What Sire Edward said was, "Dame Blanch, then, knew of this?" ButMeregrett's pitiful eyes had already answered him, and he laughed alittle.
"In that event I have to-night enregistered my name among the goodlycompany of Love's Lunatics--
"_Sots amoureux, sots privez, sots sauvages, Sots vieux, nouveaux, et sots de tous ages,_"
thus he scornfully declaimed, "and as yokefellow with Dan Merlin in histhorn-bush, and with wise Salomon when he capered upon the high placesof Chemosh, and with Duke Ares sheepishly agrin within the net ofMulciber. Rogues all, madame! fools all! yet always the flesh trammelsus, and allures the soul to such sensual delights as bar its passagetoward the eternal life wherein alone lies the empire and the heritageof the soul. And why does this carnal prison so impede the soul?Because Satan once ranked among the sons of God, and the EternalFather, as I take it, has not yet forgotten the antiquerelationship--and hence it is permitted even in our late time thatalways the flesh rebel against the spirit, and always these so tiny andso thin-voiced tricksters, these highly tinted miracles of iniquity, sogracious in demeanor and so starry-eyed--"
Then he turned and pointed, no longer the zealot but the expectantcaptain now. "Look, my Princess!" For in the pathway from which hehad recently emerged stood a man in full armor like a sentinel. "Mortde Dieu, we can but try," Sire Edward said.
"Too late," said Meregrett; and yet she followed him. And presently,in a big splash of moonlight, the armed man's falchion glittered acrosstheir way. "Back," he bade them, "for by the King's orders no manpasses."
"It were very easy now to strangle this herring," Sire Edward reflected.
"But scarcely a whole school of herring," the fellow retorted. "Nay,Messire d'Aquitaine, the bushes of Ermenoueil are alive with myassociates. The hut yonder, in effect, is girdled by them--and we haveour orders."
"Concerning women?" the King said.
The man deliberated. Then Sire Edward handed him three gold pieces."There was assuredly no specific mention of petticoats," the soldiernow reflected, "and in consequence I dare to pass the Princess."
"And in that event," Sire Edward said, "we twain had as well bid eachother adieu."
But Meregrett only said, "You bid me go?"
He waved his hand. "Since there is no choice. For that which you havedone--however tardily--I thank you. Meantime I can but return toRigon's hut to rearrange my toga as King Caesar did when the assassinsfell upon him, and to encounter whatever Dame Luck may send with duedecorum."
"To die!" she said.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "In the end we necessarily die."
Dame Meregrett turned and passed back into the hut without faltering.
And when he had lighted the inefficient lamp which he found there, SireEdward wheeled upon her in half-humorous vexation. "Presently comeyour brother and his tattling lords. To be discovered here with me atnight, alone, means infamy. If Philippe chance to fall into one of hisCapetian rages it means death."
"Nay, lord, it means far worse than death." And she laughed, thoughnot merrily.
And now, for the first time, Sire Edward regarded her with profoundconsideration, as may we. To the fingertips this so-little lady showeda descendant of the holy Lewis he had known and loved in old years.Small and thinnish she was, with soft and profuse hair that, for allits blackness, gleamed in the lamplight with stray ripples ofbrilliancy, as you may see a spark shudder to extinction over burningcharcoal. The Valois nose she had, long and delicate in form, andoverhanging a short upper-lip; yet the lips were glorious in tint, andher skin the very Hyperborean snow in tint. As for her eyes, say,gigantic onyxes--or ebony highly polished and wet with May dew. Theywere too big for her little face; and they made of her a tiny anddesirous wraith which nervously endured each incident oflife--invariably acquiescent, as a foreigner must necessarily be, tothe custom of the country. In fine, this Meregrett was strange andbrightly colored; and she seemed always thrilled with some subtlemirth, like that of a Siren who notes how the sailor pauses at thebulwark and laughs a little (knowing the outcome), and does not greatlycare. Yet now Dame Meregrett's countenance was rapt.
And Sire Edward moved one step toward this tiny lady and paused."Madame, I do not understand."
Dame Meregrett looked up into his face unflinchingly. "It means that Ilove you, sire. I may speak without shame now, for presently you die.Die bravely, sire! Die in such fashion as may hearten me to live."
