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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23675-8.txt b/23675-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3f9df2 --- /dev/null +++ b/23675-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11067 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Under the Rose, by Frederic Stewart Isham, +Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Under the Rose + + +Author: Frederic Stewart Isham + + + +Release Date: December 2, 2007 [eBook #23675] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 23675-h.htm or 23675-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675/23675-h/23675-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675/23675-h.zip) + + + + + +UNDER THE ROSE + +by + +FREDERIC S. ISHAM + +Author of The Strollers + +With illustrations by Howard Chandler Christy + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Kneeling, he received it.] + + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company +Publishers : Indianapolis + +Copyright Nineteen Hundred Three +The Bowen-Merrill Company +January + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I A NEST OF NINNIES + II A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER + III A GIFT FOR THE DUKE + IV AN IMPATIENT SUITOR + V JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN + VI THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE + VII THE COURT OF LOVE + VIII A BRIEF TRUCE + IX THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL + X THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE + XI A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR + XII THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS + XIII A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE + XIV AN EARLY MORNING VISIT + XV A NEW DISCOVERY + XVI TIDINGS FROM THE COURT + XVII JACQUELINE'S QUEST + XVIII THE SECRET OF THE JESTERS + XIX A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT + XX AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT + XXI THE DESERTED HUT + XXII THE TALE OF THE SWORD + XXIII THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL + XXIV AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE + XXV IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR + XXVI THE DEBT OF NATURE + XXVII A MAID OF FRANCE + XXVIII THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED + XXIX THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Kneeling, he received it . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking + at her feet. + +He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the jester. + +He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny + of the king. + + + + +UNDER THE ROSE + + +CHAPTER I + +A NEST OF NINNIES + +"A song, sweet Jacqueline!" + +"No, no--" + +"Jacqueline!--Jacqueline!--" + +"No more, I say--" + +A jingle of tinkling bells mingled with the squeak of a viola; the +guffaws of a rompish company blended with the tuneless chanting of +discordant minstrels, and the gray parrot in its golden cage, suspended +from one of the oaken beams of the ceiling, shook its feathers for the +twentieth time and screamed vindictively at the roguish band. + +Jingle, jingle, went the merry bells; squeak, squeak, the tightened +strings beneath the persistent scraping of the rosined bow. On his +throne in Fools' hall, Triboulet, the king's hunchback, leaned +complacently back, his eyes bent upon a tapestry but newly hung in that +room, the meeting place of jesters, buffoons and versifiers. + +"We appeal to Triboulet--" + +"Triboulet!" + +A girl's silvery laugh rang out. + +"Triboulet!" + +Again the derisive musical tones. + +Upon his chair of state, the dwarf did not answer; professed not to +hear. By the uncertain glimmer of torches and the flickering glow of +the fire he was engaged in tracing a resemblance to himself in the +central figure of the composition wrought in threads of silk--Momus, +fool by patent to Jove, thrust from Olympus and greeting the earth-born +with a great grin. + +"An excellent likeness!" muttered Triboulet. "A very pretty likeness!" +he continued, swelling with pride. + +And truly it was said that sprightly ladies, working between love and +pleasure times, drew from the court fool for their conception of the +mythological buffoon, reproducing Triboulet's great head; his mouth, +proportionately large; his protruding eyes; his bowed back, short, +twisted legs and long, muscular arms; and his nose far larger than that +of Francis, who otherwise had the largest nose in the kingdom. + +But how could they depict the meanness of soul that dwelt in that +extraordinary shell? The blithesome tapestry-makers, albeit adepts in +form, grace and harmony, could not touch the subjectiveness of +existence. Thus it was a double pleasure for Triboulet to see, limned +in well-chosen hues, his form, the crookedness of which he was as proud +as any courtier of his symmetry and beauty, the while his dark, vain +soul lay concealed behind the mask of merry deformity and laughing +monstrosity. + +"Would your Majesty like to command me?" + +The mocking feminine voice recalled Triboulet from his pleasing +contemplation. + +"No, no!" he answered, sullenly, and condescended to turn his glance +upon the assemblage. + +Over a goodly gathering of jesters, buffoons, poets, and even +philosophers, he lorded it, holding his head as high as his hump would +permit and conscious of his own place in the esteem of the king. Not +long ago the monarch had laughed and applauded when Triboulet had +twisted his features into a horrid grimace, and since then the dwarf's +little heart had expanded with such arrogance, it seemed to him he was +almost Francis himself as he sat there on Francis' sometime throne; and +these Sir Jollys were his subjects all--Marot, Caillette, Brusquet, +Villot, and the lesser lights, jesters of barons, cardinals and even +bishops! Rabelais, too, that poor, dissolute devil of a writer, +learned as Homer, brutish as Homer's swine--all subjects of his, the +king of jesters, save one; one whom he eyed with certain fear and +wonder; fear, because she was a woman--and Triboulet esteemed all the +sex but "highly perfected devils"--and wonder, at finding her different +from, and more perplexing than even the rest of her kind! + +"Jacqueline!--" + +now she was perched on one corner of the table, and her face had a +witch-like loveliness, as though borrowing its pallor and beauty from +the moon, source of all magic and necromancy. Her eyes shone with such +luster that, seeking their hue, they held the observer's gaze in +mocking languor, and cheated the inquisitive coxcomb of his quest, the +while the disdainful lips curved laughingly and so bewildered him, he +forgot the customary phrases and stood staring like a nonny. Her +footstep fell so light, she was so agile and quick, the superstitious +dwarf swore she was but a creature of the night and held surreptitious +meetings with all the familiar spirits of demonology. As she never +denied the uncanny imputation, but only displayed her small white teeth +maliciously, by way of answer, Triboulet felt assured he was right and +crossed himself religiously whenever she gazed too fixedly at him. + +A most _gracieuse folle_, her dress was in keeping with her character, +yellow being the predominating color. To the fanciful adornment of the +gown her lithe figure lent itself readily, while her rebellious curls +were well adapted to that badge of her servitude, the jaunty cap that +crowned their waving abundance. + +In especial disdain, from her position upon the corner of the table, +her glance wandered down the board and rested on Rabelais, the +gourmand, before whom were an empty trencher and tankard. The +priest-doctor-writer-scamp who affected the company of jesters and +liked not a little the hospitality of Fools' hall, which adjoined the +pastry branch of the castle kitchen and was not far removed from the +wine butts, had just unrolled a bundle of manuscript, all daubed with +trencher grease and tankard drippings, and was about to read aloud the +strange adventures of one Pantagruel, when, overcome by indulgence, his +head fell forward on the table, almost in the wooden platter, and the +papers fluttered to the floor. + +"Put him out!" commanded Triboulet from his high place. + +But she of the jaunty cap sprang from the table. + +"How wise are your Majesty's decrees!" she said mockingly with her +glance upon the dwarf. He shifted uneasily in the throne. "You should +have put him out before! But now"--turning contemptuously to the poor +figure of the great man--"he's harmless. His silence is golden; his +speech was dross." + +"And yet," answered Marot, thoughtfully, "the king esteems him; the +king who is at once scholar, poet, wit, soldier--" + +"Soldier!" she exclaimed, quickly. "When he can not conquer Italy and +regain his heritage!" + +"Can not?" ventured Triboulet, mindful of the dignity of his royal +master. "Why not?" + +"Because the women would conquer him!" + +"Nay; the king prefers the blue eyes of France," spoke up the +cardinal's fool, he of the viola. + +"Then do you set our queen of fools, our fair Jacqueline, out of his +Majesty's good graces," interposed one of the lesser jesters, a mere +baron's hireling, who long had burned with secret admiration for the +maid of the coquettish cap. + +"I am _such_ a fool as to want the good graces of no man--or monarch!" +she replied boldly, without glancing at the speaker. + +"An he were in love, you would be two fools!" laughed Caillette, the +court poet. + +"In love, 'tis only the man is the fool or--the fooled!" she returned +pointedly, and Caillette, despite his self-possession, flushed +painfully. Since Diane de Poitiers had wedded her ancient lord, the +poet had become grave, studious, almost sad. + +"And is your mistress, the king's ward, fooling with her betrothed?" he +asked quickly, conscious of knowing winks and nudges. + +"The Princess Louise and the Duke of Friedwald are to wed for reasons +of state," said the young woman, gravely. "There'll be no fools." + +"Ah, a loveless match!" + +"But not a landless one!" retorted she of the cap without the bells. +"Besides, it cements the friendship of Francis and Charles V! What +more would you? But I'll tell you a secret." + +At that the company flocked around her, as though there was something +enticing in her tone; the vague promise of an interesting bit of gossip +or the indefinite suggestion of a court scandal. + +"A secret!" said the cardinal's fool, rubbing his hands together. His +master often rewarded him for particularly choice morsels of loose +tittle-tattle. + +"Oh, nothing very wicked!" she answered, waving them back with her +small hand. "'Tis only that they play at make-believe in love, the +princess and her betrothed! But after all, it is far more sensible +than real love-making, where if the pleasure be more acute, the pangs +are therefore the greater. She addresses to him the tenderest +counterfeit verses; he returns them in kind. She even simulated such +an illusory sadness that the duke has sent his own jester, who has but +just arrived at court, to amuse her (ahem!) dullness, until he himself +could come!" + +At this the cardinal's buffoon looked disappointed, for his master +liked more highly-flavored hearsay, while Triboulet frowned and brought +down his heavy fist upon the arm of the throne. + +"A new jester forsooth!" he exclaimed. + +"And why not?" Lifting her swart brows, quizzically. + +"We are already overstocked with 'prentice fools," he retorted, looking +over the throng. + +"Ah, you fear perhaps some one may depose you?" remarked Jacqueline +coldly. + +A guarded laugh arose from the gathering and the dwarf's eyes gleamed. + +"Depose me, Triboulet!" he shouted, rising. "Triboulet is sovereign +lord of all at whom he mocks! His wand is mightier than an episcopal +miter!" + +In his overweening rage and vanity he fairly crouched before the +throne, eying them all like a cat. His thick lips trembled; his eyes +became bloodshot. + +He forgot all prudence. + +"Doth not the king himself seek my advice?" He laughed horribly. +"Hath not, perhaps, many a fair gentleman been burned--aye, burned to +ashes as a Calvinist!--at my suggestion!" + +"Miserable wretch! Spy!" exclaimed the young woman, paler than a lily, +as she bent her eyes, with fully opened lids, upon him. + +As if to shield himself, he raised his hand, yet drunkenness or wrath +overcame caution and superstition, and the red eyes met the dark ones. +But a moment, and the former dropped sullenly; a strange thrill ran +through him. He thought he was bewitched. + +"_Non nobis Domine!_" he murmured, striving to recall a hymn. As Latin +was the language of witchcraft, so, also, was it the antidote. +Contemptuously she turned her back and walked slowly to the fire. Upon +her white face and supple figure played the elfish glow, lighting the +little cap and the waving tresses beneath. + +Regarding her furtively, Triboulet's courage returned, since she was +looking at the coals, not at him. + +"Ho, ho!" he said jocosely. "You all thought I was sincere. Listen, +my children! The art of fooling lies in trumped-up earnestness." He +smiled hideously. + +"Bravo, Triboulet!" cried an admiring voice. + +"Only time and art can give you such mastery over the passions," +continued the jester. "Which one of you would depose me? Who so ugly +as I? Poets, philosophers! I snap my fingers at them. Poor moths! +And you dare bait me with a new-comer! Let him look to himself!" From +earnestness to grandiloquence was but a step. + +"Let him come!" And Triboulet, imitating the pose of Francis himself, +drew his wooden sword. + +"Let him come!" he repeated, fiercely. + +"Who?" called out a gay and reckless voice. + +Through the doorway leading into the kitchen stepped a young man; +slender, almost boyish in appearance, with light-brown hair and +deep-set eyes that belied the gaiety and mirth of his features. His +costume, that of a Jester, was silk of finest texture and design, upon +which were skilfully fashioned in threads of silver the arms of Charles +V, King of Spain and Emperor of Germany, the powerful rival of Francis, +whose friendship now, for reasons of state, the latter sought. + +Smilingly the foreign jester gazed around the room; at the unusual +furnishings, picturesque, yet appropriate; at the inmates, the fools +scattered about the great board or near the mighty fireplace; the +renowned philosopher, Rabelais, sleeping on his arms, with hand +outstretched toward the neglected tankard; at the striking appearance +of the girl who looked with casual, careless interest upon him; at the +grotesque, crook-backed figure before the throne. + +And observing the incongruity of his surroundings, he laughed lightly, +while his glance, turning inquiringly if not insolently, from one to +the other, lingered in some surprise upon the young woman. He had +heard that in far-away France the motley was not confined to men. Had +not Jeanne, queen of Charles I, possessed her jestress, Artaude de Puy, +"_folle_ to our dear companion," as said the king? Had not Madame +d'Or, wearer of the bells, kept the nobles laughing? Had not the +haughty, eccentric Don John, his handsome, merry joculatrix, attached +to his princely household? + +But knowing only by rumor of these matters, the jester from abroad +looked hard at her, the first madcap in petticoats he had ever seen. +For her part, Jacqueline bore his scrutiny with visible annoyance. + +"Well," she said impatiently, a flash of resentment in her fine eyes, +"have you conned me over enough?" + +"Too much, mistress," he replied in no wise abashed, "an it hath +displeased you. Too little to please myself." + +"Yourself!" she returned, with sudden anger at his persistent gaze. +"Some lord's plaything to beat or whip; a toy--" + +"And yet a poet who can make rhymes on woman's beauty," he answered +with a careless laugh. + +"Another courtier!" grumbled Triboulet. "Lacking true wit, fools +nowadays essay only compliments to cover their dullness." + +With the same air of insolent amusement, the new-comer turned to the +throne and its occupant, whom he subjected to an even more deliberate +investigation. + +"Is it man or manikin, gentle mistress?" he asked, after concluding his +examination. + +She did not deign to answer, but the offended Triboulet waved his +wooden sword vindictively. + +"Manikin!" he roared, and sprang with vicious lunges upon the duke's +jester, who falling back before the suddenness of the assault, whipped +out his weapon in turn, and, laughing, threw himself into an attitude +of defense. + +"A mortal combat!" cried the cardinal's wit-snapper. + +"Charles V and Francis!" exclaimed Caillette, referring to the personal +challenge which had once passed between the two great monarchs. "With +a throne for the victor!" he added gaily, indicating Triboulet's chair +of state. + +The clatter and din awoke Rabelais, who drowsily regarded the +combatants with lack-luster gaze and undoubtedly thought himself once +more amid the fanciful conflicts of fearful giants. + +"Fall to, Pantagruel, my merry Paladin!" he exclaimed bombastically. +"Cut, slash, stab, fence and justle!" And himself, reaching for an +imaginary sword, encountered the tankard which he would have raised to +his lips but that his shaggy head fell again to the board before his +willing arm had obeyed the passing impulse of his sluggish brain. + +"Fence!--justle!" he murmured, and slept once more. + +But the parrot, again disturbed, could not so easily compose itself to +slumber. Whipping its head from its downy nest, it outspread its gray +wings gloriously and screamed and shouted, as though venting all the +thunders of the Vatican upon the offending belligerents. And above the +uproar and noise of arms, rabble and bird, arose the piercing voice of +Triboulet: + +"Watch me spit this bantam-cock!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER + +Tough and sharp-pointed, a wooden sword was no insignificant weapon, +wielded by the thews and sinews of a Triboulet. Crouching like an +animal, the king's buffoon sprang with headlong fury, uttering hoarse, +guttural sounds that awakened misgivings regarding the fate of his too +confident antagonist. + +"Do not kill him, Triboulet!" cried Marot, alarmed lest the duke's fool +should be slain outright. "Remember he has journeyed from the court of +Charles V!" + +"Charles V!" came through Triboulet's half-closed teeth. "My master's +one great enemy!" + +"Hush!" muttered Villot. "Our master's enemy is now his dear friend!" + +"Friend!" sneered the other, but even as he thrust, his sword tingled +sharply in his hand, and, whisked magically out of his grip, described +a curve in the air and fell at a far end of the room. At the same time +a stinging blow descended smartly on the dwarf's hump. + +"Pardon me!" laughed the duke's fool. "Being unused to such exercise, +my blade fell by mistake on your back." + +If looks could have killed, Triboulet would have achieved his original +purpose, but after a vindictive though futile glance his head drooped +despondently. To have been thus humiliated before those whom he +regarded as his vassals! What jest could restore him the prestige he +had enjoyed; what play of words efface the shame of that public +chastisement? Had he been beaten by the king--but thus to suffer at +the hand of a foreign fool! And the monarch--would he learn of +it?--the punishment of the royal jester? As in a dream, he heard the +hateful voices of the company. + +"'Tis not the first time he has been wounded--there!" said fearless +Caillette, who openly acknowledged his aversion for the king's favorite +fool. "But be seated, gentle sir," he added to the stranger, "and +share our rough hospitality." + +"Rough, certes!" commented the other, as he returned his blade to his +belt. "And as I see no stool--" + +"There's the throne!" returned Caillette, courteously. "Since you have +overcome Triboulet, his place is yours." + +"A precarious place!" said the new-comer, easily, dropping, +nevertheless, into the chair. + +"The king is dead! Long live the king!" cried the cardinal's jester. + +"Long live the king!" they shouted, every fool and zany raising a +tankard, save the dwarf and the young woman, the former continuing to +glare vindictively upon the usurper, and the latter to all intent +remaining oblivious of the ceremony of installation. Poised upon a +chair, she idly thrust her fingers through the gilded bars of the cage +that hung from the rafters and gently stroked the head of the now +complaisant bird. + +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. + +"La!--la!--la!--" sang the parrot, responsive to her light caress. + +"Your Majesty's wishes! Your Majesty's decree!" exclaimed the monastic +wit-worm. + +"Hear! hear!" roared Brusquet. + +"Silence!" commanded Marot. "His Majesty speaks." + +"Toot! toot! toot!" rang out the flourish of a trumpet, a clarion +prelude to the fiat from the throne. + +The new king in motley arose; heedless, devil-may-care, very erect in +his preposterously pointed shoes. + +"I appoint you, Thony, treasurer of the exchequer, because you are +quick at sleight-of-hand," he began. + +"Good," laughed Marot. "An he's more light-fingered than his +predecessor, he's a master of prestidigitation!" + +"You, Brusquet," went on the new master of Fool's hall, "I reward with +the government of Guienne, for he who governs his own house so ill is +surely fitted for greater tasks of incompetency." + +This allusion to the petticoat rule which dominated the luckless jester +at home was received in good part by all save the hapless domestic +bondman himself. + +"You, Villot, are made admiral of the fleet." + +Villot smiled, thinking how Francis had but recently bestowed that +office upon the impoverished husband of pretty Madame d'Etaille. + +"Thanks, your Majesty," he began, "but if some post nearer home--" + +"You are to sail at once!" + +"But my wife--" + +"Will remain at court!" announced the duke's jester with great decision. + +Villot made a wry face. The king in motley smiled significantly. "A +safe haven, Villot! Besides, remember a court without ladies is like a +spring without flowers." + +A movement resembling apprehension swept through the company. The +epigram had been Francis'; the court--a flower-bed of roses--was, in +consequence, a thorny maze for a jester to tread. From her chair at +the far end of the room, the young woman looked at the new-comer for +the first time since his enthronement. Her fingers yet played between +the gilded bars; the posture she had assumed set forth the pliant grace +of her figure. Above the others, she glanced at him, her hair very +black against the golden cage; her arm, very white, half unsheathed +from the great hanging sleeve. + +"You are over-bold," she said, a peculiar smile upon her lips. + +"Nay; I have spoken no treason, mistress," he retorted blithely. + +"Not by word of mouth, perhaps, but by imputation." + +He raised his brows with a gesture of wanton protest, while the face +before him clouded. Her eyes held his; her little teeth just gleamed +between the crimson of her lips. + +"I presume you consider Charles the more fitting monarch?" she +continued. + +Was it the disdain of her voice? Did she read his passing thoughts? +Did she challenge him to utter them? + +"In truth," the jester said carelessly, "Charles builds fortresses, not +pleasure palaces; and garrisons them with soldiers, not ladies." + +She half-smiled. Her glance fell. Her hand moved caressingly, the +sleeve waving beneath. + +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. + +Triboulet's glance beamed with delight. She was casting her spell over +his enemy. + +"Oh," muttered Triboulet, "if the king could but have heard!" + +Perhaps it was a breath of air, but the tapestry depicting the +misadventures of Momus waved and moved. Triboulet, who noted +everything, saw this, and suffered an expression of triumph momentarily +to rest upon his malignant features. Had his prayer been answered? "A +spring without flowers," forsooth! Dearly cherished the august +gardener his beautiful roses. Great red roses; white roses; blossoms +yet unopened! + +Following his gaze, a significant light appeared in the young woman's +eyes, while her arm fell to her side. + +"Now to see Presumption sue for pardon," she whispered to herself. + +One by one the company, too, turned in the direction Triboulet was +looking. In portraiture the classical buffoon grinned and gibed at +them from the tapestry; and even from his high station above the clouds +Jupiter, who had ejected the offending fool of the gods, looked less +stern and implacable. An expectant hush fell upon the assemblage, when +suddenly Jove and Momus alike were unceremoniously thrust aside, and, +as the folds fell slowly back, before the many-hued curtain stood a man +of stately and majestic mien. + +A man whose appearance caused deep-seated consternation, whose +forbidding aspect made the very silence portentous and terrifying. +With dress slashed and laced, rich in jewelry and precious stones, he +remained motionless, regarding the motley gathering, while an ominous +half-smile played about his features. He said nothing, but his reserve +was more sinister than language. Capricious, cruel was his face; in +his eyes shone covert enjoyment of the situation. + +Would he never speak? With one hand he stroked his beard; with the +other he toyed with the lace on his doublet. + +"You were talking, children," he said, finally, "before I came in." + +"If your Majesty," ventured Triboulet, "has heard all, your Majesty +will not blame--us!" And he glanced malevolently toward the duke's +Jester, who, upon the king's abrupt entrance, had descended from the +platform. + +Observing the emblazoned arms of Charles V upon the dress of the +culprit, a faint look of surprise swept Francis' face. Did it recall +that fatal day, when on the field of battle, a rival banner had waved +ever illusively; ever beyond his reach? Now it shone before him as +though mocking his friendship for his one-time powerful enemy, the only +man he feared, the emperor who had overthrown him. The sinister smile +of the king gave way to gloomy thoughtfulness. + +"Who is this knave?" he asked at length, fixedly regarding the +erstwhile badge of his defeat. + +"A poor fool, Sire!" replied the kneeling man. + +"Those arms, embroidered on your dress--what do they mean?" said the +king shortly. + +"The arms of my master's master, your Majesty!" was the over-confident +answer. + +"Who is your master?" + +"The Duke of Friedwald, Sire, the betrothed of the Princess Louise." + +"And your purpose here?" + +"My master sent me to the princess. 'I'll miss thee, rogue,' said he. +''Tis proof of love to send thee, my merry companion of the wine cup! +But go! Nature hath formed thee to conjure sadness from a lady's +face.' So I set out upon my perilous journey, and, favored by fortune, +am but safely arrived. I was e'en now about to repair to the princess, +whom I trust, in my humble way, to amuse." + +"And thou shalt!" said the king, significantly. + +"Oh, your Majesty!" with assumed modesty. + +"That is," added Francis, "if it will amuse her to see you hanged!" + +"And if it did not amuse her, Sire?" spoke up the new-comer, without a +tremor in his voice. + +"What then?" asked the king. + +"It would be a breach of hospitality to hang me, the servant of the +duke who is servant of Charles V!" he replied boldly. + +Francis started. Like a menace shone the arms of the great emperor. +Vividly he recalled his own humiliation, his long captivity, and +mistrusted the power of his subtile, amiable friend-enemy. Friendship? +Sweeter was hatred. But the promptings of wisdom had suggested the +policy of peace; the reins of expediency drove him, autocrat or slave, +to the doctrines of loving brotherhood. He turned his gloomy eyes upon +the glowing countenance of Triboulet. + +"What say you, fool?" + +"Your Majesty," answered the eager dwarf, "could hang him without +breach of hospitality." + +"How do you make that good, Triboulet?" asked the monarch. + +"The duke has given him to the princess. The princess is a subject of +your Majesty. The king of France has jurisdiction over the princess' +fool and surely can proceed in so small a matter as hanging him." + +Francis bent a malignant look upon the young man. Behind the dwarf +stood the jestress, now an earnest spectator of the scene. + +"This new-comer's stay with us promises to be brief, Caillette," she +whispered. + +"Hark, you witch! He answers," returned the poet. + +"What can he say?" she retorted, shrugging her shoulders. "He is +already condemned." + +"Are you pleased, mistress? Just because the poor fellow stared at you +overmuch." + +"Oh," she said, insensibly, "it was written he should hang himself. +Now we'll hear how ably Audacity parleys with Fate." + +"It would be no breach of hospitality, Sire, to hang the princess' +fool," spoke the condemned man with no sign of waning confidence, "yet +it would seem to depreciate the duke's gift. Your Majesty should hang +the one and spare the other. 'Tis a matter of logic," he went on +quickly, "to point out where the duke's gift ends and the princess' +fool begins. A gift is a gift until it is received. The princess has +not yet received the duke's gift. Therefore, your Majesty can not hang +me, as the princess' fool; nor would your Majesty desire to hang me as +the duke's gift." + +Imperceptibly the monarch's mien relaxed, for next to a contest with +blades he liked the quick play of words. + +"Answer him, Triboulet," he said. + +"Your Majesty--your Majesty--" stammered the dwarf, and paused in +despair, his wits failing him at the critical juncture. + +"Enough!" commanded the king, sternly. A sound of suppressed merriment +even as he spoke startled the gathering. "Who laughed?" he cried +suddenly. "Was it you, mistress?" fastening his eyes upon the young +woman. + +Her head fell lower and lower like some dark flower on a slender stem. +From out of the veil of her mazy hair came a voice, soft with seeming +humility. + +"It might have been Jocko, Sire," she said. "He sometimes laughs like +that." + +The king looked from the woman to the bird; then from the bird to the +woman, a gleam of recollection in his glance. + +"Humph!" he muttered. "Is this where you serve your mistress? Look to +it you serve not yourself ill!" + +An instant her eyes flashed upward. + +"My mistress is at prayers," she answered, and looked down again as +quickly. + +"And you meanwhile prefer the drollery of these madcaps to the +attentions of our courtiers?" said Francis, more gently. "Certes are +you gipsy-born!" + +Her hands clasped tighter, but she answered not, and he turned more +sternly to the new king of the motley. "As for you," he continued, +"for the present the duke's gift is spared. But let the princess' fool +look to himself. Remember, a guarded tongue insures a ripe old age, +and even a throne in Fools' hall is fraught with hazard. Here! some of +you, take this"--indicating the sleeping Rabelais--"and throw it into +the horse-pond. Yet see that he does not drown--your heads upon it! +'Tis to him France looks for learning." + +He paused; glanced back at the kneeling girl. "You, Mistress +Who-Seeks-to-Hide-Her-Face, teach that parrot not to laugh!" he added +grimly. + +The tapestry waved. Mute the motley throng stared where the king had +stood. A light hand touched the arm of the duke's fool, and, turning, +he beheld the young woman; her eyes were alight with new fire. + +"In God's name," she exclaimed, passionately, "let us leave. You have +done mischief enough. Follow me." + +"Where'er you will," he responded gallantly. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A GIFT FOR THE DUKE + +The sun and the breeze contended with the mist, intrenched in the +stronghold of the valley. From the east the red orb began its attack; +out of the west rode the swift-moving zephyrs, and, vanquished, the +wavering vapor stole off into thin air, or hung in isolated wreaths above +the foliage on the hillside. Soon the conquering light brightly +illumined a medieval castle commanding the surrounding country; the +victorious breeze whispered loudly at its gloomy casements. A great +Norman structure, somber, austere, it was, however brightened with many +modern features that threatened gradually to sap much of its ancient +majesty. + +"Fill up the moat," Francis had ordered. "'Tis barbaric! What lover +would sigh beneath walls thirty feet thick! And the portcullis! Away +with it! Summon my Italian painters to adorn the walls. We may yet make +habitable these legacies from the savage, brutal past." + +So the mighty walls, once set in a comparative wilderness, a tangle of +thicket and underbrush, now arose from garden, lawn and park, where even +the deer were no longer shy, and the water, propelled by artificial +power, shot upward in jets. + +Seated at a window which overlooked this sylvan aspect, modified if not +fashioned by man, a young woman with seeming conscientiousness, told her +beads. The apartment, though richly furnished, was in keeping with the +devout character of its fair mistress. A brush or aspersorium, used for +sprinkling holy water, was leaning against the wall. Upon a table lay an +open psalter, with its long hanging cover and a ball at the extremity of +the forel. Behind two tall candlesticks stood an altar-table which, +being unfolded, revealed three compartments, each with a picture, painted +by Andrea del Sarto, the once honored guest of Francis. + +The Princess Louise, cousin of Francis' former queen, Claude, had been +reared with rigid strictness, although provided with various preceptors +who had made her more or less proficient in the profane letters, as they +were then called, Latin, Greek, theology and philosophy. The fame of her +beauty had gone abroad; her hand had been often sought, but the obdurate +king had steadfastly refused to sanction her betrothal until Charles, the +emperor, himself proposed a union between the fair ward of the French +monarch and one of his nobles, the young Duke of Friedwald. To this +Francis had assented, for he calculated upon thus drawing to his +interests one of his rival's most chivalrous knights, while far-seeing +Charles believed he could not only retain the duke, but add to his own +court the lovely and learned ward of the king. + +And in this comedy of aggrandizement the puppets were willing--as puppets +must needs be. Indeed, the duke was seriously enamored of the princess, +whose portrait he had seen in miniature, and had himself importuned the +emperor to intercede with Francis, knowing that the only way to the +lady's hand was through the good offices of him who aspired to the +mastery of all Europe, if not the world. + +Charles, unwilling to disoblige one whose principality was the most +powerful of the Austrian provinces he sought to absorb in his scheme for +the unification of all nations, offered no demur to a request fraught +with advantage to himself. Besides, cold and calculating though he was, +the emperor entertained a certain affection for the duke, who on one +occasion, when Charles had been sore beset by the troops of Solyman, had +extricated his royal leader from the alternatives of ignominious capture +or an untimely end. Accordingly, a formal proposal, couched in language +of warm friendship to the king, was despatched by the emperor. When +Francis, with some misgiving, arising from experience with womankind, +laid the matter before Louise, she, to his surprise, proved her devotion +and loyalty by her entire submissiveness, and the king, kissing her hand, +generously vowed the wedding festivities should be worthy of her beauty +and fealty. + +Was she thinking of that scene now and the many messages which had +subsequently passed between her distant lover and herself, as the white +fingers ceased to tell the beads? Was she questioning fate and the +future when the rosary fell from her hand and the clinking of the great +glass beads on the hard floor aroused her from a reverie? Languidly she +rose, crossed the room toward a low dressing table, when at the same time +one of the several doors of the apartment opened, admitting the jestress, +Jacqueline, whose long, flowing gown of dark green bore no distinguishing +mark of the motley she had assumed the night before. The dreamy, almost +lethargic, gaze of the princess rested for a moment upon the ardent eyes +of the maid who stood motionless before her. + +"The duke's jester who arrived last night awaits your pleasure without," +said the girl. + +"Bid him enter. Stay! The fillet for my hair. Seems he a merry fellow?" + +"So merry, Madam, he mimicked the king last night in Fool's hall, beat +Triboulet, appointed knaves in jest to high offices, and had been hanged +for his forwardness but that he narrowly saved his neck by a slender +device." + +"What; all that in so short a time!" exclaimed the princess. "A most +presumptuous rogue!" + +"The king, Madam, was behind the tapestry and heard it all: his +appointment of Thony as treasurer, because he is apt at palming money; +Brusquet, governor of Guienne, since he governs his own home so ill; and +Villot, admiral of the fleet, that he might sail away and leave his +pretty wife behind him." + +"I'll warrant me the story is known to the entire court ere this," +laughed the lady. "Won't Madame d'Etaille be in a temper! And the +admiral when he hears of it--on the high seas! The king was +eavesdropping, you say, and yet spared the jester? He must bear a +charmed life." + +"He dubbed himself the duke's gift, Madam, and boldly claimed privilege +under the poor cloak of hospitality." + +"Surely," murmured the princess, "there will be no lack of entertainment +with this knave under the same roof. Too much entertainment, I fear me. +Well, admit the bold fellow." + +Crossing to the door, the maid pushed it back and the figure of the +jester passed the threshold:--a figure so graceful and well-built, the +lady's eyes, turning toward him with mild inquiry, lingered with +approval; lingered, and were upraised to a fair, handsome face, when +approval gave way to wonder. + +Was this the imprudent, hot-brained rogue who had swaggered in Fools' +hall, and made a farce of the affairs of the nation? His countenance +seemed that of a courtier rather than a low-born scape-grace; his bearing +in consonance, as, approaching the princess, he knelt near the edge of +her sweeping crimson garment. Quietly the maid withdrew to a corner of +the apartment where she seated herself on a low stool, her fingers idly +playing with the delicate carvings of a vase of silver, containing water +that had been blessed and standing conveniently near the aspersorium. + +"You come from the Duke of Friedwald, fool?" said the mistress, +recovering from her surprise. + +"Yes, Princess." + +Louise smiled, and looked toward the maid as if to say: "Why, he's a +model of decorum!" but the girl continued regarding the figures on the +vase, seemingly indifferent to the scene before her. + +"I hear, sirrah, but a poor account of your behavior last night," +continued the princess. "You must have a care, or I shall send you back +to the duke and command him to have you whipped. You have been here but +overnight, yet how many enemies have you made? The king; the admiral, +and--last but not least--a certain lady. Poor fool! you may have saved +your neck, but for how long? Fie! what an account must I give of you to +your master!" + +"Ah, Madam," he answered quickly, "you show me now the folly of it all." + +"Let me see," she went on more gently, "what we may do, since you are +penitent? The king may forgive; the admiral forget, but the lady--she +will neither forget nor forgive. Fortunately, I think she fears to +disoblige me, and, if I let it be known you are an indispensable part of +my household--" she paused thoughtfully--"besides, she has a little +secret she would keep from the king. Yes; the secret will save you!" +And Louise smiled knowingly, as one who, although most devout, perhaps +had missed a few paters or credos in listening to idle worldly gossip. + +"Madam," he said, raising his head, "you overwhelm me with your goodness." + +"Oh, I like her not; a most designing creature," returned the lady +carelessly. "But you may rise. Hand me that embroidery," she added when +he had obeyed. "How do I know the duke, my betrothed, whom I have never +seen, has not sent you to report upon my poor charms? What if you were +only his emissary?" + +"Princess," he answered, "I am but a fool; no emissary. If I were--" + +"Well?" + +She smiled indulgently at the open admiration written so boldly upon his +face, and, encouraged by her glance, he regarded her swiftly, +comprehensively; the masses of hair the fillet ill-confined; eyes, +soft-lidded, dreamy as a summer's day; a figure, pagan in generous +proportions; a foot, however, _petite_, Parisian, peeping from beneath a +robe, heavy, voluminous, vivid! + +"If you were?" she suggested, passing a golden thread through the cloth +she held. + +"I would write him the miniature he has of you told but half the truth." + +"So you have seen the miniature? It lies carelessly about, no doubt?" +Yet her tone was not one of displeasure. + +"The duke frequently draws it from his breast to look at it." + +"And so many handsome women in the kingdom, too!" laughed the princess. +"A tiny, paltry bit of vellum!" + +Her lips curled indulgently, as of a person sure of herself. Did not the +fool's glance pay her that tribute to which she was not a stranger? Her +lashes, suddenly lifted, met his fully, and drove his look, grown +overbold, to cover. The princess smiled; she might well believe the +stories about him; yet was not ill-pleased. "Like master; like man!" +says the proverb. She continued to survey the graceful figure, +well-poised head and handsome features of the jester. + +"Tell me, sirrah," she continued, "of the duke. Straightforwardly, +or--I'll leave thee to the mercy of madam the admiral's wife! What is he +like?" + +"A fairly likely man!" + +"'Tis what one says of a man when one can say nothing else. He is not +then very handsome?" + +"He has never been so considered!" + +The princess' needle remained suspended, then viciously plunged into the +golden Cupid she was embroidering. "The king hath played with me," she +murmured. "He represented him as one of the most distinguished-appearing +knights in the emperor's domains. Is he dark or light?" she went on. + +"Dark." + +"Tall?" + +"Rather short." + +"His eyes?" said the lady, after an ominous pause. + +"Brown." + +"His manners?" + +"Those of a soldier." + +"His speech?" + +"That of one born to command." + +"Command!" returned the princess, ironically. "Odious word!" + +"You, Madam," quickly answered the jester, "he would serve." + +A moment her glance challenged his, coldly, proudly, and then her +features softened. The indolent look crept into her eyes once more; the +tension of her lips relaxed. + +"Command and serve!" laughed the princess. "A paradox, if not a paragon, +it seems! Not handsome--probably ugly!--a soldier--full of oaths--a +blusterer--strong in his cups! What a list of qualifications! +Well"--with a sigh--"what must needs be must be! The emperor plays the +rook; Francis moves his pawn--my poor self. The game, beyond the two +moves, is naught to us. Perhaps we shall be sacrificed, one or both! +What of that, if it's a draw, or one of the players checkmates the +other--" + +"But, Princess," cried the fool, "he loves you! +Passionately!--devotedly!--" + +"A passing fancy for a painted semblance!" said the lady, as rising she +turned toward the casement, the golden Cupid falling from her lap to the +floor. In the rhythmic ease of her movement, in her very attitude, was +consciousness of her own power, but to the poet-jester, surrounded as he +was by symbols of worship and devotion, her expressed self-doubt seemed +that of some saintly being, cloistered in the solitude of a sanctuary. + +"Nay," he answered swiftly, "he has but to see you--with the sunlight in +your hair--as I see you now! The pawn, Madam, would become a queen; his +queen! What would matter to him the game of Charles or Francis? Let +Charles grow greater, or Francis smaller. His gain would be--you!" + +The fingers of the maid who sat at the far end of the room ceased to +caress the silver vase; her hands were tightly clasped together; in her +dark eyes was an ironical light, as her gaze passed from the jester to +her mistress. Almost motionless stood the princess until he had +finished; motionless it would have seemed but for the chain on her +breast, which rose and fell with her breathing. From the jeweled network +which half-bound her hair shone flashes of light; a tress which escaped +the glittering environment lay like a serpent of gold upon the crimson of +her gown where the neck softly uprose. A hue, delicately rich as the +tinted leaves of orange blossoms, mantled her cheeks. + +She shook her head in soft dissent. "Queen for how long?" she answered +gently. "As long as gentle Claude was queen for Francis? As long as +saintly Eleanor held undisputed sway?" + +"As long as Eleanor is queen in the hearts of her people!" he exclaimed, +passionately. "As long as France is her bridegroom!" + +Deliberately she half-turned, the coil of gold falling over her shoulder. +Near her hand, white against the dark casement, a blood-red rose trembled +at the entrance of her chamber, and, grasping it lightly, she held it to +her face as if its perfume symbolized her thoughts. + +"Is there so much constancy in the world?" she asked musingly. "Can such +singleness of heart exist? Like this flower which would bloom and die at +my window? A bold flower, though! Day by day has it been growing +nearer. Here," she added, breaking it from the stem and holding it to +the jester. + +"Madam!" he cried. + +"Take it," she laughed, "and--send it to the duke!" Kneeling, he +received it. "Thou art a fellow of infinite humor indeed. Equally at +home in a lady's boudoir, or a fools' drinking bout. Come, Jacqueline, +Queen Marguerite awaits our presence. She has a new chapter to read, but +whether another instalment of her tales, or a prayer for her Mirror of +the Sinful Soul, I know not. As for you, sir"--with a parting +smile--"later we shall walk in the garden. There you may await us." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN IMPATIENT SUITOR + +"Well, Sir Mariner, do you not fear to venture so far on a dangerous +sea?" asked a mocking voice. + +"A dangerous sea, fair Jacqueline?" he replied, stroking the head of +the hound which lay before the bench. "I see nothing save smiling +fields and fragrant beds of flowers." + +"Oh, I recognize now Monsieur Diplomat, not Sir Mariner!" she retorted. + +Beneath her head-dress, resembling in some degree two great butterfly +wings, her face looked smaller than its wont. Laced tight, after the +fashion, the _cotte-hardie_ made her waist appear little larger than +could be clasped by the hands of a soldier, while a silken-shod foot +with which she tapped the ground would have nestled neatly in his palm. +Was it pique that moved her thus to address the duke's jester? Since +he had arrived, Jacqueline had been relegated, as it were, to the +corner. She, formerly ever first with the princess, had perforce stood +aside on the coming of the foreign fool whose company her mistress +strangely seemed to prefer to her own. + +First had it been talking, walking and jesting, in which last +accomplishment he proved singularly expert, judging from the peals of +laughter to which her mistress occasionally gave vent. Then it had +become riding, hawking and, worst of all, reading. Lately Louise, +learned, as has been set forth, in the profane letters, had displayed a +marked favor for books of all kinds--The Tree of Battles, by Bonnet, +the Breviary of Nobles in verse, the "_Livre des faits d'armes et de +chevalerie_," by Christine de Pisan; and in a secluded garden spot, +with her fool and servant, she sedulously pursued her literary labors. + +As books were rare, being hand-printed and hand-illumined, the +princess' choice of volumes was not large, but Marguerite, the king's +sister, possessed some rarely executed poems--in their mechanical +aspect; the monarch permitted her the use of several precious +chronicles; while the abbess in the convent near by, who esteemed +Louise for her piety and accomplishments, submitted to her care a +gorgeously painted, satin-bound Life of Saint Agnes, a Roman virgin who +died under the sanguinary persecution of Diocletian. But Jacqueline +frowningly noticed that the saint's life lay idle--conspicuously, +though fittingly, on the altar-table--while a manuscript of the Queen +of Navarre suspiciously accompanied the jester when he sought the +pleasant nook selected for reading and conversation. + +It was to this spot the maid repaired one soft summer afternoon, where +she found the fool and a volume--Marguerite's, by the purple binding +and the love-knot in silver!--awaiting doubtless the coming of the +princess; and at the sight of them, the book of romance and the jester +who brought it, what wonder her patience gave way? + +"You have been here now a fortnight, Monsieur Diplomat," she continued, +bending the eyes which Triboulet so feared upon the other. + +"Thirteen days, to be exact, sweet Jacqueline!" he answered calmly. + +"Indeed! Then there is some hope for you, if you've kept track of +time," she returned pointedly. + +Still he forbore to qualify his manner, save with a latent smile that +further exasperated the girl. + +"What mean you, gentle mistress?" he asked quietly, without even +looking at her. + +"'Sweet Jacqueline!' 'Gentle mistress!' you are profuse with soft +words!" she cried sharply. + +"And yet they turn you not from anger." + +"Anger!" she said, her eyes flashing. "Not another man at court would +dare to talk to me as you do." + +At this he lifted his brows and surveyed her much as one would a +spoiled child, a glance that excited in her the same emotion she had +experienced the night of his arrival in Fools' hall, when he had +contemplated her in her garb of Joculatrix, as some misplaced anomaly. + +"I know, mistress," he returned ironically, "you have a reputation for +sorcery. But I think it lies more in your eyes than in the moon." + +"And yet I can see the future for all that," she replied, persistently, +defiantly. + +"The future?" he retorted, and looked from the earth to the sky. "What +is the goal of yonder tiny cloud? Can you tell me that?" + +"The goal?" she repeated, uplifting her head. "Wait! It is very +small. The sun is already swallowing it up." + +"Heigho!" yawned the jester, outstretching his yellow-pointed boot, "I +catch not the moral to the fable--an there be one! + +"The moral!" she said, quickly. "Ask Marot." + +"Why Marot?" Balancing the stick with the fool's head in his hand. + +"Because he dared love Queen Marguerite!" she answered impetuously. +"The fool in motley; the lady in purple! How he jested at her wedding! +How he wept when he thought himself alone!" + +"He had but himself to blame, Jacqueline," returned the other with +composure, although his eyes were now bent straight before him. "He +could not climb to her; she could not stoop to him. Yet I daresay, it +was a mad dream he would not have foregone." + +"Not have foregone!" she exclaimed, quickly. "What would he not have +given to tear it from his breast; aye, though he tore his heart with +it! That day, bright and fair, when Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, +took her in his arms and kissed her brow! When amid gay festivities +she became his bride! Not have foregone? Yes; Marot would forego that +day--and other days." + +Still that inertia; that irritating immobility. "What a tragic tale +for a summer day!" was his only comment. + +"And Caillette!" she continued, rapidly. "Distinguished in mien, +graceful in manner. In the house of his patron, he dared look up to +that nobleman's daughter, Diane de Poitiers. A dream; a youthful +dream! Enter Monsieur de Brézé, grand seneschal of Normandy. Shall I +tell you the rest? How Caillette stares, moody, knitting his brows at +his cups! Of what is the jester thinking?" + +"Whether the grand seneschal will let him sleep with the spaniels, +Jacqueline, or turn him out," laughed the jester. + +Angrily she clasped her hands before her. "Is it the way your mind +would move?" she retorted. + +"A jester without a roof to cover him is like a dog without a kennel, +mistress." + +Disdain, contempt, rapidly crossed her face, but her lip curved +knowingly and her voice came more gently, because of the greater sting +that lay behind her words. + +"You but seek to flout me from my tale," she said sweetly. "Caillette +is none such, as you know. They were young together. 'Twas said he +confessed his love; that tokens passed between them. Rhymes he writ to +her; a flower, perhaps, she gave him. A flower he yet cherishes, +mayhap; dried, faded, yet plucked by her!" + +Involuntarily the hand of her listener touched his breast, the first +sign he had made that her story moved him. Jacqueline, watching him +keenly, smiled, and demurely looked away. Her next words seemed to +dance from her lips, as with head bent, like a butterfly poised, she +addressed her remark to vacancy. + +"A flower for himself, no doubt! Not given him for another!" + +Whereupon she turned in time to catch the burning flush which flamed +his cheek and left it paler than she had ever seen it. At this first +signal of her success--proving that he was not impregnable to her +attack--she hummed a little song and beat time on the sward with a +green-shod foot. + +"What mean you?" he asked, momentarily dropping his unruffled manner. + +"Not much!" Lightly she tripped to a bush, broke off a flower and +regarded it mischievously. "Why should people hide that which is so +sweet and fragrant?" she remarked, and set the rose in her hair. + +"Hide?" he said, looking at the flower, but not at her. + +"I trust you kept the rose, Monsieur Diplomat?" she spoke up, suddenly, +her expression most serious. + +"What rose?" he asked, now become restless beneath her cutting tongue. + +"What rose! As if you did not know! How innocent you look! How many +roses are there in the world? A thousand? Or only one? What rose? +Her rose, of course. Have you got it? I hope so--for the duke is +coming and might ask for it!" + +This, then, was the information she had taken such a roundabout way to +communicate! It was to this end she had purposely led the conversation +by adroit stages, studying him gaily, impatiently or maliciously, as +she marked the effect of her words upon him. All alive, she stepped +back laughing; elate, she put her arms about a branch of the rose-bush +and drew a score of roses to her bosom, as though she were a witch, +impervious to thorns. He had risen--yes, there was no doubt about +it!--but her sunny face was turned to the flowers. His countenance +became at once puzzled and thoughtful. + +"The duke--coming--" He condescended to ask for information now. + +Sidewise she gazed at him, unrelenting. "Does the flower become me?" +she asked. + +"The duke--coming--" he repeated. + +"How impolite! To refuse me a compliment!" she flashed. + +The next moment he was by her side, and had taken her arm, almost +roughly. "Speak out!" he cried. "Some one is coming! What duke is +coming?" + +"You hurt me!" she exclaimed, angrily. He loosened his grasp. + +"What duke?" she answered scornfully. "Her duke! Your duke! The +emperor's duke!" + +"The Duke of Friedwald?" he asked. + +"Of course! The princess' fiancé; bridegroom-to-be; future husband, +lord and master," she explained, with indubious and positive iteration. + +"But the time--set for the wedding---has not expired," he protested +with what she thought seemed a suspicion that she was playing with him. + +"That is easily answered," she said cheerfully. "The duke, it seems, +has become more and more enamored. Finally his passion has so grown +and grown he fears to let it grow any more, and, as the only way out of +the difficulty, petitioned the king to curtail the time of probation +and relieve him of the constantly augmenting suspense. To which his +most gracious Majesty, having been a lover himself (on divers +occasions) and measuring the poor fellow's troubles by the qualms he +has himself experienced, has seen generously fit to cut off a few weeks +of waiting and set the wedding for the near future." + +"How know you this?" he demanded, sharply, striding to and fro. + +"This morning the princess sent me with a message to the Countess +d'Etampes. You know her? You have heard? She has succeeded the +Countess of Châteaubriant. Well, the king was with her--not the +Countess of Châteaubriant, but the other one, I mean. They left poor +me to await his Majesty's pleasure, and, as the Countess d'Etampes has +but newly succeeded to her present exalted position and the king has +not yet discovered her many imperfections, I should certainly have +fallen asleep for weariness had I not chanced to overhear portions of +their conversation. The Countess d'Etampes, it seemed, was very angry. +'Your Majesty promised to send her home,' she said. 'But, my dear, +give me time,' pleaded the king. 'Pack her off at once,' she demanded, +raising her voice. 'Send her to her husband. That's where she +belongs. Think of him, poor fellow!' Laughing, his Majesty +capitulated. 'Well, well, back to her castle goes the Countess of +Châteaubriant!' Thereupon--" + +"But the duke, mistress," interrupted the jester, who had become more +and more impatient during the prolonged narration. "The duke?" + +"Am I not to tell it in my own way?" she returned. "What manners you +have! First, you pinch my arm until I must needs cry out. Then you +ask a question and interrupt me before I can answer." + +"Interrupt!" he muttered. "You might have told a dozen tales. What +care I for the king's Jezebels?" + +"Jezebels!" she repeated, in mock horror. "I see plainly, if you don't +die one way, you will another." + +"'Tis usually the case. But go on with your story." + +"If I can not tell it in my own way--" + +"Tell it as you will, if your way be as slow as your tongue is sharp," +he answered sullenly. + +"Sharp! Jezebels! You deserve not to hear, but--the king, it seems, +had laid the duke's request before the Countess d'Etampes. 'Here is an +impatient suitor,' he said gaily. 'How shall we cure his passion?' +'By marrying him,' blithely answered this light-of-love. ''Tis a +medicine that never fails!' His Majesty frowned; I could not see him, +but felt sure of it from his tone, for although he neglects the queen, +yet, to some degree, is mindful of her dignity. 'Marriage is a holy +state, Madam,' he replied severely. 'There's no doubt about it, +Francis,' returned the lady, 'and therefore is the antidote to passion. +But a man bent on matrimony is like a child that wants a toy. Better +give it to him at once--the plaything will the sooner be thrown aside!' +'Nay, Madam,' he said reprovingly, 'the duke shall have his wish, but +for no such reason.' 'What reason then?' quoth she, petulantly. +'Because thou hast shown me love is a monarch stronger than any king +and that we are but as slaves in its hands!' he exclaimed, +passionately. 'I know I shall like the duke,' cried she, 'since he is +the cause of that pretty speech.' + +"At this point, not daring to listen longer, I coughed; there was +silence; then the countess herself appeared at the door and looked at +me sharply. With such grace as I could command, I delivered my +message, left the house and was hurrying through the garden when chance +threw you in my way. And now you have it all, sir." + +"The princess--has she heard the king has received a letter from the +duke, and that his Majesty has changed the wedding date?" + +The jester spoke slowly, but Jacqueline was assured that beneath his +deliberate manner surged deep and conflicting emotions; that his +calmness was no more than a mask to conceal his pain. Had he given +utterance to the feeling that beset him, had he betrayed more than a +suggestion of the passion, rage or grief which struggles for mastery +beneath a forced sloth of sensibility, she would have once more mocked +him with laughter. But perhaps his very quiescence inclined her to +look upon him with a grain of sympathy or compassion, for her tones +were now grave. + +"The princess knows; has heard all from the king. Not long since he +sent for her. Will she consent? What else can she do? 'Tis the +monarch who commands; we who obey!" + +"Is the court then only a mart, a guildhall?" he exclaimed. "A +woman--even a princess--should be won, not--exchanged!" + +Her lashes drooped; in her gaze shone once more the ironical amusement. +"Why," she said, "from what wilds, or forests, have you come? The +heart follows where the trader lists! Think you the princess will wear +the willow?" she laughed. "How well you know women!" + +"Do you mean that she--" + +"I mean that her welfare is in strong hands; that there will be few +greater in all the land; none more honored! The duke's principality is +vast--but here comes the princess." The hound sprang to his feet and +ran gamboling down the path. "Ask her the rest yourself, most +Unsophisticated Fool! Ah,"--with a touch she could not resist--"what a +handsome bride she will make for the duke!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN + +Through the flowery path, so narrow her gown brushed the leaves on +either side, the Princess Louise appeared, walking slowly. A +head-dress, heart-shaped, held her hair in its close confines; the gown +of cloth-of-silver damask fitted closely to her figure, and, from the +girdle, hung a long pendent end, elaborately enriched. With short, +sharp barks, the dog bounded before her, but the hand usually extended +to caress the animal remained at her side. + +Intently the jester watched her draw near and ever nearer, their common +trysting spot, her favorite garden nook. A handsome bride, forsooth, +as Jacqueline had suggested. All in white was she now; a glittering +white, with silver adornment; ravishingly hymeneal. A bride for a +duke--or a king--more stately than the queen; handsomer than the +favorite of favorites who ruled the king and France. + +"Jacqueline," she said, evincing neither surprise nor any other +emotion, as she approached, "go and fetch my fan. I believe 'tis in +the king's ante-chamber." + +"Madam carried no fan when"--began the girl. + +"Then 'tis somewhere else. Do not bandy words, but find it." + +Sinking on the bench as the maid walked quickly away, she remained for +some moments in silent thought,--a reverie the jester forbore to +disturb. Her head rested on her arm, from which fell the flowing +sleeve almost to the ground; her wrist was lightly inclasped by a +slender golden band of delicate Byzantine enamel work; over the +sculptured form of the stone griffin that constituted one of the +supports of the ancient Norman bench flowed the voluminous folds of her +dress, partly concealing the monster from view. Against the clambering +ivy which for centuries had reveled in this chosen spot, and which the +landscape gardeners of Francis had wisely spared, lay her hand, a small +ring of curious workmanship gleaming from her finger. The ring caused +the jester to start, remembering he had last seen it worn by the king. + +Truly, the capricious, but august, monarch must have been well pleased +with the complaisance of his fair ward, and the face of the fool, +glowing and eager, became on the instant hard and cold. Did he +experience now the first pangs of that sorrow Jacqueline had vividly +portrayed as the love-portion of Marot and Caillette? Faintly the ivy +whispered above the princess, telling perhaps of other days when, +centuries gone by, some Norman lady had been wooed and won, or wooed +and lost, in the shadow of the griffin, which, silent, sphinx-like, yet +endured through the ages. + +Idly the Princess Louise plucked a leaf from the old, old vine, picked +it apart and let the pieces float away. As they fluttered and fell at +the jester's feet she regarded him with thoughtful blue eyes. + +"How far is it," she asked, "to the duke's principality?" + +If he had doubted the maid's story, he was now convinced. The ring and +her question confirmed Jacqueline's narrative. Moodily he surveyed the +great claws of the griffin, firmly planted on the earth, and then +looked from the feet to the laughing mouth of the stone figure, or so +much of it as the shining dress left uncovered. + +"About fifteen days' journey, Princess," he replied. + +"No farther?" + +"Barring accidents, it may be made in that time." + +She did not notice how dull was his tone; how he avoided her gaze. +Blind to him, she turned the ring around and around on her finger, as +though her thoughts were concentrated on it. + +"Accidents," she repeated, her hand now motionless. "Is the way +perilous?" + +"The country is most unsettled." + +"What do you mean by unsettled?" she continued, bending forward with +fingers clasped over her knees. Supinely she waved a foot back and +forth, showing and then withdrawing the point of a jeweled slipper, and +a suggestion of lavender in silk network above. "What do you call +unsettled?" + +"The country is infested with many roving bands commanded by the +so-called independent barons who owe allegiance to neither king nor +emperor," he answered. "Their homes are perched, like eagles' nests, +upon some mountain peak that commands the valleys travelers must +proceed through. A fierce, untamed crew, bent on rapine and murder!" + +"Did you encounter any such?" Gently. + +"Ofttimes." + +"And left unscathed?" + +"Because I was a jester, Madam; something less than man; a lordling's +slave; a woman's plaything! Their sentinels shared with me their +flasks; I slept before their signal fires, and even supped in the heart +of their stone fastnesses. Fools and monks are safe among them, for +the one amuses and the other absolves their sins. Yet is there one +free baron," he added reflectively, "whom even I should have done well +to avoid; he, the most feared, the most savage! Louis, the bastard of +Pfalz-Urfeld!" + +"Have you ever met him?" asked the princess, in a mechanical tone. + +"No," with a short laugh. "A few of his knaves I encountered, however, +whose conduct shamed the courtesy of the other mountain rogues. I all +but fared ill indeed, from them. To the pleasantry of my greeting, +they replied with the true pilferer's humor; the free baron had ordered +every one searched. They would have robbed and stripped me, despite +the color of my coat, only fortunately, instead of a fool's staff, I +had a good blade of the duke's. For a moment it was cut and +thrust--not jest and gibe; the suddenness of the attack surprised them, +and before they could digest the humor of it the fool had slipped away." + +She leaned inertly back against the soft cushion of ivy. In the shadow +the tint on her cheeks deepened, but below the sunlight played about +her shoulders through leafy interspace, or crept in dancing spots down +over her gown and arms. + +"The duke would not be molested by these outlaws?" she continued, +pursuing her line of questioning. + +"The duke has a strong arm," he answered cautiously. "They may be well +content to permit him to come and go as he sees fit." + +"Well, well," she said, perversely, "I was only curious about the +distance and the country." + +"For leagues the land is wild, bleak, inhospitable, and then 'tis +level, monotonous, deserted, so lonely the song dies on the wandering +minstrel's lips. But the duke rides fast with his troop and soon would +cover the mountain paths and dreary wastes." + +"Nay," she interrupted impatiently, "I asked not how the duke would +ride." + +"I thought you wished to know, Princess," he replied, humbly. + +"You thought"--she began angrily, sitting erect. + +"I know, Princess; a fool should but jest, not think." + +"Why do you cross me to-day?" she demanded petulantly. "Can you not +see--" + +Abruptly she rose; impatiently moved away; but a few steps, however, +when she turned, her face suddenly free from annoyance, in her eyes a +soft decision. + +"There!" she exclaimed with a smile, half-arch, half-repentant. "How +can any one be angry on such a day--all sunshine, butterflies and +flowers!" + +He did not reply, and, mistress once more of herself, she drew near. + +"What a contrast to the stuffy palace, with all the courtiers, +ministers and lap-dogs!" she went on. "Here one can breathe. But how +shall we make the most of such a day? Stroll into the forest; sit by +the fountain; run over the grass?" + +Her voice was softer than it had been; her words fraught with +suggestions of exhilarating companionship. Did she note their effect? +At any rate, she laughed lightly. + +"But how," she resumed, surveying the great enfolding skirt, "could one +trip the sward with this monstrous gown, weighted with wreaths of +silver? Is it not but one of the many penalties of high birth? Oh, +for the short skirts of the lowly! What comfort to be arrayed like +Jacqueline!" + +"And she, Princess, doubtless thinks likewise of more gorgeous +apparel." His heart beat faster as he strove to answer her in kind. + +"A waste of cloth in vanity, as saith Master Calvin!" she replied, +lifting her arms that shone with creamy softness from the dangling +folds of heavy silk. "Were it not for this courtly encumbrance, I +should propose going into the fields with the haymakers. You may see +them now--look!--through the opening in the foliage." + +With an expression, part resignation, part regret, she leaned against +the wind-worn griffin which formed the arm of the bench. Fainter +sounded the warning of the jestress in the ears of the duke's fool; so +faint it became but a weak admonition. More and more he abandoned +himself to the pleasure of the moment. + +"To make the most of the day," the princess had said. + +How? By denying himself the sight of her ever-varying grace; by +refusing to yield to the charm of her voice. He raised his head more +boldly; through her drooping lashes a lazy light shot forth upon him, +and the shadow of a smile seemed to say: "That is better. When the +mistress is indulgent, a fool should not be unbending. A melancholy +jester is but poor company." + +And so her mood swayed his; he forgot his resolution, his pride, and +yielded to the infatuation of the moment. But when he endeavored to +call the weapons of his office to his aid, her glance and the shadow of +that smile left him witless. Jest, fancy and whim had taken flight. + +"Well?" she said. "Well, Sir Fool?" + +His color shifted; withal his half-embarrassment, there was something +graceful and noble in his bearing. + +"Madam"--he began, and stopped for want of matter to put into words. + +But if the princess was annoyed at the new-found dullness of her +_plaisant_, her manner did not show it. + +"What," she said, gently; "no news from the court; no word of intrigue; +no story of the king? I should seek a courtier for my companion, not a +jester. But there! What book have you brought?" indicating the volume +that lay upon the bench. + +"Guillaume de Lorris's 'Romance of the Rose,'" he answered, more freely. + +"Where did we leave off?" + +"Where the hero, arriving at a fountain, beheld a beautiful rose tree," +said the fool in a low tone. "Desiring the rose, he reached to gather +it--" + +"Yes, I remember. And then, Reason and Danger did battle with Love." + +"Is it your wish we continue?" he asked, taking the book in his hand. + +"I would fain learn if he gathers his rose. Nay, sit here on the bench +and I"--brightly--"may look over your shoulder ever and anon, to steal +a glimpse of the pretty pictures." + +Unquestioningly, he obeyed her, the book, illumined, gleaming in the +sunshine; the letters, red, gold, many-hued, dancing before them. Love +in crimson, the five silver shafts of Cupid, the Tower of Jealousy, a +frowning fortress, the Rose, incentive for endless striving and +endeavor--all floated by on the creamy parchment leaves. So interested +was she in these wondrous pages, executed with such precision and +perfection, with marginal adornment, and many a graceful turn and fancy +in initial letter and tail-piece, she seemed to him for the moment +rather some simple lowly maiden than a proud princess of the realm. + +"How much splendor the penman has shown!" she murmured, her breath on +his cheek. "'Tis more beautiful than the 'Life of Saint Agnes.' Is +not that figure well done? A hard, austere old man; Reason, I believe, +in monkish attire." + +"Reason, or Duty, ever partakes of the monastery," he retorted with a +short, mirthless laugh. + +"Duty; obedience!" she broke in. "Do I not know them? Please turn the +page." + +Reaching over, she herself did so, her fingers touching his, her bosom +just brushing his shoulder; and then she flushed, for it was Venus's +self the page revealed, standing on a grassy bank and showing Love the +rose. Around the queen of beauty floated a silver gauze; her hair was +indicated by threads of gold tossed luxuriantly about her; upon the +shoulder of Love rested her hand, encouraging him in his quest. Most +zealously had the monk-artist executed the lovely lady, as though some +heart-dream flowed from the ink on his pen, every line exact, each +feature radiantly shown. Some youthful anchorite, perhaps, was he, and +this the fair temptation that had assailed his fancy; such a vision as +St. Anthony wrestled with in the grievous solitude of his hermit cell. + +From the book and the picture, the jester, feeling the princess draw +back impulsively, dared look up, and, looking up, could not look down +from a loveliness surpassing the idealization on vellum of a monkish +dream. From head to foot, the sunlight bathed the princess, glistening +in her hair until it was alive with light. Even when he gazed into her +blue eyes he was conscious of a more flaming glory than lay in the +heavens of their depths; a splendent maze that shed a brightness around +her. + +"Oh, Princess," he said, wildly, "I know what the king hath told you! +Why you wear the monarch's ring!" + +"The monarch's ring!" she repeated, as recalled suddenly from wandering +thought. "Why--how know you--ah, Jacqueline--" + +"And a ring signifieth consent. You will fulfill the king's desire?" + +"The king's desire?" she replied, mechanically. "Is it not the will of +God?" + +"But your own heart?" he cried, holding her with his eager gaze. + +She laid her hand on his shoulder; her eyes answered his. Did she not +realize the tragedy the future held for him? Or did to-morrow seem far +off, and the present become her greater concern? Was hers the +philosophy of Marguerite's code which taught that the sweets of +admiration should be gathered on the moment? That a cry of pain from a +worshiping heart, however lowly, was honeyed flattery to Love's +votaries? As the jester looked at her a sudden chill seized his +breast. Jacqueline's mocking laughter rang in his ears. "Ask her the +rest yourself, most Unsophisticated Fool!" + +"Then you will obey the king?" he persisted, dully. + +"Why," she answered, smiling and bending nearer, "will you spoil the +day?" + +"You would give yourself to a man, whether or not you loved him?" + +A frown gathered on the princess' brow, but she stooped, herself picked +up the book he had dropped, brushed the earth from it and seated +herself upon the bench. Her manner was quiet, resolute; her action, a +rebuke to the forward fool. + +"Will you not read?" she said, with an inscrutable look. + +"True," he exclaimed, rising quickly, "I was sent to amuse--" + +"And you have found me a too exacting mistress?" she asked, more +gently, checking the implied reproach. + +"Exacting!" he repeated. + +"What then?" she said, half sadly. + +"Nothing," he answered. + +But in his mind Jacqueline's scornful words reiterated themselves: +"Think you the princess will wear the willow?" + +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking at her +feet. The quest, the idle quest! Was it but an awakening? So far lay +the branch above his reach! His voice rose and fell with the mystic +rhythm of the meter, now dwelling on death and danger, the shortness of +life, the sweetness of passion; then telling the pleasures of the dance. + +[Illustration: Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically +sinking at her feet.] + +Lower fell the princess' hand until it touched the reader's head; +touched and lingered. Before the fool's eyes the letters of the book +became blurred and then faded away. Doubt, misgiving, fear, vanished +on the moment. The flower she had given him seemed to burn on his +heart. He forgot the decree of the king; her equivocation; the +unanswered question. Passionately he thrust his hand into his doublet. + +"The rose and love are one," he cried. "The rose is--" + +"Pardon me, Madam," said a voice, and Jacqueline, clear-eyed, calm, +stood before them; "the fan was not in the king's ante-chamber, or I +should have been here sooner. I trust you have not been put out for +want of it?" + +"Not at all, Jacqueline," returned her mistress, with a natural, +tranquil movement, "although"--sharply--"you were gone longer than you +should have been!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE + +Proficient as a poet, bold as a soldier, adroit as a statesman, the +king was, nevertheless, most fitted for the convivial role of host, and +no part that he played in his varied repertoire afforded such +opportunity for the nice display of his unusual talents. History hath +sneered at his rhymes as flat, stale and unprofitable; upon the bloody +field he had been defeated and subsequently imprisoned; clever in +diplomacy, the sagacity of his opponent, Charles, had in truth +overmatched him; yet as the ostentatious Boniface, in grand bib and +tucker, prodigal in joviality and good-fellowship, his reputation rests +without a flaw. + +In anticipation of the arrival of the duke and his suite, the monarch +had ordered a series of festivities and entertainments such as would +gratify his desire for pageantry and display, and at the same time do +honor to a guest who was to espouse one of France's fairest wards. To +the castle repaired tailors, embroiderers and goldsmiths to make and +devise garments for knights, ladies, lords and esquires and for the +trapping, decking and adorning of coursers, jennets and palfries. +Bales of silks and satins had been long since conveyed thither from +distant Paris, in anticipation of the coming marriage; and the old +Norman castle that had once resounded with the clashing of arms, the +snap of the cross-bow and the clang of the catapult now echoed with the +merry stir and flurry of peace; a bee-hive of activity wherein were no +drones; marshal, grand master, chancellor and grand chamberlain +preparing for mysteries and hunting parties; dowagers, matrons and +maids making ready for balls and other pastimes. + +With this new influx of population to the pleasure palace came a +plentiful sprinkling of wayside minstrels, jugglers, mountebanks, +dulcimer and lute players, street poets who sang the praises of some +fair cobbleress or pretty sausage girl; scamps of students from the +Paris haunts of vice, loose fellows who conned the classical poets by +day and took a purse by night; dancers, dwarfs, and merry men all, not +averse to-- + + "Haunch and ham, and cheek and chine + While they gurgled their throats with right good wine." + + +Here sauntered a wit-cracker, a peacock feather in his hand, arm-in-arm +with an impoverished "banquet beagle," or "feast hound;" there passed a +jack in green, a bladder under his arm and a tankard at his belt, with +which latter he begged that sort of alms that flows from a spigot. As +vagrant followers hover on the verge of a camp, or watchful vultures +circle around their prey, so these lower parasites (distinct from the +other well-born, more aristocratic genus of smell-feast) prowled +vigilantly without the castle walls and beyond the limits of the royal +pleasure grounds, finding occasional employment from lackey, valet or +equerry, who, imitating their betters, amused themselves betimes with +some low buffoon or vulgar clown and rewarded him for his gross stories +and antics with a crust and a cup. + +Faith, in those thrice happy days, every henchman could whistle to him +his shabby poet, and every ostler hold court in the stable, with a +_visdase_, or ass face, to keep the audience in a roar, and a +nimble-footed trull to set them into ecstasies. But woe betide the +honest wayfarer who strolled beyond the orderly precincts of the king's +walls after dusk; for if some street coxcomb was too drunk to rob him, +or a ribald Latin scholar saw him not, he surely ran into a nest of +pavement tumblers or cellar poets who forthwith stripped him and turned +him loose in the all-insufficient garb of nature. + +A fantastic, waggish crew--yet Francis minded them not, so long as they +observed sufficient etiquette to keep their distance from his royal +person and immediate following. This nice decorum, however, be it +said, was an unwritten law with these waifs and scatterlings, knowing +the merry monarch who tolerated them afar would feel no compunction at +hanging them severally, or in squads, from the convenient branches of +the trees surrounding the castle, should the humor seize him that such +summary chastisement were best for their morals and the welfare of the +community. Thus, though bold, were they also shy, drinking humbly from +a black-jack quart in the kitchen and vanishing docilely enough when +the sovereign cook bid them be gone with warm words or by flinging over +them ladles of hot soup. + +One bright morning, like rabbits peeping from their holes when they +hear the footfall of the hunter, these field ramblers and wayside +peregrinators were all agog, emerging from grassy cover and thicket +retreat, to gaze open-mouthed after a gay cavalcade that issued from +the castle gate, and rode southward with waving banner and piercing +trumpet note. + +"The king, knaves!" cried a grimy estray with bells upon his person +that jingled like those of a Jewish high priest, to a group of players +and gamesters. "Already my mouth waters at the thoughts of the wedding +feast, and the scraps and bones that will be thrown away. There I +warrant you we'll all find hearty cheer." + +"Why are fools ever welcome at a wedding?" asked a singing scholar. + +"Because there are two in the ceremony, and the rest make the chorus," +answered a philandering mime. + +"And our merry monarch goeth down the road to meet one of the two," +said a close-cropped rogue. + +"Well, he's a brave knight to come so far to yield himself captive--to +a woman," returned the student. "As Horace saith--" + +"Thou calumniator! shrimp of a man!" exclaimed a dark-browed drab +dressed like a gipsy, seizing the scholar's short doublet. "An I get +at you--" + +"Take the garment, you harridan, not the man," he retorted, slipping +deftly out of the jerkin and dancing away to a safe distance. + +"Ha! there's wedded bliss for you!" laughed a man in Franciscan attire, +a rough rascal disguised as one of those priests called "God's fools" +or "Christ's fools." "A week ago, when I married them, they were +billing and cooing. But to your holes, children! When the king +returns he would not have his guest gaze upon such scarecrows and +trollops. Disperse, and Beelzebub take you!" And as the group +scattered the sound of beating horses' hoofs died away in the distance. + +Francis was unusually good-humored that day. Apprised by a herald that +the duke and his followers were nearing the castle, he had sent the +messenger back announcing a trysting-place, and now rode forth to meet +his guest and escort him with honor to the castle. Upon a noble steed, +black as night, the monarch sat; the saddle and trappings crimson in +color; the stirrup and bit, of gold; a jaunty plume of white ostrich +feathers waving above the jetty mane. The costume of the king's +stalwart figure displayed a splendid suit of plate armor, enriched with +chased work and ornament in gold, his appearance in keeping with his +character of monarch and knight who sought to revive the spirit of +chivalry at a period when the practical modern tendencies seriously +threatened to undermine the practices and traditions of a once-exalted, +but now fast-failing, institution for the regulation of morals and +conduct. + +By his side, less radiant only in comparison with the august monarch, +rode the rank and quality of the realm, with silver and spangles, and +fluttering plumes, scabbards gleaming with jewels, and girdles adorned +with rich settings. Furiously galloping behind came an attenuated +snow-white charger, bearing the hunchback. A bladder dangling over his +shoulder, his bagpipe hanging from his waist, Triboulet bobbed +frantically up and down, clinging desperately to the saddle or winding +his legs about the charger's neck to preserve his equilibrium. + +"You would better jog along more quietly, fool," observed a courtier, +warningly, "or you will suffer for it." + +"Alas, sir," replied Triboulet, "I stick my spurs into my horse to keep +him quiet, but the more I prick him the more unruly I find the +obstinate beast." + +The king, who heard, laughed, and the dwarf's heart immediately +expanded, auguring he should soon be restored to the monarch's favor; +for since the night the buffoon had failed to answer the duke's jester +in Fools' hall Francis had received Triboulet's advances and small +pleasantries with terrifying coldness. In fact, the dwarf had never +passed such an uncomfortable period during his career, save on one +memorable occasion when a band of mischievous pages had set upon him, +carried him to the scaffold and nailed his enormous ears to the beam. +Now, reassured, burning with delight, the jester spurred presumptuously +forward, no longer feeling bound to lag in the rear. + +"Go back!" cried an angry knight. "I can not bear a fool on my right." + +Triboulet reined in his horse, but pushed ahead on the other side of +the rider who had spoken. + +"I can bear it very well," he retorted and found his proud reward in +the company's laughter. The remark, moreover, passed from lip to lip +to the king, and the misshapen jester felt his little cup of happiness +filled once more to the brim; his old prestige seemed coming back to +him; holding his position in the road, he gazed disdainfully at the +disgruntled knight, and the other returned the look with one of hearty +ill-will, muttering an imprecation and warning just above his breath. + +"Sire," called out Triboulet, loudly, now above fearing courtier, +knight or any high official of the realm, "the Count de Piseione says +he will beat me to death." + +"If he does," good-naturedly answered the king, "I will hang him +quarter of an hour afterward." + +"Please, your Majesty, hang him quarter of an hour before." + +Thus right pleasantly, with quip and jest, and many a smart sally, did +the monarch and his retinue draw near the meeting spot, where at a fork +of the road, beneath the shade of overhanging branches, were already +assembled a goodly group of soldiers. Beyond them, at a respectful +distance, stood many beasts of burden, heavily laden, the great packs +promising stores of rare and costly gifts. At the head of the troopers +was a thick-set man, with broad shoulders and brawny frame, mounted on +a powerful gray horse. This leader, whom the approaching company +surmised to be the duke, sat motionless as a statue, gazing steadfastly +at the shining armor and gallant figure of the king who spurred to him, +a friendly greeting on his lips. Then, lightly springing to earth and +throwing his bridle to one of his troop, the foreign noble approached +the royal horseman on foot, and, bending his head, knelt before him, +respectfully kissing his hand. + +Grim, silent, with hardened faces, the duke's men regarded the scene, +their dusty attire (albeit rich enough beneath the marks of travel), +sun-burned visages and stolid manner in marked contrast with the +bearing and aspect of the king's gay following. One of the alien troop +pulled a red mustachio fiercely and eyed a blithe popinjay of the court +with quizzical superiority; the others remained, stock-still, but +observant. + +"I see you are punctual and waiting, noble sir!" said the monarch gaily +when the initial formalities had been complied with. "But that is no +more than should be expected from--an impatient bridegroom." Then, +gazing curiously, yet with penetrating look, on the features of his +guest, who now had arisen: "You appear slightly older than I expected +from the letter of our dear friend and brother, the emperor." + +And truly the duke's appearance was that of a man more nearly five and +thirty than five and twenty; his face was brown from exposure and upon +his brow the scar of an old sword wound; yet a fearless, dashing +countenance; an eye that could kindle to headlong passion, and a +thick-set neck and heavy jaw that bespoke the foeman who would battle +to the last breath. + +"Older, Sire?" he replied with composure. "That must needs be, since +living in the saddle ages a man." + +"Truly," returned the monarch, instinctively laying his hand upon his +sword. "The clash of arms, the thunder of hoofs, the waving +banners--yes, Glory is a seductive mistress who robs us of our youth. +Have I not wooed her and found--gray hairs? Who shall give me back +those days?" + +"History, your Majesty, shall give them to posterity," answered the +duke. + +"Even those we lost to Charles?" muttered the king, a shadow passing +over his countenance. + +"Glory, Sire, is a mistress sometimes fickle in her favors." + +"And yet we live but for--" He broke off abruptly, and with the eye of +a trained commander surveyed the duke's men. "Daredevils; daredevils, +all!" he muttered. + +"Rough-looking fellows, Sire!" apologized the duke, "but tried and +faithful soldiers. Somewhat dusty and road-worn." And his eyes turned +meaningly to the king's suite; the flashing girdles of silver, the +shining hilts, the gorgeous cloaks and even the adornment of ribbons. + +"Nay," said Francis meditatively, "on a rough journey I would fain have +these fire-eaters at my back. They look as though they could cut and +hew." + +"Moderately well, your Majesty," answered the duke with modesty. + +"Will you mount, noble sir, and ride with me? Yonder is the castle, +and in the castle is a certain fair lady whom you, no doubt, fain would +see." + +Long gazed the Duke of Friedwald at the distant venerable pile of +stone; the majestic turrets and towers softly floating in a dreamy +mist; the setting, fresh, woody, green. Long he looked at this +inviting picture and then breathed deeply. + +"Ah, Sire, I would the meeting were over," he remarked in a low voice. + +"Why so, sir?" asked the king in surprise. "Do you fear you will not +fancy the lady?" + +"I fear she may not fancy me," retorted the nobleman, soberly. "Your +own remark, Sire; that I appear older than you had expected?" he +continued, gravely, significantly. + +"A recommendation in your favor," laughed the monarch. "I ever prefer +sober manhood to callow youth about me. The one is a prop, stanch, +tried; the other a reed that bends this way and that, or breaks when +you press it too hard." + +"I should be lacking in gratitude were I not deeply appreciative of +your Majesty's singular kindness," replied the duke, his face flushing +with pleasure. "But your Majesty knows womankind--" + +"Nay; I've studied them a little, but know them not," retorted Francis, +dryly. + +"And it is unlikely the lady may find me all her imagination has +depicted," went on the nobleman, with palpable embarrassment. "My +noble master, the emperor, hath--regarding me still as but a stripling +from his own vantage point of age and wisdom--represented me a young +man in his proposals. But though I'm younger than I look, and feel no +older than I am, how young, or how old, shall I seem to the princess?" + +"Young enough to be her husband; old enough for her to look up to," +answered the monarch, reassuringly. + +"Again," objected the duke, meditatively regarding the castle, "she may +be expecting a handsome, debonair bridegroom, and when she sees +me"--ruefully surveying himself--"what will she say?" + +"What will she say? 'Yes' at the altar. Is it not enough?" Leaning +back in his saddle, the king's face expressed the enjoyment he derived +from the conversation with the backward and too conscientious soldier. +Here was a groom whose wedding promised the court much amusement and +satisfaction in those jovial days of jesting and merry-making. + +"Come," resumed the king, encouragingly, "I'll warrant you more forward +in battle." + +"Battle!" said the duke. "That's another matter. To see your foeman's +gleaming eyes!--but hers!-- Should they express anger, disdain--" + +"Let yours show but the greater wrath," advised the king, +complaisantly. "In love, like cures like! Let me be your physician; +I'll warrant you'll find me proficient." + +"I've heard your Majesty hath practised deeply," returned the noble, +readily, in spite of his perplexity. + +"Deeply?" Francis lifted his brow. "I am but a superficial student; +master only of the rudiments; no graduate of the college of love. +Moreover, I've heard the letters you exchanged were--ahem!--well-enough +writ. You pressed your suit warmly for one unlearned, a mere novice." + +"Because I had seen her face, your Majesty; had it ever before me in +the painted miniature. Any man"--with a rough eloquence and fervor +that impressed the king with the depth of his passion--"could well +worship at that fair shrine, but that she--" + +"Forward, I beg you!" interrupted the king. "Womankind are but frail +flesh, sir; easily molded; easily won. She is a woman; therefore, +soft, yielding; yours for the asking. You are over valorous at a +distance; too timorous near her. Approach her boldly, and, though she +were Diana's self, I'll answer for your victory! Eh, Triboulet, are +our ladies cold-hearted, callous, indifferent to merit?" + +"Cold-hearted?" answered the dwarf, with a ludicrous expression of +feigned rapture. "Were I to relate--but, no, my tongue is +silent--discretion--your Majesty will understand--" + +"Well," said the duke, "with encouragement from the best-favored +scholar in the kingdom and the--ugliest, I should proceed with more +confidence." + +"Best-favored!" smirked the little monster. "Really, you flatter me." + +"A whimsical fellow, Sire," vouchsafed the nobleman. + +"When he is not tiresome," answered the monarch. "On, gentlemen!" And +the cavalcade swept down the road toward the castle. Far behind, with +cracking of whip, followed the mules and their drivers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE COURT OF LOVE + +The rough Norman banqueting hall, with its massive rafters, frayed +tapestries and rude adornment of bristling heads of savage boars, +wide-spreading antlers and other trophies of the chase, had long since +been replaced under the king's directions by an apartment more to the +satisfaction of a monarch who was a zealous and lavish patron of the +brilliant Italian school of painting, sculpture and architecture. +Those barbarous decorations, celebrating the hunt, had been relegated +to subterranean regions, the walls dismantled, and the room turned over +to a corps of artists of such renown as Da Vinci, François Clouet, Jean +Cousin and the half-mad Benvenuto Cellini. + +Where formerly wild boars had snarled with wicked display of yellow +tusks from the blackened plaster, now Cleopatra, in the full bloom of +her mature charms, reclined with her stalwart Roman hero in tender +dalliance. Where once the proud and stately head of the majestic stag +had hung over door and panel, now classic nymphs bathed in a pellucid +pool, and the only horns were those which adorned the head of him who, +according to the story, dared gaze through the foliage, and was +rewarded for his too curious interest by--that then common form of +punishment--metamorphosis. + +Overhead, vast transformation from the great ribbed beams of oak and +barren interspaces, graceful Peri floated on snow-white clouds and +roguish Cupids swam through the azure depths, to the edification of +nondescript prodigies, who constituted the massive molding, or frame, +to the decorative scene. The ancient fireplace, broad and deep, had +given way to an ornate mantel of marble; the capacious tankard and +rotund pewter pot of olden times, suggestive of mighty butts of honest +beer, had been supplanted by goblets of silver and gold, covered with +scroll work, arabesques or chiseled figures. + +In this spacious hall, begilt, bemirrored, assembled, on the evening of +the duke's arrival, Francis, his court and the guest of the occasion. +From wide-spreading chandeliers, with their pendent, pear-shaped +crystals, a thousand candles threw a flood of light upon the scene, as +'mid trumpet blast and softer strains of harmony, King Francis and good +Queen Eleanor led the way to the royal table; and thereat, shortly +after, at a signal from the monarch, the company seated themselves. + +At the head of the board was the king; on his right, his lawful +consort, pale, composed, saintly; on his left, the Countess d'Etampes, +rosy, animated, free. Next to the favorite sat the "fairest among the +learned and most learned among the fair," Marguerite, beloved sister of +Francis, and her second husband, Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre; +opposite, Henry the dauphin and his spouse, Catharine de Medici; not +far removed, Diane de Poitiers, whose dark eyes Henry ever openly +sought, while Catharine complacently talked affairs of state with the +chancellor. + +In the midst of this illustrious company, and further surrounded by a +plentiful sprinkling of ruddy cardinals, fat bishops, constables, +governors, marshals and ladies, more or less distinguished through +birth or beauty, the Duke of Friedwald and the Princess Louise were a +center of attraction for the wits whose somewhat free jests the license +of the times permitted. At the foot of the royal table places had been +provided for Marot, Caillette, Triboulet, Jacqueline and the duke's +fool. + +The heads and figures of the ladies of the court were for the most part +fearfully and wonderfully bedecked. In some instances the +horned-shaped head-dress had been followed by yet loftier steeples, +"battlements to combat God with gold, silver and pearls; wherein the +lances were great forked pins, and the arrows the little pins." With +more simplicity, the Princess Louise wore her hair cased in a network +of gold and jewels, and the austere French moralist who assailed the +higher bristling ramparts of vanity would, perhaps, have borne in +silence this more modest bastion of the flesh and the devil. + +But the face beneath was a greater danger to those who hold that beauty +is a menace to salvation; on her cheek hung the rosy banner of youth; +in her eyes shone the bright arrows of conquest. And the duke, +discarding his backwardness, as a soldier his cloak before battle, +watched the hue that mantled her face, proffered his open breast to the +shining lances of her gaze, and capitulated unconditionally before the +smile of victory on her blood-red lips. With his great shoulders, his +massive neck and broad, virile face, he seemed a Cyclops among pygmies +in that gathering of slender courtiers and she but a flower by his side. + +"I thought, Sire, your duke was timorous, bashful as a boy?" murmured +the Countess d'Etampes to the king. + +"He was--on the road!" answered the king thoughtfully. + +"Then has he marvelously recovered his assurance." + +"In love, Madam, as in battle, the zest grows with the fray," said +Francis with meaning. + +"And the duke is reputed a brave soldier. He looks very strong, as +if--almost--he might succeed with any woman he were minded to carry +off." + +"To carry off!" laughed the monarch. "'Tis he, Madam, who will be +bound in tethers! At heart he's shame-faced as a callow younker." + +She wilfully shook her head. "No woman could keep him in +leading-strings, your Majesty. There is something domineering, savage, +crushing, in his hand. Look at it, on the table there. Is it not +mighty as an iron gauntlet? What other man at the board has such a +brutal hand? The strength in it makes me shudder. Will she not bend +to it; kiss it?" + +With amused superiority Francis regarded his fair neighbor on the left. +"Women, Madam, are but hasty judges of men," he said, dryly, "and then +'tis fancy more than reason which governs their verdict. If the duke +should seem over-confident, 'tis to hide a certain modesty, and not to +appear out of confidence in so large a company." + +"And yet, Sire, at their first meeting he did not comport himself like +one easily put out," persisted the favorite. "''Tis with a cold hand +you welcome me, Princess,' he said, noticing her insensibility of +manner. Then rising he gazed upon her long and deep, as a soldier +might survey a battlefield. 'And yet,' said he, still holding her +fingers, 'I'll warrant me warm blood could course through this little +hand.' At that the color rose in her cheek; behold! the statue was +touched with life and she looked at him as drawn against her will. 'If +my hand be cold, my Lord,' she answered, courteously, 'it belies the +character of your welcome.' Whereupon he laughed like one who has had +a victory." + +"Beshrew me," said the king, modifying his last observation, "if women +are not all eyes and ears! I neither heard nor saw all that. A little +constraint--a natural blush to punctuate their talk--the meeting seemed +conventional enough. 'Tis through your own romantic heart you looked, +Anne!" + +Quicker circulated the goblets of silver, gold and crystal; faster +babbled the pretty lips; brighter grew the eyes beneath the stupendous +towers that crowned the heads of the court ladies. All talked at once +without disturbing the king, who now whispered soft nothings in the ear +of the countess. From the other tables in the hall arose a varying +cadence of clatter and laughter, which increased with the noise and din +of the king's own board; a clamor always just subservient to the deeper +chorus of the royal party; an accompaniment, as it were, full yet +unobtrusive, to the hubbub from the more exalted company. But the +princely uproar growing louder, the grand-masters, grand-chamberlain, +gentlemen of the chamber and lesser lights of the church were enabled +to carol and make merry with less restraint. The pungent smell of +roses permeated the hall, arising from a screen of shrubbery at one end +of the room wherein sang a hundred silver-toned birds. + +At the king's table Caillette recited a merry roundelay, and Triboulet +roared out tale after tale, each more full-flavored than the one that +went before it, flinging smart sayings at marriage, and drawing a +ludicrous picture of the betrayed husband. Villot, a lily in his hand, +which he regarded ever sentimentally, caroled the boisterous espousals +of a yokel and a cinder-wench, while Marot and a bishop contended in a +heated argument regarding the translation of a certain passage of +Ovid's "Art of Love." + +Singularly pale, unusually tranquil, the duke's fool furtively watched +his master and the princess. In contrast to his composure, +Jacqueline's merriment seemed the more unrestrained; she laughed like a +witch; her hands flashed with pretty gestures, and she had so tossed +her head, her hair floated around her, wild and disordered. + +"Why are you so quiet?" she whispered to the duke's fool. + +"Is there not enough merriment, mistress?" he answered, gravely. + +"There can never be any to spare," she said. "And you would do well to +remember your office." + +"What do you mean?" he asked, absently. + +"That you have many enemies; that you can not live at court with a +jaundiced countenance. Heigh-ho! Alackaday! You should hie yourself +back to the woods and barren wastes of Friedwald, Master Fool." + +Her sparkling glance returned to the exhilarating scene. Well had the +assemblage been called a court of love. Now soft eyes invited burning +glances, and graceful heads swayed alluringly toward the handsome +cavaliers who momentarily had found lodgment in hearts which, like +palaces, had many ante-chambers. From hidden recesses, strains of +music filled the room with tinkling passages of sensuous, but illusive, +harmony; a dream of ardor, masked in the daintiness of a minuet. + +Upon the back of the princess' chair rested one of the duke's hands; +with the other he lifted his glass--a frail thing in fingers better +adapted for a sword-hilt or massive battle mace. + +"Drink, Princess," he said, bending over her, "to--our meeting!" + +Her eyelids fluttered before his look; her breast rose a little. The +scar on his brow held her gaze, as one fascinated, but she drew away +slightly and mechanically sought the tiny golden goblet at her elbow. +Dreamily, dreamily, sounded the rhythmical music; heavily, so heavily +hung the perfume in the air! Full of mist seemed the hall; the king, +the queen, the countess, all of the party, unreal, fanciful. The touch +of the goblet chilled her lips and she put it down quickly. + +"Is not the wine to your liking?" he asked, his hand tightening on her +chair. "Perhaps it is too sour for your taste?" + +"Nay; I thought it rather sweet," she answered. "Oh, I meant not +that--" + +"It _is_ sweet wine, Princess," he said, setting down an empty glass. +"Sweeter than our Austrian vintage. Not white and thin and watery, but +red--red as blood--red as your heart's blood--or mine--" + +Crash! from the hand of the duke's jester had fallen a goblet to the +floor. The princess started, turned; for a moment their glances +bridged the distance from where she sat, to the fools' end of the +table; then hers slowly fell; slowly, and she passed a hand, whereon +shone the king's ring, across her brow; looked up, as though once more +to span infinity with her gaze, when her eyes fell short and met the +duke's. Deliberately he lifted his filled glass. + +"Red as your heart's blood--and mine--my love!" he repeated; and then +stared sharply across the table at his jester. + +Triboulet, swaggering in his chair, so high his feet could not touch +the floor, surveyed the broken glass, the duke and the duke's fool. +For some time his vigilant eyes had been covertly studying the +unconscious foreign jester, noting sundry signs and symptoms. Nor had +the princess' look when the goblet had fallen, been lost upon the +misshapen buffoon; alert, wide-awake, his mind, quick to suspect, +reached a sudden conclusion; a conclusion which by rapid process of +reasoning became a conviction. Privileged to speak where others must +need be silent, his profession that of prying subtlety, which spared +neither rank nor power so that it raised a laugh, he felt no hesitation +in publishing the information he had gleaned by his superior mental +nimbleness. + +"Ho! ho!" he bellowed, the better to attract attention to himself. +"The duke sent his fool to amuse his betrothed and the fool hath lost +his heart to his mistress." + +The king left off his whispering, Catharine turned from the chancellor, +Diane ceased furtively to regard Caillette, while the Queen of Navarre +laughed nervously and murmured: + +"Princess and jester! It will make another tale." + +But Henry of Navarre looked gravely down. He, and Francis' queen--a +passive spectator at the feast--and a bishop, whose interest lay in a +truffled capon, alone followed not the direction of the duke's eyes. +The fair favorite of the king clapped her hands, but the monarch +frowned, not having forgotten that night in Fools' hall when the jester +had appointed rogues to offices. + +"What is this? A fool in love with the princess?" said the king, +ominously. + +"Even so, your Majesty," cried Triboulet. "But a moment ago Duke +Robert did whisper to his bride-to-be, and the fool's hand trembled +like a leaf and dropped his glass. Tra! la! la! What a situation! +Holy Saint-Bagpipe! Here's a comedy in high life!" + +"A comedy!" repeated the duke, and half-rose from his chair, regarding +his fool with surprise and anger. + +Now Triboulet roared. Had he not in the past attained his high +position of favorite jester to the king by his very foolhardihood? And +were not trusting lovers and all too-confiding husbands the legitimate +butt of all jesting? + +"Look at the fool," he went on exultantly. "Does any one doubt his +guilt? He is silent; he can not speak!" + +And, indeed, the foreign jester seemed momentarily disconcerted, +although he strove to appear indifferent. + +"A presumptuous knave!" muttered Francis, darkly. "He saved his neck +once only by a trick." + +"Oh, the duke would not mind, now, if you were to hang him, Sire," +answered Triboulet, blithely. + +"True!" smiled the king. "The question of breach of hospitality might +not occur. What have you to say, fool?" he continued, turning to the +object of the buffoon's insidious and malicious attack. + +"Laugh!" whispered Jacqueline, furtively pressing the arm of the duke's +fool. "Laugh, or--" + +The touch and her words appeared to arouse him from his lethargy and +the jester arose, but not before the princess, with flaming cheeks, but +proud bearing, had cast a quick glance in his direction; a glance +half-appealing, half-resentful. Idly the joculatrix regarded him, her +hands upon the table playing with the glasses, her lips faintly +repeating the words of a roundelay: + + "For love is madness; + While madness rules, + Fools in love + Remain but fools! + Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + Remain but fools!" + + +With the eyes of the company upon him, the duke's fool impassively +studied the carven figure on his stick. If he felt fear of the king's +anger, the resentment of his master, or the malice of the dwarf, his +countenance now did not betray it. He had seemed about to speak, but +did not. + +"Well, rascal, well?" called out the king. "Do you think your wand +will save you, sirrah?" he added impatiently. + +"Why not, Sire?" tranquilly answered the jester. + +The duke's face grew more and more ominous. Still the fool, looking +up, did not quail, but met his master's glance freely, and those who +observed noted it was the duke who first turned away, although his jaw +was set and his great fist clenched. Swiftly the jester's gaze again +sought the princess, but she had plucked a spray of blossoms from the +table and was holding it to her lips, mindlessly biting the fragrant +leaves; and those who followed the fool's glance saw in her but a +picture of languid unconcern such as became a kinswoman of the king. + +Almost imperceptibly the brow of the _plaisant_ clouded, but recovering +himself, he confronted the king with an enigmatic smile. + +"Why not?" he repeated. "In the Court of Love is not the fool's wand +greater than a king's miter or the pastoral staff of the Abbé de Lys? +Besides, Sire," he added quickly, "as a fool takes it, in the Court of +Love, not to love--is treason!" + +"Good!" murmured the bishop, still eating. "Not to love is treason!" + +"Who alone is the culprit? Whose heart alone is filled with umbrage, +hatred, pique?" + +"Triboulet! Triboulet, the traitor!" suddenly cried the countess, +sprightly as a child. + +"Yes; Triboulet, the traitor!" exclaimed the fool, pointing the wand of +folly at the hunchback. + +Even Francis' offended face relaxed. "Positively, I shall never hang +this fellow," he said grimly to Marguerite. + +"Before this tribunal of ladies whose beauty and learning he has +outraged by his disaffection and spleen, I summon him for trial," +continued the duke's jester. "Triboulet, arise! Illustrious ladies of +the Court of Love, the offender is in your hands." + +"A little monster!" spoke up Diane with a gesture of aversion, real or +affected. + +"He is certainly somewhat reprehensible," added the Queen of Navarre, +whose tender heart ever inclined to the weaker side. + +"An unconscionable rogue," murmured the bishop, complacently clasping +his fat fingers before him. + +"So he is already tried by the Church and the tribunal," went on the +_plaisant_ of the duke. "The Church hath excommunicated him and the +Court of Love--" + +"Will banish him!" exclaimed the countess mirthfully, regarding the +captious monarch with mock defiance. + +"Yes, banish him; turn him out," echoed Catharine, carelessly. + +"But, your Majesty!" remonstrated the alarmed Triboulet, turning to the +monarch whose favor he had that day enjoyed. + +"Appeal not to me!" returned Francis, sternly. "Here Venus rules!" +And he gallantly inclined to the countess. + +"Venus at whom he scoffs!" broke in Jacqueline, shrilly, leaning back +in her chair with her hands on her hips. + +"You witch!--you sorceress!--it was you who"--he hissed with venomous +glance. + +"Hear him!" exclaimed the girl, lightly. "He calls me +witch--sorceress--because, forsooth, I am a woman!" + +"A woman--a devil"--muttered Triboulet between his closed teeth. + +"And now," she cried, rising, impetuously, "he says that women are +devils! What shall we do with him?" + +"Pelt him out!" answered the countess. "Pelt him out!" + +With peals of merriment and triumphant shouts, the court, of one +accord, directed a fusillade of fruits, nuts and other viands at the +head and person of the raging and hapless buffoon, the countess +herself, apple in hand--Eve bent upon vengeance--leading in the +assault. The other tables responded with a cross-fire, and heavier +articles succeeded lighter, until after having endured the continuous +attack for a few moments as best he might, the unlucky dwarf raised his +arms above his head and fairly fled from the hall, leaving behind in +his haste a bagpipe and his wooden sword. + +"So may all traitors be punished!" said the bishop unctuously, as he +reached for a dish of confections that had escaped the fair hands in +search of ammunition. + +"Well," laughed the Countess d'Etampes, "if we have the support of the +Church--" + +"I will confess you, myself, Madam," gallantly retorted the bishop. + +"And all the Court of Love?" asked Marguerite. + +"Ah, your Highness--all?--I am old--in need of rest--but with an +assistant or two--" + +"Assistant or two!" interrupted Catharine, imperiously. "Would the +task then be so great?" + +"Nay"--with gentle expostulation--"but you--members of the court--are +many; not your sins." + +"I suppose," whispered Jacqueline to the duke's fool, when the +attention of the company was thus withdrawn from the jester's end of +the table, "you think yourself in fine favor now?" + +"Yes," he answered, absently; "thanks to your suggestion." + +"My suggestion!" she repeated, scornfully. "I gave you none." + +"Well, then, your crossing Triboulet." + +"Oh, that," she replied, picking at a bunch of grapes, "was to defend +my sex, not you." + +"But your warning for me to laugh?" + +"Why," she returned, demurely, "'twas to see you go more gallantly to +your execution. And"--eating a grape--"that is reasonably certain to +be your fate. You've only made a few more enemies to-night--the +duke--the--" + +"Name them not, fair Jacqueline," he retorted, indifferent. + +"True; you'll soon learn for yourself," she answered sharply. "I think +I should prefer to be in Triboulet's place to yours at present." + +"Why," he said, with a strange laugh, "there's a day for the duke and a +day for the fool." + +Deliberately she turned from him and sang very softly: + + "For love is madness; + (A dunce on a stool!) + A king in love, + A king and a fool! + Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + A king and a fool!" + + +The monarch bent over the countess; Diane and the dauphin exchanged +messages with their eyes; Catharine smiled on Villot; the princess +listened to her betrothed; and the jestress alone of all the ladies +leaned back and sang, heart-free. But suddenly she again broke off and +looked curiously at the duke's _plaisant_. + +"Why did you not answer them with what was first in your mind?" she +asked. + +"What was that?" he said, starting. + +"How can I tell?" she returned, studying him. + +"You can tell a great deal," he replied. + + "Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + The duke and the fool"-- + +she hummed, deigning no further words. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BRIEF TRUCE + +"Turn out these torch-bearers, human candlesticks, and _valets de +chambre_, and I'll get me to bed," commanded the duke, standing in the +center of his room, and the trooper with the fierce red mustaches waved +a swarm of pages, cup-bearers and attendants from the door and closed +it. "How are the men quartered, Johann?" + +"With all the creature comforts, my Lord," answered the soldier. "The +king hath dressed them like popinjays; they drink overmuch, dice, and +run after the maids, but otherwise are well-behaved." + +"Drink; dice; run after the maids!" said the noble, gazing thoughtfully +downward. "Hold them in check, Johann, as though we were in a +campaign." + +"Yes, my Lord," returned the man, staring impassively before him. + +"And especially keep them from the kitchen wenches. There's more +danger in these _femmes de chambre_, laundresses and scullery +Cinderellas than in a column of glittering steel. Remember, no Court +of Love in the scullery. Now go! Yet stay, Johann!" he added, +suddenly. "This fool of ours is a bold fellow. Look to him well!" + +Saluting respectfully, an expression of quick intelligence on his +florid features, the trooper backed out of the room. With his hands +behind him, his shoulders bent forward, the duke long pondered, his +look, keen and discerning; his perspicacity clear, in spite of Francis' +wine, or the intoxication of the princess' eyes. Although the noble's +glance seemed bent on vacancy, it was himself as well as others he was +studying; weighing the memorable events of the evening; recalling to +mind every word with the princess; reviewing her features, the +softening of her cold disdain; now, mentally distrustful, because she +was a woman; again, confident he already dominated the citadel of her +heart. + +But a new element had entered into the field; an element +unforeseen--the jester!--and, although not attaching great importance +to this possible source of hazard in his plans for the future, the duke +was too good a soldier to disregard any risk, however slight. In love +and battle, every peril should be avoided; every vulnerable point made +impregnable. Besides, the fool was audacious, foolhardy; his language +of covert mockery and quick wit proved him an intelligent antagonist, +who might become a desperate one. + +"A woman and a fool," muttered the duke, striding with quick step +across his chamber, "are two uncertain quantities. The one should be +subjected; the other removed!" + +Museful, he stood before the niche, wherein shone a cross of silver, +set with amethysts and turquoise, his rugged face lighted by the +uncertain flickering of the candles. + +"Removed!" he repeated, contemplatively. "And she--" + +The clear tinkling of a bell broke in upon his cogitation; a faint, +musical sound that seemed at his very elbow. He wheeled about +abruptly, saw nothing save the mysterious shadows of the curtains, the +flickering lamps, the dark outline of the canopy of the great bed. +Instinctively he knew he was not alone, and yet his gaze, rapidly +sweeping the apartment, failed to perceive an intruder. + +Again the tinkling, a low laugh, and, turning sharply toward an alcove +from whence the sounds came, the duke, through the half-light and +trailing, sombrous shadows of its entrance, perceived a figure in a +chair. From a candle set in a spiked, enameled stick, a yellow +glimmering, that came and went with the sputtering flame, rested upon +an ironical face, a graceful figure in motley and a wand with the +jester's head and the bell. Without rising, the _plaisant_ quizzically +regarded the surprised nobleman, who in spite of his self-control had +stepped back involuntarily at the suddenness of the encounter. + +"Good evening, my Lord," said the fool. "I am like the genii of the +tale. You think of me, and I appear." + +Regaining his composure at once, the king's guest bent his heavy brows +over his deep-set eyes, and deliberately surveyed the fool. + +"And now," went on the jester, gaily, "it is in your mind I am like as +suddenly to--disappear! Am I at fault?" + +"On the contrary, you are unusually clear-witted," was the answer. + +"Oh, my Lord, you over-estimate my poor capacity!" returned the +nobleman's unasked caller with a deprecatory gesture. + +The hands of the other worked impatiently; his herculean figure blocked +the doorway. "You are a merry fellow!" he observed. "It is to be +regretted, but--confess you have brought it upon yourself?" + +"What? My fate? Oh, yes!" And he indifferently regarded the wand and +the wooden figure upon it, without moving from the chair. + +"You have no fear?" questioned the duke, quietly. + +"Fear? Why should I?" + +Yawning, the fool stretched his arms, looking not at the nobleman, but +beyond him, and, instinctively, the princess' betrothed peered over his +shoulder in the semi-darkness behind, while his hand quickly sought his +sword. + +"Fie, most noble Duke!" exclaimed the jester. "We have no +eavesdroppers or interlopers, believe me! We are entirely alone, you +and I--master and fool. There; come no nearer, I beg!" As the +nobleman menacingly moved toward him. + +"Have you any argument to advance, Sir Fool, why I should not?" said +the other, grimly, a gleam of amusement depicted on his broad face as +he paused the while. + +"An argument, sharp as a needle, somewhat longer!" replied the jester, +touching his breast and drawing from between the folds of his doublet a +shining hilt. + +Harsh and loud laughed the king's guest. "You fool," he said, "you had +your opportunity below there in the hall and missed it. You hesitated, +went blindly another course, and now"--with ominous meaning--"you are +here!" + +Upon the stick a candle dripped, sputtered and went out; the jester +bent forward and with the copper snuffer on the table near by deftly +trimmed the remaining light. + +"Only fools fight in darkness," he remarked, quietly, "and here is but +one of them." + +"You pit yourself and that--plaything!--against me?" asked the burly +soldier, derisively. + +"Have you hunted the wild boar, my Lord?" lightly answered the other. +"How mighty it is! How savage! What tusks! You know the pastime? A +quick step, a sure arm, an eye like lightning--presto! your boar lies +on his back, with his feet in the air! You, my Lord, are the boar; +big, clumsy, brutal! Shall we begin the sport? I promise to prick you +with every rush." + +The prospective bridegroom paused thoughtfully. + +"There is some justice in what you say," he returned, his manner that +of a man who has carefully weighed and considered a matter. "I confess +to partiality for the thick of the fray, the brunt of the fight, where +men press all around you." + +"Assuredly, my Lord; for then the boar is in his element; no matter how +he rushes, his tusks strike yielding flesh." + +"Why should we fight at all--at present?" cautiously ventured the +noble, with further hesitation. "Not that I doubt I could easily crush +you"--extending his muscular arms--"but you _might_ prick me, and, just +now, discretion may be the better part of valor. I--a duke, engaged to +wed a princess, have much to lose; you, nothing! A fool's stroke might +kill a king." + +"Or a knave, my Lord!" added the _plaisant_. + +"Or a knave, sirrah!" thundered the duke, the veins starting out on his +forehead. + +The jester half drew his dagger; his quiet confidence and glittering +eye impressed even his antagonist, inured to scenes of violence and +strife. + +"Is it a truce, most noble Lord?" said the fool, significantly. "A +truce wherein we may call black, black; and white, white! A truce +which may be broken by either of us, with due warning to the other?" + +Knitting his brow, the noble stood motionless, deeply pondering, his +headlong passion evidently at combat with his judgment; then his face +cleared, a hard, brusque laugh burst from his lips and he brought his +fist violently down on the massive oak table near the door. + +"So be it!" he assented, with a more open look. + +"A truce--without any rushes from the boar?" + +"Fool! Does not my word suffice?" contemptuously retorted the duke. + +"Yes; for although you are--what you are--you have been a soldier, and +would not break a truce." + +"Such commendation from--my jester is, indeed, flattering!" satirically +remarked the king's guest, seating himself in a great chair which +brought him face to face with the fool and yet commanded the door, the +intruder's only means of retreat. + +"Pardon me, the duke's jester, you mean?" + +"Yes; mine!" + +"A distinction with a difference!" retorted the fool. "It is quite +true I am the duke's jester; it is equally untrue I am yours. +Therefore, we reach the conclusion that you and the duke are two +different persons. Plainly, not being the duke, you are an impostor. +Have you any fault to find with my reasoning?" + +"On the contrary," answered the other, with no sign of anger or +surprise, "your reasoning is all that could be desired. Why should I +deny what you already know? I was aware, of course, that you knew, +when I first learned his jester was in the castle. Frankly, I am not +the duke--to you!" + +"But with Francis and the court?" suggested the fool, uplifting his +brows. + +"I am the duke--and such remain! You understand?" + +"Perfectly, my Lord," replied the jester, shrugging his shoulders. +"But since I am not the king, nor one of the courtiers, whom, for the +time being, have I the honor of addressing? But, perhaps, I am +over-inquisitive." + +"Not at all," said the other, with mocking ceremony. "You are a +whimsical fellow; besides, I am taken with a man who stands near death +without flinching. To tell you the truth, our truce is somewhat to my +liking. There are few men who would have dared what you have to-night. +And although you're only a fool--will you drink with me from this +bottle on the table here? I'm tired of ceremonies of rank and would +clink a glass in private with a merry fellow. What say you?" + +And leaning over, he filled two large goblets with the rich beverage +from a great flask placed on the stand for his convenience. His face +lighted with gross conviviality, but behind his jovial, free manner, +that of a trooper in his cups, gleamed a furtive, guarded look, as +though he were studying and testing his man. + +"I'm for a free life; some fighting; but snug walls around for +companionship," he continued. "Look at my soldiers now; roistering, +love-making! Charles? Francis? Not one of the troop would leave me +for emperor or king! Not one but would follow me--where ambition +leads!" Holding up the glass, he looked into the depths of the thick +burgundy. "Why, a likely fellow like you should carry a gleaming +blade, not a wooden sword. I know your duke--a man of lineage--a +string of titles long as my arm--an underling of the emperor, while +I"--closing his great jaw firmly--"owe allegiance to no man, or +monarch, which is the same thing. Drink, lad; I'm pleased I did not +kill you." + +"And I," laughed the _plaisant_, "congratulate myself you are still +alive--for the wine is excellent!" + +"Still alive!" exclaimed the king's guest, boisterously, although a +dark shadow crossed his glance. + +"I'm scarred from head to foot, and my hide is as tough as--" + +"A boar's?" tapping his chin with the fool's head on his wand. + +"Ah, you will have your jest," retorted the host of the occasion, +good-naturedly. "It's bred in the bone. A quality for a soldier. +Next to courage is that fine sense of humor which makes a man a _bon +camarade_. Put down your graven image, lad; you were made to carry +arms, not baubles. Put it down, I say, and touch glasses with Louis, +of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"The bastard of Hochfels!" exclaimed the jester, fixedly regarding the +man whose name was known throughout Europe for his reckless bravery, +his personal resources and his indomitable pride or love of freedom and +independence, which held him aloof from emperor or monarch, and made +him peer and leader among the many intractable spirits of the Austrian +country who had not yet bowed their necks to conquest; a soldier of +many battles, whose thick-walled fortress, perched picturesquely in +mid-air on a steep mountain top, established his security on all sides. + +"The same, my friend of the motley," continued the other, not without +complacency, observing the effect of his announcement on the jester. + +"He who calls himself the free baron of Hochfels?" observed the fool, +setting down the glass from which he had moderately partaken. + +"Aye; a man of royal and peasant blood," harshly answered the +free-booter. "Ambition, arrogance, are the kingly inheritance; +strength, a constitution of iron, the low-born legacy. What think you +of such an endowment?" + +"You are far from your castle, my Lord of Hochfels," commented the +jester, absently, unmindful of a question he felt not called upon to +answer. + +"And yet as safe as in my own mountain nest," retorted the free baron, +or free-booter, indifferently. "Who would betray me? There is not a +trooper of mine but would die for his master. You would not denounce +me, because--but why enumerate the reasons? I hold you in the palm of +my hand, and, when I close my fingers, there's the end of you." + +"But where--allow me; the wine has a rare flavor," and he reached for +the flask. + +"Drink freely," returned the pretender; "it is the king's own, and you +are my guest. You were about to ask--" + +"Whence came the idea for this mad adventure?" said the jester, his +eyes seemingly bent in admiration on the goblet he held; a half globe +of crystal sustained by a golden Bacchus. + +"Idea!" repeated the self-called baron, with a gesture of satisfaction. +"It was more than an idea. It was an inspiration, born of that chance +which points the way to greatness. The feat accomplished, all Europe +will wonder at the wanton exploit. At first Francis will rage; then +seeing me impregnably intrenched, will make the best of the marriage, +especially as the groom is of royal blood. Next, an alliance with the +French king against the emperor. Why not; was not Francis once ready +to treat even with Solyman to defeat Charles, an overture which shocked +Christendom? And while Charles' energies are bent to the task of +protecting his country from the Turks, a new leader appears; a +devil-may-care fellow--and then--and then--" + +He broke off abruptly; stared before him, as though the fumes of wine +were at last beginning to rise to his head; toyed with his glass and +drank it quickly at a draft. "What an alluring will-o'-the-wisp +is--to-morrow!" he muttered. + +"An illusive hope that reconciles us with to-day," answered the +_plaisant_. + +"Illusive!" cried the other. "Only for poets, dreamers, fools!" + +"And you, Sir Baron, are neither one nor the other," remarked the +jester. "No philosopher, but a plain soldier, who chops heads--not +logic. But the inspiration that caused you to embark upon this +hot-brained, pretty enterprise?" + +"Upon a spur of rock that overlooks the road through the mountain is +set the Vulture's Nest, Sir Fool," began the adventurer in a voice at +once confident and arrogant. "At least, so the time-honored fortress +of Hochfels is disparagingly designated by the people. As the road is +the only pass through the mountains, naturally we come more or less in +contact with the people who go by our doors. Being thus forced, +through the situation of our fortress, into the proximity of the +traveling public, we have, from time to time, made such sorties as are +practised by a beleaguered garrison, and have, in consequence, taken +prisoners many traffickers and traders, whose goods and chattels were +worthy of our attention as spoils of war. Generally, we have confined +our operations to migratory merchants, who carry more of value and +cause less trouble than the emperor's soldiers or the king's troopers, +but occasionally we brush against one of the latter bands so that we +may keep in practice in laying our blades to the grindstone, and also +to show we are soldiers, not robbers." + +"Which remains to be proved," murmured the attentive jester. "Your +pardon, noble Lord"--as the other half-started from his chair--"let me +fill your glass. 'Tis a pity to neglect such royal wine. Proceed with +your story. Come we presently to the inspiration?" + +"At once," answered the apparently appeased master of the fortress, +wiping his lips. "One day our western outpost brought in a messenger, +and, when we had stripped the knave, upon him we found a miniature and +a letter from the princess to the duke. The latter was prettily writ, +with here and there a rhyme, and moved me mightily. The eagle hath its +mate, I thought, but the vulture of Hochfels is single, and this +reflection, with the sight of the picture and that right, fair script, +saddened me. + +"And then, on a sudden, came the inspiration. Why not play a hand in +this international marriage Charles and Francis were bringing about? I +commanded the only road across the mountain; therefore, did command the +situation. The emperor and the king should be but the wooden figures, +and I would pull the strings to make them dance. The duke, your +master, why should he be more than a name? The princess' letter told +me she had never seen her betrothed. What easier than to redouble the +sentries in the valley, make prisoners of the messengers, clap them in +the fortress dungeons, read the missives, and then despatch them to +their respective destinations by men of my own?" + +"Then that was the reason why on my way through the mountains your +knaves attacked me?" said the listener quickly. + +"Exactly; to search you. How you slipped through their hands I know +not." And he glanced at the other curiously. + +"They were but poor rogues," answered the jester quickly. + +"Certainly are you not one!" exclaimed the free baron, with a glance of +approval at the slender figure of his antagonist. "Two of them paid +for their carelessness. The others were so shamed, they told me some +great knight had attacked them. A fool in motley!" he laughed. "No +wonder the rogues hung their heads! But in deceiving me," he added +thoughtfully, "they permitted their master to run into an unknown +peril--his ignorance that a fool of the duke, or a fool wearing the +emblem of the emperor, had gone to Francis' court." + +"You were saying, Sir Free Baron, you intended to read the messages +between the princess and the duke, and afterward to despatch them by +messengers of your own?" interrupted the _plaisant_. + +"Such were my plans. Moreover, I possessed a clerk--a knave who had +killed an abbot and fled from the monastery--a man of poetry, wit and +sentiment. Whenever the letters lacked for ardor, and the lovers had +grown too timid, him I set to forge a postscript, or indite new +missives, which the rogue did most prettily, having studied love-making +under the monks. And thus, Sir Fool, I courted and won the +princess--by proxy!" + +"Of a certainty, your wooing was at least novel, Sir Knight of the +Vulture's Nest," dryly observed the jester. "Although, had my master +known the deception, you would, perhaps, have paid dearly for it." + +"Your master, forsooth!" laughed the outlaw lord. "A puny scion of a +worn-out ancestry! Such a woman as the princess wants a man of brawn +and muscle; no weakling of the nursery." + +"Well," said the fool, slowly, "you became intermediary between the +princess and the duke, and the king and the emperor. But to come into +the heart of France; to the king's very palace--did you not fear +detection?" + +"How?" retorted the other, raising his head and resting his eyes, +bloodshot and heavy, on the fool's impassive features. "The road +between the two monarchs is mine; no message can now pass. The emperor +and the duke may wonder, but the way here is long, and"--with a +smile--"I have ample time for the enterprise ere the alarm can be +given." + +"And you paved the way for your coming by altering the letters of the +duke, or forging new ones?" suggested the listener. + +"How else? A word added here and there; a post-script, or even a page! +As for their highnesses' seals, any fool can break and mend a seal. In +a week the duke will wonder at the princess' silence; in a fortnight he +will become uneasy; in a month he will learn the cage has been left +open and the bird hath flown. Then, too, shall the gates of the +dungeon be set ajar, and the true, but tardy, messengers permitted to +go their respective ways. Is it not a nice adventure? Am I not a +fitter leader than your duke?" + +"Undoubtedly," returned the jester. "He sits at home, while you are +here in his stead. But what will the princess say when she learns?" + +"Nothing. She loves me already." + +The fool turned pale; the hand that held his glass, however, was firm, +and he set the goblet down without a tremor. + +"She may weep a little, but it will pass like a summer shower. Women +are weak; women are yielding. Have I not reason to know?" he burst +out. "I, a--" + +Brusquely he arose from his chair, leaving the sentence uncompleted. +Sternly he surveyed the jester. + +"Why not take service with me?" he continued, abruptly. "Austria is +ripe to revolt against the tyranny of the emperor. With the discontent +in the Netherlands, the dissensions in Spain, Europe is like a field, +cut up, awaiting new-comers." + +He paused to allow the force of his words to appeal to the other's +imagination. "What say you?" he continued. "Will you serve me?" + +"The matter's worth thinking over," answered the fool, evasively. + +"Well, take your time," said the king's guest, regarding him more +sharply. "And now, as the candles are low and the flask is empty, you +had better take your leave." + +At this intimation that the other considered the interview ended, the +fool started to his feet and deliberately made his way to the door +opening into the corridor. + +"Good-night!" he said, and was about to depart when the free baron held +him with a word. + +"Hold! Why have you not attempted to unmask me--before?" + +Steadily the two looked at each other; the eyes of the elder man, +cruel, deep, all-observing; those of the younger, steady, fearless, +undismayed. Few of his troopers could withstand the sinister +penetration of Louis of Hochfels' gaze, but on the jester it seemed to +have no more effect than the casual glance of one of Francis' courtiers. + +"You knew--and yet you made no sign?" continued the master of the +fortress. + +"Because I like a strong play and did not wish to spoil it--too soon!" + +The questioner's brow fell; the lids half-veiled the dark, savage eyes, +but the mouth relaxed. "Ah, you always have your answer," he returned +with apparent cordiality. "Good-night--and, by the by, our truce is at +an end." + +"The truce--and the wine," said the jester, as with a ceremonious bow, +he vanished amid the shadows in the hall. + +Slowly the free baron closed the door and locked it; looked at the +cross and at the bed, but made no motion toward either. + +"He has already rejected my proposal," thought the self-styled duke. +"Does he seek for higher rewards by betraying me? Or is it, then, +Triboulet told the truth? Is he an aspiring lover of the princess? Or +is he only faithful to his master? Why have I failed to read him? As +though a film lay across his eyes, that index to a man's soul!" + +Motionless the free baron stood, long pondering deeply, until upon the +mantel the richly-chased clock began to strike musically, yet +admonishingly. Whereupon he glanced at the cross; hesitated; then, +noting the lateness of the hour, and with, perhaps, a mental +reservation to retrieve his negligence on the morrow, he turned from +the silver, bejeweled symbol and immediately sought the sensuous bodily +enjoyment of a couch fit for a king or the pope himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL + +Another festal day had come and gone. The crimson shafts of the dying +sun had succumbed to the lengthening shadows of dusk, and the pigeons +were wending their way homeward to the castle parapets and battlements, +when, toward the arched entrance on the front, strode the duke's fool. +Beyond the castle walls and the inclosure of the pleasure grounds the +peace of twilight rested on the land; the great fields lay becalmed; +the distant forests were bivouacs of rest. + +The afternoon had been a labor of pleasure; about the great basin of +the fountain had passed an ever-varying shifting of moving figures; +between the trees bright colors appeared and vanished, and from the +heart of concealed bowers had come peals of laughter or strains of +music. Unnoticed among the merry throng in palace and park, the jester +had moved aimlessly about; unobserved now, he turned his back upon the +gray walls, satiated, perhaps, with the fêtes inaugurated by the kingly +entertainer. But as he attempted to pass the gate, a stalwart guard +stepped forward, presenting a formidable-looking glave. + +"Your permit to leave?" he said. + +"A permit? Of course!" replied the fool, and felt in his coat. "But +what a handsome weapon you have; the staff all covered with velvet and +studded with brass tacks!" + +"Has the Emperor Charles, then, no such weapons?" asked the gratified +soldier. + +"None so handsome! May I see it?" The guard unsuspiciously handed the +glave to the jester, who immediately turned it upon the sentinel. + +"Give it back, fool!" cried the alarmed guard. + +"Nay; I am minded to call out and show a soldier of France disarmed by +a foreign fool." + +"As well chop off my head with it!" sighed the man. + +"And if I wish to walk without the gate?" suggested the jester. + +"Go, good fool!" replied the other, without hesitation. + +"Well, here is the glave. If any one admires it again, let him study +the point. But why may no one pass out?" + +"Because so many soldiers and good citizens have been beaten and robbed +by those who hover around the palace. But you may go in peace," he +added. "No one will harm a fool. If 'tis amusement you seek, there's +a camp on the verge of the forest where a dark-haired, good-looking +baggage dances and tells cards. You can find the place from the noise +within, and if you're merry, they'll welcome you royally. Go; and God +be with you!" + +The jester turned from the good-natured guard and quickly walked down +the road, which wound gracefully through the valley and lost itself +afar in a fringe of woodland. A light pattering on the hard earth +behind caused him to look about. Following was a dog that now sprang +forward with joyous demonstration. The fool stooped and gravely +caressed the hound which last he had seen at the princess' feet. + +"Why," he said, "thou art now the fool's only friend at court." + +When again he moved on with rapid, nervous stride, the animal came +after. Darker grew the road; deeper hued the fields and stubble; more +somber the distant castle against the gloaming. Only the cry of a +diving night-bird startled the stillness of the tranquil air; a +rapacious filcher that quickly rose, and swept onward through the sea +of night. Its melancholy note echoed in the breast of the fool; +mechanically, without relaxing his swift pace, he looked upward to +follow it, when a short, sharp bark behind him and a premonition of +impending danger caused him to spring suddenly aside. At the same time +a dagger descended in the empty air, just grazing the shoulder of the +jester, who, recovering himself, grasped the arm of his assailant and +grappled with him. Finding him a man of little strength, the fool +easily threw him to the earth and kneeling on his breast in turn +menaced the assailant with the weapon he had wrested from him. + +"Have you any reason, knave, why I should spare you?" asked the fool. + +"If I had--for want of breath--it would fail me!" answered the +miscreant with some difficulty. + +The duke's jester arose. "Get up, rogue!" he said, and the man obeyed. + +He was a pale, gaunt fellow, with long hair, unshaven face, hollow +cheeks, and dark eyes, set deeply in his head and shaded by thick, +black brows. His dress consisted of a rough doublet, with lappet +sleeves, carried down to a point, tight leggings, broad shoes and the +puffed upper hose; the entire raiment frayed and worn; his flesh, or, +rather, his bones, showing through the scanty covering for his legs, +while his feet were no better protected than those of a trooper who has +been long on the march. He displayed no fear or enmity; on the +contrary, his manner was rather friendly than otherwise, as though he +failed to understand the enormity of his offense and the position in +which he was placed. Shifting from one foot to another, he crossed his +great, thin hands before him and patiently awaited his captor's +pleasure. The latter surveyed him curiously, and, noting his woebegone +features and beggarly attire, pity, perhaps, assuaged his just anger +toward this starveling. + +"Why did you wish to kill me?" asked the jester quietly, if somewhat +impatiently. + +"It was not my wish, Master Fool," gently replied the other, but even +as he spoke the resignation in his manner gave way to a look of +apprehension. Lifting his hand, he felt in his breast and glanced +about him on the road. Then his face brightened. + +"With your permission--I have e'en dropped something--" + +And stooping, the scamp-scholar picked up a small, leathern-bound +volume from the ground, where it had fallen during the struggle, and +held it tightly clutched in his hand. "Ah," he muttered with a glad +sigh, "I feared I had lost it--my Horace! And now, Sir Jester, what +would you with me?" + +"A question I might answer with a question," replied the fool. "Having +failed in your enterprise, why should I spare you?" + +"You shouldn't," returned the vagabond-student. "The ancients teach +but the irrevocable law of retribution." + +To hear a would-be assassin, a castaway out of pocket and heels and +elbows, calmly proclaiming the Greek doctrine of inevitableness, under +such circumstances, would have surprised an observer even more +experienced and worldly than the duke's fool. Involuntarily his face +softened; this _pauvre diable_ gazed upon eternity with the calm eyes +of a Socrates. + +"You do not then beg for life?" said the _plaisant_, his former +impatience merging into mild curiosity. + +"Is it worth begging for?" asked the straitened book-worm. "Life means +a pinched stomach, a cold body; Death, no hunger to fear, and a bed +that, though cold, chills us not. What we know not doth not exist--for +us; ergo, to lie in the earth is to rest in the lap of luxury, for all +our consciousness of it. But to be unconscious of the ills of this +perishable frame, Horace likewise must be as dead to us as our aches +and pains. Thus is life made preferable to death. Yes; I would live. +Hold, though--" he again hesitated in deep thought--"what avails Horace +if--" he began. + +"Why, what new data have entered in the premises?" observed the +wondering jester. + +"Nanette!" was the gloomy answer. + +"Who, pray, is Nanette?" asked the fool, thrusting his assailant's +weapon in his jerkin. + +"A wanton haggard whose tongue will run post sixteen stages together! +Who would make the devil himself malleable; then, work, hammer and +wire-draw him!" + +"And what is she to you?" + +"My wife! That is, she claims that exalted place, having married me +one night when I was in my cups through a false priest who dresses as a +Franciscan monk. 'Fools in the court of God' are these priests called, +and truly he is a jester, for certainly is he no true monk. But +Nanette, nevertheless, asserts she is the lawful partner of my sorrows. +So work your will on me. A stroke, and the shivering spirit is wafted +across the Styx." + +"And if I gave you not only your life--for a consideration hereafter to +be mentioned--but a small silver piece as well?" suggested the jester, +who had been for some moments buried in thought. + +"Ha!" ejaculated the scamp-student, brightening. "Your gift would +match the piece I already have and which--dolt that I was!--I +overlooked to include in my chain of reasoning." And thrusting his +hand into his ragged doublet, after some search he extracted a +diminutive disk upon which he gazed not without ardor. "Thus are we +forced to start the chain of reasoning anew," he remarked, "with Horace +and this bit of metal on one side of the scales and Nanette on the +other. Now unless the devil sits on the beam with Nanette--which he's +like to do--the book and the bit of dross will outweigh her and we +arrive at the certitude that life, qualified as to duration, may be +happily endured." + +"What argument does the dross carry, knave?" demanded the fool, looking +down at the hound that crouched at his feet. + +"With it may be purchased that which warms the pinched stomach. With +it may be bought an elixir, so strong and magical, it may breed +defiance even of Nanette. Sir Fool, I have concluded to accept life +and the small silver piece." + +"Well and good," commented the jester. "But there are conditions +attached to my clemency." + +"Conditions!" retorted the vagabond. "What are conditions to a +philosopher, once he has reached a logical assurance?" + +"First, you must find me a horse. Your Nanette, as I take it, is a +gipsy and in the camp, are, surely, horses." + +"But why should you want a horse? 'Tis not far to the castle?" said +the puzzled scholar. + +"No; but 'tis far away from it. Next, tell me where you got that small +piece of silver, like the one I have promised you?" + +"From Nanette." + +"What for?" + +"To accomplish that which I have failed to do," replied the student, +willingly. "But, alas, not having earned it, have I the right idly to +spend it?" he added, dolefully, half to himself. + +"Why did Nanette--" began the jester. + +But the other raised his arm with an expostulatory gesture. "Many +things I know," he interrupted; "odds and ends of erudition, but a +woman's mind I know not, nor want to know. I had as soon question +Beelzebub as her; yea, to stir up the devil with a stick. If sparing +my life is contingent on my knowing why she does this, or that, then +let me pay the debt of nature." + +"No; 'tis slight punishment to take from a man that which he values so +little he must reason with himself to learn if he value it at all," +returned the duke's jester, slowly. "We'll waive the question, if you +find me the horse." + +"'Tis Nanette you must ask. There's but one, old, yet serviceable--" + +"Then take me to Nanette." + +"Very well. Follow me, sir; and if you're still of a mind when you see +her, you can question her." + +"Why, is she so weird and witch-like to look upon?" said the fool. + +"Nay; the devil hides his claws behind the daintiest fingers, all pink +and white. He conceals his cloven hoof in a slipper, truly sylph-like." + +"You arouse my curiosity. I would fain meet this fair monster." + +"Come then, Master Fool," replied the scamp-student, leaving the road +for the field to the right, and the jester, after a moment's +deliberation, turned likewise into the stubble, while the hound, as if +satisfied with the service it had performed, slowly retraced its way +toward the castle, stopping, however, now and then to look around after +the two men, whose figures grew smaller and smaller in the distance. +For some space they walked in silence; then the scholar paused, and, +pointing to a low, rambling house that once had been a hunter's lodge +and now had fallen into decay, exclaimed: + +"There's where she lives, fool. I'll warrant she's not alone." + +At the same time a clamor of voices and a chorus of rough melody, +coming from the cottage, confirmed the assurance his spouse was not, +indeed, holding solitary vigil. + +"'Tis e'en thus every night," murmured the scamp student in a +melancholy tone. "She gathers 'round her the scum of all rudeness; +ragged alchemists of pleasure, who sing incessantly, like grasshoppers +on a summer day." + +"Where is the horse?" said the jester, abruptly. + +"Stalled in one of the rooms for safe keeping. There are so many +rascals and thieves around, you see--" + +"They e'en rob one another!" returned the fool. + +Advancing more cautiously, the two men approached the ancient +forester's dwelling, the hue and cry sounding louder as they drew near, +a mingled discord of laughter, shouting and caterwauling, with a +woman's piercing voice at times dominating the general vociferation. +The philosopher shook his head despondingly, while, creeping to one of +the windows, the jester looked in. + +Near the fire was a misshapen creature, a sort of monstrous imbecile +that chattered and moaned; a being that bore some resemblance to the +ancient morios once sold at the olden Forum Morionum to the ladies who +desired these hideous animals for their amusement. At his feet +gamboled a dwarf that squeaked and screeched, distorting its face in +hideous grimaces. Scattered about the room, singing, bawling or +brawling, were indigent morris dancers; bare-footed minstrels; a +pinched and needy versificator; a reduced mountebank; a swarthy clown, +with a hare's mouth; joculators of the streets, poor as rats and living +as such, straitened, heedless fellows, with heads full of nonsense and +purses empty, poor in pocket, but rich in _plaisanterie_. + +Upon the table, with cards in her lap, which she studied idly, sat a +hard-featured, deep-bosomed woman, neither old nor uncomely, with +thick, black hair, coarse as a horse's mane, cheeks red as a berry, +glowing with health. In her pose was a certain savage grace, an +untrammeled freedom which revealed the vigorous outlines of a +well-proportioned figure. Her eye was bright as a diamond and bold as +a trooper's; when she lifted her head she looked disdainfully, +scornfully, fiercely, upon the strange and monstrous company of which +she was queen. + +"Where can the thief-friar be?" muttered the student. "He is usually +not far off from sweet Nanette." + +"You mean the monk who had a hand in your nuptials?" + +"Who else? He, the source of all ill. He who gave her the money of +which she e'en presented me a moiety. Whoever employed him--was it +your friends, gentle sir?