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diff --git a/12057-0.txt b/12057-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e840e77 --- /dev/null +++ b/12057-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10574 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12057 *** + +YOLANDA + +MAID OF BURGUNDY + +_By_ CHARLES MAJOR + + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + +CHARLOTTE WEBER DITZLER + +_MCMV_ + +1905. + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +A CASTLE AMONG THE CRAGS + +CHAPTER II +KNIGHTS-ERRANT + +CHAPTER III +YOLANDA THE SORCERESS + +CHAPTER IV +DOWN THE RHINE TO BURGUNDY + +CHAPTER V +WHO IS YOLANDA? + +CHAPTER VI +DUKE CHARLES THE RASH + +CHAPTER VII +A RACE WITH THE DUKE + +CHAPTER VIII +ON THE MOAT BRIDGE + +CHAPTER IX +THE GREAT RIDDLE + +CHAPTER X +THE HOUSE UNDER THE WALL + +CHAPTER XI +PERONNE LA PUCELLE + +CHAPTER XII +A LIVE WREN PIE + +CHAPTER XIII +A BATTLE IN MID AIR + +CHAPTER XIV +SIR KARL MEETS THE PRINCESS + +CHAPTER XV +THE CROSSING OF A "T" + +CHAPTER XVI +PARTICEPS CRIMINIS + +CHAPTER XVII +TRIAL BY COMBAT + +CHAPTER XVIII +YOLANDA OR THE PRINCESS? + +CHAPTER XIX +MAX GOES TO WAR + +CHAPTER XX +A TREATY WITH LOUIS XI + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +MAX AND YOLANDA +KARL AND MAX AT HAPSBURG CASTLE +MAX +THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY +MAX AT THE GATE OF THE LISTS + + + +YOLANDA + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CASTLE AMONG THE CRAGS + +Like the Israelites of old, mankind is prone to worship false gods, and +persistently sets up the brazen image of a sham hero, as its idol. I +should like to write the history of the world, if for no other reason +than to assist several well-established heroes down from their +pedestals. Great Charlemagne might come to earth's level, his +patriarchal, flowing beard might drop from his face, and we might see +him as he really was--a plucked and toothless old savage, with no more +Christianity than Jacob, and with all of Jacob's greed. Richard of +England, styled by hero-worshippers "The Lion-hearted," might be +re-christened "The Wolf-hearted," and the famous Du Guesclin might seem +to us a half-brutish vagabond. But Charles of Burgundy, dubbed by this +prone world "The Bold" and "The Rash," would take the greatest fall. Of +him and his fair daughter I shall speak in this history. + +At the time of which I write Louis XI reigned over France, Edward IV +ruled in England, and his sister, the beautiful Margaret of York, was +the unhappy wife of this Charles the Rash, and stepmother to his gentle +daughter Mary. Charles, though only a duke in name, reigned as a most +potent and despotic king over the fair rich land of Burgundy. Frederick +of Styria was head of the great house of Hapsburg, and Count Maximilian, +my young friend and pupil, was his heir. + +Of the other rulers of Europe I need not speak, since they will not +enter this narrative. They were all bad enough,--and may God have mercy +on their souls. + + * * * * * + +Most of the really tragic parts in the great drama of history have been +played by women. This truth I had always dimly known, yet one does not +really know a fact until he feels it. I did not realize the extent to +which these poor women of history have suffered in the matter of +enforced marriages, until the truth was brought home to me in the person +of Mary, Princess of Burgundy, to whose castle, Peronne La Pucelle, my +pupil, Maximilian of Hapsburg, and I made a journey in the year 1476. + +My knowledge of this fair lady began in far-off Styria, and there I +shall begin my story. + + * * * * * + +In times of peace, life in Hapsburg Castle was dull; in times of war it +was doleful. War is always grievous, but my good mistress, the Duchess +of Styria, was ever in such painful dread lest evil should befall her +only child, Maximilian, that the pains of war-time were rendered doubly +keen to those who loved Her Grace. + +After Maximilian had reached the fighting age there was too little war +to suit him. Up to his eighteenth year he had thrice gone out to war, +and these expeditions were heart-breaking trials for his mother. +Although tied to his mother's apron strings by bonds of mutual love, he +burned with the fire and ambition of youth; while I, reaching well +toward my threescore years, had almost outlived the lust for strife. Max +longed to spread his wings, but the conditions of his birth held him +chained to the rocks of Styria, on the pinnacle of his family's empty +greatness. + +Perched among the mountain crags, our castle was almost impregnable; but +that was its only virtue as a dwelling-place. Bare walls, stone floors, +sour wine, coarse boar's meat, brown bread, and poor beds constituted +our meagre portion. + +Duke Frederick was poor because his people were poor. They lived among +the rocks and crags, raised their goats, ploughed their tiny patches of +thin earth, and gave to the duke and to each man his due. They were +simple, bigoted, and honest to the heart's core. + +Though of mean fortune, Duke Frederick was the head of the great House +of Hapsburg, whose founders lived in the morning mists of European +history and dwelt proudly amid the peaks of their mountain home. Our +castle in Styria was not the original Castle Hapsburg. That was built +centuries before the time of this story, among the hawks' crags of +Aargau in Switzerland. It was lost by the House of Hapsburg many years +before Max was born. The castle in Styria was its namesake. + +To leaven the poor loaf of life in Castle Hapsburg, its inmates enjoyed +the companionship of the kindest man and woman that ever graced a high +estate--the Duke and Duchess of Styria. Though in their little court, +life was rigid with the starch of ceremony, it was softened by the +tenderness of love. All that Duke Frederick asked from his subjects was +a bare livelihood and a strict observance of ceremonious conventions. +Those who approached him and his son did so with uncovered head and +bended knee. An act of personal familiarity would have been looked on as +high treason. Taxes might remain unpaid, laws might be broken, and there +was mercy in the ducal heart; but a flaw in ceremony was unpardonable. + +The boar's meat and the brown bread were eaten in state; the sour wine +was drunk solemnly; and going to bed each night was an act of national +importance. Such had been the life of this house for generations, and +good Duke Frederick neither would nor could break away from it. + +Of all these painful conditions young Max was a suffering victim. Did +he sally forth to stick a wild boar or to kill a bear, the Master of the +Hunt rode beside him in a gaudy, faded uniform. Fore-riders preceded +him, and after-riders followed. He was almost compelled to hunt by +proxy, and he considered himself lucky to be in at the death. The bear, +of course, was officially killed by Maximilian, Count of Hapsburg, no +matter what hand dealt the blow. Maximilian, being the heir of Hapsburg, +must always move with a slow dignity becoming his exalted station. He +must, if possible, always act through an officer; I verily believe that +Duke Frederick, his father, regretted the humiliating necessity of +eating his own dinner. + +Poor Max did not really live; he was an automaton. + +Once every year Duke Frederick gave a tournament, the cost of which, in +entertainments and prizes, consumed fully two-thirds of his annual +income. On these occasions punctilious ceremony took the place of rich +wine, and a stiff, kindly welcome did service as a feast. These +tournaments were rare events for Max; they gave him a day of partial +rest from his strait-jacket life at the little court among the crags. + +I shall give you here ten lines concerning myself. I am Italian by +birth--a younger son of the noble House of Pitti. I left home when but +little more than a boy. Journeying to the East, I became Sir Karl de +Pitti, Knight of the Holy Order of St. John, and in consequence I am +half priest, half soldier. My order and my type are rapidly passing +away. I fought and prayed in many lands during twenty years. To be +frank, I fought a great deal more than I prayed. Six years out of the +twenty I spent in Burgundy, fighting under the banner of Duke Philip the +Good, father to Charles the Rash. My mother was a Burgundian--a +Walloon--and to her love for things German I owe my name, Karl. During +my service under Duke Philip I met my Lord d'Hymbercourt, and won that +most valuable of all prizes, a trusted friend. + +Fifteen years before the opening of this story I grew tired of fighting. +How I drifted, a sort of human flotsam, against the crags of Styria +would be a long, uninteresting story. By a curious combination of events +I assumed the duties of tutor to the small count, Maximilian of +Hapsburg, then a flaxen-haired little beauty of three summers. I taught +him all that was needful from books, and grounded him fairly well in +church lore, but gave my best efforts to his education in arms. + +Aside from my duties as instructor to the young count, I was useful in +many ways about the castle. By reason of the half of me that was +priestly, I could, upon occasion, hear confession, administer the holy +sacrament, and shrive a sinner as effectively as the laziest priest in +Christendom. I could also set a broken bone, and could mix as bitter a +draught as any Jew out of Judea. So, you will see, I was a useful member +of a household wherein ancestry took the place of wealth, and pride was +made to stand for ready cash. + +The good duke might have filled his coffers by pillaging travellers, as +many of his neighbors did; but he scorned to thrive by robbery, and +lived in grandiose but honest penury. + +Max took readily to the use of arms, and by the time he was eighteen, +which was three years before our now famous journey to Burgundy, a +strong, time-hardened man might well beware of him. When the boy was +fourteen or fifteen, I began to see in him great possibilities. In +personal beauty and strength he was beyond compare. His eyes were as +blue as an Italian sky, and his hair fell in a mass of tawny curls to +his shoulders. His mother likened him to a young lion. Mentally he was +slow, but his judgment was clear and accurate. Above all, he was honest, +and knew not fear of man, beast, or devil. His life in Styria, hedged +about by ceremonious conventions, had given him an undue portion of +dignity and reticence, but that could easily be polished down by +friction with the rougher side of the world. Except myself and his +mother, he had never known a real friend. + +To Max the people of the world were of two conditions: a very small +class to whom he must kneel, and a very large number who must kneel to +him. Even his mother addressed him publicly as "My Lord Count." On rare +occasions, in the deep privacy of her closet, mother-love would get the +better of her and break through the crust of ceremony. Then she indulged +herself and him in the ravishing, though doubtful, luxury of calling him +"Little Max." No one but I, and perhaps at rare intervals Duke +Frederick, ever witnessed this lapse from dignity on the part of Her +Grace, and we, of course, would not expose her weakness to the world. + +This love-name clung to Max, and "Little Max," though somewhat +incongruous, was pretty when applied to a strapping fellow six feet two +and large of limb in proportion. + +When the boy approached manhood, I grew troubled lest this strait-jacket +existence in Styria should dwarf him mentally and morally. So I began to +stir cautiously in the matter of sending him abroad into the world. My +first advances met with a rebuff. + +"It is not to be thought of," said the duke. + +"Send the count out to the rude world to associate with underlings? +Never!" cried the duchess, horrified and alarmed. + +I had expected this, and I was not daunted. I renewed the attack from +different points, and after many onslaughts, I captured the bailey of +the parental fortresses; that is, I compelled them to listen to me. My +chief point of attack was Max himself. He listened readily enough, but +he could not see how the thing was to be done. When I spoke of the +luxuries of Italy and Burgundy, and told him of deeds of prowess +performed daily throughout the world by men vastly his inferior, his +eyes brightened and his cheek flushed. When I talked of wealth to be won +and glory to be achieved in those rich lands, and hinted at the barren +poverty of Styria, he would sigh and answer:-- + +"Ah, Karl, it sounds glorious, but I was born to this life, and father +and mother would not forgive me if I should seek another destiny. Fate +has fixed my lot, and I must endure it." + +I did not cease my lay; and especially was the fat land of Burgundy my +theme, for I knew it well. Max would listen in enraptured silence. When +he was eighteen, I wrote, with deep-seated purpose, several letters to +my friend Lord d'Hymbercourt, who was at the time one of the councillors +of Charles the Rash, Duke of Burgundy. In those letters I dwelt at +length on the virtues, strength, and manly beauty of my pupil. + +I knew that Charles often negotiated with other states the marriage of +his only child and heiress, Princess Mary. This form of treaty appeared +to be almost a mania with the rash Burgundian. I also knew that in no +instance had he ever intended to fulfil the treaty. His purpose in each +case was probably to create a temporary alliance with that one state +while he was in trouble with another. His daughter would inherit a +domain richer than that of any king in Europe, and the duke certainly +would be contented with nothing less than the hand of an heir to a +crown. Suitors for the fair Mary came from every land. All were +entertained; but the princess remained unbetrothed. + +A few broad hints in my letters to Hymbercourt produced the result I so +much desired. One bright day our castle was stirred to its +foundation-stones by the arrival of a messenger from Duke Charles of +Burgundy, bearing the following missive:-- + + * * * * * + +"To His Grace, Duke Frederick of Styria, Elector of the Holy Roman +Empire, and Count of Austria; Charles, Duke of Burgundy and Count of +Charolois, sends greeting:-- + +"The said Duke Charles recommends himself to the most puissant Duke +Frederick, and bearing in mind the great antiquity and high nobility of +the illustrious House of Hapsburg, begs to express his desire to bind +the said noble House to Burgundy by ties of marriage. + +"To that end, His Grace of Burgundy, knowing by fame the many virtues +of the young and valiant Count of Hapsburg, son to His Grace, Duke +Frederick, would, if it pleasures the said illustrious Duke Frederick, +suggest the appointment of commissioners by each of the high contracting +parties for the purpose of drawing a treaty of marriage between the +noble Count of Hapsburg and our daughter, Princess Mary of Burgundy. The +said commissioners shall meet within six months after the date of these +presents and shall formulate indentures of treaty that shall be +submitted to His Grace of Styria and His Grace of Burgundy. + +"The lady of Burgundy sends herewith a letter and a jewel which she +hopes the noble Count of Hapsburg will accept as tokens of her esteem. + +"May God and the Blessed Virgin keep His Grace of Styria in their +especial care." + +Signed with a flourish. "CHARLES." + + * * * * * + +This letter did not deceive me. I did not think for a moment that +Charles meant to give his daughter to Max. But it answered my purpose by +bringing Max to a realization of the nothingness of life in Styria, and +opening his eyes to the glorious possibilities that lay in the great +world beyond the mountain peaks. + +Burgundy's missive produced several effects in the household of Castle +Hapsburg, though none were shown on the surface. I was glad, but, of +course, I carefully concealed the reasons for my pleasure from His +Grace. Duke Frederick was pleased to his toes and got himself very drunk +on the strength of it. Otherwise he smothered his delight. He "was not +sure"; "was not quite disposed to yield so great a favor to this +far-away duke"; "the count is young; no need for haste," and so on. The +duke had no intention whatever of sending such messages to Burgundy; he +simply wished to strut before his little court. Charles most certainly +would receive a pompous and affirmative answer. The poor duchess, torn +by contending emotions of mother-love and family pride, was flattered by +Burgundy's offer; but she was also grieved. + +"We do not know the lady," she said. "Fame speaks well of her, but the +report may be false. She may not be sufficiently endued with religious +enthusiasm." + +"She will absorb that from Your Grace," I answered. + +Her Grace thought that she herself was religious and tried to impress +that belief on others; but Max was her god. In truth she was jealous of +any woman who looked on him twice, and she kept at the castle only the +old and harmless of the dangerous sex. She would have refused Burgundy's +offer quickly enough if her heart had been permitted to reply. + +The effect of the letter on Max was tremendous. He realized its +political importance, knowing full well that if he could add the rich +domain of Burgundy to the Hapsburg prestige, he might easily achieve the +imperial throne. But that was his lesser motive. Hymbercourt's letters +to me had extolled Mary's beauty and gentleness. Every page had sung her +praises. These letters I had given to Max, and there had sprung up in +his untouched heart a chivalric admiration for the lady of Burgundy. He +loved an ideal. I suppose most men and every woman will understand his +condition. It was truly an ardent love. + +Max kept Hymbercourt's letters, and would hide himself on the +battlements by the hour reading them, dreaming the dreams of youth and +worshipping at the feet of his ideal,--fair Mary of Burgundy, his +unknown lady-love. + +Before the arrival of the messenger from Duke Charles, Max spoke little +of the Burgundian princess; but the message gave her a touch of reality, +and he began to open his heart to me--his only confidant. + +There seemed to have been a reciprocal idealization going on in the +far-off land of Burgundy. My letters to Hymbercourt, in which you may be +sure Max's strength and virtues lost nothing, fell into the hands of +Madame d'Hymbercourt, and thus came under the eyes of Princess Mary. +That fair little lady also built in her heart an altar to an unknown +god, if hints in Hymbercourt's letters were to be trusted. Her maidenly +emotions were probably far more passive than Max's, though I have been +told that a woman's heart will go to great lengths for the sake of an +ideal. Many a man, doubtless, would fall short in the estimation of his +lady-love were it not for those qualities with which she herself +endows him. + +Whatever the lady's sentiments may have been, my faith in Hymbercourt's +hints concerning them were strengthened by Mary's kindly letter and the +diamond ring for Max which came with her father's message to Styria. +They were palpable facts, and young Max built an altar in his holy of +holies, and laid them tenderly upon it. + +Duke Frederick, with my help, composed a letter in reply to Burgundy's +message. It required many days of work to bring it to a form sufficient +in dignity, yet ample in assent. The missive must answer "yes" so +emphatically as to leave no room for doubt in Burgundy's mind, yet it +must show no eagerness on the part of Styria. (Duke Frederick always +spoke of himself as Styria.) Burgundy must be made to appreciate the +honor of this alliance; still, the fact must not be offensively +thrust upon him. + +The letter was sent, and Charles of Burgundy probably laughed at it. +Duke Frederick appointed commissioners and fixed Cannstadt as the place +of meeting. Whatever Duke Charles's reasons for making the offer of +marriage may have been, they probably ceased to exist soon afterward, +for he never even replied to Duke Frederick's acceptance. For months +Castle Hapsburg was in a ferment of expectancy. A watch stood from dawn +till dusk on the battlements of the keep, that the duke might be +informed of the approach of the Burgundian messenger--that never came. +After a year of futile waiting the watch was abandoned. Anger, for a +time, took the place of expectancy; Duke Frederick each day drowned his +ill-humor in a gallon of sour wine, and remained silent on the subject +of the Burgundian insult. + +Max's attitude was that of a dignified man. He showed neither anger nor +disappointment, but he kept the letter and the ring that Mary had sent +him and mused upon his love for his ideal--the lady he had never seen. + +A letter from Hymbercourt, that reached me nearly two years after this +affair, spoke of a tender little maiden in Burgundy, whose heart +throbbed with disappointment while it also clung to its ideal, as tender +natures are apt to do. This hint in Hymbercourt's letter sank to the +tenderest spot in Max's heart. + +On Max's twenty-first birthday he was knighted by the emperor. A grand +tournament, lasting five days, celebrated the event, and Max proved +himself a man among men and a knight worthy of his spurs. I had trained +him for months in preparation for this, his first great trial of +strength and skill. He was not lacking in either, though they would +mature only with his judgment. His strength was beyond compare. A man +could hardly span his great arm with both hands. + +Soon after Max was knighted, I brought up the subject of his journey +into the world. I was again met by parental opposition; but Max was of +age and his views had weight. If I could bring him to see the truth, the +cause would be won. Unfortunately, it was not his desires I must +overcome; it was his scruples. His head and his heart were full of false +ideas and distorted motives absorbed from environment, inculcated by +parental teaching, and inherited from twenty generations of fantastic +forefathers. In-born motives in a conscientious person are stubborn +tyrants, and Max was their slave. The time came when his false but +honest standards cost him dearly, as you shall learn. But in Max's heart +there lived another motive stronger than the will of man; it was love. +Upon that string I chose to play. + +One day while we were sunning ourselves on the battlements, I touched, +as if by chance, on the theme dear to his heart--Mary of Burgundy. After +a little time Max asked hesitatingly:-- + +"Have you written of late to my Lord d'Hymbercourt?" + +"No," I answered. + +A long pause followed; then Max continued: "I hope you will soon do so. +He might write of--of--" He did not finish the sentence. I allowed him +to remain in thought while I formulated my reply. After a time I said:-- + +"If you are still interested in the lady, why don't you go to Burgundy +and try to win her?" + +"That would be impossible," he answered. + +"No, no, Max," I returned, "not impossible--- difficult, perhaps, but +certainly not impossible." + +"Ah, Karl, you but raise false hopes," he responded dolefully. + +"You could at least see her," I returned, ignoring his protest, "and +that, I have been told, is much comfort to a lover!" + +"Indeed, it would be," said Max, frankly admitting the state of his +heart. + +"Or it might be that if you saw her, the illusion would be dispelled." + +"I have little fear of that," he returned. + +"It is true," I continued, "her father's domains are the richest on +earth. He is proud and powerful, noble and arrogant; but you are just as +proud and just as noble as he. You are penniless, and your estate will +be of little value; your father is poor, and his mountain crags are a +burden rather than a profit; but all Europe boasts no nobler blood than +that of your house. Lift it from its penury. You are worthy of this +lady, were her estates multiplied tenfold. Win the estates, Max, and win +the lady. Many a man with half your capacity has climbed to the pinnacle +of fame and fortune, though starting with none of your prestige. Why do +you, born a mountain lion, stay mewed up in this castle like a purring +cat in your mother's lap? For shame, Max, to waste your life when love, +fortune, and fame beckon you beyond these dreary hills and call to you +in tones that should arouse ambition in the dullest breast." + +"Duke Charles has already insulted us," he replied. + +"But his daughter has not," I answered quickly. + +"That is true," returned Max, with a sigh, "but the Duke of Burgundy +would turn me from his gates." + +"Perhaps he would," I replied, "if you should knock and demand surrender +to Maximilian, Count of Hapsburg. Take another name; be for a time a +soldier of fortune. Bury the Count of Hapsburg for a year or two; be +plain Sir Max Anybody. You will, at least, see the world and learn what +life really is. Here is naught but dry rot and mould. Taste for once the +zest of living; then come back, if you can, to this tomb. Come, come, +Max! Let us to Burgundy to win this fair lady who awaits us and +doubtless holds us faint of heart because we dare not strike for her. I +shall have one more sweet draught of life before I die. You will learn a +lesson that will give you strength for all the years to come, and will +have, at least, a chance of winning the lady. It may be one chance in a +million; but God favors the brave, and you have no chance if you remain +perched owl-like upon this wilderness of rock. Max, you know not what +awaits you. Rouse yourself from this sloth of a thousand years, and +strike fire from the earth that shall illumine your name to the end +of time!" + +"But we have no money for our travels, and father has none to give me," +he answered. + +"True," I replied, "but I have a small sum in the hands of a merchant at +Vienna that will support us for a time. When it is spent, we must make +our bread or starve. That will be the best part of our experience. A +struggle for existence sweetens it; and if we starve, we shall deserve +the fate." + +After three days Max gave me his answer. + +"I will go with you, Karl," he said; "you have never led me wrong. If we +starve, I shall not be much worse off than I am here in Styria. It hurts +me to say that the love of my father and mother is my greatest danger; +but it is true. They have lived here so long, feeding on the poor +adulation of a poor people, that they do not see life truly. I have had +none of the joys and pleasures which, my heart tells me, life holds. I +have known nothing but this existence--hard and barren as the rocks that +surround me. I must, in time, return to Styria and take up my burden, +but, Karl, I will first live." + +After this great stand, Max and I attacked first the father fortress and +then the mother stronghold. The latter required a long siege; but at +last it surrendered unconditionally, and the day was appointed when Max +and I should ride out in quest of fortune, and, perhaps, +a-bride-hunting. Neither of us mentioned Burgundy. I confess to +telling--at least, to acting--a lie. We said that we wished to go to my +people in Italy, and to visit Rome, Venice, and other cities. I said +that I had a small sum of gold that I should be glad to use; but I did +not say how small it was, and no hint was dropped that the heir to +Styria might be compelled to soil his hands by earning his daily bread. +We easily agreed among ourselves that Max and I, lacking funds to travel +in state befitting a prince of the House of Hapsburg, should go +incognito. I should keep my own name, it being little known. Max should +take the name of his mother's house, and should be known as Sir +Maximilian du Guelph. + + * * * * * + +At last came the momentous day of our departure. The battlements of the +gate were crowded with retainers, many of them in tears at losing "My +young Lord, the Count." Public opinion in Castle Hapsburg unanimously +condemned the expedition, and I was roundly abused for what was held to +be my part in the terrible mistake. Such an untoward thing had never +before happened in the House of Hapsburg. Its annals nowhere revealed a +journey of an heir into the contaminating world. The dignity of the +house was impaired beyond remedy, and all by the advice of a foreigner. +There was no lack of grumbling; but of course the duke's will was law. +If he wished to hang the count, he might do so; therefore the grumbling +reached the duke's ears only from a distance. + + + +CHAPTER II + +KNIGHTS-ERRANT + +The good mother had made a bundle for her son that would have brought a +smile to my lips had it not brought tears to my eyes. There were her +homely balsams to cure Max's ailments; true, he had never been ill, but +he might be. There was a pillow of down for his head, and a lawn +kerchief to keep the wind from his delicate throat. Last, but by no +means least, was the dear old mother's greatest treasure, a tooth of St. +Martin, which she firmly believed would keep her son's heart pure and +free from sin. Of that amulet Max did not stand in need. + +We followed the Save for many leagues, and left its beautiful banks only +to journey toward Vienna. At that city I drew my slender stock of gold +from the merchant that had been keeping it for me, and bought a +beautiful chain coat for Max. He already had a good, though plain, suit +of steel plate which his father had given him when he received the +accolade. I owned a good plate armor and the most perfect chain coat I +have ever seen. I took it from a Saracen lord one day in battle, and +gave him his own life in payment. Max and I each bore a long sword, a +short sword, and a mace. We carried no lance. That weapon is burdensome, +and we could get one at any place along our journey. + +I was proud of Max the morning we rode out of Vienna, true +knights-errant, with the greatest princess in Europe as our objective +prize. Truly, we were in no wise modest; but the God of heaven, the god +of Luck, and the god of Love all favor the man that is bold enough to +attempt the impossible. + +My stock of gold might, with frugality, last us three months, but after +that we should surely have to make our own way or starve. We hoped that +Max would be successful in filling our purses with prize money and +ransoms, should we fall in with a tournament now and then; but, lacking +that good fortune, we expected to engage ourselves as escorts to +merchant caravans. By this kind of employment we hoped to be housed and +fed upon our travels and to receive at each journey's end a good round +sum of gold for our services. But we might find neither tournament nor +merchant caravan. Then there would be trouble and hardship for us, and +perhaps, at times, an aching void under our belts. I had often +suffered the like. + +Ours, you see, was not to be a flower-strewn journey of tinselled prince +to embowered princess. Before our return to Styria, Max would probably +receive what he needed to make a man of him--hard knocks and rough +blows in the real battle of life. Above all, he would learn to know the +people of whom this great world is composed, and would return to +Hapsburg Castle full of all sorts of noxious heresies, to the +everlasting horror of the duke and the duchess. They probably would +never forgive me for making a real live man of their son, but I should +have my reward in Max. + +To Max, of course, the future was rosy-hued. Caravans were waiting for +our protection, and princes were preparing tournaments for our special +behoof. _We_ want for food to eat or place to lay our heads? Absurd! Our +purses would soon be so heavy they would burden us; we should soon need +squires to carry them. If it were not for our desire to remain +incognito, we might presently collect a retinue and travel with herald +and banner. But at the end of all was sweet Mary of Burgundy waiting to +be carried off by Maximilian, Count of Hapsburg. + +Just what the boy expected to do in Burgundy, I did not know. For the +lady's wealth I believe he did not care a straw--he wanted herself. He +hoped that Charles, for his own peace, would not be too uncivil and +would not force a desperate person to take extreme measures; but should +this rash duke be blind to his own interests--well, let him beware! Some +one _might_ carry off his daughter right from under the ducal nose. Then +let the Burgundian follow at his peril. Castle Hapsburg would open his +eyes. He would learn what an impregnable castle really is. If Duke +Charles thought he could bring his soft-footed Walloons, used only to +the mud roads of Burgundy, up the stony path to the hawk's crag, why, +let him try! Harmless boasting is a boy's vent. Max did not really mean +to boast, he was only wishing; and to a flushed, enthusiastic soul, the +wish of to-day is apt to look like the fact of to-morrow. + +We hoped to find a caravan ready to leave Linz, but we were +disappointed, so we journeyed by the Danube to the mouth of the Inn, up +which we went to Muhldorf. There we found a small caravan bound for +Munich on the Iser. From Munich we travelled with a caravan to Augsburg, +and thence to Ulm, where we were overjoyed to meet once more our old +friend, the Danube. Max snatched up a handful of water, kissed it, and +tossed it back to the river, saying:--"Sweet water, carry my kiss to the +river Save; there give it to a nymph that you will find waiting, and +tell her to take it to my dear old mother in far-off Styria." + +Do not think that we met with no hard fortune in our journeying. My gold +was exhausted before we reached Muhldorf, and we often travelled hungry, +meeting with many lowly adventures. Max at first resented the +familiarity of strangers, but hunger is one of the factors in +man-building, and the scales soon began to fall from his eyes. Dignity +is a good thing to stand on, but a poor thing to travel with, and Max +soon found it the most cumbersome piece of luggage a knight-errant +could carry. + +Among our misfortunes was the loss of the bundle prepared by the +duchess, and with it, alas! St. Martin's tooth. Max was so deeply +troubled by the loss of the tooth that I could not help laughing. + +"Karl, I am surprised that you laugh at the loss of my mother's sacred +relic," said Max, sorrowfully. + +I continued to laugh, and said: "We may get another tooth from the first +barber we meet. It will answer all the purposes of the one you +have lost." + +"Truly, Karl?" + +"Truly," I answered. "The tooth was a humbug." + +"I have long thought as much," said Max, "but I valued it because my +mother loved it." + +"A good reason, Max," I replied, and the tooth was never afterward +mentioned. + +From Ulm we guarded a caravan to Cannstadt. From that city we hoped to +go to Strasburg, and thence through Lorraine to Burgundy, but we found +no caravan bound in that direction. Our sojourn at Cannstadt exhausted +the money we got for our journeys from Augsburg and Ulm, and we were +compelled, much against our will, to accept an offer of service with one +Master Franz, a silk merchant of Basel, who was about to journey +homeward. His caravan would pass through the Black Forest; perhaps the +most dangerous country in Europe for travellers. + +Knowing the perils ahead of us, I engaged two stout men-at-arms, and +late in February we started for Basel as bodyguard to good Master Franz. +Think of the heir of Hapsburg marching in the train of a Swiss merchant! +Max dared not think of it; he was utterly humiliated! + +Our first good fortune at Muhldorf he looked on as the deepest +degradation a man might endure, but he could not starve, and he would +not beg. Not once did he even think of returning to Styria, and, in +truth, he could not have done so had he wished; our bridges were burned +behind us; our money was spent. + +By the time we had finished half our journey to Basel, Max liked the +life we were leading, and learned to love personal liberty, of which he +had known so little. Now he could actually do what he wished. He could +even slap a man on the back and call him "comrade." Of course, if the +process were reversed,--if any one slapped Max on the back,--well, +dignity is tender and not to be slapped. On several occasions Max got +himself into trouble by resenting familiarities, and his difficulties at +times were ludicrous. Once a fist fight occurred. The heir of Hapsburg +was actually compelled to fight with his fists. He thrashed the poor +fellow most terribly, and I believe would have killed him had not I +stayed his hand. Another time a pretty girl at Augsburg became familiar +with him, and Max checked her peremptorily. When he grew angry, she +laughed, and saucily held up her lips for a kiss. Max looked at me in +half-amused wonder. + +"Take it, Max; there is no harm in it," I suggested. + +Max found it so, and immediately wanted more, but the girl said too many +would not be good for him. She promised others later on, if he were +very, very good. Thus Max was conquered by a kiss at the wayside. + +The girl was very pretty, Max was very good, and she helped me +wonderfully in reducing his superfluous dignity. Her name was Gertrude, +and we spoke of her afterward as "Gertrude the Conqueror." She was a +most enticing little individual, and Max learned that persons of low +degree really may be interesting. That was his first great lesson. I had +some trouble after leaving Augsburg to keep him from taking too many +lessons of the same sort. + +Our contract with Franz provided that we should receive no compensation +until after his merchandise had safely reached Basel, but then our +remuneration was to be large. Max had no doubt as to the safe arrival of +the caravan at Basel, and he rejoiced at the prospect. I tried to reduce +the rosy hue of his dreams, but failed. I suggested that we might have +fighting ahead of us harder than any we had known, though we had given +and taken some rough knocks on two of our expeditions. Max laughed and +longed for the fray; he was beginning to live. The fray came quickly +enough after we reached the Black Forest, and the fight was sufficiently +warm to suit even enthusiastic Max. He and I were wounded; one of our +men-at-arms was killed, and Franz's life was saved only by an heroic +feat of arms on Max's part. The robbers were driven off; we spent a +fortnight in a near-by monastery, that our wounds might heal, and again +started for Basel. + +During the last week in March we approached Basel. Max had saved the +merchant's life; we had protected the caravan from robbery; and good +Franz was grateful. Notwithstanding our sure reward, Max was gloomy. The +future had lost its rosiness; his wound did not readily heal; Basel was +half a hundred leagues off our road to Burgundy. Why did we ever come to +Switzerland? Everything was wrong. But no man knows what good fortune +may lurk in an evil chance. + +At the close of a stormy day we sighted Basel from the top of a hill, +and soon the lights, one by one, began to twinkle cosily through the +gloaming. All day long drizzling rain and spitting snow had blown in our +faces like lance points, driven down the wind straight from the icy +Alps. We were chilled to the bone; in all my life I have never beheld a +sight so comforting as the home lights of the quaint old Swiss city. + +Franz soon found a wherry and, after crossing the Rhine, we marched +slowly down the river street, ducking our heads to the blast. Within +half an hour we passed under a stone archway and found ourselves snug in +the haven of our merchant's courtyard. Even the sumpter mules rejoiced, +and gave forth a chorus of brays that did one's heart good. Every tone +of their voices spoke of the warm stalls, the double feed of oats, and +the great manger of sweet hay that awaited them. Before going into the +house Max gave to each mule a stroke of his hand in token of affection. +Surely this proud automaton of Hapsburg was growing lowly in his tastes. +In other words, nature had captured his heart and was driving out the +inherited conventions of twenty generations. Five months of contact with +the world had wrought a greater cure than I had hoped five years would +work. I was making a man out of the flesh and blood of a Hapsburg. God +only knows when the like had happened before. + +Max and I were conducted by a demure little Swiss maid to a large room +on the third floor of the house, overlooking the Rhine. There was no +luxury, but there was every comfort. There were two beds, each with a +soft feather mattress, pillows of down, and warm, stuffed coverlets of +silk. These were not known even in the duke's apartments at Hapsburg +Castle. There we had tarnished gold cloth and ancient tapestries in +abundance, but we lacked the little comforts that make life worth +living. Here Max learned another lesson concerning the people of this +world. The lowly Swiss merchant's unknown guest slept more comfortably +than did the Duke of Styria. + +When we went down to supper, I could see the effort it cost Max to sit +at table with these good people. But the struggle was not very great; +five months before it would have been impossible. At Hapsburg he sat at +table with his father and mother only; even I had never sat with him in +the castle. At Basel he was sitting with a burgher and a burgher's frau. +In Styria he ate boar's meat from battered silver plate and drank sour +wine from superannuated golden goblets; in Switzerland he ate tender, +juicy meats and toothsome pastries from stone dishes and drank rich +Cannstadt beer from leathern mugs. His palate and his stomach jointly +attacked his brain, and the horrors of life in Hapsburg appeared in +their true colors. + +On the morning of our second day at Basel, Franz invited us to be his +guests during our sojourn in the city. His house was large, having been +built to entertain customers who came from great distances to buy +his silks. + +Max and I had expected to leave Basel when our wounds were entirely +healed, but we changed our minds after I had talked with Franz. The +conversation that brought about this change occurred one morning while +the merchant and I were sitting in his shop. He handed me a purse filled +with gold, saying:-- + +"Here is twice the sum I agreed to pay. I beg that you accept it since I +shall still be in your debt." + +I knew by the weight of the gold that it was a larger sum than I had +ever before possessed. I did not like to accept it, but I could not +bring myself to refuse a thing so important to Max. + +"We should not accept this from you, good Franz, but--but--" + +"The boy saved my life and my fortune," he interrupted, "and I am really +ashamed to offer you so small a sum. You should have half of all +my goods." + +I protested and thanked him heartily, not only for his gift, but also +for his manner of giving. Then I told him of our intended journey to +Burgundy--of course not mentioning the princess--and asked if he knew of +any merchant who would soon be travelling that way. + +"There are many going down the river from Basel to Strasburg," he +answered, "and you may easily fall in with one any day. But there will +soon be an opportunity for you to travel all the way to Burgundy. I +know the very man for your purpose. He is Master George Castleman of +Peronne. He comes every spring, if there is peace along the road, to buy +silks. We now have peace, though I fear it will be of short duration, +and I am expecting Castleman early this season. He will probably be here +before the first of May. He is a rich merchant, and was one of the +councillors of Duke Philip the Good, father to the present Duke of +Burgundy. Years ago Duke Philip built a house for him abutting the walls +of Peronne Castle. It is called 'The House under the Wall,' and +Castleman still lives in it. He refused a title of nobility offered him +by Duke Philip. He is not out of favor with the present duke, but he +loves peace too dearly to be of use to the hot-headed, tempestuous +Charles. Duke Charles, as you know, is really King of Burgundy--the +richest land on earth. His domain is the envy of every king, but he will +bring all his grandeur tumbling about his head if he perseveres in his +present course of violence and greed." + +At that moment Max joined us. + +"I hear this Duke Charles has no son to inherit his rich domain?" I +observed interrogatively. + +"No," answered Franz. "He has a daughter, the Princess Mary, who will +inherit Burgundy. She is said to be as gentle as her father is violent. +Castleman tells me that she is gracious and kind to those beneath her, +and, in my opinion, that is the true stamp of greatness." + +Those were healthful words for Max. + +"The really great and good have no need to assert their qualities," I +answered. + +"Castleman often speaks of the princess," said Franz. "He tells me that +his daughter Antoinette and the Princess Mary have been friends since +childhood--that is, of course, so far as persons so widely separated by +birth and station can be friends." + +I briefly told Max what Franz had said concerning Castleman, and the +young fellow was delighted at the prospect of an early start +for Peronne. + +In Max's awakening, the radiance of his ideal may have been dimmed, but +if so, the words of Franz restored its lustre. If the boy's fancy had +wandered, it quickly returned to the lady of Burgundy. + +I asked Franz if Duke Charles lived at Peronne. + +"No, he lives at Ghent," he answered; "but on rare occasions he visits +Peronne, which is on the French border. Duke Philip once lived there, +but Charles keeps Peronne only as his watch-tower to overlook his old +enemy, France. The enmity, I hope, will cease, now that the Princess +Mary is to marry the Dauphin." + +This confirmation of a rumor which I had already heard was anything but +welcome. However, it sensitized the feeling Max entertained for his +unknown lady-love, and strengthened his resolution to pursue his +journey to Burgundy at whatever cost. + +I led Franz to speak of Burgundian affairs and he continued:-- + +"The princess and her stepmother, the Duchess Margaret, live at Peronne. +They doubtless found life at Ghent with the duke too violent. It is said +that the duchess is unhappily wedded to the fierce duke, and that the +unfortunate princess finds little favor in her father's eyes because he +cannot forgive her the grievous fault of being a girl." + +While Franz was talking I was dreaming. A kind providence had led us a +half-hundred leagues out of our road, through wounds and hardships, to +Basel; but that quiet city might after all prove to be the open doorway +to Max's fortune. My air-castle was of this architecture: Max would win +old Castleman's favor--an easy task. We would journey to Peronne, seek +Castleman's house, pay court to Antoinette--I prayed she might not be +too pretty--and--you can easily find your way over the rest of +my castle. + +Within a fortnight Max and I had recovered entirely from our wounds, and +were abroad each day in the growing warmth of the sunshine. We did not +often speak of Castleman, but we waited, each day wishing for his +speedy advent. + +At last, one beautiful evening early in May, he arrived. Max and I were +sitting at our window watching the river, when the little company rode +up to the door of the merchant's shop. With Castleman were two young +women hardly more than girls. One of them was a pink and white young +beauty, rather tall and somewhat stout. Her face, complexion, and hair +were exquisite, but there was little animation in her expression. The +other girl had features less regular, perhaps, but she was infinitely +more attractive. She was small, but beautiful in form; and she sprang +from her horse with the grace of a kitten. Her face was not so white as +her companion's, but its color was entrancing. Her expression was +animated, and her great brown eyes danced like twinkling stars on a +clear, moonless night. + +The young women entered the house, and we saw nothing more of them for +several days. + +When we met Castleman, he gladly engaged our services to Peronne, having +heard from Franz of our adventures in the Black Forest. We left the +terms to him, and he suggested a compensation far greater than we should +have asked. The sum we received from Franz, together with that which we +should get from Castleman, would place us beyond want for a year to +come. Surely luck was with us. + +After Castleman's arrival our meals were served in our room, and we saw +little of him or of Franz for a week or more. Twice I saw Castleman ride +out with the young women, and after that I haunted the front door of +the house. One bright afternoon I met them as they were about to +dismount. Castleman was an old man and quite stout, so I helped him from +his horse. He then turned to the fair girl of pink and white, saying:-- + +"Antoinette, daughter, this is Sir Karl de Pitti, who will accompany us +to Peronne." + +I made my bow and assisted Fräulein Antoinette to the ground. The other +young lady sprang nimbly from her saddle without assistance and waited, +as I thought, to be presented. Castleman did not offer to present her, +and she ran to the house, followed by serene Antoinette. I concluded +that the smaller girl was Fräulein Castleman's maid. I knew that great +familiarity between mistress and servant was usual among the +burgher class. + +The smaller girl was certainly attractive, but I did not care for her +acquaintance. Antoinette was the one in whose eyes I hoped to find +favor, first for myself and then for Max. By her help I hoped Max might +be brought to meet the Princess of Burgundy when we should reach +Peronne. I had little doubt of Max's success in pleasing Antoinette; I +was not at all anxious that he should please the smaller maid. There was +a saucy glance in her dark eyes, and a tremulous little smile constantly +playing about her red, bedimpled mouth, that boded trouble to a +susceptible masculine heart. Max, with all his simplicity, though not +susceptible, had about him an impetuosity when his interest was aroused +of which I had learned to stand in wholesome dread. I was jealous of any +woman who might disturb his dreams of Mary of Burgundy, and this little +maid was surely attractive enough to turn any man's head her way if she +so desired. + +Later in the afternoon I saw Fräulein Antoinette in the shop looking at +silks and laces. Hoping to improve the opportunity, I approached her, +and was received with a serene and gracious smile. Near Antoinette were +the saucy brown eyes and the bedimpled mouth. Truly they were +exquisitely beautiful in combination, and, old as I was, I could not +keep my eyes from them. The eyes and dimples came quickly to Antoinette, +who presented me to her "Cousin Fräulein Yolanda Castleman." Fräulein +Yolanda bowed with a grace one would not expect to find in a burgher +girl, and said with the condescension of a princess:-- + +"Sir Karl, you pleasure me." + +I was not prepared for her manner. She probably was _not_ Antoinette's +maid. A pause followed my presentation which might have been meant by +the brown-eyed maid as permission to withdraw. But I was for having +further words with Antoinette. She, however, stepped back from her +cousin, and, if I was to remain, I must speak to my lady Fräulein +Yolanda Castleman or remain silent, so I asked,-- + +"Do you reside in Basel, Fräulein?" + +"No, no," she replied, with no touch of bourgeois confusion, "I am a +Burgundian. Uncle Castleman, after promising Twonette" (I spell the name +as she pronounced it) "and me for years, has brought us on this long +journey into the world. I am enjoying it more than any one can know, but +poor uncle lives in dread of the journey home. He upbraids himself for +having brought us and declares that if he but had us home again, nothing +could induce him to start out with such a cargo of merchandise." + +"Well he may be fearful," I answered. "Where one's greatest treasure is, +there is his greatest fear, but peace reigns on the road to Burgundy, +and I hope your good uncle's fears are without ground save in his love." + +"I hear you are to accompany us, and of course we shall be safe," she +said, the shadow of a smile playing suspiciously about her mouth and +dancing in her eyes. + +"Yes, I am to have that great _honor_," I replied, bowing very low. I, +too, could be sarcastic. + +"Does the--will the--the gentleman who is with you accompany us?" asked +Fräulein Yolanda. So! These maidens of Burgundy had already seen my +handsome Max! This one would surely be tempting him with her eyes and +her irresistible little smile. + +"Yolanda!" exclaimed serene Twonette. Yolanda gave no heed. + +"Yes, Fräulein," I responded. "He goes with us. Do you live in Peronne?" + +"Y-e-s," she replied hesitatingly. "Where is your home and your +friend's?" + +"Yolanda!" again came in tones of mild remonstrance from Fräulein +Antoinette. The dimples again ignored the warning and waited for +my answer. + +"We have no home at present save the broad earth, Fräulein," I +responded. + +"You cannot occupy it all," she retorted, looking roguishly up to me. + +"No," I responded, "we are occupying this part of the earth at present, +but we hope soon to occupy Burgundy." + +"Please leave a small patch of that fair land for Twonette and me," she +answered, in mock entreaty. After a short pause she continued:-- + +"It seems easier for you to ask questions than to answer them." + +"Fräulein," I responded, "your question is not easily answered. I was +born in Italy. I lived for many years in the East, and--" + +"I did not ask for your biography," she said, interrupting me. I did not +notice the interruption, but continued:-- + +"I spent six years in your fair land of Burgundy. My mother was a +Walloon. I dearly love her people, and hope that my home may soon be +among them." + +The girl's face had been slightly clouded, but when I spoke lovingly of +the Walloons, the dimples again played around her mouth and a smile +brightened her eyes. + +"I also am a Walloon," she answered; "and your friend? He surely is not +Italian: he is too fair." + +"The Lombards are fair," I answered, "and the Guelphs, you know, are of +Lombardy. You may have heard of the Houses of Guelph and of Pitti." + +"I have often heard of them," she answered; then, after a short +silence,--"I fear I have asked too many questions." A gentle, apologetic +smile lighted her face and won me instantly. I liked her as much as I +admired her. I knew that she wanted me to speak of Max, so to please her +I continued, even against my inclination:-- + +"My young friend, Sir Maximilian du Guelph, wanted to see the world. We +are very poor, Fräulein, and if we would travel, we must make our way as +we go. We have just come from Ulm and Cannstadt, passing through the +Black Forest. Sir Max saved the life of our host, and in so doing was +grievously wounded. Good Master Franz rewarded us far beyond our +deserts, and for the time being we think we are rich." + +"The name Maximilian is not Italian," observed Yolanda. "It has an +Austrian sound." + +"That is true," I responded. "My name, Karl, is German. Few names +nowadays keep to their own country. Your name, Yolanda, for example, +is Italian." + +"Is that true?" she answered inquiringly, taking up a piece of lace. I +saw that the interview was closing. After a moment's hesitation Yolanda +turned quickly to me and said:-- + +"You and your friend may sup with us this evening in the dining room of +our hostess. We take supper at five." + +The invitation was given with all the condescension of a noble lady. +Twonette ventured:-- + +"What will father say, Yolanda?" + +"I can guess what uncle will say, but we will give him his say and take +our own way. Nonsense, Twonette, if we are to journey to Peronne with +these gentlemen, our acquaintance with them cannot begin too soon. Come, +Sir Karl, and--and bring your young friend, Sir Maximilian." + +It was clear to my mind that, without my young friend, Sir Maximilian, I +should not have had the invitation. Yolanda then turned to Franz and his +silks, and I, who had always thought myself of some importance, was +dismissed by a burgher girl. I soothed my vanity with the thought that +beauty has its own prerogatives. + +Without being little, Yolanda was small; without nobility, she had the +_haute_ mien. But over and above all she had a sweet charm of manner, a +saucy gentleness, and a kindly grace that made her irresistible. When +she smiled, one felt like thanking God for the benediction. + +That evening at five o'clock Max and I supped with Frau Franz. The good +frau and her husband sat at either end of the table, Castleman, his +daughter, and Yolanda occupied one side, while I sat by Max opposite +them. If Castleman had offered objection to the arrangement, he had +been silenced. + +I was especially anxious that Max should devote himself to Twonette, +but, as I had expected, Yolanda's attractions were far too great to be +resisted. There was a slight Walloon accent in her French and German (we +all spoke both languages) that gave to her voice an exquisite cadence. I +spoke to her in Walloonish, and she was so pleased that she seemed to +nestle toward me. In the midst of an animated conversation she suddenly +became silent, and I saw her watching Max's hand. I thought she was +looking at his ring. It was the one that Mary of Burgundy had given him. + + + +CHAPTER III + +YOLANDA THE SORCERESS + +Several days passed, during which we saw the Castlemans frequently. One +evening after supper, when we were all sitting in the parlor, Yolanda +enticed Max to an adjoining room, on the excuse of showing him an +ancient piece of tapestry. When it had been examined, she seated herself +on a window bench and indicated a chair for Max near by. Among much that +was said I quote the following from memory, as Max told me afterward:-- + +"So you are from Italy, Sir Max?" queried Yolanda, stealing a glance at +his ring. + +"Yes," returned Max. + +"From what part, may I ask?" continued the girl, with a slight +inclination of her head to one side and a flash from beneath the +preposterously long lashes toward his hand. + +"From--from Rome," stammered Max, halting at even so small a lie. + +"Ah, Sir Karl said you were from Lombardy," answered the girl. + +"Well--that is--originally, perhaps, I was," he returned. + +"Perhaps your family lives in both places?" she asked very seriously. + +"Yes, that is the way of it," he responded. + +"Were you born in both places?" asked Yolanda, without the shadow of a +smile. Max was thinking of the little lie he was telling and did not +analyze her question. + +"No," he answered, in simple honesty, "you see I could not be born in +two places. That would be impossible." + +"Perhaps it would be," replied Yolanda, with perfect gravity. Max was +five years her senior, but he was a boy, while she had the self-command +of a quick-witted woman, though she still retained the saucy +impertinence of childhood. Slow-going, guileless Max began to suspect a +lurking intention on Yolanda's part to quiz him. + +"Did not Sir Karl say something about your having been born in Styria?" +asked the girl, glancing slyly at the ring. + +"No, he did not," answered Max, emphatically. "I suppose I was born in +Rome--no, I mean Lombardy--but it cannot matter much to you, Fräulein, +where I was born if I do not wish to tell." + +The direct course was as natural to Max as breathing. The girl was +startled by his abruptness. After a pause she continued:-- + +"I am sure you are not ashamed of your birthplace, and--" + +He interrupted her sharply:-- + +"I also am sure I am not ashamed of it." + +"If you had permitted me to finish," she said quietly, "you would have +had no need to speak so sharply. I spoke seriously. I wanted to say that +I am sure you have no reason to feel ashamed of your birthplace, and +that perhaps I ought not to have asked a question that you evidently do +not want to answer. Uncle says if my curiosity were taken from me, there +would be nothing left but my toes." + +Her contrition melted Max at once, and he said:-- + +I will gladly tell you, Fräulein, if you want to know. I was born--" + +"No, no," she interrupted, "you shall not tell me. I will leave you at +once and see you no more if you do. Besides, there is no need to tell +me; I already know. I am a sorceress, a witch. I regret to make the +confession, but it is true; I am a witch." + +"I believe you are," answered Max, looking at her admiringly and seating +himself beside her on the window bench. He had learned from Gertrude of +Augsburg and many other burgher girls that certain pleasantries were +more objectionable to them in theory than in practice; but this burgher +girl rose to her feet at his approach and seemed to grow a head taller +in an instant. He quietly took his old place and she took hers. She +continued as if unconscious of what had happened:-- + +"Yes, I am a sorceress." Then she drew her face close to Max, and, +gazing fixedly into his eyes, said solemnly:-- + +"I can look into a person's eyes and know if they are telling me the +truth. I can tell their fortunes--past, present, and future. I can tell +them where they were born. I can tell them the history of anything of +value they have. Their jewellery, their--" + +"Tell me any one of those things concerning myself," interrupted Max, +suddenly alive with interest. + +"No, it is too great a strain upon me," answered the girl, with amusing +gravity. + +"I entreat you," said Max, laughing, though deeply interested. "I +believe you can do what you say. I beg you to show me your skill in only +one instance." + +The girl gently refused, begging Max not to tempt her. + +"No, no, I cannot," she said, "good Father Brantôme has told me it is +sinful. I must not." + +Half in jest but all in earnest, Max begged her to try; and, after a +great deal of coaxing, she reluctantly consented to give a very small +exhibition of her powers. Covering her face with her hands, she remained +for the space of a minute as if in deep thought. Then, making a series +of graceful and fantastic passes in the air with her hands, as if +invoking a familiar spirit, she said in low, solemn tones:-- + +"You may now sit by me, Sir Max. My words must not be heard by any ears +save yours." + +Max seated himself beside the girl. + +"Give me your word that you will tell no one what I am about to do and +say," she said. + +"I so promise," answered Max, beginning to feel that the situation was +almost uncanny. + +"Now, place in my hand some jewel or valued article of which I may +speak," she said. + +Excepting his sword and dagger, Max owned but one article of value--the +ring Mary of Burgundy had given him. He hesitatingly drew it from his +finger and placed it in the girl's hand. She examined it carefully, +and said:-- + +"Now, give me your hand, Sir Max." Her hand was not much larger than a +big snowflake in early spring, Max thought, and it was completely lost +to sight when his great fingers closed over it. The velvety softness of +the little hand sent a thrill through his veins, and the firm, +unyielding strength of his clasp was a new, delicious sensation to the +girl. Startled by it, she made a feeble effort to withdraw her hand; but +Max clasped it firmly, and she surrendered. After a short silence she +placed the ring to her forehead, closed her eyes, and drew her face so +near to Max that he felt her warm breath on his cheek. Max was learning +a new lesson in life--the greatest of all. She spoke in soft whispers, +slowly dropping her words one by one in sepulchral tones:-- + +"What--do--I see--surely I am wrong. No--I see clearly--a lady--a great +lady--a princess. She smiles upon a man. He is tall and young. His face +is fair; his hair falls in long, bright curls like yours. She gives him +this ring; she asks him to be her husband--no--surely a modest maiden +would not do that." She stopped suddenly, snatched her hand from Max, +returned the ring and cried, "No more, no more!" + +She tossed her hands in the air, as if to drive off the spirits, and +without another word ran to the parlor laughing, and threw herself on +Uncle Castleman's knee. Max slowly made the sign of the cross and +followed the little enchantress. She had most effectually imposed on +him. He was inclined to believe that she had seen the ring or had heard +of it in Burgundy before the princess sent it; but Yolanda could have +been little more than a child at that time--three years before. Perhaps +she was hardly past fourteen, and one of her class would certainly not +be apt to know of the ring that had been sent by the princess. She might +have received her information from Twonette, who, Franz said, was +acquainted with Mary of Burgundy; but even had Yolanda heard of the +ring, the fact would not have helped her to know it. + +After our first evening with the Castlemans we got on famously +together. True, Max and I felt that we were making great concessions, +and I do not doubt that we showed it in many unconscious words and acts. +This certainly was true of Max; but Yolanda's unfailing laughter, though +at times it was provoking, soon brought him to see that too great a +sense of dignity was at times ridiculous. He could not, however, always +forget that he was a Hapsburg while she was a burgher girl, and his good +memory got him many a keen little thrust from her saucy tongue. If Max +resented her sauciness, she ran away from him with the full knowledge +that he would miss her. She was much surer that she pleased and +delighted him than he was that he pleased her, though of the latter fact +she left, in truth, little room for doubt. + +Max was very happy. He had never before known a playmate. But here in +Basel the good Franz and his frau, Yolanda, Twonette, fat old Castleman, +and myself were all boys and girls together, snatching the joys of life +fresh from the soil of mother earth, close to which we lived in rustic +simplicity. + +Since we had left Styria, our life, with all its hardships, had been a +delight to Max, but it was also a series of constantly repeated shocks. +If the shocks came too rapidly and too hard, he solaced his bruised +dignity with the thought that those who were unduly familiar with him +did not know that he was the heir of the House of Hapsburg. So day by +day he grew to enjoy the nestling comfort of a near-by friend. This, I +grieve to say, was too plainly seen in his relations with Yolanda, for +she unquestionably nestled toward him. She made no effort to conceal her +delight in his companionship, though she most adroitly kept him at a +proper distance. If she observed a growing confidence in Max, she +quickly nipped it by showing him that she enjoyed my companionship or +that of old Franz just as much. On such occasions Max's dignity and +vanity required balm. + +"Oh, Karl," he said to me one evening while we were preparing for bed, +"it seems to me I have just wakened to life, or have just got out of +prison. No man can be happy on a pinnacle above the intimate friendships +of his fellow-man and--and woman." + +"Yes, 'and woman.' Well put, Max," said I. + +Max did not notice my insinuation, but continued:-- + +"I have lived longer since knowing these lowly friends than in all the +years of my life in Styria. Karl, you have spoiled a good, stiff-jointed +Hapsburg, but you have made a man. If nothing more comes of this journey +into the world than I have already had, I am your debtor for life. What +would my dear old father and mother say if they should see me and know +the life I am leading? In their eyes I should be disgraced--covered +with shame." + +"When you go back to Hapsburg," I said, "you can again take up your +old, petrified existence and eat your husks of daily adulation. You will +soon again find satisfaction in the bended knee, and will insist that +those who approach you bow deferentially to your ancestors." + +"I shall, of course, return to Hapsburg," he said. "It is my fate, and +no man can change the destiny to which he was born. I must also endure +the bowing and the adulation. Men shall honor my ancestors and respect +in me their descendant, but I shall never again be without friends if it +be in my power to possess them. As I have said, that is difficult for +one placed above his fellow-man." + +"There is the trouble with men of your degree," I answered. "Friends are +not like castles, cities, and courtly servitors. Those, indeed, one may +really own; but we possess our friends only as they possess us. Like a +mirror, a friend gives us only what we ourselves give. No king is great +enough to produce his own image unless he stands before the glass." + +"Teach me, Karl, to stand before the glass," said Max, plaintively. + +"You are before it now, my dear boy," I answered. "These new friends are +giving you only what you give them. With me, you have always been before +the glass." + +"That has been true," said Max, "ever since the first day you entered +Hapsburg. Do you remember? I climbed on your knee and said, 'You have a +big, ugly nose!' Mother admonished me, and I quickly made amends by +saying, 'But I like you.'" + +"I well remember, Max," I responded. "That day was one of mutual +conquest. That is the prime condition of friendship: mutual conquest and +mutual surrender. But you must have other friends than me. You see I am +not jealous. You must have friends of your own age." + +"I now realize why I have hungered all my life," said Max, "though I +have never before known: I longed for friends. Is it not strange that I +should find them among these low-born people? It surely cannot be wrong +for me to live as I do, though father and mother would doubtless deem it +criminal." + +"These good burgher folk are making you better and broader and +stronger," I answered. "But there is one thing I want to suggest: you +are devoting too much of your time to the brown-eyed little maid. You +must seek favor with Twonette. She is harmless, and through her you may, +by some freak of fortune, reach the goal of your desires. With the +prestige of your family and the riches of Burgundy, you may become the +most powerful man in the world, save the Pope." + +"Perhaps Fräulein Yolanda is also acquainted with the Princess Mary," +responded Max, half reluctantly speaking Mary's name. + +"No," I answered, "she is not." I asked her if she were. She laughed at +the suggestion, and said: 'Oh, no, no, the princess is a very proud +person and very exclusive. She knows but one burgher girl in Peronne, I +am told. That one is Twonette, and I believe she treats her most +ungraciously at times. I would not endure her snubs and haughty ways as +Twonette does. I seek the friendship of no princess. Girls of my own +class are good enough for me. "Twonette, fetch me a cup of wine." +"Twonette, thread my needle." "Twonette, you are fat and lazy and sleep +too much." "Twonette, stand up." "Twonette, sit down." Faugh! I tell you +I want none of these princesses, no, not one of them. I hate princesses, +and I tell you I doubly hate this--this--' She did not say whom she +doubly hated. She is a forward little witch, Max. She laughed merrily at +my questions concerning the princess, and asked me if we were going to +Burgundy to storm Mary's heart. 