The little Princess spoke the truth, for always since his coming toMezelais she had viewed the great conqueror as through an aweful hazeof forerunning rumor, twin to that golden vapor which enswathes a godand transmutes whatever in corporeal man had been a defect into somedivine and hitherto unguessed-at excellence. I must tell you in thisplace, since no other occasion offers, that even until the end of herlife it was so. For to her what in other persons would have seemed butflagrant dulness showed, somehow, in Sire Edward, as the majesticdeliberation of one that knows his verdict to be decisive, and henceappraises cautiously; and if sometimes his big, calm eyes betrayed noapprehension of the jest at which her lips were laughing, and of whichher brain very cordially approved, always within the instant her heartconvinced her that a god is not lightly moved to mirth.
"SHE HAD VIEWED THE GREAT CONQUEROR" _Painting by HowardPyle_]
And now it was a god--_O deus certe!_--who had taken a woman's paltryface between his hands, half roughly. "And the maid is a Capet!" SireEdward mused.
"Never has Blanch desired you any ill, beau sire. But it is theArchduke of Austria that she loves, beau sire. And once you were dead,she might marry him. One cannot blame her," Meregrett considered,"since he wishes to marry her, and she, of course, wishes to make himhappy."
"And not herself, save in some secondary way!" the big King said. "Inpart I comprehend, madame. And I, too, long for this same happiness,impotently now, and much as a fevered man might long for water. And myadmiration for the Death whom I praised this morning is somewhatabated. There was a Tenson once--Lord, Lord, how long ago! I learntoo late that truth may possibly have been upon the losing side--" Hetook up Rigon's lute.
Sang Sire Edward:
"_Incuriously he smites the armored king And tricks his wisest counsellor--_
ay, the song ran thus. Now listen, madame--listen, while for me Deathwaits without, and for you ignominy."
Sang Sire Edward:
"_Anon Will Death not bid us cease from pleasuring, And change for idle laughter i' the sun The grave's long silence and the peace thereof,-- Where we entranced. Death our Viviaine Implacable, may never more regain The unforgotten passion, and the pain And grief and ecstasy of life and love?_
"_Yea, presently, as quiet as the king Sleeps now that laid the walls of Ilion, We, too, will sleep, and overhead the spring Laugh, and young lovers laugh--as we have done-- And kiss--as we, that take no heed thereof, But slumber very soundly, and disdain The world-wide heralding of winter's wane And swift sweet ripple of the April rain Running about the world to waken love._
"_We shall have done with Love, and Death be king And turn our nimble bodies carrion, Our red lips dusty;--yet our live lips cling Spite of that age-long severance and are one Spite of the grave and the vain grief thereof We mean to baffle, if in Death's domain Old memories may enter, and we twain May dream a little, and rehearse again In that unending sleep our present love._
"_Speed forth to her in sorry unison, My rhymes: and say Death mocks us, and is slain Lightly by Love, that lightly thinks thereon; And that were love at my disposal lain-- All mine to take!--and Death had said, 'Refrain, Lest I demand the bitter cost thereof,' I know that even as the weather-vane Follows the wind so would I follow Love._"
Sire Edward put aside the lute. "Thus ends the Song of Service," hesaid, "which was made not by the King of England but by EdwardPlantagenet--hot-blooded and desirous man!--in ho
nor of the one womanwho within more years than I care to think of has attempted to servebut Edward Plantagenet."
"I do not comprehend," she said. And, indeed, she dared not.
But now he held both tiny hands in his. "At best, your poet is anegotist. I must die presently. Meantime I crave largesse, madame! ay,a great largesse, so that in his unending sleep your poet may rehearseour present love." And even in Rigon's dim light he found her kindlingeyes not niggardly.
So that more lately Sire Edward strode to the window and raised bighands toward the spear-points of the aloof stars. "Master of us all!"he cried; "O Father of us all! the Hammer of the Scots am I! theScourge of France, the conqueror of Llewellyn and of Leicester, and theflail of the accursed race that slew Thine only Son! the King ofEngland am I who have made of England an imperial nation and have givento Thy Englishmen new laws! And to-night I crave my hire. Never, O myFather, have I had of any person aught save reverence or hatred! neverin my life has any person loved me! And I am old, my Father--I am old,and presently I die. As I have served Thee--as Jacob wrestled withThee at the ford of Jabbok--at the place of Peniel--" Against thetremulous blue and silver of the forest she saw in terror how horriblythe big man was shaken. "My hire! my hire!" he hoarsely said. "Fortylong years, my Father! And now I will not let Thee go except Thou hearme."