--rewarded him with gold. Being a craven +rogue, I e'en suspect him of shifting the task to myself for a beggarly +pittance, whilst he is off with the lion's share." + +The jester, watching the company within, made no reply. From the +student to the woman, to the friar, was a chain leading--where? He +found it not difficult to surmise. Suddenly Nanette threw down the +cards and laughed harshly. + +"Neither the devil nor his imps could read the things that are +happening in the castle!" + +Then abruptly springing from the table, she made her way to the fire, +over which hung a pot of some savory stew, a magnet to the company's +sharp desire; for throughout all the boisterous merriment wandering +glances had invariably returned to it. To reach the kettle and make +herself mistress of the culinary preparations, she cuffed a dwarf with +such vigor that he hobbled howling from a suspicious proximity to the +appetizing mess to a safe refuge beneath the table. With equally +dauntless spirit, she pushed aside the herculean morio who had been +childishly standing over the pot, licking his fingers in eager +anticipation; whereupon the imbecile set up a sharp cry that blended +with the deeper roar of the lilliputian. + +"And I caught the rabbit!" piteously bellowed the latter from his +retreat. + +"And I found the turnips!" cried the colossal idiot, tears running down +his lubberly cheeks. + +"Peace, you demons!" exclaimed the woman, waving the spoon at them, +"or, by the hell-born, you'll ne'er taste morsel of it!" + +Quieted by this stupendous threat, they closed their mouths and opened +their eyes but the wider, while the gipsy spouse of the student stirred +and stirred the mixture in the iron pot, gazing at the fire with +frowning brow as though she would read some page of the future in the +leaping flames. + +"Saw you but now how she served the dwarf and the overgrown lump?" +whispered the student to the duke's fool. "Are you still minded to +meet her?" + +For answer the jester left the window, stepped to the door, and, +opening it, strode into the room. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE + +As the duke's fool suddenly appeared in the crowded apartment, the +hubbub abruptly ceased; the minstrels and mountebanks gazed in surprise +at the slender figure of the alien jester whose rich garments +proclaimed him a personage of importance, one who had reached that +pinnacle in buffoonery, the high office of court _plaisant_. The morio +crouched against the wall, his fear of the new-comer as great as his +body was large; the garret minstrels stopped strumming their +instruments, while the woman at the fire uttered a quick exclamation +and dropped the spoon with a clatter to the floor, where it was +promptly seized by the dwarf, who, taking advantage of the woman's +consternation, thrust it greedily to his lips. But soon recovering +from her wonderment, the gipsy soundly boxed the dwarf's ears, +recovered her spoon and set herself once more to stirring the contents +of the pot. + +The jester observed her for a moment--the heavy, bare arm moving round +and round over the kettle; her sunburnt legs uncovered to the knee; the +masculine attitude of her figure with the torn and worn garments that +covered her--and she seemed to him a veritable trull of disorder and +squalor. The gipsy, too, looked at him over her shoulder, and, as she +gazed, her hand went slower and slower, until all motion ceased, and +the spoon lay on the edge of the pot, when she turned deliberately, +offering him the full sight of her bold cheeks and shameless eyes. + +"Are you Nanette, wife of this philosopher?" asked the duke's fool, +approaching, and indicating the miserable scamp who clung near the +doorway as one undecided whether to enter or run away. + +"Yes; I am Nanette, his true and lawful spouse," she answered with a +shrill laugh. "Wilt come to me, true-love?" she called out to her +apprehensive yoke-mate. + +"Nay; I'll go out in the air a while," hurriedly replied the +vagabond-scholar, and quickly vanished. + +"Ah, how he loves me!" she continued. + +"So much he prefers a cony-burrow to his own fireside," said the fool +dryly. + +"A hole i' the earth is too good for such a scurvy fellow," she +retorted. "But what would you here, fool? A song, a jest, a dance? +Or have you come to learn a new story, or ballad, for the lordlings you +must entertain?" Unabashed, she approached a step nearer. + +"Your stories, mistress, would be unsuited for the court, and your +ballads best unsung," he retorted. "I came, not to sharpen my wits, +but to learn from whom the thief-friar got the small piece of silver +you gave your consort, and, also, to procure a horse." + +Her brazen eyes wavered. "A horse and a fool flying," she muttered. +"Even what the cards showed. The fool seeking the duke!" A puzzled +look crossed her face. "But the duke is here?" she continued to +herself. "A strange riddle! All the signs show devilment, but what it +is--" + +"Good Nanette," interrupted the jester, satirically, "I have no time +for spells or incantation." + +"How dared you come here," she said, hoarsely, "after--" + +"After your mate proved but an indifferent servant of yours?" he +concluded, meeting her sullen gaze with one so stern and inflexible +that before it her eyes fell. + +"Do you not know," she said, endeavoring to maintain a hardened front, +"I have but to say the word, and all these friends of mine would tear +you to pieces? What would you do, my pretty fellows, an I ask you?" +she cried out, her voice rising audaciously. "Would you suffer this +duke's jester to stand against me?" + +Glances of suspicion and animosity shot from a score of eyes; fists +were half-clenched; knives appeared in a trice from the concealment of +rags, and a low murmur arose from the gathering. Even the imbecile +morio, nature's trembling coward, became suddenly valiant, and, with +huge frame uplifted, seemed about to spring savagely upon the fool. An +expression of disgust replaced all other feeling on the features of the +duke's _plaisant_. + +"Spare me your threats, Nanette," he replied, coldly. "Had you +intended to set them on me, you would have done it long ere this." + +The woman hesitated. His calm, almost contemptuous, confidence was not +without its effect upon her. Had he trembled, she would have spoken, +but before his disdain, and the gay splendor of his attire, conspicuous +amid rags from rubbish heaps, she felt a sudden consciousness of her +own unclean environment; at the same time unusual warnings in her +conjurations recurred to her. Something about him--was it dignity or +pride or a nameless fear she herself experienced but could not +understand?--beat down her eyes and she turned them doggedly away. + +Abruptly she moved to the fire and again began to stir the mess, while +the suppressed excitement in the room at once subsided. A minstrel +lightly touched his battered dulcimer; a poet hummed a song in the +dialect of thieves; a juggler began practising some deft work for hand +and eye, and he of the hare lip sank quietly into a corner and +patiently watched the simmering pot. The dwarf, with some misgiving, +as a dog that is beaten crawls cautiously out of its kennel, crept from +beneath the table. + +"Oh, mistress," he whimpered, "some of it has boiled over!" + +"Boiled over!" echoed the morio, mournfully. + +At the same time the woman grasped the handle of the heavy kettle, +lifted it from the jack, displaying in her bared arms the muscles of a +man, and, staggering beneath the load, bore it steaming to the table. +Amid the subsequent confusion, the gipsy held aloof from the demolition +of the rabbit, and, seating herself at the foot of the table, began +moodily once more to turn the cards. + +A merry droll acted as host and dipped freely for all with the long +spoon, commenting the while he dispensed the mess according to the +wants of the miscellaneous gathering: "Pot-luck! 'Tis luck, and +they're no field mice in it! There's everything else!" or "A bit of +rabbit, my masters! I'll warrant he'll hop down your throats as fast +as e'er he jumped a hillock." And, when one ate too greedily, slap +went a spoonful of gravy o'er him with: "I thought you would catch it, +knave!" + +"Are they not blithe devils 'round the caldron?" muttered the woman. +"There it is again!"--Bending over the bits of pasteboard on the table. +"The duke here! And the fool on horseback! What do the cards mean?" + +"That I must have the horse, Nanette," said the duke's jester, standing +motionless and firm before the fireplace. + +"Are you the fool?" she asked, more to herself than him. "Why does he +wish to ride away?" + +"Will you sell me the horse?" he demanded. + +She hesitated. Around them danced the shadows of the kettle-gourmands: + + "A kern and a drole, a varlet and a blade + A drab and a rep, a skit and a jade--" + +sang the street poet; the dwarf and the morio (a lilliputian and +Gulliver) fought a mimic combat; the juggler and the clown, who could +eat no more, were keeping time to a chorus by beating with their empty +trenchers on the table. + +"Sell you the horse? For what?" asked the gipsy. + +"For five gold pieces." + +"A fool with five gold pieces!" she exclaimed, incredulously. + +"Here! You may see them." And he opened a purse he carried at his +girdle. + +"Do not let them know," she said, hurriedly. "They would kill you +and--" + +"You would not get the money," he added, significantly. "If you act +quickly, find me a horse and let me go; it is you, not they, who will +profit." + +Abruptly she rose. "It is fate," she remarked, her eyes greedy. + +His glance, as he stood there, proud and stern, cut her sharply. "Say +cupidity, Nanette!" he laughed softly. "It is more profitable not to +betray me. In the one case you get much; in the other, little." + +"Stay here," she replied, hastily. "I'll fetch the horse." And +vanished. + +A moment he remained, then resolutely turning to the door through which +she had disappeared, opened it, and found himself in a combined +sleeping-room and stable; a dark apartment, with floor of hardened +earth and a single window, open to wind and weather. The atmosphere in +this chamber for man and beast was impregnated with the smell of mold +and dry-rot, mingled with the livelier effluvium of dirt and grime of +years; but amid the malodor and mustiness, on a couch under the window, +slumbered and snored the false Franciscan monk. By his side was a +tankard, half-filled with stale sack, and in his hand he clutched a +gold piece as though he had had an intimation it would be safer there +than elsewhere on his person during the pot-valiant sleep he had +deliberately courted. His hood had fallen back, displaying a bullet +head, red cheeks and purple nose, while the wooden beads of this +sottish counterfeit of a friar trailed from his girdle on the ground. +From a stall in a far corner a large, bony-looking nag turned its head +reproachfully, as if mentally protesting against such foul quarters and +the poor company they offered. Its melancholy whinny upon the +appearance of the woman was a sigh for freedom; a sad suspiration to +the memory of radiant clover fields or poppy-starred meadows. + +"Why, here's a holy man worn out by too many paternosters," commented +the duke's fool, standing on the threshold; and then gazed from the +gold piece in the monk's hand to the woman. "I need not ask where you +got the silver, Nanette. 'Tis a chain of evidence leading--where?" + +The gipsy replied only with dark looks, regarding his intrusion in this +inner sanctuary as a fresh provocation for her just displeasure. The +jester, however, paid no attention to these signs of new acerbity on +her face. + +Crossing to the couch, he shook the monk vigorously, but the latter +only held his piece of money tighter like a miser whose treasure is +threatened, and snored the louder. Again the fool essayed to waken +him, and this time he opened his eyes, felt for his beads and commenced +to mutter a prayer in Latin words, strung together in meaningless +phrases. + +"Why," commented the jester, "his learning is as false as his cloak. +Wake up, sirrah! Would you approach Heaven's gate with a feigned +prayer on your lips and a toss-pot in your hand?" + +"_Christe tuum_--I absolve you! I absolve you!" muttered the friar. +"Go your way in peace." + +"Hear me, thou trumped-up monk; do you want another piece of gold?" + +"Gold!" repeated the other, tipsily. "What--what for? To--to help +some fool to paradise--or purgatory? 'Tis for the Church I beg, good +people. The holy Church--Church I say!" + +Winking and blinking, seeing nothing before him, he held out a +trembling hand. "The piece of gold--give it to me!" he mumbled. + +"Yes; in exchange for your cloak," answered the jester. + +"My cloak, thou horse-leech! Sell my skin for--piece of gold! Want my +cloak? Take it!" And the dissembler rolled over, extending his arms. +The jester grasped the garment by the sleeves and with some difficulty +whipped it from him. + +"Now hand me--the money and--cover me with rags that--I may sleep," +continued the beer-bibber. "So"--as he grasped the money the fool gave +him and stretched himself luxuriously beneath a noisome litter of +cast-off clothes and rubbish--"I languish in ecstasies! The +angels--are singing around me." + +With growing surprise and ill-humor had the woman observed this novel +proceeding, and now, when the jester had himself donned the false +friar's gown, she said grudgingly: + +"You did not give him one of the five pieces?" + +"No; there are still five left." + +"A bit of gold for a cloak!" she grumbled. "It is overmuch. But +there!" Unfastening a door that looked out upon the field. "Give me +the money and be gone." + +He grasped the bridle of the horse, handed her the promised reward, +and, drawing the hood of the monk's garment over his head, led the nag +out into the open air. The door closed quickly behind him and he heard +the wooden bolt as it shot into place. Above the dark outlines of the +forest, the moon, full-orbed, now shone in the sky, with a myriad +attendant stars, its silver beams flooding the open spaces and +revealing every detail, soft, dreamy, yet distinct. A languorous, +redolent air just stirred the waving grain, on which rested a glossy +shimmer. + +As the fool was about to spring upon the horse, a shadow suddenly +appeared around the corner of the house and the animal danced aside in +affright. Before the jester could quiet and mount the nag, the shadow +resolved itself into a man, and, behind him, came a numerous band, the +play of light on helmet, sword and dagger revealing them as a party of +troopers. Doubtless having indulged freely, they had become inclined +to new adventures, and accordingly had bent their footsteps toward the +"little house on the verge of the wood," where merry company was always +to be found. At the sight of the duke's fool and the horse they +pressed forward, and, with one accord, surrounded him. + +"The Franciscan monk!" cried one. + +"Where is he going so late with the nag?" asked another. + +"He's off to confess some one," exclaimed a third. + +"A petticoat, most likely, the rogue!" rejoined the second speaker. + +"Well, what have we to do with his love affairs?" laughed the first +trooper. "Ride on, good father, and keep tryst." + +"Yes, ride on!" the others called out. + +The monk bowed. An interruption which had promised to defeat his +designs seemed drawing to a harmless conclusion. His hopes ran high; +the soldiers had not yet penetrated beneath the costume; he had already +determined to leap upon the horse in a rush for freedom when a heavy, +detaining hand was laid on his shoulder. + +"One moment, knave!" said a deep voice, and, wheeling sharply, the fool +looked into the keen, ferret eyes of the trooper with the red +mustaches. "I have a question to ask. Have you done that which you +were to do?" + +The friar nodded his assent. "The fool will trouble the duke no more," +he answered. + +"Ah, he is"--began the soldier. + +"Even so. And now pray let me pass." + +"Yes; let him pass!" urged one of the soldiers. "Would you keep some +longing trollop waiting?" + +The leader of the troopers did not answer; his glance was bent upon the +ground. "Yes, you may go," he commented, "when--" and suddenly thrust +forth an arm and pulled back the enshrouding cloak. + +"The duke's fool!" he cried. "Close in, rogues! Let him not escape." + +Fiercely the fool's hand sought his breast; then, swiftly realizing +that it needed but a pretext to bring about the end desired by the +pretender in the castle, with an effort he restrained himself, and +confronted his assailants, outwardly calm. + +"'Tis a poor jest which fails," he said, easily. + +"Jest!" grimly returned he of the red mustaches. "Call you it a jest, +this monk's disguise? Once on the horse, it would have been no jest, +and I'll warrant you would soon have left the castle far behind. Yes; +and but for the cloven foot, the jest, as you call it, would have +succeeded, too. Had it not been," he added, "for the pointed, silken +shoe, peeping out from beneath the holy robe--a covering of vanity, +instead of holy nakedness--you would certainly have deceived me, +and"--with a brusque laugh--"slipped away from your master, the duke." + +"The duke?" said the jester, as casting the now useless cloak from him, +he deliberately scrutinized the rogue. + +"The duke," returned the man, stolidly. "Well, this spoils our sport +for to-night, knaves," he went on, turning to the other troopers, "for +we must e'en escort the jester back to the castle." + +"Beshrew him!" they answered, of one accord. "A plague upon him!" + +And slowly the fool and the soldiers began to retrace their way across +the moon-lit fields, the trooper with the red mustaches grumbling as +they went: "Such luck to turn back now, with all those mad-caps right +under our nose! A curse to a dry march over a dusty meadow! An +unsanctified dog of a monk! 'Tis like a campaign, with naught but +ditch water to drink. The devil take the friar and the jester! +Forward! the fool in the center, and those he would have fooled around +him!" + +And when they disappeared in the distance the gipsy woman might have +been seen leaving the house by the stable door and leading in the horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR + +Between Caillette and the duke's jester had arisen one of those +friendships which spring more from similitude than unlikeness; an amity +of which each had been unconscious in its inception, but which had +gradually grown into a sentiment of comradeship. Caillette was of +noble mien, graceful manner and elegant address; a soldier by +preference; a jester against his will, forced to the office by the +nobleman who had cared for and educated him. In the duke's fool he had +found his other self; a man who like himself lent dignity to the gentle +art of jesting; who could turn a rhyme and raise a laugh without +resorting to grossness. + +The line of demarcation between the clown and the merry-and-wise wit +was, in those days, not clearly drawn. The stories of the former, +which made the matrons look down and the maidens to hide their faces, +were often more appreciated by the inebriate nobles than some subtile +comicality or nimble lines of poetry, that would serve to take home and +think over, and which improved with time like a wine of sound body. +Triboulet abused the ancient art of foolery, thought Caillette; the +duke's _plaisant_ played upon it with true drollery, and as a master +who has a delicate ear for an instrument, so Caillette, being sensitive +to broadness or stupidity which masked as humor or pleasantry, turned +naturally from the mountebank to the true jester. + +Moreover, Caillette experienced a superior sadness, sifted through +years of infestivity and gloom, beginning when Diane was led to the +altar by the grand seneschal of Normandy, that threw an actual, albeit +cynical, interest about the love-tragedy of the duke's fool which the +other divined and--from his own past heart-throbs--understood. The +_plaisant_ to the princess' betrothed, Caillette would have sworn, was +of gentle birth; his face, manner and bearing proclaimed it; he was, +also, a scholar and a poet; his courage, which Caillette divined, +fitted him for the higher office of arms. Certainly, he became an +interesting companion, and the French jester sought his company on +every occasion. And this fellowship, or intimacy, which he courted was +destined to send Caillette forth on a strange and adventuresome mission. + +The day following the return of the duke's fool to the castle, Francis, +who early in his reign had sought to model his life after the +chivalrous romances, inaugurated a splendid and pompous tournament. +Some time before, the pursuivants had proclaimed the event and +distributed to the knights who were to take active part the shields of +arms of the four _juges-diseurs_, or umpires of the field. On this +gala occasion the scaffolds and stands surrounding the arena were +bedecked in silks of bright colors; against the cloudless sky a +thousand festal flags waved and fluttered in the gentle breeze; beneath +the tasseled awning festoons of bright flowers embellished gorgeous +hangings and tapestries. + +The king rode from the castle under a pavilion of cloth of gold and +purple velvet, with the letters F and R, boldly outlined, followed by +ladies and courtiers, pages and attendants. Amid the shouts and huzzas +of the people, the monarch and his retinue took their places in the +center of the stand, the royal box hung with ornate brocades and +trimmings. + +In an inclosure of white, next to that of the king, was seated the Lady +of the Tournament, the Princess Louise, and her maids of honor, arrayed +all in snowy garb, and, against the garish brilliancy of the general +background, a pompous pageantry of colors, the decoration of this +dainty nook shone in silvery contrast. A garland of flowers was the +only crown the lady wore; no other adornment had her fair shoulders +save their own argent beauty, of which the fashion of the day permitted +a discernible suggestion. One arm hung languorously across the +railing, as she leaned forward with seeming carelessness, but intently +directed her glance to the scene below, where the attendants were +arranging the ring or leading the wondrously pranked-out chargers to +their stalls. + +Behind her, motionless as a statue, with face that looked paler, and +lips the redder, and hair the blacker, stood the maid Jacqueline. If +the casual glance saw first the blond head, the creamy arms and sunny +blue eyes of the princess, it was apt to linger with almost a start of +wonder upon the striking figure of the jestress, a nocturnal touch in a +pearly picture. + +"On my word, there's a decorative creature for any lord to have in his +house," murmured the aged chancellor of the kingdom, sitting near the +monarch. "Who is she?" + +"A beggar's brat Francis found here when he took the castle," replied +the beribboned spark addressed. "You know the story?" + +"Yes," said the white-haired diplomat, half-sadly. "This castle once +belonged to the great Constable of Dubrois. When he fell from favor +the king besieged him; the constable fled and died in Spain. That +much, of course, I--and the world--know. But the girl--" + +"When our victorious monarch took possession of this ancient pile," +explained the willing courtier, "the only ones left in it were an old +gamekeeper and his daughter, a gipsy-like maid who ran wild in the +woods. Time hath tamed her somewhat, but there she stands." + +"And what sad memories of a noble but unfortunate gentleman cluster +around her!" muttered the chancellor. "Alas, for our brief hour of +triumph and favor! Yesterday was he great; I, nothing. To-day, what +am I, while he--is nothing." + +A great murmur, resolving itself into shouts and resounding outcry, +interrupted the noble's reminiscent mood, as a thick-set figure in +richly chased armor, mounted on a massive horse, crossed the arena. + +"_Bon Vouloir!_" they cried. "_Bon Vouloir!_" + +It was the name assumed by the free baron for the day, while other +knights were known for the time being by such euphonious and chivalrous +appellations as _Vaillant Desyr_, _Bon Espoir_ or _Coeur Loyal_. _Bon +Vouloir_, upon this popular demonstration, reined his steed, and, +removing his head-covering, bowed reverently to the king and his suite, +deeply to the Lady of the Tournament and her retinue, and carelessly to +the vociferous multitude, after which he retired to a large tent of +crimson and gold, set apart for his convenience and pleasure. + +From the purple box the monarch had nodded graciously and from the +silver bower the lady had smiled softly, so that the duke had no reason +for dissatisfaction; the attitude of the crowd was of small moment, an +unmusical accompaniment to the potent pantomime, of which the principal +figures were Francis, the King Arthur of Europe, and the princess, +queen of beauty's unbounded realm. + +In front of the duke's pavilion was hung his shield, and by its side +stood his squire, fancifully dressed in rich colors. Behind ranged the +men of arms, whose lances formed a fence to hold in check the people +from far and wide, among whom the pick-purses, light-fingered scamps, +and sturdy beggars conscientiously circulated, plying themselves +assiduously. The fashion of the day prescribed carrying the purse and +the dagger dangling from the girdle, and many a good citizen departed +from the tourney without the one and with the other, and it is needless +to say which of the two articles the filcher left its owner. And none +was more enthusiastic or demonstrative of the features of the lists +than these rapacious riflers, who loudly cheered the merry monarch or +shouted for his gallant knights, while deftly cutting purse-cords or +despoiling honest country dames of brooches, clasps or other treasured +articles of adornment. + +Near the duke's pavilion, to the right, had been pitched a commodious +tent of yellow material, with ropes of the same color, and a fool's cap +crowning the pole in place of the customary banner. Over the entrance +was suspended the jester's gilded wand and a staff, from which hung a +blown bladder. Here were quartered the court jesters whom Francis had +commanded to be fittingly attired for the lists and to take part in the +general combat. In vain had Triboulet pleaded that they would occasion +more merriment if assigned to the king's box than doomed to the arena. + +"That may be," Francis had answered, "but on this occasion all the +people must witness your antics." + +"Antics!" Triboulet had shuddered. "An I should be killed, your +Majesty?" + +"Then it will be amusing to see you quiet for once in your life," had +been the laughing reply. + +And with this poor assurance the dwarf had been obliged to content +himself--not merrily, 'tis true, but with much inward disquietude, +secretly execrating his monarch for this revival of ancient and +barbarous practices. + +Now, in the rear of the jesters' pavilion, his face was yellow with +trepidation, as the armorer buckled on the iron plates about his +stunted figure, fastening and riveting them in such manner, he mentally +concluded he should never emerge from that frightful shell. + +"The worst of it is," dryly remarked the hunchback's valet as he +briskly plied his little hammer, "these clothes are so heavy you +couldn't run away if you wanted to." + +"Oh, that the duke were married and out of the kingdom!" Triboulet +fervently wished, and the fiery comments of Marot, Villot and those +other reckless spirits, who seemed to mind no more the prospect of +being spitted on a lance than if it were but a novel and not unpleasant +experience to look forward to, in no wise served to assuage his +heart-sinking. + +At the entrance of the pavilion stood Caillette, who had watched the +passing of _Bon Vouloir_ and now was gazing upward into a sea of faces +from whence came a hum of voices like the buzzing of unnumbered bees. + +"Certes," he commented, "the king makes much of this unmannered, +lumpish, beer-drinking noble who is going to wed the princess." + +"Caillette," said the low voice of the duke's jester at his elbow, +"would you see a woman undone?" + +"Why, _mon ami_!" lightly answered the French fool, "I've seen many +undone--by themselves." + +"Ah," returned the other, "I appeal to your chivalry, and you answer +with a jest." + +"How else," asked Caillette, with a peculiar smile that was at once +sweet and mournful, "can one take woman, save as a jest--a pleasant +mockery?" + +"Your irony precludes the test of friendship--the service I was about +to ask of you," retorted the duke's fool, gravely. + +"Test of friendship!" exclaimed the poet. "'Tis the only thing I +believe in. Love! What is it? A flame! a breath! Look out there--at +the flatterers and royal sycophants. Those are your emissaries of +love. Ye gods! into the breasts of what jack-a-dandies and parasites +has descended the unquenchable fire of Jove! Now as for +comradeship"--placing his hand affectionately on the other's +shoulder--"by Castor and Pollux, and all the other inseparables, 'tis +another thing. But expound this strange anomaly--a woman wronged. Who +is the woman?" + +"The Princess Louise!" + +Caillette glanced from the place where he stood to the center of the +stand and the white bower, inclining from which was a woman, haughty, +fair, beautiful; one whose face attracted the attention of the +multitude and who seemed not unhappy in being thus scrutinized and +admired. Shaking his head slowly, the court poet dropped his eyes and +studied the sand at his feet. + +"She looks not wronged," he said, dryly. "She appears to enjoy her +triumphs." + +"And yet, Caillette, 'tis all a farce," answered the duke's jester. + +"So have I--thought--on other occasions." + +And again his gaze flew upward, not, however, to the lady whom Francis +had gallantly chosen for Queen of Beauty, but, despite his alleged +cynicism, to a corner of the king's own box, where sat she who had once +been a laughing maid by his side and with whom he had played that +diverting pastoral, called "First Love." It was only an instant's +return into the farcical but joyous past, and a moment later he was +sharply recalled into the arid present by the words of his companion. + +"The man the Princess Louise is going to marry is no more Robert, the +Duke of Friedwald, than you are!" exclaimed the foreign fool. "He is +the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld, the so-called free baron of Hochfels. His +castle commands the road between the true duke and Francis' domains. +He made himself master of all the correspondence, conceived the plan to +come here himself and intends to carry off the true lord's bride. +Indeed, in private, he has acknowledged it all to me, and, failing to +corrupt me to his service, last night set an assassin to kill me." + +His listener, with folded arms and attentive mien, kept his eyes fixed +steadily upon the narrator, as if he doubted the evidence of his +senses. Without, the marshals had taken their places in the lists and +another stentorian dissonance greeted these officers of the field from +the good-humored gathering, which, basking in the anticipation of the +feast they knew would follow the pageantry, clapped their hands and +flung up their caps at the least provocation for rejoicing. Upon the +two jesters this scene of jubilation was lost, Caillette merely bending +closer to the other, with: + +"But why have you not denounced him to the king?" + +"Because of my foolhardiness in tacitly accepting at first this +free-booter as my master." + +Caillette shot a keen glance at the other and smiled. His eyes said: +"Foolhardiness! Was it not, rather, some other emotion? Had not the +princess leaned more than graciously toward her betrothed and--" + +"I thought him but some flimsy adventurer," went on the duke's fool, +hastily, "and told myself I would see the play played out, holding the +key to the situation, and--" + +"You underestimated him?" + +"Exactly. His plans were cunningly laid, and now--who am I that the +king should listen to me? At best, if I denounce him, they would +probably consider it a bit of pleasantry, or--madness." + +"Yes," reluctantly assented Caillette, Triboulet's words, "a fool in +love with the princess!" recurring to him; "it would be undoubtedly +even as you say." + +The duke's jester looked down thoughtfully. He had only half-expressed +to the French _plaisant_ the doubts which had assailed him since his +interview with Louis of Hochfels. Who could read the minds of +monarchs? The motives actuating them? Should he be able to convince +Francis of the deception practised upon him, was it altogether unlikely +that the king might not be brought to condone the offense for the sake +of an alliance with this bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld and the other +unconquerable free barons of the Austrian border against Charles +himself? Had not Francis in the past, albeit openly friendly with the +emperor, secretly courted the favor of the powerful German nobles in +Charles' own country? Had not his covenant with the infidel, Solyman, +been a covert attempt to undermine the emperor's power? + +From the day when, as young men, both had been aspirants for the +imperial throne of Germany and Francis had suffered defeat, the latter +had assiduously devoted himself to the retributory task of gaining the +ascendancy over his successful rival. And now, although the tempering +years had assuaged their erstwhile passions and each had professed to +eschew war and its violence, might not this temptation prove too great +for Francis to resist a last blow at the emperor's prestige? How easy +to affect disbelief of a fool, to overthrow the fabric of friendship +between Charles and himself, and at the same time apparently not +violate good faith or conscience! + +The voice of Caillette broke in upon his thoughts. + +"You will not then attempt to denounce him?" + +The fool hesitated. "Alone--out of favor with the king, I like not to +risk the outcome--but--if I may depend upon you--" + +"Did ever friend refuse such a call?" exclaimed Caillette, promptly. A +quick glance of gratitude flashed from the other's eyes. + +"There is one flaw in the free baron's position," resumed the duke's +fool, more confidently; "a fatal one 'twill prove, if it is possible to +carry out my plans. He thinks the emperor is in Austria, and his +followers guard the road through the mountains. He tells himself not +only are the emperor and the Duke of Friedwald too far distant to hear +of the pretender and interfere with the nuptials, but that he obviates +even the contingency of their learning of that matter at all by +controlling the way through which the messengers must go. Thus rests +he in double security--but an imaginary one." + +"What mean you?" asked Caillette, attentively, from his manner giving +fuller credence to the extraordinary news he had just learned. + +"That Charles, the emperor, is not in Austria, but in Aragon at +Saragossa, where he can be reached in time to prevent the marriage. +Just before my leaving, the emperor, to my certain knowledge, secretly +departed for Spain on matters pertaining to the governing of Aragon. +Charles plays a deep game in the affairs of Europe, though he works +ever silently and unobtrusively. Is he not always beforehand with your +king? When Francis was preparing the gorgeous field of the cloth of +gold for his English brother, did not Charles quietly leave for the +little isle, and there, without beat of drum, arrange his own affairs +before Henry was even seen by your pleasure-loving monarch? Yes; to +the impostor and to Francis, Charles is in Austria; to us--for now you +share my secret--is he in Spain, where by swift riding he may be found, +and yet interdict in this matter." + +"Then why--haven't you ere this fled to the emperor with the news?" + +"Last night I had determined to get away, when first I was assaulted by +an assassin of the impostor, and next detained by his troop and brought +back to the castle. I had even left on foot, trusting to excite less +suspicion, and hoping to find a horse on the way, but fortune was with +the pretender. So here am I, closely watched--and waiting," he added +grimly. + +The listener's demeanor was imperturbability itself. He knew why the +other had taken him into his confidence, and understood the silent +appeal as plainly as though words had uttered it. Perhaps he duly +weighed the perils of a flight without permission from the court of the +exacting and capricious monarch, and considered the hazards of the trip +itself through a wild and brigand-infested country. Possibly, the +thought of the princess moved him, for despite his irony, it was his +mocking fate to entertain in his breast, against his will, a covert +sympathy for the gentler sex; or, looking into the passionate face of +his companion, he may have been conscious of some bond of brotherhood, +a fellow-feeling that could not resist the call upon his good-will and +amicable efforts. The indifference faded from Caillette's face and +almost a boyish enthusiasm shone in his eyes. + +"_Mon ami_, I'll do it!" he exclaimed, lightly. "I'll ride to the +emperor for you." + +Silently the jester of the duke wrung his hand. "I've long sighed for +an adventure," laughed Caillette. "And here is the opportunity. +Caillette, a knight-errant! But"--his face falling--"the emperor will +look on me as a madman." + +"Nay," replied the duke's _plaisant_, "here is a letter. When he reads +it he will, at least, think the affair worth consideration. He knows +me, and trusts my fidelity, and will be assured I would not jest on +such a serious matter. Believe me, he will receive you as more than a +madman." + +"Why, then, 'twill be a rare adventure," commented the other. +"Wandering in the country; the beautiful country, where I was reared; +away from the madness of courts. Already I hear the wanton breezes +sighing in Sapphic softness and the forests' elegiac murmur. Tell me, +how shall I ride?" + +"As a knight to the border; thence onward as a minstrel. In Spain +there's always a welcome for a blithe singer." + +"'Tis fortunate I learned some Spanish love songs from a fair señora +who was in Charles' retinue the time he visited Francis," added +Caillette. "An I should fail?" he continued, more gravely. + +"You will not fail," was the confident reply. + +"I am of your mind, but things will happen--sometimes--and why do you +not speak to the princess herself--to warn her--" + +"Speak to her!" repeated the duke's jester, a shadow on his brow. +"When he has appealed to her, perhaps--when--" He broke off abruptly. +His tone was proud; in his eyes a look which Caillette afterward +understood. As it was, the latter nodded his head wisely. + +"A woman whose fancy is touched is--what she is," he commented, +generally. "Truly it would be a more thankless task, even, than +approaching the king. For women were ever creatures of caprice, not to +be governed by any court of logic, but by the whimsical, fantastic +rules of Marguerite's court. Court!" he exclaimed. "The word suggests +law; reason; where merit hath justice. Call it not Love's Court, but +love's caprice, or crochet. But look you, there's another channel to +the princess' mind--yonder black-browed maid--our ally in motley--when +she chooses to wear it--Jacqueline." + +"She likes me not," returned the fool. "Would she believe me in such +an important matter?" + +"I'm afraid not," tranquilly replied Caillette, "in view of the +improbability of your tale and the undoubted credentials held by this +pretender. For my part, to look at the fellow was almost enough. But +to the ladies, his brutality signifieth strength and power; and his +uncouthness, originality and genius. Marguerite, even, is prepossessed +in his favor and has written a platonic poem in his honor. As for the +princess"--pressing the other's arm gently--"do you not know, _mon +ami_, that women are all alike? There is but one they obey--the +king--that is as high as their ambitions can reach--and even him they +deceive. Why, the Countess d'Etampes--but this is no time for gossip. +We are fools, you and I, and love, my friend, is but broad farce at the +best." + +Even as he spoke thus, however, from the lists came the voices of the +well-instructed heralds, secretaries of the occasion, who had delved +deeply into the practices of the merry and ancient pastime: "Love of +ladies! For you and glory! Chivalry but fights for love. Look down, +fair eyes!" a peroration which was answered with many pieces of silver +from the galleries above, and which the gorgeously dressed officials +readily unbent to gather. Among the fair hands which rewarded this +perfunctory apostrophe to the tender passion none was more lavish in +offerings than those matrons and maids in the vicinity of the king. A +satirical smile again marred Caillette's face, but he kept his +reflections to himself, reverting to the business of the moment. + +"I should be off at once!" he cried. "But what can we do? The king +hath commanded all the jesters to appear in the tournament to-day, +properly armed and armored, the better to make sprightlier sport amid +the ponderous pastime of the knights. Here am I bound to shine on +horseback, willy-nilly. Yet this matter of yours is pressing. Stay! +I have it. I can e'en fall from my horse, by a ruse, retire from the +field, and fly southward." + +"Then will I wish you Godspeed, now," said the duke's fool. "Never was +a stancher heart than thine, Caillette, or a truer friend." + +"One word," returned the other, not without a trace of feeling which +even his cynicism could not hide. "Beware of the false duke in the +arena! It will be his opportunity to--" + +"I understand," answered the duke's fool, again warmly pressing +Caillette's hand, "but with the knowledge you are fleeing to Spain I +have no fear for the future. If we meet not after to-day--" + +"Why, life's but a span, and our friendship has been short, but sweet," +added the other. + +Now without sounded a flourish of trumpets and every glance was +expectantly down-turned from the crowded stand, as with a clatter of +hoofs and waving of plumes France's young chivalry dashed into the +lists, divided into two parties, took their respective places and, at a +signal from the musicians, started impetuously against one another. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS + +In that first "joyous and gentle passage of arms," wherein the weapons +were those "of courtesy," their points covered with small disks, +several knights broke their lances fairly, two horsemen of the side +wearing red plumes became unseated, and their opponents, designated as +the "white plumes," swept on intact. + +"Well done!" commented the king from his high tribunal, as the squires +and attendants began to clear the lists, assisting the fallen +belligerents to their tents. "We shall have another such memorable +field as that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch!" + +The following just, reduced to six combatants, three of the red plumes +and three of the white, was even yet more spirited than the first tilt, +for the former trio couched their lances with the determination to +retrieve the day for their party. In this encounter two of the whites +were unhorsed, thus placing the contention once more on an equal basis, +while in the third conflict the whites again suffered similar disaster, +and but one remained to redeem his party's lapse from an advantage +gained in the opening combat. + +All eyes were now fastened upon this single remnant of the white +fellowship in arms, who, to wrest victory from defeat, became obliged +to overcome each in turn of the trio of reds, a formidable task for one +who had already been successful in three stubborn matches. It was a +hero-making opportunity, but, alas! for the last of the little white +company. Like many another, he made a brave dash for honor and the +"bubble reputation"; the former slipped tantalizingly from his grasp, +and the latter burst and all its pretty colors dissolved in thin air. +Now he lay still on the sands and the king only remarked: + +"Certes, he possessed courage." + +And the words sounded like an epitaph, a not inglorious one, although +the hand that gripped the lance had failed. The defeated champion was +removed; the opportunity had passed; the multitude stoically accepted +the lame and impotent conclusion, and the tournament proceeded. + +Event followed event, and those court ladies who at first had professed +their nerves were weaker than their foremothers' now watched the arena +with sparkling eyes, no longer turning away at the thrilling moment of +contact. Taking their cue from the king, they were lavish in praise +and generous in approval, and at an unusual exhibition of skill the +stand grew bright with waving scarfs and handkerchiefs. Simultaneous +with such an animated demonstration from the galleries would come a +roar of approval from the peasantry below, crowded where best they +could find places, bespeaking for their part, likewise, an increasing +lust for the stirring pastime. + +In truth, the only dissatisfied onlookers were the quick-fingered +spoilers and rovers who, packed as close as dried dates in a basket by +the irresistible forward press of the people, found themselves suddenly +occupationless, without power to move their arms, or ply their hands. +Thus held in a mighty compress, temporary prisoners with their spoils +in their pockets, and cheap jewelry shining enticingly all about them, +they were obliged for the time to comport themselves like honest +citizens. But, although their bodies were in durance vile, their eyes +could roam covetously to a showy trinket on the broad bosom of some +buxom good-wife, or a gewgaw that hung from the neck of a red-cheeked +lass. + +"Ha!" muttered the scamp-student to his good spouse, "here are all the +jolly boys immersed to their necks, like prisoners buried in the sand +by the Arabs." + +"Hush!" she whispered, warningly. "See you yonder--the duke's fool; he +wears the arms of Charles, the emperor." + +"And there's the Duke of Friedwald himself," answered the ragged +scholar. "Look! the jesters are going to fight. They have arranged +them in two parties. Half of them go with the duke and his knights; +the other half with his Lordship's opponents." + +"But the duke's fool, by chance, is set against his master," she +mumbled, significantly. + +"Call you it chance?" he said in a low voice, and Nanette nudged him +angrily in the side with her elbow, so that he cried out, and attention +would have been called to them but for a ripple of laughter which +started on the edge of the crowd and was taken up by the serried ranks. + +"Ho! ho! Look at Triboulet!" shouted the delighted populace. "Ah, the +droll fellow!" + +All eyes were now bent to the arena, where, on a powerful nag, sat +perched the misshapen jester. With whip and spur he was vehemently +plying a horse that stubbornly stood as motionless as carven stone. +Thinking at the last moment of a plan for escape from the dangerous +features of the tourney, the hunchback had bribed one of the attendants +to fetch him a steed which for sullen obduracy surpassed any charger in +the king's stables. Fate, he was called, because nothing could move or +change him, and now, with head pushed forward and ears thrust back, he +proved himself beneath the blows and spurring of the seemingly excited +rider, worthy of this appellation. + +"Go on, Fate; go on!" exclaimed the apparently angry dwarf. "Will you +be balky now, when Triboulet has glory within his grasp? Miserable +beast! unhappy fate! When bright eyes are watching the great +Triboulet!" + +If not destined to score success with his lance, the dwarf at least had +won a victory through his comical situation and ready wit. Fair ladies +forgot his ugliness; the pages his ill-humor; the courtiers his +vindictive slyness; the monarch the disappointment of his failure to +worst the duke's fool, and all applauded the ludicrous figure, +shouting, waving his arms, struggling with inexorable destiny. +Finally, in despair, his hands fell to his side. + +"Oh, resistless necessity!" he cried. But in his heart he said: "It is +well. I am as safe as on a wooden horse. Here I stand. Let others +have their heads split or their bodies broken. Triboulet, like the +gods, views the carnage from afar." + +While this bit of unexpected comedy riveted the attention of the +spectators the duke and his followers had slowly ridden to their side +of the inclosure. Here hovered the squires, adjusting a stirrup, +giving a last turn to a strap, or testing a bridle or girth. Behind +stood the heralds, trumpeters and pursuivants in their bright garb of +office. At his own solicitation had the duke been assigned an active +part in the day's entertainment. The king, fearing for the safety of +his guest and the possible postponement of the marriage should any +injury befall him, had sought to dissuade him from his purpose, but the +other had laughed boisterously at the monarch's fears and sworn he +would break a lance for his lady love that day. Francis, too gallant a +knight himself to interpose further objection to an announcement so in +keeping with the traditions of the lists, thereupon had ordered the +best charger in his stables to be placed at the disposal of the +princess' betrothed, and again nodded his approbation upon the +appearance of the duke in the ring. But at least one person in that +vast assemblage was far from sharing the monarch's complaisant mood. + +If the mind of the duke's fool had heretofore been filled with +bitterness upon witnessing festal honors to a mere presumptuous free +baron, what now were his emotions at the reception accorded him? From +king to churl was he a gallant noble; he, a swaggerer, ill-born, a +terrorist of mountain passes. Even as the irony of the demonstration +swept over the jester, from above fell a flower, white as the box from +whence it was wafted. Downward it fluttered, a messenger of amity, +like a dove to his gauntlet. And with the favor went a smile from the +Lady of the Lists. But while _Bon Vouloir_ stood there, the symbol in +his hand and the applause ringing in his ears, into the tenor of his +thoughts, the consciousness of partly gratified ambition, there crept +an insinuating warning of danger. + +"My Lord," said the trooper with the red mustache, riding by the side +of his master, "the fool is plotting further mischief." + +"What mean you?" asked the free baron, frowning, as he turned toward +his side of the field. + +"Go slowly, my Lord, and I will tell you. I saw the fool and another +jester with their heads together," continued the trooper in a low tone. +"They were standing in front of the jesters' tent. You bade me watch +him. So I entered their pavilion at the back. Making pretext to be +looking for a gusset for an armor joint, I made my way near the +entrance. There, bending over barbet pieces, I overheard fragments of +their conversation. It even bore on your designs." + +"A conversation on my designs! He has then dared--" + +"All, my Lord. A scheming knave! After I had heard enough, I gathered +up a skirt of tassets--" + +"What did you hear?" said the other, impatiently. + +"A plan by which he hoped to let the emperor know--" + +A loud flourish of trumpets near them interrupted the free baron's +informer, and when the clarion tones had ceased it was the master who +spoke. "There's time but for a word now. Come to my tent afterward. +Meanwhile," he went on, hurriedly, "direct a lance at the fool--" + +"But, my Lord," expostulated the man, quickly, "the jesters only are to +oppose one another." + +"It will pass for an accident. Francis likes him not, and will clear +you of unknightly conduct, if--" He finished with a boldly significant +look, which was not lost upon his man. + +"Even if the leaden disk should fall from my lance and leave the point +bare?" said the trooper, hoarsely. + +"Even that!" responded the free baron, hastily. + +"_Laissez-aller!_" cried the marshals, giving the signal to begin. + +Above, in her white box, the princess turned pale. With bated breath +and parted lips, she watched the lines sweep forward, and, like two +great waves meeting, collide with a crash. The dust that arose seemed +an all-enshrouding mist. Beneath it the figures appeared, vague, +undefined, in a maze of uncertainty. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Louise, striving to penetrate the cloud; "he is +victorious!" + +"They have killed him!" said Jacqueline, at the same time staring +toward another part of the field. + +"Killed him!--what--" began the princess, now rosy with excitement. + +"No; he has won," added the maid, in the next breath, as a portion of +the obscuring mantle was swept aside. + +"Of course! Where are your eyes?" rejoined her mistress triumphantly. +"The duke, is one of the emperor's greatest knights." + +"In this case, Madam, it is but natural your sight should be better +than my own," half-mockingly returned the maid. + +And, in truth, the princess was right, for the king's guest, through +overwhelming strength and greater momentum, had lightly plucked from +his seat a stalwart adversary. Others of his following failed not in +the "attaint," and horses and troopers floundered in the sand. Apart +from the duke's victory, two especial incidents, one comic, stood out +in the confused picture. + +That which partook of the humorous aspect, and was seen and appreciated +by all, had for its central figure an unwilling actor, the king's +hunchback. Like the famous steed builded by the Greeks, Triboulet's +"wooden horse" contained unknown elements of danger, and even while the +jester was congratulating himself upon absolute immunity from peril the +nag started and quivered. At the flourish of the brass instruments his +ears, that had lain back, were now pricked forward; he had once, in his +palmy, coltish time, been a battle charger, and, perhaps, some memory +of those martial days, the waving of plumes and the clashing of arms, +reawoke his combative spirit of old. Or, possibly his brute +intelligence penetrated the dwarf's knavish pusillanimity, and, +changing his tactics that he might still range on the side of +perversity, resolved himself from immobility into a rampant agency of +motion. Furiously he dashed into the thick of the conflict, and +Triboulet, paralyzed with fear and dropping his lance, was borne +helplessly onward, execrating the nag and his capricious humor. + +Opposed to the hunchback rode Villot, who, upon reaching the dwarf and +observing his predicament, good-naturedly turned aside his point, but +was unable to avoid striking him with the handle as he rode by. To +Triboulet that blow, reëchoing in the hollow depths of his steel shell, +sounded like the dissolution of the universe, and, not doubting his +last moment had come, mechanically he fell to earth, abandoning to its +own resources the equine Fate that had served him so ill. Striking the +ground, and, still finding consciousness had not deserted him, instinct +prompted him to demonstrate that if his armor was too heavy for him to +run away in, as the smithy-_valet de chambre_ had significantly +affirmed, yet he possessed the undoubted strength and ability to crawl. +Thus, amid the guffaws of the peasantry and the smiles of the nobles, +he swiftly scampered from beneath the horses' feet, hurriedly left the +scene of strife, and finally reached triumphantly the haven of his tent. + +The other incident, witnessed by Jacqueline, was of a more serious +nature. As the lines swept together, with the dust rising before, she +perceived that the duke's trooper had swerved from his course and was +bearing down upon the duke's fool. + +"Oh," she whispered to herself, "the master now retaliates on the +jester." And held her breath. + +Had he, too, observed these sudden perfidious tactics? Apparently. +Yet he seemed not to shun the issue. + +"Why does he not turn aside?" thought the maid. "He might yet do it. +A fool and a knight, forsooth!" + +But the fool pricked his horse deeply; it sprang to the struggle madly; +crash! like a thunderbolt, steed and rider leaped upon the trooper. +Then it was Jacqueline had murmured: "They have killed him!" not +doubting for a moment but that he had sped to destruction. + +A second swift glance, and through the veil, less obscure, she saw the +jester riding, unharmed, his lance unbroken. Had he escaped, after +all? And the trooper? He lay among the trampling horses' feet. She +saw him now. How had it all come about? Her mind was bewildered, but +in spite of the princess' assertion to the contrary, her sight seemed +unusually clear. + +"Good lance, fool!" cried a voice from the king's box. + +"The jester rides well," said another. "The knight's lance even passed +over his head, while the fool's struck fairly with terrific force." + +"But why did he select the jester as an adversary?" continued the first +speaker. + +"Mistakes will happen in the confusion of a _mêlée_--and he has paid +for his error," was the answer. And Jacqueline knew that none would be +held accountable for the treacherous assault. + +Now the fool had dismounted and she observed that he was bending over +another jester who had been unhorsed. "Why," she murmured to herself +in surprise, "Caillette! As good a soldier as a fool. Who among the +jesters could have unseated him?" + +But her wonderment would have increased, could she have overheard the +conversation between the duke's fool and Caillette, as the former +lifted the other from the sands and assisted him to walk, or rather +limp, to the jesters' pavilion. + +"Did I not tell you to beware of the false duke?" muttered Caillette, +not omitting a parenthesis of deceptive groans. + +"Ah, if it had only been he, instead," began the fool. + +"Why," interrupted the seemingly injured man, "think you to stand up +against the boar of Hochfels?" + +"I would I might try!" said the other quickly. + +"Your success with the trooper has turned your head," laughed +Caillette, softly. "One last word. Look to yourself and fear not for +me. Mine injuries--which I surmise are internal as they are not +visible--will excuse me for the day. Nor shall I tarry at the palace +for the physician, but go straight on without bolus, simples or pills, +a very Mercury for speed. Danger will I eschew and a pretty maid shall +hold me no longer than it takes to give her a kiss in passing. Here +leave me at the tent. Turn back to the field, or they will suspect. +Trust no one, and--you'll mind it not in a friend, one who would serve +you to the end?--forget the princess! Serve her, save her, as you +will, but, remember, women are but creatures of the moment. Adieu, +_mon ami_!" + +And Caillette turned as one in grievous physical pain to an attendant, +bidding him speedily remove the armor, while the duke's fool, more +deeply stirred than he cared to show, moved again to the lists. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE + +Loud rang encomium and blessing on the king, as the people that night +crowded in the rear courtyard around the great tables set in the open +air, and groaning beneath viands, nutritious and succulent. What swain +or yokel had not a meed of praise for the monarch when he beheld this +burden of good cheer, and, at the end of each board, elevated a little +and garlanded with roses, a rotund and portly cask of wine, with a +spigot projecting hospitably tablewards? + +Forgotten were the tax-lists under which the commonalty labored; it was +"Hosanna" for Francis, and not a plowman nor tiller of the soil +bethought himself that he had fully paid for the snack and sup that +night. How could he, having had no one to think for him; for then +Rousseau had not lived, Voltaire was unborn, and the most daring +approach to lese-majesty had been Rabelais' jocose: "The wearers of the +crown and scepter are born under the same constellation as those of cap +and bells." + +Upon the green, smoking torches illumined the people and the +surroundings; beneath a great oven, the bright coals cast a vivid glow +far and near. Close to the broad face of a cask--round and large like +that of a full-fed host presiding at the head of the board--sat the +Franciscan monk, whose gluttonous eye wandered from quail to partridge, +thence onward to pastry or pie, with the spigot at the end of the orbit +of observation. Nor as it made this comprehensive survey did his +glance omit a casual inventory of the robust charms of a bouncing maid +on the opposite side of the table. Scattered amid the honest, +good-natured visages of the trusting peasants were the pinched +adventurers from Paris, the dwellers of that quarter sacred to +themselves. Yonder plump, frisky dame seemed like the lamb; the gaunt +knave by her side, the wolf. + +At length the company could eat no more, although there yet remained a +void for drinking, and as the cups went circling and circling, their +laughter mingled with the distant strains of music from the great, +gorgeously lighted pavilion, where the king and his guests were +assembled to close the tourney fittingly with the celebration of the +final event--the awarding of the prize for the day. + +"Can you tell me, good sir, to whom the umpires of the field have given +their judgment?" said a townsman to his country neighbor. + +"Did you not hear the king of arms decide the Duke of Friedwald was the +victor?" answered the other. + +"A decision of courtesy, perhaps?" insinuated the Parisian. + +"Nay; two spears he broke, and overcame three adversaries during the +day. Fairly he won the award." + +"I wish we might see the presentation," interrupted a maid, pertly, her +longing eyes straying to the bright lights afar. + +"Presentation!" repeated the countryman. "Did we not witness the +sport? A fig for the presentation! Give me the cask and a juicy +haunch, with a lass like yourself to dance with after, and the nobles +are welcome to the sight of the prize and all the ceremony that goes +with it." + +Within the king's pavilion, the spectacle alluded to, regretfully by +the girl and indifferently by the man, was at that moment being +enacted. Upon a throne of honor, the lady of the tournament, attended +by two maids, looked down on a brilliant assemblage, through which now +approached the king and the princess' betrothed. The latter seemed +somewhat thoughtful; his eye had but encountered that of the duke's +fool, whose gaze expressed a disdainful confidence the other fain would +have fathomed. But for that unfortunate meeting in the lists which had +sealed the lips of the only person who had divined the hidden danger, +the free baron would now have been master of the _plaisant's_ designs. +Above, in the palace, the trooper with the red mustaches lay on his +couch unconscious. + +For how long? The court physician could not say. The soldier might +remain insensible for hours. Thus had the jester served himself with +that stroke better than he knew, and he of Hochfels bit his lip and +fumed inwardly, but to no purpose. Not that he believed the peril to +be great, but the fact he could not grasp it goaded him, and he cursed +the trooper for a dolt and a poltroon that a mere fool should have +vanquished him. And so he had left him, with a last look of disgust at +the silent lips that could not do his bidding, and had proceeded to the +royal pavilion, where the final act of the day's drama--more momentous +than the king or other spectators realized--was to be performed; an act +in which he would have appeared with much complacency, but that his +chagrin preyed somewhat on his vanity. + +But his splendid self-control and audacity revealed to the courtly +assemblage no trace of what was passing in his mind. He walked by the +king's side as one not unaccustomed to such exalted company, nor +overwhelmed by sudden honors. His courage was superb; his demeanor +that of one born to command; in him seemed exemplified a type of brute +strength and force denoting a leader--whether of an army or a band of +swashbucklers. As the monarch and the free baron drew near, the +princess slowly, gracefully arose, while now grouped around the throne +stood the heralds and pursuivants of the lists. In her hand Louise +held the gift, covered with a silver veil, an end of which was carried +by each of the maids. + +"Fair Lady of the Tournament," said the king, "this gallant knight is +_Bon Vouloir_, whom you have even heard proclaimed the victor of the +day." + +"Approach, _Bon Vouloir_!" commanded the Queen of Love. + +The maids uncovered the gift, the customary chaplet of beaten gold, +and, as the free baron bowed his head, the princess with a firm hand +fulfilled the functions of her office. Rising, _Bon Vouloir_, amid the +exclamations of the court, claimed the privilege that went with the +bauble. A moment he looked at the princess; she seemed to bend beneath +his regard; then leaning forward, deliberately rather than ardently, he +touched her cheek with his lips. Those who watched the Queen of Love +closely observed her face become paler and her form tremble; but in a +moment she was again mistress of herself, her features prouder and +colder than before. + +"Did you notice how he melted the ice of her nature?" whispered Diane, +with a malicious little laugh, to the countess. + +"And yet 'twas not his--warmth that did it," wisely answered the +favorite of the king. + +"His coldness, then," laughed the other, as the musicians began to +play, and the winner of the chaplet led the princess to the dance. "Is +it not so, Sire?" she added, turning to the king, who at that moment +approached. + +"He, indeed, forgot a part of the ceremony," graciously assented +Francis. + +"A part of the ceremony, your Majesty?" questioned Diane. + +"To kiss the two damsels of the princess; and one of them was worthy of +casual courtesy," he added, musingly. + +"Which, Sire?" asked the countess, quickly. + +"The dark-browed maid," returned the monarch, thoughtfully. "Where did +I notice her last?" + +And then he remembered. It was she who, he suspected, had laughed that +night in Fools' hall. Recalling the circumstance, the king looked +around for her, but she had drawn back. + +"Is it your pleasure to open the festivities, Sire?" murmured the +favorite, and, without further words, Francis acquiesced, proffering +his arm to his companion. + +Masque, costume ball, ballet, it was all one to the king and the court, +who never wearied of the diverting vagaries of the dance. Now studying +that pantomimic group of merrymakers, in the rhythmical expression of +action and movement could almost be read the influence and relative +positions of the fair revelers. The countess, airy and vivacious, +perched, as it were, lightly yet securely on the arm of the throne; +Diane, fearless, confident of the future through the dauphin; +Catharine, proud of her rank, undisturbed in her own exalted place as +wife of the dauphin; Marguerite, mixture of saint and sinner, a soft +heart that would oft-times turn the king from a hard purpose. + +"There! I've danced enough," said a panting voice, and Jacqueline, +breathless, paused before the duke's fool, who stood a motionless +spectator of the revelry. In his rich costume of blue and white, the +figure of the foreign jester presented a fair and striking appearance, +but his face, proud and composed, was wanting in that spirit which +animated the features of his fellows in motley. + +"One more turn, fair Jacqueline?" suggested Marot, her partner in the +dance. + +"Not one!" she answered. + +"Is that a dismissal?" he asked, lightly. + +"'Tis for you to determine," retorted the maid. + +"Modesty forbids I should interpret it to my desires," he returned, +laughing, as he disappeared. + +Tall, seeming straighter than usual, upon each cheek a festal rose, she +stood before the duke's _plaisant_, inscrutable, as was her fashion, +the scarf about her shoulders just stirring from the effects of the +dance, and her lips parted to her hurried breathing. + +"How did you like the ceremony?" she asked, quietly. "And did you +know," she went on, without noticing the dark look in his eyes or +awaiting his response, "the lance turned upon you to-day was not a +'weapon of courtesy'?" + +"You mean it was directed by intention?" he asked indifferently. + +"Not only that," she answered. "I mean that the disk had been removed +and the point left bare." + +"A mistake, of course," he said, with a peculiar smile. + +A look of impatience crossed her face, but she gazed at him intently +and her eyes held his from the floor where they would have strayed. + +"Are you stupid, or do you but profess to be?" she demanded. "Before +the tilt I noticed the duke and his trooper talking together. When +they separated the latter, unobserved as he thought, struck the point +of his weapon against his stirrup. The disk fell to the ground." + +"Your glance is sharp, Jacqueline," he retorted, slowly. "Thank you +for the information." + +Her eyes kindled; an angry retort seemed about to spring from her lips. +It was with difficulty she controlled herself to answer calmly a moment +later. + +"You mean it can serve you nothing? Perhaps you are right. To-day you +were lucky. To-morrow you may be--what? To-day you defended yourself +well and it was a good lance you bore. Had it been any other jester, +the king would have praised him. Because it was you, no word has been +spoken. If anything, your success has annoyed him. Several of the +court spoke of it; he answered not; 'tis the signal to ignore it, +and--you!" + +"Then are you courageous to brave public opinion and hold converse with +me," he replied, with a smile. + +"Public opinion!" she exclaimed with flashing eyes. "What would they +say of a jestress? Who is she? What is she?" + +She ended abruptly; bit her lips, showing her gleaming white teeth. +Then some emotion, more profound, swept over her expressive face; she +looked at him silently, and when she spoke her voice was more gentle. + +"I can not believe," she continued thoughtfully, "that the duke told +his trooper to do that. 'Tis too infamous. The man must have acted on +his own responsibility. The duke could not, would not, countenance +such baseness." + +"You have a good opinion of him, gentle mistress," he said in a tone +that exasperated her. + +"Who has not?" she retorted, sharply. "He is as brave as he is +distinguished. Farewell. If you served him better, and yourself less, +you--" + +"Would serve myself better in the end?" he interrupted, satirically. +"Thanks, good Jacqueline. A woman makes an excellent counselor." + +Disdainfully she smiled; her face grew cold; her figure looked never +more erect and inflexible. + +"Why," she remarked, "here am I wasting time talking when the music is +playing and every one is dancing. Even now I see a courtier +approaching who has thrice importuned me." And the jestress vanished +in the throng as abruptly as she had appeared. + +Thoughtfully the duke's fool looked, not after her, but toward a far +end of the pavilion, where he last had seen the princess and her +betrothed. + +"Caillette should now be well on his way," he told himself. "No one +has yet missed him, or if they do notice his absence they will +attribute it to his injuries." + +This thought lent him confidence; the implied warnings of the maid +passed unheeded from his mind; indeed, he had scarcely listened to +them. Amid stronger passions, he felt the excitement of the subtile +game he and the free baron were playing; the blind conviction of a +gambler that he should yet win seized him, dissipating in a measure +more violent thoughts. + +He began to calculate other means to make assurance doubly sure; an +intricate realm of speculation, considering the safeguards the boar of +Hochfels had placed about himself. To offset the triumphs of the +king's guest there occurred to the jester the comforting afterthought +that the greater the other's successes now the more ignominious would +be his downfall. The free baron had not hesitated to use any means to +obliterate his one foeman from the scene; and he repeated to himself +that he would meet force with cunning, and duplicity with stealth, +spinning such a web as lay within his own capacity and resources. But +in estimating the moves before him, perhaps in his new-found trust, he +overlooked the strongest menace to his success--a hazard couched within +himself. + +Outspreading from the pavilion's walls were floral bowers with myriad +lights that shone through the leaves and foliage, where tiny fragrant +fountains tinkled, or diminutive, fairy-like waterfalls fell amid +sweet-smelling plants. Green, purple, orange, red, had been the colors +chosen in these dainty retreats for such of the votaries of the Court +of Love as should, from time to time, care to exchange the merry-making +within for the languorous rest without. It was yet too early, however, +for the sprightly devotees to abandon the lively pleasures of the +dance, so that when the duke's fool abstractedly entered the balmy, +crimson nook, at first he thought himself alone. + +Around him, carmine, blood-warm flowers exhaled a commingling +redolence; near him a toy-like fountain whispered very softly and +confidentially. Through the foliage the figures moved and moved; on +the air the music fell and rose, thin in orchestration, yet brightly +penetrating in sparkling detail. Buoyant were the violins; sportive +the flutes; all alive the gitterns; blithesome the tripping arpeggios +that crisply fell from the strings of the joyous harps. + +The rustling of a gown admonished him he was not alone, and, looking +around, amid the crimson flowers, to his startled gaze, appeared the +face of her of whom he was thinking; above the broad, white brow shone +the radiance of hair, a gold that was almost bronze in that dim light; +through the green tangle of shrubbery, a silver slipper. + +"Ah, it is you, fool?" she said languidly. It may be, he contrasted +the indifference of her tones now with the unconscious softness of her +voice when she had addressed him on another occasion--in another +garden; for his face flushed, and he would have turned abruptly, when-- + +"Oh, you may remain," she added, carelessly. "The duke has but left +me. He received a message that the man hurt in the lists was most +anxious to see him." + +Into the whirl of his reflections her words insinuated themselves. Why +had the free baron gone to the trooper? What made his presence so +imperative at the bedside of the soldier that he had abruptly abandoned +the festivities? Surely, more than mere anxiety for the man's welfare. +The jester looked at the princess for the answer to these questions; +but her face was cold, smiling, unresponsive. In the basin of the +fountain tiny fish played and darted, and as his eyes turned from her +to them they appeared as swift and illusive as his own surging fancies. + +"The--duke, Madam, is most solicitous about his men," he said, in a +voice which sounded strangely calm. + +"A good leader has always in mind the welfare of his soldiers," she +replied, briefly. + +Her hand played among the blossoms. Over the flowers she looked at +him. Her features and arms were of the sculptured roundness of marble, +but the reflection of the roses bathed her in the warm hue of life. As +he met her gaze the illumined pages of a book seemed turning before his +eyes. Did she remember? + +She could not but perceive his emotion; the tribute of a glance beyond +control, despite the proud immobility of his features. + +"Sit here, fool," she said, not unkindly, "and you may tell me more +about the duke. His exploits--of that battle when he saved the life of +the emperor." + +The jester made no move to obey, but, looking down, answered coldly: +"The duke, Madam, likes not to have his poor deeds exploited." + +"Poor deeds!" she returned, and seemed about to reply more sharply when +something in his face held her silent. + +Leaning her head on her hand, she appeared to forget his presence; +motionless save for a foot that waved to and fro, betraying her +restless mood. The sound of her dress, the swaying of the foot, held +his attention. In that little bower the air was almost stifling, laden +with the perfume of many flowers. Even the song of the birds grew +fainter. Only the tiny fountain, more assertive than ever, became +louder and louder. The princess breathed deeply; half-arose; a vine +caught in her hair; she stooped to disentangle it; then held herself +erect. + +"How close it is in here!" she murmured, arranging the tress the plant +had disturbed. "Go to the door, fool, and see if you can find your +master." + +Involuntarily he had stepped toward her, as though to assist her, but +now stopped. His face changed; he even laughed. That last word, from +her lips, seemed to break the spell of self-control that held him. + +"My master!" he said in a hard, scoffing tone. "Whom mean you? The +man who left you to go to the soldier? That blusterer, my master! +That swaggering trooper!" + +Her inertness vanished; the sudden anger and wonderment in her eyes met +the passion in his. + +"How dare you--dare you--" she began. + +"He is neither my master, nor the duke; but a mere free-booter, a +mountain terrorist!" + +Pride and contempt replaced her surprise, but indignation still +remained. His audacity in coming to her with this falsehood; his +hardihood in maintaining it, admitted of but one explanation. By her +complaisance in the past she had fanned the embers of a passion which +now burst beyond control. She realized how more than fair she looked +that evening--had she not heard it from many?--had not the eyes of the +king's guest told her?--and she believed that this lie must have sprung +to the jester's lips while he was regarding her. + +As the solution crossed her mind, revealing the _plaisant_, a desperate +and despicable, as well as lowly wooer, her face relaxed. In the +desire to test her conclusion, she laughed quietly, musically. Cruelly +kind, smiled the princess. + +"You are mad," she breathed softly. "You are mad--because--because +you--" + +He started, studying her eagerly. He fancied he read relenting +softness in her gaze; a flash of memory into a past, where glamour and +romance, and the heart-history of the rose made up life's desideratum. +Wherein existence was but an allegory of love's quest, and the goal, +its consummation. Had she not bent sedulously over the rose of the +poet? Had not her breath come quickly, eagerly? Could he not feel it +yet, sweet and warm on his cheek? Into the past, having gone so far, +he stepped now boldly, as though to grasp again those illusive colors +and seize anew the intangible substance. He was but young, when +shadows seem solid, when dreams are corporeal stuff, and fantasies, +rock-like strata of reality. + +So he knelt before her. "Yes," he said, "I love you!" + +And thus remained, pale, motionless, all resentment or jealousy +succeeded by a stronger emotion, a feeling chivalric that bent itself +to a glad thraldom, the desire but to serve her--to save her. His +heart beat faster; he raised his head proudly. + +"Listen, Princess," he began. "Though I meant it not, I fear I have +greatly wronged you. I have much to ask your pardon for; much to tell +you. It is I--I--" + +The words died on his lips. From the princess' face all softness had +suddenly vanished. Her gaze passed him, cold, haughty. Across the +illusory positiveness of his world--immaterial, psychological, +ghostly--an intermediate orb--a tangible shadow was thrown. Behind him +stood the free baron and the king. Quickly the fool sprang to his feet. + +"Princess!" exclaimed the hoarse voice of the master of Hochfels. + +"My Lord?" + +For a moment neither spoke, and then the clear, cold voice of the +princess broke the silence. + +"Are all the fools in your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" she said. + +The king's countenance lightened; he turned his accusing glance upon +the fool. As in a dream stood the latter; the words he would have +uttered remained unspoken. But briefly the monarch surveyed him, +satirically, darkly; then turning, with a gesture, summoned an +attendant. Not until the hands of two soldiers fell upon him did the +fool betray any emotion. Then his face changed, and the stunned look +in his eyes gave way to an expression of such unbridled feeling that +involuntarily the king stepped back and the free baron drew his sword. +But neither had the monarch need for apprehension, nor the princess' +betrothed use for his weapon. Some emotion, deeper than anger, +replaced the savage turmoil of the jester's thoughts, as with a last +fixed look at the princess he mechanically suffered himself to be led +away. Louise's gaze perforce followed him, and when the canvas fell +and he had disappeared she passed a hand across her brow. + +"Are you satisfied, my Lord?" said the king to the free baron. + +"The knave has received his just deserts, Sire," replied the other, +and, stepping to the princess' side, raised her hand to his lips. + +"_Mère de Dieu!_" cried the monarch, passing his arm in a friendly +manner over the free baron's shoulder and addressing Louise. "You will +find Robert of Friedwald worthy of your high trust, cousin." + +Without, they were soon whispering it. The attendant, who was the +Count of Cross, breathed what he knew to the Duke of Montmorency, who +told Du Bellays, who related the story to Diane de Poitiers, who +embellished it for Villot, who carried it to Jacqueline. + +"Triboulet has his wish," said the poet-fool, half-regretfully. "There +is one jester the less." + +"Where have they taken him?" asked the girl, steadily. + +"Where--but to the keep!" + +"That dungeon of the old castle?" + +"Well," he returned significantly, "a fool and his jests--alas!--are +soon parted. Let us make merry, therefore, while we may. For what +would you? Come, mistress--the dance--" + +"No! no! no!" she exclaimed, so passionately he gazed at her in +surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AN EARLY-MORNING VISIT + +In a mood of contending thought, the free baron left his apartments the +next morning and traversed the tapestry-hung corridor leading toward +the servants' and soldiers' quarters. He congratulated himself that +the incident of the past night had precipitated a favorable climax in +one source of possible instability, and that the fool who had opposed +him had been summarily removed from the field of action. Confined +within the four walls of the castle dungeon, there was scant likelihood +he would cause further trouble and annoyance. Francis' strong prison +house would effectively curb any more interference with, or dabbling +in, the affairs of the master of the Vulture's Nest. + +Following the exposure of the jester's weakness, his passion for his +mistress, Francis, as Villot told Jacqueline, had immediately ordered +the fool into strictest confinement, the donjon of the ancient +structure. In that darkened cell he had rested over night and there he +would no doubt remain indefinitely. The king's guest had not been +greatly concerned with the jester's quixotic love for the princess, +being little disposed to jealousy. He was no sighing solicitant for +woman's favor; higher allurements than woman's eyes, or admiration for +his inamorata, moved him--that edge of appetite for power, conquest +hunger, an itching palm for a kingdom. His were the unscrupulous +soldier's rather than the eager true-love's dreams. + +But to offset his satisfaction that the jester lay under restraint he +took in bad part the trooper's continued insensibility which deprived +him of the much-desired information. When he had repaired to the +bedside of the soldier the night before he had only his trip for his +pains, as the man had again sunk into unconsciousness shortly before +his coming. Thus the free baron was still in ignorance of the person +to whom the fool had betrayed him. The fact that there still roamed an +unfettered some one who possessed the knowledge of his identity caused +him to knit his brows and look glum. + +These jesters were daring fellows; several of them had borne arms, as, +for example, Clement Marot, who had been taken prisoner with Francis at +the battle of Pavia. Brusquet had been a hanger-on of the camp at +Avignon; Villot, a Paris student; Caillette had received the spirited +education of a soldier in the household of his benefactor, Diane's +father. And as for the others--how varied had been their +careers!--lives of hazard and vicissitude; scapegraces and +adventurers--existing literally by their wits. + +To what careless or wanton head had his secret been confined? What use +would the rashling make of it? Daringly attempt to approach the throne +with this startling budget of information; impulsively seek the +princess; or whisper it over his cups among the _femmes de chambre_, +laundresses or scullery maids? + +"If the soldier should never speak?" thought the free baron out of +humor, as he drew near the trooper's door. "What a nest of suspicion +may be growing! The wasps may be breeding. A whisper may become an +ominous threat. Is not the danger even greater than it was before, +when I could place my hand on my foeman? The man must speak!--must!" + +With a firm step the king's guest entered the chamber of the injured +soldier. Upon a narrow bed lay the trooper, his mustachios appearing +unusually red and fierce against his now yellow, washed-out complexion. +As the free baron drew near the couch a tall figure arose from the side +of the bed. + +"How is your patient, doctor?" said the visitor, shortly. + +"Low," returned the other, laconically. This person wore a black gown; +a pair of huge, broad-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of a thin, +long nose, and in his claw-like fingers he held a vial, the contents of +which he stirred slowly. His aspect was that of living sorrow and +melancholy. + +"Has he been conscious again?" asked the caller. + +"He has e'en lain as you see him," replied the wearer of the black robe. + +"Humph!" commented the free baron, attentively regarding the motionless +and silent figure. + +"I urged upon him the impropriety of sending for you at the +festivities," resumed the man, sniffing at the vial, "but he became +excited, swore he would leave the bed and brain me with mine own pestle +if I ventured to hinder him. So I consented to convey his request." + +"And when I arrived he was still as a log," supplemented the visitor, +gloomily. + +"Alas, yes; although I tried to keep him up, giving him specifics and +carminatives and bleeding him once." + +"Bleeding him!" cried the false duke, angrily, glowering upon the +impassive and woebegone countenance of the medical attendant. "As if +he had not bled enough from his hurts! Quack of an imposter! You have +killed him!" + +"As for that," retorted the man in a sing-song voice, "no one can tell +whether a medicine be antidote or poison, unless as leechcraft and +chirurgery point out--" + +"His days are numbered," quoth the free baron to himself, staring +downward. But as he spoke he imagined he saw the red mustachios move, +while one eye certainly glared with intelligent hatred upon the doctor +and turned with anxious solicitude upon his master. The latter +immediately knelt by the bedside and laid his hand upon the already +cold one of the soldier. + +"Speak!" he said. + +It was the command of an officer to a trooper, an authoritative +bidding, and seemed to summon a last rallying energy from the failing +heart. The man's gaze showed that he understood. From the free +baron's eye flashed a glance of savage power and force. + +"Speak!" he repeated, cruelly, imperatively. + +The mustachios quivered; the leader bent his head low, so low his face +almost touched the soldier's. A voice--was it a voice, so faint it +sounded?--breathed a few words: + +"The emperor--Spain--Caillette gone!" + +Quickly the free baron sprang to his feet. The soldier seemed to fall +asleep; his face calm and tranquil as a campaigner's before the bivouac +fire at the hour of rest; the ugliness of his features glossed by a +new-found dignity; only his mustachios strangely fierce, vivid, +formidable, against the peace and pallor of his countenance. The leech +looked at him; stopped stirring the drug; leaned over him; straightened +himself; took the vial once more from the table and threw the medicine +out of the window. Then he methodically began gathering up bottles and +other receptacles, which he placed neatly in a handbag. The free baron +passed through the door, leaving the cheerless practitioner still +gravely engaged in getting together his small belongings. + +Soberly the king's guest walked down the echoing stairway out into the +open air of the court. The emperor in Spain? It seemed not unlikely. +Charles spent much of his time in that country, nor was it improbable +he had gone there quietly, without flourish of trumpet, for some +purpose of his own. His ways were not always manifest; his personality +and mind-workings were characterized by concealment. If the emperor +had gone to Spain, a messenger, riding post-haste, could reach Charles +in time to enable that monarch to interpose in the nuptials and +override the confidence the free baron had established for himself in +the court of Francis. An impediment offered by Charles would be +equivalent to the abandonment of the entire marital enterprise. + +Pausing before a massive arched doorway that led into a wing of the +castle where the free baron knew the jesters and certain of the +gentlemen of the chamber lodged, the master of Hochfels, in answer to +his inquiries from a servant, learned that Caillette had not been in +his apartments since the day before; that he had ridden from the +tournament, ostensibly to return to his rooms, but nothing had been +heard of him since. And the oddest part of it was, as the old woman +volubly explained when the free baron had pushed his way into the +tastefully furnished chambers of the absent fool, the jester had been +desperately wounded; had groaned much when the duke's _plaisant_ had +assisted him from the field, and had been barely able to mount his +horse with the assistance of a squire. + +Meditatively, while absorbing this prattle, the visitor gazed about +him. The bed had been unslept in, and here and there were evidences of +a hasty and unpremeditated leave-taking. Upon an open desk lay a +half-finished poem, obviously intended for no eyes save the writer's. +Several dainty missives and a lace handkerchief, with a monogram, +invited the unscrupulous and prying glance of the inquisitive +newsmonger. + +But as these details offered nothing additional to the one great germ +of information embodied in the loquacity of the narrator, the free +baron turned silently away, breaking the thread of her volubility by +unceremoniously disappearing. No further doubt remained in his mind +that the duke's _plaisant_ had sent a comrade in motley to the emperor, +and, as he would not have inspired a mere fool's errand, Charles +without question was in Spain, several days nearer to the court of the +French monarch than the princess' betrothed had presumed. Caillette +had now been four-and-twenty hours on his journey; it would be useless +to attempt pursuit, as the jester was a gallant horseman, trained to +the hunt. Such a man would be indefatigable in the saddle, and the +other realized that, strive as he might, he could never overcome the +handicap. + +Then of what avail was one fool in the dungeon, with a second--on the +road? Should he abandon his quest, be driven from his purpose by a +nest of motley meddlers? The idea never seriously entered his mind; he +would fight it out doggedly upon the field of deception. But how? As +surely as the sun rose and set, before many days had come and gone the +hand of Charles would be thrust between him and his projects. +Circumspect, suspicious, was the emperor; he would investigate, and +investigation meant the downfall of the structure of falsehood that had +been erected with such skill and painstaking by the subtile architect. +The maker had pride in his work, and, to see it totter and tumble, was +a misfortune he would avert with his life--or fall with it. + +As he had no intention, however, of being buried beneath the wreckage +of his endeavors, he sought to prop the weakening fabric of invention +and mendacity by new shuffling or pretense. Should a disgraced fool be +his undoing? From that living entombment should his foeman in cap and +bells yet indirectly summon the force to bend him to the dust, or send +him to the hangman's knot? + +Step by step the king's guest had left the palace behind him, until the +surrounding shrubbery shut it from view, but the path, sweeping onward +with graceful curve, brought him suddenly to a beautiful château. Lost +in thought, he gazed within the flowering ground, at the ornate +architecture, the marble statues and the little lake, in whose pellucid +depths were mirrored a thousand beauties of that chosen spot--an +improved Eden of the landscape gardener wherein resided the Countess +d'Etampes. + +"Why," thought the free baron, brightening abruptly, "that chance which +served me last night, which forced the trooper to speak to-day, now has +led my stupid feet to the soothsayer." + +Within a much begilt and gorgeous bower, he soon found himself awaiting +patiently the coming of the favorite. Upon a tiny chair of gold, too +fragile for his bulk, the caller meanwhile inspected the ceilings and +walls of this dainty domicile, mechanically striving to decipher a +painted allegory of Venus and Mars, or Helen and Paris, or the countess +and Francis--he could not decide precisely its purport--when she who +had succeeded Châteaubriant floated into the room, dressed in some +diaphanous stuff, a natural accompaniment to the other decorations; her +dishabille a positive note of modesty amid the vivid colorings and +graceful poses of those tributes to love with which Primaticcio and +other Italian artists had adorned this bower. + +"How charming of you!" vaguely murmured the lady, sinking lightly upon +a settee. "What an early riser you must be, Duke." + +Although it was then but two hours from noon, the visitor confessed +himself open to criticism in this regard. "And you, as well, Madam," +he added, "must plead guilty of the same fault. One can easily see you +have been out in the garden, and," he blundered on, "stolen the tints +from the roses." + +Sharply the countess looked at him, but read only an honest attempt at +a compliment. + +"Why," she said, "you are becoming as great a flatterer as the rest of +them. But confess now, you did not call to tell me that?" + +The free baron looked from her through the folding doors into a +retiring apartment, set with arabesque designs, and adorned with inlaid +tables bearing statues of alabaster and enamel. Purposely he waited +before he replied, and was gratified to see how curiously she regarded +him when again his glance returned to her. + +"No, Madam," he answered, taking credit to himself for his diplomacy, +"it is not necessary that truth should be premeditated. I had a +serious purpose in seeking you. Of all the court you alone can assist +me; it is to you, only, I can look for aid. Knowing you generous, I +have ventured to come." + +"What a serious preamble," smiled the lady. "How grave must be the +matter behind it!" + +"The service I ask must be from the king," he went on, with seeming +embarrassment. + +"Then why not go to his Majesty?" she interrupted, with the suggestion +of a frown. + +"Because I should fail," he retorted, frankly. "The case is one +wherein a messenger--like yourself--a friend--may I so call you?--would +win, while I, a rough soldier, should but make myself ridiculous, the +laughing stock of the court." + +"You interest me," she laughed. "It must be a pressing emergency when +you honor me--so early in the day." + +"It is, Madam," he replied. "Very pressing to me. I want the wedding +day changed." + +"Changed!" she exclaimed, staring at him. "Deferred?" + +"No; hastened, Madam. It is too long to wait. Go to the king; ask him +to shorten the interval; to set the day sooner. I beg of you, Madam!" + +His voice was hard and harsh. It seemed almost a demand he laid upon +her. Had he been less blunt or coercive, had he employed a more +honeyed appeal, she would not have felt so moved in his behalf. In the +atmosphere of adulation and blandishment to which she was accustomed, +the free baron offered a marked contrast to the fine-spoken courtiers, +and she leaned back and surveyed him as though he were a type of the +lords of creation she had not yet investigated. + +"Oh, this is delicious!" purred the countess. "Samson in the toils! +His locks shorn by our fair Delilah!" + +The thick-set soldier arose; muscular, well-knit, virile. "I fear I am +detaining you, Madam," he said, coldly. + +"No; you're not," she answered, merrily. "Won't you be seated--please! +I should have known," she could not resist adding, "that love is as +sensitive as impatient." + +"I see, Madam, that you have your mind made up to refuse me, and +therefore--" + +"Refuse," repeated the favorite, surveying this unique petitioner with +rising amusement. "How do you read my mind so well?" + +"Then you haven't determined to refuse me?" And he stepped toward her +quickly. + +"No, I haven't," she answered, throwing back her head, like a spoiled +child. "On the contrary, I will be your messenger, your advocate, and +will plead your cause, and will win your case, and the king shall say +'yes,' and you shall have your princess whene'er you list. All this I +promise faithfully to do and perform. And now, if you want to leave me +so sullenly, go!" + +But the free baron dropped awkwardly to his knee, took her little hand +in his massive one and raised it to his lips. "Madam, you overwhelm +me," he murmured. + +"That is all very well," she commented, reflectively, "but what about +the princess? What will she say when--" + +"It shall be my task to persuade her. I am sure she will consent," +returned the suitor. + +"Oh, you're sure of that?" observed the lady. "You have some faith in +your own powers of persuasion--in certain quarters!" + +"Not in my powers, Madam, but in the princess' amiability." + +"Perhaps you have spoken to her already?" asked the countess. + +"No, Madam; without your assistance, of what use would be her +willingness?" + +"What a responsibility you place on my weak shoulders!" cried the +other. "However, I will not shift the burden. I will go to his +Majesty at once. And do you"--gaily--"go to the princess." + +"At your command!" he replied, and took his departure. + +Without the inclosure of the château gardens, the free baron began to +review the events of the morning with complacency and satisfaction, +but, as he took up the threads of his case and examined them more +narrowly, his peace of mind was darkened with the shadow of a new +disquietude. What if Francis, less easily cozened than the countess, +should find his suspicions aroused? What if the princess, who had +immediately dismissed the fool's denouncement of the free baron as an +ebullition of blind jealousy--after informing her betrothed of the mad +accusation--should see in his request equivocal circumstances? Or, was +the countess--like many of her sisters--given to second thoughts, and +would this after-reverie dampen the ardor of her impetuous promise? + +"But," thought the king's guest, banishing these assailing doubts, +"there never yet was victory assured before the battle had been fought, +and, with renewed precautions, defeat is most unlikely." + +By the time he had reached this conclusion he had arrived at the +princess' door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A NEW DISCOVERY + +The dim rays of a candle glimmered within a cubical space, whereof the +sides consisted of four stone walls, and a ceiling and floor of the +same substantial material. For furnishings were provided a +three-legged stool, a bundle of straw and--the tallow dip. One of the +walls was pierced by a window, placed almost beyond the range of +vision; the outlook limited by day to a bit of blue sky or a patch of +verdant field, with the depressing suggestion of a barrier to this +outer world, three feet in thickness, massively built of stone and +mortar, hardened through the centuries. At night these pictures faded +and the Egyptian darkness within became partly dispelled through the +brave efforts of the small wick; or when this half-light failed, a far +star without, struggling in the depths of the palpable obscure, +appeared the sole relief. + +But now the few inches of candle had only begun to eke out its brief +period of transition and the solitary occupant of the cell could for +some time find such poor solace as lay in the companionship of the tiny +yellow flame. With his arms behind him, the duke's fool moved as best +he might to and fro within the narrow confines of his jail; the events +which had led to his incarceration were so recent he had hardly yet +brought himself to realize their full significance. Neither Francis' +anger nor the free baron's covert satisfaction during the scene +following their abrupt appearance in the bower of roses had greatly +weighed upon him; but not so the attitude of the princess. + +How vividly all the details stood out in his brain! The sudden +transitions of her manner; her seeming interest in his passionate +words; her eyes, friendly, tender, as he had once known them; then +portentous silence, frozen disdain. What latent energy in the free +baron's look had invested her words with his spirit? Had the adduction +of his mind compelled hers to his bidding, or had she but spoken from +herself? Into the marble-like pallor of her face a faint flush had +seemed to insinuate itself, but the words had dropped easily from her +lips: "Are all the fools of your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" + +Above the other distinctive features of that tragic night, to the +_plaisant_ this question had reiterated itself persistently in the +solitude of his cell. True, he had forgotten he was only a jester; but +had it not been the memory of her soft glances that had hurried him on +to the avowal? She had no fault to be condoned; the fool was the sole +culprit. From her height, could she not have spared him the scorn and +contempt of her question? Over and over, through the long hours he had +asked himself that, and, as he brooded, the idealization with which he +had adorned her fell like an enshrouding drapery to the dust; of the +vestment of fancy nothing but tatters remained. + +A voice without, harsh, abrupt, broke in upon the jester's thoughts. +The prisoner started, listened intently, a gleam of fierce satisfaction +momentarily creeping into his eyes. If love was dead, a less exalted +feeling still remained. + +"How does the fool take his imprisonment?" asked the arrogant voice. + +"Quietly, my Lord," was the jailer's reply. + +"He is inclined to talk over much?" + +"Not at all," answered the man. + +A brief command followed; a key was inserted in the lock, and, with a +creaking of bolts and groaning of hinges, the warder swung back the +iron barrier. Upon the threshold stood the commanding figure of the +free baron. A moment he remained thus, and then, with an authoritative +gesture to the man, stepped inside. The turnkey withdrew to a discreet +distance, where he remained within call, yet beyond the range of +ordinary conversation. Immovably the king's guest gazed upon the +jester, who, unabashed, calmly endured the scrutiny. + +"Well, fool," began the free baron, bluntly, "how like you your +quarters? You fought me well; in truth very well. But you labored +under a disadvantage, for one thing is certain: a jester in love is +doubly--a fool." + +"Is that what you have come to say?" asked the plaisant, his bright +glance fastened on the other's confident face. + +"I came--to return the visit you once made me," easily retorted the +master of Hochfels. "By this time you have probably learned I am an +opponent to be feared." + +"As one fears the assassin's knife, or a treacherous onslaught," said +the fool. + +"Did I not say, when you left that night, the truce was over?" returned +the king's guest, frowning. + +"True," was the ironical answer. "Forewarned; forearmed. And that +sort of warfare was to be expected from the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"Well," unreservedly replied the free baron, who for reasons of his own +chose not to challenge the affront, "in those two instances you were +not worsted. And as for the trooper who attacked you--I know not +whether your lance or the doctor's lancet is responsible for his taking +off. But you met him with true attaint. You would have made a good +soldier. It is to be regretted you did not place your fortune with +mine--but it is too late now." + +"Yes," answered the _plaisant_, "it is too late." + +Louis of Hochfels gave him a sharp look. "You cling yet to some +forlorn hope?" + +To the fool came the vision of a brother jester speeding southward, +ever southward. The free baron smiled. + +"Caillette, perhaps?" he suggested. For a moment he enjoyed his +triumph, watching the expression of the fool's countenance, whereon he +fancied he read dismay and astonishment. + +"You know then?" said the _plaisant_ finally. + +"That you sent him to the emperor? Yes." + +In the fool's countenance, or his manner, the king's guest sought +confirmation of the dying trooper's words. Also, was he fencing for +such additional information as he might glean, and for this purpose had +he come. Had the emperor really gone to Spain? The soldier's +assurance had been so faint, sometimes the free baron wondered if he +had heard aright, or if he had correctly interpreted the meager message. + +"And you--of course--detained Caillette?" remarked the prisoner, with +an effort at indifference, his heart beating violently the while. + +"No," slowly returned the other. "He got away." + +Into his eyes the fool gazed closely, as if to read and test this +unexpected statement. + +"Got away!" he repeated. "How, since you knew?" + +"Because I learned too late," quietly replied the free baron. "He was +four-and-twenty hours gone when I found out. Too great a start to be +overcome." + +"Why should you tell me this--unless it is a lie?" coolly asked the +jester. + +"A lie!" exclaimed the visitor, frowning. + +"Yes, like your very presence in Francis' court," added the fool, +fearlessly. + +In the silence ensuing the passion slowly faded from the countenance of +the king's guest. He remembered he had not yet ascertained what he +wished to know. + +"Such recriminations from you remind me of a bird beating its wings +against the bars of its cage," at length came the unruffled response. +"Why should I lie? There is no need for it. You sent Caillette; he is +on his way now, for all of me. For"--leading to the thread of what he +sought--"why should I have stopped him? He embarked on a hopeless +chase. How can he reach Austria and the emperor in time to prevent the +marriage?" + +The jester's swift questioning glance was not lost upon the speaker, +who, after a pause, continued. "Had I known, I am not sure I would +have prevented his departure. What better way to dispose of him than +to let him go on a mad-cap journey? Besides, you must have forgotten +about the passes. How could you expect him to get by my sentinels? It +will attract less attention to have him stopped there than here." + +All this, spoken brusquely, was accompanied by frank, insolent looks +which beneath their seeming openness concealed an intentness of purpose +and a shrewd penetration. Only the first abrupt change in the fool's +look, a slight one though it was, betrayed the jester to his caller. +In that swiftly passing gleam, as the free baron spoke of Austria, and +not of Spain, the other read full confirmation of what he desired to +know. + +"He will do his best," commented the jester, carelessly. + +"And man can do no more," retorted the king's guest. "Many a battle +has been thus bravely lost." + +He had hoped to provoke from the _plaisant_ some further expression of +self-content in his plans for the future, but the other had become +guarded. + +What if he offered the fool clemency? asked the princess' betrothed of +himself. If the jester had confidence in the future he would naturally +rather remain in the narrow confines of his dark chamber than consider +proposals from one whom he believed he would yet overcome. The free +baron began to enjoy this strategic duplicity of language; the +environing dangers lent zest to equivocation; the seduction of finding +himself more potent than forces antagonistic became intoxicating to his +egotism. + +"Why," he said, patronizingly, surveying the slender figure of the +fool, "a good man should die by the sword rather than go to the +scaffold. What if I were to overlook Caillette and the rest? He is +harmless,"--more shrewdly; "let him go. As for the princess--well, +you're young; in the heyday for such nonsense. I have never yet +quarreled seriously with man for woman's sake. There are many graver +causes for contention--a purse, or a few acres of land; right royal +warfare. If I get the king to forgive you, and the princess to +overlook your offense, will you well and truthfully serve me?" + +"Never!" answered the fool, promptly. + +"He is sure the message will reach Charles in Spain," mentally +concluded the king's guest. "Yet," he continued aloud in a tone of +mockery, "you did not hesitate to betray your master yourself. Why, +then, will you not betray him to me?" + +"To him I will answer, not to you," returned the jester, calmly. + +A contemptuous smile crossed the free baron's face. + +"And tell him how you dared look up to his mistress? That you sought +to save her from another, while you yourself poured your own burning +tale into her ear? Two things I most admire in nature," went on the +free baron, with emphasis. "A dare-devil who stops not for man or +Satan, and--an honest man. You take but a compromising middle course; +and will hang, a hybrid, from some convenient limb." + +"But not without first knowing that you, too, in all likelihood, will +adorn an equally suitable branch, my Lord of the thieves' rookery," +said the jester, smiling. + +Louis of Hochfels responded with an ugly look. His bloodshot eyes took +fire beneath the provocation. + +"Fool, you expect your duke will intervene!" he exclaimed. "Not when +he has been told all by the king, or the princess," he sneered. "Do +you think she cares? You, a motley fool; a theme for jest between us." + +"But when she learns about you?" retorted the plaisant, significantly. + +"She will e'en be mistress of my castle." + +"Castle?" laughed the Jester. "A robber's aery! a footpad's retreat! +A rifler of the roads become a great lord? You of royal blood! Then +was your father a king of thieves!" + +The free baron's face worked fearfully; the kingly part of him had been +a matter of fanatical pride; through it did he believe he was destined +to power and honors. But before the cutting irony of the _plaisant_, +that which is heaven-born--self-control--dropped from him; the mad, +brutal rage of the peasant surged in his veins. + +Infuriate his hand sought his sword, but before he could draw it the +fool, anticipating his purpose, had rushed upon him with such +impetuosity and suddenness that the king's guest, in spite of his bulk +and strength, was thrust against the wall. Like a grip of iron, the +jester's fingers were buried in his opponent's throat. For one so +youthful and slender in build, his power was remarkable, and, strive as +he might, the princess' betrothed could not shake him off. Although +his arms pressed with crushing force about the figure of the fool, the +hand at his throat never relaxed. He endeavored to thrust the +_plaisant_ from him, but, like a tiger, the jester clung; to and fro +they swayed; to the free baron, suffocated by that gauntlet of steel, +the room was already going around; black spots danced before his eyes. +He strove to reach for the dagger that hung from his girdle, but it was +held between them. Perhaps the muscles of the king's guest had been +weakened by the excesses of Francis' court, yet was he still a mighty +tower of strength, and, mad with rage, by a last supreme effort he +finally managed to tear himself loose, hurling the fool violently from +him into the arms of the jailer, who, attracted by the sound of the +struggle, at that moment rushed into the cell. This keeper, himself a +burly, herculean soldier, promptly closed with the prisoner. + +Breathless, exhausted, the free baron marked the conflict now +transferred to the turnkey and the jester. The former held the fool at +a decided disadvantage, as he had sprung upon the back of the jester +and was also unweakened by previous efforts. But still the fool +contended fiercely, striving to turn so as to grapple with his +assailant, and wonderingly the free baron for a moment watched that +exhibition of virility and endurance. During the wrestling the +jester's doublet had been torn open and suddenly the gaze of the king's +guest fell, as if fascinated, upon an object which hung from his neck. + +Bending forward, he scrutinized more closely that which had attracted +his attention and then started back. Harshly he laughed, as though a +new train of thought had suddenly assailed him, and looked earnestly +into the now pale face of the nearly helpless fool. + +"Why," he cried, "here's a different complication!" + +And stooping suddenly, he grasped the stool from the floor and brought +it down with crushing force upon the _plaisant's_ head. A cowardly, +brutal blow; and at once the prisoner's grasp relaxed, and he lay +motionless in the arms of the warder, who placed him on the straw. + +"I think the knave's dead, my Lord," remarked the man, panting from his +exertion. + +"That makes the comedy only the stronger," replied the free baron +curtly, as he knelt by the side of the prostrate figure and thrust his +hand under the torn doublet. Having procured possession of the object +which chance had revealed to him, he arose and, without further word, +left the cell. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TIDINGS FROM THE COURT + +When Brusquet, the jester, fled from the camp at Avignon, where he had +presumed to practise medicine, to the detriment of the army, some one +said: "Fools and cats have nine lives," and the revised proverb had +been accepted at court. It was this saying the turnkey muttered when +he bent over the prostrate figure of the duke's _plaisant_ after the +free baron had departed. Thus one of the fabled sources of existence +was left the fool, and again it seemed the proverb would be realized. + +Day after day passed, and still the vital spark burned; perhaps it +wavered, but in this extremity the jester had not been entirely +neglected; but who had befriended him, assisting the spirit and the +flesh to maintain their unification, he did not learn until some time +later. Youth and a strong constitution were also a shield against the +final change, and when he began to mend, and his heart-beats grew +stronger, even the jailer, his erstwhile assailant, the most callous of +his several keepers, exhibited a stony interest in this unusual +convalescence. + +The touch of a hand was the _plaisant's_ first impression of returning +consciousness, and then into his throbbing brain crept the outlines of +the prison walls and the small window that grudgingly admitted the +light. To his confused thoughts these surroundings recalled the +struggle with the free baron and the jailer. As across a dark chasm, +he saw the face of the false duke, whereon wonder and conviction had +given way to brutal rage, and, with the memory of that treacherous +blow, the fool half-started from his couch. + +A low voice carried him back from the past to a vague cognizance of a +woman's form, standing at the head of the bed, and two grave, dark eyes +looking down upon him which he strove in vain to interrogate with his +own. He would have spoken, but the soothing pressure of the hand upon +his forehead restrained him, and, turning to the wall, sleep overcame +him; a slumber long, sound and restorative. Motionless the figure +remained, listening for some time to his deep breathing and then stole +away as silently as she had come. + +Amid a solitude like that of a catacomb the hours ran their course; the +day grew old, and eventide replaced the waning flush in the west. The +shadows deepened into night, and the first kisses of morn again merged +into the brighter prime. Near the cell the only sound had been the +footstep of the warder, or the scampering of a rat, but now from afar +seemed to come a faint whispering, like the murmur of the ocean. It +was the voice of awakened nature; the wind and the trees; the whir of +birds' wings, or the sound of other living creatures in the forest hard +by. A song of life and buoyancy, it breathed just audibly its cheering +intonation about the prison bars, when the captive once more stirred +and gazed around him. As he did so, the figure of the woman, who had +again noiselessly entered the cell, stepped forward and stood near the +couch. + +"Are you better?" she asked. + +He raised himself on his elbow, surprised at the unexpected appearance +of his visitor. + +"Jacqueline!" he said, wonderingly, recognizing the features of the +joculatrix. "I must have been unconscious all night." And he stared +from her toward the window. + +"Yes," she returned with a peculiar smile; "all night." And bending +over him, she held a receptacle to his lips from which he mechanically +drank a broth, warm and refreshing, the while he endeavored to account +for the strangeness of her presence in the cell. She placed the bowl +on the floor and then, straightening her slim figure, again regarded +him. + +"You are improving fast," she commented, reflectively. + +"Thanks to your sovereign mixture," he answered, lifting a hand to his +bandaged head, and striving to collect his scattered ideas which +already seemed to flow more consecutively. The pain which had racked +his brow had grown perceptibly less since his last deep slumber, and a +grateful warmth diffused itself in his veins with a growing assurance +of physical relief. "But may I ask how you came here?" he continued, +perplexity mingling with the sense of temporary languor that stole over +him. + +"I heard the duke tell the king you had attacked him and he had struck +you down," she replied, after a pause. + +His face darkened; his head throbbed once more; with his fingers he +idly picked at the straw. + +"And the king, of course, believed," he said. "Oh, credulous king!" he +added scornfully. "Was ever a monarch so easily befooled? A judge of +men? No; a ruler who trusts rather to fortune and blind destiny. +Unlike Charles, he looks not through men, but at them." + +"Think no more of it," she broke in, hastily, seeing the effect of her +words. + +"Nay, good Jacqueline," quickly retorted the jester; "the truth, I pray +you. Believe me, I shall mend the sooner for it. What said the +duke--as he calls himself?" + +"Why, he shook his head ruefully," answered the girl, not noticing his +reservation. "'Your Majesty,' he said, 'for the memory of bygone +quibbles I sought him, but found him not--alack!--on the stool of +repentance.'" + +About the fool's mouth quivered the grim suggestion of a half-smile. + +"He is the best jester of us all," he muttered. "And then?" fastening +his eyes upon hers. + +"'No sooner, Sire,' went on the duke, 'had I entered the cell than he +rushed upon me, and, it grieves me, I used the wit-snapper roughly.' +So"--folding her hands before her and gazing at the _plaisant_--"I e'en +came to see if you were killed." + +"You came," he said. "Yes; but how?" + +"What matters it?" she answered. "Perhaps it was magic, and the +cell-doors flew open at my touch." + +"I can almost believe it," he returned. + +And his glance fell thoughtfully from her to the couch. Before the +assault he had lain at night upon the straw on the floor, and this +unhoped-for immunity from the dampness of the stones or the scampering +of occasional rats suggested another starting point for mental inquiry. +She smiled, reading the interrogation on his face. + +"One of the turnkeys furnished the bed," she remarked, shrewdly. "Do +you like it?" + +"It is a better couch than I have been accustomed to," he replied, in +no wise misled by her response, and surmising that her solicitation had +procured him this luxury. "Nevertheless, the night has seemed +strangely long." + +"It has been long," she returned, moving toward the window. "A week +and more." + +Surprise, incredulity, were now written upon his features. That such +an interval should have elapsed since the evening of the free baron's +visit appeared incredible. He could not see her countenance as she +spoke; only her figure; the upper portion bright, the lower fading into +the deep shadows beneath the aperture in the wall. + +"You tell me I have lain here a week?" he asked finally, recalling +obscure memories of faintly-seen faces and voices heard as from afar. + +"And more," she repeated. + +For some moments he remained silent, passing from introspection to a +current of thought of which she could know nothing; the means he had +taken to thwart the ambitious projects of the king's guest. + +"Has Caillette returned?" he continued, with ill-disguised eagerness. + +"Caillette?" she answered, lifting her brows at the abruptness of the +inquiry. "Has he been away? I had not noticed. I do not know." + +"Then is he still absent," said the jester, decisively. "Had he come +back, you would have heard." + +Quickly she looked at him. Caillette!--Spain!--these were the words he +had often uttered in his delirium. Although he seemed much better and +the hot flush had left his cheeks, his fantasy evidently remained. + +"A week and over!" resumed the fool, more to himself than to his +companion. "But he still may return before the duke is wedded." + +"And if he did return?" she asked, wishing to humor him. + +"Then the duke is not like to marry the princess," he burst out. + +"Not like--to marry!" she replied, suddenly, and moved toward him. Her +clear eyes were full upon him; closely she studied his worn features. +"Not like--but he has married her!" + +The jester strove to spring to his feet, but his legs seemed as relaxed +as his brain was dazed. + +"Has married!--impossible!" he exclaimed fiercely. + +"They were wedded two days since," she went on quietly, possibly +regretting that surprise, or she knew not what, had made her speak. + +"Wedded two days since!" + +He repeated it to himself, striving to realize what it meant. Did it +mean anything? He remembered how mockingly the jestress' face had +shone before him in the past; how derisive was her irony. From Fools' +hall to the pavilion of the tournament had she flouted him. + +"Wedded two days since!" + +"You must have your drollery," he said, unsteadily, at length. + +She did not reply, and he continued to question her with his eyes. +Quite still she remained, save for an almost imperceptible movement of +breathing. Against the dull beams from the aperture above, her hair +darkly framed her face, pale, dim with half-lights, illusory. When he +again spoke his voice sounded new to his own ears. + +"How could the princess have been married? Even if I have lain here as +long as you say, the day for the wedding was set for at least a week +from now." + +"But changed!" she responded, unexpectedly. + +"Changed!" he cried, sitting on the edge of the couch, and regarding +her as though he doubted he had heard aright. "Why should it have been +changed?" + +"Because the duke became a most impatient suitor," she answered. +"Daily he grew more eager. Finally, to attain his end, he importuned +the countess. She laughed, but good-naturedly acceded to his request, +and, in turn importuned the king--who generously yielded. It has been +a rare laughing matter at court--that the duke, who appeared the least +passionate adorer, should really have been such a restless one." + +"Dolt that I have been!" exclaimed the jester, with more anger, it +seemed to the girl, than jealousy. "He knew about Caillette, but +professed to be ignorant that the emperor was in Spain. And I believed +his words; thought I was holding something from him; let myself imagine +he could not penetrate my designs. While all the time he was +intriguing with the king's favorite and felt the sense of his own +security. What a cat's paw he made of me! And so he--they are gone, +Jacqueline?" + +"Yes," she returned, surprised at his language, and, for the first +time, wondering if the duke's wooing admitted of other complications +than she had suspected. "They are on their way to the duke's kingdom." + +"His kingdom!" said the fool, with derision. "But go on. Tell me +about it, Jacqueline. Their parting with the court? How they set out +on their journey. All, Jacqueline; all!" + +"They were married in the Chapelle de la Trinité," responded the girl, +hesitating. Then with an odd side look, she went on rapidly: "The +bridal party made an imposing cavalcade: the princess in her litter, +behind a number of maids on horseback. At the castle gates several +pages, dressed as Cupids, sent silver arrows after the bridal train. +'Hymen; Io Hymen!' cried the throng. 'Godspeed!' exclaimed Queen +Marguerite, and threw a parchment, tied with a golden ribbon, into the +princess' litter; an epithalamium, in verse, written in her own fair +hand. '_Esto perpetua_!' murmured the red cardinal. Besides the +groom's own men, the king sent a strong escort to the border, and thus +it was a numerous company that rode from the castle, with colors flying +and the princess' handkerchief fluttering from her litter a last +farewell." + +"A last farewell!" repeated the fool. "A splendent picture, +Jacqueline. They all shouted _Te Deum_, and none stood there to warn +her." + +"To warn!" retorted the jestress. "Not a maid but envied her that +spectacle; the magnificence and splendor!" + +"But not what will follow," he said, and, lying back on his couch, +closed his eyes. + +Rapidly the scene passed before him; the false duke at the head of the +cavalcade, elate, triumphant; the princess in her litter, brilliant, +dazzling; the laughter, the hurried adieus; tears and smiles; the smart +sayings of the jesters, a bride their legitimate prey, her blushes the +delight of the facetious nobles; the complacency of the pleasure-loving +king--all floated before his eyes like the figment of a dream. How +mocking the pomp and glitter! For the princess, what an awakening was +to ensue! The free baron must have known the emperor was in Spain, and +had met the fool's stratagem with a final masterly manoeuver. The bout +was over; the first great bout; but in the next--would there be a next? +Jacqueline's words now implied a doubt. + +"You are soon to leave here," she said. "For Paris." + +Seated on the stool, her hands crossed over her knees, Jacqueline +seemed no longer a creature of indefinite or ambiguous purpose. On the +contrary, her profile was rimmed in light, and very matter-of-fact and +serious it seemed. + +"Why am I to leave for Paris?" he remarked, absently. + +"Because they are going to take you there," she returned, "to be tried +as a heretic." He started and again sat up. "In your room was found a +book by Calvin. Of course," she went on, "you will deny it belonged to +you?" + +"What would that avail?" he said, indifferently. "But have the +followers of Luther, or Calvin, no friends in Francis' court?" + +"Have they in Charles' domains?" she asked quickly. + +"The Protestants in Germany are a powerful body; the emperor is forced +to bear with them." + +"Here they have no friends--openly," she went on. +"Secretly--Marguerite, Marot; others perhaps. But these will not serve +you; could not, if they would. Besides, this heresy of which you are +accused is but a pretext to get rid of you." + +"And how, good Jacqueline, has the king treated the new sect?" + +She held her hand suddenly to her throat; her face went paler, as from +some tragic recollection. + +"Oh," she answered, "do not speak of it!" + +"They burned them?" he persisted. + +"Before Notre Dame!" + +Her voice was low; her eyes shone deep and gleaming. + +"You are sorry, then, for those vile heretics?" asked the fool, +curiously. + +She raised her head, half-resentfully. "Their souls need no one's +pity," she retorted, proudly. + +"And you think mine is soon like to be beyond earthly caring?" + +Her glance became impatient. "Most like," she returned, curtly. + +"But what excuse does the king give for his cruelty?" he continued, +musingly. + +"They threw down the sacred images in one of the churches. Now a +heretic need expect no mercy. They are placed in cages--hung from +beams--over the fire. The court was commanded to witness the +spectacle--the king jested--the countess laughed, but her features were +white--" Here the girl buried her face in her hands. Soon, however, +she looked up, brushing back the hair from her brow. "Marguerite has +interposed, but she is only a feather in the balance." Abruptly she +arose. "Would you escape such a fate?" she said. + +He remained silent, thinking that if the mission to the emperor +miscarried, his own position might, indeed, be past mending. If the +exposure of the free baron were long delayed, the fool's assurance in +his own ultimate release might prove but vain expectation. In Paris +the trial would doubtless not be protracted. From the swift tribunal +to the slow fire constituted no complicated legal process, and appeal +there was none, save to the king, from whom might be expected little +mercy, less justice. + +"Escape!" the jester answered, dwelling on these matters. "But how?" + +"By leaving this prison," she answered, lowering her voice. + +He glanced significantly at the walls, the windows and the door, beyond +which could be heard the tread of the jailer and the clanking of the +keys hanging from his girdle. + +"I would have done that long since, Jacqueline, if I had had my will," +he replied. + +"Are you strong enough to attempt it?" she remarked, doubtfully, +scanning the thin face before her. + +"Your words shall make me so," he retorted, and looking into his +glittering eyes, she almost believed him. + +"Not to-day, but to-morrow," the girl added, thoughtfully. "Perhaps +then--" + +"I shall be ready," he broke in impatiently. "What must I do?" + +"Not drink this wine I have brought, but give it to the turnkey in the +morning. Invite him to share it, but take none yourself, feigning +sudden illness. He will not refuse, being always sharp-set for a cup. +Nothing can be done with the other jailers, but this one is a thirsty +soul, ever ready to bargain for a dram. Your couch cost I know not how +many flagons. Although he drinks many tankards and pitchers every day, +yet will this small bottle make him drowsy. You will leave while he is +sleeping." + +"In the daylight, mistress?" he asked, eagerly. "Why not wait--" + +"No," she said, decisively; "there is no other way. This turnkey is +only a day watchman. It is dangerous, but the best plan that suggested +itself. I know many unfrequented corridors and passages through the +old part of the castle the king has not rebuilt, and a road at the +back, now little used, that runs through the wood and thicket down the +hill. It is a desperate chance, but--" + +"The danger of remaining is more desperate," he interrupted, quickly. +"Besides, we shall not fail. It is in the book of fate." His +expression changed; became fierce, eager. "Are you, indeed, the +arbiter of that fate; the sorceress Triboulet feared?" + +"You are thinking of the duke," she answered, with a frown, "and that +if you escape--" + +"Truly, you are a sorceress," he replied, with a smile. "I confess +life has grown sweet." + +She moved abruptly toward the door. "Nay, I meant not to offend you," +he spoke up, more gently. + +"It is your own fortunes you ever injure," she retorted, gazing coldly +back at him. + +"One moment, sweet Jacqueline. Why did you not go with the princess?" + +Her face changed; grew dark; from eyes, deep and gloomy, she shot a +quick glance upon him. + +"Perhaps--because I like the court too well to leave it," she answered +mockingly, and, vouchsafing no further word, quickly vanished. It was +only when she had gone the jester suddenly remembered he had forgotten +to thank her for what she had done in the past or what she proposed +doing on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +JACQUELINE'S QUEST + +"Truly, are you a right proper fool; for a man, merry in adversity, is +as wise as Master Rabelais. Many the time have I heard him say a fit +of laughter drives away the devil, while the groans of flagellating +saints seem as music to Beelzebub's ears. Thus, a wit-cracker is the +demon's enemy, and the band of Pantagruel, an evangelical brotherhood, +that with tankard and pot sends the arch-fiend back to the bottomless +pit." + +And the fool's jailer, seated on the stool within the cell, stretched +out his legs and uplifted the bottle to his lips, while, judging from +the draft he took and assuming the verity of the theory he advanced, +the prince of darkness at that moment must have fled a considerable +distance into his chosen realms. + +"Ah, you know the great philosopher, then?" commented the jester from +the couch, closely watching the sottish, intemperate face of his +keeper, and running his glance over the unwieldy form which bade fair +to outrival one of the wine butts in the castle cellar. + +"Know him!" exclaimed this lowly votary. "I have e'en been admitted to +his table--at the foot, 'tis true--when the brave fellows of Pantagruel +were at it. Not for my wit was I thus honored"--the _plaisant_ made a +dissenting gesture, the irony of which passed over the head of the +speaker--"but because a giant flagon appeared but a child's toy in my +hands. The followers of Pantagruel fell on both sides, like wheat +before the blade of the reaper, until Doctor Rabelais and myself only +were left. From the head to the foot of the table the great man +looked. How my heart swelled with pride! 'Swine of Epicurus, are you +still there?' he said. And then--and then--" + +With a crash the bottle fell from the hand of the keeper to the stone +floor. The massive body swayed on the small stool; his eyes stupidly +shut and opened. + +"Swine of Epicurus," he repeated. "Swine--" and followed the bottle, +rolling gently from the stool. He made but one motion, to extend his +huge bulk more comfortably, and then was still. + +"Why," thought the fool, "if Jacqueline fails me not, all may yet be +well." + +But even as he thus reflected the door of the cell opened, and a face +white as a lily, looked in. Her glance passed hastily to the +motionless figure and an expression of satisfaction crossed her +features. + +"The keys!" she said, and the jester, bending over the prostrate +jailer, detached them from his girdle. + +"Lock the door when we leave," she continued. "The other keeper does +not come to relieve him for six hours." + +"It would be an offset for the many times he has locked me in," +answered the fool. "A scurvy trick; yet, as Master Rabelais says, +Pantagruelians select not their bed." + +"Is this a time for jesting?" exclaimed the girl, impatiently. + +"He has been treating me to Gargantuan discourse, Jacqueline," said the +fool, humbly. "I was but answering him in kind." + +"And by delay increasing our danger!" + +"Our danger!" He started. + +Since she had first broached the subject of escape but one sweet and +all-absorbing idea had possessed him--retaliation. Liberty was the +means to that end, and every other thought and consideration had given +way to this desire. He had fallen asleep with the free baron's dark +features imaged on his fevered brain; when he had awakened the morbid +fantasy had not left him. But now, at her words, in her presence, a +new light was suddenly shed upon the enterprise, and he paused +abruptly, even as he turned to leave the cell. With growing wonder she +watched his altered features. + +"Well," she exclaimed, impatiently, "why do you stand there?" + +"Should I escape, you, Jacqueline, would remain to bear the brunt," he +said, reflectively. "The jailer, when he awakes, will tell the story: +who brought the wine; who succored the prisoner. To go, but one course +is open." And he glanced down upon the prostrate man. "To silence him +forever!" + +She started and half-shrank from him. "Could you do it?" + +He shook his head. "In fair contest, I would have slain him. But +now--it is not he, but I, who am helpless. And yet what is such a +sot's life worth? Nothing. Everything. Farewell, sweet jestress; I +must trust to other means, and--thank you." + +The outstretched hand she seemed not to see, but tapped the floor of +the cell yet more impatiently with her foot, as was her fashion when +angered. Here was the prison door open, and the captive enamored of +confinement; at the culminating point conjuring reasons why he should +not flee. To have gone thus far; to have eliminated the jailer, and +then to draw back, with the keys in his hand--truly no scene in a +comedy could be more extravagant. The girl laughed nervously. + +"What egotists men are!" she said. "Good Sir Jester, in offering you +liberty I am serving myself; myself, you understand!" she repeated. +"Let us hasten on, lest in defeating your own purpose, you defeat mine." + +"What will you answer when he"--indicating the drugged +turnkey--"accuses you?" + +"Was ever such perversity!" was all she deigned to reply, biting her +lip. + +"You are somewhat wilful yourself, Jacqueline," he retorted, with that +smile which so exasperated her. + +"Listen," she said at length, slowly, impressively. "You need have no +fear for me when you go. I tell you that more danger remains to me by +your staying than in your going; that your obstinacy leaves me +unprotected; that your compliance would be a boon to me. By the memory +of my mother, by the truth of this holy book"--drawing a little volume +passionately from her bosom--"I swear to what I have told you." +Eagerly her eyes met his searching gaze, and he read in their depths +only truth and candor. "I have a quest for you. It concerns my life, +my happiness. All I have done for you has been for this end." + +Her eyes fell, but she raised them again quickly. "Will you accept a +mission from one who is not--a princess?" + +"Name her not!" exclaimed the jester sharply. And then, recovering +himself, added, less brusquely: "What is it you want, mistress?" + +"This is no time nor place to tell it," she went on rapidly, seeing by +his face that his dogged humor had melted before her appeal, "but soon, +before we part, you shall know all; what it is I wish to intrust in +your hands." + +A moment she waited. "Your argument is unanswerable, Jacqueline," he +said finally. "I own myself puzzled, but I believe you, so--have your +way." + +"This cloak then"--handing him a garment she had brought with +her--"throw it over you," she continued hurriedly. "If we meet any one +it may serve as a disguise. And here is a sword," bringing forth a +weapon that she had carried concealed beneath a flowing mantle. "Can +you use it?" + +"I can but try, Jacqueline," he replied, fastening the girdle about his +waist and half-drawing and then thrusting the blade back into the +scabbard. "It seems a priceless weapon," he added, his eye lingering +on the richly inlaid hilt, "and has doubtless been wielded by a gallant +hand." + +"Speak not of that," she retorted, sharply, a strange flash in her +eyes. "He who handled it was the bravest, noblest--" She broke off +abruptly, and they left the cell, he locking the door behind him. + +Down the dimly lighted passage she walked rapidly, while the jester +tractably and silently followed. His strength, he found, had come back +to him; the joys of freedom imparted new elasticity to his limbs; that +narrow, cheerless way looked brighter than a royal gallery, or Francis' +_Salle des Fêtes_. Before him floated the light figure of the +jestress, moving faster and ever faster down the dark corridor, now +veering to the right or left, again ascending or descending well-worn +steps; a tortuous route through the heart of the ancient fortress, +whose mystery seemed dread and covert as that of a prison house. +Confidently, knowing well the puzzling interior plan of the old pile, +she traversed the labyrinth that was to lead them without, finally +pausing before a small door, which she tried. + +"Usually it is unlocked," she said, in surprise. "I never knew it +fastened before." + +"Is that our only way out?" + +"The only safe way. Perhaps one of the keys--" + +But he had already knelt before the door and the young girl watched him +with obvious anxiety. He vainly essayed all the keys, save one, and +that he now strove to fit to the lock. It slipped in snugly and the +stubborn bolt shot back. + +Entering, he closed the door behind them and hastily looked around, +discovering that they stood in a crypt, the central part of which was +occupied by a burial vault. In the crypt chapels were a number of +statues, in marble and bronze, most of them rude, antique, yet not of +indifferent workmanship, especially one before which the jestress, in +spite of the exigency of the moment, stopped as if impelled by an +irresistible impulse. This monument, so read the inscription, had been +erected by the renowned Constable of Dubrois to his young and faithful +consort, Anne. + +But a part of a minute the girl gazed, with a new and softened +expression, upon the marble likeness of the last fair mistress of the +castle, and then hurriedly crossed the old mosaic pavement, reaching a +narrow flight of stairs, which she swiftly ascended. A door that +yielded to the fool's shoulder led into a deserted court, on one side +of which were the crumbling walls of the chapel. Here several dark +birds perched uncannily on the dead branch of a massive oak that had +been shattered by lightning. In its desolation the oak might have been +typical of the proud family, once rulers of the castle, whose corporeal +strength had long since mingled with the elements. + +This open space the two fugitives quickly traversed, passing through a +high-arched entrance to an olden bridge that spanned a moat. Long ago +had the feudal gates been overthrown by Francis; yet above the keystone +appeared, not the salamander, the king's heraldic emblem, but the +almost illegible device of the old constable. Beyond the great ditch +outstretched a rolling country on which the jester gazed with eager +eyes, while his companion swiftly led the way to a clump of willow and +aspen on the other side of the moat. Beneath the spreading branches +were tethered two horses, saddled and bridled. Wonderingly he glanced +from them to her. + +"From whence did you conjure them, gentle mistress?" asked the fool. + +"Some one I knew placed them there." + +"But why--two horses, good Jacqueline?" + +"Because I am minded to show you the path through the wood," she +replied. "You might mistake it and then my purpose would not be +served. Give me your hand, sir. I am wont to have my own way." And +as he reluctantly extended his palm she placed her foot upon it, +springing lightly to the saddle. "'Tis but a canter through the +forest. The day is glorious, and 'twill be rare sport." + +Already had she gathered in the reins and turned her horse, galloping +down a road that swept through a grove of poplar and birch, and he, +after a moment's hesitation, rode after her. Like one born to the +chase, she kept her seat, her lithe figure swaying to the movements of +the steed. Soon the brighter green of her gown fluttered amid the +somber-tinted pines and elms, as the younger forest growth merged into +a stern array of primeval monarchs. Here reigned an austere silence--a +stillness that now became the more startlingly broken. + +"Jacqueline!" said the fool, spurring toward her. "Do you hear?" + +"The hunters? Yes," she replied. + +"They are coming this way." + +"Perhaps it were better to draw back from the road," she suggested, +calmly. + +"Do you draw back to the castle!" he returned, quickly, his brow +overcast. + +"And miss the hunt? Not I, Monsieur Spoil-Sport." + +"But if they find you with me?" + +She only tossed her head wilfully and did not answer. + +Nearer came the hue and cry of the chase. A heavy-horned buck sprang +into the road and vanished like a flash into the timber on the other +side. Shortly afterward, in a compact bunch, with heads downbent and +stiffened tails, the pack, a howling, discordant mass, swept across the +narrow, open space. + +"Quick!" exclaimed the jester, and they turned their horses into the +underbrush. + +Scarcely had they done so when, closely following the dogs, appeared +the first of the hunters, mounted on a splendid charger, with housings +of rose-velvet. + +"_Pardieu!_" muttered the _plaisant_, "I owe the king no thanks, but he +rides well. Do you not think so, Jacqueline?" + +Her answering gaze was puzzling. After Francis rode many lords and +ladies, a stream of color crossing the road; riding habits faced with +gold; satin doublets covered with _rivières_ of diamonds; torsades +wherein gold became the foil to precious stones. So near was the +gorgeous cavalcade--the grand falconer, whippers-in, and the bearers of +hooded birds mingling with the courtiers immediately behind the +king--the escaped prisoner and the jestress could hear the panting of +horses. Fleeting, transient, it passed; fainter sounded the din of +hounds and horn; now it almost died away in the distance. The last +couple had scarcely vanished before the fool and his companion left +their ambush. + +"You ride farther, Jacqueline?" he said. + +"A little farther." + +"It will be far to return," he protested. + +"I have no fear," she answered, tranquilly. + +Again he let her have her way, as one would yield to a wilful child. +On and on they sped; past the place where the deer-run crossed the +broader path; through an ever-varying forest; now on one side, a rocky +basin overrun with trees and shrubs; again, on the other hand, a great +gorge, in whose depths flowed a whispering stream. Yonder appeared the +gray walls of an ancient monastery, one part only of which was +habitable; a turn in the road swallowed it up as though abruptly to +complete the demolition time was slowly to bring about. On and on, +until the way became wilder and the wood more overgrown with bushes and +tangled shrubbery, when she suddenly stopped her horse. + +He understood; at last they were to part. And, remembering what he +owed to her, the Jester suddenly found himself regretting that here +their paths separated forever. Swiftly his mind flew back to their +first meeting; when she had flouted him in Fools' hall. A perverse, +capricious maid. How she had ever crossed him, and yet--nursed him. + +Attentively he regarded her. The customary pallor of her face had +given way to a faint tint; her eyes were humid, dewy-bright; beneath +the little cap, the curling tresses would have been the despair of +those later-day reformers, the successors of Calvinists and Lutherans. + +"A will-o'-the-wisp," he thought. "A man might follow and never grasp +her." + +Did she read what he felt? That mingled gratitude and perplexity? Her +clear eyes certainly seemed to have a peculiar mastery over the +thoughts of others. Now they expressed only mockery. + +"The greater danger is over," she said, quietly. "From now on there is +less fear of your being taken." + +"Thanks to you!" he answered, searching her with his glance. + +Here he doubted not she would make known the quest of which she had +spoken. Whatever it might be, he would faithfully requite her; even to +making his own purpose subservient to it. + +"It is now time," she said, demurely, "to acquaint you with the +mission. Of course, you will accept it?" + +"Can you ask?" he answered, earnestly. + +"You promise?" + +"To serve you with my life." + +"Then we had better go on," she continued. + +"But, Mademoiselle, I thought--" + +"That we were to part here? Not at all. I am not yet ready to leave +you. In fact, good Master Jester, I am going with you. _I_ am the +quest; _I_ am the mission. Are you sorry you promised?