'Who is to win her?' she asked. 'You, +Sir Karl, or Sir Max? It must be you. Sir Max is too slow and dignified +even to think of scaling the walls of a maiden fortress. It must be you, +Sir Karl.' The saucy little elf rose from her chair, bowed low before me +and said, 'I do liege homage to the future Duke of Burgundy.' Then she +danced across the room, laughing at my discomfiture. She is charming, +Max, but remember Gertrude the Conqueror! Such trifling affairs are well +enough to teach a man the a-b-c of life but one with your destiny ahead +of him must not remain too long in his alphabet. Such affairs are for +boys, Max, for boys." + +"Do not fear for me, Karl," answered Max, laughingly. "We are not apt to +take hurt from dangers we see." + +"Do you clearly see the danger?" I suggested. + +"I clearly see," he responded. "I admire Fräulein Yolanda as I have +never admired any other woman. I respect her as if she were a princess; +but one of the penalties of my birth is that I may not think of her nor +of one of her class. She is not for me; she is a burgher maiden--out of +my reach. For that reason I feel that I should respect her." + +The attitude of Max toward Yolanda was a real triumph of skill and +adroitness over inherited convictions and false education. She had +brought him from condescension to deference solely by the magic of her +art. Or am I wrong? Was it her artlessness? Perhaps it was her artful +artlessness, since every girl-baby is born with a modicum of that +dangerous quality. + +"Perhaps you are right, Karl," added Max. "I may underrate the power of +this girl. As you have said, she is a little witch. But beneath her +laughter there is a rare show of tenderness and strength, which at +times seems pathetic and almost elfin. You are right, Karl. I will +devote myself to Twonette hereafter. She is like a feather-bed in that +she cannot be injured by a blow, neither can she give one; but +Yolanda--ah, Karl, she is like a priceless jewel that may be shattered +by a blow and may blind one by its radiance." + +But Max's devotion to Twonette was a failure. She was certainly willing, +but Yolanda would have none of it, and with no equivocation gave every +one to understand as much. Still, she held Max at a respectful distance. +In fact, this Yolanda handled us all as a juggler tosses his balls. Max +must not be too attentive to her, and he must not be at all attentive to +Twonette. In this arrangement Twonette acquiesced. She would not dare to +lift her eyes to one upon whom Yolanda was looking! + +Here was illustrated the complete supremacy of mind over matter. +Castleman, Twonette, Franz and his frau, Max and I, all danced when the +tiny white hand of Yolanda pulled the strings. A kiss or a saucy nod for +Castleman or Twonette, a smile or a frown for Max and me, were the +instruments wherewith she worked. Deftly she turned each situation as +she desired. Max made frequent efforts to obtain a private moment with +her, that he might ask a few questions concerning her wonderful +knowledge of his ring--they had been burning him since the night of her +sorcery--but, though she knew quite well his desire to question her, she +gave him no opportunity. + +During the time that Castleman was buying his silks, the members of our +little party grew rapidly in friendship. In culture, education, and +refinement, the Castlemans were far above any burghers I had ever known. +Franz and his wife, though good, simple people, were not at all in +Castleman's class. They felt their inferiority, and did not go abroad +with us, though we supped daily with them. Each evening supper was a +little fête followed by a romp of amusement, songs, and childish games +in the frau's great parlor. + +The Castlemans, Max, and I made several excursions into the mountains. +Yolanda and Twonette were in ecstasy at the mountain views, which were +so vividly in contrast with the lowlands of Burgundy. + +"These mountains are beautiful," said patriotic Yolanda, "but our +lowlands raise bread to feed the hungry." + +On one occasion we rode to the Falls of Schaffhausen, and often we were +out upon the river. During these expeditions Yolanda adroitly kept our +little party together, and Max could have no private word with her. + +I had never been so happy as I was during the fortnight at Basel while +Castleman was buying silk. I was almost a child again; my fifty odd +years seemed to fall from me as an eagle sheds his plumes in spring. We +were all happy and merry as a May-day, and our joyousness was woven from +the warp and woof of Yolanda's gentle, laughing nature. Without her, our +life would have been comfortable but commonplace. + +During all this time Max pondered in vain upon the remarkable manner in +which Yolanda had divined the secret of his ring. He longed to question +her, but she would not be questioned until she was ready to answer. + +On a certain morning near the close of our sojourn in Basel, Max, after +many elephantine manoeuvres, obtained Yolanda's promise to walk out with +him to a near-by hill in the afternoon. It was a Sabbath day, and every +burgher maiden in Basel that boasted a sweetheart would be abroad with +him in the sunshine. Max could not help feeling that it was most +condescending in him, a prince, to walk out with Yolanda, a burgher +maiden. Should any one from Styria meet him, he would certainly sink +into the ground, though in a certain way the girl's reluctance seemed to +place the condescension with her. + +After dinner, which we all took together that day, she put him off with +excuses until drowsy Uncle Castleman had taken himself off for a nap. +Then Yolanda quickly said:-- + +"Fetch me my hood, Twonette. I shall not need a cloak. I am going to +walk out with Sir Max." + +Twonette instantly obeyed, as if she were a tire-woman to a princess, +and soon returned wearing her own hood and carrying Yolanda's. + +"Ah, but you are not to come with us," said Yolanda. She was ready to +give Max the opportunity he desired, and would give it generously. + +"But--but what will father say?" asked Twonette, uneasily. + +"We shall learn what he says when we return. No need to worry about that +now," answered Yolanda. Twonette took off her hood. + +Max and Yolanda climbed the hill, and, after a little demurring on the +girl's part, sat down on a shelving rock at a point where the river view +was beautiful. As usual, Yolanda managed the conversation to suit +herself, but after a short time she permitted Max to introduce the +subject on which he wished to talk. + +"Will you tell me, Fräulein," he asked, "how you were enabled to know +the history of my ring? I cannot believe you are what you said--a +sorceress--a witch." + +"No, no," she answered laughingly, "I am not a sorceress." + +"You almost made me believe you were," said Max, "but I am slow of wit, +as you have doubtless observed. I told Sir Karl you said you were a +sorceress, and he said--" + +"You gave me your word you would not tell!" exclaimed Yolanda. + +"Neither did I tell aught save that you said you were a sorceress. He +laughed and said--" + +"Yes, yes, what did he say?" eagerly queried the girl. + +"He said--I am sure you will not take amiss what he said?" responded +Max. + +"No, no, indeed no! Tell me," she demanded eagerly. + +"He said you were a witch, if brown eyes, dimpling smiles, and girlish +beauty could make one," answered Max. + +"Ah, did he say that of me?" asked the girl, musingly. After a pause she +continued, "That was kind in Sir Karl and--and evidently sincere." After +another pause devoted to revery she said: "Perhaps I shall be his friend +sometime in a manner he little expects. Even the friendship of a +helpless burgher girl is not to be despised. But he is wrong. I am not +beautiful," she poutingly continued. "Now let us examine my face." She +laughed, and settled herself contentedly upon the stone, as if to take +up a serious discussion. "I often do so in the mirror. Vain? Of course +I am!" + +"I am only too willing to examine it," said Max, laughingly. + +"My mouth," she said, pursing her lips and lifting her face temptingly +for his inspection, "my mouth is--" + +"Perfect," interrupted Max. + +She looked surprised and said, "Ah, that was nicely spoken, Little Max, +and quickly, for you." + +"'Little Max'!" exclaimed the young man. "Where heard you that name? No +one save my mother has ever used it; no one but Karl and my father has +ever heard her speak the words. Did Karl tell you of it?" + +"Karl did not tell me," she responded, "and I never heard any one speak +the name. The name fits you so well--by contraries--that it came to me, +perhaps, by inspiration." + +"That hardly seems possible," returned Max, "and your knowledge of how I +received the ring is more than remarkable." + +"Let us talk about my face," said the girl, full of the spirit of +mischief, and wishing to put off the discussion of the ring. "Now, my +eyes, of which Sir Karl spoke so kindly, are--" + +"The most wonderful in the world," interrupted Max. "They are brilliant +as priceless jewels, fathomless as deep water, gentle and tender as--" + +"There, there, Little Max," she cried, checking with a gesture his flow +of unexpected eloquence. "I declare! you are not so slow as you seem. I +will tell you just how much of a sorceress I am. I thought to flatter +you by saying a great lady had given you the ring, and lo, I was right +unless you are adroitly leading me to believe in my own sorcery. Is she +a great lady? Come, tell me the story." + +She unconsciously moved nearer to him with an air of pleasant +anticipation. + +"Yes, it was a great lady, a very great lady who gave me the ring," he +said most seriously. + +"And was I right in my other divination?" she asked, looking down and +flushing slightly. "Did--did she wish to marry you? But you need not +answer that question." + +"I will gladly answer it," returned Max, leaning forward, resting his +elbow on his knees and looking at the ground between his feet. "I hoped +she did. I--I longed for it." + +"Perhaps she possessed vast estates?" asked the girl, a slight frown +gathering on her brow. + +"Yes, she possessed vast estates," said Max, "but I would gladly have +taken her penniless save for the fact that I am very poor, and that she +would suffer for the lack of luxuries she has always known." + +"But how could the lady have felt sure you were not seeking her for the +sake of her estates?" asked Yolanda. + +"She could not know," answered Max. "But I sought her for her own sake +and for no other reason." + +"What manner of person was she?" asked Yolanda. "Was she dark or light, +short or tall, plain of feature or beautiful, amiable of temper or +vixenish? Was she like any one you have ever seen?" + +She spoke in deep earnest and looked eagerly up to his face. + +"She was beautiful of feature," answered Max. "Her eyes and her hair +were dark as yours are. She was short of stature, I have been told." + +Yolanda laughed merrily: "I declare, Sir Max, you were in love with a +lady you had never seen. It was her estate you loved." + +"No, no," said Max, earnestly. "I ardently desired--" + +"Perhaps if you were to see her, your enthusiasm would vanish," said +Yolanda, interrupting him almost sharply. "My magic tells me she is a +squat little creature, with a wizened face; her eyes are sharp and +black, and her nose is a-peak, not unlike mine. That, she is sour and +peevish of temper, as I am, there can be no doubt. And, although she be +great and rich as the Princess of Burgundy, I warrant you she is not one +whit handsomer nor kinder in disposition than I." + +Max started on hearing Mary of Burgundy's name, but quickly recovering +himself said:-- + +"I would not wish her better than you in any respect. You wrong both +yourself and the lady to speak as you do. Those who know her say the +lady has not her like in all the world." + +A soft light came to Yolanda's face as he spoke, and she answered +slowly:-- + +"Doubtless the lady had like news of you, and is curious to know what +manner of man you are. She too may have dreamed of an ideal." + +"How do you know she has never seen me?" asked Max, who had not fully +caught her reply when she spoke of the fact that he had never seen the +lady of the ring. "I shall surely come to believe you are a sorceress." + +"No, I am not," she answered emphatically. "You shall carry that jest no +further. A moment since you said those who know her say so and so, and +you believed she was short of stature. Had you ever seen the lady, you +would know if she were tall or short. You would not be in doubt upon so +important a matter as the stature of your lady-love." + +The reasoning and the reasoner were so irresistible that Max was easily +satisfied. + +"But you have spoken of the lady as in the past. I hope she is not +dead?" asked Yolanda. + +"No," answered Max, gravely, "our fathers did not agree. That is, her +father was not satisfied, and it all came to nothing save a--a +heartache for me." + +It was well that Max was looking at the ground when she turned the soft +radiance of her eyes upon him, else he might have learned too much. His +modesty and honesty in admitting frankly that the lady's father was not +satisfied with the match pleased her and she sat in silence, smiling +contentedly. After a time she turned almost fiercely upon him:-- + +"Do you know what I should do, Sir Max, were I in your place?" + +"What would you do, Fräulein?" queried Max. + +"I would show the lady that I was worthy of her by winning her, even +though she were on a throne, guarded by a thousand dragons. I am a +woman, Sir Max, and I know a woman's heart. The heart of a princess is +first the heart of a woman. Be sure the lady will thank you and will +reward you if you fight your way to her and carry her off against all +the world." + +"But how is that to be done, Fräulein?" asked Max, carelessly. In truth, +Mary of Burgundy was not uppermost in his heart at that moment. + +"That is for a man to say and for a man to do," she responded. "A woman +knows only how to wait and to long for one who, alas! may never come. +She will wait for you, Sir Max, and when you come to her, she will place +her hand in yours and go with you wherever you wish to take her. Of +this, at least, my powers of sorcery are sufficient to assure you. Do +not fear! do not fear!" + +She spoke earnestly, as if from the depths of a personal experience. Her +eyes glowed with the light of excitement and her face was radiant. Max +turned to her and saw all this beauty. Then he gently took her hand and +said huskily:-- + +"If I thought she were like you, Fräulein, I would gladly go to the end +of the world to win from her even one smile." + +"No, no, Sir Max," said Yolanda, withdrawing her hand, "we must have no +more such speeches from you. They are wrong coming from one of your +degree to a burgher girl of Peronne, if she be an honest girl. Our +stations are too far apart." + +"That is true, Fräulein," answered Max, sorrowfully, "but I mean no +disrespect. I honor you as if you were a princess"--here his tones took +energy and emphasis--"but I meant what I said, Fräulein, I meant what I +said, and though I shall never say it again, I know that I shall mean it +all the days of my life." + +The expression in her eyes as she looked up at him was one of mingled +pleasure and amusement. It seemed to say, "Do not be too sure that you +will never say it again," but she said nothing. After a moment she +suggested:-- + +"Shall we return, Sir Max?" They rose, and as they started back to Basel +he remarked:-- + +"The words 'Little Max' on your lips sounded sweet to me, Fräulein. +They bring home to me the voice of my mother, and though I should not +care to hear another speak them, still, the words are very pretty on +your lips, and I like them." + +Yolanda glanced quickly up to him with radiant eyes. He caught the +glance, and the last vestige of his ideal, Mary of Burgundy, left his +heart, driven out by the very real little enchantress that walked by +his side. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DOWN THE RHINE TO BURGUNDY + +Notwithstanding the idle, happy life we were leading, I was anxious to +begin our journey to Burgundy. Just what would--or could--happen when we +should reach that land of promise--perhaps I should say of no promise--I +did not know. I hoped that by some happy turn of fortune--perhaps +through Twonette's help--Max might be brought to meet Mary of Burgundy. +I had all faith in his ability to please her, or any woman, but what +advantage he could gain by winning her regard I could not guess. The +lady's personal preference would cut no figure in the choosing of a +husband. Her father would do that for her, and she would be powerless +against the will of a man whose chief impulses were those of a mad bull. +This arrogant duke, without so much as a formal withdrawal, had ignored +Duke Frederick's acceptance and had contracted his daughter's hand to +the Dauphin of France, who was a puny, weak-minded boy of fourteen. + +Should Max and I go to Burgundy and say to Charles, "This is Maximilian +of Styria, to whom you offered your daughter in marriage," his answer +might be a sword thrust. Should the duke learn of our unbidden presence +in his domain, his love for making enemies would probably bring us into +trouble. Therefore, though I ardently wished to begin the journey, I had +no real cause to hope for good results, though there were many reasons +to fear the outcome of our adventures. + +One may well ask why I continued in a course so dangerous. My answer is: +A man travels the road of his destiny. The Fates sometimes hunt out a +man for their purposes and snatch him from his hiding-place in the +by-ways, but they usually choose from the scenes of great events their +victims or their favorites. The man who fears to be their victim is +seldom chosen for their favorite. I should rather be their victim than +be overlooked; and what I should have chosen for myself I desired for +Max. I had no future save in him; I had been overlooked in the by-ways. + +At the time of our journeying all Europe turned on a Burgundian pivot, +and the Fates were busy in that land. It was the stage of the world, on +which the strong, the great, and the enterprising of mankind were +playing; and I hoped that Max, who was strong and enterprising, would +find his part in this Burgundian drama. I was willing to risk +sacrificing him, though he was dearer to me than the blood of my heart, +if I might stand even a small chance to make him great. + +At strange variance with my philosophy, I had faith in Max's luck. It +was more than faith; it was a fixed, intuitive conviction that he would +win. For these reasons, all growing out of what I felt rather than what +I reasoned, we continued our dangerous and apparently useless journey. +When a man feels himself led by an unseen hand, he should gladly follow. +There is an intuition that is better than reason. + + * * * * * + +One bright morning in May we began our journey down the Rhine. My fears +had no place in Max's heart, and his self-confidence was to me a +harbinger of good fortune. A man may do anything that he knows he can +do; failure never disappoints him who expects it. + +We left Basel by the west gate and took the road for Strasburg, leading +down the west bank of the Rhine. That was not the most direct route to +Peronne, but it was the safest because of the numerous river towns +wherein we might lie safely by night. The robber barons whom we had to +fear along the river were at least not pilfering vagabonds, such as we +should meet across country. Against the open attack of a brave foe we +felt that we could make a good defence. Our fighting force consisted of +Max, myself, and two lusty squires. We had also a half-score of men who +led the sumpter mules. + +Castleman had purchased two beautiful chargers in Basel, pretending that +he wished to take them to Peronne for sale. He asked Max to ride one and +offered the other for my use. I was sure that his only reason for buying +the horses was his desire to present them to us, which he afterward did. +Max named his charger "Night," because of its spotless coat of black. +Yolanda rode a beautiful white mare which we re-christened "Day." +Castleman bestrode an ambling Flemish bay, almost as fat as its master +and quite as good-natured, which, because of its slowness, Yolanda +dubbed "Last Week." + +We travelled slowly down the Rhine, enjoying the scenery and filling our +hearts with the sunshine of the soft spring days. Our cautious merchant +so arranged our lodging-places that we were never on the road after +dark. His system caused much delay, as we often rested a half-day in a +town that we might be able to lodge there over night. In this deliberate +manner of proceeding, life was a sweet, lazy holiday, and our journey +was like a May outing. We were all very happy--almost ominously so. + +After the explanation between Max and Yolanda on the hill at Basel she +made no effort to avoid him, and he certainly did not avoid her. They +both evidently rested on his remark that he would never again speak +upon a certain subject. They fully understood each other's position. + +Max knew that between him and the burgher maiden there could be no +thought of marriage. She, it seemed, was equally aware of that fact. All +that he had been taught to value in life--father, mother, family and +position, his father's subjects, who would one day be his, his father's +throne, on which he would one day sit--stood between him and Yolanda. +They stood between him and the achievement of any desire purely personal +to himself and not conducive to the welfare of his state. He felt that +he did not belong to himself; that his own happiness was never to be +considered. He belonged to his house, his people, and his ancestors. + +Max had not only been brought up with that idea as the chief element in +his education, but he had also inherited it from two score generations +of men and women that had learned, believed, and taught the same lesson. +We may by effort efface the marks of our environment, but those we +inherit are bred in the bone. Yolanda was not for Max. He could not +control his heart; it took its inheritance of unbidden passion from a +thousand scores of generations which had lived and died and learned +their lesson centuries before the House of Hapsburg began; but he could +control his lips and his acts. + +With Max's growing love for Yolanda came a knightly reverence which was +the very breath of the chivalry that he had sworn to uphold. This spirit +of reverence the girl was quick to observe, and he lost nothing by it in +her esteem. At times I could see that this reverential attitude of Max +almost sobered her spirits; to do so completely would have been as +impossible as to dam the current of a mountain stream. + +On the evening of our first day out of Basel we were merrily eating our +suppers in a village where we had halted for the night, when I remarked +that I had met a man, while strolling near the river, who had said that +war was imminent between Burgundy and Switzerland. My remark immediately +caught Yolanda's sharp attention. + +"Yes," said I, "we left Switzerland none too soon. This man tells me, on +what authority I know not, that a herald will soon be sent by Duke +Charles carrying defiance to the Swiss. What of value the duke expects +to obtain from barren Switzerland outside of Basel, I do not know. +Fighting for fighting's sake is poor sport." + +"Forbear your wise saws, Sir Karl, and tell me what the man said," +demanded Yolanda. + +"He told me," I replied, "that he had heard the news at Metz, and that +it was supposed Duke René would muster his forces in Lorraine and turn +them against Burgundy in case of war with Switzerland." + +"I predicted evil when Burgundy took Nancy from Lorraine," cried +Yolanda, excitedly. "The hollow conventions made with Lorraine after the +capture of that city were but the promises of a man under duress. The +only ties that will bind a narrow man are those of immediate +self-interest. There can be no lasting treaty between France and +Burgundy so long as King Louis covets Flanders and is able to bribe our +neighbors. These conventions between Burgundy, Lorraine, Bourbon, and +St. Pol will hold only so long as Burgundy does not need them." + +"That is surely true, Fräulein," I said. + +"Yes," she continued, "and should Burgundy suffer any great misfortune +or be crippled for an hour, those small states would be upon his back +like a pack of wolves, and he would be ruined. Lorraine, Bourbon, and +St. Pol do not see that Burgundy alone stands between them and the +greedy maw of France. Should King Louis survive my--my Lord of Burgundy +five years, these dukes and counts will lose their feudal rights and +become servile vassals of France, not in name, as now they are, but in +sorry fact." + +I was so astonished at this tempestuous outburst from an unexpected +quarter, and was so surprised at discovering an intimate knowledge of +great affairs in a simple burgher maid, that I dropped the piece of meat +I held in my fingers and stared in wonder across the table at Yolanda. I +had known from the first hour of meeting her that the girl's mind was +marvellously keen; but that a maid of seventeen or eighteen, in her +position, should have so firm a grasp of international affairs and +should possess so clear a conception of the troublous situation in +western Europe, astounded me. + +In eastern Europe, where we were not blinded by neighborly hatred and +local jealousies, the truth of Yolanda's statement had long been +apparent. We carried our prophecy further and predicted that the +headlong passions of Charles the Rash would soon result in his death or +overthrow. + +My point in dragging in this heavy load of political lore is this: In +case of the death of Charles of Burgundy, the future of western Europe +would depend on the brains and the bravery of the man who should marry +the Princess Mary. I felt that Max was chosen of God for that destiny. +Should he succeed in defending Burgundy against France, he would become +the most powerful man in Europe. No event save death could keep him from +achieving the imperial crown. + +If the existing treaty of marriage between Mary and the Dauphin of +France were carried out, and if the Dauphin as king should possess +one-half the wisdom of his father, Louis, all western Europe would soon +be France. If this treaty were to fail and the Princess Mary espouse a +man capable of defending her territory, Burgundy would still remain a +wall of protection to the smaller states of the Rhine. + +A long silence followed Yolanda's outburst, but her words had so +astonished me that my supper for the evening was finished. Castleman +plied his knife industriously; Yolanda nibbled at a piece of meat +between her dainty fingers, and Twonette gazed serenely out of the +open window. + +Yolanda's words and Castleman's constraint filled me with wonder. There +was to me a mystery about this little beauty that had not been touched +on by my friend from Peronne. I hoped to gain information on the point +by inducing Yolanda to talk. She was willing enough. + +"Fräulein," I said, "I quite agree with you. It is a matter of surprise +to me that these noblemen you mention do not see the truth as you +state it." + +"They are fools, Sir Karl, sodden fools," exclaimed Yolanda. "You could +buy their souls for a sou. King Louis buys them with an empty promise +of one." + +"Why does not Duke Charles buy them?" I asked. "'Tis said he has +enormous quantities of ready gold in Luxembourg Castle." + +"Because, Sir Karl," she responded almost savagely, "bribery is the +weapon of a coward. The Duke of Burgundy uses his money to pay +soldiers." + +"But, Fräulein," I answered, "the duke has for years--ever since before +his father's death--been wasting his money, sacrificing his soldiers, +and despoiling his land by wars, prosecuted to no good end. He has +conquered large territory, but he has paid for it with the blood of his +people. Neither they nor he are the better because of those accessions, +and the duke has made enemies who will one day surely wrest them from +him. A brave prince should not fear to be called a coward because of an +act that will bring peace and happiness to his subjects and save their +lives, their liberties, and their estates. That great end will ennoble +any means. The subjects of Burgundy are frugal and peace-loving. They +should be protected from the cruel cost of useless war. I would not +criticise Duke Charles, whose bravery is beyond compare, but for the +sake of his people I could wish that his boldness were tempered with +caution. Policy, not blows, appears to me the only way out of his +present and imminent danger." + +"Perhaps you are right, Sir Karl," answered Yolanda, "but I advise you +to keep your views to yourself when you reach Burgundy. Should they come +to the duke's ears, you might lose yours." + +"Indeed, Fräulein, your warning is unnecessary," I responded laughingly. +"I already know the disposition of the duke toward those who disagree +with him. His ungovernable passions will surely lead him to a terrible +end. Bravery, if wise, is one of the noblest attributes of men. The +lack of wisdom makes it the most dangerous. Duke Charles ought to temper +his courage with love for his people. He should fight, when he must, +with wise bravery. If he should die, God pity the poor people of +Burgundy unless their princess choose a husband both wise and brave." + +"But she will not be allowed to choose," cried Yolanda, passionately. +"Her freedom is less than that of any serf. She is bound hand and foot +by the chains of her birth. She is more to be pitied than the poorest +maiden in Burgundy. The saddest of all captives is she who is chained to +a throne." + +"That surely is the bitterest draught fate offers to mortal man," sighed +Max. + +"Yes," whispered Yolanda, huskily. "One cannot rebel; one may not even +kill one's self when one is condemned to live. One can do nothing but +endure and wait in haunting fear and, in rare moments, hope against a +million chances." + +Evidently she meant us to know that she sorrowed for Max's martyrdom, +though how she had learned of his true station in life I could +not guess. + +"It is strange," said I to Castleman, when Yolanda and Twonette had left +us, "that Fräulein Yolanda, who seems to be all laughter and +thoughtlessness, should be so well informed upon the affairs of princes +and princesses, and should take this public matter so much to heart." + +"Yes, she is a strange, unfortunate girl," answered Castleman, "and +truly loves her native land. She would, I believe, be another Joan of +Arc, had she the opportunity. She and her father do not at all agree. He +wholly fails to comprehend her." + +"Is her father your brother?" I asked. I felt a sense of impertinence in +putting the question, but my curiosity was irresistible. + +"Yes," answered Castleman, hesitatingly; then, as if hurrying from the +subject, he continued, "Her mother is dead, and the girl lives chiefly +under my roof." + +I wanted to ask other questions concerning Yolanda, but I kept silent. I +had begun to suspect that she was not what she passed for--a burgher +girl; but Castleman was a straightforward, truthful man, and his words +satisfied me. I had, at any rate, to be content with them, since +Yolanda's affairs were none of mine. Had I not been sure that Max's +training and inheritance gave him a shield against her darts, she and +her affairs would have given me deep concern. At that time I had all the +match-making impulses of an old woman, and was determined that no woman +should step between Max and the far-off, almost impossible Princess +of Burgundy. + +When we resumed our journey the next morning Yolanda was demure, grave, +and serious; but the bright sun soon had its way with her, and within a +half-hour after leaving the village she was riding beside Max, laughing, +singing, and flashing her eyes upon him with a lustre that dimmed the +sun--at least, so Max thought, and probably he was right. That evening +Max told me much of Yolanda's conversation. + +The road we were travelling clung to the Rhine for several leagues. In +many places it was cut from the bank at the water's edge. At others it +ran along the brink of beetling precipices. At one of these Max guided +his horse close to the brink, and, leaning over in his saddle, looked +down the dizzy heights to the river below. + +"Please do not ride so near the brink, Sir Max," pleaded Yolanda. "It +frightens me." + +Max had little of the braggadocio spirit about him, but no rightly +constituted young man is entirely devoid of the desire to "show off" in +the presence of timid and interesting ladies. Without that spirit of +"show-off," what would induce our knights to meet in glorious +tournaments? Without it, what would our chivalry amount to? Without it, +why should a peacock spread its tail? I do not belittle it, since from +this spirit of "show-off" arises one great good--respect for the opinion +of our fellow-man. So Max, with a dash of "show-off" in his disposition, +laughed at Yolanda's fears and answered that he was in no danger. + +"It is very brave in you, Sir Max, to go so near the brink," said +Yolanda, ironically, "but do you remember what Sir Karl said concerning +'wise bravery'? There can be no need for your bravery, and therefore no +wisdom in it. Were there good reason why you should go near the brink, I +should despise you if you refused; but there is no reason and, since it +frightens me, I wish you would remain in the road." + +"Gladly I will," answered Max, reining his horse beside her. + +"Do you know," said Yolanda, with as much seriousness as she could +easily command, "that your friend, Sir Karl, is a philosopher? His +phrase, 'wise bravery,' clings to me. I certainly wish the Duke of +Burgundy would learn it and take it to heart." + +"I have heard many conflicting stories concerning this Duke Charles," +said Max. "Some persons say he is all that is brave and noble; others +declare that he is fierce, passionate, and bad. I wonder which I shall +find him to be?" + +"Do you expect to take service with him?" asked Yolanda, half sadly. At +the mention of the duke's name all smiles and dimples fled +incontinently. + +"No," answered Max, "I think I shall not take service with the duke. In +truth, I don't know what I shall do. For what purpose I am going to +Burgundy I am sure I cannot say." + +A short silence ensued, which was broken by Yolanda, speaking archly:-- + +"Perhaps you are going to Burgundy or to France to win the lady who gave +you the ring?" Max was surprised, and flushed as he answered:-- + +"That would be an impossible thought, Fräulein. If you but knew who the +lady is, you would understand that such a hope on my part were a +phantasy. But I have no such hope or wish. I do not now want to win the +lady of the ring." + +"No, no, Sir Max," said Yolanda, protestingly, "you must not basely +desert this lady-love whom you have never seen. If trouble should come +to her, whoever she is, you must hasten to her rescue and carry her +away. The best opportunity to rob, you know, comes in the midst of a +mêlée. Take her, Sir Max. I wish you success." + +"Do you really wish me success, Fräulein?" asked Max, looking straight +ahead. He was not at all flattered by her good wishes concerning the +lady of the ring. + +"Indeed I do," responded the girl, joyously; "I will pray to the Virgin +and ask her to help you to win this fair lady who gave you the ring." + +"I thank you for your good wishes," returned Max, "though I could easily +be satisfied with less enthusiasm on the subject." + +"Indeed? Why, may I ask?" + +"Because, Fräulein--because I had hoped--" Max ceased speaking, and, +leaning forward, smoothed his horse's mane. + +Yolanda waited for a moment and then, turning her face toward Max, +asked:-- + +"You had hoped for what, Sir Max?" + +"I had hoped for nothing, Fräulein," he answered. "I am satisfied as +matters now stand between us. Your words at supper last evening rang in +my ears all night, 'Chained to a throne; chained to a throne.' I knew +you referred to my unhappy lot when you spoke, though how you guessed +the truth concerning my station I do not know." + +A surprised little smile spread over her face, but he did not see it. He +was still smoothing his horse's mane. + +"You cannot know the terrible truth of your words," continued Max. "I +will tell you a part of my secret, Fräulein. All my life I have been cut +off--chained to a throne--from the fellowship of men and the love of +friends. Karl is the only friend I have ever known save my mother until +I met you and your good people. Only the good God can know how I have +longed and hungered since childhood for friendship; even for +companionship. I did not know what I yearned for until since my arrival +at Basel. Truly it is not good for man to be alone, even though he be +upon a throne. I am not upon a throne, Fräulein, but I am near one--a +small, barren throne, whose greatest attribute is its ancestry. My home +is a sad, lonely place--how lonely even you, who have guessed so +shrewdly and who speak so eloquently, cannot know. You should thank God +for your lowly birth and your lowly friends." + +"I do," the girl answered, with a queer, half-sad, half-amused +expression upon her face which Max could not interpret. + +"But we cannot break the chains that have been welded a thousand +years--that have grown stronger and tighter with each generation," said +Max. "You truthfully said, 'One may only endure.'" + +"I also said that at rare moments one may hope," she answered, with +drooping head. + +"Not I, Fräulein. I may not even hope. I am doomed," answered Max. + +"No, no, Sir Max," responded the drooping head. + +After a prolonged silence Max said, "I am sure the secret of my station +is safe with you." + +"You need not doubt, Sir Max," she responded. "You cannot know how safe +it is." She turned brightly upon him and continued, "Let me invoke my +spirits, Sir Max." She raised her eyes, saint-fashion, toward heaven, +and spoke under her breath: "I hear the word 'hope,' Sir Max, 'hope.' It +is very faint, but better faint than not at all." + +"I tell you there is no hope for me, Fräulein," responded Max, +desperately. "It is cruel in you to say there is. It is doubly cruel to +speak jestingly." + +"I speak earnestly," said Yolanda. "There is hope. If you win the lady +who gave you the ring, you will be happy. I do not jest." + +"You do. You mock me," cried Max. "I tell you, Yolanda, there is in all +the world no woman for me save--save one upon whom I may not think." +Yolanda's face grew radiant, though tears moistened her eyes. "Even +though it were possible for me to defy my parents, to turn my face +against my country, my people, and the sacred traditions of my house, by +asking her to share my life, there could be only wretchedness ahead for +her, and therefore unhappiness for me. The dove and the eagle may not +mate. Consider the fate of sweet Agnes Bernauer, who married Duke Albert +and perished in the Danube. I tell you, Fräulein, I am hopeless. When I +return to my people, I shall do so knowing that life thereafter will be +something to endure, not a blessing to thank God for." + +"No, no, Sir Max," murmured the girl, "you do not know." + +Max turned upon her almost angrily:-- + +"A man knows when he lives; a man knows when he is dying, and a man, if +he be worthy of the name, knows when he loves a woman. I am not sure +that the sun shines, Fräulein, than I am that I shall not forget this +woman nor cease to sorrow for her all the days of my life." + +"You must not speak such words to me, Sir Max," said Yolanda, +reprovingly. "I, too, must live and be happy if--if I can." + +She turned her face away from Max and, touching her horse with her whip, +passed a few feet ahead of him. If there were tears in her eyes, she did +not wish Max to see them. After several minutes of silence he spurred +his horse to her side. + +"I did not intend to speak, Fräulein. I once said I would never speak +again. I should not have spoken now, though I have told you only what +you already know. I ask no favor in return, not even a touch from +your hand." + +"You shall have that at least, Sir Max," she answered, impulsively +reining her horse close to Max and placing her hand in his. + +"Still, you wish me to win the lady who sent me the ring?" asked Max. + +"Yes," returned Yolanda, softly. "It will mean your happiness and +mine--" Suddenly checking herself, she explained: "I shall be happy if +you are. A man cannot know how happy a woman may be for another's sake." + +I felt no desire to reprove Max when he told me of his day's adventure +with Yolanda, since I could in no way remedy the evil. In fact, Max was +growing out of my jurisdiction. He had listened to my lectures and +advice since childhood and had taken them kindly, because my authority +grew out of my love for him and his love for me. He was a boy when we +left Styria, but he was a man when we were journeying down the Rhine. +Though the confidential relations between us had grown closer, my advice +was gradually taking the form of consultation. I did not seek his +confidences, and he gave them more freely, if that were possible, than +ever before. I did not offer my advice so readily, but he sought it more +frequently. Max told me the sorrowful little story of the day, and I did +not comment on it. I simply led him in another direction. + +"Fräulein Yolanda's words have given me food for thought," I said. "So +long as Duke Charles lives, there can be no union between Burgundy and +Hapsburg; but at the pace he is travelling he will surely receive his +_coup de grâce_ before long, and I hope you will meet and know the +princess before the tragedy occurs. Then declare yourself and back your +claim with the duke's proposal, which has never been withdrawn. That the +people of Burgundy hate France and this French marriage there can be no +doubt. They are fools for so doing, but we may easily profit by their +lack of wisdom. In the event of the duke's death the inclinations of the +princess will be half the battle. So long as he lives they are no part +of it. If, by the help of Twonette, you should be so fortunate as to +meet the princess, our dream may be realized, and our house may become +the greatest in Europe." + +"I suppose you are right, Karl," answered Max. "You are always right; +but I have no heart in this matter, and I hope nothing will come of it. +I have never known you to be so cold-blooded as in this affair." + +"If you are to be hot-blooded, or even warm-blooded, you must turn your +back on your house and cast from you the duties and privileges of your +birth," I observed. + +"You are right," he answered irritably. "But it will be difficult for me +to please one woman while thinking of another. Ah, Karl, I am growing +tired of this Burgundian dream. Dream? It is almost a nightmare." + +Max's words did not alarm me; he was "chained to a throne." He would not +fail me if the hour of good fortune should come. + +"Your thoughts of another woman will not stand in your way," I said. +"Experience is more necessary in dealing with women than in any other of +life's affairs, and this episode with Yolanda is what you need to +prepare you for--for what I pray you may have to do." + +"Karl, please do not talk of this--this--my feeling for Yolanda as an +episode," he said, speaking almost angrily. "It is a part of my life, +and will be my sorrow as long as I live." + +The boy's anger warned me that if I would lead him, I must do it gently. + +"I believe, Max, you speak truly," I said; "but it will not be an +unmixed evil. Good will come of it, since the image of a pure woman +injures no man's heart. It keeps him in the narrow way and guides his +hand for righteousness." + + + +CHAPTER V + +WHO IS YOLANDA? + +Next morning Yolanda came to breakfast smiling, bedimpled, and sparkling +as a sunlit mountain brook. Max, who was gloomy, took her sprightliness +amiss, thinking, no doubt, that her life also ought to be darkened by +the cloud that he thought was over-shadowing him. There was no doubt in +my mind that Yolanda had inspired a deep and lasting passion in Max, +though he was, I hoped, mistaken in the belief that it would darken his +life. But I would not give a kreutzer for a young fellow who does not +feel that life is worthless without his lady-love. + +Yolanda did not take kindly to clouds of any sort, and she soon +scattered those that Max had conjured up. After we had resumed our +journey Max fell back to ride with her. + +"Sir Max," she said, "if you allow yourself to become The Knight +Doleful, I will not only cease having speech with you, but I will +laugh at you." + +The latter she did then and there. This from a burgher girl of Peronne +to a prince of the House of Hapsburg! The good duke and duchess would +have swooned with horror had they known of it. Max was inclined to be +angry, but, unfortunately for his ill-humor, he caught a glimpse of her +face, and he, too, laughed. + +"I fear I am a great fool," he said. Yolanda did not contradict him. She +simply shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "That unfortunate condition +is apt, at times, to overtake the best of men." + +Soon our little cavalcade came together, and we rode, laughing, and all +talking at once, for a league or more. + +Our road had parted from the river at one of its great bends, and for an +hour we had been slowly climbing a long hill. When we reached the top, +we unsaddled for dinner in the shade of a tree by the wayside. A hundred +yards from the road was a dense copse of undergrowth and bushes on the +edge of the forest. Off to the east flowed the majestic Rhine, a league +distant, and to the north ran the road like a white ribbon, stretching +downhill to the valley and up again to the top of another hill, distant +perhaps a half-league. + +While we were eating dinner, a cloud of dust arose from the hilltop +north of us, and immediately began descending in our direction. At +intervals, in the midst of the dust-cloud, we caught glimpses of men on +horseback riding at full gallop. This unwelcome sight brought our dinner +to an end. I at once ordered the sumpter mules taken to the copse on +the forest's edge, and directed every man to look to his arms and armor. +I asked Twonette and Yolanda to go with the mules, and Yolanda +became angry. + +"_I_ go with the mules? Sir Karl, you forget yourself," cried the young +lady, drawing herself up with the dignity of a princess royal. Twonette +ran as rapidly as her feet could take her to seek refuge with the mules, +but Yolanda, with flashing eyes, declared: + +"I will remain here." + +I felt that an apology was due to this burgher girl. + +"I will gladly apologize later, Fräulein, but now I have only time to +beg that you will conceal yourself. These men probably are robbers. If +they see you, we shall be compelled to fight them, however great their +numbers. If we find their force too large for us, we may easily ransom +the mules and their packs, but we could make no terms for you. If they +are Black Riders, they will prefer a little gold to a great deal of +silk, but they will prefer you and Fräulein Twonette to a great deal +of gold." + +"I would not pay them one piece of gold," cried Yolanda, defiantly. +"Give me an arquebuse. I will help you fight." + +The brave little heroine astonished me. + +"Would you prefer that Max or your good uncle and perhaps some of our +poor mule-leaders should be killed by these pigstickers," I asked, "or +would you compound with them in some reasonable way? Shall we +fight them?" + +"No, no," she answered, "wise bravery is better. I suppose I shall learn +the lesson some day." + +While the troop of horsemen were under the crest of the hill, Yolanda +ran across the open to a place of concealment beside Twonette. Hardly +was she hidden when the dust-cloud rose from the brink of the hill, and +five men, well though roughly armed, galloped up to us and drew their +horses back upon their haunches. + +"What have we here?" demanded the captain, a huge German. Their grimy +armor and bearded faces besmeared with black marked them as Black +Riders. I was overjoyed to see that they numbered but five. + +"What is that to you?" I asked, putting on a bold front, though I feared +our mule-leaders would make but a sorry fight should we come to blows. + +"That depends on what you have," responded our swart friend, coolly. +"Whatever you have, so much it is to us." + +"What will you take in gold, my good man, and let us go our way in peace +with our cargo of silks?" asked Castleman. + +"By your leave, friend," said I, interrupting the negotiations, "I am +in command when fighting is to be done. Let me settle with this fellow." + +"Settle now, if you are so keen," cried the big German, drawing his +sword and spurring his horse upon me. I could not have withstood the +unexpected onrush, and certainly would have met with hard blows or +worse, had not Max come to my rescue. I hurriedly stepped back, and the +German, in following me, rode near a large stone by the roadside. He +had, doubtless, passed the stone many times in his travels up and down +the road, but the thought probably had never occurred to him that it +would be the cause of his death. The most potential facts in our lives +are usually too insignificant to attract attention. + +When the German charged me, Max sprang upon the stone and dealt the +swart ruffian a blow such as no man may survive. Max's great battle-axe +crushed the Black Eider's helmet as if it were an egg-shell, and the +captain of our foes fell backward, hanging by his stirrups. One of our +squires shot one of the robbers, and the remaining three took flight. +Max caught the captain's horse, and coolly extricated the dead man's +feet from the stirrups. Then he thrust the body to the roadside with the +indifference of a man whose life has been spent in slaughter. Among his +many inheritances, Max probably had taken this indifference, together +with his instinctive love of battle. He was not quarrelsome, but he +took to a fight as naturally as a duck takes to water. + +When the robbers had left, Yolanda came running from her hiding-place. +She was not frightened; she was aglow with excitement. She, too, must +have inherited the love of battle. Twonette was trembling with fear. + +"Ah, Sir Max, it was beautifully done," said Yolanda. "You sprang upon +the rock with the quickness of a panther, and the blow was dealt with +the strength of a lion. I saw it all. When your battle-axe rose above +the robber's head, death was written on the steel. It was beautiful to +see you kill him, Sir Max. Strength is always beautiful in the eyes of a +woman, but it is doubly so when used in her defence and linked with +'wise bravery.' I thank you, Sir Karl, for teaching me that word. Sir +Max, I--I cannot thank you now." + +She stopped speaking and covered her face with her hands. In a moment +she partly recovered composure and smiled her gratitude through a little +shower of tears. Max was, of course, aglow with pleasure at Yolanda's +praise, but he bore his honors meekly. He did not look upon his +tremendous feat of arms as of much importance. + +Fearing the return of the Schwartreiter with reënforcements, we lost no +time in resuming our journey, Max and Yolanda quickly finished their +dinner, but Castleman, Twonette, and myself did not care to eat. + +Within ten minutes after Max had killed the captain of the Black Riders +we were on our road travelling downhill, very joyful in our victory and +very proud of our knight, Sir Max. We left the dead men by the roadside, +but took with us two fine horses as compensation for our trouble. The +captain's great charger Max appropriated for his own. He will appear +again in this chronicle. + +We rode silently but joyfully. Twonette slowly recovered from her +fright, and the pink crept back to her cheeks. The pink had not left +Yolanda's cheeks, nor had her nerves been disturbed by the adventures of +the morning. Max tried hard to suppress his exuberance of spirit, and +Yolanda laved him in the sunshine of her smiles. + +Within three hours we were safely housed at a village by the Rhine. +Castleman, finding me alone, said:-- + +"You, Sir Karl, and Sir Max little know the value of the friend you have +made this day." + +"I thank you, good Castleman," I answered, hardly liking so great an air +of condescension on the part of a burgher. An afterthought suggested +that perhaps Castleman had not referred to himself as the friend we had +made. Strange thoughts and speculations had of late been swarming in my +mind until they had almost taken the form of a refrain, "Who is +Yolanda?" Though the question repeated itself constantly by day and by +night, I received no whisper of an answer. + +We travelled slowly, and it was not until the second day after our +conflict with the Black Riders that we found ourselves near Strasburg. A +league from the city gates we met Raoul de Rose, a herald of the Duke of +Burgundy. Yolanda recognized his banner at a distance and hastily veiled +herself. Twonette remained unveiled. + +We halted, and De Rose, who was travelling alone, safe under a herald's +privileges, drew rein beside Castleman and me, who had been riding in +advance of our cavalcade. While Castleman was talking to De Rose, +Yolanda and Twonette rode forward, passing on that side of the highway +which left Castleman and me between them and the herald. + +"Ah, good Castleman," said De Rose, "you are far from home these +troublous times." + +"Your words imply bad news, monsieur," returned Castleman. "I have +already heard hints of trouble, though all was quiet when I +left Peronne." + +"When did you leave?" asked the herald. + +"More than two months ago," answered Castleman. + +"With our rapidly moving duke, two months is ample time to make a deal +of trouble, to gain victories, and to compel peace among his +quarrelsome neighbors," answered De Rose. "It is publicly known that I +carry defiance to the Swiss. They cannot comply with Burgundy's terms, +and war will surely follow. Our duke will teach these Swiss sheep to +stop bleating, and when this war is finished, the dominion of Burgundy +will include the Alps. Duke Charles will have fresh ice for his dinner +every day--ice from the mountain tops." + +"That is all he will get from the barren Swiss land, I fear," remarked +Castleman. + +"But if he wants it?" answered De Rose, shrugging his shoulders. + +"Yes," returned Castleman, "if the duke wants it, God give it him; but I +am sorry to see war with so peaceful a people as the Swiss." + +"There are many persons in Burgundy foolish enough to agree with you," +answered De Rose, laughingly, "but for my part, the will of my master +is my will." + +"Amen!" said the cautious burgher. + +De Rose smiled, and said:-- + +"There is but one will in Burgundy, and that will be done." + +"Where is the duke?" asked Castleman. + +"He is at home in Ghent," answered the herald. + +"Is he to remain there?" asked the burgher, displaying a sudden +interest. + +"I believe he goes soon to Peronne to look after his affairs, on the +French border, and to see the duchess and the princess before leaving +for Switzerland. It is also publicly known that the duke, while at +Peronne, intends to arrange for the immediate marriage of the princess +to the Dauphin. He wishes to tie the hands of King Louis before making +war elsewhere, and he is going to Peronne to cause this marriage to be +celebrated before he leaves Burgundy." + +"Sacred God!" exclaimed the usually phlegmatic burgher. "We must hasten +home. Farewell, Monsieur de Rose. Your news indeed is bad--your news +of war." + +Castleman urged "Last Week" to an unwonted pace, and drew rein beside +Yolanda. I followed slowly, and unintentionally overhead him say:-- + +"Your father will soon be in Peronne. The duke leaves Ghent within a day +or two." + +"Holy Virgin!" cried Yolanda, excitedly. "We must make all haste, good +uncle. Hereafter we must travel night and day. We must double our +retinue at Strasburg and hasten forward regardless of danger and +fatigue. I wish we were across Lorraine and well out of Metz. If this +war begins, Lorraine will surely turn upon Burgundy." + +"I begged you not to come upon this journey," said Castleman, +complainingly. + +"I know you did, uncle," returned Yolanda, repentantly. + +"But you would come," continued Castleman, determined to give vent to +his feelings. "I could not dissuade you, and now if the duke leaves +Ghent--if your father reaches Peronne--before we return, God help +us all." + +"Yes, dear uncle," said Yolanda, humbly; "as usual, I was at fault. I +have been a source of trouble and danger to you nearly all my life, and +you, of all persons in the world, I would make happy." + +I was riding ten paces behind Castleman, but the wind came toward me, +and I was an involuntary listener. What I had heard was of such +tremendous import to Max that I could not bring myself to rein back my +horse, though I despised myself for listening. I believe that moment +was, of all my life, the greatest test of my love for Max. No less a +motive could have induced me to become an eavesdropper. Castleman was +silent for a short time, and then I heard him say:-- + +"You have also brought me happiness, Yolanda, and I shall be wretched +when your father takes you from me. Twonette is not dearer to me than +you. Whatever befalls, I shall still thank God for the happiness He has +given me in you." + +"Ah, uncle, your kind words almost break my heart," said Yolanda, +placing her kerchief to her eyes. "I wish you would not forgive me for +having brought you into this hard case. I wish you would upbraid me. I +will pray to the Blessed Virgin night and day to protect you from this +trouble my wilfulness has brought upon you. Never again will I be +wilful, dear uncle, never again--with you. At Strasburg I will make an +offering to the Virgin." + +"Make her an offering of this young man on whom you are smiling," +suggested Castleman. "I would have left him at Basel but for your +wilfulness and entreaties. We know nothing of him save that he is big, +honest, brave, gentle, and good to look upon. I have already warned you +against the great favor you show him. I shall not do so again. I advise +that we leave him at Metz." + +"I will do as you advise," said Yolanda, mournfully. "I will offer even +this, my first great happiness, to the Virgin. Surely it will +propitiate her." + +This conversation almost deprived me of the power to think. In a dimly +conscious fashion, I wondered whether Castleman could possibly have +meant the Duke of Burgundy when he told Yolanda that her father would +soon be at Peronne. I could find no other meaning for his words, and I +was almost ready to believe that the brown-eyed, laughing Yolanda was +none other than the far-famed Mary of Burgundy, whose tiny hand was +sought by every nation of Europe having a marriageable king or prince. + +Kings in their dotage and princes in their nonage wooed her. Old men +and babes eagerly sought the favor of this young girl, and stood ready +to give their gold, their blood, and the lives of their subjects on even +the shadow of a chance to win her. The battle-field and the bower alike +had been wooing-ground for her smiles. After all this, she had been +affianced to the Dauphin of France, and her father would bring the +marriage about within a few weeks. To this girl I had thought to be +gracious, and had feared that I might be too condescending. I then +realized what a pitiable ass a man may make of himself by giving his +whole time and attention to the task. + +Of course I was not sure that Yolanda was the princess. Her father, +spoken of by Castleman, might be, and probably was, a great lord in the +duke's train. Yolanda might be the love-daughter of Charles of Burgundy. +Many explanations might be given to Castleman's remarks; but I could not +help believing that Yolanda was the far-famed Burgundian princess. If +so, what a marvellous romance was this journey that Max and I had +undertaken, and what a fantastic trick fate had played in bringing these +two from the ends of the earth to meet in the quaint old Swiss city. It +seemed almost as if their souls had journeyed toward each other, since +the beginning of time. + +That the princess should be abroad with Castleman and his daughter +unattended by even a lady-in-waiting seemed improbable--almost +impossible. + +My wavering mind veered with each moment from the conviction that +Yolanda was the princess to a feeling of certainty that she was not, and +back again. That she was the princess seemed at one moment indubitably +true; the next moment it appeared absurdly impossible. Still, +Castleman's words rang in my ears. + +I was glad that Max was riding a hundred yards behind me. My first +determination was that he should know nothing of what I had heard. My +second was that he and I should leave the party at Metz. If I were to +disclose to Max my suspicions concerning Yolanda, I well knew that it +would be beyond my power or that of any man to prevent his journeying +to Peronne. + +This meeting with the princess far from home, one might suppose, was the +event of all others that I desired, but the situation presented many +points to be considered. If we should conduct Yolanda to Peronne and +should reach that city after the duke's arrival, there would be untold +trouble for us, if (oh, that mighty if!) she were the Princess Mary. I +was thoroughly frightened, since I could not know what trouble I might +bring to Max. We might, with comparative safety, visit Peronne at a +later period; but I sincerely hoped that Yolanda would offer Max to the +Virgin when we reached Metz. + +If Yolanda were the princess, and if the duke with his intentions +regarding her immediate marriage, should reach Peronne and find his +daughter absent, his wrath against all concerned would be unappeasable. +If he should learn that she had been absent from Peronne on this +journey, even though she reached home before her father, Castleman would +probably lose his head for the crime of taking her, and all concerned in +the journey might meet with evil fortune. Any of these catastrophes +might occur if she were the princess. If she were not the princess, some +other great catastrophe, hinted by Castleman and dreaded by Yolanda, +might happen; and it is well for disinterested persons to remain away +from the scene of impending trouble. + +Aside from all these good reasons for cutting short our journey to +Peronne, was the fact that our motive for going there had ceased to +exist. The princess was soon to become the wife of the Dauphin. If +Yolanda were not the princess, there was still good reason why we should +abandon her at Metz. She was dangerously attractive and was gaining too +great a hold on Max. We were under contract to escort Castleman to +Peronne, and no danger should prevent us from fulfilling our agreement; +but if Castleman should voluntarily release us, our obligation +would cease. + +As we passed under the portcullis at Strasburg, Max spurred his horse +to Yolanda's side. She neither lifted her veil nor gave any sign of +recognition. The news of impending war had been discussed, and Max +supposed Yolanda was frightened. He spoke reassuringly to her, and she +answered:-- + +"I thank you, Sir Max, but our danger is greater than you know." + +It was four o'clock when we reached Strasburg, where we stopped at The +Cygnet. Soon after we entered the inn, Twonette and Yolanda went forth, +heavily veiled, and walked rapidly in the direction of the cathedral. +Yolanda was going to make her offering to the Virgin of the man she +loved; surely woman could make no greater. + +When Yolanda and Twonette had gone, Castleman asked me to assist him in +procuring a score of men-at-arms. They might be needed in crossing +Lorraine from Strasburg to Metz. + +"I shall travel night and day till we reach home," said Castleman. "I +have news of war that hastens us, and--and it is most important that +Yolanda should deliver certain papers at the castle before the duke +arrives at Peronne. If she reaches the castle one hour or one minute +after the duke, the results will be evil beyond remedy." + +"I sincerely hope there may be no delay," I answered, believing that the +papers were an invention of Castleman's. + +"Yes," responded the burgher; "and, Sir Karl, I deem it best for all +concerned that you and Sir Max part company with us at Metz. I thank you +for your services, and hope you will honor us by visiting Peronne at +some future time. But now it is best that you leave us to pursue our +journey without you." + +Castleman's suggestion was most welcome to me, and I communicated it to +Max when I returned to the inn. He was sorrowful; but I found that he, +too, felt that he should part from Yolanda. + +Castleman and I found the burgomaster, to whom we paid five hundred +guilders (a sum equal to his entire annual salary), and within an hour a +troop of twenty men-at-arms awaited us in the courtyard of The Cygnet. +Castleman barely touched his meat at supper, though he drank two bottles +of Johannesburg; Max ate little, and I had no appetite whatever. + +When Yolanda returned, I said:-- + +"Fräulein, will you not eat?" + +"I do not care to eat," she replied, and I could easily see that she was +struggling to keep back the tears. "Let us resume our journey at once. I +see the men-at-arms are waiting." + +Our rare days of sunshine had surely been weather-breeders. We were all +under a dark cloud. + +We left Strasburg by the north gate, and, as the city fell back of us, +Max, riding by my side, asked:-- + +"What is the evil news that has cast this gloom over Yolanda and good +Castleman? If our friends are in danger, I would not leave them at Metz, +and you would not have me do so." + +"The evil news grows out of the war," I answered evasively. "I heard +every word spoken by the herald and Castleman. The burgher is wise to +hasten home. If he delays his journey even for a day, he may find +Burgundy--especially Lorraine--swarming with lawless men going to the +various rendezvous. He also tells me he has important papers that must +be delivered in the castle before the duke arrives at Peronne." + +"It is strange," said Max, "that news of merely a general nature should +produce so gloomy an effect; but, if you heard all that De Rose said, +that must be the only cause." + +"I cannot say," I responded, "what the cause may be. All I know is that +De Rose spoke of the impending war, and said that the duke was hastening +to Peronne for the purpose of consummating the French marriage at once. +There is now no reason why we should journey to Peronne. My air-castles +have crumbled about my ears in fine shape." + +"I am not sorry, Karl," replied Max. "During the last fortnight I have +changed. Should my marriage with the princess, by any marvellous +chance, become possible, it would now be wholly for the sake of her +estates, and I despise myself when I try to think that I wish to bring +it about. Ah, Karl, it is now impossible even to hope for this marriage, +and I tell you I am glad of it. We will see the world, then we will +return to Styria; and I shall thank you all my life for having made a +man of me." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DUKE CHARLES THE RASH + +Our caravan travelled with the mournfulness of a funeral procession. +Early in the evening Max spoke to Yolanda:-- + +"I hear your uncle desires Sir Karl and me to leave you at Metz." + +"Yes," she answered dolefully, hanging her head, "we part at Metz. I +shall see you there before I leave, and then--and then--ah, Sir Max, I +was wrong and you were right; there is no hope." + +"What of the lady who gave me the ring?" asked Max, in a feeble effort +to banter her. + +"She would have made you very happy, Sir Max. Her estates would have +compensated for all losses elsewhere." + +"You know, that is not true, Yolanda," said Max, earnestly. + +"I am not sure, Sir Max," responded the girl, "and do not wish to be +sure. I will see you at Metz, and there we may part. It is our fate. We +must not be doleful, Sir Max, we must be--we must be--happy and brave." +Her poor little effort to be happy and brave was piteous. + +Castleman soon fell back with Yolanda, and Max rode forward beside me. + +At midnight we offsaddled by a stream in a forest and allowed our horses +and mules to rest until sunrise. Then we took up our journey again, and +by forced marches reached Metz one morning an hour before dawn. We +waited in a drizzling rain till the gates opened, and, after a long +parley with the warder, entered the city. We were all nearly exhausted, +and our poor mules staggered along the streets hardly able to carry +their burdens another step. Two had fallen a half-league outside of +Metz; and three others fell with their loads within the city gates. + +Castleman had determined to stop with a merchant friend, and after what +seemed a long journey from the gates we halted at the merchant's house. +Our host left us in his parlor while he went to arrange for breakfast. +When he had gone Castleman turned to me:-- + +"You and Sir Max will, if you please, find good lodging at the Great +Tun. My friend will send a man in advance to bespeak your comfort." + +Max and I rose to leave, and Yolanda offered him her hand, saying:-- + +"It may be that we are to part here at Metz, but I will send for you +soon and will see you before we leave, and--and--" She could not speak +further; tears were in her eyes and her voice. It was not so easy after +all to be happy and brave. + +"You will not fail to send for me?" asked Max, clinging to her hand. + +"I will not fail," she answered, looking up timidly and instantly +dropping her eyes. "Of that you have better assurance than you will +ever know." + +Castleman followed us to the street door and handed me a purse of gold. + +"I have expected to part from you here," he said, "and it may be so; but +I fear I shall need your services still further. My mules are unfit to +travel at present; they may never be fit to use; surely not within a +fortnight. I must find other sumpter mules, wait for those I have to +regain their strength, or leave my goods at Metz. My fortune is invested +in these silks, and if I leave them here, I shall never see them again. +In case the Duke of Lorraine succeeds in rallying his subjects against +Burgundy, I shall find it difficult to buy sumpter mules on the eve of +war, and may be compelled to remain in Metz until my own mules are able +to travel. In that event may I depend upon you and Sir Max to escort my +niece and my daughter to Peronne without me?" + +I answered promptly, though against my desires:--"You may depend on +us." + +At midnight I was aroused by a knock at my door. I arose and admitted +Castleman. + +"I will take you at your word, Sir Karl," said the burgher. "I cannot +obtain sumpter mules, and I shall be ruined in fortune if I leave my +silks at Metz. I have had word that the Duke of Burgundy leaves Ghent +the day after to-morrow for Peronne. If he leaves late in the day, you +may, by starting at once, reach Peronne Castle ahead of him. His journey +will be shorter than yours by twenty-five leagues, but you will have a +better road. If you travel with all haste, you may be able to take +Yolanda, with--with the important papers, to the castle a half-day +before my lord arrives there. Are you ready to begin the journey +at once?" + +"We are ready," answered Max. + +"I will meet you at the Deutsches Thor Gate within an hour," said +Castleman. "My daughter and my niece will be there. Since you are to +travel rapidly I advise a small retinue. Your squires have proved +themselves worthy men, and I feel sure you will be able to protect +your charges." + +"We'll not boast of what we shall do, good Castleman," said Max, "but +we'll do our best." + +"If you reach Peronne after the duke arrives," said Castleman, "I advise +you not to enter the gates of the city, but to leave Burgundy at once +and with all the speed you can make. If you reach Peronne before the +duke, I advise you not to tarry; but if you determine to remain, you +will go to The Mitre--a quiet inn kept by my good friend Marcus Grote. I +strongly advise you not to remain at Peronne; but if you do not see fit +to follow my advice, I hope you will remain close at The Mitre until my +return, which, I trust, will be within three weeks. Danger will attend +you if you do not follow my suggestion. In any case, Sir Max, I hope you +will not visit my house. My words may seem ungracious, but they are for +your good and mine. When I return to Peronne, I shall be happy if you +will honor my poor house; but until my return, untold trouble to many +persons may follow your disregard of what I say." + +Castleman then departed, and we immediately arranged for the journey. + +Max and I, with our squires, were waiting at the Deutsches Thor Gate +when Castleman arrived with Twonette, Yolanda, and a guide. I knocked at +the door of the lodge to rouse the warder, who, of course, was asleep, +and that alert guardian of a drowsy city came grumbling to the wicket. + +"What in the devil's name do you want at this time of night?" he +growled. "The gates won't open till dawn." + +"Yes, they will," replied Castleman. "I have the burgomaster's order." + +"I open the gates only on an order from the governor of the citadel," +said the warder. + +"I have not that, my good friend," responded Castleman, "but I have a +hundred silver marks in my purse." + +"Let me see the burgomaster's order," said the worthy gatekeeper. "I am +always glad to be accommodating." + +Castleman handed over the order and the purse, and the warder pretended +to read the paper in the dark. + +"I'll open the gate to accommodate you and to please the burgomaster," +he said. + +The gates screeched upon their hinges, and every link in the portcullis +chain groaned as if it wished to alarm the city. When the portcullis was +a-block, Max, myself, and the squires mounted our horses. Yolanda leaned +down from her saddle and, placing her arms about Castleman's neck, +kissed him. Twonette followed her example; then our small cavalcade +passed out through the gate, and we entered on our long, hard race with +the Duke of Burgundy. + +At dawn Yolanda called me to her side. + +"Our guide will conduct us to Cinq Voies on the Somme, eight leagues +this side of Peronne," she said. "There we shall dismiss him. From Cinq +Voies the road is straight to Peronne down the river. Shall we put our +horses to the gallop?" + +To her last suggestion I objected:-- + +"We have no relays. These horses must carry us to Peronne. In Styria we +have an adage, 'If you would gallop on a long journey, walk +your horse.'" + +"In Styria!" exclaimed Yolanda, laughing. "You told me you were from +Italy." + +"So I am," I replied. + +"Now you say _we_ have an adage in Styria," she returned, amused at my +discomfiture. "I hope you have not been wandering from the path of truth +in your long journey, Sir Karl." + +"No farther than yourself, Fräulein," I answered. + +A frown came instantly to her face and, after a moment's hesitation, she +retorted:-- + +"Ah, but I am a woman; I am privileged to wander a little way from the +narrow road. A man may protect himself with his sword and battle-axe, +and need never stray. A woman's defence lies in her wit and her tongue." +The frown deepened, and she turned sharply upon me: "But in what +respect, pray, have I wandered? I have not spoken a word to you which +has not been the exact truth. If I have left anything untold, it is +because I do not wish to tell it, in which case, of course, you would +not wish to pry." + +Her audacity amused me, and though I knew I ought to hold my tongue, I +could not resist saying:-- + +"I have asked no questions, Fräulein." + +Yolanda cast a surprised glance toward me and then broke into a merry +laugh. + +"That is to say _I_ have asked too many questions. Good for you, Sir +Karl! I have had the worst of this encounter. I will ask no more +questions nor give you further cause to wander from the truth. Your +memory, Sir Karl, is poor. 'To be a good liar, one must have a good +memory,' as King Louis of France has said." + +"Ask all the questions you wish, Fräulein," I responded penitently, "I +will answer with the truth." + +"There is no need to ask questions," she said, giving me a side glance +full of sauciness. "I already know all that I wish to know." + +I could not resist saying:-- + +"Perhaps, Fräulein, I know quite as much about you as you know about +us." + +"There is little to know about me that is really worth while, but what +little there is I sincerely hope you do not know," she replied half +angrily. "If you do know anything which I have left untold, or if, in +your vanity, you think you have discovered some great mystery concerning +me, I advise you to keep your supposed knowledge to yourself. The day +that I am made sure you know too much, our friendship ceases, and that, +Sir Karl, would give me pain. I hope it would pain you." + +I at once began an orderly though hasty retreat. + +"I do not know to what you refer concerning yourself," I explained. "All +I know about you is that you are Fräulein Castleman, and a very charming +person, whom I would have for my friend, if that be possible. I spoke +but jestingly. I have often doubted that you are a burgher maiden, but +there my knowledge ceases; and I am willing that it should so remain +till you see fit to enlighten me." + +"There is little knowledge in doubt," said Yolanda, with a nervous +laugh, "though a doubt usually precedes wisdom." + +Although I was looking at my horse's ears, I could see the light of her +eyes as she watched me inquiringly. After a long pause she stroked her +horse's mane with her whip, and said, musingly:-- + +"A man should seek to know only the languages, philosophy, and other +useful learning. Useless knowledge has cost many a man his head." + +After a long pause she turned to me with a broad smile:-- + +"But it is usually not dangerous so long as it does not lodge in the +tongue." + +I replied quickly:-- + +"Fräulein, when my tongue makes a fool of me, I pray God I may lose it." + +"God save all fools by a like fate," she answered. + +I was sure she did not mean to include me in the category of fools. + +This conversation revealed to me two facts: first, I learned that by +some means--possibly the ring Max wore--this girl, Yolanda, whoever she +might be, knew Max. Second, I discovered in myself a dangerous +propensity to talk, and of all sure roads to ruin the tongue is the +surest. A man's vanity prompts him to be witty; hatred prompts him to +cut his enemy, and his love of truth often prompts him to speak it at +the wrong time. These three motives combined often prompt him to lose +his head. Max and I were on dangerous ground, and one untimely error +might make it perilous. + +We travelled rapidly, and near midnight of the second day out of Metz we +reached Cinq Voies on the Somme. The village, consisting of a large inn, +a church, a priest's house, and a farrier's shop, is situate at the +meeting of five roads, from which the hamlet takes its name. One road +led down from Cambrai and Ghent in the north, one from Liege in the +northeast, and the one over which we had travelled from Metz came out of +the southeast. Two roads led westward to Peronne. One followed the right +bank of the Somme, passed Peronne, and thence on to Amiens. Another road +followed the left bank of the Somme, touched Peronne, and thence ran +southwesterly to Paris. + +When we reached Cinq Voies on the Somme--within eight leagues of +Peronne--we halted for supper, very tired and weary. While supper was +preparing, we held a consultation, and determined to rest there for the +night. I advised against this course, believing that the duke would pass +that way on his road from Ghent to Peronne. But Yolanda's sweet face +was pinched by weariness, and Twonette was sound asleep. Our horses, I +feared, might fail, and leave us hopelessly in the lurch. Therefore, I +gave the command to offsaddle, and we halted at the inn for the night. + +Our host told me his house was full of guests who had arrived two hours +before, but he found a room for Yolanda and Twonette, and told Max and +me to sleep, if we could, on the tap-room floor. After an hour on the +hard boards I went to the stable, and, rousing a groom, gave him a +silver crown for the privilege of sleeping on a wisp of hay. I fell +asleep at once and must have slept like the dead, for the dawn was +breaking when one of our squires wakened me. I could not believe that I +had been sleeping five minutes, but the dim morning light startled me, +and I ordered the horses saddled. + +I hastened to the inn and wakened Max, to whose well-covered bones a +board was as soft as a feather bed. While I was speaking to him, I heard +a noise in an adjoining room and saw the door opening. Max and I barely +escaped through an open arch when a commanding figure clad in light +armor entered the tap-room. + +I had not seen Charles of Burgundy since he was a boy--he was then Count +of Charolois--but I at once knew with terrifying certainty that I looked +on the most dreaded man in Europe. He had changed greatly since I last +had seen him. He was then beardless; now he wore a beard that reached +almost to his belt, and I should not have recognized in him the young +Count of Charolois. There was, however, no doubt in my mind concerning +his identity. + +Even had I failed to see the angry scar on his neck, of which I had +often heard, or had I failed to note the lack of upper teeth (a fact +known to all Europe) which gave his face an expression of savagery, I +should have recognized him by his mien. There was not another man like +him in all the world, and I trust there never will be. His face wore an +expression of ferocity that was almost brutal. The passions of anger, +arrogance, and hatred were marked on every feature; but over all there +was the stamp of an almost superhuman strength, the impress of an iron +will, the expression of an exhaustless energy, and the majesty of a +satanic bravery. If Yolanda was the daughter of this terrible man, and +if he should discover that I had her hidden in the room above his head, +I should never eat another breakfast. Truly, Max and I were on +perilous ground. + +Max remained in concealment, and I climbed the stairs, two steps at a +time, to Yolanda's room. I gently knocked, and received a +sleepy response. + +"Rise at once," I whispered. "I must speak to you instantly." + +"Enter--we are already dressed," answered Yolanda. + +When I entered she had risen from the bed and was rubbing her eyes. + +"We were so tired we slept in our garments. Don't we show it?" said +Yolanda. + +Her hands were above her head, vainly endeavoring to arrange her hair, +which had fallen in a great tumble of dark curls over her shoulder. Rest +had flushed her cheeks, and her lips and her eyes were moist with the +dew of sleep. Though my business was urgent I could not resist +exclaiming:-- + +"Ah, Fräulein, you surely are beautiful." + +"I thank you, Sir Karl," she answered, flashing a smile upon me. "You +may kiss my hand." + +She offered me her hand and asked:-- + +"But what is your news?" + +While she spoke I heard voices and the tramping of hoofs beneath the +window in front of the inn, and turned to look. I quickly drew away from +the window and beckoned Yolanda:-- + +"Come here, Fräulein." + +She came to my side, and as she looked out upon the road two men emerged +from the inn door. One of them was the Duke of Burgundy. She clutched my +arm and whispered excitedly:-- + +"Watch them, Sir Karl! Note the road they take! If they go by the right, +we shall take the left. We _must_ reach Peronne Castle before the duke. +Death itself hangs upon the issue, Sir Karl." + +I watched till the duke and all his people had left the inn; then I +followed till I saw them take the road leading down the right bank of +the Somme. When I returned to the inn, I paid the score, and gave each +member of our little party a _boule_ of bread to be eaten as we rode; +and within five minutes after the duke's departure we were fording the +Somme to take the left bank for Peronne. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A RACE WITH THE DUKE + +Neither road clung to the river in all its windings, but at too frequent +intervals both touched the stream at the same points. At places the +roads hugged the Somme, separated only by its width--perhaps two hundred +yards. These would be our danger points. I did not know them, and +Yolanda's knowledge of the road was imperfect. + +Soon after leaving Cinq Voies, the road on the right bank--the one taken +by the duke--gained a mile over the road on the left by cutting across a +great bend in the river around which we had to travel. We therefore lost +the duke's cavalcade at the outset. + +Hoping to pass the duke before the roads came again within sight of each +other, we urged our horses to full speed. But the duke also was +travelling rapidly, as we learned when we reached the first point of +contact. Should the duke's men see us they would certainly hail. Four +men in armor and two ladies, travelling the road to Peronne would not be +allowed to pass unchallenged. Fortunately, just before the danger point, +a clump of trees and underbushes grew between our road and the river. +Max, who was riding a hundred yards in advance, suddenly stopped and +held up his hand warningly. We halted immediately, and Max turned back +to us, guiding his horse to the roadside to avoid raising a dust-cloud. + +We listened in silence, and I beckoned the squires to our sides. The men +of our little party all dismounted and stood by their horses' heads, +ready to strike the noses of the animals should they offer to salute the +horses across the river with a neigh. Had not our danger been so great +it would have been amusing to see each man, with uplifted hand, watching +the eyes of his horse as intently as though they were the eyes of his +lady-love. Yolanda laughed despite the danger, but covered her mouth +with her hand when I frowned warningly. + +Presently we heard the tramping of horses and the voices of men across +the river, and soon the duke approached at a canter. I could not help +speculating on the consequences should His Grace know that Yolanda was +watching him--if Yolanda were his daughter. + +That "if" would surely be the death of me. + +When the duke had passed a little way down the road, I peered through +the bushes and saw the dust-cloud ahead of us. + +We could not venture from our hiding-place till the duke was out of +sight, and by the delay we lost a good half-league in our race. I asked +Yolanda if she knew how far it was to the next point of contact, She did +not know, but I learned from a peasant that the river made a great bend, +and that our road gained nearly a league over the other before each +again touched the river. This was our great chance. + +We put our horses to their best; and when we again reached the river, +Max, who was riding in advance, announced that the other cavalcade was +not in sight. If it had passed, our race was lost; if it had not, we +felt that we could easily ride into Peronne ahead of Duke Charles. At +that point the roads followed the river within a stone's throw of each +other for a great distance. If the duke had not reached this point, our +need for haste was greater than ever before. We must be beyond the open +stretch before the other cavalcade should come up to it. + +Our poor blown horses were loath to run, but we urged them to it. When +we had covered half this open road, we took to the sod at the roadside +to avoid raising a telltale cloud of dust. After a hard gallop we +reached a forest where the road again left the river. Here we halted to +breathe our horses and to watch the road on the right bank. After ten +minutes we became uneasy and began to fear that the duke's cavalcade had +passed us, but Max insisted that our fears were groundless. + +"Their dust could not have settled so quickly," he declared. "We should +see at least traces of it. They cannot have passed." + +"One cannot help believing," said Yolanda, musingly, "that there are men +who command the elements. One would almost say they make the rain to +fall or to cease, the wind to rise or to drop, to suit their purposes, +and the dust to lie quietly beneath their horses' feet. I pray God we +may soon know, else I shall surely die of suspense." + +"There are also some persons, Fräulein, whom God answers quickly," said +Max, looking under his hand down the road. "Do you see yonder +dust-cloud? It is a good two miles back of us." + +"It may not be the duke," said Yolanda, doubtingly. + +"Let us trust it is," said Max, "and lose no more time here." + +We watered our horses at a small brook and entered the forest, feeling +that our race was won. The exultation of victory was upon Yolanda, and +her buoyant spirits mounted to the skies. All fear and gloom had left +her. She laughed and sang, and the sunshine of her humor filled all our +hearts with delight. Since leaving Metz we had travelled so rapidly, and +a cloud of uncertainty and fear was so constantly over us, that Yolanda +had spoken little to Max or to any one; but now that victory was in her +grasp, she intended to waste not one moment more in troubled thoughts +and painful fears. + +"Ride beside me, Sir Max," she cried, beckoning him as if she were a +great princess and he her page. Max spurred his horse to her side, and +after a moment Twonette fell back with me. I overheard all that was said +between Max and Yolanda, and though I do not pretend to quote +accurately, I will give you the substance of their conversation. + +"I cannot help laughing," she said, suiting the action to the word, +"over our tragic parting at Metz. We were separated a whole day!" + +"But we supposed it was to be for a very long time," said Max. "We--that +is, I--feared I should never see you again. As it was, the day seemed +long to me, Fräulein." + +The girl laughed joyously. She had, you remember, offered Max to the +Virgin at Strasburg. Perhaps part of her joy was because the Queen of +Heaven had returned him to her. + +"I should like to try a separation for many days," she said. + +"You will soon have the opportunity," returned Max, with wounded vanity. +She paid no heed to his remark, and continued:-- + +"The second day would not seem so long to you. The third would be still +shorter, and at the end of a fortnight--nay, at the end of a week--you +would wonder how you were ever brought to fix your eyes on a poor +burgher girl, even for a passing moment--you, a great lord. You see, I +have no vast estates to hold you constant, such as those possessed by +the forward lady who sent you the letter and the ring. Do you know, Sir +Max, if I were very fond of you,--if I were your sweetheart,--I should +be jealous of this brazen lady, very jealous." + +There was a glint in her eyes that might have caused one to believe the +jealousy already existed. + +"Your raillery ill becomes you," said Max, half sullenly. "If I forget +my rank and hold it of small account for your sake, you should not make +a jest of it." + +You see, he had not entirely washed out of himself the ceremonious +starch of Hapsburg. + +She glanced quickly toward him and answered poutingly:-- + +"If you don't like my jesting, Sir Max, you may leave me to ride alone." + +"You asked me to ride with you," returned Max, "but if you have changed +your mind and insist on being ill-tempered, I will--" + +She reached out her hand, and, grasping his bridle-reins, threw them +over the pommel of her saddle. + +"Now let me see what you will do, my great Lord Somebody," she cried +defiantly. "You shall not only ride beside me, but you shall also +listen good-humoredly to my jests when I am pleased to make them, and +bear with my ill-humor when I am pleased to be ill-humored." + +Max left the bridle-reins in her hand, but did not smile. She was not to +be driven from her mood. + +"You are such a serious person, Sir Max, that you must, at times, feel +yourself a great weight--almost burdensome--to carry about." She +laughed, though his resentment had piqued her, and there was a dash of +anger in her words. "Ponderous persons are often ridiculous and are apt +to tire themselves with their own weight--no, Sir Max, you can't get +away. I have your reins." + +"I can dismount," returned Max, "and leave you my horse to lead." + +He turned to leave his saddle, but she caught his arm, rode close to his +side, and, slipping her hand down his sleeve, clasped his hand--if a +hand so small as hers can be said to clasp one so large as his. + +A beautiful woman is born with a latent consciousness of her power over +the subjugated sex. Max found in the soft touch of the girl's hand a +wonderful antidote to her sharp words. She continued to hold his hand as +compensation while she said, laughing nervously:-- + +"Sir Max, you are still young. A friend would advise you: Never lose a +chance to laugh, even though it be at your own expense. There will +always be opportunity to grieve and be gloomy. I tell you frankly, Sir +Max, I almost wept when I bade you good-by at Metz. Now, I am telling +you my state secret and am giving you more than you have asked." + +Max joyfully interrupted her:-- + +"I can forgive you all your raillery, Fräulein, for that admission." + +"Yes, I confess it is a very important admission," she said, in +half-comic seriousness, "but you see, I really did weep when I parted +from my great mastiff, Caesar, at Peronne." + +The saucy turn was made so quickly that its humor took Max unawares, and +he laughed. + +"There, there! Sir Max, there is hope for you," she cried exultantly. +Then she continued, stealing a side glance at him, "I loved Caesar very, +very much." + +There was a satisfying implication in her laughing words, owing to the +fact that she had almost wept at Metz. Max was eager to take advantage +of the opportunity her words gave him, for his caution was rapidly +oozing away; but he had placed a seal on his lips, and they were +shut--at least, for the time. His silence needed no explanation to +Yolanda, and she continued laughingly:-- + +"Yes, I almost wept. Perhaps I did weep. I will not say truly that I did +not, Sir Max, but within an hour I was laughing at my foolish self and +feared that you, too, would be laughing at me. I wondered if in all the +world there was another burgher maiden so great a fool as to lift her +eyes to a mighty lord, or to think that he could lower his eyes to her +with true intent." + +At that point in the conversation I felt that the seal upon Max's lips +would not stand another attack. It was sure to melt; so I rode to +Yolanda's side and interrupted the interesting colloquy. + +Max supposed the girl to be of the burgher class, and if by any chance +she were Mary of Burgundy, he might ruin his future, should he become +too insistent upon his rank in explaining the reasons why he could not +follow the path of his inclinations. He might make himself ridiculous; +and that mistake will ruin a man with any woman, especially if she be +young and much inclined to laugh. + +During the foregoing conversation we had been travelling at a six-mile +canter. The day was warm, and I suggested breathing the horses in the +shade of the forest. + +"I believe we are approaching the river," I said, "and we should rest +the horses before taking a dash over the open road." + +Yolanda assented--in a manner she seemed to have taken command of the +party--and we halted under the trees. Max rode forward to a point from +which he could view the other road, and waved his hand to let us know +that the duke was not in sight. We immediately put spurs to our horses +and covered the stretch of open road by the river in a short, brisk +gallop. On leaving the road again we saw no indication of the duke's +cavalcade. Evidently the race was ours by an easy canter. From that +point to within two miles of Peronne, Yolanda's song was as joyous as +that of a wooing bird. The sun beat down upon us, and blinding clouds of +dust rose from every plunge of our horses' hoofs; but Yolanda's song +transformed our hot, wearisome journey into a triumphant march. +Happiness seemed to radiate from her and to furnish joy for all. + +For a stretch of two miles up river from Peronne the roads approached +each other, but, owing to an intervening marsh, they were fully half a +mile apart. We, or at least Yolanda, had apparently forgotten the duke +when, near the hour of eight in the morning, we approached the marsh; +but when we entered the open country we saw, to our consternation, the +duke's cavalcade within one mile of Peronne. Where they had passed us we +did not know, nor did we stop to consider. They were five minutes ahead, +and if we could not enter Peronne in advance of them, it were no worse +had they been a day before us. + +Yolanda cast one frightened glance toward the duke's party, and struck +her horse a blow with her whip that sent it bounding forward at a +furious gallop. We reached the river and were crossing as the duke +entered Cambrai Gate--the north entrance to the city. We would enter by +the gate on the south known as the Somme Gate; Cambrai Gate was nearer +the castle. + +The duke, I supposed, would go directly to the castle; where Yolanda +would go I could not guess. From outside the Somme Gate we saw the duke +enter Cambrai, but after we had passed under the arch we could not see +him for a time because of intervening houses. The huge, grim pile of +stone known as Peronne Castle loomed ominously on the opposite side of +the small town. Yolanda veiled herself before passing under the gate and +hastened, though without conspicuous speed, toward the castle. + +I afterward learned that there was but one entrance to the castle from +the town. It was known as the Postern, though it had a portcullis and a +drawbridge spanning the moat. To the Postern the duke took his way, as +we could see at intervals by looking down cross streets. Yolanda did not +follow him. She held her course down a narrow street flanked by +overhanging eaves. Looking down this street, I could see that it +terminated abruptly at the castle wall, which rose dark and unbroken +sixty feet above the ground. + +At the end of this street a stone footbridge spanned the moat, leading +to a strip of ground perhaps one hundred yards broad and two hundred +long that lay between the moat and the castle wall. At either end of +this strip the moat again turned to the castle. The Cologne River joined +the moat at the north end of this tract of ground and flowed on by the +castle wall to the Somme. In a grove of trees stood a large two-story +house of time-darkened stone, built against the castle wall. One could +not leave the strip of ground save by the stone footbridge, unless by +swimming the moat or scaling the walls. + +When we reached the footbridge, Yolanda and Twonette, without a word of +farewell, urged their horses across, and, springing from their saddles, +hurriedly entered the house. Max and I turned our horses' heads, and, as +we were leaving the footbridge, saw the duke's cavalcade enter the +Postern, which was perhaps three hundred yards back and north of the +strip on which stood the House under the Wall. + +To reach the Postern in the castle wall from the footbridge one must go +well up into the town and cross the great bridge that spans the Cologne; +then back along the north bank of the river by the street that leads to +the Postern. From the House under the Wall to the Postern, by way of the +Cologne bridge, is a half-hour's walk, though in a direct line, as the +crow flies, it may be less than three hundred yards. Neither Max nor I +knew whether our journey had been a success or a failure. + +We rode leisurely back to the centre of the town, and asked a carter to +direct us to Marcus Grote's inn, The Mitre. We soon found it, and gave +mine host the letter that we bore from Castleman. Although the hour of +nine in the morning had not yet struck, Max and I eagerly sought our +beds, and did not rise till late in the afternoon. The next morning we +dismissed our squires, fearing they might talk. We paid the men, gave +them each a horse, and saw them well on their road back to Switzerland. +They were Swiss lads, and could not take themselves out of Burgundy fast +enough to keep pace with their desires. + +Notwithstanding Castleman's admonition, Max determined to remain in +Peronne; not for the sake of Mary the princess, but for the smile of +Yolanda the burgher girl. I well knew that opposition would avail +nothing, and was quite willing to be led by the unseen hand of fate. + +The evening of the second day after our arrival I walked out at dusk and +by accident met my friend, the Sieur d'Hymbercourt. He it was to whom my +letters concerning Max had been written, and who had been responsible +for the offer of Mary's hand. He recognized me before I could avoid him, +so I offered my hand and he gave me kindly welcome. + +"By what good fortune are you here, Sir Karl?" he asked. + +"I cannot tell," I answered, "whether it be good or evil fortune that +brings me. I deem it right to tell you that I am here with my young +pupil, the Count of Hapsburg." + +Hymbercourt whistled his astonishment. + +"We are out to see a little of the world, and I need not tell you how +important it is that we remain unknown while in Burgundy. I bear my own +name; the young count has assumed the name of his mother's family and +wishes to be known as Sir Maximilian du Guelph." + +"I shall not mention your presence even to my wife," he replied. "I +advise you not to remain in Burgundy. The duke takes it for granted that +Styria will aid the Swiss, or at least will sympathize with them in this +brewing war, and I should fear for your safety were he to discover you." + +"I understand the duke recently arrived in Peronne?" I asked. + +"Yes," answered Hymbercourt, "we all came yesterday morning." + +"How is the fair princess? Did she come with you?" I asked, fearing to +hear his reply. + +"She is well, and more beautiful than ever before," he answered. "She +did not come with us from Ghent; she has been here at the castle with +her stepmother, the Duchess Margaret. They have lived here during the +last two or three years. The princess met her father just inside the +Postern, lovely and fresh as a dew-dipped rose." + +"She met her father just inside the Postern?" I asked, slowly dropping +my words in astonishment. "She was in the castle yard when her father +entered,--and at the Postern?" + +"Yes, she took his hand and sprang to a seat behind him," answered +Hymbercourt. + +"She met him inside the Postern, say you?" I repeated musingly. + +"What is there amazing about so small an act?" asked Hymbercourt. "Is it +not natural that she should greet her father whom she has not seen for +a year?" + +"Indeed, yes," I replied stumblingly, "but the weather is very hot, +and--and I was thinking how much I should have enjoyed witnessing the +meeting. She doubtless was dressed in gala attire for so rare an +occasion?" I asked, wishing to talk upon the subject that touched me so +nearly. Yolanda was in short skirts, stained and travel-worn, when +she left us. + +"Indeed she was," answered Hymbercourt. "I can easily describe her +dress. She loves woman's finery, and I must confess that I too love it. +She wore a hawking costume; a cap of crimson--I think it was +velvet--with little knots on it and gems scattered here and there. A +heron's plume clasped with a diamond brooch adorned the cap. Her hair +hung over her shoulders. It is very dark and falls in a great bush of +fluffy curls. When her headgear is off, her hair looks like a black +corona. She is wonderfully beautiful, wonderfully beautiful. Her gown +was of red stuff. Perhaps it was of velvet like the cap. It was hitched +up with a cord and girdle, with tassels of gold lace and--and--Sir Karl, +you are not listening." + +"I am listening," I replied. "I am greatly interested. Her gown--she +wore a gown--she wore a gown--" + +"Yes, of course she wore a gown," laughingly retorted Hymbercourt. "Your +lagging attention is what I deserve, Sir Karl, for trying in my lame +fashion to describe a woman's gear to a man who is half priest, half +warrior. I do not wonder that you did not follow me." + +I had heard him, but there was another question dinning in my ears so +loudly that it drowned all other sounds--"Who is Yolanda?" + +Yolanda was entering the door of the House under the Wall less than five +minutes before I saw the duke pass through the Postern. Marcus Grote had +told me there were but two openings to the castle, the Postern and the +great gate on the other side of the castle by the donjon keep. To reach +the great gate one must pass out by Cambrai or the Somme Gate and go +around the city walls--an hour's journey. + +With an air of carelessness I asked Hymbercourt concerning the various +entrances to the castle. He confirmed what Grote had said. Considering +all the facts, I was forced to this conclusion: If the Princess Mary had +met the duke at the Postern, Yolanda was not the Princess Mary. + +The next day I reconnoitred the premises, and again reached the +conclusion that Yolanda could not have met the duke inside the Postern +unless she were a witch with wings that could fly thither over the +castle walls; ergo, she was not the princess. With equal certainty she +was not a burgher girl. + +In seeking an identity that would fit her I groped among many absurd +propositions. Yolanda might be the duke's ward, or she might be his +daughter, though not bearing his name. My brain was in a whirl. If she +were the princess, I wished to remain in Peronne to pursue the small +advantage Max had assuredly gained in winning her favor. The French +marriage might miscarry. But if she were not the princess, I could not +get my Prince Max away from her dangerous neighborhood too quickly. I +could not, of course, say to Max, "You shall remain in Peronne," or "You +shall leave Peronne at once;" but my influence over him was great, and +he trusted my fidelity, my love, and my ability to advise him rightly. I +had always given my advice carefully, but, above all, I had given him +the only pleasurable moments he had ever known. That, by the way, may +have been the greatest good I could have offered him. + +When Max was a child, the pleasure of his amusements was smothered by +officialism. My old Lord Aurbach, though gouty and stiff of joint, was +eager to "run" his balls or his arrows, and old Sir Giles Butch could be +caught so easily at tag or blind man's buff that there was no sport for +Max in doing it. Everything the boy did was done by the heir of Styria, +except on rare occasions when he and I stole away from the castle. Then +we were boys together, and then it was I earned his love and confidence. +At such times we used to leave the Hapsburg ancestry to care for itself +and dumped Hapsburg dignity into the moat. But the crowning good I had +brought to him was this journey into the world. The boy loathed the +clinging dignities that made of him, at home, a royal automaton, tricked +out in tarnished gold lace, faded velvets, and pompous airs. He often +spoke of the pleasures I had given him. One evening at Grote's inn I +answered:-- + +"Nonsense, Max, nonsense," though I was so pleased with his gratitude I +could have wept. + +"It is not nonsense. You have saved me from becoming a mummy. I see it +all, Karl, and shudder to think of the life that might have been mine. I +take no pleasure in seeing gouty old dependents bowing, kneeling, and +smirking before me. Of course, these things are my prerogative, and a +man born to them may not forego what is due to his birth even though it +irks him. But such an existence--I will not call it living--saps the +juice of life. Even dear old mother is compelled to suppress her love +for me. Often she has pressed me to her breast only to thrust me away at +the approach of footsteps. By the way, Karl," continued Max, while +preparing for bed, "Yolanda one day at Basel jestingly called me +'Little Max.'" + +"The devil she did," I exclaimed, unable to restrain my words. + +"Yes," answered Max, "and when in surprise I told her that it was my +mother's love-name for me, she laughed saucily, 'Yes, I know it is.'" + +"The dev-- Max, you can't mean what you say?" I cried, in an ecstasy of +delight over the news he was telling me. + +"Indeed I do," he returned. "I told her I loved the name as a sweet +reminder of my mother." + +"What did she say?" I asked. + +"She seemed pleased and flashed her eyes on me--you know the way she +has--and said: 'I, too, like the name. It fits you so well--by +contraries.' Where could she have learned it, and how could she have +known it was my mother's love-name for me?" + +"I cannot tell," I answered. + +So! here was a small fact suddenly grown big, since, despite all +evidence to the contrary, it brought me back to my old belief that this +fair, laughing Yolanda was none other than the great Princess of +Burgundy. I was sure that she had gained all her information concerning +Max from my letters to Hymbercourt. + +It racks a man's brain to play shuttlecock with it in that fashion. +While I lay in bed trying to sleep, I thought of the meeting between the +duke and the princess at the Postern, and back again flew my mind to the +conviction that Yolanda was not, and could not possibly be, the Princess +Mary. For days I had been able to think on no other subject. One moment +she was Yolanda; the next she was the princess; and the next I did not +know who she was. Surely the riddle would drive me mad. The fate of +nations--but, infinitely more important to me, the fate of Max--depended +upon its solution. + +Castleman had told us to remain at the inn until his return, and had +exacted from Max, as you will remember, a promise not to visit the House +under the Wall, which we had learned was the home of our burgher friend. +We therefore spent our days and evenings in Grote's garden near the +banks of the river Cologne. + +One afternoon, while we were sitting at a table sipping wine under the +shade of a tree near the river bank, Max said:-- + +"I have enjoyed every day of our journey, Karl. I have learned the great +lesson of life, and am now ready to go back to Styria and take up my +burden. We must see our friends and say farewell to them. Then--" + +"You forget the object of our journey to Burgundy," I answered. + +"No, I have not forgotten it," he replied. "I had abandoned it even +before I heard of the impending French marriage." + +"Not with my consent, Max," I answered almost fiercely. "The princess is +not yet married, and no one can foresee the outcome of these present +complications into which the duke is plunging. We could not have reached +Burgundy at a more auspicious time. God's hand seems to have been in our +venture. If evil befall the duke, there will be an open gate for you, +Max,--a gate opened by fate." + +I could not, by my utmost effort, force myself entirely away from the +belief that Yolanda was the princess, and I was near to telling Max of +my suspicions; but doubt came before my words, and I remained silent. +Before many days I was glad of my caution. + +"I knew," said Max, "that I would pain you, Karl, by this determination +to return to Styria without so much as an effort to do--to do what we-- +what you wished; but it must be as I say. I must leave Burgundy and go +back to my strait-jacket. I have lived my life, Karl, I have had my +portion of sweet joy and sweeter pain. The pain will give me joy as long +as I live. Now for my duty to my father, my house, and my ancestors." + +"But your duty to all these lies here in Peronne," I answered, almost +stifled by the stupendous import of the moment. + +"I suppose you are right," sighed Max, speaking gently, though with +decision. "But that duty I'll shirk, and try to make amends in other +ways. I shall never marry. That, Karl, you may depend upon. Styria may +go at my death to Albert of Austria, or to his issue." + +"No, no! Max," I cried. He ignored my interruption. + +"Along with the countless duties that fall to the lot of a prince are a +few that one owes to himself as a man. There are some sacrifices a man +has no right to inflict upon himself, even for the sake of his family, +his ancestors, or his state." He paused for the space of a minute, and, +dropping his words slowly, continued in a low voice vibrant with +emotion: "There is but one woman, Karl, whom I may marry with God's +pleasure. Her, I may not even think upon; she is as far from me as if +she were dead. I must sacrifice her for the sake of the obligations and +conditions into which I was born; but--" here he hesitated, rose slowly +to his feet, and lifted his hands above his head, "but I swear before +the good God, who, in His wisdom, inflicted the curse of my birth upon +me, that I will marry no other woman than this, let the result be +what it may." + +He sank back into the chair and fell forward on the table, burying his +face in his arms. His heart for the moment was stronger than his +resolution. + +"That question is settled," thought I. No power save that of the Pope +could absolve the boy from his oath, and I knew that the power of ten +score of popes could not move him from its complete fulfilment. The oath +of Maximilian of Hapsburg, whose heart had never coined a lie, was as +everlasting as the rocks of his native land and, like Styria's mountain +peaks, pierced the dome of heaven. + +If Yolanda were not the princess, our journeying to Burgundy had been in +vain, and our sojourn in Peronne was useless and perilous. It could not +be brought to a close too quickly. But (the question mark seems at times +to be the greatest part of life) if Yolanda were Mary of Burgundy, Max +had, beyond doubt, already won the lady's favor, unless she were a +wanton snare for every man's feet. That hypothesis I did not entertain +for a moment. I knew little of womankind, but my limited knowledge told +me that Yolanda was true. Her heart was full of laughter,--a rare, rich +heritage,--and she was little inclined to look on the serious side of +life if she could avoid it; but beneath all there was a real Yolanda, +with a great, tender heart and a shrewd, helpful brain. She was somewhat +of a coquette, but coquetry salts a woman and gives her relish. It had +been a grievous waste on the part of Providence to give to any girl such +eyes as Yolanda's and to withhold from her a modicum of coquetry with +which to use them. Taken all in all, Yolanda, whoever she was, would +grace any station in life. But if she were not the princess, I would be +willing to give my life--nay, more, I would almost be willing to take +hers--rather than see her marry Maximilian of Hapsburg. Happiness could +not come from such a union. + +Should Max marry a burgher girl, his father and mother would never look +upon his face again. It would alienate his subjects, humble his house, +and bring him to the level of the meanest noble on the Danube. To all +these dire consequences Max was quite as wide awake as I. He had no +intention of bringing them upon his house, though for himself he would +have welcomed them. So I felt little uneasiness; but when a great love +lays hold upon a great heart, no man may know the outcome. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ON THE MOAT BRIDGE + +Awaiting Castleman's return, we remained housed up at The Mitre, seldom +going farther abroad than Grote's garden save in the early morning or +after dark. But despite our caution trouble befell us, as our burgher +friend had predicted. + +Within a week Max began to go out after dark without asking me to +accompany him. When he came into our room late one evening, I asked +carelessly where he had been. I knew where he had been going, and had +burned to speak, but the boy was twenty-two. Within the last few months +he had grown out of my tutelage, and his native strength of character +had taught me to respect him and in a certain way to fear him. From the +promptness of his reply I thought that he had wished me to ask +concerning his outgoing and incoming. + +"I have been to the bridge over the moat, near Castleman's House under +the Wall," he answered. + +"What did you there?" I asked, seeing his willingness to be questioned. + +"I stood there--I--I--" He paused, laughed, and stammered on. "I looked +at the castle and at the moat, like a silly fool, and--and--" + +"Castleman's house?" I suggested, helping him out. + +"Y-e-s," he answered hesitatingly, "I could not help seeing it. It is +close by the bridge--not twenty paces distant." + +"Did you see any one else--except the house?" I asked. + +"No," he returned promptly. "I did not want to see any one else. If I +had I should have entered the house." + +"Why, then, did you go to the bridge?" I queried. + +"I cannot answer that question even to myself," he replied. "I--I--there +is a constant hungering for her, Karl, that I cannot overcome; it seems +as if I am compelled to go to the bridge, though I know I should not. It +is very foolish in me, I am sure, but--" + +"I heartily agree with you," I answered. "It is not only foolish, it is +rash; and it may bring you great trouble." + +I did not deem it necessary to tell him that he was following in the +footsteps of his race. I left him to suppose that he was the only fool +of the sort that had ever lived. The thought would abate his vanity. + +"But I _must_ go to the bridge," he continued, finishing the sentence I +had interrupted, "and I do not see how there can be evil in it." + +"No, Max, it Is not wrong in itself," I said reprovingly; "but +Castleman, evidently for good reasons, asked you to stay away from his +house, and counselled us to remain close at the inn. It has also this +evil in it for you, aside from the danger: it will make your duty harder +to perform. When a man longs for what he may not have, he should not +think upon it, much less act on it. Our desires, like covetousness and +jealousy, feed upon themselves. We may, if we but knew it, augment or +abate them at will." + +"I shall always think on--on my love for Yolanda," he replied. "I would +not abate it one jot; I would augment it in my heart. But, Karl--you +see, Karl, it is not a question of my own strength to resist. I need no +strength. There is no more reason for you to warn me against this danger +than to admonish a child not to long for a star, fearing he might get +it. The longing may be indulged with impunity; the star and the danger +are out of reach." + +I had nothing to say; Max was stronger and nobler than ever I had +believed. + +Max continued to go to the bridge, and I made no effort to prevent him. +Meddling mars more frequently than it mends, and when the Fates are +leading, a man is a fool to try to direct their course. Whatever was to +be would be. Fate held Max by the hand and was leading him. I almost +feared to move or to speak in his affairs, lest I should make a mistake +and offend these capricious Fates. The right or the wrong of his visits +to the moat depended entirely upon the answer to my riddle, "Who is +Yolanda?" and I dared not put it to the touch. + +On one occasion he returned from the bridge, and without lighting the +lamp, sat on the arm of my chair. The moonlight streaming through the +window illumined his head as with a halo. He tossed the damp curls from +his face, and his eyes were aglow with joy. There was no need to tell me +what had happened, but he told me. + +"Ah, Karl, I've seen the star," he cried triumphantly. He was but a +boy-man, you must remember. + +"I was sure you would see her," I answered. "How did you bring the +meeting about?" + +"I did not bring it about," he answered, laughing softly. "The star came +to the child." + +"All things come to him that waits at the bridge," I replied +sarcastically. He paid no heed to the sarcasm, but continued:-- + +"She happened to be near the bridge when I got there, and she came to +me, Karl,--she came to me like a real star falling out of the darkness." + +That little fact solved once more my great riddle--at least, it solved +it for a time. Yolanda was not Mary of Burgundy. I had little knowledge +of princesses and their ways, but I felt sure they were not in the habit +of lurking in dark places or wandering by sluggish moats in the black +shadow of a grim castle. A princess would not and could not have been +loitering by the bridge near the House under the Wall. Castleman's words +concerning Yolanda's residence under his roof came back and convinced me +that my absurd theory concerning her identity was the dream of a madman. + +"She happened to be near the bridge?" I asked, with significant +emphasis. + +"Perhaps I should not have used the word 'happened,'" returned Max. + +"I thought as much. What did she have to say for herself, Max?" + +"If I were not sure of your devotion, Karl, I should not answer a +question concerning Yolanda put in such a manner," he replied; "but I'll +tell you. When I stepped on the bridge, she came running to me from the +shadow of the trees. Her arms were uplifted, and she moved so swiftly +and with such grace one could almost think she was flying--" + +"Witches fly," I interrupted. My remark checked his flow of enthusiasm. +After a long silence I queried, "Well?" + +Max began again. + +"She gave me her hand and said: 'I knew you would come again, Sir Max. I +saw you from the battlements last night and the night before and the +night before that. I could not, with certainty, recognize you from so +great a distance, but I was sure you would come to the bridge--I do not +know why, but I was sure you would come; so to-night I too came. You +cannot know the trouble I took or the risk I ran in coming. You have not +seen me for many days, yet you remember me and have come five times to +the bridge. I was wrong when I said you would forget the burgher girl +within a fortnight. Sir Max, you are a marvel of constancy.' At that +moment the figures of two men appeared on the castle battlements, +silhouetted against the moon; they seemed of enormous stature, magnified +in the moonlight. One of them was the Duke of Burgundy. I recognized him +by his great beard, of which I have heard you speak. Yolanda caught one +glimpse of the men and ran back to the house without so much as giving +me a word of farewell." + +"What did you say during the brief interview?" I asked. + +"Not one word," he replied. + +"By my soul, you are an ardent lover," I exclaimed. + +"I think she understood me," Max replied, confidently; and doubtless he +was right. + +Once more the riddle was solved. A few more solutions and there would be +a mad Styrian in Burgundy. My reflections were after this fashion: +Princesses, after all, do wander by the moat side and loiter by the +bridge. Princesses do go on long journeys with no lady-in-waiting to do +their bidding and no servants ready at their call. Yolanda was Mary of +Burgundy, thought I, and Max had been throwing away God-given +opportunities. Had she not seen Max from the battlements, and had she +not fled at sight of the duke? These two small facts were but scant +evidence of Yolanda's royalty, but they seemed sufficient. + +"What would you have me say, Karl?" asked Max. "You would not have me +speak more than I have already said and win her love beyond her power to +withdraw it. That I sometimes believe I might do, but if my regard for +her is true, I should not wish to bring unhappiness to her for the sake +of satisfying my selfish vanity. If I am not mistaken, a woman would +suffer more than a man from such a misfortune." + +Here, truly, was a generous love. It asked only the privilege of giving, +and would take nothing in return because it could not give all. If +Yolanda were Mary of Burgundy, Max might one day have a reward worthy of +his virtue. Yolanda's sweetness and beauty and Mary's rich domain would +surely be commensurate with the noblest virtue. I was not willing that +Max should cease wooing Yolanda--if I might give that word to his +conduct--until I should know certainly that she was not the princess. +This, I admit, was cruel indifference to Yolanda's peace of mind or +pain of heart, if Max should win her love and desert her. + +Because of a faint though dazzling ray of hope, I encouraged Max after +this to visit the bridge over the moat, dangerous though it was; and +each night I received an account of his doings. Usually the account was +brief and pointless. He went, he stood upon the bridge, he saw the House +under the Wall, he returned to the inn. But a night came when he had +stirring adventures to relate. + +At the time of which I am writing every court in Europe had its cluster +of genteel vagabonds,--foreigners,--who stood in high favor. These +hangers-on, though perhaps of the noblest blood in their own lands, were +usually exiles from their native country. Some had been banished for +crimes; others had wandered from their homes, prompted by the love of +roaming so often linked with unstable principles and reckless +dispositions. Burgundy under Charles the Rash was a paradise for these +gentry. The duke, who was so parsimonious with the great and wise Philip +de Comines that he drove him to the court of Louis XI, was open-handed +with these floating villains. + +In imitation of King Louis's Scotch guard, Charles had an Italian guard. +The wide difference in the wisdom of these princes is nowhere more +distinctly shown than in the quality of the men they chose to guard +them. Louis employed the simple, honest, brave Scot. Charles chose the +most guileful of men. They were true only to self-interest, brave only +in the absence of danger. The court of Burgundy swarmed with these +Italian mercenaries, many of whom had followed Charles to Peronne. Count +Campo-Basso, who afterward betrayed Charles, was their chief. Among his +followers was a huge Lombard, a great bully, who bore the name of +Count Calli. + +On the evening of which I speak Max had hardly stepped on the bridge +when Yolanda ran to him. + +"I have been waiting for you, Sir Max," she said. "You are late. I +feared you would not come. I have waited surely an hour, though I am +loath to confess it lest you think me a too willing maiden." + +"It would be hard, Fräulein, for me to think you too willing--you are +but gracious and kind, and I thank you," answered Max. "But you have not +waited an hour. Darkness has fallen barely a quarter of that time." + +"I was watching long before dark on the battlements, and--" + +"On the battlements, Fräulein?" asked Max, in surprise. + +"I mean from--from the window battlements in uncle's house. I've been +out here under the trees since nightfall, and that seems to have been at +least an hour ago. Don't you understand, Sir Max?" she continued, +laughing softly and speaking as if in jest; "the longer I know you the +more shamefully eager I become; but that is the way with a maid and a +man. She grows more eager and he grows less ardent, and I doubt not the +time will soon arrive, Sir Max, when you will not come at all, and I +shall be left waiting under the trees to weep in loneliness." + +Max longed to speak the words that were in his heart and near his lips, +but he controlled himself under this dire temptation and remained +silent. After a long pause she stepped close to him and asked:-- + +"Did you not want me to come?" + +Max dared not tell her how much he had wanted her to come, so he went to +the other extreme--he must say something--and, in an excess of +caution, said:-- + +"I would not have asked you to come, Fräulein, though I much desired it; +but sober judgment would prompt me to wish that--that is, I--ah, +Fräulein, I did not want you to come to the bridge." + +She laughed softly and said:-- + +"Now, Little Max, you do not speak the truth. You did want me to come, +else why do you come to the bridge? Why do you come?" + +In view of all the facts in the case the question was practically +unanswerable unless Max wished to tell the truth, so he evaded +by saying:-- + +"I do not know." + +She looked quickly up to his face and stepped back from him:-- + +"Did you come to see Twonette? I had not thought of her. She is but +drained milk and treacle. Do you want to see her, Sir Max? If so, I'll +return to the house and send her to you." + +"Fräulein, I need not answer your question," returned Max, convincingly. + +"But I love Twonette. I know you do not come to see her, and I should +not have spoken as I did," said Yolanda, penitently. + +Perhaps her penitential moods were the most bewitching--certainly they +were the most dangerous--of all her many phases. + +"You know why I come to the bridge, even though I do not," said Max. +"Tell me, Fräulein, why I come." + +"That is what you may tell me. I came to hear it," she answered softly, +hanging her head. + +"I may not speak, Fräulein," he replied, with a deep, regretful sigh. +"What I said to you on the road from Basel will be true as long as I +live, but we agreed that it should not again be spoken between us. For +your sake more than for mine it is better that I remain silent." + +Yolanda hung her head, while her fingers were nervously busy with the +points of her bodice. She uttered a low laugh, flashed her eyes upon +him for an instant, and again the long lashes shaded them. + +"You need not be _too_ considerate for my sake, Sir Max," she whispered; +"though--though I confess that I never supposed any man could bring me +to this condition of boldness." + +Max caught her hands, and, clasping them between his own, drew the girl +toward him. The top of her head was below his chin, and the delicious +scent from her hair intoxicated his senses. She felt his great frame +tremble with emotion, and a thrill of exquisite delight sped through +every fibre of her body, warming every drop of blood in her veins. But +Max, by a mighty effort, checked himself, and remained true to his +self-imposed renunciation in word and act. After a little time she drew +her hands from his, saying:-- + +"You are right, Max, to wish to save yourself and me from pain." + +"I wish to save you, Yolanda. I want the pain; I hope it will cling to +me all my life. I want to save you from it." + +"Perhaps you are beginning too late, Max," said the girl, sighing, +"but--but after all you are right. Even as you see our situation it is +impossible for us to be more than we are to each other. But if you knew +all the truth, you would see how utterly hopeless is the future in which +I at one time thought I saw a ray of hope. Our fate is sealed, Max; we +are doomed. Before long you shall know. I will soon tell you all." + +"Do you wish to tell me now, Fräulein?" he asked. + +"No," she whispered. + +"In your own good time, Yolanda. I would not urge you." + +Max understood Yolanda's words to imply that her station in life was +even lower than it seemed, or that there was some taint upon herself or +her family. Wishing to assure her that such a fact could not influence +him, he said:-- + +"You need not fear to tell me all concerning yourself or your family. +There can be no stain upon you, and even though your station be +less than--" + +"Hush, Max, hush," she cried, placing her hand protestingly against his +breast. "You do not know what you are saying. There is no stain on me or +my family." + +Max wondered, but was silent; he had not earned the right to be +inquisitive. + +The guard appeared at that moment on the castle battlements, and Max and +Yolanda sought the shelter of a grove of trees a dozen paces from the +bridge on the town side of the moat. They seated themselves on a bench, +well within the shadow of the trees, and after a moment's silence +Max said:-- + +"I shall not come to the bridge again, Fräulein. I'll wait till your +uncle returns, when I shall see you at his house. Then I'll say farewell +and go back to the hard rocks of my native land--and to a life harder +than the rocks." + +"You are right in your resolve not to come again to the bridge," said +Yolanda, "for so long as you come, I, too, shall come--when I can. That +will surely bring us trouble sooner or later. But when Uncle Castleman +returns, you must come to his house, and I shall see you there. As to +your leaving Peronne, we will talk of that later. It is not to be +thought of now." + +She spoke with the confidence of one who felt that she might command him +to stay or order him to go. She would settle that little point +for herself. + +"I will go, Fräulein," said Max, "soon after your uncle's return." + +"Perhaps it will be best, but we will determine that when we must--when +the time comes that we can put it off no longer. Now, I wish you to +grant me three promises, Sir Max. First, ask me no questions concerning +myself. Of course, you will ask them of no one else; I need not demand +that promise of you." + +"I gladly promise," he answered. "What I already know of you is +all-sufficient." + +"Second, do not fail to come to my uncle's house when he invites you. +His home is worthy to receive the grandest prince in the world. My--my +lord, Duke Philip the Good, was Uncle Castleman's dear friend. The old +duke, when in Peronne, dined once a week with my uncle. Although uncle +is a burgher, he could have been noble. He refused a lordship and +declined the Order of the Golden Fleece, preferring the freedom of his +own caste. I have always thought he acted wisely." + +"Indeed he was wise," returned Max. "You that have never known the +restraints of one born to high estate cannot fully understand how +wise he was." + +Yolanda glanced up to Max with amusement in her eyes:-- + +"Ah, yes! For example, there is poor Mary of Burgundy, who is to marry +the French Dauphin. I pity her. For all we know, she may be longing for +another man as I--I longed for my mastiff, Caesar, when I was away. By +the way, Sir Max, are you still wearing the ring?" She took his hand and +felt for the ring on his finger. "Ah, you have left it off," she cried +reproachfully, answering her own question. + +"Yes," answered Max. "There have been so many changes within the last +few weeks that I have taken it off, and--and I shall cease to wear it." + +"Then give it to me, Sir Max," she cried excitedly. + +"I may not do that, Fräulein," answered Max. "It was given to me by one +I respect." + +"I know who the lady is," answered Yolanda, tossing her head saucily and +speaking with a dash of irritation in her voice. + +"Ah, you do?" asked Max. "Tell me now, my little witch, who is the lady? +If you know so much tell me." + +Yolanda lifted her eyes solemnly toward heaven, invoking the help of her +never failing familiar spirit. + +"I see an unhappy lady," she said, speaking in a low whisper, "whose +father is one of the richest and greatest princes in all the world. A +few evenings ago while we were standing on the moat bridge talking, I +saw the lady's father on the battlements of yonder terrible castle. His +form seemed magnified against the sky till it was of unearthly size and +terrible to look on--doubly terrible to those who know him. If she +should disobey her father, he would kill her with his battle-axe, I +verily believe, readily as he would crush a rebellious soldier. Yet she +fears him not, because she is of his own dauntless blood and fears not +death itself. She is to marry the Dauphin of France, and her wishes are +of so small concern, I am told that she has not yet been notified. This +terrible man will sell his daughter as he would barter a horse. She is +powerless to move in her own behalf, being bound hand and foot by the +remorseless shackles of her birth. She will become an unhappy queen, +and, if she survives her cruel father, she will, in time, take to her +husband this fat land of Burgundy, for the sake of which he wishes to +marry her. She is Mary of Burgundy, and even I, poor and mean of +station, pity her. She--gave--you--the--ring." + +"How did you learn all this, Fräulein? You are not guessing, as you +would have had me believe, and you would not lie to me. What you have +just said is a part with what you said at Basel and at Strasburg. How +did you learn it, Fräulein?" + +"Twonette," answered Yolanda. + +That simple explanation was sufficient for Max. Yolanda might very +likely know the private affairs of the Princess Mary through Twonette, +who was a friend of Her Highness. + +"But you have not promised to visit Uncle Castleman's house when he +invites you," said Yolanda, drawing Max again to the bench beside her. + +"I gladly promise," said Max. + +"That brings me to the third promise I desire," said Yolanda. "I want +you to give me your word that you will not leave Burgundy within one +month from this day, unless I give you permission." + +"I cannot grant you that promise, Fräulein," answered Max. + +"Ah, but you must, you shall," cried Yolanda, desperately clutching his +huge arms with her small hands and clinging to him. "I will scream, I +will waken the town. I will not leave you, and you shall not shake me +off till I have your promise. I may not give you my reasons, but trust +me, Max, trust me. Give me your unquestioning faith for once. I am not a +fool, Max, nor would I lie to you for all the world, in telling you that +it is best for you to give me the promise. Believe me, while there may +be risk to me in what I ask, it is best that you grant it, and that you +remain in Peronne for a month--perhaps for two months, unless I sooner +tell you to go." + +"I may not give you the promise you ask, Fräulein," answered Max, +desperately. "You must know how gladly I would remain here forever." + +"I believe truly you want to stay," she answered demurely, "else I +surely would not ask this promise of you. Your unspoken words have been +more eloquent than any vows your lips could coin, and I know what is in +your heart, else my boldness would have been beyond excusing. What I +wish is that your desire should be great enough to keep you when I ask +you to remain." + +"I may not think of myself or my own desires, Fräulein," he answered. +"Like the lady of Burgundy, I was shackled at my birth." + +"The lady of Burgundy is ever in your mind," Yolanda retorted sullenly. +"You would give this promise quickly enough were she asking it--she +with her vast estate." + +There was an angry gleam in the girl's eyes, and a dark cloud of +unmistakable jealousy on her face. She stepped back from Max and hung +her head. After a moment of silence she said:-- + +"You may answer me to-morrow night at this bridge, Sir Max. If you do +not see fit to give me the promise, then I shall weary you no further +with importunity, and you may go your way." + +There was a touch of coldness in her voice as she turned and walked +slowly toward the bridge. Max called softly:-- + +"Yolanda!" + +She did not answer, but continued with slow steps and drooping head. As +her form was fading into the black shadow of the castle wall he ran +across the bridge to her, and took her hand:-- + +"Fräulein, I will be at the bridge to-morrow night, and I will try to +give the promise you ask of me." + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE GREAT RIDDLE + +Max was cautious in the matter of making promises, as every honest man +should be, since he had no thought of breaking them once they were +given. Therefore, he wished to know that he could keep his word before +pledging it. His lifelong habit of asking my advice may also have +influenced him in refusing the promise that he so much wished to give; +or perhaps he may have wanted time to consider. He did not want to give +the promise on the spur of an impulse. + +When he had finished telling me his troubles, I asked:-- + +"What will you do to-morrow night?" + +My riddle was again solved; Yolanda was the princess. Her words were +convincing. All doubt had been swept from my mind. There would be no +more battledore and shuttlecock with my poor brain on that subject. So +when Max said, "I do not know what I shall do," I offered my opinion; +"You surprise me, Max. You lack enterprise; there is no warmth in your +blood. The girl cannot harm you. Give her the promise. Are your veins +filled with water and caution?" + +"What do you mean, Karl?" cried Max, stepping toward me with surprise +and delight in his face. "Are you advising me wrongly for the first time +in my life?" Then there was a touch of anger in his voice as he +continued: "Have I blood in my veins? Aye, Karl, burning, seething +blood, and every drop cries wildly for this girl--this child. I would +give the half of it to make her my wife and to make her happy. But I +would not abate one jot of my wretchedness at her expense. As I treat +her I pray God to deal with me. I cannot make her my wife, and if I am +half a man, I would not win her everlasting love and throw it to the +dogs. She all but asked me last night to tell her of my love for her, +and almost pressed hers upon me, but I did not even kiss her hand. Ah, +Karl, I wish I were dead!" + +The poor boy threw himself on the bed and buried his face in his hands. +I went to him and, seating myself on the bed, ran my fingers through +his curls. + +"My dear Max, I have never advised you wrongly. Perhaps luck has been +with me. Perhaps my good advice has been owing to my great caution and +my deep love for you. I am sure that I do not advise you wrongly now. Go +to the bridge to-morrow night, and give Yolanda the promise she asks. +If she wants it, give her the ring. Keep restraint upon your words and +acts, but do not fear for one single moment that my advice is wrong. +Max, I know whereof I speak." + +Max rose from the bed and looked at me in surprise; but my advice jumped +so entirely with the longing deep buried in his heart that he took it as +a dying man accepts life. + +The next evening Max met Yolanda under the trees near the bridge. + +"I may remain but a moment," she said hurriedly and somewhat coldly. "Do +you bring me the promise?" + +"Yes," answered Max. "I have also brought you the ring, Fräulein, but +you may not wear it, and no one may ever see it." + +"Ah, Max, it is well that you have brought me the promise, for had you +not you would never have seen me again. I thank you for the promise and +for the ring. No one shall see it. Of that you may be doubly sure. If by +any chance some meddlesome body should see it and tell this arrogant +lady of the castle that I have the keepsake she sent you, there would be +trouble, Max, there would be trouble. She is a jealous, vindictive +little wretch and you shall not think on her. No doubt she would have me +torn limb from limb if she knew I possessed the jewel. When I touch it, +I feel that I almost hate this princess, whose vast estates have a +power of attraction greater than any woman may exert." + +There was real anger in her tone. In truth, dislike and aversion were +manifest in every word she spoke of the princess, save when the tender +little heart pitied her. + +"Now I must say good night and adieu, Sir Max, until uncle returns," +said Yolanda. She gave Max her hands and he, in bringing them to his +lips, drew her close to him. At that moment they were startled by a +boisterous laugh close beside them, and the fellow calling himself Count +Calli slapped Max on the back, saying in French:-- + +"Nicely done, my boy, nicely done. But you are far too considerate. Why +kiss a lady's hand when her lips are so near? I will show you, Fräulein +Castleman, exactly how so delicate a transaction is conducted by an +enterprising gentleman." + +He insultingly took hold of Yolanda, and, with evident intent to kiss +her, tried to lift the veil with which she had hastily covered her face. +Max struck the fellow a blow that felled him to the ground, but Calli +rose and, drawing his dagger, rushed upon Max. Yolanda stood almost +paralyzed with terror. Max was unarmed, but he seized Calli's wrist and +twisted it till a small bone cracked, and the dagger fell from his hand +to the ground. Calli's arm hung limp at his side, and he was powerless +to do further injury. Max did not take advantage of his helplessness, +but said:-- + +"Go, or I will twist your neck as I have broken your wrist." + +Max had gone out that evening without arms or armor. He had not even a +dagger. + +When Calli had passed out of sight, Yolanda stooped, picked up his +dagger, and offered it to Max, saying:-- + +"He will gather his friends at once. Take this dagger and hasten back to +the inn, or you will never reach it alive. No, come with me to Uncle +Castleman's house. There you may lie concealed." + +"I may not go to your uncle's house, Fräulein," answered Max. "I can go +safely to the inn. Do not fear for me." + +Yolanda protested frantically, but Max refused. + +"Go quickly, then," she said, "and be on your guard at all times. This +man who came upon us is Count Calli, the greatest villain in Burgundy. +He is a friend of Campo-Basso. Now hasten to the inn, if you will not +come with me to uncle's house, and beware, for this man and his friends +will seek vengeance; of that you must never allow yourself to doubt. +Adieu, till uncle comes." + +Max reached the inn unmolested. We donned our mail shirts, expecting +trouble, and took turn and turn watching and sleeping. Next day we hired +two stalwart Irish squires and armed them cap-a-pie. We meant to give +our Italian friends a hot welcome if they attacked us, though we had, in +truth, little fear of an open assault. We dreaded more a dagger thrust +in the back, or trouble from court through the machinations of +Campo-Basso. + +The next morning Max sent one of our Irishmen to Castleman's house with +a verbal message to Fräulein Castleman. When the messenger returned, he +replied to my question:-- + +"I was shown into a little room where three ladies sat. 'What have you +to say?' asked the little black-haired one in the corner--she with the +great eyes and the face pale as a chalk-cliff. I said, 'I am instructed, +mesdames, to deliver this simple message: Sir Max is quite well.' 'That +will do. Thank you.' said the big eyes and the pale face. Then she gave +me two gold florins. The money almost took my breath, and when I looked +up to thank her, blest if the white face wasn't rosy as a June dawn. +When I left, she was dancing about the room singing and laughing, and +kissing everybody but me--worse luck! By Saint Patrick, I never saw so +simple a message create so great a commotion. 'Sir Max is quite well.' +I'm blest if he doesn't look it. Was he ever ill?" + +After five or six days we allowed ourselves to fall into a state of +unwatchfulness. One warm evening we dismissed our squires for an hour's +recreation. The Cologne River flows by the north side of the inn garden, +and, the spot being secluded, Max and I, after dark, cooled ourselves by +a plunge in the water. We had come from the water and finished dressing, +save for our doublets, which lay upon the sod, when two men approached +whom we thought to be our squires. When first we saw them, they were in +the deep shadow of the trees that grew near the water's edge, and we did +not notice their halberds until they were upon us. When the men had +approached within four yards, we heard a noise back of us and turning +saw four soldiers, each bearing an arquebuse pointed in our direction. +At the same moment another man stepped from behind the two we had first +seen and came quickly to me. He was Count Calli. In his left hand he +held a parchment. Max and I were surrounded and unarmed. + +"I arrest you on the order of His Grace, the duke," said Calli, in low +tones, speaking French with an Italian accent. + +"Your authority?" I demanded. + +"This," he said, offering me the parchment, "and this," touching his +sword. I took the parchment but could not read it in the dark. + +"I'll go to the inn to read your warrant," I said, stooping to take up +my doublet. + +"You will do nothing of the sort," he answered. "One word more from +you, and there will be no need to arrest you. I shall be only too glad +to dispense with that duty." + +I felt sure he wished us to resist that he might have a pretext for +murdering us. I could see that slow-going Max was making ready for a +fight, even at the odds of seven to two, and to avert trouble I spoke +softly in German:-- + +"These men are eager to kill us. Our only hope lies in submission." + +While I was speaking the men gathered closely about us, and almost +before my words were uttered, our wrists were manacled behind us and we +were blindfolded. Our captors at once led us away. A man on either side +of me held my arms, and by way of warning I received now and then a +merciless prod between my shoulder-blades from a halberd in the hands of +an enthusiastic soul that walked behind me. Max, I supposed, was +receiving like treatment. + +After a hundred paces or more we waded the river, and then I knew +nothing of our whereabouts. Within a half-hour we crossed a bridge which +I supposed was the one over the moat at the Postern. There we halted, +and the password was given in a whisper. Then came the clanking of +chains and creaking of hinges, and I knew the gates were opening and the +portcullis rising. After the gates were opened I was again urged forward +by the men on either side of me and the enterprising soul in the rear. + +I noticed that I was walking on smooth flags in place of cobble-stones, +and I was sure we were in the bailey yard of the castle. Soon I was +stopped again, a door opened, squeaking on its rusty hinges, and we +began the descent of a narrow stairway. Twenty or thirty paces from the +foot of the stairway we stopped while another door was opened. This, I +felt sure, was the entrance to an underground cell, out of which God +only knew if I should ever come alive. While I was being thrust through +the door, I could not resist calling out, "Max--Max, for the love of God +answer me if you hear!" I got no answer. Then I appealed to my guard:-- + +"Let me have one moment's speech with him, only one moment. I will pay +you a thousand crowns the day I am liberated if you grant me +this favor." + +"No one is with you," the man replied. "I would willingly earn the +thousand crowns, but if they are to be paid when you are liberated, I +fear I should starve waiting for them." + +With these comforting words they thrust me into the cell, manacled and +blindfolded. I heard the door clang to; the rusty lock screeched +venomously, and then I was alone in gravelike silence. I hardly, dared +to take a step, for I knew these underground cells were honeycombed +with death-traps. I could not grope about me with my hands, for they +were tied, and I knew not what pitfall my feet might find. + +How long I stood without moving I did not know; it might have been an +hour or a day for all I could tell. I was almost stupefied by this +misfortune into which I had led Max. I do not remember having thought at +all of my own predicament. I cannot say that I suffered; I was benumbed. +I remember wondering about Max and speculating vaguely on his fate, but +for a time the thought did not move me. I also remember sinking to the +floor, only half conscious of what I was doing, and then I must have +swooned or slept. + +When I recovered consciousness I rose to my feet. A step or two brought +me against a damp stone wall. Three short paces in another direction, +and once more I was against the wall. Then I stopped, turned my back to +the reeking stone, and cursed the brutes that had treated me with such +wanton cruelty. It was not brutal; it was human. No brute could feel it; +only in the heart of man could it live. + +By chafing the back of my head against the wall I succeeded in removing +the bandage from my eyes. Though I was more comfortable, I was little +better off, since I could see nothing in the pitiless black of my cell. +I stretched my eyes, as one will in the dark, till they ached, but I +could not see even an outline of the walls. + +A burning thirst usually follows excitement, and after a time it came to +me and grew while I thought upon it. My parched throat was almost +closed, and I wondered if I were to be left to choke to death. I knew +that in Spain and Italy such refinement of cruelty was oftened +practised, but I felt sure that the Duke of Burgundy would not permit +the infliction of so cruel a fate, did he know of it. But our captors +were not Burgundians, and I doubted if the duke even knew of our +imprisonment. I suffered intensely, though I believe I could have +endured it with fortitude had I not known that Max was suffering a +like fate. + +I believed I had been several days in my cell when I heard a key turn in +the lock. The door opened, and a man bearing a basket and a lantern +entered. He placed the basket on the ground and, with the lantern hung +over his arm, unfastened the manacles of my wrists. In the basket were a +_boule_ of black bread and a stone jar of water. I eagerly grasped the +jar, and never in my life has anything passed my lips that tasted so +sweet as that draught. + +"Don't drink too much at one time," said the guard, not unkindly. "It +might drive you mad. A man went mad in this cell less than a month ago +from drinking too much water." + +"How long had he been without it?" I asked of this cheering personage. + +"Three days," he responded. + +"I did not know that men of the north could be so cruel as to keep a +prisoner three days without water," I said. + +"It happened because the guard was drunk," answered the fellow, +laughing. + +"I hope you will remain sober," said I, not at all intending to be +humorous, though the guard laughed. + +"I was the guard," he replied. "I did not intend to leave the prisoner +without water, but, you see, I was dead drunk and did not know it." + +"Perhaps you have been drunk for the last three or four days since I +have been here?" I asked. + +He laughed boisterously. + +"You here three or four days! Why, you are mad already! You have been +here only over night." + +Well! I thought surely I _was_ mad! + +Suddenly the guard left me and closed the cell door. I called +frantically to him, but I might as well have cried from the bottom +of the sea. + +After what seemed fully another week of waiting, the guard again came +with bread and water. By that time my mind had cleared. I asked the +guard to deliver a message to my Lord d'Hymbercourt and offered a large +reward for the service. I begged him to say to Hymbercourt that his +friends of The Mitre had been arrested and were now in prison. The +guard willingly promised to deliver my message, but he did not keep his +word, though I repeated my request many times and promised him any +reward he might name when I should regain my liberty. With each visit he +repeated his promise, but one day he laughed and said I was wasting +words; that he would never see the reward and that in all probability I +should never again see the light of day. His ominous words almost +prostrated me, though again I say I suffered chiefly for Max's sake. +Could I have gained his liberty at the cost of my life, nay, even my +soul, I should have been glad to do it. + +But I will not further describe the tortures of my imprisonment. The +greatest of them all was my ignorance of Max's fate. It was a frightful +ordeal, and I wonder that my reason survived it. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE UNDER THE WALL + +To leave Max and myself in our underground dungeon, imprisoned for an +unknown, uncommitted crime, while I narrate occurrences outside our +prison walls looks like a romancer's trick, but how else I am to go +about telling this history I do not know. Yolanda is quite as important +a personage in this narrative as Max and myself, and I must tell of her +troubles as I learned of them long afterwards. + +Castleman reached home ten days or a fortnight after our arrest, +bringing with him his precious silks, velvets, and laces to the last +ell. As he had predicted, they were quadrupled in value, and their +increase made the good burgher a very rich man. + +Soon after Castleman reached the House under the Wall, Yolanda came +dancing into the room where he was sitting with good Frau Katherine, +drinking a bottle of rich Burgundy wine well mixed with pepper +and honey. + +"Ah, uncle," she cried joyously, "at last you are at home, and I have a +fine kiss for you." + +"Thank you, my dear," said Castleman, "you have spoiled my wine. The +honey will now taste vinegarish." + +"You are a flatterer, uncle--isn't he, tante?" laughed Yolanda, turning +to Aunt Castleman. + +"I am afraid he is," said the good frau, in mock distress. "Every one +tries to spoil him." + +"You more than any one, tante," cried Yolanda. + +"Tut, tut, child," cried Frau Katherine, "I abate his vanity with +frowns." + +Yolanda laughed, and the burgher, pinching his wife's red cheek, +protested:-- + +"_You_ frown? You couldn't frown if you tried. A clear sky may rain as +easily. Get the peering glass, Yolanda, and find, if you can, a wrinkle +on her face." + +Yolanda, who was always laughing, threw herself upon the frau's lap and +pretended to hunt for wrinkles. Soon she reported:-- + +"No wrinkles, uncle--there, you dear old tante, I'll kiss you to keep +you from growing jealous of uncle on my account." + +"If any one about this house has been spoiled, it's you, Yolanda," said +Frau Kate, affectionately. + +"When you speak after that fashion, tante, you almost make me weep," +said Yolanda. "Surely you and uncle and Twonette are the only friends I +have, and give me all the joy I know. But, uncle, now that you are at +home, I want you to drink your wine quickly and give me a great deal of +joy--oh, a great deal." + +"Indeed I will, my dear. Tell me where to begin," answered Castleman, +draining his goblet. + +Yolanda flushed rosily and hesitated. At that moment Twonette, who had +already greeted her father, entered the room. + +"Twonette will tell you," said Yolanda, laughing nervously. + +"What shall I tell him?" asked Twonette. + +"You will tell him what I want him to do quickly, at once, immediately," +pleaded Yolanda. "You know what I have waited for this long, +weary time." + +"Tell him yourself what you want quickly, at once, immediately," +answered Twonette. "I, too, have wants." + +"What do you want, daughter?" asked Castleman, beaming upon Twonette. + +"I want thirty ells of blue velvet for a gown, and I want you to ask +permission of the duke for me to wear it." + +"Many noble ladies would not dare to ask so much of the duke," suggested +Castleman. + +"It is true, George," said Frau Kate, "that only noble ladies of high +degree are permitted to wear velvet of blue; but it is also true that +only your stubbornness has deprived our daughter of that privilege. She +might now be noble had you not been stubborn." + +"I also want--" began Twonette. + +"You shall wear the duke's own color, purple, if you will hold your +tongue about worthless matters and tell your father what I want," cried +Yolanda, impetuously thrusting Twonette toward Castleman. + +"You tell him your own wants," answered Twonette, pouting. "Then perhaps +his own daughter may have his ear for a moment or two." + +Yolanda laughed at Twonette's display of ill-temper. + +"Well, uncle, since I must tell my own tale, I will begin," said +Yolanda, blushing. "I want you to go to The Mitre and ask a friend--two +friends--of yours here to supper this evening. I have waited a weary +time for you to give this invitation, and I will not wait another hour, +nay, not another minute. We have a fat peacock that longs to be killed; +it is so fat that it is tired of life. We have three pheasants that will +die of grief if they are not baked at once. I myself have been feeding +them this fortnight past in anticipation of this feast. We have a dozen +wrens for a live pie, so tame they will light on our heads when you cut +the crust. We shall have a famous feast, uncle. There will be present +only tante, you, Twonette, our two guests, and myself. Now, uncle, the +wine is consumed. Hurry to the inn." + +"My dear child," said Castleman, seriously, "you know that I am almost +powerless to refuse any request you make, but in this case I must +do so." + +"Ah, uncle, please tell me why," coaxed Yolanda, with trouble in her +eyes and grief at the corners of her mouth. + +"Because you must see no more of this very pleasing young man," answered +Castleman. "I yielded to your wishes at Basel and brought him with us; I +was compelled to send him with you from Metz; but now that our journey +is over, I shall thank him and pay him an additional sum, since my goods +are safe home, and say farewell to him. I believe he is a worthy and +honorable young man, but we do not know who he is, and if we did--" + +"Ah, but _I_ know who he is," interrupted Yolanda, tossing her head. +"_We_ may not know, but _I_ know, and that is sufficient." + +"Do you know?" asked Castleman. "Pray tell me of him. The information +was refused me; at least, it was not given. He is probably of noble +birth, but we have nobles here in Peronne whom we would not ask to our +house. We know nothing of this wandering young Max, save that he is +honest and brave and good to look upon." + +"In God's name, uncle, what more would you ask in a man?" cried Yolanda, +stamping her foot. "'Noble, honest, brave, and good to look upon!' Will +not those qualities fit a man for any one's regard and delight any +woman's heart? I tell you I will have my way in this. I tell you I know +his degree. I know who he is and what he is and all about him, though I +don't intend to tell you anything, and would inform you now that it's no +business of yours." + +"Did you coax all this information out of him, you little witch?" asked +Castleman, smiling against his will. + +"I did not," retorted Yolanda, leaning forward and lifting her chin +defiantly. "I learned it soon after we reached Basel. I discovered it +by--by magic--by sorcery. He will tell you as much." + +"By the magic of your eyes and smiles. That's the way you wheedled it +out of him, and that's the way you coax every one to your will," said +Castleman, laughing while Yolanda pouted. + +"I never saw a girl make such eyes at a man as you made at this Sir +Max," said Twonette, who was waiting for her blue velvet gown. + +"Twonette, you are prettier with your mouth shut. Silence becomes you," +retorted Yolanda, favoring Twonette with a view of her back. "Now, +uncle," continued Yolanda, "all is ready: peacock, pheasants, wrens; and +I command you to procure the guests." + +Castleman laughed at her imperious ways and said:-- + +"I will obey your commands in all else, Yolanda, but not in this." + +The girl, who was more excited than she appeared to be, stood for a +moment by her uncle's side, and, drawing her kerchief from its pouch, +placed it to her eyes. + +"Every one tries to make me unhappy," she sobbed. "There is no one to +whom I may turn for kindness. If you will not do this for me, uncle, if +you will not bring him--them--to me, I give you my sacred word I will go +to them at the inn. If you force me to do an act so unmaidenly, I'll +leave you and will not return to your house. I shall know that you do +not love me!" + +Castleman was not ready to yield, though he was sure that in the end he +would do so. He also knew that her threat to go to the inn was by no +means an idle word. + +Yolanda was not given to tears, but she used them when she found she +could accomplish her ends by no other means. A long pause ensued, broken +by Yolanda's sobs. + +"Good-by, uncle. Good-by, tante. Good-by, Twonette. I mean what I say, +uncle. I am going, and I shall not come back if you will not do this +thing for me. I am going to the inn." + +She kissed them all and started toward the door. The loving old tante +could not hold out. She, too, was weeping, and she added her +supplications to Yolanda's. + +"Do what she asks, father--only this once," said Frau Kate. + +"Only this once," pleaded Yolanda, turning her tear-moistened eyes upon +the helpless burgher. + +"I suppose I must surrender," exclaimed Castleman, rising from his +chair. "I have been surrendering to you, your aunt, and Twonette all my +life. First Kate, then Twonette, and of late years they have been +reënforced by you, Yolanda, and my day is lost. I do a little useless +fighting when I know I am in the right, but it is always followed by a +cowardly surrender." + +"But think of your victories in surrender, uncle. Think of your +rewards," cried Yolanda, running to his side and kissing him. "Many a +man would fight a score of dragons for that kiss." + +"Dragons!" cried Castleman, protestingly. "I would rather fight a +hundred dragons than do this thing for you, Yolanda. I know little +concerning the ways of a girl's heart, but, ignorant as I am, I could +see--Mother, I never saw a girl so infatuated with a man as our Yolanda +is with this Sir Max--this stranger." + +"There, tante," cried Yolanda, turning triumphantly to Frau Kate, "you +hear what uncle says. Now you see the great reason for having him +here--this Sir Max and his friend. But, uncle, if you think I mean to +make a fool of myself about this man, put the notion out of your head. I +know only too well the barrier between us, but, uncle mine," she +continued pleadingly, all her wonted joyousness driven from her face, "I +am so wretched, so unhappy. If I may have a moment of joy now, for the +love of the Blessed Virgin don't deny me. I sometimes think you love me +chiefly because I so truly deserve your pity. As for this young man, he +is gentle, strong, and good, and, as you say, he certainly is good to +look upon. Twonette knows that, don't you, Twonette? He is wise, too, +and brave, even against the impulse of his own great heart. He thinks +only of my good and his own duties. I am in no danger from him, uncle. +He can do me only good. I shall be happier and better all my life long +for having known him. Now, uncle?" + +"I will fetch him," exclaimed Castleman, seeking his hat. "You may be +right or you may be wrong, but for persuasiveness I never saw your like. +I declare, Yolanda, you have almost made me feel like a villain for +refusing you." + +"I wish the world were filled with such villains, uncle. Don't you, +tante?" said Yolanda, beaming upon the burgher. + +"No," answered the frau, "I should want them all for my husbands." + +"God forbid!" cried Yolanda, lifting her hands as she turned toward the +door, laughing once more. "Tell them to be here by six o'clock, uncle. +No! we will say five. Tell them to come on the stroke of five. No! four +o'clock is better; then we will sup at six, and have an hour or two +before we eat. That's it, uncle; have them here by four. Tell them to +fail not by so much as a minute, upon their allegiance. Tell them to be +here promptly on the stroke of four." + +She ran from the room singing, and Castleman started toward the front +door. + +"The girl makes a fool of me whenever she wishes," he observed, pausing +and turning toward his wife. "She coaxed me to take her to Basel, and +life was a burden till I got her home again. Now she winds me around her +finger and says, 'Uncle Castleman, obey me,' and I obey. Truly, there +never was in all the world such another coaxing, persuasive little witch +as our Yolanda." + +"Poor child," said Frau Kate, as her husband passed out of the door. + +Castleman reached The Mitre near the hour of one, and of course did not +find us. At half-past four, Yolanda entered the great oak room where +Twonette and Frau Kate were stitching tapestry. + +"Where suppose you Sir Max is--and Sir Karl?" asked Yolanda, with a +touch of anger in her voice. "Why has he not come? I have been watching +but have not seen him--them. He places little value on our invitation +to slight it by half an hour. I am of half a mind not to see him when +he comes." + +"Your uncle is downstairs under the arbor, Yolanda," said Frau +Castleman, gently. "He will tell you, sweet one, why Sir Max is +not here." + +Frau Katherine and Twonette put aside their tapestry, and went with +Yolanda to question Castleman in the arbor. + +"Well, uncle, where are our guests?" asked Yolanda. + +"They are not at the inn, and have not been there since nearly a +fortnight ago," answered Castleman. + +"Gone!" cried Yolanda, aflame with sudden anger. "He gave me his word he +would not go. I'm glad he's gone, and I hope I may never see his face +again. I deemed his word inviolate, and now he has broken it." + +"Do not judge Sir Max too harshly," said Castleman; "you may wrong him. +I do not at all understand the absence of our friends. Grote tells me +they went to the river one night to bathe and did not return. Their +horses and arms are at the inn. Their squires, who had left them two +hours before, have not been seen since. Grote has heard nothing of our +friends that will throw light on their whereabouts. Fearing to get +himself into trouble, he has stupidly held his tongue. He was not +inclined to speak plainly even to me." + +"Blessed Mother, forgive me!" cried Yolanda, sinking back upon a +settle. After a long silence she continued: "Two weeks ago! That was a +few days after the trouble at the bridge." + +"What trouble?" asked Castleman. + +"I'll tell you, uncle, and you, tante. Twonette already knows of it," +answered Yolanda. "Less than three weeks ago I was with Sir Max near the +moat bridge. It was dark--after night--" + +"Yolanda!" exclaimed Castleman, reproachfully. + +"Yes, uncle, I know I ought not to have been there, but I was," said +Yolanda. + +"Alone with Sir Max after dark?" asked the astonished burgher. + +"Yes, alone with him, after it was _very_ dark," answered Yolanda. "I +had met him several times before." + +Castleman tried to speak, but Yolanda interrupted him:-- + +"Uncle, I know and admit the truth of all you would say, so don't say +it. While I was standing very near to Sir Max, uncle, very near, Count +Calli came upon us and offered me gross insult. Sir Max, being unarmed, +knocked the fellow down, and in the struggle that ensued Count Calli's +arm was broken. I heard the bone snap, then Calli, swearing vengeance, +left us. Why Sir Max went out unarmed that night I do not know. Had he +been armed he might have killed Calli; that would have prevented +this trouble." + +"I, too, wonder that Sir Max went out unarmed," said Castleman musingly. +"Why do you suppose he was so incautious?" + +"Perhaps that is the custom in Styria. There may be less danger, less +treachery, there than in Burgundy," suggested Yolanda. + +"In Styria!" exclaimed Castleman. "Sir Karl said that he was from Italy. +He did not tell me of Sir Max's home, but I supposed he also was from +Italy, or perhaps from Würtemberg--there are many Guelphs in +that country." + +"Yes, I will tell you of that later, uncle," said Yolanda. "When Calli +left us, Sir Max returned safely to the inn, having promised me not to +leave Peronne within a month. This trouble has come from Calli and +Campo-Basso." + +"But you say this young man is from Styria?" asked Castleman, anxiously. + +"Yes," replied Yolanda, drooping her head, "he is Maximilian, Count of +Hapsburg." + +"Great God!" exclaimed Castleman, starting to his feet excitedly. "If I +have brought these men here to be murdered, I shall die of grief; all +Europe will turn upon Burgundy." + +Yolanda buried her face in Mother Kate's breast; Castleman walked to and +fro, and sympathetic Twonette wept gently. It was not in Twonette's +nature to do anything violently. Yolanda, on the contrary, was intense +in all her joys and griefs. + +"Did Sir Max tell you who he is?" asked Castleman, stopping in front of +Yolanda. + +"No," she replied, "I will tell you some day how I guessed it. He does +not know that I know, and I would not have you tell him." + +"Tell me, Yolanda," demanded Castleman, "what has passed between you and +this Sir Max?" + +"Nothing, uncle, save that I know--ah, uncle, there is nothing. God pity +me, there can be nothing. Whatever his great, true heart feels may be +known to me as surely as if he had spoken a thousand vows, but he would +not of his own accord so much as touch my hand or speak his love. He +knows that one in his station may not mate with a burgher girl. He +treats me as a true knight should treat a woman, and if he feels pain +because of the gulf between us, he would not bring a like pain to me. He +is a strong, noble man, Uncle Castleman, and we must save him." + +"If I knew where to begin, I would try at once," said Castleman, "but I +do not know, and I cannot think of--" + +"I have a plan," interrupted Yolanda, "that will set the matter going. +Consult my Lord d'Hymbercourt; he is a friend of Sir Karl's; he may help +us. Tell him of the trouble at the bridge, but say that Twonette, not +I, was there. If Lord d'Hymbercourt cannot help us, I'll try another way +if I die for it." + +Castleman found Hymbercourt and told him the whole story, substituting +Twonette for Yolanda. + +"It is the work of that accursed Basso," said Hymbercourt, stroking his +beard. "No villany is too black for him and his minions to do." + +"But what have they done?" asked Castleman. "They surely would not +murder these men because of the quarrel at the bridge." + +"They would do murder for half that cause," replied Hymbercourt. "A +brave man hates an assassin, and I am always wondering why the duke, who +is so bold and courageous, keeps this band of Italian cut-throats at +his court." + +"What can we do to rescue our friends if they still live, or to avenge +them if dead?" asked Castleman. + +"I do not know," answered Hymbercourt. "Let me think it all over, and I +will see you at your house to-night. Of this I am certain: you must not +move in the matter. If you are known to be interested, certain facts may +leak out that would ruin you and perhaps bring trouble to one who +already bears a burden too heavy for young shoulders. We know but one +useful fact: Calli and Campo-Basso are at the bottom of this evil. The +duke suspects that the states adjacent to Switzerland, including Styria, +will give aid to the Swiss in this war with Burgundy, and it may be +that Duke Charles has reasons for the arrest of our friends. He may have +learned that Sir Max is the Count of Hapsburg. I hope his finger is not +in the affair. I will learn what I can, and will see you to-night. Till +then, adieu." + +True to his promise, Hymbercourt went to Castleman's that evening, but +he had learned nothing and had thought out no plan of action. Two days +passed and there was another consultation. Still the mystery was as far +from solution as on the day of its birth. Yolanda was in tribulation, +and declared that she would take the matter into her own hands. Her +uncle dissuaded her, however, and she reluctantly agreed to remain +silent for a day or two longer, but she vowed that she would give tongue +to her thoughts and arouse all Burgundy in behalf of Max and myself if +we were not soon discovered. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PERONNE LA PUCELLE + +The next morning Duke Charles went down to the great hall of the castle +to hear reports from his officers relating to the war that he was about +to wage against the Swiss. When the duke ascended the three steps of the +dais to the ducal throne, he spoke to Campo-Basso who stood upon the +first step at the duke's right. + +"What news, my Lord Count?" asked Charles. "I'm told there is a +messenger from Ghent." + +"Ill news, my lord," answered Campo-Basso. + +"Out with it!" cried the duke. "One should always swallow a bitter +draught quickly." + +"We hear the Swiss are gathering their cantons in great numbers," said +Campo-Basso. + +"Let the sheep gather," said Charles, waving his hands. "The more they +gather to the fold, the more we'll shear." He laughed as if pleased with +the prospect, and continued, "Proceed, my Lord Count." + +"The Duke of Lorraine is again trying to muster his subjects against +Your Grace, and sends a polite message asking and offering terms of +agreement. Shall I read the missive, my lord?" + +"No!" cried the duke, "Curse his soft words. There is no bad news yet. +Proceed." + +"It is rumored, Your Grace," continued the count, "that Frederick, Duke +of Styria, is preparing to aid the Swiss against Your Grace." + +"With his advice?" asked the duke. "The old pauper has nothing else to +give, unless it be the bones of his ancestors." + +"It is said, Your Highness, that Würtemberg will also aid the Swiss, and +that Duke Albert will try to bring about a coalition of the German +states for the purpose of assisting the Swiss, aiding Lorraine, and +overthrowing Burgundy. This purpose, our informant tells us, has been +fostered by this same Duke Frederick of Styria." + +"This news, I suppose, is intended for our ears by the Duke of Styria. +He probably wishes us to know that he is against us," said Charles. "He +wanted our daughter for his clown of a son, and our contempt for his +claims rankles in his heart. He cannot inflame Würtemberg, and +Würtemberg cannot influence the other German princes." + +The duke paused, and Campo-Basso proceeded:-- + +"The citizens of Ghent, my lord, petition Your Grace for the restoration +of certain communal rights, and beg for the abolition of the hearth tax +and the salt levy. They also desire the right to elect their own +burgomaster and--" + +"Give me the petition," demanded the duke. Campo-Basso handed the +parchment to Charles, and he tore it to shreds. + +"Send these to the dogs of Ghent, and tell them that for every scrap of +parchment I'll take a score of heads when I return from Switzerland." + +"We hear also, my lord," said the Italian, "that King Edward of England +is marshalling an army, presumably for the invasion of France and, +because of the close union that is soon to be between King Louis and +Burgundy, I have thought proper to lay the news before Your Grace." + +"Edward wants more of King Louis' gold," answered Charles. "We'll let +him get it. We care not how much he has from this crafty miser of the +Seine. Louis will buy the English ministers, and the army will suddenly +vanish. When King Edward grows scarce of gold, he musters an army, or +pretends to do so, and Louis fills the English coffers. The French king +would buy an apostle, or the devil, and would sell his soul to either to +serve a purpose. Have you more in your budget, Sir Count?" + +"I have delivered all, I believe, my lord," answered Campo-Basso. + +"It might have been worse," said the duke, rising to quit his throne. + +"One moment, my lord! There is another matter to which I wish to call +Your Grace's attention before you rise," said the count. "I have for +your signature the warrants for the execution of the Swiss spies, who, +Your Highness may remember, were entrapped and arrested by the +watchfulness of Your Grace's faithful servant, the noble Count Calli." + +"Give me the warrant," said the duke, "and let the execution take place +at once." + +Hymbercourt had been standing in the back part of the room, paying +little attention to the proceedings, but the mention of Calli's name in +connection with the Swiss spies quickly roused him, and he hurriedly +elbowed his way to the ducal throne. A page was handing Charles a quill +and an ink-well when Hymbercourt spoke:-- + +"My Lord Duke, I beg you not to sign the warrant until I have asked a +few questions of my Lord Campo-Basso concerning these alleged spies." + +"Why do you say 'alleged spies,' my Lord d'Hymbercourt?" asked the duke. +"Do you know anything of them? Are they friends of yours?" + +"If they are friends of mine, Your Grace may be sure they are not +spies," answered Hymbercourt. "I am not sure that I know these men, but +I fear a mistake has been made." + +A soft cry, a mere exclamation, was heard behind the chancel in the +ladies' gallery, which was above the throne, a little to the right. But +it caused no comment other than a momentary turning of heads in that +direction. + +"On what ground do you base your suspicion, my lord?" asked Charles. + +"Little ground, Your Grace," answered Hymbercourt. "I may be entirely +wrong; but I beg the privilege of asking the noble Count Calli two or +three questions before Your Grace signs the death warrant. We may avert +a grave mistake and prevent a horrible crime." + +"It is a waste of valuable time," answered Charles, "but if you will be +brief, you may proceed. Count Calli, come into presence." + +Calli stepped forward and saluted the duke on bended knee. + +"Your questions, Hymbercourt, and quickly," said Charles, testily. "We +are in haste. Time between the arrest and the hanging of a spy +is wasted." + +"I thank you, my lord," said Hymbercourt. He then turned to Calli, and +asked, "When were these men arrested?" + +"More than a fortnight ago," answered Calli. + +"How came you to discover they were spies?" asked Hymbercourt. + +"I watched them, and their actions were suspicious," replied the +Italian. + +"In what respect were they suspicious?" + +"They went abroad only at night, and one of them was seen near the +castle several evenings after dark," responded Calli. + +"Is that your only evidence against them?" demanded Hymbercourt. + +"It is surely enough," replied Calli, "but if more is wanted, they were +overheard to avow their guilt." + +"What were they heard to say and where did they say it?" asked +Hymbercourt. + +"I lay concealed, with six men-at-arms, near the river in the garden of +The Mitre Inn, where the spies had been bathing. We heard them speak +many words of treason against our gracious Lord Duke, but I did not move +in their arrest until the younger man said to his companion: 'I will +to-morrow gain entrance to the castle as a pedler and will stab this +Duke Charles to death. You remain near the Postern with the horses, and +I will try to escape to you. If the gate should be closed, ride away +without me and carry the news to the cantons. I would gladly give my +life to save the fatherland.'" + +"Hang them," cried the duke. "We are wasting time." + +"I pray your patience, my Lord Duke," said Hymbercourt, holding up his +hand protestingly. "I know these men whom Count Calli has falsely +accused. They are not spies; they are not Swiss; neither are they +enemies of Burgundy. Were they so, I, my lord, would demand their death +were they a thousand-fold my friends. I stake my life upon their +honesty. I offer my person and my estates as hostages for them, and +make myself their champion. Count Calli lies." + +Hymbercourt's words caused a great commotion in the hall. Swords and +daggers sprang from the scabbards of the Italians, and cries of +indignation were uttered by the mercenaries, who saw their crime +exposed, and by the Burgundians, who hated the Italians and their +dastardly methods. Charles commanded silence, and Campo-Basso received +permission to speak. + +"Since when did my Lord d'Hymbercourt turn traitor?" said he. "His +fealty has always been as loud-mouthed as the baying of a wolf." + +"I am a Burgundian, my lord," said Hymbercourt, ignoring the Italian and +addressing Charles. "I receive no pay for my fealty. I am not a foreign +mercenary, and I need not defend my loyalty to one who knows me as he +knows his own heart." + +"My Lord d'Hymbercourt's honor needs no defence," said Charles. "I trust +his honesty and loyalty as I trust myself. He may be mistaken; he may be +right. Bring in these spies." + +"Surely Your Grace will not contaminate your presence with these +wretches," pleaded Campo-Basso. "Consider the danger to yourself, my +dear lord. They are desperate men, who would gladly give their lives to +take yours and save their country. I beg you out of the love I bear Your +Grace, pause before you bring these traitorous spies into your sacred +presence." + +"Bring them before me!" cried the duke. "We will determine this matter +for ourselves. We have a score of brave, well-paid Italians who may be +able to protect our person from the onslaught of two manacled men." + + * * * * * + +On this same morning the guard had been to my cell with bread and water, +and had departed. I did not know, of course, whether it was morning, +noon, or night, but I had learned to measure with some degree of +accuracy the lapse of time between the visits of the guard, and was +surprised to hear the rusty lock turn long before the time for his +reappearance. When the man entered my cell, bearing his lantern, +he said:-- + +"Come with me." + +The words were both welcome and terrible. I could not know their +meaning--whether it was liberty or death. I stepped from the cell and, +while I waited for the guard to relock the door, I saw the light of a +lantern at the other end of a passageway. Two men with Max between them +came out of the darkness and stopped in front of me. Our wrists were +manacled behind us, and we could not touch hands. I could have wept for +joy and grief at seeing Max. + +"Forgive me, Max, for bringing you to this," I cried. + +"Forgive me, Karl. It is I who have brought you to these straits," said +Max. "Which is it to be, think you, Karl, liberty or death?" + +"God only knows," I answered. + +"For your sake, Karl, I hope He cares more than I. I would prefer death +to the black cell I have just left." + +We went through many dark passageways and winding stairs to the audience +hall. + +When we entered the hall, the courtiers fell back, leaving an aisle from +the great double doors to the ducal throne. When we approached the duke, +I bent my knee, but Max simply bowed. + +"Kneel!" cried Campo-Basso, addressing Max. + +"If my Lord of Burgundy demands that I kneel, I will do so, but it is +more meet that he should kneel to me for the outrage that has been put +upon me at his court," said Max, gazing unfalteringly into the +duke's face. + +"Who are you?" demanded the duke, speaking to me. + +"I am Sir Karl de Pitti," I replied. "Your Grace may know my family; we +are of Italy. It was once my good fortune to serve under your father and +yourself. My young friend is known as Sir Maximilian du Guelph." + +"He is known as Guelph, but who is he?" demanded Charles. + +"That question I may not answer, my lord," said I, speaking in the +Walloon tongue. + +"You shall answer or die," returned the duke, angrily. + +"I hope my Lord of Burgundy will not be so harsh with us," interrupted +Max, lifting his head and speaking boldly. "We have committed no crime, +and do not know why we have been arrested. We beg that we may be told +the charge against us, and we would also know who makes the charge." + +"Count Calli," said the duke, beckoning that worthy knight, "come +forward and speak." + +Calli came forward, knelt to the duke, and said: + +"I, my