theytalked together to their heart's content. Here, too, he exercisedhimself daily at all manly games, and especially at sword-play with someof the other prisoners, using sticks for swords. Further, he was allowedthe use of his horse that he had ridden from Granada, on which hejousted in the yard of the castle with the governor and certain othergentlemen, proving himself better at that play than any of them. Thesethings he did vigorously and with ardour, for Margaret had told him ofthe hint which the queen gave her, and he desired to get back his fullstrength, and to perfect himself in the handling of every arm which wasused in Spain.

  So the time went by, until one afternoon the governor informed them thatPeter's trial was fixed for the morrow, and that they must accompany himto the court to be examined also upon all these matters. A little latercame Bernaldez, who said that the king had returned and would sit withthe queen, and that already this affair had made much stir in Seville,where there was much curiosity as to the story of Morella's marriage, ofwhich many different tales were told. That Margaret and her father wouldbe discharged he had little doubt, in which case their ship was readyfor them; but of Peter's chances he could say nothing, for they dependedupon what view the king took of his offence, and, though unacknowledged,Morella was the king's nephew and had his ear.

  Afterwards they went down into the garden, and there found Peter, whohad just returned from his jousting, flushed with exercise, and lookingvery manly and handsome. Margaret took his hand and, walking aside, toldhim the news.

  "I am glad," he answered, "for the sooner this business is begun thesooner it will be done. But, Sweet," and here his face grew veryearnest, "Morella has much power in this land, and I have broken itslaw, so none know what the end will be. I may be condemned to death orimprisoned, or perhaps, if I am given the chance, with better luck I mayfall fighting, in any of which cases we shall be separated for a while,or altogether. Should this be so, I pray that you will not stay here,either in the hope of rescuing me, or for other reasons; since, whileyou are in Spain, Morella will not cease from his attempts to get holdof you, whereas in England you will be safe from him."

  When Margaret heard these words she sobbed aloud, for the thought thatharm might come to Peter seemed to choke her.

  "In all things I will do your bidding," she said, "yet how can I leaveyou, dear, while you are alive, and if, perchance, you should die, whichmay God prevent, how can I live on without you? Rather shall I seek tofollow you very swiftly."

  "I do not desire that," said Peter. "I desire that you should endureyour days till the end, and come to meet me where I am in due season,and not before. I will add this, that if in after-years you should meetany worthy man, and have a mind to marry him, you should do so, for Iknow well that you will never forget me, your first love, and thatbeyond this world lie others where there are no marryings or giving inmarriage. Let not my dead hand lie heavy upon you, Margaret."

  "Yet," she replied in gentle indignation, "heavy must it always lie,since it is about my heart. Be sure of this, Peter, that if suchdreadful ill should fall upon us, as you left me so shall you find me,here or hereafter."

  "So be it," he said with a sigh of relief, for he could not bear tothink of Margaret as the wife of some other man, even after he was gone,although his honest, simple nature, and fear lest her life might be madeempty of all joy, caused him to say what he had said.

  Then behind the shelter of a flowering bush they embraced each other asdo those who know not whether they will ever kiss again, and, the hourof sunset having come, parted as they must.

  On the following morning once more Castell and Margaret were led to theHall of Justice in the Alcazar; but this time Peter did not go withthem. The great court was already full of counsellors, officers,gentlemen, and ladies who had come from curiosity, and other folkconnected with or interested in the case. As yet, however, Margaretcould not see Morella or Betty, nor had the king and queen taken theirseats upon the throne. Peter was already there, standing before the barwith guards on either side of him, and greeted them with a smile and anod as they were ushered to their chairs near by. Just as they reachedthem also trumpets were blown, and from the back of the hall, walkinghand in hand, appeared their Majesties of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella,whereat all the audience rose and bowed, remaining standing till theywere seated on the thrones.

  The king, whom they now saw for the first time, was a thickset, activeman with pleasant eyes, a fair skin, and a broad forehead, but, asMargaret thought, somewhat sly-faced--the face of a man who never forgothis own interests in those of another. Like the queen, he wasmagnificently attired in garments broidered with gold and the arms ofAragon, while in his hand he held a golden sceptre surmounted by ajewel, and about his waist, to show that he was a warlike king, he worehis long, cross-handled sword. Smilingly he acknowledged the homage ofhis subjects by lifting his hand to his cap and bowing. Then his eyefell upon the beautiful Margaret, and, turning, he put a question to thequeen in a light, sharp voice, asking if that were the lady whom Morellahad married, and, if so, why in the name of heaven he wished to berid of her.