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SECRET OF THE JESTRESS + +She, the quest, the mission! With growing amazement he gazed at her, +but she returned his look, as though enjoying his surprise. + +"You do not seem overpleased with the prospect of my company?" she +observed. "Or perhaps you fear I may encumber you?" With mock irony. +"Confess, the service is more onerous than you expected?" + +Beneath her flushed, yet smiling face lay a nervous earnestness he +could divine, but not fathom. + +"Different, certainly," he answered, brusquely. + +Her eyes flashed. "How complimentary you are!" + +"For your own sake--" + +"My sake!" she exclaimed, passionately. Her little hand closed +fiercely; proudly her eyes burned into his. "Think you I have taken +this step idly? That it is but the caprice of a moment? Oh, no; no! +It was necessary to flee from the court. But to whom could a woman +turn? Not to any of the court--tools of the king. One person only was +there; he whose life was as good as forfeited. Do you understand?" + +"That my life belongs to you? Yes. But that you should leave the +court--where you have influence, friends--" + +"Influence! friends!" + +He was startled by the bitterness of her voice. + +"Tell me, Jacqueline--why do you wish to go?" he said, wonderingly. + +"Because I wish to," she returned, briefly, and stroked the shining +neck of her horse. + +Indeed, how could she apprise him of events which were now the talk of +the court? How Francis, evincing a sudden interest as strong as it was +unexpected, had exchanged Triboulet for herself, and the princess, at +the king's request, had taken the buffoon with her, and left the girl +behind. The jestress' welcome to the household of the Queen of +Navarre; a subsequent bewildering shower of gifts; the complacent, +although respectful, attentions of the king. How she had endured these +advances until no course remained save the one she had taken. No; she +could not tell the duke's fool all this. + +Between _folle_ and fugitive fell a mutual reserve. Did he divine some +portion of the truth? Are there moments when the mind, tuned to a +tension, may almost feel what another experiences? Why had the girl +not gone with her mistress? He remembered she had evaded this question +when he had asked it. Looking at her, for the first time it crossed +his mind she would be held beautiful; an odd, strange beauty, imperious +yet girlish, and the conviction crept over him there might be more than +a shadow of excuse for her mad flight. + +Beneath his scrutiny her face grew cold, disdainful. "Like all men," +she said, sharply, as though to stay the trend of his thoughts, "you +are prodigal in promises, but chary in fulfilment." + +"Where is it your pleasure to go?" he asked quietly. + +"That we shall speak of hereafter," she answered, haughtily. + +"Forward then." + +"I can ride on alone," she demurred, "if--" + +"Nay; 'tis I who crave the quest," he returned, gravely. + +Her face broke into smiles, "What a devoted cavalier!" she exclaimed. +"Come, then. Let us ride out into the world. At least, it is bright +and shining--to-day. Do you fear to follow me, sir? Or do you believe +with the hunchback that I am an enchantress and cast over whom I will +the spell of _diablerie_?" + +"You may be an enchantress, mistress, but the spell you cast is not +_diablerie_," he answered in the same tone. + +"Fine words!" she said, mockingly. "But it remains to be seen into +what a world I am going to lead you!" And rode on. + +The rush of air, the swift motion, the changing aspect of nature were +apparently not without their effect on her spirits, for as they +galloped along she appeared to forget their danger, the certainty of +pursuit and the possibility of capture. Blithesome she continued; +called his attention to a startled hare; pointed with her whip to a +red-eyed boar that sullenly retreated at their approach; laughed when +an overhanging branch swept her little cap from her head and merrily +thanked him when he hastily dismounted and returned it to her. + +"You see, fool, what a burden I am like to prove!" she said, +readjusting the cap, and, ere he could answer, had passed on, as if +challenging him to a test of speed. + +"Have a care!" he cried warningly, as they came to a rough stretch of +ancient highway, but she seemed not to hear him. + +That she could ride in such madcap fashion, seemingly oblivious of the +gravity of their desperate fortunes, was not ill-pleasing to the +jester; no timorous companion, shrinking from phantoms, he surmised she +would prove. Thus mile after mile they covered and the shadows had +reached their minimum length, when, coming to a clear pool of water, +they drew rein to refresh themselves from the provisions in the +saddle-bags. Bread and wine--sumptuous fare for poor fugitives--they +ate and drank with keen relish. Dreamily she watched the green insects +skimming over the surface of the shimmering water. On the bank swayed +the rushes, as though making obeisance to a single gorgeous lily, set +like a queen in the center of this little shining kingdom. + +"Was the repast to your liking?" she asked, suddenly looking from the +pool to him. + +"Entirely, fair Jacqueline. The wine was excellent. Hunger gave it +bouquet, and appetite aged it. Never did bread taste so wholesome, and +as for the service--" + +"It was perfect--lacking grand master, grand chamberlain, grand +marshals, grand everybody," she laughed. + +In the reflected glow from pool and shining leaves, her eyes were so +full of light he could but wonder if this were the same person who had +so gravely stood by his bedside in the cell. That she should thus seem +carelessly to dismiss all thought of danger appeared the more +surprising, because he knew she was not one to lull herself with the +assurance of a false security. To him her bright eyes said: "I am in +your care. Be yours the task now." And thus interpreting, he broke in +upon her thoughts. + +"Having dined and wined so well, shall we go on, Jacqueline?" + +To which she at once assented by rising, and soon they had left the +principality of the lily far in the distance. Now the road so narrowed +he fell behind. The character of the country had changed; some time +ago they had passed out of the wild forest, and had begun to traverse a +great, level plain, broken with stubble. As far as the eye could +reach, no other human figures were visible; the land outstretched, +apparently without end; no habitations dotted the landscape, and, the +sole signs of life, wheeling birds of prey, languidly floated in the +air. At length she glanced around. Was it to reassure herself the +jester rode near; that she had not, unattended, entered that forbidding +territory? Then she paused abruptly and the fool approached. + +"By this time the turnkey should be relieved," she said. + +"But not released," he answered, holding up the keys which he yet wore +at his girdle. "They will have to come a long distance to find them," +he continued, and threw the keys far away upon the sward. + +"They may not think of following on this road at all," she returned. +"It is the old castle thoroughfare, long since disused." + +"And leads where?" + +"Southward, to the main road." + +"How came you to know it?" he asked, quickly. + +"How--because I lived in the castle before the king built the palace +and the new thoroughfare," she answered slowly. + +"You lived in the castle, then, when it was the residence of the proud +Constable of Dubrois? You must have been but a child," he added, +reflectively. + +"Yes; but children may have long memories." + +"In your case, certainly. How well you knew all the passages and +corridors of the castle!" + +She responded carelessly and changed the conversation. The +thoroughfare broadening, for the remainder of the day they pressed +forward side by side. But a single human figure, during all those +hours, they encountered, and that when the afternoon had fairly worn +away. For some time they had pursued their journey silently, when at a +turn in the road the horse of the jester shied and started back. + +At the same time an unclean, offensive-looking monk in Franciscan +attire arose suddenly out of the stubble by the wayside. In his hand +he held a heavy staff, newly cut from the forest, a stock which in his +brawny arms seemed better adapted for a weapon than as a prop for his +sturdy frame. From the rope girdle about his waist depended a rosary +whose great beads would have served the fingers of a Cyclops, and a +most diminutive, leathern-bound prayer-book. At the appearance of the +fool and his companion, he opened an enormous mouth, and in a voice +proportionately large began to whine right vigorously: + +"Charity, good people, for the Mother Church! Charity in the name of +the Holy Mother! In the name of the saints, the apostles and the +evangelists! St. John, St. Peter, St.--" Then broke off suddenly, +staring stupidly at the jester. + +"The duke's fool!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? A plague +upon it! You have as many lives as a monk." + +"Call you yourself a monk, rascal?" asked the jester, contemptuously. + +"At times. Charity, good fool!" the canting rogue again began to +whine, edging nearer. "Charity, mistress! For the sake of the +prophets and the disciples! The seven sacraments, the feast of the +Pentecost and the Passover! In the name of the holy Fathers! St. +Sebastian! St. Michael! St.--" + +But the fugitives had already sped on, and the unregenerate knave +turned his pious eloquence into an unhallowed channel of oaths, waving +his staff menacingly after them. + +"I fear me," said the jester, when they had put a goodly distance +between themselves and the solitary figure, "yonder brother craves +almsgiving with his voice, and enforces the bounty with his staff. Woe +betide the good Samaritan who falls within reach of his pilgrim's prop." + +"You knew him?" she asked. + +"I had the doubtful pleasure," he answered. "He was hired to kill me." + +"Why?" in surprise. + +"Because the--duke wanted me out of the way." + +She asked no further questions, although he could see by her brow she +was thinking deeply. Was the duke then no better than a common +assassin? She frowned, then gave an impatient exclamation. + +"It is inexplicable," she said, and rode the faster. + +The jester, too, was silent, but his mind dwelt upon the future and its +hazards. He little liked their meeting with the false monk. Why was +the Franciscan traveling in their direction? Had others of that band +of pillagers, street-fools and knave-minstrels, formerly infesting the +neighborhood of the palace, gone that way? He did not believe the monk +would long pursue a solitary pilgrimage, for varlets of that kind have +common haunts and byways. The encounter suggested hazard ahead as well +as the danger of pursuit from the palace. But this apprehension of a +new source of peril he kept from his companion; since go on they must, +there was no need to disquiet her further. + +The mystic silver light of the day had now become golden; the sky, +brilliant, many-colored, overdomed the vast, sullen earth; between two +roseate streamers a whitish crescent unobtrusively was set. Seemingly +misplaced in a sanguinary sea, passionless it lay, but as the ocean of +light grew dull the crescent kindled. Over a thick patch of pine trees +in the distance myriads of dark birds hovered and screamed in chorus. +Now they circled restlessly above that shaded spot; then darted off, a +cloud against the sky, and returned with renewed cawing and discord. +As the riders approached the din abruptly ceased, the creatures +mysteriously and suddenly vanishing into the depths of the thicket +below. + +In the fading light, fool and jestress drew rein, and, moved by the +same purpose, looked about them. On the one hand was the deserted, +desolate plain over which lay a sullen, gathering mist; on the other, +the sombrous obscurity of the wood. Everywhere, an ominous silence, +and overhead the crescent growing in luster. + +"Do you see any sign of house or inn?" said the girl, peering afar down +the road, which soon lost itself in the general monotony of the +landscape. + +"None, mistress; the country seems alike barren of farmhouse or tavern." + +"What shall we do? I am full weary," she confessed. + +"The forest offers the best protection," he reluctantly suggested. +Little as he favored delay, he realized the wisdom of sparing their +horses. Moreover, her appeal was irresistible. + +She gazed half-dubiously into that woody depth. "Why not rest by the +wayside--in the moonlight?" + +"I like not the open road," he answered. "But if you fear the +darkness--" + +For answer she guided her horse to the verge of the forest and lightly +sprang to the ground. Upon a grassy knoll, but a little way within, he +spread his cloak. + +"There, Jacqueline, is your couch," he said. + +"But you?" she asked. "To rob you thus of your cloak seems +ill-comradeship." + +"The cloak is yours," he returned. "As it is, you will find it but a +hard bed." + +"It will seem soft as down," she replied, and seated herself on the +hillock. In the gloom he could just distinguish the outline of her +figure, with her elbow on her knee, and her hair blacker than the +shadows themselves. A long-drawn, moaning sound, coming without +warning behind her, caused the girl to turn. + +"What is that?" she said, quickly. + +"The wind, Jacqueline. It is rising." + +As he spoke, like a monster it entered the forest; about them branches +waved and tossed: a friendly star seen through the boughs lost itself +behind a cloud. Yet no rain fell and the air seemed hot and dry, +despite the mists which clung to the ground. A crash of thunder or a +flash of lightning would have relieved that sighing dolor which filled +the little patch of timber with its melancholy sounds. + +Suddenly, above the plaint and murmur of wind and forest, the low, +clear voice of the girl arose; the melody was no ballad, arietta or +pastoral, such as he had before heard from her lips, but a simple hymn, +the setting by Calvin. The jester started. How came she to know that +forbidden music? Not only to know, but to sing it as he had never +heard it sung before. Sweetly it vibrated, her waywardness sunk in its +swelling rhythm; its melody freighted with the treasure of her trust. +As he listened he felt she was betraying to him the hidden well of her +faith; the secret of her religion; that she, his companion, was +proclaiming herself a heretic, and, therefore, doubly an outcast. + +A stanza, and the melody died away on the wings of the tempest. His +heart was beating violently; he looked expectantly toward her. Even +more gently, like a lullaby to the turbulent night, the full-measured +cadence of the majestic psalm was again heard. Then another voice, +deeper, fuller, blended with that of the first singer. Unwavering, she +continued the song, as though it had been the most natural matter he +should join his voice with hers. Fainter fell the harmony; then ceased +altogether--a hymn destined to become interwoven with terrible +memories, the tragic massacre of the Huguenots on the ill-fated night +of St. Bartholomew. Again prevailed the tristful dirge of the pines. + +"You sing well, mistress," said the jester, softly. "Is it true you +are one of a hated sect?" + +"As true as that you did not deny the heretic volume found in your +room," she replied. + +A silence ensued between them. "It was Marot placed the horses there +for us," she said, at length. "He, too, is a heretic, and would have +saved you." + +Thereafter the silence remained unbroken for some moments, and then-- + +"God keep you, mistress," he said. + +"God keep you," she answered, softly. + +Soon her deep breathing told him she was sleeping, and, as he listened, +in fancy he could hear the faint echoes of her voice, accompanied by +the sighing wind. How intrepid had she seemed; how helpless was she +now; and, as he bent over her, divining yet not seeing, he asked +himself whence had come this faith in him, that like a child she +slumbered amid the unrest of nature? What had her life been, who her +friends, that she should thus have chosen a jester as comrade? What +had driven her forth from the court to nameless hazards? Had he +surmised correctly? Was it-- + +"The king," she murmured, with sudden restlessness in her sleep. + +"The king," she repeated, with aversion. + +In the jester's breast upleaped a fierce anger. This was the +art-loving monarch who burned the fathers and brothers of the new +faith; this, the righteous ruler who condemned men to death for +psalm-singing or for listening to grave discourse; this the Christian +king, the brilliant patron of science and learning. + +The storm had sighed itself to rest, the stars had come out, but +leaning with his back against a tree, the fool still kept vigil. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT + +Experiencing no further inconvenience than the ordinary vicissitudes of +traveling without litter or cavalcade, several days of wandering slowly +passed. Few people they met, and those, for the most part, various +types of vagabonds and nomads; some wild and savage, roaming like +beasts from place to place; others, harmless, mere bedraggled birds of +passage. In this latter class were the vagrant-entertainers, with +dancing rooster or singing dog, who stopped at every peasant's door. +To the shrill piping of the flageolet, these merry stragglers added a +step of their own, and won a crust for themselves, a bone for the dog +or a handful of grain for the performing fowl. + +In those days when court ladies rode in carved and gilded coaches, and +their escorts on horses covered with silken, jeweled nets, the modest +appearance of the jestress and her companion was not calculated to +attract especial attention from the yokels and honest peasantry; +although their steeds, notwithstanding their unpretentious housings, +might still excite the cupidity of highway rogues. As it minimized +their risk from this latter class, the young girl was content to wear +the cap of the jestress, piquantly perched upon her dark curls, thereby +suggesting an indefinable affinity with vagrancy and the itinerant +fraternity. + +Not only had she donned the symbol of her office, but she endeavored to +act up to it, accepting the sweet with the sour, with ever a jest at +discomfort and concealing weariness with a smile. Often the fool +wondered at her endurance and her calm courage in the face of peril, +for although they met with no misadventures, each day seemed fraught +with jeopardy. Perhaps it was fortunate their attire, somewhat +travel-stained, appeared better suited to the character of poor, +migratory wearers of the cap and bells than to the more magnificent +roles of _fou du roi_ or _folle de la reine_. But although they had +gone far, the jester knew they had not yet traveled beyond the reach of +Francis' arm, and that, while the king might reconcile himself to the +escape of the _plaisant_, he would not so easily tire in seeking the +maid. + +Once they slept in the fields; again, beside an old ruined shrine, in +the shadow of an ancient cross; the third night, on the bank of a +stream, when it rained, and she shivered until dawn with no word of +complaint. Fortunately the sun arose, bright and warm, drying the +garments that clung to her slender figure, At the peasants' houses they +paused no longer than necessary to procure food and drink, and, not to +awaken suspicion, she preferred paying them with a song of the people +rather than from the well-filled purse she had brought with her. + +And as the fool listened to a sprightly, contagious carol and noted its +effect on clod and hind, he wondered if this could be the same voice he +had heard, uplifted in one of Master Calvin's psalms in the solitude of +the forest. She had the gift of music, and, sometimes on the journey, +would break out with a catch or madrigal by Marot, Caillette, or +herself. It appeared a brave effort to bear up under continued +hardship--insufficient rest and sharp riding--and the jester reproached +himself for thus taxing her strength; but often, when he suggested a +pause, she would shake her head wilfully, assert she was not tired, and +ride but the faster. + +"No, no!" she would say; "if we would escape, we must keep on. We can +rest afterward." + +"Where do you wish to go?" he asked her once. + +"There is time enough yet to speak of that," she returned, evasively. + +"You have some plan, mistress?" + +"Perhaps." + +This answer forbade his further questioning; offended, possibly, his +sense of that confidence which is due comrade to comrade, but she +became immediately so propitiative and sweetly dependent--the +antithesis to that self-reliance her response implied--he thought no +more of it, but remained content with her reticence. Half-shyly, she +looked at him beneath her dark lashes, as if to read how deeply he was +annoyed, and, seeing his face clear, laughed lightly. + +"What are you laughing at, mistress?" he said. + +"If I knew I could tell," she replied. + +Toward sundown on the fourth day they came to a lonely inn, set in a +clearing on the verge of a forest. They had ridden late in the +moonlight the night before, and all that morning and afternoon almost +without resting, and the first sight of the solitary hostelry was not +unwelcome to the weary fugitives. A second inspection of the place, +however, awakened misgivings. The building seemed the better adapted +for a fortress than a tavern, being heavily constructed with massive +doors and blinds, and loopholes above. A brightly painted sign, The +Rooks' Haunt, waved cheerily, it is true, above the door, as though to +disarm suspicion, but the isolated situation of the inn, and the +depressing sense of the surrounding wilderness, might well cause the +wayfarer to hesitate whether to tarry there or continue his journey. + +A glance at the pale face and unnaturally bright eyes of the girl +brought the jester, however, to a quick decision. Springing from his +horse, he held out his hand to assist her, but, overcome by weakness, +or fatigue, she would have fallen had he not sustained her. Quickly +she recovered, and with a faint flush mantling her white cheek, +withdrew from his grasp, while at the same time the landlord of the +tavern came forward to welcome his guests. + +In appearance mine host was round and jovial; his bulk bespoke hearty +living; his rosy face reflected good cheer; his stentorian voice, +free-and-easy hospitality. His eyes constituted the only setback to +this general impression of friendliness and fellow-feeling; they were +small, twinkling, glassy. + +"Good even to you, gentle folk," he said. "You tarry for the night, I +take it?" + +"If you have suitable accommodations," answered the jester, reassured +by the man's aspect and manner. + +"The Rooks' Haunt never yet turned away a weary traveler," answered the +landlord. "You come from the palace?" + +"Yes," briefly, as a lad led away their horses. + +"And have done well? Reaped a harvest from the merry lords and ladies?" + +"There were many others there for that purpose," returned the jester, +following the proprietor to the door of the hostelry. + +"True. Still I'll warrant your fair companion cozened the silver +pieces from the pockets of the gentry." And, smiling knowingly, he +ushered them into the principal living room of the tavern. + +It was a smoke-begrimed apartment, with tables next to the wall, and +rough chairs and benches for the guests. Heavy pine rafters spanned +the ceiling; the floor was sprinkled with sand; from a chain hung a +wrought-iron frame for candles. Upon a shelf a row of battered +tankards, suggesting many a bout, shone dully, like a line of war-worn +troopers, while a great pewter pitcher, the worse for wear, commanded +the disreputable array. + +In this room was gathered a nondescript company: mountebanks and +buffoons; rogues unclassified, drinking and dicing; a robust vagrant, +at whose feet slept a performing boar, with a ring--badge of +servitude--through its nose; a black-bearded, shaggy-haired Spanish +troubadour, with attire so ragged and worn as to have lost its +erstwhile picturesque characteristics. This last far from +prepossessing worthy half-started from his seat upon the appearance of +fool and jestress; stared at them, and then resumed his place and the +ballad he had been singing: + + "Within the garden of Beaucaire + He met her by a secret stair, + Said Aucassin, 'My love, my pet, + These old confessors vex me so! + They threaten all the pains of hell + Unless I give you up, _ma belle_,'-- + Said Aucassin to Nicolette." + + +Watching the nimble fingers of the shabby minstrel with pitiably +childish expression of amusement, a half-imbecile morio leaned upon the +table. His huge form, for he was a giant among stalwart men, and his +great moon-shaped head made him at once an object hideous and miserable +to contemplate. But the poor creature seemed unaware of his own +deformities, and smiled contentedly and patted the table caressingly to +the sprightly rhythm. + +Gazing upon this choice assemblage, the _plaisant_ was vaguely +conscious that some of the curious and uncommon faces seemed familiar, +and the picture of the Franciscan monk whom they had overtaken on the +road recurred to him, together with the misgivings he had experienced +upon parting from that canting knave. He half-expected to see Nanette; +to hear her voice, and was relieved that the gipsy on this occasion did +not make one of the unwonted gathering. The landlord, observing the +fool's discriminating gaze, and reading something of what was passing +in his mind, reassuringly motioned the new-comers to an unoccupied +corner, and by his manner sought to allay such mistrust as the +appearance of his guests was calculated to inspire. + +"We have to take those that come," he said, deprecatorily. "The +rascals have money. It is as good as any lord's. Besides, whate'er +they do without, here must they behave. And--for their credit--they +are docile as children; ruled by the cook's ladle. You will find that, +though there be ill company, you will partake of good fare. If I say +it myself, there's no better master of the flesh pots outside of Paris +than at this hostelry. The rogues eat as well as the king's gentlemen. +Feasting, then fasting, is their precept." + +"At present we have a leaning for the former, good host," carelessly +answered the fool. "Though the latter will, no doubt, come later." + +"For which reason it behooves a man to eat, drink and be merry while he +may," retorted the other. "What say you to a carp on the spit, with +shallots, and a ham boiled with pistachios?" + +"The ham, if it be ready. Our appetites are too sharp to wait for the +fish." + +"Then shall you have with it a cold teal from the marshes, and I'll +warrant such a repast as you have not tasted this many a day. Because +a man lives in a retired spot, it does not follow he may not be an +epicure," he went on, "and in my town days I was considered a good +fellow among gourmands." His eyes twinkled; he studied the new-comers +a moment, and then vanished kitchenward. + +His self-praise as a provider of creature comforts proved not ill +deserved; the viands, well prepared, were soon set before them; a +serving lad filled their glasses from a skin of young but sound wine he +bore beneath his arm, and, under the influence of this cheer, the young +girl's cheek soon lost its pallor. In the past she had become +accustomed to rough as well as gentle company; so now it was disdain, +not fear, she experienced in that uncouth gathering; the same sort of +contempt she had once so openly expressed for Master Rabelais, +whipper-in for all gluttons, wine-bibbers and free-livers. + +As the darkness gathered without, the merriment increased within. Over +the scene the dim light cast an uncertain luster. Indefatigably the +dicers pursued their pastime, with now and then an audible oath, or +muttered imprecation, which belied that docility mine host had boasted +of. The troubadour played and the morio yet listened. Several of a +group who had been singing now sat in sullen silence. Suddenly one of +them muttered a broken sentence and his fellows immediately turned +their eyes toward the corner where were fool and jestress. This ripple +of interest did not escape the young girl's attention, who said +uneasily: + +"Why do those men look at us?" + +"One of them spoke to the others," replied the jester. "He called +attention to something." + +"What do you suppose it was?" she asked curiously. + +"_Gladius gemmatus!_" ["The jeweled sword."] + +Whence came the voice? Near the couple, in a shadow, sat a woebegone +looking man who had been holding a book so close to his eyes as to +conceal his face. Now he permitted the volume to fall and the jester +uttered an exclamation of surprise, as he looked upon those pinched, +worn, but well-remembered features. + +"The scamp-student!" he said. + +Immediately the reader buried his head once more behind the book and +spoke aloud in Latin as though quoting some passage which he followed +with his finger; "Did you understand?" + +"Yes," answered the _plaisant_, apparently speaking to the jestress, +whose face wore a puzzled expression. + +The scamp-student laid the volume on the table. "These men are outlaws +and intend to kill you for your jeweled sword," he continued in the +language of Horace. + +"Why do you tell me this?" asked the fool in the same tongue, now +addressing directly the scholar. + +"Because you spared my life once; I would serve you now." + +"What's all this monk's gibberish about?" cried an angry voice, as the +master of the boar stepped toward them. + +"A discussion between two scholars," readily answered the scamp-student. + +"Why don't you talk in a language we understand?" grumbled the man. + +"Latin is the tongue of learning," was the humble response. + +"I like not the sound of it," retorted the other, as he retired. From +a distance, however, he continued to cast suspicious glances in their +direction. Bewildered, the girl looked from one of the alleged +controverters to the other. Who was this starveling the jester seemed +to know? Again were they conversing in the language of the monastery, +and their colloquy led to a conclusion as unexpected as it was +startling. + +"What if we leave the inn now?" asked the jester. + +"They would prevent you." + +"Who is the leader?" + +"The man with the boar," answered the scamp-student. "But it is the +morio who usually kills their victims." + +The jester glanced at the colossal monster, repugnant in deformity, and +then at the girl, who was tapping impatiently on the table with her +white fingers. The fool's color came and went; what human strength +might stand against that frightful prodigy of nature? + +"Is there no way to escape?" he asked. + +"Alas! I can but warn; not advise," said the scholar. "Already the +leader suspects me." + +A half-shiver ran through him. In the presence of actual and seemingly +assured death he had appeared calm, resigned, a Socrates in +temperament; before the mere prospect of danger the apprehensive +thief-and-fugitive elements of his nature uprose. He would meet, when +need be, the grim-visaged monster of dissolution with the dignity of a +stoic, but by habit disdained not to dodge the shadow with the +practised agility of a filcher and scamp. So the lower part of his +moral being began to cower; he glanced furtively at the company. + +"Yes; I am sure I have put my own neck in it," he muttered. "I must +devise a way to save it. I have it. We must seem to quarrel." And +rising, he closed his book deliberately. + +"Fool!" he said in a sharp voice. "Your argument is as scurvy as your +Latin. Thou, a philosopher! A bookless, shallow dabbler! So I treat +you and your reasonings!" + +Whereupon, with a quick gesture, he threw the dregs of his glass in the +face of the jester. So suddenly and unexpectedly was it done, the +other sprang angrily from his seat and half drew his sword. A moment +they stood thus, the fool with his hand menacingly upon the hilt; the +scamp-scholar continuing to confront him with undiminished volubility. + +[Illustration: He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the +jester.] + +"A smatterer! an ignoramus! a dunce!" he repeated in high-pitched tones +to the amusement of the company. + +"Make a ring for the two monks, my masters," cried the man with the +boar. "Then let each state his case with bludgeon or dagger." + +"With bludgeon or dagger!" echoed the excited voice of the morio, whose +appearance had undergone a transformation. The indescribable vacancy +with which he had listened to the minstrel was replaced by an +expression of revolting malignity. + +The jestress half-arose, her face once more white, her dark eyes +fastened on the fool. But the latter, realizing the purpose of the +affront, and the actual service the scamp-student had rendered him, +unexpectedly thrust back his blade. + +"I'll not fight a puny bookworm," he said, and resumed his seat, +although his cheek was flushed. + +"You bear a brave sword, fool, for one so loath to draw," sneered the +master of the boar. + +Disappointed at this tame outcome of an affair which had so spirited a +beginning, the company, with derisive scoffing and muttered sarcasm, +resumed their places; all save the morio, who stood glaring upon the +jester. + +"Stab! stab!" he muttered through his dry lips, and at that moment the +troubadour played a few chords on his instrument. The passion faded +from the creature's face; quietly he turned and sought the chair +nearest to the minstrel. + +"Sing, master," he said. + +"_Diable_, thou art an insatiable monster!" grumbled the troubadour. + +"Insatiable," smilingly repeated the strange being. + + "If you went also, _ma douce miette_! + The joys of heaven I'd forego + To have you with me there below,'-- + Said Aucassin to Nicolette." + +softly sang the troubadour. + +Over the gathering a marked constraint appeared to fall. More soberly +the men shook their dice; the scamp-student took up his book, but even +Horace seemed not to absorb his undivided attention; a mountebank +attempted several tricks, but failed to amuse his spectators. The +candles, burning low, began to drip, and the servant silently replaced +them. Beneath lowering brows the master of the boar moodily regarded +the young girl, whose face seemed cold and disdainful in the flickering +light. The _plaisant_ addressed a remark to her, but she did not +answer, and silently he watched the shadow on the floor, of the +chandelier swinging to and fro, like a waving sword. + +"Will you have something more, good fool?" said the insinuating and +unexpected voice of the host at the _plaisant's_ elbow. + +"Nothing." + +"You were right not to draw," continued the boniface with a sharp look. +"What could a jester do with the blade? I'll warrant you do not know +how to use it?" + +"Nay," answered the fool; "I know how to use it not--and save my neck." + +Mine host nodded approvingly. "Ha! a merry fellow," he said. "Come; +drink again. 'Twill make you sleep." + +"I have better medicine than that," retorted the jester, and yawned. + +"Ah, weariness. I'll warrant you'll rest like a log," he added, as he +moved away. + +At that some one who had been listening laughed, but the fool did not +look up. A great clock began to strike with harsh clangor and +Jacqueline suddenly arose. At the same time the minstrel, stretching +his arms, strolled to the door and out into the open air. + +"Good-night, mistress," said the harsh voice of the master of the boar, +as his glittering eyes dwelt upon her graceful figure. + +The girl responded coldly, and, amid a hush from the company, made her +way to the stairs, which she slowly mounted, preceded by the lad who +had waited upon them, and followed by the jester. + +"A craven fellow for so trim a maid," continued he of the boar, as they +disappeared. "She has eyes like friar's lanterns. What a decoy she'd +make for the lords in Paris!" + +"Yes," assented the landlord, "a pitfall to pill 'em and poll 'em." + +At the end of the passage the guide of jestress and fool paused before +a door. "Your room, mistress," he said. "And yonder is yours, Master +Jester." Then placing the candle on a stand and vouchsafing no further +words, he shuffled off in the darkness, leaving the two standing there. + +"Lock your door this night, Jacqueline," whispered the fool. + +"You submit over-easily to an affront," was her scornful retort, +turning upon the jester. + +"Perhaps," he replied, phlegmatically. "Yet forget not the bolt." + +"It were more protection than you are apt to prove," she answered, and, +quickly entering the room closed hard the door. + +A moment he stood in indecision; then rapped lightly. + +"Jacqueline," he said, in a low voice. + +There was no answer. + +"Jacqueline!" + +The bolt shot sharply into place, fastening the door. No other +response would she make, and the jester, after waiting in vain for her +to speak, turned and made his way to his own chamber, adjoining hers. + +Weary as the young girl was, she did not retire at once, but going to +the window, threw wide open the blinds. Bright shone the moon, and, +leaning forth, she gazed upon clearing and forest sleeping beneath the +soft glamour. A beautiful, yet desolate scene, with not a living +object visible--yes, one, and she suddenly drew back, for there, +motionless in the full light, and gazing steadfastly toward her room, +stood a figure in whom she recognized the Spanish troubadour. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT + +Surveying his room carefully in the dim light of a candle, the fool +discovered he stood in a small apartment, with a single window, whose +barren furnishings consisted of a narrow couch, a chair and a massive +wardrobe. Unlike the chamber assigned to Jacqueline, the door was +without key or bolt; a significant fact to the jester, in view of the +warning he had received. Nor was it possible to move wardrobe or bed, +the first being too heavy and the last being screwed to the floor, had +the occupant desired to barricade himself from the anticipated danger +without. A number of suspicious stains enhanced the gruesome character +of the room, and as these appeared to lead to the wardrobe, the jester +carried his investigation to a more careful survey of that imposing +piece of furniture. Opening the door, although he could not find the +secret of the mechanism, the fool concluded that the floor of this +ponderous wooden receptacle was a trap through which the body of the +victim could be secretly lowered. + +This brief exploration of his surroundings occupied but a few moments, +and then, after blowing out the candle and heaping the clothes together +on the bed into some resemblance of a human figure lying there, the +jester drew his sword and softly crept down the passage toward the +stairs, at the head of which he paused and listened. He could hear the +voices and see the shadows of the men below, and, with beating heart, +descended a few steps that he might catch what they were saying. +Crouching against the wall, with bated breath, he heard first the +landlord's tones. + +"Well, rogues, what say you to another sack of wine?" asked the host, +cheerily. + +"It will serve--while we wait," ominously answered the master of the +boar. + +"Haven't we waited long enough?" said an impatient voice. + +"Tut! tut! young blood," growled another, reprovingly. "Would you +disturb him at his prayers?" + +"The landlord is right," spoke up the leader. "We have the night +before us. Bring the wine." + +In stentorian tones the host called the serving-man, and soon from the +clinking of cups, the clearing of throats, and the exclamations of +satisfaction, foully expressed, the listening jester knew that the skin +had been circulated and the tankards filled. One man even began to +sing again an equivocal song, but was stopped by a warning imprecation +to which he ill-naturedly responded with a half-defiant curse. + +"Knaves! knaves!" cried the reproachful voice of the landlord. "Can +you not drink together like honest men?" + +This mild expostulation of the host seemed not without its effect, for +the impending quarrel passed harmlessly away. + +"Where, think you, he got the sword?" asked one of the gathering, +reverting to the enterprise in hand. + +"Stole it, most likely," replied the leader. "It is booty from the +palace." + +"And therefore is doubly fair spoils," laughed another. + +"Remember, rogues," interrupted the host, "one-third is my allotted +portion. Else we fall out." + +"Art so solicitous, thou corpulent scrimp!" grumbled he of the boar. +"Have you not always had the hulking share? Pass the wine!" + +"Foul names break no bones," laughed the host. "You were always a +churlish, ungentle knave. There's the wine, an it's not better than +your temper, beshrew me for the enemy of true hospitality. But to show +I am none such, here's something to sup withal; prime head of calf. +Bolt and swig, as ye will." + +The rattle of dishes and the play of forks succeeded this good-natured +suggestion. It was truly evident mine host commanded the good will and +the services of the band by appealing to their appetites. An esculent +roast or pungent stew was his cure for uprising or rebellion; a +high-seasoned ragout or fricassee became a sovereign remedy against +treachery or defection. He could do without them, for knaves were +plentiful, but they could not so easily dispense with this fat master +of the board who had a knack in turning his hand at marvelous and +savory messes, for which he charged such full reckoning that his third +of the spoils, augmented by subsequent additions, was like to become +all. + +A wave of anger against this unwieldy hypocrite and well-fed malefactor +swept over the jester. The man's assumed heartiness, his manner of +joviality and good-fellowship, were only the mask of moral turpitude +and blackest purpose. But for the lawless scholar, the fool would +probably have retired to his bed with full confidence in the probity +and honesty of the greatest delinquent of them all. + +"What shall we do with the girl?" asked one of the outlaws, +interrupting this trend of thought in the listener's mind. + +"Serve her the same as the fool," answered the landlord, carelessly. + +"But she's a handsome wench," retorted the leader, thoughtfully. +"Straight as a poplar; eyes like a sloe. With the boar and the jade, I +should do well, when I become tired resting here." + +"If she's as easily tamed as the boar?" suggested the host, +significantly. + +"Devil take me, if her nails are as long as his tusks," retorted the +follow, with a coarse laugh. + +"An I had a hostelry in town, she could bait the nobles thither," +commented the host, thoughtfully. + +"Give her to the scamp-student," remarked the fellow who had first +spoken. + +"Nay, since Nanette ran off with a street singer and left me +spouseless, I have made a vow of celibacy," hastily answered the piping +voice of the lank scholar. + +A series of loud guffaws greeted the scamp-student's declaration, while +the subsequent rough humor of the knaves made the listener's cheek burn +with indignation. Yet forced to listen he was, knowing that the +slightest movement on his part would quickly seal the fate of himself +and the young girl. But every fiber of his being revoked against that +ribald talk; he bit his lip hard, hearing her name bandied about by +miscreants and wretches of the lowest type, and even welcomed a +startling change in the discourse, occasioned by the leader. + +"Enough, rogues. We must settle with the jester first. Afterward, it +will be time enough to deal with the maid. Hast done feeding and +tippling yet, morio?" + +"Yes, master," said the suspiciously muffled voice of the imbecile. + +"Here's the knife then. You shall have another tankard when you come +back." + +"Another tankard!" muttered the creature. + +At these significant words, knowing that the crucial moment had come, +the jester retreated rapidly, and, making his way down the passage, +stood in a dark corner near his room. As of one accord the voices +ceased below; a heavy creaking announced the approach of the morio; +nearer and nearer, first on the stairs, then in the upper corridor. +From where he remained concealed the fool dimly discerned the figure of +the would-be assassin. + +At the door of the jestress' room it paused. The fool lifted his +blade; the form passed on. Before the chamber of the _plaisant_ its +movements became more stealthy; it bent and listened. Should the +jester spring upon it now? A strange loathing made him hesitate, and, +before he had time to carry his purpose into execution, the creature, +throwing aside further pretense of caution, swung back the door and +launched himself across the apartment. A heavy blow, swiftly followed +by another; afterward, the stillness of death. + +Every moment the jester expected an outcry; the announcement of the +fruitlessness of the attack, but the morio made no sound. The silence +became oppressive; the _plaisant_ felt almost irresistibly impelled +toward that terrible chamber, when with heavy, lumbering step, the +creature reappeared, traversed the hall like a huge automaton and +mechanically descended the stairs. Recovering from his surprise, the +fool again resumed his position commanding the scene below, and +breathlessly awaited the sequel to the singular pantomime he had +witnessed. + +"Well, is it done?" asked the harsh voice of the master of the boar. + +"Yes; done!" was the submissive answer. + +"Good! Now to get the sword." + +"Not so fast," broke in the landlord. "Do you kill, morio, without +drawing blood? Look at his dagger." + +The leader took the blade, examined it, and then began to call down +curses on the head of the imbecile monster. "Clean, save for a thread +of cotton," he cried angrily. "You never went near him." + +"Yes, yes, master!" replied the creature, eagerly. + +"Then, perhaps, you strangled him?" suggested the man. + +"No; stab! stab!" reiterated the morio, in an almost imploring tone, +shrinking from the glances cast upon him. + +"Bah! You stabbed the bed, fool; not the man," roughly returned the +other. "The rogue has guessed our purpose and left the room," he +continued, addressing the others. "But he's skulking somewhere. Well, +knaves, here's a little coursing for us all. Up with you, morio, and +find him. Perhaps, though, he may prefer to come down." And the +leader called out: "Give yourself up, rascal, or it will be the worse +for you." + +To this paradoxical threat no answer was returned. Standing in the +shadow at the head of the stairs, the jester only gripped tighter the +hilt of the coveted sword, while across his vision flashed the picture +of the young girl, left helpless, alone! What mercy would they show? +The coarse words of the master of the boar and the gibing, loose +responses of the company recurred to him, and, setting his jaw firmer, +the plaisant peered, with gleaming eyes, down into the semi-gloom. + +"You won't answer?" cried the leader, after a short interval. "Smell +him out then, rogues." + +Knife in hand, the others at his heels, the morio slowly made his way +up the stairs. Goaded by the taunts of the outlaws, his face was +distorted with ferocity; through his lips came a fierce, sibilant +breathing; in the dim light his colossal figure and enormous head +seemed in no wise human, but rather a murderous phantasm. With head +rolling from side to side, stabbing in the air with his knife, he +continued to approach,--an object calculated to strike terror into any +breast. + +"Oh! oh!" murmured a voice behind the jester, and, turning, he saw +Jacqueline. Disturbed by the tumult and the loud voices, the jestress +had left her room to learn the cause of the unusual din, and now, with +her dark hair a cloud around her, stood gazing fearfully over the +fool's shoulder. + +At the sound of the young girl's voice, so near, the _plaisant's_ hand, +which for the moment had been unsteady, became suddenly steel. Almost +impatiently he awaited the coming of the morio; at last he drew near, +but, as if instinctively realizing the presence of danger, paused, his +arm ceasing to strike, but remaining stationary in the air. + +"Go on!" impatiently shouted those behind him. + +At the command the creature sprang forward furiously, when the sword of +the jester shot out; once, twice! From the morio's grip fell the +dagger; over his face the lust for killing was replaced by a look of +surprise; with a single moan, he threw both arms on high, and, +tottering like an oak, the monster fell backward with a crash, carrying +with him the rogues behind. Imprecations, threats and cries of pain +ensued; several knaves went limping away from the struggling group; one +lay prostrate as the morio himself; the master of the boar rubbed his +shoulder, anathematizing roundly the cause of the disaster. + +"I think my arm's put out!" he said. "Is the creature dead?" he added, +viciously. + +"Dead as a herring," answered the landlord, bending over the motionless +figure. + +"Beshrew me, I thought the jester was a craven," growled he of the +boar. "What does it mean?" + +"That he saw the snare and spread another," replied the host. + +"Go back to your room, mistress," whispered the plaisant to the young +girl, "and lock yourself in." + +"Nay; I'll not leave you," she replied. "Do you think they will +return?" she added in a voice she strove to make firm. + +"I am certain of it. Go, I beg you--to your window and call out. It +is a slender hope, but the best we have. Fear not; I can hold the +stairs yet a while." + +A moment she hesitated, then glided away. At the same time he of the +boar grasped a sword in his left hand, and, with his right hanging +useless, rushed up the stairs. + +"Oh, there you are, my nimble wit-cracker!" he cried, as the jester +stepped boldly out. "'Twas a pretty piece of foolery you played on the +monster and us, but quip for quirk, my merry wag!" And, so speaking, +he directed a violent thrust which, had it taken effect, would, indeed, +have made good the leader's threat. + +But the _plaisant_ stepped aside, the blow grazed his shoulder, while +his own blade, by a rapid counter, passed through the throat of his +antagonist. With a shriek, the blood gushing from the wound, the +master of the boar fell lifeless on the stairs, his sword clattering +downward. At that gruesome sight, his fellows paused irresolute, and, +seeing their indecision, the jester rushed headlong upon them, striking +fiercely, when their hesitation turned into panic and the knaves fairly +fled. Below, the irate landlord stamped and fumed, cuffing and +striking as he moved among them with threats and abuse. + +"White-livered varlets! Pigeon-hearted rogues! Unmanned by a motley +fool! A witling the lords beat with their slippers! Because of a +chance blow against an imbecile, or a disabled man, you hesitate. A +fig for them! What if they be dead? The spoil will be the greater for +the rest." + +Thus exhorted, the knaves once more took heart and gathered for the +attack. Glaves were provided for those in front, and the _plaisant_ +waited, grimly determined, yet liking little the aspect of those +terrible weapons and feeling the end of the unequal contest was not far +distant, when a light hand was laid on his arm. + +"Follow me quickly," said Jacqueline. "We may yet escape. Don't +question me, but come!" she went on hurriedly. + +Impressed by her earnestness, the jester, after a moment's hesitation, +obeyed. She led him to her room, closed and locked the door--but not +before a scampering of feet and sound of voices told them the rogues +had gained the upper passage--and drew him hastily to the window. + +"See," she said eagerly. "A ladder!" + +"And at the foot of the ladder, our horses!" he exclaimed, in surprise. +"Who has done this?" + +Her response was interrupted by a hand at their door and a clamor +without, followed by heavy blows. + +"Quick, Jacqueline!" he cried, and helped her to the long ladder, set, +as it seemed, providentially against the wall. + +"Can you do it?" he asked, yet holding her hand. Her eyes gave him +answer, and he released her, watching her descend. + +The door quivered beneath the general onslaught of the now exultant +outlaws, and, as a glave shattered the panel the jester threw himself +over the casement. A deafening hubbub ensued; the door suddenly gave +way, and the band rushed into the room. At the same time the +_plaisant_ ran down the ladder and sprang to the ground at the young +girl's side. From above came exclamations of wonder and amazement, +mingled with invective. + +"They're gone!" cried one. + +"Here they are!" exclaimed another, looking down from the window. + +The jester at once seized the means of descent, but not before the man +who had discovered them was on the upper rounds; a quick effort on the +fool's part, and ladder and rogue toppled over together. The +enterprising knave lay motionless where he fell. + +"_Vrai Dieu_! He wanted to come down," said an approving voice. + +Turning, the jester beheld the Spanish troubadour, who was composedly +engaged in placing bundles of straw against the wall of the inn. + +"I don't think he'll bother you any more," continued the minstrel in +his deep tones. "If you'll ride down the road, I'll join you in a +moment." + +So saying, he knelt before the combustible accumulation he had been +diligently heaping together and struck a spark which, seizing on the +dry material, immediately kindled into a great flame. + +"What are you doing, villain?" roared the landlord from the window, +discovering the forks of fire, already leaping and crackling about the +tavern. + +"Only making a bonfire of a foul nest," lightly answered the minstrel, +standing back as though to admire his handiwork. "Your vile hostelry +burns well, my dissembling host." + +"Hell-dog! varlet!" screamed the proprietor, overwhelmed with +consternation. + +"Is it thus you greet your guests?" replied the troubadour, throwing +another bundle of straw upon the already formidable conflagration. +"You were not wont to be so discourteous, my prince of bonifaces." + +But recovering from his temporary stupor, the landlord, without reply, +disappeared from the window. + +"Now may we safely leave the flames to the wind," commented the +minstrel, as he sprang upon a small nag which had been fastened to a +shed near by. "As we have burned the roof over our heads," he +continued, addressing the wondering jester and his companion, who had +already mounted and were waiting, "let us seek another hostelry." + +Swiftly the trio rode forth from the tavern yard, out into the moonlit +road. + +"Not so quickly, my friends," commented the troubadour. "As I fastened +the doors and blinds without, we may proceed leisurely, for it will be +some time before mine host and his friends can batter their way from +the inn. Besides, it goes against the grain to run so precipitously +from my fire. Such a beautiful _auto da fé_, as we say in Spain." + +"Who are you, sir?" asked the fool. + +The minstrel laughed, and answered in his natural voice. + +"Don't you know me, _mon ami_?" he said, gaily. "What a jest this will +be at court? How it will amuse the king--" + +"Caillette!" exclaimed the _plaisant_, loudly. "Caillette!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DESERTED HUT + +"Himself!" laughed the minstrel. "Did I not tell you I should become a +Spanish troubadour?" Then, reaching out his hand, he added seriously: +"Right pleased am I to meet you. But how came you here?" + +"I have fled from the keep of the old castle, where I lay charged with +heresy," answered the jester, returning the hearty grip. + +"The keep!" exclaimed Caillette in surprise. "You are fortunate not to +have been brought to trial," he added, thoughtfully. "Few get through +that seine, and his Holiness, the pope, I understand, has ordered the +meshes made yet smaller." + +They had paused on the brow of a hill, commanding the view of road and +tavern. Dazed, the young girl had listened to the greeting between the +two men. This ragged, beard-begrown troubadour, the graceful, elegant +Caillette of Francis' court? It seemed incredible. At the same time, +through her mind passed the memory of the _plaisant's_ reiterated +exclamation in prison: "Caillette--in Spain!"--words she had attributed +to fever, not imagining they had any foundation in fact. + +But now this unexpected encounter abruptly dispelled her first +supposition and opened a new field for speculation. Certainly had he +been on a mission of some kind, somewhere, but what his errand she +could not divine. A diplomat in tatters, serving a fellow-jester. +Fools had oft intruded themselves in great events ere this, but not +those who wore the motley; heretofore had the latter been content with +the posts of entertainers, leaving to others the more precarious +offices of intrigant. + +But if she was surprised at Caillette's unexpected presence and +disguise, that counterfeit troubadour had been no less amazed to see +her, the joculatrix of the princess, in the mean garb of a wayside +_ministralissa_, wandering over the country like one born to the +nomadic existence. That she had a nature as free as air and the spirit +of a gipsy he well believed, but that she would forego the security of +the royal household for the discomforts and dangers of a vagrant life +he could not reconcile to that other part of her character which he +knew must shrink from the actualities of the straggler's lot. He had +watched her at the inn; how she held herself; how she was a part of, +and yet apart from, that migratory company; and what he had seen had +but added to his curiosity. + +"Have you left the court, mistress?" he now asked abruptly. + +"Yes," she answered, curtly. + +Caillette gazed at her and her eyes fell. Then put out with herself +and him, she looked up boldly. + +"Why not?" she demanded. + +"Why not, indeed?" he repeated, gently, although obviously wondering. + +The constraint that ensued between them was broken by a new aspect of +the distant conflagration. Fanned by the breeze, the flames had +ignited the thatched roof of the hostelry and fiery forks shot up into +the sky, casting a fierce glow over the surrounding scene. Through the +glare, many birds, unceremoniously routed from their nests beneath the +eaves, flew distractedly. Before the tavern, now burning on all sides, +could be distinguished a number of figures, frantically running hither +and thither, while above the crackling of the flames and the clamorous +cries of the birds was heard the voice of the proprietor, alternately +pleading with the knaves to save the tavern and execrating him who had +applied the torch. + +"_Cap de Dieu_! the landlord will snare no more travelers," said +Caillette. "My horse had become road-worn and perforce I had tarried +there sufficient while to know the company and the host. When you +walked in with this fair maid, I could hardly believe my eyes. 'Twas a +nice trap, and the landlord an unctuous fellow for a villain. Assured +that you could not go out as you came, I e'en prepared a less +conventional means of exit." + +He had scarcely finished this explanation when, with a shower of sparks +and a mighty crash, the heavy roof fell. A lambent flame burst from +the furnace; grew brighter, until the clouds became rose-tinted; a +glory as brilliant as short-lived, for soon the blaze subsided, the +glow swiftly faded, and the sky again darkened. + +"It is over," murmured Caillette; and, as they touched their horses, +leaving the smoldering ruins behind them, he added: "But how came the +scamp-student to serve you? I was watching closely, and listening, +too; so caught how 'twas done." + +"I spared his life once," answered the jester. + +"And he remembered? 'Tis passing strange from such a rogue. A clever +device, to warn you in Latin that his friends intended to kill one or +both of you for the jeweled sword." + +"Why," spoke up the young girl, her attention sharply arrested, "was it +not a mere discussion of some kind? And--the quarrel?" + +"A pretense on the rogue's part to avert the suspicion of the master of +the boar. I could but marvel"--to the jester--"at your forbearance." + +"I fear me Jacqueline had the right to a poor opinion of her squire," +replied the duke's fool. "Nor do I blame her," he laughed, "in +esteeming a stout bolt more protection than a craven blade." + +But the girl did not answer. Through her brain flashed the +recollection of her cold disdain; her scornful words; her abrupt +dismissal of the jester at her door. Weighing what she had said and +done with what he had not said and done, she turned to him quickly, +impulsively. Through the semi-darkness she saw the smile around his +mouth and the quizzical look with which he was regarding her. +Whereupon her courage failed. She bit her lip and remained silent. +They had now passed the brow of the hill; on each side of the highway +the forests parted wider and wider, and the thoroughfare was bathed in +a white light. + +As they rode along on this clearly illumined highway, Caillette glanced +interrogatively at the _plaisant_. The outcome of his journey--should +he speak now? Or later--when they were alone? Heretofore neither had +made reference to it; Caillette, perhaps, because his mind had been +surprised into another train of thought by this unexpected encounter; +the duke's fool because the result of the journey was no longer +momentous. Since the other had left, conditions were different. The +good-natured scoffing and warnings of his fellow-jester had proved not +unwarranted. + +The answer of the duke's fool to his companion's glance was a direct +inquiry. + +"You found the emperor?" he said. + +"Yes; and presented your message with some misgiving." + +"And did he treat it with the scant consideration you expected?" + +"On the contrary. His Majesty read it not once, but twice, and changed +color." + +"And then?" + +The narrator paused and furtively surveyed the jestress. Her face was +pale, emotionless; as they sped on, she seemed riding through no +volition of her own, the while she was vaguely conscious of the +dialogue of her companions. + +"Whatever magic your letter contained," resumed Caillette, "it seemed +convincing to Charles. 'My brother Francis must be strangely credulous +to be so cozened by an impostor,' quoth he, with a gleam of humor in +his gaze." + +"Impostor!" It was the young girl who spoke, interrupting, in her +surprise, the troubadour's story. + +"You did not know, mistress?" said Caillette. + +"No," she answered, and listened the closer. + +"When I left, two messages the emperor gave me," went on the other; +"one for the king, the other for you." And taking from his doublet a +document, weighted with a ponderous disk, the speaker handed it to the +duke's fool, who silently thrust it in his breast. "Moreover, +unexpectedly, but as good fortune would have it, his Majesty was even +then completing preparations for a journey through France to the +Netherlands, owing to unlooked-for troubles in that part of his +domains, and had already despatched his envoys to the king. Charles +assured me that he would still further hasten his intended visit to the +Low Countries and come at once. Meanwhile his communication to the +king"--tapping his breast--"will at least delay the nuptials, and, with +the promise of the emperor's immediate arrival, the marriage can not +occur." + +"It has occurred," said the jester. + +The other uttered a quick exclamation. "Then have I failed in my +errand," he muttered, blankly. "But the king--had he no suspicion?" + +"It was through the Countess d'Etampes the monarch was led to change +the time for the festivities," spoke up Jacqueline, involuntarily. + +"She!" exclaimed the poet, with a gesture of half-aversion. For some +time they went on without further words; then suddenly Caillette drew +rein. + +"This news makes it the more necessary I should hasten to the king," he +said. "The emperor's message--Francis should receive it at once. +Here, therefore, must I leave you. Or, why do you not return with +me?"--addressing the jester. "The letter from Charles will exonerate +you and Francis will reward you in proportion to the injuries you have +suffered. What say you, mistress?" + +"That I will never go back," she answered, briefly, and looked away. + +Caillette's perplexity was relieved by the _plaisant_. "Farewell, if +you must leave," said the latter. "We meet again, I trust." + +"The fates willing," returned the poet. "Farewell, and good fortune go +with you both." And wheeling abruptly, he rode slowly back. The +jester and the girl watched him disappear over the road they had come. + +"A true friend," said the _plaisant_, as Caillette vanished in the +gloom. + +"You regret not returning with him, perhaps?" she observed quickly. +"Honors and offices of preferment are not plentiful." + +"I want none of them from Francis," he returned, as they started slowly +on their way. + +The road before them descending gradually, passed through a gulch, +where the darkness was greater, and such light as sifted through the +larch and poplar trees rested in variable spots on the earth. Overhead +the somber obscurity appeared touched with a veil of shimmer or sheen +like diamond dust floating through the mask of night. Their horses but +crept along; the girl bent forward wearily; heretofore the excitement +and danger had sustained her, but now the reaction from all she had +endured bore down upon her. She thought of calling to the fool; of +craving the rest she so needed; but a feeling of pride, or constraint, +held her silent. Before her the shadows danced illusively; the film of +brightness changed and shifted; then all glimmering and partial shade +were swallowed up in a black chasm. + +Riding near, the jester observed her form sway from side to side, and +spurred forward. In a moment he had clasped her waist, then lifted her +from the saddle and held her before him. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried. + +She offered no resistance; her head remained motionless on his breast. +Sedulously he bent over her; the warm breath reassured him; tired +nature had simply succumbed. Irresolute he paused, little liking the +sequestered gulch for a resting-place; divining the prickly thicket and +almost impenetrable brushwood that lined the road. An unhealthy miasma +seemed to ascend from below and clog the air; through the tangle of +forest, phosphorus gleamed and glowworms flitted here and there. + +Gathering the young form gently to him, the jester rode slowly on, and +the horse of his companion followed. So he went, he knew not how long; +listening to her breathing that came, full and deep; half-fearing, +half-wondering at that relaxation. For the first time he forgot about +the emperor and his purpose; the free baron and the desires of sweet +avengement. He thought only of her he held; how courageous yet alone +she was in the world; how she had planned the service which won her the +right to his protection; her flight from Francis--but where? To whom +could she go? To whom could she turn? Unconscious she lay in his arms +in that deep sleep, or heavy inertia following exhaustion, her pale +face against his shoulder; and as the young _plaisant_ bent over her +his heart thrilled with protecting tenderness. + +"Why, what other maid," he thought, "would ride on until she dropped? +Would meet discomfort at every turn with a jest or a merry stave?" + +And, but for him, whom else had she? This young girl, had she not +become his burden of responsibility; his moral obligation? For the +first time he seemed to realize how the fine tendrils of her nature had +touched his; touched and clung, ever so gently but fast. Her fine +scorn for dissimulation; her answering integrity; the true adjustment +of her instinct--all had been revealed to him under the test of +untoward circumstances. + +He saw her, too, secretly and silently cherishing a new faith in her +bosom, amid a throng, lax and infirm of purpose, and wonderment gave +way to another emotion, as his mind leaped from that past, with its +covert, inner life, to the untrammeled moment when she had thrown off +the mask in the solitude of the forest. Had some deeper chord of his +nature been struck then? Their aspirations of a kindred hope had +mingled in the majestic psalm; a larger harmony, remote from roundelay, +or sparkling cadenza, that drew him to this Calvin maid. A solemn +earnestness fell upon his spirits; the starlight bathed his brow, and +he found the mystery of the night and nature inexplicably beautiful. + +Afar the bell of some wanderer from the herd tinkled drowsily, arousing +him from his reverie. The horses were ascending; the road emerged into +a plain, set with bracken and gorse, with here and there a single tree, +whose inclining trunk told of storms braved for many seasons. Near the +highway, in the shadow of a poplar, stood a shepherd's hut, apparently +deserted and isolated from human kind. The fool reined the horse, +which for some time had been moving painfully, and at that abrupt +cessation of motion the jestress looked up with a start. + +Meeting his eyes, at first she did not withdraw her own; questioningly, +her bewildered gaze encountered his; then, with a quick movement, she +released herself from his arm and sprang to the ground. He, too, +immediately dismounted. She felt very wide-awake now, as though the +sudden consciousness of that encircling grasp, or something in his +glance before she slipped from him, had startled away the torpor of +somnolence. + +"You fainted, or fell asleep, mistress," he said, quietly. + +"Yes--I remember--in the gorge." + +"It was impossible to stop there, so--I rode on. But here, in this +shepherd's hut, we may find shelter." + +And turning the horses, he would have led them to the door, but the +animals held back; then stood stock-still. Striding to the hut, the +jester stepped in, but quickly sprang to one side, and as he did so +some creature shot out of the door and disappeared in the gloom. + +"A wolf!" exclaimed the _plaisant_. + +Entering the hut once more, he struck a light. In a corner lay furze +and firewood, and from this store he drew, heaping the combustible +material on the hearth, until a cheering blaze fairly illumined the +worn and dilapidated interior. Near the fireplace were a pot and +kettle, whose rusted appearance bespoke long disuse; but a trencher and +porridge spoon on a stool near by seemed waiting the coming of the +master. A couch of straw had been the lonely shepherd's bed--and later +the lodgment of his enemy, the wolf. Above it, on the wall, hung a +small crucifix of wood. For the fugitives this mean abode appeared no +indifferent shelter, and it was with satisfaction the jester arranged a +couch for the girl, before the fire, a rude pallet, yet-- + +"Here you may rest, Jacqueline, without fear of being disturbed again +this night," he said. + +She sank wearily upon the straw; then gave him her hand gratefully. +Her face looked rosy in the reflection from the hearth; a comforting +sense of warmth crept over her as she lay in front of the blaze; her +eyes were languorous with the luxury of the heat after a chilling ride. +Drawing the cloak to her chin, she smiled faintly. Was it at his +solicitude? He noticed how her hair swept from the saddle pillowing +her head, to the earth; and, sitting there on the stool, wondering, +perhaps, at its abundance, or half-dreaming, he forgot he yet held her +hand. Gently she withdrew it, and he started; then, realizing how he +had been staring at her, with somewhat vacant gaze, perhaps, but +fixedly, he made a motion to rise, when her voice detained him. + +"Why did you not tell me it was not a discussion with the +scamp-student?" she asked. "Why did you let me imagine that you--" +Her eyes said the rest. "You should not have permitted me to--to think +it," she reiterated. + +He was silent. She closed her eyes; but in a moment her lashes +uplifted. Her glance flashed once more upon him. + +"And I should not have thought it," she said. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried, starting up. + +She did not answer; indeed, seemed sleeping; her face turned from him. + +Through the open doorway a streak of red in the east heralded the +coming glory of the morn. "Peep, peep," twittered a bird on the roof +of the hovel. From the poplar it was answered by a more melodious +phrase, a song of welcome to the radiant dawn. A moment the jester +listened, his head raised to the growing splendor of the heavens, then +threw himself on the earthen floor of the hut and was at once overcome +with sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TALE OF THE SWORD + +The slanting rays of the sinking sun shot athwart the valley, glanced +from the tile roofs of the homes of the peasantry, and illumined the +lofty towers of a great manorial château. To the rider, approaching by +the road that crossed the smiling pasture and meadow lands, the edifice +set on a mount--another of Francis' transformations from the gloomy +fortress home--appeared regal and splendid, compared with the humbler +houses of the people lying prostrate before it. Viewed from afar, the +town seemed to abase itself in the presence of the architectural +preëminence of that monarch of buildings. Even the sun, when it +withdrew its rays from the miscellaneous rabble of shops and dwellings, +yet lingered proudly upon the noble structure above, caressing its +imposing and august outlines and surrounding it with the glamour of the +afterglow, when the sun sank to rest. + +Into the little town, at the foot of the big house, rode shortly before +nightfall the jester and his companion. During the day the young girl +had seemed diffident and constrained; she who had been all vivacity and +life, on a sudden kept silence, or when she did speak, her tongue had +lost its sharpness. The weapons of her office, bright sarcasm and +irony, or laughing persiflage, were sheathed; her fine features were +thoughtful; her dark eyes introspective. In the dazzling sunshine, the +memory of their ride through the gorge; the awakening at the shepherd's +hut; something in his look then, something in his accents later, when +he spoke her name while she professed to sleep--seemed, perhaps, +unreal, dream-like. + +His first greeting that morning had been a swift, almost questioning, +glance, before which she had looked away. In her face was the +freshness of dawn; the grace of spring-tide. Overhead sang a lark; at +their feet a brook whispered; around them solitude, vast, infinite. He +spoke and she answered; her reserve became infectious; they ate their +oaten cakes and drank their wine, each strongly conscious of the +presence of the other. Then he rose, saddled their horses, and +assisted her to mount. She appeared over-anxious to leave the +shepherd's hut; the jester, on the other hand, cast a backward glance +at the poplar, the hovel, the brook. A crisp, clear caroling of birds +followed them as they turned from the lonely spot. + +So they rode, pausing betimes to rest, and even then she had little to +say, save once when they stopped at a rustic bridge which spanned a +stream. Both were silent, regarding the horses splashing in the water +and clouding its clear depths with the yellow mud from its bed. From +the cool shadows beneath the planks where she was standing, tiny fish, +disturbed by this unwonted invasion, shot forth like darts and vanished +into the opaque patches. Half-dreamily watching this exodus of +flashing life from covert nook and hole, she said unexpectedly: + +"Who is it that has wedded the princess?" + +For a moment he did not answer; then briefly related the story. + +"And why did you not tell me this before?" she asked when he had +finished. + +"Would you have credited me--then?" he replied, with a smile. + +Quickly she looked at him. Was there that in her eyes which to him +robbed memory of its sting? At their feet the water leaped and +laughed; curled around the stones, and ran on with dancing bubbles. +Perhaps he returned her glance too readily; perhaps the recollection of +the ride the night before recurred over-vividly to her, for she gazed +suddenly away, and he wondered in what direction her thoughts tended, +when she said with some reserve: + +"Shall we go on?" + +They had not long left the brook and the bridge, when from afar they +caught sight of the regal château and the clustering progeny of +red-roofed houses at its base. At once they drew rein. + +"Shall we enter the town, or avoid it by riding over the mead?" said +the _plaisant_. + +"What danger would there be in going on?" she asked. "Whom might we +meet?" + +Thoughtfully he regarded the shining towers of the royal residence. +"No one, I think," he at length replied, and they went on. + +Around the town ran a great wall, with watch-towers and a deep moat, +but no person questioned their right to the freedom of the place; a +sleepy soldier at the gate merely glancing indifferently at them as +they passed beneath the heavy archway. Gabled houses, with a tendency +to incline from the perpendicular, overlooked the winding street; dull, +round panes of glass stared at them, fraught with mystery and the +possibility of spying eyes behind; but the thoroughfare in that +vicinity appeared deserted, save for an old woman seated in a doorway. +Before this grandam, whose lack-luster eyes were fastened steadfastly +before her, the fool paused and asked the direction of the inn. + +"Follow your nose, if nature gave you a straight one," cried a jeering +voice from the other side of the thoroughfare. "If it be crooked, a +blind man and a dog were a better guide." + +The speaker, a squat, misshapen figure, had emerged from a passage +turning into the street, and now stood, twirling a fool's head on a +stick and gazing impudently at the new-comers. The crone whom the +_plaisant_ had addressed remained motionless as a statue. + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the oddity who had volunteered this malapert response +to the jester's inquiry, "yonder sign-post"--pointing to the aged +dame--"has lost its fingers--or rather its ears. Better trust to your +nose." + +"Triboulet!" exclaimed Jacqueline. + +"Is it you, lady-bird?" said the surprised dwarf, recognizing in turn +the maid. "And with the _plaisant_," staring hard at the fool. Then a +cunning look gradually replaced the wonder depicted on his features. +"You are fleeing from the court; I, toward it," he remarked, jocosely. + +"What mean you, fool?" demanded the horseman, sternly. + +"That I have run away from the duke, fool," answered the hunchback. +"The foreign lord dared to beat me--Triboulet--who has only been beaten +by the king. Sooner or later must I have fled, in any event, for what +is Triboulet without the court; or the court, without Triboulet?" his +indignation merging into arrogant vainglory. + +"When did you leave the--duke?" asked the other, slowly. + +"Several days ago," replied the dwarf, gazing narrowly at his +questioner. "Down the road. He should be far away by this time." + +Suspiciously the duke's jester regarded the hunchback and then glanced +dubiously toward the gate through which they had entered the town. He +had experienced Triboulet's duplicity and malice, yet in this instance +was disposed to give credence to his story, because he doubted not that +Louis of Hochfels would make all haste out of Francis' kingdom. Nor +did it appear unreasonable that Triboulet should pine for the +excitement of his former life; the pleasures and gaiety which prevailed +at Fools' hall. If the hunchback's information were true, they need +now have little fear of overtaking the free baron and his following, as +not far beyond the château-town the main road broke into two parts, the +one continuing southward and the other branching off to the east. + +While the horseman was thus reflecting, Triboulet, like an imp, began +to dance before them, slapping his crooked knees with his enormous +hands. + +"A good joke, my master and mistress in motley," he cried. "The king +was weak enough to exchange his dwarf for a demoiselle; the latter has +fled; the monarch has neither one nor the other; therefore is he, +himself, the fool. And thou, mistress, art also worthy of the madcap +bells," he added, his distorted face upturned to the jestress. + +"How so?" she asked, not concealing the repugnance he inspired. + +"Because you prefer a fool's cap to a king's crown," he answered, +looking significantly at her companion. "Wherein you but followed the +royal preference for head-coverings. Ho! ho! I saw which way the wind +blew; how the monarch's eyes kindled when they rested on you; how the +wings of Madame d'Etampes's coif fluttered like an angry butterfly. +Know you what was whispered at court? The reason the countess pleaded +for an earlier marriage for the duke? That the princess might leave +the sooner--and take the jestress, her maid, with her. But the king +met her manoeuver with another. He granted the favorite's request--but +kept the jestress." + +"Silence, rogue!" commanded the duke's fool, wheeling his horse toward +the dwarf. + +"And then for her to turn from a throne-room to a dungeon," went on +Triboulet, satirically, as he retreated. "As Brusquet wrote; 'twas: + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch and a jestress fair; + A jestress fair, I ween!'--" + + +But ere the hunchback could finish this scurrilous doggerel of the +court, over which, doubtless, many loose witlings had laughed, the +girl's companion placed his hand on his sword and started toward the +dwarf. The words died on Triboulet's lips; hastily he dodged into a +narrow space between two houses, where he was safe from pursuit. +Jacqueline's face had become flushed; her lips were compressed; the +countenance of the duke's _plaisant_ seemed paler than its wont. + +"Little monster!" he muttered. + +But the hunchback, in his retreat, was now regarding neither the +horseman nor the young girl. His glittering eyes, as if fascinated, +rested on the weapon of the _plaisant_. + +"What a fine blade you've got there!" he said curiously. "Much better +than a wooden sword. Jeweled, too, by the holy bagpipe! And a coat of +arms!"--more excitedly--"yes, the coat of arms of the great Constable +of Dubrois. As proud a sword as that of the king. Where did you get +it?" And in his sudden interest, the dwarf half-ventured from his +place of refuge. + +"Answer him not!" said the girl, hastily. + +"Was it you, mistress, gave it him?" he asked, with a sudden, sharp +look. + +Her contemptuous gaze was her only reply. + +"By the dust of kings, when last I saw it, the haughty constable +himself it was who wore it," continued Triboulet. "Aye, when he defied +Francis to his face. I can see him now, a rich surcoat over his gilded +armor; the queen-mother, an amorous Dulcinea, gazing at him, with all +her soul in her eyes; the brilliant company startled; even the king +overawed. 'Twas I broke the spell, while the monarch and the court +were silent, not daring to speak." + +"You!" From the young woman's eyes flashed a flame of deepest hatred. + +The hunchback shrank back; then laughed. "I, Triboulet!" he boasted. +"'Ha!' said I, 'he's greater than the king!' whereupon Francis frowned, +started, and answered the constable, refusing his claim. Not long +thereafter the constable died in Spain, and I completed the jest. +'So,' said I, 'he is less than a man.' And the king, who remembered, +laughed." + +"Let us go," said the jestress, very white. + +Silently the _plaisant_ obeyed, and Triboulet once more ventured forth. +"Momus go with you!" he called out after them. And then: + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch and a jestress fair;'" + + +More quickly they rode on. Furtively, with suppressed rage in his +heart, the duke's fool regarded his companion. Her face was cold and +set, and as his glance rested on its pale, pure outline, beneath his +breath he cursed Brusquet, Triboulet and all their kind. He understood +now--too well--the secret of her flight. What he had heretofore been +fairly assured of was unmistakably confirmed. The sight of the tavern +which they came suddenly upon and the appearance of the innkeeper +interrupted this dark trend of thought, and, springing from his horse, +the jester helped the girl to dismount. + +The house, being situated in the immediate proximity of the grand +château, received a certain patronage from noble lords and ladies. +This trade had given the proprietor such an opinion of his hostelry +that common folk were not wont to be overwhelmed with welcome. In the +present instance the man showed a disposition to scrutinize too closely +the modest attire of the new-comers and the plain housings of their +chargers, when the curt voice of the jester recalled him sharply from +this forward occupation. + +With a shade less of disrespect, the proprietor bade them follow him; +rooms were given them, and, in the larger of the two chambers, the +_plaisant_, desiring to avoid the publicity of the dining and tap-room, +ordered their supper to be served. + +During the repast the girl scarcely spoke; the capon she hardly +touched; the claret she merely sipped. Once when she held the glass to +her lips, he noticed her hand trembled just a little, and then, when +she set down the goblet, how it closed, almost fiercely. Beneath her +eyes shadows seemed to gather; above them her glance shone ominously. + +"Oh," she said at length, as though giving utterance to some thought, +which, pent-up, she could no longer control; "the irony; the tragedy of +it!" + +"What, Jacqueline?" he asked, gently, although he felt the blood +surging in his head. + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch'--" + +she began, and broke off abruptly, rising to her feet, with a gesture +of aversion, and moving restlessly across the room. "After all these +years! After all that had gone before!" + +"What has gone before, Jacqueline?" + +"Nothing," she answered; "nothing." + +For some time he sat with his sword across his knees, thinking deeply. +She went to the window and looked out. When she spoke again her voice +had regained its self-command. + +"A dark night," she said, mechanically. + +"Jacqueline," he asked, glancing up from the blade, "why in the crypt +that day we escaped did you pause at that monument?" + +Quickly she turned, gazing at him from the half-darkness in which she +stood. + +"Did you see to whom the monument was erected?" she asked in a low +voice. + +"To the wife of the constable. But what was Anne, Duchess of Dubrois, +to you?" + +"She was the last lady of the castle," said the girl softly. + +Again he surveyed the jeweled emblem on the sword, mocking reminder of +a glory gone beyond recall. + +"And how was it, mistress, the castle was confiscated by the king?" he +continued, after a pause. + +"Shall I tell you the story?" she asked, her voice hardening. + +"If you will," he answered. + +"Triboulet's description of the scene where the constable braved the +king, insisting on his rights, was true," she observed, proudly. + +"But why had the noble wearer of this sword been deprived of his +feudality and tenure?" + +"Because he was strong and great, and the king feared him; because he +was noble and handsome, and the queen-regent loved him. It was not her +hand only, Louise of Savoy, Francis' mother, offered, but--the throne." + +"The throne!" said the wondering fool. + +Quickly she crossed the room and leaned upon the table. In the glimmer +of the candles her face was soft and tender. He thought he had never +seen a sweeter or more womanly expression. + +"But he refused it," she continued, "for he loved only the memory of +his wife, Lady Anne. She, a perfect being. The other--what?" + +On her features shone a fine contempt. + +"Then followed the endless persecution and spite of a woman scorned," +she continued, rapidly. "One by one, his honors were wrested from him. +He who had borne the flag triumphantly through Italy was deprived of +the government of Milan and replaced by a brother of Madame de +Châteaubriant, then favorite of the king. His castle, lands, were +confiscated, until, driven to despair, he fled and allied himself with +the emperor. 'Traitor,' they called him. He, a Bayard." + +A moment she stood, an exalted look on her features; tall, erect; then +stepped toward him and took the sword. With a bright and radiant +glance she surveyed it; pressed the hilt to her lips, and with both +hands held it to her bosom. As if fascinated, the fool watched her. +Her countenance was upturned; a moment, and it fell; a dark shadow +crossed it; beneath her lashes her eyes were like night. + +"But he failed because Charles, the emperor, failed him," she said, +almost mechanically, "and broken in spirit, met his death miserably in +exile. Yet his cause was just; his memory is dearer than that of a +conqueror. She, the queen-mother, is dead; God alone may deal with +her." + +More composed, she resumed her place in the chair on the other side of +the table, the sword across her arm. + +"And how came you, mistress," he asked, regarding her closely, "in the +pleasure palace built by Francis?" + +"When the castle was taken, all who had not fled were a gamekeeper and +his little girl--myself. The latter"--ironically--"pleased some of the +court ladies. They commended her wit, and gradually was she advanced +to the high position she occupied when you arrived," with a strange +glance across the board at her listener. + +"And the gamekeeper--your father--is dead?" + +"Long since." + +"The constable had no children?" + +"Yes; a girl who, it is believed, died with him in Spain." + +The entrance of the servant to remove the dishes interrupted their +further conversation. As the door opened, from below came the voices +of new-comers, the impatient call of tipplers for ale, the rattle of +dishes in the kitchen. Wrapped in the recollections the conversation +had evoked, to Jacqueline the din passed unnoticed, and when the +rosy-cheeked lass had gone--it was the jester who first spoke. + +"What a commentary on the mockery of fate that the sword of such a man, +so illustrious, so unfortunate, should be intrusted to a fool!" + +"Why," she said, looking at him, her arms on the table, "you drew it +bravely, and--once--more bravely--kept it sheathed." + +His face flushed. She half smiled; then placed the blade on the board +before him. + +"There it is." + +Above the sword he reached over, as if to place his hand on hers, but +she quickly rose. Absently he returned the weapon to his girdle. She +took a step or two from him, nervously; lifted her hand to her brow and +breathed deeply. + +"How tired I feel!" she said. + +Immediately he got up. "You are worn out from the journey," he +observed, quickly. + +But he knew it was not the journey that had most affected her. + +"I will leave you," he went on. "Have you everything you need?" + +"Everything," she answered carelessly. + +He walked to the door. The light was on his face; hers remained shaded. + +"Good-night," she said. + +"Good-night, Jacqueline, Duchess of Dubrois," he answered, and, +turning, disappeared down the corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL + +From one of the watch-towers of the town rang the clear note of a +trumpet, a tribute of melody, occasioned by the awakening in the east. +As the last clarion tones reëchoed over the sleeping village, a crimson +rim appeared above the horizon and soon the entire wheel of the chariot +of the sun-god rolled up out of the illimitable abyss and began its +daily race across the sky. The stolid bugler yawned, tucked his +trumpet under his arm, and, having perfunctorily performed the duties +of his office, tramped downward with more alacrity than he had toiled +upward. + +About the same time the sleepy guard at the town gate was relieved by +an equally drowsy-appearing trooper; here and there windows were flung +open, and around the well in the small public square the maids began to +congregate. In the tap-room of the tavern the landlord moved about, +setting to rights the tables and chairs, or sprinkling fresh sand on +the floor. The place had a stale, close odor, as though not long since +vacated by an inabstinent company, a supposition further borne out by +the disorder of the furniture, and the evidence the gathering had not +been over-nice about spilling the contents of their toss-pots. The +host had but opened the front door, permitting the fresh, invigorating +air from without to enter, when the duke's _plaisant_, his cloak over +his arm, descended the stairs, and, addressing the landlord, asked when +he and his companion could be provided with breakfast. + +"Breakfast!" grumbled the proprietor. "The maids are hardly up and the +fires must yet be started. It will be an hour or more before you can +be served." + +The jester appeared somewhat dissatisfied, but contented himself with +requesting the other to set about the meal at once. + +"You ride forth early," answered the man, in an aggrieved tone. + +The _plaisant_ made no reply as he strode to the door and looked out; +noted sundry signs of awakening life down the narrow street, and then +returned to the tap-room. + +"You had a noisy company here last night, landlord?" he vouchsafed, +glancing around the room and recalling the laughter and shouts he had +heard below until a late hour. + +"Noisy company!" retorted the innkeeper. "A goodly company that ate +and drank freely. Distinguished company that paid freely. The king's +own guards who are acting as escort to Robert, the Duke of Friedwald, +and his bride, the princess. Noisy company, forsooth." + +The young man started. "The king's guards!" he said. "What are they +doing here?" + +The other vigorously rubbed the top of a table with a damp cloth. +"Acting as escort to the duke, as I told you," he replied. + +"The duke is here, also?" + +"Yes; at the château. The princess had become weary of travel; +besides, had sprained her ankle, I heard, and would have it the +cavalcade should tarry a few days. They e'en stopped at my door," he +went on ostentatiously, "and called for a glass of wine for the +princess. 'Tis true she took it with a frown, but the hardships of +journeying do not agree with grand folks." + +These last words the jester, absorbed in thought, did not hear. With +his back to the man, he stood gazing through the high window, +apparently across the street. But between the two houses on the other +side of the thoroughfare was a considerable open space, and through +this, far away, on the mount, could be seen the château. The sunlight +shone bright on turret and spire; its walls were white and glistening; +its outlines, graceful and airy as a fabric of imagination. + +"And yet it was a handsome cavalcade," continued the proprietor, his +predilection for pomp overcoming his churlishness. "The princess on a +steed with velvet housings, set with precious stones. Her ladies +attired in eastern silks. Behind the men of arms; Francis' troops in +rich armor; the duke's soldiers more simply arrayed. At the head of +the procession rode--" + +"Have the horses brought out at once." + +Thus brusquely interrupted, the innkeeper stared blankly at his guest, +who had left the window and now stood in the center of the room +confronting him. "And the breakfast?" asked the man. + +"I have changed my mind and do not want it," was the curt response. + +The host shrugged his shoulders disagreeably, as the plaisant turned +and ascended the stairs. "Unprofitable travelers," muttered the +landlord, following with his gaze the retreating figure. + +Hastily making his way to the room of the young girl, the jester +knocked on the door. + +"Are you awake, Jacqueline?" + +"Yes," answered a voice within. + +"We must ride forth as soon as possible. The duke is at the château." + +"At the château!" she exclaimed in surprise. Then after a pause: "And +Triboulet saw us. He will tell that you are here. I will come down at +once. Wait," she added, as an afterthought seized her. + +He heard her step to the window. "I think the gates of the château are +open," she said. "I am not sure; it is so far." + +"Do you see any one on the road leading down?" + +"No," came the answer. + +"Nor could I. But perhaps they have already passed." + +Again the jester returned to the tap-room, where he found the landlord +polishing the pewter tankards. + +"The horses?" said the fool sharply. + +"The stable boy will bring them to the door," was the response, and the +innkeeper held a pot in the air and leisurely surveyed the shining +surface. + +"The reckoning?" + +Deliberately the man replaced the receptacle on the table, and, +pressing his thumbs together, began slowly to calculate: "Bottle of +wine, ten sous; capon, twenty sous; two rooms--" when the jester took +from his coat the purse the young girl had given him, and, selecting a +coin, threw it on the board. At the sight of the purse and its golden +contents the countenance of the proprietor mollified; his price +forthwith varied with his changed estimate of his guest's condition. +"Two rooms, fifty sous; fodder, forty sous"--he went on. "That would +make--" + +"Keep the coin," said the _plaisant_, "and have the stable boy make +haste." + +With new alacrity, the innkeeper thrust the pistole into a leathern +pouch he carried at his girdle. A guest who paid so well could afford +to be eccentric, and if he and the young lady chose to travel without +breakfast, it was obviously not for the purpose of economy. Therefore, +exclaiming something about "a lazy rascal that needed stirring up," the +now interested landlord was about to go to the barn himself, when, with +a loud clattering, a party of horsemen rode up to the tavern; the door +burst open and Triboulet, followed by a tall, rugged-looking man and a +party of troopers, entered the hall. + +Swiftly the jester glanced around him; the room had no other door than +that before which the troopers were crowded; he was fairly caught in a +trap. Remorsefully his thoughts flew to the young girl and the trust +she had imposed in him. How had he rewarded that confidence? By a +temerity which made this treachery on the part of the hunchback +possible. Even now before him stood Triboulet, bowing ironically. + +"I trust you are well?" jeered the dwarf, and with a light, dancing +step began to survey the other from side to side. "And the lady--is +she also well this morning? How pleased you both were to see me +yesterday!" assuming an insolent, albeit watchful, pose. "So you +believed I had run away from the duke? As if he could get on without +me. What would be a honeymoon without Triboulet! The maids of honor +would die of ennui. One day they trick me out with true-lovers' knots! +the next, give me a Cupid's head for a wand. Leave the duke!" he +repeated, bombastically. "Triboulet could not be so unkind." + +"Enough of this buffoonery!" said a decisive voice, and the dwarf drew +back, not without a grimace, to make room for a person of soldierly +mien, who now pushed his way to the front. Over his doublet this +gentleman wore a somewhat frayed, but embroidered, cloak; his broad hat +was fringed with gold that had lost its luster; his countenance, deeply +burned, seemed that of an old campaigner. He regarded the fool +courteously, yet haughtily. + +"Your sword, sir!" he commanded, in the tone of one accustomed to being +obeyed. + +"To whom should I give it?" asked the duke's jester. + +"To the Vicomte de Gruise, commandant of the town. I have a writ for +your arrest as a heretic." + +"Who has lodged this information against me?" + +"Triboulet. That is, he procured the duke's signature to the writ." + +"And you think the duke a party to this farce, my Lord?" said the fool, +with assumed composure. "It has not occurred to you that before the +day is over all the village will be laughing at the spectacle of their +commandant--pardon me--being led by the nose by a jester?" + +The officer's sun-burned face became yet redder; he frowned, then +glanced suspiciously at Triboulet, whose reputation was France-wide. + +"This man was the duke's fool," screamed the dwarf, "and was imprisoned +by order of the king. His companion who is here with him was formerly +jestress to the princess. She is a sorceress and bewitched the +monarch. Then her fancy seized upon the heretic, and, by her dark art, +she opened the door of the cell for him. Together they fled; she from +the court, he from prison." + +The commandant looked curiously from the hunchback to the accused. If +this were acting, the dwarf was indeed a master of the art. + +"Besides, his haste to leave the village," eagerly went on Triboulet. +"Why was he dressed at this hour? Ask the landlord if he did not seem +unduly hurried?" + +At this appeal the innkeeper, who had been an interested spectator, now +became a not unwilling witness. + +"It is true he seemed hurried," he answered. "When he first came down +he ordered breakfast. I happened to mention the duke was at the +château, whereupon he lost his appetite with suspicious suddenness, +called for his horses, and was for riding off with all haste." + +From the commandant's expression this testimony apparently removed any +doubts he may have entertained. Above the heads of the troopers massed +in the doorway the duke's _plaisant_ saw Jacqueline, standing on the +stairs, with wide-open, dark eyes fastened upon him. Involuntarily he +lifted his hand to his heart; across the brief space glance melted into +glance. + +Persecuted Calvin maid--had not her fate been untoward enough without +this new disaster? Had not the king wrought sufficient ill to her and +hers in the past? Would she be sent back to the court; the monarch? +For himself he had no thought, but for her, who was nobler even than +her birthright. He had been thrice a fool who had not heeded +portentous warnings--the sight of Triboulet, the clamor of the +troopers--and had failed to flee during the night. As he realized the +penalty of his negligence would fall so heavily upon her, a cry of rage +burst from the fool's lips and he sprang toward his aggressors. The +young girl became yet whiter; a moment she clung to the baluster; then +started to descend the stairs. A dozen swords flashed before her eyes. + +She drew in her breath sharply, when as if by some magic, the anger +faded from the face of the duke's fool; the hand he had raised to his +breast fell to his side; his blade remained sheathed. + +"Your pardon, my Lord," he said to the commandant. "I have no +intention of resisting the authority of the law, but if you will grant +me a few moments' private audience in this room, I promise to convince +you the Duke of Friedwald never signed that writ." + +"Let him convince the council that examines heretics," laughed +Triboulet. "I'll warrant they'll make short work of his arguments." + +"I will give you my sword, sir," went on the jester. "Afterward, if +you are satisfied, you shall return it to me. If you are not, on my +word as a man of honor, I will go with you without more ado." + +"A Calvinist, a jester, a man of honor!" cried the dwarf. + +But narrowly the vicomte regarded the speaker. "_Pardieu_!" he +exclaimed gruffly. "Keep your sword! I promise you I can look to my +own safety." And in spite of Triboulet's remonstrance, he waved back +the troopers and closed the door upon the _plaisant_ and himself. + +Outside the dwarf stormed and stamped. "The jester is desperate. It +is the noble count who is a nonny. Open, fool-soldiers!" + +This command not being obeyed by the men who guarded the entrance, the +dwarf began to abuse them. A considerable interval elapsed; the +hunchback, who dared not go into the room himself, compromised by +kneeling before the keyhole; at the foot of the stairs stood the girl, +her strained gaze fastened upon the door. + +"They must be near the window," muttered Triboulet in a disappointed +tone, rising. "What can they be about? Surely will he try to kill the +commandant." + +But even as he spoke the door was suddenly thrown open and the vicomte +appeared on the threshold. + +"Clear the hall!" he commanded sharply to the surprised soldiers. "If +I mistake not," he went on, addressing the duke's jester, "your horses +are at the door." + +"You are going to let them go?" burst forth Triboulet. + +"I trust you and this fair lady"--turning to the wondering girl, who +now stood expectantly at the side of the foreign fool--"will not harbor +this incident against our hospitality," went on the vicomte, without +heeding the dwarf. + +"The king will hang you!" exclaimed Triboulet, his face black with +disappointment and rage, as he witnessed the _plaisant_ and the +jestress leave the tavern together. "Let them go and you must answer +to the king. One is a heretic who threw down a cross; the other I +charge with being a sorceress." + +A terrible arraignment in those days, yet the vicomte was apparently +deaf. Hat in hand, he waved them adieu; the steeds sprang forward, +past the soldiers, and down the street. + +"After them!" cried the dwarf to the troopers, "Dolts! Joltheads!" + +Whereupon one of the men, angered at this baiting, reaching out with +his iron boot, caught the dwarf such a sharp blow he staggered and +fell, striking his head so violently he lay motionless on the walk. At +the same time, far above, a body of troopers might have been seen +issuing from the gates of the château and leisurely wending their way +downward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE + +Some part of the interview with the commandant which had resulted in +their release the jester told his companion as they sped down the +sloping plain in the early silvery light which transformed the +dew-drops and grassy moisture into veils of mist. Behind them the +château was slowly fading from view; the town had already disappeared. +Around them the singing of the birds, the cooing of the cushat doves +and the buzzing of the bees, mingled in dreamy cadence. On each side +stretched the plain which, washed by recent heavy rains, was now +spangled with new-grown flowers; here, far apart in sequestered beauty; +there, clustering companionably in a mass of color. + +"Upon the strength of the letter from the emperor, the vicomte took the +responsibility of allowing us to depart," explained the fool. "In it +his Majesty referred to his message to the king, to the part played by +him who took the place of the duke, and what he was pleased to term my +services to Francis and himself." + +So much the _plaisant_ related, but he did not add that the commandant, +with Triboulet's words in mind, had at first demurred about permitting +the jestress to go. "_Vrai Dieu_!" that person had exclaimed. "If +what the dwarf said be true? To cross the king!--and yet," he had +added cynically, "it sounds most unlike. Did Aladdin flee from the +genii of the lamp? Such a magician is Francis. Châteaux, +gardens--'tis clearly an invention of Triboulet's!" And the fallacy of +this conclusion the duke's _plaisant_ had not sought to demonstrate. + +Without question, the young girl listened, but when he had finished her +features hardened. Intuitively she divined a gap in the narrative; +herself! From the dwarf's slur to Caillette's gentle look of surprise +constituted a natural span for reflection. And the duke's fool, seeing +her face turn cold, attributed it, perhaps, to another reason. Her +story recurred to him; she was no longer a nameless jestress; an +immeasurable distance separated a mere _plaisant_ from the survivor of +one of the noblest, if most unfortunate, families of France. She had +not answered the night before when he had addressed her as the daughter +of the constable; motionless as a statue had she gazed after him; and, +remembering the manner of their parting, he now looked at her curiously. + +"All's well that ends well," he said, "but I must crave indulgence, +Lady Jacqueline, for having brought you into such peril." + +She flushed. "Do you persist in that foolishness?" she returned +quickly. + +"Do you deny the right to be so called?" + +"Did I not tell you--the constable's daughter is dead?" + +"To the world! But to the fool--may he not serve her?" + +His face was expectant; his voice, light yet earnest. Her answer was +half-sad, half-bright, as though her tragedy, like those acted dramas, +had its less somber lines. And in the stage versions of those dark, +mournful pieces were not the softer bits introduced with cap and bell? +The fool's stick and the solemn march of irresistible and lowering +destiny went hand in hand. Everywhere the tinkle of the tiny bells. + +"Poor service!" she retorted. "A discredited mistress!" + +"One I am minded for," he replied, a sudden flash in his eyes. + +She looked away; her lips curved. + +"For how long?" she said, half-mockingly, and touched her horse before +he could reply. + +What words had her action checked on his lips? A moment was he +disconcerted, then riding after her, he smiled, thinking how once he +had carelessly passed her by; how he had looked upon her but as a +wilful child. + +A child, forsooth! His pulses throbbed fast. Life had grown strangely +sweet, as though from her look, when she had stood on the stairs, he +had drawn new zest. To serve her seemed a happiness that drowned all +other ills; a selfish bond of subordination. Her misfortunes dignified +her; her worn gown was dearer in his eyes than courtly splendor; the +disorder of her hair more becoming than nets of gold and coifs of +jewels. He forgot their danger; the broad plain lay like a pleasure +garden before them; fairer in natural beauty than Francis' conventional +parks. + +And she, too, had ceased to remember the dwarf's words, for the joy of +youth is strong, and the sunshine and air were rarely intoxicating. +There was a stirring rhythm in the movement of the steeds; noiselessly +their hoofs beat upon the soft earth and tender mosses. The rains +which elsewhere had flooded the lowlands here but enlivened the vernal +freshness of the scene. The air was full of floating thistle-down; a +cloud of insects dancing in the light, parted to let them pass. + +At the sight of a bush, white with flowers, she uttered an exclamation +of pleasure, and broke off a branch covered with fragrant blossoms, as +they rode by. Out of the depths of this store-house of sweets a +plundering humming-bird flashed and vanished, a jewel from nature's +crown! She held the branch to her face and he glanced at her covertly; +she was all jestress again. The cadence of that measured motion shaped +itself to an ancient lyric in keeping with the song of birds, the blue +sky, and the wild roses. + + "Hark! hark! + Pretty lark! + Little heedest thou my pain." + +He bent his head listening; he could scarcely hear the words. Was it a +sense of new security that moved her; the reaction of their narrow +escape; the knowledge they were leaving the château and all danger +behind them? + + "Hark! hark! + Pretty lark!--" + + +Boom! Far in the distance sounded the discharge of a cannon--its iron +voice the antithesis to the poet's dainty pastoral. As the report +reverberated over the valley, from the grass innumerable insects arose; +the din died away; the disturbed earth-dwellers sank back to earth +again. The song ceased from the young girl's lips, and, gazing quickly +back, she could just distinguish, above one of the parapets of the +château, a wreath, already nearly dissolved in the blue of the sky. +The jester, who had also turned in his saddle, met her look of inquiry. + +"It sounds like a signal of some kind--a salute, perhaps," he said. + +"Or a call to arms?" she suggested, and he made no answer. "It +means--pursuit!" + +Silent they rode on, but more rapidly. With pale face and composed +mien she kept by his side; her resolute expression reassured him, while +her glance said: "Do not fear for me." Gradually had they been +descending from the higher slopes of the country of which the +château-mount was the loftiest point and now were passing through the +lower stretches of land. + +Here, the highway ran above fields, inundated by recent rains, and +marshes converted into shining lakes. Out of the water uprose a grove +of trees, spectral-like; screaming wild-fowl skimmed the surface, or +circled above. The pastoral peace of the meadows, garden of the wild +flower and home of the song-bird, was replaced by a waste of desolation +and wilderness. Long they dashed on through the loneliness of that +land; a depressing flight--but more depressing than the abandoned and +forlorn aspect of the scene was the consciousness that their steeds had +become road-worn and were unable to respond. Long, long, they +continued this pace, a strained period of suspense, and then the fool +drew rein. + +"Look, Jacqueline," he said. "The river!" + +Before them, fed by the rivulets from the distant hills, the foaming +current threatened to overflow its banks. Already the rising waters +touched the flimsy wooden structure that spanned the torrent. +Contemplatively he regarded it, and then placing his hand for a moment +on hers, said encouragingly: + +"Perhaps, after all, we are borrowing trouble?" + +She shook her head. "If I could but think it," she answered. +Something seemed to rise in her throat. "A moment I forgot, and--was +not unhappy! But now I feel as though the end was closing about us." + +He tightened his grasp. "You are worn with fatigue; fanciful!" he +replied. + +"The end!" she repeated, passionately. "Yes; the end!" And threw off +his hand. "Look!" + +He followed her eyes. "Waving plumes!" he cried. "And drawing nearer! +Come, Jacqueline! let us ride on!" + +"How?" she answered, in a lifeless tone. "The bridge will not hold." + +For answer he turned his horse to it; proceeded slowly across. It +wavered and bent; her wide-opened eyes followed him; once she lifted +her hand to her breast, and then became conscious he stood on the +opposite bank, calling her to follow. She started; a strange smile was +on her lips, and touching her horse sharply, she obeyed. + +"Is it to death he has called me?" she asked herself. + +In her ears sounded the swash and eddying of the current; she closed +her eyes to keep from falling, when she felt a hand on the bridle, and +in a moment had reached the opposite shore. The jester made no motion +to remount, but remained at her horse's head, closely surveying the +road they had traveled. + +"Must we go on?" she said, mechanically. + +"Only one of them can cross at a time," he answered, without stirring. +"It is better to meet them here." + +"Oh," she spoke up, "if the waters would only rise a little more and +carry away the bridge." + +He glanced quickly around him, weighing the slender chance for success +if he made that last desperate stand, and then, grasping a loose plank, +began using it as a lever against one of the weakened supports of the +bridge. Soon the beam gave way, and the structure, now held but at the +middle and one side, had already begun to sag, when from around the +curve of the highway appeared Louis of Hochfels, and a dozen of his +followers. + +The free baron rode to the brim of the torrent, regarded the flood and +the bridge, and stopped. He was mounted on a black Spanish barb whose +glistening sides were flecked with foam; a cloak of cloth of gold fell +from his brawny shoulders; his heavy, red face looked out from beneath +a sombrero, fringed with the same metal. A gleam of grim recollection +shone from his bloodshot eyes as they rested on the fool. + +"Oh, there you are!" he shouted, with savage satisfaction. "Out of the +frying-pan into the fire! Or rather--for you escaped the fagots at +Notre Dame--out of the fire into the frying-pan!" + +Above the tumult of the torrent his stentorian tones were plainly +heard. Without response, the jester inserted the plank between the +structure and the middle support. The other, perceiving his purpose, +uttered an execration that was drowned by the current, and irresolutely +regarded the means of communication between the two shores, obviously +undetermined about trusting his great bulk to that fragile intermedium. +Here was a temporary check on which he had not calculated. But if he +demurred about crossing himself, the free baron did not long display +the same infirmity of purpose regarding his followers. + +"Over with you!" he cried angrily to them. "The lightest first! Fifty +pistoles to the first across!" And then, calling out to the fool: "In +half an hour, you, my fine wit-cracker, shall be hanging from a branch. +As for the maid, she is a witch, I am told--we will test her with +drowning." + +Tempted by their leader's offer, one of the troopers, a lank, +muscular-looking fellow, at once drove the spurs into his horse. Back +and forth moved the lever in the hands of the jester; the soldier was +midway on the bridge, when it sank suddenly to one side. A moment it +acted as a dam, then bridge, horse and rider were swept away with a +crash and carried downward with the driving flood. Vainly the trooper +sought to turn his steed toward the shore; the debris from the +structure soon swept him from his saddle. Striking out strongly, he +succeeded in catching a trailing branch from a tree on the bank, but +the torrent gripped his body fiercely, and, after a desperate struggle, +tore him away. + +As his helpless follower disappeared, the free baron gave a brief +command, and he and his troops posted rapidly down the bank. The young +girl breathed a sigh of relief; her eyes were yet full of awe from the +death struggle she had witnessed. Fascinated, her gaze had rested on +the drowning wretch; the pale face, the look of terror; but now she was +called to a realization of their own situation by the abrupt departure +of the squad on the opposite shore. + +"They have gone," she cried, in surprise, as the party vanished among +the trees. + +"But not far." The jester's glance was bent down the stream. "See, +where the torrent broadens. They expect to find a fording place." + +Once more they set forth; he knowing full well that the free baron and +his men, accustomed to the mountain torrents, unbridled by the melting +snows, would, in all likelihood, soon find a way to cross the freshet. +His mind misgave him that he had loosened the bridge at all. Would it +not have been better to force the conflict there, when he had the +advantage of position? But right or wrong, he had made his choice and +must abide by it. + +To add to his discomfiture, his horse, which at first had lagged, now +began to limp, and, as they proceeded, this lameness became more +apparent. With a twinge of heart, he plied the spur more strongly, and +the willing but broken creature responded as best it could. Again it +hastened its pace, seeming in a measure to recover strength and +endurance, then, without warning, lurched, fell to its knees and +quickly rolled over on its side. Jacqueline glanced back; the animal +lay motionless; the rider was vainly endeavoring to rise. Pale with +apprehension she returned, and, dismounting, stood at the head of the +prostrate animal. Determinedly the jester struggled, the perspiration +standing on his brow in beads. At length, breathing hard, he rested +his head on his elbow. + +"Here am I caught to stay, Jacqueline!" he said. "The horse is dead. +But you--you must still go on." + +With clasped hands she stood looking down at him. She scarcely knew +what he was saying; her mind seemed in a stupor; with apathetic eyes +she gazed down the road. But the accident had happened in a little +hollow, so that the outlook in either direction along the highway was +restricted. + +"My emperor is both chivalrous and noble," continued the _plaisant_, +quickly. "Go to him. You must not wait here longer. I did not tell +you, but I think the free baron will have no difficulty in crossing. +You have no time to lose. Go; and--good-by!" + +"But--he had a long way to ride--even if he could cross," she said +slowly, passing her hand over her brow. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried out, impatiently. + +She made no motion to leave, and, reading in her face her +determination, angered by his own helplessness, he strove violently to +release himself, until wrenching his foot in his frantic efforts, he +sank back with a groan. At that sound of pain, wrung from him in spite +of his fortitude, all her seeming apathy vanished. With a low cry, she +dropped on her knees in the road and swiftly took his head in her arms. + +It was he, not the young girl, who spoke first. He forgot all +peril--hers and his. He only knew her warm, young arms were about him; +that her heart was throbbing wildly. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried, passionately. "Jacqueline!" And threw an arm +about her, drawing her closer, closer. + +Did she hear him? She did not reply. Nor did she release him. She +did not even look down. But he felt her bosom rising and falling +faster than its wont. + +"Jacqueline," he repeated, "are you listening?" + +She stirred slightly; the pallor left her face. In her gaze shone a +light difficult to divine--pity, tenderness, a warmer passion? Where +had he seen it before? In the cell when he lay injured; in his waking +dreams? It seemed the sudden dawn of the full beauty of her eyes; a +half-remembered impression which now became real. Yet even as she +looked down his face changed; his eager glance grew dark; he listened +intently. + +The sound of horses' hoofs beat upon the air. + +"Jacqueline!--go!--there is yet time!" + +Abruptly she arose. He held out his hand for a last quick pressure; a +God-speed to this stanch maid-comrade of the motley. + +"God keep you, mistress!" + +Standing in the road, gazing up the hollow, she neither saw his hand +nor caught his words of farewell. An expression of bewilderment had +overspread her features; quickly she glanced in the opposite direction. + +"See! see!" she exclaimed, excitedly. + +But he was past response; overcome by pain, in a last desperate attempt +to regain his feet, he had lost consciousness. As he fell back, above +the hill in the direction she was looking, appeared the black plumes of +a band of horsemen. + +"No; they are not--" + +Her glance rested on the jester, lying there motionless, and hastening +to his side, she lifted his head and placed it in her lap. So the +troopers of the Emperor Charles--a small squad of outriders--found her +sitting in the road, her hair disordered about her, her face the whiter +against that black shroud. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR + +On an eminence commanding the surrounding country an unwonted spectacle +that same day had presented itself to the astonished gaze of the +workers in a neighboring vineyard. Gleaming with crimson and gold, a +number of tents had appeared as by magic on the mount, the temporary +encampment of a rich and numerous cavalcade. But it was not the +splendent aspect of this unexpected bivouac itself so much as the +colors and designs of the flags and banners floating above which +aroused the wonderment of the tillers of the soil. Here gleamed no +salamander, with its legend, "In fire am I nourished; in fire I die," +but the less magniloquent and more dreaded coat of arms of the emperor, +the royal rival and one-time jailer of the proud French monarch. + +The sunlight, reflected from the golden tassels and ornamentation of +the tents, threw a flaming menace over the valley, and the peasants in +subdued tones talked of the sudden coming of the dreaded foeman. _Mère +de Dieu_! what did it portend! _Ventre Saint Gris_! were they going to +storm the fortresses of the king? Was an army following this +formidable retinue of nobles, soldiers and servants? + +Above, on the mount, as the sun climbed toward the meridian, was seated +in one of the largest of the tents a man of resolute and stern mien who +gazed reflectively toward the fertile plain outstretching in the +distance. His grizzled hair told of the after-prime of life; he was +simply, even plainly, dressed, although his garments were of fine +material, and from his neck hung a heavy chain of gold. His doublet +lacked the prolonged and grotesque peak, and was less puffed, slashed +and banded than the coat worn by those gallants of the day who looked +to Italy for the latest extravagances of fashion. His hat, lying +carelessly on the table at his elbow, was devoid of aigrette, jewels or +plume; a head-covering for the campaign rather than the court. Within +reach of his hand stood a heavy golden goblet of massive German +workmanship, the solid character of which contrasted with the drinking +vessels after Cellini's patterns affected by Francis. This he raised +to his lips, drank deeply, replaced the goblet on the table, and said +as much to himself as to those around him: + +"A fair land, this of our brother! Small wonder he likes to play the +host, even to his enemies. We may conquer him on the ensanguined +field, but he conquers us--or Henry of England!--on a field of cloth of +gold!" + +"But for your Majesty to put yourself in the king's power?" ventured a +courtier, who wore a begemmed torsade and a cloak of Genoa velvet. + +The monarch leaned back in his great chair and his face grew harsh. As +he sat there musing, his virility and iron figure gave him rather the +appearance of the soldier than the emperor. This impression his +surroundings further emphasized, for the walls of the tent were +covered, not with the gorgeous-colored Gobelins of the pleasure-loving +French, but with severe and stately tapestries from his native +Flanders, depicting in somber shades various scenes of martial triumph. +When he raised his head he cast a look of ominous displeasure upon the +last speaker. + +"Had he not once the English king beneath his roof?" answered the +monarch. "At Amboise, where we visited Francis some years ago, was +there any restraint put upon us?" + +A grim smile crossed his features at the recollection of the gorgeous +_fêtes_ in his honor on that other occasion. Perhaps, too, he thought +of the excitements held out by those servitors of the king, the frail +and fair ladies of the court, for he added: + +"_Saints et saintes_! 'twas a palace of pleasure, not a dungeon, he +prepared for us. But enough of this! It is time we rode on. Let the +cavalcade, with the tents, follow behind." + +"Think you, your Majesty, if the princess be not yet married to the +bastard, she is like to espouse the true duke?" asked the courtier, as +a soldier left the tent to carry out the orders of the emperor. + +Charles arose abruptly. "Of a surety! He must have loved her greatly, +else--" + +The clattering of hoofs, drawing nearer, interrupted the emperor's +ruminations, and, wheeling sharply, he gazed without. A band of +horsemen appeared on the mount. + +"The outriders!" he said in surprise. "Why have they returned?" + +"They are bearing some one on a litter," answered the attendant noble, +"and--_cap de Dieu_--there is a woman with them!" + +As the troops approached, the emperor strode forward. Out in the +sunlight his face appeared older, more careworn, but although it cost +him an effort to walk, his step was unfaltering. A moment he surveyed +the men with peremptory glance, and then, casting one look at their +burden, uttered an exclamation. His surprise, however, was of short +duration. At once his features resumed their customary rigor. + +"What does this mean?" he asked, shortly, addressing the leader of the +soldiers. "Is he badly hurt?" + +"That I can not say, your Majesty," replied the man. "A horse fell +upon his leg, which is badly bruised, and there may be other injuries." + +"Where did you find him?" continued the emperor, still regarding the +pale face of the _plaisant_. + +"Not far from here, your Majesty. The woman was sitting in the road, +holding his head." + +Charles' glance swiftly sought the jestress and then returned. + +"They were being pursued, for shortly after we came a squad of men +appeared from the opposite direction. When they saw us they fled. The +woman insisted upon being brought here, when she learned of your +Majesty's presence." + +"Take the injured man into the next tent and see he has every care. As +for the woman, I will speak with her alone." + +"Your Majesty's orders to break camp--" began the courtier. + +"We have changed our mind and will remain here for the present." And +the emperor, without further words, turned and reëntered his pavilion. + +With his hands behind him, he stood thoughtfully leaning against a +table; his countenance had become somber, morose. The twinges of pain +from a disease which afterward caused him to abdicate the throne and +relinquish all power and worldly vanities for a life of religious +meditation began to make themselves felt. Love--ambition--what were +they? The perishable flesh--was it the all-in-all? Those sudden pangs +of the body seemed like over-forward confessors abruptly admonishing +him. + +The jester and the woman--Francis and the princess--what had they +become to him now? Figures in an intangible, illusory dream. Deeply +religious, repentant, perhaps, for past misdeeds at such a moment as +this, the soldier-emperor stood before a silver crucifix. + +"_Credo in sanctum_," he murmured, with contrite glance. "How +repugnant is human glory! to conquer the earth; to barter what is +immortal! _Carnis resurrectionem--_" + +A shadow fell across the tapestry, and glancing from the blessed +symbol, he saw before him, kneeling on the rug, the figure of a woman. +For her it was an inauspicious interruption. With almost a frown, +Charles, recalled from an absorbing period of oblation and +self-examination, surveyed the young girl. The reflection of dark +colors from the hangings and tapestries softened the pallor of her +face; her hair hung about her in disorder; her figure, though meanly +garbed, was replete with youth and grace. Silent she continued in the +posture of a suppliant. + +"Well?" said the monarch finally, in a harsh voice. + +Slowly she lifted her head; her dark eyes rested on the ruler +steadfastly, fearlessly. "Your Majesty commanded my presence," she +answered. + +"Who are you?" he asked coldly. + +"I am called Jacqueline; my father was the Constable of Dubrois." + +Incredulity replaced every other emotion on the emperor's features, +and, approaching her, he gazed attentively into the countenance she so +frankly uplifted. With calmness she bore that piercing scrutiny; his +dark, troubled soul, looking out of his keen gray eyes, met an equally +lofty spirit. + +"The Constable of Dubrois! You, his daughter!" he repeated. + +His thoughts swiftly pierced the shadows of the past; that umbrageous +past, darkened with war and carnage; the memory of triumphs; the +bitterness of defeats! And studying her eyes, her face, as in a vision +he recalled the features, the bearing, of him who had held himself an +equal to his old rival, Francis. A red spot rose to his cheek as he +reviewed the martial, combative days; the game of arms he had played so +often with Francis--and won! Not always by daring, or courage--rather +by sagacity, clear-headedness, more potent than any other force! + +But a pang of bodily suffering reminded him of the present and its +ills, and the vainglory of brief exultation faded as quickly as it had +assailed him; involuntarily his glance sought the sacred emblem of +intercession. When he regarded her once more his face had resumed its +severe, uncompromising aspect. + +"The constable was a proud, haughty man," he said, brusquely. "Yea, +over-proud, in fact. You know why he fled to me?" + +"Yes, Sire," she answered, flushing resentfully. + +"To persuade me to espouse his cause against the king. Many times have +my good brother, Francis, and myself gone to war," he added, +reflectively and not without a certain complacency, "but then were we +engaged in troubles in the east; to keep the Mohammedans from +overrunning our Christian land. How could I oblige the constable by +fighting the heathen and the believers in the gospel in one breath? +Your father--for I am ready to believe him such, by the evidence of +your face, and, especially, your eyes--accused me of little faith. But +I had either to desert him, or Europe. His cause was lost; 'twas the +fortune of war; the fate of great families becomes subservient to that +of nations." + +He spoke as if rather presenting the case to himself than to her; as +though he sought to analyze his own action through the medium of time +and the trend of larger events. Attentively she watched him with deep, +serious eyes, and, catching her almost accusing look and knowing how, +perhaps, he shuffled with history, his brow grew darker; he was visibly +annoyed at her--his own conscience--he knew not what! + +"I did not complain, your Majesty," she said proudly. + +Her answer surprised him. Again he observed her attire; the pallor of +her face; the dark circles beneath her eyes. Grimly he marked these +signs of poverty; those marks of the weariness and privations she had +undergone. + +"Was it not your intention to seek me? To beg an asylum, perhaps?" he +went on, less sternly. + +"Not to beg, your Majesty! To ask, yes! But now--not that!" + +"_Vrai Dieu_!" muttered Charles. "There is the father over again! It +is strange this maiden clothed almost in rags should claim such +illustrious parentage," he continued to himself, as he walked +restlessly to and fro. "It is more strange I ask no other proofs than +herself--the evidence of my eyes! Where did you come from?" he added, +aloud, pausing before her. "The court of Francis?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"Why did you leave the king?" + +"Why--because--" Her hands clenched. The gray eyes continued to probe +her. "Because I hate him!" + +The emperor's face relaxed; a gleam of humor shone in his glance. +"Hate him whom so many of your sex love?" he replied. + +Through her tresses he saw her face turn red; passionately she arose. +"With your Majesty's permission, I will go." + +"Go?" he said abruptly. "Where can you go? You are somewhat quick of +temper, like--. Have I refused you aught? I could not serve your +father," he continued, taking her hand, and, not ungently, detaining +her, "but I may welcome his daughter--though necessity, the ruler of +kings, made me helpless in his behalf!" + +As in a flash her resentment faded. Half-paternally, half-severely, he +surveyed her. + +"Sit down here," he went on, indicating a low stool. "You are weary +and need refreshment." + +Silent she obeyed, and the emperor, touching a bell, gave a low command +to the servitor who appeared. In a few moments meat, fruits and wine +were set before her, and Charles, from his point of vantage--no throne +of gold, but a chair lined with Cordovan leather, watched her partake. +The pains had again left him; the monk gave way to the ruler; he +thought of no more phrases of the Credo, but with impassive face +listened to her story, or as much as she cared to relate. When she had +finished, for some time he offered no comment. + +"A strange tale," he said finally. "But what will our nobles do when +ladies take mere fools for knight-errants?" + +"He is no mere fool!" she spoke up, impulsively. + +The emperor shot a quick look at her from beneath his lowering brows. + +"I mean--he is brave--and has protected me many times," she explained +in some confusion. + +"And so you, knowing what you were, remained--with a poor jester--a +clown--rather than leave him to his fate?" continued Charles, +inexorably, recalling the words of the outriders. + +Her face became paler, but she held her head more proudly; the spirit +of the jestress sprang to her lips, "It is only kings, Sire, who fear +to cling to a forlorn cause!" + +His eyes grew dark and gloomy; morosely he bent his gaze upon her. No +one had ever before dared to speak to him like that, for Charles had no +love for jesters, and kept none in his court. Unsparing, iron-handed, +he had gone his way. But, perhaps, in her very fearlessness he +recognized a touch of his own inflexible nature. At any rate, his +sternness soon gave way to an expression of melancholy. + +"God alone knows the hearts of monarchs!" he said, somberly, and +directed his glance toward the crucifix. + +Moved by his unexpected leniency and the aspect of his cheerlessness, +she immediately repented of her response. He looked so old, and +melancholy, this great monarch. When he again turned to her his face +and manner expressed no further cognizance of her reply. + +"You need rest," he said, "and shall have a tent to yourself. Now go!" +he continued, placing his hand for a moment, not unkindly, on her head. +"I shall give orders for your entertainment. It will be rough +hospitality, but--you are used to that. I am not sorry, child, you +hate our brother Francis, if it has driven you to our court." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE DEBT OF NATURE + +Although the daughter of the constable received every attention +commensurate with the cheer of the camp, the day passed but slowly. +With more or less interest she viewed the diversified group of +soldiers, drawn by Charles from the various countries over which he +ruled: the brawny troops from Flanders; the alert-looking guards, +recruited from the mountains of Spain; the men of Friedwald, with +muscles tough as the fibers of the fir in their native forests. Even +the Orient--suggestive of many campaigns!--had been drawn upon, and the +bright-garbed olive-skinned attendants, moving among the tents of +purple or crimson, blended picturesquely with the more solid masses of +color. + +For the Flemish soldiery, who had brought the fool and herself to the +camp, the young girl had a nod and a word, but it was the men of +Friedwald who especially attracted her attention, and unconsciously she +found herself picturing the land that had fostered this stalwart and +rough soldiery. A rocky, rugged region, surely; with vast forests, +unbroken brush! Yonder armorer, polishing a joint of steel, seemed +like a survivor of that primeval epoch when the trees were roofs and +the ground the universal bed. Once or twice she passed him, curiously +noting his great beard and giant-like limbs. But he minded her not, +and this, perhaps, gave her courage to pause. + +"What sort of country is Friedwald?" she said, abruptly. + +"Wild," he answered. + +"Is the duke liked?" she went on. + +"Yes." + +"Do you know his--jester?" + +"No." + +For all the information he would volunteer, the man might have been +Doctor Rabelais' model for laconicism, and a moment she stood there +with a slight frown. Then she gazed at him meditatively; tap! tap! +went the tiny hammer in the mighty hand, and, laughing softly, she +turned. These men of Friedwald were not unpleasing in her eyes. + +Twice had she approached the tent wherein lay the fool, only to learn +that the emperor was with the duke's _plaisant_. "A slight relapse of +fever," had said the Italian leech, as he blocked the entrance and +stared at her with wicked, twinkling eyes. She need be under no +apprehension, he had added; but to her quick fancy his glance said: "A +maid wandering with a fool!" + +Apprehension? No; it could not be that she felt but a new sense of +loneliness; of that isolation which contact with strange faces +emphasized. What had come over her? she asked herself. She who had +been so self-sufficient; whose nature now seemed filled with sudden +yearnings and restlessness, impatience--she knew not what. She who +thought she had partaken so abundantly of life's cup abruptly +discovered renewed sources for disquietude. With welling heart she +watched the sun go down; the glory of the widely-radiating hues give +way to the pall of night. Upon her young shoulders the mantle of +darkness seemed to rest so heavily she bowed her head in her hands. + +"A maid and a fool! Ah, foolish maid!" whispered the wanton breeze. + +The pale light of the stars played upon her, and the dews fell, until +involuntarily shivering with the cold, she arose. As she walked by the +emperor's quarters she noticed a figure silhouetted on the canvas +walls; to and fro the shadow moved, shapeless, grotesque, yet eloquent +of life's vexation of spirit. Turning into her own tent, the jestress +lighted the wick of a silver lamp; a faint aroma of perfume swept +through the air. It seemed to soothe her--or was it but +weariness?--and shortly she threw herself on the silken couch and sank +to dreamless slumber. + +When she awoke, the bright-hued dome of the tent was aglow in the +morning sun; the reflected radiance bathed her face and form; her +heaviness of heart had taken wings. The little lamp was still burning, +but the fresh fragrance of dawn had replaced the subtile odor of the +oriental essence. Upon the rug a single streak of sunshine was +creeping toward her. In the brazier which had warmed her tent the +glowing bark and cinnamon had turned to cold, white ash. + +Through the girl's veins the blood coursed rapidly; a few moments she +lay in the rosy effulgence, restfully conscious that danger had fled +and that she was bulwarked by the emperor's favor, when a sudden +thought broke upon this half-wakeful mood, and caused her to spring, +all alert, from her couch. To dress, with her had never been a matter +of great duration. The hair of the joculatrix naturally rippled into +such waves as were the envy of the court ladies; her supple fingers +adjusted garment after garment with swift precision, while her figure +needed no device to lend grace to the investment. + +Soon, therefore, had she left her tent, making her way through the +awakening camp. In the royal kitchen the cook was bending over his +fires, while an assistant mixed a beverage of barley-water, yolks of +eggs and senna wine for Charles when he should become aroused. Those +courtiers, already astir, cast many glances in the girl's direction, as +she moved toward the tent of the fool. + +But if these gallants were sedulous, she was correspondingly +indifferent. Anxiety or loyalty--that stanchness of heart which braved +even the ironical eyes of the black-robed master of medicine--drove her +again to the ailing jester's tent, and, remembering how she had ridden +into camp--and into the august emperor's favor--these fondlings of +fortune looked significantly from one to the other. + +"A jot less fever, solicitous maid," said the leech in answer to the +inquiries of the jestress, and she endured the glance for the news, +although the former sent her away with her face aflame. + +"An the leech let her in, he'd soon have to let the patient out," spoke +up a gallant. "Her eyes are a sovereign remedy, where bolus, pills and +all vile potions might fail." + +"If this be a sample of Francis' damsels, I care not how long we are in +reaching the Low Countries," answered a second. + +To this the first replied in kind, but soon had these gallants matters +of more serious moment to divert them, for it began to be whispered +about that Louis of Hochfels had determined to push forward. The +unwonted activity in the camp ere long gave credence to the rumor; the +troopers commenced looking to their weapons; squires hurried here and +there, while near the tents stood the horses, saddled and bridled, +undergoing the scrutiny of the grooms. + +Some time, however, elapsed before the emperor himself appeared. +Nothing in the bead-roll, or devotional offering of the morning, had he +overlooked; the divers dishes that followed had been scrupulously +partaken of, and then only--as a man not to be hurried from the altar +or the table--had he emerged from his tent. His glance mechanically +swept the camp, noting the bustle and stir, the absence of disorder, +and finally rested on the girl. For a moment, from his look, it seemed +he might have forgotten her, and she who had involuntarily turned to +him so solicitously, on a sudden felt chilled, as confronted by a mask. +His voice, when at length he spoke, was hard, dry, matter-of-fact, and +it was Jacqueline whom he addressed. + +"You slept well?" + +"Yes, Sire," she answered. + +"And have already been to the fool's tent, I doubt not." + +The mask became half-quizzical, half-friendly, as her cheeks mantled +beneath his regard. Was it but quiet avengement against a jestress +whose tongue had been unsparing enough, even to him, the day before? +Certes, here stood now only a rosy maid, robbed of her spirit; or a +_folle_, struck witless, and Charles' face softened, but immediately +grew stern, as his mind abruptly passed from wandering jestress and +fleeing fool to matters of more moment. + +Under vow to the Virgin, the emperor had announced he would not draw +sword himself that day, but, seated beneath a canopy of velvet, +overlooking the valley, he so far compromised with conscience as +personally to direct the preparations for the conflict. On his sable +throne, surrounded by funereal hangings, how white and furrowed, how +harassed with many cares, he appeared in the glare of the morn to the +young girl! Was this he who held nearly all Europe in his palm? who +between martial commands talked of Holy Orders, the Apostolic See and +the Seven Sacraments to his priestly confessor? + +And from aloof she studied him, with new doubts and misgiving, her +thoughts running fast; and anon bent her eyes to the hill on the other +side of the valley. In her condition of mind, confused as before a +crisis, it was a distinct relief when toward noon word was brought that +the free baron was approaching. Soon, not far distant, the _cortège_ +of Louis of Hochfels was seen; at the front, flashing helmets and +breastplates; behind, a cavalcade of ladies on horseback and litters, +above which floated many flags and banners. + +Would he come on; would he turn back? Many opinions were rife. + +"Oh," cried a page with golden hair, "there will be no battle after +all." + +And truly, confronted by the aspect of the emperor's camp, the marauder +had at first hesitated; but if the dangers before him were great, those +behind were greater. Accordingly, leaving the cavalcade of the +princess, her maids and attendants, the free baron of Hochfels, +surrounded by his own trusted troops, dashed forward arrogantly into +the valley, bent upon sweeping aside even the opposition of Charles +himself. + +"Yonder's a daring knave, your Majesty," with some perturbation +observed the prelate who stood near the emperor's chair. + +"Certes, he tilts at fame, or death, with a bold lance," replied +Charles. "Would that Robert of Friedwald were there to cry him quits." + +While thus he spoke, as calm as though secluded in one of his monastery +retreats, weighing the affairs of state, nearer and nearer drew the +soldiers of the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld; roughly calculating, a force +numerically as strong as the emperor's own guard. + +The young girl, her face now white and drawn, watched the approaching +band. Would Charles never give the signal? Imperturbable sat the +mounted troopers of the emperor, awaiting the word of command. At +length, when her breath began to come fast and sharp, Charles raised +his arm. In a solid, steady body, his men swept onward. The girl +strove to look away, but could not. + +Both bands, gaining in momentum, met with a crash. That nice symmetry +of form and orderliness of movement was succeeded by a tangle of men +and horses; the bristling array of lances had vanished, and swords and +weapons for hand-to-hand warfare threw a play of light amid the jumble +of troops and steeds, flags and banners. With sword red from carnage, +Louis of Hochfels drew his men around him, hurling them against the +firm front of Charles' veterans. It was the crucial moment; the +turning point in a struggle that could not be prolonged, but would be +rather sharp, short and decisive. If his men failed at the onset, all +was lost; if they gained but a little ascendancy now, their mastery of +the field became fairly assured. Great would be the reward for +success; the fruits of victory--the emperor himself. And savagely the +free baron cut down a stalwart trooper; his blade pierced the throat of +another. + +"Clear the way to Charles!" he cried, exultantly. "He is our guerdon." + +So terrible that rush, the guard of Spain on the right and the troops +of Flanders on the left began to give way; only the men of Friedwald +stood, but with the breaking of the forces on each side it was +inevitable they, too, must soon be overwhelmed. Involuntarily, as the +quick eye of the emperor detected this sign of impending disaster, he +half-started from his chair. His hand sought his side; in his eyes +shone a steely light. The prelate quickly crossed himself and raised +his head as if in prayer. + +"The penance, Sire," he murmured, but his voice trembled. + +Mechanically Charles replaced his blade. "Yea; better a kingdom lost," +he muttered, "than a broken vow." + +Yet, after so many battles won in the field and Diet; after titanic +contests with kings in Christendom, and Solyman in the east, to fall, +by the mockery of fate, into the grasp of a thieving mountain rifler-- + +"Ambition! power! we sow but the sand," whispered satiety. + +"Vainglory is a sleeveless errand," murmured the spirit of the +flagellant. + +Yet he gazed half-fiercely at his priestly adviser, when suddenly his +gloomy eye brightened; the inutility of ambition was forgotten; +unconsciously he clasped the arm of the joculatrix, who had drawn near. +His grip was like a gauntlet; even in her tense, strained mood she +winced. + +"The fight is not yet lost!" he exclaimed. As he spoke the figure of a +knight, fully armed, who had made his way through the avenue of tents, +was seen swiftly descending the hill. Upon his strong Arabian steed, +the rider's appearance and bearing signaled him as a soldier apart from +the rank and file of the guard. His coat-of-arms, that of the house of +Friedwald, was richly emblazoned upon the housings of his courser. +Whence had he come? The attendants and equerries had not seen him in +the camp. Only the taciturn armorer of Friedwald looked complacently +after him, stroking his great beard, as one well satisfied. As this +late-comer approached the scene of strife the flanks of the guard were +wavering yet more perilously. + +"A miracle, Sire!" cried the prelate. + +"But one that partakes more of earth than Heaven," retorted Charles, +with ready irony. + +"Who is he, Sire?" breathlessly asked the young girl. At her feet +whimpered the blue-eyed page, holding to her skirt, all his courage +gone. + +But ere he could answer--if he had seen fit to do so--from below, out +of the vortex, came the clamorous shouts: + +"The duke! The duke!" + +The master of the mountain pass heard also, and felt at that moment a +sudden thrill of premonition. The guerdon; the quittance; could it be +possible after all, the end was not far? He could not believe it, yet +a paroxysm of fury seized him; his strength became redoubled; wherever +his sword touched a trooper fell. + +But like a wave, recovering from the recoil, the soldiers of Friedwald +broke upon his doomed band with a force manifold augmented; broke and +carried the flanks with it, for the assaulting parties to the right and +left were dismayed by the strength unexpectedly hurled against the +center. The bulky Flemish, the lithe Spaniard, the lofty trooper of +Friedwald, overflowed the shattered line of the marauders. + +"Duke Robert!" and "Friedwald!" shouted the Austrian band. + +"Cowards! Would you give way?" cried the free baron, striking among +them. "Fools! Better the sword than the rope. Come!" + +But in his frenzied efforts to rally his men the master of Hochfels +found himself face to face with the leader of the already victorious +troops. At the sight of him the bastard paused; his breast rose and +fell with his labored breathing; his sword was dyed red, also his arms, +his clothes; from his forehead the blood ran down over his beard. His +eyes rolled like those of an animal; he seemed something inhuman; an +incarnation of baffled purpose. + +"If it is reprisal you want, Sir Duke, you shall have it," he panted. + +"Reprisal!" exclaimed Robert of Friedwald, scornfully. "The best you +can offer is your life." + +And with that they closed. Evading the strokes of his more bulky +antagonist, the younger man's sword repeatedly sought the vulnerable +part of the other's armor. The free baron's strength became exhausted; +his blows rang harmlessly, or struck the empty air. + +A sensation of pain admonished him of his own disability. About him +his band had melted away; doggedly had they given up their lives +beneath sword, mace and poniard. The ground was strewn with the slain; +riderless horses were galloping up the road. The free baron breathed +yet harder; before his eyes he seemed to see only blood. + +Of what avail had been his efforts? He had won the princess, but how +brief had been his triumphs! With a belief that was almost +superstition, he had imagined his destiny lay thronewards. But the +curse of his birth had been a ban to his efforts; the bitterness of +defeat smote him. He knew he was falling; his nerveless hand loosened +his blade. + +"I am sped!" he cried; "sped!" and released his hold, while the tide of +conflict appeared abruptly to sweep away. + +As he struck the earth an ornament that he had worn about his neck +became unfastened and dropped to the ground. But once he moved; to +raise himself on his elbow. + +"The hazard of the die!" he muttered, striving to see with eyes that +were growing blind. A rush of blood interrupted him, he fell back, +straightened out, and stirred no more. + +Now had the din of strife ceased altogether, when descending the slope +appeared a cavalcade, at the head of which rode a lady on a white +palfrey, followed by several maids and guarded by an escort of soldiers +who wore the king's own colors. A stricken procession it seemed as it +drew near, the faces of the women white with fear; the gay attire and +gorgeous trappings--a mockery on that ensanguined arena. + +Proudly proceeded the lady on the white horse, although in her eyes +shone a look of dread. It was an age when women were accustomed to +scenes of bloodshed, inured to conflicts in the lists; yet she +shuddered as her palfrey picked its way across that field. At the near +side of the hollow her glance singled out a motionless figure among +those lying where they had fallen, a thick-set man, whose face was +upturned to the sky. One look into those glassy eyes, so unresponsive +to her own, and she quickly dismounted and fell on her knees beside the +recumbent form. She took one of the cold hands in hers, but dropped it +with a scream. + +"Dead!" she cried; "dead!" + +The lady stared at that terribly repulsive face. For some moments she +seemed dazed; sat there dully, the onlookers forbearing to disturb her. +Then her gaze encountered that of him who had slain the free baron and +she sprang to her feet. On her features an expression of bewilderment +had been followed by one of recognition. + +"The duke's fool!" she exclaimed wildly. "He is dead, and you have +killed him! The fool has murdered his master." + +"It is true he is dead," answered the other, leaning heavily on his +sword and surveying the inanimate form, "but he was no master of mine." + +"That, Madame la Princesse, we will also affirm," broke in an austere +voice. + +Behind them rode the emperor, a dark figure among those bright gowns +and golden trappings, the saddle cloth and adornments of his steed +somber as his own garments. As he spoke he waved back the cavalcade, +and, in obedience to the gesture, the ladies, soldiers and attendants +withdrew to a discreet distance. Bitterly the princess surveyed the +monarch; overwrought, a torrent of reproaches sprang from her lips. + +"Why has your Majesty made war on my lord? Why have you countenanced +his enemies and harbored his murderers?" And then, drawing her figure +to its full height, her tawny hair falling in a cloud about her +shoulders: "Be sure, Sire, my kinsman, the king, will know how to +avenge my wrongs." + +"He can not, Madam," answered Charles coldly. "They are already +avenged." + +"Already avenged!" she exclaimed, with her gaze upon the prostrate +figure. + +"Yes, Madam. For he who hath injured you has paid the extreme penalty." + +"He who was my husband has been foully murdered!" she retorted, +vehemently. "What had the Duke of Friedwald done to bring upon himself +your Majesty's displeasure?" + +"Nothing," answered the emperor, more gently. + +"Nothing! And yet he lies there--dead!" + +"He who lies before you is not the duke, but Louis of Hochfels, the +bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"Ah," she cried, excitedly, "I see you have been listening to the false +fool, his murderer." + +An expression of annoyance appeared on the emperor's face. He liked +not to be crossed at any time by any one. + +"You have well called him the false fool, Madam," said Charles, curtly, +"for he is no true fool." + +"And yet he rode with your troops!" + +"To redeem his honor, Madam." + +"His honor!" + +With a scornful face she approached nearer to the monarch. + +"His honor! In God's name, what mean you?" + +"That the false fool, Madam, is himself the Duke of Friedwald!