And presently he turned, stark and black in the rearward splendor ofthe moon. "_As a prince hast thou power with God,_" he calmly said,"_and thou hast prevailed_. For the King of kings was never obdurate,m'amye.
"Child! O brave, brave child!" he said to her a little later, "I wasnever afraid to die, and yet to-night I would that I might live atrifle longer than in common reason I may ever hope to live!" Andtheir lips met.
Neither stirred when Philippe the Handsome came into the room. At hisheels were seven lords, armed cap-a-pie, but the entrance of eightcockchafers had meant as much to these transfigured two.
The French King was an odd man, no more sane, perhaps, than mightreasonably be expected of a Valois. Subtly smiling, he came forwardthrough the twilight, with soft, long strides, and made no outcry atrecognition of his sister. "Take the woman away; Victor," he said,disinterestedly, to de Montespan. Afterward he sat down beside thetable and remained silent for a while, intently regarding Sire Edwardand the tiny woman who clung to Sire Edward's arm; and always in theflickering gloom of the hut Philippe smiled as an artist might do whogazes on the perfected work and knows it to be adroit.
"You prefer to remain, my sister?" he presently said. "He bien! ithappens that to-night I am in a mood for granting almost any favor. Alittle later and I will attend to you." The fleet disorder of hisvisage had lapsed again into the meditative smile which was that ofLucifer watching a toasted soul. "And so it ends," he said."Conqueror of Scotland, Scourge of France! O unconquerable king! andwill the worms of Ermenoueil, then, pause to-morrow to consider throughwhat a glorious turmoil their dinner came to them?"
"You design murder, fair cousin?" Sire Edward said.
The French King shrugged. "I design that within this moment my lordsshall slay you while I sit here and do not move a finger. Is it notgood to be a king, my cousin, and to sit quite still, and to see yourbitterest enemy hacked and slain--and all the while to sit quite still,quite unruffled, as a king should always be? Eh, eh! I never liveduntil to-night!"
"Now, by Heaven," said Sire Edward, "I am your kinsman and your guest,I am unarmed--"
And Philippe bowed his head. "Undoubtedly," he assented, "the deed isa foul one. But I desire Gascony very earnestly, and so long as youlive you will never permit me to retain Gascony. Hence it is quitenecessary, you conceive, that I murder you. What!" he presently said,"will you not beg for mercy? I had so hoped," the French King added,somewhat wistfully, "that you might be afraid to die, O huge andrighteous man! and would entreat me to spare you. To spurn the weepingconqueror of Llewellyn, say ... But these sins which damn one's soulare in actual performance very tedious affairs; and I begin to growaweary of the game. He bien! now kill this man for me, messieurs."
The English King strode forward. "O shallow trickster!" Sire Edwardthundered. "_Am I not afraid?_ You baby, would you ensnare a lionwith a flimsy rat-trap? Not so; for it is the nature of a rat-trap,fair cousin, to ensnare not the beast which imperiously desires andtakes in daylight, but the tinier and the filthier beast that covetsand under darkness pilfers--as you and your seven skulkers!" The manwas rather terrible; not a Frenchman within the hut but had drawn backa little.
"Listen!" Sire Edward said, and came yet farther toward the King ofFrance and shook at him one forefinger; "when you were in your cradle Iwas leading armies. When you were yet unbreeched I was lord of halfEurope. For thirty years I have driven kings before me as Fierabrasdid. Am I, then, a person to be hoodwinked by the first big-bosomedhuzzy that elects to waggle her fat shoulders and to grant anassignation in a forest expressively designed for stabbings? You baby,is the Hammer of the Scots the man to trust a Capet? Ill-manneredinfant," the King said, with bitter laughter, "it is now necessary thatI summon my attendants and remove you to a nursery which I haveprepared in England." He set the horn to his lips and blew threeblasts.
