Leonora D'Orco: A Historical Romance
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CHAPTER XXXII.
This is a cold age of a cold world. Not more than one man or woman, inmany, many thousands can sympathise with--nay, can conceive the warm,the ardent love which existed between the two young hearts newseparated. But it must be remembered that theirs was an age and a landof passion; and where that passion did not lead to vice and crime, itobtained sublimity by its very intensity.
It may be asked if such feelings were not likely to be evanescent--iftime, and absence, and new objects, and a change of age would notdiminish, if not extinguish the love of youth. Oh, no! Both were offirm and determined natures; both clung long and steadily toimpressions once received; and yet, when they next met, how changedwere both!
They were destined to be separated far longer than they anticipated,and to show what was the reason and nature of the change theyunderwent, it would be necessary to follow briefly the course of eachtill the youth had become a man and the young girl a blossoming woman.
When Lorenzo reached Pisa with his little band, he found the army ofthe King of France about to march; indeed, the vanguard had alreadygone forward. In the retreat, however, the corps of men-at-arms towhich he was attached brought up the rear, and thus he was spared thehorror of seeing the butchery committed by the Swiss infantry atPontremoli.
Riding slowly on by the side of his commander and friend, De Vitry, heconversed with him from time to time, but with thoughts far away andan insurmountable sadness of spirits. Indeed, the elder was full oflight and buoyant gaiety; the younger was cold and stern. The causewas very plain; the one was leaving her whom he loved, the otherapproaching nearer every day to the dwelling of Blanche Marie. Many adanger and difficulty, however, hung upon the path before them. Hourlynews arrived of gathering troops and marching forces, of passagesoccupied, and ambuscades; and at length, in descending from theApennines towards the banks of the Taro, near its head, the scoutsbrought in intelligence that the allied forces were encamped at Badia,determined to oppose the passage of the river. It soon became evidentthat a battle must be fought somewhere between the small town ofFornovo and Badia, and the great numerical superiority of theconfederate army rendered the chances rather desperate for France.With the light-hearted courage of the French soldier, however, bothmen and officers prepared for the coming event as gaily as for apageant, but the lay and clerical counsellors of the king saw all thedangers, and lost heart. Again they had recourse to negotiation, andthe confederate princes, with cunning policy, seemed willing for atime to sell, for certain considerations, a passage towards Lombardyto the King of France. They knew that Fornovo, where he was encamped,could only afford a few days' supply of provisions, and there is everyreason to believe that they hoped, by delaying decision from day today, to starve the royal army into a surrender. The king's counsellorsmight perhaps have been deceived; but his generals saw through theartifice, and it was determined at length to force the passage of theTaro.
I need not enter into all the details of the battle of Fornovo, theonly one at which the young King of France was ever present, but it iswell known that if in the engagement he did not show all the qualitiesof a great commander, he displayed all the gallantry of his nature andhis race. By sheer force of daring courage and indomitable resolutionthe passage was forced, and not by skill or stratagem. More than oncethe king's life or liberty was in imminent danger; and once he wassaved by the boldness of a common foot-soldier, once rescued out ofthe very hands of the enemy, by Lorenzo Visconti. It may easily bebelieved that the affection which existed between the young king andhis gallant cousin was increased by the service rendered, and to thehour of Charles's death Lorenzo received continued marks of hisregard, though some of them, indeed, proved baleful to the young man'speace.
The victory at Fornovo proved only so far beneficial to the King ofFrance as to enable him to negotiate with his adversaries from ahigher ground. Slowly he advanced toward Milan, in order to deliverthe Duke of Orleans, who, in bringing reinforcements to the monarch'said, had been drawn into Novara and besieged by the superior forces ofLudovic the Moor. The position of both armies was dangerous. That ofthe king was lamentably reduced in numbers, and little was to be hopedfrom the French garrison in Novara, which was enfeebled by famine andsickness.
The army of the Duke of Milan, on the other hand, had much diminishedsince he commenced the siege, and his ancient enemies, the Venetians,were daily gaining a preponderance in Italy, which he saw would beperilous to his authority. The usual resource of negotiation followed.Peace was re-established between Charles and Ludovic Sforza. Novarawas surrendered to the latter, but the Duke of Orleans was suffered tomarch out with all the honours of war, yielding up the city inconformity with the terms of a treaty of peace, and not of acapitulation wrung from him by force of arms.
The king paused for a short time in Lombardy; festivities andrejoicings succeeded to the din of war; large reinforcements fromFrance swelled his army to more than its original numbers, and forsome time the idea was entertained at the court that Naples would beagain immediately invaded, and its conquest rendered more complete.But hour by hour, and day by day, came intelligence from that kingdommore and more disastrous for the cause of France. A fleet of Frenchgalleys suffered a disastrous defeat; the people of Naples roseagainst the small French force remaining in the city, and drove theminto the two citadels; town after town returned to the allegiance ofthe House of Arragon; and the very day after the Battle of Fornovo theyoung King Ferdinand re-entered in triumph his ancient capital.
These events might well cause a change of purpose at the court ofFrance; the work of reducing the kingdom of Naples was all to be doneover again; and it was impossible for even the most oily flatterers ofthe king to conceal the fact that the attempt would be attended bydifficulties which had not been experienced in the previousexpedition. In fact, the people of Naples had learned what it was tosubmit to the yoke of France; all their vain expectations had beendisappointed; they had found the burden intolerable; they had cast itoff, and were resolved to die rather than receive it again.
In the meantime, however, from the aspect of the court and camp ofFrance, no one could have supposed that it was a time of disaster anddistress; all was gaiety, merriment, and lighthearted irregularity;and friendships and loves, which had been formed the preceding year,were now renewed as if neither coldness nor hostilities hadintervened.
In the midst of all these events a small party left the camp of theKing of France and took its way toward the city of Pavia. They wentlightly armed, as if upon some expedition of pleasure, and, indeed,the country for fifty miles on the other side of the Po was quite safeand free from all adverse forces; but beneath the Apennines on eitherside lay the armies of the confederates, blockading every pass, andcutting off communication between Northern and Southern Italy, exceptby sea. Thus, with no offensive and but little defensive armour, theparty rode securely on till they reached the gates of the VillaRovera, where the two first horsemen dismounted and entered thegardens.
The aspect of all things about the villa was greatly changed sinceLorenzo and De Vitry had been there before. There was a stillness, agloomy quietness about the place which somewhat alarmed them both. Inthe great hall was seated but one servant, and when they inquired ofhim for the old count and the young lady, he answered,
"Alas! my lords, you do not know that his excellency is at the pointof death."
Such was the state of affairs when Lorenzo and his friend reached thedwelling of Blanche Marie, and what resulted from it must be toldhereafter.