  Isabella answered that she understood that this was the senora whom hehad desired to marry when he married some one else, as he alleged bymistake, but who was in fact affianced to the prisoner before them; areply at which all who heard it laughed.

  At this moment the Marquis of Morella, accompanied by his gentlemen andsome long-gowned lawyers, appeared walking up the court, dressed in theblack velvet that he always wore, and glittering with orders. Upon hishead was a cap, also of black velvet, from which hung a great pearl, andthis cap he did not remove even when he bowed to the king and queen, forhe was one of the few grandees of Spain who had the right to remaincovered before their Majesties. They acknowledged his salutation,Ferdinand with a friendly nod and Isabella with a cold bow, and he, too,took the seat that had been prepared for him. Just then there was adisturbance at the far end of the court, where one of its officers couldbe heard calling:

  "Way! Make way for the Marchioness of Morella!" At the sound of thisname the marquis, whose eyes were fixed on Margaret, frowned fiercely,rising from his seat as though to protest, then, at some whispered wordfrom a lawyer behind him, sat down again.

  Now the crowd of spectators separated, and Margaret, turning to lookdown the long hall, saw a procession advanc
ing up the lane between them,some clad in armour and some in white Moorish robes blazoned with thescarlet eagle, the cognisance of Morella. In the midst of them, hertrain supported by two Moorish women, walked a tall and beautiful lady,a coronet upon her brow, her fair hair outspread, a purple cloak hangingfrom her shoulders, half hiding that same splendid robe sewn with pearlswhich had been Morella's gift to Margaret, and about her white bosom thechain of pearls which he had presented to Betty in compensation forher injuries.

  Margaret stared and stared again, and her father at her side murmured:

  "It is our Betty! Truly fine feathers make fine birds." Yes, Betty itwas without a doubt, though, remembering her in her humble woollen dressat the old house in Holborn, it was hard to recognise the poor companionin this proud and magnificent lady, who looked as though all her lifeshe had trodden the marble floors of courts, and consorted with noblesand with queens. Up the great hall she came, stately, imperturbable,looking neither to the right nor to the left, taking no note of thewhisperings about her, no, nor even of Morella or of Margaret, till shereached the open space in front of the bar where Peter and his guards,gazing with all their eyes, hastened to make place for her. There shecurtseyed thrice, twice to the queen, and once to the king, her consort;then, turning, bowed to the marquis, who fixed his eyes upon the groundand took no note, bowed to Castell and Peter, and lastly, advancing toMargaret, gave her her cheek to kiss. This Margaret did with becominghumility, whispering in her ear:

  "How fares your Grace?"

  "Better than you would in my shoes," whispered Betty back with ever soslight a trembling of her left eyelid; while Margaret heard the kingmutter to the queen:

  "A fine peacock of a woman. Look at her figure and those big eyes.Morella must be hard to please."

  "Perhaps he prefers swans to peacocks," answered the queen in the samevoice with a glance at Margaret, whose quieter and more refined beautyseemed to gain by contrast with that of her nobly built anddazzling-skinned cousin. Then she motioned to Betty to take the seatprepared for her, which she did, with her suite standing behind her andan interpreter at her side.

  "I am somewhat bewildered," said the king, glancing from Morella toBetty and from Margaret to Peter, for evidently the humour of thesituation did not escape him. "What is the exact case that we haveto try?"

  Then one of the legal assessors, or alcaldes, rose and said that thematter before their Majesties was a charge against the Englishman at thebar of killing a certain soldier of the Holy Hermandad, but that thereseemed to be other matters mixed up with it.

  "So I gather," answered the king; "for instance, an accusation of thecarrying off of subjects of a friendly Power out of the territory ofthat Power; a suit for nullity of a marriage, and a cross-suit for thedeclaration of the validity of the said marriage--and the holy saintsknow what besides. Well, one thing at a time. Let us try this tallEnglishman."

  So the case was opened against Peter by a public prosecutor, whorestated it as it had been laid before the queen. The Captain Arranogave his evidence as to the killing of the soldier, but, incross-examination by Peter's advocate, admitted, for evidently he boreno malice against the prisoner, that the said soldier had roughlyhandled the Dona Margaret, and that the said Peter, being a stranger tothe country, might very well have taken them for a troop of bandits oreven Moors. Also, he added, that he could not say that the Englishmanhad intended to kill the soldier.