There came many armed warriors into the hut, bearing ropes. Here wasthe entire retinue of the Earl of Aquitaine; and, cursing, SirePhilippe sprang upon the English King, and with a dagger smote at theimpassive big man's heart. The blade broke against the mail armorunder the tunic. "Have I not told you," Sire Edward wearily said,"that one may never trust a Capet? Now, messieurs, bind these carrionand convey them whither I have directed you. Nay, but, Roger--" Heconversed apart with his lieutenant, and what Sire Edward commanded wasdone. The French King and seven lords of France went from that huttrussed like chickens.
And now Sire Edward turned toward Meregrett and chafed his big handsgleefully. "At every tree-bole a tethered horse awaits us; and a shipawaits our party at Fecamp. To-morrow we sleep in England--and, Mortde Dieu! do you not think, madame, that within the Tower your brotherand I may more quickly come to some agreement over Guienne?"
She had shrunk from him. "Then the trap was yours? It was you thatlured my brother to this infamy!"
"I am vile!" was the man's thought. And, "In effect, I planned it manymonths ago at Ipswich yonder," Sire Edward gayly said. "Faith of agentleman! your brother has cheated me of Guienne, and was I to wastean eternity in begging him to restore it? Nay, for I have a many spiesin France, and have for some two years known your brother and yoursister to the bottom. Granted that I came hither incognito, toforecast your kinfolk's immediate endeavors was none too difficult; andI wanted Guienne--and, in consequence, the person of your brother.Mort de ma vie! Shall not the seasoned hunter adapt his snareaforetime to the qualities of his prey, and take the elephant throughhis curiosity, as the snake through his notorious treachery?" Now theKing of England blustered.
But the little Princess wrung her hands. "I am this night mosthideously shamed. Beau sire, I came hither to aid a brave maninfamously trapped, and instead I find an alert spider, snug in hiscunning web, and patiently waiting until the gnats of France fly nearenough. Eh, the greater fool was I to waste my labor on the shrewd andevil thing which has no more need of me than I of it! And now let mego hence, sire, and unmolested, for the sake of chivalry. Could I havecome to you but as to the brave man I had dreamed of, I had comethrough the murkiest lane of hell; as the more artful knave, as themore judicious trickster"--and here she thrust him from her--"I spitupon you. Now let me go hence."
He took her in his brawny arms. "Fit mate for me," he said. "Littlevixen, had you done otherwise I had devoted you to the devil."
Anon, still grasping her, and victoriously lifting Dame Meregrett, sothat her feet swung quite clear of the floor, Sire Edward said: "Lookyou, in my time I have played against Fate for considerable stakes--forfortresses, and towns, and strong citadels, and for kingdoms even. Andit was only to-night I perceived that the o
ne stake worth playing foris love. It were easy enough to get you for my wife; but I want morethan that.... Pschutt! I know well enough how women have thesenotions: and carefully I weighed the issue--Meregrett and Guienne toboot? or Meregrett and Meregrett's love to boot?--and thus the finaldestination of my captives was but the courtyard of Mezelais, in orderI might come to you with hands--well! not intolerably soiled."
"Oh, now I love you!" she cried, a-thrill with disappointment. "Yetyou have done wrong, for Guienne is a king's ransom."
He smiled whimsically, and presently one arm swept beneath her knees,so that presently he held her as one dandles a baby; and presently hisstiff and yellow beard caressed her burning cheek. Masterfully hesaid: "Then let it serve as such and ransom for a king his glad andcommon manhood. Ah, m'amye, I am both very wise and abominablyselfish. And in either capacity it appears expedient that I leaveFrance without any unwholesome delay. More lately--he, already I havewithin my pocket the Pope's dispensation permitting me to marry thesister of the King of France, so that I dare to hope."
Very shyly Dame Meregrett lifted her little mouth toward his hot andbearded lips. "Patience," she said, "is a virtue; and daring is avirtue; and hope, too, is a virtue: and otherwise, beau sire, I wouldnot live."
And in consequence, after a deal of political tergiversation (Nicolasconcludes), in the year of grace 1299, on the day of our Lady'snativity, and in the twenty-seventh year of King Edward's reign, cameto the British realm, and landed at Dover, not Dame Blanch, as wouldhave been in consonance with seasoned expectation, but Dame Meregrett,the other daughter of King Philippe the Bold; and upon the followingday proceeded to Canterbury, whither on the next Thursday after cameEdward, King of England, into the Church of the Trinity at Canterbury,and therein espoused the aforesaid Dame Meregrett.
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