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A MAID OF FRANCE + +"The Duke of Friedwald!" + +It was not the princess who thus exclaimed, but Jacqueline. Charles +had spoken loudly, and, drawn irresistibly to the scene, she had caught +his significant words at the moment she recognized, in his brave +accoutrements, him whom she had known as the duke's fool. + +When she had heard, above the din of the fray, the cries with which the +new-comer had been greeted, no suspicion of his identity had crossed +her mind. She had wondered, been puzzled at the unexpected appearance +of Robert, Duke of Friedwald, but that he and the ailing fool were one +and the same was wide from her field of speculation. In amazement, she +regarded the knight who had turned the tide of conflict, and then +started, noticing the colors he wore, a paltry yellow ribbon on his +arm, the badge of her office. Much she had not understood now appeared +plain. His assurance in Fools' hall; his reckless daring; his skill +with the sword. He was a soldier, not a jester; a lord, not a lord's +servant. + +Lost in no less wonder, the princess gazed from the free baron to +Charles, and back again to the lifeless form. Stooping, she looked +steadfastly into the face, as though she would read its secret. +Perhaps, too, as she studied those features, piece by piece she patched +together the scenes of the past. Her own countenance began to harden, +as though some part of that mask of death had fallen upon her, and when +she glanced once more at the emperor they saw she no longer doubted. +With forced self-control, she turned to the emperor. + +"Doubtless, it is some brave pastime," she said to Charles. "Will your +Majesty deign to explain?" + +"Nay," answered the emperor, dryly; "that thankless task I'll leave to +him who played the fool." + +Uncovering, the Duke of Friedwald approached. The excitement of the +contest over, his pallid features marked the effects of his recent +injuries, the physical strain under which he had labored. Her cold +eyes swept over him haughtily, inquiringly. + +"For the part I have played, Madam," he said, "I ask your forbearance. +If we both labored under a delusion, I have only regret--" + +"Regret!" Was it an outburst of grief, or wounded pride? He flushed, +but continued firmly: + +"Madame la Princesse, when first a marriage was proposed between us I +was younger in experience if not in years than I am now; more used to +the bivouac or hunters' camps than courts. And woman--" he +smiled--"well, she was a vague ideal. At times, she came to me when +sleeping before the huntsman's fire in the solitudes of the forest; +again, was reflected from the pages of classic lore. She seemed a part +of the woods and the streams, for by ancient art had she not been +turned into trees and running brooks? So she whispered in the boughs +and murmured among the rushes. Mere _Schwärmerei_. Do you care to +hear? 'Tis the only defense I can offer." + +Her contemptuous blue eyes remained fastened on him; she disdained to +answer. + +"It was a dreamer from brake and copse who went in the disguise of a +jester to be near her; to win her for himself--and then, declare his +identity. Well may you look scornful. Love!--it is not such a +romantic quality--at court. A momentary pastime, perhaps, but--a deep +passion--a passion stronger than rank, than death, than all--" + +Above the face of her whom he addressed his glance rested upon +Jacqueline, and he paused. The princess could but note, and a derisive +expression crept about her mouth. + +"Once I would have told you all," he resumed. "That night--when you +were Lady of the Lists. But--" + +He broke off abruptly, wishing to spare her the bitter memory of her +own acts. Did she remember that day, when she had been queen of the +chaplet? When she had crowned him whom now death and dishonor had +overtaken? + +"The rest, Madam, you know--save this." And stooping, he picked up the +ornament that had dropped from Louis of Hochfels' neck. "Here, +Princess, is the miniature you sent me. He, who used you so ill, stole +it from me in prison; through it, he recognized the fool for the duke; +with an assassin's blow he struck me down." + +A moment he looked at that fair painted semblance. Did it recall the +past too vividly? His face showed no pain; only tranquillity. His eye +was rather that of a connoisseur than a lover. He smiled gently; then +held it to her. + +Mechanically she let the portrait slip through her fingers, and it fell +to the moistened grass near the form of him who had wedded her. Then +she drew back her dress so that it might not touch the body at her feet. + +"Have I your Majesty's permission to withdraw?" she said, coldly. + +"If you will not accept our poor escort to the king," answered Charles. + +"My ladies and myself will dispense with so much honor, Sire," she +returned. + +"Such service as we can command is at your disposal, Madam," he +repeated. + +"It is not far distant to the château, Sire." + +"As you will," said the emperor. + +With no further word she bowed deeply, turned, and slowly retracing her +steps, mounted her horse, and rode away, followed by her maids and the +troopers of France. + +As she disappeared, without one backward glance, the duke gazed quickly +toward the spot where Jacqueline had been standing. He remembered the +young girl had heard his story; he had caught her eyes upon him while +he was telling it; very deep, serious, judicial, they seemed. Were +they weighing his past infatuation for the princess; holding the scales +to his acts? Swiftly he turned to her now, but she had vanished. Save +for rough nurses, companions in arms, moving here and there among the +wounded, he and the emperor stood alone. In the bushes a bird which +had left a nest of fledglings returned and caroled among the boughs; a +clarifying melody after the mad passions of the day. The elder man +noted the direction of the duke's glance, the yellow ribbon on his arm. + +"So it was a jestress, not a princess you found, thou dreamer," he +said, half-ironically. + +"The daughter of the Constable of Dubrois, Sire," was the reply. + +The emperor nodded. "The family colors have changed," he observed +dryly. + +"With fortune, Sire." + +"Truly," said Charles, "fortune is a jestress. She had like to play on +us this day. But your fever?" he added, abruptly, setting his horse's +head toward camp. + +"Is gone, Sire," answered the duke, riding by his side. + +"And your injuries?" + +"Were so slight they are forgotten." + +"Then is the breath of battle better medicine than nostrum or salve. +In youth, 'tis the sword-point; in age, turn we to the hilt-cross. But +this maid--have you won her?" + +The young man changed color. "Won her, Sire?" he replied. "That I +know not--no word has passed--" + +"No word," said the emperor, doubtingly. "A knight-errant and a +castleless maid!" + +The duke vouchsafed no answer. + +"Humph!" added Charles. "Thus do our plans come to naught. If you got +her, and wore her, what end would be served?" + +"No end of state, perhaps, Sire." + +"Why," observed the monarch, "the state and the faith--what else is +there? But go your way. How smooth it may be no man can tell." + +"Is the road like to be rougher than it has been, Sire?" + +"The maid belongs to France," answered Charles, "and France belongs to +the king." + +"The king!" exclaimed the duke, fiercely. + +Involuntarily had they drawn rein in the shade of a tiny thicket +overlooking the valley. Even from this slight exercise, bowed and +weary appeared the emperor's form. The hand which controlled his steed +trembled, but the lines of his face spoke of unweakened sinew of +spirit, the iron grip of a will that only death might loosen. + +"The king!" repeated the young man. "He is no king of mine, nor hers. +To you, Sire, only, I owe allegiance, or my life, at your need." + +A gentler expression softened the emperor's features, as a gleam of +sunshine forces itself into the somberest forest depths. + +"We have had our need," he said. "Not long since." + +His glance swept the outlook below. "Heaven watches over monarchs," he +added, turning a keen, satirical look on the other, "but through the +vigilance of our earthly servitors." + +The duke's response was interrupted by the appearance below of a +horseman, covered with dust, riding toward them, and urging his weary +steed up the incline with spur and voice. Deliberately the monarch +surveyed the new-comer. + +"What make you of yonder fellow?" he said. "He is not of the guard, +nor of the bastard's following." + +"His housings are the color of France, Sire." + +"Then can I make a shrewd guess of his purpose," observed the monarch. + +As he spoke the horseman drew nearer and a moment later had stopped +before the emperor. + +"A message from the king, Sire!" exclaimed the man, dismounting and +kneeling to present a formidable-looking document, with a great disk of +lead through which a silken string was drawn. + +Breaking the seal, the emperor opened the missive. "It is well," he +said at length, folding the parchment. "The king was even on his way +to the château to await our coming, when he met Caillette and received +our communication. Go you to the camp"--to the messenger--"where we +shall presently return." And as the man rode away: "The king begs we +will continue our journey at our leisure," he added, "and announces he +will receive us at the château." + +"And have I your permission to return to Friedwald, Sire?" asked the +other in a low voice. + +"Alone?" + +"Nay; I would conduct the constable's daughter there to safety." + +"And thus needlessly court Francis' resentment? Not yet." + +The young man said no word, but his face hardened. + +"Tut!" said the emperor, dryly, although not unkindly. "Where's fealty +now? Fine words; fine words! A slender chit of a maid, forsooth. +Without lands, without dowry; with naught--save herself." + +"Is she not enough, Sire?" + +"Francis is more easily disarmed in his own castle by his own +hospitality than in the battle-field," observed Charles, without +replying to this question. "In field have we conquered him; in palace +hath he conquered himself, and our friendship. Therefore you and the +maid return in our train to the king's court." + +"At your order, Sire." + +But the young man's voice was cold, ominous. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED + +Thus it befell that both Robert of Friedwald and Jacqueline accompanied +the emperor to the little town, the scene of their late adventures, and +that they who had been fool and joculatrix rode once more through the +street they had ne'er expected to see again. The flags were flying; +cannon boomed; they advanced beneath wreaths of roses, the way paved +with flowers. Standing at the door of his inn, the landlord dropped +his jaw in amazement as his glance fell upon the jestress and her +companion behind the great emperor himself. His surprise, too, was +abruptly voiced by a ragged, wayworn person not far distant in the +crowd, whose fingers had been busy about the pockets of his neighbors; +fingers which had a deft habit of working by themselves, while his eyes +were bent elsewhere and his lips joined in the general acclaim; fingers +which like antennas seemed to have a special intelligence of their own. +Now those long weapons of abstraction and appropriation ceased their +deft work; he became all eyes. + +"Good lack! Who may the noble gentleman behind the emperor be?" he +exclaimed. "Surely 'tis the duke's fool." + +"And ride with the emperor?" said a burly citizen at his elbow. "'Tis +thou who art the fool." + +"Truly I think so," answered the other. "I see; believe; but may not +understand." + +At that moment the duke's gaze in passing chanced to rest upon the +pinched and over-curious face of the scamp-student; a gleam of +recollection shone in his glance. "_Gladius gemmatus!_" cried the +scholar, and a smile on the noble's countenance told him he had heard. +Turning the problem in his mind, the vagrant-philosopher forgot about +pilfering and the procession itself, when a soldier touched him roughly +on the shoulder. + +"Are you the scamp-student?" said the trooper. + +"Now they'll hang me with these spoils in my pockets," thought the +scholar. But as bravely as might be, he replied: "The former I am; the +latter I would be." + +"Then the Duke of Friedwald sent me to give you this purse," remarked +the man, suiting the action to the word. "He bade me say 'tis to take +the place of a bit of silver you once did not earn." And the trooper +vanished. + +"Well-a-day!" commented the burly citizen, regarding the gold pieces +and the philosopher in wonderment of his own. "You may be a fool, but +you must be an honest knave." + +At the château the meeting between the two monarchs was unreservedly +cordial on both sides. They spoke with satisfaction of the peace now +existing between them and of other matters social and political. The +emperor deplored deeply the untimely demise of Francis' son, Charles, +who had caught the infection of plague while sleeping at Abbeville. +Later the misalliance of the princess was cautiously touched upon. +That lady, said Francis gravely, to whom the gaieties of the court at +the present time could not fail to be distasteful, had left the château +immediately upon her return. Ever of a devout mind, she had repaired +to a convent and announced her intention of devoting herself, and her +not inconsiderable fortune, to a higher and more spiritual life. +Charles, who at that period of his lofty estates himself hesitated +between the monastery and the court, applauded her resolution, to which +the king perfunctorily and but half-heartedly responded. + +Shortly after, the emperor, fatigued by his journey, begged leave to +retire to his apartments, whither he went, accompanied by his "brother +of France" and followed by his attendants. At the door Francis, with +many expressions of good will, took leave of his royal guest for the +time being, and, turning, encountered the Duke of Friedwald. + +Francis, himself once accustomed to assume the disguise of an archer of +the royal guard the better to pursue his love follies among the people, +now gazed curiously upon one who had befooled the entire court. + +"You took your departure, my Lord," said the king, quietly, "without +waiting for the order of your going." + +"He who enacts the fool, your Majesty, without patent to office must +needs have good legs," replied the young man. "Else will he have his +fingers burnt." + +"Only his fingers?" returned the monarch with a smile, somewhat +sardonic. + +"Truly," thought the other, as Francis strode away, "the king regrets +the fool's escape from Notre Dame and the fagots." + +During the next day Charles called first for his leech and then for a +priest, but whether the former or the latter, or both, temporarily +assuaged the restlessness of mortal disease, that night he was enabled +to be present at the character dances given in his honor by the ladies +of the court in the great gallery of the château. + +At a signal from the cornet, gitterns, violas and pipes began to play, +and Francis and his august guest, accompanied by Queen Eleanor, and the +emperor's sister, Marguerite of Navarre, entered the hall, followed by +the dauphin and Catharine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers, the Duchesse +d'Etampes; marshal, chancellor and others of the king's friends and +counselors; courtiers, poets, jesters, philosophers; a goodly company, +such as few monarchs could summon at their beck and call. Charles' eye +lighted; even his austere nature momentarily kindled amid that +brilliant spectacle; Francis' palace of pleasure was an intoxicating +antidote to spleen or hypochondria. And when the court ladies, in a +dazzling band, appeared in the dance, led by the Duchesse d'Etampes, he +openly expressed his approval. + +"Ah, Madam," he said to the Queen of Navarre, "there is little of the +monastery about our good brother's court." + +"Did your Majesty expect we should cloister you?" she answered, with a +lively glance. + +He gazed meditatively upon the "Rose of Valois," or the "Pearl of the +Valois," as she was sometimes called; then a shadow fell upon him; the +futility of ambition; the emptiness of pleasure. In scanty attire, the +Duchesse d'Etampes, with the king, flashed before him; the former, all +beauty, all grace, her little feet trampling down care, so lightly. +Somberly he watched her, and sighed. Mentally he compared himself to +Francis; they had traveled the road of life together, discarding their +youth at the same turn of the highway; yet here was his French brother, +indefatigable in the pursuit of merriment, while his own soul sang +_miséréré_ to the tune of Francis' fiddles. Yet, had he overheard the +conversation of the favorite and the king, the emperor's moodiness +would not, perhaps, have been unmixed with a stronger feeling. + +"Sire," the duchess was saying in her most persuasive manner, "while +you have Charles--once your keeper--in your power, here in the château, +you will surely punish him for the past and avenge yourself? You will +make him revoke the treaty of Madrid, or shut him up in one of Louis +XI's oubliettes?" + +"I will persuade him if I can," replied the king coldly, "but never +force him. My honor, Madam, is dearer to me than my interests." + +The favorite said no more of a cherished project, knowing Francis' +temper and his stubbornness when crossed. She merely shrugged her +white shoulders and watched him closely. The monarch had not scrupled +once to break his covenant with Charles, holding that treaties made +under duress, by _force majeure_, were legally void, while now-- But +the king was composed of contradictions, or--was her own influence +waning? + +She had observed a new expression cross his countenance when in the +retinue of the emperor he had noted the daughter of the constable; such +a tenderness as she remembered at Bayonne when the king had looked upon +her, the duchess, for the first time. When she next spoke her words +were the outcome of this train of thought. + +"To think the jestress, Jacqueline, should turn out the daughter of +that traitor, the Constable of Dubrois," she observed, keenly. + +"A traitor, certainly," said Francis, "but also a brave man. Perhaps +we pressed him too hard," he added retrospectively. "We were young in +years and hot-tempered." + +"Your Majesty remembers the girl--a dark-browed, bold creature?" +remarked the duchess, smiling amiably. + +"Dark-browed, perhaps, Madam; but I observed nothing bold in her +demeanor," answered the king. + +"What! a jestress and not bold! A girl who frequented Fools' hall; who +ran away from court with the _plaisant_!" She glanced at him +mischievously, like a wilful child, but before his frown the smile +faded; involuntarily she clenched her hands. + +"Madam," he replied cynically, "I have always noticed that women are +poor judges of their own sex." + +And conducting her to a seat, he raised her jeweled fingers +perfunctorily to his lips, and, wheeling abruptly, left her. + +"Ah!" thought Triboulet, ominously, who had been closely observing +them, "the king is much displeased." + +Had the duchess observed the monarch's lack of warmth? At any rate, +somewhat perplexedly she regarded the departing figure of the king; +then humming lightly, turned to a mirror to adjust a ringlet which had +fallen from the golden net binding her tresses. + +"_Mère de Dieu_! woman never held man--or king--by sighing," she +thought, and laughed, remembering the Countess of Châteaubriant; a +veritable Niobe when the monarch had sent her home. + +But Triboulet drew a wry face; his little heart was beating +tremulously; dark shadows crossed his mind. Two portentous stars had +appeared in the horoscope of his destiny: he who had been the foreign +fool; she who was the daughter of the constable. Almost fiercely the +hunchback surveyed the beautiful woman before him. With her downfall +would come his own, and he believed the king had wearied of her. How +hateful was her fair face to him at that moment! Already in +imagination he experienced the bitterness of the fall from his high +estates, and shudderingly looked back to his own lowly beginning: a +beggarly street-player of bagpipes; ragged, wretched, importuning +passers-by for coppers; reviled by every urchin. But she, meeting his +glance and reading his thought, only clapped her hands recklessly. + +"How unhappy you look," she said. + +"Madam, do you think the duke--" he began. + +"I think he will cut off your head," she exclaimed, and Triboulet +turned yellow; but a few moments later took heart, the duchess was so +lightsome. + +"By my sword--if I had one--our jestress has made a triumphant return," +commented Caillette as he stood with the Duke of Friedwald near one of +the windows, surveying the animated scene. "Already are some of the +ladies jealous as Barbary pigeons. Her appearance has been remarked by +the Duc de Montrin and other gentlemen in attendance, and--look! Now +the great De Guise approaches her. Here one belongs to everybody." + +The other did not answer and Caillette glanced quickly at him. "You +will not think me over-bold," he went on, after a moment's hesitation, +"if I mention what is being whispered--by them?" including in a look +and the uplifting of his eyebrows the entire court. The duke laid his +hand warmly on the shoulder of the poet-fool. "Is there not that +between us which precludes the question?" + +"I should not venture to speak about it," continued Caillette, meeting +the duke's gaze frankly, "but that you once honored me with your +confidence. That I was much puzzled when I met you and--our erstwhile +jestress--matters not. 'Twas for me to dismiss my wonderment, and not +strive to reconcile my neighbor's affairs. But when I hear every one +talking about my--friend, it is no gossip's task to come to him with +the unburdening of the prattle." + +"What are they saying, Caillette?" asked the duke, in his eyes a darker +look. + +"That you would wed this maid, but that the king will use his friendly +offices with Charles to prevent it." + +"And do they say why Francis will so use his influence?" continued the +other. + +"Because of the claim such a union might give an alien house to a vast +estate in France; the confiscated property of the Constable of Dubrois. +And--but the other reason is but babble, malice--what you will." And +Caillette's manner quickly changed from grave to frivolous. "Now, _au +revoir_; I'm off to Fools' hall," he concluded. "Whenever it becomes +dull for you, seek some of your old comrades there." And laughing, +Caillette disappeared. + +Thoughtfully the duke continued to observe the jestress. Between them +whirled the votaries of pleasure; before him swept the fragrance of +delicate perfumes; in his ears sounded the subtile enticement of soft +laughter. Her face wore a proud, self-reliant expression; her eyes +that look which had made her seem so illusive from the inception of +their acquaintance. And now, since his identity had been revealed, she +had seemed more puzzling to him than ever. When he had sought her +glance, her look had told him nothing. It was as though with the +doffing of the motley she had discarded its recollections. In a +tentative mood, he had striven to fathom her, but found himself at a +loss. She had been neither reserved, nor had she avoided him; to her +the past seemed a page, lightly read and turned. Had Caillette truly +said "now she belonged to the world"? + +Stepping upon one of the balconies overlooking the valley, the duke +gazed out over the tranquil face of nature, his figure drawn aside from +the flood of light within. Between heaven and earth, the château +reared its stately pile, and far downward those twinkling flashes +represented the town; yonder faint line, like a dark thread, the +encircling wall. Above the gate shone a glimmer from the narrow +casement of some officer's quarters; and the jester's misgivings when +they had ridden beneath the portcullis into the town for the first +time, recurred to him; also, the glad haste with which they had sped +away. + +Memories of dangers, of the free and untrammeled character of their +wandering, that day-to-day intimacy, and night-to-night consciousness +of her presence haunted him. Her loyalty, her fine sense of +comradeship, her inherent tenderness, had been revealed to him. Still +he seemed to feel himself the jester, in the gathering of fools, and +she a _ministralissa_, with dark, deep eyes that baffled him. + +The sound of voices near the window aroused him from this field of +speculation, voices that abruptly riveted his attention and held it: +the king's and Jacqueline's. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED + +The young man's brow drew dark; tumultuous thoughts filled his brain; +Caillette's words, Brusquet's rhymes, confirming his own conviction, +rankled in his mind. This king dared arrogate a law absolute unto +himself; its statutes, his own caprices; its canons, his own +pretensions? The duke remembered the young girl's outburst against the +monarch and a feeling of hatred arose in his breast; his hand +involuntarily sought his sword, the blade of Francis' implacable enemy. + +"We have heard your story, my child, from our brother, the emperor," +the king was saying, "and although your father rebelled against his +monarch, we harbor it not against the daughter." + +"Sire," she answered, in a low tone, "I regret the emperor should have +acquainted you with this matter." + +"You have no cause for fear," Francis replied, misinterpreting her +words. She offered no response, and the duke, moving into the light, +observed the king was regarding the young girl intently, his tall +figure conspicuous above the courtiers. + +Flushed, Jacqueline looked down; the white-robed form, however, very +straight and erect; her hair, untrammeled with the extreme conventions +of the day; a single flower a spot of color amid its abundance. Even +the duchess--bejeweled, bedecked, tricked out--in her own mind had +pronounced the young girl beautiful, and there surely was no mistaking +the covert admiration of the monarch as his glance encompassed her. +Despite her assumed composure, it was obvious to the duke, however, +that only by a strong effort had she nerved herself to that evening's +task; the red hue on her cheeks, the brightness of her eyes, told of +the suppressed excitement her manner failed to betray. + +"Why should you leave with Charles?" continued Francis. "Perhaps were +we over-hasty in confiscating the castle of the constable. _Vrai +Dieu_," he added, meditatively. "Had he unbent but a little! +Marguerite told us we were driving him to despair, but the queen regent +and the rest of our counselors prevailed--" He broke off abruptly and +directed a bolder gaze to hers. "May not a monarch, Mademoiselle, undo +what he has done?" + +"Even a king can not give life to the dead," she replied, and her voice +sounded hard and unyielding. + +"No," he assented, moodily, "but it would not be impossible to restore +the castle--to his daughter." + +"Sire!" she exclaimed in surprise; then shook her head. "With your +Majesty's permission, I shall leave with the emperor." + +Francis made an impatient movement; her inflexibility recalled one who +long ago had renounced his fealty to the throne; her resistance kindled +the flame that had been smoldering in his breast. + +"But if I have pointed out to the emperor that your proper station is +here?" he went on. "If he recognizes that it would be to your +disadvantage to divert that destiny which lies in France?" + +His words were measured; his manner tinged with seeming paternal +interest; but, as through a mask, she discerned his face, cynical, +libidinous, the countenance of a Sybarite, not a king. The air became +stifling; the ribaldry of laughter enveloped her; instinctively she +glanced around, and her restless, troubled gaze fell upon the duke. + +What was it he read in her eyes? A confession of insecurity, fear; a +mute appeal? Before it all his doubts and misgivings vanished; the +look they exchanged was like that when she had stood on the staircase +in the inn. + +Upon the monarch, engrossed in his purpose, it was lost. If silence +give consent, then had she already acquiesced in a wish which, from a +king, became a demand. But Francis, ever complaisant, with an +inconsistent chivalry worthy of the subterfuge of his character, +desired to appear forbearing, indulgent. + +"For your own sake," he added, "must we refuse that permission you ask +of us." + +She did not answer, and, noting the direction of her gaze, the eager +expectancy written on her face, Francis turned sharply. At the same +time the duke stepped forward. + +The benignity faded from the king's manner; his countenance, which "at +no time would have made a man's fortune," became rancorous, caustic; +the corners of his mouth appeared almost updrawn to his nostrils. He +had little reason to care for the duke, and this interruption, so +flagrant, menacing almost, did not tend to enhance his regard. In +nowise daunted, the young man stood before him. + +"I trust, Sire, your Majesty will reconsider your decision?" + +With a strained look the young girl regarded them. To what new dangers +had she summoned him? Was not she, the duke, even the emperor himself, +in the power of the king, for the present at least? And knowing well +Francis' headstrong passions, his violence when crossed, it was not +strange at that moment her heart sank; she felt on the brink of an +abyss; a nameless peril toward which she had drawn the companion of her +flight. It seemed an endless interval before the monarch spoke. + +"Ah, you heard!" remarked Francis at length, satirically. + +"Inadvertently, Sire," answered the duke. His voice was steady, his +face pale, but in his blue eyes a glint as of fire came and went. +Self-assurance marked his bearing; dignity, pride. He looked not at +the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny of the king. The latter +surveyed him from head to foot; then suddenly stared hard at a sword +whose hilt gleamed even brighter than his own, and was fashioned in a +form that recalled not imperfectly a hazard of other days. + +[Illustration: He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the +scrutiny of the king.] + +"Where did you get that blade?" he asked, abruptly. + +"From the daughter of the Constable of Dubrois." + +"Why did she give it to you?" + +"To protect her, Sire." + +The monarch's countenance became more thoughtful; less acrimonious. +How the present seemed involved in the past! Were kings, then, +enmeshed in the web of their own acts? Were even the gods not exempt +from retributory justice? Those were days of superstition, when a +coincidence assumed the importance of inexorable destiny. + +"Once was it drawn against me," said Francis, reflectively. + +"I trust, Sire, it may never again be drawn by an enemy of your +Majesty." + +The king did not reply, but stood as a man who yet took counsel with +himself. + +"By what right," he asked, finally, "do you speak for the lady?" + + A moment the duke looked disconcerted. "By +what right?" + +Then swiftly he regarded the girl. As quickly--a flash it seemed--her +dark eyes made answer, their language more potent than words. He could +but understand; doubt and misgiving were forgotten; the hesitation +vanished from his manner. Hastily crossing to her side, he took her +hand and unresistingly it lay in his. His heart beat faster; her +sudden acquiescence filled him with wonder; at the same time, his task +seemed easier. To protect her now! The king coughed ironically, and +the duke turned from her to him. + +"By what right, your Majesty?" he said in a voice which sounded +different to Francis. "This lady is my affianced bride, Sire." + +Pique, umbrage, mingled in the expression which replaced all other +feeling on the king's countenance as he heard this announcement. With +manifest displeasure he looked from one to the other. + +"Is this true, Mademoiselle?" he asked, sternly. + +Her cheek was red, but she held herself bravely. + +"Yes, Sire," she said. + +A new emotion leaped to the duke's face as he heard her lips thus +fearlessly confirm the answer of her eyes. And so before the +monarch--in that court which Marguerite called the Court of Love--they +plighted their troth. + +Something in their manner, however, puzzled the observant king; an +exaltation, perhaps, uncalled for by the simple telling of a secret +understanding between them; that rapid interchange of glances; that +significance of manner when the duke stepped to her side. Francis bit +his lips. + +"_Ma foi!_" he exclaimed, sharply. "This is somewhat abrupt. How +long, my Lord, since she promised to be your wife?" + +"Since your Majesty spoke," returned the duke, tranquilly. + +"And before that?" + +"Before? I only knew that _I_ loved _her_, Sire." + +"And now you know, for the first time, that _she_ loves _you_?" added +the king, dryly. "But the emperor--are you not presuming overmuch that +he will give his consent? Or think you"--with fine irony--"that +marriages of state are made in Heaven?" + +"It was once my privilege, Sire, so to serve the emperor, as his +Majesty thought, that he bade me ask of him what I would, when I would. +Heretofore have I had nothing to ask; now, everything." + +Some of the asperity faded from Francis' glance. The situation +appealed to his strong penchant for merry _plaisanterie_. +Besides--such was his overweening pride--to hear a woman confess she +cared for another dampened his own ardor, instead of stimulating it. +"None but himself could be his parallel;" the royal lover could brook +no rival. Had she merely desired to marry the former fool--the +Countess of Châteaubriant had had a husband--but to love him! + +After all, she was but an audacious slip of a girl; a dark-browed, bold +gipsy; by nature, intended for the motley--yes, the Duchesse d'Etampes +was right. Then, he liked not her parentage; she was a constant +reminder of one who had been like to make vacant the throne of France, +and to destroy, root and branch, the proud house of Orleans. Moreover, +whispered avarice, he would save the castle for himself; a stately and +right royal possession. He had, indeed, been over-generous in +proffering it. Love, said reason, was unstable, flitting; woman, a +will-o'-the-wisp; but a castle--its noble solidity would endure. At +the same time, policy admonished the king that the duke was a subject +of his good brother, the emperor, and a rich, powerful noble withal. +So with such grace as he could command Francis greeted one whom he +preferred to regard as an ally rather than an enemy. + +"Truly, my Lord," he said not discourteously, masking in a courtly +manner his personal dislike for him whose sharp criticism he once had +felt in Fools' hall, "a nimble-witted jester was lost when you resumed +the dignity of your position. But," he added cautiously, as a sudden +thought moved him, "this lady has appeared somewhat unexpectedly; the +house of Friedwald is not an inconsequential one." + +"What mean you, Sire?" asked the young man, as the king paused. + +Francis studied him shrewdly. "Why," he replied at length, +hesitatingly, "there is that controversy of the Constable of Dubrois; +certain lands and a castle, long since rightly confiscated." + +"Your Majesty, there is another castle, and lands to spare, in a +distant country," returned the duke quickly. "These will suffice." + +"As you will," said the king in a livelier tone. "For the future, +command our good offices--since you have made us sponsor of your +fortunes." + +With which well-covered confession of his own defeat, Francis strode +away. As he turned, however, he caught the smile of the Duchesse +d'Etampes and crossed to her graciously. + +"Your dress becomes you well, Anne," he said. + +She glanced down at herself demurely; her lashes veiled a sudden gleam +of triumph. "How kind of you, Sire, to notice--my poor gown." + +"I was right," murmured Triboulet, joyfully, as he saw king and +favorite walking together. "No one will ever replace the duchess." + +Silent, hand in hand, the duke and the joculatrix stood upon the +balcony. Below them lay the earth, wrapped in hazy light. Behind +them, the court, with its glamour. + +"Have I done well, Jacqueline, to answer the king as I have done?" he +said finally. "Are you content to resign all--forever--here in France? +To go with me--" + +"Into a new world," she interrupted. "Once I asked you to take me, but +you hesitated, and were like to leave me behind you." + +"But now 'tis I who ask," he answered. + +"And I--who hesitate?" looking out over the valley, where the shadow of +a cloud crossed the land. + +"Do you hesitate, Jacqueline?" + +She turned. About her lips trembled the old fleeting smile. + +"What woman knows her mind, Sir Fool? Yet if it were not so--" + +"If it were not so?" he said, eagerly. + +Her eyes became grave on a sudden. "I might believe I had been of one +mind--long." + +"Jacqueline!--sweet jestress!--" + +He caught her suddenly in his arms, his fine young features aglow. +This then was the goal of his desires; a goal of delight, far, far +beyond all youthful dreams or early imaginings. With drooping eyelids, +she stood in his embrace; she, once so proud, so self-willed. He drew +her closer--kissed her hair!--the rose!-- + +She raised her head, and--sweeter still--he kissed her lips. + +Across the valley the shadow receded; vanished. In the full glory of +nightly splendor lay the earth, and as the mystic radiance lighted up a +world of beauty, it seemed at last they beheld their world; the light +more beautiful for the shade and the purple mists. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE*** + + +******* This file should be named 23675-8.txt or 23675-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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} + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Under the Rose, by Frederic Stewart Isham, +Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Under the Rose</p> +<p>Author: Frederic Stewart Isham</p> +<p>Release Date: December 2, 2007 [eBook #23675]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Kneeling, he received it." BORDER="2" WIDTH="403" HEIGHT="581"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 403px"> +Kneeling, he received it. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +UNDER THE ROSE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Frederic S. Isham +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of The Strollers +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +With illustrations by +<BR> +Howard Chandler Christy +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +The Bobbs-Merrill Company +<BR> +Publishers : Indianapolis +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT NINETEEN HUNDRED THREE +<BR> +THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY +<BR><BR> +JANUARY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A NEST OF NINNIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A GIFT FOR THE DUKE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">AN IMPATIENT SUITOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE COURT OF LOVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A BRIEF TRUCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">AN EARLY MORNING VISIT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A NEW DISCOVERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">TIDINGS FROM THE COURT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">JACQUELINE'S QUEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE SECRET OF THE JESTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">THE DESERTED HUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE TALE OF THE SWORD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">THE DEBT OF NATURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">A MAID OF FRANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap28">THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap29">THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +Kneeling, he received it . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-064"> +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking<BR> +at her feet. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-286"> +He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the jester. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-420"> +He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny<BR> +of the king. +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +UNDER THE ROSE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEST OF NINNIES +</H3> + +<P> +"A song, sweet Jacqueline!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no—" +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!—Jacqueline!—" +</P> + +<P> +"No more, I say—" +</P> + +<P> +A jingle of tinkling bells mingled with the squeak of a viola; the +guffaws of a rompish company blended with the tuneless chanting of +discordant minstrels, and the gray parrot in its golden cage, suspended +from one of the oaken beams of the ceiling, shook its feathers for the +twentieth time and screamed vindictively at the roguish band. +</P> + +<P> +Jingle, jingle, went the merry bells; squeak, squeak, the tightened +strings beneath the persistent scraping of the rosined bow. On his +throne in Fools' hall, Triboulet, the king's hunchback, leaned +complacently back, his eyes bent upon a tapestry but newly hung in that +room, the meeting place of jesters, buffoons and versifiers. +</P> + +<P> +"We appeal to Triboulet—" +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet!" +</P> + +<P> +A girl's silvery laugh rang out. +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the derisive musical tones. +</P> + +<P> +Upon his chair of state, the dwarf did not answer; professed not to +hear. By the uncertain glimmer of torches and the flickering glow of +the fire he was engaged in tracing a resemblance to himself in the +central figure of the composition wrought in threads of silk—Momus, +fool by patent to Jove, thrust from Olympus and greeting the earth-born +with a great grin. +</P> + +<P> +"An excellent likeness!" muttered Triboulet. "A very pretty likeness!" +he continued, swelling with pride. +</P> + +<P> +And truly it was said that sprightly ladies, working between love and +pleasure times, drew from the court fool for their conception of the +mythological buffoon, reproducing Triboulet's great head; his mouth, +proportionately large; his protruding eyes; his bowed back, short, +twisted legs and long, muscular arms; and his nose far larger than that +of Francis, who otherwise had the largest nose in the kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +But how could they depict the meanness of soul that dwelt in that +extraordinary shell? The blithesome tapestry-makers, albeit adepts in +form, grace and harmony, could not touch the subjectiveness of +existence. Thus it was a double pleasure for Triboulet to see, limned +in well-chosen hues, his form, the crookedness of which he was as proud +as any courtier of his symmetry and beauty, the while his dark, vain +soul lay concealed behind the mask of merry deformity and laughing +monstrosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Would your Majesty like to command me?" +</P> + +<P> +The mocking feminine voice recalled Triboulet from his pleasing +contemplation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" he answered, sullenly, and condescended to turn his glance +upon the assemblage. +</P> + +<P> +Over a goodly gathering of jesters, buffoons, poets, and even +philosophers, he lorded it, holding his head as high as his hump would +permit and conscious of his own place in the esteem of the king. Not +long ago the monarch had laughed and applauded when Triboulet had +twisted his features into a horrid grimace, and since then the dwarf's +little heart had expanded with such arrogance, it seemed to him he was +almost Francis himself as he sat there on Francis' sometime throne; and +these Sir Jollys were his subjects all—Marot, Caillette, Brusquet, +Villot, and the lesser lights, jesters of barons, cardinals and even +bishops! Rabelais, too, that poor, dissolute devil of a writer, +learned as Homer, brutish as Homer's swine—all subjects of his, the +king of jesters, save one; one whom he eyed with certain fear and +wonder; fear, because she was a woman—and Triboulet esteemed all the +sex but "highly perfected devils"—and wonder, at finding her different +from, and more perplexing than even the rest of her kind! +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!—" +</P> + +<P> +now she was perched on one corner of the table, and her face had a +witch-like loveliness, as though borrowing its pallor and beauty from +the moon, source of all magic and necromancy. Her eyes shone with such +luster that, seeking their hue, they held the observer's gaze in +mocking languor, and cheated the inquisitive coxcomb of his quest, the +while the disdainful lips curved laughingly and so bewildered him, he +forgot the customary phrases and stood staring like a nonny. Her +footstep fell so light, she was so agile and quick, the superstitious +dwarf swore she was but a creature of the night and held surreptitious +meetings with all the familiar spirits of demonology. As she never +denied the uncanny imputation, but only displayed her small white teeth +maliciously, by way of answer, Triboulet felt assured he was right and +crossed himself religiously whenever she gazed too fixedly at him. +</P> + +<P> +A most <I>gracieuse folle</I>, her dress was in keeping with her character, +yellow being the predominating color. To the fanciful adornment of the +gown her lithe figure lent itself readily, while her rebellious curls +were well adapted to that badge of her servitude, the jaunty cap that +crowned their waving abundance. +</P> + +<P> +In especial disdain, from her position upon the corner of the table, +her glance wandered down the board and rested on Rabelais, the +gourmand, before whom were an empty trencher and tankard. The +priest-doctor-writer-scamp who affected the company of jesters and +liked not a little the hospitality of Fools' hall, which adjoined the +pastry branch of the castle kitchen and was not far removed from the +wine butts, had just unrolled a bundle of manuscript, all daubed with +trencher grease and tankard drippings, and was about to read aloud the +strange adventures of one Pantagruel, when, overcome by indulgence, his +head fell forward on the table, almost in the wooden platter, and the +papers fluttered to the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Put him out!" commanded Triboulet from his high place. +</P> + +<P> +But she of the jaunty cap sprang from the table. +</P> + +<P> +"How wise are your Majesty's decrees!" she said mockingly with her +glance upon the dwarf. He shifted uneasily in the throne. "You should +have put him out before! But now"—turning contemptuously to the poor +figure of the great man—"he's harmless. His silence is golden; his +speech was dross." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet," answered Marot, thoughtfully, "the king esteems him; the +king who is at once scholar, poet, wit, soldier—" +</P> + +<P> +"Soldier!" she exclaimed, quickly. "When he can not conquer Italy and +regain his heritage!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can not?" ventured Triboulet, mindful of the dignity of his royal +master. "Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because the women would conquer him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; the king prefers the blue eyes of France," spoke up the +cardinal's fool, he of the viola. +</P> + +<P> +"Then do you set our queen of fools, our fair Jacqueline, out of his +Majesty's good graces," interposed one of the lesser jesters, a mere +baron's hireling, who long had burned with secret admiration for the +maid of the coquettish cap. +</P> + +<P> +"I am <I>such</I> a fool as to want the good graces of no man—or monarch!" +she replied boldly, without glancing at the speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"An he were in love, you would be two fools!" laughed Caillette, the +court poet. +</P> + +<P> +"In love, 'tis only the man is the fool or—the fooled!" she returned +pointedly, and Caillette, despite his self-possession, flushed +painfully. Since Diane de Poitiers had wedded her ancient lord, the +poet had become grave, studious, almost sad. +</P> + +<P> +"And is your mistress, the king's ward, fooling with her betrothed?" he +asked quickly, conscious of knowing winks and nudges. +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess Louise and the Duke of Friedwald are to wed for reasons +of state," said the young woman, gravely. "There'll be no fools." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, a loveless match!" +</P> + +<P> +"But not a landless one!" retorted she of the cap without the bells. +"Besides, it cements the friendship of Francis and Charles V! What +more would you? But I'll tell you a secret." +</P> + +<P> +At that the company flocked around her, as though there was something +enticing in her tone; the vague promise of an interesting bit of gossip +or the indefinite suggestion of a court scandal. +</P> + +<P> +"A secret!" said the cardinal's fool, rubbing his hands together. His +master often rewarded him for particularly choice morsels of loose +tittle-tattle. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing very wicked!" she answered, waving them back with her +small hand. "'Tis only that they play at make-believe in love, the +princess and her betrothed! But after all, it is far more sensible +than real love-making, where if the pleasure be more acute, the pangs +are therefore the greater. She addresses to him the tenderest +counterfeit verses; he returns them in kind. She even simulated such +an illusory sadness that the duke has sent his own jester, who has but +just arrived at court, to amuse her (ahem!) dullness, until he himself +could come!" +</P> + +<P> +At this the cardinal's buffoon looked disappointed, for his master +liked more highly-flavored hearsay, while Triboulet frowned and brought +down his heavy fist upon the arm of the throne. +</P> + +<P> +"A new jester forsooth!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"And why not?" Lifting her swart brows, quizzically. +</P> + +<P> +"We are already overstocked with 'prentice fools," he retorted, looking +over the throng. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you fear perhaps some one may depose you?" remarked Jacqueline +coldly. +</P> + +<P> +A guarded laugh arose from the gathering and the dwarf's eyes gleamed. +</P> + +<P> +"Depose me, Triboulet!" he shouted, rising. "Triboulet is sovereign +lord of all at whom he mocks! His wand is mightier than an episcopal +miter!" +</P> + +<P> +In his overweening rage and vanity he fairly crouched before the +throne, eying them all like a cat. His thick lips trembled; his eyes +became bloodshot. +</P> + +<P> +He forgot all prudence. +</P> + +<P> +"Doth not the king himself seek my advice?" He laughed horribly. +"Hath not, perhaps, many a fair gentleman been burned—aye, burned to +ashes as a Calvinist!—at my suggestion!" +</P> + +<P> +"Miserable wretch! Spy!" exclaimed the young woman, paler than a lily, +as she bent her eyes, with fully opened lids, upon him. +</P> + +<P> +As if to shield himself, he raised his hand, yet drunkenness or wrath +overcame caution and superstition, and the red eyes met the dark ones. +But a moment, and the former dropped sullenly; a strange thrill ran +through him. He thought he was bewitched. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Non nobis Domine!</I>" he murmured, striving to recall a hymn. As Latin +was the language of witchcraft, so, also, was it the antidote. +Contemptuously she turned her back and walked slowly to the fire. Upon +her white face and supple figure played the elfish glow, lighting the +little cap and the waving tresses beneath. +</P> + +<P> +Regarding her furtively, Triboulet's courage returned, since she was +looking at the coals, not at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho, ho!" he said jocosely. "You all thought I was sincere. Listen, +my children! The art of fooling lies in trumped-up earnestness." He +smiled hideously. +</P> + +<P> +"Bravo, Triboulet!" cried an admiring voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Only time and art can give you such mastery over the passions," +continued the jester. "Which one of you would depose me? Who so ugly +as I? Poets, philosophers! I snap my fingers at them. Poor moths! +And you dare bait me with a new-comer! Let him look to himself!" From +earnestness to grandiloquence was but a step. +</P> + +<P> +"Let him come!" And Triboulet, imitating the pose of Francis himself, +drew his wooden sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Let him come!" he repeated, fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" called out a gay and reckless voice. +</P> + +<P> +Through the doorway leading into the kitchen stepped a young man; +slender, almost boyish in appearance, with light-brown hair and +deep-set eyes that belied the gaiety and mirth of his features. His +costume, that of a Jester, was silk of finest texture and design, upon +which were skilfully fashioned in threads of silver the arms of Charles +V, King of Spain and Emperor of Germany, the powerful rival of Francis, +whose friendship now, for reasons of state, the latter sought. +</P> + +<P> +Smilingly the foreign jester gazed around the room; at the unusual +furnishings, picturesque, yet appropriate; at the inmates, the fools +scattered about the great board or near the mighty fireplace; the +renowned philosopher, Rabelais, sleeping on his arms, with hand +outstretched toward the neglected tankard; at the striking appearance +of the girl who looked with casual, careless interest upon him; at the +grotesque, crook-backed figure before the throne. +</P> + +<P> +And observing the incongruity of his surroundings, he laughed lightly, +while his glance, turning inquiringly if not insolently, from one to +the other, lingered in some surprise upon the young woman. He had +heard that in far-away France the motley was not confined to men. Had +not Jeanne, queen of Charles I, possessed her jestress, Artaude de Puy, +"<I>folle</I> to our dear companion," as said the king? Had not Madame +d'Or, wearer of the bells, kept the nobles laughing? Had not the +haughty, eccentric Don John, his handsome, merry joculatrix, attached +to his princely household? +</P> + +<P> +But knowing only by rumor of these matters, the jester from abroad +looked hard at her, the first madcap in petticoats he had ever seen. +For her part, Jacqueline bore his scrutiny with visible annoyance. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she said impatiently, a flash of resentment in her fine eyes, +"have you conned me over enough?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too much, mistress," he replied in no wise abashed, "an it hath +displeased you. Too little to please myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Yourself!" she returned, with sudden anger at his persistent gaze. +"Some lord's plaything to beat or whip; a toy—" +</P> + +<P> +"And yet a poet who can make rhymes on woman's beauty," he answered +with a careless laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Another courtier!" grumbled Triboulet. "Lacking true wit, fools +nowadays essay only compliments to cover their dullness." +</P> + +<P> +With the same air of insolent amusement, the new-comer turned to the +throne and its occupant, whom he subjected to an even more deliberate +investigation. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it man or manikin, gentle mistress?" he asked, after concluding his +examination. +</P> + +<P> +She did not deign to answer, but the offended Triboulet waved his +wooden sword vindictively. +</P> + +<P> +"Manikin!" he roared, and sprang with vicious lunges upon the duke's +jester, who falling back before the suddenness of the assault, whipped +out his weapon in turn, and, laughing, threw himself into an attitude +of defense. +</P> + +<P> +"A mortal combat!" cried the cardinal's wit-snapper. +</P> + +<P> +"Charles V and Francis!" exclaimed Caillette, referring to the personal +challenge which had once passed between the two great monarchs. "With +a throne for the victor!" he added gaily, indicating Triboulet's chair +of state. +</P> + +<P> +The clatter and din awoke Rabelais, who drowsily regarded the +combatants with lack-luster gaze and undoubtedly thought himself once +more amid the fanciful conflicts of fearful giants. +</P> + +<P> +"Fall to, Pantagruel, my merry Paladin!" he exclaimed bombastically. +"Cut, slash, stab, fence and justle!" And himself, reaching for an +imaginary sword, encountered the tankard which he would have raised to +his lips but that his shaggy head fell again to the board before his +willing arm had obeyed the passing impulse of his sluggish brain. +</P> + +<P> +"Fence!—justle!" he murmured, and slept once more. +</P> + +<P> +But the parrot, again disturbed, could not so easily compose itself to +slumber. Whipping its head from its downy nest, it outspread its gray +wings gloriously and screamed and shouted, as though venting all the +thunders of the Vatican upon the offending belligerents. And above the +uproar and noise of arms, rabble and bird, arose the piercing voice of +Triboulet: +</P> + +<P> +"Watch me spit this bantam-cock!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER +</H3> + +<P> +Tough and sharp-pointed, a wooden sword was no insignificant weapon, +wielded by the thews and sinews of a Triboulet. Crouching like an +animal, the king's buffoon sprang with headlong fury, uttering hoarse, +guttural sounds that awakened misgivings regarding the fate of his too +confident antagonist. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not kill him, Triboulet!" cried Marot, alarmed lest the duke's fool +should be slain outright. "Remember he has journeyed from the court of +Charles V!" +</P> + +<P> +"Charles V!" came through Triboulet's half-closed teeth. "My master's +one great enemy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" muttered Villot. "Our master's enemy is now his dear friend!" +</P> + +<P> +"Friend!" sneered the other, but even as he thrust, his sword tingled +sharply in his hand, and, whisked magically out of his grip, described +a curve in the air and fell at a far end of the room. At the same time +a stinging blow descended smartly on the dwarf's hump. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me!" laughed the duke's fool. "Being unused to such exercise, +my blade fell by mistake on your back." +</P> + +<P> +If looks could have killed, Triboulet would have achieved his original +purpose, but after a vindictive though futile glance his head drooped +despondently. To have been thus humiliated before those whom he +regarded as his vassals! What jest could restore him the prestige he +had enjoyed; what play of words efface the shame of that public +chastisement? Had he been beaten by the king—but thus to suffer at +the hand of a foreign fool! And the monarch—would he learn of +it?—the punishment of the royal jester? As in a dream, he heard the +hateful voices of the company. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis not the first time he has been wounded—there!" said fearless +Caillette, who openly acknowledged his aversion for the king's favorite +fool. "But be seated, gentle sir," he added to the stranger, "and +share our rough hospitality." +</P> + +<P> +"Rough, certes!" commented the other, as he returned his blade to his +belt. "And as I see no stool—" +</P> + +<P> +"There's the throne!" returned Caillette, courteously. "Since you have +overcome Triboulet, his place is yours." +</P> + +<P> +"A precarious place!" said the new-comer, easily, dropping, +nevertheless, into the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"The king is dead! Long live the king!" cried the cardinal's jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Long live the king!" they shouted, every fool and zany raising a +tankard, save the dwarf and the young woman, the former continuing to +glare vindictively upon the usurper, and the latter to all intent +remaining oblivious of the ceremony of installation. Poised upon a +chair, she idly thrust her fingers through the gilded bars of the cage +that hung from the rafters and gently stroked the head of the now +complaisant bird. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"La!—la!—la!—" sang the parrot, responsive to her light caress. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty's wishes! Your Majesty's decree!" exclaimed the monastic +wit-worm. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear! hear!" roared Brusquet. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" commanded Marot. "His Majesty speaks." +</P> + +<P> +"Toot! toot! toot!" rang out the flourish of a trumpet, a clarion +prelude to the fiat from the throne. +</P> + +<P> +The new king in motley arose; heedless, devil-may-care, very erect in +his preposterously pointed shoes. +</P> + +<P> +"I appoint you, Thony, treasurer of the exchequer, because you are +quick at sleight-of-hand," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," laughed Marot. "An he's more light-fingered than his +predecessor, he's a master of prestidigitation!" +</P> + +<P> +"You, Brusquet," went on the new master of Fool's hall, "I reward with +the government of Guienne, for he who governs his own house so ill is +surely fitted for greater tasks of incompetency." +</P> + +<P> +This allusion to the petticoat rule which dominated the luckless jester +at home was received in good part by all save the hapless domestic +bondman himself. +</P> + +<P> +"You, Villot, are made admiral of the fleet." +</P> + +<P> +Villot smiled, thinking how Francis had but recently bestowed that +office upon the impoverished husband of pretty Madame d'Etaille. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, your Majesty," he began, "but if some post nearer home—" +</P> + +<P> +"You are to sail at once!" +</P> + +<P> +"But my wife—" +</P> + +<P> +"Will remain at court!" announced the duke's jester with great decision. +</P> + +<P> +Villot made a wry face. The king in motley smiled significantly. "A +safe haven, Villot! Besides, remember a court without ladies is like a +spring without flowers." +</P> + +<P> +A movement resembling apprehension swept through the company. The +epigram had been Francis'; the court—a flower-bed of roses—was, in +consequence, a thorny maze for a jester to tread. From her chair at +the far end of the room, the young woman looked at the new-comer for +the first time since his enthronement. Her fingers yet played between +the gilded bars; the posture she had assumed set forth the pliant grace +of her figure. Above the others, she glanced at him, her hair very +black against the golden cage; her arm, very white, half unsheathed +from the great hanging sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +"You are over-bold," she said, a peculiar smile upon her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I have spoken no treason, mistress," he retorted blithely. +</P> + +<P> +"Not by word of mouth, perhaps, but by imputation." +</P> + +<P> +He raised his brows with a gesture of wanton protest, while the face +before him clouded. Her eyes held his; her little teeth just gleamed +between the crimson of her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I presume you consider Charles the more fitting monarch?" she +continued. +</P> + +<P> +Was it the disdain of her voice? Did she read his passing thoughts? +Did she challenge him to utter them? +</P> + +<P> +"In truth," the jester said carelessly, "Charles builds fortresses, not +pleasure palaces; and garrisons them with soldiers, not ladies." +</P> + +<P> +She half-smiled. Her glance fell. Her hand moved caressingly, the +sleeve waving beneath. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +Triboulet's glance beamed with delight. She was casting her spell over +his enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," muttered Triboulet, "if the king could but have heard!" +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was a breath of air, but the tapestry depicting the +misadventures of Momus waved and moved. Triboulet, who noted +everything, saw this, and suffered an expression of triumph momentarily +to rest upon his malignant features. Had his prayer been answered? "A +spring without flowers," forsooth! Dearly cherished the august +gardener his beautiful roses. Great red roses; white roses; blossoms +yet unopened! +</P> + +<P> +Following his gaze, a significant light appeared in the young woman's +eyes, while her arm fell to her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Now to see Presumption sue for pardon," she whispered to herself. +</P> + +<P> +One by one the company, too, turned in the direction Triboulet was +looking. In portraiture the classical buffoon grinned and gibed at +them from the tapestry; and even from his high station above the clouds +Jupiter, who had ejected the offending fool of the gods, looked less +stern and implacable. An expectant hush fell upon the assemblage, when +suddenly Jove and Momus alike were unceremoniously thrust aside, and, +as the folds fell slowly back, before the many-hued curtain stood a man +of stately and majestic mien. +</P> + +<P> +A man whose appearance caused deep-seated consternation, whose +forbidding aspect made the very silence portentous and terrifying. +With dress slashed and laced, rich in jewelry and precious stones, he +remained motionless, regarding the motley gathering, while an ominous +half-smile played about his features. He said nothing, but his reserve +was more sinister than language. Capricious, cruel was his face; in +his eyes shone covert enjoyment of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +Would he never speak? With one hand he stroked his beard; with the +other he toyed with the lace on his doublet. +</P> + +<P> +"You were talking, children," he said, finally, "before I came in." +</P> + +<P> +"If your Majesty," ventured Triboulet, "has heard all, your Majesty +will not blame—us!" And he glanced malevolently toward the duke's +Jester, who, upon the king's abrupt entrance, had descended from the +platform. +</P> + +<P> +Observing the emblazoned arms of Charles V upon the dress of the +culprit, a faint look of surprise swept Francis' face. Did it recall +that fatal day, when on the field of battle, a rival banner had waved +ever illusively; ever beyond his reach? Now it shone before him as +though mocking his friendship for his one-time powerful enemy, the only +man he feared, the emperor who had overthrown him. The sinister smile +of the king gave way to gloomy thoughtfulness. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is this knave?" he asked at length, fixedly regarding the +erstwhile badge of his defeat. +</P> + +<P> +"A poor fool, Sire!" replied the kneeling man. +</P> + +<P> +"Those arms, embroidered on your dress—what do they mean?" said the +king shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"The arms of my master's master, your Majesty!" was the over-confident +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is your master?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Duke of Friedwald, Sire, the betrothed of the Princess Louise." +</P> + +<P> +"And your purpose here?" +</P> + +<P> +"My master sent me to the princess. 'I'll miss thee, rogue,' said he. +''Tis proof of love to send thee, my merry companion of the wine cup! +But go! Nature hath formed thee to conjure sadness from a lady's +face.' So I set out upon my perilous journey, and, favored by fortune, +am but safely arrived. I was e'en now about to repair to the princess, +whom I trust, in my humble way, to amuse." +</P> + +<P> +"And thou shalt!" said the king, significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, your Majesty!" with assumed modesty. +</P> + +<P> +"That is," added Francis, "if it will amuse her to see you hanged!" +</P> + +<P> +"And if it did not amuse her, Sire?" spoke up the new-comer, without a +tremor in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"What then?" asked the king. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be a breach of hospitality to hang me, the servant of the +duke who is servant of Charles V!" he replied boldly. +</P> + +<P> +Francis started. Like a menace shone the arms of the great emperor. +Vividly he recalled his own humiliation, his long captivity, and +mistrusted the power of his subtile, amiable friend-enemy. Friendship? +Sweeter was hatred. But the promptings of wisdom had suggested the +policy of peace; the reins of expediency drove him, autocrat or slave, +to the doctrines of loving brotherhood. He turned his gloomy eyes upon +the glowing countenance of Triboulet. +</P> + +<P> +"What say you, fool?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty," answered the eager dwarf, "could hang him without +breach of hospitality." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you make that good, Triboulet?" asked the monarch. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke has given him to the princess. The princess is a subject of +your Majesty. The king of France has jurisdiction over the princess' +fool and surely can proceed in so small a matter as hanging him." +</P> + +<P> +Francis bent a malignant look upon the young man. Behind the dwarf +stood the jestress, now an earnest spectator of the scene. +</P> + +<P> +"This new-comer's stay with us promises to be brief, Caillette," she +whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark, you witch! He answers," returned the poet. +</P> + +<P> +"What can he say?" she retorted, shrugging her shoulders. "He is +already condemned." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you pleased, mistress? Just because the poor fellow stared at you +overmuch." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she said, insensibly, "it was written he should hang himself. +Now we'll hear how ably Audacity parleys with Fate." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be no breach of hospitality, Sire, to hang the princess' +fool," spoke the condemned man with no sign of waning confidence, "yet +it would seem to depreciate the duke's gift. Your Majesty should hang +the one and spare the other. 'Tis a matter of logic," he went on +quickly, "to point out where the duke's gift ends and the princess' +fool begins. A gift is a gift until it is received. The princess has +not yet received the duke's gift. Therefore, your Majesty can not hang +me, as the princess' fool; nor would your Majesty desire to hang me as +the duke's gift." +</P> + +<P> +Imperceptibly the monarch's mien relaxed, for next to a contest with +blades he liked the quick play of words. +</P> + +<P> +"Answer him, Triboulet," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty—your Majesty—" stammered the dwarf, and paused in +despair, his wits failing him at the critical juncture. +</P> + +<P> +"Enough!" commanded the king, sternly. A sound of suppressed merriment +even as he spoke startled the gathering. "Who laughed?" he cried +suddenly. "Was it you, mistress?" fastening his eyes upon the young +woman. +</P> + +<P> +Her head fell lower and lower like some dark flower on a slender stem. +From out of the veil of her mazy hair came a voice, soft with seeming +humility. +</P> + +<P> +"It might have been Jocko, Sire," she said. "He sometimes laughs like +that." +</P> + +<P> +The king looked from the woman to the bird; then from the bird to the +woman, a gleam of recollection in his glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" he muttered. "Is this where you serve your mistress? Look to +it you serve not yourself ill!" +</P> + +<P> +An instant her eyes flashed upward. +</P> + +<P> +"My mistress is at prayers," she answered, and looked down again as +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you meanwhile prefer the drollery of these madcaps to the +attentions of our courtiers?" said Francis, more gently. "Certes are +you gipsy-born!" +</P> + +<P> +Her hands clasped tighter, but she answered not, and he turned more +sternly to the new king of the motley. "As for you," he continued, +"for the present the duke's gift is spared. But let the princess' fool +look to himself. Remember, a guarded tongue insures a ripe old age, +and even a throne in Fools' hall is fraught with hazard. Here! some of +you, take this"—indicating the sleeping Rabelais—"and throw it into +the horse-pond. Yet see that he does not drown—your heads upon it! +'Tis to him France looks for learning." +</P> + +<P> +He paused; glanced back at the kneeling girl. "You, Mistress +Who-Seeks-to-Hide-Her-Face, teach that parrot not to laugh!" he added +grimly. +</P> + +<P> +The tapestry waved. Mute the motley throng stared where the king had +stood. A light hand touched the arm of the duke's fool, and, turning, +he beheld the young woman; her eyes were alight with new fire. +</P> + +<P> +"In God's name," she exclaimed, passionately, "let us leave. You have +done mischief enough. Follow me." +</P> + +<P> +"Where'er you will," he responded gallantly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A GIFT FOR THE DUKE +</H3> + +<P> +The sun and the breeze contended with the mist, intrenched in the +stronghold of the valley. From the east the red orb began its attack; +out of the west rode the swift-moving zephyrs, and, vanquished, the +wavering vapor stole off into thin air, or hung in isolated wreaths above +the foliage on the hillside. Soon the conquering light brightly +illumined a medieval castle commanding the surrounding country; the +victorious breeze whispered loudly at its gloomy casements. A great +Norman structure, somber, austere, it was, however brightened with many +modern features that threatened gradually to sap much of its ancient +majesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Fill up the moat," Francis had ordered. "'Tis barbaric! What lover +would sigh beneath walls thirty feet thick! And the portcullis! Away +with it! Summon my Italian painters to adorn the walls. We may yet make +habitable these legacies from the savage, brutal past." +</P> + +<P> +So the mighty walls, once set in a comparative wilderness, a tangle of +thicket and underbrush, now arose from garden, lawn and park, where even +the deer were no longer shy, and the water, propelled by artificial +power, shot upward in jets. +</P> + +<P> +Seated at a window which overlooked this sylvan aspect, modified if not +fashioned by man, a young woman with seeming conscientiousness, told her +beads. The apartment, though richly furnished, was in keeping with the +devout character of its fair mistress. A brush or aspersorium, used for +sprinkling holy water, was leaning against the wall. Upon a table lay an +open psalter, with its long hanging cover and a ball at the extremity of +the forel. Behind two tall candlesticks stood an altar-table which, +being unfolded, revealed three compartments, each with a picture, painted +by Andrea del Sarto, the once honored guest of Francis. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess Louise, cousin of Francis' former queen, Claude, had been +reared with rigid strictness, although provided with various preceptors +who had made her more or less proficient in the profane letters, as they +were then called, Latin, Greek, theology and philosophy. The fame of her +beauty had gone abroad; her hand had been often sought, but the obdurate +king had steadfastly refused to sanction her betrothal until Charles, the +emperor, himself proposed a union between the fair ward of the French +monarch and one of his nobles, the young Duke of Friedwald. To this +Francis had assented, for he calculated upon thus drawing to his +interests one of his rival's most chivalrous knights, while far-seeing +Charles believed he could not only retain the duke, but add to his own +court the lovely and learned ward of the king. +</P> + +<P> +And in this comedy of aggrandizement the puppets were willing—as puppets +must needs be. Indeed, the duke was seriously enamored of the princess, +whose portrait he had seen in miniature, and had himself importuned the +emperor to intercede with Francis, knowing that the only way to the +lady's hand was through the good offices of him who aspired to the +mastery of all Europe, if not the world. +</P> + +<P> +Charles, unwilling to disoblige one whose principality was the most +powerful of the Austrian provinces he sought to absorb in his scheme for +the unification of all nations, offered no demur to a request fraught +with advantage to himself. Besides, cold and calculating though he was, +the emperor entertained a certain affection for the duke, who on one +occasion, when Charles had been sore beset by the troops of Solyman, had +extricated his royal leader from the alternatives of ignominious capture +or an untimely end. Accordingly, a formal proposal, couched in language +of warm friendship to the king, was despatched by the emperor. When +Francis, with some misgiving, arising from experience with womankind, +laid the matter before Louise, she, to his surprise, proved her devotion +and loyalty by her entire submissiveness, and the king, kissing her hand, +generously vowed the wedding festivities should be worthy of her beauty +and fealty. +</P> + +<P> +Was she thinking of that scene now and the many messages which had +subsequently passed between her distant lover and herself, as the white +fingers ceased to tell the beads? Was she questioning fate and the +future when the rosary fell from her hand and the clinking of the great +glass beads on the hard floor aroused her from a reverie? Languidly she +rose, crossed the room toward a low dressing table, when at the same time +one of the several doors of the apartment opened, admitting the jestress, +Jacqueline, whose long, flowing gown of dark green bore no distinguishing +mark of the motley she had assumed the night before. The dreamy, almost +lethargic, gaze of the princess rested for a moment upon the ardent eyes +of the maid who stood motionless before her. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke's jester who arrived last night awaits your pleasure without," +said the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Bid him enter. Stay! The fillet for my hair. Seems he a merry fellow?" +</P> + +<P> +"So merry, Madam, he mimicked the king last night in Fool's hall, beat +Triboulet, appointed knaves in jest to high offices, and had been hanged +for his forwardness but that he narrowly saved his neck by a slender +device." +</P> + +<P> +"What; all that in so short a time!" exclaimed the princess. "A most +presumptuous rogue!" +</P> + +<P> +"The king, Madam, was behind the tapestry and heard it all: his +appointment of Thony as treasurer, because he is apt at palming money; +Brusquet, governor of Guienne, since he governs his own home so ill; and +Villot, admiral of the fleet, that he might sail away and leave his +pretty wife behind him." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll warrant me the story is known to the entire court ere this," +laughed the lady. "Won't Madame d'Etaille be in a temper! And the +admiral when he hears of it—on the high seas! The king was +eavesdropping, you say, and yet spared the jester? He must bear a +charmed life." +</P> + +<P> +"He dubbed himself the duke's gift, Madam, and boldly claimed privilege +under the poor cloak of hospitality." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely," murmured the princess, "there will be no lack of entertainment +with this knave under the same roof. Too much entertainment, I fear me. +Well, admit the bold fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Crossing to the door, the maid pushed it back and the figure of the +jester passed the threshold:—a figure so graceful and well-built, the +lady's eyes, turning toward him with mild inquiry, lingered with +approval; lingered, and were upraised to a fair, handsome face, when +approval gave way to wonder. +</P> + +<P> +Was this the imprudent, hot-brained rogue who had swaggered in Fools' +hall, and made a farce of the affairs of the nation? His countenance +seemed that of a courtier rather than a low-born scape-grace; his bearing +in consonance, as, approaching the princess, he knelt near the edge of +her sweeping crimson garment. Quietly the maid withdrew to a corner of +the apartment where she seated herself on a low stool, her fingers idly +playing with the delicate carvings of a vase of silver, containing water +that had been blessed and standing conveniently near the aspersorium. +</P> + +<P> +"You come from the Duke of Friedwald, fool?" said the mistress, +recovering from her surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Princess." +</P> + +<P> +Louise smiled, and looked toward the maid as if to say: "Why, he's a +model of decorum!" but the girl continued regarding the figures on the +vase, seemingly indifferent to the scene before her. +</P> + +<P> +"I hear, sirrah, but a poor account of your behavior last night," +continued the princess. "You must have a care, or I shall send you back +to the duke and command him to have you whipped. You have been here but +overnight, yet how many enemies have you made? The king; the admiral, +and—last but not least—a certain lady. Poor fool! you may have saved +your neck, but for how long? Fie! what an account must I give of you to +your master!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Madam," he answered quickly, "you show me now the folly of it all." +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see," she went on more gently, "what we may do, since you are +penitent? The king may forgive; the admiral forget, but the lady—she +will neither forget nor forgive. Fortunately, I think she fears to +disoblige me, and, if I let it be known you are an indispensable part of +my household—" she paused thoughtfully—"besides, she has a little +secret she would keep from the king. Yes; the secret will save you!" +And Louise smiled knowingly, as one who, although most devout, perhaps +had missed a few paters or credos in listening to idle worldly gossip. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam," he said, raising his head, "you overwhelm me with your goodness." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I like her not; a most designing creature," returned the lady +carelessly. "But you may rise. Hand me that embroidery," she added when +he had obeyed. "How do I know the duke, my betrothed, whom I have never +seen, has not sent you to report upon my poor charms? What if you were +only his emissary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Princess," he answered, "I am but a fool; no emissary. If I were—" +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +She smiled indulgently at the open admiration written so boldly upon his +face, and, encouraged by her glance, he regarded her swiftly, +comprehensively; the masses of hair the fillet ill-confined; eyes, +soft-lidded, dreamy as a summer's day; a figure, pagan in generous +proportions; a foot, however, <I>petite</I>, Parisian, peeping from beneath a +robe, heavy, voluminous, vivid! +</P> + +<P> +"If you were?" she suggested, passing a golden thread through the cloth +she held. +</P> + +<P> +"I would write him the miniature he has of you told but half the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"So you have seen the miniature? It lies carelessly about, no doubt?" +Yet her tone was not one of displeasure. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke frequently draws it from his breast to look at it." +</P> + +<P> +"And so many handsome women in the kingdom, too!" laughed the princess. +"A tiny, paltry bit of vellum!" +</P> + +<P> +Her lips curled indulgently, as of a person sure of herself. Did not the +fool's glance pay her that tribute to which she was not a stranger? Her +lashes, suddenly lifted, met his fully, and drove his look, grown +overbold, to cover. The princess smiled; she might well believe the +stories about him; yet was not ill-pleased. "Like master; like man!" +says the proverb. She continued to survey the graceful figure, +well-poised head and handsome features of the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, sirrah," she continued, "of the duke. Straightforwardly, +or—I'll leave thee to the mercy of madam the admiral's wife! What is he +like?" +</P> + +<P> +"A fairly likely man!" +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis what one says of a man when one can say nothing else. He is not +then very handsome?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has never been so considered!" +</P> + +<P> +The princess' needle remained suspended, then viciously plunged into the +golden Cupid she was embroidering. "The king hath played with me," she +murmured. "He represented him as one of the most distinguished-appearing +knights in the emperor's domains. Is he dark or light?" she went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Tall?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather short." +</P> + +<P> +"His eyes?" said the lady, after an ominous pause. +</P> + +<P> +"Brown." +</P> + +<P> +"His manners?" +</P> + +<P> +"Those of a soldier." +</P> + +<P> +"His speech?" +</P> + +<P> +"That of one born to command." +</P> + +<P> +"Command!" returned the princess, ironically. "Odious word!" +</P> + +<P> +"You, Madam," quickly answered the jester, "he would serve." +</P> + +<P> +A moment her glance challenged his, coldly, proudly, and then her +features softened. The indolent look crept into her eyes once more; the +tension of her lips relaxed. +</P> + +<P> +"Command and serve!" laughed the princess. "A paradox, if not a paragon, +it seems! Not handsome—probably ugly!—a soldier—full of oaths—a +blusterer—strong in his cups! What a list of qualifications! +Well"—with a sigh—"what must needs be must be! The emperor plays the +rook; Francis moves his pawn—my poor self. The game, beyond the two +moves, is naught to us. Perhaps we shall be sacrificed, one or both! +What of that, if it's a draw, or one of the players checkmates the +other—" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Princess," cried the fool, "he loves you! +Passionately!—devotedly!—" +</P> + +<P> +"A passing fancy for a painted semblance!" said the lady, as rising she +turned toward the casement, the golden Cupid falling from her lap to the +floor. In the rhythmic ease of her movement, in her very attitude, was +consciousness of her own power, but to the poet-jester, surrounded as he +was by symbols of worship and devotion, her expressed self-doubt seemed +that of some saintly being, cloistered in the solitude of a sanctuary. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," he answered swiftly, "he has but to see you—with the sunlight in +your hair—as I see you now! The pawn, Madam, would become a queen; his +queen! What would matter to him the game of Charles or Francis? Let +Charles grow greater, or Francis smaller. His gain would be—you!" +</P> + +<P> +The fingers of the maid who sat at the far end of the room ceased to +caress the silver vase; her hands were tightly clasped together; in her +dark eyes was an ironical light, as her gaze passed from the jester to +her mistress. Almost motionless stood the princess until he had +finished; motionless it would have seemed but for the chain on her +breast, which rose and fell with her breathing. From the jeweled network +which half-bound her hair shone flashes of light; a tress which escaped +the glittering environment lay like a serpent of gold upon the crimson of +her gown where the neck softly uprose. A hue, delicately rich as the +tinted leaves of orange blossoms, mantled her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head in soft dissent. "Queen for how long?" she answered +gently. "As long as gentle Claude was queen for Francis? As long as +saintly Eleanor held undisputed sway?" +</P> + +<P> +"As long as Eleanor is queen in the hearts of her people!" he exclaimed, +passionately. "As long as France is her bridegroom!" +</P> + +<P> +Deliberately she half-turned, the coil of gold falling over her shoulder. +Near her hand, white against the dark casement, a blood-red rose trembled +at the entrance of her chamber, and, grasping it lightly, she held it to +her face as if its perfume symbolized her thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there so much constancy in the world?" she asked musingly. "Can such +singleness of heart exist? Like this flower which would bloom and die at +my window? A bold flower, though! Day by day has it been growing +nearer. Here," she added, breaking it from the stem and holding it to +the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Take it," she laughed, "and—send it to the duke!" Kneeling, he +received it. "Thou art a fellow of infinite humor indeed. Equally at +home in a lady's boudoir, or a fools' drinking bout. Come, Jacqueline, +Queen Marguerite awaits our presence. She has a new chapter to read, but +whether another instalment of her tales, or a prayer for her Mirror of +the Sinful Soul, I know not. As for you, sir"—with a parting +smile—"later we shall walk in the garden. There you may await us." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN IMPATIENT SUITOR +</H3> + +<P> +"Well, Sir Mariner, do you not fear to venture so far on a dangerous +sea?" asked a mocking voice. +</P> + +<P> +"A dangerous sea, fair Jacqueline?" he replied, stroking the head of +the hound which lay before the bench. "I see nothing save smiling +fields and fragrant beds of flowers." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I recognize now Monsieur Diplomat, not Sir Mariner!" she retorted. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath her head-dress, resembling in some degree two great butterfly +wings, her face looked smaller than its wont. Laced tight, after the +fashion, the <I>cotte-hardie</I> made her waist appear little larger than +could be clasped by the hands of a soldier, while a silken-shod foot +with which she tapped the ground would have nestled neatly in his palm. +Was it pique that moved her thus to address the duke's jester? Since +he had arrived, Jacqueline had been relegated, as it were, to the +corner. She, formerly ever first with the princess, had perforce stood +aside on the coming of the foreign fool whose company her mistress +strangely seemed to prefer to her own. +</P> + +<P> +First had it been talking, walking and jesting, in which last +accomplishment he proved singularly expert, judging from the peals of +laughter to which her mistress occasionally gave vent. Then it had +become riding, hawking and, worst of all, reading. Lately Louise, +learned, as has been set forth, in the profane letters, had displayed a +marked favor for books of all kinds—The Tree of Battles, by Bonnet, +the Breviary of Nobles in verse, the "<I>Livre des faits d'armes et de +chevalerie</I>," by Christine de Pisan; and in a secluded garden spot, +with her fool and servant, she sedulously pursued her literary labors. +</P> + +<P> +As books were rare, being hand-printed and hand-illumined, the +princess' choice of volumes was not large, but Marguerite, the king's +sister, possessed some rarely executed poems—in their mechanical +aspect; the monarch permitted her the use of several precious +chronicles; while the abbess in the convent near by, who esteemed +Louise for her piety and accomplishments, submitted to her care a +gorgeously painted, satin-bound Life of Saint Agnes, a Roman virgin who +died under the sanguinary persecution of Diocletian. But Jacqueline +frowningly noticed that the saint's life lay idle—conspicuously, +though fittingly, on the altar-table—while a manuscript of the Queen +of Navarre suspiciously accompanied the jester when he sought the +pleasant nook selected for reading and conversation. +</P> + +<P> +It was to this spot the maid repaired one soft summer afternoon, where +she found the fool and a volume—Marguerite's, by the purple binding +and the love-knot in silver!—awaiting doubtless the coming of the +princess; and at the sight of them, the book of romance and the jester +who brought it, what wonder her patience gave way? +</P> + +<P> +"You have been here now a fortnight, Monsieur Diplomat," she continued, +bending the eyes which Triboulet so feared upon the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Thirteen days, to be exact, sweet Jacqueline!" he answered calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed! Then there is some hope for you, if you've kept track of +time," she returned pointedly. +</P> + +<P> +Still he forbore to qualify his manner, save with a latent smile that +further exasperated the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you, gentle mistress?" he asked quietly, without even +looking at her. +</P> + +<P> +"'Sweet Jacqueline!' 'Gentle mistress!' you are profuse with soft +words!" she cried sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet they turn you not from anger." +</P> + +<P> +"Anger!" she said, her eyes flashing. "Not another man at court would +dare to talk to me as you do." +</P> + +<P> +At this he lifted his brows and surveyed her much as one would a +spoiled child, a glance that excited in her the same emotion she had +experienced the night of his arrival in Fools' hall, when he had +contemplated her in her garb of Joculatrix, as some misplaced anomaly. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, mistress," he returned ironically, "you have a reputation for +sorcery. But I think it lies more in your eyes than in the moon." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet I can see the future for all that," she replied, persistently, +defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"The future?" he retorted, and looked from the earth to the sky. "What +is the goal of yonder tiny cloud? Can you tell me that?" +</P> + +<P> +"The goal?" she repeated, uplifting her head. "Wait! It is very +small. The sun is already swallowing it up." +</P> + +<P> +"Heigho!" yawned the jester, outstretching his yellow-pointed boot, "I +catch not the moral to the fable—an there be one! +</P> + +<P> +"The moral!" she said, quickly. "Ask Marot." +</P> + +<P> +"Why Marot?" Balancing the stick with the fool's head in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Because he dared love Queen Marguerite!" she answered impetuously. +"The fool in motley; the lady in purple! How he jested at her wedding! +How he wept when he thought himself alone!" +</P> + +<P> +"He had but himself to blame, Jacqueline," returned the other with +composure, although his eyes were now bent straight before him. "He +could not climb to her; she could not stoop to him. Yet I daresay, it +was a mad dream he would not have foregone." +</P> + +<P> +"Not have foregone!" she exclaimed, quickly. "What would he not have +given to tear it from his breast; aye, though he tore his heart with +it! That day, bright and fair, when Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, +took her in his arms and kissed her brow! When amid gay festivities +she became his bride! Not have foregone? Yes; Marot would forego that +day—and other days." +</P> + +<P> +Still that inertia; that irritating immobility. "What a tragic tale +for a summer day!" was his only comment. +</P> + +<P> +"And Caillette!" she continued, rapidly. "Distinguished in mien, +graceful in manner. In the house of his patron, he dared look up to +that nobleman's daughter, Diane de Poitiers. A dream; a youthful +dream! Enter Monsieur de Brézé, grand seneschal of Normandy. Shall I +tell you the rest? How Caillette stares, moody, knitting his brows at +his cups! Of what is the jester thinking?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whether the grand seneschal will let him sleep with the spaniels, +Jacqueline, or turn him out," laughed the jester. +</P> + +<P> +Angrily she clasped her hands before her. "Is it the way your mind +would move?" she retorted. +</P> + +<P> +"A jester without a roof to cover him is like a dog without a kennel, +mistress." +</P> + +<P> +Disdain, contempt, rapidly crossed her face, but her lip curved +knowingly and her voice came more gently, because of the greater sting +that lay behind her words. +</P> + +<P> +"You but seek to flout me from my tale," she said sweetly. "Caillette +is none such, as you know. They were young together. 'Twas said he +confessed his love; that tokens passed between them. Rhymes he writ to +her; a flower, perhaps, she gave him. A flower he yet cherishes, +mayhap; dried, faded, yet plucked by her!" +</P> + +<P> +Involuntarily the hand of her listener touched his breast, the first +sign he had made that her story moved him. Jacqueline, watching him +keenly, smiled, and demurely looked away. Her next words seemed to +dance from her lips, as with head bent, like a butterfly poised, she +addressed her remark to vacancy. +</P> + +<P> +"A flower for himself, no doubt! Not given him for another!" +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon she turned in time to catch the burning flush which flamed +his cheek and left it paler than she had ever seen it. At this first +signal of her success—proving that he was not impregnable to her +attack—she hummed a little song and beat time on the sward with a +green-shod foot. +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you?" he asked, momentarily dropping his unruffled manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much!" Lightly she tripped to a bush, broke off a flower and +regarded it mischievously. "Why should people hide that which is so +sweet and fragrant?" she remarked, and set the rose in her hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Hide?" he said, looking at the flower, but not at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust you kept the rose, Monsieur Diplomat?" she spoke up, suddenly, +her expression most serious. +</P> + +<P> +"What rose?" he asked, now become restless beneath her cutting tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"What rose! As if you did not know! How innocent you look! How many +roses are there in the world? A thousand? Or only one? What rose? +Her rose, of course. Have you got it? I hope so—for the duke is +coming and might ask for it!" +</P> + +<P> +This, then, was the information she had taken such a roundabout way to +communicate! It was to this end she had purposely led the conversation +by adroit stages, studying him gaily, impatiently or maliciously, as +she marked the effect of her words upon him. All alive, she stepped +back laughing; elate, she put her arms about a branch of the rose-bush +and drew a score of roses to her bosom, as though she were a witch, +impervious to thorns. He had risen—yes, there was no doubt about +it!—but her sunny face was turned to the flowers. His countenance +became at once puzzled and thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke—coming—" He condescended to ask for information now. +</P> + +<P> +Sidewise she gazed at him, unrelenting. "Does the flower become me?" +she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke—coming—" he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"How impolite! To refuse me a compliment!" she flashed. +</P> + +<P> +The next moment he was by her side, and had taken her arm, almost +roughly. "Speak out!" he cried. "Some one is coming! What duke is +coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"You hurt me!" she exclaimed, angrily. He loosened his grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"What duke?" she answered scornfully. "Her duke! Your duke! The +emperor's duke!" +</P> + +<P> +"The Duke of Friedwald?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course! The princess' fiancé; bridegroom-to-be; future husband, +lord and master," she explained, with indubious and positive iteration. +</P> + +<P> +"But the time—set for the wedding—-has not expired," he protested +with what she thought seemed a suspicion that she was playing with him. +</P> + +<P> +"That is easily answered," she said cheerfully. "The duke, it seems, +has become more and more enamored. Finally his passion has so grown +and grown he fears to let it grow any more, and, as the only way out of +the difficulty, petitioned the king to curtail the time of probation +and relieve him of the constantly augmenting suspense. To which his +most gracious Majesty, having been a lover himself (on divers +occasions) and measuring the poor fellow's troubles by the qualms he +has himself experienced, has seen generously fit to cut off a few weeks +of waiting and set the wedding for the near future." +</P> + +<P> +"How know you this?" he demanded, sharply, striding to and fro. +</P> + +<P> +"This morning the princess sent me with a message to the Countess +d'Etampes. You know her? You have heard? She has succeeded the +Countess of Châteaubriant. Well, the king was with her—not the +Countess of Châteaubriant, but the other one, I mean. They left poor +me to await his Majesty's pleasure, and, as the Countess d'Etampes has +but newly succeeded to her present exalted position and the king has +not yet discovered her many imperfections, I should certainly have +fallen asleep for weariness had I not chanced to overhear portions of +their conversation. The Countess d'Etampes, it seemed, was very angry. +'Your Majesty promised to send her home,' she said. 'But, my dear, +give me time,' pleaded the king. 'Pack her off at once,' she demanded, +raising her voice. 'Send her to her husband. That's where she +belongs. Think of him, poor fellow!' Laughing, his Majesty +capitulated. 'Well, well, back to her castle goes the Countess of +Châteaubriant!' Thereupon—" +</P> + +<P> +"But the duke, mistress," interrupted the jester, who had become more +and more impatient during the prolonged narration. "The duke?" +</P> + +<P> +"Am I not to tell it in my own way?" she returned. "What manners you +have! First, you pinch my arm until I must needs cry out. Then you +ask a question and interrupt me before I can answer." +</P> + +<P> +"Interrupt!" he muttered. "You might have told a dozen tales. What +care I for the king's Jezebels?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jezebels!" she repeated, in mock horror. "I see plainly, if you don't +die one way, you will another." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis usually the case. But go on with your story." +</P> + +<P> +"If I can not tell it in my own way—" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell it as you will, if your way be as slow as your tongue is sharp," +he answered sullenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sharp! Jezebels! You deserve not to hear, but—the king, it seems, +had laid the duke's request before the Countess d'Etampes. 'Here is an +impatient suitor,' he said gaily. 'How shall we cure his passion?' +'By marrying him,' blithely answered this light-of-love. ''Tis a +medicine that never fails!' His Majesty frowned; I could not see him, +but felt sure of it from his tone, for although he neglects the queen, +yet, to some degree, is mindful of her dignity. 'Marriage is a holy +state, Madam,' he replied severely. 'There's no doubt about it, +Francis,' returned the lady, 'and therefore is the antidote to passion. +But a man bent on matrimony is like a child that wants a toy. Better +give it to him at once—the plaything will the sooner be thrown aside!' +'Nay, Madam,' he said reprovingly, 'the duke shall have his wish, but +for no such reason.' 'What reason then?' quoth she, petulantly. +'Because thou hast shown me love is a monarch stronger than any king +and that we are but as slaves in its hands!' he exclaimed, +passionately. 'I know I shall like the duke,' cried she, 'since he is +the cause of that pretty speech.' +</P> + +<P> +"At this point, not daring to listen longer, I coughed; there was +silence; then the countess herself appeared at the door and looked at +me sharply. With such grace as I could command, I delivered my +message, left the house and was hurrying through the garden when chance +threw you in my way. And now you have it all, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"The princess—has she heard the king has received a letter from the +duke, and that his Majesty has changed the wedding date?" +</P> + +<P> +The jester spoke slowly, but Jacqueline was assured that beneath his +deliberate manner surged deep and conflicting emotions; that his +calmness was no more than a mask to conceal his pain. Had he given +utterance to the feeling that beset him, had he betrayed more than a +suggestion of the passion, rage or grief which struggles for mastery +beneath a forced sloth of sensibility, she would have once more mocked +him with laughter. But perhaps his very quiescence inclined her to +look upon him with a grain of sympathy or compassion, for her tones +were now grave. +</P> + +<P> +"The princess knows; has heard all from the king. Not long since he +sent for her. Will she consent? What else can she do? 'Tis the +monarch who commands; we who obey!" +</P> + +<P> +"Is the court then only a mart, a guildhall?" he exclaimed. "A +woman—even a princess—should be won, not—exchanged!" +</P> + +<P> +Her lashes drooped; in her gaze shone once more the ironical amusement. +"Why," she said, "from what wilds, or forests, have you come? The +heart follows where the trader lists! Think you the princess will wear +the willow?" she laughed. "How well you know women!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that she—" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that her welfare is in strong hands; that there will be few +greater in all the land; none more honored! The duke's principality is +vast—but here comes the princess." The hound sprang to his feet and +ran gamboling down the path. "Ask her the rest yourself, most +Unsophisticated Fool! Ah,"—with a touch she could not resist—"what a +handsome bride she will make for the duke!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN +</H3> + +<P> +Through the flowery path, so narrow her gown brushed the leaves on +either side, the Princess Louise appeared, walking slowly. A +head-dress, heart-shaped, held her hair in its close confines; the gown +of cloth-of-silver damask fitted closely to her figure, and, from the +girdle, hung a long pendent end, elaborately enriched. With short, +sharp barks, the dog bounded before her, but the hand usually extended +to caress the animal remained at her side. +</P> + +<P> +Intently the jester watched her draw near and ever nearer, their common +trysting spot, her favorite garden nook. A handsome bride, forsooth, +as Jacqueline had suggested. All in white was she now; a glittering +white, with silver adornment; ravishingly hymeneal. A bride for a +duke—or a king—more stately than the queen; handsomer than the +favorite of favorites who ruled the king and France. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline," she said, evincing neither surprise nor any other +emotion, as she approached, "go and fetch my fan. I believe 'tis in +the king's ante-chamber." +</P> + +<P> +"Madam carried no fan when"—began the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Then 'tis somewhere else. Do not bandy words, but find it." +</P> + +<P> +Sinking on the bench as the maid walked quickly away, she remained for +some moments in silent thought,—a reverie the jester forbore to +disturb. Her head rested on her arm, from which fell the flowing +sleeve almost to the ground; her wrist was lightly inclasped by a +slender golden band of delicate Byzantine enamel work; over the +sculptured form of the stone griffin that constituted one of the +supports of the ancient Norman bench flowed the voluminous folds of her +dress, partly concealing the monster from view. Against the clambering +ivy which for centuries had reveled in this chosen spot, and which the +landscape gardeners of Francis had wisely spared, lay her hand, a small +ring of curious workmanship gleaming from her finger. The ring caused +the jester to start, remembering he had last seen it worn by the king. +</P> + +<P> +Truly, the capricious, but august, monarch must have been well pleased +with the complaisance of his fair ward, and the face of the fool, +glowing and eager, became on the instant hard and cold. Did he +experience now the first pangs of that sorrow Jacqueline had vividly +portrayed as the love-portion of Marot and Caillette? Faintly the ivy +whispered above the princess, telling perhaps of other days when, +centuries gone by, some Norman lady had been wooed and won, or wooed +and lost, in the shadow of the griffin, which, silent, sphinx-like, yet +endured through the ages. +</P> + +<P> +Idly the Princess Louise plucked a leaf from the old, old vine, picked +it apart and let the pieces float away. As they fluttered and fell at +the jester's feet she regarded him with thoughtful blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"How far is it," she asked, "to the duke's principality?" +</P> + +<P> +If he had doubted the maid's story, he was now convinced. The ring and +her question confirmed Jacqueline's narrative. Moodily he surveyed the +great claws of the griffin, firmly planted on the earth, and then +looked from the feet to the laughing mouth of the stone figure, or so +much of it as the shining dress left uncovered. +</P> + +<P> +"About fifteen days' journey, Princess," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"No farther?" +</P> + +<P> +"Barring accidents, it may be made in that time." +</P> + +<P> +She did not notice how dull was his tone; how he avoided her gaze. +Blind to him, she turned the ring around and around on her finger, as +though her thoughts were concentrated on it. +</P> + +<P> +"Accidents," she repeated, her hand now motionless. "Is the way +perilous?" +</P> + +<P> +"The country is most unsettled." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by unsettled?" she continued, bending forward with +fingers clasped over her knees. Supinely she waved a foot back and +forth, showing and then withdrawing the point of a jeweled slipper, and +a suggestion of lavender in silk network above. "What do you call +unsettled?" +</P> + +<P> +"The country is infested with many roving bands commanded by the +so-called independent barons who owe allegiance to neither king nor +emperor," he answered. "Their homes are perched, like eagles' nests, +upon some mountain peak that commands the valleys travelers must +proceed through. A fierce, untamed crew, bent on rapine and murder!" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you encounter any such?" Gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Ofttimes." +</P> + +<P> +"And left unscathed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I was a jester, Madam; something less than man; a lordling's +slave; a woman's plaything! Their sentinels shared with me their +flasks; I slept before their signal fires, and even supped in the heart +of their stone fastnesses. Fools and monks are safe among them, for +the one amuses and the other absolves their sins. Yet is there one +free baron," he added reflectively, "whom even I should have done well +to avoid; he, the most feared, the most savage! Louis, the bastard of +Pfalz-Urfeld!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you ever met him?" asked the princess, in a mechanical tone. +</P> + +<P> +"No," with a short laugh. "A few of his knaves I encountered, however, +whose conduct shamed the courtesy of the other mountain rogues. I all +but fared ill indeed, from them. To the pleasantry of my greeting, +they replied with the true pilferer's humor; the free baron had ordered +every one searched. They would have robbed and stripped me, despite +the color of my coat, only fortunately, instead of a fool's staff, I +had a good blade of the duke's. For a moment it was cut and +thrust—not jest and gibe; the suddenness of the attack surprised them, +and before they could digest the humor of it the fool had slipped away." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned inertly back against the soft cushion of ivy. In the shadow +the tint on her cheeks deepened, but below the sunlight played about +her shoulders through leafy interspace, or crept in dancing spots down +over her gown and arms. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke would not be molested by these outlaws?" she continued, +pursuing her line of questioning. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke has a strong arm," he answered cautiously. "They may be well +content to permit him to come and go as he sees fit." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well," she said, perversely, "I was only curious about the +distance and the country." +</P> + +<P> +"For leagues the land is wild, bleak, inhospitable, and then 'tis +level, monotonous, deserted, so lonely the song dies on the wandering +minstrel's lips. But the duke rides fast with his troop and soon would +cover the mountain paths and dreary wastes." +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," she interrupted impatiently, "I asked not how the duke would +ride." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you wished to know, Princess," he replied, humbly. +</P> + +<P> +"You thought"—she began angrily, sitting erect. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Princess; a fool should but jest, not think." +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you cross me to-day?" she demanded petulantly. "Can you not +see—" +</P> + +<P> +Abruptly she rose; impatiently moved away; but a few steps, however, +when she turned, her face suddenly free from annoyance, in her eyes a +soft decision. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she exclaimed with a smile, half-arch, half-repentant. "How +can any one be angry on such a day—all sunshine, butterflies and +flowers!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not reply, and, mistress once more of herself, she drew near. +</P> + +<P> +"What a contrast to the stuffy palace, with all the courtiers, +ministers and lap-dogs!" she went on. "Here one can breathe. But how +shall we make the most of such a day? Stroll into the forest; sit by +the fountain; run over the grass?" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was softer than it had been; her words fraught with +suggestions of exhilarating companionship. Did she note their effect? +At any rate, she laughed lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"But how," she resumed, surveying the great enfolding skirt, "could one +trip the sward with this monstrous gown, weighted with wreaths of +silver? Is it not but one of the many penalties of high birth? Oh, +for the short skirts of the lowly! What comfort to be arrayed like +Jacqueline!" +</P> + +<P> +"And she, Princess, doubtless thinks likewise of more gorgeous +apparel." His heart beat faster as he strove to answer her in kind. +</P> + +<P> +"A waste of cloth in vanity, as saith Master Calvin!" she replied, +lifting her arms that shone with creamy softness from the dangling +folds of heavy silk. "Were it not for this courtly encumbrance, I +should propose going into the fields with the haymakers. You may see +them now—look!—through the opening in the foliage." +</P> + +<P> +With an expression, part resignation, part regret, she leaned against +the wind-worn griffin which formed the arm of the bench. Fainter +sounded the warning of the jestress in the ears of the duke's fool; so +faint it became but a weak admonition. More and more he abandoned +himself to the pleasure of the moment. +</P> + +<P> +"To make the most of the day," the princess had said. +</P> + +<P> +How? By denying himself the sight of her ever-varying grace; by +refusing to yield to the charm of her voice. He raised his head more +boldly; through her drooping lashes a lazy light shot forth upon him, +and the shadow of a smile seemed to say: "That is better. When the +mistress is indulgent, a fool should not be unbending. A melancholy +jester is but poor company." +</P> + +<P> +And so her mood swayed his; he forgot his resolution, his pride, and +yielded to the infatuation of the moment. But when he endeavored to +call the weapons of his office to his aid, her glance and the shadow of +that smile left him witless. Jest, fancy and whim had taken flight. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she said. "Well, Sir Fool?" +</P> + +<P> +His color shifted; withal his half-embarrassment, there was something +graceful and noble in his bearing. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam"—he began, and stopped for want of matter to put into words. +</P> + +<P> +But if the princess was annoyed at the new-found dullness of her +<I>plaisant</I>, her manner did not show it. +</P> + +<P> +"What," she said, gently; "no news from the court; no word of intrigue; +no story of the king? I should seek a courtier for my companion, not a +jester. But there! What book have you brought?" indicating the volume +that lay upon the bench. +</P> + +<P> +"Guillaume de Lorris's 'Romance of the Rose,'" he answered, more freely. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did we leave off?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where the hero, arriving at a fountain, beheld a beautiful rose tree," +said the fool in a low tone. "Desiring the rose, he reached to gather +it—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I remember. And then, Reason and Danger did battle with Love." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it your wish we continue?" he asked, taking the book in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I would fain learn if he gathers his rose. Nay, sit here on the bench +and I"—brightly—"may look over your shoulder ever and anon, to steal +a glimpse of the pretty pictures." +</P> + +<P> +Unquestioningly, he obeyed her, the book, illumined, gleaming in the +sunshine; the letters, red, gold, many-hued, dancing before them. Love +in crimson, the five silver shafts of Cupid, the Tower of Jealousy, a +frowning fortress, the Rose, incentive for endless striving and +endeavor—all floated by on the creamy parchment leaves. So interested +was she in these wondrous pages, executed with such precision and +perfection, with marginal adornment, and many a graceful turn and fancy +in initial letter and tail-piece, she seemed to him for the moment +rather some simple lowly maiden than a proud princess of the realm. +</P> + +<P> +"How much splendor the penman has shown!" she murmured, her breath on +his cheek. "'Tis more beautiful than the 'Life of Saint Agnes.' Is +not that figure well done? A hard, austere old man; Reason, I believe, +in monkish attire." +</P> + +<P> +"Reason, or Duty, ever partakes of the monastery," he retorted with a +short, mirthless laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Duty; obedience!" she broke in. "Do I not know them? Please turn the +page." +</P> + +<P> +Reaching over, she herself did so, her fingers touching his, her bosom +just brushing his shoulder; and then she flushed, for it was Venus's +self the page revealed, standing on a grassy bank and showing Love the +rose. Around the queen of beauty floated a silver gauze; her hair was +indicated by threads of gold tossed luxuriantly about her; upon the +shoulder of Love rested her hand, encouraging him in his quest. Most +zealously had the monk-artist executed the lovely lady, as though some +heart-dream flowed from the ink on his pen, every line exact, each +feature radiantly shown. Some youthful anchorite, perhaps, was he, and +this the fair temptation that had assailed his fancy; such a vision as +St. Anthony wrestled with in the grievous solitude of his hermit cell. +</P> + +<P> +From the book and the picture, the jester, feeling the princess draw +back impulsively, dared look up, and, looking up, could not look down +from a loveliness surpassing the idealization on vellum of a monkish +dream. From head to foot, the sunlight bathed the princess, glistening +in her hair until it was alive with light. Even when he gazed into her +blue eyes he was conscious of a more flaming glory than lay in the +heavens of their depths; a splendent maze that shed a brightness around +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Princess," he said, wildly, "I know what the king hath told you! +Why you wear the monarch's ring!" +</P> + +<P> +"The monarch's ring!" she repeated, as recalled suddenly from wandering +thought. "Why—how know you—ah, Jacqueline—" +</P> + +<P> +"And a ring signifieth consent. You will fulfill the king's desire?" +</P> + +<P> +"The king's desire?" she replied, mechanically. "Is it not the will of +God?" +</P> + +<P> +"But your own heart?" he cried, holding her with his eager gaze. +</P> + +<P> +She laid her hand on his shoulder; her eyes answered his. Did she not +realize the tragedy the future held for him? Or did to-morrow seem far +off, and the present become her greater concern? Was hers the +philosophy of Marguerite's code which taught that the sweets of +admiration should be gathered on the moment? That a cry of pain from a +worshiping heart, however lowly, was honeyed flattery to Love's +votaries? As the jester looked at her a sudden chill seized his +breast. Jacqueline's mocking laughter rang in his ears. "Ask her the +rest yourself, most Unsophisticated Fool!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you will obey the king?" he persisted, dully. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she answered, smiling and bending nearer, "will you spoil the +day?" +</P> + +<P> +"You would give yourself to a man, whether or not you loved him?" +</P> + +<P> +A frown gathered on the princess' brow, but she stooped, herself picked +up the book he had dropped, brushed the earth from it and seated +herself upon the bench. Her manner was quiet, resolute; her action, a +rebuke to the forward fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you not read?" she said, with an inscrutable look. +</P> + +<P> +"True," he exclaimed, rising quickly, "I was sent to amuse—" +</P> + +<P> +"And you have found me a too exacting mistress?" she asked, more +gently, checking the implied reproach. +</P> + +<P> +"Exacting!" he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"What then?" she said, half sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +But in his mind Jacqueline's scornful words reiterated themselves: +"Think you the princess will wear the willow?" +</P> + +<P> +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking at her +feet. The quest, the idle quest! Was it but an awakening? So far lay +the branch above his reach! His voice rose and fell with the mystic +rhythm of the meter, now dwelling on death and danger, the shortness of +life, the sweetness of passion; then telling the pleasures of the dance. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-064"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-064.jpg" ALT="Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking at her feet." BORDER="2" WIDTH="410" HEIGHT="595"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 410px"> +Taking the book, he opened it at random,<BR>mechanically sinking at her feet. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Lower fell the princess' hand until it touched the reader's head; +touched and lingered. Before the fool's eyes the letters of the book +became blurred and then faded away. Doubt, misgiving, fear, vanished +on the moment. The flower she had given him seemed to burn on his +heart. He forgot the decree of the king; her equivocation; the +unanswered question. Passionately he thrust his hand into his doublet. +</P> + +<P> +"The rose and love are one," he cried. "The rose is—" +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, Madam," said a voice, and Jacqueline, clear-eyed, calm, +stood before them; "the fan was not in the king's ante-chamber, or I +should have been here sooner. I trust you have not been put out for +want of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, Jacqueline," returned her mistress, with a natural, +tranquil movement, "although"—sharply—"you were gone longer than you +should have been!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE +</H3> + +<P> +Proficient as a poet, bold as a soldier, adroit as a statesman, the +king was, nevertheless, most fitted for the convivial role of host, and +no part that he played in his varied repertoire afforded such +opportunity for the nice display of his unusual talents. History hath +sneered at his rhymes as flat, stale and unprofitable; upon the bloody +field he had been defeated and subsequently imprisoned; clever in +diplomacy, the sagacity of his opponent, Charles, had in truth +overmatched him; yet as the ostentatious Boniface, in grand bib and +tucker, prodigal in joviality and good-fellowship, his reputation rests +without a flaw. +</P> + +<P> +In anticipation of the arrival of the duke and his suite, the monarch +had ordered a series of festivities and entertainments such as would +gratify his desire for pageantry and display, and at the same time do +honor to a guest who was to espouse one of France's fairest wards. To +the castle repaired tailors, embroiderers and goldsmiths to make and +devise garments for knights, ladies, lords and esquires and for the +trapping, decking and adorning of coursers, jennets and palfries. +Bales of silks and satins had been long since conveyed thither from +distant Paris, in anticipation of the coming marriage; and the old +Norman castle that had once resounded with the clashing of arms, the +snap of the cross-bow and the clang of the catapult now echoed with the +merry stir and flurry of peace; a bee-hive of activity wherein were no +drones; marshal, grand master, chancellor and grand chamberlain +preparing for mysteries and hunting parties; dowagers, matrons and +maids making ready for balls and other pastimes. +</P> + +<P> +With this new influx of population to the pleasure palace came a +plentiful sprinkling of wayside minstrels, jugglers, mountebanks, +dulcimer and lute players, street poets who sang the praises of some +fair cobbleress or pretty sausage girl; scamps of students from the +Paris haunts of vice, loose fellows who conned the classical poets by +day and took a purse by night; dancers, dwarfs, and merry men all, not +averse to— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Haunch and ham, and cheek and chine<BR> +While they gurgled their throats with right good wine."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Here sauntered a wit-cracker, a peacock feather in his hand, arm-in-arm +with an impoverished "banquet beagle," or "feast hound;" there passed a +jack in green, a bladder under his arm and a tankard at his belt, with +which latter he begged that sort of alms that flows from a spigot. As +vagrant followers hover on the verge of a camp, or watchful vultures +circle around their prey, so these lower parasites (distinct from the +other well-born, more aristocratic genus of smell-feast) prowled +vigilantly without the castle walls and beyond the limits of the royal +pleasure grounds, finding occasional employment from lackey, valet or +equerry, who, imitating their betters, amused themselves betimes with +some low buffoon or vulgar clown and rewarded him for his gross stories +and antics with a crust and a cup. +</P> + +<P> +Faith, in those thrice happy days, every henchman could whistle to him +his shabby poet, and every ostler hold court in the stable, with a +<I>visdase</I>, or ass face, to keep the audience in a roar, and a +nimble-footed trull to set them into ecstasies. But woe betide the +honest wayfarer who strolled beyond the orderly precincts of the king's +walls after dusk; for if some street coxcomb was too drunk to rob him, +or a ribald Latin scholar saw him not, he surely ran into a nest of +pavement tumblers or cellar poets who forthwith stripped him and turned +him loose in the all-insufficient garb of nature. +</P> + +<P> +A fantastic, waggish crew—yet Francis minded them not, so long as they +observed sufficient etiquette to keep their distance from his royal +person and immediate following. This nice decorum, however, be it +said, was an unwritten law with these waifs and scatterlings, knowing +the merry monarch who tolerated them afar would feel no compunction at +hanging them severally, or in squads, from the convenient branches of +the trees surrounding the castle, should the humor seize him that such +summary chastisement were best for their morals and the welfare of the +community. Thus, though bold, were they also shy, drinking humbly from +a black-jack quart in the kitchen and vanishing docilely enough when +the sovereign cook bid them be gone with warm words or by flinging over +them ladles of hot soup. +</P> + +<P> +One bright morning, like rabbits peeping from their holes when they +hear the footfall of the hunter, these field ramblers and wayside +peregrinators were all agog, emerging from grassy cover and thicket +retreat, to gaze open-mouthed after a gay cavalcade that issued from +the castle gate, and rode southward with waving banner and piercing +trumpet note. +</P> + +<P> +"The king, knaves!" cried a grimy estray with bells upon his person +that jingled like those of a Jewish high priest, to a group of players +and gamesters. "Already my mouth waters at the thoughts of the wedding +feast, and the scraps and bones that will be thrown away. There I +warrant you we'll all find hearty cheer." +</P> + +<P> +"Why are fools ever welcome at a wedding?" asked a singing scholar. +</P> + +<P> +"Because there are two in the ceremony, and the rest make the chorus," +answered a philandering mime. +</P> + +<P> +"And our merry monarch goeth down the road to meet one of the two," +said a close-cropped rogue. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's a brave knight to come so far to yield himself captive—to +a woman," returned the student. "As Horace saith—" +</P> + +<P> +"Thou calumniator! shrimp of a man!" exclaimed a dark-browed drab +dressed like a gipsy, seizing the scholar's short doublet. "An I get +at you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Take the garment, you harridan, not the man," he retorted, slipping +deftly out of the jerkin and dancing away to a safe distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! there's wedded bliss for you!" laughed a man in Franciscan attire, +a rough rascal disguised as one of those priests called "God's fools" +or "Christ's fools." "A week ago, when I married them, they were +billing and cooing. But to your holes, children! When the king +returns he would not have his guest gaze upon such scarecrows and +trollops. Disperse, and Beelzebub take you!" And as the group +scattered the sound of beating horses' hoofs died away in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +Francis was unusually good-humored that day. Apprised by a herald that +the duke and his followers were nearing the castle, he had sent the +messenger back announcing a trysting-place, and now rode forth to meet +his guest and escort him with honor to the castle. Upon a noble steed, +black as night, the monarch sat; the saddle and trappings crimson in +color; the stirrup and bit, of gold; a jaunty plume of white ostrich +feathers waving above the jetty mane. The costume of the king's +stalwart figure displayed a splendid suit of plate armor, enriched with +chased work and ornament in gold, his appearance in keeping with his +character of monarch and knight who sought to revive the spirit of +chivalry at a period when the practical modern tendencies seriously +threatened to undermine the practices and traditions of a once-exalted, +but now fast-failing, institution for the regulation of morals and +conduct. +</P> + +<P> +By his side, less radiant only in comparison with the august monarch, +rode the rank and quality of the realm, with silver and spangles, and +fluttering plumes, scabbards gleaming with jewels, and girdles adorned +with rich settings. Furiously galloping behind came an attenuated +snow-white charger, bearing the hunchback. A bladder dangling over his +shoulder, his bagpipe hanging from his waist, Triboulet bobbed +frantically up and down, clinging desperately to the saddle or winding +his legs about the charger's neck to preserve his equilibrium. +</P> + +<P> +"You would better jog along more quietly, fool," observed a courtier, +warningly, "or you will suffer for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Alas, sir," replied Triboulet, "I stick my spurs into my horse to keep +him quiet, but the more I prick him the more unruly I find the +obstinate beast." +</P> + +<P> +The king, who heard, laughed, and the dwarf's heart immediately +expanded, auguring he should soon be restored to the monarch's favor; +for since the night the buffoon had failed to answer the duke's jester +in Fools' hall Francis had received Triboulet's advances and small +pleasantries with terrifying coldness. In fact, the dwarf had never +passed such an uncomfortable period during his career, save on one +memorable occasion when a band of mischievous pages had set upon him, +carried him to the scaffold and nailed his enormous ears to the beam. +Now, reassured, burning with delight, the jester spurred presumptuously +forward, no longer feeling bound to lag in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back!" cried an angry knight. "I can not bear a fool on my right." +</P> + +<P> +Triboulet reined in his horse, but pushed ahead on the other side of +the rider who had spoken. +</P> + +<P> +"I can bear it very well," he retorted and found his proud reward in +the company's laughter. The remark, moreover, passed from lip to lip +to the king, and the misshapen jester felt his little cup of happiness +filled once more to the brim; his old prestige seemed coming back to +him; holding his position in the road, he gazed disdainfully at the +disgruntled knight, and the other returned the look with one of hearty +ill-will, muttering an imprecation and warning just above his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Sire," called out Triboulet, loudly, now above fearing courtier, +knight or any high official of the realm, "the Count de Piseione says +he will beat me to death." +</P> + +<P> +"If he does," good-naturedly answered the king, "I will hang him +quarter of an hour afterward." +</P> + +<P> +"Please, your Majesty, hang him quarter of an hour before." +</P> + +<P> +Thus right pleasantly, with quip and jest, and many a smart sally, did +the monarch and his retinue draw near the meeting spot, where at a fork +of the road, beneath the shade of overhanging branches, were already +assembled a goodly group of soldiers. Beyond them, at a respectful +distance, stood many beasts of burden, heavily laden, the great packs +promising stores of rare and costly gifts. At the head of the troopers +was a thick-set man, with broad shoulders and brawny frame, mounted on +a powerful gray horse. This leader, whom the approaching company +surmised to be the duke, sat motionless as a statue, gazing steadfastly +at the shining armor and gallant figure of the king who spurred to him, +a friendly greeting on his lips. Then, lightly springing to earth and +throwing his bridle to one of his troop, the foreign noble approached +the royal horseman on foot, and, bending his head, knelt before him, +respectfully kissing his hand. +</P> + +<P> +Grim, silent, with hardened faces, the duke's men regarded the scene, +their dusty attire (albeit rich enough beneath the marks of travel), +sun-burned visages and stolid manner in marked contrast with the +bearing and aspect of the king's gay following. One of the alien troop +pulled a red mustachio fiercely and eyed a blithe popinjay of the court +with quizzical superiority; the others remained, stock-still, but +observant. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you are punctual and waiting, noble sir!" said the monarch gaily +when the initial formalities had been complied with. "But that is no +more than should be expected from—an impatient bridegroom." Then, +gazing curiously, yet with penetrating look, on the features of his +guest, who now had arisen: "You appear slightly older than I expected +from the letter of our dear friend and brother, the emperor." +</P> + +<P> +And truly the duke's appearance was that of a man more nearly five and +thirty than five and twenty; his face was brown from exposure and upon +his brow the scar of an old sword wound; yet a fearless, dashing +countenance; an eye that could kindle to headlong passion, and a +thick-set neck and heavy jaw that bespoke the foeman who would battle +to the last breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Older, Sire?" he replied with composure. "That must needs be, since +living in the saddle ages a man." +</P> + +<P> +"Truly," returned the monarch, instinctively laying his hand upon his +sword. "The clash of arms, the thunder of hoofs, the waving +banners—yes, Glory is a seductive mistress who robs us of our youth. +Have I not wooed her and found—gray hairs? Who shall give me back +those days?" +</P> + +<P> +"History, your Majesty, shall give them to posterity," answered the +duke. +</P> + +<P> +"Even those we lost to Charles?" muttered the king, a shadow passing +over his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Glory, Sire, is a mistress sometimes fickle in her favors." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet we live but for—" He broke off abruptly, and with the eye of +a trained commander surveyed the duke's men. "Daredevils; daredevils, +all!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Rough-looking fellows, Sire!" apologized the duke, "but tried and +faithful soldiers. Somewhat dusty and road-worn." And his eyes turned +meaningly to the king's suite; the flashing girdles of silver, the +shining hilts, the gorgeous cloaks and even the adornment of ribbons. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," said Francis meditatively, "on a rough journey I would fain have +these fire-eaters at my back. They look as though they could cut and +hew." +</P> + +<P> +"Moderately well, your Majesty," answered the duke with modesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you mount, noble sir, and ride with me? Yonder is the castle, +and in the castle is a certain fair lady whom you, no doubt, fain would +see." +</P> + +<P> +Long gazed the Duke of Friedwald at the distant venerable pile of +stone; the majestic turrets and towers softly floating in a dreamy +mist; the setting, fresh, woody, green. Long he looked at this +inviting picture and then breathed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Sire, I would the meeting were over," he remarked in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Why so, sir?" asked the king in surprise. "Do you fear you will not +fancy the lady?" +</P> + +<P> +"I fear she may not fancy me," retorted the nobleman, soberly. "Your +own remark, Sire; that I appear older than you had expected?" he +continued, gravely, significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"A recommendation in your favor," laughed the monarch. "I ever prefer +sober manhood to callow youth about me. The one is a prop, stanch, +tried; the other a reed that bends this way and that, or breaks when +you press it too hard." +</P> + +<P> +"I should be lacking in gratitude were I not deeply appreciative of +your Majesty's singular kindness," replied the duke, his face flushing +with pleasure. "But your Majesty knows womankind—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I've studied them a little, but know them not," retorted Francis, +dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"And it is unlikely the lady may find me all her imagination has +depicted," went on the nobleman, with palpable embarrassment. "My +noble master, the emperor, hath—regarding me still as but a stripling +from his own vantage point of age and wisdom—represented me a young +man in his proposals. But though I'm younger than I look, and feel no +older than I am, how young, or how old, shall I seem to the princess?" +</P> + +<P> +"Young enough to be her husband; old enough for her to look up to," +answered the monarch, reassuringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Again," objected the duke, meditatively regarding the castle, "she may +be expecting a handsome, debonair bridegroom, and when she sees +me"—ruefully surveying himself—"what will she say?" +</P> + +<P> +"What will she say? 'Yes' at the altar. Is it not enough?" Leaning +back in his saddle, the king's face expressed the enjoyment he derived +from the conversation with the backward and too conscientious soldier. +Here was a groom whose wedding promised the court much amusement and +satisfaction in those jovial days of jesting and merry-making. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," resumed the king, encouragingly, "I'll warrant you more forward +in battle." +</P> + +<P> +"Battle!" said the duke. "That's another matter. To see your foeman's +gleaming eyes!—but hers!— Should they express anger, disdain—" +</P> + +<P> +"Let yours show but the greater wrath," advised the king, +complaisantly. "In love, like cures like! Let me be your physician; +I'll warrant you'll find me proficient." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard your Majesty hath practised deeply," returned the noble, +readily, in spite of his perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"Deeply?" Francis lifted his brow. "I am but a superficial student; +master only of the rudiments; no graduate of the college of love. +Moreover, I've heard the letters you exchanged were—ahem!—well-enough +writ. You pressed your suit warmly for one unlearned, a mere novice." +</P> + +<P> +"Because I had seen her face, your Majesty; had it ever before me in +the painted miniature. Any man"—with a rough eloquence and fervor +that impressed the king with the depth of his passion—"could well +worship at that fair shrine, but that she—" +</P> + +<P> +"Forward, I beg you!" interrupted the king. "Womankind are but frail +flesh, sir; easily molded; easily won. She is a woman; therefore, +soft, yielding; yours for the asking. You are over valorous at a +distance; too timorous near her. Approach her boldly, and, though she +were Diana's self, I'll answer for your victory! Eh, Triboulet, are +our ladies cold-hearted, callous, indifferent to merit?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cold-hearted?" answered the dwarf, with a ludicrous expression of +feigned rapture. "Were I to relate—but, no, my tongue is +silent—discretion—your Majesty will understand—" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the duke, "with encouragement from the best-favored +scholar in the kingdom and the—ugliest, I should proceed with more +confidence." +</P> + +<P> +"Best-favored!" smirked the little monster. "Really, you flatter me." +</P> + +<P> +"A whimsical fellow, Sire," vouchsafed the nobleman. +</P> + +<P> +"When he is not tiresome," answered the monarch. "On, gentlemen!" And +the cavalcade swept down the road toward the castle. Far behind, with +cracking of whip, followed the mules and their drivers. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COURT OF LOVE +</H3> + +<P> +The rough Norman banqueting hall, with its massive rafters, frayed +tapestries and rude adornment of bristling heads of savage boars, +wide-spreading antlers and other trophies of the chase, had long since +been replaced under the king's directions by an apartment more to the +satisfaction of a monarch who was a zealous and lavish patron of the +brilliant Italian school of painting, sculpture and architecture. +Those barbarous decorations, celebrating the hunt, had been relegated +to subterranean regions, the walls dismantled, and the room turned over +to a corps of artists of such renown as Da Vinci, François Clouet, Jean +Cousin and the half-mad Benvenuto Cellini. +</P> + +<P> +Where formerly wild boars had snarled with wicked display of yellow +tusks from the blackened plaster, now Cleopatra, in the full bloom of +her mature charms, reclined with her stalwart Roman hero in tender +dalliance. Where once the proud and stately head of the majestic stag +had hung over door and panel, now classic nymphs bathed in a pellucid +pool, and the only horns were those which adorned the head of him who, +according to the story, dared gaze through the foliage, and was +rewarded for his too curious interest by—that then common form of +punishment—metamorphosis. +</P> + +<P> +Overhead, vast transformation from the great ribbed beams of oak and +barren interspaces, graceful Peri floated on snow-white clouds and +roguish Cupids swam through the azure depths, to the edification of +nondescript prodigies, who constituted the massive molding, or frame, +to the decorative scene. The ancient fireplace, broad and deep, had +given way to an ornate mantel of marble; the capacious tankard and +rotund pewter pot of olden times, suggestive of mighty butts of honest +beer, had been supplanted by goblets of silver and gold, covered with +scroll work, arabesques or chiseled figures. +</P> + +<P> +In this spacious hall, begilt, bemirrored, assembled, on the evening of +the duke's arrival, Francis, his court and the guest of the occasion. +From wide-spreading chandeliers, with their pendent, pear-shaped +crystals, a thousand candles threw a flood of light upon the scene, as +'mid trumpet blast and softer strains of harmony, King Francis and good +Queen Eleanor led the way to the royal table; and thereat, shortly +after, at a signal from the monarch, the company seated themselves. +</P> + +<P> +At the head of the board was the king; on his right, his lawful +consort, pale, composed, saintly; on his left, the Countess d'Etampes, +rosy, animated, free. Next to the favorite sat the "fairest among the +learned and most learned among the fair," Marguerite, beloved sister of +Francis, and her second husband, Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre; +opposite, Henry the dauphin and his spouse, Catharine de Medici; not +far removed, Diane de Poitiers, whose dark eyes Henry ever openly +sought, while Catharine complacently talked affairs of state with the +chancellor. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of this illustrious company, and further surrounded by a +plentiful sprinkling of ruddy cardinals, fat bishops, constables, +governors, marshals and ladies, more or less distinguished through +birth or beauty, the Duke of Friedwald and the Princess Louise were a +center of attraction for the wits whose somewhat free jests the license +of the times permitted. At the foot of the royal table places had been +provided for Marot, Caillette, Triboulet, Jacqueline and the duke's +fool. +</P> + +<P> +The heads and figures of the ladies of the court were for the most part +fearfully and wonderfully bedecked. In some instances the +horned-shaped head-dress had been followed by yet loftier steeples, +"battlements to combat God with gold, silver and pearls; wherein the +lances were great forked pins, and the arrows the little pins." With +more simplicity, the Princess Louise wore her hair cased in a network +of gold and jewels, and the austere French moralist who assailed the +higher bristling ramparts of vanity would, perhaps, have borne in +silence this more modest bastion of the flesh and the devil. +</P> + +<P> +But the face beneath was a greater danger to those who hold that beauty +is a menace to salvation; on her cheek hung the rosy banner of youth; +in her eyes shone the bright arrows of conquest. And the duke, +discarding his backwardness, as a soldier his cloak before battle, +watched the hue that mantled her face, proffered his open breast to the +shining lances of her gaze, and capitulated unconditionally before the +smile of victory on her blood-red lips. With his great shoulders, his +massive neck and broad, virile face, he seemed a Cyclops among pygmies +in that gathering of slender courtiers and she but a flower by his side. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought, Sire, your duke was timorous, bashful as a boy?" murmured +the Countess d'Etampes to the king. +</P> + +<P> +"He was—on the road!" answered the king thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Then has he marvelously recovered his assurance." +</P> + +<P> +"In love, Madam, as in battle, the zest grows with the fray," said +Francis with meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"And the duke is reputed a brave soldier. He looks very strong, as +if—almost—he might succeed with any woman he were minded to carry +off." +</P> + +<P> +"To carry off!" laughed the monarch. "'Tis he, Madam, who will be +bound in tethers! At heart he's shame-faced as a callow younker." +</P> + +<P> +She wilfully shook her head. "No woman could keep him in +leading-strings, your Majesty. There is something domineering, savage, +crushing, in his hand. Look at it, on the table there. Is it not +mighty as an iron gauntlet? What other man at the board has such a +brutal hand? The strength in it makes me shudder. Will she not bend +to it; kiss it?" +</P> + +<P> +With amused superiority Francis regarded his fair neighbor on the left. +"Women, Madam, are but hasty judges of men," he said, dryly, "and then +'tis fancy more than reason which governs their verdict. If the duke +should seem over-confident, 'tis to hide a certain modesty, and not to +appear out of confidence in so large a company." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet, Sire, at their first meeting he did not comport himself like +one easily put out," persisted the favorite. "''Tis with a cold hand +you welcome me, Princess,' he said, noticing her insensibility of +manner. Then rising he gazed upon her long and deep, as a soldier +might survey a battlefield. 'And yet,' said he, still holding her +fingers, 'I'll warrant me warm blood could course through this little +hand.' At that the color rose in her cheek; behold! the statue was +touched with life and she looked at him as drawn against her will. 'If +my hand be cold, my Lord,' she answered, courteously, 'it belies the +character of your welcome.' Whereupon he laughed like one who has had +a victory." +</P> + +<P> +"Beshrew me," said the king, modifying his last observation, "if women +are not all eyes and ears! I neither heard nor saw all that. A little +constraint—a natural blush to punctuate their talk—the meeting seemed +conventional enough. 'Tis through your own romantic heart you looked, +Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +Quicker circulated the goblets of silver, gold and crystal; faster +babbled the pretty lips; brighter grew the eyes beneath the stupendous +towers that crowned the heads of the court ladies. All talked at once +without disturbing the king, who now whispered soft nothings in the ear +of the countess. From the other tables in the hall arose a varying +cadence of clatter and laughter, which increased with the noise and din +of the king's own board; a clamor always just subservient to the deeper +chorus of the royal party; an accompaniment, as it were, full yet +unobtrusive, to the hubbub from the more exalted company. But the +princely uproar growing louder, the grand-masters, grand-chamberlain, +gentlemen of the chamber and lesser lights of the church were enabled +to carol and make merry with less restraint. The pungent smell of +roses permeated the hall, arising from a screen of shrubbery at one end +of the room wherein sang a hundred silver-toned birds. +</P> + +<P> +At the king's table Caillette recited a merry roundelay, and Triboulet +roared out tale after tale, each more full-flavored than the one that +went before it, flinging smart sayings at marriage, and drawing a +ludicrous picture of the betrayed husband. Villot, a lily in his hand, +which he regarded ever sentimentally, caroled the boisterous espousals +of a yokel and a cinder-wench, while Marot and a bishop contended in a +heated argument regarding the translation of a certain passage of +Ovid's "Art of Love." +</P> + +<P> +Singularly pale, unusually tranquil, the duke's fool furtively watched +his master and the princess. In contrast to his composure, +Jacqueline's merriment seemed the more unrestrained; she laughed like a +witch; her hands flashed with pretty gestures, and she had so tossed +her head, her hair floated around her, wild and disordered. +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you so quiet?" she whispered to the duke's fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there not enough merriment, mistress?" he answered, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"There can never be any to spare," she said. "And you would do well to +remember your office." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" he asked, absently. +</P> + +<P> +"That you have many enemies; that you can not live at court with a +jaundiced countenance. Heigh-ho! Alackaday! You should hie yourself +back to the woods and barren wastes of Friedwald, Master Fool." +</P> + +<P> +Her sparkling glance returned to the exhilarating scene. Well had the +assemblage been called a court of love. Now soft eyes invited burning +glances, and graceful heads swayed alluringly toward the handsome +cavaliers who momentarily had found lodgment in hearts which, like +palaces, had many ante-chambers. From hidden recesses, strains of +music filled the room with tinkling passages of sensuous, but illusive, +harmony; a dream of ardor, masked in the daintiness of a minuet. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the back of the princess' chair rested one of the duke's hands; +with the other he lifted his glass—a frail thing in fingers better +adapted for a sword-hilt or massive battle mace. +</P> + +<P> +"Drink, Princess," he said, bending over her, "to—our meeting!" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyelids fluttered before his look; her breast rose a little. The +scar on his brow held her gaze, as one fascinated, but she drew away +slightly and mechanically sought the tiny golden goblet at her elbow. +Dreamily, dreamily, sounded the rhythmical music; heavily, so heavily +hung the perfume in the air! Full of mist seemed the hall; the king, +the queen, the countess, all of the party, unreal, fanciful. The touch +of the goblet chilled her lips and she put it down quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Is not the wine to your liking?" he asked, his hand tightening on her +chair. "Perhaps it is too sour for your taste?