  Then Castell and Margaret gave their evidence, the latter with muchmodest sweetness. Indeed, when she explained that Peter was heraffianced husband, to whom she was to have been wed on the day after shehad been stolen away from England, and that she had cried out to himfor help when the dead soldier caught hold of her and rent away herveil, there was a murmur of sympathy, and the king and queen began totalk with each other without paying much heed to her further words.

  Next they spoke to two of the judges who sat with them, after which theking held up his hand and announced that they had come to a decision onthe case. It was, that, under the circumstances, the Englishman wasjustified in cutting down the soldier, especially as there was nothingto show that he meant to kill him, or that he knew that he belonged tothe Holy Hermandad. He would, therefore, be discharged on the conditionthat he paid a sum of money, which, indeed, it appeared had already beenpaid to the man's widow, in compensation for the man's death, and afurther small sum for Masses to be said for the welfare of his soul.

  Peter began to give thanks for this judgment; but while he was stillspeaking the king asked if any of those present wished to proceed infurther suits. Instantly Betty rose and said that she did. Then, throughher interpreter, she stated that she had received the royal commands toattend before their Majesties, and was now prepared to answer anyquestions or charges that might be laid against her.

  "What is your name, Senora?" asked the king.

  "Elizabeth, Marchioness of Morella, born Elizabeth Dene, of the ancientand gentle family of Dene, a native of England," answered Betty in aclear and decided voice.

  The king bowed, then asked:

  "Does any one dispute this title and description?"

  "I do," answered the Marquis of Morella, speaking for the first time.

  "On what grounds, Marquis?"

  "On every ground," he answered. "She is not the Marchioness of Morella,inasmuch as I went through the ceremony of marriage with her believingher to be another woman. She is not of ancient and gentle family, sinceshe was a servant in the house of the merchant Castell yonder,in London."

  "That proves nothing, Marquis," interrupted the king. "My family may, Ithink, be called ancient and gentle, which you will be the last to deny,yet I have played the part of a servant on an occasion which I think thequeen here will remember"--an allusion at which the audience, who knewwell enough to what it referred, laughed audibly, as did her Majesty[1]."The marriage and rank are matters for proof," went on the king, "ifthey are questioned; but is it alleged that this lady has committed anycrime which prevents her from pleading?"

  "None," answered Betty quickly, "except that of being poor, and thecrime, if it is one, as it may be, of having married that man, theMarquis of Morella," whereat the audience laughed again.

  "Well, Madam, you do not seem to be poor now," remarked the king,looking at her gorgeous and bejewelled apparel; "and here we are moreapt to think marriage a folly than a crime," a light saying at which thequeen frowned a little. "But," he added quickly, "set out your case,Madam, and forgive me if, until you have done so, I do not call youMarchioness."

  [Footnote 1: When travelling from Saragossa to Valladolid to be marriedto Isabella, Ferdinand was obliged to pass himself off as a valet.Prescott says: "The greatest circumspection, therefore, was necessary.The party journeyed chiefly in the night; Ferdinand assumed the disguiseof a servant and, when they halted on the road, took care of the mulesand served his companions at table."]

  "Here is my case, Sire," said Betty, producing the certificate ofmarriage and handing it up for inspection.

  The judges and their Majesties inspected it, the queen remarking that aduplicate of this document had already been submitted to her and passedon to the proper authorities.

  "Is the priest who solemnised the marriage present?" asked the king;whereon Bernaldez, Castell's agent, rose and said that he was, though heneglected to add that his presence had been secured for no mean sum.

  One of the judges ordered that he should be called, and presently thefoxy-faced Father Henriques, at whom the marquis glared angrily,appeared bowing, and was sworn in the usual form, and, on beingquestioned, stated that he had been priest at Motril, and chaplain tothe Marquis of Morella, but was now a secretary of the Holy Office atSeville. In answer to further questions he said that, apparently by thebridegroom's own wish, and with his full consent, on a certain date atGranada, he had married the marquis to the lady who stood before them,and whom he knew to be named Betty Dene; also, that at her request,since she was anxious that proper record should be kept of her marriage,he h
ad written the certificates which the court had seen, whichcertificates the marquis and others had signed immediately after theceremony in his private chapel at Granada. Subsequently he had leftGranada to take up his appointment as a secretary to the Inquisition atSeville, which had been conferred on him by the ecclesiasticalauthorities in reward of a treatise which he had written upon heresy.That was all he knew about the affair.

  Now Morella's advocate rose to cross-examine, asking him who had madethe arrangements for the marriage. He answered that the marquis hadnever spoken to him directly on the subject--at least he had nevermentioned to him the name of the lady; the Senora Inez arrangedeverything.