lord, charge these unknown men as being Swiss spies and +assassins, who seek to murder Your Grace and to betray Burgundy." + +"You lie, you dog," cried Max, looking like an angry young god. "You lie +in your teeth and in your heart. My Lord of Burgundy, I demand the +combat against this man who seeks my life by treachery and falsehood. I +waive my rank for the sweet privilege of killing this liar." + +"My Lord Duke," I exclaimed, interrupting Max, "if my Lord d'Hymbercourt +is in presence, I beg that I may have speech with him." + +Hymbercourt stepped to my side, and the duke signified permission to +speak. + +"My Lord d'Hymbercourt," said I, turning to my friend, "I beg you to +tell His Grace that we are not spies. I may not, for reasons well known +to you, give you permission to inform His Grace who my young companion +is, and I hope my Lord of Burgundy will be satisfied with your assurance +that we are honest knights who wish only good to this land and its +puissant ruler." + +"Indeed, my Lord Duke, I was right," answered Hymbercourt. "Again I +offer my person and my estates as hostages for these men. They are not +spies. They are not of Switzerland, nor are they friends to the Swiss; +neither are they enemies of Burgundy. I doubt not they will gladly join +Your Lordship in this war against the cantons. These knights have been +arrested to gratify revenge for personal injury received and deserved by +this traitorous Count Calli." + +"It is false," cried Campo-Basso. + +"It is true--pitifully true, my lord," returned Hymbercourt. "This young +knight was at the moat bridge near Castleman's House under the Wall +talking with a burgher maid, Fräulein Castleman. Count Calli stole upon +them without warning and insulted the maiden. My young friend knocked +down the ruffian, and, in the conflict that ensued, broke Calli's arm. +Your Grace may have seen him carrying it in a sling until within the +last forty-eight hours. + +"For this deserved chastisement Count Calli seeks the young man's life +by bearing false witness against him; and with it that of my old friend, +Sir Karl de Pitti. It is Burgundy's shame, my lord, that these +treacherous mercenaries should be allowed to murder strangers and to +outrage Your Grace's loyal subjects in the name of Your Lordship's +justice. Sir Maximilian du Guelph has demanded the combat against this +Count Calli. Sir Maximilian is a spurred and belted knight, and under +the laws of chivalry even Your Grace may not gainsay him." + +"My lord, I do not fight assassins and spies," said Calli, addressing +the duke. + +"I do," cried Max, "when they put injuries upon me as this false coward +has done. I will prove upon his body, my Lord Duke, who is the assassin +and the spy. My Lord d'Hymbercourt will vouch that my rank entitles me +to fight in knightly combat with any man in this presence. My wrists are +manacled, my lord, and I have no gage to throw before this false knight; +but, my Lord of Burgundy, I again demand the combat. One brave as Your +Grace is must also be just. We shall leave Count Calli no excuse to +avoid this combat, even if I must tell Your Grace my true rank +and station." + +"This knight," said Hymbercourt, addressing Charles and extending his +hand toward Max, "is of birth entitling him to meet in the lists any +knight in Burgundy, and I will gladly stand his sponsor." + +"My Lord d'Hymbercourt's sponsorship proves any man," said the duke, +who well knew that Campo-Basso and his friends would commit any crime to +avenge an injury, fancied or real. + +"My Lord Duke, I pray your patience," said Campo-Basso, obsequiously. +"No man may impugn my Lord d'Hymbercourt's honesty, but may he not be +mistaken? In the face of the evidence against this man, may he not be +mistaken? The six men who were with Count Calli will testify to the +treasonable words spoken by this young spy." + +"Does any other man in presence know these men?" asked the duke. No one +responded. + +After a little time Hymbercourt broke silence. + +"I am grieved and deeply hurt, my lord, that you should want other +evidence than mine against the witnesses who make this charge. I am a +Burgundian. These witnesses are Italians who love Your Grace for the +sake of the gold they get. I had hoped that my poor services had earned +for me the right to be believed, but if I may have a little time, I will +procure another man whose word shall be to you as the word of +your father." + +"Bring him into our presence," answered the duke. "We will see him +to-morrow at this hour." + +"May I not crave Your Grace's indulgence for a half-hour?" pleaded +Hymbercourt. "I will have this man here within that time." + +"Not another minute," replied the duke. "Heralds, cry the rising." + +"Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! His Grace, the Duke of Burgundy, is about to rise. +His Grace has risen," cried the herald. + +The duke left the hall by a small door near the dais. + +Hymbercourt was standing beside us when the captain of the guard +approached to lead us back to our cells. + +"May we not have comfortable quarters, and may we not be placed in one +cell?" I asked, appealing to Hymbercourt. "I have been confined in a +reeking, rayless dungeon unfit for swine, and doubtless Sir Max has been +similarly outraged." + +Hymbercourt put his hand into his pouch and drew forth two gold pieces. +These he stealthily placed in the captain's hand, and that worthy +official said:-- + +"I shall be glad to oblige, my lord." + +Hymbercourt left us, and Campo-Basso, beckoning the captain to one side, +spoke to him in low tones. The captain, I was glad to see, was a +Burgundian. + +After we left the hall we were taken to our old quarters. The captain +followed me into the cell, leaving his men in the passageway. + +"My Lord Count ordered me to bring you here," he said; "but I will, if I +can, soon return with other men who are not Italians and will remove +you to a place of safety." + +"Am I not safe here? Is my friend in danger?" I asked. + +The man smiled as though amused at my simplicity:-- + +"If you remain here to-night, there will be no need to hang you in the +morning. Our Italian friends have methods of their own that are simple +and sure. But I will try to find a way to remove you before--before the +Italians have time to do their work. I will see my Lord d'Hymbercourt, +and if the duke has not gone a-hunting, we will induce His Grace to +order your removal to a place of safety." + +"But if the duke is gone, cannot you get the order when he returns?" I +asked. + +"That will be too late, I fear," he answered, laughing, and with these +comforting remarks he left me. + +After two or three hours--the time seemed days--I heard a key enter the +lock of my cell door. If the hand inserting the key was that of an +Italian, I might look for death. To my great joy the man was my +Burgundian captain. + +"The duke had gone a-hunting," he said, "and I could not find my Lord +d'Hymbercourt; but Her Highness, the princess, asked me to remove you, +and I am willing to risk my neck for her sweet sake. I am to place you +in one of the tower rooms, out of the reach of our Italian cut-throats." + +"Will my young friend be with me?" I asked eagerly. + +"Yes," responded the captain. + +Again I met Max with a man-at-arms in the passageway outside my cell +door, and we all went up the steps together. We were hurried through +dark passages to a spiral stairway, which we climbed till my knees +ached. But we were going up instead of down, and I was overjoyed to have +the aching leave my heart for my knees. + +The room in which the Burgundian left us was large and clean. There were +two beds of sweet straw upon the floor, and to my unspeakable joy there +was a bar on the door whereby it could be locked from within. There were +also two tubs of water for a bath. On a rude bench was a complete change +of clothing which had been brought by some kind hand from the inn. On an +oak table were two bottles of wine, a bowl of honey, a cellar of pepper, +white bread, cold meat, and pastry. A soul reaching heaven out of +purgatory must feel as we felt then. We were too excited to eat, so we +bathed, dressed, and lay down on the straw beds. + +Before leaving us our captain had said:-- + +"Do not unbolt your door except to the password 'Burgundy.'" + +We slept till late in the afternoon. When we wakened the sun was well +down in the west, and we could see only its reflected glare in the +eastern sky. There was but one opening in the room through which the +light could enter--a narrow window, less than a foot wide. The light in +the room was dim even at noon, but the long darkness had so affected our +eyes that the light from the window was sufficient to illumine the +apartment and to make all objects plainly discernible. There was little +to be seen. The arched roof was of solid masonry; the walls were without +a break save the narrow window and the door. Through the window we could +see only a patch of sky in the east, reddened by the reflection of the +sinking sun; but the sight was so beautiful that Max and I were loath to +leave it even for supper. + +"We must eat before the light dies," said Max, whose young stomach was +more imperious than mine, "or we shall have to eat in the dark. I have +had more than enough of that." + +"Fall to," I said, as we drew the stools to the table. With the first +mouthful of clean, delicious food my appetite returned, and I ate +ravenously. Had the repast been larger I believe we should have killed +ourselves. Fortunately it was consumed before we were exhausted, and we +came off alive and victorious. After supper darkness fell, and Max sat +beside me on the bench. He was very happy, for he felt that our troubles +would end with the night. I put my arm over his neck and begged him to +forgive me for bringing this evil upon him. + +"You shall not blame yourself, Karl," he protested. "There is no fault +in you. No one is to blame save myself; I should not have gone to the +bridge. I wonder what poor Yolanda is doing. Perhaps she is suffering in +fear and is ignorant of our misfortune. Perhaps she thinks I have broken +my promise and left Peronne. I can see her stamp her little foot, and I +see her great eyes flashing in anger. Each new humor in her seems more +beautiful than the last, Karl. Knowing her, I seem to have known all +mankind--at least, all womankind. She has wakened me to life. Her touch +has unsealed my eyes, and the pain that I take from my love for her is +like a foretaste of heaven. I believe that a man comes to his full +strength, mental and moral, only through the elixir of pain." + +"We surely have had our share of late," I said dolefully. + +"All will soon be well with us, Karl; do not fear. We shall be free +to-morrow, and I will kill this Calli. Then I'll go back to Styria a +better, wiser, stronger man than I could ever have been had I remained +at home. This last terrible experience has been the keystone of my +regeneration. It has taught me to be merciful even to the guilty, and +gentle with the accused. No man shall ever suffer at my command until he +has been proved guilty. Doubtless thousands of innocent men as free from +crime and evil intent as we, are wasting their lives away in dungeons as +loathsome as those that imprisoned us." + +"Calli will not fight you," I said. + +"If he refuses, I will kill him at the steps of the throne of Burgundy, +let the result be what it may. God will protect me in my just vengeance. +I will then go home; and I'll not return to Burgundy till I do so at the +head of an army, to compel Duke Charles to behead Campo-Basso." + +"What will you do about Yolanda, Max?" I asked. + +The interference of the princess in our behalf had thrown more light on +my important riddle, and once again I was convinced that she +was Yolanda. + +"I'll keep her in my heart till I die, Karl," he responded, "and I pray +God to give her a happier life than mine can be. That is all I can do." + +"Will you see her before you go?" I asked, fully intending that there +should be no doubt on the question. + +"Yes, and then--" He paused; and, after a little time, I asked:-- + +"And what then, Max?" + +"God only knows what, Karl. I'm sure I don't," he answered. + +We talked till late into the night, lay down on our soft, clean beds of +straw, and were soon asleep. + +I did not know how long I had been sleeping when I was wakened by a +voice that seemed to fill the room, low, soft, and musical as the tones +of an Aeolian harp. I groped my way noiselessly in the dark to Max's bed +and aroused him. Placing my hand over his mouth to insure silence, I +whispered:-- + +"Listen!" + +He rested on his elbow, and we waited. After a few seconds the voice +again resounded through the room, soft as a murmured ave, distinct as +the notes of a bird. Max clutched my hand. Soon the voice came again, +and we heard the words:-- + +"Little Max, do you hear? Answer softly." + +"I hear," responded Max. + +There was an uncanny note in the music of the voice. It seemed almost +celestial. We could not tell whence it came. Every stone in the walls +and ceiling, every slab in the floor seemed resonant with silvery tones. +After Max had answered there was a pause lasting two or three minutes, +and the voice spoke again:-- + +"I love you, Little Max. I tell you because I wish to comfort you. Do +not fear. You shall be free to-morrow. Do not answer. Adieu." + +"Yolanda! Yolanda!" cried Max, pleadingly; but he received no answer. He +put his hand on my shoulder and said:-- + +"It was Yolanda, Karl--ah, God must hate a child that He brings into +the world a prince." + +For the rest of the night we did not sleep, neither did we speak. The +morrow was to be a day of frightful import to us, and we awaited it in +great anxiety. + +When the morning broke and the sun shot his rays through the narrow +window, we carefully examined the floor and walls of our room, but we +found no opening through which the voice could have penetrated. In the +side of the room formed by the wall of the tower, the mortar had fallen +from between two stones, leaving one of them somewhat loose, but the +castle wall at that point was fully sixteen feet thick, and it was +impossible that the voice should have come through the layers of stone. + +From my first acquaintance with Yolanda there had seemed to be a +supernatural element in her nature, an elfin quality in her face and +manner that could not be described. Max had often told me that she +impressed him in like manner. The voice in our stone-girt chamber, +coming as it did from nowhere, and resounding as it did everywhere, +intensified that feeling till it was almost a conviction, though I am +slow to accept supernatural explanations--a natural one usually exists. +Of course, there are rare instances of supernatural power vested in men +and women, and Yolanda's great, burning eyes caused me at times, almost +to believe that she was favored with it. + +The voice that we had heard was unquestionably Yolanda's, but by what +strange power it was enabled to penetrate our rock-ribbed prison and +give tongues to the cold stones I could not guess, though I could not +stop trying. Here was another riddle set by this marvellous girl for my +solving. This riddle, however, helped to solve the first, and confirmed +my belief that Yolanda was Mary of Burgundy. + +After breakfast Max and I were taken to the great hall, where we found +Castleman standing before the ducal throne, speaking to Charles. The +burgher turned toward us, and as we approached I heard him say:-- + +"My lord, these men are not spies." + +"Who are they?" demanded the duke. + +Castleman gave our names and told the story of our meeting at Basel, +after we had escorted Merchant Franz from Cannstadt. Then he narrated +Max's adventure at the moat bridge, closing with:-- + +"Count Calli grossly insulted Fräulein Castleman, for which Sir Max +chastised him; and no doubt, my lord, this arrest has been made +for revenge." + +"Has the younger man name or title other than you have given?" asked +Charles. + +The burgher hesitated before he answered:-- + +"He has, my lord, though I may not disclose it to Your Grace without his +permission, unless you order me so to do upon my fealty. That I humbly +beg Your Grace not to do." + +"I beg Your Grace not to ask me to disclose my identity at this time," +said Max. "I am willing, should you insist upon knowing who I am, to +tell it privately in Your Grace's ear; but I am travelling incognito +with my friend, Sir Karl de Pitti, and I beg that I may remain so. My +estate is neither very great nor very small, but what it is I desire for +many reasons not to divulge. These reasons in no way touch Burgundy, and +I am sure Your Grace will not wish to intrude upon them. Within a month, +perhaps within a few days, I will enlighten you. If you will permit me +to remain in Peronne, I will communicate my reasons to you personally; +if I leave, I will write to Your Grace. I give my parole that I will, +within a month, surrender myself to Your Lordship, if you are not +satisfied, upon hearing my explanations, that my word is that of an +honorable knight, and my station one worthy of Your Grace's respect. I +hope my Lord d'Hymbercourt and my good friend Castleman will stand as +hostages for me in making this pledge." + +Both men eagerly offered their persons and their estates as hostages, +and the duke, turning to the captain of the guard, said:-- + +"Remove the manacles from these knights." + +The chains were removed, and the duke, coming down to the last step of +the dais, looked into Max's face. + +Max calmly returned the fierce gaze without so much as the faltering of +an eyelid. + +"All step back save this young man," ordered the duke, extending his +open palm toward the courtiers. + +We all fell away, but the duke said:-- + +"Farther back, farther back, I say! Don't crowd in like a pack of yokels +at a street fight!" + +Charles was acting under great excitement. I was not sure that it was +not anger since his mien looked much like it. I did not know what was +going to happen, and was in an agony of suspense. Anything was possible +with this brutish duke when his brain was crazed with passion. + +All who had been near the ducal throne moved back, till no one was +within ten yards of Charles save Max. The duke wore a dagger and a shirt +of mail; Max wore neither arms nor armor. After the courtiers stepped +back from the throne a deep, expectant hush fell upon the room. No one +could guess the intentions of this fierce, cruel duke, and I was +terribly apprehensive for Max's safety. Had Max been armed, I should +have had no fear for him at the hands of the duke or any other man. + +Charles stepped from the dais to the floor beside Max, still gazing +fixedly into his face. The men were within four feet of each other. The +silence in the room was broken only by the heavy breathing of excited +courtiers. The duke's voice sounded loud and harsh when he spoke to Max, +and his breath came in hoarse gusts:-- + +"You are accused, Sir Knight, by credible witnesses of intent to murder +me. For such a crime it is my privilege to kill you here and now with my +own hand. What have you to say?" + +Charles paused for a reply, drawing his dagger from its sheath. When Max +saw the naked weapon, I noticed that he gave a start, though it was +almost imperceptible. He at once recovered himself, and straightening to +his full height, stepped to within two feet of the duke. + +"If I plotted or intended to kill you, my lord," said Max, less moved +than any other man in the room, "it is your right to kill me; but even +were I guilty I doubt if my Lord of Burgundy, who is noted the world +over for his bravery, would strike an unarmed man. If Your Grace wished +to attack me, you would give me arms equal to your own. If you should +kill me, unarmed as I am, you would be more pitiable than any other man +in Burgundy. You would despise yourself, and all mankind would +spurn you." + +"Do you not fear me?" asked the duke, still clutching the hilt of his +unsheathed dagger. + +"I do not believe you have the least intent to kill me," answered Max, +"but if you have, you may easily do so, and I shall be less to be +pitied than you. No, I do not fear you! Do I look it, my lord?" + +"No, by God, you don't look it. Neither have you cause to fear me," said +Charles. "There is not another man in Christendom could have stood this +ordeal without flinching." + +To a brave man, bravery is above all the cardinal virtue. Charles turned +toward his courtiers and continued:-- + +"There is one man who does not fear me--man, say I? He is little more +than a boy. Men of Burgundy, take a lesson from this youth, and bear it +in mind when we go to war." + +The duke began to unbuckle his shirt of mail, speaking as he did so:-- + +"I'll soon learn who has lied. I'll show this boy that I am as brave as +he." + +Charles turned to Calli. + +"Sir Count, did you not say this knight wished to kill me, even at the +cost of his own life?" + +"I so said, my lord, and so maintain upon my honor as a knight and upon +my hope of salvation as a Christian. I so heard him avow," +answered Calli. + +"I will quickly prove or disprove your words, Sir Count," said the duke, +removing his mail shirt and throwing it to the floor. Then he turned to +Max and offered him the hilt of his dagger: "If you would purchase my +death at the cost of your life, here is my dagger, and you may easily +make the barter. I am unarmed. One blow from that great arm of yours +will end all prospects of war with your Switzerland." + +Max hesitatingly took the dagger and looked with a puzzled expression +from it to the duke's face. Campo-Basso and his Italian friends moved +toward their lord as if to protect him, but Charles waved them back with +a protesting palm. + +"Switzerland is not my native land, Your Grace, nor do I seek your life. +Take your dagger," said Max. + +"I offer you better terms," said Charles. "If you wish to kill me, I now +give you safe conduct beyond the borders of Burgundy." + +"My lord, you are mistaken," said Max, impatiently, tossing the dagger +to the floor and stepping back from the duke. A soft ripple of laughter +was heard in the ladies' gallery. + +"No, it is not I that am mistaken," said Charles. "It is Campo-Basso and +his friends. Count Calli, prepare to give the combat to this knight, +whoever he may be, and God have mercy on your soul, for the day of your +death is at hand." + +Another ripple of soft laughter came from the ladies' gallery. + +"I cannot fight him," wailed Calli. "I am suffering from a broken arm. +My horse fell with me three weeks ago, as Your Grace well knows." + +"When your arm mends, you must fight and prove your cause, or by the +soul of God, you hang! We'll make a fête of this combat, and another of +your funeral. There shall be a thousand candles, and masses sufficient +to save the soul of Satan himself. My Lord Campo-Basso, let not the like +of this happen again. Vengeance in Burgundy is mine, not my Italians'. +Heralds, dismiss the company. These men are free." + +All departed save Castleman, Hymbercourt, Max, and myself, who remained +at the duke's request. + +"If you will remain at the castle, you are most welcome," said Charles, +addressing Max and me. + +I would have jumped at the offer, but Max thanked the duke and declined. + +"We will, with Your Grace's permission, remain at Grote's inn for a +short time and then ask leave to depart from Burgundy." + +The duke answered:-- + +"As you will. I do not press you. If you change your mind, come to the +castle, and you will be very welcome." + +He turned and, with brief adieu, left the great-hall by the small door +near the dais. Castleman, Hymbercourt, and Max passed out through the +great doors, and I was about to follow them when I was startled by the +voice I had heard in the night:-- + +"Little Max, Little Max," came softly from the ladies' gallery. + +I paused to hear more, but all was silent in the great hall. The words +could have come from no other lips than Yolanda's--Mary's. True, I +reasoned, Yolanda might be one of the ladies of the court, perhaps a +near relative of the duke. Once the horrifying thought that he was her +lover came to my mind, but it fled instantly. There was no evil +in Yolanda. + +Max did not hear the voice. I intended to tell him of it when we should +reach the inn, and I thought to tell him also that I believed Yolanda +was the Princess Mary. I changed my mind, however, and again had reason +to be thankful for my silence. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A LIVE WREN PIE + +The next day came the invitation to sup at Castleman's, and we were on +hand promptly at the appointed time--four o'clock. Before leaving the +inn I had determined to ask Castleman to satisfy my curiosity concerning +Yolanda. With good reason I felt that it was my duty and my right to +know certainly who she was. She might not be Mary of Burgundy, but she +surely was not a burgher girl, and in some manner she was connected with +the court of Duke Charles. + +Max and I were sitting in the long room (it was on the ground floor and +extended across the entire front of the house) with Castleman when Frau +Kate entered followed by Yolanda and Twonette. The frau courtesied, and +gave us welcome. Twonette courtesied and stepped to her father's side. +Yolanda gave Max her hand and lifted it to be kissed. The girl laughed +joyously, and, giving him her other hand, stood looking up into his +face. Her laughter soon became nervous, and that change in a womanly +woman is apt to be the forerunner of tears. They soon came to moisten +Yolanda's eyes, but she kept herself well in hand and said:-- + +"It has been a very long time, Sir Max, since last I saw you." + +"A hard, cruel time for me, Fräulein. Your hot-headed duke gives strange +license to his murderous courtiers," answered Max. + +"It has been a hard time for others, too," she responded. "Hard for +uncle, hard for tante, hard for Twonette--very hard for Twonette." She +spoke jestingly, but one might easily see her emotion. + +"And you, Fräulein?" he asked smilingly. + +"I--I dare not say how hard it has been for me, Little Max. Do you not +see? I fear--I fear I shall--weep--if I try to tell you. I am almost +weeping now. I fear I have grown gray because of it," she answered, +closing with a nervous laugh. Max, too, could hardly speak. She smiled +up into his face, and bending before him stood on tiptoe to bring the +top of her head under his inspection. + +"You may see the white hairs if you look carefully," she said. + +Max laughed and stooped to examine the great bush of fluffy dark hair. + +"I see not one white hair," he said. + +"Look closely," she insisted. + +He looked closely, and startled us all, including Yolanda, by putting +his lips to the fragrant, silky mass. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Yolanda, stepping back from him and placing her hand to +the top of her head on the spot that he had kissed. She looked up to him +with a fluttering little laugh:-- + +"I--I did not know you were going to do that." + +"Neither did I," said Max. + +Castleman and his wife looked displeased and Twonette's face wore an +expression of amused surprise. + +After a constrained pause Frau Katherine said:-- + +"Our guests are not in the habit of kissing us." + +"No one has kissed you, tante," retorted Yolanda, "nor do they intend to +do so. Do not fear. I--I brought it on myself, and if I do not complain, +you may bear up under it." + +"It certainly is unusual to--" began the frau. + +"Tante," cried Yolanda, flushing angrily and stamping her foot. Tante +was silent. + +"Your words night before last brought marvellous comfort to us, +Fräulein," said Max. "Where were you, and how--" + +"My words? Night before last?" asked Yolanda, in open-eyed wonder, "I +have not seen you since three weeks ago." + +"You called to me in my prison in the tower," said Max. "You called to +me by the name you sometimes use." + +"Ah, that is wonderful," exclaimed Yolanda. "I wakened myself night +before last calling your name, and telling you not to fear. I was +dreaming that you were in danger, but I also dreamed that you would soon +be free. Can it be possible that the voice of a dreamer can travel to a +distance and penetrate stone walls? You almost make me fear myself by +telling me that you heard my call." + +Like most persons, Max loved the mysterious, so he at once became +greatly interested. He would have discussed the subject further had not +Yolanda turned to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, I have not greeted Sir Karl." + +She gave me her hand, and I would have knelt had she not prevented me by +a surprised arching of her eyebrows. My attempt to salute her on my knee +was involuntary, but when I saw the warning expression in her eyes, I +quickly recovered myself. I bowed and she withdrew her hand. + +"Let us go to the garden," she suggested. + +The others left the room, but Yolanda held back and detained me by a +gesture. + +"You would have knelt to me," she said almost angrily. + +"Yes, mademoiselle," I replied, "the movement was involuntary." + +"I once warned you, Sir Karl, not to try to learn anything concerning +me. I told you that useless knowledge was dangerous. You have been +guessing, and probably are very far wrong in your conclusion. But +whatever your surmises are, don't let me know them. Above all, say +nothing to Sir Max; I warn you! Unless you would see no more of me, bear +this warning in mind. Yolanda is a burgher girl. Treat her accordingly, +and impress the fact on Sir Max. Were I as great as the ill-tempered +Princess of Burgundy, whose estates you came to woo, I should still +despise adulation. Bah! I hate it all," she continued, stamping her +foot. "I hate princes and princesses, and do not understand how they can +endure to have men kneel and grovel before them. This fine Princess of +Burgundy, I am told, looks--" She paused and then went on: "I sometimes +hate her most of all. I am a burgher girl, I tell you, and I am proud of +it. I warn you not to make me other." + +"Your warning, my lady, is--" + +"Fräulein!" interrupted Yolanda, angrily stamping her foot, "or +Yolanda--call me either. If I give you the privilege, you should value +it sufficiently to use it." + +"Yolanda, I will sin no more," I responded. Her face broke into a smile, +and she took my arm, laughing contentedly. + +I walked out to the garden--Yolanda danced out--and we sat with the +others under the shade of the arbor vines. Castleman and Max drank +sparingly of wine and honey, while I sipped orange water with Yolanda, +Twonette, and Frau Kate. + +"What do you think of Burgundy, Sir Max?" asked the burgher. + +"I like Grote's inn well," answered Max. "I like the castle dungeon ill. +I have seen little else of Burgundy save in our journey down the Somme. +Then I saw nothing but the road on the opposite bank. Had I tried to see +the country I should have failed; the dust-cloud we carried with us was +impenetrable." He turned to Yolanda, "That was a hard journey for you, +Fräulein." + +"No, no," she cried, "it was glorious. The excitement was worth a +lifetime of monotony; it was delightful. I could feel my heart beat all +the time, and no woman is sure she lives until she feels the beating of +her heart." + +I suspected a double meaning in her words, but no trace of +self-consciousness was visible in her face. + +"I have often wondered, Fräulein, if the papers reached the castle +before the duke arrived?" asked Max. + +"What papers?" queried Yolanda. + +"Why, the papers we made the mad race to deliver," answered Max. + +"Oh, y-e-s," responded the girl, "they arrived just in time." + +"And were delivered at the gate?" I suggested. + +A quick, angry glance of surprise shot from Yolanda's eyes, and rising +from her chair she entered the house. Twonette followed her, and the two +did not return for an hour. I was accumulating evidence on the subject +of my puzzling riddle, but I feared my last batch might prove expensive. +I saw the mistake my tongue had led me into. Many a man has wrecked his +fortune by airing his wit. + +When Yolanda returned, she sat at a little distance from us, pouting +beautifully. The cause of her unmistakable ill-humor, of course, was +known only to me, and was a source of wonder to Max. At the end of five +minutes, during which there had been little conversation, Max, who was +amused at Yolanda's pouting, turned to her, and said:-- + +"The Fates owe me a few smiles as compensation for their frowns during +the last three weeks. Won't you help them to pay me, Fräulein?" + +Her face had been averted, but when Max spoke she turned slowly and gave +him the smile he desired as if to say, "I am not pouting at you." + +Her act was so childlike and her face so childishly beautiful that we +all smiled with amusement and pleasure. Yolanda saw the smiles and +turned on us, pouting though almost ready to laugh. She rose from her +chair, stamped her foot, stood irresolutely for a moment, and then +breaking into a laugh, drew her chair to our little circle--next to +Max--and sat down. + +"Tante, is supper never to be served?" she asked. "I am impatient to see +the live wren pie." + +"Live wren pie?" asked Max, incredulously. + +"Yes. Have you never seen one?" asked Yolanda. + +"Surely not," he replied. + +"Ah, you have a treat in store," she exclaimed, clapping her hands +enthusiastically. "Uncle carves the pie, the wrens fly out, you open +your mouth, and the birds, being very small, fly down your throat and +save you the trouble eating them. They are trained to do it, you know." + +A chorus of laughter followed this remarkable statement. Max leaned +forward, rested his elbows on his knees, looked at the ground for the +space of half a minute, and said:-- + +"I was mistaken in saying that I had never partaken of the dish. While +at Basel I foolishly opened my mouth, and a beautiful little bird flew +down my throat to my heart." + +Frau Castleman coughed, and the burgher moved in his chair and swallowed +half a goblet of wine. Twonette laughed outright at the pretty turn Max +had made upon Yolanda, and I ridiculously tried to keep my face +expressionless. Yolanda laughed flutteringly, and the long lashes fell. + +"That was prettily spoken, Sir Max," she said, smiling. "No Frenchman +could improve upon it. You are constantly surprising me." + +"Are Frenchmen apt at such matters, Fräulein?" I asked. + +"I have known but few Frenchmen," she responded. "You know Burgundy and +France are natural enemies, like the cat and the dog. I have little love +for the French. I speak only from hearsay." + +"You will do well to learn to like them," I suggested. "Burgundy itself +will soon be French, if the Princess Mary weds the Dauphin." + +By speaking freely of the princess, I hoped Yolanda might believe that, +whatever my surmises were concerning her identity, I did not suspect +that she was Mademoiselle de Burgundy. + +Yolanda sighed, but did not answer. Silence fell upon our little party, +and after a long pause I turned to Twonette:-- + +"I remember that Franz told me at Basel, Fräulein Twonette, that you and +this famous Princess Mary of Burgundy were friends." + +"Yes," answered Twonette, with an effort not to smile, "she has, at +times, honored me with her notice." + +"Out of that fact grows Twonette's serene dignity," laughed Yolanda. "On +the strength of this acquaintance she quite lords it over us at times, +and is always reminding me of the many haughty virtues of her friend as +a pattern that I should follow. You see, I am incessantly confronted +with this princess." + +I thought it was a pretty piece of acting, though the emphasis of her +dislike for the princess was unmistakably genuine. + +"The duke has graciously invited us to the castle," I said, "and I hope +to have the honor of seeing the princess." + +When I spoke of the duke's invitation, I at once caught Yolanda's +attention. + +"You will not meet the princess if you go to the castle," said Yolanda. +"She is an ill-natured person, I am told, and is far from gracious to +strangers." + +"I do not hope for such an honor," I replied. "I should like merely to +see her before I leave Burgundy. That is all the favor I ask at her +hands. She is a lady famed throughout all Europe for her beauty and her +gentleness." + +"She doesn't merit her fame," responded Yolanda, carefully examining her +hands folded in her lap, and glancing nervously toward Max. + +"Do you know Her Highness?" I asked. + +"I--I have heard enough of her and have often seen her," she replied. +"She usually rides out with her ladies at this hour. From the upper end +of the garden you may soon see her come through the Postern gate, if you +care to watch." + +"I certainly should like to see her," I answered, rapidly losing faith +in my conclusion that Yolanda was the princess. + +The Castlemans did not offer to move, but Yolanda, springing to her +feet, said, "Come," and led the way. + +The upper end of the garden, as I have told you, was on the banks of the +Cologne at a point where it flowed into the castle moat. The castle +wall, sixty feet high at that point, bordered the west side of the +garden. The moat curved along the right side, and the river flowed past +the upper end. Castleman's house faced south, and stood on the lower end +of the strip of ground that lay between the castle wall and the moat. +The Postern was perhaps three hundred yards north from the upper end of +Castleman's garden. Since it was on the opposite side of the river, one +could reach the Postern, from Castleman's house, only by going up to the +town bridge and back to the castle by the street that followed the north +side of the Cologne. + +We all walked to the upper end of the garden, and stood leaning against +the low stone wall at the river's edge. We had waited perhaps ten +minutes when we heard a blare of trumpets and saw a small cavalcade of +ladies and gentlemen ride from the castle and pass over the drawbridge. + +"The lady in scarlet is the duchess," said Castleman. + +"She is English," remarked Yolanda, "and loves bright colors." + +"Which is the princess?" I asked of Yolanda, feeling that I also was +acting my part admirably. To my surprise she answered promptly:-- + +"She in blue with a falcon on her shoulder. Am I not right, uncle?" + +"Yes," responded Castleman. Twonette confirmed the statement. + +My air-castles fell noiselessly about my head. My dreams vanished like +breath from a cold mirror, and the sphinx-like face of my great riddle +rose before me in defiance. + +After the cavalcade had passed I found myself with Yolanda a dozen paces +from the others. + +"Fräulein," I said, "I want to confess I thought you were the Princess +Mary of Burgundy." + +Yolanda laughed softly. + +"I was sure you had some such absurd notion. I supposed you had seen +her, and had believed she was Yolanda, the burgher girl; that mistake +has often been made. You may see this princess at the castle, and I warn +you not to be deceived. I have the great honor, it is said, to resemble +Her Highness as one pea resembles another. I have been told that she has +heard of the low-born maiden that dares to have a face like hers, and +she doubtless hates me for it, just as I bear her no good-will for the +same reason. When two women greatly resemble each other, there is +seldom good feeling between them. Each believes the other is stealing +something of her personality, and a woman's vanity prompts her to resent +it. If you make the mistake with the princess that you made with me, I +warn you it will not be so easily corrected." + +My poor riddle! My stony sphinx! My clinging hallucination! Again I +should have it with me, stalking at my side by day, lying by me at +night, whirling through my brain at all times, and driving me mad with +its eternal question, "Who is Yolanda?" The solution of my riddle may be +clear to you as I am telling you the story. At least, you may think it +is, since I am trying to conceal nothing from you. I relate this history +in the order of its happening, and wish, if possible, to place before +you the manner in which this question of Yolanda's identity puzzled me. +If you will put yourself in my place, you will at once realize how +deeply I was affected by this momentous, unanswered, unanswerable +question, "Who is Yolanda?" and you will understand why I could not see +the solution, however clear you may believe it to be to yourself. + +We soon went in to supper and, after the peacock, the pheasants, and the +pastries were removed, we were served with a most delicious after-dish +in sparkling glass cups. It was frozen orange-water mixed with wine of +Burgundy. I had never tasted a dish so palatable. I had dined at the +emperor's table in Vienna; I had lived in Italy; I had sojourned in the +East, where luxuries are most valued and used, but I had never partaken +of a more delicious supper than that which I ate at the house of my rich +burgher friend, George Castleman. There might have been a greater +showing of plate, though that was not lacking, but there could have been +no whiter linen nor more appetizing dishes than those which good Frau +Kate gave us that evening. + +After the frozen wine had disappeared, a serving-maid brought in a +stoneware pan covered with a snowy pastry, made from the whites of eggs +and clear sugar. At its entry Yolanda clapped her hands and cried out +with childish delight. When the pan was placed before Castleman, she +exclaimed:-- + +"Be careful, uncle! Don't thrust the knife too deep, or you will kill +the birds." + +Uncle Castleman ran the point of the knife around the outer edge of the +crust, and, with a twist of the blade, quickly lifted it from the pan, +when out flew a dozen or more wrens. Yolanda's delight knew no bounds. +She sprang from her chair, exclaiming:-- + +"Catch them! Catch them!" and led the way. + +She climbed on chairs, tables, and window shelves, and soon had her +hands full of the demure little songsters. Max, too, was pursuing the +wrens, and Twonette, losing part of her serenity, actually caught a +bird. The sport was infectious, and soon fat old Castleman was puffing +like a tired porpoise, and sedate old Karl de Pitti was in the chase. +Frau Katherine grabbed desperately at a bird now and then, but she was +too stout to catch one and soon took her chair, laughing and out of +breath. Yolanda screamed with laughter, and after she had caught six or +seven birds and put them in the cage provided for them, she asked Max to +lift her in his arms that she might reach one resting on a beam near the +ceiling. Max gladly complied, and Yolanda, having caught the +bird, said:-- + +"Now, Sir Max, open your mouth." + +"I have already swallowed one," said Max, laughing, "and I will swallow +none other so long as I live." + +As Max lowered her to the floor her arm fell about his neck for an +instant, and the great strong boy trembled at the touch of this +weak girl. + +Out to the garden we went again after supper, and when dusk began to +fall, Yolanda led Max to a rustic seat in the deep shadow of the vines. +I could not hear their words, but I learned afterward of the +conversation. + +When I thought Yolanda was the princess, I was joyful because of the +marked favor that she showed Max. When I thought she was a burgher girl, +I felt like a fussy old hen with a flock of ducks if he were alone with +her. She seemed then a bewitching little ogress slowly devouring my +handsome Prince Max. That she was fair, entrancing, and lovable beyond +any woman I had ever known, only added to my anxiety. Would Max be +strong enough to hold out against her wooing? I don't like to apply the +word "wooing" to a young girl's conduct, but we all know that woman does +her part in the great system of human mating when the persons most +interested do the choosing; and it is right that she should. The modesty +that prevents a woman from showing her preference is the result of a +false philosophy, and flies in the face of nature. Her right to choose +is as good as man's. + +If Yolanda's wooing was more pronounced than is usual with a modest +young girl, it must be remembered that her situation was different. She +knew that Max had been restrained from wooing her only because of the +impassable gulf that lay between them. Ardor in Max when marriage was +impossible would have been an insult to Yolanda. His reticence for +conscience' sake and for her sake was the most chivalric flattery he +could have paid her. She saw the situation clearly, and, trusting Max +implicitly, felt safe in giving rein to her heart. She did not care to +hide from him its true condition. On the contrary she wished him to be +as sure of her as she was of him, for after all that would be the only +satisfaction they would ever know. + +I argued: If Yolanda were the princess, betrothed to the Dauphin, the +gulf between her and Max was as impassable as if she were a burgher +girl. In neither case could she hope to marry him. Therefore, her +girlish wooing was but the outcry of nature and was without boldness. + +The paramount instinct of all nature is to flower. Even the frozen +Alpine rock sends forth its edelweiss, and the heart of a princess is +first the heart of a woman, and must blossom when its spring comes. All +the conventions that man can invent will not keep back the flower. All +created things, animate and inanimate, have in them an uncontrollable +impulse which, in their spring, reverts with a holy retrospect to the +great first principle of existence, the love of reproduction. + +Yolanda's spring had come, and her heart was a flower with the sacred +bloom. Being a woman, she loved it and cuddled it for the sake of the +pain it brought, as a mother fondles a wayward child. Max, being a man, +struggled against the joy that hurt him and, with a sympathy broad +enough for two, feared the pain he might bring to Yolanda. So this +unresponsiveness in Max made him doubly attractive to the girl, who was +of the sort, whether royal or bourgeois, before whom men usually fall. + +"I thought you had left me, Sir Max," she said, drawing him to a seat +beside her in the shade. + +"I promised you I would not go," he responded, "and I would not +willingly break my word to any one, certainly not to you, Fräulein." + +"I was angry when I heard you had left the inn," she said, "and I spoke +unkindly of you. There has been an ache in my heart ever since that +nothing but confession and remission will cure." + +"I grant the remission gladly," answered Max. "There was flattery in +your anger." + +The girl laughed softly and, clasping her hands over her knee, spoke +with a sigh. + +"I think women have the harder part of life in everything. I again ask +you to promise me that you will not leave Peronne within a month." + +"I cannot promise you that, Fräulein," answered Max. + +"You will some day--soon, perhaps--know my reasons," said Yolanda, "and +if they do not prove good I am willing to forfeit your esteem. That is +the greatest hostage I can give." + +"I cannot promise," answered Max, stubbornly. + +"I offer you another inducement, one that will overmatch the small +weight of my poor wishes. I promise to bring you to meet this Mary of +Burgundy whom you came to woo. I cannot present you, but I will see that +Twonette brings about the meeting. I tell you, as I have already told +Sir Karl, that it is said I resemble this princess, so you must not +mistake her for me." + +When Max told me of this offer I wondered if the girl had been testing +him, and a light dawned on me concerning her motives. + +"I did not come to woo her," answered Max, "though she may have been a +part of my reason for coming. I knew that she was affianced to the +Dauphin of France. Her beauty and goodness were known to me through +letters of my Lord d'Hymbercourt, written to my dear old friend Karl. +Because of certain transactions, of which you do not know and of which I +may not speak, I esteemed her for a time above all women, though I had +never seen her. I still esteem her, but--but the other is all past now, +Fräulein, and I do not wish to meet the princess, though the honor would +be far beyond my deserts." + +"Why do you not wish to meet her?" asked Yolanda, with an air of +pleasure. Max hesitated, then answered bluntly:-- + +"Because I have met you, Fräulein. You should not lead me to speak such +words." + +Yolanda touched Max's arm and said frankly:-- + +"There can be no harm, Max. If you knew all,--if I could tell you +all,--you would understand. The words can harm neither of us." She +hesitated and, with drooping head, continued: "And they are to me as the +sun and the south wind to the flowers and the corn. You already know all +that is in my heart, or I would not speak so plainly. In all my life I +have known little of the sweet touch of human sympathy and love, and, +Max, my poor heart yearns for them until at times I feel like the +flowers without the sun and the corn without the rain,--as if I will die +for lack of them. I am almost tempted to tell you all." + +"Tell me all, Yolanda," entreated Max, "for I, too, have suffered from +the same want, though my misfortune comes from being born to a high +estate. If you but knew the lonely, corroding misery of those born to a +station above the reach of real human sympathy, you would not envy, you +would pity them. You would be charitable to their sins, and would thank +God for your lowly lot in life. I will tell you my secret. I am +Maximilian of Hapsburg." + +"I have known it since the first day I saw you at Basel," answered +Yolanda. + +"I have felt sure at times that you did," responded Max, "though I +cannot think how you learned it. Will you tell me of yourself?" + +The girl hung her head and hesitated. Once she lifted her face to speak, +but changed her mind. + +"Please don't ask me now. I will tell you soon, but not now, not now. Be +patient with me. I do pity you. I do, I do. If we could help each +other--but we cannot, and there is no use longing for it. I sometimes +fear that your attitude is the right one, and that it is best that we +should part and meet no more." + +The proposition to part and meet no more was good in theory, but Max +found that the suggestion to make a fact of it frightened him. + +"Let us not speak of that now," he said. "The parting will come soon +enough. You will surely deem me cold and unworthy, Fräulein, but you +cannot understand. One may not call a man hard and selfish who plucks +out his eye for the sake of a God-imposed duty, or who deliberately +thrusts away happiness and accepts a life of misery and heartache +because of the chains with which God bound him at his birth." + +"Ah, I do understand, Max; I understand only too well," answered the +girl. + +I have often wondered why Max did not suspect that Yolanda was the +Princess Mary; but when I considered that he had not my reasons to lead +him to that conclusion, I easily understood his blindness, for even I +was unconvinced. Had I not overheard Castleman's conversation with +Yolanda on the road to Strasburg, after meeting De Rose, the supposition +that the burgher girl travelling unattended with a merchant and his +daughter could possibly be the Princess Mary would have been beyond the +credence of a sane man. The thought never would have occurred to me. +Even with Castleman's words always ringing in my ears, I was +constantly in doubt. + +"There is no reason why one should deliberately hasten the day of one's +thralldom," said Yolanda, softly. "If one may be free and happy for an +hour without breaking those terrible chains of God's welding, is he not +foolish to refuse the small benediction? The memory of it may sweeten +the years to come." + +"To woman, such a memory is sweet," answered Max, striving to steel his +heart against the girl. "To men, it is a bitter regret." + +To me he had spoken differently of his pain. + +"Then be generous, Little Max, and give me the sweet memory," said the +girl, carried away by the swirling impulse of her heart. + +"You will not need it," answered Max. "Your lot will be different from +mine." + +"Yes, it will be different, Max--it will be worse," she cried +passionately, almost in tears. "I think I shall kill myself when you +leave Burgundy." She paused and turned fiercely upon him, "Give me the +promise I ask. I demand at least that consolation as my right--as a poor +return for what you take from me." + +Max gently took her hand, which was at once lost in his great clasp. + +"Fräulein, I will not leave Burgundy within a month, whatever the +consequences may be," he said tenderly. + +"Upon your honor?" she asked, joyously clapping her hands. + +"Every promise I make, Fräulein, is on my honor," said Max, seriously. + +"So it is, Little Max, so it is," she answered gently. Then they rose +and came to the table where Castleman and I were sitting. + +Yolanda had gained her point and was joyful over her victory. + +Frau Katherine was asleep in a high-backed chair. Twonette slept in a +corner of the arbor, her flaxen head embowered in a cluster of leaves +and illumined by a stray beam of moonlight that stole between the vines. + +"I am going in now. Come, Twonette," said Yolanda, shaking that plump +young lady to arouse her. "Come, Twonette." + +Twonette slowly opened her big blue eyes, but she was slower in +awakening. + +"Twonette! Twonette!" cried Yolanda, pulling at the girl's hand. "I +declare, if you don't resist this growing drowsiness you will go down in +history as the 'Eighth Sleeper,' and will be left snoring on +resurrection morn." + +When Twonette had awakened sufficiently to walk, we started from the +arbor to the house. As we passed from beneath the vines, the frowning +wall of the castle and the dark forms of its huge towers, silhouetted in +black against the moon-lit sky, formed a picture of fierce and sombre +gloom not soon to be forgotten. + +"The dark, frowning castle reminds one of its terrible lord," said Max, +looking up at the battlements. + +"It does, indeed," answered Yolanda, hardly above a whisper. Then we +went into the house. + +"We hope to see you again for supper to-morrow evening, don't we, +uncle?" said Yolanda, addressing Max and me, and turning to Castleman. + +"Yes--yes, to-morrow evening," said the burgher, hesitatingly. + +Max accepted the invitation and we made our adieux. + +At the bridge over the Cologne we met Hymbercourt returning to his house +from the castle. While we talked, the cavalcade of ladies and gentlemen +that we had watched from Castleman's garden cantered up the street. + +"You will now see the princess," said Hymbercourt. "She comes with the +duke and the duchess. They left the castle at five, and have been riding +in the moonlight." + +We stepped to one side of the street as the cavalcade passed, and I +asked Hymbercourt to point out the princess. + +"She rides between the duke--the tall figure that you may recognize by +his long beard--and the page carrying a hooded falcon," he answered. + +Surely this evidence should have put my mind at rest concerning my +hallucination that Yolanda was Mary of Burgundy; but when we reached +the inn and Max told me of his conversation with Yolanda the riddle +again sprang up like a jack-in-the-box. I felt that I was growing weak +in mind. Yolanda's desire to tell Max her secret, and her refusal; her +longing for human sympathy, and the lack of it; her wish that he should +remain in Peronne for a month--all these made me feel that she was +the princess. + +I could not help hoping that Hymbercourt was mistaken in pointing out +Her Highness. She rode in the shadow of the buildings and the moon was +less than half full. Yolanda might have wished to deceive us by pointing +out the princess while we watched the cavalcade from Castleman's garden. +The burgher and Twonette might have been drawn into the plot against us +by the impetuous will of this saucy little witch. Many things, I +imagined, had happened which would have appeared absurd to a sane +man--but I was not sane. I wished to believe that Yolanda was the +princess, and I could not get the notion out of my head. + +Yolanda's forwardness with Max, if she were Mary of Burgundy, could +easily be explained on the ground that she was a princess, and was +entitled to speak her mind. I was sure she was a modest girl, therefore, +if she were of lowly birth, she would have hesitated to speak so plainly +to Max. So, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I refused to +be convinced that Yolanda was not Mademoiselle de Burgundy. I loved the +thought so dearly that I could not and would not part with it. That +night, while I lay pondering over the riddle, I determined to do no more +guessing, and let the Fates solve it for me. They might give me the +answer soon if I would "give it up." + +The next evening we went to Castleman's house, but we did not see +Yolanda. Frau Kate said she was indisposed, and we ate supper without +her. It was a dull meal,--so much does a good appetite wait upon good +company,--and for the first time I realized fully the marvellous quality +of this girl's magic spell. Max, of course, was disappointed, and we +walked back to The Mitre in silence. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A BATTLE IN MID AIR + +A day or two after the supper of the wren pie, Max bought from a pedler +a gray falcon most beautifully marked, with a scarlet head and neck, and +we sent our squires to Hymbercourt, asking him to solicit from the +duke's seneschal, my Lord de Vergy, permission to strike a heron on the +marshes. The favor was easily obtained, and we went forth that afternoon +to try the new hawk. + +The hours passed quickly. The hawk was perfectly trained, and as fierce +as a mountain wildcat. Its combats in mid air were most exciting. It +would attack its prey and drive it back to a point nearly over our +heads. There it waged the battle of death. It had killed three herons, +all of which had fallen at our feet, and we were returning home when a +fourth rose from the marsh. We were on a side road or path, perhaps five +hundred yards from the main highway. + +At the moment Max gave wing to his bird, two ladies and three gentlemen +came up the road, returning to Peronne, and halted to witness the +aërial combat. That they were of the court, I could easily see by their +habits, though the distance was so great that I could not distinguish +their faces. + +Never did hawk acquit itself more nobly. It seemed to realize that it +had a distinguished audience. The heron opened the battle desperately, +and persisted in keeping its course to the south. The hawk, not ready +for battle till the prey should be over our heads, circled round and +round the heron, constantly striking, but carefully avoiding the _coup +de grace_. After the birds had flown several hundred yards away from us, +and were growing small in the distance, the heron, less hardy than its +knightly foe, showed signs of weariness and confusion. It changed its +course, still flying away from us. This did not suit the hawk, and it +continued circling about its faltering prey with a vicious swiftness +well calculated to inspire terror. Its movements became so rapid that it +appeared to describe a gray circle about the heron. These circles, with +the heron as the centre, constantly grew smaller, and after a time we +could see that the birds were slowly but surely approaching us. + +When they were almost over our heads, the hawk rose with incredible +swiftness above its prey, and dropped like a bolt of gray lightning upon +the heron. Then followed a struggle that lasted while the birds fell +three hundred feet. When within fifty feet of the ground the hawk +suddenly spread its wings and stood motionless in mid air, watching its +vanquished foe as it fell to a spot within ten yards of where we stood. +The movement of the falcon in descending to us can only be described as +a settling or gradual sinking, with outstretched, motionless wings. When +Max piped, the bird flew to its master's wrist and held down its beak +for the hood. + +At the close of the battle, the gentlemen of our little audience clapped +their hands, and the ladies waved their kerchiefs. Max and I raised our +caps and reined our horses toward the main road. As we approached, the +ladies and one of the gentlemen resumed their journey toward Cambrai +Gate, but the others awaited us. When we reached them we found, to our +surprise, Duke Charles and my Lord d'Hymbercourt. + +"Ah, it is our unknown knight who was so eager to fight Count Calli," +exclaimed the duke. + +"And still eager, Your Grace," answered Max. He uncovered upon +approaching the duke, but after a moment said, "By Your Grace's leave," +and resumed his cap. I, of course, remained uncovered. The duke showed +surprise and irritation as he answered:-- + +"Since you do not see fit to tell us who you are, you should have the +grace to remain uncovered." + +Max glanced quickly at the duke's face, and removed his cap, as he +answered, smiling:-- + +"If it pleases Your Grace, I will remain uncovered even though I be the +Pope himself." + +The duke saw the humor of the situation and replied:-- + +"One who owns so noble a hawk may remain covered in any man's presence. +Never have I seen so rare a battle in mid air. The soul of Roland +himself must inhabit the bird." + +"Will Your Grace accept the hawk?" Max asked. + +"Gladly," answered the duke, "though I hesitate to deprive you of a bird +to which you must be attached." + +"Do not hesitate to give me that pleasure, my lord," answered Max. "The +bird is yours. His name is Caesar. I will send him to the castle +this evening." + +"Do not send him," suggested the duke. "Double your kindness by bringing +him to-morrow at the noon hour, after the morning audience. We must now +follow the princess. Adieu, messieurs." + +The duke touched his cap, and we bent almost to our horses' manes. + +Charles and Hymbercourt rode forward at a brisk canter, and Max and I +followed slowly. We entered Cambrai Gate three or four minutes after the +duke and the princess. + +Max, eager to exhibit his hawk to Yolanda, proposed that we ride +directly to Castleman's house. + +While we were crossing the Cologne bridge we saw the duke's party enter +the castle by the Postern, and as we turned a corner toward Castleman's +the ladies looked in our direction and the gentlemen lifted their caps. + +"Yolanda will be delighted when she sees my hawk," said Max. + +I did not answer, but I thought that Yolanda would not see the bird that +evening, since she had just entered the castle with her father. I was in +great glee of spirits; I had at last trapped the young lady. If she were +not at Castleman's house there could be but one answer to my riddle. I +did not merely believe that I should not find her there; I knew I +should not. + +Max and I hitched our horses, and when Castleman's front door opened, +lo! there stood Yolanda. Never in all my life have I taken such a fall. + +Somewhat out of breath, Yolanda exclaimed:-- + +"Ah, Sir Max and Sir Karl, I saw you coming and ran to give you +welcome." + +She was in an ecstasy of glee, strangely out of proportion to the event, +and there was a look of triumph in her eyes. + +After we entered the house Yolanda's laughter continued, and if it +ceased for a moment it broke out again without a pretext. She was always +pleased to see Max, and never failed to show her pleasure in laughter +more or less; but Max's presence could hardly account for her high +merriment and the satisfaction she seemed to feel, as if a great victory +had been gained. My sense of utter defeat had nothing but Yolanda's +peculiar conduct to comfort it. + +To the arbor we went, Yolanda carrying the hawk on her shoulder and +caressing it with her cheek. In the garden, when our adventures were +related, Yolanda, all excitement, could not keep her chair, but danced +delightedly like a child and killed a score of imaginary herons. + +She stroked the falcon's wings, and when I said, "My lord the duke has +graciously consented to accept the bird," she turned upon Max, +exclaiming in mock anger:-- + +"The duke has graciously consented to accept the bird! I should think it +required little grace to accept such a gift, though much to give it. Why +don't you give the bird to me, Sir Max, if you are eager to part +with it?" + +"I would gladly have given it to you, Fräulein," answered Max, "had I +supposed you could use it on the duke's marshes. Only nobles practise +the royal sport of falconry." + +Yolanda glanced quickly from Max to Castleman, turned her face to the +bird upon her shoulder, and said, with a touch of dignity:-- + +"We receive small favors from court once in a while, don't we, uncle? +We are not dirt under the nobles' feet, if we are plain burgher folk, +are we, uncle?" + +"Don't you know, Fräulein, what great pleasure I should have taken in +giving you the bird?" asked Max. + +Yolanda bent her head to one side, placed her cheek against the falcon's +wing and pouted. Her pout was prettier even than her smile, and that is +saying a great deal. + +After a few minutes Yolanda started to walk up the garden path and Max +followed her, leaving the Castlemans and me under the arbor. Yolanda, +still pouting, carried Caesar on her shoulder, lavishing caresses on the +bird that excited Max's bitterest envy. Max spoke at intervals, but she +answered only to the bird. After many futile efforts to make her speak, +he said:-- + +"If you won't talk to me, I'll go back to the arbor." + +She turned to the bird: "We are willing, Caesar, aren't we--if he can +go." + +Max laughed and started toward the arbor. + +"Tell him to come back, Caesar. Tell him to come back," exclaimed +Yolanda. + +"I take no orders from a bird," declared Max, with pretended +seriousness. Then she turned toward him and her face softened. She +smiled and the dimples came, though there was a nervous tremor in the +upturned corners of her mouth that belied her bantering air and brought +Max quickly to her side. I saw the pantomime, though I did not hear the +words; and I knew that neither Max nor any other man could withstand the +quivering smile that played upon Yolanda's lips and the yearning +invitation that was in her eyes. If Max did not soon take himself away +from Burgundy and lead himself out of this temptation, I feared that in +the end he would cast aside his ancient heritage, rend his sacred family +ties, and forego everything he possessed in response to this mighty cry +of nature, offering the one chance in life for happiness. + +"Now you will give me the bird--I know you will," exclaimed Yolanda. + +A remnant of the pout still hovered about her lips, doing battle with +the dimples of a smile. + +"I have already given him to the duke," answered Max. + +"Tell the duke the bird escaped, or died suddenly of an apoplexy. Tell +him anything you like, but give me the hawk," said Yolanda. + +"Would you have me lie, Fräulein?" asked Max, amused at her persistency. +"I cannot do that, even for you. If you insist upon having the bird, I +may go to the duke and withdraw my gift." + +"Would you do that for me, Sir Max?" she asked, eagerly. + +"Ay, and a great deal more, Fräulein. I tremble at the thought of what +you could make me do," he answered. + +"In the fiend's name, let the duke have the bird," cried Yolanda. "He +will pout more than I if you don't. He is of a sullen nature." + +"Do you know the duke?" asked Max, suspecting for the first time that +Yolanda might be more intimate about the court than he had supposed. + +"I have heard much of him from those who know him," answered Yolanda. + +So the duke got Caesar. + +The next morning Hymbercourt came to the inn to accompany us to the +castle. While we were sipping a mug of wine at a garden table, +he said:-- + +"I do not want to be officious in your affairs, but I am convinced that +it will be well for you to tell the duke who you are. If you do not see +fit to do so, it were wise in you to leave Burgundy at your earliest +convenience." + +"I cannot leave within a month," said Max. I knew the cause of his +detention, and, ignoring his remark, turned to Hymbercourt:-- + +"Do you want to give the reasons for your advice?" + +"Yes, I am quite willing," he answered, "but I would not have my words +repeated." + +"Of that you may rest assured," I answered. + +"If you do not tell the duke who you are," said Hymbercourt, "he will +soon learn it from our Italian friends, who have the fiend's own energy +in the pursuit of vengeance. They will discover who you are, and you +will lose the advantage of a frank avowal. Duke Charles admires Sir Max, +but our liege lord is capricious and can easily fancy that others are +plotting to injure him. I am sure that he will now receive the Count of +Hapsburg graciously if you tell him that Sir Max is that person. What he +would do were he to learn the fact highly colored by his Italians, I +cannot say. These mercenaries have a strange influence over His Grace, +and there is not a nobleman in Burgundy who does not fear them." + +"How will the duke feel concerning the old proposition of marriage?" I +asked. + +"That, I hope, will be of no moment now, since the duke is arranging for +the immediate celebration of this marriage with the Dauphin. I am given +to understand that His Grace, the Bishop of Cambrai, secretary to the +duke, has received orders to draught a letter to King Louis expressing +our lord's pleasure. King Louis is so eager for the marriage, which will +once more bring Burgundy to the French kingship, that Duke Charles deems +it sufficiently courteous to express his intentions to Louis, rather +than to request the king's compliance. The duke's contempt for the king +of France is so great that he causes the letter to be written in +English, a language which Charles loves because of the English blood in +his veins, and which Louis, with good reason, hates." + +"Has this letter been despatched?" I asked, concealing as well as I +could my deep concern. + +Max heard Hymbercourt's statement without even a show of interest. Had +he suspected that Hymbercourt was speaking of Yolanda's marriage, there +surely would have been a demonstration. + +"No," answered Hymbercourt, "the letter has not been sent, but the duke +will despatch it at once. It will probably be the chief business of this +morning's audience. The duke wants the marriage celebrated before he +leaves for Switzerland. That will be within three or four weeks. I am +not informed as to the details of the ceremony, but I suppose the +princess will be taken to St. Denis, and will there be married. The +unfortunate princess, doubtless, has not yet been told of her impending +fate, though she may have heard of it by rumor. There will be tears and +trouble when she learns of it, for she has a strong dash of her father's +temper. But--" He shrugged his shoulders as if to say that her tears +would count for nothing. + +Hymbercourt's words took the heart out of me; and when he left us for a +moment, I urged Max to leave Burgundy at once. + +"I must see Yolanda and ask her to release me from my promise before I +go," he said. + +"You are surely not so weak as to allow a burgher girl to hold you?" I +asked. + +"The girl does not hold me," he answered. "I was so weak as to give my +promise, and that holds me." + +"She will give you your release if you demand it," I suggested. + +"If she does, I will go with you to-morrow. It is time that we were out +of Burgundy. I will forego even my combat with Calli to get away. I +should not have given Yolanda my promise; but she is so persuasive, and +I pity her, and--and, oh! Karl, I--the trouble is, I love her, and it is +like death to part from her forever. That is my weakness." + +The poor, suffering boy leaned forward on the table and buried his face +in his arms. + +"That isn't your weakness, Max, it's your strength," I responded. "Few +men are so unfortunate as to escape it. God must pity those who do. It +may be well to tell the duke who you are. If he is displeased, we may +leave Burgundy at once. If he receives you graciously, we may remain and +you may fight this Calli. That is the one duty that holds you +in Peronne." + +My heart was hardened with years, and its love of just vengeance was +stronger than young Max could feel. Besides, he was possessed by a +softer passion; and though he felt it his pleasant duty to fight Calli, +vengeance held second place in his breast. + +Hymbercourt returned, and we started for the castle accompanied by our +squires; all riding in fine state. + +We arrived at the great hall before the duke had arisen from the morning +audience, and waited unobserved in the back part of the chamber. Our +Irish squire, Michael, carried Caesar, hooded and belled. He was held by +a golden chain that we had bought from a goldsmith, notwithstanding our +purse was growing dangerously light. + +There was a great stir in the hall as we entered. The courtiers were +buzzing like a swarm of bees discussing a new queen. Evidently matters +of importance had been under consideration. Campo-Basso, my Lord de +Vergy, seneschal of Burgundy, and the Bishop of Cambrai, clerk to the +duke, were standing on the second step of the dais, each with hand +resting on knee, and leaning eagerly toward the duke. Charles and these +councillors were speaking in low tones, and the courtiers of less degree +were taking advantage of the intermission in public business to settle +the great question among themselves. Each petty courtier felt that he +could offer a suggestion that would be of great value, could he but gain +the duke's ear. + +After a little time, Charles saw Hymbercourt with us, and sent a page to +fetch him. Hymbercourt left us, and soon we saw him in whispered +conversation with the duke. Soon after Hymbercourt had gone to the +ducal throne, Calli, with two Italians, stopped four paces from where we +were standing. He gazed insolently at Max, and said in Italian to his +companions:-- + +"There is the loutish outlander, who boasted before the duke that he +would fight me. He is a big callow fellow, and it would be a shame to +stick the swine." + +Max, who understood the Italian language sufficiently to grasp Calli's +meaning, flushed angrily, but I touched his arm and he turned his back +upon the fellow. Then I spoke in tones that Calli could not fail +to hear:-- + +"Never turn your face from a cowardly foe, Max. He will, if he can, stab +you in the back. Your revenge will come when you send his soul to hell." + +Calli grasped his dagger hilt and muttered something about the duke's +presence. The incident determined us in the course Max should take. He +should tell the duke who he was, remain in Burgundy to kill this fellow +Calli, and to meet such other fortune as the Fates might have in +store for him. + +Hymbercourt and the duke spoke together for the space of five minutes, +evidently discussing a parchment that Charles held in his hand. Then the +duke resumed his seat, and handed the parchment to the Bishop of +Cambrai, when all save His Reverence stepped from the dais to the +floor. A herald commanded silence, and the bishop spoke:-- + +"It is the will of our most gracious lord that I announce to the court +the impending marriage of Her Grace, the Princess, Mademoiselle de +Burgundy, to the princely Dauphin of France, son to our lord's royal +ally, King Louis. His Grace of Burgundy hopes within three weeks to open +his campaign against the Swiss, and it is his intention to cause the +marriage ceremony to take place before his departure. When the details +have been arranged, they will be announced to the court." + +The bishop had barely stopped speaking when the shutter in the chancel +of the ladies' gallery above the throne opened, and a voice rang through +the vast audience hall, like the tones of an alarm bell:-- + +"Make one more announcement, please, my Lord Bishop. Say that if this +wondrous ceremony is to come off within three weeks, the Dauphin of +France must be content with a dead bride." + +No one saw the face of the speaker. The shutter closed, and a deep +silence fell upon the room. The duke sprang angrily to his feet; his +face was like a thunder-cloud. He looked toward the ladies' gallery, and +stood for a moment like the incarnation of wrath. A puzzled expression +followed the glare of anger; and within a moment he laughed, and waved +his hands to the heralds, directing them to cry the rising. The +audience was dismissed, and the courtiers left the hall, laughing in +imitation of their lord and master. + +Nothing could be more indicative of cruelty than the laughter that +followed the passionate protest of the unhappy princess. To the duke, +and of course to his courtiers, the girl's suffering and the fate that +was in store for her were mere matters of mirth. They laughed at her +pain as savages laugh at the agonies of a tortured victim. + +I was so startled by the cry of the princess that for a time I could not +think coherently. My first clear thought was of Yolanda. If she were the +princess, this sacrifice that is practised without a protest throughout +the world had come home to me, for Yolanda had nestled in my heart. That +she, the gentle, the tender, the passionate, the sensitive, should be +the victim of this legalized crime; that she, innocent of all fault, +save that she had been born a girl, should be condemned to misery +because the laws of chivalry and the laws of God, distorted by men to +suit their purposes, declared her to be the chattel of her father, moved +me as I was never moved before. My sympathy for this rare, sweet girl, +so capable of joy, so susceptible to pain, almost brought tears to my +eyes; for I could not help thinking that she was the suffering princess. + +When the courtiers had left the great hall Hymbercourt, Max, and I +approached the duke. Hymbercourt and I made obeisance on bended knee, +but Max saluted the duke with a low bow. After the duke had spoken, +Max said:-- + +"I hope Your Grace has not forgotten your promise to honor me by +accepting the falcon you admired yesterday." + +"I have not, my unknown friend," answered the duke. + +Max took the bird from Michael and offered it to Charles, who accepted +the gift graciously. I looked toward Hymbercourt and he, understanding +my unspoken word, again bent his knee before the duke:-- + +"My gracious lord, it is the desire of this young knight that he be +presented to you in due form under his own name and title, though he +would humbly ask that he be permitted to retain the name by which he is +known in Burgundy. His reasons for so doing are good, though they would +not interest Your Grace. Have I my lord's permission to present him?" + +"In God's name, yes!" exclaimed the duke, stirred by some irritation, +but spurred by curiosity. + +"My lord," said Hymbercourt, speaking to the duke and extending his hand +toward Max, "it is my great honor to present to Your Grace his highness, +Maximilian, Count of Hapsburg." + +"By the just God, my lord, you certainly have given us a surprise," said +the duke, stepping back and making no offer of his hand to Max. He +passed the falcon to a page, and continued, "What business have these +men at my court?" + +"None, Your Grace, absolutely none," answered Max, standing proudly +before the duke and steadfastly meeting his gaze. "It was my desire to +see the world and to learn something of its people before I undertook to +govern my own. My country is not rich and fat like this great land of +Burgundy. I have neither the means nor the inclination to travel in +state; so my dear friend and instructor, Sir Karl de Pitti, undertook to +guide me and teach me in this journey to the outer world. I would rather +have missed seeing all other countries than Burgundy, and of all the +princes of the world Your Grace was and is to me the most interesting. +Your hand is the strongest, your courage the bravest, and your land the +richest in Europe. We heard at Metz that you were here in Peronne; and +now, my lord, you understand what business I have in Burgundy." + +I had never given the boy credit for so much adroitness. What the duke's +intentions were, immediately after Hymbercourt presented Max, I could +not have told, but his words sounded ominous, and the expression of his +face was anything but pleasant. Max, though not quarrelsome, was not +given to the soft answer that turneth away wrath; but on this occasion +discretion came to his rescue, and he made the soft answer with a +dignity and boldness that won Charles's respect. The duke's face +softened into a half-smile,--if anything so hard as his face can be said +to soften,--and he offered his hand to Max. He withdrew it almost +instantly from Max's grasp, and said:-- + +"Are you sure my armament against Switzerland is no part of the reason +for your presence in Burgundy?" Like all highly pugnacious men, he was +suspicious. "I have been told your father is a friend to the Swiss." + +"Does Your Grace mean to ask if I am here in the capacity of a spy, as +Calli has charged?" asked Max, lifting his head and looking boldly into +the duke's face. + +"I do not know," said the duke, hesitatingly. "I do not say you are. I +do not think you are, but--" + +"I am glad Your Grace does not think we are spies, and am pleased to +believe that you would not put so great an insult upon us," answered +Max, "else we should ask permission to leave Burgundy at once. I am sure +my lord knows we are not spies. If Your Lordship had a son, would you +send him forth as a spy for the sake of Burgundy? Much less would you do +it for another land. Your Grace is misinformed. My father is not a +friend to the Swiss; neither does he hate them, though perhaps he has +better cause to do so than has Your Grace. Your quarrel with the Swiss +is over a few cart-loads of sheepskins. These same Swiss took from my +father our ancient homestead, the old Castle of Hapsburg, and the +surrounding territory of Aargau." + +"I have heard of the spoliation, and have often wondered at your +father's meek submission," said the duke, with an almost imperceptible +sneer. Like Richard the Lion-hearted, of England, butchery was this +duke's trade, and he despised a man who did not practise it on all +possible occasions. A pretext for a quarrel is balm to the soul of +a hero. + +"The mountains of Switzerland, my lord, are the graveyard of foreign +soldiers," Max replied. "Old Hapsburg Castle is a mere hawks' crag, as +its name implies, and the half-score of mountain peaks my father lost +with it are not worth the life of his humblest subject. He loves his +people, and would not shed their blood to soothe his wounded pride. The +man who makes war should fight in the front rank." + +"There is where I fight, young sir," returned Charles. + +"The world knows that fact, my lord," responded Max. "My father cannot +fight at the head of his army, therefore, he makes war only in defence +of his people's hearths. It is possible that after consulting with my +friend, Sir Karl, I may ask the honor of serving with Your Grace against +these Swiss who despoiled my house. Is Your Grace now satisfied that we +are not Swiss spies? And are we welcome to sojourn for a time in +Peronne? Or shall we leave Burgundy and return to my father in Styria, +to tell him that you turned a guest and a friend from your door?" + +"You are very welcome, Sir Count, and you, Sir Karl," answered the duke, +giving his right hand to Max and familiarly offering me his left. This +hard duke had been beaten into a gracious mood by Max's adroit mixture +of flattery and boldness. + +A soft answer may turn away wrath, but it may also involve the +disagreeable necessity of turning the other cheek. If it be not tempered +by spirit, it is apt to arouse contempt. The duke remained silent for +the space of a minute or two. He was evidently struggling to suppress a +good impulse. Then he turned to me and said, laughingly:-- + +"By my soul, Sir Karl, you have brought us a Roland and a Demosthenes in +one. Where learned you your oratory, Sir Count?" + +"From a just cause, my lord," quickly retorted Max. + +"I fear I have had the worst of this encounter, Hymbercourt," said the +duke, smiling, "and I see nothing left for me but apology." + +"I sincerely hope Your Grace will not embarrass us by apologizing," said +Max. + +Charles hesitated, gave a short laugh, and apologized by placing his +hand on Max's shoulder. + +"Let us go into the little parley room," he said. "Hymbercourt, lead the +way with Sir Max; Sir Karl and I will follow presently." + +Max and Hymbercourt passed out at a small door near the throne, and the +duke turned to me:-- + +"I like the boy's modest boldness, and I hope that I may induce him and +you to accompany me against the Swiss. I would not accept his offer made +on the spur of the moment, but if, on talking it over with him, you make +up your minds to come with me, I will make it well worth your while. +This war will be but a May-day outing. We'll speak on the subject again. +Meantime, I understand that you and Sir Max wish to remain incognito +at Peronne?" + +"We do, Your Grace," I responded. "I fear it will be impossible to +accept the honor you have offered, but, as you have graciously said, we +will, if you wish, speak of it again." + +"I am content," said the duke. "Let us follow Hymbercourt." + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SIR KARL MEETS THE PRINCESS + +The duke and I passed through the door by which Max and Hymbercourt had +left the hall, and entered a narrow passageway eight or ten yards long, +having two doors at the farther end. The door to the right, I soon +learned, led to the little parley room where Max and Hymbercourt had +gone. The door to the left opened into a staircase that led to the +apartments of the duchess. A narrow flight of stone steps that led from +the ladies' gallery opened into the passage, and, just as the duke +entered in advance of me, two ladies emerged from the stairs. They did +not see me in the shadow, and supposed that the duke was alone. The +taller, who I soon learned was the duchess, hastened down the passage +and through the door leading to her apartments. The smaller I at once +recognized. She was Yolanda. + +"Father, you cannot mean to send me into France," she cried, trying to +detain the duke. "Kill me, father, if you will, but do not send me to +that hated land. I shall not survive this marriage a fortnight, and if I +die, Burgundy will go to our cousin of Bourbon." + +"Don't hinder me, daughter," returned the duke, impatiently. "Don't you +see we are not alone?" + +Yolanda turned in surprise toward me, and the duke said:-- + +"Go by the right door, Sir Karl. I will be with you at once. I wish to +speak with the duchess." + +He hurriedly followed his wife and left me alone with Yolanda. + +"Fräulein, my intrusion was unintentional," I stammered. "I followed the +duke at his request." + +"Fräulein!" exclaimed the girl, lifting her head and looking a very +queen in miniature. "Fräulein! Do you know, sir, to whom you speak?" + +"I beg your pardon, most gracious princess," I replied. "Did you not +command me to address you as Fräulein or Yolanda?" + +"My name, sir, is not Yolanda. You have made a sad mistake," said the +princess, drawing herself up to her full height. Then I thought of +Yolanda's words when she told me that she resembled the princess as one +pea resembles another. + +The girl trembled, and even in the dim light I could see the gleam of +anger in her eyes. I was endeavoring to frame a suitable apology when +she spoke again:-- + +"Fräulein! Yolanda! Sir, your courtesy is scant to give me these names. +I do not know you, and--did I not tell you that if you made this mistake +with the princess you would not so easily correct it? That +I--you--Blessed Virgin! I have betrayed myself. I knew I should. I knew +I could not carry it out." + +She covered her face with her hands and began to weep, speaking while +she sobbed:-- + +"My troubles are more than I can bear." + +I wished to reassure her at once:-- + +"Most Gracious Princess--Yolanda--your secret is safe with me. You are +as dear to me as if you were my child. You have nestled in my heart and +filled it as completely as one human being can fill the heart of +another. I would gladly give my poor old life to make you happy. Now if +you can make use of me, I am at your service." + +"You will not tell Sir Max?" she sobbed. + +She was no longer a princess. She was the child Yolanda. + +"As I hope for salvation, no, I will not tell Sir Max," I responded. + +"Sometime I will give you my reasons," she said. + +"I wish none," I replied. + +After a short pause, she went on, still weeping gently:-- + +"If I must go to France, Sir Karl, you may come there to be my Lord +Chamberlain. Perhaps Max should not come, since I shall be the wife of +another, and--and there would surely be trouble. Max should not come." + +She stepped quickly to my side. Her hand fell, and she grasped mine for +an instant under the folds of her cloak; then she ran from the passage, +and I went to the room where Max and Hymbercourt were waiting. + +After a few moments the duke joined us. Wine was served, but Charles did +not drink. On account of the excessive natural heat of his blood he +drank nothing but water. His Grace was restless; and, although there was +no lack of courtesy, I fancied he did not wish us to remain. So after +our cups were emptied I asked permission to depart. The duke acquiesced +by rising, and said, turning to Max:-- + +"May we not try our new hawk together this afternoon?" + +"With pleasure, Your Grace," responded Max. + +"Then we'll meet at Cambrai Gate near the hour of two," said the duke. + +"I thank Your Grace," said Max, bowing. + +On our way back to the inn, I told Max of my meeting with the princess, +and remarked upon her resemblance to Yolanda. + +"You imagined the resemblance, Karl. There can be but one Yolanda in the +world," said Max. "Her Highness, perhaps, is of Yolanda's complexion and +stature,--so Yolanda has told me,--and your imagination has furnished +the rest." + +"Perhaps that is true," said I, fearing that I had already spoken too +freely. + +So my great riddle was at last solved! The Fates had answered when I +"gave it up." I was so athrill with the sweet assurance that Yolanda was +the princess that I feared my secret would leap from my eyes or spring +unbidden from my lips. + +I cast about in my mind for Yolanda's reasons in wishing to remain +Yolanda to Max, and I could find none save the desire to win his heart +as a burgher girl. That, indeed, would be a triumph. She knew that every +marriageable prince in Europe coveted her wealth and her estates. The +most natural desire that she or any girl could have would be to find a +worthy man who would seek her for her own sake. As Yolanda, she offered +no inducement save herself. The girl was playing a daring game, and +a wise one. + +True, there appeared to be no possibility that she could ever have Max +for her husband, even should she win his heart as Yolanda. In view of +the impending and apparently unavoidable French marriage, the future +held no hope. But when her day of wretchedness should come, she would, +through all her life, take comfort from the sweetest joy a woman can +know--that the man she loved loved her because she was her own fair +self, and for no other reason. There would, of course, be the sorrow of +regret, but that is passive, while the joy of memory is ever active. + +When Max and I had departed, the duke turned to Hymbercourt and said:-- + +"The bishop's letter is not sufficiently direct. It is my desire to +inform King Louis that this marriage shall take place at once--now! +_Now_! It will effectually keep Louis from allying with Bourbon and +Lorraine, or some other prince, while I am away from home. They all hate +me, but not one of the cowards would say 'Booh!' unless the others were +back of him. A word from Louis would kindle rebellion in Liege and +Ghent. This war with Switzerland is what Louis has waited for; and when +I march to the south, he will march into Burgundy from the west unless +he has a counter motive." + +"That is but too true, my lord," said Hymbercourt. + +"But if my daughter marries the Dauphin, Louis will look upon Burgundy +as the property of the French kingship in the end, and the marriage will +frighten Bourbon and Lorraine to our feet once more. This hypocrite, +Louis, has concocted a fine scheme to absorb Burgundy into his realm by +this marriage with my daughter. But I'll disappoint his greed. I'll +whisper a secret in your ear, Hymbercourt,--a secret to be told to no +one else. I'll execute this treaty of marriage now, and will use my +crafty foe for my own purposes so long as I need him; but when I return +from Switzerland, I will divorce my present duchess and take a fruitful +wife who will bear me a son to inherit Burgundy; then King Louis may +keep the girl for his pains." + +The duke laughed, and seemed to feel that he was perpetrating a great +joke on his rival. + +"But your brother-in-law, Edward of England, may object to having his +sister divorced," suggested Hymbercourt. + +"In that case we'll take a page from King Louis' book," answered +Charles. "We'll use gold, Hymbercourt, gold! I shall not, however, like +Louis, buy Edward's ministers! They are too expensive. I'll put none of +my gold in Hastings's sleeve. I'll pension Shore's wife, and Edward will +not trouble himself about his sister. He prefers other men's sisters. Do +not fear, Hymbercourt; the time has come to meet Louis' craft +with craft." + +"And Your Grace's unhappy daughter is to be the shuttlecock, my lord?" +suggested Hymbercourt. + +"She will serve her purpose in the weal of Burgundy, as I do. I give my +life to Burgundy. Why should not this daughter of mine give a few tears? +But her tears are unreasonable. Why should she object to this marriage? +Even though God should hereafter give me a son, who should cut the +princess out of Burgundy, will she not be queen of France? What more +would the perverse girl have? By God, Hymbercourt, it makes my blood +boil to hear you, a man of sound reason, talk like a fool. I hear the +same maudlin protest from the duchess. She, too, is under the spell of +this girl, and mourns over her trumped-up grief like a parish priest at +a bishop's funeral." + +"But, my lord, consider the creature your daughter is to marry," said +Hymbercourt. "He is but a child, less than fourteen years of age, and is +weak in mind and body. Surely, it is a wretched fate for your daughter." + +"I tell you the girl is perverse," interrupted the duke. "She would +raise a storm were the Dauphin a paragon of manliness. He is a poor, +mean wretch, whom she may easily rule. His weakness will be her +advantage. She is strong enough, God knows, and wilful enough to face +down the devil himself. If there is a perverse wench on all the earth, +who will always have her own way by hook or by crook, it is this +troublesome daughter of mine. She has the duchess wound around her +finger. I could not live with them at Ghent, and sent them here for the +sake of peace. When she is queen of France she will also be king of that +realm--and in God's name what more could the girl ask?" + +"But, my lord, let me beg you to consider well this step before you take +it. I am sure evil will come of it," pleaded Hymbercourt. + +"I have considered," answered the duke. "Let me hear no more of this +rubbish. Two women dinning it into my ears morning, noon, and night are +quite enough for my peace of mind. I hear constantly, 'Dear father, +don't kill me. Spare your daughter,' and 'Dear my lord, I beg you not to +sacrifice the princess, whom I so love.' God's mercy! I say I am tired +of it! This marriage shall take place at once! Now, now, now, do you +hear, Hymbercourt? Tell the bishop to write this letter in English. We +will make the draught as bitter as possible for Louis. He hates the +sight of an English word, and small wonder. Direct the bishop to make +the letter short and to the point. Tell him to say the marriage shall +take place _now_. Have him use the word _now_. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, my lord," answered Hymbercourt. + +"Order him to fetch the missive immediately to the apartments of the +duchess. It shall be read, signed, and despatched in the presence of my +daughter and my wife, so that they may know what they have to expect. +I'll see that I'm bothered no more with their tears and their senseless +importunities." + +"I'll carry out your instructions," said Hymbercourt, bowing and taking +his leave. + +The duke went to his wife's parlor and fell moodily into a chair. The +duchess was sitting on a divan, and the princess was weeping in her +arms. After a long silence, broken only by Mary's half-smothered sobs, +the duke turned sharply upon the women:-- + +"For the love of God, cease your miserable whimpering," growled his +lordship. "Is not my life full of vexations without this deluge of tears +at home? A whimpering woman will do more to wear out the life of a man +than a score of battling enemies. Silence, I say; silence, you fools!" + +Mary and the duchess were now unable to control themselves. Charles rose +angrily and, with his clenched hand raised for a blow, strode across the +room to the unhappy women. Clinging to each other, the princess and +Duchess Margaret crouched low on the divan. Then this great hero, whom +the world worships and calls "The Bold," bent over the trembling women +and upbraided them in language that I will not write. + +"God curse me if I will have my life made miserable by a pair of fools," +cried the duke. "I am wretched enough without this useless annoyance. +Enemies abroad and disobedience in my own family will drive me mad!" + +The women slipped from the divan to the floor at the duke's feet, and +clung to each other. The duchess covered the princess to protect her +from the duke's blow, and, alas! took it herself. Charles stepped back, +intending to kick his daughter, but the duchess again threw herself on +Yolanda and again received the blow. By that time the duke's fury was +beyond all measure, and he stooped to drag his wife from Yolanda that he +might vent his wrath upon the sobbing girl. The duchess, who was a +young, strong woman, sprang to her feet and placed herself between +Yolanda, lying on the floor, and the infuriated duke. + +"You shall not touch the child, my lord!" cried the duchess. "Though she +is your child, you shall not touch her if I can help it. Twice, my lord, +you have almost killed your daughter in your anger, and I have sworn to +prevent a recurrence of your brutality or to die in my attempt to +save her." + +She snatched a dagger from her bosom, and spoke calmly: "Now come, my +lord; but when you do so, draw your dagger, for, by the Virgin, I will +kill you if you do not kill me, before you shall touch that girl. Before +you kill me, my lord, remember that my brother of England will tear you +limb from limb for the crime, and that King Louis will gladly help him +in the task. Come, my husband! Come, my brave lord! I am but a weak +woman. You may easily kill me, and I will welcome death rather than life +with you. When I am out of the way, you may work your will on your +daughter. Because I am your wife, my brother has twice saved you from +King Louis. You owe your domain and your life to me. I should sell my +life at a glorious price if my death purchased your ruin. Come, +my lord!" + +The duke paused with his hand on his dagger; but he knew that his +wife's words were true, and he realized that his ruin would follow +quickly on the heels of her death. + +"You complain that the world and your own family are against you, my +lord," said the duchess. "It is because you are a cruel tyrant abroad +and at home. It is because you are against the world and against those +whom you should protect and keep safe from evil. The fault is with you, +Charles of Burgundy. You have spoken the truth. The world hates you, and +this girl--the tenderest, most loving heart on earth--dreads you as her +most relentless enemy. If I were in your place, my lord, I would fall +upon my sword." + +Beaten by his wife's just fury, this great war hero walked back to his +chair, and the duchess tenderly lifted Mary to the divan. + +"He will not strike you, child," said Margaret. Then she fell to kissing +Yolanda passionately, and tears came to her relief. + +Poor Yolanda buried her face in her mother's breast and tried to smother +her sobs. Charles sat mumbling blasphemous oaths. At the expiration of +half an hour, a page announced the Bishop of Cambrai and other +gentlemen. The duke signified that they were to be admitted; and when +the bishop entered the room, Charles, who was smarting from his late +defeat, spoke angrily:-- + +"By the good God, my Lord Bishop, you are slow! Does it require an hour +to write a missive of ten lines? If you are as slow in saving souls as +in writing letters, the world will go to hell before you can say +a mass." + +"The wording was difficult, Your Grace," replied the bishop +obsequiously. "The Lord d'Hymbercourt said Your Grace wished the missive +to be written in English, which language my scrivener knows but +imperfectly. After it was written I received Your Lordship's +instructions to use the word 'now,' so I caused the letter to be +rewritten that I might comply with your wishes." + +"Now" is a small word, but in this instance it was a great one for +Yolanda, as you shall soon learn. + +"Cease explaining, my Lord Bishop, and read me the missive," said the +duke, sullenly. + +The bishop unfolded the missive, which was in a pouch ready for sealing. +Yolanda stopped sobbing that she might hear the document that touched so +closely on her fate. Her tear-stained face, with its childlike pathos, +but served to increase her father's anger. + +"Read, my Lord Bishop! Body of me, why stand you there like a wooden +quintain?" exclaimed the duke. "By all the gods, you are slow! Read, +I say!" + +"With pleasure, my lord," answered the bishop. + +"To His Majesty, King Louis of France, Charles, Duke of Burgundy and +Count of Charolois, sends this Greeting:-- + +"His Grace of Burgundy would recommend himself to His Majesty of France, +and would beg to inform the most puissant King Louis that the said +Charles, Duke of Burgundy, will march at the head of a Burgundian army +within three weeks from the date of these presents, against the Swiss +cantons, with intent to punish the said Swiss for certain depredations. +Therefore, the said Charles, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Charolois, +begs that His Majesty of France will now move toward the immediate +consummation of the treaty existing between Burgundy and France, looking +to the marriage of the Princess Mary, Mademoiselle de Burgundy, with the +princely Dauphin, son to King Louis; and to these presents said Charles, +Duke of Burgundy, requests the honor of an early reply. + +"We recommend Your Majesty to the protection of God, the Blessed Virgin, +and the Saints." + +"Words, words, my Lord Bishop," said Charles. "Why waste them on a +graceless hypocrite?" + +"I thought only to be courteous," returned the bishop. + +"Why should we show King Louis courtesy?" asked the duke. "Is it because +we give him our daughter to be the wife of his bandy-shanked, +half-witted son? There is small need for courtesy, my Lord Bishop. We +could not insult this King Louis, should we try, while he sees an +advantage to be gained. Give me the letter, and I will sign it, though I +despise your whimpering courtesy, as you call it." + +Charles took the letter, and, going to a table near a window, drew up a +chair. + +"Give me a quill," he said, addressing the bishop. "Did you not bring +one, my lord?" + +"Your Grace--Your Grace," began the bishop, apologetically. + +"Do you think I am a snivelling scrivener, carrying quill and ink-well +in my gown?" asked the duke. "Go to your parlor and fetch ink and +quill," said Charles, pointing with the folded missive toward Yolanda. + +"A page will fetch the quill and ink, my lord," suggested the duchess. + +"Go!" cried the duke, turning angrily on the princess. Yolanda left the +room, weeping, and hastened up the long flight of steps to her parlor. +It was the refinement of cruelty in Charles to send Yolanda for the +quill with which he was to sign the instrument of her doom. + +Still weeping, Yolanda hurried back with the writing materials, but +before entering the room she stopped at the door to dry her tears and +stay her sobs. When she entered, she said:-- + +"There is the quill, father, and there is the ink." + +She placed them before the duke and stood trembling with one hand on the +table. After a moment she spoke in a voice little above a whisper:--"You +will accomplish nothing, my lord, my father, by sending the letter. I +shall die before this marriage can take place. I am willing to obey you, +but, father, I shall die. Ah, father, pity me." + +She fell upon her knees before the duke and tried to put her hands +about his shoulders. He repulsed her, and, taking up the quill, signed +the letter. After he had affixed his signature and had sealed the +missive with his private seal, he folded the parchment and handed it to +the bishop, saying:-- + +"Seal the pouch, my lord, and send Byron, the herald, here to receive +our personal instructions." + +"The herald has not yet returned from Cambrai, my lord," said De Vergy, +who stood near by. "He is expected between the hours of five and six +this evening." + +"Leave the letter, my lord," said Charles, "and send Byron to me when he +arrives. I shall be here at six o'clock to give him full instructions." + +The letter was deposited in a small iron box on the table, and the duke +left the room, followed closely by the lords and pages. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CROSSING OF A "T" + +Yolanda and her stepmother remained on the divan in silence for fully an +hour after the duke had left. The duchess was first to speak. + +"Be resigned, sweet one, to your fate. It is one common to women. It was +my hard fate to be compelled to marry your father. It was your mother's, +poor woman, and it killed her. God wills our slavery, and we must +submit. We but make our fate harder by fighting against it." + +Yolanda answered with convulsive sobs, but after a while she grew more +calm. + +"Is there nothing I can do to save myself?" she asked. + +"No, sweet one," answered the duchess. + +"Has God put a curse upon women, mother?" asked Yolanda. + +"Alas! I fear He has," answered Margaret. "The Holy Church teaches us +that He punishes us for the sin of our mother Eve, but though He +punishes us, He loves us, and we are His children. He knows what is best +for us here and hereafter." + +"He certainly is looking to my _future_ good, if at all," sighed +Yolanda. "But I do believe in God's goodness, mother, and I am sure He +will save me. Holy Virgin! how helpless a woman is." She began to weep +afresh, and the duchess tried to soothe her. + +"I believe I will pray to the Virgin. She may help us," said the girl, +in a voice that was plaintively childlike. + +"It is a pious thought, Mary," answered the duchess. + +Yolanda slipped from the divan to the floor, and, kneeling, buried her +face in her mother's lap. She prayed aloud:-- + +"Blessed Virgin, Thou seest my dire need. Help me. My prayer is short, +but Thou, Blessed Lady, knowest how fervent it is." The duchess crossed +herself, bowed her head, and murmured a fervent "Amen." + +Yolanda rose from her prayer with a brighter face, and exclaimed almost +joyfully:-- + +"It was impious in me to doubt God's love, mother. I do believe I heard +the Blessed Virgin say, 'Help is at hand.' At least, I felt her +words, mother." + +Yolanda moved about the room aimlessly for several minutes and by chance +stopped at the table. She started to take up the quill and ink-well to +carry them back to her parlor, which was in Darius (Darius was the name +of the tower that rose from the castle battlements immediately above +Castleman's House under the Wall), and her eyes rested on the small iron +box in which the letter to King Louis had been deposited. An unconscious +motive, perhaps it was childish curiosity, prompted her to examine the +missive. She took the pouch from the box and found it unsealed. She +listlessly drew out the missive and began to read, when suddenly her +face grew radiant with joy. She ran excitedly to her mother, who was +sitting on the divan, and exclaimed:-- + +"Oh! mother, the sweet Blessed Virgin has sent help!" + +"In what manner, child?" asked the duchess, fondling Yolanda's hair +while the girl knelt beside her. + +"Here, mother, here! Here is help; here in this very letter that was +intended to be my undoing. I cannot wait to thank the Holy Mother." She +crossed herself and buried her face in her mother's lap while she +thanked the Virgin. + +"What is it, Mary, and where is the help?" asked Margaret, fearing the +girl's mind had been touched by her troubles. + +"Listen!" cried Yolanda. + +Her excitement was so great that she could hardly see the words the +bishop's scrivener had written. + +"Listen, listen! Father in this letter first tells the king that +he--that is, father, you understand--is going to war with Lorraine--no, +with Bourbon. I am wrong again. Father is so constantly warring with +some one that I cannot keep track of his enemies--against the Swiss. +See, mother, it is the Swiss. He says he will go--will start--will begin +the war--no, I am wrong again. I can hardly see the words. He says he +will march at the head of a Burgundian army--poor soldiers, I pity +them--within three weeks. Ah, how short that time seemed when I heard +the letter read an hour ago. How long it is now! I wish he would march +to-morrow. Three long weeks!" + +"But, my dear, how will that help you?" asked the duchess. "In what +manner will--" + +"Do not interrupt me, mother, but hear what follows. Father says he will +march in three weeks and 'begs that His Majesty of France will _now_ +move toward the immediate consummation of the treaty existing between +Burgundy and France looking to the marriage of the Princess, +Mademoiselle de Burgundy, with the princely Dauphin, son to King Louis.' +In that word 'now,' mother, lies my help." + +"In what manner does help lie in the word 'now,' child?" asked the +duchess. + +"In this, mother. 'Now' is a little word of three letters, n-o-v. See, +mother, the letter 'v' is not perfectly made. We will extend the first +prong upward, cross it and make 't' of it, using the second prong as a +flourish. Then the letter will read, 'begs that His Majesty of France +will _not_ move toward the immediate consummation of the treaty.' What +could be more natural than that my father should wish nothing of +importance to occur until after this war with Switzerland is over? The +French king, of course, will answer that he will not move in the matter, +and his letter will throw father into a delightful frenzy of rage. It +may even induce him to declare war against France, and to break off the +treaty of marriage when he returns from Switzerland. He has often done +battle for a lesser cause. It will at least prevent the marriage for the +present. It may prevent it forever." + +"Surely that cannot be; King Louis will immediately explain the mistake +to your father," suggested Margaret. + +"But father, you know, will not listen to an explanation if he fears it +may avert blows," returned Yolanda; "and he will be sure not to believe +King Louis whose every word he doubts. I shall enjoy King Louis' efforts +to explain. 'Hypocrite,' 'liar,' 'coward,' 'villain,' will be among +father's most endearing terms when speaking of His Majesty. If by chance +the error of 'not' for 'now' be discovered, the Bishop of Cambrai and +father will swear it is King Louis who has committed the forgery. But +should the worst come, our 't' will have answered its purpose, at least +for the present. The bishop may suffer, but I care not. He did his part +in bringing about this marriage treaty, bribed, doubtless, by King +Louis' gold. In any case, we have no reason to constitute ourselves the +bishop's guardians. We have all we can do to care for ourselves--and +more." + +She sprang to her feet and danced about the room, ardently kissing the +letter she had so recently dreaded. + +"Mary, you frighten me," said the duchess. "If we should be discovered +in changing this letter, I do believe your father would kill us. I do +not know that it would be right to make the alteration. It would be +forgery, and that, you know, is a crime punishable by death." + +"_We_ shall not be discovered," said Mary. "You must have no part in +this transaction, mother. Father would not kill me; I am too valuable as +a chattel of trade. With my poor little self he can buy the good-will of +kings and princes. I am more potent than all his gold. This alteration +can be no sin; it is self-defence. Think how small it is, mother. It is +only a matter of the crossing of a 't.' But I care not how great the +crime may be; I believe, mother, I would commit murder to save myself +from the fate father wishes to put upon me." + +"You frighten me, child," said Margaret. "I tremble in terror at what +you propose to do." + +"I, too, am trembling, mother," sighed Yolanda, "but you must now leave +the room. You must know nothing of this great crime." + +The girl laughed nervously and tried to push her mother from the room. + +"No, I will remain," said the duchess. "I almost believe that you are +right, and that the Virgin has prompted you to do this to save +yourself." + +"I know she has," answered Yolanda, crossing herself. "Now leave me. I +must waste no more time." + +"I will remain with you, Mary," said Margaret, "and I will myself make +the alteration. Then I'll take all the blame in case we are discovered." + +Margaret rose, walked over to the table, and took up the quill. She +trembled so violently that she could not control her hand. + +"No, mother, you shall not touch it," cried Yolanda, snatching the +parchment from the countess and holding it behind her. "If I would let +you, you could not make the alteration; see, your hand trembles! You +would blot the parchment and spoil all this fine plan of mine. Give me +the quill, mother! Give me the quill!" + +She took the quill from Margaret's passive hand and sat down at the +table. Spreading the missive before her, she dipped the quill in the +ink-well, and when she lifted it, a drop of ink fell upon the table +within a hair's breadth of the parchment. + +"Ah, Blessed Virgin!" cried Yolanda, snatching the missive away from the +ink blot. "If the ink had fallen on the parchment, we surely had been +lost. I, too, am trembling, and I dare not try to make the alteration +now. What a poor, helpless creature I am, when I cannot even cross a 't' +to save myself. Blessed Virgin, help me once more!" + +But help did not come. Yolanda's excitement grew instead of subsiding, +and she was so wrought upon by a nameless fear that she began to weep. +Margaret seated herself on the divan and covered her face with her +hands. Yolanda walked the floor like a caged wild thing, uttering +ejaculatory prayers to the Virgin. Again she took up the quill, but +again put it down, exclaiming:-- + +"I have it, mother! There is a friend of whom I have often told you--Sir +Karl. He will help us if I can bring him here in time. If father has +left the castle, I'll take the letter to my parlor and fetch Sir Karl. +He is a brave, strong old man and his hand will not tremble." + +Yolanda left the room and soon returned. + +"Father has gone to the marshes," she whispered excitedly. "We have +ample time if I can find Sir Karl." + +She took the missive, the ink, and the quill to her parlor in Darius +Tower, and hurried to Castleman's house. How she got there I will +soon tell you. + +She found Twonette sewing, and hastily explained her wishes. + +"Run, Twonette, to The Mitre, and fetch me Sir Karl. I don't want Sir +Max to know that I am sending. I think Sir Max has gone falconing with +father; I pray God he has gone, and I pray that Sir Karl has not. Tell +Sir Karl to come to me at once. If he is not at the inn send for him. If +you love me, Twonette, make all haste. Run! Run!" + +Twonette's haste was really wonderful. When she found me her cheeks were +like red roses, and she could hardly speak for lack of breath. For the +first and last time I saw Twonette shorn of her serenity. + +The duke had not invited me to go hawking, and fortunately I had stayed +at home cuddling the thought that Yolanda was the Princess Mary, and +that my fair Prince Max had found rare favor in her eyes. + +"Yolanda wants you at my father's house immediately," said Twonette, +when I stepped outside the inn door. "The need is urgent beyond +measure." Whereupon she courtesied and turned away. Twonette held that +words were not made to be wasted, so I asked no questions. I almost ran +to Castleman's house, and was taken at once to a large room in the +second story. It was on the west side of the house immediately against +the castle wall. The walls of the room were sealed with broad oak +panels, beautifully carved, and the west end of the apartment--that next +the castle wall--was hung with silk tapestries. When I entered the room +I found Yolanda alone. She hurriedly closed the door after me and spoke +excitedly:-- + +"I am so glad Twonette found you, Sir Karl. I am in dire need. Will you +help me?" + +"I will help you if it is in my power, Yolanda," I answered. "You can +ask nothing which I will not at least try to do." + +"Even at the risk of your life?" she asked, placing her hand upon my +arm. + +"Even to the loss of my life, Yolanda," I replied. + +"Would you commit an act which the law calls a crime?" she asked, +trembling in voice and limb. + +"I would do that which is really a crime, if I might thereby serve you +to great purpose," I answered. "God often does apparent evil that good +may come of it. An act must be judged as a whole, by its conception, its +execution, and its result. Tell me what you wish me to do, and I will do +it without an 'if'--God giving me the power." + +"Then come with me." + +She took my hand and led me to the end of the room next the castle +wall. There she held the draperies to one side while she pushed back one +of the oak panels. Through this opening we passed, and the draperies +fell together behind us. After Yolanda had opened the panel a moment of +light revealed to me a flight of stone steps built in the heart of the +castle wall, which at that point was sixteen feet thick. When Yolanda +closed the panel, we were in total darkness. She took my left hand in +her left and with her right arm at my back guided me up the long, dark +stairway. While mounting the steps, she said:--"Now, Sir Karl, you have +all my great secrets--at least, they are very great to me. You know who +I am, and you know of this stairway. No one knows of it but my mother, +uncle, aunt, Twonette, and my faithful tire-woman, Anne. Even my father +does not know of its existence. If he knew, he would soon close it. My +grandfather, Duke Philip the Good, built it in the wall to connect his +bedroom with the house of his true friend, burgher Castleman. Some day +I'll tell you the story of the stairway, and how I discovered it. My +bedroom is the one my grandfather occupied." + +The stairway explained to me all the strange occurrences relating to +Yolanda's appearances and disappearances at Castleman's house, and it +will do the same for you. + +After we had climbed until I felt that surely we must be among the +clouds, I said:-- + +"Yolanda, you must be leading me to heaven." + +"I should like to do that, Sir Karl," she responded, laughing softly. + +"I would gladly give my life to lead you and Max to heaven," said I. + +"Ah, Sir Karl," she answered gently, pressing my hand and caressingly +placing her cheek against my arm. "I dare not even think on that. If he +could and would take me, believing me to be a burgher girl, he would +truly lead me to heaven." + +After a pause, while we rested to take a breath, I said: "What is it you +want me to do, Yolanda? I am unarmed." + +"I shall not ask you to do murder, Sir Karl," she said, laughing +nervously. I fancied I could see a sparkle of mirth in her eyes as she +continued: "It is not so bad as that. Neither is there a dragon for you +to overthrow. But I shall soon enlighten you--here we are at the top of +the steps." + +At the moment she spoke I collided with a heavy oak partition, in which +Yolanda quickly found a moving panel, and we entered a dimly lighted +room. I noticed among the furniture a gorgeously tapestried bed. A rich +rug, the like of which I had seen in Damascus, covered the floor. The +stone walls were draped with silk tapestry, and a jewelled lamp was +pendant from the vaulted ceiling. This was Yolanda's bedroom, and truly +it was a resting-place worthy of the richest princess in Christendom. I +felt that I was in the holy of holies. I found difficulty in believing +that the childlike Yolanda could be so important a personage in the +politics of Europe. She seemed almost to belong to me, so much at that +time did she lean on my strength. + +Out of her sleeping apartment she led me to another and a larger room, +lighted by broad windows cut through the inner wall of the castle, which +at that point was not more than three or four feet thick. This was +Yolanda's parlor. The floor, like that of the bedroom, was covered with +a Damascus rug. The windows were closed by glass of crystal purity, and +the furniture was richer than any I had seen in the emperor's palace. + +Yolanda led me to a table, pointed to a chair for me, and drew up one +for herself. At that moment a lady entered, whom Yolanda ran to meet. +The princess took the lady's hand and led her to me:-- + +"Sir Karl, this is my mother. As you already know, she is my stepmother, +but I forget that in the love I bear her, and in the sweet love she +gives to me." + +I bent my knee before the duchess, who gave me her hand to kiss, +saying:-- + +"The princess has often spoken to me of you, Sir Karl. I see she has +crept into your heart. She wins all who know her." + +"My devotion to Her Highness is self-evident and needs no avowal," I +answered, "but I take pleasure in declaring it. I am ready to aid her at +whatever cost." + +"Has the princess told you what she wants you to do?" asked the duchess. + +I answered that she had not, but that I was glad to pledge myself +unenlightened. I then placed a chair for the duchess, but, of course, +remained standing. Yolanda resumed her chair, and said:-- + +"Fetch a chair, Sir Karl. We are glad to have you sit, are we not, +mother?" + +"Indeed we are," said Margaret. "Please sit by the table, and the +princess will explain why she brought you here." + +"I believe I can now do it myself, mother," said Yolanda, taking a +folded parchment from its pouch. + +"See, my hand is perfectly steady. Sir Karl has given me strength." + +She spread the parchment before her, and, taking a quill from the table, +dipped it in the ink-well. + +"I'll not need you after all, Sir Karl. I find I can commit my own +crime," she said, much to my disappointment. I was, you see, eager to +sin for her. I longed to kill some one or to do some other deed of +valiant and perilous villany. + +Yolanda bent over the missive, quill in hand, but hesitated. She +changed her position on the chair, squaring herself before the +parchment, and tried again, but she seemed unable to use the quill. She +placed it on the table and laughed nervously. + +"I surely am a great fool," she said. "When I take the quill in my hand, +I tremble like a squire on his quintain trial. I'll wait a moment, and +grow calm again," she added, with a fluttering little laugh peculiar to +her when she was excited. But she did not grow calm, and after she had +vainly taken up the quill again and again, her mother said:-- + +"Poor child! Tell Sir Karl what you wish him to do." + +Yolanda did so, and then read the missive. I did not know the English +language perfectly, but Yolanda, who spoke it as if it were her mother +tongue, translated as she read. I had always considered the island +language harsh till I heard Yolanda speak it. Even the hissing "th" was +music on her lips. Had I been a young man I would doubtless have made a +fool of myself for the sake of this beautiful child-woman. When she had +finished reading the missive, she left her chair and came to my side. +She bent over my shoulder, holding the parchment before me. + +"What I want to do, but can't--what I want you to do is so small and +simple a matter that it is almost amusing. I grow angry when I think +that I cannot do so little a thing to help myself; but you see, Sir +Karl, I tremble and my hand shakes to that extent I fear to mar the +page. I simply want to make the letter 't' on this parchment and I +can't. Will you do it for me?" + +"Ay, gladly," I responded, "but where and why?" Then she pointed out to +me the word "nov" in the manuscript and said:-- + +"A letter 't,' if deftly done, will make 'not' instead of 'nov.' Do you +understand, Sir Karl?" + +I sprang to my feet as if I had been touched by a sword-point. The +thought was so ingenious, the thing itself was so small and the result +was so tremendous that I stood in wonder before the daring girl who had +conceived it. I made no answer. I placed the parchment on the table, +unceremoniously reached in front of the duchess for the quill, and in +less time than one can count three I made a tiny ink mark not the +sixteenth part of an inch long that changed the destinies of nations for +all time to come. + +I placed the quill on the table and turned to Yolanda, just in time to +catch her as she was about to fall. I was frightened at the sight of her +pale face and cried out:-- + +"Yolanda! Yolanda!" + +Margaret quickly brought a small goblet of wine, and I held the princess +while I opened her lips and poured a portion of the drink into her +mouth. I had in my life seen, without a tremor, hundreds of men killed, +but I had never seen a woman faint, and the sight almost unmanned me. + +Stimulated by the wine Yolanda soon revived; and when she opened her +eyes and smiled up into my face, I was so joyful that I fell to kissing +her hands and could utter no word save "Yolanda, Yolanda." She did not +at once rise from my arms, but lay there smiling into my face as if she +were a child. When she did rise she laughed softly and said, turning to +the duchess:-- + +"'Yolanda' is the name by which Sir Karl knows me. You see, mother, I +was not mistaken in deeming him my friend." + +Then she turned suddenly to me, and taking my rough old hand in hers, +lifted it to her lips. That simple act of childish gratitude threw me +into a fever of ecstasy so great that death itself could have had no +terrors for me. He might have come when he chose. I had lived through +that one moment, and even God could not rob me of it. + +Yolanda moved away from me and took up the parchment. + +"Don't touch it till the ink dries," I cried sharply. + +She dropped it as if it were hot, and the duchess came to me, and +graciously offered her hand:-- + +"I thank you with my whole heart, not only for what you have done, but +for the love you bear the princess. She is the one I love above all +others, and I know she loves me. I love those who love her. As the +French say, '_Les amies de mes amies sont mes amies.'_ I am a poor +helpless woman, more to be pitied than the world can believe. I have +only my gratitude to offer you, Sir Karl, but that shall be yours so +long as I live." + +"Your Grace's reward is far too great for the small service I have +rendered," I replied, dropping to my knee. I was really beginning to +live in my sixtieth year. I was late in starting, but my zest for life +was none the less, now that I had at last learned its sweetness through +these two gracious women. + +When we had grown more composed, Yolanda explained to me her hopes +regarding the French king's answer to the altered missive, and the whole +marvellous possibilities of the letter "t" dawned upon my mind. The +princess bent over the parchment, watching our mighty "t" while the ink +was drying, but the process was too slow for her, so she filled her +cheeks and breathed upon the writing. The color returned to her face +while I watched her, and I felt that committing a forgery was a small +price to pay for witnessing so beautiful a sight. Yolanda's breath soon +dried the ink, and then we examined my work. I had performed wonders. +The keenest eye could not detect the alteration. Yolanda, as usual, +sprang from the deepest purgatory of trouble to the seventh heaven of +joy. She ran about the room, singing, dancing, and laughing, until the +duchess warned her to be quiet. Then she placed her hand over her mouth, +shrugged her shoulders, walked on tiptoe, and spoke only in whispers. +Margaret smiled affectionately at Yolanda's childish antics and said:-- + +"I think the conspirators should disperse. I hope, Sir Karl, that I may +soon meet you in due form. Meantime, of course, it is best that we do +not know each other." + +After examining the missive for the twentieth time, Yolanda placed it in +its pouch and turned to the duchess. + +"Take it, mother, to the iron box, and I will lead Sir Karl back to +Uncle Castleman's," she said. + +The duchess graciously offered me a goblet of wine, and after I had +drunk, Yolanda led me down the stairway to the House under the Wall. +While descending Yolanda called my attention to a loose stone in the +wall of the staircase. + +"The other end of this stone," she said, "penetrates the wall of the +room that you and Sir Max occupied the night before you were liberated. +The mortar has fallen away, and it was here that I spoke to you and told +you not to fear." + +Here was another supernatural marvel all too easily explained. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PARTICEPS CRIMINIS + +That evening after supper Max and I walked over to Castleman's. The +evening was cool, and we were sitting in the great parlor talking with +Castleman and Twonette when Yolanda entered. The room was fully fifty +feet long, and extended across the entire front of the house. A huge +chimney was built at the east end of the room, and on either side of the +fireplace was a cushioned bench. A similar bench extended across the +entire west end of the room. When Yolanda entered she ran to me and +took my hand. + +"Come, Sir Karl, I want to speak with you," she said. + +She led me to the west end of the room, sat down on the cushioned bench, +and drew in her skirts that I might sit close beside her. + +"I want to tell you about the missive, Sir Karl," she whispered, +laughing and shrugging her shoulders in great glee. "Mother returned it +to the box, and when I left you I hurried back and haunted the room, +fearing that some one might meddle with the parchment. Near the hour of +six o'clock father entered. I was sitting on the divan, and he sat down +in his great chair, of course taking no notice of me--I am too +insignificant for so great a person to notice, except when he is +compelled to do so. I was joyful in my heart, but I conjured up all my +troubles that I might make myself weep. I feared to show any change in +myself, so I sobbed aloud now and then, and soon father turned angrily +toward me. 'Are you still there?' he asked. 'Yes, father,' I answered, +as if trying to stifle my sobs. 'Are you really going to send that cruel +letter to King Louis?'" + +"Cruel, indeed," I interrupted. + +"Ah, yes! Well, father made no reply, and I went over to him and began +to plead. I should have wanted to cut my tongue out had I succeeded, but +I had little fear. Father is not easily touched by another's suffering, +and my tears only hardened his heart. Well, of course, he repulsed me; +and soon a page announced Byron the herald and the Bishop of Cambrai. +Father took the packet from the iron box, and put his fingers in the +pouch, as if he were going to take out the letter. He hesitated, and +during that moment of halting I was by turns cold as ice and hot as +fire. Finally his resolution took form, and he drew out the missive. I +thought I should die then and there, when he began to look it over. But +after a careless glance he put it back in the pouch, and threw it on +the table in front of the bishop. I could hardly keep from shouting for +joy. He had failed to see the alteration, and in case of its discovery, +he might now be his own witness against King Louis, should that crafty +monarch dare to alter my father's missive by so much as the crossing of +a 't'. If father hereafter discovers anything wrong in the letter, he +will be able to swear that King Louis was the evil doer, since father +himself put the letter in the pouch with his own hands. Father will +never suspect that a friend came to me out of far-away Styria to commit +this crime." + +"I rejoice that I came," I said. + +"And I," she answered. "I feared the bishop would read the letter, but +he did not. He tied the ribbon, softened the lead wafer over the lamp +flame, and placed it on the bow-knot; then he stamped it with father's +small seal. When it was finished I did not want to laugh for joy--when +one is very happy one wants to weep. That I could safely do, and I did. +The bishop handed the letter to Byron, and father spoke commandingly: +'Deliver the missive to the French king before you sleep or eat, unless +he has left Paris. If he has gone to Tours, follow him and loiter not.' +'And if he is not in Tours, Your Grace?' asked Byron. 'Follow him till +you find him,' answered father, 'if you must cross the seas.' 'Shall I +do all this without eating or sleeping?' asked Byron. Father rose +angrily, and Byron said: 'If Your Grace will watch from the donjon +battlements, in five minutes you will see me riding on your mission. +When Your Grace sees me riding back, it will be, I fear, the ghost +of Byron.' + +"It was a wearisome task for me to climb the donjon stairs, but I knew +father would not be there to watch Byron set out, and I felt that one of +the family should give him God-speed; so alone, and frightened almost +out of my wits, I climbed those dark steps to the battlements, and gazed +after Byron till he was a mere speck on the horizon down toward Paris. I +pray God there may be a great plenty of trouble grow out of the crossing +of this 't'. Father is always saying that women were put on earth to +make trouble, so I'll do what little I can to make true His Lordship's +words." She threw back her head, laughing softly. "Is it not glorious, +Sir Karl?" + +"Indeed, Princess--" I began, but she clapped her hand over my mouth and +I continued, "Indeed, Yolanda, the plan is so adroit and so effective +that it fills me with admiration and awe." + +"I like the name Yolanda," said she, looking toward Max, who was sitting +with Twonette on one of the benches by the chimney. + +"And I, too, like it," I responded. "I cannot think of you as the +greatest and richest princess in Europe." + +"Ah, I wish I, too, could forget it, but I can't," she answered with a +sigh, glancing from under her preposterously long lashes toward Max +and Twonette. + +"How came you to take the name Yolanda?" I asked. + +"Grandfather wished to give me the name in baptism," she answered, "but +Mary fell to my lot. I like the present arrangement. Mary is the name of +the princess--the unhappy, faulty princess. Yolanda is my name. Almost +every happy hour I have ever spent has been as Yolanda. You cannot know +the wide difference between me and the Princess Mary. It is, Sir Karl, +as if we were two persons." + +She spoke very earnestly, and I could see that there was no mirth in her +heart when she thought of herself as the Princess Mary; she was +not jesting. + +"I don't know the princess," I said laughingly, "but I know Yolanda." + +"Yes; I'll tell you a great secret, Sir Karl. The Princess Mary is not +at all an agreeable person. She is morose, revengeful, haughty, cold--" +here her voice dropped to a whisper, "and, Sir Karl, she lies--she lies. +While Yolanda--well, Yolanda at least is not cold, and I--I think she is +a very delightful person. Don't you?" + +There was a troubled, eager expression in her eyes that told plainly she +was in earnest. To Yolanda the princess was another person. + +"Yolanda is very sure of me," I answered. + +"Ah, that she is," answered the girl. You see, this was a real case of +billing and cooing between December and May. + +A short silence followed, during which Yolanda glanced furtively toward +Max and Twonette. + +"You spoke of your grandfather," said I, "and that reminds me that you +promised to tell me the story of the staircase in the wall." + +"So I did," answered Yolanda, haltingly. Her attention was at the other +end of the room. + +"Do you think Twonette a very pretty girl?" she asked. + +"Yes," I answered, surprised at the abrupt question. I caught a glimpse +of Yolanda's face and saw that I had made a mistake, so I continued +hastily: "That is--yes--yes, she is pretty, though not beautiful. Her +face, I think, is rather dollish. It is a fine creation in pink and +white, but I fear it lacks animation." + +"Now for the stairway in the wall," said Yolanda, settling herself with +the pretty little movements peculiar to her when she was contented. "As +I told you, grandfather built it. Afterward he ceded Peronne to King +Louis, and for many years none of our family ever saw the castle. A few +years ago King Louis ceded it to my father. Father has never lived here, +and has visited Peronne only once in a while, for the purpose of +looking after his affairs on the French border. The castle is very +strong, and, being here on the border at the meeting of the Somme and +the Cologne, it has endured many sieges, but it has never been taken. It +is called 'Peronne La Pucelle.' + +"Father's infrequent visits to the castle have been brief, and all who +have ever known of the stairway are dead or have left Burgundy, save the +good people in this house, my mother, my tire-woman, and myself. Three +or four years ago, when I was a child, mother and I, unhappy at Ghent +and an annoyance to father, came here to live in the castle, and--and--I +wonder what Sir Max and Twonette find to talk about--and Twonette and I +became friends. I love Twonette dearly, but she is a sly creature, for +all she is so demure, and she is bolder than you would think, Sir Karl. +These very demure girls are often full of surprises. She has been +sitting there in the shadow with Sir Max for half an hour. That, I say, +would be bold in any girl. Well, to finish about the staircase: my +bedroom, as I told you, was my grandfather's. One day Twonette was +visiting me, and we--we--Sir Max, what in the world are you and Twonette +talking about? We can't hear a word you say." + +"We can't hear what you are saying," retorted Max. + +"I wish you were young, Sir Karl," whispered Yolanda, "so that I might +make him jealous." + +"Shall we come to you?" asked Max. + +"No, no, stay where you are," cried Yolanda; then, turning to me, "Where +did I stop?" + +"Your bedroom--" I suggested. + +"Yes--my bedroom was my grandfather's. One day I had Twonette in to play +with me, and we rummaged every nook and corner we could reach. By +accident we discovered the movable panel. We pushed it aside, and +spurring our bravery by daring each other, we descended the dark +stairway step by step until we came suddenly against the oak panel at +the foot. We grew frightened and cried aloud for help. Fortunately, +Tante Castleman was on the opposite side of the panel in the oak room, +and--and--" + +She had been halting in the latter part of her narrative and I plainly +saw what was coming. + +"Tante Castleman was--was--It was fortunate she--was in--" She sprang to +her feet, exclaiming: "I'm going to tell Twonette what I think of her +boldness in sitting there in the dark with Sir Max. Her father is not +here to do it." And that was the last I heard of the stairway in +the wall. + +Yolanda ran across the room to the bench by the fireplace and stamped +her foot angrily before Twonette. + +"It--it is immodest for a girl to sit here in the deep shadow beside a +gentleman for hours together. Shame, Twonette! Your father is not here +to correct you." + +Castleman had left the room. + +Twonette laughed, rose hurriedly, and stood by Yolanda in front of Max. +Yolanda, by way of apology, took Twonette's hand, but after a few words +she coolly appropriated her place "in the deep shadow beside a +gentleman." A princess enjoys many privileges denied to a burgher girl. +When a girl happens to be both, the burgher girl is apt to be influenced +by the princess, as the princess is apt to be modified by the life of +the burgher girl. Presently Yolanda said:-- + +"Please go, Twonette, and mix a bowl of wine and honey. Yours is +delicious. Put in a bit of allspice, Twonette, and pepper, beat it well, +Twonette, and don't spare the honey. Now there's a good girl. Go +quickly, but don't hurry back. Haste, you know, Twonette, makes waste, +and you may spoil the wine." + +Twonette laughed and went to mix the wine and honey. I walked back to +the other end of the room, and sat down by a window to watch the night +gather without. I was athrill with the delightful thought that, all +unknown to the world, unknown even to himself, Max, through my +instrumentality, was wooing Mary of Burgundy within fifty feet of where +I sat. He was not, of course, actively pressing his suit, but all +unconsciously he was taking the best course to win her heart forever and +ever. Now, with a propitious trick of fortune, my fantastic dream, +conceived in far-off Styria, might yet become a veritable fact. By what +rare trick this consummation might be brought about, I did not know, but +fortune had been kind so far, and I felt that her capricious ladyship +would not abandon us. + +Yolanda turned to Max with a soft laugh of satisfaction, settled her +skirts about her, as a pleased woman is apt to do, and said +contentedly:-- + +"There, now!" + +"Fräulein, you are very kind to me," said Max. + +"Yes--yes, I am, Sir Max," she responded, beaming on him. "Now, tell me +what you and Twonette have been talking about." + +"You," answered Max. + +A laugh gurgled in her throat as she asked:-- + +"What else?" + +"I'll tell you if you will tell me what you and Sir Karl were saying," +he responded. + +"Ah, I see!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands gleefully. "You were +jealous." + +"I admit it," he answered, so very seriously that one might have thought +him in earnest. "And you, Fräulein?" + +"I jealous?" she responded, with lifted eyebrows. "You are a vain man, +Sir Max. I was not jealous--only--only a tiny bit--so much--" and she +measured the extent of her jealousy on the pink tip of her little +finger. "I am told you were falconing with the Duke of Burgundy to-day. +If you go in such fine company, I fear we shall see little of you." + +"There is no company finer than--than--" Max checked his tongue. + +"Say it, Max, say it," she whispered coaxingly, leaning toward him. + +"Than you, Fräulein." The girl leaned back contentedly against the wall, +and Max continued: "Yes, his lordship was kind to me, and most gracious. +I cannot believe the stories of cruelty I hear of him. I have been told +that on different occasions he has used personal violence on his wife +and daughter. If that be true, he must be worse than the brutes of the +field, but you may be sure, Yolanda, the stories are false." + +"Alas! I fear they are too true," responded the girl, sighing in memory +of the afternoon. + +"He is a pleasing companion when he wishes to be," said Max, "and I hear +his daughter, the princess, is much like him." + +"Heavens!" exclaimed Yolanda, "I hope she is like him only when he is +pleasing." + +"That is probably true," said Max. + +"There is where I am really jealous, Max--this princess--" she said, +leaning forward and looking up into his face with unmistakable +earnestness. + +"Why?" asked Max, laughing. + +"Because men love wealth and high estate. There are scores of men--at +least, so I have been told--eager to marry this princess, who do not +even know that she is not hideous to look upon and vixenish in temper. +They would take her gladly, with any deformity, physical, mental, or +moral, for the sake of possessing Burgundy." + +"But I am told she is fair and beautiful," said Max. + +"Believe it not," said Yolanda, sullenly. "Whoever heard of a rich +princess who was not beautiful? Anne and Joan, daughters of King Louis, +are always spoken of as paragons of beauty; yet those who know tell me +these royal ladies are hideous. King Louis has nicknamed Joan 'The +Owlet' because she is little, ill-shapen, and black. Anne is tall, large +of bone, fat, and sallow. He should name her 'The Giantess of Beaujeu'; +and the little half-witted Dauphin he should dub 'Knight of the Princely +Order of House Rats.'" + +That she was deeply in earnest there could be no doubt. + +"I hope you do not speak so freely to others," said Max. "If His Grace +of Burgundy should hear of your words he might--" + +"I hope you will not tell him," said Yolanda, laughing. "But this Mary!" +she continued, clinging stubbornly to the dangerous topic. "You came to +woo her estates, and in the end you will do so." + +I am convinced that the girl was intensely jealous of herself. When she +feared that Max might seek the Princess Mary, her heart brooded over the +thought that he would do so for the sake of her wealth and her domains. + +"I have told you once, Fräulein, what I will do and what I will not. For +your own sake and mine I'll tell you no more," said Max. + +"If I were a great princess," said Yolanda, pouting and hanging her +head, "you would not speak so sharply to me." Evidently she was hurt by +Max's words, though they were the expression, not of his displeasure, +but of his pain. + +"Fräulein, forgive me; my words were not meant to be sharp. It was my +pain that spoke. You torture me and cause me to torture myself," said +Max. "To keep a constant curb on one's ardent longing is exhausting. It +takes the heart out of a man. At times you seem to forget that my +silence is my great grief, not my fault. Ah, Fräulein! you cannot +understand my longing and my struggle." + +"I do understand," she answered plaintively, slipping her hand into his, +"and unless certain recent happenings have the result I hope for, you, +too, will understand, more clearly than you now do, within a very +short time." + +She covered her face with her hands. Her words mystified Max, and he was +on the point of asking her to explain. He loved and pitied her, and +would have put his arm around her waist to comfort her, but she sprang +to her feet, exclaiming:-- + +"No, no, Little Max, let us save all that for our farewell. You will not +have long to wait." + +Wisdom returned to Max, and he knew that she was right in helping him to +resist the temptation that he had so valiantly struggled against since +leaving Basel. + +All that I had really hoped for in Styria, all our fair dreams upon the +castle walls of Hapsburg, had come to pass. Max had, beyond doubt, won +the heart of Mary of Burgundy, but that would avail nothing unless by +some good chance conditions should so change that Mary would be able to +choose for herself. In such case, ambition would cut no figure in her +choice. The chains of duty to family, state, and ancestry that bound +Max's feet so firmly would be but wisps of straw about Yolanda's slender +ankles. She would have no hesitancy in making her choice, were she free +to do so, and states might go hang for all she would care. Her heart was +her state. Would she ever be able to choose? Fortune had been kind to us +thus far; would she remain our friend? She is a coquette; but the heart +of a coquette, if truly won, is the most steadfast of all. + +Twonette brought in the wine and honey; Castleman soon returned and +lighted the lamp, and we all sat talking before the small blaze in the +fireplace, till the great clock in the middle of the room chimed the +hour of ten. Then Yolanda ran from us with a hurried good night, and Max +returned with me to the inn. + + * * * * * + +I cannot describe the joy I took from the recurring thought that I was +particeps criminis with the Princess of Burgundy in the commission of a +crime. At times I wished the crime had been greater and its extenuation +far less. We hear much about what happens when thieves fall out, but my +observation teaches me that thieves usually remain good friends. The +bonds of friendship had begun to strengthen between Yolanda and me +before she sought my help in the perpetration of her great crime. After +that black felony, they became like links of Milan chain. I shared her +secrets, great and small. + +One day while Yolanda and I were sitting in the oak room,--the room from +which the panel opened into the stairway in the wall,--I said to her:-- + +"If your letter 't' causes a break with France, perhaps Max's +opportunity may come." + +"I do not know--I cannot hope," she responded dolefully. "You see, when +father made this treaty with France, he was halting between two men in +the choice of a husband for me. One was the Dauphin, son to King Louis, +whom father hates with every breath he draws. The other was the Duke of +Gelders, whom father really likes. Gelders is a brute, Sir Karl. He kept +his father in prison four years, and usurped his domain. He is a +drunkard, a murderer, and a profligate. For reasons of state father +chose the Dauphin, but if the treaty with France is broken, I suppose it +will be Gelders again. If it comes to that, Sir Karl--but I'll not say +what I'll do. My head is full of schemes from morning till night, and +when I sleep my poor brain is a whirl of visions. Self-destruction, +elopement, and I know not what else appeal to me. How far is it to +Styria, Sir Karl?" she asked abruptly. + +"Two or three hundred leagues, perhaps--it may be more," I answered. "I +do not know how far it is, Yolanda, but it is not far enough for your +purposes. Even could you reach there, Styria could not protect you." + +"I was not thinking of--of what you suppose, Sir Karl," she said +plaintively. + +"What were you thinking of, Yolanda?" I asked. + +"Of nothing--of--of--a wild dream of hiding away from the world in some +unknown corner, at times comes to me in my sleep--only in my sleep, Sir +Karl--for in my waking hours I know it to be impossible. The only +pleasant part of being a princess is that the world envies you; but what +a poor bauble it is to buy at the frightful price I pay!" + +"I have been on mountain tops," I answered philosophically, "and I find +that breathing grows difficult as one ascends." + +"Ah, Sir Karl," she answered tearfully, "I believe I'll go upstairs and +weep." + +I led her to the moving panel and opened it for her. Without turning her +face she held back her hand for me to kiss. Then she started up the dark +stone steps, and I knew that she was weeping. I closed the panel and sat +on the cushioned bench. To say that I would have given my old life to +win happiness for her but poorly measures my devotion. A man's happiness +depends entirely on the number and quality of those to whom his love +goes out. Before meeting Yolanda I drew all my happiness from loving one +person--Max. Now my source was doubled, and I wished for the first time +that I might live my life again, to lay it at this girl's feet. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TRIAL BY COMBAT + +Max had waited until Calli's arm was mended to bring up the subject of +the trial by combat; but when he would have taken it before the duke, I +dissuaded him by many pretexts, and for a few days it was dropped. But +soon it was brought forward in a most unpleasant way. Max and I were in +the streets of Peronne one afternoon, and as we approached a group of +ragged boys, one of them cried out:-- + +"There is the fellow that challenged Count Calli, but won't fight him!" + +Max turned upon the boy, caught him roughly by the shoulder, and asked +him where he got his information. The frightened boy replied that his +father was a hostler in the duke's stables, and had heard Count Calli +say that the fellow who had challenged him was "all gauntlet but +no fight." + +We at once sought Hymbercourt, who, on being closely questioned, +admitted that the Italians in the castle were boasting that the stranger +who seemed so eager to fight when Calli's arm was lame, had lost his +courage now that the arm was healed. + +Of course I was in a deal of trouble over this combat, and heartily +wished the challenge had never been given, though I had all faith in +Max's strength and skill. I, who had fought constantly for twenty years, +had trained him since his tenth birthday. I had not only trained him; I +had introduced him to the lists at eighteen--he being well grown, strong +of limb, and active as a wildcat. I waged him against a famous tilt-yard +knight, and Max held his own manfully, to his great credit and to my +great joy. The battle was a draw. My first great joy in life came a few +months afterward, when Max unhorsed this same knight, and received the +crown of victory from the queen of the lists. + +But this combat would be a battle of death. Two men would enter the +lists; one would die in the course. + +Max could, with propriety, announce his title and refuse to fight one so +far beneath him as Calli; but even my love for the boy and my fear of +the outcome, could not induce me to advise this. The advice would have +been little heeded had I given it. Max was not one in whose heart hatred +could thrive, but every man should have a just sense of injury received, +and no one should leave all vengeance to God. In Max's heart this sense +was almost judicial. The court of his conscience had convicted Calli of +an unforgivable crime, and he felt that it was his God-appointed duty to +carry out the sentence. + +While I had all faith in Max's strength and skill, I also knew Calli to +be a strong, time-hardened man, well used to arms. What his skill was, I +could not say, but fame proclaimed it great. It would need to be great +to kill Max, boy though he was, but accidents are apt to happen in the +lists, and Calli was treacherous. I was deep in trouble, but I saw no +way out but for Max to fight. So, on the morning after our conversation +with Hymbercourt, Max and I sought admission to the duke's audience. +Charles had been privately told of our purpose and of course was +delighted at the prospect of a battle to the death. + +A tournament with, mayhap, a few broken heads furnished him great +enjoyment; but a real battle between two men, each seeking the other's +life, was such keen pleasure to his savage, blood-loving nature, that +its importance could hardly be measured. Charles would have postponed +his war against the Swiss, I verily believe, rather than miss this +combat between Max and Calli. + +The duke hurried through the business of the morning, and then turned +toward Max, signifying that his time had come. Max stepped before the +ducal throne, made his obeisance, and said:-- + +"May it please Your Highness to recall a wage of battle given by me some +weeks ago, in this hall and in this august presence, to one who calls +himself Count Calli? The cause of my complaint against the said Calli I +need not here rehearse. I have waited to repeat my defiance until such +time as Count Calli's arm should mend. I am told that he is now strong; +and, most gracious Lord Charles, Duke of Burgundy, I again offer my wage +of battle against this said knight and demand the trial by combat." + +Thereupon he drew an iron gauntlet from his girdle and threw it clanking +on the stone floor. The gauntlet lay untouched for the space of a minute +or two; and the duke turned toward Calli and Campo-Basso, who stood +surrounded by their Italian friends at the right of the throne. After a +long pause Charles said:-- + +"Will Count Calli lift the gage, or shall we appoint a court of heraldry +to determine whether or no the combat shall take place?" + +There was a whispered conversation among the Italians, after which +Campo-Basso addressed the duke. + +"My most gracious lord," said he, "the noble Count Calli is loath to +lift the gage of an unknown man, and would make bold to say that he will +not do so until he is satisfied that he who so boastingly offers it is +worthy in blood, station, and knighthood to stand before him." + +"For all that I will stand surety," said Hymbercourt, turning to the +duke and to Campo-Basso. + +"The Lord d'Hymbercourt's honor is beyond reproach," replied the +Italian, "but Count Calli must have other proof." + +Hymbercourt was about to make an angry reply, but he was silenced by the +duke's uplifted hand. + +"We will ourself be surety for this knight," said Charles. + +"We cannot gainsay Your Lordship's surety, most gracious duke," returned +Campo-Basso; "but with all meekness and humility we would suggest, with +Your Grace's permission, that when a man jeopards his life against +another he feels it his right to know at least his foe's name." + +"Count Calli must content himself with knowing that the knight's name is +Sir Maximilian du Guelph. If Count Calli is right and his cause just, +God will give him victory, and the whole world shall know of his deed. +If he is in the wrong and his cause unjust, may God have mercy on +his soul." + +A long pause ensued during which Max stood before the duke, a noble +figure of manly beauty worthy the chisel of a Greek sculptor. The +shutter in the ladies' gallery was ajar and I caught a glimpse of +Yolanda's pale, tear-stained face as she looked down upon the man she +loved, who was to put his life in peril to avenge her wrong. + +"We are wasting time, Count Calli," spoke the duke. "Take up the gage or +demand a court. The charge made by Sir Max will certainly justify a +court of chivalry in ordering the combat. The truth or falsity of that +charge you and Sir Max must prove on each other's bodies. His desire to +remain unknown the court will respect; he has ample precedent. If you +are convinced by the word of our Lord d'Hymbercourt and myself that he +is of birth and station worthy to engage with you in knightly and mortal +combat, you can ask no more. Few courts of chivalry, I take it, would +hold the evidence inconclusive. Take up or leave the gage, Sir Count, +and do one or the other at once." + +Calli walked over to the gauntlet and, taking it from the floor, held it +in his right hand while he bent his knee before the duke. He did not +look toward Max, but turned in the direction of his friends and tucked +the gauntlet in his girdle as he strode away. + +"We appoint this day twelve days, on a Sunday afternoon, for the +combat," said Charles. "Then these men shall do their endeavor, each +upon the other; and may God give victory to the right!" + + * * * * * + +That evening, as usual, Max and I were at Castleman's. Yolanda did not +come down till late, but when she came she clung silently to Max, and +there was a deep pathos in her every word and glance. As we left, I went +back and whispered hurriedly to her:-- + +"Have no fear, dear one. Our Max will take no harm." + +My words were bolder than my heart, but I thought to comfort her. + +"I have no fear, Sir Karl," she said, in a trembling voice. "There is no +man so strong and brave as Max. He is in the right, and God is just. The +Blessed Virgin, too, will help him. It would be sacrilege to doubt her. +I do not doubt. I do not fear, Sir Karl, but, oh, my friend--" Here she +buried her face on my breast and wept convulsively. Her words, too, had +been bolder than her heart--far bolder. + +The brooding instinct in me--the faint remnant of mother love, that kind +Providence has left in every, good man's heart--longed to comfort her +and bear her pains. But I was powerless to help her, and, after all, her +suffering was wholesome. In a moment she continued, sobbing while +she spoke:-- + +"But--oh! if by any mischance Max should fall; if by treachery or +accident--oh, Sir Karl, my heart is breaking. Do not let Max fight." +These words were from her woman's heart. "His station will excuse him, +but if the affair has gone too far for him to withdraw, tell him to--to +leave Burgundy, to run away, to--" + +"Yolanda, what are you saying?" I asked. "Would you not rather see him +dead than a coward?" + +"No, no, Sir Karl," she cried, wrought almost to a frenzy by her grief +and fear. "No, no, anything but dead." + +"Listen to reason, Yolanda," I answered. "I, who love Max more than I +love the blood of my heart, would kill him with my own hand rather than +have cause to call him coward and speak the truth." + +"No, no," she cried desperately, grasping my hand. "Do not let him +fight. Ah, Sir Karl, if you bear me any love, if my grief and unhappy +lot have touched your heart, even on the smallest spot, I pray you, do +this thing for me. Do not let Max fight with this Count Calli. If +Max falls--" + +"But Max will not fall," I answered boldly. "He has overthrown better +men than Calli." + +"Has he? Ah, tell me, has he? He is little more than a boy. I seem older +than he at times, and it is hard to believe what you say, though I know +he is strong, and that fear has no place in his heart. Tell me, whom has +he overthrown?" + +"Another time, Yolanda," I responded soothingly, "but this I say now to +comfort you. Calli is no match for our Max. In the combat that is to +come, Max can kill him if he chooses, barring accidents and treachery. +Over and above his prowess, his cause, you know, is just, and for that +reason God will be with him." + +"Yes, yes," sobbed Yolanda, "and the Virgin, too." + +The Virgin was a woman in whom she could find a woman's sympathy. She +trusted God and stood in reverent awe of Him; but one could easily see +that the Virgin held her heart and was her refuge in time of trouble. +When I turned to leave she called me back, saying:-- + +"I have a mind to tell Max the truth--to tell him who I am." + +"I would not do so now," I answered, fearing, perhaps with good reason, +the effect of the disclosure on Max. "After the combat, if you wish to +tell him--" + +"But if he should fall?" said the girl, beginning to weep again and +clinging desperately to my arm. "If he should fall, not knowing who +I am?" + +"Max will not fall, Yolanda. Dismiss that fear from your heart." + +My bold words served a double purpose. They at least partially satisfied +Yolanda, and they strengthened me. + +Of course Max and I at once began to prepare for the combat. The charger +we had captured from the robbers on the Rhine now came to our hand as if +sent by Providence. He was a large, active horse, with limbs like steel. +He was an intelligent animal, too, and a good brain is almost as +valuable in a horse as in a man. He had evidently borne arms all his +life, for when we tried him in the tilt-yard we found him trained at +every point. + +There was no heavy plate at the Peronne armorer's large enough for Max, +so Hymbercourt dropped a hint to Duke Charles, and His Grace sent two +beautiful suits to our inn. One was of Barcelona make, the other an old +suit which we judged had come from Damascus. I tried the latter with my +sword, and spoiled a good blade. Although the Damascus armor was too +heavy by a stone, we chose it, and employed an armorer to tighten a few +nuts, and to adjust new straps to the shoulder plates and arm pieces. + +We caused lists to be built outside the walls, and Max worked eight +hours a day to harden himself. He ran against me, against our squires, +who were lusty big fellows, and now and then against Hymbercourt, who +was a most accomplished knight. + +Yolanda was prone to coax Max not to fight, and her fear showed itself +in every look and gesture. Her words, of course, could not have turned +him, but her fears might have undermined his self-confidence. So I +pointed out to her the help he would get from encouragement, and the +possible hurt he would take were her fears to infect him. After my +admonition, her efforts to be cheerful and confident almost brought +tears to my eyes. She would sing, but her song was joyless. She would +banter Max and would run imaginary courses with him, taking the part of +Calli, and always falling dead at Max's feet; but the moment of +relaxation brought a haunting, terrified expression to her eyes. The +corners of her sweet mouth would droop, effacing the cluster of dimples +that played about her lips, and the fair, childish face, usually so +joyful, wore the mask of grief. For the first time in her life real +happiness had come, not within her grasp, but within sight; and this +combat might snatch it from her. + +Once when I was helping Max to buckle on his armor for a bout at +practice, he said:-- + +"Yolanda seems to treat this battle as a jest. She laughs and banters me +as if it were to be a justing bout. I wonder if she really has a heart?" + +"Max, I am surprised at your dulness," I said. "Do you not see her +manner is assumed, though her fear is small because of her great faith +in your prowess?" + +"I'll try to deserve her faith," answered Max. + + * * * * * + +When at last the day arrived, Max was in prime condition. At the inn we +carefully adjusted the armor and fitted it on him. One of our squires +led the charger, carefully trapped, to the lists, which had been built +in an open field outside the town, west of the castle. + +Max and I, accompanied by Hymbercourt and two other friends, rode down +to Castleman's, and Max entered the house for a few minutes. Yolanda had +told him that she would not be at the lists, and Max felt that it were +better so. + +Twonette and her father had gone to the lists when we reached the House +under the Wall, but Yolanda and Frau Kate were awaiting us. There was a +brief greeting and a hurried parting--tearful on Yolanda's part. Then we +rode around to the Postern and entered the courtyard of the castle. +Crossing the courtyard, we passed out through the great gate at the +keep, and soon stood demanding admission to the lists. + +The course was laid off north and south, the sun being in the southwest. +The hour of battle was fixed at four o'clock, and the combat was to +continue till sundown, if neither champion fell before that time. The +pavilion for the duke and the other spectators was built at the west +side of the false lists--a strip of ground ten feet wide, extending +entirely around the true lists, but separated from it by a barrier or +railing three feet high. + +It was an hour after we left Castleman's house before Max and I entered +the false lists. As I expected, the princess was sitting in the pavilion +with her father and Duchess Margaret. A veil partly concealed her +features, and when Max rode down the false lists to make his obeisance +before the duke and the duchess, he could not know that the white face +of Yolanda looked down upon him. I was sorry to see the princess in the +pavilion, because I knew that if an untoward fate should befall Max, a +demonstration would surely follow in the ducal gallery. + +At the gate of the true lists, Max was met by a priest, who heard his +oath, and by a herald, who read the laws and the agreement relating to +the combat. A court of heraldry had decided that three lances should be +broken, after which the champions, if both alive, should dismount and +continue the fight with battle-axes of whatever weight they might +choose. If either knight should be disabled, it was the other's right +to kill him. + +After Max had entered the true lists the gates were closed, and +Hymbercourt, myself, and our squires stood outside the barrier at the +north end of the false lists,--the north being Max's station on +the course. + +Max sat his charger, lance in rest; Calli waited in the south, and these +two faced each other with death between them. + +When all was ready the heralds raised their banners, and the duke gave +the word of battle. There was a moment of deep silence, broken by the +thunder of tramping hoofs, as horses and men rushed upon each other. +Calli and Max met in mid-course, and the din of their contact was like +the report of a cannon. Each horse fell back upon its haunches; each +rider bent back upon his horse. Two tough yule lances burst into a +hundred splinters. Then silence ensued, broken after a moment by a storm +of applause from the pavilion. + +The second course was like the first, save that Max nearly unhorsed +Calli by a marvellous helmet stroke. The stroke loosened Calli's helmet +by breaking a throat-strap, but neither he nor his friends seemed to +notice the mishap, and the third course was begun without remedying it. +When the champions were within ten yards of each other, a report like +the discharge of an arquebuse was heard, coming apparently from beneath +the pavilion. I could not say whence the report came--I was too intent +upon the scene in the lists to be thoroughly conscious of happenings +elsewhere--but come it did from somewhere, and Max's fine charger +plunged forward on the lists, dead. Max fell over his horse's head and +lay half-stunned upon the ground. + +Above the din rose a cry, a frantic scream, that fairly pierced my +heart. Well I knew the voice that uttered it. The people in the pavilion +rose to their feet, and cries of "Treachery! treachery!" came from all +directions. Calli was evidently expecting the shot, for just before it +came he reined in his horse, and when Max fell the Italian instantly +brought his charger to a standstill and began to dismount with all the +speed his heavy armor would permit. When safely down, he unclasped his +battle-axe from the chain that held it to his girdle and started toward +Max, who was lying prone upon the ground. Cries of "Shame! shame!" came +from the pavilion, but no one, not even the duke, dared to interfere; it +was Calli's right to kill Max if he could. + +I had covered my eyes with my hand, thinking that surely the boy's hour +had come. I removed my hand when I heard the scream, and I have thanked +God ever since for prompting me to do that little act, for I saw the +most beautiful sight that my eyes have ever beheld. Calli had reached +his prostrate foe and was standing over him with battle-axe uplifted to +deal the blow of death. At that same moment Yolanda sprang from the +duke's side, cleared the low railing in front of the ducal box, and +jumped to the false lists six or eight feet below. Her gown of scarlet +and gold shone with dazzling radiance in the sunlight. + +Calli was facing the pavilion, and Yolanda's leap probably attracted his +attention. However that may have been--perhaps it was because of Calli's +haste, perhaps it was the will of God--the blow fell short, and Calli's +battle-axe, glancing from Max's helmet, buried itself in the hard +ground. While Calli was struggling to release his axe, Yolanda cleared +the low barrier of the true lists, sped across the intervening space +like a flash of red avenging flame, and reached Max not one second too +soon, for Calli's axe was again uplifted. She fell upon Max, and had the +axe descended she would have received the blow. Calli stepped back in +surprise, his heel caught on the toe of Max's iron boot, he fell prone +upon his back, and the weight of his armor prevented him from rising +quickly. The glancing blow on Max's helmet had roused him, and when he +moved Yolanda rose to her knees beside him. + +"Let me help you," she cried, lifting Max's mailed hand to her shoulder; +Max did so, and by help of the frail girl he drew himself to his knees +and then to his feet. Meantime, Calli was attempting to rise. I can +still see the terrible picture. Calli's panting horse stood near by with +drooping head. Max's charger lay quivering in the convulsions of death. +Calli, whose helmet had dropped from his head when he fell, lay resting +on his elbow, half risen and bareheaded. Max stood deliberately taking +his battle-axe from his girdle chain, while Yolanda still knelt at his +feet. Battle-axe in hand, Max stepped toward Calli, who had risen to his +knees. The expression on the Italian's face I shall never forget. With +bared head and upturned face he awaited the death that he knew he +deserved. Max lifted his battle-axe to give the blow. I wondered if he +would give it. He lowered the axe, and a shout went up from the +pavilion:-- + +"Kill him! Kill him!" + +He lifted the axe again, and a silence like the hush of death fell upon +the shouting audience. Again Max hesitated, and I distinctly heard +Yolanda, who was still upon her knees, whisper:-- + +"Kill him! Kill him!" + +Then came the shouts of a thousand voices, thrilling me to the marrow:-- + +"Kill him! Kill him!" and I knew that if I were standing in Max's shoes, +Calli would die within a moment. I also remember wondering in a flash of +thought if Max were great enough to spare him. Again the battle-axe came +slowly down, and the din in the pavilion was deafening:-- + +"Kill him! Kill him!" + +Again the battle-axe rose; but after a pause, Max let it fall to the +ground behind him; and, turning toward the girl, lifted her with his +mailed hands to her feet. When she had risen Max looked into her face, +and, falling back a step, exclaimed in a voice hushed by wonder:-- + +"Yolanda!" + +His words coming to the girl's ears, like a far-away sound, from the +cavernous recesses of his helmet, frightened her. + +"No, no, my name is not Yolanda. You are mistaken. You do not know me. +I--I am the princess. You do not know me." + +Her words were prompted by two motives: she wished to remain unknown to +Max, and she feared lest her father should come to know that a great +part of her life was spent as a burgher girl. Her hands were clasped at +her breast; her face was as pale as a gray dawn; her breath came in +feeble gusts, and her words fell haltingly from her lips. She took two +steps forward, her eyes closed, and she began to fall. Max caught her +and lifted her in his strong arms. On great occasions persons often do +trivial acts. With Yolanda held tightly in the embrace of his left arm, +Max stooped to the ground and picked up his battle-axe with his right +hand. Then he strode to the north end of the lists and placed the girl +in my arms. + +"Yolanda," he said, intending to tell me of his fair burden. + +"No, Max," I whispered, as he unfastened his helmet. "Not Yolanda, but +the princess. The two resemble each other greatly." + +"Yolanda," returned Max, doggedly. "I know her as a mother knows her +first-born." + +Not one hundred seconds had elapsed between the report of the arquebuse +and the placing of Yolanda in my arms; but hardly had Max finished +speaking when a dozen ladies crowded about us and took possession of the +unconscious princess. + +After the duke had set on foot a search for the man who had fired the +arquebuse, he came down to the false lists and stood with Hymbercourt +and me, discussing the event. Campo-Basso said that his heart was "sore +with grief," and the Italians jabbered like monkeys. One of them wanted +to kiss Max for sparing his kinsman's life, but Max thrust him off with +a fierce oath. The young fellow was in an ugly mood, and if I had been +his enemy, I would sooner have crossed the path of a wounded lion than +his. He was slow to anger, but the treachery he had encountered had +raised all of Satan that was in him. Had he stood before Calli thirty +seconds longer that treacherous heart would have ceased to beat. + +While we were standing in the false lists, speaking with the duke, an +Italian approached Max, bowed low, and said:-- + +"The noble Count Calli approaches to thank you for your mercy and to +extol your bravery." + +Max turned his head toward the centre of the course, and saw Calli +surrounded by a crowd of jabbering friends who were leading him toward +us. A black cloud--a very mist from hell--came over Max's face. He +stooped and took his battle-axe from the ground. I placed my hand on the +boy's arm and warningly spoke his name:-- + +"Max!" After a pause I continued, "Leave murder to the Italians." + +Max uttered a snort of disdain, but, as usual, he took my advice. He +turned to Campo-Basso, still grasping his battle-axe:-- + +"Keep that fellow away from me," he said, pointing toward Calli. "My +merciful mood was brief. By the good God who gave me the villain's life, +I will kill him if he comes within reach of my axe." + +An Italian ran to the men who had Calli in charge, and they turned at +once and hurried toward the south gate of the lists. All this action was +very rapid, consuming only a minute or two, and transpired in much less +time than it requires to tell of it. + +While our squires were removing Max's armor, I heard the duke say:-- + +"Arrest Calli. We will hold him until the shot is explained. If he was +privy to it, he shall hang or boil." Then the duke, placing his hand on +Max's shoulder, continued: "You are the best knight in Christendom, the +bravest, the most generous, and the greatest fool. Think you Calli would +have spared you, boy?" + +"I am not Calli, my lord," said Max. + +"You certainly are not," returned the duke. + +Visions of trouble with France growing out of Yolanda's "t," and of a +subsequent union between Max and the princess, floated before my mind, +even amidst the din that surrounded me. Taking the situation by and +large, I was in an ecstasy of joy. Max's victory was a thousand +triumphs in one. It was a triumph over his enemy, a triumph over his +friends, but, above all, a triumph over himself. He had proved himself +brave and merciful, and I knew that in him the world had a man who would +leave it better and happier than he found it. + +Calli was arrested and brought to the duke's presence. Of course he +denied all knowledge of the shot that had killed Max's horse. Others +were questioned, including three Italian friars wearing cassocks and +cowls, who bore a most wondrous testimony. + +"Your Grace," said one of the friars, "we three men of God can explain +this matter that so nearly touches the honor of our fair countryman, the +noble Count Calli." + +"In God's name, do so," exclaimed the duke. + +"This is the explanation, most gracious lord. When the third course was +preparing, we three men of God prayed in concert to God the +Father,"--all the friars crossed themselves,--"God the Son, and God the +Holy Ghost, to save our countryman, and lo! our prayers were most +graciously answered; for, noble lord, at the moment when this most +valiant knight was about to kill our friend, we each heard a report +marvellously like to the discharge of an arquebuse. At the same instant +a fiery shaft descended from the palm of a mighty hand in the heavens, +and the horse of this valiant and most generous knight, Sir Max, fell +dead, stricken by the hand of God." + +I had no doubt that this absurd explanation would be received with +scorn and derision; but the friar knew his audience, and I did not. His +statement was not really accepted as true, but it was not cast aside as +utterly absurd. I saw that it might easily be believed. + +"Why did not others see your wondrous shaft from the hand of God?" I +asked. + +"Because, noble lord," answered the friar, "our eyes were looking upward +in prayer. All others were fixed on this worldly combat." + +The explanation actually seemed to explain. + +Just then the men who had been sent out to seek evidence concerning the +shot returned, and reported that no arquebuse was to be found. The lists +were surrounded by an open field, and a man endeavoring to escape would +have been seen. + +"Did you search all places of possible concealment for an arquebuse?" +asked the duke. + +"All, my lord," answered the men, who were Burgundians and to be +trusted. + +Faith in the friars absurd story was rapidly gaining ground, and several +of the Italian courtiers, emboldened by encouragement, affirmed upon +their hope of salvation and their knightly honor that they, too, had +witnessed the descent of the shaft from heaven. Touch a man on his +superstitions, and he will believe anything you tell him. If you assure +him that an honest friend has told you so and so, he may doubt you, but +tell him that God tells you, and he will swallow your hook. If you would +have your lie believed, tell a great one. + +Charles, more credulous and gullible than I should have believed, turned +to Hymbercourt. He spoke reverentially, being, you understand, in the +presence of a miracle:-- + +"This is a wondrous happening, my lord," said the duke. + +"If it happened, Your Grace," returned Hymbercourt, "it certainly was +marvellous." + +"Don't you think it did happen? Do not you believe that this bolt came +from the hand that was seen by these worthy friars?" asked the duke. + +"The shaft surely did not come from a just God, my lord," returned +Hymbercourt. + +"Whence, then, did it come?" asked the duke. "No arquebuse has been +found, and a careful scrutiny has been made." + +"Aye!" echoed the friars. "Whence else did it come? Whence, my Lord +d'Hymbercourt, whence?" + +I had noticed our Irish servant Michael standing near one of the friars. +At this point in the conversation the Irishman plucked me by the sleeve, +pointed to a friar, and whispered a word in my ear. Like a stone from a +catapult I sprang on the friar indicated, threw him to the ground, and +drew from under his black cassock an arquebuse. + +"Here is the shaft from God!" I exclaimed, holding the arquebuse up to +view. Then I kneeled on the prostrate wretch and clutched his throat. +Anger gathered in my brain as lightning clusters about a mountain top. I +threw aside the arquebuse and proceeded to kill the canting mendicant. I +do not know that I killed him; I hope I did. I cannot speak with +certainty on that point, for I was quickly thrown away from him by the +avenging mob that rushed upon us and tore the fellow limb from limb. The +other friars were set upon by the populace that had witnessed the combat +from without the lists, and were beaten so unmercifully that one of them +died. Of the other's fate I know nothing, but I have my secret desires. + +"Kill the Italians! Murder the assassins! Down with the mercenaries," +cried the populace, who hated the duke's guard. The barriers were broken +down, and an interesting battle ensued. Surely the people got their full +satisfaction of blood and excitement that day. The Italians drew their +swords, but, being separated, they were at a disadvantage, though their +assailants carried only staves. I expected the duke to stop the fight, +but he withdrew to a little distance and watched it with evident +interest. My interest was more than evident; it was uproarious. I have +never spent so enjoyable a day. The fight raged after Max and I left, +and there was many a sore head and broken bone that night among the +Italian mercenaries of the Duke of Burgundy. + +When Max and I returned to Peronne, we went to the noble church of St. +Jean and offered our humble gratitude. Max, having thrown off his anger, +proposed to buy a mass for the dead friar; but I was for leaving him in +purgatory where he belonged, and Max, as usual, took my advice. + +On reaching the inn, Max cried loudly for supper. His calmness would +have done credit to a hardened warrior. There was at least one hardened +warrior that was not calm. I was wrought almost to a pitch of frenzy and +could not eat, though the supper prepared by Grote was a marvel in its +way. The old man, usually grave and crusty, after the manner of German +hosts, actually bent his knee to Max and said:-- + +"My poor house has entertained kings and princes; but never has it had +so great an honor as that which it now has in sheltering you." + +That night the duke came with Hymbercourt to honor us at the inn. Each +spoke excitedly and warmly. Max seemed to be the only calm man +in Peronne. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +YOLANDA OR THE PRINCESS? + +After these adventures we could no longer conceal Max's identity, and it +soon became noised about that he was Count of Hapsburg. But Styria was +so far away, and so little known, even to courtiers of considerable +rank, that the fact made no great stir in Peronne. To Frau Kate and +Twonette the disclosure came with almost paralyzing effect. + +The duke remained with us until late in the night, so Max and I did not +go over to the House under the Wall. When we were alone in our room, +Max said: + +"The Princess Mary has treated me as if I were a boy." + +"She saved your life," I returned. "Calli would certainly have killed +you had she not acted quickly." + +"I surely owe her my life," said Max, "though I have little knowledge of +what happened after I fell from my horse until I rose to my feet by her +help. I complain of her conduct in deceiving me by pretending to be a +burgher maiden. It was easily done, Karl, but ungraciously." + +"You are now speaking of Yolanda," I said, not knowing what the wishes +of the princess might be in regard to enlightening him. He looked at me +and answered:-- + +"Karl, if a woman's face is burned on a man's heart, he knows it when he +sees it." + +"You know Yolanda's face, certainly, and I doubt if Yolanda will thank +you for mistaking another's for it." + +"I have made no mistake, Karl," he answered. + +"I am not so sure," I replied. "The girl you placed in my arms seemed +taller by half a head than Yolanda. I noticed her while she was +standing. She seemed rounder and much heavier in form; but I, too, +thought she was Yolanda, and, after all, you may be right." + +"I caught but a glimpse of her face, and that poorly," said Max. "It is +difficult to see anything looking downward out of a helmet; one must +look straight ahead. But the glimpse I had of her face satisfied me." + +"Do not be too sure, Max. I once took another man for myself." Max +laughed. "I am sure no one could have told us apart. He was the Pope, +and I his cousin. Yolanda herself once told me--I believe she has also +told you--that she has the honor to resemble the princess." + +I did not wish to lie to Max, and you will note that I did not say the +princess was not Yolanda. Still, I wished him to remain ignorant upon +the important question until Yolanda should see fit to enlighten him. I +was not sure of her motive in maintaining the alias, though I was +certain it was more than a mere whim. How great it was I could not know. +Should she persist in it I would help her up to the point of telling Max +a downright falsehood. There I would stop. + +We spent two evenings at Castleman's, but did not see Yolanda. On the +first evening, after an hour of listlessness, Max hesitatingly asked:-- + +"Where is Yo--that is, the princess has not been here this evening." + +"The princess!" exclaimed Frau Kate. "No, she has not been here this +evening--nor the duke, nor the king of France. No titled person, Sir +Count, save yourself, has honored us to-day. Our poor roof shelters +few such." + +"I mean Yolanda," said Max. Good-natured Frau Kate laughed softly, and +Twonette said, with smiling serenity:-- + +"Yolanda's head will surely be turned, Sir Count, when she hears you +have called her the princess. So much greatness thrust upon her will +make it impossible for us to live with her." + +"She rules us all as it is, sweet soul," said Castleman. + +"Yolanda is ill upstairs, Sir Count," said Frau Kate. "She wanted to +come down this evening, but I commanded otherwise. Twonette, go to her. +She will be lonely." + +Twonette rose, courtesied, and departed. This splendid bit of acting +almost made me doubt that Yolanda was the princess, and it shook Max's +conviction to its very foundation. + +I wish to warn you that the deception practised upon Max by Yolanda will +seem almost impossible, except on the hypothesis that Max was a very +simple fellow. But the elaborate scheme designed and executed by this +girl, with the help of the Castlemans and myself,--all of whom Max had +no reason to distrust,--would have deceived any man. Max, though simple +and confiding where he trusted,--judging others' good faith by his +own,--was shrewd for his years, and this plan of Yolanda's had to be +faultless, as it really was, to mislead him. + +On the morning of the fourth day after the trial by combat, Yolanda made +her appearance at Castleman's, looking pale and large-eyed. Max and I +had walked down to the House under the Wall before going to dine with +the duke. Soon after we were seated Twonette left, and within five +minutes Yolanda came suddenly upon us in the long parlor. She ran to +Max, grasping both his hands. For a moment she could only say, "Max, +Max," and he remained silent. + +When she recovered control of her voice she said:-- + +"How proud we are of you, Sir Max! Uncle and aunt have told me how +brave and merciful you were at the combat." + +"Your Highness surely knows all that can be told on the subject, since +you were there and took so active a part in the adventure," answered +Max. "It is I who should be grateful, and I am. I owe my life to Your +Highness." + +"You honor me too much, Sir Max," said Yolanda, looking up with surprise +and bowing low before him. "Let my elevation be gradual that I may grow +accustomed to my rank. Make of me first a great lady, and then, say, a +countess. Afterward, if I prove worthy, call me princess." + +"We will call you a princess now, Your Highness," answered Max, not to +be driven from his position. + +"Very well," cried Yolanda, with a laugh and a sweeping courtesy. "If +you will have me a princess, a princess I'll be. But I will not be the +Princess of Burgundy. She saved your life, and I am jealous of her--I +hate her." + +She stamped her foot, and the angry gleam in her eyes was genuine. There +could be no doubt that she was jealous of the princess. I could not +account for her unique attitude toward herself save on one hypothesis: +she was, even to herself, two distinct persons. Yolanda was a happy +burgher girl; Mary was a wretched princess. The two widely differing +conditions under which she lived were so distinct, and were separated by +a gulf so broad, that to her the princess and the burgher girl were in +no way related. + +With change of condition there was always a change of person. The +unhappy princess would come down the stairway in the wall; God would +kindly touch her, and lo! she was transformed into a happy Yolanda. +Yolanda's light feet would climb the dark stone steps, and God was once +more a frowning father. There must also be added Max's share in her +emotions. Perhaps she feared the princess as she would have dreaded a +rival; since she longed with all her passionate, tender heart to win Max +for herself only. It would have been an easy task, as princess, to win +him or any man; but if she could win him as Yolanda, the burgher girl, +the prize would be the greatest that could fall to a woman. + +The true situation dawned upon me as I stood before Max and watched +Yolanda. I thought of her adroit plan to make trouble with France, and I +wanted to shout for joy. The impossible might yet happen. God's hand +surely had been in our journeying to Burgundy. Max might yet win this +peerless princess, this priceless girl; or, reverse it if you choose, +Mary of Burgundy might win this peerless man, and might at the same time +attain the unutterable joy of knowing that she had won him for her +own sake. + +Perhaps her yearning had led her to hope that he might in the end be +willing to fling behind him his high estate for the sake of a burgher +girl. Then, when she had brought him to that resolution, what a joy it +would be to turn upon him and say: "I am not a burgher girl. I am +Princess Mary of Burgundy, and all these things which you are willing to +forego for my sake you may keep, and you may add to them the fair land +of Burgundy!" Her high estate and rich domains, now the tokens of her +thralldom, would then be her joy, since she could give them to Max. + +While these bright hopes were filling my mind, Yolanda was playing well +her part. She, too, evidently meant to tell no lies, though she might be +forced to act many. Her fiery outburst against the Princess of Burgundy +astonished Max and almost startled me. Still, the conviction was strong +with him that Yolanda was Mary. + +"If--if you are the princess, Yo--Yolanda," said Max, evidently +wavering, "it were ungracious to deceive me." + +"But I _am_ the princess," cried Yolanda, lifting her head and walking +majestically to and fro. "Address me not by that low, plebeian +name, Yolanda." + +She stepped upon a chair and thence to the top of the great oak table +that stood in the middle of the room. Drawing the chair up after her she +placed it on the table, and, seating herself on this improvised throne, +lifted one knee over the other, after the manner of her father. She +looked serenely about her in a most amusing imitation of the duke, and +spoke with a deep voice:-- + +"Heralds!" + +No one responded. So she filled the office of herald herself and cried +out:-- + +"Oyez! Oyez! The princess now gives audience!" Resuming the ducal voice, +she continued, "Are there complaints, my Lord Seneschal?" A pause. "Ah, +our guards have stolen Grion's cow, have they? The devil take Grion and +his cow, too! Hang Grion for complaining." A pause ensues while the duke +awaits the next report. "The Swiss have stolen a sheepskin? Ah, we'll +skin the Swiss. My Lord Seneschal, find me fifty thousand men who are +ready to die for a sheepskin. Body of me! A sheepskin! I do love +it well." + +Yolanda's audience was roaring with laughter by this time, but her face +was stern and calm. + +"Silence, you fools," she cried hoarsely, but no one was silent, and Max +laughed till the tears came to his eyes. Yolanda on her throne was so +irresistibly bewitching that he ran to her side, grasped her about the +waist, and unceremoniously lifted her to the floor. When she was on her +feet, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, saying:-- + +"Yolanda or Mary--it's all one to me. There is not another like you in +all the world." + +She drew herself up haughtily: "Sir, this indignity shall cost you +dear," and turning her back on him she moved away three or four paces. +Then she stopped and glanced over her shoulder. His face had lost its +smile, and she knew the joke had gone far enough; so the dimples began +to cluster about the quivering corners of her mouth, the long black +lashes fell for a moment, a soft radiance came to her eyes, and +she asked:-- + +"Which shall it be, Sir Max, Yolanda or the princess?" + +"Yolanda," cried Max, huskily, while he held out his hands to her. Quick +as the movement of a kitten, she sprang to him and allowed his arms to +close about her for one brief moment. While one might count ten she +rested her head on his breast, but all too quickly she turned her face +to his and whispered:-- + +"Are you sure? Is it Yolanda?" + +"Yes, yes, Yolanda. Thank God! it is Yolanda," he replied, placing his +hand before his eyes. She slipped from his arms, and Max, too deeply +moved to speak, walked over to the window and looked out upon the +frowning walls of Peronne the Impregnable. There was irony for you! + +Probably Max was not sure that Yolanda was Yolanda; but, if he was, +conviction had come through his emotions, and it might be temporary. He +was, however, soon to be convinced by evidence so cunningly constructed +that he was compelled to abandon the testimony of his own eyes and +accept that of seemingly incontestable facts. + +"We are to dine privately with the duke at twelve o'clock," I said, +while Max was standing at the window. + +"Indeed?" asked Yolanda, arching her eyebrows; surprise and displeasure +evident in her voice. She glanced at the great clock, then looked toward +Max, and said:-- + +"It lacks but thirty minutes of that time now, and I suppose I shall +soon lose you." + +Max turned from the window, saying:--"Yes, we must go, or we shall be +late." + +"Does the princess dine with you?" asked Yolanda. + +"I do not know, Fräulein," answered Max. Thereupon Yolanda left the room +pouting, and we took our departure, having promised to return to +Castleman's after dinner. + +We went at once to the castle; and thirty minutes after leaving +Castleman's we were in the small parlor or talking room of Duchess +Margaret, where the famous letter to the king of France had been signed +by Duke Charles. When we entered we saw the duchess and the princess +sitting upon the divan. The duke was in his great oak chair, and +Hymbercourt and two other gentlemen were standing near by. I made +obeisance to Charles on bended knee. He rose to receive Max, and, after +a slight hesitation, offered his hand, saying:-- + +"You are welcome, my Lord Count." + +A year had passed since I had heard Max addressed as "my lord," and the +words sounded strange to my ears. I turned quickly toward the princess, +expecting to see a sparkle of mirth in her eyes, but Yolanda's ever +present smile was wholly lacking. The countenance of the princess was +calm, immovable, and expressionless as a mirror. I could hardly believe +that it was the radiant, bedimpled, pouting face I had just seen at +Castleman's, and for the first time in all my experience I realized that +I was face to face with a dual personality. The transformation was so +complete that I might easily have been duped had I not known beyond +peradventure the identity of Yolanda and Mary. + +After the duke had kindly saluted Max, His Grace presented us to the +ladies. When the princess rose to receive us, she seemed at least half a +head taller than Yolanda. Her hair was hidden, and her face seemed +fuller. These changes were probably wrought by her head-dress, which +towered in two great curved horns twelve inches high. She wore a long, +flowing gown that trailed two yards behind her, and this added to her +apparent height. Max had seen Yolanda only in the short skirts of a +burgher girl's costume. + +When Max rose, after kneeling before the princess, he gazed into her +eyes, but the glance he received in return was calm and cold. Yolanda +was rich, red wine, hot and strong; the princess was cold, clear water. +The one was exhilarating, at times intoxicating; the other was chilling. +The face of the princess, though beautiful, was touched with disdain. +Every attitude was one of dignity and hauteur. Her words, though not +lacking intelligence, were commonplace, and her voice was that of her +father's daughter. Yolanda was a girl; the princess was a woman. The +metamorphosis was complete, and Max's hallucination, I felt sure, would +be cured. The princess's face was not burned on his heart, whatever +might be true of Yolanda's. I can give no stronger testimony to the +marvellous quality of the change this girl had wrought in herself than +to tell you that even I began to doubt, and wonder if Yolanda had +tricked me. The effect on Max was instantaneous. After looking into the +princess's face, he said:-- + +"I wish to thank Your Highness for saving my life. I surely had been +killed but for your timely help." + +The situation bordered on the ridiculous. + +"Do not thank me, my Lord Count," responded the princess, in cold and +measured words. "I should have done the same for any man in your hard +case. I once saved a yokel in like manner. Two common men were fighting +with staves. One would have beaten the other to death had I not entered +the lists and parted them. Father feared a similar exhibition on my part +and did not wish me to attend your combat. He says now that I shall go +to no more. I certainly made myself ridiculous. I enjoy a fair fight, +whatever the outcome may be, but I despise murder. My act was entirely +impersonal, Sir Count." + +"On the lists I addressed Your Highness as 'Yolanda,'" said Max. "Your +resemblance to one whom I know well was so great as to deceive me." + +I was eager to take Max away from the dangerous situation, but I could +not. The duke, the courtiers, and myself had moved several paces from +Max and the princess. I, however, kept my eyes and ears open to what +occurred between them. + +"Yes," returned the princess, haughtily, "I remember you so addressed +me. I have heard of the person to whom you refer. She is, I believe, a +niece of one Castleman, a burgher of Peronne. I know Castleman's +daughter--a simple creature, with no pretence of being else. It has been +said that--what do they call her? Yolanda, I believe--resembles me in +some respects and is quite proud of the distinction. I am sure I thank +no one for the compliment, since she is a low creature, but I accept +your apology, my Lord Count." + +"I do not apologize, Your Highness," answered Max, in tones of equal +hauteur. "You probably do not know the lady of whom you speak." + +The princess seemed to increase by an inch or two in stature as she drew +herself up, and answered:-- + +"Of course we do not know her." + +"If you knew her, Your Highness would apologize," retorted Max. + +Seeing the angry color mounting to his face, I stepped to his side and +joined in the conversation. Presently dinner was announced, and I +rejoiced when we parted from the princess. Turning our faces toward the +ladies, we moved backward from the room, and went with the duke to the +dinner hall. + +Compared with Castleman's daily fare, the duke's dinner was almost +unpalatable. We had coarse beef, coarse boar's meat, coarse bread,--not +black, but brown. Frau Kate's bread was like snow. The sour wine on the +duke's table set our teeth on edge, though it was served in huge golden +goblets studded with rare gems. At each guest's plate was a jewelled +dagger. The tablecloth was of rich silk, soiled by numberless stains. +Leeks and garlic were the only vegetables served. + +Nothing of importance occurred at the table, but after dinner the duke +abruptly offered Max a large sum of gold to accompany him to +Switzerland. Max thanked His Grace and said he would give him an answer +soon. The duke urged an early reply, and Max said:-- + +"With Your Grace's permission we will attend to-morrow's morning +audience, and will make our answer after Your Lordship has risen." + +Charles acquiesced, and we soon left the castle. The duke, as I have +already told you, was very rich. Hymbercourt once told me that he had +two hundred and fifty thousand gold crowns in his coffers at Luxembourg. +That was probably more than the combined treasuries of any two kings in +Europe could show. Max and I were short of money, and the sum that the +duke offered seemed enormous. Neither Max nor his father, Duke +Frederick, had ever possessed as much money at one time. + +While we were leisurely walking across the courtyard toward the Postern, +three ladies and two gentlemen, accompanied by outriders and pages +carrying falcons, rode by us and passed out through the Postern. We +followed, and overtook them at the town end of the drawbridge, where +they had halted. When we came up to them, we recognized the duchess and +the princess. The duchess bowed smilingly, but the princess did not +speak, though she looked in our direction. + +The cavalcade turned to the left, and went up a narrow street toward +Cambrai Gate, evidently bound for the marshes. Max and I walked straight +ahead toward the Cologne bridge, intending, as we had promised, to go +back to Castleman's. Two hundred yards up the street I glanced back, and +saw a lady riding through the Postern, back to the castle. I knew at +once that the princess had returned, and I was sure of meeting +Yolanda,--sweet, smiling, tender Yolanda,--at the dear old House under +the Wall. I did not like the princess; she was cold, haughty, +supercilious, and perhaps tinged with her father's cruelty. I longed +ardently for Yolanda to come out of her skin, and my heart leaped with +joy at the early prospect. + +I was right in my surmise. Yolanda's sweet face, radiant with smiles and +soft with dimples, was pressed against the window-pane watching for us +when we crossed the moat bridge at Castleman's door. + +"To see her face again is like coming back to heaven; isn't it, Karl?" +said Max. + +Yolanda ran to the door and opened it. + +"I am glad you did not stay with her," she said, giving a hand to Max +and to me, and walking into the room between us. She was like a child +holding our hands. + +I had seen the world and its people in all its phases, and I prided +myself on my shrewdness, but without my knowledge of the stairway in the +wall, I would have sworn that Yolanda had played a trick on me by +leading me to believe that she was the Princess Mary. Even with full +knowledge of all the facts, I found myself doubting. It is small cause +for wonder, therefore, that Max was deceived. + +"Uncle is at the shop," said Yolanda. "Tante is at a neighbor's, and +Twonette, of course, is asleep. We three will sit here on this bench +with no one to disturb us, and I shall have you both all to myself. No! +There! I'll sit between you. Now, this is delightful." + +She sat between us, crossed her knees--an unpardonable crime, Frau Kate +would have thought--and giving a hand to Max and to me, said +contentedly:-- + +"Now, tell me all about it." + +I was actually on the point of beginning a narrative of our adventures, +just as if she did not already know them,--so great was the spell she +had thrown over me,--when Max spoke:-- + +"We had a poor dinner, but a kind host, therefore a fine feast. The duke +has asked us to go to Switzerland with him. Judging by the enormous sum +he offers for our poor services, he must believe that he will need no +other help to conquer the Swiss." + +"Yes--yes, that is interesting," said Yolanda, hastily, "but the +princess--tell me of her." + +"She is a very beautiful princess," answered Max. + +"Yes--I suppose she is," answered Yolanda. "I have it dinned into my +ears till I ought to believe it; but tell me of her manner, her +conversation, her temper. What of them?" + +"She is a most beautiful princess," answered Max, evidently intending to +utter no word against Her Highness, though as a matter of fact he did +not like her at all. "I am sure she deserves all the good that fame +speaks of her." + +Yolanda flung our hands from her, sprang to her feet, and faced us +angrily. + +"That's the way with all men. A rich princess, even though she be a cold +devil, is beautiful and good and gentle and wise and true and quick of +wit. Men care not what she is if her house be great and rich and +powerful. If her domains are fat and broad, she deserves 'all the good +that fame speaks of her.' She can win no man for herself. She cannot +touch a man's heart; she can only satisfy his greed. You went to the +castle, Sir Max, to see this princess. You want Burgundy. That is why +you are in Peronne!" + +The girl's passionate outburst was sincere, and showed me her true +motive for deceiving Max. Her plan was not the outgrowth of a whim; it +was the result of a tremendous motive conceived in the depths of her +soul. She had found the man she loved, and was taking her own way to win +him, if she could, for herself. She judged all men by the standard that +she had just announced. She would never believe in the love of a man who +should woo her as Princess Mary of Burgundy. + +Her words came near accomplishing more than she desired. When she +stopped speaking, Max leaned forward and gently took her hand. + +"Yolanda, this princess is nothing to me, and I swear to you that I will +never ask her to marry--" + +A frightened gleam came to the girl's eyes when she understood the oath +that Max was about to take, and she quickly placed her hand over his +mouth. Max was swearing too much. + +"You shall not make that oath, Little Max," she said. "You shall not say +that you will never marry her, nor shall you say that you will never +marry any one else. You must remain free to choose the right wife when +the right time comes. You must tread the path that God has marked out +for you. Perhaps it leads to this princess; no one can tell. If so, you +must accept your fate, Sir Max." She sighed at the mere thought of so +untoward a fate for Max. + +"I need make no oath not to marry the princess," answered Max. "She is +beyond my reach, even though I were dying for love of her." + +"And you are not dying for love of her, are you?" asked Yolanda, again +taking the seat between Max and me. + +"No," he responded. + +"Nor for love of any woman?" she asked, looking toward Max. + +"I'll not say that," he replied, laughing softly, and taking her hands +between his. + +"No, no," she mused, looking in revery out the window. "No, we will not +say that." + +I have always been as unsentimental as a man well can be, but I believe, +had I been in Max's place, I should have thrown away my crown for the +sake of Yolanda, the burgher girl. I remember wondering if Max would be +strong enough finally to reach the same conclusion. If he should be, my +faith in Yolanda's powers led me to believe that she would contrive a +plan to make him her husband, despite her father, or the devil and +all his imps. + +There is a power of finesse in the feminine mind that no man may fully +compass, and Yolanda, in that respect, was the flower of her sex. That +she had been able to maintain her humble personality with Max, despite +the fact that she had been compelled to meet him twice as princess, +proved her ability. Of course, she had the help of good old Castleman +and his sweet Frau Kate, serene Twonette, and myself; but with all this +help she probably would have failed without the stairway in the wall. + +When we left Castleman's, I did not bring up the subject of Mary and +Yolanda. Max walked silently beside me until we had nearly reached the +inn, when he said:-- + +"I am almost glad I was wrong, Karl. I would not have Yolanda other +than she is. At times, wild thoughts suggest themselves to me; but I am +not so weak as to give way to them. I drive them off and clench my +teeth, determined to take the misery God doles out to me. I am glad we +are soon to leave Burgundy. The duke marches in three days, and it is +none too soon for me." + +"Shall not we return to Burgundy?" I asked. "I want you to see Paris and +Brussels, and, if possible, London before we return to Styria. Don't you +think it best that we come back to Peronne after this war?" + +"You are right, Karl; we must come back," he answered. "I do not fear +Yolanda. I am not weak." + +"I sometimes wonder if we know our strength from our weakness," I +suggested. "There is doubtless much energy wasted by conscientious men +striving in the wrong direction, who fancy they are doing their duty." + +"You would not have me marry Yolanda?" asked Max, a gleam of light +coming to his eyes. + +"I do not know, Max," I responded. "A rare thing has happened to you. +You have won a marvellous love from a marvellous woman. She takes no +pains to conceal it. She could not hide it if she would. What you feel, +only you and God know." + +"Only God," cried Max, huskily. "Only God. I cannot measure it." + +"My dear boy," said I, taking his arm, "you are at a point where you +must decide for yourself." + +"I have decided," returned Max. "If my father and mother were not +living, I might--I might--bah! there is but one life for me. I am +doomed. I make myself wretched by resistance." + +"When we return to Peronne, you will know your mind," I answered +soothingly. + +"I know my mind now," he answered. "I know that I would give half the +years of my life to possess Yolanda; but I also know the fate that God +has marked out for me." + +"Then you know more than many a wise man thrice your age can boast," +said I. + + * * * * * + +The duke's armies had been gathering throughout Burgundy. Men had come +in great numbers to camp near Peronne, and the town was noisy with +martial preparations. Contrary to Hymbercourt's advice, the duke was +leaving Peronne Castle guarded by only a small garrison. Charles had +great faith in the strength of Peronne the Impregnable, and, although it +was near the French border, he trusted in its strength and in his treaty +with King Louis. He knew from experience that a treaty with Louis would +bind that crafty monarch only so long as it was to his interest to +remain bound; but Louis' interest in maintaining the treaty seemed +greater than Burgundy's, and Charles rested on that fact. Peronne was to +be left captained by the duchess and Mary, and garrisoned by five score +men-at-arms, who were either too old or too young to go to war. + +Without discussing the duke's offer, Max and I decided to accept it, +though for different reasons. Max needed the gold; he also sniffed +battle, and wanted the excitement and the enterprise of war. I had all +his reasons, and still another; I wanted to give Yolanda time to execute +her plans. + +The war with Switzerland would probably be short. Max would be with the +duke, and would, I hoped, augment the favor with which Charles already +honored him. Should Yolanda's letter make trouble with France, Duke +Charles might be induced, through his personal feelings, to listen to +Max's suit. If Charles returned from Switzerland victorious--and no +other outcome seemed possible--he would no longer have reason to carry +out the marriage treaty with France. It had been made largely for the +purpose of keeping Louis quiet while Charles was absent. Anything might +happen; everything might happen, while Max was with Charles in +Switzerland and Yolanda at home making trouble with France. + +The next day, by appointment, we waited on the duke at the morning +audience. When we entered the great hall, the urgent business had been +transacted, and half a score of lords and gentlemen stood near the dais, +discussing some topic with the duke and with one another. We moved near +the throne, and I heard Charles say to Campo-Basso and Hymbercourt:-- + +"Almost three weeks have passed since our message to France, and we have +had no answer. What think you, gentlemen, of the delay?" + +"His Majesty is not in Paris, or delays answering," said Hymbercourt. + +"By the Host, if I could think that King Louis were holding Byron and +delaying an answer, I would change my plans and march on Paris rather +than on Switzerland." + +"I fear, my lord," said Campo-Basso, with a sympathetic desire to make +trouble, if possible, "that His Majesty delays an answer while he frames +one that shall be elusive, yet conciliatory. King Louis, Your Grace +knows, thinks many times before each word he speaks or writes." + +"If he has intentionally delayed this answer, I'll give him cause to +think many times _after_ his words," said Charles. + +Conversations of like nature had occurred on several occasions since the +sending of the missive to Louis, and they offered the stormy duke +opportunity to vent his boastfulness and spleen. While Charles was +pouring out his wrath against his brother-in-law, Byron, the herald, +appeared at the door of the great hall. He announced himself, and, when +ordered to approach, ran to the dais, kneeled on the second step, and +placed a small sealed packet in the duke's hand. + +"Did you find King Louis at Paris?" asked the duke, addressing Byron. + +"I did, my lord." + +"Paris is but thirty leagues distant, and you certainly have had +sufficient time since leaving us to journey across Europe and back. Did +not I command you to make haste?" + +"You did, my lord," answered the herald. "King Louis put me off from day +to day, always promising me an answer, but giving it only yesterday +afternoon when the sun was half below the horizon." + +Charles nervously broke the seals of the package, and attempted to read +the letter. He failed, and handed it to Campo-Basso, saying:-- + +"Read the missive. I already know its contents, but read, my lord, +read." + +Campo-Basso read the letter. + +"To Our Most Illustrious Brother Charles Duke of Burgundy, and Count of +Charolois:-- + +"We recommend us and send Your Grace greeting. We are anxious to +pleasure our noble brother of Burgundy in all things, and heartily +desire the marriage between our son and the illustrious Princess of +Burgundy, but we shall not move toward it until our said noble brother +shall return from Switzerland, nor will we do aught to distract his +attention from the perilous business he now has on hand. We pray that +the saints may favor his design, and would especially recommend that our +noble brother propitiate with prayers and offerings the holy Saint +Hubert. We, ourselves, have importuned this holy saint, and he has +proved marvellously helpful on parlous occasions. + +"Louis, R." + +The duke's anger was terrible and disgusting to behold. When his +transports of rage allowed him to speak, he broke forth with oaths too +blasphemous to write on a white page. + +"The fawning hypocrite!" he cried. "He thinks to cozen us with his cheap +words. The biting insult in his missive is that he takes it for granted +that we are so great a fool as to believe him. Even his recommendation +of a saint is a lie. The world knows his favorite saint is Saint Andrew. +King Louis spends half his time grovelling on his marrow bones before +that saint and the Blessed Virgin. He recommends to us Saint Hubert, +believing that his holy saintship will be of no avail." + +Charles was right. Sir Philip de Comines, seneschal to King Louis, +afterward told me that His Majesty, in writing this letter to the Duke +of Burgundy, actually took counsel and devoted much time and thought to +the choice of a baneful or impotent saint to recommend to his "noble +brother of Burgundy." Disaster to Louis had once followed supplication +to Saint Hubert, and the king hoped that the worthy saint might prove +equally unpropitious for Charles. Yolanda's wonderful "t" was certainly +the most stupendous single letter ever quilled. Here were the +first-fruits of it. + +"Were it not that these self-sufficient Swiss need to be blooded, I +would turn my army against France to-morrow," said the duke. + +"And have Bourbon and Lorraine upon Your Lordship's back from the east, +Ghent rebelling in the north, and the Swiss pouring in from the south," +interrupted Hymbercourt. + +"You are certainly right, my Lord d'Hymbercourt," replied Charles, +sullenly. "They surround us like a pack of starved wolves, ready to +spring upon us the moment we are crippled. Burgundy stands alone against +all Europe." + +"A vast treasure, my lord, attracts thieves," said Hymbercourt. +"Burgundy is the richest land on earth." + +"It is, indeed it is," replied the duke, angrily, "and I have no son to +keep it after me. But France shall not have it; that I swear upon my +knighthood. Write to France, my Lord Bishop of Cambrai, and tell King +Louis that my daughter shall not marry his son. Waste no words, my Lord +Bishop, in what you call courtesy. We need no double meaning in our +missives." + +Those who heard the duke's words knew that he was committing a costly +error, but no one dared to suggest as much. One might, with equal +success, have flung soft words at a mad bull. Truly that "t"--but I will +speak of it no more, though I have a thrill of joy and mirth even now +when I think of it. + +After many explosions, the duke's pent-up wrath found vent, and began to +subside. Espying Max and me he called us to the throne. + +"Have you concluded to join us in our little holiday excursion against +these mountain swine?" asked His Grace, addressing us. + +"We have, my lord. We shall be proud to serve under the banner of so +brave a prince," I answered. + +"'We have' would have been sufficient, Sir Karl," answered the duke, +still surly from the dregs of his wrath. "We hear so many soft words +from France that we despise them in the mouths of honest men." + +The duke then turned to his seneschal, De Vergy, and spoke in tones that +were heard all over the room:-- + +"My lord, Maximilian, Count of Hapsburg, and Sir Karl de Pitti have +consented to join our banners. Enroll them in places of honor, my Lord +Seneschal. See that they are supplied with horses, accoutrements, and +tents for themselves and their squires, and direct my Lord Treasurer to +pay to them upon demand a sum of money of which he shall be duly +notified." + +When the duke stopped speaking, a murmur of approval ran through the +audience--though the Italians had no part in it. The murmur grew +clamorous and soon a mighty shout filled the vaulted roof:-- + +"Long life to the noble Count of Hapsburg! Burgundy and Styria forever!" + +To me, the words seemed delightfully prophetic. Soon afterward the +audience was dismissed, and Max and I had the great honor of being asked +to join the duke's council. A council to the Duke of Burgundy was indeed +a veritable fifth wheel. He made his own plans and, right or wrong, +clung to them. He would, on rare occasions, listen to Hymbercourt,--a +man of few words, who gave advice as if he were lending a crown,--but +the suggestions of others antagonized him. + +The question before the council this morning was: Should the duke's army +carry provisions, or should it take them from the countries through +which it was to pass? Charles favored the latter course, and it was +agreed upon. The people of non-belligerent states should be paid for the +provisions that were taken; that is, theoretically they should be paid. +The Swiss should furnish provision, gratis, and that doubtless would be +terribly practical. + +On each of the three evenings intervening between the day of this +council and the departure of the army, we saw Yolanda at Castleman's. +She was always waiting when we arrived. She had changed in many +respects, but especially in her attitude regarding Max. She was kind and +gentle, but shy. Having dropped her familiar manner, she did not go near +him, but sat at a distance, holding Twonette's hand, and silently but +constantly watching him, as if she were awaiting something. Her eyes, at +times, seemed to be half-indignant interrogation points. At other times +I could see in them doubt, waiting, and hope--hope almost tired +with yearning. + +It was no small love that she wanted from Max. She had hoped--perhaps I +should say she had longed with little hope--that he would, for the sake +of the burgher girl, Yolanda, be willing to turn his back on his family +and his land. But now he was leaving, and her dream was about to close, +since Max would probably never come back to her. + +Not the least painful of Yolanda's emotions was the knowledge that she +could insure Max's return by telling him that she was the Princess of +Burgundy. But she did not want this man whom she loved so dearly, and +who, she knew, loved her, if she must win him as princess. She was +strangely impelled to reject a reprieve from a life of wretchedness, +unless it came through the high court of love. + +Max, in speaking to me about his return, had wavered many times. One day +he would return; the next, he would swallow the bitter draught fate had +in store for him. He was a great, honest soul, and to such the call of +duty is compelling. + +On the evening before our departure we went to sup with Castleman. On +our way down to the House under the Wall, Max said:-- + +"Karl, my duty is clear. I must not return to Peronne. If I do, I fear I +shall never leave it." + +I did not answer; but I had resolved that he should return, and I +intended that my resolution should become a fact. Yolanda was not +present at supper, but she appeared soon after we had risen. We sat +under the dim light of a lamp in the long room. Yolanda was on the +cushioned bench in the shadow of the great chimney, silently clasping +Twonette's hand. Twonette, of course, was silent and serene. Castleman +and I talked disjointedly, and Max sat motionless, gazing through the +window into the night. After greeting us, Yolanda spoke not a word; but +ever in the deep shadow I could see the glow of her eyes looking toward +Max. That his heart was filled with a great struggle, I knew, and I +believed that Yolanda also knew. + +We had many preparations to make before our departure next morning at +dawn, so after an hour Max and I rose to leave. Twonette, leaving +Yolanda, came to us, and the Castlemans all gave us a hearty God-speed. +Yolanda sat wordless in the shadow. I went to her and gave her my hand. + +"Farewell, Fräulein," I said. + +Max followed me closely, and I stepped aside to make way for him. The +girl rose and stood irresolute before him. I went to the Castlemans, who +were standing at a distance. + +"Fräulein--" said Max. But she interrupted him, extending her hands, +which he clasped. + +"Have you no word for me, Sir Max?" she asked pathetically, tears +springing to her eyes. "Are you coming back to me? Have you the right to +come into my life as you have done, and to leave me? Does God impose but +one duty on you--that of your birth?" + +"Ah, Fräulein," answered Max, huskily, "you know--you know what I +suffer." + +"I surely do know," she responded, "else I would not speak so plainly. +But answer me, Sir Max. Answer my question. It is my right to know upon +what I may depend. Will you come back to me?" + +The imperious will of the princess had come to the rescue of Yolanda, +the burgher girl. + +Max paused before speaking, then grasped her hands fiercely and +answered:-- + +"Before God, Fräulein, I will come back to you, if I live." + +Yolanda sank upon the cushioned bench, covered her face with her hands, +and the pent-up storm of sobs and tears broke forth as Max and I passed +out the door. + +Yolanda had won. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MAX GOES TO WAR + +The next morning at dawn our army marched. Although Duke Charles would +not encumber himself with provisions for his men, he carried a vast +train of carts filled with plate, silk tents, rich rugs, and precious +jewels; for, with all his bravery, this duke's ruling passion was the +love of display in the presence of foreigners. + +I shall not give the story of this disastrous war in detail; that lies +in the province of history, and my story relates only to Max and +Yolanda, and to the manner in which they were affected by the results +of the war. + +We marched with forty thousand men, and laid siege to the city of +Granson, in the district of Vaud. The Swiss sent ambassadors under a +flag of truce, begging Charles to spare them, and saying, according to +my friend Comines, that "there were among them no good prisoners to +make, and that the spurs and horses' bits of the duke's army were worth +more money than all the people of Switzerland could pay in ransoms, even +if they were taken." Charles rejected all overtures, and on the third of +March the brave little Swiss army sallied against us, "heralding their +advances by the lowings of the Bull of Uri and the Cow of Unterwalden, +two enormous instruments which had been given to their ancestors by +Charlemagne." + +God was against Charles of Burgundy, and his army was utterly routed by +one of less than a fourth its size. I was with Charles after the battle, +and his humiliation was more pitiful than his bursts of ungovernable +wrath were disgusting. The king of France, hoping for this disaster, was +near by at Lyons. + +A cruel man is always despicable in misfortune. Charles at once sent to +King Louis a conciliatory, fawning letter, recanting all that he had +said in his last missive from Peronne, and expressing the hope that His +Majesty would adhere to the treaty and would consent to the marriage of +Princess Mary and the Dauphin at once. In this letter Yolanda had no +opportunity to insert a disturbing "t." Louis answered graciously, +saying that the treaty should be observed, and that the marriage should +take place immediately upon the duke's return to Burgundy. + +"We have already forwarded instructions to Paris," wrote King Louis, +"directing that preparations be made at once for the celebration of this +most desired union at the holy church of St. Denis. We wondered much at +Your Grace's first missive, in which you so peremptorily desired us not +to move in this matter till your return; and we wondered more at Your +Lordship's ungracious reply to our answer in which we consented to the +delay Your Grace had asked." + +Well might King Louis wonder. Charles also wondered, and cursed the +stupidity of the Bishop of Cambrai, who had so "encumbered his letter +with senseless courtesy as to distort its meaning." + +Charles despatched letters to Peronne and Ghent, ordering immediate +preparations for the marriage. As usual, poor Mary was not considered of +sufficient importance to receive notice of the event that concerned her +so vitally. Others would prepare her, as one might fatten a lamb for +slaughter. The lamb need not be consulted or even informed; the day of +its fate would be sufficient for it. I was in despair. Max, in his +ignorance, was indifferent. + +After a short delay, the duke gathered his wrath and his army and laid +siege to the town of Morat, announcing his intention to give no quarter, +but to kill all, old and young, men, women, and children. The Swiss were +prepared for us. "The energy of pride was going to be pitted against the +energy of patriotism." Again disaster fell upon Charles. Thousands of +his army were slain, and thousands fled in hopeless rout. His soldiers +had never wanted to fight, and one man defending his hearth is stronger +than half a score attacking it. + +The loss of this battle drove Charles back to Burgundy. With a few of +his train, including Max and myself, he retired to the Castle of La +Riviera. Here he learned that René, Duke of Lorraine, had mustered his +forces and had laid siege to Nancy, which city Charles had taken from +Duke René, some years before, and had garrisoned with Burgundians and +English. Upon hearing this unwelcome news, Charles began the arduous +task of collecting another army. He was compelled to leave the +neighborhood of Switzerland and fly to the rescue of Nancy. + +The first of January found us before Nancy, but our arrival was three +days too late. The city had capitulated to Duke René. On the fifth of +January a battle was fought before Nancy, but Fortune had turned her +back for all and all on this cruel Duke of Burgundy and Count of +Charolois. The disasters at Granson and Morat were repeated. At +nightfall Charles could not be found. I supposed that he had escaped, +but the next morning his body was found by a washerwoman, frozen in the +ice of a pond. He had been killed through the machinations of +Campo-Basso. Duke René magnanimously gave Charles regal burial, and +dismissed his followers without ransom. You may be sure I was eager to +return to Peronne. + +Fortune, in turning her back upon Charles, had turned her smiling face +toward Max. Her ladyship's smiles were too precious to be wasted, so we +made post-haste for Peronne, I spurred by one motive, Mary of Burgundy, +Max by another--Yolanda. His heart had grieved for her in castle, in +camp, and in din of battle. He had, unknown to me, formed a great and +noble resolution; and there was no horse swift enough to keep pace with +his desire when we started for Peronne. + +I was the first to announce the duke's death. The dark news was given by +me to the duchess and the princess in Margaret's parlor. These poor +women tried to grieve, but they were not hypocrites, and they could not +weep. Each had received at Charles's hands only ill-usage and cruelty, +and in their hearts they must have felt relief at his death. + +"It was sure to come," said Margaret. "The duke's bravery led him always +into danger. It is God's will, and it must be right." + +The princess walked to the window, and said nothing, until I was about +to leave; then she turned to me nervously and asked:-- + +"Did--did Sir Max come with you?" + +I looked at her in surprise, and glanced inquiringly toward the duchess. + +"My mother knows all, Sir Karl," said the princess, reassuringly. "There +have been many things which I could not have done without her help. I +have made many rapid changes, Sir Karl, from a princess to a burgher +girl, and back again, and I should have failed without my mother's help. +I surely mystified you often before you knew of the stairway in the +wall. Indeed, I have often hurried breathless to Uncle Castleman's house +to deceive you. Mother invented a burgher girl's costume that I used to +wear as an under-bodice and petticoat, so, you see, I have been visiting +you in my petticoats. I will show you some fine day--perhaps. I have but +to unfasten a half-score of hooks, and off drops the princess--I am +Yolanda! I throw a skirt over my head, fasten the hooks of a bodice, don +my head-dress, and behold! the princess once more. Only a moment +intervenes between happiness and wretchedness. But tell me, Sir Karl, +have you ever told Sir Max who I am?" + +"Never, Your Highness--" + +"Yolanda," she interrupted, correcting me smilingly. + +"Never, Yolanda," I responded. "He does not even suspect that you are +the princess. I shall be true to you. You know what you are doing." + +"Indeed I do, Sir Karl," she replied. "I shall win or lose now in a +short time and in short skirts. If Max will wed me as Yolanda, I shall +be the happiest girl on earth. If not, I shall be the most wretched. If +he learns that I am the princess, and if I must offer him the additional +inducement of my estates and my domains to bring him to me, I shall not +see him again, Sir Karl, if I die of grief for it." + +I knew well what she meant, but I did not believe that she would be +able to hold to her resolution if she were put to the test. I was, +however, mistaken. With all my knowledge of the girl I did not know +her strength. + +We reached Peronne during the afternoon and, of course, went early the +same evening to Castleman's. + +We were greeted heartily by the good burgher, his wife, and his +daughter. Twonette courtesied to Max, but when she came to me, this +serene young goddess of pink and white offered me her cheek to kiss. I, +who had passed my quasi-priestly life without once enjoying such a +luxury, touched the velvet cheek with my lips and actually felt a thrill +of delight. Life among the burghers really was delicious. I tell you +this as a marked illustration of the fact that a man never grows too old +to be at times a fool. Twonette slipped from the room, and within +fifteen minutes returned. She went directly to Max and said:-- + +"Some one is waiting for you in the oak room above." + +She pointed the way, and Max climbed the stairs two steps at a time. I +thought from his eagerness he would clear the entire flight at one +bound. To his knock a soft voice bade him enter. The owner of the voice +was sitting demurely at the farthest end of the room on a cushioned +bench. Her back rested against the moving panel that led to the +stairway in the wall. She did not move when Max entered. She had done +all the moving she intended to do, and Max must now act for himself. He +did. He ran down the long room to her, crying:-- + +"Yolanda! Yolanda!" + +She rose to greet him, and he, taking her in his arms, covered her face +with kisses. The unconscious violence of his great strength bruised and +hurt her, but she gloried in the pain, and was passive as a babe in his +arms. When they were seated and half calm, she clutched one of his great +fingers and said:-- + +"You kept your word, Little Max. You came back to me." + +"Did you not know that I would come?" he asked. + +"Ah, indeed, I knew--you are not one that makes a promise to break it. +Sometimes it is difficult to induce such a man to give his word, and I +found it so, but once given it is worth having--worth having, +Little Max." + +She smiled up into his face while she spoke, as if to say, "You gave me +a deal of trouble, but at last I have captured you." + +"Did you so greatly desire the promise, Yolanda?" asked Max, solely for +the pleasure of hearing her answer. + +"Yes," she answered softly, hanging her head, "more than any _man_, can +know. It must be an intense longing that will drive a modest girl to +boldness, such as I have shown ever since the day I first met you at +dear old Basel. It almost broke my heart when father--fatherland--when +Burgundy made war on Switzerland." The word "land" was a lucky thought, +and came to the girl just in the nick of time. + +Max was too much interested in the girl to pay close attention to any +slips she might make about the war with Switzerland. It is true he was +now a soldier, and war was all right in its place; but there are things +in life compared with which the wars of nations are trivial affairs. All +subjects save one were unwelcome to him. + +"Now I am going to ask a promise from you, Fräulein," said Max, +loosening his hand from her grasp and placing his arm about her waist. +She offered no objections to the new situation, but blushed and looked +down demurely to her folded hands. + +"It will, I fear, be very easy for you, Max, to induce me to promise +anything you wish. It will be all too easy, for I am not strong, as you +are." She glanced into his face, but her eyes fell quickly to her hands. + +"I shall soon leave you again, Fräulein, and what I wish is of such +moment that I--I almost fear to ask." + +"Yes, Max," she murmured, gently reaching across his knee, and placing +her hand in his by way of encouragement. + +"It is this, Fräulein. I am going back to Styria, and I want to carry +with me your promise to be my wife," said Max, softly. + +The girl's head fell over against his shoulder, and she clasped his free +hand between both of hers. + +"I will ask my father's consent," said Max. "I will tell him of you and +of my great love, which is so great, Fräulein, that all the world is +nothing beside it and beside you, and he will grant my request." + +"But if he doesn't, Max?" asked the face hidden upon his breast. + +"If he does not, Fräulein, I will forego my country and my estates. I +will come back to you and will work in the fields, if need be, to make +you as happy as you will make me." + +"There will be no need for that, Max," she answered, tears of happiness +slowly trickling down her cheeks, "for I am rich." + +"That I am sorry to hear," he responded. + +"Don't you want to know who I am before you wed me?" she asked, after a +long pause. She had almost made up her mind to tell him. + +"That you may tell me when you are my wife," said Max. "I thought you +were the Princess Mary, but I am almost glad that you are not. I soon +knew that I was wrong, for I knew that you would not deceive me." + +The girl winced and concluded to postpone telling her momentous secret. +She was now afraid to do so. As a matter of fact, she had in her heart a +healthy little touch of womanly cowardice on small occasions. After a +long, delicious pause, Max said:-- + +"Have I your promise, Fräulein?" + +"Y-e-s," she answered hesitatingly, "I will be your wife if--if I can, +and if you will take me when you learn who I am. There is no taint of +disgrace about me, Max," she added quickly, in response to the look of +surprise on his face. "But I am not worthy of you, and I fear that if +your father but knew my unworthiness, he would refuse his consent to our +marriage. You must not tell him of my boldness. I will tell you all +about myself before you leave for Styria, and then, if you do not want +me, you may leave me to--to die." + +"I shall want you, Yolanda. I shall want you. Have no doubt of that," he +answered. + +"With the assurance that there is no stain or taint upon me or my +family, do you give me your word, Max, that you will want me and will +take me, whoever I am, and will not by word or gesture show me that you +are angry or that you regret your promise?" + +"I gladly give you that promise," answered Max. + +"Did you ever tell a lie, Little Max?" she asked banteringly, "or did +you ever deliberately break a promise?" + +"Did I ever steal or commit wilful murder?" asked Max, withdrawing his +arm. + +"No, Max; now put it back again," she said. + +After a long pause she continued:-- + +"I have lied." + +Max laughed and drew her to him. + +"Your lies will harm no one," he said joyously. + +"No," she responded, "I only lie that good may come of it." + +Then silence fell upon the world--their world. Was not that hour with +Max worth all the pains that Yolanda had taken to deceive him? + +Yolanda and Max came down to the long room, and she, too, gave me her +cheek to kiss. + +Twonette had prepared a great tankard of wine and honey, with pepper and +allspice to suit Yolanda's taste, and we all sat before the great +blazing yule fire, as joyful and content as any six people in +Christendom. Twonette and Yolanda together occupied one large chair; +Twonette serenely allowing herself to be caressed by Yolanda, who was in +a state of mind that compelled her to caress some one. Gentle Frau Kate +was sleeping in a great easy chair near the chimney-corner. Max sat at +one side of the table,--the side nearest Yolanda,--while Castleman and +I sat by each other within easy reach of the wine. I knew without the +telling, all that had occurred upstairs, and the same light seemed to +have fallen upon the Castlemans. Good old George was in high spirits, +and I could see in his eye that he intended to get drunk and, if +possible, to bring me, also, to that happy condition. After many goblets +of wine, he remarked:-- + +"The king of France will probably be upon us within a fortnight after he +hears the sad news from Nancy." + +Yolanda immediately sat upright in her chair, abandoning Twonette's soft +hand and softer cheek. + +"Why do you believe so, uncle?" she asked nervously. + +"Because he has waited all his life for this untoward event to happen." + +"Preparations should be made to receive him," said Yolanda. + +"Ah, yes," replied Castleman, "but Burgundy's army is scattered to the +four winds. It has given its blood for causes in which its heart was +not. We lack the strong arm of the duke, to force men to battle against +their will. King Louis must be fought by policy, not by armies; and +Hymbercourt is absent." + +"Do you know aught of him, Sir Karl?" asked Yolanda. + +"I do not, Fräulein," I answered, "save that he was alive and well when +we left Nancy." + +"That, at least, is good news," she replied, "and I make sure he will +soon come to Burgundy's help." + +"I am sure he is now on his way," I answered. + +"What can Burgundy do?" she asked, turning to Castleman and me. "You +will each advise--advise the princess, I hope." + +"If she wishes my poor advice," I responded, "she has but to ask it." + +"And mine," said Castleman, tipping his goblet over his nose. + +"If we are to have clear heads to-morrow," I suggested, "we must drink +no more wine to-night. The counsel of wine is the advice of the devil." + +"Right you are, Sir Karl. Only one more goblet. Here's to the health of +the bride to be," said Castleman. + +Yolanda leaned back in her chair beside Twonette, and her face wore a +curious combination of smile and pout. + +On the way to the inn, Max, who was of course very happy, told me what +had happened in the oak room and added:-- + +"I look to you, Karl, to help me with father." + +"That I will certainly do," I answered. I could not resist saying: "We +came to Burgundy with the hope of winning the princess. Fortune has +opened a door for you by the death of her father. Don't you wish +to try?" + +"No," said Max, turning on me. A moment later he added, "If Yolanda were +but the princess, as I once believed she was, what a romance our +journey to Burgundy would make!" + +My spirits were somewhat dampened by Castleman's words concerning the +French king. Surely they were true, since King Louis was the last man in +Europe to forego the opportunity presented by the death of Charles. +Should the Princess Mary lose Burgundy just at the time when Max had won +her, my disappointment would indeed be great, and Max might truly need +my help with his father. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A TREATY WITH LOUIS XI + +The next day Castleman and I were called to the castle, and talked over +the situation with the duchess and the Princess Mary. In the midst of +our council, in walked Hymbercourt and Hugonet. They were devoted +friends of Mary. + +Our first move was to send spies to the court of France; so two trusted +men started at once. Paris was but thirty leagues distant, and the men +could reach it in fifteen hours. Half a day there should enable them to +learn the true condition of affairs, since they carried well-filled +purses to loosen the tongues of Cardinal Balau and Oliver the Barber. +The bribery plan was Mary's, and it worked admirably. + +Within forty-eight hours the spies returned, and reported that King +Louis, with a small army, was within fifteen leagues of Peronne. He had +quickly assembled the three estates at Paris, all of whom promised the +king their aid. In the language of the chancellor, "The commons offered +to help their king with their bodies and their wealth, the nobles with +their advice, and the clergy with their prayers." This appalling news +set Peronne in an uproar. + +Recruiting officers were sent out in all directions, the town was +garrisoned, and fortifications were overhauled. Mary was again in +trouble, and the momentous affairs resting on her young shoulders seemed +to have put Max out of her mind. I expected her to call him into council +and reveal herself, but she did not. + +On the day after we learned of King Louis' approach, the princess called +Hymbercourt, Hugonet, Castleman, and myself to her closet and graciously +asked us to be seated about a small table. + +"I have formed a plan that I wish to submit to you," she said. "I'll +send to King Louis an invitation to visit me here at Peronne, under +safeguard. When he comes, I intend to offer to restore all the cities +that my father took from him, if he will release me from the treaty of +marriage, and will swear upon the Cross of Victory to support me against +my enemies, and to assist me in subduing Ghent, now in rebellion. What +think you of the plan?" + +"Your Highness is giving King Louis nearly half your domain," suggested +Hymbercourt. + +"True," answered the princess, "but it is better to give half than to +lose all. Where can we turn for help against this greedy king? When +Burgundy is in better case, we'll take them all from him again." + +"Your Highness is right," answered Hymbercourt. "But what assurance have +you that King Louis will accept your terms?" + +"Little, my lord, save that King Louis does not know our weakness. +Oliver has by this time told him that he has news of a vast army +collecting within twenty leagues of Peronne. If Louis accepts our terms, +Oliver and the cardinal are each to receive twenty thousand crowns out +of our treasury at Luxembourg. My father fought King Louis with blows; +I'll fight His Majesty with his own weapon, gold. That is the lesson my +father should have learned." + +I rose to my feet during her recital and looked down at her in wonder. + +"Yolanda"--I began, but corrected myself--"Your Highness needs no +councillor. I, for one, deem your plan most wise, and I see in it the +salvation of Burgundy." + +The other councillors agreed with me most heartily. + +"I have still another plan which I hope may frighten King Louis into +accepting our terms. During the conference which I hope to hold with His +Majesty, I shall receive a message from my mother's brother, King Edward +of England. The missive, of course, will be directed to my father, since +the English king cannot yet know of the duke's death. The messenger will +be an English herald, and will demand immediate audience, +and--and--however, I'll keep the remainder of that plan to myself." + +A broad smile appeared on the faces of all present. Hugonet gazed at the +princess and laughed outright. + +"Why did not your father take you into his council?" he asked. + +"I should have been no help to him," she responded. "A woman's wits, +dear Hugonet, must be driven by a great motive." + +"But you would have had the motive," answered Hugonet. + +"There is but one motive for a woman, my lord," she answered. + +Hugonet unceremoniously whistled his astonishment, and Yolanda blushed +as she said:-- + +"You shall soon know." + +Mary's plan for an interview with Louis succeeded perfectly. He came +post-haste under safe conduct to Peronne. + +Whatever may be said against Louis, he did not know personal fear. He +had a wholesome dread of sacrificing the lives of his people, and +preferred to satisfy his greed by policy rather than by war. Gold, +rather than blood, was the price he paid for his victories. Taken all in +all, he was the greatest king that France ever had--if one may judge a +king by the double standard of what he accomplishes and what it costs +his people. He almost doubled the territory of France, and he lost fewer +men in battle than any enterprising monarch of whom I know. + +Within forty-eight hours of receiving the safe conduct, King Louis was +sitting beside Mary on the dais of the ducal throne in the great hall. +She was heavily veiled, being in mourning for her father. At her left +stood Hymbercourt, Hugonet, Max, and myself. At the king's right stood +Cardinal Balau and Oliver the Barber, each anticipating a rich reward in +case Louis should accept Mary's terms. Back of them stood a score of the +king's courtiers. Many questions of state were discussed; and then +Hymbercourt presented Mary's offer to King Louis. The king hesitated. +After a long pause he spoke, looking straight ahead, at nothing; as was +his custom. + +"We will consult with our friends and make answer soon," he said, +speaking to nobody. + +Louis seemed to think that if he looked at no one and addressed nobody, +when he spoke, he might the more easily wriggle out of his +obligations later on. + +Mary had caused to be drawn up in duplicate a treaty in accordance with +the terms that she had outlined at our little council. It was handed to +Oliver when the king rose to retire to a private room, to discuss the +contents with his councillors. + +At the moment when King Louis rose to his feet, a herald was announced +at the great hall door. + +"A message from His Majesty, King Edward of England," cried the +Burgundian herald. Louis resumed his seat as though his feet had slipped +from under him. + +"We are engaged," answered Mary, acting well a difficult part. "Let the +herald leave his packet, or deliver it later." + +A whispered conversation took place between the Burgundian herald and +the Englishman. Then spoke the Burgundian:-- + +"Most Gracious Princess, the English herald has no packet. He bears a +verbal message to your late father, and insists that he must deliver it +to Your Highness at once." + +"Must, indeed!" cried Mary, indignantly. Then turning to the king: +"These English grow arrogant, Your Majesty. What has the herald to say? +Let him come forward. We have no secrets from our most gracious +godfather, King Louis." + +The English herald approached the ducal throne, but did not speak. + +"Proceed," said Mary, irritably. + +"With all deference, Most Gracious Princess," said the herald, "the +subject-matter of my message is such that it should be communicated +privately, or at Your Highness's council-board." + +"If you have a message from my good uncle, King Edward, deliver it here +and now," said the princess. + +"As you will, Most Gracious Princess," said the herald. "King Edward has +amassed a mighty army, which is now awaiting orders to sail for France; +and His Majesty asks permission to cross the territory of Burgundy on +his way to Paris. He will pay to Your Highness such compensation as may +be agreed upon when His Majesty meets you, which he hopes may be within +a month. His Majesty begs a written reply to the message I bear." + +Mary paused before she answered. + +"Wait without. My answer depends upon the conclusions of His Majesty, +the King of France." + +The herald withdrew, but in the meantime Louis had descended to the +floor and was busily conning the treaty that Mary had caused to be +written. He was whispering with Cardinal Balau and Oliver, and was +evidently excited by the news he had just heard from England. When he +resumed his seat beside Mary, he said:-- + +"By this treaty, which is simple and straightforward, Your Highness +cedes to me certain cities herein named, in perpetuity; and in +consideration thereof, I am to be with you friend of friend and foe of +foe. I am to aid you in subduing your rebellious subjects, and to +sustain you in your choice of a husband. I am also to release you from +the present contract of marriage with my son, the Dauphin." + +"That is all, Your Majesty," said the princess. "It is short and to the +point." + +"Indeed it is, Your Highness, and if you will answer King Edward and +will deny him the privilege of crossing Burgundy, I will sign the +treaty, and will swear upon the true cross to keep it inviolate." + +Mary could hardly conceal her exultation, but she answered calmly:-- + +"Will Your Majesty sign now?" + +Louis and Mary each signed the treaty, and the piece of the true cross +upon which the oath was to be made was brought before them, resting on a +velvet pillow. Now there were many pieces of the true cross, of which +Louis possessed two. Upon one of these he held the oath to be binding +and inviolate; it was known as the Cross of Victory. Upon the other his +oath was less sacred, and the sin of perjury was venial. + +I stood near the throne, and, suspecting Louis of fraud, made bold to +inquire:-- + +"Most humbly I would ask Your Majesty, is this the Cross of Victory?" + +The king examined the piece of wood resting on the cushion and said:-- + +"By Saint Andrew, My Lord Cardinal, you have committed an error. You +have brought me the wrong piece." + +The Cross of Victory was then produced, with many apologies and excuses +for the mistake, and the oath was taken while Mary's tiny hand rested on +the relic beside King Louis' browned and wrinkled talon. When the +ceremony was finished, the king turned to Mary and said:-- + +"Whom will Your Highness select for a husband?" + +"My father sometime had treaty with Duke Frederick of Styria, looking +to my marriage with his son Maximilian, and I shall ratify the compact." + +Max was about to speak, but I plucked him by the sleeve. + + * * * * * + +Now I shall hasten to the end. The king took his departure within an +hour, carrying with him his copy of the treaty. The audience was +dismissed, and the princess left the great hall by the door back of the +throne, having first directed Hymbercourt, Hugonet, Max, and myself to +follow within five minutes, under conduct of a page. Castleman excused +himself and left the hall. + +The page soon came to fetch us, and we were taken to Mary's parlor, +adjoining her bedroom in Darius tower. From the bedroom, as you know, +the stairway in the wall descends to Castleman's house. In the parlor we +found Mary, the Duchess Margaret, and several ladies in waiting. All the +ladies, including Mary, were heavily veiled. When we entered, Mary +addressed Max:-- + +"Sir Count, you doubtless heard my announcement to the king of France. +It was my father's desire at one time to unite Styria and Burgundy by +marriage. I myself sent you a letter and a ring that you doubtless still +possess. Are you pleased with my offer?" + +Max fell to his knee before the princess:-- + +"Your Highness's condescension is far beyond my deserts. There are few +men who could refuse your offer, but I am pledged to another, and I beg +Your Highness--" + +"Enough, enough," cried the princess, indignantly. "No man need explain +his reasons for refusing the hand of Mary of Burgundy." + +Astonishment appeared on all faces save mine. I thought I knew the +purpose of Her Highness. Max rose to his feet, and Mary said:-- + +"We'll go downstairs now, and, if you wish, Sir Count, you may there say +farewell." She whispered a word to her mother, and led the way into her +bedroom. The duchess indicated that Max and I were to follow. We did so, +and Margaret came after us. + +"We'll go down by these steps," said the princess, leading us to the +open panel. "The way is dark, and you must use care in descending, Sir +Count, but this is the nearest way to the ground." + +Max started down the steps and Mary followed close at his heels. I +followed Mary, and Duchess Margaret came after me. + +When we had descended twenty steps, the upper panel was closed by some +one in the bedroom, and the stairway became inky dark. Ten steps +further, I stumbled and almost fell over a soft obstruction on the +stairs. I stooped and examined it. Fearing that the duchess might fall +when she reached it, I took it up. It was a lady's head-dress and veil. +A few steps farther I picked up a lady's bodice and then a skirt. By the +time I had made this collection, Max and Mary had reached the moving +panel at the foot of the stairs. I heard it slide back, and a flood of +light came in upon us. Yolanda, in burgher girl's costume, sprang over +the cushioned seat into Castleman's oak room. Max followed, and I, with +an armful of woman's gear, helped the duchess to step to the cushion and +thence to the floor. Max stood for a moment in half-vexed surprise, but +Yolanda, two yards off, laughed merrily:-- + +"You promised, Sir Max, that you would show no anger when you learned +who I was, and you said you would neither lie, steal, nor +commit murder." + +The Castlemans stood near by, and the duchess and I joined them, forming +an admiring group. Max did not reply. He held out his arms to the girl, +and she ran to them. So closely did he hold her that she could hardly +move. She did, however, succeed in turning her face toward us, and said +poutingly:-- + +"Why don't you leave the room?" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy, by Charles Major + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12057 *** |