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I thought it rather sweet," she answered. "Oh, I meant not +that—" +</P> + +<P> +"It <I>is</I> sweet wine, Princess," he said, setting down an empty glass. +"Sweeter than our Austrian vintage. Not white and thin and watery, but +red—red as blood—red as your heart's blood—or mine—" +</P> + +<P> +Crash! from the hand of the duke's jester had fallen a goblet to the +floor. The princess started, turned; for a moment their glances +bridged the distance from where she sat, to the fools' end of the +table; then hers slowly fell; slowly, and she passed a hand, whereon +shone the king's ring, across her brow; looked up, as though once more +to span infinity with her gaze, when her eyes fell short and met the +duke's. Deliberately he lifted his filled glass. +</P> + +<P> +"Red as your heart's blood—and mine—my love!" he repeated; and then +stared sharply across the table at his jester. +</P> + +<P> +Triboulet, swaggering in his chair, so high his feet could not touch +the floor, surveyed the broken glass, the duke and the duke's fool. +For some time his vigilant eyes had been covertly studying the +unconscious foreign jester, noting sundry signs and symptoms. Nor had +the princess' look when the goblet had fallen, been lost upon the +misshapen buffoon; alert, wide-awake, his mind, quick to suspect, +reached a sudden conclusion; a conclusion which by rapid process of +reasoning became a conviction. Privileged to speak where others must +need be silent, his profession that of prying subtlety, which spared +neither rank nor power so that it raised a laugh, he felt no hesitation +in publishing the information he had gleaned by his superior mental +nimbleness. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! ho!" he bellowed, the better to attract attention to himself. +"The duke sent his fool to amuse his betrothed and the fool hath lost +his heart to his mistress." +</P> + +<P> +The king left off his whispering, Catharine turned from the chancellor, +Diane ceased furtively to regard Caillette, while the Queen of Navarre +laughed nervously and murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"Princess and jester! It will make another tale." +</P> + +<P> +But Henry of Navarre looked gravely down. He, and Francis' queen—a +passive spectator at the feast—and a bishop, whose interest lay in a +truffled capon, alone followed not the direction of the duke's eyes. +The fair favorite of the king clapped her hands, but the monarch +frowned, not having forgotten that night in Fools' hall when the jester +had appointed rogues to offices. +</P> + +<P> +"What is this? A fool in love with the princess?" said the king, +ominously. +</P> + +<P> +"Even so, your Majesty," cried Triboulet. "But a moment ago Duke +Robert did whisper to his bride-to-be, and the fool's hand trembled +like a leaf and dropped his glass. Tra! la! la! What a situation! +Holy Saint-Bagpipe! Here's a comedy in high life!" +</P> + +<P> +"A comedy!" repeated the duke, and half-rose from his chair, regarding +his fool with surprise and anger. +</P> + +<P> +Now Triboulet roared. Had he not in the past attained his high +position of favorite jester to the king by his very foolhardihood? And +were not trusting lovers and all too-confiding husbands the legitimate +butt of all jesting? +</P> + +<P> +"Look at the fool," he went on exultantly. "Does any one doubt his +guilt? He is silent; he can not speak!" +</P> + +<P> +And, indeed, the foreign jester seemed momentarily disconcerted, +although he strove to appear indifferent. +</P> + +<P> +"A presumptuous knave!" muttered Francis, darkly. "He saved his neck +once only by a trick." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the duke would not mind, now, if you were to hang him, Sire," +answered Triboulet, blithely. +</P> + +<P> +"True!" smiled the king. "The question of breach of hospitality might +not occur. What have you to say, fool?" he continued, turning to the +object of the buffoon's insidious and malicious attack. +</P> + +<P> +"Laugh!" whispered Jacqueline, furtively pressing the arm of the duke's +fool. "Laugh, or—" +</P> + +<P> +The touch and her words appeared to arouse him from his lethargy and +the jester arose, but not before the princess, with flaming cheeks, but +proud bearing, had cast a quick glance in his direction; a glance +half-appealing, half-resentful. Idly the joculatrix regarded him, her +hands upon the table playing with the glasses, her lips faintly +repeating the words of a roundelay: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"For love is madness;<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">While madness rules,</SPAN><BR> +Fools in love<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Remain but fools!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Sing hoddy-doddy,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Noddy!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Remain but fools!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +With the eyes of the company upon him, the duke's fool impassively +studied the carven figure on his stick. If he felt fear of the king's +anger, the resentment of his master, or the malice of the dwarf, his +countenance now did not betray it. He had seemed about to speak, but +did not. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, rascal, well?" called out the king. "Do you think your wand +will save you, sirrah?" he added impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not, Sire?" tranquilly answered the jester. +</P> + +<P> +The duke's face grew more and more ominous. Still the fool, looking +up, did not quail, but met his master's glance freely, and those who +observed noted it was the duke who first turned away, although his jaw +was set and his great fist clenched. Swiftly the jester's gaze again +sought the princess, but she had plucked a spray of blossoms from the +table and was holding it to her lips, mindlessly biting the fragrant +leaves; and those who followed the fool's glance saw in her but a +picture of languid unconcern such as became a kinswoman of the king. +</P> + +<P> +Almost imperceptibly the brow of the <I>plaisant</I> clouded, but recovering +himself, he confronted the king with an enigmatic smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" he repeated. "In the Court of Love is not the fool's wand +greater than a king's miter or the pastoral staff of the Abbé de Lys? +Besides, Sire," he added quickly, "as a fool takes it, in the Court of +Love, not to love—is treason!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" murmured the bishop, still eating. "Not to love is treason!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who alone is the culprit? Whose heart alone is filled with umbrage, +hatred, pique?" +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet! Triboulet, the traitor!" suddenly cried the countess, +sprightly as a child. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; Triboulet, the traitor!" exclaimed the fool, pointing the wand of +folly at the hunchback. +</P> + +<P> +Even Francis' offended face relaxed. "Positively, I shall never hang +this fellow," he said grimly to Marguerite. +</P> + +<P> +"Before this tribunal of ladies whose beauty and learning he has +outraged by his disaffection and spleen, I summon him for trial," +continued the duke's jester. "Triboulet, arise! Illustrious ladies of +the Court of Love, the offender is in your hands." +</P> + +<P> +"A little monster!" spoke up Diane with a gesture of aversion, real or +affected. +</P> + +<P> +"He is certainly somewhat reprehensible," added the Queen of Navarre, +whose tender heart ever inclined to the weaker side. +</P> + +<P> +"An unconscionable rogue," murmured the bishop, complacently clasping +his fat fingers before him. +</P> + +<P> +"So he is already tried by the Church and the tribunal," went on the +<I>plaisant</I> of the duke. "The Church hath excommunicated him and the +Court of Love—" +</P> + +<P> +"Will banish him!" exclaimed the countess mirthfully, regarding the +captious monarch with mock defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, banish him; turn him out," echoed Catharine, carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"But, your Majesty!" remonstrated the alarmed Triboulet, turning to the +monarch whose favor he had that day enjoyed. +</P> + +<P> +"Appeal not to me!" returned Francis, sternly. "Here Venus rules!" +And he gallantly inclined to the countess. +</P> + +<P> +"Venus at whom he scoffs!" broke in Jacqueline, shrilly, leaning back +in her chair with her hands on her hips. +</P> + +<P> +"You witch!—you sorceress!—it was you who"—he hissed with venomous +glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear him!" exclaimed the girl, lightly. "He calls me +witch—sorceress—because, forsooth, I am a woman!" +</P> + +<P> +"A woman—a devil"—muttered Triboulet between his closed teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," she cried, rising, impetuously, "he says that women are +devils! What shall we do with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pelt him out!" answered the countess. "Pelt him out!" +</P> + +<P> +With peals of merriment and triumphant shouts, the court, of one +accord, directed a fusillade of fruits, nuts and other viands at the +head and person of the raging and hapless buffoon, the countess +herself, apple in hand—Eve bent upon vengeance—leading in the +assault. The other tables responded with a cross-fire, and heavier +articles succeeded lighter, until after having endured the continuous +attack for a few moments as best he might, the unlucky dwarf raised his +arms above his head and fairly fled from the hall, leaving behind in +his haste a bagpipe and his wooden sword. +</P> + +<P> +"So may all traitors be punished!" said the bishop unctuously, as he +reached for a dish of confections that had escaped the fair hands in +search of ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," laughed the Countess d'Etampes, "if we have the support of the +Church—" +</P> + +<P> +"I will confess you, myself, Madam," gallantly retorted the bishop. +</P> + +<P> +"And all the Court of Love?" asked Marguerite. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, your Highness—all?—I am old—in need of rest—but with an +assistant or two—" +</P> + +<P> +"Assistant or two!" interrupted Catharine, imperiously. "Would the +task then be so great?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay"—with gentle expostulation—"but you—members of the court—are +many; not your sins." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," whispered Jacqueline to the duke's fool, when the +attention of the company was thus withdrawn from the jester's end of +the table, "you think yourself in fine favor now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, absently; "thanks to your suggestion." +</P> + +<P> +"My suggestion!" she repeated, scornfully. "I gave you none." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, your crossing Triboulet." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that," she replied, picking at a bunch of grapes, "was to defend +my sex, not you." +</P> + +<P> +"But your warning for me to laugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she returned, demurely, "'twas to see you go more gallantly to +your execution. And"—eating a grape—"that is reasonably certain to +be your fate. You've only made a few more enemies to-night—the +duke—the—" +</P> + +<P> +"Name them not, fair Jacqueline," he retorted, indifferent. +</P> + +<P> +"True; you'll soon learn for yourself," she answered sharply. "I think +I should prefer to be in Triboulet's place to yours at present." +</P> + +<P> +"Why," he said, with a strange laugh, "there's a day for the duke and a +day for the fool." +</P> + +<P> +Deliberately she turned from him and sang very softly: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"For love is madness;<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">(A dunce on a stool!)</SPAN><BR> +A king in love,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">A king and a fool!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Sing hoddy-doddy,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Noddy!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">A king and a fool!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +The monarch bent over the countess; Diane and the dauphin exchanged +messages with their eyes; Catharine smiled on Villot; the princess +listened to her betrothed; and the jestress alone of all the ladies +leaned back and sang, heart-free. But suddenly she again broke off and +looked curiously at the duke's <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not answer them with what was first in your mind?" she +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"What was that?" he said, starting. +</P> + +<P> +"How can I tell?" she returned, studying him. +</P> + +<P> +"You can tell a great deal," he replied. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Sing hoddy-doddy,<BR> +Noddy!<BR> +The duke and the fool"—<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +she hummed, deigning no further words. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BRIEF TRUCE +</H3> + +<P> +"Turn out these torch-bearers, human candlesticks, and <I>valets de +chambre</I>, and I'll get me to bed," commanded the duke, standing in the +center of his room, and the trooper with the fierce red mustaches waved +a swarm of pages, cup-bearers and attendants from the door and closed +it. "How are the men quartered, Johann?" +</P> + +<P> +"With all the creature comforts, my Lord," answered the soldier. "The +king hath dressed them like popinjays; they drink overmuch, dice, and +run after the maids, but otherwise are well-behaved." +</P> + +<P> +"Drink; dice; run after the maids!" said the noble, gazing thoughtfully +downward. "Hold them in check, Johann, as though we were in a +campaign." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my Lord," returned the man, staring impassively before him. +</P> + +<P> +"And especially keep them from the kitchen wenches. There's more +danger in these <I>femmes de chambre</I>, laundresses and scullery +Cinderellas than in a column of glittering steel. Remember, no Court +of Love in the scullery. Now go! Yet stay, Johann!" he added, +suddenly. "This fool of ours is a bold fellow. Look to him well!" +</P> + +<P> +Saluting respectfully, an expression of quick intelligence on his +florid features, the trooper backed out of the room. With his hands +behind him, his shoulders bent forward, the duke long pondered, his +look, keen and discerning; his perspicacity clear, in spite of Francis' +wine, or the intoxication of the princess' eyes. Although the noble's +glance seemed bent on vacancy, it was himself as well as others he was +studying; weighing the memorable events of the evening; recalling to +mind every word with the princess; reviewing her features, the +softening of her cold disdain; now, mentally distrustful, because she +was a woman; again, confident he already dominated the citadel of her +heart. +</P> + +<P> +But a new element had entered into the field; an element +unforeseen—the jester!—and, although not attaching great importance +to this possible source of hazard in his plans for the future, the duke +was too good a soldier to disregard any risk, however slight. In love +and battle, every peril should be avoided; every vulnerable point made +impregnable. Besides, the fool was audacious, foolhardy; his language +of covert mockery and quick wit proved him an intelligent antagonist, +who might become a desperate one. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman and a fool," muttered the duke, striding with quick step +across his chamber, "are two uncertain quantities. The one should be +subjected; the other removed!" +</P> + +<P> +Museful, he stood before the niche, wherein shone a cross of silver, +set with amethysts and turquoise, his rugged face lighted by the +uncertain flickering of the candles. +</P> + +<P> +"Removed!" he repeated, contemplatively. "And she—" +</P> + +<P> +The clear tinkling of a bell broke in upon his cogitation; a faint, +musical sound that seemed at his very elbow. He wheeled about +abruptly, saw nothing save the mysterious shadows of the curtains, the +flickering lamps, the dark outline of the canopy of the great bed. +Instinctively he knew he was not alone, and yet his gaze, rapidly +sweeping the apartment, failed to perceive an intruder. +</P> + +<P> +Again the tinkling, a low laugh, and, turning sharply toward an alcove +from whence the sounds came, the duke, through the half-light and +trailing, sombrous shadows of its entrance, perceived a figure in a +chair. From a candle set in a spiked, enameled stick, a yellow +glimmering, that came and went with the sputtering flame, rested upon +an ironical face, a graceful figure in motley and a wand with the +jester's head and the bell. Without rising, the <I>plaisant</I> quizzically +regarded the surprised nobleman, who in spite of his self-control had +stepped back involuntarily at the suddenness of the encounter. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening, my Lord," said the fool. "I am like the genii of the +tale. You think of me, and I appear." +</P> + +<P> +Regaining his composure at once, the king's guest bent his heavy brows +over his deep-set eyes, and deliberately surveyed the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," went on the jester, gaily, "it is in your mind I am like as +suddenly to—disappear! Am I at fault?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, you are unusually clear-witted," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my Lord, you over-estimate my poor capacity!" returned the +nobleman's unasked caller with a deprecatory gesture. +</P> + +<P> +The hands of the other worked impatiently; his herculean figure blocked +the doorway. "You are a merry fellow!" he observed. "It is to be +regretted, but—confess you have brought it upon yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"What? My fate? Oh, yes!" And he indifferently regarded the wand and +the wooden figure upon it, without moving from the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"You have no fear?" questioned the duke, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Fear? Why should I?" +</P> + +<P> +Yawning, the fool stretched his arms, looking not at the nobleman, but +beyond him, and, instinctively, the princess' betrothed peered over his +shoulder in the semi-darkness behind, while his hand quickly sought his +sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Fie, most noble Duke!" exclaimed the jester. "We have no +eavesdroppers or interlopers, believe me! We are entirely alone, you +and I—master and fool. There; come no nearer, I beg!" As the +nobleman menacingly moved toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any argument to advance, Sir Fool, why I should not?" said +the other, grimly, a gleam of amusement depicted on his broad face as +he paused the while. +</P> + +<P> +"An argument, sharp as a needle, somewhat longer!" replied the jester, +touching his breast and drawing from between the folds of his doublet a +shining hilt. +</P> + +<P> +Harsh and loud laughed the king's guest. "You fool," he said, "you had +your opportunity below there in the hall and missed it. You hesitated, +went blindly another course, and now"—with ominous meaning—"you are +here!" +</P> + +<P> +Upon the stick a candle dripped, sputtered and went out; the jester +bent forward and with the copper snuffer on the table near by deftly +trimmed the remaining light. +</P> + +<P> +"Only fools fight in darkness," he remarked, quietly, "and here is but +one of them." +</P> + +<P> +"You pit yourself and that—plaything!—against me?" asked the burly +soldier, derisively. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you hunted the wild boar, my Lord?" lightly answered the other. +"How mighty it is! How savage! What tusks! You know the pastime? A +quick step, a sure arm, an eye like lightning—presto! your boar lies +on his back, with his feet in the air! You, my Lord, are the boar; +big, clumsy, brutal! Shall we begin the sport? I promise to prick you +with every rush." +</P> + +<P> +The prospective bridegroom paused thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"There is some justice in what you say," he returned, his manner that +of a man who has carefully weighed and considered a matter. "I confess +to partiality for the thick of the fray, the brunt of the fight, where +men press all around you." +</P> + +<P> +"Assuredly, my Lord; for then the boar is in his element; no matter how +he rushes, his tusks strike yielding flesh." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should we fight at all—at present?" cautiously ventured the +noble, with further hesitation. "Not that I doubt I could easily crush +you"—extending his muscular arms—"but you <I>might</I> prick me, and, just +now, discretion may be the better part of valor. I—a duke, engaged to +wed a princess, have much to lose; you, nothing! A fool's stroke might +kill a king." +</P> + +<P> +"Or a knave, my Lord!" added the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Or a knave, sirrah!" thundered the duke, the veins starting out on his +forehead. +</P> + +<P> +The jester half drew his dagger; his quiet confidence and glittering +eye impressed even his antagonist, inured to scenes of violence and +strife. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a truce, most noble Lord?" said the fool, significantly. "A +truce wherein we may call black, black; and white, white! A truce +which may be broken by either of us, with due warning to the other?" +</P> + +<P> +Knitting his brow, the noble stood motionless, deeply pondering, his +headlong passion evidently at combat with his judgment; then his face +cleared, a hard, brusque laugh burst from his lips and he brought his +fist violently down on the massive oak table near the door. +</P> + +<P> +"So be it!" he assented, with a more open look. +</P> + +<P> +"A truce—without any rushes from the boar?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fool! Does not my word suffice?" contemptuously retorted the duke. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; for although you are—what you are—you have been a soldier, and +would not break a truce." +</P> + +<P> +"Such commendation from—my jester is, indeed, flattering!" satirically +remarked the king's guest, seating himself in a great chair which +brought him face to face with the fool and yet commanded the door, the +intruder's only means of retreat. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, the duke's jester, you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; mine!" +</P> + +<P> +"A distinction with a difference!" retorted the fool. "It is quite +true I am the duke's jester; it is equally untrue I am yours. +Therefore, we reach the conclusion that you and the duke are two +different persons. Plainly, not being the duke, you are an impostor. +Have you any fault to find with my reasoning?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary," answered the other, with no sign of anger or +surprise, "your reasoning is all that could be desired. Why should I +deny what you already know? I was aware, of course, that you knew, +when I first learned his jester was in the castle. Frankly, I am not +the duke—to you!" +</P> + +<P> +"But with Francis and the court?" suggested the fool, uplifting his +brows. +</P> + +<P> +"I am the duke—and such remain! You understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly, my Lord," replied the jester, shrugging his shoulders. +"But since I am not the king, nor one of the courtiers, whom, for the +time being, have I the honor of addressing? But, perhaps, I am +over-inquisitive." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," said the other, with mocking ceremony. "You are a +whimsical fellow; besides, I am taken with a man who stands near death +without flinching. To tell you the truth, our truce is somewhat to my +liking. There are few men who would have dared what you have to-night. +And although you're only a fool—will you drink with me from this +bottle on the table here? I'm tired of ceremonies of rank and would +clink a glass in private with a merry fellow. What say you?" +</P> + +<P> +And leaning over, he filled two large goblets with the rich beverage +from a great flask placed on the stand for his convenience. His face +lighted with gross conviviality, but behind his jovial, free manner, +that of a trooper in his cups, gleamed a furtive, guarded look, as +though he were studying and testing his man. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm for a free life; some fighting; but snug walls around for +companionship," he continued. "Look at my soldiers now; roistering, +love-making! Charles? Francis? Not one of the troop would leave me +for emperor or king! Not one but would follow me—where ambition +leads!" Holding up the glass, he looked into the depths of the thick +burgundy. "Why, a likely fellow like you should carry a gleaming +blade, not a wooden sword. I know your duke—a man of lineage—a +string of titles long as my arm—an underling of the emperor, while +I"—closing his great jaw firmly—"owe allegiance to no man, or +monarch, which is the same thing. Drink, lad; I'm pleased I did not +kill you." +</P> + +<P> +"And I," laughed the <I>plaisant</I>, "congratulate myself you are still +alive—for the wine is excellent!" +</P> + +<P> +"Still alive!" exclaimed the king's guest, boisterously, although a +dark shadow crossed his glance. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm scarred from head to foot, and my hide is as tough as—" +</P> + +<P> +"A boar's?" tapping his chin with the fool's head on his wand. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you will have your jest," retorted the host of the occasion, +good-naturedly. "It's bred in the bone. A quality for a soldier. +Next to courage is that fine sense of humor which makes a man a <I>bon +camarade</I>. Put down your graven image, lad; you were made to carry +arms, not baubles. Put it down, I say, and touch glasses with Louis, +of Pfalz-Urfeld." +</P> + +<P> +"The bastard of Hochfels!" exclaimed the jester, fixedly regarding the +man whose name was known throughout Europe for his reckless bravery, +his personal resources and his indomitable pride or love of freedom and +independence, which held him aloof from emperor or monarch, and made +him peer and leader among the many intractable spirits of the Austrian +country who had not yet bowed their necks to conquest; a soldier of +many battles, whose thick-walled fortress, perched picturesquely in +mid-air on a steep mountain top, established his security on all sides. +</P> + +<P> +"The same, my friend of the motley," continued the other, not without +complacency, observing the effect of his announcement on the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"He who calls himself the free baron of Hochfels?" observed the fool, +setting down the glass from which he had moderately partaken. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye; a man of royal and peasant blood," harshly answered the +free-booter. "Ambition, arrogance, are the kingly inheritance; +strength, a constitution of iron, the low-born legacy. What think you +of such an endowment?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are far from your castle, my Lord of Hochfels," commented the +jester, absently, unmindful of a question he felt not called upon to +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet as safe as in my own mountain nest," retorted the free baron, +or free-booter, indifferently. "Who would betray me? There is not a +trooper of mine but would die for his master. You would not denounce +me, because—but why enumerate the reasons? I hold you in the palm of +my hand, and, when I close my fingers, there's the end of you." +</P> + +<P> +"But where—allow me; the wine has a rare flavor," and he reached for +the flask. +</P> + +<P> +"Drink freely," returned the pretender; "it is the king's own, and you +are my guest. You were about to ask—" +</P> + +<P> +"Whence came the idea for this mad adventure?" said the jester, his +eyes seemingly bent in admiration on the goblet he held; a half globe +of crystal sustained by a golden Bacchus. +</P> + +<P> +"Idea!" repeated the self-called baron, with a gesture of satisfaction. +"It was more than an idea. It was an inspiration, born of that chance +which points the way to greatness. The feat accomplished, all Europe +will wonder at the wanton exploit. At first Francis will rage; then +seeing me impregnably intrenched, will make the best of the marriage, +especially as the groom is of royal blood. Next, an alliance with the +French king against the emperor. Why not; was not Francis once ready +to treat even with Solyman to defeat Charles, an overture which shocked +Christendom? And while Charles' energies are bent to the task of +protecting his country from the Turks, a new leader appears; a +devil-may-care fellow—and then—and then—" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off abruptly; stared before him, as though the fumes of wine +were at last beginning to rise to his head; toyed with his glass and +drank it quickly at a draft. "What an alluring will-o'-the-wisp +is—to-morrow!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"An illusive hope that reconciles us with to-day," answered the +<I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Illusive!" cried the other. "Only for poets, dreamers, fools!" +</P> + +<P> +"And you, Sir Baron, are neither one nor the other," remarked the +jester. "No philosopher, but a plain soldier, who chops heads—not +logic. But the inspiration that caused you to embark upon this +hot-brained, pretty enterprise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Upon a spur of rock that overlooks the road through the mountain is +set the Vulture's Nest, Sir Fool," began the adventurer in a voice at +once confident and arrogant. "At least, so the time-honored fortress +of Hochfels is disparagingly designated by the people. As the road is +the only pass through the mountains, naturally we come more or less in +contact with the people who go by our doors. Being thus forced, +through the situation of our fortress, into the proximity of the +traveling public, we have, from time to time, made such sorties as are +practised by a beleaguered garrison, and have, in consequence, taken +prisoners many traffickers and traders, whose goods and chattels were +worthy of our attention as spoils of war. Generally, we have confined +our operations to migratory merchants, who carry more of value and +cause less trouble than the emperor's soldiers or the king's troopers, +but occasionally we brush against one of the latter bands so that we +may keep in practice in laying our blades to the grindstone, and also +to show we are soldiers, not robbers." +</P> + +<P> +"Which remains to be proved," murmured the attentive jester. "Your +pardon, noble Lord"—as the other half-started from his chair—"let me +fill your glass. 'Tis a pity to neglect such royal wine. Proceed with +your story. Come we presently to the inspiration?" +</P> + +<P> +"At once," answered the apparently appeased master of the fortress, +wiping his lips. "One day our western outpost brought in a messenger, +and, when we had stripped the knave, upon him we found a miniature and +a letter from the princess to the duke. The latter was prettily writ, +with here and there a rhyme, and moved me mightily. The eagle hath its +mate, I thought, but the vulture of Hochfels is single, and this +reflection, with the sight of the picture and that right, fair script, +saddened me. +</P> + +<P> +"And then, on a sudden, came the inspiration. Why not play a hand in +this international marriage Charles and Francis were bringing about? I +commanded the only road across the mountain; therefore, did command the +situation. The emperor and the king should be but the wooden figures, +and I would pull the strings to make them dance. The duke, your +master, why should he be more than a name? The princess' letter told +me she had never seen her betrothed. What easier than to redouble the +sentries in the valley, make prisoners of the messengers, clap them in +the fortress dungeons, read the missives, and then despatch them to +their respective destinations by men of my own?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then that was the reason why on my way through the mountains your +knaves attacked me?" said the listener quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly; to search you. How you slipped through their hands I know +not." And he glanced at the other curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"They were but poor rogues," answered the jester quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly are you not one!" exclaimed the free baron, with a glance of +approval at the slender figure of his antagonist. "Two of them paid +for their carelessness. The others were so shamed, they told me some +great knight had attacked them. A fool in motley!" he laughed. "No +wonder the rogues hung their heads! But in deceiving me," he added +thoughtfully, "they permitted their master to run into an unknown +peril—his ignorance that a fool of the duke, or a fool wearing the +emblem of the emperor, had gone to Francis' court." +</P> + +<P> +"You were saying, Sir Free Baron, you intended to read the messages +between the princess and the duke, and afterward to despatch them by +messengers of your own?" interrupted the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Such were my plans. Moreover, I possessed a clerk—a knave who had +killed an abbot and fled from the monastery—a man of poetry, wit and +sentiment. Whenever the letters lacked for ardor, and the lovers had +grown too timid, him I set to forge a postscript, or indite new +missives, which the rogue did most prettily, having studied love-making +under the monks. And thus, Sir Fool, I courted and won the +princess—by proxy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Of a certainty, your wooing was at least novel, Sir Knight of the +Vulture's Nest," dryly observed the jester. "Although, had my master +known the deception, you would, perhaps, have paid dearly for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Your master, forsooth!" laughed the outlaw lord. "A puny scion of a +worn-out ancestry! Such a woman as the princess wants a man of brawn +and muscle; no weakling of the nursery." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the fool, slowly, "you became intermediary between the +princess and the duke, and the king and the emperor. But to come into +the heart of France; to the king's very palace—did you not fear +detection?" +</P> + +<P> +"How?" retorted the other, raising his head and resting his eyes, +bloodshot and heavy, on the fool's impassive features. "The road +between the two monarchs is mine; no message can now pass. The emperor +and the duke may wonder, but the way here is long, and"—with a +smile—"I have ample time for the enterprise ere the alarm can be +given." +</P> + +<P> +"And you paved the way for your coming by altering the letters of the +duke, or forging new ones?" suggested the listener. +</P> + +<P> +"How else? A word added here and there; a post-script, or even a page! +As for their highnesses' seals, any fool can break and mend a seal. In +a week the duke will wonder at the princess' silence; in a fortnight he +will become uneasy; in a month he will learn the cage has been left +open and the bird hath flown. Then, too, shall the gates of the +dungeon be set ajar, and the true, but tardy, messengers permitted to +go their respective ways. Is it not a nice adventure? Am I not a +fitter leader than your duke?" +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly," returned the jester. "He sits at home, while you are +here in his stead. But what will the princess say when she learns?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing. She loves me already." +</P> + +<P> +The fool turned pale; the hand that held his glass, however, was firm, +and he set the goblet down without a tremor. +</P> + +<P> +"She may weep a little, but it will pass like a summer shower. Women +are weak; women are yielding. Have I not reason to know?" he burst +out. "I, a—" +</P> + +<P> +Brusquely he arose from his chair, leaving the sentence uncompleted. +Sternly he surveyed the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not take service with me?" he continued, abruptly. "Austria is +ripe to revolt against the tyranny of the emperor. With the discontent +in the Netherlands, the dissensions in Spain, Europe is like a field, +cut up, awaiting new-comers." +</P> + +<P> +He paused to allow the force of his words to appeal to the other's +imagination. "What say you?" he continued. "Will you serve me?" +</P> + +<P> +"The matter's worth thinking over," answered the fool, evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, take your time," said the king's guest, regarding him more +sharply. "And now, as the candles are low and the flask is empty, you +had better take your leave." +</P> + +<P> +At this intimation that the other considered the interview ended, the +fool started to his feet and deliberately made his way to the door +opening into the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night!" he said, and was about to depart when the free baron held +him with a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold! Why have you not attempted to unmask me—before?" +</P> + +<P> +Steadily the two looked at each other; the eyes of the elder man, +cruel, deep, all-observing; those of the younger, steady, fearless, +undismayed. Few of his troopers could withstand the sinister +penetration of Louis of Hochfels' gaze, but on the jester it seemed to +have no more effect than the casual glance of one of Francis' courtiers. +</P> + +<P> +"You knew—and yet you made no sign?" continued the master of the +fortress. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I like a strong play and did not wish to spoil it—too soon!" +</P> + +<P> +The questioner's brow fell; the lids half-veiled the dark, savage eyes, +but the mouth relaxed. "Ah, you always have your answer," he returned +with apparent cordiality. "Good-night—and, by the by, our truce is at +an end." +</P> + +<P> +"The truce—and the wine," said the jester, as with a ceremonious bow, +he vanished amid the shadows in the hall. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the free baron closed the door and locked it; looked at the +cross and at the bed, but made no motion toward either. +</P> + +<P> +"He has already rejected my proposal," thought the self-styled duke. +"Does he seek for higher rewards by betraying me? Or is it, then, +Triboulet told the truth? Is he an aspiring lover of the princess? Or +is he only faithful to his master? Why have I failed to read him? As +though a film lay across his eyes, that index to a man's soul!" +</P> + +<P> +Motionless the free baron stood, long pondering deeply, until upon the +mantel the richly-chased clock began to strike musically, yet +admonishingly. Whereupon he glanced at the cross; hesitated; then, +noting the lateness of the hour, and with, perhaps, a mental +reservation to retrieve his negligence on the morrow, he turned from +the silver, bejeweled symbol and immediately sought the sensuous bodily +enjoyment of a couch fit for a king or the pope himself. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL +</H3> + +<P> +Another festal day had come and gone. The crimson shafts of the dying +sun had succumbed to the lengthening shadows of dusk, and the pigeons +were wending their way homeward to the castle parapets and battlements, +when, toward the arched entrance on the front, strode the duke's fool. +Beyond the castle walls and the inclosure of the pleasure grounds the +peace of twilight rested on the land; the great fields lay becalmed; +the distant forests were bivouacs of rest. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon had been a labor of pleasure; about the great basin of +the fountain had passed an ever-varying shifting of moving figures; +between the trees bright colors appeared and vanished, and from the +heart of concealed bowers had come peals of laughter or strains of +music. Unnoticed among the merry throng in palace and park, the jester +had moved aimlessly about; unobserved now, he turned his back upon the +gray walls, satiated, perhaps, with the fêtes inaugurated by the kingly +entertainer. But as he attempted to pass the gate, a stalwart guard +stepped forward, presenting a formidable-looking glave. +</P> + +<P> +"Your permit to leave?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"A permit? Of course!" replied the fool, and felt in his coat. "But +what a handsome weapon you have; the staff all covered with velvet and +studded with brass tacks!" +</P> + +<P> +"Has the Emperor Charles, then, no such weapons?" asked the gratified +soldier. +</P> + +<P> +"None so handsome! May I see it?" The guard unsuspiciously handed the +glave to the jester, who immediately turned it upon the sentinel. +</P> + +<P> +"Give it back, fool!" cried the alarmed guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I am minded to call out and show a soldier of France disarmed by +a foreign fool." +</P> + +<P> +"As well chop off my head with it!" sighed the man. +</P> + +<P> +"And if I wish to walk without the gate?" suggested the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, good fool!" replied the other, without hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here is the glave. If any one admires it again, let him study +the point. But why may no one pass out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because so many soldiers and good citizens have been beaten and robbed +by those who hover around the palace. But you may go in peace," he +added. "No one will harm a fool. If 'tis amusement you seek, there's +a camp on the verge of the forest where a dark-haired, good-looking +baggage dances and tells cards. You can find the place from the noise +within, and if you're merry, they'll welcome you royally. Go; and God +be with you!" +</P> + +<P> +The jester turned from the good-natured guard and quickly walked down +the road, which wound gracefully through the valley and lost itself +afar in a fringe of woodland. A light pattering on the hard earth +behind caused him to look about. Following was a dog that now sprang +forward with joyous demonstration. The fool stooped and gravely +caressed the hound which last he had seen at the princess' feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," he said, "thou art now the fool's only friend at court." +</P> + +<P> +When again he moved on with rapid, nervous stride, the animal came +after. Darker grew the road; deeper hued the fields and stubble; more +somber the distant castle against the gloaming. Only the cry of a +diving night-bird startled the stillness of the tranquil air; a +rapacious filcher that quickly rose, and swept onward through the sea +of night. Its melancholy note echoed in the breast of the fool; +mechanically, without relaxing his swift pace, he looked upward to +follow it, when a short, sharp bark behind him and a premonition of +impending danger caused him to spring suddenly aside. At the same time +a dagger descended in the empty air, just grazing the shoulder of the +jester, who, recovering himself, grasped the arm of his assailant and +grappled with him. Finding him a man of little strength, the fool +easily threw him to the earth and kneeling on his breast in turn +menaced the assailant with the weapon he had wrested from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any reason, knave, why I should spare you?" asked the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"If I had—for want of breath—it would fail me!" answered the +miscreant with some difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +The duke's jester arose. "Get up, rogue!" he said, and the man obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +He was a pale, gaunt fellow, with long hair, unshaven face, hollow +cheeks, and dark eyes, set deeply in his head and shaded by thick, +black brows. His dress consisted of a rough doublet, with lappet +sleeves, carried down to a point, tight leggings, broad shoes and the +puffed upper hose; the entire raiment frayed and worn; his flesh, or, +rather, his bones, showing through the scanty covering for his legs, +while his feet were no better protected than those of a trooper who has +been long on the march. He displayed no fear or enmity; on the +contrary, his manner was rather friendly than otherwise, as though he +failed to understand the enormity of his offense and the position in +which he was placed. Shifting from one foot to another, he crossed his +great, thin hands before him and patiently awaited his captor's +pleasure. The latter surveyed him curiously, and, noting his woebegone +features and beggarly attire, pity, perhaps, assuaged his just anger +toward this starveling. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you wish to kill me?" asked the jester quietly, if somewhat +impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"It was not my wish, Master Fool," gently replied the other, but even +as he spoke the resignation in his manner gave way to a look of +apprehension. Lifting his hand, he felt in his breast and glanced +about him on the road. Then his face brightened. +</P> + +<P> +"With your permission—I have e'en dropped something—" +</P> + +<P> +And stooping, the scamp-scholar picked up a small, leathern-bound +volume from the ground, where it had fallen during the struggle, and +held it tightly clutched in his hand. "Ah," he muttered with a glad +sigh, "I feared I had lost it—my Horace! And now, Sir Jester, what +would you with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"A question I might answer with a question," replied the fool. "Having +failed in your enterprise, why should I spare you?" +</P> + +<P> +"You shouldn't," returned the vagabond-student. "The ancients teach +but the irrevocable law of retribution." +</P> + +<P> +To hear a would-be assassin, a castaway out of pocket and heels and +elbows, calmly proclaiming the Greek doctrine of inevitableness, under +such circumstances, would have surprised an observer even more +experienced and worldly than the duke's fool. Involuntarily his face +softened; this <I>pauvre diable</I> gazed upon eternity with the calm eyes +of a Socrates. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not then beg for life?" said the <I>plaisant</I>, his former +impatience merging into mild curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it worth begging for?" asked the straitened book-worm. "Life means +a pinched stomach, a cold body; Death, no hunger to fear, and a bed +that, though cold, chills us not. What we know not doth not exist—for +us; ergo, to lie in the earth is to rest in the lap of luxury, for all +our consciousness of it. But to be unconscious of the ills of this +perishable frame, Horace likewise must be as dead to us as our aches +and pains. Thus is life made preferable to death. Yes; I would live. +Hold, though—" he again hesitated in deep thought—"what avails Horace +if—" he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what new data have entered in the premises?" observed the +wondering jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Nanette!" was the gloomy answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Who, pray, is Nanette?" asked the fool, thrusting his assailant's +weapon in his jerkin. +</P> + +<P> +"A wanton haggard whose tongue will run post sixteen stages together! +Who would make the devil himself malleable; then, work, hammer and +wire-draw him!" +</P> + +<P> +"And what is she to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My wife! That is, she claims that exalted place, having married me +one night when I was in my cups through a false priest who dresses as a +Franciscan monk. 'Fools in the court of God' are these priests called, +and truly he is a jester, for certainly is he no true monk. But +Nanette, nevertheless, asserts she is the lawful partner of my sorrows. +So work your will on me. A stroke, and the shivering spirit is wafted +across the Styx." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I gave you not only your life—for a consideration hereafter to +be mentioned—but a small silver piece as well?" suggested the jester, +who had been for some moments buried in thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha!" ejaculated the scamp-student, brightening. "Your gift would +match the piece I already have and which—dolt that I was!—I +overlooked to include in my chain of reasoning." And thrusting his +hand into his ragged doublet, after some search he extracted a +diminutive disk upon which he gazed not without ardor. "Thus are we +forced to start the chain of reasoning anew," he remarked, "with Horace +and this bit of metal on one side of the scales and Nanette on the +other. Now unless the devil sits on the beam with Nanette—which he's +like to do—the book and the bit of dross will outweigh her and we +arrive at the certitude that life, qualified as to duration, may be +happily endured." +</P> + +<P> +"What argument does the dross carry, knave?" demanded the fool, looking +down at the hound that crouched at his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"With it may be purchased that which warms the pinched stomach. With +it may be bought an elixir, so strong and magical, it may breed +defiance even of Nanette. Sir Fool, I have concluded to accept life +and the small silver piece." +</P> + +<P> +"Well and good," commented the jester. "But there are conditions +attached to my clemency." +</P> + +<P> +"Conditions!" retorted the vagabond. "What are conditions to a +philosopher, once he has reached a logical assurance?" +</P> + +<P> +"First, you must find me a horse. Your Nanette, as I take it, is a +gipsy and in the camp, are, surely, horses." +</P> + +<P> +"But why should you want a horse? 'Tis not far to the castle?" said +the puzzled scholar. +</P> + +<P> +"No; but 'tis far away from it. Next, tell me where you got that small +piece of silver, like the one I have promised you?" +</P> + +<P> +"From Nanette." +</P> + +<P> +"What for?" +</P> + +<P> +"To accomplish that which I have failed to do," replied the student, +willingly. "But, alas, not having earned it, have I the right idly to +spend it?" he added, dolefully, half to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did Nanette—" began the jester. +</P> + +<P> +But the other raised his arm with an expostulatory gesture. "Many +things I know," he interrupted; "odds and ends of erudition, but a +woman's mind I know not, nor want to know. I had as soon question +Beelzebub as her; yea, to stir up the devil with a stick. If sparing +my life is contingent on my knowing why she does this, or that, then +let me pay the debt of nature." +</P> + +<P> +"No; 'tis slight punishment to take from a man that which he values so +little he must reason with himself to learn if he value it at all," +returned the duke's jester, slowly. "We'll waive the question, if you +find me the horse." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis Nanette you must ask. There's but one, old, yet serviceable—" +</P> + +<P> +"Then take me to Nanette." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. Follow me, sir; and if you're still of a mind when you see +her, you can question her." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, is she so weird and witch-like to look upon?" said the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; the devil hides his claws behind the daintiest fingers, all pink +and white. He conceals his cloven hoof in a slipper, truly sylph-like." +</P> + +<P> +"You arouse my curiosity. I would fain meet this fair monster." +</P> + +<P> +"Come then, Master Fool," replied the scamp-student, leaving the road +for the field to the right, and the jester, after a moment's +deliberation, turned likewise into the stubble, while the hound, as if +satisfied with the service it had performed, slowly retraced its way +toward the castle, stopping, however, now and then to look around after +the two men, whose figures grew smaller and smaller in the distance. +For some space they walked in silence; then the scholar paused, and, +pointing to a low, rambling house that once had been a hunter's lodge +and now had fallen into decay, exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"There's where she lives, fool. I'll warrant she's not alone." +</P> + +<P> +At the same time a clamor of voices and a chorus of rough melody, +coming from the cottage, confirmed the assurance his spouse was not, +indeed, holding solitary vigil. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis e'en thus every night," murmured the scamp student in a +melancholy tone. "She gathers 'round her the scum of all rudeness; +ragged alchemists of pleasure, who sing incessantly, like grasshoppers +on a summer day." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the horse?" said the jester, abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Stalled in one of the rooms for safe keeping. There are so many +rascals and thieves around, you see—" +</P> + +<P> +"They e'en rob one another!" returned the fool. +</P> + +<P> +Advancing more cautiously, the two men approached the ancient +forester's dwelling, the hue and cry sounding louder as they drew near, +a mingled discord of laughter, shouting and caterwauling, with a +woman's piercing voice at times dominating the general vociferation. +The philosopher shook his head despondingly, while, creeping to one of +the windows, the jester looked in. +</P> + +<P> +Near the fire was a misshapen creature, a sort of monstrous imbecile +that chattered and moaned; a being that bore some resemblance to the +ancient morios once sold at the olden Forum Morionum to the ladies who +desired these hideous animals for their amusement. At his feet +gamboled a dwarf that squeaked and screeched, distorting its face in +hideous grimaces. Scattered about the room, singing, bawling or +brawling, were indigent morris dancers; bare-footed minstrels; a +pinched and needy versificator; a reduced mountebank; a swarthy clown, +with a hare's mouth; joculators of the streets, poor as rats and living +as such, straitened, heedless fellows, with heads full of nonsense and +purses empty, poor in pocket, but rich in <I>plaisanterie</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the table, with cards in her lap, which she studied idly, sat a +hard-featured, deep-bosomed woman, neither old nor uncomely, with +thick, black hair, coarse as a horse's mane, cheeks red as a berry, +glowing with health. In her pose was a certain savage grace, an +untrammeled freedom which revealed the vigorous outlines of a +well-proportioned figure. Her eye was bright as a diamond and bold as +a trooper's; when she lifted her head she looked disdainfully, +scornfully, fiercely, upon the strange and monstrous company of which +she was queen. +</P> + +<P> +"Where can the thief-friar be?" muttered the student. "He is usually +not far off from sweet Nanette." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean the monk who had a hand in your nuptials?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who else? He, the source of all ill. He who gave her the money of +which she e'en presented me a moiety. Whoever employed him—was it +your friends, gentle sir?—rewarded him with gold. Being a craven +rogue, I e'en suspect him of shifting the task to myself for a beggarly +pittance, whilst he is off with the lion's share." +</P> + +<P> +The jester, watching the company within, made no reply. From the +student to the woman, to the friar, was a chain leading—where? He +found it not difficult to surmise. Suddenly Nanette threw down the +cards and laughed harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither the devil nor his imps could read the things that are +happening in the castle!" +</P> + +<P> +Then abruptly springing from the table, she made her way to the fire, +over which hung a pot of some savory stew, a magnet to the company's +sharp desire; for throughout all the boisterous merriment wandering +glances had invariably returned to it. To reach the kettle and make +herself mistress of the culinary preparations, she cuffed a dwarf with +such vigor that he hobbled howling from a suspicious proximity to the +appetizing mess to a safe refuge beneath the table. With equally +dauntless spirit, she pushed aside the herculean morio who had been +childishly standing over the pot, licking his fingers in eager +anticipation; whereupon the imbecile set up a sharp cry that blended +with the deeper roar of the lilliputian. +</P> + +<P> +"And I caught the rabbit!" piteously bellowed the latter from his +retreat. +</P> + +<P> +"And I found the turnips!" cried the colossal idiot, tears running down +his lubberly cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Peace, you demons!" exclaimed the woman, waving the spoon at them, +"or, by the hell-born, you'll ne'er taste morsel of it!" +</P> + +<P> +Quieted by this stupendous threat, they closed their mouths and opened +their eyes but the wider, while the gipsy spouse of the student stirred +and stirred the mixture in the iron pot, gazing at the fire with +frowning brow as though she would read some page of the future in the +leaping flames. +</P> + +<P> +"Saw you but now how she served the dwarf and the overgrown lump?" +whispered the student to the duke's fool. "Are you still minded to +meet her?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer the jester left the window, stepped to the door, and, +opening it, strode into the room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE +</H3> + +<P> +As the duke's fool suddenly appeared in the crowded apartment, the +hubbub abruptly ceased; the minstrels and mountebanks gazed in surprise +at the slender figure of the alien jester whose rich garments +proclaimed him a personage of importance, one who had reached that +pinnacle in buffoonery, the high office of court <I>plaisant</I>. The morio +crouched against the wall, his fear of the new-comer as great as his +body was large; the garret minstrels stopped strumming their +instruments, while the woman at the fire uttered a quick exclamation +and dropped the spoon with a clatter to the floor, where it was +promptly seized by the dwarf, who, taking advantage of the woman's +consternation, thrust it greedily to his lips. But soon recovering +from her wonderment, the gipsy soundly boxed the dwarf's ears, +recovered her spoon and set herself once more to stirring the contents +of the pot. +</P> + +<P> +The jester observed her for a moment—the heavy, bare arm moving round +and round over the kettle; her sunburnt legs uncovered to the knee; the +masculine attitude of her figure with the torn and worn garments that +covered her—and she seemed to him a veritable trull of disorder and +squalor. The gipsy, too, looked at him over her shoulder, and, as she +gazed, her hand went slower and slower, until all motion ceased, and +the spoon lay on the edge of the pot, when she turned deliberately, +offering him the full sight of her bold cheeks and shameless eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you Nanette, wife of this philosopher?" asked the duke's fool, +approaching, and indicating the miserable scamp who clung near the +doorway as one undecided whether to enter or run away. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I am Nanette, his true and lawful spouse," she answered with a +shrill laugh. "Wilt come to me, true-love?" she called out to her +apprehensive yoke-mate. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I'll go out in the air a while," hurriedly replied the +vagabond-scholar, and quickly vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, how he loves me!" she continued. +</P> + +<P> +"So much he prefers a cony-burrow to his own fireside," said the fool +dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"A hole i' the earth is too good for such a scurvy fellow," she +retorted. "But what would you here, fool? A song, a jest, a dance? +Or have you come to learn a new story, or ballad, for the lordlings you +must entertain?" Unabashed, she approached a step nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"Your stories, mistress, would be unsuited for the court, and your +ballads best unsung," he retorted. "I came, not to sharpen my wits, +but to learn from whom the thief-friar got the small piece of silver +you gave your consort, and, also, to procure a horse." +</P> + +<P> +Her brazen eyes wavered. "A horse and a fool flying," she muttered. +"Even what the cards showed. The fool seeking the duke!" A puzzled +look crossed her face. "But the duke is here?" she continued to +herself. "A strange riddle! All the signs show devilment, but what it +is—" +</P> + +<P> +"Good Nanette," interrupted the jester, satirically, "I have no time +for spells or incantation." +</P> + +<P> +"How dared you come here," she said, hoarsely, "after—" +</P> + +<P> +"After your mate proved but an indifferent servant of yours?" he +concluded, meeting her sullen gaze with one so stern and inflexible +that before it her eyes fell. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you not know," she said, endeavoring to maintain a hardened front, +"I have but to say the word, and all these friends of mine would tear +you to pieces? What would you do, my pretty fellows, an I ask you?" +she cried out, her voice rising audaciously. "Would you suffer this +duke's jester to stand against me?" +</P> + +<P> +Glances of suspicion and animosity shot from a score of eyes; fists +were half-clenched; knives appeared in a trice from the concealment of +rags, and a low murmur arose from the gathering. Even the imbecile +morio, nature's trembling coward, became suddenly valiant, and, with +huge frame uplifted, seemed about to spring savagely upon the fool. An +expression of disgust replaced all other feeling on the features of the +duke's <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Spare me your threats, Nanette," he replied, coldly. "Had you +intended to set them on me, you would have done it long ere this." +</P> + +<P> +The woman hesitated. His calm, almost contemptuous, confidence was not +without its effect upon her. Had he trembled, she would have spoken, +but before his disdain, and the gay splendor of his attire, conspicuous +amid rags from rubbish heaps, she felt a sudden consciousness of her +own unclean environment; at the same time unusual warnings in her +conjurations recurred to her. Something about him—was it dignity or +pride or a nameless fear she herself experienced but could not +understand?—beat down her eyes and she turned them doggedly away. +</P> + +<P> +Abruptly she moved to the fire and again began to stir the mess, while +the suppressed excitement in the room at once subsided. A minstrel +lightly touched his battered dulcimer; a poet hummed a song in the +dialect of thieves; a juggler began practising some deft work for hand +and eye, and he of the hare lip sank quietly into a corner and +patiently watched the simmering pot. The dwarf, with some misgiving, +as a dog that is beaten crawls cautiously out of its kennel, crept from +beneath the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mistress," he whimpered, "some of it has boiled over!" +</P> + +<P> +"Boiled over!" echoed the morio, mournfully. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time the woman grasped the handle of the heavy kettle, +lifted it from the jack, displaying in her bared arms the muscles of a +man, and, staggering beneath the load, bore it steaming to the table. +Amid the subsequent confusion, the gipsy held aloof from the demolition +of the rabbit, and, seating herself at the foot of the table, began +moodily once more to turn the cards. +</P> + +<P> +A merry droll acted as host and dipped freely for all with the long +spoon, commenting the while he dispensed the mess according to the +wants of the miscellaneous gathering: "Pot-luck! 'Tis luck, and +they're no field mice in it! There's everything else!" or "A bit of +rabbit, my masters! I'll warrant he'll hop down your throats as fast +as e'er he jumped a hillock." And, when one ate too greedily, slap +went a spoonful of gravy o'er him with: "I thought you would catch it, +knave!" +</P> + +<P> +"Are they not blithe devils 'round the caldron?" muttered the woman. +"There it is again!"—Bending over the bits of pasteboard on the table. +"The duke here! And the fool on horseback! What do the cards mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I must have the horse, Nanette," said the duke's jester, standing +motionless and firm before the fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you the fool?" she asked, more to herself than him. "Why does he +wish to ride away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you sell me the horse?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated. Around them danced the shadows of the kettle-gourmands: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"A kern and a drole, a varlet and a blade<BR> +A drab and a rep, a skit and a jade—"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +sang the street poet; the dwarf and the morio (a lilliputian and +Gulliver) fought a mimic combat; the juggler and the clown, who could +eat no more, were keeping time to a chorus by beating with their empty +trenchers on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Sell you the horse? For what?" asked the gipsy. +</P> + +<P> +"For five gold pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"A fool with five gold pieces!" she exclaimed, incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Here! You may see them." And he opened a purse he carried at his +girdle. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not let them know," she said, hurriedly. "They would kill you +and—" +</P> + +<P> +"You would not get the money," he added, significantly. "If you act +quickly, find me a horse and let me go; it is you, not they, who will +profit." +</P> + +<P> +Abruptly she rose. "It is fate," she remarked, her eyes greedy. +</P> + +<P> +His glance, as he stood there, proud and stern, cut her sharply. "Say +cupidity, Nanette!" he laughed softly. "It is more profitable not to +betray me. In the one case you get much; in the other, little." +</P> + +<P> +"Stay here," she replied, hastily. "I'll fetch the horse." And +vanished. +</P> + +<P> +A moment he remained, then resolutely turning to the door through which +she had disappeared, opened it, and found himself in a combined +sleeping-room and stable; a dark apartment, with floor of hardened +earth and a single window, open to wind and weather. The atmosphere in +this chamber for man and beast was impregnated with the smell of mold +and dry-rot, mingled with the livelier effluvium of dirt and grime of +years; but amid the malodor and mustiness, on a couch under the window, +slumbered and snored the false Franciscan monk. By his side was a +tankard, half-filled with stale sack, and in his hand he clutched a +gold piece as though he had had an intimation it would be safer there +than elsewhere on his person during the pot-valiant sleep he had +deliberately courted. His hood had fallen back, displaying a bullet +head, red cheeks and purple nose, while the wooden beads of this +sottish counterfeit of a friar trailed from his girdle on the ground. +From a stall in a far corner a large, bony-looking nag turned its head +reproachfully, as if mentally protesting against such foul quarters and +the poor company they offered. Its melancholy whinny upon the +appearance of the woman was a sigh for freedom; a sad suspiration to +the memory of radiant clover fields or poppy-starred meadows. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here's a holy man worn out by too many paternosters," commented +the duke's fool, standing on the threshold; and then gazed from the +gold piece in the monk's hand to the woman. "I need not ask where you +got the silver, Nanette. 'Tis a chain of evidence leading—where?" +</P> + +<P> +The gipsy replied only with dark looks, regarding his intrusion in this +inner sanctuary as a fresh provocation for her just displeasure. The +jester, however, paid no attention to these signs of new acerbity on +her face. +</P> + +<P> +Crossing to the couch, he shook the monk vigorously, but the latter +only held his piece of money tighter like a miser whose treasure is +threatened, and snored the louder. Again the fool essayed to waken +him, and this time he opened his eyes, felt for his beads and commenced +to mutter a prayer in Latin words, strung together in meaningless +phrases. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," commented the jester, "his learning is as false as his cloak. +Wake up, sirrah! Would you approach Heaven's gate with a feigned +prayer on your lips and a toss-pot in your hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Christe tuum</I>—I absolve you! I absolve you!" muttered the friar. +"Go your way in peace." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear me, thou trumped-up monk; do you want another piece of gold?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gold!" repeated the other, tipsily. "What—what for? To—to help +some fool to paradise—or purgatory? 'Tis for the Church I beg, good +people. The holy Church—Church I say!" +</P> + +<P> +Winking and blinking, seeing nothing before him, he held out a +trembling hand. "The piece of gold—give it to me!" he mumbled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; in exchange for your cloak," answered the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"My cloak, thou horse-leech! Sell my skin for—piece of gold! Want my +cloak? Take it!" And the dissembler rolled over, extending his arms. +The jester grasped the garment by the sleeves and with some difficulty +whipped it from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now hand me—the money and—cover me with rags that—I may sleep," +continued the beer-bibber. "So"—as he grasped the money the fool gave +him and stretched himself luxuriously beneath a noisome litter of +cast-off clothes and rubbish—"I languish in ecstasies! The +angels—are singing around me." +</P> + +<P> +With growing surprise and ill-humor had the woman observed this novel +proceeding, and now, when the jester had himself donned the false +friar's gown, she said grudgingly: +</P> + +<P> +"You did not give him one of the five pieces?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; there are still five left." +</P> + +<P> +"A bit of gold for a cloak!" she grumbled. "It is overmuch. But +there!" Unfastening a door that looked out upon the field. "Give me +the money and be gone." +</P> + +<P> +He grasped the bridle of the horse, handed her the promised reward, +and, drawing the hood of the monk's garment over his head, led the nag +out into the open air. The door closed quickly behind him and he heard +the wooden bolt as it shot into place. Above the dark outlines of the +forest, the moon, full-orbed, now shone in the sky, with a myriad +attendant stars, its silver beams flooding the open spaces and +revealing every detail, soft, dreamy, yet distinct. A languorous, +redolent air just stirred the waving grain, on which rested a glossy +shimmer. +</P> + +<P> +As the fool was about to spring upon the horse, a shadow suddenly +appeared around the corner of the house and the animal danced aside in +affright. Before the jester could quiet and mount the nag, the shadow +resolved itself into a man, and, behind him, came a numerous band, the +play of light on helmet, sword and dagger revealing them as a party of +troopers. Doubtless having indulged freely, they had become inclined +to new adventures, and accordingly had bent their footsteps toward the +"little house on the verge of the wood," where merry company was always +to be found. At the sight of the duke's fool and the horse they +pressed forward, and, with one accord, surrounded him. +</P> + +<P> +"The Franciscan monk!" cried one. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he going so late with the nag?" asked another. +</P> + +<P> +"He's off to confess some one," exclaimed a third. +</P> + +<P> +"A petticoat, most likely, the rogue!" rejoined the second speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what have we to do with his love affairs?" laughed the first +trooper. "Ride on, good father, and keep tryst." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ride on!" the others called out. +</P> + +<P> +The monk bowed. An interruption which had promised to defeat his +designs seemed drawing to a harmless conclusion. His hopes ran high; +the soldiers had not yet penetrated beneath the costume; he had already +determined to leap upon the horse in a rush for freedom when a heavy, +detaining hand was laid on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, knave!" said a deep voice, and, wheeling sharply, the fool +looked into the keen, ferret eyes of the trooper with the red +mustaches. "I have a question to ask. Have you done that which you +were to do?" +</P> + +<P> +The friar nodded his assent. "The fool will trouble the duke no more," +he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, he is"—began the soldier. +</P> + +<P> +"Even so. And now pray let me pass." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; let him pass!" urged one of the soldiers. "Would you keep some +longing trollop waiting?" +</P> + +<P> +The leader of the troopers did not answer; his glance was bent upon the +ground. "Yes, you may go," he commented, "when—" and suddenly thrust +forth an arm and pulled back the enshrouding cloak. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke's fool!" he cried. "Close in, rogues! Let him not escape." +</P> + +<P> +Fiercely the fool's hand sought his breast; then, swiftly realizing +that it needed but a pretext to bring about the end desired by the +pretender in the castle, with an effort he restrained himself, and +confronted his assailants, outwardly calm. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis a poor jest which fails," he said, easily. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest!" grimly returned he of the red mustaches. "Call you it a jest, +this monk's disguise? Once on the horse, it would have been no jest, +and I'll warrant you would soon have left the castle far behind. Yes; +and but for the cloven foot, the jest, as you call it, would have +succeeded, too. Had it not been," he added, "for the pointed, silken +shoe, peeping out from beneath the holy robe—a covering of vanity, +instead of holy nakedness—you would certainly have deceived me, +and"—with a brusque laugh—"slipped away from your master, the duke." +</P> + +<P> +"The duke?" said the jester, as casting the now useless cloak from him, +he deliberately scrutinized the rogue. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke," returned the man, stolidly. "Well, this spoils our sport +for to-night, knaves," he went on, turning to the other troopers, "for +we must e'en escort the jester back to the castle." +</P> + +<P> +"Beshrew him!" they answered, of one accord. "A plague upon him!" +</P> + +<P> +And slowly the fool and the soldiers began to retrace their way across +the moon-lit fields, the trooper with the red mustaches grumbling as +they went: "Such luck to turn back now, with all those mad-caps right +under our nose! A curse to a dry march over a dusty meadow! An +unsanctified dog of a monk! 'Tis like a campaign, with naught but +ditch water to drink. The devil take the friar and the jester! +Forward! the fool in the center, and those he would have fooled around +him!" +</P> + +<P> +And when they disappeared in the distance the gipsy woman might have +been seen leaving the house by the stable door and leading in the horse. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR +</H3> + +<P> +Between Caillette and the duke's jester had arisen one of those +friendships which spring more from similitude than unlikeness; an amity +of which each had been unconscious in its inception, but which had +gradually grown into a sentiment of comradeship. Caillette was of +noble mien, graceful manner and elegant address; a soldier by +preference; a jester against his will, forced to the office by the +nobleman who had cared for and educated him. In the duke's fool he had +found his other self; a man who like himself lent dignity to the gentle +art of jesting; who could turn a rhyme and raise a laugh without +resorting to grossness. +</P> + +<P> +The line of demarcation between the clown and the merry-and-wise wit +was, in those days, not clearly drawn. The stories of the former, +which made the matrons look down and the maidens to hide their faces, +were often more appreciated by the inebriate nobles than some subtile +comicality or nimble lines of poetry, that would serve to take home and +think over, and which improved with time like a wine of sound body. +Triboulet abused the ancient art of foolery, thought Caillette; the +duke's <I>plaisant</I> played upon it with true drollery, and as a master +who has a delicate ear for an instrument, so Caillette, being sensitive +to broadness or stupidity which masked as humor or pleasantry, turned +naturally from the mountebank to the true jester. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, Caillette experienced a superior sadness, sifted through +years of infestivity and gloom, beginning when Diane was led to the +altar by the grand seneschal of Normandy, that threw an actual, albeit +cynical, interest about the love-tragedy of the duke's fool which the +other divined and—from his own past heart-throbs—understood. The +<I>plaisant</I> to the princess' betrothed, Caillette would have sworn, was +of gentle birth; his face, manner and bearing proclaimed it; he was, +also, a scholar and a poet; his courage, which Caillette divined, +fitted him for the higher office of arms. Certainly, he became an +interesting companion, and the French jester sought his company on +every occasion. And this fellowship, or intimacy, which he courted was +destined to send Caillette forth on a strange and adventuresome mission. +</P> + +<P> +The day following the return of the duke's fool to the castle, Francis, +who early in his reign had sought to model his life after the +chivalrous romances, inaugurated a splendid and pompous tournament. +Some time before, the pursuivants had proclaimed the event and +distributed to the knights who were to take active part the shields of +arms of the four <I>juges-diseurs</I>, or umpires of the field. On this +gala occasion the scaffolds and stands surrounding the arena were +bedecked in silks of bright colors; against the cloudless sky a +thousand festal flags waved and fluttered in the gentle breeze; beneath +the tasseled awning festoons of bright flowers embellished gorgeous +hangings and tapestries. +</P> + +<P> +The king rode from the castle under a pavilion of cloth of gold and +purple velvet, with the letters F and R, boldly outlined, followed by +ladies and courtiers, pages and attendants. Amid the shouts and huzzas +of the people, the monarch and his retinue took their places in the +center of the stand, the royal box hung with ornate brocades and +trimmings. +</P> + +<P> +In an inclosure of white, next to that of the king, was seated the Lady +of the Tournament, the Princess Louise, and her maids of honor, arrayed +all in snowy garb, and, against the garish brilliancy of the general +background, a pompous pageantry of colors, the decoration of this +dainty nook shone in silvery contrast. A garland of flowers was the +only crown the lady wore; no other adornment had her fair shoulders +save their own argent beauty, of which the fashion of the day permitted +a discernible suggestion. One arm hung languorously across the +railing, as she leaned forward with seeming carelessness, but intently +directed her glance to the scene below, where the attendants were +arranging the ring or leading the wondrously pranked-out chargers to +their stalls. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her, motionless as a statue, with face that looked paler, and +lips the redder, and hair the blacker, stood the maid Jacqueline. If +the casual glance saw first the blond head, the creamy arms and sunny +blue eyes of the princess, it was apt to linger with almost a start of +wonder upon the striking figure of the jestress, a nocturnal touch in a +pearly picture. +</P> + +<P> +"On my word, there's a decorative creature for any lord to have in his +house," murmured the aged chancellor of the kingdom, sitting near the +monarch. "Who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"A beggar's brat Francis found here when he took the castle," replied +the beribboned spark addressed. "You know the story?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the white-haired diplomat, half-sadly. "This castle once +belonged to the great Constable of Dubrois. When he fell from favor +the king besieged him; the constable fled and died in Spain. That +much, of course, I—and the world—know. But the girl—" +</P> + +<P> +"When our victorious monarch took possession of this ancient pile," +explained the willing courtier, "the only ones left in it were an old +gamekeeper and his daughter, a gipsy-like maid who ran wild in the +woods. Time hath tamed her somewhat, but there she stands." +</P> + +<P> +"And what sad memories of a noble but unfortunate gentleman cluster +around her!" muttered the chancellor. "Alas, for our brief hour of +triumph and favor! Yesterday was he great; I, nothing. To-day, what +am I, while he—is nothing." +</P> + +<P> +A great murmur, resolving itself into shouts and resounding outcry, +interrupted the noble's reminiscent mood, as a thick-set figure in +richly chased armor, mounted on a massive horse, crossed the arena. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Bon Vouloir!</I>" they cried. "<I>Bon Vouloir!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +It was the name assumed by the free baron for the day, while other +knights were known for the time being by such euphonious and chivalrous +appellations as <I>Vaillant Desyr</I>, <I>Bon Espoir</I> or <I>Coeur Loyal</I>. <I>Bon +Vouloir</I>, upon this popular demonstration, reined his steed, and, +removing his head-covering, bowed reverently to the king and his suite, +deeply to the Lady of the Tournament and her retinue, and carelessly to +the vociferous multitude, after which he retired to a large tent of +crimson and gold, set apart for his convenience and pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +From the purple box the monarch had nodded graciously and from the +silver bower the lady had smiled softly, so that the duke had no reason +for dissatisfaction; the attitude of the crowd was of small moment, an +unmusical accompaniment to the potent pantomime, of which the principal +figures were Francis, the King Arthur of Europe, and the princess, +queen of beauty's unbounded realm. +</P> + +<P> +In front of the duke's pavilion was hung his shield, and by its side +stood his squire, fancifully dressed in rich colors. Behind ranged the +men of arms, whose lances formed a fence to hold in check the people +from far and wide, among whom the pick-purses, light-fingered scamps, +and sturdy beggars conscientiously circulated, plying themselves +assiduously. The fashion of the day prescribed carrying the purse and +the dagger dangling from the girdle, and many a good citizen departed +from the tourney without the one and with the other, and it is needless +to say which of the two articles the filcher left its owner. And none +was more enthusiastic or demonstrative of the features of the lists +than these rapacious riflers, who loudly cheered the merry monarch or +shouted for his gallant knights, while deftly cutting purse-cords or +despoiling honest country dames of brooches, clasps or other treasured +articles of adornment. +</P> + +<P> +Near the duke's pavilion, to the right, had been pitched a commodious +tent of yellow material, with ropes of the same color, and a fool's cap +crowning the pole in place of the customary banner. Over the entrance +was suspended the jester's gilded wand and a staff, from which hung a +blown bladder. Here were quartered the court jesters whom Francis had +commanded to be fittingly attired for the lists and to take part in the +general combat. In vain had Triboulet pleaded that they would occasion +more merriment if assigned to the king's box than doomed to the arena. +</P> + +<P> +"That may be," Francis had answered, "but on this occasion all the +people must witness your antics." +</P> + +<P> +"Antics!" Triboulet had shuddered. "An I should be killed, your +Majesty?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then it will be amusing to see you quiet for once in your life," had +been the laughing reply. +</P> + +<P> +And with this poor assurance the dwarf had been obliged to content +himself—not merrily, 'tis true, but with much inward disquietude, +secretly execrating his monarch for this revival of ancient and +barbarous practices. +</P> + +<P> +Now, in the rear of the jesters' pavilion, his face was yellow with +trepidation, as the armorer buckled on the iron plates about his +stunted figure, fastening and riveting them in such manner, he mentally +concluded he should never emerge from that frightful shell. +</P> + +<P> +"The worst of it is," dryly remarked the hunchback's valet as he +briskly plied his little hammer, "these clothes are so heavy you +couldn't run away if you wanted to." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that the duke were married and out of the kingdom!" Triboulet +fervently wished, and the fiery comments of Marot, Villot and those +other reckless spirits, who seemed to mind no more the prospect of +being spitted on a lance than if it were but a novel and not unpleasant +experience to look forward to, in no wise served to assuage his +heart-sinking. +</P> + +<P> +At the entrance of the pavilion stood Caillette, who had watched the +passing of <I>Bon Vouloir</I> and now was gazing upward into a sea of faces +from whence came a hum of voices like the buzzing of unnumbered bees. +</P> + +<P> +"Certes," he commented, "the king makes much of this unmannered, +lumpish, beer-drinking noble who is going to wed the princess." +</P> + +<P> +"Caillette," said the low voice of the duke's jester at his elbow, +"would you see a woman undone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, <I>mon ami</I>!" lightly answered the French fool, "I've seen many +undone—by themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," returned the other, "I appeal to your chivalry, and you answer +with a jest." +</P> + +<P> +"How else," asked Caillette, with a peculiar smile that was at once +sweet and mournful, "can one take woman, save as a jest—a pleasant +mockery?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your irony precludes the test of friendship—the service I was about +to ask of you," retorted the duke's fool, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Test of friendship!" exclaimed the poet. "'Tis the only thing I +believe in. Love! What is it? A flame! a breath! Look out there—at +the flatterers and royal sycophants. Those are your emissaries of +love. Ye gods! into the breasts of what jack-a-dandies and parasites +has descended the unquenchable fire of Jove! Now as for +comradeship"—placing his hand affectionately on the other's +shoulder—"by Castor and Pollux, and all the other inseparables, 'tis +another thing. But expound this strange anomaly—a woman wronged. Who +is the woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Princess Louise!" +</P> + +<P> +Caillette glanced from the place where he stood to the center of the +stand and the white bower, inclining from which was a woman, haughty, +fair, beautiful; one whose face attracted the attention of the +multitude and who seemed not unhappy in being thus scrutinized and +admired. Shaking his head slowly, the court poet dropped his eyes and +studied the sand at his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"She looks not wronged," he said, dryly. "She appears to enjoy her +triumphs." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet, Caillette, 'tis all a farce," answered the duke's jester. +</P> + +<P> +"So have I—thought—on other occasions." +</P> + +<P> +And again his gaze flew upward, not, however, to the lady whom Francis +had gallantly chosen for Queen of Beauty, but, despite his alleged +cynicism, to a corner of the king's own box, where sat she who had once +been a laughing maid by his side and with whom he had played that +diverting pastoral, called "First Love." It was only an instant's +return into the farcical but joyous past, and a moment later he was +sharply recalled into the arid present by the words of his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"The man the Princess Louise is going to marry is no more Robert, the +Duke of Friedwald, than you are!" exclaimed the foreign fool. "He is +the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld, the so-called free baron of Hochfels. His +castle commands the road between the true duke and Francis' domains. +He made himself master of all the correspondence, conceived the plan to +come here himself and intends to carry off the true lord's bride. +Indeed, in private, he has acknowledged it all to me, and, failing to +corrupt me to his service, last night set an assassin to kill me." +</P> + +<P> +His listener, with folded arms and attentive mien, kept his eyes fixed +steadily upon the narrator, as if he doubted the evidence of his +senses. Without, the marshals had taken their places in the lists and +another stentorian dissonance greeted these officers of the field from +the good-humored gathering, which, basking in the anticipation of the +feast they knew would follow the pageantry, clapped their hands and +flung up their caps at the least provocation for rejoicing. Upon the +two jesters this scene of jubilation was lost, Caillette merely bending +closer to the other, with: +</P> + +<P> +"But why have you not denounced him to the king?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because of my foolhardiness in tacitly accepting at first this +free-booter as my master." +</P> + +<P> +Caillette shot a keen glance at the other and smiled. His eyes said: +"Foolhardiness! Was it not, rather, some other emotion? Had not the +princess leaned more than graciously toward her betrothed and—" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought him but some flimsy adventurer," went on the duke's fool, +hastily, "and told myself I would see the play played out, holding the +key to the situation, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"You underestimated him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. His plans were cunningly laid, and now—who am I that the +king should listen to me? At best, if I denounce him, they would +probably consider it a bit of pleasantry, or—madness." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," reluctantly assented Caillette, Triboulet's words, "a fool in +love with the princess!" recurring to him; "it would be undoubtedly +even as you say." +</P> + +<P> +The duke's jester looked down thoughtfully. He had only half-expressed +to the French <I>plaisant</I> the doubts which had assailed him since his +interview with Louis of Hochfels. Who could read the minds of +monarchs? The motives actuating them? Should he be able to convince +Francis of the deception practised upon him, was it altogether unlikely +that the king might not be brought to condone the offense for the sake +of an alliance with this bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld and the other +unconquerable free barons of the Austrian border against Charles +himself? Had not Francis in the past, albeit openly friendly with the +emperor, secretly courted the favor of the powerful German nobles in +Charles' own country? Had not his covenant with the infidel, Solyman, +been a covert attempt to undermine the emperor's power? +</P> + +<P> +From the day when, as young men, both had been aspirants for the +imperial throne of Germany and Francis had suffered defeat, the latter +had assiduously devoted himself to the retributory task of gaining the +ascendancy over his successful rival. And now, although the tempering +years had assuaged their erstwhile passions and each had professed to +eschew war and its violence, might not this temptation prove too great +for Francis to resist a last blow at the emperor's prestige? How easy +to affect disbelief of a fool, to overthrow the fabric of friendship +between Charles and himself, and at the same time apparently not +violate good faith or conscience! +</P> + +<P> +The voice of Caillette broke in upon his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"You will not then attempt to denounce him?" +</P> + +<P> +The fool hesitated. "Alone—out of favor with the king, I like not to +risk the outcome—but—if I may depend upon you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Did ever friend refuse such a call?" exclaimed Caillette, promptly. A +quick glance of gratitude flashed from the other's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one flaw in the free baron's position," resumed the duke's +fool, more confidently; "a fatal one 'twill prove, if it is possible to +carry out my plans. He thinks the emperor is in Austria, and his +followers guard the road through the mountains. He tells himself not +only are the emperor and the Duke of Friedwald too far distant to hear +of the pretender and interfere with the nuptials, but that he obviates +even the contingency of their learning of that matter at all by +controlling the way through which the messengers must go. Thus rests +he in double security—but an imaginary one." +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you?" asked Caillette, attentively, from his manner giving +fuller credence to the extraordinary news he had just learned. +</P> + +<P> +"That Charles, the emperor, is not in Austria, but in Aragon at +Saragossa, where he can be reached in time to prevent the marriage. +Just before my leaving, the emperor, to my certain knowledge, secretly +departed for Spain on matters pertaining to the governing of Aragon. +Charles plays a deep game in the affairs of Europe, though he works +ever silently and unobtrusively. Is he not always beforehand with your +king? When Francis was preparing the gorgeous field of the cloth of +gold for his English brother, did not Charles quietly leave for the +little isle, and there, without beat of drum, arrange his own affairs +before Henry was even seen by your pleasure-loving monarch? Yes; to +the impostor and to Francis, Charles is in Austria; to us—for now you +share my secret—is he in Spain, where by swift riding he may be found, +and yet interdict in this matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why—haven't you ere this fled to the emperor with the news?" +</P> + +<P> +"Last night I had determined to get away, when first I was assaulted by +an assassin of the impostor, and next detained by his troop and brought +back to the castle. I had even left on foot, trusting to excite less +suspicion, and hoping to find a horse on the way, but fortune was with +the pretender. So here am I, closely watched—and waiting," he added +grimly. +</P> + +<P> +The listener's demeanor was imperturbability itself. He knew why the +other had taken him into his confidence, and understood the silent +appeal as plainly as though words had uttered it. Perhaps he duly +weighed the perils of a flight without permission from the court of the +exacting and capricious monarch, and considered the hazards of the trip +itself through a wild and brigand-infested country. Possibly, the +thought of the princess moved him, for despite his irony, it was his +mocking fate to entertain in his breast, against his will, a covert +sympathy for the gentler sex; or, looking into the passionate face of +his companion, he may have been conscious of some bond of brotherhood, +a fellow-feeling that could not resist the call upon his good-will and +amicable efforts. The indifference faded from Caillette's face and +almost a boyish enthusiasm shone in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mon ami</I>, I'll do it!" he exclaimed, lightly. "I'll ride to the +emperor for you." +</P> + +<P> +Silently the jester of the duke wrung his hand. "I've long sighed for +an adventure," laughed Caillette. "And here is the opportunity. +Caillette, a knight-errant! But"—his face falling—"the emperor will +look on me as a madman." +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," replied the duke's <I>plaisant</I>, "here is a letter. When he reads +it he will, at least, think the affair worth consideration. He knows +me, and trusts my fidelity, and will be assured I would not jest on +such a serious matter. Believe me, he will receive you as more than a +madman." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, then, 'twill be a rare adventure," commented the other. +"Wandering in the country; the beautiful country, where I was reared; +away from the madness of courts. Already I hear the wanton breezes +sighing in Sapphic softness and the forests' elegiac murmur. Tell me, +how shall I ride?" +</P> + +<P> +"As a knight to the border; thence onward as a minstrel. In Spain +there's always a welcome for a blithe singer." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis fortunate I learned some Spanish love songs from a fair señora +who was in Charles' retinue the time he visited Francis," added +Caillette. "An I should fail?" he continued, more gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"You will not fail," was the confident reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I am of your mind, but things will happen—sometimes—and why do you +not speak to the princess herself—to warn her—" +</P> + +<P> +"Speak to her!" repeated the duke's jester, a shadow on his brow. +"When he has appealed to her, perhaps—when—" He broke off abruptly. +His tone was proud; in his eyes a look which Caillette afterward +understood. As it was, the latter nodded his head wisely. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman whose fancy is touched is—what she is," he commented, +generally. "Truly it would be a more thankless task, even, than +approaching the king. For women were ever creatures of caprice, not to +be governed by any court of logic, but by the whimsical, fantastic +rules of Marguerite's court. Court!" he exclaimed. "The word suggests +law; reason; where merit hath justice. Call it not Love's Court, but +love's caprice, or crochet. But look you, there's another channel to +the princess' mind—yonder black-browed maid—our ally in motley—when +she chooses to wear it—Jacqueline." +</P> + +<P> +"She likes me not," returned the fool. "Would she believe me in such +an important matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid not," tranquilly replied Caillette, "in view of the +improbability of your tale and the undoubted credentials held by this +pretender. For my part, to look at the fellow was almost enough. But +to the ladies, his brutality signifieth strength and power; and his +uncouthness, originality and genius. Marguerite, even, is prepossessed +in his favor and has written a platonic poem in his honor. As for the +princess"—pressing the other's arm gently—"do you not know, <I>mon +ami</I>, that women are all alike? There is but one they obey—the +king—that is as high as their ambitions can reach—and even him they +deceive. Why, the Countess d'Etampes—but this is no time for gossip. +We are fools, you and I, and love, my friend, is but broad farce at the +best." +</P> + +<P> +Even as he spoke thus, however, from the lists came the voices of the +well-instructed heralds, secretaries of the occasion, who had delved +deeply into the practices of the merry and ancient pastime: "Love of +ladies! For you and glory! Chivalry but fights for love. Look down, +fair eyes!" a peroration which was answered with many pieces of silver +from the galleries above, and which the gorgeously dressed officials +readily unbent to gather. Among the fair hands which rewarded this +perfunctory apostrophe to the tender passion none was more lavish in +offerings than those matrons and maids in the vicinity of the king. A +satirical smile again marred Caillette's face, but he kept his +reflections to himself, reverting to the business of the moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I should be off at once!" he cried. "But what can we do? The king +hath commanded all the jesters to appear in the tournament to-day, +properly armed and armored, the better to make sprightlier sport amid +the ponderous pastime of the knights. Here am I bound to shine on +horseback, willy-nilly. Yet this matter of yours is pressing. Stay! +I have it. I can e'en fall from my horse, by a ruse, retire from the +field, and fly southward." +</P> + +<P> +"Then will I wish you Godspeed, now," said the duke's fool. "Never was +a stancher heart than thine, Caillette, or a truer friend." +</P> + +<P> +"One word," returned the other, not without a trace of feeling which +even his cynicism could not hide. "Beware of the false duke in the +arena! It will be his opportunity to—" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," answered the duke's fool, again warmly pressing +Caillette's hand, "but with the knowledge you are fleeing to Spain I +have no fear for the future. If we meet not after to-day—" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, life's but a span, and our friendship has been short, but sweet," +added the other. +</P> + +<P> +Now without sounded a flourish of trumpets and every glance was +expectantly down-turned from the crowded stand, as with a clatter of +hoofs and waving of plumes France's young chivalry dashed into the +lists, divided into two parties, took their respective places and, at a +signal from the musicians, started impetuously against one another. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS +</H3> + +<P> +In that first "joyous and gentle passage of arms," wherein the weapons +were those "of courtesy," their points covered with small disks, +several knights broke their lances fairly, two horsemen of the side +wearing red plumes became unseated, and their opponents, designated as +the "white plumes," swept on intact. +</P> + +<P> +"Well done!" commented the king from his high tribunal, as the squires +and attendants began to clear the lists, assisting the fallen +belligerents to their tents. "We shall have another such memorable +field as that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch!" +</P> + +<P> +The following just, reduced to six combatants, three of the red plumes +and three of the white, was even yet more spirited than the first tilt, +for the former trio couched their lances with the determination to +retrieve the day for their party. In this encounter two of the whites +were unhorsed, thus placing the contention once more on an equal basis, +while in the third conflict the whites again suffered similar disaster, +and but one remained to redeem his party's lapse from an advantage +gained in the opening combat. +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were now fastened upon this single remnant of the white +fellowship in arms, who, to wrest victory from defeat, became obliged +to overcome each in turn of the trio of reds, a formidable task for one +who had already been successful in three stubborn matches. It was a +hero-making opportunity, but, alas! for the last of the little white +company. Like many another, he made a brave dash for honor and the +"bubble reputation"; the former slipped tantalizingly from his grasp, +and the latter burst and all its pretty colors dissolved in thin air. +Now he lay still on the sands and the king only remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"Certes, he possessed courage." +</P> + +<P> +And the words sounded like an epitaph, a not inglorious one, although +the hand that gripped the lance had failed. The defeated champion was +removed; the opportunity had passed; the multitude stoically accepted +the lame and impotent conclusion, and the tournament proceeded. +</P> + +<P> +Event followed event, and those court ladies who at first had professed +their nerves were weaker than their foremothers' now watched the arena +with sparkling eyes, no longer turning away at the thrilling moment of +contact. Taking their cue from the king, they were lavish in praise +and generous in approval, and at an unusual exhibition of skill the +stand grew bright with waving scarfs and handkerchiefs. Simultaneous +with such an animated demonstration from the galleries would come a +roar of approval from the peasantry below, crowded where best they +could find places, bespeaking for their part, likewise, an increasing +lust for the stirring pastime. +</P> + +<P> +In truth, the only dissatisfied onlookers were the quick-fingered +spoilers and rovers who, packed as close as dried dates in a basket by +the irresistible forward press of the people, found themselves suddenly +occupationless, without power to move their arms, or ply their hands. +Thus held in a mighty compress, temporary prisoners with their spoils +in their pockets, and cheap jewelry shining enticingly all about them, +they were obliged for the time to comport themselves like honest +citizens. But, although their bodies were in durance vile, their eyes +could roam covetously to a showy trinket on the broad bosom of some +buxom good-wife, or a gewgaw that hung from the neck of a red-cheeked +lass. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha!" muttered the scamp-student to his good spouse, "here are all the +jolly boys immersed to their necks, like prisoners buried in the sand +by the Arabs." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" she whispered, warningly. "See you yonder—the duke's fool; he +wears the arms of Charles, the emperor." +</P> + +<P> +"And there's the Duke of Friedwald himself," answered the ragged +scholar. "Look! the jesters are going to fight. They have arranged +them in two parties. Half of them go with the duke and his knights; +the other half with his Lordship's opponents." +</P> + +<P> +"But the duke's fool, by chance, is set against his master," she +mumbled, significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Call you it chance?" he said in a low voice, and Nanette nudged him +angrily in the side with her elbow, so that he cried out, and attention +would have been called to them but for a ripple of laughter which +started on the edge of the crowd and was taken up by the serried ranks. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! ho! Look at Triboulet!" shouted the delighted populace. "Ah, the +droll fellow!" +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were now bent to the arena, where, on a powerful nag, sat +perched the misshapen jester. With whip and spur he was vehemently +plying a horse that stubbornly stood as motionless as carven stone. +Thinking at the last moment of a plan for escape from the dangerous +features of the tourney, the hunchback had bribed one of the attendants +to fetch him a steed which for sullen obduracy surpassed any charger in +the king's stables. Fate, he was called, because nothing could move or +change him, and now, with head pushed forward and ears thrust back, he +proved himself beneath the blows and spurring of the seemingly excited +rider, worthy of this appellation. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Fate; go on!" exclaimed the apparently angry dwarf. "Will you +be balky now, when Triboulet has glory within his grasp? Miserable +beast! unhappy fate! When bright eyes are watching the great +Triboulet!" +</P> + +<P> +If not destined to score success with his lance, the dwarf at least had +won a victory through his comical situation and ready wit. Fair ladies +forgot his ugliness; the pages his ill-humor; the courtiers his +vindictive slyness; the monarch the disappointment of his failure to +worst the duke's fool, and all applauded the ludicrous figure, +shouting, waving his arms, struggling with inexorable destiny. +Finally, in despair, his hands fell to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, resistless necessity!" he cried. But in his heart he said: "It is +well. I am as safe as on a wooden horse. Here I stand. Let others +have their heads split or their bodies broken. Triboulet, like the +gods, views the carnage from afar." +</P> + +<P> +While this bit of unexpected comedy riveted the attention of the +spectators the duke and his followers had slowly ridden to their side +of the inclosure. Here hovered the squires, adjusting a stirrup, +giving a last turn to a strap, or testing a bridle or girth. Behind +stood the heralds, trumpeters and pursuivants in their bright garb of +office. At his own solicitation had the duke been assigned an active +part in the day's entertainment. The king, fearing for the safety of +his guest and the possible postponement of the marriage should any +injury befall him, had sought to dissuade him from his purpose, but the +other had laughed boisterously at the monarch's fears and sworn he +would break a lance for his lady love that day. Francis, too gallant a +knight himself to interpose further objection to an announcement so in +keeping with the traditions of the lists, thereupon had ordered the +best charger in his stables to be placed at the disposal of the +princess' betrothed, and again nodded his approbation upon the +appearance of the duke in the ring. But at least one person in that +vast assemblage was far from sharing the monarch's complaisant mood. +</P> + +<P> +If the mind of the duke's fool had heretofore been filled with +bitterness upon witnessing festal honors to a mere presumptuous free +baron, what now were his emotions at the reception accorded him? From +king to churl was he a gallant noble; he, a swaggerer, ill-born, a +terrorist of mountain passes. Even as the irony of the demonstration +swept over the jester, from above fell a flower, white as the box from +whence it was wafted. Downward it fluttered, a messenger of amity, +like a dove to his gauntlet. And with the favor went a smile from the +Lady of the Lists. But while <I>Bon Vouloir</I> stood there, the symbol in +his hand and the applause ringing in his ears, into the tenor of his +thoughts, the consciousness of partly gratified ambition, there crept +an insinuating warning of danger. +</P> + +<P> +"My Lord," said the trooper with the red mustache, riding by the side +of his master, "the fool is plotting further mischief." +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you?" asked the free baron, frowning, as he turned toward +his side of the field. +</P> + +<P> +"Go slowly, my Lord, and I will tell you. I saw the fool and another +jester with their heads together," continued the trooper in a low tone. +"They were standing in front of the jesters' tent. You bade me watch +him. So I entered their pavilion at the back. Making pretext to be +looking for a gusset for an armor joint, I made my way near the +entrance. There, bending over barbet pieces, I overheard fragments of +their conversation. It even bore on your designs." +</P> + +<P> +"A conversation on my designs! He has then dared—" +</P> + +<P> +"All, my Lord. A scheming knave! After I had heard enough, I gathered +up a skirt of tassets—" +</P> + +<P> +"What did you hear?" said the other, impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"A plan by which he hoped to let the emperor know—" +</P> + +<P> +A loud flourish of trumpets near them interrupted the free baron's +informer, and when the clarion tones had ceased it was the master who +spoke. "There's time but for a word now. Come to my tent afterward. +Meanwhile," he went on, hurriedly, "direct a lance at the fool—" +</P> + +<P> +"But, my Lord," expostulated the man, quickly, "the jesters only are to +oppose one another." +</P> + +<P> +"It will pass for an accident. Francis likes him not, and will clear +you of unknightly conduct, if—" He finished with a boldly significant +look, which was not lost upon his man. +</P> + +<P> +"Even if the leaden disk should fall from my lance and leave the point +bare?" said the trooper, hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +"Even that!" responded the free baron, hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Laissez-aller!</I>" cried the marshals, giving the signal to begin. +</P> + +<P> +Above, in her white box, the princess turned pale. With bated breath +and parted lips, she watched the lines sweep forward, and, like two +great waves meeting, collide with a crash. The dust that arose seemed +an all-enshrouding mist. Beneath it the figures appeared, vague, +undefined, in a maze of uncertainty. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" exclaimed Louise, striving to penetrate the cloud; "he is +victorious!" +</P> + +<P> +"They have killed him!" said Jacqueline, at the same time staring +toward another part of the field. +</P> + +<P> +"Killed him!—what—" began the princess, now rosy with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"No; he has won," added the maid, in the next breath, as a portion of +the obscuring mantle was swept aside. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course! Where are your eyes?" rejoined her mistress triumphantly. +"The duke, is one of the emperor's greatest knights." +</P> + +<P> +"In this case, Madam, it is but natural your sight should be better +than my own," half-mockingly returned the maid. +</P> + +<P> +And, in truth, the princess was right, for the king's guest, through +overwhelming strength and greater momentum, had lightly plucked from +his seat a stalwart adversary. Others of his following failed not in +the "attaint," and horses and troopers floundered in the sand. Apart +from the duke's victory, two especial incidents, one comic, stood out +in the confused picture. +</P> + +<P> +That which partook of the humorous aspect, and was seen and appreciated +by all, had for its central figure an unwilling actor, the king's +hunchback. Like the famous steed builded by the Greeks, Triboulet's +"wooden horse" contained unknown elements of danger, and even while the +jester was congratulating himself upon absolute immunity from peril the +nag started and quivered. At the flourish of the brass instruments his +ears, that had lain back, were now pricked forward; he had once, in his +palmy, coltish time, been a battle charger, and, perhaps, some memory +of those martial days, the waving of plumes and the clashing of arms, +reawoke his combative spirit of old. Or, possibly his brute +intelligence penetrated the dwarf's knavish pusillanimity, and, +changing his tactics that he might still range on the side of +perversity, resolved himself from immobility into a rampant agency of +motion. Furiously he dashed into the thick of the conflict, and +Triboulet, paralyzed with fear and dropping his lance, was borne +helplessly onward, execrating the nag and his capricious humor. +</P> + +<P> +Opposed to the hunchback rode Villot, who, upon reaching the dwarf and +observing his predicament, good-naturedly turned aside his point, but +was unable to avoid striking him with the handle as he rode by. To +Triboulet that blow, reëchoing in the hollow depths of his steel shell, +sounded like the dissolution of the universe, and, not doubting his +last moment had come, mechanically he fell to earth, abandoning to its +own resources the equine Fate that had served him so ill. Striking the +ground, and, still finding consciousness had not deserted him, instinct +prompted him to demonstrate that if his armor was too heavy for him to +run away in, as the smithy-<I>valet de chambre</I> had significantly +affirmed, yet he possessed the undoubted strength and ability to crawl. +Thus, amid the guffaws of the peasantry and the smiles of the nobles, +he swiftly scampered from beneath the horses' feet, hurriedly left the +scene of strife, and finally reached triumphantly the haven of his tent. +</P> + +<P> +The other incident, witnessed by Jacqueline, was of a more serious +nature. As the lines swept together, with the dust rising before, she +perceived that the duke's trooper had swerved from his course and was +bearing down upon the duke's fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she whispered to herself, "the master now retaliates on the +jester." And held her breath. +</P> + +<P> +Had he, too, observed these sudden perfidious tactics? Apparently. +Yet he seemed not to shun the issue. +</P> + +<P> +"Why does he not turn aside?" thought the maid. "He might yet do it. +A fool and a knight, forsooth!" +</P> + +<P> +But the fool pricked his horse deeply; it sprang to the struggle madly; +crash! like a thunderbolt, steed and rider leaped upon the trooper. +Then it was Jacqueline had murmured: "They have killed him!" not +doubting for a moment but that he had sped to destruction. +</P> + +<P> +A second swift glance, and through the veil, less obscure, she saw the +jester riding, unharmed, his lance unbroken. Had he escaped, after +all? And the trooper? He lay among the trampling horses' feet. She +saw him now. How had it all come about? Her mind was bewildered, but +in spite of the princess' assertion to the contrary, her sight seemed +unusually clear. +</P> + +<P> +"Good lance, fool!" cried a voice from the king's box. +</P> + +<P> +"The jester rides well," said another. "The knight's lance even passed +over his head, while the fool's struck fairly with terrific force." +</P> + +<P> +"But why did he select the jester as an adversary?" continued the first +speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"Mistakes will happen in the confusion of a <I>mêlée</I>—and he has paid +for his error," was the answer. And Jacqueline knew that none would be +held accountable for the treacherous assault. +</P> + +<P> +Now the fool had dismounted and she observed that he was bending over +another jester who had been unhorsed. "Why," she murmured to herself +in surprise, "Caillette! As good a soldier as a fool. Who among the +jesters could have unseated him?" +</P> + +<P> +But her wonderment would have increased, could she have overheard the +conversation between the duke's fool and Caillette, as the former +lifted the other from the sands and assisted him to walk, or rather +limp, to the jesters' pavilion. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I not tell you to beware of the false duke?" muttered Caillette, +not omitting a parenthesis of deceptive groans. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, if it had only been he, instead," began the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," interrupted the seemingly injured man, "think you to stand up +against the boar of Hochfels?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would I might try!" said the other quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your success with the trooper has turned your head," laughed +Caillette, softly. "One last word. Look to yourself and fear not for +me. Mine injuries—which I surmise are internal as they are not +visible—will excuse me for the day. Nor shall I tarry at the palace +for the physician, but go straight on without bolus, simples or pills, +a very Mercury for speed. Danger will I eschew and a pretty maid shall +hold me no longer than it takes to give her a kiss in passing. Here +leave me at the tent. Turn back to the field, or they will suspect. +Trust no one, and—you'll mind it not in a friend, one who would serve +you to the end?—forget the princess! Serve her, save her, as you +will, but, remember, women are but creatures of the moment. Adieu, +<I>mon ami</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +And Caillette turned as one in grievous physical pain to an attendant, +bidding him speedily remove the armor, while the duke's fool, more +deeply stirred than he cared to show, moved again to the lists. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE +</H3> + +<P> +Loud rang encomium and blessing on the king, as the people that night +crowded in the rear courtyard around the great tables set in the open +air, and groaning beneath viands, nutritious and succulent. What swain +or yokel had not a meed of praise for the monarch when he beheld this +burden of good cheer, and, at the end of each board, elevated a little +and garlanded with roses, a rotund and portly cask of wine, with a +spigot projecting hospitably tablewards? +</P> + +<P> +Forgotten were the tax-lists under which the commonalty labored; it was +"Hosanna" for Francis, and not a plowman nor tiller of the soil +bethought himself that he had fully paid for the snack and sup that +night. How could he, having had no one to think for him; for then +Rousseau had not lived, Voltaire was unborn, and the most daring +approach to lese-majesty had been Rabelais' jocose: "The wearers of the +crown and scepter are born under the same constellation as those of cap +and bells." +</P> + +<P> +Upon the green, smoking torches illumined the people and the +surroundings; beneath a great oven, the bright coals cast a vivid glow +far and near. Close to the broad face of a cask—round and large like +that of a full-fed host presiding at the head of the board—sat the +Franciscan monk, whose gluttonous eye wandered from quail to partridge, +thence onward to pastry or pie, with the spigot at the end of the orbit +of observation. Nor as it made this comprehensive survey did his +glance omit a casual inventory of the robust charms of a bouncing maid +on the opposite side of the table. Scattered amid the honest, +good-natured visages of the trusting peasants were the pinched +adventurers from Paris, the dwellers of that quarter sacred to +themselves. Yonder plump, frisky dame seemed like the lamb; the gaunt +knave by her side, the wolf. +</P> + +<P> +At length the company could eat no more, although there yet remained a +void for drinking, and as the cups went circling and circling, their +laughter mingled with the distant strains of music from the great, +gorgeously lighted pavilion, where the king and his guests were +assembled to close the tourney fittingly with the celebration of the +final event—the awarding of the prize for the day. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell me, good sir, to whom the umpires of the field have given +their judgment?" said a townsman to his country neighbor. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you not hear the king of arms decide the Duke of Friedwald was the +victor?" answered the other. +</P> + +<P> +"A decision of courtesy, perhaps?" insinuated the Parisian. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; two spears he broke, and overcame three adversaries during the +day. Fairly he won the award." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish we might see the presentation," interrupted a maid, pertly, her +longing eyes straying to the bright lights afar. +</P> + +<P> +"Presentation!" repeated the countryman. "Did we not witness the +sport? A fig for the presentation! Give me the cask and a juicy +haunch, with a lass like yourself to dance with after, and the nobles +are welcome to the sight of the prize and all the ceremony that goes +with it." +</P> + +<P> +Within the king's pavilion, the spectacle alluded to, regretfully by +the girl and indifferently by the man, was at that moment being +enacted. Upon a throne of honor, the lady of the tournament, attended +by two maids, looked down on a brilliant assemblage, through which now +approached the king and the princess' betrothed. The latter seemed +somewhat thoughtful; his eye had but encountered that of the duke's +fool, whose gaze expressed a disdainful confidence the other fain would +have fathomed. But for that unfortunate meeting in the lists which had +sealed the lips of the only person who had divined the hidden danger, +the free baron would now have been master of the <I>plaisant's</I> designs. +Above, in the palace, the trooper with the red mustaches lay on his +couch unconscious. +</P> + +<P> +For how long? The court physician could not say. The soldier might +remain insensible for hours. Thus had the jester served himself with +that stroke better than he knew, and he of Hochfels bit his lip and +fumed inwardly, but to no purpose. Not that he believed the peril to +be great, but the fact he could not grasp it goaded him, and he cursed +the trooper for a dolt and a poltroon that a mere fool should have +vanquished him. And so he had left him, with a last look of disgust at +the silent lips that could not do his bidding, and had proceeded to the +royal pavilion, where the final act of the day's drama—more momentous +than the king or other spectators realized—was to be performed; an act +in which he would have appeared with much complacency, but that his +chagrin preyed somewhat on his vanity. +</P> + +<P> +But his splendid self-control and audacity revealed to the courtly +assemblage no trace of what was passing in his mind. He walked by the +king's side as one not unaccustomed to such exalted company, nor +overwhelmed by sudden honors. His courage was superb; his demeanor +that of one born to command; in him seemed exemplified a type of brute +strength and force denoting a leader—whether of an army or a band of +swashbucklers. As the monarch and the free baron drew near, the +princess slowly, gracefully arose, while now grouped around the throne +stood the heralds and pursuivants of the lists. In her hand Louise +held the gift, covered with a silver veil, an end of which was carried +by each of the maids. +</P> + +<P> +"Fair Lady of the Tournament," said the king, "this gallant knight is +<I>Bon Vouloir</I>, whom you have even heard proclaimed the victor of the +day." +</P> + +<P> +"Approach, <I>Bon Vouloir</I>!" commanded the Queen of Love. +</P> + +<P> +The maids uncovered the gift, the customary chaplet of beaten gold, +and, as the free baron bowed his head, the princess with a firm hand +fulfilled the functions of her office. Rising, <I>Bon Vouloir</I>, amid the +exclamations of the court, claimed the privilege that went with the +bauble. A moment he looked at the princess; she seemed to bend beneath +his regard; then leaning forward, deliberately rather than ardently, he +touched her cheek with his lips. Those who watched the Queen of Love +closely observed her face become paler and her form tremble; but in a +moment she was again mistress of herself, her features prouder and +colder than before. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you notice how he melted the ice of her nature?" whispered Diane, +with a malicious little laugh, to the countess. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet 'twas not his—warmth that did it," wisely answered the +favorite of the king. +</P> + +<P> +"His coldness, then," laughed the other, as the musicians began to +play, and the winner of the chaplet led the princess to the dance. "Is +it not so, Sire?" she added, turning to the king, who at that moment +approached. +</P> + +<P> +"He, indeed, forgot a part of the ceremony," graciously assented +Francis. +</P> + +<P> +"A part of the ceremony, your Majesty?" questioned Diane. +</P> + +<P> +"To kiss the two damsels of the princess; and one of them was worthy of +casual courtesy," he added, musingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Which, Sire?" asked the countess, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"The dark-browed maid," returned the monarch, thoughtfully. "Where did +I notice her last?" +</P> + +<P> +And then he remembered. It was she who, he suspected, had laughed that +night in Fools' hall. Recalling the circumstance, the king looked +around for her, but she had drawn back. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it your pleasure to open the festivities, Sire?" murmured the +favorite, and, without further words, Francis acquiesced, proffering +his arm to his companion. +</P> + +<P> +Masque, costume ball, ballet, it was all one to the king and the court, +who never wearied of the diverting vagaries of the dance. Now studying +that pantomimic group of merrymakers, in the rhythmical expression of +action and movement could almost be read the influence and relative +positions of the fair revelers. The countess, airy and vivacious, +perched, as it were, lightly yet securely on the arm of the throne; +Diane, fearless, confident of the future through the dauphin; +Catharine, proud of her rank, undisturbed in her own exalted place as +wife of the dauphin; Marguerite, mixture of saint and sinner, a soft +heart that would oft-times turn the king from a hard purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"There! I've danced enough," said a panting voice, and Jacqueline, +breathless, paused before the duke's fool, who stood a motionless +spectator of the revelry. In his rich costume of blue and white, the +figure of the foreign jester presented a fair and striking appearance, +but his face, proud and composed, was wanting in that spirit which +animated the features of his fellows in motley. +</P> + +<P> +"One more turn, fair Jacqueline?" suggested Marot, her partner in the +dance. +</P> + +<P> +"Not one!" she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that a dismissal?" he asked, lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis for you to determine," retorted the maid. +</P> + +<P> +"Modesty forbids I should interpret it to my desires," he returned, +laughing, as he disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Tall, seeming straighter than usual, upon each cheek a festal rose, she +stood before the duke's <I>plaisant</I>, inscrutable, as was her fashion, +the scarf about her shoulders just stirring from the effects of the +dance, and her lips parted to her hurried breathing. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you like the ceremony?" she asked, quietly. "And did you +know," she went on, without noticing the dark look in his eyes or +awaiting his response, "the lance turned upon you to-day was not a +'weapon of courtesy'?" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean it was directed by intention?" he asked indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"Not only that," she answered. "I mean that the disk had been removed +and the point left bare." +</P> + +<P> +"A mistake, of course," he said, with a peculiar smile. +</P> + +<P> +A look of impatience crossed her face, but she gazed at him intently +and her eyes held his from the floor where they would have strayed. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you stupid, or do you but profess to be?" she demanded. "Before +the tilt I noticed the duke and his trooper talking together. When +they separated the latter, unobserved as he thought, struck the point +of his weapon against his stirrup. The disk fell to the ground." +</P> + +<P> +"Your glance is sharp, Jacqueline," he retorted, slowly. "Thank you +for the information." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes kindled; an angry retort seemed about to spring from her lips. +It was with difficulty she controlled herself to answer calmly a moment +later. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean it can serve you nothing? Perhaps you are right. To-day you +were lucky. To-morrow you may be—what? To-day you defended yourself +well and it was a good lance you bore. Had it been any other jester, +the king would have praised him. Because it was you, no word has been +spoken. If anything, your success has annoyed him. Several of the +court spoke of it; he answered not; 'tis the signal to ignore it, +and—you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then are you courageous to brave public opinion and hold converse with +me," he replied, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Public opinion!" she exclaimed with flashing eyes. "What would they +say of a jestress? Who is she? What is she?" +</P> + +<P> +She ended abruptly; bit her lips, showing her gleaming white teeth. +Then some emotion, more profound, swept over her expressive face; she +looked at him silently, and when she spoke her voice was more gentle. +</P> + +<P> +"I can not believe," she continued thoughtfully, "that the duke told +his trooper to do that. 'Tis too infamous. The man must have acted on +his own responsibility. The duke could not, would not, countenance +such baseness." +</P> + +<P> +"You have a good opinion of him, gentle mistress," he said in a tone +that exasperated her. +</P> + +<P> +"Who has not?" she retorted, sharply. "He is as brave as he is +distinguished. Farewell. If you served him better, and yourself less, +you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Would serve myself better in the end?" he interrupted, satirically. +"Thanks, good Jacqueline. A woman makes an excellent counselor." +</P> + +<P> +Disdainfully she smiled; her face grew cold; her figure looked never +more erect and inflexible. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she remarked, "here am I wasting time talking when the music is +playing and every one is dancing. Even now I see a courtier +approaching who has thrice importuned me." And the jestress vanished +in the throng as abruptly as she had appeared. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughtfully the duke's fool looked, not after her, but toward a far +end of the pavilion, where he last had seen the princess and her +betrothed. +</P> + +<P> +"Caillette should now be well on his way," he told himself. "No one +has yet missed him, or if they do notice his absence they will +attribute it to his injuries." +</P> + +<P> +This thought lent him confidence; the implied warnings of the maid +passed unheeded from his mind; indeed, he had scarcely listened to +them. Amid stronger passions, he felt the excitement of the subtile +game he and the free baron were playing; the blind conviction of a +gambler that he should yet win seized him, dissipating in a measure +more violent thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +He began to calculate other means to make assurance doubly sure; an +intricate realm of speculation, considering the safeguards the boar of +Hochfels had placed about himself. To offset the triumphs of the +king's guest there occurred to the jester the comforting afterthought +that the greater the other's successes now the more ignominious would +be his downfall. The free baron had not hesitated to use any means to +obliterate his one foeman from the scene; and he repeated to himself +that he would meet force with cunning, and duplicity with stealth, +spinning such a web as lay within his own capacity and resources. But +in estimating the moves before him, perhaps in his new-found trust, he +overlooked the strongest menace to his success—a hazard couched within +himself. +</P> + +<P> +Outspreading from the pavilion's walls were floral bowers with myriad +lights that shone through the leaves and foliage, where tiny fragrant +fountains tinkled, or diminutive, fairy-like waterfalls fell amid +sweet-smelling plants. Green, purple, orange, red, had been the colors +chosen in these dainty retreats for such of the votaries of the Court +of Love as should, from time to time, care to exchange the merry-making +within for the languorous rest without. It was yet too early, however, +for the sprightly devotees to abandon the lively pleasures of the +dance, so that when the duke's fool abstractedly entered the balmy, +crimson nook, at first he thought himself alone. +</P> + +<P> +Around him, carmine, blood-warm flowers exhaled a commingling +redolence; near him a toy-like fountain whispered very softly and +confidentially. Through the foliage the figures moved and moved; on +the air the music fell and rose, thin in orchestration, yet brightly +penetrating in sparkling detail. Buoyant were the violins; sportive +the flutes; all alive the gitterns; blithesome the tripping arpeggios +that crisply fell from the strings of the joyous harps. +</P> + +<P> +The rustling of a gown admonished him he was not alone, and, looking +around, amid the crimson flowers, to his startled gaze, appeared the +face of her of whom he was thinking; above the broad, white brow shone +the radiance of hair, a gold that was almost bronze in that dim light; +through the green tangle of shrubbery, a silver slipper. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, it is you, fool?" she said languidly. It may be, he contrasted +the indifference of her tones now with the unconscious softness of her +voice when she had addressed him on another occasion—in another +garden; for his face flushed, and he would have turned abruptly, when— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you may remain," she added, carelessly. "The duke has but left +me. He received a message that the man hurt in the lists was most +anxious to see him." +</P> + +<P> +Into the whirl of his reflections her words insinuated themselves. Why +had the free baron gone to the trooper? What made his presence so +imperative at the bedside of the soldier that he had abruptly abandoned +the festivities? Surely, more than mere anxiety for the man's welfare. +The jester looked at the princess for the answer to these questions; +but her face was cold, smiling, unresponsive. In the basin of the +fountain tiny fish played and darted, and as his eyes turned from her +to them they appeared as swift and illusive as his own surging fancies. +</P> + +<P> +"The—duke, Madam, is most solicitous about his men," he said, in a +voice which sounded strangely calm. +</P> + +<P> +"A good leader has always in mind the welfare of his soldiers," she +replied, briefly. +</P> + +<P> +Her hand played among the blossoms. Over the flowers she looked at +him. Her features and arms were of the sculptured roundness of marble, +but the reflection of the roses bathed her in the warm hue of life. As +he met her gaze the illumined pages of a book seemed turning before his +eyes. Did she remember? +</P> + +<P> +She could not but perceive his emotion; the tribute of a glance beyond +control, despite the proud immobility of his features. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit here, fool," she said, not unkindly, "and you may tell me more +about the duke. His exploits—of that battle when he saved the life of +the emperor." +</P> + +<P> +The jester made no move to obey, but, looking down, answered coldly: +"The duke, Madam, likes not to have his poor deeds exploited." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor deeds!" she returned, and seemed about to reply more sharply when +something in his face held her silent. +</P> + +<P> +Leaning her head on her hand, she appeared to forget his presence; +motionless save for a foot that waved to and fro, betraying her +restless mood. The sound of her dress, the swaying of the foot, held +his attention. In that little bower the air was almost stifling, laden +with the perfume of many flowers. Even the song of the birds grew +fainter. Only the tiny fountain, more assertive than ever, became +louder and louder. The princess breathed deeply; half-arose; a vine +caught in her hair; she stooped to disentangle it; then held herself +erect. +</P> + +<P> +"How close it is in here!" she murmured, arranging the tress the plant +had disturbed. "Go to the door, fool, and see if you can find your +master." +</P> + +<P> +Involuntarily he had stepped toward her, as though to assist her, but +now stopped. His face changed; he even laughed. That last word, from +her lips, seemed to break the spell of self-control that held him. +</P> + +<P> +"My master!" he said in a hard, scoffing tone. "Whom mean you? The +man who left you to go to the soldier? That blusterer, my master! +That swaggering trooper!" +</P> + +<P> +Her inertness vanished; the sudden anger and wonderment in her eyes met +the passion in his. +</P> + +<P> +"How dare you—dare you—" she began. +</P> + +<P> +"He is neither my master, nor the duke; but a mere free-booter, a +mountain terrorist!" +</P> + +<P> +Pride and contempt replaced her surprise, but indignation still +remained. His audacity in coming to her with this falsehood; his +hardihood in maintaining it, admitted of but one explanation. By her +complaisance in the past she had fanned the embers of a passion which +now burst beyond control. She realized how more than fair she looked +that evening—had she not heard it from many?—had not the eyes of the +king's guest told her?—and she believed that this lie must have sprung +to the jester's lips while he was regarding her. +</P> + +<P> +As the solution crossed her mind, revealing the <I>plaisant</I>, a desperate +and despicable, as well as lowly wooer, her face relaxed. In the +desire to test her conclusion, she laughed quietly, musically. Cruelly +kind, smiled the princess. +</P> + +<P> +"You are mad," she breathed softly. "You are mad—because—because +you—" +</P> + +<P> +He started, studying her eagerly. He fancied he read relenting +softness in her gaze; a flash of memory into a past, where glamour and +romance, and the heart-history of the rose made up life's desideratum. +Wherein existence was but an allegory of love's quest, and the goal, +its consummation. Had she not bent sedulously over the rose of the +poet? Had not her breath come quickly, eagerly? Could he not feel it +yet, sweet and warm on his cheek? Into the past, having gone so far, +he stepped now boldly, as though to grasp again those illusive colors +and seize anew the intangible substance. He was but young, when +shadows seem solid, when dreams are corporeal stuff, and fantasies, +rock-like strata of reality. +</P> + +<P> +So he knelt before her. "Yes," he said, "I love you!" +</P> + +<P> +And thus remained, pale, motionless, all resentment or jealousy +succeeded by a stronger emotion, a feeling chivalric that bent itself +to a glad thraldom, the desire but to serve her—to save her. His +heart beat faster; he raised his head proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Princess," he began. "Though I meant it not, I fear I have +greatly wronged you. I have much to ask your pardon for; much to tell +you. It is I—I—" +</P> + +<P> +The words died on his lips. From the princess' face all softness had +suddenly vanished. Her gaze passed him, cold, haughty. Across the +illusory positiveness of his world—immaterial, psychological, +ghostly—an intermediate orb—a tangible shadow was thrown. Behind him +stood the free baron and the king. Quickly the fool sprang to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Princess!" exclaimed the hoarse voice of the master of Hochfels. +</P> + +<P> +"My Lord?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment neither spoke, and then the clear, cold voice of the +princess broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Are all the fools in your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" she said. +</P> + +<P> +The king's countenance lightened; he turned his accusing glance upon +the fool. As in a dream stood the latter; the words he would have +uttered remained unspoken. But briefly the monarch surveyed him, +satirically, darkly; then turning, with a gesture, summoned an +attendant. Not until the hands of two soldiers fell upon him did the +fool betray any emotion. Then his face changed, and the stunned look +in his eyes gave way to an expression of such unbridled feeling that +involuntarily the king stepped back and the free baron drew his sword. +But neither had the monarch need for apprehension, nor the princess' +betrothed use for his weapon. Some emotion, deeper than anger, +replaced the savage turmoil of the jester's thoughts, as with a last +fixed look at the princess he mechanically suffered himself to be led +away. Louise's gaze perforce followed him, and when the canvas fell +and he had disappeared she passed a hand across her brow. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you satisfied, my Lord?" said the king to the free baron. +</P> + +<P> +"The knave has received his just deserts, Sire," replied the other, +and, stepping to the princess' side, raised her hand to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mère de Dieu!</I>" cried the monarch, passing his arm in a friendly +manner over the free baron's shoulder and addressing Louise. "You will +find Robert of Friedwald worthy of your high trust, cousin." +</P> + +<P> +Without, they were soon whispering it. The attendant, who was the +Count of Cross, breathed what he knew to the Duke of Montmorency, who +told Du Bellays, who related the story to Diane de Poitiers, who +embellished it for Villot, who carried it to Jacqueline. +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet has his wish," said the poet-fool, half-regretfully. "There +is one jester the less." +</P> + +<P> +"Where have they taken him?" asked the girl, steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"Where—but to the keep!" +</P> + +<P> +"That dungeon of the old castle?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he returned significantly, "a fool and his jests—alas!—are +soon parted. Let us make merry, therefore, while we may. For what +would you? Come, mistress—the dance—" +</P> + +<P> +"No! no! no!" she exclaimed, so passionately he gazed at her in +surprise. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN EARLY-MORNING VISIT +</H3> + +<P> +In a mood of contending thought, the free baron left his apartments the +next morning and traversed the tapestry-hung corridor leading toward +the servants' and soldiers' quarters. He congratulated himself that +the incident of the past night had precipitated a favorable climax in +one source of possible instability, and that the fool who had opposed +him had been summarily removed from the field of action. Confined +within the four walls of the castle dungeon, there was scant likelihood +he would cause further trouble and annoyance. Francis' strong prison +house would effectively curb any more interference with, or dabbling +in, the affairs of the master of the Vulture's Nest. +</P> + +<P> +Following the exposure of the jester's weakness, his passion for his +mistress, Francis, as Villot told Jacqueline, had immediately ordered +the fool into strictest confinement, the donjon of the ancient +structure. In that darkened cell he had rested over night and there he +would no doubt remain indefinitely. The king's guest had not been +greatly concerned with the jester's quixotic love for the princess, +being little disposed to jealousy. He was no sighing solicitant for +woman's favor; higher allurements than woman's eyes, or admiration for +his inamorata, moved him—that edge of appetite for power, conquest +hunger, an itching palm for a kingdom. His were the unscrupulous +soldier's rather than the eager true-love's dreams. +</P> + +<P> +But to offset his satisfaction that the jester lay under restraint he +took in bad part the trooper's continued insensibility which deprived +him of the much-desired information. When he had repaired to the +bedside of the soldier the night before he had only his trip for his +pains, as the man had again sunk into unconsciousness shortly before +his coming. Thus the free baron was still in ignorance of the person +to whom the fool had betrayed him. The fact that there still roamed an +unfettered some one who possessed the knowledge of his identity caused +him to knit his brows and look glum. +</P> + +<P> +These jesters were daring fellows; several of them had borne arms, as, +for example, Clement Marot, who had been taken prisoner with Francis at +the battle of Pavia. Brusquet had been a hanger-on of the camp at +Avignon; Villot, a Paris student; Caillette had received the spirited +education of a soldier in the household of his benefactor, Diane's +father. And as for the others—how varied had been their +careers!—lives of hazard and vicissitude; scapegraces and +adventurers—existing literally by their wits. +</P> + +<P> +To what careless or wanton head had his secret been confined? What use +would the rashling make of it? Daringly attempt to approach the throne +with this startling budget of information; impulsively seek the +princess; or whisper it over his cups among the <I>femmes de chambre</I>, +laundresses or scullery maids? +</P> + +<P> +"If the soldier should never speak?" thought the free baron out of +humor, as he drew near the trooper's door. "What a nest of suspicion +may be growing! The wasps may be breeding. A whisper may become an +ominous threat. Is not the danger even greater than it was before, +when I could place my hand on my foeman? The man must speak!—must!" +</P> + +<P> +With a firm step the king's guest entered the chamber of the injured +soldier. Upon a narrow bed lay the trooper, his mustachios appearing +unusually red and fierce against his now yellow, washed-out complexion. +As the free baron drew near the couch a tall figure arose from the side +of the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"How is your patient, doctor?" said the visitor, shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"Low," returned the other, laconically. This person wore a black gown; +a pair of huge, broad-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of a thin, +long nose, and in his claw-like fingers he held a vial, the contents of +which he stirred slowly. His aspect was that of living sorrow and +melancholy. +</P> + +<P> +"Has he been conscious again?" asked the caller. +</P> + +<P> +"He has e'en lain as you see him," replied the wearer of the black robe. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" commented the free baron, attentively regarding the motionless +and silent figure. +</P> + +<P> +"I urged upon him the impropriety of sending for you at the +festivities," resumed the man, sniffing at the vial, "but he became +excited, swore he would leave the bed and brain me with mine own pestle +if I ventured to hinder him. So I consented to convey his request." +</P> + +<P> +"And when I arrived he was still as a log," supplemented the visitor, +gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +"Alas, yes; although I tried to keep him up, giving him specifics and +carminatives and bleeding him once." +</P> + +<P> +"Bleeding him!" cried the false duke, angrily, glowering upon the +impassive and woebegone countenance of the medical attendant. "As if +he had not bled enough from his hurts! Quack of an imposter! You have +killed him!" +</P> + +<P> +"As for that," retorted the man in a sing-song voice, "no one can tell +whether a medicine be antidote or poison, unless as leechcraft and +chirurgery point out—" +</P> + +<P> +"His days are numbered," quoth the free baron to himself, staring +downward. But as he spoke he imagined he saw the red mustachios move, +while one eye certainly glared with intelligent hatred upon the doctor +and turned with anxious solicitude upon his master. The latter +immediately knelt by the bedside and laid his hand upon the already +cold one of the soldier. +</P> + +<P> +"Speak!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +It was the command of an officer to a trooper, an authoritative +bidding, and seemed to summon a last rallying energy from the failing +heart. The man's gaze showed that he understood. From the free +baron's eye flashed a glance of savage power and force. +</P> + +<P> +"Speak!" he repeated, cruelly, imperatively. +</P> + +<P> +The mustachios quivered; the leader bent his head low, so low his face +almost touched the soldier's. A voice—was it a voice, so faint it +sounded?—breathed a few words: +</P> + +<P> +"The emperor—Spain—Caillette gone!" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly the free baron sprang to his feet. The soldier seemed to fall +asleep; his face calm and tranquil as a campaigner's before the bivouac +fire at the hour of rest; the ugliness of his features glossed by a +new-found dignity; only his mustachios strangely fierce, vivid, +formidable, against the peace and pallor of his countenance. The leech +looked at him; stopped stirring the drug; leaned over him; straightened +himself; took the vial once more from the table and threw the medicine +out of the window. Then he methodically began gathering up bottles and +other receptacles, which he placed neatly in a handbag. The free baron +passed through the door, leaving the cheerless practitioner still +gravely engaged in getting together his small belongings. +</P> + +<P> +Soberly the king's guest walked down the echoing stairway out into the +open air of the court. The emperor in Spain? It seemed not unlikely. +Charles spent much of his time in that country, nor was it improbable +he had gone there quietly, without flourish of trumpet, for some +purpose of his own. His ways were not always manifest; his personality +and mind-workings were characterized by concealment. If the emperor +had gone to Spain, a messenger, riding post-haste, could reach Charles +in time to enable that monarch to interpose in the nuptials and +override the confidence the free baron had established for himself in +the court of Francis. An impediment offered by Charles would be +equivalent to the abandonment of the entire marital enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +Pausing before a massive arched doorway that led into a wing of the +castle where the free baron knew the jesters and certain of the +gentlemen of the chamber lodged, the master of Hochfels, in answer to +his inquiries from a servant, learned that Caillette had not been in +his apartments since the day before; that he had ridden from the +tournament, ostensibly to return to his rooms, but nothing had been +heard of him since. And the oddest part of it was, as the old woman +volubly explained when the free baron had pushed his way into the +tastefully furnished chambers of the absent fool, the jester had been +desperately wounded; had groaned much when the duke's <I>plaisant</I> had +assisted him from the field, and had been barely able to mount his +horse with the assistance of a squire. +</P> + +<P> +Meditatively, while absorbing this prattle, the visitor gazed about +him. The bed had been unslept in, and here and there were evidences of +a hasty and unpremeditated leave-taking. Upon an open desk lay a +half-finished poem, obviously intended for no eyes save the writer's. +Several dainty missives and a lace handkerchief, with a monogram, +invited the unscrupulous and prying glance of the inquisitive +newsmonger. +</P> + +<P> +But as these details offered nothing additional to the one great germ +of information embodied in the loquacity of the narrator, the free +baron turned silently away, breaking the thread of her volubility by +unceremoniously disappearing. No further doubt remained in his mind +that the duke's <I>plaisant</I> had sent a comrade in motley to the emperor, +and, as he would not have inspired a mere fool's errand, Charles +without question was in Spain, several days nearer to the court of the +French monarch than the princess' betrothed had presumed. Caillette +had now been four-and-twenty hours on his journey; it would be useless +to attempt pursuit, as the jester was a gallant horseman, trained to +the hunt. Such a man would be indefatigable in the saddle, and the +other realized that, strive as he might, he could never overcome the +handicap. +</P> + +<P> +Then of what avail was one fool in the dungeon, with a second—on the +road? Should he abandon his quest, be driven from his purpose by a +nest of motley meddlers? The idea never seriously entered his mind; he +would fight it out doggedly upon the field of deception. But how? As +surely as the sun rose and set, before many days had come and gone the +hand of Charles would be thrust between him and his projects. +Circumspect, suspicious, was the emperor; he would investigate, and +investigation meant the downfall of the structure of falsehood that had +been erected with such skill and painstaking by the subtile architect. +The maker had pride in his work, and, to see it totter and tumble, was +a misfortune he would avert with his life—or fall with it. +</P> + +<P> +As he had no intention, however, of being buried beneath the wreckage +of his endeavors, he sought to prop the weakening fabric of invention +and mendacity by new shuffling or pretense. Should a disgraced fool be +his undoing? From that living entombment should his foeman in cap and +bells yet indirectly summon the force to bend him to the dust, or send +him to the hangman's knot? +</P> + +<P> +Step by step the king's guest had left the palace behind him, until the +surrounding shrubbery shut it from view, but the path, sweeping onward +with graceful curve, brought him suddenly to a beautiful château. Lost +in thought, he gazed within the flowering ground, at the ornate +architecture, the marble statues and the little lake, in whose pellucid +depths were mirrored a thousand beauties of that chosen spot—an +improved Eden of the landscape gardener wherein resided the Countess +d'Etampes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," thought the free baron, brightening abruptly, "that chance which +served me last night, which forced the trooper to speak to-day, now has +led my stupid feet to the soothsayer." +</P> + +<P> +Within a much begilt and gorgeous bower, he soon found himself awaiting +patiently the coming of the favorite. Upon a tiny chair of gold, too +fragile for his bulk, the caller meanwhile inspected the ceilings and +walls of this dainty domicile, mechanically striving to decipher a +painted allegory of Venus and Mars, or Helen and Paris, or the countess +and Francis—he could not decide precisely its purport—when she who +had succeeded Châteaubriant floated into the room, dressed in some +diaphanous stuff, a natural accompaniment to the other decorations; her +dishabille a positive note of modesty amid the vivid colorings and +graceful poses of those tributes to love with which Primaticcio and +other Italian artists had adorned this bower. +</P> + +<P> +"How charming of you!" vaguely murmured the lady, sinking lightly upon +a settee. "What an early riser you must be, Duke." +</P> + +<P> +Although it was then but two hours from noon, the visitor confessed +himself open to criticism in this regard. "And you, as well, Madam," +he added, "must plead guilty of the same fault. One can easily see you +have been out in the garden, and," he blundered on, "stolen the tints +from the roses." +</P> + +<P> +Sharply the countess looked at him, but read only an honest attempt at +a compliment. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she said, "you are becoming as great a flatterer as the rest of +them. But confess now, you did not call to tell me that?" +</P> + +<P> +The free baron looked from her through the folding doors into a +retiring apartment, set with arabesque designs, and adorned with inlaid +tables bearing statues of alabaster and enamel. Purposely he waited +before he replied, and was gratified to see how curiously she regarded +him when again his glance returned to her. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Madam," he answered, taking credit to himself for his diplomacy, +"it is not necessary that truth should be premeditated. I had a +serious purpose in seeking you. Of all the court you alone can assist +me; it is to you, only, I can look for aid. Knowing you generous, I +have ventured to come." +</P> + +<P> +"What a serious preamble," smiled the lady. "How grave must be the +matter behind it!" +</P> + +<P> +"The service I ask must be from the king," he went on, with seeming +embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why not go to his Majesty?" she interrupted, with the suggestion +of a frown. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I should fail," he retorted, frankly. "The case is one +wherein a messenger—like yourself—a friend—may I so call you?—would +win, while I, a rough soldier, should but make myself ridiculous, the +laughing stock of the court." +</P> + +<P> +"You interest me," she laughed. "It must be a pressing emergency when +you honor me—so early in the day." +</P> + +<P> +"It is, Madam," he replied. "Very pressing to me. I want the wedding +day changed." +</P> + +<P> +"Changed!" she exclaimed, staring at him. "Deferred?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; hastened, Madam. It is too long to wait. Go to the king; ask him +to shorten the interval; to set the day sooner. I beg of you, Madam!" +</P> + +<P> +His voice was hard and harsh. It seemed almost a demand he laid upon +her. Had he been less blunt or coercive, had he employed a more +honeyed appeal, she would not have felt so moved in his behalf. In the +atmosphere of adulation and blandishment to which she was accustomed, +the free baron offered a marked contrast to the fine-spoken courtiers, +and she leaned back and surveyed him as though he were a type of the +lords of creation she had not yet investigated. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, this is delicious!" purred the countess. "Samson in the toils! +His locks shorn by our fair Delilah!" +</P> + +<P> +The thick-set soldier arose; muscular, well-knit, virile. "I fear I am +detaining you, Madam," he said, coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"No; you're not," she answered, merrily. "Won't you be seated—please! +I should have known," she could not resist adding, "that love is as +sensitive as impatient." +</P> + +<P> +"I see, Madam, that you have your mind made up to refuse me, and +therefore—" +</P> + +<P> +"Refuse," repeated the favorite, surveying this unique petitioner with +rising amusement. "How do you read my mind so well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you haven't determined to refuse me?" And he stepped toward her +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I haven't," she answered, throwing back her head, like a spoiled +child. "On the contrary, I will be your messenger, your advocate, and +will plead your cause, and will win your case, and the king shall say +'yes,' and you shall have your princess whene'er you list. All this I +promise faithfully to do and perform. And now, if you want to leave me +so sullenly, go!" +</P> + +<P> +But the free baron dropped awkwardly to his knee, took her little hand +in his massive one and raised it to his lips. "Madam, you overwhelm +me," he murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"That is all very well," she commented, reflectively, "but what about +the princess? What will she say when—" +</P> + +<P> +"It shall be my task to persuade her. I am sure she will consent," +returned the suitor. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you're sure of that?" observed the lady. "You have some faith in +your own powers of persuasion—in certain quarters!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in my powers, Madam, but in the princess' amiability." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you have spoken to her already?" asked the countess. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Madam; without your assistance, of what use would be her +willingness?" +</P> + +<P> +"What a responsibility you place on my weak shoulders!" cried the +other. "However, I will not shift the burden. I will go to his +Majesty at once. And do you"—gaily—"go to the princess." +</P> + +<P> +"At your command!" he replied, and took his departure. +</P> + +<P> +Without the inclosure of the château gardens, the free baron began to +review the events of the morning with complacency and satisfaction, +but, as he took up the threads of his case and examined them more +narrowly, his peace of mind was darkened with the shadow of a new +disquietude. What if Francis, less easily cozened than the countess, +should find his suspicions aroused? What if the princess, who had +immediately dismissed the fool's denouncement of the free baron as an +ebullition of blind jealousy—after informing her betrothed of the mad +accusation—should see in his request equivocal circumstances? Or, was +the countess—like many of her sisters—given to second thoughts, and +would this after-reverie dampen the ardor of her impetuous promise? +</P> + +<P> +"But," thought the king's guest, banishing these assailing doubts, +"there never yet was victory assured before the battle had been fought, +and, with renewed precautions, defeat is most unlikely." +</P> + +<P> +By the time he had reached this conclusion he had arrived at the +princess' door. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW DISCOVERY +</H3> + +<P> +The dim rays of a candle glimmered within a cubical space, whereof the +sides consisted of four stone walls, and a ceiling and floor of the +same substantial material. For furnishings were provided a +three-legged stool, a bundle of straw and—the tallow dip. One of the +walls was pierced by a window, placed almost beyond the range of +vision; the outlook limited by day to a bit of blue sky or a patch of +verdant field, with the depressing suggestion of a barrier to this +outer world, three feet in thickness, massively built of stone and +mortar, hardened through the centuries. At night these pictures faded +and the Egyptian darkness within became partly dispelled through the +brave efforts of the small wick; or when this half-light failed, a far +star without, struggling in the depths of the palpable obscure, +appeared the sole relief. +</P> + +<P> +But now the few inches of candle had only begun to eke out its brief +period of transition and the solitary occupant of the cell could for +some time find such poor solace as lay in the companionship of the tiny +yellow flame. With his arms behind him, the duke's fool moved as best +he might to and fro within the narrow confines of his jail; the events +which had led to his incarceration were so recent he had hardly yet +brought himself to realize their full significance. Neither Francis' +anger nor the free baron's covert satisfaction during the scene +following their abrupt appearance in the bower of roses had greatly +weighed upon him; but not so the attitude of the princess. +</P> + +<P> +How vividly all the details stood out in his brain! The sudden +transitions of her manner; her seeming interest in his passionate +words; her eyes, friendly, tender, as he had once known them; then +portentous silence, frozen disdain. What latent energy in the free +baron's look had invested her words with his spirit? Had the adduction +of his mind compelled hers to his bidding, or had she but spoken from +herself? Into the marble-like pallor of her face a faint flush had +seemed to insinuate itself, but the words had dropped easily from her +lips: "Are all the fools of your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" +</P> + +<P> +Above the other distinctive features of that tragic night, to the +<I>plaisant</I> this question had reiterated itself persistently in the +solitude of his cell. True, he had forgotten he was only a jester; but +had it not been the memory of her soft glances that had hurried him on +to the avowal? She had no fault to be condoned; the fool was the sole +culprit. From her height, could she not have spared him the scorn and +contempt of her question? Over and over, through the long hours he had +asked himself that, and, as he brooded, the idealization with which he +had adorned her fell like an enshrouding drapery to the dust; of the +vestment of fancy nothing but tatters remained. +</P> + +<P> +A voice without, harsh, abrupt, broke in upon the jester's thoughts. +The prisoner started, listened intently, a gleam of fierce satisfaction +momentarily creeping into his eyes. If love was dead, a less exalted +feeling still remained. +</P> + +<P> +"How does the fool take his imprisonment?" asked the arrogant voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Quietly, my Lord," was the jailer's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"He is inclined to talk over much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," answered the man. +</P> + +<P> +A brief command followed; a key was inserted in the lock, and, with a +creaking of bolts and groaning of hinges, the warder swung back the +iron barrier. Upon the threshold stood the commanding figure of the +free baron. A moment he remained thus, and then, with an authoritative +gesture to the man, stepped inside. The turnkey withdrew to a discreet +distance, where he remained within call, yet beyond the range of +ordinary conversation. Immovably the king's guest gazed upon the +jester, who, unabashed, calmly endured the scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, fool," began the free baron, bluntly, "how like you your +quarters? You fought me well; in truth very well. But you labored +under a disadvantage, for one thing is certain: a jester in love is +doubly—a fool." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that what you have come to say?" asked the plaisant, his bright +glance fastened on the other's confident face. +</P> + +<P> +"I came—to return the visit you once made me," easily retorted the +master of Hochfels. "By this time you have probably learned I am an +opponent to be feared." +</P> + +<P> +"As one fears the assassin's knife, or a treacherous onslaught," said +the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I not say, when you left that night, the truce was over?" returned +the king's guest, frowning. +</P> + +<P> +"True," was the ironical answer. "Forewarned; forearmed. And that +sort of warfare was to be expected from the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," unreservedly replied the free baron, who for reasons of his own +chose not to challenge the affront, "in those two instances you were +not worsted. And as for the trooper who attacked you—I know not +whether your lance or the doctor's lancet is responsible for his taking +off. But you met him with true attaint. You would have made a good +soldier. It is to be regretted you did not place your fortune with +mine—but it is too late now." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered the <I>plaisant</I>, "it is too late." +</P> + +<P> +Louis of Hochfels gave him a sharp look. "You cling yet to some +forlorn hope?" +</P> + +<P> +To the fool came the vision of a brother jester speeding southward, +ever southward. The free baron smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Caillette, perhaps?" he suggested. For a moment he enjoyed his +triumph, watching the expression of the fool's countenance, whereon he +fancied he read dismay and astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"You know then?" said the <I>plaisant</I> finally. +</P> + +<P> +"That you sent him to the emperor? Yes." +</P> + +<P> +In the fool's countenance, or his manner, the king's guest sought +confirmation of the dying trooper's words. Also, was he fencing for +such additional information as he might glean, and for this purpose had +he come. Had the emperor really gone to Spain? The soldier's +assurance had been so faint, sometimes the free baron wondered if he +had heard aright, or if he had correctly interpreted the meager message. +</P> + +<P> +"And you—of course—detained Caillette?" remarked the prisoner, with +an effort at indifference, his heart beating violently the while. +</P> + +<P> +"No," slowly returned the other. "He got away." +</P> + +<P> +Into his eyes the fool gazed closely, as if to read and test this +unexpected statement. +</P> + +<P> +"Got away!" he repeated. "How, since you knew?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I learned too late," quietly replied the free baron. "He was +four-and-twenty hours gone when I found out. Too great a start to be +overcome." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you tell me this—unless it is a lie?" coolly asked the +jester. +</P> + +<P> +"A lie!" exclaimed the visitor, frowning. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, like your very presence in Francis' court," added the fool, +fearlessly. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence ensuing the passion slowly faded from the countenance of +the king's guest. He remembered he had not yet ascertained what he +wished to know. +</P> + +<P> +"Such recriminations from you remind me of a bird beating its wings +against the bars of its cage," at length came the unruffled response. +"Why should I lie? There is no need for it. You sent Caillette; he is +on his way now, for all of me. For"—leading to the thread of what he +sought—"why should I have stopped him? He embarked on a hopeless +chase. How can he reach Austria and the emperor in time to prevent the +marriage?" +</P> + +<P> +The jester's swift questioning glance was not lost upon the speaker, +who, after a pause, continued. "Had I known, I am not sure I would +have prevented his departure. What better way to dispose of him than +to let him go on a mad-cap journey? Besides, you must have forgotten +about the passes. How could you expect him to get by my sentinels? It +will attract less attention to have him stopped there than here." +</P> + +<P> +All this, spoken brusquely, was accompanied by frank, insolent looks +which beneath their seeming openness concealed an intentness of purpose +and a shrewd penetration. Only the first abrupt change in the fool's +look, a slight one though it was, betrayed the jester to his caller. +In that swiftly passing gleam, as the free baron spoke of Austria, and +not of Spain, the other read full confirmation of what he desired to +know. +</P> + +<P> +"He will do his best," commented the jester, carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"And man can do no more," retorted the king's guest. "Many a battle +has been thus bravely lost." +</P> + +<P> +He had hoped to provoke from the <I>plaisant</I> some further expression of +self-content in his plans for the future, but the other had become +guarded. +</P> + +<P> +What if he offered the fool clemency? asked the princess' betrothed of +himself. If the jester had confidence in the future he would naturally +rather remain in the narrow confines of his dark chamber than consider +proposals from one whom he believed he would yet overcome. The free +baron began to enjoy this strategic duplicity of language; the +environing dangers lent zest to equivocation; the seduction of finding +himself more potent than forces antagonistic became intoxicating to his +egotism. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," he said, patronizingly, surveying the slender figure of the +fool, "a good man should die by the sword rather than go to the +scaffold. What if I were to overlook Caillette and the rest? He is +harmless,"—more shrewdly; "let him go. As for the princess—well, +you're young; in the heyday for such nonsense. I have never yet +quarreled seriously with man for woman's sake. There are many graver +causes for contention—a purse, or a few acres of land; right royal +warfare. If I get the king to forgive you, and the princess to +overlook your offense, will you well and truthfully serve me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" answered the fool, promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"He is sure the message will reach Charles in Spain," mentally +concluded the king's guest. "Yet," he continued aloud in a tone of +mockery, "you did not hesitate to betray your master yourself. Why, +then, will you not betray him to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"To him I will answer, not to you," returned the jester, calmly. +</P> + +<P> +A contemptuous smile crossed the free baron's face. +</P> + +<P> +"And tell him how you dared look up to his mistress? That you sought +to save her from another, while you yourself poured your own burning +tale into her ear? Two things I most admire in nature," went on the +free baron, with emphasis. "A dare-devil who stops not for man or +Satan, and—an honest man. You take but a compromising middle course; +and will hang, a hybrid, from some convenient limb." +</P> + +<P> +"But not without first knowing that you, too, in all likelihood, will +adorn an equally suitable branch, my Lord of the thieves' rookery," +said the jester, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Louis of Hochfels responded with an ugly look. His bloodshot eyes took +fire beneath the provocation. +</P> + +<P> +"Fool, you expect your duke will intervene!" he exclaimed. "Not when +he has been told all by the king, or the princess," he sneered. "Do +you think she cares? You, a motley fool; a theme for jest between us." +</P> + +<P> +"But when she learns about you?" retorted the plaisant, significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"She will e'en be mistress of my castle." +</P> + +<P> +"Castle?" laughed the Jester. "A robber's aery! a footpad's retreat! +A rifler of the roads become a great lord? You of royal blood! Then +was your father a king of thieves!" +</P> + +<P> +The free baron's face worked fearfully; the kingly part of him had been +a matter of fanatical pride; through it did he believe he was destined +to power and honors. But before the cutting irony of the <I>plaisant</I>, +that which is heaven-born—self-control—dropped from him; the mad, +brutal rage of the peasant surged in his veins. +</P> + +<P> +Infuriate his hand sought his sword, but before he could draw it the +fool, anticipating his purpose, had rushed upon him with such +impetuosity and suddenness that the king's guest, in spite of his bulk +and strength, was thrust against the wall. Like a grip of iron, the +jester's fingers were buried in his opponent's throat. For one so +youthful and slender in build, his power was remarkable, and, strive as +he might, the princess' betrothed could not shake him off. Although +his arms pressed with crushing force about the figure of the fool, the +hand at his throat never relaxed. He endeavored to thrust the +<I>plaisant</I> from him, but, like a tiger, the jester clung; to and fro +they swayed; to the free baron, suffocated by that gauntlet of steel, +the room was already going around; black spots danced before his eyes. +He strove to reach for the dagger that hung from his girdle, but it was +held between them. Perhaps the muscles of the king's guest had been +weakened by the excesses of Francis' court, yet was he still a mighty +tower of strength, and, mad with rage, by a last supreme effort he +finally managed to tear himself loose, hurling the fool violently from +him into the arms of the jailer, who, attracted by the sound of the +struggle, at that moment rushed into the cell. This keeper, himself a +burly, herculean soldier, promptly closed with the prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +Breathless, exhausted, the free baron marked the conflict now +transferred to the turnkey and the jester. The former held the fool at +a decided disadvantage, as he had sprung upon the back of the jester +and was also unweakened by previous efforts. But still the fool +contended fiercely, striving to turn so as to grapple with his +assailant, and wonderingly the free baron for a moment watched that +exhibition of virility and endurance. During the wrestling the +jester's doublet had been torn open and suddenly the gaze of the king's +guest fell, as if fascinated, upon an object which hung from his neck. +</P> + +<P> +Bending forward, he scrutinized more closely that which had attracted +his attention and then started back. Harshly he laughed, as though a +new train of thought had suddenly assailed him, and looked earnestly +into the now pale face of the nearly helpless fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," he cried, "here's a different complication!" +</P> + +<P> +And stooping suddenly, he grasped the stool from the floor and brought +it down with crushing force upon the <I>plaisant's</I> head. A cowardly, +brutal blow; and at once the prisoner's grasp relaxed, and he lay +motionless in the arms of the warder, who placed him on the straw. +</P> + +<P> +"I think the knave's dead, my Lord," remarked the man, panting from his +exertion. +</P> + +<P> +"That makes the comedy only the stronger," replied the free baron +curtly, as he knelt by the side of the prostrate figure and thrust his +hand under the torn doublet. Having procured possession of the object +which chance had revealed to him, he arose and, without further word, +left the cell. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TIDINGS FROM THE COURT +</H3> + +<P> +When Brusquet, the jester, fled from the camp at Avignon, where he had +presumed to practise medicine, to the detriment of the army, some one +said: "Fools and cats have nine lives," and the revised proverb had +been accepted at court. It was this saying the turnkey muttered when +he bent over the prostrate figure of the duke's <I>plaisant</I> after the +free baron had departed. Thus one of the fabled sources of existence +was left the fool, and again it seemed the proverb would be realized. +</P> + +<P> +Day after day passed, and still the vital spark burned; perhaps it +wavered, but in this extremity the jester had not been entirely +neglected; but who had befriended him, assisting the spirit and the +flesh to maintain their unification, he did not learn until some time +later. Youth and a strong constitution were also a shield against the +final change, and when he began to mend, and his heart-beats grew +stronger, even the jailer, his erstwhile assailant, the most callous of +his several keepers, exhibited a stony interest in this unusual +convalescence. +</P> + +<P> +The touch of a hand was the <I>plaisant's</I> first impression of returning +consciousness, and then into his throbbing brain crept the outlines of +the prison walls and the small window that grudgingly admitted the +light. To his confused thoughts these surroundings recalled the +struggle with the free baron and the jailer. As across a dark chasm, +he saw the face of the false duke, whereon wonder and conviction had +given way to brutal rage, and, with the memory of that treacherous +blow, the fool half-started from his couch. +</P> + +<P> +A low voice carried him back from the past to a vague cognizance of a +woman's form, standing at the head of the bed, and two grave, dark eyes +looking down upon him which he strove in vain to interrogate with his +own. He would have spoken, but the soothing pressure of the hand upon +his forehead restrained him, and, turning to the wall, sleep overcame +him; a slumber long, sound and restorative. Motionless the figure +remained, listening for some time to his deep breathing and then stole +away as silently as she had come. +</P> + +<P> +Amid a solitude like that of a catacomb the hours ran their course; the +day grew old, and eventide replaced the waning flush in the west. The +shadows deepened into night, and the first kisses of morn again merged +into the brighter prime. Near the cell the only sound had been the +footstep of the warder, or the scampering of a rat, but now from afar +seemed to come a faint whispering, like the murmur of the ocean. It +was the voice of awakened nature; the wind and the trees; the whir of +birds' wings, or the sound of other living creatures in the forest hard +by. A song of life and buoyancy, it breathed just audibly its cheering +intonation about the prison bars, when the captive once more stirred +and gazed around him. As he did so, the figure of the woman, who had +again noiselessly entered the cell, stepped forward and stood near the +couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you better?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He raised himself on his elbow, surprised at the unexpected appearance +of his visitor. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" he said, wonderingly, recognizing the features of the +joculatrix. "I must have been unconscious all night." And he stared +from her toward the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she returned with a peculiar smile; "all night." And bending +over him, she held a receptacle to his lips from which he mechanically +drank a broth, warm and refreshing, the while he endeavored to account +for the strangeness of her presence in the cell. She placed the bowl +on the floor and then, straightening her slim figure, again regarded +him. +</P> + +<P> +"You are improving fast," she commented, reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks to your sovereign mixture," he answered, lifting a hand to his +bandaged head, and striving to collect his scattered ideas which +already seemed to flow more consecutively. The pain which had racked +his brow had grown perceptibly less since his last deep slumber, and a +grateful warmth diffused itself in his veins with a growing assurance +of physical relief. "But may I ask how you came here?" he continued, +perplexity mingling with the sense of temporary languor that stole over +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard the duke tell the king you had attacked him and he had struck +you down," she replied, after a pause. +</P> + +<P> +His face darkened; his head throbbed once more; with his fingers he +idly picked at the straw. +</P> + +<P> +"And the king, of course, believed," he said. "Oh, credulous king!" he +added scornfully. "Was ever a monarch so easily befooled? A judge of +men? No; a ruler who trusts rather to fortune and blind destiny. +Unlike Charles, he looks not through men, but at them." +</P> + +<P> +"Think no more of it," she broke in, hastily, seeing the effect of her +words. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, good Jacqueline," quickly retorted the jester; "the truth, I pray +you. Believe me, I shall mend the sooner for it. What said the +duke—as he calls himself?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he shook his head ruefully," answered the girl, not noticing his +reservation. "'Your Majesty,' he said, 'for the memory of bygone +quibbles I sought him, but found him not—alack!—on the stool of +repentance.'" +</P> + +<P> +About the fool's mouth quivered the grim suggestion of a half-smile. +</P> + +<P> +"He is the best jester of us all," he muttered. "And then?" fastening +his eyes upon hers. +</P> + +<P> +"'No sooner, Sire,' went on the duke, 'had I entered the cell than he +rushed upon me, and, it grieves me, I used the wit-snapper roughly.' +So"—folding her hands before her and gazing at the <I>plaisant</I>—"I e'en +came to see if you were killed." +</P> + +<P> +"You came," he said. "Yes; but how?" +</P> + +<P> +"What matters it?" she answered. "Perhaps it was magic, and the +cell-doors flew open at my touch." +</P> + +<P> +"I can almost believe it," he returned. +</P> + +<P> +And his glance fell thoughtfully from her to the couch. Before the +assault he had lain at night upon the straw on the floor, and this +unhoped-for immunity from the dampness of the stones or the scampering +of occasional rats suggested another starting point for mental inquiry. +She smiled, reading the interrogation on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the turnkeys furnished the bed," she remarked, shrewdly. "Do +you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a better couch than I have been accustomed to," he replied, in +no wise misled by her response, and surmising that her solicitation had +procured him this luxury. "Nevertheless, the night has seemed +strangely long." +</P> + +<P> +"It has been long," she returned, moving toward the window. "A week +and more." +</P> + +<P> +Surprise, incredulity, were now written upon his features. That such +an interval should have elapsed since the evening of the free baron's +visit appeared incredible. He could not see her countenance as she +spoke; only her figure; the upper portion bright, the lower fading into +the deep shadows beneath the aperture in the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"You tell me I have lain here a week?" he asked finally, recalling +obscure memories of faintly-seen faces and voices heard as from afar. +</P> + +<P> +"And more," she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +For some moments he remained silent, passing from introspection to a +current of thought of which she could know nothing; the means he had +taken to thwart the ambitious projects of the king's guest. +</P> + +<P> +"Has Caillette returned?" he continued, with ill-disguised eagerness. +</P> + +<P> +"Caillette?" she answered, lifting her brows at the abruptness of the +inquiry. "Has he been away? I had not noticed. I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +"Then is he still absent," said the jester, decisively. "Had he come +back, you would have heard." +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she looked at him. Caillette!—Spain!—these were the words he +had often uttered in his delirium. Although he seemed much better and +the hot flush had left his cheeks, his fantasy evidently remained. +</P> + +<P> +"A week and over!" resumed the fool, more to himself than to his +companion. "But he still may return before the duke is wedded." +</P> + +<P> +"And if he did return?" she asked, wishing to humor him. +</P> + +<P> +"Then the duke is not like to marry the princess," he burst out. +</P> + +<P> +"Not like—to marry!" she replied, suddenly, and moved toward him. Her +clear eyes were full upon him; closely she studied his worn features. +"Not like—but he has married her!" +</P> + +<P> +The jester strove to spring to his feet, but his legs seemed as relaxed +as his brain was dazed. +</P> + +<P> +"Has married!—impossible!" he exclaimed fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"They were wedded two days since," she went on quietly, possibly +regretting that surprise, or she knew not what, had made her speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Wedded two days since!" +</P> + +<P> +He repeated it to himself, striving to realize what it meant. Did it +mean anything? He remembered how mockingly the jestress' face had +shone before him in the past; how derisive was her irony. From Fools' +hall to the pavilion of the tournament had she flouted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wedded two days since!" +</P> + +<P> +"You must have your drollery," he said, unsteadily, at length. +</P> + +<P> +She did not reply, and he continued to question her with his eyes. +Quite still she remained, save for an almost imperceptible movement of +breathing. Against the dull beams from the aperture above, her hair +darkly framed her face, pale, dim with half-lights, illusory. When he +again spoke his voice sounded new to his own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"How could the princess have been married? Even if I have lain here as +long as you say, the day for the wedding was set for at least a week +from now." +</P> + +<P> +"But changed!" she responded, unexpectedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Changed!" he cried, sitting on the edge of the couch, and regarding +her as though he doubted he had heard aright. "Why should it have been +changed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because the duke became a most impatient suitor," she answered. +"Daily he grew more eager. Finally, to attain his end, he importuned +the countess. She laughed, but good-naturedly acceded to his request, +and, in turn importuned the king—who generously yielded. It has been +a rare laughing matter at court—that the duke, who appeared the least +passionate adorer, should really have been such a restless one." +</P> + +<P> +"Dolt that I have been!" exclaimed the jester, with more anger, it +seemed to the girl, than jealousy. "He knew about Caillette, but +professed to be ignorant that the emperor was in Spain. And I believed +his words; thought I was holding something from him; let myself imagine +he could not penetrate my designs. While all the time he was +intriguing with the king's favorite and felt the sense of his own +security. What a cat's paw he made of me! And so he—they are gone, +Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she returned, surprised at his language, and, for the first +time, wondering if the duke's wooing admitted of other complications +than she had suspected. "They are on their way to the duke's kingdom." +</P> + +<P> +"His kingdom!" said the fool, with derision. "But go on. Tell me +about it, Jacqueline. Their parting with the court? How they set out +on their journey. All, Jacqueline; all!" +</P> + +<P> +"They were married in the Chapelle de la Trinité," responded the girl, +hesitating. Then with an odd side look, she went on rapidly: "The +bridal party made an imposing cavalcade: the princess in her litter, +behind a number of maids on horseback. At the castle gates several +pages, dressed as Cupids, sent silver arrows after the bridal train. +'Hymen; Io Hymen!' cried the throng. 'Godspeed!' exclaimed Queen +Marguerite, and threw a parchment, tied with a golden ribbon, into the +princess' litter; an epithalamium, in verse, written in her own fair +hand. '<I>Esto perpetua</I>!' murmured the red cardinal. Besides the +groom's own men, the king sent a strong escort to the border, and thus +it was a numerous company that rode from the castle, with colors flying +and the princess' handkerchief fluttering from her litter a last +farewell." +</P> + +<P> +"A last farewell!" repeated the fool. "A splendent picture, +Jacqueline. They all shouted <I>Te Deum</I>, and none stood there to warn +her." +</P> + +<P> +"To warn!" retorted the jestress. "Not a maid but envied her that +spectacle; the magnificence and splendor!" +</P> + +<P> +"But not what will follow," he said, and, lying back on his couch, +closed his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the scene passed before him; the false duke at the head of the +cavalcade, elate, triumphant; the princess in her litter, brilliant, +dazzling; the laughter, the hurried adieus; tears and smiles; the smart +sayings of the jesters, a bride their legitimate prey, her blushes the +delight of the facetious nobles; the complacency of the pleasure-loving +king—all floated before his eyes like the figment of a dream. How +mocking the pomp and glitter! For the princess, what an awakening was +to ensue! The free baron must have known the emperor was in Spain, and +had met the fool's stratagem with a final masterly manoeuver. The bout +was over; the first great bout; but in the next—would there be a next? +Jacqueline's words now implied a doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"You are soon to leave here," she said. "For Paris." +</P> + +<P> +Seated on the stool, her hands crossed over her knees, Jacqueline +seemed no longer a creature of indefinite or ambiguous purpose. On the +contrary, her profile was rimmed in light, and very matter-of-fact and +serious it seemed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why am I to leave for Paris?" he remarked, absently. +</P> + +<P> +"Because they are going to take you there," she returned, "to be tried +as a heretic." He started and again sat up. "In your room was found a +book by Calvin. Of course," she went on, "you will deny it belonged to +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"What would that avail?" he said, indifferently. "But have the +followers of Luther, or Calvin, no friends in Francis' court?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have they in Charles' domains?" she asked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"The Protestants in Germany are a powerful body; the emperor is forced +to bear with them." +</P> + +<P> +"Here they have no friends—openly," she went on. +"Secretly—Marguerite, Marot; others perhaps. But these will not serve +you; could not, if they would. Besides, this heresy of which you are +accused is but a pretext to get rid of you." +</P> + +<P> +"And how, good Jacqueline, has the king treated the new sect?" +</P> + +<P> +She held her hand suddenly to her throat; her face went paler, as from +some tragic recollection. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she answered, "do not speak of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"They burned them?" he persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Before Notre Dame!" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was low; her eyes shone deep and gleaming. +</P> + +<P> +"You are sorry, then, for those vile heretics?" asked the fool, +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +She raised her head, half-resentfully. "Their souls need no one's +pity," she retorted, proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you think mine is soon like to be beyond earthly caring?" +</P> + +<P> +Her glance became impatient. "Most like," she returned, curtly. +</P> + +<P> +"But what excuse does the king give for his cruelty?" he continued, +musingly. +</P> + +<P> +"They threw down the sacred images in one of the churches. Now a +heretic need expect no mercy. They are placed in cages—hung from +beams—over the fire. The court was commanded to witness the +spectacle—the king jested—the countess laughed, but her features were +white—" Here the girl buried her face in her hands. Soon, however, +she looked up, brushing back the hair from her brow. "Marguerite has +interposed, but she is only a feather in the balance." Abruptly she +arose. "Would you escape such a fate?" she said. +</P> + +<P> +He remained silent, thinking that if the mission to the emperor +miscarried, his own position might, indeed, be past mending. If the +exposure of the free baron were long delayed, the fool's assurance in +his own ultimate release might prove but vain expectation. In Paris +the trial would doubtless not be protracted. From the swift tribunal +to the slow fire constituted no complicated legal process, and appeal +there was none, save to the king, from whom might be expected little +mercy, less justice. +</P> + +<P> +"Escape!" the jester answered, dwelling on these matters. "But how?" +</P> + +<P> +"By leaving this prison," she answered, lowering her voice. +</P> + +<P> +He glanced significantly at the walls, the windows and the door, beyond +which could be heard the tread of the jailer and the clanking of the +keys hanging from his girdle. +</P> + +<P> +"I would have done that long since, Jacqueline, if I had had my will," +he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you strong enough to attempt it?" she remarked, doubtfully, +scanning the thin face before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your words shall make me so," he retorted, and looking into his +glittering eyes, she almost believed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-day, but to-morrow," the girl added, thoughtfully. "Perhaps +then—" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be ready," he broke in impatiently. "What must I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not drink this wine I have brought, but give it to the turnkey in the +morning. Invite him to share it, but take none yourself, feigning +sudden illness. He will not refuse, being always sharp-set for a cup. +Nothing can be done with the other jailers, but this one is a thirsty +soul, ever ready to bargain for a dram. Your couch cost I know not how +many flagons. Although he drinks many tankards and pitchers every day, +yet will this small bottle make him drowsy. You will leave while he is +sleeping." +</P> + +<P> +"In the daylight, mistress?" he asked, eagerly. "Why not wait—" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said, decisively; "there is no other way. This turnkey is +only a day watchman. It is dangerous, but the best plan that suggested +itself. I know many unfrequented corridors and passages through the +old part of the castle the king has not rebuilt, and a road at the +back, now little used, that runs through the wood and thicket down the +hill. It is a desperate chance, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"The danger of remaining is more desperate," he interrupted, quickly. +"Besides, we shall not fail. It is in the book of fate." His +expression changed; became fierce, eager. "Are you, indeed, the +arbiter of that fate; the sorceress Triboulet feared?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are thinking of the duke," she answered, with a frown, "and that +if you escape—" +</P> + +<P> +"Truly, you are a sorceress," he replied, with a smile. "I confess +life has grown sweet." +</P> + +<P> +She moved abruptly toward the door. "Nay, I meant not to offend you," +he spoke up, more gently. +</P> + +<P> +"It is your own fortunes you ever injure," she retorted, gazing coldly +back at him. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, sweet Jacqueline. Why did you not go with the princess?" +</P> + +<P> +Her face changed; grew dark; from eyes, deep and gloomy, she shot a +quick glance upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps—because I like the court too well to leave it," she answered +mockingly, and, vouchsafing no further word, quickly vanished. It was +only when she had gone the jester suddenly remembered he had forgotten +to thank her for what she had done in the past or what she proposed +doing on the morrow. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACQUELINE'S QUEST +</H3> + +<P> +"Truly, are you a right proper fool; for a man, merry in adversity, is +as wise as Master Rabelais. Many the time have I heard him say a fit +of laughter drives away the devil, while the groans of flagellating +saints seem as music to Beelzebub's ears. Thus, a wit-cracker is the +demon's enemy, and the band of Pantagruel, an evangelical brotherhood, +that with tankard and pot sends the arch-fiend back to the bottomless +pit." +</P> + +<P> +And the fool's jailer, seated on the stool within the cell, stretched +out his legs and uplifted the bottle to his lips, while, judging from +the draft he took and assuming the verity of the theory he advanced, +the prince of darkness at that moment must have fled a considerable +distance into his chosen realms. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you know the great philosopher, then?" commented the jester from +the couch, closely watching the sottish, intemperate face of his +keeper, and running his glance over the unwieldy form which bade fair +to outrival one of the wine butts in the castle cellar. +</P> + +<P> +"Know him!" exclaimed this lowly votary. "I have e'en been admitted to +his table—at the foot, 'tis true—when the brave fellows of Pantagruel +were at it. Not for my wit was I thus honored"—the <I>plaisant</I> made a +dissenting gesture, the irony of which passed over the head of the +speaker—"but because a giant flagon appeared but a child's toy in my +hands. The followers of Pantagruel fell on both sides, like wheat +before the blade of the reaper, until Doctor Rabelais and myself only +were left. From the head to the foot of the table the great man +looked. How my heart swelled with pride! 'Swine of Epicurus, are you +still there?' he said. And then—and then—" +</P> + +<P> +With a crash the bottle fell from the hand of the keeper to the stone +floor. The massive body swayed on the small stool; his eyes stupidly +shut and opened. +</P> + +<P> +"Swine of Epicurus," he repeated. "Swine—" and followed the bottle, +rolling gently from the stool. He made but one motion, to extend his +huge bulk more comfortably, and then was still. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," thought the fool, "if Jacqueline fails me not, all may yet be +well." +</P> + +<P> +But even as he thus reflected the door of the cell opened, and a face +white as a lily, looked in. Her glance passed hastily to the +motionless figure and an expression of satisfaction crossed her +features. +</P> + +<P> +"The keys!" she said, and the jester, bending over the prostrate +jailer, detached them from his girdle. +</P> + +<P> +"Lock the door when we leave," she continued. "The other keeper does +not come to relieve him for six hours." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be an offset for the many times he has locked me in," +answered the fool. "A scurvy trick; yet, as Master Rabelais says, +Pantagruelians select not their bed." +</P> + +<P> +"Is this a time for jesting?" exclaimed the girl, impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"He has been treating me to Gargantuan discourse, Jacqueline," said the +fool, humbly. "I was but answering him in kind." +</P> + +<P> +"And by delay increasing our danger!" +</P> + +<P> +"Our danger!" He started. +</P> + +<P> +Since she had first broached the subject of escape but one sweet and +all-absorbing idea had possessed him—retaliation. Liberty was the +means to that end, and every other thought and consideration had given +way to this desire. He had fallen asleep with the free baron's dark +features imaged on his fevered brain; when he had awakened the morbid +fantasy had not left him. But now, at her words, in her presence, a +new light was suddenly shed upon the enterprise, and he paused +abruptly, even as he turned to leave the cell. With growing wonder she +watched his altered features. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she exclaimed, impatiently, "why do you stand there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Should I escape, you, Jacqueline, would remain to bear the brunt," he +said, reflectively. "The jailer, when he awakes, will tell the story: +who brought the wine; who succored the prisoner. To go, but one course +is open." And he glanced down upon the prostrate man. "To silence him +forever!" +</P> + +<P> +She started and half-shrank from him. "Could you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. "In fair contest, I would have slain him. But +now—it is not he, but I, who am helpless. And yet what is such a +sot's life worth? Nothing. Everything. Farewell, sweet jestress; I +must trust to other means, and—thank you." +</P> + +<P> +The outstretched hand she seemed not to see, but tapped the floor of +the cell yet more impatiently with her foot, as was her fashion when +angered. Here was the prison door open, and the captive enamored of +confinement; at the culminating point conjuring reasons why he should +not flee. To have gone thus far; to have eliminated the jailer, and +then to draw back, with the keys in his hand—truly no scene in a +comedy could be more extravagant. The girl laughed nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"What egotists men are!" she said. "Good Sir Jester, in offering you +liberty I am serving myself; myself, you understand!" she repeated. +"Let us hasten on, lest in defeating your own purpose, you defeat mine." +</P> + +<P> +"What will you answer when he"—indicating the drugged +turnkey—"accuses you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Was ever such perversity!" was all she deigned to reply, biting her +lip. +</P> + +<P> +"You are somewhat wilful yourself, Jacqueline," he retorted, with that +smile which so exasperated her. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," she said at length, slowly, impressively. "You need have no +fear for me when you go. I tell you that more danger remains to me by +your staying than in your going; that your obstinacy leaves me +unprotected; that your compliance would be a boon to me. By the memory +of my mother, by the truth of this holy book"—drawing a little volume +passionately from her bosom—"I swear to what I have told you." +Eagerly her eyes met his searching gaze, and he read in their depths +only truth and candor. "I have a quest for you. It concerns my life, +my happiness. All I have done for you has been for this end." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes fell, but she raised them again quickly. "Will you accept a +mission from one who is not—a princess?" +</P> + +<P> +"Name her not!" exclaimed the jester sharply. And then, recovering +himself, added, less brusquely: "What is it you want, mistress?" +</P> + +<P> +"This is no time nor place to tell it," she went on rapidly, seeing by +his face that his dogged humor had melted before her appeal, "but soon, +before we part, you shall know all; what it is I wish to intrust in +your hands." +</P> + +<P> +A moment she waited. "Your argument is unanswerable, Jacqueline," he +said finally. "I own myself puzzled, but I believe you, so—have your +way." +</P> + +<P> +"This cloak then"—handing him a garment she had brought with +her—"throw it over you," she continued hurriedly. "If we meet any one +it may serve as a disguise. And here is a sword," bringing forth a +weapon that she had carried concealed beneath a flowing mantle. "Can +you use it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can but try, Jacqueline," he replied, fastening the girdle about his +waist and half-drawing and then thrusting the blade back into the +scabbard. "It seems a priceless weapon," he added, his eye lingering +on the richly inlaid hilt, "and has doubtless been wielded by a gallant +hand." +</P> + +<P> +"Speak not of that," she retorted, sharply, a strange flash in her +eyes. "He who handled it was the bravest, noblest—" She broke off +abruptly, and they left the cell, he locking the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +Down the dimly lighted passage she walked rapidly, while the jester +tractably and silently followed. His strength, he found, had come back +to him; the joys of freedom imparted new elasticity to his limbs; that +narrow, cheerless way looked brighter than a royal gallery, or Francis' +<I>Salle des Fêtes</I>. Before him floated the light figure of the +jestress, moving faster and ever faster down the dark corridor, now +veering to the right or left, again ascending or descending well-worn +steps; a tortuous route through the heart of the ancient fortress, +whose mystery seemed dread and covert as that of a prison house. +Confidently, knowing well the puzzling interior plan of the old pile, +she traversed the labyrinth that was to lead them without, finally +pausing before a small door, which she tried. +</P> + +<P> +"Usually it is unlocked," she said, in surprise. "I never knew it +fastened before." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that our only way out?" +</P> + +<P> +"The only safe way. Perhaps one of the keys—" +</P> + +<P> +But he had already knelt before the door and the young girl watched him +with obvious anxiety. He vainly essayed all the keys, save one, and +that he now strove to fit to the lock. It slipped in snugly and the +stubborn bolt shot back. +</P> + +<P> +Entering, he closed the door behind them and hastily looked around, +discovering that they stood in a crypt, the central part of which was +occupied by a burial vault. In the crypt chapels were a number of +statues, in marble and bronze, most of them rude, antique, yet not of +indifferent workmanship, especially one before which the jestress, in +spite of the exigency of the moment, stopped as if impelled by an +irresistible impulse. This monument, so read the inscription, had been +erected by the renowned Constable of Dubrois to his young and faithful +consort, Anne. +</P> + +<P> +But a part of a minute the girl gazed, with a new and softened +expression, upon the marble likeness of the last fair mistress of the +castle, and then hurriedly crossed the old mosaic pavement, reaching a +narrow flight of stairs, which she swiftly ascended. A door that +yielded to the fool's shoulder led into a deserted court, on one side +of which were the crumbling walls of the chapel. Here several dark +birds perched uncannily on the dead branch of a massive oak that had +been shattered by lightning. In its desolation the oak might have been +typical of the proud family, once rulers of the castle, whose corporeal +strength had long since mingled with the elements. +</P> + +<P> +This open space the two fugitives quickly traversed, passing through a +high-arched entrance to an olden bridge that spanned a moat. Long ago +had the feudal gates been overthrown by Francis; yet above the keystone +appeared, not the salamander, the king's heraldic emblem, but the +almost illegible device of the old constable. Beyond the great ditch +outstretched a rolling country on which the jester gazed with eager +eyes, while his companion swiftly led the way to a clump of willow and +aspen on the other side of the moat. Beneath the spreading branches +were tethered two horses, saddled and bridled. Wonderingly he glanced +from them to her. +</P> + +<P> +"From whence did you conjure them, gentle mistress?" asked the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one I knew placed them there." +</P> + +<P> +"But why—two horses, good Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I am minded to show you the path through the wood," she +replied. "You might mistake it and then my purpose would not be +served. Give me your hand, sir. I am wont to have my own way." And +as he reluctantly extended his palm she placed her foot upon it, +springing lightly to the saddle. "'Tis but a canter through the +forest. The day is glorious, and 'twill be rare sport." +</P> + +<P> +Already had she gathered in the reins and turned her horse, galloping +down a road that swept through a grove of poplar and birch, and he, +after a moment's hesitation, rode after her. Like one born to the +chase, she kept her seat, her lithe figure swaying to the movements of +the steed. Soon the brighter green of her gown fluttered amid the +somber-tinted pines and elms, as the younger forest growth merged into +a stern array of primeval monarchs. Here reigned an austere silence—a +stillness that now became the more startlingly broken. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" said the fool, spurring toward her. "Do you hear?" +</P> + +<P> +"The hunters? Yes," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"They are coming this way." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it were better to draw back from the road," she suggested, +calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you draw back to the castle!" he returned, quickly, his brow +overcast. +</P> + +<P> +"And miss the hunt? Not I, Monsieur Spoil-Sport." +</P> + +<P> +"But if they find you with me?" +</P> + +<P> +She only tossed her head wilfully and did not answer. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer came the hue and cry of the chase. A heavy-horned buck sprang +into the road and vanished like a flash into the timber on the other +side. Shortly afterward, in a compact bunch, with heads downbent and +stiffened tails, the pack, a howling, discordant mass, swept across the +narrow, open space. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick!" exclaimed the jester, and they turned their horses into the +underbrush. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had they done so when, closely following the dogs, appeared +the first of the hunters, mounted on a splendid charger, with housings +of rose-velvet. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Pardieu!</I>" muttered the <I>plaisant</I>, "I owe the king no thanks, but he +rides well. Do you not think so, Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +Her answering gaze was puzzling. After Francis rode many lords and +ladies, a stream of color crossing the road; riding habits faced with +gold; satin doublets covered with <I>rivières</I> of diamonds; torsades +wherein gold became the foil to precious stones. So near was the +gorgeous cavalcade—the grand falconer, whippers-in, and the bearers of +hooded birds mingling with the courtiers immediately behind the +king—the escaped prisoner and the jestress could hear the panting of +horses. Fleeting, transient, it passed; fainter sounded the din of +hounds and horn; now it almost died away in the distance. The last +couple had scarcely vanished before the fool and his companion left +their ambush. +</P> + +<P> +"You ride farther, Jacqueline?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"A little farther." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be far to return," he protested. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no fear," she answered, tranquilly. +</P> + +<P> +Again he let her have her way, as one would yield to a wilful child. +On and on they sped; past the place where the deer-run crossed the +broader path; through an ever-varying forest; now on one side, a rocky +basin overrun with trees and shrubs; again, on the other hand, a great +gorge, in whose depths flowed a whispering stream. Yonder appeared the +gray walls of an ancient monastery, one part only of which was +habitable; a turn in the road swallowed it up as though abruptly to +complete the demolition time was slowly to bring about. On and on, +until the way became wilder and the wood more overgrown with bushes and +tangled shrubbery, when she suddenly stopped her horse. +</P> + +<P> +He understood; at last they were to part. And, remembering what he +owed to her, the Jester suddenly found himself regretting that here +their paths separated forever. Swiftly his mind flew back to their +first meeting; when she had flouted him in Fools' hall. A perverse, +capricious maid. How she had ever crossed him, and yet—nursed him. +</P> + +<P> +Attentively he regarded her. The customary pallor of her face had +given way to a faint tint; her eyes were humid, dewy-bright; beneath +the little cap, the curling tresses would have been the despair of +those later-day reformers, the successors of Calvinists and Lutherans. +</P> + +<P> +"A will-o'-the-wisp," he thought. "A man might follow and never grasp +her." +</P> + +<P> +Did she read what he felt? That mingled gratitude and perplexity? Her +clear eyes certainly seemed to have a peculiar mastery over the +thoughts of others. Now they expressed only mockery. +</P> + +<P> +"The greater danger is over," she said, quietly. "From now on there is +less fear of your being taken." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks to you!" he answered, searching her with his glance. +</P> + +<P> +Here he doubted not she would make known the quest of which she had +spoken. Whatever it might be, he would faithfully requite her; even to +making his own purpose subservient to it. +</P> + +<P> +"It is now time," she said, demurely, "to acquaint you with the +mission. Of course, you will accept it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you ask?" he answered, earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"You promise?" +</P> + +<P> +"To serve you with my life." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we had better go on," she continued. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mademoiselle, I thought—" +</P> + +<P> +"That we were to part here? Not at all. I am not yet ready to leave +you. In fact, good Master Jester, I am going with you. <I>I</I> am the +quest; <I>I</I> am the mission. Are you sorry you promised?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF THE JESTRESS +</H3> + +<P> +She, the quest, the mission! With growing amazement he gazed at her, +but she returned his look, as though enjoying his surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not seem overpleased with the prospect of my company?" she +observed. "Or perhaps you fear I may encumber you?" With mock irony. +"Confess, the service is more onerous than you expected?" +</P> + +<P> +Beneath her flushed, yet smiling face lay a nervous earnestness he +could divine, but not fathom. +</P> + +<P> +"Different, certainly," he answered, brusquely. +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes flashed. "How complimentary you are!" +</P> + +<P> +"For your own sake—" +</P> + +<P> +"My sake!" she exclaimed, passionately. Her little hand closed +fiercely; proudly her eyes burned into his. "Think you I have taken +this step idly? That it is but the caprice of a moment? Oh, no; no! +It was necessary to flee from the court. But to whom could a woman +turn? Not to any of the court—tools of the king. One person only was +there; he whose life was as good as forfeited. Do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"That my life belongs to you? Yes. But that you should leave the +court—where you have influence, friends—" +</P> + +<P> +"Influence! friends!" +</P> + +<P> +He was startled by the bitterness of her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Jacqueline—why do you wish to go?" he said, wonderingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I wish to," she returned, briefly, and stroked the shining +neck of her horse. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, how could she apprise him of events which were now the talk of +the court? How Francis, evincing a sudden interest as strong as it was +unexpected, had exchanged Triboulet for herself, and the princess, at +the king's request, had taken the buffoon with her, and left the girl +behind. The jestress' welcome to the household of the Queen of +Navarre; a subsequent bewildering shower of gifts; the complacent, +although respectful, attentions of the king. How she had endured these +advances until no course remained save the one she had taken. No; she +could not tell the duke's fool all this. +</P> + +<P> +Between <I>folle</I> and fugitive fell a mutual reserve. Did he divine some +portion of the truth? Are there moments when the mind, tuned to a +tension, may almost feel what another experiences? Why had the girl +not gone with her mistress? He remembered she had evaded this question +when he had asked it. Looking at her, for the first time it crossed +his mind she would be held beautiful; an odd, strange beauty, imperious +yet girlish, and the conviction crept over him there might be more than +a shadow of excuse for her mad flight. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath his scrutiny her face grew cold, disdainful. "Like all men," +she said, sharply, as though to stay the trend of his thoughts, "you +are prodigal in promises, but chary in fulfilment." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is it your pleasure to go?" he asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"That we shall speak of hereafter," she answered, haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward then." +</P> + +<P> +"I can ride on alone," she demurred, "if—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; 'tis I who crave the quest," he returned, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +Her face broke into smiles, "What a devoted cavalier!" she exclaimed. +"Come, then. Let us ride out into the world. At least, it is bright +and shining—to-day. Do you fear to follow me, sir? Or do you believe +with the hunchback that I am an enchantress and cast over whom I will +the spell of <I>diablerie</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"You may be an enchantress, mistress, but the spell you cast is not +<I>diablerie</I>," he answered in the same tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine words!" she said, mockingly. "But it remains to be seen into +what a world I am going to lead you!" And rode on. +</P> + +<P> +The rush of air, the swift motion, the changing aspect of nature were +apparently not without their effect on her spirits, for as they +galloped along she appeared to forget their danger, the certainty of +pursuit and the possibility of capture. Blithesome she continued; +called his attention to a startled hare; pointed with her whip to a +red-eyed boar that sullenly retreated at their approach; laughed when +an overhanging branch swept her little cap from her head and merrily +thanked him when he hastily dismounted and returned it to her. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, fool, what a burden I am like to prove!" she said, +readjusting the cap, and, ere he could answer, had passed on, as if +challenging him to a test of speed. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a care!" he cried warningly, as they came to a rough stretch of +ancient highway, but she seemed not to hear him. +</P> + +<P> +That she could ride in such madcap fashion, seemingly oblivious of the +gravity of their desperate fortunes, was not ill-pleasing to the +jester; no timorous companion, shrinking from phantoms, he surmised she +would prove. Thus mile after mile they covered and the shadows had +reached their minimum length, when, coming to a clear pool of water, +they drew rein to refresh themselves from the provisions in the +saddle-bags. Bread and wine—sumptuous fare for poor fugitives—they +ate and drank with keen relish. Dreamily she watched the green insects +skimming over the surface of the shimmering water. On the bank swayed +the rushes, as though making obeisance to a single gorgeous lily, set +like a queen in the center of this little shining kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +"Was the repast to your liking?" she asked, suddenly looking from the +pool to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Entirely, fair Jacqueline. The wine was excellent. Hunger gave it +bouquet, and appetite aged it. Never did bread taste so wholesome, and +as for the service—" +</P> + +<P> +"It was perfect—lacking grand master, grand chamberlain, grand +marshals, grand everybody," she laughed. +</P> + +<P> +In the reflected glow from pool and shining leaves, her eyes were so +full of light he could but wonder if this were the same person who had +so gravely stood by his bedside in the cell. That she should thus seem +carelessly to dismiss all thought of danger appeared the more +surprising, because he knew she was not one to lull herself with the +assurance of a false security. To him her bright eyes said: "I am in +your care. Be yours the task now." And thus interpreting, he broke in +upon her thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Having dined and wined so well, shall we go on, Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +To which she at once assented by rising, and soon they had left the +principality of the lily far in the distance. Now the road so narrowed +he fell behind. The character of the country had changed; some time +ago they had passed out of the wild forest, and had begun to traverse a +great, level plain, broken with stubble. As far as the eye could +reach, no other human figures were visible; the land outstretched, +apparently without end; no habitations dotted the landscape, and, the +sole signs of life, wheeling birds of prey, languidly floated in the +air. At length she glanced around. Was it to reassure herself the +jester rode near; that she had not, unattended, entered that forbidding +territory? Then she paused abruptly and the fool approached. +</P> + +<P> +"By this time the turnkey should be relieved," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"But not released," he answered, holding up the keys which he yet wore +at his girdle. "They will have to come a long distance to find them," +he continued, and threw the keys far away upon the sward. +</P> + +<P> +"They may not think of following on this road at all," she returned. +"It is the old castle thoroughfare, long since disused." +</P> + +<P> +"And leads where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Southward, to the main road." +</P> + +<P> +"How came you to know it?" he asked, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"How—because I lived in the castle before the king built the palace +and the new thoroughfare," she answered slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"You lived in the castle, then, when it was the residence of the proud +Constable of Dubrois? You must have been but a child," he added, +reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but children may have long memories." +</P> + +<P> +"In your case, certainly. How well you knew all the passages and +corridors of the castle!" +</P> + +<P> +She responded carelessly and changed the conversation. The +thoroughfare broadening, for the remainder of the day they pressed +forward side by side. But a single human figure, during all those +hours, they encountered, and that when the afternoon had fairly worn +away. For some time they had pursued their journey silently, when at a +turn in the road the horse of the jester shied and started back. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time an unclean, offensive-looking monk in Franciscan +attire arose suddenly out of the stubble by the wayside. In his hand +he held a heavy staff, newly cut from the forest, a stock which in his +brawny arms seemed better adapted for a weapon than as a prop for his +sturdy frame. From the rope girdle about his waist depended a rosary +whose great beads would have served the fingers of a Cyclops, and a +most diminutive, leathern-bound prayer-book. At the appearance of the +fool and his companion, he opened an enormous mouth, and in a voice +proportionately large began to whine right vigorously: +</P> + +<P> +"Charity, good people, for the Mother Church! Charity in the name of +the Holy Mother! In the name of the saints, the apostles and the +evangelists! St. John, St. Peter, St.—" Then broke off suddenly, +staring stupidly at the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke's fool!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? A plague +upon it! You have as many lives as a monk." +</P> + +<P> +"Call you yourself a monk, rascal?" asked the jester, contemptuously. +</P> + +<P> +"At times. Charity, good fool!" the canting rogue again began to +whine, edging nearer. "Charity, mistress! For the sake of the +prophets and the disciples! The seven sacraments, the feast of the +Pentecost and the Passover! In the name of the holy Fathers! St. +Sebastian! St. Michael! St.—" +</P> + +<P> +But the fugitives had already sped on, and the unregenerate knave +turned his pious eloquence into an unhallowed channel of oaths, waving +his staff menacingly after them. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear me," said the jester, when they had put a goodly distance +between themselves and the solitary figure, "yonder brother craves +almsgiving with his voice, and enforces the bounty with his staff. Woe +betide the good Samaritan who falls within reach of his pilgrim's prop." +</P> + +<P> +"You knew him?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I had the doubtful pleasure," he answered. "He was hired to kill me." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Because the—duke wanted me out of the way." +</P> + +<P> +She asked no further questions, although he could see by her brow she +was thinking deeply. Was the duke then no better than a common +assassin? She frowned, then gave an impatient exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"It is inexplicable," she said, and rode the faster. +</P> + +<P> +The jester, too, was silent, but his mind dwelt upon the future and its +hazards. He little liked their meeting with the false monk. Why was +the Franciscan traveling in their direction? Had others of that band +of pillagers, street-fools and knave-minstrels, formerly infesting the +neighborhood of the palace, gone that way? He did not believe the monk +would long pursue a solitary pilgrimage, for varlets of that kind have +common haunts and byways. The encounter suggested hazard ahead as well +as the danger of pursuit from the palace. But this apprehension of a +new source of peril he kept from his companion; since go on they must, +there was no need to disquiet her further. +</P> + +<P> +The mystic silver light of the day had now become golden; the sky, +brilliant, many-colored, overdomed the vast, sullen earth; between two +roseate streamers a whitish crescent unobtrusively was set. Seemingly +misplaced in a sanguinary sea, passionless it lay, but as the ocean of +light grew dull the crescent kindled. Over a thick patch of pine trees +in the distance myriads of dark birds hovered and screamed in chorus. +Now they circled restlessly above that shaded spot; then darted off, a +cloud against the sky, and returned with renewed cawing and discord. +As the riders approached the din abruptly ceased, the creatures +mysteriously and suddenly vanishing into the depths of the thicket +below. +</P> + +<P> +In the fading light, fool and jestress drew rein, and, moved by the +same purpose, looked about them. On the one hand was the deserted, +desolate plain over which lay a sullen, gathering mist; on the other, +the sombrous obscurity of the wood. Everywhere, an ominous silence, +and overhead the crescent growing in luster. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see any sign of house or inn?" said the girl, peering afar down +the road, which soon lost itself in the general monotony of the +landscape. +</P> + +<P> +"None, mistress; the country seems alike barren of farmhouse or tavern." +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do? I am full weary," she confessed. +</P> + +<P> +"The forest offers the best protection," he reluctantly suggested. +Little as he favored delay, he realized the wisdom of sparing their +horses. Moreover, her appeal was irresistible. +</P> + +<P> +She gazed half-dubiously into that woody depth. "Why not rest by the +wayside—in the moonlight?" +</P> + +<P> +"I like not the open road," he answered. "But if you fear the +darkness—" +</P> + +<P> +For answer she guided her horse to the verge of the forest and lightly +sprang to the ground. Upon a grassy knoll, but a little way within, he +spread his cloak. +</P> + +<P> +"There, Jacqueline, is your couch," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"But you?" she asked. "To rob you thus of your cloak seems +ill-comradeship." +</P> + +<P> +"The cloak is yours," he returned. "As it is, you will find it but a +hard bed." +</P> + +<P> +"It will seem soft as down," she replied, and seated herself on the +hillock. In the gloom he could just distinguish the outline of her +figure, with her elbow on her knee, and her hair blacker than the +shadows themselves. A long-drawn, moaning sound, coming without +warning behind her, caused the girl to turn. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" she said, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"The wind, Jacqueline. It is rising." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, like a monster it entered the forest; about them branches +waved and tossed: a friendly star seen through the boughs lost itself +behind a cloud. Yet no rain fell and the air seemed hot and dry, +despite the mists which clung to the ground. A crash of thunder or a +flash of lightning would have relieved that sighing dolor which filled +the little patch of timber with its melancholy sounds. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, above the plaint and murmur of wind and forest, the low, +clear voice of the girl arose; the melody was no ballad, arietta or +pastoral, such as he had before heard from her lips, but a simple hymn, +the setting by Calvin. The jester started. How came she to know that +forbidden music? Not only to know, but to sing it as he had never +heard it sung before. Sweetly it vibrated, her waywardness sunk in its +swelling rhythm; its melody freighted with the treasure of her trust. +As he listened he felt she was betraying to him the hidden well of her +faith; the secret of her religion; that she, his companion, was +proclaiming herself a heretic, and, therefore, doubly an outcast. +</P> + +<P> +A stanza, and the melody died away on the wings of the tempest. His +heart was beating violently; he looked expectantly toward her. Even +more gently, like a lullaby to the turbulent night, the full-measured +cadence of the majestic psalm was again heard. Then another voice, +deeper, fuller, blended with that of the first singer. Unwavering, she +continued the song, as though it had been the most natural matter he +should join his voice with hers. Fainter fell the harmony; then ceased +altogether—a hymn destined to become interwoven with terrible +memories, the tragic massacre of the Huguenots on the ill-fated night +of St. Bartholomew. Again prevailed the tristful dirge of the pines. +</P> + +<P> +"You sing well, mistress," said the jester, softly. "Is it true you +are one of a hated sect?" +</P> + +<P> +"As true as that you did not deny the heretic volume found in your +room," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +A silence ensued between them. "It was Marot placed the horses there +for us," she said, at length. "He, too, is a heretic, and would have +saved you." +</P> + +<P> +Thereafter the silence remained unbroken for some moments, and then— +</P> + +<P> +"God keep you, mistress," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"God keep you," she answered, softly. +</P> + +<P> +Soon her deep breathing told him she was sleeping, and, as he listened, +in fancy he could hear the faint echoes of her voice, accompanied by +the sighing wind. How intrepid had she seemed; how helpless was she +now; and, as he bent over her, divining yet not seeing, he asked +himself whence had come this faith in him, that like a child she +slumbered amid the unrest of nature? What had her life been, who her +friends, that she should thus have chosen a jester as comrade? What +had driven her forth from the court to nameless hazards? Had he +surmised correctly? Was it— +</P> + +<P> +"The king," she murmured, with sudden restlessness in her sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"The king," she repeated, with aversion. +</P> + +<P> +In the jester's breast upleaped a fierce anger. This was the +art-loving monarch who burned the fathers and brothers of the new +faith; this, the righteous ruler who condemned men to death for +psalm-singing or for listening to grave discourse; this the Christian +king, the brilliant patron of science and learning. +</P> + +<P> +The storm had sighed itself to rest, the stars had come out, but +leaning with his back against a tree, the fool still kept vigil. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +Experiencing no further inconvenience than the ordinary vicissitudes of +traveling without litter or cavalcade, several days of wandering slowly +passed. Few people they met, and those, for the most part, various +types of vagabonds and nomads; some wild and savage, roaming like +beasts from place to place; others, harmless, mere bedraggled birds of +passage. In this latter class were the vagrant-entertainers, with +dancing rooster or singing dog, who stopped at every peasant's door. +To the shrill piping of the flageolet, these merry stragglers added a +step of their own, and won a crust for themselves, a bone for the dog +or a handful of grain for the performing fowl. +</P> + +<P> +In those days when court ladies rode in carved and gilded coaches, and +their escorts on horses covered with silken, jeweled nets, the modest +appearance of the jestress and her companion was not calculated to +attract especial attention from the yokels and honest peasantry; +although their steeds, notwithstanding their unpretentious housings, +might still excite the cupidity of highway rogues. As it minimized +their risk from this latter class, the young girl was content to wear +the cap of the jestress, piquantly perched upon her dark curls, thereby +suggesting an indefinable affinity with vagrancy and the itinerant +fraternity. +</P> + +<P> +Not only had she donned the symbol of her office, but she endeavored to +act up to it, accepting the sweet with the sour, with ever a jest at +discomfort and concealing weariness with a smile. Often the fool +wondered at her endurance and her calm courage in the face of peril, +for although they met with no misadventures, each day seemed fraught +with jeopardy. Perhaps it was fortunate their attire, somewhat +travel-stained, appeared better suited to the character of poor, +migratory wearers of the cap and bells than to the more magnificent +roles of <I>fou du roi</I> or <I>folle de la reine</I>. But although they had +gone far, the jester knew they had not yet traveled beyond the reach of +Francis' arm, and that, while the king might reconcile himself to the +escape of the <I>plaisant</I>, he would not so easily tire in seeking the +maid. +</P> + +<P> +Once they slept in the fields; again, beside an old ruined shrine, in +the shadow of an ancient cross; the third night, on the bank of a +stream, when it rained, and she shivered until dawn with no word of +complaint. Fortunately the sun arose, bright and warm, drying the +garments that clung to her slender figure, At the peasants' houses they +paused no longer than necessary to procure food and drink, and, not to +awaken suspicion, she preferred paying them with a song of the people +rather than from the well-filled purse she had brought with her. +</P> + +<P> +And as the fool listened to a sprightly, contagious carol and noted its +effect on clod and hind, he wondered if this could be the same voice he +had heard, uplifted in one of Master Calvin's psalms in the solitude of +the forest. She had the gift of music, and, sometimes on the journey, +would break out with a catch or madrigal by Marot, Caillette, or +herself. It appeared a brave effort to bear up under continued +hardship—insufficient rest and sharp riding—and the jester reproached +himself for thus taxing her strength; but often, when he suggested a +pause, she would shake her head wilfully, assert she was not tired, and +ride but the faster. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" she would say; "if we would escape, we must keep on. We can +rest afterward." +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you wish to go?" he asked her once. +</P> + +<P> +"There is time enough yet to speak of that," she returned, evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"You have some plan, mistress?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +This answer forbade his further questioning; offended, possibly, his +sense of that confidence which is due comrade to comrade, but she +became immediately so propitiative and sweetly dependent—the +antithesis to that self-reliance her response implied—he thought no +more of it, but remained content with her reticence. Half-shyly, she +looked at him beneath her dark lashes, as if to read how deeply he was +annoyed, and, seeing his face clear, laughed lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you laughing at, mistress?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"If I knew I could tell," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +Toward sundown on the fourth day they came to a lonely inn, set in a +clearing on the verge of a forest. They had ridden late in the +moonlight the night before, and all that morning and afternoon almost +without resting, and the first sight of the solitary hostelry was not +unwelcome to the weary fugitives. A second inspection of the place, +however, awakened misgivings. The building seemed the better adapted +for a fortress than a tavern, being heavily constructed with massive +doors and blinds, and loopholes above. A brightly painted sign, The +Rooks' Haunt, waved cheerily, it is true, above the door, as though to +disarm suspicion, but the isolated situation of the inn, and the +depressing sense of the surrounding wilderness, might well cause the +wayfarer to hesitate whether to tarry there or continue his journey. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at the pale face and unnaturally bright eyes of the girl +brought the jester, however, to a quick decision. Springing from his +horse, he held out his hand to assist her, but, overcome by weakness, +or fatigue, she would have fallen had he not sustained her. Quickly +she recovered, and with a faint flush mantling her white cheek, +withdrew from his grasp, while at the same time the landlord of the +tavern came forward to welcome his guests. +</P> + +<P> +In appearance mine host was round and jovial; his bulk bespoke hearty +living; his rosy face reflected good cheer; his stentorian voice, +free-and-easy hospitality. His eyes constituted the only setback to +this general impression of friendliness and fellow-feeling; they were +small, twinkling, glassy. +</P> + +<P> +"Good even to you, gentle folk," he said. "You tarry for the night, I +take it?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you have suitable accommodations," answered the jester, reassured +by the man's aspect and manner. +</P> + +<P> +"The Rooks' Haunt never yet turned away a weary traveler," answered the +landlord. "You come from the palace?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," briefly, as a lad led away their horses. +</P> + +<P> +"And have done well? Reaped a harvest from the merry lords and ladies?" +</P> + +<P> +"There were many others there for that purpose," returned the jester, +following the proprietor to the door of the hostelry. +</P> + +<P> +"True. Still I'll warrant your fair companion cozened the silver +pieces from the pockets of the gentry." And, smiling knowingly, he +ushered them into the principal living room of the tavern. +</P> + +<P> +It was a smoke-begrimed apartment, with tables next to the wall, and +rough chairs and benches for the guests. Heavy pine rafters spanned +the ceiling; the floor was sprinkled with sand; from a chain hung a +wrought-iron frame for candles. Upon a shelf a row of battered +tankards, suggesting many a bout, shone dully, like a line of war-worn +troopers, while a great pewter pitcher, the worse for wear, commanded +the disreputable array. +</P> + +<P> +In this room was gathered a nondescript company: mountebanks and +buffoons; rogues unclassified, drinking and dicing; a robust vagrant, +at whose feet slept a performing boar, with a ring—badge of +servitude—through its nose; a black-bearded, shaggy-haired Spanish +troubadour, with attire so ragged and worn as to have lost its +erstwhile picturesque characteristics. This last far from +prepossessing worthy half-started from his seat upon the appearance of +fool and jestress; stared at them, and then resumed his place and the +ballad he had been singing: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Within the garden of Beaucaire<BR> +He met her by a secret stair,<BR> +Said Aucassin, 'My love, my pet,<BR> +These old confessors vex me so!<BR> +They threaten all the pains of hell<BR> +Unless I give you up, <I>ma belle</I>,'—<BR> +Said Aucassin to Nicolette."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Watching the nimble fingers of the shabby minstrel with pitiably +childish expression of amusement, a half-imbecile morio leaned upon the +table. His huge form, for he was a giant among stalwart men, and his +great moon-shaped head made him at once an object hideous and miserable +to contemplate. But the poor creature seemed unaware of his own +deformities, and smiled contentedly and patted the table caressingly to +the sprightly rhythm. +</P> + +<P> +Gazing upon this choice assemblage, the <I>plaisant</I> was vaguely +conscious that some of the curious and uncommon faces seemed familiar, +and the picture of the Franciscan monk whom they had overtaken on the +road recurred to him, together with the misgivings he had experienced +upon parting from that canting knave. He half-expected to see Nanette; +to hear her voice, and was relieved that the gipsy on this occasion did +not make one of the unwonted gathering. The landlord, observing the +fool's discriminating gaze, and reading something of what was passing +in his mind, reassuringly motioned the new-comers to an unoccupied +corner, and by his manner sought to allay such mistrust as the +appearance of his guests was calculated to inspire. +</P> + +<P> +"We have to take those that come," he said, deprecatorily. "The +rascals have money. It is as good as any lord's. Besides, whate'er +they do without, here must they behave. And—for their credit—they +are docile as children; ruled by the cook's ladle. You will find that, +though there be ill company, you will partake of good fare. If I say +it myself, there's no better master of the flesh pots outside of Paris +than at this hostelry. The rogues eat as well as the king's gentlemen. +Feasting, then fasting, is their precept." +</P> + +<P> +"At present we have a leaning for the former, good host," carelessly +answered the fool. "Though the latter will, no doubt, come later." +</P> + +<P> +"For which reason it behooves a man to eat, drink and be merry while he +may," retorted the other. "What say you to a carp on the spit, with +shallots, and a ham boiled with pistachios?" +</P> + +<P> +"The ham, if it be ready. Our appetites are too sharp to wait for the +fish." +</P> + +<P> +"Then shall you have with it a cold teal from the marshes, and I'll +warrant such a repast as you have not tasted this many a day. Because +a man lives in a retired spot, it does not follow he may not be an +epicure," he went on, "and in my town days I was considered a good +fellow among gourmands." His eyes twinkled; he studied the new-comers +a moment, and then vanished kitchenward. +</P> + +<P> +His self-praise as a provider of creature comforts proved not ill +deserved; the viands, well prepared, were soon set before them; a +serving lad filled their glasses from a skin of young but sound wine he +bore beneath his arm, and, under the influence of this cheer, the young +girl's cheek soon lost its pallor. In the past she had become +accustomed to rough as well as gentle company; so now it was disdain, +not fear, she experienced in that uncouth gathering; the same sort of +contempt she had once so openly expressed for Master Rabelais, +whipper-in for all gluttons, wine-bibbers and free-livers. +</P> + +<P> +As the darkness gathered without, the merriment increased within. Over +the scene the dim light cast an uncertain luster. Indefatigably the +dicers pursued their pastime, with now and then an audible oath, or +muttered imprecation, which belied that docility mine host had boasted +of. The troubadour played and the morio yet listened. Several of a +group who had been singing now sat in sullen silence. Suddenly one of +them muttered a broken sentence and his fellows immediately turned +their eyes toward the corner where were fool and jestress. This ripple +of interest did not escape the young girl's attention, who said +uneasily: +</P> + +<P> +"Why do those men look at us?" +</P> + +<P> +"One of them spoke to the others," replied the jester. "He called +attention to something." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suppose it was?" she asked curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Gladius gemmatus!</I>" ["The jeweled sword."] +</P> + +<P> +Whence came the voice? Near the couple, in a shadow, sat a woebegone +looking man who had been holding a book so close to his eyes as to +conceal his face. Now he permitted the volume to fall and the jester +uttered an exclamation of surprise, as he looked upon those pinched, +worn, but well-remembered features. +</P> + +<P> +"The scamp-student!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately the reader buried his head once more behind the book and +spoke aloud in Latin as though quoting some passage which he followed +with his finger; "Did you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered the <I>plaisant</I>, apparently speaking to the jestress, +whose face wore a puzzled expression. +</P> + +<P> +The scamp-student laid the volume on the table. "These men are outlaws +and intend to kill you for your jeweled sword," he continued in the +language of Horace. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you tell me this?" asked the fool in the same tongue, now +addressing directly the scholar. +</P> + +<P> +"Because you spared my life once; I would serve you now." +</P> + +<P> +"What's all this monk's gibberish about?" cried an angry voice, as the +master of the boar stepped toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"A discussion between two scholars," readily answered the scamp-student. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you talk in a language we understand?" grumbled the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Latin is the tongue of learning," was the humble response. +</P> + +<P> +"I like not the sound of it," retorted the other, as he retired. From +a distance, however, he continued to cast suspicious glances in their +direction. Bewildered, the girl looked from one of the alleged +controverters to the other. Who was this starveling the jester seemed +to know? Again were they conversing in the language of the monastery, +and their colloquy led to a conclusion as unexpected as it was +startling. +</P> + +<P> +"What if we leave the inn now?" asked the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"They would prevent you." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is the leader?" +</P> + +<P> +"The man with the boar," answered the scamp-student. "But it is the +morio who usually kills their victims." +</P> + +<P> +The jester glanced at the colossal monster, repugnant in deformity, and +then at the girl, who was tapping impatiently on the table with her +white fingers. The fool's color came and went; what human strength +might stand against that frightful prodigy of nature? +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no way to escape?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Alas! I can but warn; not advise," said the scholar. "Already the +leader suspects me." +</P> + +<P> +A half-shiver ran through him. In the presence of actual and seemingly +assured death he had appeared calm, resigned, a Socrates in +temperament; before the mere prospect of danger the apprehensive +thief-and-fugitive elements of his nature uprose. He would meet, when +need be, the grim-visaged monster of dissolution with the dignity of a +stoic, but by habit disdained not to dodge the shadow with the +practised agility of a filcher and scamp. So the lower part of his +moral being began to cower; he glanced furtively at the company. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I am sure I have put my own neck in it," he muttered. "I must +devise a way to save it. I have it. We must seem to quarrel." And +rising, he closed his book deliberately. +</P> + +<P> +"Fool!" he said in a sharp voice. "Your argument is as scurvy as your +Latin. Thou, a philosopher! A bookless, shallow dabbler! So I treat +you and your reasonings!" +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon, with a quick gesture, he threw the dregs of his glass in the +face of the jester. So suddenly and unexpectedly was it done, the +other sprang angrily from his seat and half drew his sword. A moment +they stood thus, the fool with his hand menacingly upon the hilt; the +scamp-scholar continuing to confront him with undiminished volubility. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-286"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-286.jpg" ALT="He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the jester." BORDER="2" WIDTH="408" HEIGHT="586"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 408px"> +He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the jester. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"A smatterer! an ignoramus! a dunce!" he repeated in high-pitched tones +to the amusement of the company. +</P> + +<P> +"Make a ring for the two monks, my masters," cried the man with the +boar. "Then let each state his case with bludgeon or dagger." +</P> + +<P> +"With bludgeon or dagger!" echoed the excited voice of the morio, whose +appearance had undergone a transformation. The indescribable vacancy +with which he had listened to the minstrel was replaced by an +expression of revolting malignity. +</P> + +<P> +The jestress half-arose, her face once more white, her dark eyes +fastened on the fool. But the latter, realizing the purpose of the +affront, and the actual service the scamp-student had rendered him, +unexpectedly thrust back his blade. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not fight a puny bookworm," he said, and resumed his seat, +although his cheek was flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"You bear a brave sword, fool, for one so loath to draw," sneered the +master of the boar. +</P> + +<P> +Disappointed at this tame outcome of an affair which had so spirited a +beginning, the company, with derisive scoffing and muttered sarcasm, +resumed their places; all save the morio, who stood glaring upon the +jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Stab! stab!" he muttered through his dry lips, and at that moment the +troubadour played a few chords on his instrument. The passion faded +from the creature's face; quietly he turned and sought the chair +nearest to the minstrel. +</P> + +<P> +"Sing, master," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Diable</I>, thou art an insatiable monster!" grumbled the troubadour. +</P> + +<P> +"Insatiable," smilingly repeated the strange being. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"If you went also, <I>ma douce miette</I>!<BR> +The joys of heaven I'd forego<BR> +To have you with me there below,'—<BR> +Said Aucassin to Nicolette."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +softly sang the troubadour. +</P> + +<P> +Over the gathering a marked constraint appeared to fall. More soberly +the men shook their dice; the scamp-student took up his book, but even +Horace seemed not to absorb his undivided attention; a mountebank +attempted several tricks, but failed to amuse his spectators. The +candles, burning low, began to drip, and the servant silently replaced +them. Beneath lowering brows the master of the boar moodily regarded +the young girl, whose face seemed cold and disdainful in the flickering +light. The <I>plaisant</I> addressed a remark to her, but she did not +answer, and silently he watched the shadow on the floor, of the +chandelier swinging to and fro, like a waving sword. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you have something more, good fool?" said the insinuating and +unexpected voice of the host at the <I>plaisant's</I> elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"You were right not to draw," continued the boniface with a sharp look. +"What could a jester do with the blade? I'll warrant you do not know +how to use it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," answered the fool; "I know how to use it not—and save my neck." +</P> + +<P> +Mine host nodded approvingly. "Ha! a merry fellow," he said. "Come; +drink again. 'Twill make you sleep." +</P> + +<P> +"I have better medicine than that," retorted the jester, and yawned. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, weariness. I'll warrant you'll rest like a log," he added, as he +moved away. +</P> + +<P> +At that some one who had been listening laughed, but the fool did not +look up. A great clock began to strike with harsh clangor and +Jacqueline suddenly arose. At the same time the minstrel, stretching +his arms, strolled to the door and out into the open air. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, mistress," said the harsh voice of the master of the boar, +as his glittering eyes dwelt upon her graceful figure. +</P> + +<P> +The girl responded coldly, and, amid a hush from the company, made her +way to the stairs, which she slowly mounted, preceded by the lad who +had waited upon them, and followed by the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"A craven fellow for so trim a maid," continued he of the boar, as they +disappeared. "She has eyes like friar's lanterns. What a decoy she'd +make for the lords in Paris!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," assented the landlord, "a pitfall to pill 'em and poll 'em." +</P> + +<P> +At the end of the passage the guide of jestress and fool paused before +a door. "Your room, mistress," he said. "And yonder is yours, Master +Jester." Then placing the candle on a stand and vouchsafing no further +words, he shuffled off in the darkness, leaving the two standing there. +</P> + +<P> +"Lock your door this night, Jacqueline," whispered the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"You submit over-easily to an affront," was her scornful retort, +turning upon the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," he replied, phlegmatically. "Yet forget not the bolt." +</P> + +<P> +"It were more protection than you are apt to prove," she answered, and, +quickly entering the room closed hard the door. +</P> + +<P> +A moment he stood in indecision; then rapped lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline," he said, in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" +</P> + +<P> +The bolt shot sharply into place, fastening the door. No other +response would she make, and the jester, after waiting in vain for her +to speak, turned and made his way to his own chamber, adjoining hers. +</P> + +<P> +Weary as the young girl was, she did not retire at once, but going to +the window, threw wide open the blinds. Bright shone the moon, and, +leaning forth, she gazed upon clearing and forest sleeping beneath the +soft glamour. A beautiful, yet desolate scene, with not a living +object visible—yes, one, and she suddenly drew back, for there, +motionless in the full light, and gazing steadfastly toward her room, +stood a figure in whom she recognized the Spanish troubadour. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT +</H3> + +<P> +Surveying his room carefully in the dim light of a candle, the fool +discovered he stood in a small apartment, with a single window, whose +barren furnishings consisted of a narrow couch, a chair and a massive +wardrobe. Unlike the chamber assigned to Jacqueline, the door was +without key or bolt; a significant fact to the jester, in view of the +warning he had received. Nor was it possible to move wardrobe or bed, +the first being too heavy and the last being screwed to the floor, had +the occupant desired to barricade himself from the anticipated danger +without. A number of suspicious stains enhanced the gruesome character +of the room, and as these appeared to lead to the wardrobe, the jester +carried his investigation to a more careful survey of that imposing +piece of furniture. Opening the door, although he could not find the +secret of the mechanism, the fool concluded that the floor of this +ponderous wooden receptacle was a trap through which the body of the +victim could be secretly lowered. +</P> + +<P> +This brief exploration of his surroundings occupied but a few moments, +and then, after blowing out the candle and heaping the clothes together +on the bed into some resemblance of a human figure lying there, the +jester drew his sword and softly crept down the passage toward the +stairs, at the head of which he paused and listened. He could hear the +voices and see the shadows of the men below, and, with beating heart, +descended a few steps that he might catch what they were saying. +Crouching against the wall, with bated breath, he heard first the +landlord's tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, rogues, what say you to another sack of wine?" asked the host, +cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"It will serve—while we wait," ominously answered the master of the +boar. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't we waited long enough?" said an impatient voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Tut! tut! young blood," growled another, reprovingly. "Would you +disturb him at his prayers?" +</P> + +<P> +"The landlord is right," spoke up the leader. "We have the night +before us. Bring the wine." +</P> + +<P> +In stentorian tones the host called the serving-man, and soon from the +clinking of cups, the clearing of throats, and the exclamations of +satisfaction, foully expressed, the listening jester knew that the skin +had been circulated and the tankards filled. One man even began to +sing again an equivocal song, but was stopped by a warning imprecation +to which he ill-naturedly responded with a half-defiant curse. +</P> + +<P> +"Knaves! knaves!" cried the reproachful voice of the landlord. "Can +you not drink together like honest men?" +</P> + +<P> +This mild expostulation of the host seemed not without its effect, for +the impending quarrel passed harmlessly away. +</P> + +<P> +"Where, think you, he got the sword?" asked one of the gathering, +reverting to the enterprise in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Stole it, most likely," replied the leader. "It is booty from the +palace." +</P> + +<P> +"And therefore is doubly fair spoils," laughed another. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, rogues," interrupted the host, "one-third is my allotted +portion. Else we fall out." +</P> + +<P> +"Art so solicitous, thou corpulent scrimp!" grumbled he of the boar. +"Have you not always had the hulking share? Pass the wine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Foul names break no bones," laughed the host. "You were always a +churlish, ungentle knave. There's the wine, an it's not better than +your temper, beshrew me for the enemy of true hospitality. But to show +I am none such, here's something to sup withal; prime head of calf. +Bolt and swig, as ye will." +</P> + +<P> +The rattle of dishes and the play of forks succeeded this good-natured +suggestion. It was truly evident mine host commanded the good will and +the services of the band by appealing to their appetites. An esculent +roast or pungent stew was his cure for uprising or rebellion; a +high-seasoned ragout or fricassee became a sovereign remedy against +treachery or defection. He could do without them, for knaves were +plentiful, but they could not so easily dispense with this fat master +of the board who had a knack in turning his hand at marvelous and +savory messes, for which he charged such full reckoning that his third +of the spoils, augmented by subsequent additions, was like to become +all. +</P> + +<P> +A wave of anger against this unwieldy hypocrite and well-fed malefactor +swept over the jester. The man's assumed heartiness, his manner of +joviality and good-fellowship, were only the mask of moral turpitude +and blackest purpose. But for the lawless scholar, the fool would +probably have retired to his bed with full confidence in the probity +and honesty of the greatest delinquent of them all. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do with the girl?" asked one of the outlaws, +interrupting this trend of thought in the listener's mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Serve her the same as the fool," answered the landlord, carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"But she's a handsome wench," retorted the leader, thoughtfully. +"Straight as a poplar; eyes like a sloe. With the boar and the jade, I +should do well, when I become tired resting here." +</P> + +<P> +"If she's as easily tamed as the boar?" suggested the host, +significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Devil take me, if her nails are as long as his tusks," retorted the +follow, with a coarse laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"An I had a hostelry in town, she could bait the nobles thither," +commented the host, thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Give her to the scamp-student," remarked the fellow who had first +spoken. +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, since Nanette ran off with a street singer and left me +spouseless, I have made a vow of celibacy," hastily answered the piping +voice of the lank scholar. +</P> + +<P> +A series of loud guffaws greeted the scamp-student's declaration, while +the subsequent rough humor of the knaves made the listener's cheek burn +with indignation. Yet forced to listen he was, knowing that the +slightest movement on his part would quickly seal the fate of himself +and the young girl. But every fiber of his being revoked against that +ribald talk; he bit his lip hard, hearing her name bandied about by +miscreants and wretches of the lowest type, and even welcomed a +startling change in the discourse, occasioned by the leader. +</P> + +<P> +"Enough, rogues. We must settle with the jester first. Afterward, it +will be time enough to deal with the maid. Hast done feeding and +tippling yet, morio?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, master," said the suspiciously muffled voice of the imbecile. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the knife then. You shall have another tankard when you come +back." +</P> + +<P> +"Another tankard!" muttered the creature. +</P> + +<P> +At these significant words, knowing that the crucial moment had come, +the jester retreated rapidly, and, making his way down the passage, +stood in a dark corner near his room. As of one accord the voices +ceased below; a heavy creaking announced the approach of the morio; +nearer and nearer, first on the stairs, then in the upper corridor. +From where he remained concealed the fool dimly discerned the figure of +the would-be assassin. +</P> + +<P> +At the door of the jestress' room it paused. The fool lifted his +blade; the form passed on. Before the chamber of the <I>plaisant</I> its +movements became more stealthy; it bent and listened. Should the +jester spring upon it now? A strange loathing made him hesitate, and, +before he had time to carry his purpose into execution, the creature, +throwing aside further pretense of caution, swung back the door and +launched himself across the apartment. A heavy blow, swiftly followed +by another; afterward, the stillness of death. +</P> + +<P> +Every moment the jester expected an outcry; the announcement of the +fruitlessness of the attack, but the morio made no sound. The silence +became oppressive; the <I>plaisant</I> felt almost irresistibly impelled +toward that terrible chamber, when with heavy, lumbering step, the +creature reappeared, traversed the hall like a huge automaton and +mechanically descended the stairs. Recovering from his surprise, the +fool again resumed his position commanding the scene below, and +breathlessly awaited the sequel to the singular pantomime he had +witnessed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, is it done?" asked the harsh voice of the master of the boar. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; done!" was the submissive answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Good! Now to get the sword." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so fast," broke in the landlord. "Do you kill, morio, without +drawing blood? Look at his dagger." +</P> + +<P> +The leader took the blade, examined it, and then began to call down +curses on the head of the imbecile monster. "Clean, save for a thread +of cotton," he cried angrily. "You never went near him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, master!" replied the creature, eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, perhaps, you strangled him?" suggested the man. +</P> + +<P> +"No; stab! stab!" reiterated the morio, in an almost imploring tone, +shrinking from the glances cast upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! You stabbed the bed, fool; not the man," roughly returned the +other. "The rogue has guessed our purpose and left the room," he +continued, addressing the others. "But he's skulking somewhere. Well, +knaves, here's a little coursing for us all. Up with you, morio, and +find him. Perhaps, though, he may prefer to come down." And the +leader called out: "Give yourself up, rascal, or it will be the worse +for you." +</P> + +<P> +To this paradoxical threat no answer was returned. Standing in the +shadow at the head of the stairs, the jester only gripped tighter the +hilt of the coveted sword, while across his vision flashed the picture +of the young girl, left helpless, alone! What mercy would they show? +The coarse words of the master of the boar and the gibing, loose +responses of the company recurred to him, and, setting his jaw firmer, +the plaisant peered, with gleaming eyes, down into the semi-gloom. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't answer?" cried the leader, after a short interval. "Smell +him out then, rogues." +</P> + +<P> +Knife in hand, the others at his heels, the morio slowly made his way +up the stairs. Goaded by the taunts of the outlaws, his face was +distorted with ferocity; through his lips came a fierce, sibilant +breathing; in the dim light his colossal figure and enormous head +seemed in no wise human, but rather a murderous phantasm. With head +rolling from side to side, stabbing in the air with his knife, he +continued to approach,—an object calculated to strike terror into any +breast. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! oh!" murmured a voice behind the jester, and, turning, he saw +Jacqueline. Disturbed by the tumult and the loud voices, the jestress +had left her room to learn the cause of the unusual din, and now, with +her dark hair a cloud around her, stood gazing fearfully over the +fool's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of the young girl's voice, so near, the <I>plaisant's</I> hand, +which for the moment had been unsteady, became suddenly steel. Almost +impatiently he awaited the coming of the morio; at last he drew near, +but, as if instinctively realizing the presence of danger, paused, his +arm ceasing to strike, but remaining stationary in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on!" impatiently shouted those behind him. +</P> + +<P> +At the command the creature sprang forward furiously, when the sword of +the jester shot out; once, twice! From the morio's grip fell the +dagger; over his face the lust for killing was replaced by a look of +surprise; with a single moan, he threw both arms on high, and, +tottering like an oak, the monster fell backward with a crash, carrying +with him the rogues behind. Imprecations, threats and cries of pain +ensued; several knaves went limping away from the struggling group; one +lay prostrate as the morio himself; the master of the boar rubbed his +shoulder, anathematizing roundly the cause of the disaster. +</P> + +<P> +"I think my arm's put out!" he said. "Is the creature dead?" he added, +viciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Dead as a herring," answered the landlord, bending over the motionless +figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Beshrew me, I thought the jester was a craven," growled he of the +boar. "What does it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"That he saw the snare and spread another," replied the host. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back to your room, mistress," whispered the plaisant to the young +girl, "and lock yourself in." +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I'll not leave you," she replied. "Do you think they will +return?" she added in a voice she strove to make firm. +</P> + +<P> +"I am certain of it. Go, I beg you—to your window and call out. It +is a slender hope, but the best we have. Fear not; I can hold the +stairs yet a while." +</P> + +<P> +A moment she hesitated, then glided away. At the same time he of the +boar grasped a sword in his left hand, and, with his right hanging +useless, rushed up the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there you are, my nimble wit-cracker!" he cried, as the jester +stepped boldly out. "'Twas a pretty piece of foolery you played on the +monster and us, but quip for quirk, my merry wag!" And, so speaking, +he directed a violent thrust which, had it taken effect, would, indeed, +have made good the leader's threat. +</P> + +<P> +But the <I>plaisant</I> stepped aside, the blow grazed his shoulder, while +his own blade, by a rapid counter, passed through the throat of his +antagonist. With a shriek, the blood gushing from the wound, the +master of the boar fell lifeless on the stairs, his sword clattering +downward. At that gruesome sight, his fellows paused irresolute, and, +seeing their indecision, the jester rushed headlong upon them, striking +fiercely, when their hesitation turned into panic and the knaves fairly +fled. Below, the irate landlord stamped and fumed, cuffing and +striking as he moved among them with threats and abuse. +</P> + +<P> +"White-livered varlets! Pigeon-hearted rogues! Unmanned by a motley +fool! A witling the lords beat with their slippers! Because of a +chance blow against an imbecile, or a disabled man, you hesitate. A +fig for them! What if they be dead? The spoil will be the greater for +the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Thus exhorted, the knaves once more took heart and gathered for the +attack. Glaves were provided for those in front, and the <I>plaisant</I> +waited, grimly determined, yet liking little the aspect of those +terrible weapons and feeling the end of the unequal contest was not far +distant, when a light hand was laid on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Follow me quickly," said Jacqueline. "We may yet escape. Don't +question me, but come!" she went on hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +Impressed by her earnestness, the jester, after a moment's hesitation, +obeyed. She led him to her room, closed and locked the door—but not +before a scampering of feet and sound of voices told them the rogues +had gained the upper passage—and drew him hastily to the window. +</P> + +<P> +"See," she said eagerly. "A ladder!" +</P> + +<P> +"And at the foot of the ladder, our horses!" he exclaimed, in surprise. +"Who has done this?" +</P> + +<P> +Her response was interrupted by a hand at their door and a clamor +without, followed by heavy blows. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick, Jacqueline!" he cried, and helped her to the long ladder, set, +as it seemed, providentially against the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you do it?" he asked, yet holding her hand. Her eyes gave him +answer, and he released her, watching her descend. +</P> + +<P> +The door quivered beneath the general onslaught of the now exultant +outlaws, and, as a glave shattered the panel the jester threw himself +over the casement. A deafening hubbub ensued; the door suddenly gave +way, and the band rushed into the room. At the same time the +<I>plaisant</I> ran down the ladder and sprang to the ground at the young +girl's side. From above came exclamations of wonder and amazement, +mingled with invective. +</P> + +<P> +"They're gone!" cried one. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are!" exclaimed another, looking down from the window. +</P> + +<P> +The jester at once seized the means of descent, but not before the man +who had discovered them was on the upper rounds; a quick effort on the +fool's part, and ladder and rogue toppled over together. The +enterprising knave lay motionless where he fell. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Vrai Dieu</I>! He wanted to come down," said an approving voice. +</P> + +<P> +Turning, the jester beheld the Spanish troubadour, who was composedly +engaged in placing bundles of straw against the wall of the inn. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think he'll bother you any more," continued the minstrel in +his deep tones. "If you'll ride down the road, I'll join you in a +moment." +</P> + +<P> +So saying, he knelt before the combustible accumulation he had been +diligently heaping together and struck a spark which, seizing on the +dry material, immediately kindled into a great flame. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing, villain?" roared the landlord from the window, +discovering the forks of fire, already leaping and crackling about the +tavern. +</P> + +<P> +"Only making a bonfire of a foul nest," lightly answered the minstrel, +standing back as though to admire his handiwork. "Your vile hostelry +burns well, my dissembling host." +</P> + +<P> +"Hell-dog! varlet!" screamed the proprietor, overwhelmed with +consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it thus you greet your guests?" replied the troubadour, throwing +another bundle of straw upon the already formidable conflagration. +"You were not wont to be so discourteous, my prince of bonifaces." +</P> + +<P> +But recovering from his temporary stupor, the landlord, without reply, +disappeared from the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Now may we safely leave the flames to the wind," commented the +minstrel, as he sprang upon a small nag which had been fastened to a +shed near by. "As we have burned the roof over our heads," he +continued, addressing the wondering jester and his companion, who had +already mounted and were waiting, "let us seek another hostelry." +</P> + +<P> +Swiftly the trio rode forth from the tavern yard, out into the moonlit +road. +</P> + +<P> +"Not so quickly, my friends," commented the troubadour. "As I fastened +the doors and blinds without, we may proceed leisurely, for it will be +some time before mine host and his friends can batter their way from +the inn. Besides, it goes against the grain to run so precipitously +from my fire. Such a beautiful <I>auto da fé</I>, as we say in Spain." +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you, sir?" asked the fool. +</P> + +<P> +The minstrel laughed, and answered in his natural voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know me, <I>mon ami</I>?" he said, gaily. "What a jest this will +be at court? How it will amuse the king—" +</P> + +<P> +"Caillette!" exclaimed the <I>plaisant</I>, loudly. "Caillette!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DESERTED HUT +</H3> + +<P> +"Himself!" laughed the minstrel. "Did I not tell you I should become a +Spanish troubadour?" Then, reaching out his hand, he added seriously: +"Right pleased am I to meet you. But how came you here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have fled from the keep of the old castle, where I lay charged with +heresy," answered the jester, returning the hearty grip. +</P> + +<P> +"The keep!" exclaimed Caillette in surprise. "You are fortunate not to +have been brought to trial," he added, thoughtfully. "Few get through +that seine, and his Holiness, the pope, I understand, has ordered the +meshes made yet smaller." +</P> + +<P> +They had paused on the brow of a hill, commanding the view of road and +tavern. Dazed, the young girl had listened to the greeting between the +two men. This ragged, beard-begrown troubadour, the graceful, elegant +Caillette of Francis' court? It seemed incredible. At the same time, +through her mind passed the memory of the <I>plaisant's</I> reiterated +exclamation in prison: "Caillette—in Spain!"—words she had attributed +to fever, not imagining they had any foundation in fact. +</P> + +<P> +But now this unexpected encounter abruptly dispelled her first +supposition and opened a new field for speculation. Certainly had he +been on a mission of some kind, somewhere, but what his errand she +could not divine. A diplomat in tatters, serving a fellow-jester. +Fools had oft intruded themselves in great events ere this, but not +those who wore the motley; heretofore had the latter been content with +the posts of entertainers, leaving to others the more precarious +offices of intrigant. +</P> + +<P> +But if she was surprised at Caillette's unexpected presence and +disguise, that counterfeit troubadour had been no less amazed to see +her, the joculatrix of the princess, in the mean garb of a wayside +<I>ministralissa</I>, wandering over the country like one born to the +nomadic existence. That she had a nature as free as air and the spirit +of a gipsy he well believed, but that she would forego the security of +the royal household for the discomforts and dangers of a vagrant life +he could not reconcile to that other part of her character which he +knew must shrink from the actualities of the straggler's lot. He had +watched her at the inn; how she held herself; how she was a part of, +and yet apart from, that migratory company; and what he had seen had +but added to his curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you left the court, mistress?" he now asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered, curtly. +</P> + +<P> +Caillette gazed at her and her eyes fell. Then put out with herself +and him, she looked up boldly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not, indeed?" he repeated, gently, although obviously wondering. +</P> + +<P> +The constraint that ensued between them was broken by a new aspect of +the distant conflagration. Fanned by the breeze, the flames had +ignited the thatched roof of the hostelry and fiery forks shot up into +the sky, casting a fierce glow over the surrounding scene. Through the +glare, many birds, unceremoniously routed from their nests beneath the +eaves, flew distractedly. Before the tavern, now burning on all sides, +could be distinguished a number of figures, frantically running hither +and thither, while above the crackling of the flames and the clamorous +cries of the birds was heard the voice of the proprietor, alternately +pleading with the knaves to save the tavern and execrating him who had +applied the torch. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Cap de Dieu</I>! the landlord will snare no more travelers," said +Caillette. "My horse had become road-worn and perforce I had tarried +there sufficient while to know the company and the host. When you +walked in with this fair maid, I could hardly believe my eyes. 'Twas a +nice trap, and the landlord an unctuous fellow for a villain. Assured +that you could not go out as you came, I e'en prepared a less +conventional means of exit." +</P> + +<P> +He had scarcely finished this explanation when, with a shower of sparks +and a mighty crash, the heavy roof fell. A lambent flame burst from +the furnace; grew brighter, until the clouds became rose-tinted; a +glory as brilliant as short-lived, for soon the blaze subsided, the +glow swiftly faded, and the sky again darkened. +</P> + +<P> +"It is over," murmured Caillette; and, as they touched their horses, +leaving the smoldering ruins behind them, he added: "But how came the +scamp-student to serve you? I was watching closely, and listening, +too; so caught how 'twas done." +</P> + +<P> +"I spared his life once," answered the jester. +</P> + +<P> +"And he remembered? 'Tis passing strange from such a rogue. A clever +device, to warn you in Latin that his friends intended to kill one or +both of you for the jeweled sword." +</P> + +<P> +"Why," spoke up the young girl, her attention sharply arrested, "was it +not a mere discussion of some kind? And—the quarrel?" +</P> + +<P> +"A pretense on the rogue's part to avert the suspicion of the master of +the boar. I could but marvel"—to the jester—"at your forbearance." +</P> + +<P> +"I fear me Jacqueline had the right to a poor opinion of her squire," +replied the duke's fool. "Nor do I blame her," he laughed, "in +esteeming a stout bolt more protection than a craven blade." +</P> + +<P> +But the girl did not answer. Through her brain flashed the +recollection of her cold disdain; her scornful words; her abrupt +dismissal of the jester at her door. Weighing what she had said and +done with what he had not said and done, she turned to him quickly, +impulsively. Through the semi-darkness she saw the smile around his +mouth and the quizzical look with which he was regarding her. +Whereupon her courage failed. She bit her lip and remained silent. +They had now passed the brow of the hill; on each side of the highway +the forests parted wider and wider, and the thoroughfare was bathed in +a white light. +</P> + +<P> +As they rode along on this clearly illumined highway, Caillette glanced +interrogatively at the <I>plaisant</I>. The outcome of his journey—should +he speak now? Or later—when they were alone? Heretofore neither had +made reference to it; Caillette, perhaps, because his mind had been +surprised into another train of thought by this unexpected encounter; +the duke's fool because the result of the journey was no longer +momentous. Since the other had left, conditions were different. The +good-natured scoffing and warnings of his fellow-jester had proved not +unwarranted. +</P> + +<P> +The answer of the duke's fool to his companion's glance was a direct +inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"You found the emperor?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and presented your message with some misgiving." +</P> + +<P> +"And did he treat it with the scant consideration you expected?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary. His Majesty read it not once, but twice, and changed +color." +</P> + +<P> +"And then?" +</P> + +<P> +The narrator paused and furtively surveyed the jestress. Her face was +pale, emotionless; as they sped on, she seemed riding through no +volition of her own, the while she was vaguely conscious of the +dialogue of her companions. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever magic your letter contained," resumed Caillette, "it seemed +convincing to Charles. 'My brother Francis must be strangely credulous +to be so cozened by an impostor,' quoth he, with a gleam of humor in +his gaze." +</P> + +<P> +"Impostor!" It was the young girl who spoke, interrupting, in her +surprise, the troubadour's story. +</P> + +<P> +"You did not know, mistress?" said Caillette. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she answered, and listened the closer. +</P> + +<P> +"When I left, two messages the emperor gave me," went on the other; +"one for the king, the other for you." And taking from his doublet a +document, weighted with a ponderous disk, the speaker handed it to the +duke's fool, who silently thrust it in his breast. "Moreover, +unexpectedly, but as good fortune would have it, his Majesty was even +then completing preparations for a journey through France to the +Netherlands, owing to unlooked-for troubles in that part of his +domains, and had already despatched his envoys to the king. Charles +assured me that he would still further hasten his intended visit to the +Low Countries and come at once. Meanwhile his communication to the +king"—tapping his breast—"will at least delay the nuptials, and, with +the promise of the emperor's immediate arrival, the marriage can not +occur." +</P> + +<P> +"It has occurred," said the jester. +</P> + +<P> +The other uttered a quick exclamation. "Then have I failed in my +errand," he muttered, blankly. "But the king—had he no suspicion?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was through the Countess d'Etampes the monarch was led to change +the time for the festivities," spoke up Jacqueline, involuntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"She!" exclaimed the poet, with a gesture of half-aversion. For some +time they went on without further words; then suddenly Caillette drew +rein. +</P> + +<P> +"This news makes it the more necessary I should hasten to the king," he +said. "The emperor's message—Francis should receive it at once. +Here, therefore, must I leave you. Or, why do you not return with +me?"—addressing the jester. "The letter from Charles will exonerate +you and Francis will reward you in proportion to the injuries you have +suffered. What say you, mistress?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I will never go back," she answered, briefly, and looked away. +</P> + +<P> +Caillette's perplexity was relieved by the <I>plaisant</I>. "Farewell, if +you must leave," said the latter. "We meet again, I trust." +</P> + +<P> +"The fates willing," returned the poet. "Farewell, and good fortune go +with you both." And wheeling abruptly, he rode slowly back. The +jester and the girl watched him disappear over the road they had come. +</P> + +<P> +"A true friend," said the <I>plaisant</I>, as Caillette vanished in the +gloom. +</P> + +<P> +"You regret not returning with him, perhaps?" she observed quickly. +"Honors and offices of preferment are not plentiful." +</P> + +<P> +"I want none of them from Francis," he returned, as they started slowly +on their way. +</P> + +<P> +The road before them descending gradually, passed through a gulch, +where the darkness was greater, and such light as sifted through the +larch and poplar trees rested in variable spots on the earth. Overhead +the somber obscurity appeared touched with a veil of shimmer or sheen +like diamond dust floating through the mask of night. Their horses but +crept along; the girl bent forward wearily; heretofore the excitement +and danger had sustained her, but now the reaction from all she had +endured bore down upon her. She thought of calling to the fool; of +craving the rest she so needed; but a feeling of pride, or constraint, +held her silent. Before her the shadows danced illusively; the film of +brightness changed and shifted; then all glimmering and partial shade +were swallowed up in a black chasm. +</P> + +<P> +Riding near, the jester observed her form sway from side to side, and +spurred forward. In a moment he had clasped her waist, then lifted her +from the saddle and held her before him. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +She offered no resistance; her head remained motionless on his breast. +Sedulously he bent over her; the warm breath reassured him; tired +nature had simply succumbed. Irresolute he paused, little liking the +sequestered gulch for a resting-place; divining the prickly thicket and +almost impenetrable brushwood that lined the road. An unhealthy miasma +seemed to ascend from below and clog the air; through the tangle of +forest, phosphorus gleamed and glowworms flitted here and there. +</P> + +<P> +Gathering the young form gently to him, the jester rode slowly on, and +the horse of his companion followed. So he went, he knew not how long; +listening to her breathing that came, full and deep; half-fearing, +half-wondering at that relaxation. For the first time he forgot about +the emperor and his purpose; the free baron and the desires of sweet +avengement. He thought only of her he held; how courageous yet alone +she was in the world; how she had planned the service which won her the +right to his protection; her flight from Francis—but where? To whom +could she go? To whom could she turn? Unconscious she lay in his arms +in that deep sleep, or heavy inertia following exhaustion, her pale +face against his shoulder; and as the young <I>plaisant</I> bent over her +his heart thrilled with protecting tenderness. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what other maid," he thought, "would ride on until she dropped? +Would meet discomfort at every turn with a jest or a merry stave?" +</P> + +<P> +And, but for him, whom else had she? This young girl, had she not +become his burden of responsibility; his moral obligation? For the +first time he seemed to realize how the fine tendrils of her nature had +touched his; touched and clung, ever so gently but fast. Her fine +scorn for dissimulation; her answering integrity; the true adjustment +of her instinct—all had been revealed to him under the test of +untoward circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +He saw her, too, secretly and silently cherishing a new faith in her +bosom, amid a throng, lax and infirm of purpose, and wonderment gave +way to another emotion, as his mind leaped from that past, with its +covert, inner life, to the untrammeled moment when she had thrown off +the mask in the solitude of the forest. Had some deeper chord of his +nature been struck then? Their aspirations of a kindred hope had +mingled in the majestic psalm; a larger harmony, remote from roundelay, +or sparkling cadenza, that drew him to this Calvin maid. A solemn +earnestness fell upon his spirits; the starlight bathed his brow, and +he found the mystery of the night and nature inexplicably beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +Afar the bell of some wanderer from the herd tinkled drowsily, arousing +him from his reverie. The horses were ascending; the road emerged into +a plain, set with bracken and gorse, with here and there a single tree, +whose inclining trunk told of storms braved for many seasons. Near the +highway, in the shadow of a poplar, stood a shepherd's hut, apparently +deserted and isolated from human kind. The fool reined the horse, +which for some time had been moving painfully, and at that abrupt +cessation of motion the jestress looked up with a start. +</P> + +<P> +Meeting his eyes, at first she did not withdraw her own; questioningly, +her bewildered gaze encountered his; then, with a quick movement, she +released herself from his arm and sprang to the ground. He, too, +immediately dismounted. She felt very wide-awake now, as though the +sudden consciousness of that encircling grasp, or something in his +glance before she slipped from him, had startled away the torpor of +somnolence. +</P> + +<P> +"You fainted, or fell asleep, mistress," he said, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I remember—in the gorge." +</P> + +<P> +"It was impossible to stop there, so—I rode on. But here, in this +shepherd's hut, we may find shelter." +</P> + +<P> +And turning the horses, he would have led them to the door, but the +animals held back; then stood stock-still. Striding to the hut, the +jester stepped in, but quickly sprang to one side, and as he did so +some creature shot out of the door and disappeared in the gloom. +</P> + +<P> +"A wolf!" exclaimed the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Entering the hut once more, he struck a light. In a corner lay furze +and firewood, and from this store he drew, heaping the combustible +material on the hearth, until a cheering blaze fairly illumined the +worn and dilapidated interior. Near the fireplace were a pot and +kettle, whose rusted appearance bespoke long disuse; but a trencher and +porridge spoon on a stool near by seemed waiting the coming of the +master. A couch of straw had been the lonely shepherd's bed—and later +the lodgment of his enemy, the wolf. Above it, on the wall, hung a +small crucifix of wood. For the fugitives this mean abode appeared no +indifferent shelter, and it was with satisfaction the jester arranged a +couch for the girl, before the fire, a rude pallet, yet— +</P> + +<P> +"Here you may rest, Jacqueline, without fear of being disturbed again +this night," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She sank wearily upon the straw; then gave him her hand gratefully. +Her face looked rosy in the reflection from the hearth; a comforting +sense of warmth crept over her as she lay in front of the blaze; her +eyes were languorous with the luxury of the heat after a chilling ride. +Drawing the cloak to her chin, she smiled faintly. Was it at his +solicitude? He noticed how her hair swept from the saddle pillowing +her head, to the earth; and, sitting there on the stool, wondering, +perhaps, at its abundance, or half-dreaming, he forgot he yet held her +hand. Gently she withdrew it, and he started; then, realizing how he +had been staring at her, with somewhat vacant gaze, perhaps, but +fixedly, he made a motion to rise, when her voice detained him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not tell me it was not a discussion with the +scamp-student?" she asked. "Why did you let me imagine that you—" +Her eyes said the rest. "You should not have permitted me to—to think +it," she reiterated. +</P> + +<P> +He was silent. She closed her eyes; but in a moment her lashes +uplifted. Her glance flashed once more upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"And I should not have thought it," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" he cried, starting up. +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer; indeed, seemed sleeping; her face turned from him. +</P> + +<P> +Through the open doorway a streak of red in the east heralded the +coming glory of the morn. "Peep, peep," twittered a bird on the roof +of the hovel. From the poplar it was answered by a more melodious +phrase, a song of welcome to the radiant dawn. A moment the jester +listened, his head raised to the growing splendor of the heavens, then +threw himself on the earthen floor of the hut and was at once overcome +with sleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TALE OF THE SWORD +</H3> + +<P> +The slanting rays of the sinking sun shot athwart the valley, glanced +from the tile roofs of the homes of the peasantry, and illumined the +lofty towers of a great manorial château. To the rider, approaching by +the road that crossed the smiling pasture and meadow lands, the edifice +set on a mount—another of Francis' transformations from the gloomy +fortress home—appeared regal and splendid, compared with the humbler +houses of the people lying prostrate before it. Viewed from afar, the +town seemed to abase itself in the presence of the architectural +preëminence of that monarch of buildings. Even the sun, when it +withdrew its rays from the miscellaneous rabble of shops and dwellings, +yet lingered proudly upon the noble structure above, caressing its +imposing and august outlines and surrounding it with the glamour of the +afterglow, when the sun sank to rest. +</P> + +<P> +Into the little town, at the foot of the big house, rode shortly before +nightfall the jester and his companion. During the day the young girl +had seemed diffident and constrained; she who had been all vivacity and +life, on a sudden kept silence, or when she did speak, her tongue had +lost its sharpness. The weapons of her office, bright sarcasm and +irony, or laughing persiflage, were sheathed; her fine features were +thoughtful; her dark eyes introspective. In the dazzling sunshine, the +memory of their ride through the gorge; the awakening at the shepherd's +hut; something in his look then, something in his accents later, when +he spoke her name while she professed to sleep—seemed, perhaps, +unreal, dream-like. +</P> + +<P> +His first greeting that morning had been a swift, almost questioning, +glance, before which she had looked away. In her face was the +freshness of dawn; the grace of spring-tide. Overhead sang a lark; at +their feet a brook whispered; around them solitude, vast, infinite. He +spoke and she answered; her reserve became infectious; they ate their +oaten cakes and drank their wine, each strongly conscious of the +presence of the other. Then he rose, saddled their horses, and +assisted her to mount. She appeared over-anxious to leave the +shepherd's hut; the jester, on the other hand, cast a backward glance +at the poplar, the hovel, the brook. A crisp, clear caroling of birds +followed them as they turned from the lonely spot. +</P> + +<P> +So they rode, pausing betimes to rest, and even then she had little to +say, save once when they stopped at a rustic bridge which spanned a +stream. Both were silent, regarding the horses splashing in the water +and clouding its clear depths with the yellow mud from its bed. From +the cool shadows beneath the planks where she was standing, tiny fish, +disturbed by this unwonted invasion, shot forth like darts and vanished +into the opaque patches. Half-dreamily watching this exodus of +flashing life from covert nook and hole, she said unexpectedly: +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it that has wedded the princess?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he did not answer; then briefly related the story. +</P> + +<P> +"And why did you not tell me this before?" she asked when he had +finished. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have credited me—then?" he replied, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she looked at him. Was there that in her eyes which to him +robbed memory of its sting? At their feet the water leaped and +laughed; curled around the stones, and ran on with dancing bubbles. +Perhaps he returned her glance too readily; perhaps the recollection of +the ride the night before recurred over-vividly to her, for she gazed +suddenly away, and he wondered in what direction her thoughts tended, +when she said with some reserve: +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we go on?" +</P> + +<P> +They had not long left the brook and the bridge, when from afar they +caught sight of the regal château and the clustering progeny of +red-roofed houses at its base. At once they drew rein. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we enter the town, or avoid it by riding over the mead?" said +the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"What danger would there be in going on?" she asked. "Whom might we +meet?" +</P> + +<P> +Thoughtfully he regarded the shining towers of the royal residence. +"No one, I think," he at length replied, and they went on. +</P> + +<P> +Around the town ran a great wall, with watch-towers and a deep moat, +but no person questioned their right to the freedom of the place; a +sleepy soldier at the gate merely glancing indifferently at them as +they passed beneath the heavy archway. Gabled houses, with a tendency +to incline from the perpendicular, overlooked the winding street; dull, +round panes of glass stared at them, fraught with mystery and the +possibility of spying eyes behind; but the thoroughfare in that +vicinity appeared deserted, save for an old woman seated in a doorway. +Before this grandam, whose lack-luster eyes were fastened steadfastly +before her, the fool paused and asked the direction of the inn. +</P> + +<P> +"Follow your nose, if nature gave you a straight one," cried a jeering +voice from the other side of the thoroughfare. "If it be crooked, a +blind man and a dog were a better guide." +</P> + +<P> +The speaker, a squat, misshapen figure, had emerged from a passage +turning into the street, and now stood, twirling a fool's head on a +stick and gazing impudently at the new-comers. The crone whom the +<I>plaisant</I> had addressed remained motionless as a statue. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha!" laughed the oddity who had volunteered this malapert response +to the jester's inquiry, "yonder sign-post"—pointing to the aged +dame—"has lost its fingers—or rather its ears. Better trust to your +nose." +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet!" exclaimed Jacqueline. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it you, lady-bird?" said the surprised dwarf, recognizing in turn +the maid. "And with the <I>plaisant</I>," staring hard at the fool. Then a +cunning look gradually replaced the wonder depicted on his features. +"You are fleeing from the court; I, toward it," he remarked, jocosely. +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you, fool?" demanded the horseman, sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"That I have run away from the duke, fool," answered the hunchback. +"The foreign lord dared to beat me—Triboulet—who has only been beaten +by the king. Sooner or later must I have fled, in any event, for what +is Triboulet without the court; or the court, without Triboulet?" his +indignation merging into arrogant vainglory. +</P> + +<P> +"When did you leave the—duke?" asked the other, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Several days ago," replied the dwarf, gazing narrowly at his +questioner. "Down the road. He should be far away by this time." +</P> + +<P> +Suspiciously the duke's jester regarded the hunchback and then glanced +dubiously toward the gate through which they had entered the town. He +had experienced Triboulet's duplicity and malice, yet in this instance +was disposed to give credence to his story, because he doubted not that +Louis of Hochfels would make all haste out of Francis' kingdom. Nor +did it appear unreasonable that Triboulet should pine for the +excitement of his former life; the pleasures and gaiety which prevailed +at Fools' hall. If the hunchback's information were true, they need +now have little fear of overtaking the free baron and his following, as +not far beyond the château-town the main road broke into two parts, the +one continuing southward and the other branching off to the east. +</P> + +<P> +While the horseman was thus reflecting, Triboulet, like an imp, began +to dance before them, slapping his crooked knees with his enormous +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"A good joke, my master and mistress in motley," he cried. "The king +was weak enough to exchange his dwarf for a demoiselle; the latter has +fled; the monarch has neither one nor the other; therefore is he, +himself, the fool. And thou, mistress, art also worthy of the madcap +bells," he added, his distorted face upturned to the jestress. +</P> + +<P> +"How so?" she asked, not concealing the repugnance he inspired. +</P> + +<P> +"Because you prefer a fool's cap to a king's crown," he answered, +looking significantly at her companion. "Wherein you but followed the +royal preference for head-coverings. Ho! ho! I saw which way the wind +blew; how the monarch's eyes kindled when they rested on you; how the +wings of Madame d'Etampes's coif fluttered like an angry butterfly. +Know you what was whispered at court? The reason the countess pleaded +for an earlier marriage for the duke? That the princess might leave +the sooner—and take the jestress, her maid, with her. But the king +met her manoeuver with another. He granted the favorite's request—but +kept the jestress." +</P> + +<P> +"Silence, rogue!" commanded the duke's fool, wheeling his horse toward +the dwarf. +</P> + +<P> +"And then for her to turn from a throne-room to a dungeon," went on +Triboulet, satirically, as he retreated. "As Brusquet wrote; 'twas: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'<I>Morbleu</I>! A merry monarch and a jestress fair;<BR> +A jestress fair, I ween!'—"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +But ere the hunchback could finish this scurrilous doggerel of the +court, over which, doubtless, many loose witlings had laughed, the +girl's companion placed his hand on his sword and started toward the +dwarf. The words died on Triboulet's lips; hastily he dodged into a +narrow space between two houses, where he was safe from pursuit. +Jacqueline's face had become flushed; her lips were compressed; the +countenance of the duke's <I>plaisant</I> seemed paler than its wont. +</P> + +<P> +"Little monster!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +But the hunchback, in his retreat, was now regarding neither the +horseman nor the young girl. His glittering eyes, as if fascinated, +rested on the weapon of the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"What a fine blade you've got there!" he said curiously. "Much better +than a wooden sword. Jeweled, too, by the holy bagpipe! And a coat of +arms!"—more excitedly—"yes, the coat of arms of the great Constable +of Dubrois. As proud a sword as that of the king. Where did you get +it?" And in his sudden interest, the dwarf half-ventured from his +place of refuge. +</P> + +<P> +"Answer him not!" said the girl, hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it you, mistress, gave it him?" he asked, with a sudden, sharp +look. +</P> + +<P> +Her contemptuous gaze was her only reply. +</P> + +<P> +"By the dust of kings, when last I saw it, the haughty constable +himself it was who wore it," continued Triboulet. "Aye, when he defied +Francis to his face. I can see him now, a rich surcoat over his gilded +armor; the queen-mother, an amorous Dulcinea, gazing at him, with all +her soul in her eyes; the brilliant company startled; even the king +overawed. 'Twas I broke the spell, while the monarch and the court +were silent, not daring to speak." +</P> + +<P> +"You!" From the young woman's eyes flashed a flame of deepest hatred. +</P> + +<P> +The hunchback shrank back; then laughed. "I, Triboulet!" he boasted. +"'Ha!' said I, 'he's greater than the king!' whereupon Francis frowned, +started, and answered the constable, refusing his claim. Not long +thereafter the constable died in Spain, and I completed the jest. +'So,' said I, 'he is less than a man.' And the king, who remembered, +laughed." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go," said the jestress, very white. +</P> + +<P> +Silently the <I>plaisant</I> obeyed, and Triboulet once more ventured forth. +"Momus go with you!" he called out after them. And then: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'<I>Morbleu</I>! A merry monarch and a jestress fair;'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +More quickly they rode on. Furtively, with suppressed rage in his +heart, the duke's fool regarded his companion. Her face was cold and +set, and as his glance rested on its pale, pure outline, beneath his +breath he cursed Brusquet, Triboulet and all their kind. He understood +now—too well—the secret of her flight. What he had heretofore been +fairly assured of was unmistakably confirmed. The sight of the tavern +which they came suddenly upon and the appearance of the innkeeper +interrupted this dark trend of thought, and, springing from his horse, +the jester helped the girl to dismount. +</P> + +<P> +The house, being situated in the immediate proximity of the grand +château, received a certain patronage from noble lords and ladies. +This trade had given the proprietor such an opinion of his hostelry +that common folk were not wont to be overwhelmed with welcome. In the +present instance the man showed a disposition to scrutinize too closely +the modest attire of the new-comers and the plain housings of their +chargers, when the curt voice of the jester recalled him sharply from +this forward occupation. +</P> + +<P> +With a shade less of disrespect, the proprietor bade them follow him; +rooms were given them, and, in the larger of the two chambers, the +<I>plaisant</I>, desiring to avoid the publicity of the dining and tap-room, +ordered their supper to be served. +</P> + +<P> +During the repast the girl scarcely spoke; the capon she hardly +touched; the claret she merely sipped. Once when she held the glass to +her lips, he noticed her hand trembled just a little, and then, when +she set down the goblet, how it closed, almost fiercely. Beneath her +eyes shadows seemed to gather; above them her glance shone ominously. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she said at length, as though giving utterance to some thought, +which, pent-up, she could no longer control; "the irony; the tragedy of +it!" +</P> + +<P> +"What, Jacqueline?" he asked, gently, although he felt the blood +surging in his head. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'<I>Morbleu</I>! A merry monarch'—"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +she began, and broke off abruptly, rising to her feet, with a gesture +of aversion, and moving restlessly across the room. "After all these +years! After all that had gone before!" +</P> + +<P> +"What has gone before, Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," she answered; "nothing." +</P> + +<P> +For some time he sat with his sword across his knees, thinking deeply. +She went to the window and looked out. When she spoke again her voice +had regained its self-command. +</P> + +<P> +"A dark night," she said, mechanically. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline," he asked, glancing up from the blade, "why in the crypt +that day we escaped did you pause at that monument?" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she turned, gazing at him from the half-darkness in which she +stood. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see to whom the monument was erected?" she asked in a low +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"To the wife of the constable. But what was Anne, Duchess of Dubrois, +to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"She was the last lady of the castle," said the girl softly. +</P> + +<P> +Again he surveyed the jeweled emblem on the sword, mocking reminder of +a glory gone beyond recall. +</P> + +<P> +"And how was it, mistress, the castle was confiscated by the king?" he +continued, after a pause. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I tell you the story?" she asked, her voice hardening. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet's description of the scene where the constable braved the +king, insisting on his rights, was true," she observed, proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"But why had the noble wearer of this sword been deprived of his +feudality and tenure?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because he was strong and great, and the king feared him; because he +was noble and handsome, and the queen-regent loved him. It was not her +hand only, Louise of Savoy, Francis' mother, offered, but—the throne." +</P> + +<P> +"The throne!" said the wondering fool. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly she crossed the room and leaned upon the table. In the glimmer +of the candles her face was soft and tender. He thought he had never +seen a sweeter or more womanly expression. +</P> + +<P> +"But he refused it," she continued, "for he loved only the memory of +his wife, Lady Anne. She, a perfect being. The other—what?" +</P> + +<P> +On her features shone a fine contempt. +</P> + +<P> +"Then followed the endless persecution and spite of a woman scorned," +she continued, rapidly. "One by one, his honors were wrested from him. +He who had borne the flag triumphantly through Italy was deprived of +the government of Milan and replaced by a brother of Madame de +Châteaubriant, then favorite of the king. His castle, lands, were +confiscated, until, driven to despair, he fled and allied himself with +the emperor. 'Traitor,' they called him. He, a Bayard." +</P> + +<P> +A moment she stood, an exalted look on her features; tall, erect; then +stepped toward him and took the sword. With a bright and radiant +glance she surveyed it; pressed the hilt to her lips, and with both +hands held it to her bosom. As if fascinated, the fool watched her. +Her countenance was upturned; a moment, and it fell; a dark shadow +crossed it; beneath her lashes her eyes were like night. +</P> + +<P> +"But he failed because Charles, the emperor, failed him," she said, +almost mechanically, "and broken in spirit, met his death miserably in +exile. Yet his cause was just; his memory is dearer than that of a +conqueror. She, the queen-mother, is dead; God alone may deal with +her." +</P> + +<P> +More composed, she resumed her place in the chair on the other side of +the table, the sword across her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"And how came you, mistress," he asked, regarding her closely, "in the +pleasure palace built by Francis?" +</P> + +<P> +"When the castle was taken, all who had not fled were a gamekeeper and +his little girl—myself. The latter"—ironically—"pleased some of the +court ladies. They commended her wit, and gradually was she advanced +to the high position she occupied when you arrived," with a strange +glance across the board at her listener. +</P> + +<P> +"And the gamekeeper—your father—is dead?" +</P> + +<P> +"Long since." +</P> + +<P> +"The constable had no children?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; a girl who, it is believed, died with him in Spain." +</P> + +<P> +The entrance of the servant to remove the dishes interrupted their +further conversation. As the door opened, from below came the voices +of new-comers, the impatient call of tipplers for ale, the rattle of +dishes in the kitchen. Wrapped in the recollections the conversation +had evoked, to Jacqueline the din passed unnoticed, and when the +rosy-cheeked lass had gone—it was the jester who first spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"What a commentary on the mockery of fate that the sword of such a man, +so illustrious, so unfortunate, should be intrusted to a fool!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she said, looking at him, her arms on the table, "you drew it +bravely, and—once—more bravely—kept it sheathed." +</P> + +<P> +His face flushed. She half smiled; then placed the blade on the board +before him. +</P> + +<P> +"There it is." +</P> + +<P> +Above the sword he reached over, as if to place his hand on hers, but +she quickly rose. Absently he returned the weapon to his girdle. She +took a step or two from him, nervously; lifted her hand to her brow and +breathed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"How tired I feel!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately he got up. "You are worn out from the journey," he +observed, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +But he knew it was not the journey that had most affected her. +</P> + +<P> +"I will leave you," he went on. "Have you everything you need?" +</P> + +<P> +"Everything," she answered carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +He walked to the door. The light was on his face; hers remained shaded. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Jacqueline, Duchess of Dubrois," he answered, and, +turning, disappeared down the corridor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL +</H3> + +<P> +From one of the watch-towers of the town rang the clear note of a +trumpet, a tribute of melody, occasioned by the awakening in the east. +As the last clarion tones reëchoed over the sleeping village, a crimson +rim appeared above the horizon and soon the entire wheel of the chariot +of the sun-god rolled up out of the illimitable abyss and began its +daily race across the sky. The stolid bugler yawned, tucked his +trumpet under his arm, and, having perfunctorily performed the duties +of his office, tramped downward with more alacrity than he had toiled +upward. +</P> + +<P> +About the same time the sleepy guard at the town gate was relieved by +an equally drowsy-appearing trooper; here and there windows were flung +open, and around the well in the small public square the maids began to +congregate. In the tap-room of the tavern the landlord moved about, +setting to rights the tables and chairs, or sprinkling fresh sand on +the floor. The place had a stale, close odor, as though not long since +vacated by an inabstinent company, a supposition further borne out by +the disorder of the furniture, and the evidence the gathering had not +been over-nice about spilling the contents of their toss-pots. The +host had but opened the front door, permitting the fresh, invigorating +air from without to enter, when the duke's <I>plaisant</I>, his cloak over +his arm, descended the stairs, and, addressing the landlord, asked when +he and his companion could be provided with breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast!" grumbled the proprietor. "The maids are hardly up and the +fires must yet be started. It will be an hour or more before you can +be served." +</P> + +<P> +The jester appeared somewhat dissatisfied, but contented himself with +requesting the other to set about the meal at once. +</P> + +<P> +"You ride forth early," answered the man, in an aggrieved tone. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>plaisant</I> made no reply as he strode to the door and looked out; +noted sundry signs of awakening life down the narrow street, and then +returned to the tap-room. +</P> + +<P> +"You had a noisy company here last night, landlord?" he vouchsafed, +glancing around the room and recalling the laughter and shouts he had +heard below until a late hour. +</P> + +<P> +"Noisy company!" retorted the innkeeper. "A goodly company that ate +and drank freely. Distinguished company that paid freely. The king's +own guards who are acting as escort to Robert, the Duke of Friedwald, +and his bride, the princess. Noisy company, forsooth." +</P> + +<P> +The young man started. "The king's guards!" he said. "What are they +doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +The other vigorously rubbed the top of a table with a damp cloth. +"Acting as escort to the duke, as I told you," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke is here, also?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; at the château. The princess had become weary of travel; +besides, had sprained her ankle, I heard, and would have it the +cavalcade should tarry a few days. They e'en stopped at my door," he +went on ostentatiously, "and called for a glass of wine for the +princess. 'Tis true she took it with a frown, but the hardships of +journeying do not agree with grand folks." +</P> + +<P> +These last words the jester, absorbed in thought, did not hear. With +his back to the man, he stood gazing through the high window, +apparently across the street. But between the two houses on the other +side of the thoroughfare was a considerable open space, and through +this, far away, on the mount, could be seen the château. The sunlight +shone bright on turret and spire; its walls were white and glistening; +its outlines, graceful and airy as a fabric of imagination. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet it was a handsome cavalcade," continued the proprietor, his +predilection for pomp overcoming his churlishness. "The princess on a +steed with velvet housings, set with precious stones. Her ladies +attired in eastern silks. Behind the men of arms; Francis' troops in +rich armor; the duke's soldiers more simply arrayed. At the head of +the procession rode—" +</P> + +<P> +"Have the horses brought out at once." +</P> + +<P> +Thus brusquely interrupted, the innkeeper stared blankly at his guest, +who had left the window and now stood in the center of the room +confronting him. "And the breakfast?" asked the man. +</P> + +<P> +"I have changed my mind and do not want it," was the curt response. +</P> + +<P> +The host shrugged his shoulders disagreeably, as the plaisant turned +and ascended the stairs. "Unprofitable travelers," muttered the +landlord, following with his gaze the retreating figure. +</P> + +<P> +Hastily making his way to the room of the young girl, the jester +knocked on the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you awake, Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered a voice within. +</P> + +<P> +"We must ride forth as soon as possible. The duke is at the château." +</P> + +<P> +"At the château!" she exclaimed in surprise. Then after a pause: "And +Triboulet saw us. He will tell that you are here. I will come down at +once. Wait," she added, as an afterthought seized her. +</P> + +<P> +He heard her step to the window. "I think the gates of the château are +open," she said. "I am not sure; it is so far." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see any one on the road leading down?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," came the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor could I. But perhaps they have already passed." +</P> + +<P> +Again the jester returned to the tap-room, where he found the landlord +polishing the pewter tankards. +</P> + +<P> +"The horses?" said the fool sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"The stable boy will bring them to the door," was the response, and the +innkeeper held a pot in the air and leisurely surveyed the shining +surface. +</P> + +<P> +"The reckoning?" +</P> + +<P> +Deliberately the man replaced the receptacle on the table, and, +pressing his thumbs together, began slowly to calculate: "Bottle of +wine, ten sous; capon, twenty sous; two rooms—" when the jester took +from his coat the purse the young girl had given him, and, selecting a +coin, threw it on the board. At the sight of the purse and its golden +contents the countenance of the proprietor mollified; his price +forthwith varied with his changed estimate of his guest's condition. +"Two rooms, fifty sous; fodder, forty sous"—he went on. "That would +make—" +</P> + +<P> +"Keep the coin," said the <I>plaisant</I>, "and have the stable boy make +haste." +</P> + +<P> +With new alacrity, the innkeeper thrust the pistole into a leathern +pouch he carried at his girdle. A guest who paid so well could afford +to be eccentric, and if he and the young lady chose to travel without +breakfast, it was obviously not for the purpose of economy. Therefore, +exclaiming something about "a lazy rascal that needed stirring up," the +now interested landlord was about to go to the barn himself, when, with +a loud clattering, a party of horsemen rode up to the tavern; the door +burst open and Triboulet, followed by a tall, rugged-looking man and a +party of troopers, entered the hall. +</P> + +<P> +Swiftly the jester glanced around him; the room had no other door than +that before which the troopers were crowded; he was fairly caught in a +trap. Remorsefully his thoughts flew to the young girl and the trust +she had imposed in him. How had he rewarded that confidence? By a +temerity which made this treachery on the part of the hunchback +possible. Even now before him stood Triboulet, bowing ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust you are well?" jeered the dwarf, and with a light, dancing +step began to survey the other from side to side. "And the lady—is +she also well this morning? How pleased you both were to see me +yesterday!" assuming an insolent, albeit watchful, pose. "So you +believed I had run away from the duke? As if he could get on without +me. What would be a honeymoon without Triboulet! The maids of honor +would die of ennui. One day they trick me out with true-lovers' knots! +the next, give me a Cupid's head for a wand. Leave the duke!" he +repeated, bombastically. "Triboulet could not be so unkind." +</P> + +<P> +"Enough of this buffoonery!" said a decisive voice, and the dwarf drew +back, not without a grimace, to make room for a person of soldierly +mien, who now pushed his way to the front. Over his doublet this +gentleman wore a somewhat frayed, but embroidered, cloak; his broad hat +was fringed with gold that had lost its luster; his countenance, deeply +burned, seemed that of an old campaigner. He regarded the fool +courteously, yet haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"Your sword, sir!" he commanded, in the tone of one accustomed to being +obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"To whom should I give it?" asked the duke's jester. +</P> + +<P> +"To the Vicomte de Gruise, commandant of the town. I have a writ for +your arrest as a heretic." +</P> + +<P> +"Who has lodged this information against me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Triboulet. That is, he procured the duke's signature to the writ." +</P> + +<P> +"And you think the duke a party to this farce, my Lord?" said the fool, +with assumed composure. "It has not occurred to you that before the +day is over all the village will be laughing at the spectacle of their +commandant—pardon me—being led by the nose by a jester?" +</P> + +<P> +The officer's sun-burned face became yet redder; he frowned, then +glanced suspiciously at Triboulet, whose reputation was France-wide. +</P> + +<P> +"This man was the duke's fool," screamed the dwarf, "and was imprisoned +by order of the king. His companion who is here with him was formerly +jestress to the princess. She is a sorceress and bewitched the +monarch. Then her fancy seized upon the heretic, and, by her dark art, +she opened the door of the cell for him. Together they fled; she from +the court, he from prison." +</P> + +<P> +The commandant looked curiously from the hunchback to the accused. If +this were acting, the dwarf was indeed a master of the art. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides, his haste to leave the village," eagerly went on Triboulet. +"Why was he dressed at this hour? Ask the landlord if he did not seem +unduly hurried?" +</P> + +<P> +At this appeal the innkeeper, who had been an interested spectator, now +became a not unwilling witness. +</P> + +<P> +"It is true he seemed hurried," he answered. "When he first came down +he ordered breakfast. I happened to mention the duke was at the +château, whereupon he lost his appetite with suspicious suddenness, +called for his horses, and was for riding off with all haste." +</P> + +<P> +From the commandant's expression this testimony apparently removed any +doubts he may have entertained. Above the heads of the troopers massed +in the doorway the duke's <I>plaisant</I> saw Jacqueline, standing on the +stairs, with wide-open, dark eyes fastened upon him. Involuntarily he +lifted his hand to his heart; across the brief space glance melted into +glance. +</P> + +<P> +Persecuted Calvin maid—had not her fate been untoward enough without +this new disaster? Had not the king wrought sufficient ill to her and +hers in the past? Would she be sent back to the court; the monarch? +For himself he had no thought, but for her, who was nobler even than +her birthright. He had been thrice a fool who had not heeded +portentous warnings—the sight of Triboulet, the clamor of the +troopers—and had failed to flee during the night. As he realized the +penalty of his negligence would fall so heavily upon her, a cry of rage +burst from the fool's lips and he sprang toward his aggressors. The +young girl became yet whiter; a moment she clung to the baluster; then +started to descend the stairs. A dozen swords flashed before her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She drew in her breath sharply, when as if by some magic, the anger +faded from the face of the duke's fool; the hand he had raised to his +breast fell to his side; his blade remained sheathed. +</P> + +<P> +"Your pardon, my Lord," he said to the commandant. "I have no +intention of resisting the authority of the law, but if you will grant +me a few moments' private audience in this room, I promise to convince +you the Duke of Friedwald never signed that writ." +</P> + +<P> +"Let him convince the council that examines heretics," laughed +Triboulet. "I'll warrant they'll make short work of his arguments." +</P> + +<P> +"I will give you my sword, sir," went on the jester. "Afterward, if +you are satisfied, you shall return it to me. If you are not, on my +word as a man of honor, I will go with you without more ado." +</P> + +<P> +"A Calvinist, a jester, a man of honor!" cried the dwarf. +</P> + +<P> +But narrowly the vicomte regarded the speaker. "<I>Pardieu</I>!" he +exclaimed gruffly. "Keep your sword! I promise you I can look to my +own safety." And in spite of Triboulet's remonstrance, he waved back +the troopers and closed the door upon the <I>plaisant</I> and himself. +</P> + +<P> +Outside the dwarf stormed and stamped. "The jester is desperate. It +is the noble count who is a nonny. Open, fool-soldiers!" +</P> + +<P> +This command not being obeyed by the men who guarded the entrance, the +dwarf began to abuse them. A considerable interval elapsed; the +hunchback, who dared not go into the room himself, compromised by +kneeling before the keyhole; at the foot of the stairs stood the girl, +her strained gaze fastened upon the door. +</P> + +<P> +"They must be near the window," muttered Triboulet in a disappointed +tone, rising. "What can they be about? Surely will he try to kill the +commandant." +</P> + +<P> +But even as he spoke the door was suddenly thrown open and the vicomte +appeared on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Clear the hall!" he commanded sharply to the surprised soldiers. "If +I mistake not," he went on, addressing the duke's jester, "your horses +are at the door." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to let them go?" burst forth Triboulet. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust you and this fair lady"—turning to the wondering girl, who +now stood expectantly at the side of the foreign fool—"will not harbor +this incident against our hospitality," went on the vicomte, without +heeding the dwarf. +</P> + +<P> +"The king will hang you!" exclaimed Triboulet, his face black with +disappointment and rage, as he witnessed the <I>plaisant</I> and the +jestress leave the tavern together. "Let them go and you must answer +to the king. One is a heretic who threw down a cross; the other I +charge with being a sorceress." +</P> + +<P> +A terrible arraignment in those days, yet the vicomte was apparently +deaf. Hat in hand, he waved them adieu; the steeds sprang forward, +past the soldiers, and down the street. +</P> + +<P> +"After them!" cried the dwarf to the troopers, "Dolts! Joltheads!" +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon one of the men, angered at this baiting, reaching out with +his iron boot, caught the dwarf such a sharp blow he staggered and +fell, striking his head so violently he lay motionless on the walk. At +the same time, far above, a body of troopers might have been seen +issuing from the gates of the château and leisurely wending their way +downward. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE +</H3> + +<P> +Some part of the interview with the commandant which had resulted in +their release the jester told his companion as they sped down the +sloping plain in the early silvery light which transformed the +dew-drops and grassy moisture into veils of mist. Behind them the +château was slowly fading from view; the town had already disappeared. +Around them the singing of the birds, the cooing of the cushat doves +and the buzzing of the bees, mingled in dreamy cadence. On each side +stretched the plain which, washed by recent heavy rains, was now +spangled with new-grown flowers; here, far apart in sequestered beauty; +there, clustering companionably in a mass of color. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon the strength of the letter from the emperor, the vicomte took the +responsibility of allowing us to depart," explained the fool. "In it +his Majesty referred to his message to the king, to the part played by +him who took the place of the duke, and what he was pleased to term my +services to Francis and himself." +</P> + +<P> +So much the <I>plaisant</I> related, but he did not add that the commandant, +with Triboulet's words in mind, had at first demurred about permitting +the jestress to go. "<I>Vrai Dieu</I>!" that person had exclaimed. "If +what the dwarf said be true? To cross the king!—and yet," he had +added cynically, "it sounds most unlike. Did Aladdin flee from the +genii of the lamp? Such a magician is Francis. Châteaux, +gardens—'tis clearly an invention of Triboulet's!" And the fallacy of +this conclusion the duke's <I>plaisant</I> had not sought to demonstrate. +</P> + +<P> +Without question, the young girl listened, but when he had finished her +features hardened. Intuitively she divined a gap in the narrative; +herself! From the dwarf's slur to Caillette's gentle look of surprise +constituted a natural span for reflection. And the duke's fool, seeing +her face turn cold, attributed it, perhaps, to another reason. Her +story recurred to him; she was no longer a nameless jestress; an +immeasurable distance separated a mere <I>plaisant</I> from the survivor of +one of the noblest, if most unfortunate, families of France. She had +not answered the night before when he had addressed her as the daughter +of the constable; motionless as a statue had she gazed after him; and, +remembering the manner of their parting, he now looked at her curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"All's well that ends well," he said, "but I must crave indulgence, +Lady Jacqueline, for having brought you into such peril." +</P> + +<P> +She flushed. "Do you persist in that foolishness?" she returned +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you deny the right to be so called?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I not tell you—the constable's daughter is dead?" +</P> + +<P> +"To the world! But to the fool—may he not serve her?" +</P> + +<P> +His face was expectant; his voice, light yet earnest. Her answer was +half-sad, half-bright, as though her tragedy, like those acted dramas, +had its less somber lines. And in the stage versions of those dark, +mournful pieces were not the softer bits introduced with cap and bell? +The fool's stick and the solemn march of irresistible and lowering +destiny went hand in hand. Everywhere the tinkle of the tiny bells. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor service!" she retorted. "A discredited mistress!" +</P> + +<P> +"One I am minded for," he replied, a sudden flash in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She looked away; her lips curved. +</P> + +<P> +"For how long?" she said, half-mockingly, and touched her horse before +he could reply. +</P> + +<P> +What words had her action checked on his lips? A moment was he +disconcerted, then riding after her, he smiled, thinking how once he +had carelessly passed her by; how he had looked upon her but as a +wilful child. +</P> + +<P> +A child, forsooth! His pulses throbbed fast. Life had grown strangely +sweet, as though from her look, when she had stood on the stairs, he +had drawn new zest. To serve her seemed a happiness that drowned all +other ills; a selfish bond of subordination. Her misfortunes dignified +her; her worn gown was dearer in his eyes than courtly splendor; the +disorder of her hair more becoming than nets of gold and coifs of +jewels. He forgot their danger; the broad plain lay like a pleasure +garden before them; fairer in natural beauty than Francis' conventional +parks. +</P> + +<P> +And she, too, had ceased to remember the dwarf's words, for the joy of +youth is strong, and the sunshine and air were rarely intoxicating. +There was a stirring rhythm in the movement of the steeds; noiselessly +their hoofs beat upon the soft earth and tender mosses. The rains +which elsewhere had flooded the lowlands here but enlivened the vernal +freshness of the scene. The air was full of floating thistle-down; a +cloud of insects dancing in the light, parted to let them pass. +</P> + +<P> +At the sight of a bush, white with flowers, she uttered an exclamation +of pleasure, and broke off a branch covered with fragrant blossoms, as +they rode by. Out of the depths of this store-house of sweets a +plundering humming-bird flashed and vanished, a jewel from nature's +crown! She held the branch to her face and he glanced at her covertly; +she was all jestress again. The cadence of that measured motion shaped +itself to an ancient lyric in keeping with the song of birds, the blue +sky, and the wild roses. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">"Hark! hark!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Pretty lark!</SPAN><BR> +Little heedest thou my pain."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +He bent his head listening; he could scarcely hear the words. Was it a +sense of new security that moved her; the reaction of their narrow +escape; the knowledge they were leaving the château and all danger +behind them? +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">"Hark! hark!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Pretty lark!—"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Boom! Far in the distance sounded the discharge of a cannon—its iron +voice the antithesis to the poet's dainty pastoral. As the report +reverberated over the valley, from the grass innumerable insects arose; +the din died away; the disturbed earth-dwellers sank back to earth +again. The song ceased from the young girl's lips, and, gazing quickly +back, she could just distinguish, above one of the parapets of the +château, a wreath, already nearly dissolved in the blue of the sky. +The jester, who had also turned in his saddle, met her look of inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds like a signal of some kind—a salute, perhaps," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Or a call to arms?" she suggested, and he made no answer. "It +means—pursuit!" +</P> + +<P> +Silent they rode on, but more rapidly. With pale face and composed +mien she kept by his side; her resolute expression reassured him, while +her glance said: "Do not fear for me." Gradually had they been +descending from the higher slopes of the country of which the +château-mount was the loftiest point and now were passing through the +lower stretches of land. +</P> + +<P> +Here, the highway ran above fields, inundated by recent rains, and +marshes converted into shining lakes. Out of the water uprose a grove +of trees, spectral-like; screaming wild-fowl skimmed the surface, or +circled above. The pastoral peace of the meadows, garden of the wild +flower and home of the song-bird, was replaced by a waste of desolation +and wilderness. Long they dashed on through the loneliness of that +land; a depressing flight—but more depressing than the abandoned and +forlorn aspect of the scene was the consciousness that their steeds had +become road-worn and were unable to respond. Long, long, they +continued this pace, a strained period of suspense, and then the fool +drew rein. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Jacqueline," he said. "The river!" +</P> + +<P> +Before them, fed by the rivulets from the distant hills, the foaming +current threatened to overflow its banks. Already the rising waters +touched the flimsy wooden structure that spanned the torrent. +Contemplatively he regarded it, and then placing his hand for a moment +on hers, said encouragingly: +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps, after all, we are borrowing trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. "If I could but think it," she answered. +Something seemed to rise in her throat. "A moment I forgot, and—was +not unhappy! But now I feel as though the end was closing about us." +</P> + +<P> +He tightened his grasp. "You are worn with fatigue; fanciful!" he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"The end!" she repeated, passionately. "Yes; the end!" And threw off +his hand. "Look!" +</P> + +<P> +He followed her eyes. "Waving plumes!" he cried. "And drawing nearer! +Come, Jacqueline! let us ride on!" +</P> + +<P> +"How?" she answered, in a lifeless tone. "The bridge will not hold." +</P> + +<P> +For answer he turned his horse to it; proceeded slowly across. It +wavered and bent; her wide-opened eyes followed him; once she lifted +her hand to her breast, and then became conscious he stood on the +opposite bank, calling her to follow. She started; a strange smile was +on her lips, and touching her horse sharply, she obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it to death he has called me?" she asked herself. +</P> + +<P> +In her ears sounded the swash and eddying of the current; she closed +her eyes to keep from falling, when she felt a hand on the bridle, and +in a moment had reached the opposite shore. The jester made no motion +to remount, but remained at her horse's head, closely surveying the +road they had traveled. +</P> + +<P> +"Must we go on?" she said, mechanically. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one of them can cross at a time," he answered, without stirring. +"It is better to meet them here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she spoke up, "if the waters would only rise a little more and +carry away the bridge." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced quickly around him, weighing the slender chance for success +if he made that last desperate stand, and then, grasping a loose plank, +began using it as a lever against one of the weakened supports of the +bridge. Soon the beam gave way, and the structure, now held but at the +middle and one side, had already begun to sag, when from around the +curve of the highway appeared Louis of Hochfels, and a dozen of his +followers. +</P> + +<P> +The free baron rode to the brim of the torrent, regarded the flood and +the bridge, and stopped. He was mounted on a black Spanish barb whose +glistening sides were flecked with foam; a cloak of cloth of gold fell +from his brawny shoulders; his heavy, red face looked out from beneath +a sombrero, fringed with the same metal. A gleam of grim recollection +shone from his bloodshot eyes as they rested on the fool. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there you are!" he shouted, with savage satisfaction. "Out of the +frying-pan into the fire! Or rather—for you escaped the fagots at +Notre Dame—out of the fire into the frying-pan!" +</P> + +<P> +Above the tumult of the torrent his stentorian tones were plainly +heard. Without response, the jester inserted the plank between the +structure and the middle support. The other, perceiving his purpose, +uttered an execration that was drowned by the current, and irresolutely +regarded the means of communication between the two shores, obviously +undetermined about trusting his great bulk to that fragile intermedium. +Here was a temporary check on which he had not calculated. But if he +demurred about crossing himself, the free baron did not long display +the same infirmity of purpose regarding his followers. +</P> + +<P> +"Over with you!" he cried angrily to them. "The lightest first! Fifty +pistoles to the first across!" And then, calling out to the fool: "In +half an hour, you, my fine wit-cracker, shall be hanging from a branch. +As for the maid, she is a witch, I am told—we will test her with +drowning." +</P> + +<P> +Tempted by their leader's offer, one of the troopers, a lank, +muscular-looking fellow, at once drove the spurs into his horse. Back +and forth moved the lever in the hands of the jester; the soldier was +midway on the bridge, when it sank suddenly to one side. A moment it +acted as a dam, then bridge, horse and rider were swept away with a +crash and carried downward with the driving flood. Vainly the trooper +sought to turn his steed toward the shore; the debris from the +structure soon swept him from his saddle. Striking out strongly, he +succeeded in catching a trailing branch from a tree on the bank, but +the torrent gripped his body fiercely, and, after a desperate struggle, +tore him away. +</P> + +<P> +As his helpless follower disappeared, the free baron gave a brief +command, and he and his troops posted rapidly down the bank. The young +girl breathed a sigh of relief; her eyes were yet full of awe from the +death struggle she had witnessed. Fascinated, her gaze had rested on +the drowning wretch; the pale face, the look of terror; but now she was +called to a realization of their own situation by the abrupt departure +of the squad on the opposite shore. +</P> + +<P> +"They have gone," she cried, in surprise, as the party vanished among +the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"But not far." The jester's glance was bent down the stream. "See, +where the torrent broadens. They expect to find a fording place." +</P> + +<P> +Once more they set forth; he knowing full well that the free baron and +his men, accustomed to the mountain torrents, unbridled by the melting +snows, would, in all likelihood, soon find a way to cross the freshet. +His mind misgave him that he had loosened the bridge at all. Would it +not have been better to force the conflict there, when he had the +advantage of position? But right or wrong, he had made his choice and +must abide by it. +</P> + +<P> +To add to his discomfiture, his horse, which at first had lagged, now +began to limp, and, as they proceeded, this lameness became more +apparent. With a twinge of heart, he plied the spur more strongly, and +the willing but broken creature responded as best it could. Again it +hastened its pace, seeming in a measure to recover strength and +endurance, then, without warning, lurched, fell to its knees and +quickly rolled over on its side. Jacqueline glanced back; the animal +lay motionless; the rider was vainly endeavoring to rise. Pale with +apprehension she returned, and, dismounting, stood at the head of the +prostrate animal. Determinedly the jester struggled, the perspiration +standing on his brow in beads. At length, breathing hard, he rested +his head on his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"Here am I caught to stay, Jacqueline!" he said. "The horse is dead. +But you—you must still go on." +</P> + +<P> +With clasped hands she stood looking down at him. She scarcely knew +what he was saying; her mind seemed in a stupor; with apathetic eyes +she gazed down the road. But the accident had happened in a little +hollow, so that the outlook in either direction along the highway was +restricted. +</P> + +<P> +"My emperor is both chivalrous and noble," continued the <I>plaisant</I>, +quickly. "Go to him. You must not wait here longer. I did not tell +you, but I think the free baron will have no difficulty in crossing. +You have no time to lose. Go; and—good-by!" +</P> + +<P> +"But—he had a long way to ride—even if he could cross," she said +slowly, passing her hand over her brow. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" he cried out, impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +She made no motion to leave, and, reading in her face her +determination, angered by his own helplessness, he strove violently to +release himself, until wrenching his foot in his frantic efforts, he +sank back with a groan. At that sound of pain, wrung from him in spite +of his fortitude, all her seeming apathy vanished. With a low cry, she +dropped on her knees in the road and swiftly took his head in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +It was he, not the young girl, who spoke first. He forgot all +peril—hers and his. He only knew her warm, young arms were about him; +that her heart was throbbing wildly. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!" he cried, passionately. "Jacqueline!" And threw an arm +about her, drawing her closer, closer. +</P> + +<P> +Did she hear him? She did not reply. Nor did she release him. She +did not even look down. But he felt her bosom rising and falling +faster than its wont. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline," he repeated, "are you listening?" +</P> + +<P> +She stirred slightly; the pallor left her face. In her gaze shone a +light difficult to divine—pity, tenderness, a warmer passion? Where +had he seen it before? In the cell when he lay injured; in his waking +dreams? It seemed the sudden dawn of the full beauty of her eyes; a +half-remembered impression which now became real. Yet even as she +looked down his face changed; his eager glance grew dark; he listened +intently. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of horses' hoofs beat upon the air. +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!—go!—there is yet time!" +</P> + +<P> +Abruptly she arose. He held out his hand for a last quick pressure; a +God-speed to this stanch maid-comrade of the motley. +</P> + +<P> +"God keep you, mistress!" +</P> + +<P> +Standing in the road, gazing up the hollow, she neither saw his hand +nor caught his words of farewell. An expression of bewilderment had +overspread her features; quickly she glanced in the opposite direction. +</P> + +<P> +"See! see!" she exclaimed, excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +But he was past response; overcome by pain, in a last desperate attempt +to regain his feet, he had lost consciousness. As he fell back, above +the hill in the direction she was looking, appeared the black plumes of +a band of horsemen. +</P> + +<P> +"No; they are not—" +</P> + +<P> +Her glance rested on the jester, lying there motionless, and hastening +to his side, she lifted his head and placed it in her lap. So the +troopers of the Emperor Charles—a small squad of outriders—found her +sitting in the road, her hair disordered about her, her face the whiter +against that black shroud. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR +</H3> + +<P> +On an eminence commanding the surrounding country an unwonted spectacle +that same day had presented itself to the astonished gaze of the +workers in a neighboring vineyard. Gleaming with crimson and gold, a +number of tents had appeared as by magic on the mount, the temporary +encampment of a rich and numerous cavalcade. But it was not the +splendent aspect of this unexpected bivouac itself so much as the +colors and designs of the flags and banners floating above which +aroused the wonderment of the tillers of the soil. Here gleamed no +salamander, with its legend, "In fire am I nourished; in fire I die," +but the less magniloquent and more dreaded coat of arms of the emperor, +the royal rival and one-time jailer of the proud French monarch. +</P> + +<P> +The sunlight, reflected from the golden tassels and ornamentation of +the tents, threw a flaming menace over the valley, and the peasants in +subdued tones talked of the sudden coming of the dreaded foeman. <I>Mère +de Dieu</I>! what did it portend! <I>Ventre Saint Gris</I>! were they going to +storm the fortresses of the king? Was an army following this +formidable retinue of nobles, soldiers and servants? +</P> + +<P> +Above, on the mount, as the sun climbed toward the meridian, was seated +in one of the largest of the tents a man of resolute and stern mien who +gazed reflectively toward the fertile plain outstretching in the +distance. His grizzled hair told of the after-prime of life; he was +simply, even plainly, dressed, although his garments were of fine +material, and from his neck hung a heavy chain of gold. His doublet +lacked the prolonged and grotesque peak, and was less puffed, slashed +and banded than the coat worn by those gallants of the day who looked +to Italy for the latest extravagances of fashion. His hat, lying +carelessly on the table at his elbow, was devoid of aigrette, jewels or +plume; a head-covering for the campaign rather than the court. Within +reach of his hand stood a heavy golden goblet of massive German +workmanship, the solid character of which contrasted with the drinking +vessels after Cellini's patterns affected by Francis. This he raised +to his lips, drank deeply, replaced the goblet on the table, and said +as much to himself as to those around him: +</P> + +<P> +"A fair land, this of our brother! Small wonder he likes to play the +host, even to his enemies. We may conquer him on the ensanguined +field, but he conquers us—or Henry of England!—on a field of cloth of +gold!" +</P> + +<P> +"But for your Majesty to put yourself in the king's power?" ventured a +courtier, who wore a begemmed torsade and a cloak of Genoa velvet. +</P> + +<P> +The monarch leaned back in his great chair and his face grew harsh. As +he sat there musing, his virility and iron figure gave him rather the +appearance of the soldier than the emperor. This impression his +surroundings further emphasized, for the walls of the tent were +covered, not with the gorgeous-colored Gobelins of the pleasure-loving +French, but with severe and stately tapestries from his native +Flanders, depicting in somber shades various scenes of martial triumph. +When he raised his head he cast a look of ominous displeasure upon the +last speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"Had he not once the English king beneath his roof?" answered the +monarch. "At Amboise, where we visited Francis some years ago, was +there any restraint put upon us?" +</P> + +<P> +A grim smile crossed his features at the recollection of the gorgeous +<I>fêtes</I> in his honor on that other occasion. Perhaps, too, he thought +of the excitements held out by those servitors of the king, the frail +and fair ladies of the court, for he added: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Saints et saintes</I>! 'twas a palace of pleasure, not a dungeon, he +prepared for us. But enough of this! It is time we rode on. Let the +cavalcade, with the tents, follow behind." +</P> + +<P> +"Think you, your Majesty, if the princess be not yet married to the +bastard, she is like to espouse the true duke?" asked the courtier, as +a soldier left the tent to carry out the orders of the emperor. +</P> + +<P> +Charles arose abruptly. "Of a surety! He must have loved her greatly, +else—" +</P> + +<P> +The clattering of hoofs, drawing nearer, interrupted the emperor's +ruminations, and, wheeling sharply, he gazed without. A band of +horsemen appeared on the mount. +</P> + +<P> +"The outriders!" he said in surprise. "Why have they returned?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are bearing some one on a litter," answered the attendant noble, +"and—<I>cap de Dieu</I>—there is a woman with them!" +</P> + +<P> +As the troops approached, the emperor strode forward. Out in the +sunlight his face appeared older, more careworn, but although it cost +him an effort to walk, his step was unfaltering. A moment he surveyed +the men with peremptory glance, and then, casting one look at their +burden, uttered an exclamation. His surprise, however, was of short +duration. At once his features resumed their customary rigor. +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean?" he asked, shortly, addressing the leader of the +soldiers. "Is he badly hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I can not say, your Majesty," replied the man. "A horse fell +upon his leg, which is badly bruised, and there may be other injuries." +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you find him?" continued the emperor, still regarding the +pale face of the <I>plaisant</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Not far from here, your Majesty. The woman was sitting in the road, +holding his head." +</P> + +<P> +Charles' glance swiftly sought the jestress and then returned. +</P> + +<P> +"They were being pursued, for shortly after we came a squad of men +appeared from the opposite direction. When they saw us they fled. The +woman insisted upon being brought here, when she learned of your +Majesty's presence." +</P> + +<P> +"Take the injured man into the next tent and see he has every care. As +for the woman, I will speak with her alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty's orders to break camp—" began the courtier. +</P> + +<P> +"We have changed our mind and will remain here for the present." And +the emperor, without further words, turned and reëntered his pavilion. +</P> + +<P> +With his hands behind him, he stood thoughtfully leaning against a +table; his countenance had become somber, morose. The twinges of pain +from a disease which afterward caused him to abdicate the throne and +relinquish all power and worldly vanities for a life of religious +meditation began to make themselves felt. Love—ambition—what were +they? The perishable flesh—was it the all-in-all? Those sudden pangs +of the body seemed like over-forward confessors abruptly admonishing +him. +</P> + +<P> +The jester and the woman—Francis and the princess—what had they +become to him now? Figures in an intangible, illusory dream. Deeply +religious, repentant, perhaps, for past misdeeds at such a moment as +this, the soldier-emperor stood before a silver crucifix. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Credo in sanctum</I>," he murmured, with contrite glance. "How +repugnant is human glory! to conquer the earth; to barter what is +immortal! <I>Carnis resurrectionem—</I>" +</P> + +<P> +A shadow fell across the tapestry, and glancing from the blessed +symbol, he saw before him, kneeling on the rug, the figure of a woman. +For her it was an inauspicious interruption. With almost a frown, +Charles, recalled from an absorbing period of oblation and +self-examination, surveyed the young girl. The reflection of dark +colors from the hangings and tapestries softened the pallor of her +face; her hair hung about her in disorder; her figure, though meanly +garbed, was replete with youth and grace. Silent she continued in the +posture of a suppliant. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said the monarch finally, in a harsh voice. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly she lifted her head; her dark eyes rested on the ruler +steadfastly, fearlessly. "Your Majesty commanded my presence," she +answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" he asked coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am called Jacqueline; my father was the Constable of Dubrois." +</P> + +<P> +Incredulity replaced every other emotion on the emperor's features, +and, approaching her, he gazed attentively into the countenance she so +frankly uplifted. With calmness she bore that piercing scrutiny; his +dark, troubled soul, looking out of his keen gray eyes, met an equally +lofty spirit. +</P> + +<P> +"The Constable of Dubrois! You, his daughter!" he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +His thoughts swiftly pierced the shadows of the past; that umbrageous +past, darkened with war and carnage; the memory of triumphs; the +bitterness of defeats! And studying her eyes, her face, as in a vision +he recalled the features, the bearing, of him who had held himself an +equal to his old rival, Francis. A red spot rose to his cheek as he +reviewed the martial, combative days; the game of arms he had played so +often with Francis—and won! Not always by daring, or courage—rather +by sagacity, clear-headedness, more potent than any other force! +</P> + +<P> +But a pang of bodily suffering reminded him of the present and its +ills, and the vainglory of brief exultation faded as quickly as it had +assailed him; involuntarily his glance sought the sacred emblem of +intercession. When he regarded her once more his face had resumed its +severe, uncompromising aspect. +</P> + +<P> +"The constable was a proud, haughty man," he said, brusquely. "Yea, +over-proud, in fact. You know why he fled to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sire," she answered, flushing resentfully. +</P> + +<P> +"To persuade me to espouse his cause against the king. Many times have +my good brother, Francis, and myself gone to war," he added, +reflectively and not without a certain complacency, "but then were we +engaged in troubles in the east; to keep the Mohammedans from +overrunning our Christian land. How could I oblige the constable by +fighting the heathen and the believers in the gospel in one breath? +Your father—for I am ready to believe him such, by the evidence of +your face, and, especially, your eyes—accused me of little faith. But +I had either to desert him, or Europe. His cause was lost; 'twas the +fortune of war; the fate of great families becomes subservient to that +of nations." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke as if rather presenting the case to himself than to her; as +though he sought to analyze his own action through the medium of time +and the trend of larger events. Attentively she watched him with deep, +serious eyes, and, catching her almost accusing look and knowing how, +perhaps, he shuffled with history, his brow grew darker; he was visibly +annoyed at her—his own conscience—he knew not what! +</P> + +<P> +"I did not complain, your Majesty," she said proudly. +</P> + +<P> +Her answer surprised him. Again he observed her attire; the pallor of +her face; the dark circles beneath her eyes. Grimly he marked these +signs of poverty; those marks of the weariness and privations she had +undergone. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it not your intention to seek me? To beg an asylum, perhaps?" he +went on, less sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to beg, your Majesty! To ask, yes! But now—not that!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Vrai Dieu</I>!" muttered Charles. "There is the father over again! It +is strange this maiden clothed almost in rags should claim such +illustrious parentage," he continued to himself, as he walked +restlessly to and fro. "It is more strange I ask no other proofs than +herself—the evidence of my eyes! Where did you come from?" he added, +aloud, pausing before her. "The court of Francis?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you leave the king?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—because—" Her hands clenched. The gray eyes continued to probe +her. "Because I hate him!" +</P> + +<P> +The emperor's face relaxed; a gleam of humor shone in his glance. +"Hate him whom so many of your sex love?" he replied. +</P> + +<P> +Through her tresses he saw her face turn red; passionately she arose. +"With your Majesty's permission, I will go." +</P> + +<P> +"Go?" he said abruptly. "Where can you go? You are somewhat quick of +temper, like—. Have I refused you aught? I could not serve your +father," he continued, taking her hand, and, not ungently, detaining +her, "but I may welcome his daughter—though necessity, the ruler of +kings, made me helpless in his behalf!" +</P> + +<P> +As in a flash her resentment faded. Half-paternally, half-severely, he +surveyed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down here," he went on, indicating a low stool. "You are weary +and need refreshment." +</P> + +<P> +Silent she obeyed, and the emperor, touching a bell, gave a low command +to the servitor who appeared. In a few moments meat, fruits and wine +were set before her, and Charles, from his point of vantage—no throne +of gold, but a chair lined with Cordovan leather, watched her partake. +The pains had again left him; the monk gave way to the ruler; he +thought of no more phrases of the Credo, but with impassive face +listened to her story, or as much as she cared to relate. When she had +finished, for some time he offered no comment. +</P> + +<P> +"A strange tale," he said finally. "But what will our nobles do when +ladies take mere fools for knight-errants?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is no mere fool!" she spoke up, impulsively. +</P> + +<P> +The emperor shot a quick look at her from beneath his lowering brows. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean—he is brave—and has protected me many times," she explained +in some confusion. +</P> + +<P> +"And so you, knowing what you were, remained—with a poor jester—a +clown—rather than leave him to his fate?" continued Charles, +inexorably, recalling the words of the outriders. +</P> + +<P> +Her face became paler, but she held her head more proudly; the spirit +of the jestress sprang to her lips, "It is only kings, Sire, who fear +to cling to a forlorn cause!" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes grew dark and gloomy; morosely he bent his gaze upon her. No +one had ever before dared to speak to him like that, for Charles had no +love for jesters, and kept none in his court. Unsparing, iron-handed, +he had gone his way. But, perhaps, in her very fearlessness he +recognized a touch of his own inflexible nature. At any rate, his +sternness soon gave way to an expression of melancholy. +</P> + +<P> +"God alone knows the hearts of monarchs!" he said, somberly, and +directed his glance toward the crucifix. +</P> + +<P> +Moved by his unexpected leniency and the aspect of his cheerlessness, +she immediately repented of her response. He looked so old, and +melancholy, this great monarch. When he again turned to her his face +and manner expressed no further cognizance of her reply. +</P> + +<P> +"You need rest," he said, "and shall have a tent to yourself. Now go!" +he continued, placing his hand for a moment, not unkindly, on her head. +"I shall give orders for your entertainment. It will be rough +hospitality, but—you are used to that. I am not sorry, child, you +hate our brother Francis, if it has driven you to our court." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DEBT OF NATURE +</H3> + +<P> +Although the daughter of the constable received every attention +commensurate with the cheer of the camp, the day passed but slowly. +With more or less interest she viewed the diversified group of +soldiers, drawn by Charles from the various countries over which he +ruled: the brawny troops from Flanders; the alert-looking guards, +recruited from the mountains of Spain; the men of Friedwald, with +muscles tough as the fibers of the fir in their native forests. Even +the Orient—suggestive of many campaigns!—had been drawn upon, and the +bright-garbed olive-skinned attendants, moving among the tents of +purple or crimson, blended picturesquely with the more solid masses of +color. +</P> + +<P> +For the Flemish soldiery, who had brought the fool and herself to the +camp, the young girl had a nod and a word, but it was the men of +Friedwald who especially attracted her attention, and unconsciously she +found herself picturing the land that had fostered this stalwart and +rough soldiery. A rocky, rugged region, surely; with vast forests, +unbroken brush! Yonder armorer, polishing a joint of steel, seemed +like a survivor of that primeval epoch when the trees were roofs and +the ground the universal bed. Once or twice she passed him, curiously +noting his great beard and giant-like limbs. But he minded her not, +and this, perhaps, gave her courage to pause. +</P> + +<P> +"What sort of country is Friedwald?" she said, abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Wild," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the duke liked?" she went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know his—jester?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +For all the information he would volunteer, the man might have been +Doctor Rabelais' model for laconicism, and a moment she stood there +with a slight frown. Then she gazed at him meditatively; tap! tap! +went the tiny hammer in the mighty hand, and, laughing softly, she +turned. These men of Friedwald were not unpleasing in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Twice had she approached the tent wherein lay the fool, only to learn +that the emperor was with the duke's <I>plaisant</I>. "A slight relapse of +fever," had said the Italian leech, as he blocked the entrance and +stared at her with wicked, twinkling eyes. She need be under no +apprehension, he had added; but to her quick fancy his glance said: "A +maid wandering with a fool!" +</P> + +<P> +Apprehension? No; it could not be that she felt but a new sense of +loneliness; of that isolation which contact with strange faces +emphasized. What had come over her? she asked herself. She who had +been so self-sufficient; whose nature now seemed filled with sudden +yearnings and restlessness, impatience—she knew not what. She who +thought she had partaken so abundantly of life's cup abruptly +discovered renewed sources for disquietude. With welling heart she +watched the sun go down; the glory of the widely-radiating hues give +way to the pall of night. Upon her young shoulders the mantle of +darkness seemed to rest so heavily she bowed her head in her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"A maid and a fool! Ah, foolish maid!" whispered the wanton breeze. +</P> + +<P> +The pale light of the stars played upon her, and the dews fell, until +involuntarily shivering with the cold, she arose. As she walked by the +emperor's quarters she noticed a figure silhouetted on the canvas +walls; to and fro the shadow moved, shapeless, grotesque, yet eloquent +of life's vexation of spirit. Turning into her own tent, the jestress +lighted the wick of a silver lamp; a faint aroma of perfume swept +through the air. It seemed to soothe her—or was it but +weariness?—and shortly she threw herself on the silken couch and sank +to dreamless slumber. +</P> + +<P> +When she awoke, the bright-hued dome of the tent was aglow in the +morning sun; the reflected radiance bathed her face and form; her +heaviness of heart had taken wings. The little lamp was still burning, +but the fresh fragrance of dawn had replaced the subtile odor of the +oriental essence. Upon the rug a single streak of sunshine was +creeping toward her. In the brazier which had warmed her tent the +glowing bark and cinnamon had turned to cold, white ash. +</P> + +<P> +Through the girl's veins the blood coursed rapidly; a few moments she +lay in the rosy effulgence, restfully conscious that danger had fled +and that she was bulwarked by the emperor's favor, when a sudden +thought broke upon this half-wakeful mood, and caused her to spring, +all alert, from her couch. To dress, with her had never been a matter +of great duration. The hair of the joculatrix naturally rippled into +such waves as were the envy of the court ladies; her supple fingers +adjusted garment after garment with swift precision, while her figure +needed no device to lend grace to the investment. +</P> + +<P> +Soon, therefore, had she left her tent, making her way through the +awakening camp. In the royal kitchen the cook was bending over his +fires, while an assistant mixed a beverage of barley-water, yolks of +eggs and senna wine for Charles when he should become aroused. Those +courtiers, already astir, cast many glances in the girl's direction, as +she moved toward the tent of the fool. +</P> + +<P> +But if these gallants were sedulous, she was correspondingly +indifferent. Anxiety or loyalty—that stanchness of heart which braved +even the ironical eyes of the black-robed master of medicine—drove her +again to the ailing jester's tent, and, remembering how she had ridden +into camp—and into the august emperor's favor—these fondlings of +fortune looked significantly from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"A jot less fever, solicitous maid," said the leech in answer to the +inquiries of the jestress, and she endured the glance for the news, +although the former sent her away with her face aflame. +</P> + +<P> +"An the leech let her in, he'd soon have to let the patient out," spoke +up a gallant. "Her eyes are a sovereign remedy, where bolus, pills and +all vile potions might fail." +</P> + +<P> +"If this be a sample of Francis' damsels, I care not how long we are in +reaching the Low Countries," answered a second. +</P> + +<P> +To this the first replied in kind, but soon had these gallants matters +of more serious moment to divert them, for it began to be whispered +about that Louis of Hochfels had determined to push forward. The +unwonted activity in the camp ere long gave credence to the rumor; the +troopers commenced looking to their weapons; squires hurried here and +there, while near the tents stood the horses, saddled and bridled, +undergoing the scrutiny of the grooms. +</P> + +<P> +Some time, however, elapsed before the emperor himself appeared. +Nothing in the bead-roll, or devotional offering of the morning, had he +overlooked; the divers dishes that followed had been scrupulously +partaken of, and then only—as a man not to be hurried from the altar +or the table—had he emerged from his tent. His glance mechanically +swept the camp, noting the bustle and stir, the absence of disorder, +and finally rested on the girl. For a moment, from his look, it seemed +he might have forgotten her, and she who had involuntarily turned to +him so solicitously, on a sudden felt chilled, as confronted by a mask. +His voice, when at length he spoke, was hard, dry, matter-of-fact, and +it was Jacqueline whom he addressed. +</P> + +<P> +"You slept well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sire," she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"And have already been to the fool's tent, I doubt not." +</P> + +<P> +The mask became half-quizzical, half-friendly, as her cheeks mantled +beneath his regard. Was it but quiet avengement against a jestress +whose tongue had been unsparing enough, even to him, the day before? +Certes, here stood now only a rosy maid, robbed of her spirit; or a +<I>folle</I>, struck witless, and Charles' face softened, but immediately +grew stern, as his mind abruptly passed from wandering jestress and +fleeing fool to matters of more moment. +</P> + +<P> +Under vow to the Virgin, the emperor had announced he would not draw +sword himself that day, but, seated beneath a canopy of velvet, +overlooking the valley, he so far compromised with conscience as +personally to direct the preparations for the conflict. On his sable +throne, surrounded by funereal hangings, how white and furrowed, how +harassed with many cares, he appeared in the glare of the morn to the +young girl! Was this he who held nearly all Europe in his palm? who +between martial commands talked of Holy Orders, the Apostolic See and +the Seven Sacraments to his priestly confessor? +</P> + +<P> +And from aloof she studied him, with new doubts and misgiving, her +thoughts running fast; and anon bent her eyes to the hill on the other +side of the valley. In her condition of mind, confused as before a +crisis, it was a distinct relief when toward noon word was brought that +the free baron was approaching. Soon, not far distant, the <I>cortège</I> +of Louis of Hochfels was seen; at the front, flashing helmets and +breastplates; behind, a cavalcade of ladies on horseback and litters, +above which floated many flags and banners. +</P> + +<P> +Would he come on; would he turn back? Many opinions were rife. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," cried a page with golden hair, "there will be no battle after +all." +</P> + +<P> +And truly, confronted by the aspect of the emperor's camp, the marauder +had at first hesitated; but if the dangers before him were great, those +behind were greater. Accordingly, leaving the cavalcade of the +princess, her maids and attendants, the free baron of Hochfels, +surrounded by his own trusted troops, dashed forward arrogantly into +the valley, bent upon sweeping aside even the opposition of Charles +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Yonder's a daring knave, your Majesty," with some perturbation +observed the prelate who stood near the emperor's chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Certes, he tilts at fame, or death, with a bold lance," replied +Charles. "Would that Robert of Friedwald were there to cry him quits." +</P> + +<P> +While thus he spoke, as calm as though secluded in one of his monastery +retreats, weighing the affairs of state, nearer and nearer drew the +soldiers of the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld; roughly calculating, a force +numerically as strong as the emperor's own guard. +</P> + +<P> +The young girl, her face now white and drawn, watched the approaching +band. Would Charles never give the signal? Imperturbable sat the +mounted troopers of the emperor, awaiting the word of command. At +length, when her breath began to come fast and sharp, Charles raised +his arm. In a solid, steady body, his men swept onward. The girl +strove to look away, but could not. +</P> + +<P> +Both bands, gaining in momentum, met with a crash. That nice symmetry +of form and orderliness of movement was succeeded by a tangle of men +and horses; the bristling array of lances had vanished, and swords and +weapons for hand-to-hand warfare threw a play of light amid the jumble +of troops and steeds, flags and banners. With sword red from carnage, +Louis of Hochfels drew his men around him, hurling them against the +firm front of Charles' veterans. It was the crucial moment; the +turning point in a struggle that could not be prolonged, but would be +rather sharp, short and decisive. If his men failed at the onset, all +was lost; if they gained but a little ascendancy now, their mastery of +the field became fairly assured. Great would be the reward for +success; the fruits of victory—the emperor himself. And savagely the +free baron cut down a stalwart trooper; his blade pierced the throat of +another. +</P> + +<P> +"Clear the way to Charles!" he cried, exultantly. "He is our guerdon." +</P> + +<P> +So terrible that rush, the guard of Spain on the right and the troops +of Flanders on the left began to give way; only the men of Friedwald +stood, but with the breaking of the forces on each side it was +inevitable they, too, must soon be overwhelmed. Involuntarily, as the +quick eye of the emperor detected this sign of impending disaster, he +half-started from his chair. His hand sought his side; in his eyes +shone a steely light. The prelate quickly crossed himself and raised +his head as if in prayer. +</P> + +<P> +"The penance, Sire," he murmured, but his voice trembled. +</P> + +<P> +Mechanically Charles replaced his blade. "Yea; better a kingdom lost," +he muttered, "than a broken vow." +</P> + +<P> +Yet, after so many battles won in the field and Diet; after titanic +contests with kings in Christendom, and Solyman in the east, to fall, +by the mockery of fate, into the grasp of a thieving mountain rifler— +</P> + +<P> +"Ambition! power! we sow but the sand," whispered satiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Vainglory is a sleeveless errand," murmured the spirit of the +flagellant. +</P> + +<P> +Yet he gazed half-fiercely at his priestly adviser, when suddenly his +gloomy eye brightened; the inutility of ambition was forgotten; +unconsciously he clasped the arm of the joculatrix, who had drawn near. +His grip was like a gauntlet; even in her tense, strained mood she +winced. +</P> + +<P> +"The fight is not yet lost!" he exclaimed. As he spoke the figure of a +knight, fully armed, who had made his way through the avenue of tents, +was seen swiftly descending the hill. Upon his strong Arabian steed, +the rider's appearance and bearing signaled him as a soldier apart from +the rank and file of the guard. His coat-of-arms, that of the house of +Friedwald, was richly emblazoned upon the housings of his courser. +Whence had he come? The attendants and equerries had not seen him in +the camp. Only the taciturn armorer of Friedwald looked complacently +after him, stroking his great beard, as one well satisfied. As this +late-comer approached the scene of strife the flanks of the guard were +wavering yet more perilously. +</P> + +<P> +"A miracle, Sire!" cried the prelate. +</P> + +<P> +"But one that partakes more of earth than Heaven," retorted Charles, +with ready irony. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is he, Sire?" breathlessly asked the young girl. At her feet +whimpered the blue-eyed page, holding to her skirt, all his courage +gone. +</P> + +<P> +But ere he could answer—if he had seen fit to do so—from below, out +of the vortex, came the clamorous shouts: +</P> + +<P> +"The duke! The duke!" +</P> + +<P> +The master of the mountain pass heard also, and felt at that moment a +sudden thrill of premonition. The guerdon; the quittance; could it be +possible after all, the end was not far? He could not believe it, yet +a paroxysm of fury seized him; his strength became redoubled; wherever +his sword touched a trooper fell. +</P> + +<P> +But like a wave, recovering from the recoil, the soldiers of Friedwald +broke upon his doomed band with a force manifold augmented; broke and +carried the flanks with it, for the assaulting parties to the right and +left were dismayed by the strength unexpectedly hurled against the +center. The bulky Flemish, the lithe Spaniard, the lofty trooper of +Friedwald, overflowed the shattered line of the marauders. +</P> + +<P> +"Duke Robert!" and "Friedwald!" shouted the Austrian band. +</P> + +<P> +"Cowards! Would you give way?" cried the free baron, striking among +them. "Fools! Better the sword than the rope. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +But in his frenzied efforts to rally his men the master of Hochfels +found himself face to face with the leader of the already victorious +troops. At the sight of him the bastard paused; his breast rose and +fell with his labored breathing; his sword was dyed red, also his arms, +his clothes; from his forehead the blood ran down over his beard. His +eyes rolled like those of an animal; he seemed something inhuman; an +incarnation of baffled purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"If it is reprisal you want, Sir Duke, you shall have it," he panted. +</P> + +<P> +"Reprisal!" exclaimed Robert of Friedwald, scornfully. "The best you +can offer is your life." +</P> + +<P> +And with that they closed. Evading the strokes of his more bulky +antagonist, the younger man's sword repeatedly sought the vulnerable +part of the other's armor. The free baron's strength became exhausted; +his blows rang harmlessly, or struck the empty air. +</P> + +<P> +A sensation of pain admonished him of his own disability. About him +his band had melted away; doggedly had they given up their lives +beneath sword, mace and poniard. The ground was strewn with the slain; +riderless horses were galloping up the road. The free baron breathed +yet harder; before his eyes he seemed to see only blood. +</P> + +<P> +Of what avail had been his efforts? He had won the princess, but how +brief had been his triumphs! With a belief that was almost +superstition, he had imagined his destiny lay thronewards. But the +curse of his birth had been a ban to his efforts; the bitterness of +defeat smote him. He knew he was falling; his nerveless hand loosened +his blade. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sped!" he cried; "sped!" and released his hold, while the tide of +conflict appeared abruptly to sweep away. +</P> + +<P> +As he struck the earth an ornament that he had worn about his neck +became unfastened and dropped to the ground. But once he moved; to +raise himself on his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"The hazard of the die!" he muttered, striving to see with eyes that +were growing blind. A rush of blood interrupted him, he fell back, +straightened out, and stirred no more. +</P> + +<P> +Now had the din of strife ceased altogether, when descending the slope +appeared a cavalcade, at the head of which rode a lady on a white +palfrey, followed by several maids and guarded by an escort of soldiers +who wore the king's own colors. A stricken procession it seemed as it +drew near, the faces of the women white with fear; the gay attire and +gorgeous trappings—a mockery on that ensanguined arena. +</P> + +<P> +Proudly proceeded the lady on the white horse, although in her eyes +shone a look of dread. It was an age when women were accustomed to +scenes of bloodshed, inured to conflicts in the lists; yet she +shuddered as her palfrey picked its way across that field. At the near +side of the hollow her glance singled out a motionless figure among +those lying where they had fallen, a thick-set man, whose face was +upturned to the sky. One look into those glassy eyes, so unresponsive +to her own, and she quickly dismounted and fell on her knees beside the +recumbent form. She took one of the cold hands in hers, but dropped it +with a scream. +</P> + +<P> +"Dead!" she cried; "dead!" +</P> + +<P> +The lady stared at that terribly repulsive face. For some moments she +seemed dazed; sat there dully, the onlookers forbearing to disturb her. +Then her gaze encountered that of him who had slain the free baron and +she sprang to her feet. On her features an expression of bewilderment +had been followed by one of recognition. +</P> + +<P> +"The duke's fool!" she exclaimed wildly. "He is dead, and you have +killed him! The fool has murdered his master." +</P> + +<P> +"It is true he is dead," answered the other, leaning heavily on his +sword and surveying the inanimate form, "but he was no master of mine." +</P> + +<P> +"That, Madame la Princesse, we will also affirm," broke in an austere +voice. +</P> + +<P> +Behind them rode the emperor, a dark figure among those bright gowns +and golden trappings, the saddle cloth and adornments of his steed +somber as his own garments. As he spoke he waved back the cavalcade, +and, in obedience to the gesture, the ladies, soldiers and attendants +withdrew to a discreet distance. Bitterly the princess surveyed the +monarch; overwrought, a torrent of reproaches sprang from her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Why has your Majesty made war on my lord? Why have you countenanced +his enemies and harbored his murderers?" And then, drawing her figure +to its full height, her tawny hair falling in a cloud about her +shoulders: "Be sure, Sire, my kinsman, the king, will know how to +avenge my wrongs." +</P> + +<P> +"He can not, Madam," answered Charles coldly. "They are already +avenged." +</P> + +<P> +"Already avenged!" she exclaimed, with her gaze upon the prostrate +figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Madam. For he who hath injured you has paid the extreme penalty." +</P> + +<P> +"He who was my husband has been foully murdered!" she retorted, +vehemently. "What had the Duke of Friedwald done to bring upon himself +your Majesty's displeasure?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," answered the emperor, more gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing! And yet he lies there—dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"He who lies before you is not the duke, but Louis of Hochfels, the +bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," she cried, excitedly, "I see you have been listening to the false +fool, his murderer." +</P> + +<P> +An expression of annoyance appeared on the emperor's face. He liked +not to be crossed at any time by any one. +</P> + +<P> +"You have well called him the false fool, Madam," said Charles, curtly, +"for he is no true fool." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet he rode with your troops!" +</P> + +<P> +"To redeem his honor, Madam." +</P> + +<P> +"His honor!" +</P> + +<P> +With a scornful face she approached nearer to the monarch. +</P> + +<P> +"His honor! In God's name, what mean you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That the false fool, Madam, is himself the Duke of Friedwald!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A MAID OF FRANCE +</H3> + +<P> +"The Duke of Friedwald!" +</P> + +<P> +It was not the princess who thus exclaimed, but Jacqueline. Charles +had spoken loudly, and, drawn irresistibly to the scene, she had caught +his significant words at the moment she recognized, in his brave +accoutrements, him whom she had known as the duke's fool. +</P> + +<P> +When she had heard, above the din of the fray, the cries with which the +new-comer had been greeted, no suspicion of his identity had crossed +her mind. She had wondered, been puzzled at the unexpected appearance +of Robert, Duke of Friedwald, but that he and the ailing fool were one +and the same was wide from her field of speculation. In amazement, she +regarded the knight who had turned the tide of conflict, and then +started, noticing the colors he wore, a paltry yellow ribbon on his +arm, the badge of her office. Much she had not understood now appeared +plain. His assurance in Fools' hall; his reckless daring; his skill +with the sword. He was a soldier, not a jester; a lord, not a lord's +servant. +</P> + +<P> +Lost in no less wonder, the princess gazed from the free baron to +Charles, and back again to the lifeless form. Stooping, she looked +steadfastly into the face, as though she would read its secret. +Perhaps, too, as she studied those features, piece by piece she patched +together the scenes of the past. Her own countenance began to harden, +as though some part of that mask of death had fallen upon her, and when +she glanced once more at the emperor they saw she no longer doubted. +With forced self-control, she turned to the emperor. +</P> + +<P> +"Doubtless, it is some brave pastime," she said to Charles. "Will your +Majesty deign to explain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay," answered the emperor, dryly; "that thankless task I'll leave to +him who played the fool." +</P> + +<P> +Uncovering, the Duke of Friedwald approached. The excitement of the +contest over, his pallid features marked the effects of his recent +injuries, the physical strain under which he had labored. Her cold +eyes swept over him haughtily, inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"For the part I have played, Madam," he said, "I ask your forbearance. +If we both labored under a delusion, I have only regret—" +</P> + +<P> +"Regret!" Was it an outburst of grief, or wounded pride? He flushed, +but continued firmly: +</P> + +<P> +"Madame la Princesse, when first a marriage was proposed between us I +was younger in experience if not in years than I am now; more used to +the bivouac or hunters' camps than courts. And woman—" he +smiled—"well, she was a vague ideal. At times, she came to me when +sleeping before the huntsman's fire in the solitudes of the forest; +again, was reflected from the pages of classic lore. She seemed a part +of the woods and the streams, for by ancient art had she not been +turned into trees and running brooks? So she whispered in the boughs +and murmured among the rushes. Mere <I>Schwärmerei</I>. Do you care to +hear? 'Tis the only defense I can offer." +</P> + +<P> +Her contemptuous blue eyes remained fastened on him; she disdained to +answer. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a dreamer from brake and copse who went in the disguise of a +jester to be near her; to win her for himself—and then, declare his +identity. Well may you look scornful. Love!—it is not such a +romantic quality—at court. A momentary pastime, perhaps, but—a deep +passion—a passion stronger than rank, than death, than all—" +</P> + +<P> +Above the face of her whom he addressed his glance rested upon +Jacqueline, and he paused. The princess could but note, and a derisive +expression crept about her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Once I would have told you all," he resumed. "That night—when you +were Lady of the Lists. But—" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off abruptly, wishing to spare her the bitter memory of her +own acts. Did she remember that day, when she had been queen of the +chaplet? When she had crowned him whom now death and dishonor had +overtaken? +</P> + +<P> +"The rest, Madam, you know—save this." And stooping, he picked up the +ornament that had dropped from Louis of Hochfels' neck. "Here, +Princess, is the miniature you sent me. He, who used you so ill, stole +it from me in prison; through it, he recognized the fool for the duke; +with an assassin's blow he struck me down." +</P> + +<P> +A moment he looked at that fair painted semblance. Did it recall the +past too vividly? His face showed no pain; only tranquillity. His eye +was rather that of a connoisseur than a lover. He smiled gently; then +held it to her. +</P> + +<P> +Mechanically she let the portrait slip through her fingers, and it fell +to the moistened grass near the form of him who had wedded her. Then +she drew back her dress so that it might not touch the body at her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I your Majesty's permission to withdraw?" she said, coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will not accept our poor escort to the king," answered Charles. +</P> + +<P> +"My ladies and myself will dispense with so much honor, Sire," she +returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Such service as we can command is at your disposal, Madam," he +repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not far distant to the château, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"As you will," said the emperor. +</P> + +<P> +With no further word she bowed deeply, turned, and slowly retracing her +steps, mounted her horse, and rode away, followed by her maids and the +troopers of France. +</P> + +<P> +As she disappeared, without one backward glance, the duke gazed quickly +toward the spot where Jacqueline had been standing. He remembered the +young girl had heard his story; he had caught her eyes upon him while +he was telling it; very deep, serious, judicial, they seemed. Were +they weighing his past infatuation for the princess; holding the scales +to his acts? Swiftly he turned to her now, but she had vanished. Save +for rough nurses, companions in arms, moving here and there among the +wounded, he and the emperor stood alone. In the bushes a bird which +had left a nest of fledglings returned and caroled among the boughs; a +clarifying melody after the mad passions of the day. The elder man +noted the direction of the duke's glance, the yellow ribbon on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"So it was a jestress, not a princess you found, thou dreamer," he +said, half-ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"The daughter of the Constable of Dubrois, Sire," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +The emperor nodded. "The family colors have changed," he observed +dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"With fortune, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"Truly," said Charles, "fortune is a jestress. She had like to play on +us this day. But your fever?" he added, abruptly, setting his horse's +head toward camp. +</P> + +<P> +"Is gone, Sire," answered the duke, riding by his side. +</P> + +<P> +"And your injuries?" +</P> + +<P> +"Were so slight they are forgotten." +</P> + +<P> +"Then is the breath of battle better medicine than nostrum or salve. +In youth, 'tis the sword-point; in age, turn we to the hilt-cross. But +this maid—have you won her?" +</P> + +<P> +The young man changed color. "Won her, Sire?" he replied. "That I +know not—no word has passed—" +</P> + +<P> +"No word," said the emperor, doubtingly. "A knight-errant and a +castleless maid!" +</P> + +<P> +The duke vouchsafed no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" added Charles. "Thus do our plans come to naught. If you got +her, and wore her, what end would be served?" +</P> + +<P> +"No end of state, perhaps, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"Why," observed the monarch, "the state and the faith—what else is +there? But go your way. How smooth it may be no man can tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Is the road like to be rougher than it has been, Sire?" +</P> + +<P> +"The maid belongs to France," answered Charles, "and France belongs to +the king." +</P> + +<P> +"The king!" exclaimed the duke, fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +Involuntarily had they drawn rein in the shade of a tiny thicket +overlooking the valley. Even from this slight exercise, bowed and +weary appeared the emperor's form. The hand which controlled his steed +trembled, but the lines of his face spoke of unweakened sinew of +spirit, the iron grip of a will that only death might loosen. +</P> + +<P> +"The king!" repeated the young man. "He is no king of mine, nor hers. +To you, Sire, only, I owe allegiance, or my life, at your need." +</P> + +<P> +A gentler expression softened the emperor's features, as a gleam of +sunshine forces itself into the somberest forest depths. +</P> + +<P> +"We have had our need," he said. "Not long since." +</P> + +<P> +His glance swept the outlook below. "Heaven watches over monarchs," he +added, turning a keen, satirical look on the other, "but through the +vigilance of our earthly servitors." +</P> + +<P> +The duke's response was interrupted by the appearance below of a +horseman, covered with dust, riding toward them, and urging his weary +steed up the incline with spur and voice. Deliberately the monarch +surveyed the new-comer. +</P> + +<P> +"What make you of yonder fellow?" he said. "He is not of the guard, +nor of the bastard's following." +</P> + +<P> +"His housings are the color of France, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"Then can I make a shrewd guess of his purpose," observed the monarch. +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the horseman drew nearer and a moment later had stopped +before the emperor. +</P> + +<P> +"A message from the king, Sire!" exclaimed the man, dismounting and +kneeling to present a formidable-looking document, with a great disk of +lead through which a silken string was drawn. +</P> + +<P> +Breaking the seal, the emperor opened the missive. "It is well," he +said at length, folding the parchment. "The king was even on his way +to the château to await our coming, when he met Caillette and received +our communication. Go you to the camp"—to the messenger—"where we +shall presently return." And as the man rode away: "The king begs we +will continue our journey at our leisure," he added, "and announces he +will receive us at the château." +</P> + +<P> +"And have I your permission to return to Friedwald, Sire?" asked the +other in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay; I would conduct the constable's daughter there to safety." +</P> + +<P> +"And thus needlessly court Francis' resentment? Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +The young man said no word, but his face hardened. +</P> + +<P> +"Tut!" said the emperor, dryly, although not unkindly. "Where's fealty +now? Fine words; fine words! A slender chit of a maid, forsooth. +Without lands, without dowry; with naught—save herself." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she not enough, Sire?" +</P> + +<P> +"Francis is more easily disarmed in his own castle by his own +hospitality than in the battle-field," observed Charles, without +replying to this question. "In field have we conquered him; in palace +hath he conquered himself, and our friendship. Therefore you and the +maid return in our train to the king's court." +</P> + +<P> +"At your order, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +But the young man's voice was cold, ominous. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED +</H3> + +<P> +Thus it befell that both Robert of Friedwald and Jacqueline accompanied +the emperor to the little town, the scene of their late adventures, and +that they who had been fool and joculatrix rode once more through the +street they had ne'er expected to see again. The flags were flying; +cannon boomed; they advanced beneath wreaths of roses, the way paved +with flowers. Standing at the door of his inn, the landlord dropped +his jaw in amazement as his glance fell upon the jestress and her +companion behind the great emperor himself. His surprise, too, was +abruptly voiced by a ragged, wayworn person not far distant in the +crowd, whose fingers had been busy about the pockets of his neighbors; +fingers which had a deft habit of working by themselves, while his eyes +were bent elsewhere and his lips joined in the general acclaim; fingers +which like antennas seemed to have a special intelligence of their own. +Now those long weapons of abstraction and appropriation ceased their +deft work; he became all eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Good lack! Who may the noble gentleman behind the emperor be?" he +exclaimed. "Surely 'tis the duke's fool." +</P> + +<P> +"And ride with the emperor?" said a burly citizen at his elbow. "'Tis +thou who art the fool." +</P> + +<P> +"Truly I think so," answered the other. "I see; believe; but may not +understand." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the duke's gaze in passing chanced to rest upon the +pinched and over-curious face of the scamp-student; a gleam of +recollection shone in his glance. "<I>Gladius gemmatus!</I>" cried the +scholar, and a smile on the noble's countenance told him he had heard. +Turning the problem in his mind, the vagrant-philosopher forgot about +pilfering and the procession itself, when a soldier touched him roughly +on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you the scamp-student?" said the trooper. +</P> + +<P> +"Now they'll hang me with these spoils in my pockets," thought the +scholar. But as bravely as might be, he replied: "The former I am; the +latter I would be." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the Duke of Friedwald sent me to give you this purse," remarked +the man, suiting the action to the word. "He bade me say 'tis to take +the place of a bit of silver you once did not earn." And the trooper +vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"Well-a-day!" commented the burly citizen, regarding the gold pieces +and the philosopher in wonderment of his own. "You may be a fool, but +you must be an honest knave." +</P> + +<P> +At the château the meeting between the two monarchs was unreservedly +cordial on both sides. They spoke with satisfaction of the peace now +existing between them and of other matters social and political. The +emperor deplored deeply the untimely demise of Francis' son, Charles, +who had caught the infection of plague while sleeping at Abbeville. +Later the misalliance of the princess was cautiously touched upon. +That lady, said Francis gravely, to whom the gaieties of the court at +the present time could not fail to be distasteful, had left the château +immediately upon her return. Ever of a devout mind, she had repaired +to a convent and announced her intention of devoting herself, and her +not inconsiderable fortune, to a higher and more spiritual life. +Charles, who at that period of his lofty estates himself hesitated +between the monastery and the court, applauded her resolution, to which +the king perfunctorily and but half-heartedly responded. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after, the emperor, fatigued by his journey, begged leave to +retire to his apartments, whither he went, accompanied by his "brother +of France" and followed by his attendants. At the door Francis, with +many expressions of good will, took leave of his royal guest for the +time being, and, turning, encountered the Duke of Friedwald. +</P> + +<P> +Francis, himself once accustomed to assume the disguise of an archer of +the royal guard the better to pursue his love follies among the people, +now gazed curiously upon one who had befooled the entire court. +</P> + +<P> +"You took your departure, my Lord," said the king, quietly, "without +waiting for the order of your going." +</P> + +<P> +"He who enacts the fool, your Majesty, without patent to office must +needs have good legs," replied the young man. "Else will he have his +fingers burnt." +</P> + +<P> +"Only his fingers?" returned the monarch with a smile, somewhat +sardonic. +</P> + +<P> +"Truly," thought the other, as Francis strode away, "the king regrets +the fool's escape from Notre Dame and the fagots." +</P> + +<P> +During the next day Charles called first for his leech and then for a +priest, but whether the former or the latter, or both, temporarily +assuaged the restlessness of mortal disease, that night he was enabled +to be present at the character dances given in his honor by the ladies +of the court in the great gallery of the château. +</P> + +<P> +At a signal from the cornet, gitterns, violas and pipes began to play, +and Francis and his august guest, accompanied by Queen Eleanor, and the +emperor's sister, Marguerite of Navarre, entered the hall, followed by +the dauphin and Catharine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers, the Duchesse +d'Etampes; marshal, chancellor and others of the king's friends and +counselors; courtiers, poets, jesters, philosophers; a goodly company, +such as few monarchs could summon at their beck and call. Charles' eye +lighted; even his austere nature momentarily kindled amid that +brilliant spectacle; Francis' palace of pleasure was an intoxicating +antidote to spleen or hypochondria. And when the court ladies, in a +dazzling band, appeared in the dance, led by the Duchesse d'Etampes, he +openly expressed his approval. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Madam," he said to the Queen of Navarre, "there is little of the +monastery about our good brother's court." +</P> + +<P> +"Did your Majesty expect we should cloister you?" she answered, with a +lively glance. +</P> + +<P> +He gazed meditatively upon the "Rose of Valois," or the "Pearl of the +Valois," as she was sometimes called; then a shadow fell upon him; the +futility of ambition; the emptiness of pleasure. In scanty attire, the +Duchesse d'Etampes, with the king, flashed before him; the former, all +beauty, all grace, her little feet trampling down care, so lightly. +Somberly he watched her, and sighed. Mentally he compared himself to +Francis; they had traveled the road of life together, discarding their +youth at the same turn of the highway; yet here was his French brother, +indefatigable in the pursuit of merriment, while his own soul sang +<I>miséréré</I> to the tune of Francis' fiddles. Yet, had he overheard the +conversation of the favorite and the king, the emperor's moodiness +would not, perhaps, have been unmixed with a stronger feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"Sire," the duchess was saying in her most persuasive manner, "while +you have Charles—once your keeper—in your power, here in the château, +you will surely punish him for the past and avenge yourself? You will +make him revoke the treaty of Madrid, or shut him up in one of Louis +XI's oubliettes?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will persuade him if I can," replied the king coldly, "but never +force him. My honor, Madam, is dearer to me than my interests." +</P> + +<P> +The favorite said no more of a cherished project, knowing Francis' +temper and his stubbornness when crossed. She merely shrugged her +white shoulders and watched him closely. The monarch had not scrupled +once to break his covenant with Charles, holding that treaties made +under duress, by <I>force majeure</I>, were legally void, while now— But +the king was composed of contradictions, or—was her own influence +waning? +</P> + +<P> +She had observed a new expression cross his countenance when in the +retinue of the emperor he had noted the daughter of the constable; such +a tenderness as she remembered at Bayonne when the king had looked upon +her, the duchess, for the first time. When she next spoke her words +were the outcome of this train of thought. +</P> + +<P> +"To think the jestress, Jacqueline, should turn out the daughter of +that traitor, the Constable of Dubrois," she observed, keenly. +</P> + +<P> +"A traitor, certainly," said Francis, "but also a brave man. Perhaps +we pressed him too hard," he added retrospectively. "We were young in +years and hot-tempered." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty remembers the girl—a dark-browed, bold creature?" +remarked the duchess, smiling amiably. +</P> + +<P> +"Dark-browed, perhaps, Madam; but I observed nothing bold in her +demeanor," answered the king. +</P> + +<P> +"What! a jestress and not bold! A girl who frequented Fools' hall; who +ran away from court with the <I>plaisant</I>!" She glanced at him +mischievously, like a wilful child, but before his frown the smile +faded; involuntarily she clenched her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam," he replied cynically, "I have always noticed that women are +poor judges of their own sex." +</P> + +<P> +And conducting her to a seat, he raised her jeweled fingers +perfunctorily to his lips, and, wheeling abruptly, left her. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" thought Triboulet, ominously, who had been closely observing +them, "the king is much displeased." +</P> + +<P> +Had the duchess observed the monarch's lack of warmth? At any rate, +somewhat perplexedly she regarded the departing figure of the king; +then humming lightly, turned to a mirror to adjust a ringlet which had +fallen from the golden net binding her tresses. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Mère de Dieu</I>! woman never held man—or king—by sighing," she +thought, and laughed, remembering the Countess of Châteaubriant; a +veritable Niobe when the monarch had sent her home. +</P> + +<P> +But Triboulet drew a wry face; his little heart was beating +tremulously; dark shadows crossed his mind. Two portentous stars had +appeared in the horoscope of his destiny: he who had been the foreign +fool; she who was the daughter of the constable. Almost fiercely the +hunchback surveyed the beautiful woman before him. With her downfall +would come his own, and he believed the king had wearied of her. How +hateful was her fair face to him at that moment! Already in +imagination he experienced the bitterness of the fall from his high +estates, and shudderingly looked back to his own lowly beginning: a +beggarly street-player of bagpipes; ragged, wretched, importuning +passers-by for coppers; reviled by every urchin. But she, meeting his +glance and reading his thought, only clapped her hands recklessly. +</P> + +<P> +"How unhappy you look," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam, do you think the duke—" he began. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he will cut off your head," she exclaimed, and Triboulet +turned yellow; but a few moments later took heart, the duchess was so +lightsome. +</P> + +<P> +"By my sword—if I had one—our jestress has made a triumphant return," +commented Caillette as he stood with the Duke of Friedwald near one of +the windows, surveying the animated scene. "Already are some of the +ladies jealous as Barbary pigeons. Her appearance has been remarked by +the Duc de Montrin and other gentlemen in attendance, and—look! Now +the great De Guise approaches her. Here one belongs to everybody." +</P> + +<P> +The other did not answer and Caillette glanced quickly at him. "You +will not think me over-bold," he went on, after a moment's hesitation, +"if I mention what is being whispered—by them?" including in a look +and the uplifting of his eyebrows the entire court. The duke laid his +hand warmly on the shoulder of the poet-fool. "Is there not that +between us which precludes the question?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should not venture to speak about it," continued Caillette, meeting +the duke's gaze frankly, "but that you once honored me with your +confidence. That I was much puzzled when I met you and—our erstwhile +jestress—matters not. 'Twas for me to dismiss my wonderment, and not +strive to reconcile my neighbor's affairs. But when I hear every one +talking about my—friend, it is no gossip's task to come to him with +the unburdening of the prattle." +</P> + +<P> +"What are they saying, Caillette?" asked the duke, in his eyes a darker +look. +</P> + +<P> +"That you would wed this maid, but that the king will use his friendly +offices with Charles to prevent it." +</P> + +<P> +"And do they say why Francis will so use his influence?" continued the +other. +</P> + +<P> +"Because of the claim such a union might give an alien house to a vast +estate in France; the confiscated property of the Constable of Dubrois. +And—but the other reason is but babble, malice—what you will." And +Caillette's manner quickly changed from grave to frivolous. "Now, <I>au +revoir</I>; I'm off to Fools' hall," he concluded. "Whenever it becomes +dull for you, seek some of your old comrades there." And laughing, +Caillette disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughtfully the duke continued to observe the jestress. Between them +whirled the votaries of pleasure; before him swept the fragrance of +delicate perfumes; in his ears sounded the subtile enticement of soft +laughter. Her face wore a proud, self-reliant expression; her eyes +that look which had made her seem so illusive from the inception of +their acquaintance. And now, since his identity had been revealed, she +had seemed more puzzling to him than ever. When he had sought her +glance, her look had told him nothing. It was as though with the +doffing of the motley she had discarded its recollections. In a +tentative mood, he had striven to fathom her, but found himself at a +loss. She had been neither reserved, nor had she avoided him; to her +the past seemed a page, lightly read and turned. Had Caillette truly +said "now she belonged to the world"? +</P> + +<P> +Stepping upon one of the balconies overlooking the valley, the duke +gazed out over the tranquil face of nature, his figure drawn aside from +the flood of light within. Between heaven and earth, the château +reared its stately pile, and far downward those twinkling flashes +represented the town; yonder faint line, like a dark thread, the +encircling wall. Above the gate shone a glimmer from the narrow +casement of some officer's quarters; and the jester's misgivings when +they had ridden beneath the portcullis into the town for the first +time, recurred to him; also, the glad haste with which they had sped +away. +</P> + +<P> +Memories of dangers, of the free and untrammeled character of their +wandering, that day-to-day intimacy, and night-to-night consciousness +of her presence haunted him. Her loyalty, her fine sense of +comradeship, her inherent tenderness, had been revealed to him. Still +he seemed to feel himself the jester, in the gathering of fools, and +she a <I>ministralissa</I>, with dark, deep eyes that baffled him. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of voices near the window aroused him from this field of +speculation, voices that abruptly riveted his attention and held it: +the king's and Jacqueline's. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED +</H3> + +<P> +The young man's brow drew dark; tumultuous thoughts filled his brain; +Caillette's words, Brusquet's rhymes, confirming his own conviction, +rankled in his mind. This king dared arrogate a law absolute unto +himself; its statutes, his own caprices; its canons, his own +pretensions? The duke remembered the young girl's outburst against the +monarch and a feeling of hatred arose in his breast; his hand +involuntarily sought his sword, the blade of Francis' implacable enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"We have heard your story, my child, from our brother, the emperor," +the king was saying, "and although your father rebelled against his +monarch, we harbor it not against the daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"Sire," she answered, in a low tone, "I regret the emperor should have +acquainted you with this matter." +</P> + +<P> +"You have no cause for fear," Francis replied, misinterpreting her +words. She offered no response, and the duke, moving into the light, +observed the king was regarding the young girl intently, his tall +figure conspicuous above the courtiers. +</P> + +<P> +Flushed, Jacqueline looked down; the white-robed form, however, very +straight and erect; her hair, untrammeled with the extreme conventions +of the day; a single flower a spot of color amid its abundance. Even +the duchess—bejeweled, bedecked, tricked out—in her own mind had +pronounced the young girl beautiful, and there surely was no mistaking +the covert admiration of the monarch as his glance encompassed her. +Despite her assumed composure, it was obvious to the duke, however, +that only by a strong effort had she nerved herself to that evening's +task; the red hue on her cheeks, the brightness of her eyes, told of +the suppressed excitement her manner failed to betray. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you leave with Charles?" continued Francis. "Perhaps were +we over-hasty in confiscating the castle of the constable. <I>Vrai +Dieu</I>," he added, meditatively. "Had he unbent but a little! +Marguerite told us we were driving him to despair, but the queen regent +and the rest of our counselors prevailed—" He broke off abruptly and +directed a bolder gaze to hers. "May not a monarch, Mademoiselle, undo +what he has done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Even a king can not give life to the dead," she replied, and her voice +sounded hard and unyielding. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he assented, moodily, "but it would not be impossible to restore +the castle—to his daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"Sire!" she exclaimed in surprise; then shook her head. "With your +Majesty's permission, I shall leave with the emperor." +</P> + +<P> +Francis made an impatient movement; her inflexibility recalled one who +long ago had renounced his fealty to the throne; her resistance kindled +the flame that had been smoldering in his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"But if I have pointed out to the emperor that your proper station is +here?" he went on. "If he recognizes that it would be to your +disadvantage to divert that destiny which lies in France?" +</P> + +<P> +His words were measured; his manner tinged with seeming paternal +interest; but, as through a mask, she discerned his face, cynical, +libidinous, the countenance of a Sybarite, not a king. The air became +stifling; the ribaldry of laughter enveloped her; instinctively she +glanced around, and her restless, troubled gaze fell upon the duke. +</P> + +<P> +What was it he read in her eyes? A confession of insecurity, fear; a +mute appeal? Before it all his doubts and misgivings vanished; the +look they exchanged was like that when she had stood on the staircase +in the inn. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the monarch, engrossed in his purpose, it was lost. If silence +give consent, then had she already acquiesced in a wish which, from a +king, became a demand. But Francis, ever complaisant, with an +inconsistent chivalry worthy of the subterfuge of his character, +desired to appear forbearing, indulgent. +</P> + +<P> +"For your own sake," he added, "must we refuse that permission you ask +of us." +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer, and, noting the direction of her gaze, the eager +expectancy written on her face, Francis turned sharply. At the same +time the duke stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +The benignity faded from the king's manner; his countenance, which "at +no time would have made a man's fortune," became rancorous, caustic; +the corners of his mouth appeared almost updrawn to his nostrils. He +had little reason to care for the duke, and this interruption, so +flagrant, menacing almost, did not tend to enhance his regard. In +nowise daunted, the young man stood before him. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust, Sire, your Majesty will reconsider your decision?" +</P> + +<P> +With a strained look the young girl regarded them. To what new dangers +had she summoned him? Was not she, the duke, even the emperor himself, +in the power of the king, for the present at least? And knowing well +Francis' headstrong passions, his violence when crossed, it was not +strange at that moment her heart sank; she felt on the brink of an +abyss; a nameless peril toward which she had drawn the companion of her +flight. It seemed an endless interval before the monarch spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you heard!" remarked Francis at length, satirically. +</P> + +<P> +"Inadvertently, Sire," answered the duke. His voice was steady, his +face pale, but in his blue eyes a glint as of fire came and went. +Self-assurance marked his bearing; dignity, pride. He looked not at +the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny of the king. The latter +surveyed him from head to foot; then suddenly stared hard at a sword +whose hilt gleamed even brighter than his own, and was fashioned in a +form that recalled not imperfectly a hazard of other days. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-420"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-420.jpg" ALT="He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny of the king." BORDER="2" WIDTH="406" HEIGHT="590"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 406px"> +He looked not at the young girl, but calmly<BR>met the scrutiny of the king. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Where did you get that blade?" he asked, abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"From the daughter of the Constable of Dubrois." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did she give it to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"To protect her, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +The monarch's countenance became more thoughtful; less acrimonious. +How the present seemed involved in the past! Were kings, then, +enmeshed in the web of their own acts? Were even the gods not exempt +from retributory justice? Those were days of superstition, when a +coincidence assumed the importance of inexorable destiny. +</P> + +<P> +"Once was it drawn against me," said Francis, reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust, Sire, it may never again be drawn by an enemy of your +Majesty." +</P> + +<P> +The king did not reply, but stood as a man who yet took counsel with +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"By what right," he asked, finally, "do you speak for the lady?" +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 0.5em">moment the duke looked disconcerted. "By</SPAN><BR> +what right?" +</P> + +<P> +Then swiftly he regarded the girl. As quickly—a flash it seemed—her +dark eyes made answer, their language more potent than words. He could +but understand; doubt and misgiving were forgotten; the hesitation +vanished from his manner. Hastily crossing to her side, he took her +hand and unresistingly it lay in his. His heart beat faster; her +sudden acquiescence filled him with wonder; at the same time, his task +seemed easier. To protect her now! The king coughed ironically, and +the duke turned from her to him. +</P> + +<P> +"By what right, your Majesty?" he said in a voice which sounded +different to Francis. "This lady is my affianced bride, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +Pique, umbrage, mingled in the expression which replaced all other +feeling on the king's countenance as he heard this announcement. With +manifest displeasure he looked from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this true, Mademoiselle?" he asked, sternly. +</P> + +<P> +Her cheek was red, but she held herself bravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sire," she said. +</P> + +<P> +A new emotion leaped to the duke's face as he heard her lips thus +fearlessly confirm the answer of her eyes. And so before the +monarch—in that court which Marguerite called the Court of Love—they +plighted their troth. +</P> + +<P> +Something in their manner, however, puzzled the observant king; an +exaltation, perhaps, uncalled for by the simple telling of a secret +understanding between them; that rapid interchange of glances; that +significance of manner when the duke stepped to her side. Francis bit +his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ma foi!</I>" he exclaimed, sharply. "This is somewhat abrupt. How +long, my Lord, since she promised to be your wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since your Majesty spoke," returned the duke, tranquilly. +</P> + +<P> +"And before that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Before? I only knew that <I>I</I> loved <I>her</I>, Sire." +</P> + +<P> +"And now you know, for the first time, that <I>she</I> loves <I>you</I>?" added +the king, dryly. "But the emperor—are you not presuming overmuch that +he will give his consent? Or think you"—with fine irony—"that +marriages of state are made in Heaven?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was once my privilege, Sire, so to serve the emperor, as his +Majesty thought, that he bade me ask of him what I would, when I would. +Heretofore have I had nothing to ask; now, everything." +</P> + +<P> +Some of the asperity faded from Francis' glance. The situation +appealed to his strong penchant for merry <I>plaisanterie</I>. +Besides—such was his overweening pride—to hear a woman confess she +cared for another dampened his own ardor, instead of stimulating it. +"None but himself could be his parallel;" the royal lover could brook +no rival. Had she merely desired to marry the former fool—the +Countess of Châteaubriant had had a husband—but to love him! +</P> + +<P> +After all, she was but an audacious slip of a girl; a dark-browed, bold +gipsy; by nature, intended for the motley—yes, the Duchesse d'Etampes +was right. Then, he liked not her parentage; she was a constant +reminder of one who had been like to make vacant the throne of France, +and to destroy, root and branch, the proud house of Orleans. Moreover, +whispered avarice, he would save the castle for himself; a stately and +right royal possession. He had, indeed, been over-generous in +proffering it. Love, said reason, was unstable, flitting; woman, a +will-o'-the-wisp; but a castle—its noble solidity would endure. At +the same time, policy admonished the king that the duke was a subject +of his good brother, the emperor, and a rich, powerful noble withal. +So with such grace as he could command Francis greeted one whom he +preferred to regard as an ally rather than an enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Truly, my Lord," he said not discourteously, masking in a courtly +manner his personal dislike for him whose sharp criticism he once had +felt in Fools' hall, "a nimble-witted jester was lost when you resumed +the dignity of your position. But," he added cautiously, as a sudden +thought moved him, "this lady has appeared somewhat unexpectedly; the +house of Friedwald is not an inconsequential one." +</P> + +<P> +"What mean you, Sire?" asked the young man, as the king paused. +</P> + +<P> +Francis studied him shrewdly. "Why," he replied at length, +hesitatingly, "there is that controversy of the Constable of Dubrois; +certain lands and a castle, long since rightly confiscated." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty, there is another castle, and lands to spare, in a +distant country," returned the duke quickly. "These will suffice." +</P> + +<P> +"As you will," said the king in a livelier tone. "For the future, +command our good offices—since you have made us sponsor of your +fortunes." +</P> + +<P> +With which well-covered confession of his own defeat, Francis strode +away. As he turned, however, he caught the smile of the Duchesse +d'Etampes and crossed to her graciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Your dress becomes you well, Anne," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She glanced down at herself demurely; her lashes veiled a sudden gleam +of triumph. "How kind of you, Sire, to notice—my poor gown." +</P> + +<P> +"I was right," murmured Triboulet, joyfully, as he saw king and +favorite walking together. "No one will ever replace the duchess." +</P> + +<P> +Silent, hand in hand, the duke and the joculatrix stood upon the +balcony. Below them lay the earth, wrapped in hazy light. Behind +them, the court, with its glamour. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I done well, Jacqueline, to answer the king as I have done?" he +said finally. "Are you content to resign all—forever—here in France? +To go with me—" +</P> + +<P> +"Into a new world," she interrupted. "Once I asked you to take me, but +you hesitated, and were like to leave me behind you." +</P> + +<P> +"But now 'tis I who ask," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"And I—who hesitate?" looking out over the valley, where the shadow of +a cloud crossed the land. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you hesitate, Jacqueline?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned. About her lips trembled the old fleeting smile. +</P> + +<P> +"What woman knows her mind, Sir Fool? Yet if it were not so—" +</P> + +<P> +"If it were not so?" he said, eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes became grave on a sudden. "I might believe I had been of one +mind—long." +</P> + +<P> +"Jacqueline!—sweet jestress!—" +</P> + +<P> +He caught her suddenly in his arms, his fine young features aglow. +This then was the goal of his desires; a goal of delight, far, far +beyond all youthful dreams or early imaginings. With drooping eyelids, +she stood in his embrace; she, once so proud, so self-willed. He drew +her closer—kissed her hair!—the rose!— +</P> + +<P> +She raised her head, and—sweeter still—he kissed her lips. +</P> + +<P> +Across the valley the shadow receded; vanished. In the full glory of +nightly splendor lay the earth, and as the mystic radiance lighted up a +world of beauty, it seemed at last they beheld their world; the light +more beautiful for the shade and the purple mists. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23675-h.txt or 23675-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/6/7/23675</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Under the Rose + + +Author: Frederic Stewart Isham + + + +Release Date: December 2, 2007 [eBook #23675] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 23675-h.htm or 23675-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675/23675-h/23675-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675/23675-h.zip) + + + + + +UNDER THE ROSE + +by + +FREDERIC S. ISHAM + +Author of The Strollers + +With illustrations by Howard Chandler Christy + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Kneeling, he received it.] + + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company +Publishers : Indianapolis + +Copyright Nineteen Hundred Three +The Bowen-Merrill Company +January + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I A NEST OF NINNIES + II A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER + III A GIFT FOR THE DUKE + IV AN IMPATIENT SUITOR + V JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN + VI THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE + VII THE COURT OF LOVE + VIII A BRIEF TRUCE + IX THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL + X THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE + XI A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR + XII THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS + XIII A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE + XIV AN EARLY MORNING VISIT + XV A NEW DISCOVERY + XVI TIDINGS FROM THE COURT + XVII JACQUELINE'S QUEST + XVIII THE SECRET OF THE JESTERS + XIX A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT + XX AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT + XXI THE DESERTED HUT + XXII THE TALE OF THE SWORD + XXIII THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL + XXIV AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE + XXV IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR + XXVI THE DEBT OF NATURE + XXVII A MAID OF FRANCE + XXVIII THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED + XXIX THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Kneeling, he received it . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking + at her feet. + +He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the jester. + +He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny + of the king. + + + + +UNDER THE ROSE + + +CHAPTER I + +A NEST OF NINNIES + +"A song, sweet Jacqueline!" + +"No, no--" + +"Jacqueline!--Jacqueline!--" + +"No more, I say--" + +A jingle of tinkling bells mingled with the squeak of a viola; the +guffaws of a rompish company blended with the tuneless chanting of +discordant minstrels, and the gray parrot in its golden cage, suspended +from one of the oaken beams of the ceiling, shook its feathers for the +twentieth time and screamed vindictively at the roguish band. + +Jingle, jingle, went the merry bells; squeak, squeak, the tightened +strings beneath the persistent scraping of the rosined bow. On his +throne in Fools' hall, Triboulet, the king's hunchback, leaned +complacently back, his eyes bent upon a tapestry but newly hung in that +room, the meeting place of jesters, buffoons and versifiers. + +"We appeal to Triboulet--" + +"Triboulet!" + +A girl's silvery laugh rang out. + +"Triboulet!" + +Again the derisive musical tones. + +Upon his chair of state, the dwarf did not answer; professed not to +hear. By the uncertain glimmer of torches and the flickering glow of +the fire he was engaged in tracing a resemblance to himself in the +central figure of the composition wrought in threads of silk--Momus, +fool by patent to Jove, thrust from Olympus and greeting the earth-born +with a great grin. + +"An excellent likeness!" muttered Triboulet. "A very pretty likeness!" +he continued, swelling with pride. + +And truly it was said that sprightly ladies, working between love and +pleasure times, drew from the court fool for their conception of the +mythological buffoon, reproducing Triboulet's great head; his mouth, +proportionately large; his protruding eyes; his bowed back, short, +twisted legs and long, muscular arms; and his nose far larger than that +of Francis, who otherwise had the largest nose in the kingdom. + +But how could they depict the meanness of soul that dwelt in that +extraordinary shell? The blithesome tapestry-makers, albeit adepts in +form, grace and harmony, could not touch the subjectiveness of +existence. Thus it was a double pleasure for Triboulet to see, limned +in well-chosen hues, his form, the crookedness of which he was as proud +as any courtier of his symmetry and beauty, the while his dark, vain +soul lay concealed behind the mask of merry deformity and laughing +monstrosity. + +"Would your Majesty like to command me?" + +The mocking feminine voice recalled Triboulet from his pleasing +contemplation. + +"No, no!" he answered, sullenly, and condescended to turn his glance +upon the assemblage. + +Over a goodly gathering of jesters, buffoons, poets, and even +philosophers, he lorded it, holding his head as high as his hump would +permit and conscious of his own place in the esteem of the king. Not +long ago the monarch had laughed and applauded when Triboulet had +twisted his features into a horrid grimace, and since then the dwarf's +little heart had expanded with such arrogance, it seemed to him he was +almost Francis himself as he sat there on Francis' sometime throne; and +these Sir Jollys were his subjects all--Marot, Caillette, Brusquet, +Villot, and the lesser lights, jesters of barons, cardinals and even +bishops! Rabelais, too, that poor, dissolute devil of a writer, +learned as Homer, brutish as Homer's swine--all subjects of his, the +king of jesters, save one; one whom he eyed with certain fear and +wonder; fear, because she was a woman--and Triboulet esteemed all the +sex but "highly perfected devils"--and wonder, at finding her different +from, and more perplexing than even the rest of her kind! + +"Jacqueline!--" + +now she was perched on one corner of the table, and her face had a +witch-like loveliness, as though borrowing its pallor and beauty from +the moon, source of all magic and necromancy. Her eyes shone with such +luster that, seeking their hue, they held the observer's gaze in +mocking languor, and cheated the inquisitive coxcomb of his quest, the +while the disdainful lips curved laughingly and so bewildered him, he +forgot the customary phrases and stood staring like a nonny. Her +footstep fell so light, she was so agile and quick, the superstitious +dwarf swore she was but a creature of the night and held surreptitious +meetings with all the familiar spirits of demonology. As she never +denied the uncanny imputation, but only displayed her small white teeth +maliciously, by way of answer, Triboulet felt assured he was right and +crossed himself religiously whenever she gazed too fixedly at him. + +A most _gracieuse folle_, her dress was in keeping with her character, +yellow being the predominating color. To the fanciful adornment of the +gown her lithe figure lent itself readily, while her rebellious curls +were well adapted to that badge of her servitude, the jaunty cap that +crowned their waving abundance. + +In especial disdain, from her position upon the corner of the table, +her glance wandered down the board and rested on Rabelais, the +gourmand, before whom were an empty trencher and tankard. The +priest-doctor-writer-scamp who affected the company of jesters and +liked not a little the hospitality of Fools' hall, which adjoined the +pastry branch of the castle kitchen and was not far removed from the +wine butts, had just unrolled a bundle of manuscript, all daubed with +trencher grease and tankard drippings, and was about to read aloud the +strange adventures of one Pantagruel, when, overcome by indulgence, his +head fell forward on the table, almost in the wooden platter, and the +papers fluttered to the floor. + +"Put him out!" commanded Triboulet from his high place. + +But she of the jaunty cap sprang from the table. + +"How wise are your Majesty's decrees!" she said mockingly with her +glance upon the dwarf. He shifted uneasily in the throne. "You should +have put him out before! But now"--turning contemptuously to the poor +figure of the great man--"he's harmless. His silence is golden; his +speech was dross." + +"And yet," answered Marot, thoughtfully, "the king esteems him; the +king who is at once scholar, poet, wit, soldier--" + +"Soldier!" she exclaimed, quickly. "When he can not conquer Italy and +regain his heritage!" + +"Can not?" ventured Triboulet, mindful of the dignity of his royal +master. "Why not?" + +"Because the women would conquer him!" + +"Nay; the king prefers the blue eyes of France," spoke up the +cardinal's fool, he of the viola. + +"Then do you set our queen of fools, our fair Jacqueline, out of his +Majesty's good graces," interposed one of the lesser jesters, a mere +baron's hireling, who long had burned with secret admiration for the +maid of the coquettish cap. + +"I am _such_ a fool as to want the good graces of no man--or monarch!" +she replied boldly, without glancing at the speaker. + +"An he were in love, you would be two fools!" laughed Caillette, the +court poet. + +"In love, 'tis only the man is the fool or--the fooled!" she returned +pointedly, and Caillette, despite his self-possession, flushed +painfully. Since Diane de Poitiers had wedded her ancient lord, the +poet had become grave, studious, almost sad. + +"And is your mistress, the king's ward, fooling with her betrothed?" he +asked quickly, conscious of knowing winks and nudges. + +"The Princess Louise and the Duke of Friedwald are to wed for reasons +of state," said the young woman, gravely. "There'll be no fools." + +"Ah, a loveless match!" + +"But not a landless one!" retorted she of the cap without the bells. +"Besides, it cements the friendship of Francis and Charles V! What +more would you? But I'll tell you a secret." + +At that the company flocked around her, as though there was something +enticing in her tone; the vague promise of an interesting bit of gossip +or the indefinite suggestion of a court scandal. + +"A secret!" said the cardinal's fool, rubbing his hands together. His +master often rewarded him for particularly choice morsels of loose +tittle-tattle. + +"Oh, nothing very wicked!" she answered, waving them back with her +small hand. "'Tis only that they play at make-believe in love, the +princess and her betrothed! But after all, it is far more sensible +than real love-making, where if the pleasure be more acute, the pangs +are therefore the greater. She addresses to him the tenderest +counterfeit verses; he returns them in kind. She even simulated such +an illusory sadness that the duke has sent his own jester, who has but +just arrived at court, to amuse her (ahem!) dullness, until he himself +could come!" + +At this the cardinal's buffoon looked disappointed, for his master +liked more highly-flavored hearsay, while Triboulet frowned and brought +down his heavy fist upon the arm of the throne. + +"A new jester forsooth!" he exclaimed. + +"And why not?" Lifting her swart brows, quizzically. + +"We are already overstocked with 'prentice fools," he retorted, looking +over the throng. + +"Ah, you fear perhaps some one may depose you?" remarked Jacqueline +coldly. + +A guarded laugh arose from the gathering and the dwarf's eyes gleamed. + +"Depose me, Triboulet!" he shouted, rising. "Triboulet is sovereign +lord of all at whom he mocks! His wand is mightier than an episcopal +miter!" + +In his overweening rage and vanity he fairly crouched before the +throne, eying them all like a cat. His thick lips trembled; his eyes +became bloodshot. + +He forgot all prudence. + +"Doth not the king himself seek my advice?" He laughed horribly. +"Hath not, perhaps, many a fair gentleman been burned--aye, burned to +ashes as a Calvinist!--at my suggestion!" + +"Miserable wretch! Spy!" exclaimed the young woman, paler than a lily, +as she bent her eyes, with fully opened lids, upon him. + +As if to shield himself, he raised his hand, yet drunkenness or wrath +overcame caution and superstition, and the red eyes met the dark ones. +But a moment, and the former dropped sullenly; a strange thrill ran +through him. He thought he was bewitched. + +"_Non nobis Domine!_" he murmured, striving to recall a hymn. As Latin +was the language of witchcraft, so, also, was it the antidote. +Contemptuously she turned her back and walked slowly to the fire. Upon +her white face and supple figure played the elfish glow, lighting the +little cap and the waving tresses beneath. + +Regarding her furtively, Triboulet's courage returned, since she was +looking at the coals, not at him. + +"Ho, ho!" he said jocosely. "You all thought I was sincere. Listen, +my children! The art of fooling lies in trumped-up earnestness." He +smiled hideously. + +"Bravo, Triboulet!" cried an admiring voice. + +"Only time and art can give you such mastery over the passions," +continued the jester. "Which one of you would depose me? Who so ugly +as I? Poets, philosophers! I snap my fingers at them. Poor moths! +And you dare bait me with a new-comer! Let him look to himself!" From +earnestness to grandiloquence was but a step. + +"Let him come!" And Triboulet, imitating the pose of Francis himself, +drew his wooden sword. + +"Let him come!" he repeated, fiercely. + +"Who?" called out a gay and reckless voice. + +Through the doorway leading into the kitchen stepped a young man; +slender, almost boyish in appearance, with light-brown hair and +deep-set eyes that belied the gaiety and mirth of his features. His +costume, that of a Jester, was silk of finest texture and design, upon +which were skilfully fashioned in threads of silver the arms of Charles +V, King of Spain and Emperor of Germany, the powerful rival of Francis, +whose friendship now, for reasons of state, the latter sought. + +Smilingly the foreign jester gazed around the room; at the unusual +furnishings, picturesque, yet appropriate; at the inmates, the fools +scattered about the great board or near the mighty fireplace; the +renowned philosopher, Rabelais, sleeping on his arms, with hand +outstretched toward the neglected tankard; at the striking appearance +of the girl who looked with casual, careless interest upon him; at the +grotesque, crook-backed figure before the throne. + +And observing the incongruity of his surroundings, he laughed lightly, +while his glance, turning inquiringly if not insolently, from one to +the other, lingered in some surprise upon the young woman. He had +heard that in far-away France the motley was not confined to men. Had +not Jeanne, queen of Charles I, possessed her jestress, Artaude de Puy, +"_folle_ to our dear companion," as said the king? Had not Madame +d'Or, wearer of the bells, kept the nobles laughing? Had not the +haughty, eccentric Don John, his handsome, merry joculatrix, attached +to his princely household? + +But knowing only by rumor of these matters, the jester from abroad +looked hard at her, the first madcap in petticoats he had ever seen. +For her part, Jacqueline bore his scrutiny with visible annoyance. + +"Well," she said impatiently, a flash of resentment in her fine eyes, +"have you conned me over enough?" + +"Too much, mistress," he replied in no wise abashed, "an it hath +displeased you. Too little to please myself." + +"Yourself!" she returned, with sudden anger at his persistent gaze. +"Some lord's plaything to beat or whip; a toy--" + +"And yet a poet who can make rhymes on woman's beauty," he answered +with a careless laugh. + +"Another courtier!" grumbled Triboulet. "Lacking true wit, fools +nowadays essay only compliments to cover their dullness." + +With the same air of insolent amusement, the new-comer turned to the +throne and its occupant, whom he subjected to an even more deliberate +investigation. + +"Is it man or manikin, gentle mistress?" he asked, after concluding his +examination. + +She did not deign to answer, but the offended Triboulet waved his +wooden sword vindictively. + +"Manikin!" he roared, and sprang with vicious lunges upon the duke's +jester, who falling back before the suddenness of the assault, whipped +out his weapon in turn, and, laughing, threw himself into an attitude +of defense. + +"A mortal combat!" cried the cardinal's wit-snapper. + +"Charles V and Francis!" exclaimed Caillette, referring to the personal +challenge which had once passed between the two great monarchs. "With +a throne for the victor!" he added gaily, indicating Triboulet's chair +of state. + +The clatter and din awoke Rabelais, who drowsily regarded the +combatants with lack-luster gaze and undoubtedly thought himself once +more amid the fanciful conflicts of fearful giants. + +"Fall to, Pantagruel, my merry Paladin!" he exclaimed bombastically. +"Cut, slash, stab, fence and justle!" And himself, reaching for an +imaginary sword, encountered the tankard which he would have raised to +his lips but that his shaggy head fell again to the board before his +willing arm had obeyed the passing impulse of his sluggish brain. + +"Fence!--justle!" he murmured, and slept once more. + +But the parrot, again disturbed, could not so easily compose itself to +slumber. Whipping its head from its downy nest, it outspread its gray +wings gloriously and screamed and shouted, as though venting all the +thunders of the Vatican upon the offending belligerents. And above the +uproar and noise of arms, rabble and bird, arose the piercing voice of +Triboulet: + +"Watch me spit this bantam-cock!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A ROYAL EAVESDROPPER + +Tough and sharp-pointed, a wooden sword was no insignificant weapon, +wielded by the thews and sinews of a Triboulet. Crouching like an +animal, the king's buffoon sprang with headlong fury, uttering hoarse, +guttural sounds that awakened misgivings regarding the fate of his too +confident antagonist. + +"Do not kill him, Triboulet!" cried Marot, alarmed lest the duke's fool +should be slain outright. "Remember he has journeyed from the court of +Charles V!" + +"Charles V!" came through Triboulet's half-closed teeth. "My master's +one great enemy!" + +"Hush!" muttered Villot. "Our master's enemy is now his dear friend!" + +"Friend!" sneered the other, but even as he thrust, his sword tingled +sharply in his hand, and, whisked magically out of his grip, described +a curve in the air and fell at a far end of the room. At the same time +a stinging blow descended smartly on the dwarf's hump. + +"Pardon me!" laughed the duke's fool. "Being unused to such exercise, +my blade fell by mistake on your back." + +If looks could have killed, Triboulet would have achieved his original +purpose, but after a vindictive though futile glance his head drooped +despondently. To have been thus humiliated before those whom he +regarded as his vassals! What jest could restore him the prestige he +had enjoyed; what play of words efface the shame of that public +chastisement? Had he been beaten by the king--but thus to suffer at +the hand of a foreign fool! And the monarch--would he learn of +it?--the punishment of the royal jester? As in a dream, he heard the +hateful voices of the company. + +"'Tis not the first time he has been wounded--there!" said fearless +Caillette, who openly acknowledged his aversion for the king's favorite +fool. "But be seated, gentle sir," he added to the stranger, "and +share our rough hospitality." + +"Rough, certes!" commented the other, as he returned his blade to his +belt. "And as I see no stool--" + +"There's the throne!" returned Caillette, courteously. "Since you have +overcome Triboulet, his place is yours." + +"A precarious place!" said the new-comer, easily, dropping, +nevertheless, into the chair. + +"The king is dead! Long live the king!" cried the cardinal's jester. + +"Long live the king!" they shouted, every fool and zany raising a +tankard, save the dwarf and the young woman, the former continuing to +glare vindictively upon the usurper, and the latter to all intent +remaining oblivious of the ceremony of installation. Poised upon a +chair, she idly thrust her fingers through the gilded bars of the cage +that hung from the rafters and gently stroked the head of the now +complaisant bird. + +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. + +"La!--la!--la!--" sang the parrot, responsive to her light caress. + +"Your Majesty's wishes! Your Majesty's decree!" exclaimed the monastic +wit-worm. + +"Hear! hear!" roared Brusquet. + +"Silence!" commanded Marot. "His Majesty speaks." + +"Toot! toot! toot!" rang out the flourish of a trumpet, a clarion +prelude to the fiat from the throne. + +The new king in motley arose; heedless, devil-may-care, very erect in +his preposterously pointed shoes. + +"I appoint you, Thony, treasurer of the exchequer, because you are +quick at sleight-of-hand," he began. + +"Good," laughed Marot. "An he's more light-fingered than his +predecessor, he's a master of prestidigitation!" + +"You, Brusquet," went on the new master of Fool's hall, "I reward with +the government of Guienne, for he who governs his own house so ill is +surely fitted for greater tasks of incompetency." + +This allusion to the petticoat rule which dominated the luckless jester +at home was received in good part by all save the hapless domestic +bondman himself. + +"You, Villot, are made admiral of the fleet." + +Villot smiled, thinking how Francis had but recently bestowed that +office upon the impoverished husband of pretty Madame d'Etaille. + +"Thanks, your Majesty," he began, "but if some post nearer home--" + +"You are to sail at once!" + +"But my wife--" + +"Will remain at court!" announced the duke's jester with great decision. + +Villot made a wry face. The king in motley smiled significantly. "A +safe haven, Villot! Besides, remember a court without ladies is like a +spring without flowers." + +A movement resembling apprehension swept through the company. The +epigram had been Francis'; the court--a flower-bed of roses--was, in +consequence, a thorny maze for a jester to tread. From her chair at +the far end of the room, the young woman looked at the new-comer for +the first time since his enthronement. Her fingers yet played between +the gilded bars; the posture she had assumed set forth the pliant grace +of her figure. Above the others, she glanced at him, her hair very +black against the golden cage; her arm, very white, half unsheathed +from the great hanging sleeve. + +"You are over-bold," she said, a peculiar smile upon her lips. + +"Nay; I have spoken no treason, mistress," he retorted blithely. + +"Not by word of mouth, perhaps, but by imputation." + +He raised his brows with a gesture of wanton protest, while the face +before him clouded. Her eyes held his; her little teeth just gleamed +between the crimson of her lips. + +"I presume you consider Charles the more fitting monarch?" she +continued. + +Was it the disdain of her voice? Did she read his passing thoughts? +Did she challenge him to utter them? + +"In truth," the jester said carelessly, "Charles builds fortresses, not +pleasure palaces; and garrisons them with soldiers, not ladies." + +She half-smiled. Her glance fell. Her hand moved caressingly, the +sleeve waving beneath. + +"Poor Jocko! Poor Jocko!" she murmured. + +Triboulet's glance beamed with delight. She was casting her spell over +his enemy. + +"Oh," muttered Triboulet, "if the king could but have heard!" + +Perhaps it was a breath of air, but the tapestry depicting the +misadventures of Momus waved and moved. Triboulet, who noted +everything, saw this, and suffered an expression of triumph momentarily +to rest upon his malignant features. Had his prayer been answered? "A +spring without flowers," forsooth! Dearly cherished the august +gardener his beautiful roses. Great red roses; white roses; blossoms +yet unopened! + +Following his gaze, a significant light appeared in the young woman's +eyes, while her arm fell to her side. + +"Now to see Presumption sue for pardon," she whispered to herself. + +One by one the company, too, turned in the direction Triboulet was +looking. In portraiture the classical buffoon grinned and gibed at +them from the tapestry; and even from his high station above the clouds +Jupiter, who had ejected the offending fool of the gods, looked less +stern and implacable. An expectant hush fell upon the assemblage, when +suddenly Jove and Momus alike were unceremoniously thrust aside, and, +as the folds fell slowly back, before the many-hued curtain stood a man +of stately and majestic mien. + +A man whose appearance caused deep-seated consternation, whose +forbidding aspect made the very silence portentous and terrifying. +With dress slashed and laced, rich in jewelry and precious stones, he +remained motionless, regarding the motley gathering, while an ominous +half-smile played about his features. He said nothing, but his reserve +was more sinister than language. Capricious, cruel was his face; in +his eyes shone covert enjoyment of the situation. + +Would he never speak? With one hand he stroked his beard; with the +other he toyed with the lace on his doublet. + +"You were talking, children," he said, finally, "before I came in." + +"If your Majesty," ventured Triboulet, "has heard all, your Majesty +will not blame--us!" And he glanced malevolently toward the duke's +Jester, who, upon the king's abrupt entrance, had descended from the +platform. + +Observing the emblazoned arms of Charles V upon the dress of the +culprit, a faint look of surprise swept Francis' face. Did it recall +that fatal day, when on the field of battle, a rival banner had waved +ever illusively; ever beyond his reach? Now it shone before him as +though mocking his friendship for his one-time powerful enemy, the only +man he feared, the emperor who had overthrown him. The sinister smile +of the king gave way to gloomy thoughtfulness. + +"Who is this knave?" he asked at length, fixedly regarding the +erstwhile badge of his defeat. + +"A poor fool, Sire!" replied the kneeling man. + +"Those arms, embroidered on your dress--what do they mean?" said the +king shortly. + +"The arms of my master's master, your Majesty!" was the over-confident +answer. + +"Who is your master?" + +"The Duke of Friedwald, Sire, the betrothed of the Princess Louise." + +"And your purpose here?" + +"My master sent me to the princess. 