  Now the queen broke in, asking where was the Senora Inez, and who shewas. The priest replied that the Senora Inez was a Spanish woman, one ofthe marquis's household at Granada, whom he made use of in allconfidential affairs. She was young and beautiful, but he could say nomore about her. As to where she was now he did not know, although theyhad ridden together to Seville. Perhaps the marquis knew.

  Now the priest was ordered to stand down, and Betty tendered herself asa witness, and through her interpreter told the court the story of herconnection with Morella. She said that she had met him in London whenshe was a member of the household of the Senor Castell, and that at oncehe began to make love to her and won her heart. Subsequently hesuggested that she should elope with him to Spain, promising to marryher at once, in proof of which she produced the letter he had written,which was translated and handed up for the inspection of the court--avery awkward letter, as they evidently thought, although it was notsigned with the writer's real name. Next Betty explained the trick bywhich she and her cousin Margaret were brought on board his ship, andthat when they arrived there the marquis refused to marry her, allegingthat he was in love with her cousin and not with her--a statement whichshe took to be an excuse to avoid the fulfilment of his promise. Shecould not say why he had carried off her cousin Margaret also, butsupposed that it was because, having once brought her upon the ship, hedid not know how to be rid of her.

  Then she described the voyage to Spain, saying that during that voyageshe kept the marquis at a distance, since there was no priest to marrythem; also, she was sick and much ashamed, who had involved her cousinand mistress in this trouble. She told how the Senors Castell and Bromehad followed in another vessel, and boarded the caravel in a storm; alsoof the shipwreck and their journey to Granada as prisoners, and of theirsubsequent life there. Finally she described how Inez came to her withproposals of marriage, and how she bargained that if she consented, hercousin, the Senor Castell, and the Senor Brome should go free. They wentaccordingly, and the marriage took place as arranged, the marquis firstembracing her publicly in the presence of various people--namely, Inezand his two secretaries, who, except Inez, were present, and could bearwitness to the truth of what she said.

  After the marriage and the signing of the certificates she hadaccompanied him to his own apartments, which she had never enteredbefore, and there, to her astonishment, in the morning, he announcedthat he must go a journey upon their Majesties' business. Before hewent, however, he gave her a written authority, which she produced, toreceive his rents and manage his matters in Granada during his absence,which authority she read to the gathered household before he left. Shehad obeyed him accordingly until she had received the royal command,receiving moneys, giving her receipt for the same, and generallyoccupying the unquestioned position of mistress of his house.

  "We can well believe it," said the king drily. "And now, Marquis, whathave you to answer to all this?"

  "I will answer presently," replied Morella, who trembled with rage."First suffer that my advocate cross-examine this woman."

  So the advocate cross-examined, though it cannot be said that he had thebetter of Betty. First he questioned her as to her statement that shewas of ancient and gentle family, whereon Betty overwhelmed the courtwith a list of her ancestors, the first of whom, a certain Sieur Dene deDene, had come to England with the Norman Duke, William the Conqueror.After him, so she still swore, the said Denes de Dene had risen to greatrank and power, having been the favourites of the kings of England, andfought for them generation after generation.

  By slow degrees she came down to the Wars of the Roses, in which shesaid her grandfather had been attainted for his loyalty, and lost hisland and titles, so that her father, whose only child she was--being nowthe representative of the noble family, Dene de Dene--fell into povertyand a humble place in life. However, he married a lady of even moredistinguished race than his own, a direct descendant of a noble Saxonfamily, far more ancient in blood than the upstart Normans. At thispoint, while Peter and Margaret listened amazed, at a hint from thequeen, the bewildered court interfered through the head alcalde, prayingher to cease from the history of her descent, which they took forgranted was as noble as any in England.

  Next she was examined as to her relations with Morella in London, andtold the tale of his wooing with so much detail and imaginative powerthat in the end that also was left unfinished. So it was witheverything. Clever as Morella's advocate might be, sometimes in Englishand sometimes in the Spanish tongue, Betty overwhelmed him with wordsand apt answers, until, able to make nothing of her, the poor man satdown wiping his brow and cursing her beneath his breath.

  Then the secretaries were sworn, and after them various members ofMorella's household, who, although somewhat unwillingly, confirmed allthat Betty had said as to his embracing her with lifted veil and therest. So at length Betty closed her case, reserving the right to addressthe court after she had heard that of the marquis.

  Now the king, queen, and their assessors consulted for a little while,for evidently there was a division of opinion among them, some thinkingthat the case should be stopped at once and referred to anothertribunal, and others that it should go on. At length the queen was heardto say that at least the Marquis of Morella should be allowed to makehis statement, as he might be able to prove that all this story was afabrication, and that he was not even at Granada at the time when themarriage was alleged to have taken place.

  The king and the alcaldes assenting, the marquis was sworn and told hisstory, admitting that it was not one which he was proud to repeat inpublic. He narrated how he had first met Margaret, Betty, and Peter at apublic ceremony in London, and had then and there fallen in love withMargaret, and accompanied her home to the house of her father, themerchant John Castell.

  Subsequently he discovered that this Castell, who had fled from Spainwith his father in childhood, was that lowest of mankind, an unconvertedJew who posed as a Christian (at this statement there was a greatsensation in court, and the queen's face hardened), although it is truethat he had married a Christian lady, and that his daughter had beenbaptized and brought up as a Christian, of which faith she was a loyalmember. Nor did she know--as he believed--that her father remained aJew, since, otherwise, he would not have continued to seek her as hiswife. Their Majesties would be aware, he went on, that, owing to reasonswith which they were acquainted, he had means of getting at the truth ofthese matters concerning the Jews in England, as to which, indeed, hehad already written to them, although, owing to his shipwreck and to thepressure of his private affairs, he had not yet made his report on hisembassy in person.

  Continuing, he said that he admitted that he had made love to theserving-woman, Betty, in order to gain access to Margaret, whose fathermistrusted him, knowing something of his mission. She was a person of nocharacter.

  Here Betty rose and said in a clear voice:

  "I declare the Marquis of Morella to be a knave and a liar. There ismore good character in my little finger than in his whole body, and,"she added, "than in that of his mother before him"--an allusion at whichthe marquis flushed, while, satisfied for the present with thishome-thrust, Betty sat down.

  He had proposed to Margaret, but she was not willing to marry him, as hefound that she was affianced to a distant cousin of hers, the SenorPeter Brome, a swashbuckler who was in
trouble for the killing of a manin London, as he had killed the soldier of the Holy Hermandad in Spain.Therefore, in his despair, being deeply enamoured of her, and knowingthat he could offer her great place and fortune, he conceived the ideaof carrying her off, and to do so was obliged, much against his will, toabduct Betty also.

  So after many adventures they came to Granada, where he was able to showthe Dona Margaret that the Senor Peter Brome was employing hisimprisonment in making love to that member of his household, Inez, whohad been spoken of, but now could not be found.

  Here Peter, who could bear this no longer, also rose and called him aliar to his face, saying that if he had the opportunity he would proveit on his body, but was ordered by the king to sit down and be silent.

  Having been convinced of her lover's unfaithfulness, the marquis wenton, the Dona Margaret had at length consented to become his wife oncondition that her father, the Senor Brome, and her servant, Betty Dene,were allowed to escape from Granada----

  "Where," remarked the queen, "you had no right to detain them, Marquis.Except, perhaps, the father, John Castell," she added significantly.

  Where, he admitted with sorrow, he had no right to detain them.

  "Therefore," went on the queen acutely, "there was no legal or moralconsideration for this alleged promise of marriage,"--a point at whichthe lawyers nodded approvingly.

  The marquis submitted that there was a consideration; that at any ratethe Dona Margaret wished it. On the day arranged for the wedding theprisoners were let go, disguised as Moors, but he now knew that throughthe trickery of the woman Inez, whom he believed had been bribed byCastell and his fellow-Jews, the Dona Margaret escaped in place of herservant, Betty, with whom he subsequently went through the form ofmarriage, believing her to be Margaret.

  As regards the embrace before the ceremony, it took place in a shadowedroom, and he thought that Betty's face and hair must have been paintedand dyed to resemble those of Margaret. For the rest, he was certainthat the ceremonial cup of wine that he drank before he led the woman tothe altar was drugged, since he only remembered the marriage itself verydimly, and after that nothing at all until he woke upon the followingmorning with an aching brow to see Betty sitting by him. As for thepower of administration which she produced, being perfectly mad at thetime with rage and disappointment, and sure that if he stopped there anylonger he should commit the crime of killing this woman who had deceivedhim so cruelly, he gave it that he might escape from her. TheirMajesties would notice also that it was in favour of the Marchioness ofMorella. As this marriage was null and void, there was no Marchioness ofMorella. Therefore, the document was null and void also. That was thetruth, and all he had to say.