'I'll miss thee, rogue,' said he. +''Tis proof of love to send thee, my merry companion of the wine cup! +But go! Nature hath formed thee to conjure sadness from a lady's +face.' So I set out upon my perilous journey, and, favored by fortune, +am but safely arrived. I was e'en now about to repair to the princess, +whom I trust, in my humble way, to amuse." + +"And thou shalt!" said the king, significantly. + +"Oh, your Majesty!" with assumed modesty. + +"That is," added Francis, "if it will amuse her to see you hanged!" + +"And if it did not amuse her, Sire?" spoke up the new-comer, without a +tremor in his voice. + +"What then?" asked the king. + +"It would be a breach of hospitality to hang me, the servant of the +duke who is servant of Charles V!" he replied boldly. + +Francis started. Like a menace shone the arms of the great emperor. +Vividly he recalled his own humiliation, his long captivity, and +mistrusted the power of his subtile, amiable friend-enemy. Friendship? +Sweeter was hatred. But the promptings of wisdom had suggested the +policy of peace; the reins of expediency drove him, autocrat or slave, +to the doctrines of loving brotherhood. He turned his gloomy eyes upon +the glowing countenance of Triboulet. + +"What say you, fool?" + +"Your Majesty," answered the eager dwarf, "could hang him without +breach of hospitality." + +"How do you make that good, Triboulet?" asked the monarch. + +"The duke has given him to the princess. The princess is a subject of +your Majesty. The king of France has jurisdiction over the princess' +fool and surely can proceed in so small a matter as hanging him." + +Francis bent a malignant look upon the young man. Behind the dwarf +stood the jestress, now an earnest spectator of the scene. + +"This new-comer's stay with us promises to be brief, Caillette," she +whispered. + +"Hark, you witch! He answers," returned the poet. + +"What can he say?" she retorted, shrugging her shoulders. "He is +already condemned." + +"Are you pleased, mistress? Just because the poor fellow stared at you +overmuch." + +"Oh," she said, insensibly, "it was written he should hang himself. +Now we'll hear how ably Audacity parleys with Fate." + +"It would be no breach of hospitality, Sire, to hang the princess' +fool," spoke the condemned man with no sign of waning confidence, "yet +it would seem to depreciate the duke's gift. Your Majesty should hang +the one and spare the other. 'Tis a matter of logic," he went on +quickly, "to point out where the duke's gift ends and the princess' +fool begins. A gift is a gift until it is received. The princess has +not yet received the duke's gift. Therefore, your Majesty can not hang +me, as the princess' fool; nor would your Majesty desire to hang me as +the duke's gift." + +Imperceptibly the monarch's mien relaxed, for next to a contest with +blades he liked the quick play of words. + +"Answer him, Triboulet," he said. + +"Your Majesty--your Majesty--" stammered the dwarf, and paused in +despair, his wits failing him at the critical juncture. + +"Enough!" commanded the king, sternly. A sound of suppressed merriment +even as he spoke startled the gathering. "Who laughed?" he cried +suddenly. "Was it you, mistress?" fastening his eyes upon the young +woman. + +Her head fell lower and lower like some dark flower on a slender stem. +From out of the veil of her mazy hair came a voice, soft with seeming +humility. + +"It might have been Jocko, Sire," she said. "He sometimes laughs like +that." + +The king looked from the woman to the bird; then from the bird to the +woman, a gleam of recollection in his glance. + +"Humph!" he muttered. "Is this where you serve your mistress? Look to +it you serve not yourself ill!" + +An instant her eyes flashed upward. + +"My mistress is at prayers," she answered, and looked down again as +quickly. + +"And you meanwhile prefer the drollery of these madcaps to the +attentions of our courtiers?" said Francis, more gently. "Certes are +you gipsy-born!" + +Her hands clasped tighter, but she answered not, and he turned more +sternly to the new king of the motley. "As for you," he continued, +"for the present the duke's gift is spared. But let the princess' fool +look to himself. Remember, a guarded tongue insures a ripe old age, +and even a throne in Fools' hall is fraught with hazard. Here! some of +you, take this"--indicating the sleeping Rabelais--"and throw it into +the horse-pond. Yet see that he does not drown--your heads upon it! +'Tis to him France looks for learning." + +He paused; glanced back at the kneeling girl. "You, Mistress +Who-Seeks-to-Hide-Her-Face, teach that parrot not to laugh!" he added +grimly. + +The tapestry waved. Mute the motley throng stared where the king had +stood. A light hand touched the arm of the duke's fool, and, turning, +he beheld the young woman; her eyes were alight with new fire. + +"In God's name," she exclaimed, passionately, "let us leave. You have +done mischief enough. Follow me." + +"Where'er you will," he responded gallantly. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A GIFT FOR THE DUKE + +The sun and the breeze contended with the mist, intrenched in the +stronghold of the valley. From the east the red orb began its attack; +out of the west rode the swift-moving zephyrs, and, vanquished, the +wavering vapor stole off into thin air, or hung in isolated wreaths above +the foliage on the hillside. Soon the conquering light brightly +illumined a medieval castle commanding the surrounding country; the +victorious breeze whispered loudly at its gloomy casements. A great +Norman structure, somber, austere, it was, however brightened with many +modern features that threatened gradually to sap much of its ancient +majesty. + +"Fill up the moat," Francis had ordered. "'Tis barbaric! What lover +would sigh beneath walls thirty feet thick! And the portcullis! Away +with it! Summon my Italian painters to adorn the walls. We may yet make +habitable these legacies from the savage, brutal past." + +So the mighty walls, once set in a comparative wilderness, a tangle of +thicket and underbrush, now arose from garden, lawn and park, where even +the deer were no longer shy, and the water, propelled by artificial +power, shot upward in jets. + +Seated at a window which overlooked this sylvan aspect, modified if not +fashioned by man, a young woman with seeming conscientiousness, told her +beads. The apartment, though richly furnished, was in keeping with the +devout character of its fair mistress. A brush or aspersorium, used for +sprinkling holy water, was leaning against the wall. Upon a table lay an +open psalter, with its long hanging cover and a ball at the extremity of +the forel. Behind two tall candlesticks stood an altar-table which, +being unfolded, revealed three compartments, each with a picture, painted +by Andrea del Sarto, the once honored guest of Francis. + +The Princess Louise, cousin of Francis' former queen, Claude, had been +reared with rigid strictness, although provided with various preceptors +who had made her more or less proficient in the profane letters, as they +were then called, Latin, Greek, theology and philosophy. The fame of her +beauty had gone abroad; her hand had been often sought, but the obdurate +king had steadfastly refused to sanction her betrothal until Charles, the +emperor, himself proposed a union between the fair ward of the French +monarch and one of his nobles, the young Duke of Friedwald. To this +Francis had assented, for he calculated upon thus drawing to his +interests one of his rival's most chivalrous knights, while far-seeing +Charles believed he could not only retain the duke, but add to his own +court the lovely and learned ward of the king. + +And in this comedy of aggrandizement the puppets were willing--as puppets +must needs be. Indeed, the duke was seriously enamored of the princess, +whose portrait he had seen in miniature, and had himself importuned the +emperor to intercede with Francis, knowing that the only way to the +lady's hand was through the good offices of him who aspired to the +mastery of all Europe, if not the world. + +Charles, unwilling to disoblige one whose principality was the most +powerful of the Austrian provinces he sought to absorb in his scheme for +the unification of all nations, offered no demur to a request fraught +with advantage to himself. Besides, cold and calculating though he was, +the emperor entertained a certain affection for the duke, who on one +occasion, when Charles had been sore beset by the troops of Solyman, had +extricated his royal leader from the alternatives of ignominious capture +or an untimely end. Accordingly, a formal proposal, couched in language +of warm friendship to the king, was despatched by the emperor. When +Francis, with some misgiving, arising from experience with womankind, +laid the matter before Louise, she, to his surprise, proved her devotion +and loyalty by her entire submissiveness, and the king, kissing her hand, +generously vowed the wedding festivities should be worthy of her beauty +and fealty. + +Was she thinking of that scene now and the many messages which had +subsequently passed between her distant lover and herself, as the white +fingers ceased to tell the beads? Was she questioning fate and the +future when the rosary fell from her hand and the clinking of the great +glass beads on the hard floor aroused her from a reverie? Languidly she +rose, crossed the room toward a low dressing table, when at the same time +one of the several doors of the apartment opened, admitting the jestress, +Jacqueline, whose long, flowing gown of dark green bore no distinguishing +mark of the motley she had assumed the night before. The dreamy, almost +lethargic, gaze of the princess rested for a moment upon the ardent eyes +of the maid who stood motionless before her. + +"The duke's jester who arrived last night awaits your pleasure without," +said the girl. + +"Bid him enter. Stay! The fillet for my hair. Seems he a merry fellow?" + +"So merry, Madam, he mimicked the king last night in Fool's hall, beat +Triboulet, appointed knaves in jest to high offices, and had been hanged +for his forwardness but that he narrowly saved his neck by a slender +device." + +"What; all that in so short a time!" exclaimed the princess. "A most +presumptuous rogue!" + +"The king, Madam, was behind the tapestry and heard it all: his +appointment of Thony as treasurer, because he is apt at palming money; +Brusquet, governor of Guienne, since he governs his own home so ill; and +Villot, admiral of the fleet, that he might sail away and leave his +pretty wife behind him." + +"I'll warrant me the story is known to the entire court ere this," +laughed the lady. "Won't Madame d'Etaille be in a temper! And the +admiral when he hears of it--on the high seas! The king was +eavesdropping, you say, and yet spared the jester? He must bear a +charmed life." + +"He dubbed himself the duke's gift, Madam, and boldly claimed privilege +under the poor cloak of hospitality." + +"Surely," murmured the princess, "there will be no lack of entertainment +with this knave under the same roof. Too much entertainment, I fear me. +Well, admit the bold fellow." + +Crossing to the door, the maid pushed it back and the figure of the +jester passed the threshold:--a figure so graceful and well-built, the +lady's eyes, turning toward him with mild inquiry, lingered with +approval; lingered, and were upraised to a fair, handsome face, when +approval gave way to wonder. + +Was this the imprudent, hot-brained rogue who had swaggered in Fools' +hall, and made a farce of the affairs of the nation? His countenance +seemed that of a courtier rather than a low-born scape-grace; his bearing +in consonance, as, approaching the princess, he knelt near the edge of +her sweeping crimson garment. Quietly the maid withdrew to a corner of +the apartment where she seated herself on a low stool, her fingers idly +playing with the delicate carvings of a vase of silver, containing water +that had been blessed and standing conveniently near the aspersorium. + +"You come from the Duke of Friedwald, fool?" said the mistress, +recovering from her surprise. + +"Yes, Princess." + +Louise smiled, and looked toward the maid as if to say: "Why, he's a +model of decorum!" but the girl continued regarding the figures on the +vase, seemingly indifferent to the scene before her. + +"I hear, sirrah, but a poor account of your behavior last night," +continued the princess. "You must have a care, or I shall send you back +to the duke and command him to have you whipped. You have been here but +overnight, yet how many enemies have you made? The king; the admiral, +and--last but not least--a certain lady. Poor fool! you may have saved +your neck, but for how long? Fie! what an account must I give of you to +your master!" + +"Ah, Madam," he answered quickly, "you show me now the folly of it all." + +"Let me see," she went on more gently, "what we may do, since you are +penitent? The king may forgive; the admiral forget, but the lady--she +will neither forget nor forgive. Fortunately, I think she fears to +disoblige me, and, if I let it be known you are an indispensable part of +my household--" she paused thoughtfully--"besides, she has a little +secret she would keep from the king. Yes; the secret will save you!" +And Louise smiled knowingly, as one who, although most devout, perhaps +had missed a few paters or credos in listening to idle worldly gossip. + +"Madam," he said, raising his head, "you overwhelm me with your goodness." + +"Oh, I like her not; a most designing creature," returned the lady +carelessly. "But you may rise. Hand me that embroidery," she added when +he had obeyed. "How do I know the duke, my betrothed, whom I have never +seen, has not sent you to report upon my poor charms? What if you were +only his emissary?" + +"Princess," he answered, "I am but a fool; no emissary. If I were--" + +"Well?" + +She smiled indulgently at the open admiration written so boldly upon his +face, and, encouraged by her glance, he regarded her swiftly, +comprehensively; the masses of hair the fillet ill-confined; eyes, +soft-lidded, dreamy as a summer's day; a figure, pagan in generous +proportions; a foot, however, _petite_, Parisian, peeping from beneath a +robe, heavy, voluminous, vivid! + +"If you were?" she suggested, passing a golden thread through the cloth +she held. + +"I would write him the miniature he has of you told but half the truth." + +"So you have seen the miniature? It lies carelessly about, no doubt?" +Yet her tone was not one of displeasure. + +"The duke frequently draws it from his breast to look at it." + +"And so many handsome women in the kingdom, too!" laughed the princess. +"A tiny, paltry bit of vellum!" + +Her lips curled indulgently, as of a person sure of herself. Did not the +fool's glance pay her that tribute to which she was not a stranger? Her +lashes, suddenly lifted, met his fully, and drove his look, grown +overbold, to cover. The princess smiled; she might well believe the +stories about him; yet was not ill-pleased. "Like master; like man!" +says the proverb. She continued to survey the graceful figure, +well-poised head and handsome features of the jester. + +"Tell me, sirrah," she continued, "of the duke. Straightforwardly, +or--I'll leave thee to the mercy of madam the admiral's wife! What is he +like?" + +"A fairly likely man!" + +"'Tis what one says of a man when one can say nothing else. He is not +then very handsome?" + +"He has never been so considered!" + +The princess' needle remained suspended, then viciously plunged into the +golden Cupid she was embroidering. "The king hath played with me," she +murmured. "He represented him as one of the most distinguished-appearing +knights in the emperor's domains. Is he dark or light?" she went on. + +"Dark." + +"Tall?" + +"Rather short." + +"His eyes?" said the lady, after an ominous pause. + +"Brown." + +"His manners?" + +"Those of a soldier." + +"His speech?" + +"That of one born to command." + +"Command!" returned the princess, ironically. "Odious word!" + +"You, Madam," quickly answered the jester, "he would serve." + +A moment her glance challenged his, coldly, proudly, and then her +features softened. The indolent look crept into her eyes once more; the +tension of her lips relaxed. + +"Command and serve!" laughed the princess. "A paradox, if not a paragon, +it seems! Not handsome--probably ugly!--a soldier--full of oaths--a +blusterer--strong in his cups! What a list of qualifications! +Well"--with a sigh--"what must needs be must be! The emperor plays the +rook; Francis moves his pawn--my poor self. The game, beyond the two +moves, is naught to us. Perhaps we shall be sacrificed, one or both! +What of that, if it's a draw, or one of the players checkmates the +other--" + +"But, Princess," cried the fool, "he loves you! +Passionately!--devotedly!--" + +"A passing fancy for a painted semblance!" said the lady, as rising she +turned toward the casement, the golden Cupid falling from her lap to the +floor. In the rhythmic ease of her movement, in her very attitude, was +consciousness of her own power, but to the poet-jester, surrounded as he +was by symbols of worship and devotion, her expressed self-doubt seemed +that of some saintly being, cloistered in the solitude of a sanctuary. + +"Nay," he answered swiftly, "he has but to see you--with the sunlight in +your hair--as I see you now! The pawn, Madam, would become a queen; his +queen! What would matter to him the game of Charles or Francis? Let +Charles grow greater, or Francis smaller. His gain would be--you!" + +The fingers of the maid who sat at the far end of the room ceased to +caress the silver vase; her hands were tightly clasped together; in her +dark eyes was an ironical light, as her gaze passed from the jester to +her mistress. Almost motionless stood the princess until he had +finished; motionless it would have seemed but for the chain on her +breast, which rose and fell with her breathing. From the jeweled network +which half-bound her hair shone flashes of light; a tress which escaped +the glittering environment lay like a serpent of gold upon the crimson of +her gown where the neck softly uprose. A hue, delicately rich as the +tinted leaves of orange blossoms, mantled her cheeks. + +She shook her head in soft dissent. "Queen for how long?" she answered +gently. "As long as gentle Claude was queen for Francis? As long as +saintly Eleanor held undisputed sway?" + +"As long as Eleanor is queen in the hearts of her people!" he exclaimed, +passionately. "As long as France is her bridegroom!" + +Deliberately she half-turned, the coil of gold falling over her shoulder. +Near her hand, white against the dark casement, a blood-red rose trembled +at the entrance of her chamber, and, grasping it lightly, she held it to +her face as if its perfume symbolized her thoughts. + +"Is there so much constancy in the world?" she asked musingly. "Can such +singleness of heart exist? Like this flower which would bloom and die at +my window? A bold flower, though! Day by day has it been growing +nearer. Here," she added, breaking it from the stem and holding it to +the jester. + +"Madam!" he cried. + +"Take it," she laughed, "and--send it to the duke!" Kneeling, he +received it. "Thou art a fellow of infinite humor indeed. Equally at +home in a lady's boudoir, or a fools' drinking bout. Come, Jacqueline, +Queen Marguerite awaits our presence. She has a new chapter to read, but +whether another instalment of her tales, or a prayer for her Mirror of +the Sinful Soul, I know not. As for you, sir"--with a parting +smile--"later we shall walk in the garden. There you may await us." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN IMPATIENT SUITOR + +"Well, Sir Mariner, do you not fear to venture so far on a dangerous +sea?" asked a mocking voice. + +"A dangerous sea, fair Jacqueline?" he replied, stroking the head of +the hound which lay before the bench. "I see nothing save smiling +fields and fragrant beds of flowers." + +"Oh, I recognize now Monsieur Diplomat, not Sir Mariner!" she retorted. + +Beneath her head-dress, resembling in some degree two great butterfly +wings, her face looked smaller than its wont. Laced tight, after the +fashion, the _cotte-hardie_ made her waist appear little larger than +could be clasped by the hands of a soldier, while a silken-shod foot +with which she tapped the ground would have nestled neatly in his palm. +Was it pique that moved her thus to address the duke's jester? Since +he had arrived, Jacqueline had been relegated, as it were, to the +corner. She, formerly ever first with the princess, had perforce stood +aside on the coming of the foreign fool whose company her mistress +strangely seemed to prefer to her own. + +First had it been talking, walking and jesting, in which last +accomplishment he proved singularly expert, judging from the peals of +laughter to which her mistress occasionally gave vent. Then it had +become riding, hawking and, worst of all, reading. Lately Louise, +learned, as has been set forth, in the profane letters, had displayed a +marked favor for books of all kinds--The Tree of Battles, by Bonnet, +the Breviary of Nobles in verse, the "_Livre des faits d'armes et de +chevalerie_," by Christine de Pisan; and in a secluded garden spot, +with her fool and servant, she sedulously pursued her literary labors. + +As books were rare, being hand-printed and hand-illumined, the +princess' choice of volumes was not large, but Marguerite, the king's +sister, possessed some rarely executed poems--in their mechanical +aspect; the monarch permitted her the use of several precious +chronicles; while the abbess in the convent near by, who esteemed +Louise for her piety and accomplishments, submitted to her care a +gorgeously painted, satin-bound Life of Saint Agnes, a Roman virgin who +died under the sanguinary persecution of Diocletian. But Jacqueline +frowningly noticed that the saint's life lay idle--conspicuously, +though fittingly, on the altar-table--while a manuscript of the Queen +of Navarre suspiciously accompanied the jester when he sought the +pleasant nook selected for reading and conversation. + +It was to this spot the maid repaired one soft summer afternoon, where +she found the fool and a volume--Marguerite's, by the purple binding +and the love-knot in silver!--awaiting doubtless the coming of the +princess; and at the sight of them, the book of romance and the jester +who brought it, what wonder her patience gave way? + +"You have been here now a fortnight, Monsieur Diplomat," she continued, +bending the eyes which Triboulet so feared upon the other. + +"Thirteen days, to be exact, sweet Jacqueline!" he answered calmly. + +"Indeed! Then there is some hope for you, if you've kept track of +time," she returned pointedly. + +Still he forbore to qualify his manner, save with a latent smile that +further exasperated the girl. + +"What mean you, gentle mistress?" he asked quietly, without even +looking at her. + +"'Sweet Jacqueline!' 'Gentle mistress!' you are profuse with soft +words!" she cried sharply. + +"And yet they turn you not from anger." + +"Anger!" she said, her eyes flashing. "Not another man at court would +dare to talk to me as you do." + +At this he lifted his brows and surveyed her much as one would a +spoiled child, a glance that excited in her the same emotion she had +experienced the night of his arrival in Fools' hall, when he had +contemplated her in her garb of Joculatrix, as some misplaced anomaly. + +"I know, mistress," he returned ironically, "you have a reputation for +sorcery. But I think it lies more in your eyes than in the moon." + +"And yet I can see the future for all that," she replied, persistently, +defiantly. + +"The future?" he retorted, and looked from the earth to the sky. "What +is the goal of yonder tiny cloud? Can you tell me that?" + +"The goal?" she repeated, uplifting her head. "Wait! It is very +small. The sun is already swallowing it up." + +"Heigho!" yawned the jester, outstretching his yellow-pointed boot, "I +catch not the moral to the fable--an there be one! + +"The moral!" she said, quickly. "Ask Marot." + +"Why Marot?" Balancing the stick with the fool's head in his hand. + +"Because he dared love Queen Marguerite!" she answered impetuously. +"The fool in motley; the lady in purple! How he jested at her wedding! +How he wept when he thought himself alone!" + +"He had but himself to blame, Jacqueline," returned the other with +composure, although his eyes were now bent straight before him. "He +could not climb to her; she could not stoop to him. Yet I daresay, it +was a mad dream he would not have foregone." + +"Not have foregone!" she exclaimed, quickly. "What would he not have +given to tear it from his breast; aye, though he tore his heart with +it! That day, bright and fair, when Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, +took her in his arms and kissed her brow! When amid gay festivities +she became his bride! Not have foregone? Yes; Marot would forego that +day--and other days." + +Still that inertia; that irritating immobility. "What a tragic tale +for a summer day!" was his only comment. + +"And Caillette!" she continued, rapidly. "Distinguished in mien, +graceful in manner. In the house of his patron, he dared look up to +that nobleman's daughter, Diane de Poitiers. A dream; a youthful +dream! Enter Monsieur de Breze, grand seneschal of Normandy. Shall I +tell you the rest? How Caillette stares, moody, knitting his brows at +his cups! Of what is the jester thinking?" + +"Whether the grand seneschal will let him sleep with the spaniels, +Jacqueline, or turn him out," laughed the jester. + +Angrily she clasped her hands before her. "Is it the way your mind +would move?" she retorted. + +"A jester without a roof to cover him is like a dog without a kennel, +mistress." + +Disdain, contempt, rapidly crossed her face, but her lip curved +knowingly and her voice came more gently, because of the greater sting +that lay behind her words. + +"You but seek to flout me from my tale," she said sweetly. "Caillette +is none such, as you know. They were young together. 'Twas said he +confessed his love; that tokens passed between them. Rhymes he writ to +her; a flower, perhaps, she gave him. A flower he yet cherishes, +mayhap; dried, faded, yet plucked by her!" + +Involuntarily the hand of her listener touched his breast, the first +sign he had made that her story moved him. Jacqueline, watching him +keenly, smiled, and demurely looked away. Her next words seemed to +dance from her lips, as with head bent, like a butterfly poised, she +addressed her remark to vacancy. + +"A flower for himself, no doubt! Not given him for another!" + +Whereupon she turned in time to catch the burning flush which flamed +his cheek and left it paler than she had ever seen it. At this first +signal of her success--proving that he was not impregnable to her +attack--she hummed a little song and beat time on the sward with a +green-shod foot. + +"What mean you?" he asked, momentarily dropping his unruffled manner. + +"Not much!" Lightly she tripped to a bush, broke off a flower and +regarded it mischievously. "Why should people hide that which is so +sweet and fragrant?" she remarked, and set the rose in her hair. + +"Hide?" he said, looking at the flower, but not at her. + +"I trust you kept the rose, Monsieur Diplomat?" she spoke up, suddenly, +her expression most serious. + +"What rose?" he asked, now become restless beneath her cutting tongue. + +"What rose! As if you did not know! How innocent you look! How many +roses are there in the world? A thousand? Or only one? What rose? +Her rose, of course. Have you got it? I hope so--for the duke is +coming and might ask for it!" + +This, then, was the information she had taken such a roundabout way to +communicate! It was to this end she had purposely led the conversation +by adroit stages, studying him gaily, impatiently or maliciously, as +she marked the effect of her words upon him. All alive, she stepped +back laughing; elate, she put her arms about a branch of the rose-bush +and drew a score of roses to her bosom, as though she were a witch, +impervious to thorns. He had risen--yes, there was no doubt about +it!--but her sunny face was turned to the flowers. His countenance +became at once puzzled and thoughtful. + +"The duke--coming--" He condescended to ask for information now. + +Sidewise she gazed at him, unrelenting. "Does the flower become me?" +she asked. + +"The duke--coming--" he repeated. + +"How impolite! To refuse me a compliment!" she flashed. + +The next moment he was by her side, and had taken her arm, almost +roughly. "Speak out!" he cried. "Some one is coming! What duke is +coming?" + +"You hurt me!" she exclaimed, angrily. He loosened his grasp. + +"What duke?" she answered scornfully. "Her duke! Your duke! The +emperor's duke!" + +"The Duke of Friedwald?" he asked. + +"Of course! The princess' fiance; bridegroom-to-be; future husband, +lord and master," she explained, with indubious and positive iteration. + +"But the time--set for the wedding---has not expired," he protested +with what she thought seemed a suspicion that she was playing with him. + +"That is easily answered," she said cheerfully. "The duke, it seems, +has become more and more enamored. Finally his passion has so grown +and grown he fears to let it grow any more, and, as the only way out of +the difficulty, petitioned the king to curtail the time of probation +and relieve him of the constantly augmenting suspense. To which his +most gracious Majesty, having been a lover himself (on divers +occasions) and measuring the poor fellow's troubles by the qualms he +has himself experienced, has seen generously fit to cut off a few weeks +of waiting and set the wedding for the near future." + +"How know you this?" he demanded, sharply, striding to and fro. + +"This morning the princess sent me with a message to the Countess +d'Etampes. You know her? You have heard? She has succeeded the +Countess of Chateaubriant. Well, the king was with her--not the +Countess of Chateaubriant, but the other one, I mean. They left poor +me to await his Majesty's pleasure, and, as the Countess d'Etampes has +but newly succeeded to her present exalted position and the king has +not yet discovered her many imperfections, I should certainly have +fallen asleep for weariness had I not chanced to overhear portions of +their conversation. The Countess d'Etampes, it seemed, was very angry. +'Your Majesty promised to send her home,' she said. 'But, my dear, +give me time,' pleaded the king. 'Pack her off at once,' she demanded, +raising her voice. 'Send her to her husband. That's where she +belongs. Think of him, poor fellow!' Laughing, his Majesty +capitulated. 'Well, well, back to her castle goes the Countess of +Chateaubriant!' Thereupon--" + +"But the duke, mistress," interrupted the jester, who had become more +and more impatient during the prolonged narration. "The duke?" + +"Am I not to tell it in my own way?" she returned. "What manners you +have! First, you pinch my arm until I must needs cry out. Then you +ask a question and interrupt me before I can answer." + +"Interrupt!" he muttered. "You might have told a dozen tales. What +care I for the king's Jezebels?" + +"Jezebels!" she repeated, in mock horror. "I see plainly, if you don't +die one way, you will another." + +"'Tis usually the case. But go on with your story." + +"If I can not tell it in my own way--" + +"Tell it as you will, if your way be as slow as your tongue is sharp," +he answered sullenly. + +"Sharp! Jezebels! You deserve not to hear, but--the king, it seems, +had laid the duke's request before the Countess d'Etampes. 'Here is an +impatient suitor,' he said gaily. 'How shall we cure his passion?' +'By marrying him,' blithely answered this light-of-love. ''Tis a +medicine that never fails!' His Majesty frowned; I could not see him, +but felt sure of it from his tone, for although he neglects the queen, +yet, to some degree, is mindful of her dignity. 'Marriage is a holy +state, Madam,' he replied severely. 'There's no doubt about it, +Francis,' returned the lady, 'and therefore is the antidote to passion. +But a man bent on matrimony is like a child that wants a toy. Better +give it to him at once--the plaything will the sooner be thrown aside!' +'Nay, Madam,' he said reprovingly, 'the duke shall have his wish, but +for no such reason.' 'What reason then?' quoth she, petulantly. +'Because thou hast shown me love is a monarch stronger than any king +and that we are but as slaves in its hands!' he exclaimed, +passionately. 'I know I shall like the duke,' cried she, 'since he is +the cause of that pretty speech.' + +"At this point, not daring to listen longer, I coughed; there was +silence; then the countess herself appeared at the door and looked at +me sharply. With such grace as I could command, I delivered my +message, left the house and was hurrying through the garden when chance +threw you in my way. And now you have it all, sir." + +"The princess--has she heard the king has received a letter from the +duke, and that his Majesty has changed the wedding date?" + +The jester spoke slowly, but Jacqueline was assured that beneath his +deliberate manner surged deep and conflicting emotions; that his +calmness was no more than a mask to conceal his pain. Had he given +utterance to the feeling that beset him, had he betrayed more than a +suggestion of the passion, rage or grief which struggles for mastery +beneath a forced sloth of sensibility, she would have once more mocked +him with laughter. But perhaps his very quiescence inclined her to +look upon him with a grain of sympathy or compassion, for her tones +were now grave. + +"The princess knows; has heard all from the king. Not long since he +sent for her. Will she consent? What else can she do? 'Tis the +monarch who commands; we who obey!" + +"Is the court then only a mart, a guildhall?" he exclaimed. "A +woman--even a princess--should be won, not--exchanged!" + +Her lashes drooped; in her gaze shone once more the ironical amusement. +"Why," she said, "from what wilds, or forests, have you come? The +heart follows where the trader lists! Think you the princess will wear +the willow?" she laughed. "How well you know women!" + +"Do you mean that she--" + +"I mean that her welfare is in strong hands; that there will be few +greater in all the land; none more honored! The duke's principality is +vast--but here comes the princess." The hound sprang to his feet and +ran gamboling down the path. "Ask her the rest yourself, most +Unsophisticated Fool! Ah,"--with a touch she could not resist--"what a +handsome bride she will make for the duke!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +JACQUELINE FETCHES THE PRINCESS' FAN + +Through the flowery path, so narrow her gown brushed the leaves on +either side, the Princess Louise appeared, walking slowly. A +head-dress, heart-shaped, held her hair in its close confines; the gown +of cloth-of-silver damask fitted closely to her figure, and, from the +girdle, hung a long pendent end, elaborately enriched. With short, +sharp barks, the dog bounded before her, but the hand usually extended +to caress the animal remained at her side. + +Intently the jester watched her draw near and ever nearer, their common +trysting spot, her favorite garden nook. A handsome bride, forsooth, +as Jacqueline had suggested. All in white was she now; a glittering +white, with silver adornment; ravishingly hymeneal. A bride for a +duke--or a king--more stately than the queen; handsomer than the +favorite of favorites who ruled the king and France. + +"Jacqueline," she said, evincing neither surprise nor any other +emotion, as she approached, "go and fetch my fan. I believe 'tis in +the king's ante-chamber." + +"Madam carried no fan when"--began the girl. + +"Then 'tis somewhere else. Do not bandy words, but find it." + +Sinking on the bench as the maid walked quickly away, she remained for +some moments in silent thought,--a reverie the jester forbore to +disturb. Her head rested on her arm, from which fell the flowing +sleeve almost to the ground; her wrist was lightly inclasped by a +slender golden band of delicate Byzantine enamel work; over the +sculptured form of the stone griffin that constituted one of the +supports of the ancient Norman bench flowed the voluminous folds of her +dress, partly concealing the monster from view. Against the clambering +ivy which for centuries had reveled in this chosen spot, and which the +landscape gardeners of Francis had wisely spared, lay her hand, a small +ring of curious workmanship gleaming from her finger. The ring caused +the jester to start, remembering he had last seen it worn by the king. + +Truly, the capricious, but august, monarch must have been well pleased +with the complaisance of his fair ward, and the face of the fool, +glowing and eager, became on the instant hard and cold. Did he +experience now the first pangs of that sorrow Jacqueline had vividly +portrayed as the love-portion of Marot and Caillette? Faintly the ivy +whispered above the princess, telling perhaps of other days when, +centuries gone by, some Norman lady had been wooed and won, or wooed +and lost, in the shadow of the griffin, which, silent, sphinx-like, yet +endured through the ages. + +Idly the Princess Louise plucked a leaf from the old, old vine, picked +it apart and let the pieces float away. As they fluttered and fell at +the jester's feet she regarded him with thoughtful blue eyes. + +"How far is it," she asked, "to the duke's principality?" + +If he had doubted the maid's story, he was now convinced. The ring and +her question confirmed Jacqueline's narrative. Moodily he surveyed the +great claws of the griffin, firmly planted on the earth, and then +looked from the feet to the laughing mouth of the stone figure, or so +much of it as the shining dress left uncovered. + +"About fifteen days' journey, Princess," he replied. + +"No farther?" + +"Barring accidents, it may be made in that time." + +She did not notice how dull was his tone; how he avoided her gaze. +Blind to him, she turned the ring around and around on her finger, as +though her thoughts were concentrated on it. + +"Accidents," she repeated, her hand now motionless. "Is the way +perilous?" + +"The country is most unsettled." + +"What do you mean by unsettled?" she continued, bending forward with +fingers clasped over her knees. Supinely she waved a foot back and +forth, showing and then withdrawing the point of a jeweled slipper, and +a suggestion of lavender in silk network above. "What do you call +unsettled?" + +"The country is infested with many roving bands commanded by the +so-called independent barons who owe allegiance to neither king nor +emperor," he answered. "Their homes are perched, like eagles' nests, +upon some mountain peak that commands the valleys travelers must +proceed through. A fierce, untamed crew, bent on rapine and murder!" + +"Did you encounter any such?" Gently. + +"Ofttimes." + +"And left unscathed?" + +"Because I was a jester, Madam; something less than man; a lordling's +slave; a woman's plaything! Their sentinels shared with me their +flasks; I slept before their signal fires, and even supped in the heart +of their stone fastnesses. Fools and monks are safe among them, for +the one amuses and the other absolves their sins. Yet is there one +free baron," he added reflectively, "whom even I should have done well +to avoid; he, the most feared, the most savage! Louis, the bastard of +Pfalz-Urfeld!" + +"Have you ever met him?" asked the princess, in a mechanical tone. + +"No," with a short laugh. "A few of his knaves I encountered, however, +whose conduct shamed the courtesy of the other mountain rogues. I all +but fared ill indeed, from them. To the pleasantry of my greeting, +they replied with the true pilferer's humor; the free baron had ordered +every one searched. They would have robbed and stripped me, despite +the color of my coat, only fortunately, instead of a fool's staff, I +had a good blade of the duke's. For a moment it was cut and +thrust--not jest and gibe; the suddenness of the attack surprised them, +and before they could digest the humor of it the fool had slipped away." + +She leaned inertly back against the soft cushion of ivy. In the shadow +the tint on her cheeks deepened, but below the sunlight played about +her shoulders through leafy interspace, or crept in dancing spots down +over her gown and arms. + +"The duke would not be molested by these outlaws?" she continued, +pursuing her line of questioning. + +"The duke has a strong arm," he answered cautiously. "They may be well +content to permit him to come and go as he sees fit." + +"Well, well," she said, perversely, "I was only curious about the +distance and the country." + +"For leagues the land is wild, bleak, inhospitable, and then 'tis +level, monotonous, deserted, so lonely the song dies on the wandering +minstrel's lips. But the duke rides fast with his troop and soon would +cover the mountain paths and dreary wastes." + +"Nay," she interrupted impatiently, "I asked not how the duke would +ride." + +"I thought you wished to know, Princess," he replied, humbly. + +"You thought"--she began angrily, sitting erect. + +"I know, Princess; a fool should but jest, not think." + +"Why do you cross me to-day?" she demanded petulantly. "Can you not +see--" + +Abruptly she rose; impatiently moved away; but a few steps, however, +when she turned, her face suddenly free from annoyance, in her eyes a +soft decision. + +"There!" she exclaimed with a smile, half-arch, half-repentant. "How +can any one be angry on such a day--all sunshine, butterflies and +flowers!" + +He did not reply, and, mistress once more of herself, she drew near. + +"What a contrast to the stuffy palace, with all the courtiers, +ministers and lap-dogs!" she went on. "Here one can breathe. But how +shall we make the most of such a day? Stroll into the forest; sit by +the fountain; run over the grass?" + +Her voice was softer than it had been; her words fraught with +suggestions of exhilarating companionship. Did she note their effect? +At any rate, she laughed lightly. + +"But how," she resumed, surveying the great enfolding skirt, "could one +trip the sward with this monstrous gown, weighted with wreaths of +silver? Is it not but one of the many penalties of high birth? Oh, +for the short skirts of the lowly! What comfort to be arrayed like +Jacqueline!" + +"And she, Princess, doubtless thinks likewise of more gorgeous +apparel." His heart beat faster as he strove to answer her in kind. + +"A waste of cloth in vanity, as saith Master Calvin!" she replied, +lifting her arms that shone with creamy softness from the dangling +folds of heavy silk. "Were it not for this courtly encumbrance, I +should propose going into the fields with the haymakers. You may see +them now--look!--through the opening in the foliage." + +With an expression, part resignation, part regret, she leaned against +the wind-worn griffin which formed the arm of the bench. Fainter +sounded the warning of the jestress in the ears of the duke's fool; so +faint it became but a weak admonition. More and more he abandoned +himself to the pleasure of the moment. + +"To make the most of the day," the princess had said. + +How? By denying himself the sight of her ever-varying grace; by +refusing to yield to the charm of her voice. He raised his head more +boldly; through her drooping lashes a lazy light shot forth upon him, +and the shadow of a smile seemed to say: "That is better. When the +mistress is indulgent, a fool should not be unbending. A melancholy +jester is but poor company." + +And so her mood swayed his; he forgot his resolution, his pride, and +yielded to the infatuation of the moment. But when he endeavored to +call the weapons of his office to his aid, her glance and the shadow of +that smile left him witless. Jest, fancy and whim had taken flight. + +"Well?" she said. "Well, Sir Fool?" + +His color shifted; withal his half-embarrassment, there was something +graceful and noble in his bearing. + +"Madam"--he began, and stopped for want of matter to put into words. + +But if the princess was annoyed at the new-found dullness of her +_plaisant_, her manner did not show it. + +"What," she said, gently; "no news from the court; no word of intrigue; +no story of the king? I should seek a courtier for my companion, not a +jester. But there! What book have you brought?" indicating the volume +that lay upon the bench. + +"Guillaume de Lorris's 'Romance of the Rose,'" he answered, more freely. + +"Where did we leave off?" + +"Where the hero, arriving at a fountain, beheld a beautiful rose tree," +said the fool in a low tone. "Desiring the rose, he reached to gather +it--" + +"Yes, I remember. And then, Reason and Danger did battle with Love." + +"Is it your wish we continue?" he asked, taking the book in his hand. + +"I would fain learn if he gathers his rose. Nay, sit here on the bench +and I"--brightly--"may look over your shoulder ever and anon, to steal +a glimpse of the pretty pictures." + +Unquestioningly, he obeyed her, the book, illumined, gleaming in the +sunshine; the letters, red, gold, many-hued, dancing before them. Love +in crimson, the five silver shafts of Cupid, the Tower of Jealousy, a +frowning fortress, the Rose, incentive for endless striving and +endeavor--all floated by on the creamy parchment leaves. So interested +was she in these wondrous pages, executed with such precision and +perfection, with marginal adornment, and many a graceful turn and fancy +in initial letter and tail-piece, she seemed to him for the moment +rather some simple lowly maiden than a proud princess of the realm. + +"How much splendor the penman has shown!" she murmured, her breath on +his cheek. "'Tis more beautiful than the 'Life of Saint Agnes.' Is +not that figure well done? A hard, austere old man; Reason, I believe, +in monkish attire." + +"Reason, or Duty, ever partakes of the monastery," he retorted with a +short, mirthless laugh. + +"Duty; obedience!" she broke in. "Do I not know them? Please turn the +page." + +Reaching over, she herself did so, her fingers touching his, her bosom +just brushing his shoulder; and then she flushed, for it was Venus's +self the page revealed, standing on a grassy bank and showing Love the +rose. Around the queen of beauty floated a silver gauze; her hair was +indicated by threads of gold tossed luxuriantly about her; upon the +shoulder of Love rested her hand, encouraging him in his quest. Most +zealously had the monk-artist executed the lovely lady, as though some +heart-dream flowed from the ink on his pen, every line exact, each +feature radiantly shown. Some youthful anchorite, perhaps, was he, and +this the fair temptation that had assailed his fancy; such a vision as +St. Anthony wrestled with in the grievous solitude of his hermit cell. + +From the book and the picture, the jester, feeling the princess draw +back impulsively, dared look up, and, looking up, could not look down +from a loveliness surpassing the idealization on vellum of a monkish +dream. From head to foot, the sunlight bathed the princess, glistening +in her hair until it was alive with light. Even when he gazed into her +blue eyes he was conscious of a more flaming glory than lay in the +heavens of their depths; a splendent maze that shed a brightness around +her. + +"Oh, Princess," he said, wildly, "I know what the king hath told you! +Why you wear the monarch's ring!" + +"The monarch's ring!" she repeated, as recalled suddenly from wandering +thought. "Why--how know you--ah, Jacqueline--" + +"And a ring signifieth consent. You will fulfill the king's desire?" + +"The king's desire?" she replied, mechanically. "Is it not the will of +God?" + +"But your own heart?" he cried, holding her with his eager gaze. + +She laid her hand on his shoulder; her eyes answered his. Did she not +realize the tragedy the future held for him? Or did to-morrow seem far +off, and the present become her greater concern? Was hers the +philosophy of Marguerite's code which taught that the sweets of +admiration should be gathered on the moment? That a cry of pain from a +worshiping heart, however lowly, was honeyed flattery to Love's +votaries? As the jester looked at her a sudden chill seized his +breast. Jacqueline's mocking laughter rang in his ears. "Ask her the +rest yourself, most Unsophisticated Fool!" + +"Then you will obey the king?" he persisted, dully. + +"Why," she answered, smiling and bending nearer, "will you spoil the +day?" + +"You would give yourself to a man, whether or not you loved him?" + +A frown gathered on the princess' brow, but she stooped, herself picked +up the book he had dropped, brushed the earth from it and seated +herself upon the bench. Her manner was quiet, resolute; her action, a +rebuke to the forward fool. + +"Will you not read?" she said, with an inscrutable look. + +"True," he exclaimed, rising quickly, "I was sent to amuse--" + +"And you have found me a too exacting mistress?" she asked, more +gently, checking the implied reproach. + +"Exacting!" he repeated. + +"What then?" she said, half sadly. + +"Nothing," he answered. + +But in his mind Jacqueline's scornful words reiterated themselves: +"Think you the princess will wear the willow?" + +Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically sinking at her +feet. The quest, the idle quest! Was it but an awakening? So far lay +the branch above his reach! His voice rose and fell with the mystic +rhythm of the meter, now dwelling on death and danger, the shortness of +life, the sweetness of passion; then telling the pleasures of the dance. + +[Illustration: Taking the book, he opened it at random, mechanically +sinking at her feet.] + +Lower fell the princess' hand until it touched the reader's head; +touched and lingered. Before the fool's eyes the letters of the book +became blurred and then faded away. Doubt, misgiving, fear, vanished +on the moment. The flower she had given him seemed to burn on his +heart. He forgot the decree of the king; her equivocation; the +unanswered question. Passionately he thrust his hand into his doublet. + +"The rose and love are one," he cried. "The rose is--" + +"Pardon me, Madam," said a voice, and Jacqueline, clear-eyed, calm, +stood before them; "the fan was not in the king's ante-chamber, or I +should have been here sooner. I trust you have not been put out for +want of it?" + +"Not at all, Jacqueline," returned her mistress, with a natural, +tranquil movement, "although"--sharply--"you were gone longer than you +should have been!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE + +Proficient as a poet, bold as a soldier, adroit as a statesman, the +king was, nevertheless, most fitted for the convivial role of host, and +no part that he played in his varied repertoire afforded such +opportunity for the nice display of his unusual talents. History hath +sneered at his rhymes as flat, stale and unprofitable; upon the bloody +field he had been defeated and subsequently imprisoned; clever in +diplomacy, the sagacity of his opponent, Charles, had in truth +overmatched him; yet as the ostentatious Boniface, in grand bib and +tucker, prodigal in joviality and good-fellowship, his reputation rests +without a flaw. + +In anticipation of the arrival of the duke and his suite, the monarch +had ordered a series of festivities and entertainments such as would +gratify his desire for pageantry and display, and at the same time do +honor to a guest who was to espouse one of France's fairest wards. To +the castle repaired tailors, embroiderers and goldsmiths to make and +devise garments for knights, ladies, lords and esquires and for the +trapping, decking and adorning of coursers, jennets and palfries. +Bales of silks and satins had been long since conveyed thither from +distant Paris, in anticipation of the coming marriage; and the old +Norman castle that had once resounded with the clashing of arms, the +snap of the cross-bow and the clang of the catapult now echoed with the +merry stir and flurry of peace; a bee-hive of activity wherein were no +drones; marshal, grand master, chancellor and grand chamberlain +preparing for mysteries and hunting parties; dowagers, matrons and +maids making ready for balls and other pastimes. + +With this new influx of population to the pleasure palace came a +plentiful sprinkling of wayside minstrels, jugglers, mountebanks, +dulcimer and lute players, street poets who sang the praises of some +fair cobbleress or pretty sausage girl; scamps of students from the +Paris haunts of vice, loose fellows who conned the classical poets by +day and took a purse by night; dancers, dwarfs, and merry men all, not +averse to-- + + "Haunch and ham, and cheek and chine + While they gurgled their throats with right good wine." + + +Here sauntered a wit-cracker, a peacock feather in his hand, arm-in-arm +with an impoverished "banquet beagle," or "feast hound;" there passed a +jack in green, a bladder under his arm and a tankard at his belt, with +which latter he begged that sort of alms that flows from a spigot. As +vagrant followers hover on the verge of a camp, or watchful vultures +circle around their prey, so these lower parasites (distinct from the +other well-born, more aristocratic genus of smell-feast) prowled +vigilantly without the castle walls and beyond the limits of the royal +pleasure grounds, finding occasional employment from lackey, valet or +equerry, who, imitating their betters, amused themselves betimes with +some low buffoon or vulgar clown and rewarded him for his gross stories +and antics with a crust and a cup. + +Faith, in those thrice happy days, every henchman could whistle to him +his shabby poet, and every ostler hold court in the stable, with a +_visdase_, or ass face, to keep the audience in a roar, and a +nimble-footed trull to set them into ecstasies. But woe betide the +honest wayfarer who strolled beyond the orderly precincts of the king's +walls after dusk; for if some street coxcomb was too drunk to rob him, +or a ribald Latin scholar saw him not, he surely ran into a nest of +pavement tumblers or cellar poets who forthwith stripped him and turned +him loose in the all-insufficient garb of nature. + +A fantastic, waggish crew--yet Francis minded them not, so long as they +observed sufficient etiquette to keep their distance from his royal +person and immediate following. This nice decorum, however, be it +said, was an unwritten law with these waifs and scatterlings, knowing +the merry monarch who tolerated them afar would feel no compunction at +hanging them severally, or in squads, from the convenient branches of +the trees surrounding the castle, should the humor seize him that such +summary chastisement were best for their morals and the welfare of the +community. Thus, though bold, were they also shy, drinking humbly from +a black-jack quart in the kitchen and vanishing docilely enough when +the sovereign cook bid them be gone with warm words or by flinging over +them ladles of hot soup. + +One bright morning, like rabbits peeping from their holes when they +hear the footfall of the hunter, these field ramblers and wayside +peregrinators were all agog, emerging from grassy cover and thicket +retreat, to gaze open-mouthed after a gay cavalcade that issued from +the castle gate, and rode southward with waving banner and piercing +trumpet note. + +"The king, knaves!" cried a grimy estray with bells upon his person +that jingled like those of a Jewish high priest, to a group of players +and gamesters. "Already my mouth waters at the thoughts of the wedding +feast, and the scraps and bones that will be thrown away. There I +warrant you we'll all find hearty cheer." + +"Why are fools ever welcome at a wedding?" asked a singing scholar. + +"Because there are two in the ceremony, and the rest make the chorus," +answered a philandering mime. + +"And our merry monarch goeth down the road to meet one of the two," +said a close-cropped rogue. + +"Well, he's a brave knight to come so far to yield himself captive--to +a woman," returned the student. "As Horace saith--" + +"Thou calumniator! shrimp of a man!" exclaimed a dark-browed drab +dressed like a gipsy, seizing the scholar's short doublet. "An I get +at you--" + +"Take the garment, you harridan, not the man," he retorted, slipping +deftly out of the jerkin and dancing away to a safe distance. + +"Ha! there's wedded bliss for you!" laughed a man in Franciscan attire, +a rough rascal disguised as one of those priests called "God's fools" +or "Christ's fools." "A week ago, when I married them, they were +billing and cooing. But to your holes, children! When the king +returns he would not have his guest gaze upon such scarecrows and +trollops. Disperse, and Beelzebub take you!" And as the group +scattered the sound of beating horses' hoofs died away in the distance. + +Francis was unusually good-humored that day. Apprised by a herald that +the duke and his followers were nearing the castle, he had sent the +messenger back announcing a trysting-place, and now rode forth to meet +his guest and escort him with honor to the castle. Upon a noble steed, +black as night, the monarch sat; the saddle and trappings crimson in +color; the stirrup and bit, of gold; a jaunty plume of white ostrich +feathers waving above the jetty mane. The costume of the king's +stalwart figure displayed a splendid suit of plate armor, enriched with +chased work and ornament in gold, his appearance in keeping with his +character of monarch and knight who sought to revive the spirit of +chivalry at a period when the practical modern tendencies seriously +threatened to undermine the practices and traditions of a once-exalted, +but now fast-failing, institution for the regulation of morals and +conduct. + +By his side, less radiant only in comparison with the august monarch, +rode the rank and quality of the realm, with silver and spangles, and +fluttering plumes, scabbards gleaming with jewels, and girdles adorned +with rich settings. Furiously galloping behind came an attenuated +snow-white charger, bearing the hunchback. A bladder dangling over his +shoulder, his bagpipe hanging from his waist, Triboulet bobbed +frantically up and down, clinging desperately to the saddle or winding +his legs about the charger's neck to preserve his equilibrium. + +"You would better jog along more quietly, fool," observed a courtier, +warningly, "or you will suffer for it." + +"Alas, sir," replied Triboulet, "I stick my spurs into my horse to keep +him quiet, but the more I prick him the more unruly I find the +obstinate beast." + +The king, who heard, laughed, and the dwarf's heart immediately +expanded, auguring he should soon be restored to the monarch's favor; +for since the night the buffoon had failed to answer the duke's jester +in Fools' hall Francis had received Triboulet's advances and small +pleasantries with terrifying coldness. In fact, the dwarf had never +passed such an uncomfortable period during his career, save on one +memorable occasion when a band of mischievous pages had set upon him, +carried him to the scaffold and nailed his enormous ears to the beam. +Now, reassured, burning with delight, the jester spurred presumptuously +forward, no longer feeling bound to lag in the rear. + +"Go back!" cried an angry knight. "I can not bear a fool on my right." + +Triboulet reined in his horse, but pushed ahead on the other side of +the rider who had spoken. + +"I can bear it very well," he retorted and found his proud reward in +the company's laughter. The remark, moreover, passed from lip to lip +to the king, and the misshapen jester felt his little cup of happiness +filled once more to the brim; his old prestige seemed coming back to +him; holding his position in the road, he gazed disdainfully at the +disgruntled knight, and the other returned the look with one of hearty +ill-will, muttering an imprecation and warning just above his breath. + +"Sire," called out Triboulet, loudly, now above fearing courtier, +knight or any high official of the realm, "the Count de Piseione says +he will beat me to death." + +"If he does," good-naturedly answered the king, "I will hang him +quarter of an hour afterward." + +"Please, your Majesty, hang him quarter of an hour before." + +Thus right pleasantly, with quip and jest, and many a smart sally, did +the monarch and his retinue draw near the meeting spot, where at a fork +of the road, beneath the shade of overhanging branches, were already +assembled a goodly group of soldiers. Beyond them, at a respectful +distance, stood many beasts of burden, heavily laden, the great packs +promising stores of rare and costly gifts. At the head of the troopers +was a thick-set man, with broad shoulders and brawny frame, mounted on +a powerful gray horse. This leader, whom the approaching company +surmised to be the duke, sat motionless as a statue, gazing steadfastly +at the shining armor and gallant figure of the king who spurred to him, +a friendly greeting on his lips. Then, lightly springing to earth and +throwing his bridle to one of his troop, the foreign noble approached +the royal horseman on foot, and, bending his head, knelt before him, +respectfully kissing his hand. + +Grim, silent, with hardened faces, the duke's men regarded the scene, +their dusty attire (albeit rich enough beneath the marks of travel), +sun-burned visages and stolid manner in marked contrast with the +bearing and aspect of the king's gay following. One of the alien troop +pulled a red mustachio fiercely and eyed a blithe popinjay of the court +with quizzical superiority; the others remained, stock-still, but +observant. + +"I see you are punctual and waiting, noble sir!" said the monarch gaily +when the initial formalities had been complied with. "But that is no +more than should be expected from--an impatient bridegroom." Then, +gazing curiously, yet with penetrating look, on the features of his +guest, who now had arisen: "You appear slightly older than I expected +from the letter of our dear friend and brother, the emperor." + +And truly the duke's appearance was that of a man more nearly five and +thirty than five and twenty; his face was brown from exposure and upon +his brow the scar of an old sword wound; yet a fearless, dashing +countenance; an eye that could kindle to headlong passion, and a +thick-set neck and heavy jaw that bespoke the foeman who would battle +to the last breath. + +"Older, Sire?" he replied with composure. "That must needs be, since +living in the saddle ages a man." + +"Truly," returned the monarch, instinctively laying his hand upon his +sword. "The clash of arms, the thunder of hoofs, the waving +banners--yes, Glory is a seductive mistress who robs us of our youth. +Have I not wooed her and found--gray hairs? Who shall give me back +those days?" + +"History, your Majesty, shall give them to posterity," answered the +duke. + +"Even those we lost to Charles?" muttered the king, a shadow passing +over his countenance. + +"Glory, Sire, is a mistress sometimes fickle in her favors." + +"And yet we live but for--" He broke off abruptly, and with the eye of +a trained commander surveyed the duke's men. "Daredevils; daredevils, +all!" he muttered. + +"Rough-looking fellows, Sire!" apologized the duke, "but tried and +faithful soldiers. Somewhat dusty and road-worn." And his eyes turned +meaningly to the king's suite; the flashing girdles of silver, the +shining hilts, the gorgeous cloaks and even the adornment of ribbons. + +"Nay," said Francis meditatively, "on a rough journey I would fain have +these fire-eaters at my back. They look as though they could cut and +hew." + +"Moderately well, your Majesty," answered the duke with modesty. + +"Will you mount, noble sir, and ride with me? Yonder is the castle, +and in the castle is a certain fair lady whom you, no doubt, fain would +see." + +Long gazed the Duke of Friedwald at the distant venerable pile of +stone; the majestic turrets and towers softly floating in a dreamy +mist; the setting, fresh, woody, green. Long he looked at this +inviting picture and then breathed deeply. + +"Ah, Sire, I would the meeting were over," he remarked in a low voice. + +"Why so, sir?" asked the king in surprise. "Do you fear you will not +fancy the lady?" + +"I fear she may not fancy me," retorted the nobleman, soberly. "Your +own remark, Sire; that I appear older than you had expected?" he +continued, gravely, significantly. + +"A recommendation in your favor," laughed the monarch. "I ever prefer +sober manhood to callow youth about me. The one is a prop, stanch, +tried; the other a reed that bends this way and that, or breaks when +you press it too hard." + +"I should be lacking in gratitude were I not deeply appreciative of +your Majesty's singular kindness," replied the duke, his face flushing +with pleasure. "But your Majesty knows womankind--" + +"Nay; I've studied them a little, but know them not," retorted Francis, +dryly. + +"And it is unlikely the lady may find me all her imagination has +depicted," went on the nobleman, with palpable embarrassment. "My +noble master, the emperor, hath--regarding me still as but a stripling +from his own vantage point of age and wisdom--represented me a young +man in his proposals. But though I'm younger than I look, and feel no +older than I am, how young, or how old, shall I seem to the princess?" + +"Young enough to be her husband; old enough for her to look up to," +answered the monarch, reassuringly. + +"Again," objected the duke, meditatively regarding the castle, "she may +be expecting a handsome, debonair bridegroom, and when she sees +me"--ruefully surveying himself--"what will she say?" + +"What will she say? 'Yes' at the altar. Is it not enough?" Leaning +back in his saddle, the king's face expressed the enjoyment he derived +from the conversation with the backward and too conscientious soldier. +Here was a groom whose wedding promised the court much amusement and +satisfaction in those jovial days of jesting and merry-making. + +"Come," resumed the king, encouragingly, "I'll warrant you more forward +in battle." + +"Battle!" said the duke. "That's another matter. To see your foeman's +gleaming eyes!--but hers!-- Should they express anger, disdain--" + +"Let yours show but the greater wrath," advised the king, +complaisantly. "In love, like cures like! Let me be your physician; +I'll warrant you'll find me proficient." + +"I've heard your Majesty hath practised deeply," returned the noble, +readily, in spite of his perplexity. + +"Deeply?" Francis lifted his brow. "I am but a superficial student; +master only of the rudiments; no graduate of the college of love. +Moreover, I've heard the letters you exchanged were--ahem!--well-enough +writ. You pressed your suit warmly for one unlearned, a mere novice." + +"Because I had seen her face, your Majesty; had it ever before me in +the painted miniature. Any man"--with a rough eloquence and fervor +that impressed the king with the depth of his passion--"could well +worship at that fair shrine, but that she--" + +"Forward, I beg you!" interrupted the king. "Womankind are but frail +flesh, sir; easily molded; easily won. She is a woman; therefore, +soft, yielding; yours for the asking. You are over valorous at a +distance; too timorous near her. Approach her boldly, and, though she +were Diana's self, I'll answer for your victory! Eh, Triboulet, are +our ladies cold-hearted, callous, indifferent to merit?" + +"Cold-hearted?" answered the dwarf, with a ludicrous expression of +feigned rapture. "Were I to relate--but, no, my tongue is +silent--discretion--your Majesty will understand--" + +"Well," said the duke, "with encouragement from the best-favored +scholar in the kingdom and the--ugliest, I should proceed with more +confidence." + +"Best-favored!" smirked the little monster. "Really, you flatter me." + +"A whimsical fellow, Sire," vouchsafed the nobleman. + +"When he is not tiresome," answered the monarch. "On, gentlemen!" And +the cavalcade swept down the road toward the castle. Far behind, with +cracking of whip, followed the mules and their drivers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE COURT OF LOVE + +The rough Norman banqueting hall, with its massive rafters, frayed +tapestries and rude adornment of bristling heads of savage boars, +wide-spreading antlers and other trophies of the chase, had long since +been replaced under the king's directions by an apartment more to the +satisfaction of a monarch who was a zealous and lavish patron of the +brilliant Italian school of painting, sculpture and architecture. +Those barbarous decorations, celebrating the hunt, had been relegated +to subterranean regions, the walls dismantled, and the room turned over +to a corps of artists of such renown as Da Vinci, Francois Clouet, Jean +Cousin and the half-mad Benvenuto Cellini. + +Where formerly wild boars had snarled with wicked display of yellow +tusks from the blackened plaster, now Cleopatra, in the full bloom of +her mature charms, reclined with her stalwart Roman hero in tender +dalliance. Where once the proud and stately head of the majestic stag +had hung over door and panel, now classic nymphs bathed in a pellucid +pool, and the only horns were those which adorned the head of him who, +according to the story, dared gaze through the foliage, and was +rewarded for his too curious interest by--that then common form of +punishment--metamorphosis. + +Overhead, vast transformation from the great ribbed beams of oak and +barren interspaces, graceful Peri floated on snow-white clouds and +roguish Cupids swam through the azure depths, to the edification of +nondescript prodigies, who constituted the massive molding, or frame, +to the decorative scene. The ancient fireplace, broad and deep, had +given way to an ornate mantel of marble; the capacious tankard and +rotund pewter pot of olden times, suggestive of mighty butts of honest +beer, had been supplanted by goblets of silver and gold, covered with +scroll work, arabesques or chiseled figures. + +In this spacious hall, begilt, bemirrored, assembled, on the evening of +the duke's arrival, Francis, his court and the guest of the occasion. +From wide-spreading chandeliers, with their pendent, pear-shaped +crystals, a thousand candles threw a flood of light upon the scene, as +'mid trumpet blast and softer strains of harmony, King Francis and good +Queen Eleanor led the way to the royal table; and thereat, shortly +after, at a signal from the monarch, the company seated themselves. + +At the head of the board was the king; on his right, his lawful +consort, pale, composed, saintly; on his left, the Countess d'Etampes, +rosy, animated, free. Next to the favorite sat the "fairest among the +learned and most learned among the fair," Marguerite, beloved sister of +Francis, and her second husband, Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre; +opposite, Henry the dauphin and his spouse, Catharine de Medici; not +far removed, Diane de Poitiers, whose dark eyes Henry ever openly +sought, while Catharine complacently talked affairs of state with the +chancellor. + +In the midst of this illustrious company, and further surrounded by a +plentiful sprinkling of ruddy cardinals, fat bishops, constables, +governors, marshals and ladies, more or less distinguished through +birth or beauty, the Duke of Friedwald and the Princess Louise were a +center of attraction for the wits whose somewhat free jests the license +of the times permitted. At the foot of the royal table places had been +provided for Marot, Caillette, Triboulet, Jacqueline and the duke's +fool. + +The heads and figures of the ladies of the court were for the most part +fearfully and wonderfully bedecked. In some instances the +horned-shaped head-dress had been followed by yet loftier steeples, +"battlements to combat God with gold, silver and pearls; wherein the +lances were great forked pins, and the arrows the little pins." With +more simplicity, the Princess Louise wore her hair cased in a network +of gold and jewels, and the austere French moralist who assailed the +higher bristling ramparts of vanity would, perhaps, have borne in +silence this more modest bastion of the flesh and the devil. + +But the face beneath was a greater danger to those who hold that beauty +is a menace to salvation; on her cheek hung the rosy banner of youth; +in her eyes shone the bright arrows of conquest. And the duke, +discarding his backwardness, as a soldier his cloak before battle, +watched the hue that mantled her face, proffered his open breast to the +shining lances of her gaze, and capitulated unconditionally before the +smile of victory on her blood-red lips. With his great shoulders, his +massive neck and broad, virile face, he seemed a Cyclops among pygmies +in that gathering of slender courtiers and she but a flower by his side. + +"I thought, Sire, your duke was timorous, bashful as a boy?" murmured +the Countess d'Etampes to the king. + +"He was--on the road!" answered the king thoughtfully. + +"Then has he marvelously recovered his assurance." + +"In love, Madam, as in battle, the zest grows with the fray," said +Francis with meaning. + +"And the duke is reputed a brave soldier. He looks very strong, as +if--almost--he might succeed with any woman he were minded to carry +off." + +"To carry off!" laughed the monarch. "'Tis he, Madam, who will be +bound in tethers! At heart he's shame-faced as a callow younker." + +She wilfully shook her head. "No woman could keep him in +leading-strings, your Majesty. There is something domineering, savage, +crushing, in his hand. Look at it, on the table there. Is it not +mighty as an iron gauntlet? What other man at the board has such a +brutal hand? The strength in it makes me shudder. Will she not bend +to it; kiss it?" + +With amused superiority Francis regarded his fair neighbor on the left. +"Women, Madam, are but hasty judges of men," he said, dryly, "and then +'tis fancy more than reason which governs their verdict. If the duke +should seem over-confident, 'tis to hide a certain modesty, and not to +appear out of confidence in so large a company." + +"And yet, Sire, at their first meeting he did not comport himself like +one easily put out," persisted the favorite. "''Tis with a cold hand +you welcome me, Princess,' he said, noticing her insensibility of +manner. Then rising he gazed upon her long and deep, as a soldier +might survey a battlefield. 'And yet,' said he, still holding her +fingers, 'I'll warrant me warm blood could course through this little +hand.' At that the color rose in her cheek; behold! the statue was +touched with life and she looked at him as drawn against her will. 'If +my hand be cold, my Lord,' she answered, courteously, 'it belies the +character of your welcome.' Whereupon he laughed like one who has had +a victory." + +"Beshrew me," said the king, modifying his last observation, "if women +are not all eyes and ears! I neither heard nor saw all that. A little +constraint--a natural blush to punctuate their talk--the meeting seemed +conventional enough. 'Tis through your own romantic heart you looked, +Anne!" + +Quicker circulated the goblets of silver, gold and crystal; faster +babbled the pretty lips; brighter grew the eyes beneath the stupendous +towers that crowned the heads of the court ladies. All talked at once +without disturbing the king, who now whispered soft nothings in the ear +of the countess. From the other tables in the hall arose a varying +cadence of clatter and laughter, which increased with the noise and din +of the king's own board; a clamor always just subservient to the deeper +chorus of the royal party; an accompaniment, as it were, full yet +unobtrusive, to the hubbub from the more exalted company. But the +princely uproar growing louder, the grand-masters, grand-chamberlain, +gentlemen of the chamber and lesser lights of the church were enabled +to carol and make merry with less restraint. The pungent smell of +roses permeated the hall, arising from a screen of shrubbery at one end +of the room wherein sang a hundred silver-toned birds. + +At the king's table Caillette recited a merry roundelay, and Triboulet +roared out tale after tale, each more full-flavored than the one that +went before it, flinging smart sayings at marriage, and drawing a +ludicrous picture of the betrayed husband. Villot, a lily in his hand, +which he regarded ever sentimentally, caroled the boisterous espousals +of a yokel and a cinder-wench, while Marot and a bishop contended in a +heated argument regarding the translation of a certain passage of +Ovid's "Art of Love." + +Singularly pale, unusually tranquil, the duke's fool furtively watched +his master and the princess. In contrast to his composure, +Jacqueline's merriment seemed the more unrestrained; she laughed like a +witch; her hands flashed with pretty gestures, and she had so tossed +her head, her hair floated around her, wild and disordered. + +"Why are you so quiet?" she whispered to the duke's fool. + +"Is there not enough merriment, mistress?" he answered, gravely. + +"There can never be any to spare," she said. "And you would do well to +remember your office." + +"What do you mean?" he asked, absently. + +"That you have many enemies; that you can not live at court with a +jaundiced countenance. Heigh-ho! Alackaday! You should hie yourself +back to the woods and barren wastes of Friedwald, Master Fool." + +Her sparkling glance returned to the exhilarating scene. Well had the +assemblage been called a court of love. Now soft eyes invited burning +glances, and graceful heads swayed alluringly toward the handsome +cavaliers who momentarily had found lodgment in hearts which, like +palaces, had many ante-chambers. From hidden recesses, strains of +music filled the room with tinkling passages of sensuous, but illusive, +harmony; a dream of ardor, masked in the daintiness of a minuet. + +Upon the back of the princess' chair rested one of the duke's hands; +with the other he lifted his glass--a frail thing in fingers better +adapted for a sword-hilt or massive battle mace. + +"Drink, Princess," he said, bending over her, "to--our meeting!" + +Her eyelids fluttered before his look; her breast rose a little. The +scar on his brow held her gaze, as one fascinated, but she drew away +slightly and mechanically sought the tiny golden goblet at her elbow. +Dreamily, dreamily, sounded the rhythmical music; heavily, so heavily +hung the perfume in the air! Full of mist seemed the hall; the king, +the queen, the countess, all of the party, unreal, fanciful. The touch +of the goblet chilled her lips and she put it down quickly. + +"Is not the wine to your liking?" he asked, his hand tightening on her +chair. "Perhaps it is too sour for your taste?" + +"Nay; I thought it rather sweet," she answered. "Oh, I meant not +that--" + +"It _is_ sweet wine, Princess," he said, setting down an empty glass. +"Sweeter than our Austrian vintage. Not white and thin and watery, but +red--red as blood--red as your heart's blood--or mine--" + +Crash! from the hand of the duke's jester had fallen a goblet to the +floor. The princess started, turned; for a moment their glances +bridged the distance from where she sat, to the fools' end of the +table; then hers slowly fell; slowly, and she passed a hand, whereon +shone the king's ring, across her brow; looked up, as though once more +to span infinity with her gaze, when her eyes fell short and met the +duke's. Deliberately he lifted his filled glass. + +"Red as your heart's blood--and mine--my love!" he repeated; and then +stared sharply across the table at his jester. + +Triboulet, swaggering in his chair, so high his feet could not touch +the floor, surveyed the broken glass, the duke and the duke's fool. +For some time his vigilant eyes had been covertly studying the +unconscious foreign jester, noting sundry signs and symptoms. Nor had +the princess' look when the goblet had fallen, been lost upon the +misshapen buffoon; alert, wide-awake, his mind, quick to suspect, +reached a sudden conclusion; a conclusion which by rapid process of +reasoning became a conviction. Privileged to speak where others must +need be silent, his profession that of prying subtlety, which spared +neither rank nor power so that it raised a laugh, he felt no hesitation +in publishing the information he had gleaned by his superior mental +nimbleness. + +"Ho! ho!" he bellowed, the better to attract attention to himself. +"The duke sent his fool to amuse his betrothed and the fool hath lost +his heart to his mistress." + +The king left off his whispering, Catharine turned from the chancellor, +Diane ceased furtively to regard Caillette, while the Queen of Navarre +laughed nervously and murmured: + +"Princess and jester! It will make another tale." + +But Henry of Navarre looked gravely down. He, and Francis' queen--a +passive spectator at the feast--and a bishop, whose interest lay in a +truffled capon, alone followed not the direction of the duke's eyes. +The fair favorite of the king clapped her hands, but the monarch +frowned, not having forgotten that night in Fools' hall when the jester +had appointed rogues to offices. + +"What is this? A fool in love with the princess?" said the king, +ominously. + +"Even so, your Majesty," cried Triboulet. "But a moment ago Duke +Robert did whisper to his bride-to-be, and the fool's hand trembled +like a leaf and dropped his glass. Tra! la! la! What a situation! +Holy Saint-Bagpipe! Here's a comedy in high life!" + +"A comedy!" repeated the duke, and half-rose from his chair, regarding +his fool with surprise and anger. + +Now Triboulet roared. Had he not in the past attained his high +position of favorite jester to the king by his very foolhardihood? And +were not trusting lovers and all too-confiding husbands the legitimate +butt of all jesting? + +"Look at the fool," he went on exultantly. "Does any one doubt his +guilt? He is silent; he can not speak!" + +And, indeed, the foreign jester seemed momentarily disconcerted, +although he strove to appear indifferent. + +"A presumptuous knave!" muttered Francis, darkly. "He saved his neck +once only by a trick." + +"Oh, the duke would not mind, now, if you were to hang him, Sire," +answered Triboulet, blithely. + +"True!" smiled the king. "The question of breach of hospitality might +not occur. What have you to say, fool?" he continued, turning to the +object of the buffoon's insidious and malicious attack. + +"Laugh!" whispered Jacqueline, furtively pressing the arm of the duke's +fool. "Laugh, or--" + +The touch and her words appeared to arouse him from his lethargy and +the jester arose, but not before the princess, with flaming cheeks, but +proud bearing, had cast a quick glance in his direction; a glance +half-appealing, half-resentful. Idly the joculatrix regarded him, her +hands upon the table playing with the glasses, her lips faintly +repeating the words of a roundelay: + + "For love is madness; + While madness rules, + Fools in love + Remain but fools! + Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + Remain but fools!" + + +With the eyes of the company upon him, the duke's fool impassively +studied the carven figure on his stick. If he felt fear of the king's +anger, the resentment of his master, or the malice of the dwarf, his +countenance now did not betray it. He had seemed about to speak, but +did not. + +"Well, rascal, well?" called out the king. "Do you think your wand +will save you, sirrah?" he added impatiently. + +"Why not, Sire?" tranquilly answered the jester. + +The duke's face grew more and more ominous. Still the fool, looking +up, did not quail, but met his master's glance freely, and those who +observed noted it was the duke who first turned away, although his jaw +was set and his great fist clenched. Swiftly the jester's gaze again +sought the princess, but she had plucked a spray of blossoms from the +table and was holding it to her lips, mindlessly biting the fragrant +leaves; and those who followed the fool's glance saw in her but a +picture of languid unconcern such as became a kinswoman of the king. + +Almost imperceptibly the brow of the _plaisant_ clouded, but recovering +himself, he confronted the king with an enigmatic smile. + +"Why not?" he repeated. "In the Court of Love is not the fool's wand +greater than a king's miter or the pastoral staff of the Abbe de Lys? +Besides, Sire," he added quickly, "as a fool takes it, in the Court of +Love, not to love--is treason!" + +"Good!" murmured the bishop, still eating. "Not to love is treason!" + +"Who alone is the culprit? Whose heart alone is filled with umbrage, +hatred, pique?" + +"Triboulet! Triboulet, the traitor!" suddenly cried the countess, +sprightly as a child. + +"Yes; Triboulet, the traitor!" exclaimed the fool, pointing the wand of +folly at the hunchback. + +Even Francis' offended face relaxed. "Positively, I shall never hang +this fellow," he said grimly to Marguerite. + +"Before this tribunal of ladies whose beauty and learning he has +outraged by his disaffection and spleen, I summon him for trial," +continued the duke's jester. "Triboulet, arise! Illustrious ladies of +the Court of Love, the offender is in your hands." + +"A little monster!" spoke up Diane with a gesture of aversion, real or +affected. + +"He is certainly somewhat reprehensible," added the Queen of Navarre, +whose tender heart ever inclined to the weaker side. + +"An unconscionable rogue," murmured the bishop, complacently clasping +his fat fingers before him. + +"So he is already tried by the Church and the tribunal," went on the +_plaisant_ of the duke. "The Church hath excommunicated him and the +Court of Love--" + +"Will banish him!" exclaimed the countess mirthfully, regarding the +captious monarch with mock defiance. + +"Yes, banish him; turn him out," echoed Catharine, carelessly. + +"But, your Majesty!" remonstrated the alarmed Triboulet, turning to the +monarch whose favor he had that day enjoyed. + +"Appeal not to me!" returned Francis, sternly. "Here Venus rules!" +And he gallantly inclined to the countess. + +"Venus at whom he scoffs!" broke in Jacqueline, shrilly, leaning back +in her chair with her hands on her hips. + +"You witch!--you sorceress!--it was you who"--he hissed with venomous +glance. + +"Hear him!" exclaimed the girl, lightly. "He calls me +witch--sorceress--because, forsooth, I am a woman!" + +"A woman--a devil"--muttered Triboulet between his closed teeth. + +"And now," she cried, rising, impetuously, "he says that women are +devils! What shall we do with him?" + +"Pelt him out!" answered the countess. "Pelt him out!" + +With peals of merriment and triumphant shouts, the court, of one +accord, directed a fusillade of fruits, nuts and other viands at the +head and person of the raging and hapless buffoon, the countess +herself, apple in hand--Eve bent upon vengeance--leading in the +assault. The other tables responded with a cross-fire, and heavier +articles succeeded lighter, until after having endured the continuous +attack for a few moments as best he might, the unlucky dwarf raised his +arms above his head and fairly fled from the hall, leaving behind in +his haste a bagpipe and his wooden sword. + +"So may all traitors be punished!" said the bishop unctuously, as he +reached for a dish of confections that had escaped the fair hands in +search of ammunition. + +"Well," laughed the Countess d'Etampes, "if we have the support of the +Church--" + +"I will confess you, myself, Madam," gallantly retorted the bishop. + +"And all the Court of Love?" asked Marguerite. + +"Ah, your Highness--all?--I am old--in need of rest--but with an +assistant or two--" + +"Assistant or two!" interrupted Catharine, imperiously. "Would the +task then be so great?" + +"Nay"--with gentle expostulation--"but you--members of the court--are +many; not your sins." + +"I suppose," whispered Jacqueline to the duke's fool, when the +attention of the company was thus withdrawn from the jester's end of +the table, "you think yourself in fine favor now?" + +"Yes," he answered, absently; "thanks to your suggestion." + +"My suggestion!" she repeated, scornfully. "I gave you none." + +"Well, then, your crossing Triboulet." + +"Oh, that," she replied, picking at a bunch of grapes, "was to defend +my sex, not you." + +"But your warning for me to laugh?" + +"Why," she returned, demurely, "'twas to see you go more gallantly to +your execution. And"--eating a grape--"that is reasonably certain to +be your fate. You've only made a few more enemies to-night--the +duke--the--" + +"Name them not, fair Jacqueline," he retorted, indifferent. + +"True; you'll soon learn for yourself," she answered sharply. "I think +I should prefer to be in Triboulet's place to yours at present." + +"Why," he said, with a strange laugh, "there's a day for the duke and a +day for the fool." + +Deliberately she turned from him and sang very softly: + + "For love is madness; + (A dunce on a stool!) + A king in love, + A king and a fool! + Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + A king and a fool!" + + +The monarch bent over the countess; Diane and the dauphin exchanged +messages with their eyes; Catharine smiled on Villot; the princess +listened to her betrothed; and the jestress alone of all the ladies +leaned back and sang, heart-free. But suddenly she again broke off and +looked curiously at the duke's _plaisant_. + +"Why did you not answer them with what was first in your mind?" she +asked. + +"What was that?" he said, starting. + +"How can I tell?" she returned, studying him. + +"You can tell a great deal," he replied. + + "Sing hoddy-doddy, + Noddy! + The duke and the fool"-- + +she hummed, deigning no further words. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BRIEF TRUCE + +"Turn out these torch-bearers, human candlesticks, and _valets de +chambre_, and I'll get me to bed," commanded the duke, standing in the +center of his room, and the trooper with the fierce red mustaches waved +a swarm of pages, cup-bearers and attendants from the door and closed +it. "How are the men quartered, Johann?" + +"With all the creature comforts, my Lord," answered the soldier. "The +king hath dressed them like popinjays; they drink overmuch, dice, and +run after the maids, but otherwise are well-behaved." + +"Drink; dice; run after the maids!" said the noble, gazing thoughtfully +downward. "Hold them in check, Johann, as though we were in a +campaign." + +"Yes, my Lord," returned the man, staring impassively before him. + +"And especially keep them from the kitchen wenches. There's more +danger in these _femmes de chambre_, laundresses and scullery +Cinderellas than in a column of glittering steel. Remember, no Court +of Love in the scullery. Now go! Yet stay, Johann!" he added, +suddenly. "This fool of ours is a bold fellow. Look to him well!" + +Saluting respectfully, an expression of quick intelligence on his +florid features, the trooper backed out of the room. With his hands +behind him, his shoulders bent forward, the duke long pondered, his +look, keen and discerning; his perspicacity clear, in spite of Francis' +wine, or the intoxication of the princess' eyes. Although the noble's +glance seemed bent on vacancy, it was himself as well as others he was +studying; weighing the memorable events of the evening; recalling to +mind every word with the princess; reviewing her features, the +softening of her cold disdain; now, mentally distrustful, because she +was a woman; again, confident he already dominated the citadel of her +heart. + +But a new element had entered into the field; an element +unforeseen--the jester!--and, although not attaching great importance +to this possible source of hazard in his plans for the future, the duke +was too good a soldier to disregard any risk, however slight. In love +and battle, every peril should be avoided; every vulnerable point made +impregnable. Besides, the fool was audacious, foolhardy; his language +of covert mockery and quick wit proved him an intelligent antagonist, +who might become a desperate one. + +"A woman and a fool," muttered the duke, striding with quick step +across his chamber, "are two uncertain quantities. The one should be +subjected; the other removed!" + +Museful, he stood before the niche, wherein shone a cross of silver, +set with amethysts and turquoise, his rugged face lighted by the +uncertain flickering of the candles. + +"Removed!" he repeated, contemplatively. "And she--" + +The clear tinkling of a bell broke in upon his cogitation; a faint, +musical sound that seemed at his very elbow. He wheeled about +abruptly, saw nothing save the mysterious shadows of the curtains, the +flickering lamps, the dark outline of the canopy of the great bed. +Instinctively he knew he was not alone, and yet his gaze, rapidly +sweeping the apartment, failed to perceive an intruder. + +Again the tinkling, a low laugh, and, turning sharply toward an alcove +from whence the sounds came, the duke, through the half-light and +trailing, sombrous shadows of its entrance, perceived a figure in a +chair. From a candle set in a spiked, enameled stick, a yellow +glimmering, that came and went with the sputtering flame, rested upon +an ironical face, a graceful figure in motley and a wand with the +jester's head and the bell. Without rising, the _plaisant_ quizzically +regarded the surprised nobleman, who in spite of his self-control had +stepped back involuntarily at the suddenness of the encounter. + +"Good evening, my Lord," said the fool. "I am like the genii of the +tale. You think of me, and I appear." + +Regaining his composure at once, the king's guest bent his heavy brows +over his deep-set eyes, and deliberately surveyed the fool. + +"And now," went on the jester, gaily, "it is in your mind I am like as +suddenly to--disappear! Am I at fault?" + +"On the contrary, you are unusually clear-witted," was the answer. + +"Oh, my Lord, you over-estimate my poor capacity!" returned the +nobleman's unasked caller with a deprecatory gesture. + +The hands of the other worked impatiently; his herculean figure blocked +the doorway. "You are a merry fellow!" he observed. "It is to be +regretted, but--confess you have brought it upon yourself?" + +"What? My fate? Oh, yes!" And he indifferently regarded the wand and +the wooden figure upon it, without moving from the chair. + +"You have no fear?" questioned the duke, quietly. + +"Fear? Why should I?" + +Yawning, the fool stretched his arms, looking not at the nobleman, but +beyond him, and, instinctively, the princess' betrothed peered over his +shoulder in the semi-darkness behind, while his hand quickly sought his +sword. + +"Fie, most noble Duke!" exclaimed the jester. "We have no +eavesdroppers or interlopers, believe me! We are entirely alone, you +and I--master and fool. There; come no nearer, I beg!" As the +nobleman menacingly moved toward him. + +"Have you any argument to advance, Sir Fool, why I should not?" said +the other, grimly, a gleam of amusement depicted on his broad face as +he paused the while. + +"An argument, sharp as a needle, somewhat longer!" replied the jester, +touching his breast and drawing from between the folds of his doublet a +shining hilt. + +Harsh and loud laughed the king's guest. "You fool," he said, "you had +your opportunity below there in the hall and missed it. You hesitated, +went blindly another course, and now"--with ominous meaning--"you are +here!" + +Upon the stick a candle dripped, sputtered and went out; the jester +bent forward and with the copper snuffer on the table near by deftly +trimmed the remaining light. + +"Only fools fight in darkness," he remarked, quietly, "and here is but +one of them." + +"You pit yourself and that--plaything!--against me?" asked the burly +soldier, derisively. + +"Have you hunted the wild boar, my Lord?" lightly answered the other. +"How mighty it is! How savage! What tusks! You know the pastime? A +quick step, a sure arm, an eye like lightning--presto! your boar lies +on his back, with his feet in the air! You, my Lord, are the boar; +big, clumsy, brutal! Shall we begin the sport? I promise to prick you +with every rush." + +The prospective bridegroom paused thoughtfully. + +"There is some justice in what you say," he returned, his manner that +of a man who has carefully weighed and considered a matter. "I confess +to partiality for the thick of the fray, the brunt of the fight, where +men press all around you." + +"Assuredly, my Lord; for then the boar is in his element; no matter how +he rushes, his tusks strike yielding flesh." + +"Why should we fight at all--at present?" cautiously ventured the +noble, with further hesitation. "Not that I doubt I could easily crush +you"--extending his muscular arms--"but you _might_ prick me, and, just +now, discretion may be the better part of valor. I--a duke, engaged to +wed a princess, have much to lose; you, nothing! A fool's stroke might +kill a king." + +"Or a knave, my Lord!" added the _plaisant_. + +"Or a knave, sirrah!" thundered the duke, the veins starting out on his +forehead. + +The jester half drew his dagger; his quiet confidence and glittering +eye impressed even his antagonist, inured to scenes of violence and +strife. + +"Is it a truce, most noble Lord?" said the fool, significantly. "A +truce wherein we may call black, black; and white, white! A truce +which may be broken by either of us, with due warning to the other?" + +Knitting his brow, the noble stood motionless, deeply pondering, his +headlong passion evidently at combat with his judgment; then his face +cleared, a hard, brusque laugh burst from his lips and he brought his +fist violently down on the massive oak table near the door. + +"So be it!" he assented, with a more open look. + +"A truce--without any rushes from the boar?" + +"Fool! Does not my word suffice?" contemptuously retorted the duke. + +"Yes; for although you are--what you are--you have been a soldier, and +would not break a truce." + +"Such commendation from--my jester is, indeed, flattering!" satirically +remarked the king's guest, seating himself in a great chair which +brought him face to face with the fool and yet commanded the door, the +intruder's only means of retreat. + +"Pardon me, the duke's jester, you mean?" + +"Yes; mine!" + +"A distinction with a difference!" retorted the fool. "It is quite +true I am the duke's jester; it is equally untrue I am yours. +Therefore, we reach the conclusion that you and the duke are two +different persons. Plainly, not being the duke, you are an impostor. +Have you any fault to find with my reasoning?" + +"On the contrary," answered the other, with no sign of anger or +surprise, "your reasoning is all that could be desired. Why should I +deny what you already know? I was aware, of course, that you knew, +when I first learned his jester was in the castle. Frankly, I am not +the duke--to you!" + +"But with Francis and the court?" suggested the fool, uplifting his +brows. + +"I am the duke--and such remain! You understand?" + +"Perfectly, my Lord," replied the jester, shrugging his shoulders. +"But since I am not the king, nor one of the courtiers, whom, for the +time being, have I the honor of addressing? But, perhaps, I am +over-inquisitive." + +"Not at all," said the other, with mocking ceremony. "You are a +whimsical fellow; besides, I am taken with a man who stands near death +without flinching. To tell you the truth, our truce is somewhat to my +liking. There are few men who would have dared what you have to-night. +And although you're only a fool--will you drink with me from this +bottle on the table here? I'm tired of ceremonies of rank and would +clink a glass in private with a merry fellow. What say you?" + +And leaning over, he filled two large goblets with the rich beverage +from a great flask placed on the stand for his convenience. His face +lighted with gross conviviality, but behind his jovial, free manner, +that of a trooper in his cups, gleamed a furtive, guarded look, as +though he were studying and testing his man. + +"I'm for a free life; some fighting; but snug walls around for +companionship," he continued. "Look at my soldiers now; roistering, +love-making! Charles? Francis? Not one of the troop would leave me +for emperor or king! Not one but would follow me--where ambition +leads!" Holding up the glass, he looked into the depths of the thick +burgundy. "Why, a likely fellow like you should carry a gleaming +blade, not a wooden sword. I know your duke--a man of lineage--a +string of titles long as my arm--an underling of the emperor, while +I"--closing his great jaw firmly--"owe allegiance to no man, or +monarch, which is the same thing. Drink, lad; I'm pleased I did not +kill you." + +"And I," laughed the _plaisant_, "congratulate myself you are still +alive--for the wine is excellent!" + +"Still alive!" exclaimed the king's guest, boisterously, although a +dark shadow crossed his glance. + +"I'm scarred from head to foot, and my hide is as tough as--" + +"A boar's?" tapping his chin with the fool's head on his wand. + +"Ah, you will have your jest," retorted the host of the occasion, +good-naturedly. "It's bred in the bone. A quality for a soldier. +Next to courage is that fine sense of humor which makes a man a _bon +camarade_. Put down your graven image, lad; you were made to carry +arms, not baubles. Put it down, I say, and touch glasses with Louis, +of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"The bastard of Hochfels!" exclaimed the jester, fixedly regarding the +man whose name was known throughout Europe for his reckless bravery, +his personal resources and his indomitable pride or love of freedom and +independence, which held him aloof from emperor or monarch, and made +him peer and leader among the many intractable spirits of the Austrian +country who had not yet bowed their necks to conquest; a soldier of +many battles, whose thick-walled fortress, perched picturesquely in +mid-air on a steep mountain top, established his security on all sides. + +"The same, my friend of the motley," continued the other, not without +complacency, observing the effect of his announcement on the jester. + +"He who calls himself the free baron of Hochfels?" observed the fool, +setting down the glass from which he had moderately partaken. + +"Aye; a man of royal and peasant blood," harshly answered the +free-booter. "Ambition, arrogance, are the kingly inheritance; +strength, a constitution of iron, the low-born legacy. What think you +of such an endowment?" + +"You are far from your castle, my Lord of Hochfels," commented the +jester, absently, unmindful of a question he felt not called upon to +answer. + +"And yet as safe as in my own mountain nest," retorted the free baron, +or free-booter, indifferently. "Who would betray me? There is not a +trooper of mine but would die for his master. You would not denounce +me, because--but why enumerate the reasons? I hold you in the palm of +my hand, and, when I close my fingers, there's the end of you." + +"But where--allow me; the wine has a rare flavor," and he reached for +the flask. + +"Drink freely," returned the pretender; "it is the king's own, and you +are my guest. You were about to ask--" + +"Whence came the idea for this mad adventure?" said the jester, his +eyes seemingly bent in admiration on the goblet he held; a half globe +of crystal sustained by a golden Bacchus. + +"Idea!" repeated the self-called baron, with a gesture of satisfaction. +"It was more than an idea. It was an inspiration, born of that chance +which points the way to greatness. The feat accomplished, all Europe +will wonder at the wanton exploit. At first Francis will rage; then +seeing me impregnably intrenched, will make the best of the marriage, +especially as the groom is of royal blood. Next, an alliance with the +French king against the emperor. Why not; was not Francis once ready +to treat even with Solyman to defeat Charles, an overture which shocked +Christendom? And while Charles' energies are bent to the task of +protecting his country from the Turks, a new leader appears; a +devil-may-care fellow--and then--and then--" + +He broke off abruptly; stared before him, as though the fumes of wine +were at last beginning to rise to his head; toyed with his glass and +drank it quickly at a draft. "What an alluring will-o'-the-wisp +is--to-morrow!" he muttered. + +"An illusive hope that reconciles us with to-day," answered the +_plaisant_. + +"Illusive!" cried the other. "Only for poets, dreamers, fools!" + +"And you, Sir Baron, are neither one nor the other," remarked the +jester. "No philosopher, but a plain soldier, who chops heads--not +logic. But the inspiration that caused you to embark upon this +hot-brained, pretty enterprise?" + +"Upon a spur of rock that overlooks the road through the mountain is +set the Vulture's Nest, Sir Fool," began the adventurer in a voice at +once confident and arrogant. "At least, so the time-honored fortress +of Hochfels is disparagingly designated by the people. As the road is +the only pass through the mountains, naturally we come more or less in +contact with the people who go by our doors. Being thus forced, +through the situation of our fortress, into the proximity of the +traveling public, we have, from time to time, made such sorties as are +practised by a beleaguered garrison, and have, in consequence, taken +prisoners many traffickers and traders, whose goods and chattels were +worthy of our attention as spoils of war. Generally, we have confined +our operations to migratory merchants, who carry more of value and +cause less trouble than the emperor's soldiers or the king's troopers, +but occasionally we brush against one of the latter bands so that we +may keep in practice in laying our blades to the grindstone, and also +to show we are soldiers, not robbers." + +"Which remains to be proved," murmured the attentive jester. "Your +pardon, noble Lord"--as the other half-started from his chair--"let me +fill your glass. 'Tis a pity to neglect such royal wine. Proceed with +your story. Come we presently to the inspiration?" + +"At once," answered the apparently appeased master of the fortress, +wiping his lips. "One day our western outpost brought in a messenger, +and, when we had stripped the knave, upon him we found a miniature and +a letter from the princess to the duke. The latter was prettily writ, +with here and there a rhyme, and moved me mightily. The eagle hath its +mate, I thought, but the vulture of Hochfels is single, and this +reflection, with the sight of the picture and that right, fair script, +saddened me. + +"And then, on a sudden, came the inspiration. Why not play a hand in +this international marriage Charles and Francis were bringing about? I +commanded the only road across the mountain; therefore, did command the +situation. The emperor and the king should be but the wooden figures, +and I would pull the strings to make them dance. The duke, your +master, why should he be more than a name? The princess' letter told +me she had never seen her betrothed. What easier than to redouble the +sentries in the valley, make prisoners of the messengers, clap them in +the fortress dungeons, read the missives, and then despatch them to +their respective destinations by men of my own?" + +"Then that was the reason why on my way through the mountains your +knaves attacked me?" said the listener quickly. + +"Exactly; to search you. How you slipped through their hands I know +not." And he glanced at the other curiously. + +"They were but poor rogues," answered the jester quickly. + +"Certainly are you not one!" exclaimed the free baron, with a glance of +approval at the slender figure of his antagonist. "Two of them paid +for their carelessness. The others were so shamed, they told me some +great knight had attacked them. A fool in motley!" he laughed. "No +wonder the rogues hung their heads! But in deceiving me," he added +thoughtfully, "they permitted their master to run into an unknown +peril--his ignorance that a fool of the duke, or a fool wearing the +emblem of the emperor, had gone to Francis' court." + +"You were saying, Sir Free Baron, you intended to read the messages +between the princess and the duke, and afterward to despatch them by +messengers of your own?" interrupted the _plaisant_. + +"Such were my plans. Moreover, I possessed a clerk--a knave who had +killed an abbot and fled from the monastery--a man of poetry, wit and +sentiment. Whenever the letters lacked for ardor, and the lovers had +grown too timid, him I set to forge a postscript, or indite new +missives, which the rogue did most prettily, having studied love-making +under the monks. And thus, Sir Fool, I courted and won the +princess--by proxy!" + +"Of a certainty, your wooing was at least novel, Sir Knight of the +Vulture's Nest," dryly observed the jester. "Although, had my master +known the deception, you would, perhaps, have paid dearly for it." + +"Your master, forsooth!" laughed the outlaw lord. "A puny scion of a +worn-out ancestry! Such a woman as the princess wants a man of brawn +and muscle; no weakling of the nursery." + +"Well," said the fool, slowly, "you became intermediary between the +princess and the duke, and the king and the emperor. But to come into +the heart of France; to the king's very palace--did you not fear +detection?" + +"How?" retorted the other, raising his head and resting his eyes, +bloodshot and heavy, on the fool's impassive features. "The road +between the two monarchs is mine; no message can now pass. The emperor +and the duke may wonder, but the way here is long, and"--with a +smile--"I have ample time for the enterprise ere the alarm can be +given." + +"And you paved the way for your coming by altering the letters of the +duke, or forging new ones?" suggested the listener. + +"How else? A word added here and there; a post-script, or even a page! +As for their highnesses' seals, any fool can break and mend a seal. In +a week the duke will wonder at the princess' silence; in a fortnight he +will become uneasy; in a month he will learn the cage has been left +open and the bird hath flown. Then, too, shall the gates of the +dungeon be set ajar, and the true, but tardy, messengers permitted to +go their respective ways. Is it not a nice adventure? Am I not a +fitter leader than your duke?" + +"Undoubtedly," returned the jester. "He sits at home, while you are +here in his stead. But what will the princess say when she learns?" + +"Nothing. She loves me already." + +The fool turned pale; the hand that held his glass, however, was firm, +and he set the goblet down without a tremor. + +"She may weep a little, but it will pass like a summer shower. Women +are weak; women are yielding. Have I not reason to know?" he burst +out. "I, a--" + +Brusquely he arose from his chair, leaving the sentence uncompleted. +Sternly he surveyed the jester. + +"Why not take service with me?" he continued, abruptly. "Austria is +ripe to revolt against the tyranny of the emperor. With the discontent +in the Netherlands, the dissensions in Spain, Europe is like a field, +cut up, awaiting new-comers." + +He paused to allow the force of his words to appeal to the other's +imagination. "What say you?" he continued. "Will you serve me?" + +"The matter's worth thinking over," answered the fool, evasively. + +"Well, take your time," said the king's guest, regarding him more +sharply. "And now, as the candles are low and the flask is empty, you +had better take your leave." + +At this intimation that the other considered the interview ended, the +fool started to his feet and deliberately made his way to the door +opening into the corridor. + +"Good-night!" he said, and was about to depart when the free baron held +him with a word. + +"Hold! Why have you not attempted to unmask me--before?" + +Steadily the two looked at each other; the eyes of the elder man, +cruel, deep, all-observing; those of the younger, steady, fearless, +undismayed. Few of his troopers could withstand the sinister +penetration of Louis of Hochfels' gaze, but on the jester it seemed to +have no more effect than the casual glance of one of Francis' courtiers. + +"You knew--and yet you made no sign?" continued the master of the +fortress. + +"Because I like a strong play and did not wish to spoil it--too soon!" + +The questioner's brow fell; the lids half-veiled the dark, savage eyes, +but the mouth relaxed. "Ah, you always have your answer," he returned +with apparent cordiality. "Good-night--and, by the by, our truce is at +an end." + +"The truce--and the wine," said the jester, as with a ceremonious bow, +he vanished amid the shadows in the hall. + +Slowly the free baron closed the door and locked it; looked at the +cross and at the bed, but made no motion toward either. + +"He has already rejected my proposal," thought the self-styled duke. +"Does he seek for higher rewards by betraying me? Or is it, then, +Triboulet told the truth? Is he an aspiring lover of the princess? Or +is he only faithful to his master? Why have I failed to read him? As +though a film lay across his eyes, that index to a man's soul!" + +Motionless the free baron stood, long pondering deeply, until upon the +mantel the richly-chased clock began to strike musically, yet +admonishingly. Whereupon he glanced at the cross; hesitated; then, +noting the lateness of the hour, and with, perhaps, a mental +reservation to retrieve his negligence on the morrow, he turned from +the silver, bejeweled symbol and immediately sought the sensuous bodily +enjoyment of a couch fit for a king or the pope himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FLIGHT OF THE FOOL + +Another festal day had come and gone. The crimson shafts of the dying +sun had succumbed to the lengthening shadows of dusk, and the pigeons +were wending their way homeward to the castle parapets and battlements, +when, toward the arched entrance on the front, strode the duke's fool. +Beyond the castle walls and the inclosure of the pleasure grounds the +peace of twilight rested on the land; the great fields lay becalmed; +the distant forests were bivouacs of rest. + +The afternoon had been a labor of pleasure; about the great basin of +the fountain had passed an ever-varying shifting of moving figures; +between the trees bright colors appeared and vanished, and from the +heart of concealed bowers had come peals of laughter or strains of +music. Unnoticed among the merry throng in palace and park, the jester +had moved aimlessly about; unobserved now, he turned his back upon the +gray walls, satiated, perhaps, with the fetes inaugurated by the kingly +entertainer. But as he attempted to pass the gate, a stalwart guard +stepped forward, presenting a formidable-looking glave. + +"Your permit to leave?" he said. + +"A permit? Of course!" replied the fool, and felt in his coat. "But +what a handsome weapon you have; the staff all covered with velvet and +studded with brass tacks!" + +"Has the Emperor Charles, then, no such weapons?" asked the gratified +soldier. + +"None so handsome! May I see it?" The guard unsuspiciously handed the +glave to the jester, who immediately turned it upon the sentinel. + +"Give it back, fool!" cried the alarmed guard. + +"Nay; I am minded to call out and show a soldier of France disarmed by +a foreign fool." + +"As well chop off my head with it!" sighed the man. + +"And if I wish to walk without the gate?" suggested the jester. + +"Go, good fool!" replied the other, without hesitation. + +"Well, here is the glave. If any one admires it again, let him study +the point. But why may no one pass out?" + +"Because so many soldiers and good citizens have been beaten and robbed +by those who hover around the palace. But you may go in peace," he +added. "No one will harm a fool. If 'tis amusement you seek, there's +a camp on the verge of the forest where a dark-haired, good-looking +baggage dances and tells cards. You can find the place from the noise +within, and if you're merry, they'll welcome you royally. Go; and God +be with you!" + +The jester turned from the good-natured guard and quickly walked down +the road, which wound gracefully through the valley and lost itself +afar in a fringe of woodland. A light pattering on the hard earth +behind caused him to look about. Following was a dog that now sprang +forward with joyous demonstration. The fool stooped and gravely +caressed the hound which last he had seen at the princess' feet. + +"Why," he said, "thou art now the fool's only friend at court." + +When again he moved on with rapid, nervous stride, the animal came +after. Darker grew the road; deeper hued the fields and stubble; more +somber the distant castle against the gloaming. Only the cry of a +diving night-bird startled the stillness of the tranquil air; a +rapacious filcher that quickly rose, and swept onward through the sea +of night. Its melancholy note echoed in the breast of the fool; +mechanically, without relaxing his swift pace, he looked upward to +follow it, when a short, sharp bark behind him and a premonition of +impending danger caused him to spring suddenly aside. At the same time +a dagger descended in the empty air, just grazing the shoulder of the +jester, who, recovering himself, grasped the arm of his assailant and +grappled with him. Finding him a man of little strength, the fool +easily threw him to the earth and kneeling on his breast in turn +menaced the assailant with the weapon he had wrested from him. + +"Have you any reason, knave, why I should spare you?" asked the fool. + +"If I had--for want of breath--it would fail me!" answered the +miscreant with some difficulty. + +The duke's jester arose. "Get up, rogue!" he said, and the man obeyed. + +He was a pale, gaunt fellow, with long hair, unshaven face, hollow +cheeks, and dark eyes, set deeply in his head and shaded by thick, +black brows. His dress consisted of a rough doublet, with lappet +sleeves, carried down to a point, tight leggings, broad shoes and the +puffed upper hose; the entire raiment frayed and worn; his flesh, or, +rather, his bones, showing through the scanty covering for his legs, +while his feet were no better protected than those of a trooper who has +been long on the march. He displayed no fear or enmity; on the +contrary, his manner was rather friendly than otherwise, as though he +failed to understand the enormity of his offense and the position in +which he was placed. Shifting from one foot to another, he crossed his +great, thin hands before him and patiently awaited his captor's +pleasure. The latter surveyed him curiously, and, noting his woebegone +features and beggarly attire, pity, perhaps, assuaged his just anger +toward this starveling. + +"Why did you wish to kill me?" asked the jester quietly, if somewhat +impatiently. + +"It was not my wish, Master Fool," gently replied the other, but even +as he spoke the resignation in his manner gave way to a look of +apprehension. Lifting his hand, he felt in his breast and glanced +about him on the road. Then his face brightened. + +"With your permission--I have e'en dropped something--" + +And stooping, the scamp-scholar picked up a small, leathern-bound +volume from the ground, where it had fallen during the struggle, and +held it tightly clutched in his hand. "Ah," he muttered with a glad +sigh, "I feared I had lost it--my Horace! And now, Sir Jester, what +would you with me?" + +"A question I might answer with a question," replied the fool. "Having +failed in your enterprise, why should I spare you?" + +"You shouldn't," returned the vagabond-student. "The ancients teach +but the irrevocable law of retribution." + +To hear a would-be assassin, a castaway out of pocket and heels and +elbows, calmly proclaiming the Greek doctrine of inevitableness, under +such circumstances, would have surprised an observer even more +experienced and worldly than the duke's fool. Involuntarily his face +softened; this _pauvre diable_ gazed upon eternity with the calm eyes +of a Socrates. + +"You do not then beg for life?" said the _plaisant_, his former +impatience merging into mild curiosity. + +"Is it worth begging for?" asked the straitened book-worm. "Life means +a pinched stomach, a cold body; Death, no hunger to fear, and a bed +that, though cold, chills us not. What we know not doth not exist--for +us; ergo, to lie in the earth is to rest in the lap of luxury, for all +our consciousness of it. But to be unconscious of the ills of this +perishable frame, Horace likewise must be as dead to us as our aches +and pains. Thus is life made preferable to death. Yes; I would live. +Hold, though--" he again hesitated in deep thought--"what avails Horace +if--" he began. + +"Why, what new data have entered in the premises?" observed the +wondering jester. + +"Nanette!" was the gloomy answer. + +"Who, pray, is Nanette?" asked the fool, thrusting his assailant's +weapon in his jerkin. + +"A wanton haggard whose tongue will run post sixteen stages together! +Who would make the devil himself malleable; then, work, hammer and +wire-draw him!" + +"And what is she to you?" + +"My wife! That is, she claims that exalted place, having married me +one night when I was in my cups through a false priest who dresses as a +Franciscan monk. 'Fools in the court of God' are these priests called, +and truly he is a jester, for certainly is he no true monk. But +Nanette, nevertheless, asserts she is the lawful partner of my sorrows. +So work your will on me. A stroke, and the shivering spirit is wafted +across the Styx." + +"And if I gave you not only your life--for a consideration hereafter to +be mentioned--but a small silver piece as well?" suggested the jester, +who had been for some moments buried in thought. + +"Ha!" ejaculated the scamp-student, brightening. "Your gift would +match the piece I already have and which--dolt that I was!--I +overlooked to include in my chain of reasoning." And thrusting his +hand into his ragged doublet, after some search he extracted a +diminutive disk upon which he gazed not without ardor. "Thus are we +forced to start the chain of reasoning anew," he remarked, "with Horace +and this bit of metal on one side of the scales and Nanette on the +other. Now unless the devil sits on the beam with Nanette--which he's +like to do--the book and the bit of dross will outweigh her and we +arrive at the certitude that life, qualified as to duration, may be +happily endured." + +"What argument does the dross carry, knave?" demanded the fool, looking +down at the hound that crouched at his feet. + +"With it may be purchased that which warms the pinched stomach. With +it may be bought an elixir, so strong and magical, it may breed +defiance even of Nanette. Sir Fool, I have concluded to accept life +and the small silver piece." + +"Well and good," commented the jester. "But there are conditions +attached to my clemency." + +"Conditions!" retorted the vagabond. "What are conditions to a +philosopher, once he has reached a logical assurance?" + +"First, you must find me a horse. Your Nanette, as I take it, is a +gipsy and in the camp, are, surely, horses." + +"But why should you want a horse? 'Tis not far to the castle?" said +the puzzled scholar. + +"No; but 'tis far away from it. Next, tell me where you got that small +piece of silver, like the one I have promised you?" + +"From Nanette." + +"What for?" + +"To accomplish that which I have failed to do," replied the student, +willingly. "But, alas, not having earned it, have I the right idly to +spend it?" he added, dolefully, half to himself. + +"Why did Nanette--" began the jester. + +But the other raised his arm with an expostulatory gesture. "Many +things I know," he interrupted; "odds and ends of erudition, but a +woman's mind I know not, nor want to know. I had as soon question +Beelzebub as her; yea, to stir up the devil with a stick. If sparing +my life is contingent on my knowing why she does this, or that, then +let me pay the debt of nature." + +"No; 'tis slight punishment to take from a man that which he values so +little he must reason with himself to learn if he value it at all," +returned the duke's jester, slowly. "We'll waive the question, if you +find me the horse." + +"'Tis Nanette you must ask. There's but one, old, yet serviceable--" + +"Then take me to Nanette." + +"Very well. Follow me, sir; and if you're still of a mind when you see +her, you can question her." + +"Why, is she so weird and witch-like to look upon?" said the fool. + +"Nay; the devil hides his claws behind the daintiest fingers, all pink +and white. He conceals his cloven hoof in a slipper, truly sylph-like." + +"You arouse my curiosity. I would fain meet this fair monster." + +"Come then, Master Fool," replied the scamp-student, leaving the road +for the field to the right, and the jester, after a moment's +deliberation, turned likewise into the stubble, while the hound, as if +satisfied with the service it had performed, slowly retraced its way +toward the castle, stopping, however, now and then to look around after +the two men, whose figures grew smaller and smaller in the distance. +For some space they walked in silence; then the scholar paused, and, +pointing to a low, rambling house that once had been a hunter's lodge +and now had fallen into decay, exclaimed: + +"There's where she lives, fool. I'll warrant she's not alone." + +At the same time a clamor of voices and a chorus of rough melody, +coming from the cottage, confirmed the assurance his spouse was not, +indeed, holding solitary vigil. + +"'Tis e'en thus every night," murmured the scamp student in a +melancholy tone. "She gathers 'round her the scum of all rudeness; +ragged alchemists of pleasure, who sing incessantly, like grasshoppers +on a summer day." + +"Where is the horse?" said the jester, abruptly. + +"Stalled in one of the rooms for safe keeping. There are so many +rascals and thieves around, you see--" + +"They e'en rob one another!" returned the fool. + +Advancing more cautiously, the two men approached the ancient +forester's dwelling, the hue and cry sounding louder as they drew near, +a mingled discord of laughter, shouting and caterwauling, with a +woman's piercing voice at times dominating the general vociferation. +The philosopher shook his head despondingly, while, creeping to one of +the windows, the jester looked in. + +Near the fire was a misshapen creature, a sort of monstrous imbecile +that chattered and moaned; a being that bore some resemblance to the +ancient morios once sold at the olden Forum Morionum to the ladies who +desired these hideous animals for their amusement. At his feet +gamboled a dwarf that squeaked and screeched, distorting its face in +hideous grimaces. Scattered about the room, singing, bawling or +brawling, were indigent morris dancers; bare-footed minstrels; a +pinched and needy versificator; a reduced mountebank; a swarthy clown, +with a hare's mouth; joculators of the streets, poor as rats and living +as such, straitened, heedless fellows, with heads full of nonsense and +purses empty, poor in pocket, but rich in _plaisanterie_. + +Upon the table, with cards in her lap, which she studied idly, sat a +hard-featured, deep-bosomed woman, neither old nor uncomely, with +thick, black hair, coarse as a horse's mane, cheeks red as a berry, +glowing with health. In her pose was a certain savage grace, an +untrammeled freedom which revealed the vigorous outlines of a +well-proportioned figure. Her eye was bright as a diamond and bold as +a trooper's; when she lifted her head she looked disdainfully, +scornfully, fiercely, upon the strange and monstrous company of which +she was queen. + +"Where can the thief-friar be?" muttered the student. "He is usually +not far off from sweet Nanette." + +"You mean the monk who had a hand in your nuptials?" + +"Who else? He, the source of all ill. He who gave her the money of +which she e'en presented me a moiety. Whoever employed him--was it +your friends, gentle sir?--rewarded him with gold. Being a craven +rogue, I e'en suspect him of shifting the task to myself for a beggarly +pittance, whilst he is off with the lion's share." + +The jester, watching the company within, made no reply. From the +student to the woman, to the friar, was a chain leading--where? He +found it not difficult to surmise. Suddenly Nanette threw down the +cards and laughed harshly. + +"Neither the devil nor his imps could read the things that are +happening in the castle!" + +Then abruptly springing from the table, she made her way to the fire, +over which hung a pot of some savory stew, a magnet to the company's +sharp desire; for throughout all the boisterous merriment wandering +glances had invariably returned to it. To reach the kettle and make +herself mistress of the culinary preparations, she cuffed a dwarf with +such vigor that he hobbled howling from a suspicious proximity to the +appetizing mess to a safe refuge beneath the table. With equally +dauntless spirit, she pushed aside the herculean morio who had been +childishly standing over the pot, licking his fingers in eager +anticipation; whereupon the imbecile set up a sharp cry that blended +with the deeper roar of the lilliputian. + +"And I caught the rabbit!" piteously bellowed the latter from his +retreat. + +"And I found the turnips!" cried the colossal idiot, tears running down +his lubberly cheeks. + +"Peace, you demons!" exclaimed the woman, waving the spoon at them, +"or, by the hell-born, you'll ne'er taste morsel of it!" + +Quieted by this stupendous threat, they closed their mouths and opened +their eyes but the wider, while the gipsy spouse of the student stirred +and stirred the mixture in the iron pot, gazing at the fire with +frowning brow as though she would read some page of the future in the +leaping flames. + +"Saw you but now how she served the dwarf and the overgrown lump?" +whispered the student to the duke's fool. "Are you still minded to +meet her?" + +For answer the jester left the window, stepped to the door, and, +opening it, strode into the room. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FOOL RETURNS TO THE CASTLE + +As the duke's fool suddenly appeared in the crowded apartment, the +hubbub abruptly ceased; the minstrels and mountebanks gazed in surprise +at the slender figure of the alien jester whose rich garments +proclaimed him a personage of importance, one who had reached that +pinnacle in buffoonery, the high office of court _plaisant_. The morio +crouched against the wall, his fear of the new-comer as great as his +body was large; the garret minstrels stopped strumming their +instruments, while the woman at the fire uttered a quick exclamation +and dropped the spoon with a clatter to the floor, where it was +promptly seized by the dwarf, who, taking advantage of the woman's +consternation, thrust it greedily to his lips. But soon recovering +from her wonderment, the gipsy soundly boxed the dwarf's ears, +recovered her spoon and set herself once more to stirring the contents +of the pot. + +The jester observed her for a moment--the heavy, bare arm moving round +and round over the kettle; her sunburnt legs uncovered to the knee; the +masculine attitude of her figure with the torn and worn garments that +covered her--and she seemed to him a veritable trull of disorder and +squalor. The gipsy, too, looked at him over her shoulder, and, as she +gazed, her hand went slower and slower, until all motion ceased, and +the spoon lay on the edge of the pot, when she turned deliberately, +offering him the full sight of her bold cheeks and shameless eyes. + +"Are you Nanette, wife of this philosopher?" asked the duke's fool, +approaching, and indicating the miserable scamp who clung near the +doorway as one undecided whether to enter or run away. + +"Yes; I am Nanette, his true and lawful spouse," she answered with a +shrill laugh. "Wilt come to me, true-love?" she called out to her +apprehensive yoke-mate. + +"Nay; I'll go out in the air a while," hurriedly replied the +vagabond-scholar, and quickly vanished. + +"Ah, how he loves me!" she continued. + +"So much he prefers a cony-burrow to his own fireside," said the fool +dryly. + +"A hole i' the earth is too good for such a scurvy fellow," she +retorted. "But what would you here, fool? A song, a jest, a dance? +Or have you come to learn a new story, or ballad, for the lordlings you +must entertain?" Unabashed, she approached a step nearer. + +"Your stories, mistress, would be unsuited for the court, and your +ballads best unsung," he retorted. "I came, not to sharpen my wits, +but to learn from whom the thief-friar got the small piece of silver +you gave your consort, and, also, to procure a horse." + +Her brazen eyes wavered. "A horse and a fool flying," she muttered. +"Even what the cards showed. The fool seeking the duke!" A puzzled +look crossed her face. "But the duke is here?" she continued to +herself. "A strange riddle! All the signs show devilment, but what it +is--" + +"Good Nanette," interrupted the jester, satirically, "I have no time +for spells or incantation." + +"How dared you come here," she said, hoarsely, "after--" + +"After your mate proved but an indifferent servant of yours?" he +concluded, meeting her sullen gaze with one so stern and inflexible +that before it her eyes fell. + +"Do you not know," she said, endeavoring to maintain a hardened front, +"I have but to say the word, and all these friends of mine would tear +you to pieces? What would you do, my pretty fellows, an I ask you?" +she cried out, her voice rising audaciously. "Would you suffer this +duke's jester to stand against me?" + +Glances of suspicion and animosity shot from a score of eyes; fists +were half-clenched; knives appeared in a trice from the concealment of +rags, and a low murmur arose from the gathering. Even the imbecile +morio, nature's trembling coward, became suddenly valiant, and, with +huge frame uplifted, seemed about to spring savagely upon the fool. An +expression of disgust replaced all other feeling on the features of the +duke's _plaisant_. + +"Spare me your threats, Nanette," he replied, coldly. "Had you +intended to set them on me, you would have done it long ere this." + +The woman hesitated. His calm, almost contemptuous, confidence was not +without its effect upon her. Had he trembled, she would have spoken, +but before his disdain, and the gay splendor of his attire, conspicuous +amid rags from rubbish heaps, she felt a sudden consciousness of her +own unclean environment; at the same time unusual warnings in her +conjurations recurred to her. Something about him--was it dignity or +pride or a nameless fear she herself experienced but could not +understand?--beat down her eyes and she turned them doggedly away. + +Abruptly she moved to the fire and again began to stir the mess, while +the suppressed excitement in the room at once subsided. A minstrel +lightly touched his battered dulcimer; a poet hummed a song in the +dialect of thieves; a juggler began practising some deft work for hand +and eye, and he of the hare lip sank quietly into a corner and +patiently watched the simmering pot. The dwarf, with some misgiving, +as a dog that is beaten crawls cautiously out of its kennel, crept from +beneath the table. + +"Oh, mistress," he whimpered, "some of it has boiled over!" + +"Boiled over!" echoed the morio, mournfully. + +At the same time the woman grasped the handle of the heavy kettle, +lifted it from the jack, displaying in her bared arms the muscles of a +man, and, staggering beneath the load, bore it steaming to the table. +Amid the subsequent confusion, the gipsy held aloof from the demolition +of the rabbit, and, seating herself at the foot of the table, began +moodily once more to turn the cards. + +A merry droll acted as host and dipped freely for all with the long +spoon, commenting the while he dispensed the mess according to the +wants of the miscellaneous gathering: "Pot-luck! 'Tis luck, and +they're no field mice in it! There's everything else!" or "A bit of +rabbit, my masters! I'll warrant he'll hop down your throats as fast +as e'er he jumped a hillock." And, when one ate too greedily, slap +went a spoonful of gravy o'er him with: "I thought you would catch it, +knave!" + +"Are they not blithe devils 'round the caldron?" muttered the woman. +"There it is again!"--Bending over the bits of pasteboard on the table. +"The duke here! And the fool on horseback! What do the cards mean?" + +"That I must have the horse, Nanette," said the duke's jester, standing +motionless and firm before the fireplace. + +"Are you the fool?" she asked, more to herself than him. "Why does he +wish to ride away?" + +"Will you sell me the horse?" he demanded. + +She hesitated. Around them danced the shadows of the kettle-gourmands: + + "A kern and a drole, a varlet and a blade + A drab and a rep, a skit and a jade--" + +sang the street poet; the dwarf and the morio (a lilliputian and +Gulliver) fought a mimic combat; the juggler and the clown, who could +eat no more, were keeping time to a chorus by beating with their empty +trenchers on the table. + +"Sell you the horse? For what?" asked the gipsy. + +"For five gold pieces." + +"A fool with five gold pieces!" she exclaimed, incredulously. + +"Here! You may see them." And he opened a purse he carried at his +girdle. + +"Do not let them know," she said, hurriedly. "They would kill you +and--" + +"You would not get the money," he added, significantly. "If you act +quickly, find me a horse and let me go; it is you, not they, who will +profit." + +Abruptly she rose. "It is fate," she remarked, her eyes greedy. + +His glance, as he stood there, proud and stern, cut her sharply. "Say +cupidity, Nanette!" he laughed softly. "It is more profitable not to +betray me. In the one case you get much; in the other, little." + +"Stay here," she replied, hastily. "I'll fetch the horse." And +vanished. + +A moment he remained, then resolutely turning to the door through which +she had disappeared, opened it, and found himself in a combined +sleeping-room and stable; a dark apartment, with floor of hardened +earth and a single window, open to wind and weather. The atmosphere in +this chamber for man and beast was impregnated with the smell of mold +and dry-rot, mingled with the livelier effluvium of dirt and grime of +years; but amid the malodor and mustiness, on a couch under the window, +slumbered and snored the false Franciscan monk. By his side was a +tankard, half-filled with stale sack, and in his hand he clutched a +gold piece as though he had had an intimation it would be safer there +than elsewhere on his person during the pot-valiant sleep he had +deliberately courted. His hood had fallen back, displaying a bullet +head, red cheeks and purple nose, while the wooden beads of this +sottish counterfeit of a friar trailed from his girdle on the ground. +From a stall in a far corner a large, bony-looking nag turned its head +reproachfully, as if mentally protesting against such foul quarters and +the poor company they offered. Its melancholy whinny upon the +appearance of the woman was a sigh for freedom; a sad suspiration to +the memory of radiant clover fields or poppy-starred meadows. + +"Why, here's a holy man worn out by too many paternosters," commented +the duke's fool, standing on the threshold; and then gazed from the +gold piece in the monk's hand to the woman. "I need not ask where you +got the silver, Nanette. 'Tis a chain of evidence leading--where?" + +The gipsy replied only with dark looks, regarding his intrusion in this +inner sanctuary as a fresh provocation for her just displeasure. The +jester, however, paid no attention to these signs of new acerbity on +her face. + +Crossing to the couch, he shook the monk vigorously, but the latter +only held his piece of money tighter like a miser whose treasure is +threatened, and snored the louder. Again the fool essayed to waken +him, and this time he opened his eyes, felt for his beads and commenced +to mutter a prayer in Latin words, strung together in meaningless +phrases. + +"Why," commented the jester, "his learning is as false as his cloak. +Wake up, sirrah! Would you approach Heaven's gate with a feigned +prayer on your lips and a toss-pot in your hand?" + +"_Christe tuum_--I absolve you! I absolve you!" muttered the friar. +"Go your way in peace." + +"Hear me, thou trumped-up monk; do you want another piece of gold?" + +"Gold!" repeated the other, tipsily. "What--what for? To--to help +some fool to paradise--or purgatory? 'Tis for the Church I beg, good +people. The holy Church--Church I say!" + +Winking and blinking, seeing nothing before him, he held out a +trembling hand. "The piece of gold--give it to me!" he mumbled. + +"Yes; in exchange for your cloak," answered the jester. + +"My cloak, thou horse-leech! Sell my skin for--piece of gold! Want my +cloak? Take it!" And the dissembler rolled over, extending his arms. +The jester grasped the garment by the sleeves and with some difficulty +whipped it from him. + +"Now hand me--the money and--cover me with rags that--I may sleep," +continued the beer-bibber. "So"--as he grasped the money the fool gave +him and stretched himself luxuriously beneath a noisome litter of +cast-off clothes and rubbish--"I languish in ecstasies! The +angels--are singing around me." + +With growing surprise and ill-humor had the woman observed this novel +proceeding, and now, when the jester had himself donned the false +friar's gown, she said grudgingly: + +"You did not give him one of the five pieces?" + +"No; there are still five left." + +"A bit of gold for a cloak!" she grumbled. "It is overmuch. But +there!" Unfastening a door that looked out upon the field. "Give me +the money and be gone." + +He grasped the bridle of the horse, handed her the promised reward, +and, drawing the hood of the monk's garment over his head, led the nag +out into the open air. The door closed quickly behind him and he heard +the wooden bolt as it shot into place. Above the dark outlines of the +forest, the moon, full-orbed, now shone in the sky, with a myriad +attendant stars, its silver beams flooding the open spaces and +revealing every detail, soft, dreamy, yet distinct. A languorous, +redolent air just stirred the waving grain, on which rested a glossy +shimmer. + +As the fool was about to spring upon the horse, a shadow suddenly +appeared around the corner of the house and the animal danced aside in +affright. Before the jester could quiet and mount the nag, the shadow +resolved itself into a man, and, behind him, came a numerous band, the +play of light on helmet, sword and dagger revealing them as a party of +troopers. Doubtless having indulged freely, they had become inclined +to new adventures, and accordingly had bent their footsteps toward the +"little house on the verge of the wood," where merry company was always +to be found. At the sight of the duke's fool and the horse they +pressed forward, and, with one accord, surrounded him. + +"The Franciscan monk!" cried one. + +"Where is he going so late with the nag?" asked another. + +"He's off to confess some one," exclaimed a third. + +"A petticoat, most likely, the rogue!" rejoined the second speaker. + +"Well, what have we to do with his love affairs?" laughed the first +trooper. "Ride on, good father, and keep tryst." + +"Yes, ride on!" the others called out. + +The monk bowed. An interruption which had promised to defeat his +designs seemed drawing to a harmless conclusion. His hopes ran high; +the soldiers had not yet penetrated beneath the costume; he had already +determined to leap upon the horse in a rush for freedom when a heavy, +detaining hand was laid on his shoulder. + +"One moment, knave!" said a deep voice, and, wheeling sharply, the fool +looked into the keen, ferret eyes of the trooper with the red +mustaches. "I have a question to ask. Have you done that which you +were to do?" + +The friar nodded his assent. "The fool will trouble the duke no more," +he answered. + +"Ah, he is"--began the soldier. + +"Even so. And now pray let me pass." + +"Yes; let him pass!" urged one of the soldiers. "Would you keep some +longing trollop waiting?" + +The leader of the troopers did not answer; his glance was bent upon the +ground. "Yes, you may go," he commented, "when--" and suddenly thrust +forth an arm and pulled back the enshrouding cloak. + +"The duke's fool!" he cried. "Close in, rogues! Let him not escape." + +Fiercely the fool's hand sought his breast; then, swiftly realizing +that it needed but a pretext to bring about the end desired by the +pretender in the castle, with an effort he restrained himself, and +confronted his assailants, outwardly calm. + +"'Tis a poor jest which fails," he said, easily. + +"Jest!" grimly returned he of the red mustaches. "Call you it a jest, +this monk's disguise? Once on the horse, it would have been no jest, +and I'll warrant you would soon have left the castle far behind. Yes; +and but for the cloven foot, the jest, as you call it, would have +succeeded, too. Had it not been," he added, "for the pointed, silken +shoe, peeping out from beneath the holy robe--a covering of vanity, +instead of holy nakedness--you would certainly have deceived me, +and"--with a brusque laugh--"slipped away from your master, the duke." + +"The duke?" said the jester, as casting the now useless cloak from him, +he deliberately scrutinized the rogue. + +"The duke," returned the man, stolidly. "Well, this spoils our sport +for to-night, knaves," he went on, turning to the other troopers, "for +we must e'en escort the jester back to the castle." + +"Beshrew him!" they answered, of one accord. "A plague upon him!" + +And slowly the fool and the soldiers began to retrace their way across +the moon-lit fields, the trooper with the red mustaches grumbling as +they went: "Such luck to turn back now, with all those mad-caps right +under our nose! A curse to a dry march over a dusty meadow! An +unsanctified dog of a monk! 'Tis like a campaign, with naught but +ditch water to drink. The devil take the friar and the jester! +Forward! the fool in the center, and those he would have fooled around +him!" + +And when they disappeared in the distance the gipsy woman might have +been seen leaving the house by the stable door and leading in the horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NEW MESSENGER TO THE EMPEROR + +Between Caillette and the duke's jester had arisen one of those +friendships which spring more from similitude than unlikeness; an amity +of which each had been unconscious in its inception, but which had +gradually grown into a sentiment of comradeship. Caillette was of +noble mien, graceful manner and elegant address; a soldier by +preference; a jester against his will, forced to the office by the +nobleman who had cared for and educated him. In the duke's fool he had +found his other self; a man who like himself lent dignity to the gentle +art of jesting; who could turn a rhyme and raise a laugh without +resorting to grossness. + +The line of demarcation between the clown and the merry-and-wise wit +was, in those days, not clearly drawn. The stories of the former, +which made the matrons look down and the maidens to hide their faces, +were often more appreciated by the inebriate nobles than some subtile +comicality or nimble lines of poetry, that would serve to take home and +think over, and which improved with time like a wine of sound body. +Triboulet abused the ancient art of foolery, thought Caillette; the +duke's _plaisant_ played upon it with true drollery, and as a master +who has a delicate ear for an instrument, so Caillette, being sensitive +to broadness or stupidity which masked as humor or pleasantry, turned +naturally from the mountebank to the true jester. + +Moreover, Caillette experienced a superior sadness, sifted through +years of infestivity and gloom, beginning when Diane was led to the +altar by the grand seneschal of Normandy, that threw an actual, albeit +cynical, interest about the love-tragedy of the duke's fool which the +other divined and--from his own past heart-throbs--understood. The +_plaisant_ to the princess' betrothed, Caillette would have sworn, was +of gentle birth; his face, manner and bearing proclaimed it; he was, +also, a scholar and a poet; his courage, which Caillette divined, +fitted him for the higher office of arms. Certainly, he became an +interesting companion, and the French jester sought his company on +every occasion. And this fellowship, or intimacy, which he courted was +destined to send Caillette forth on a strange and adventuresome mission. + +The day following the return of the duke's fool to the castle, Francis, +who early in his reign had sought to model his life after the +chivalrous romances, inaugurated a splendid and pompous tournament. +Some time before, the pursuivants had proclaimed the event and +distributed to the knights who were to take active part the shields of +arms of the four _juges-diseurs_, or umpires of the field. On this +gala occasion the scaffolds and stands surrounding the arena were +bedecked in silks of bright colors; against the cloudless sky a +thousand festal flags waved and fluttered in the gentle breeze; beneath +the tasseled awning festoons of bright flowers embellished gorgeous +hangings and tapestries. + +The king rode from the castle under a pavilion of cloth of gold and +purple velvet, with the letters F and R, boldly outlined, followed by +ladies and courtiers, pages and attendants. Amid the shouts and huzzas +of the people, the monarch and his retinue took their places in the +center of the stand, the royal box hung with ornate brocades and +trimmings. + +In an inclosure of white, next to that of the king, was seated the Lady +of the Tournament, the Princess Louise, and her maids of honor, arrayed +all in snowy garb, and, against the garish brilliancy of the general +background, a pompous pageantry of colors, the decoration of this +dainty nook shone in silvery contrast. A garland of flowers was the +only crown the lady wore; no other adornment had her fair shoulders +save their own argent beauty, of which the fashion of the day permitted +a discernible suggestion. One arm hung languorously across the +railing, as she leaned forward with seeming carelessness, but intently +directed her glance to the scene below, where the attendants were +arranging the ring or leading the wondrously pranked-out chargers to +their stalls. + +Behind her, motionless as a statue, with face that looked paler, and +lips the redder, and hair the blacker, stood the maid Jacqueline. If +the casual glance saw first the blond head, the creamy arms and sunny +blue eyes of the princess, it was apt to linger with almost a start of +wonder upon the striking figure of the jestress, a nocturnal touch in a +pearly picture. + +"On my word, there's a decorative creature for any lord to have in his +house," murmured the aged chancellor of the kingdom, sitting near the +monarch. "Who is she?" + +"A beggar's brat Francis found here when he took the castle," replied +the beribboned spark addressed. "You know the story?" + +"Yes," said the white-haired diplomat, half-sadly. "This castle once +belonged to the great Constable of Dubrois. When he fell from favor +the king besieged him; the constable fled and died in Spain. That +much, of course, I--and the world--know. But the girl--" + +"When our victorious monarch took possession of this ancient pile," +explained the willing courtier, "the only ones left in it were an old +gamekeeper and his daughter, a gipsy-like maid who ran wild in the +woods. Time hath tamed her somewhat, but there she stands." + +"And what sad memories of a noble but unfortunate gentleman cluster +around her!" muttered the chancellor. "Alas, for our brief hour of +triumph and favor! Yesterday was he great; I, nothing. To-day, what +am I, while he--is nothing." + +A great murmur, resolving itself into shouts and resounding outcry, +interrupted the noble's reminiscent mood, as a thick-set figure in +richly chased armor, mounted on a massive horse, crossed the arena. + +"_Bon Vouloir!_" they cried. "_Bon Vouloir!_" + +It was the name assumed by the free baron for the day, while other +knights were known for the time being by such euphonious and chivalrous +appellations as _Vaillant Desyr_, _Bon Espoir_ or _Coeur Loyal_. _Bon +Vouloir_, upon this popular demonstration, reined his steed, and, +removing his head-covering, bowed reverently to the king and his suite, +deeply to the Lady of the Tournament and her retinue, and carelessly to +the vociferous multitude, after which he retired to a large tent of +crimson and gold, set apart for his convenience and pleasure. + +From the purple box the monarch had nodded graciously and from the +silver bower the lady had smiled softly, so that the duke had no reason +for dissatisfaction; the attitude of the crowd was of small moment, an +unmusical accompaniment to the potent pantomime, of which the principal +figures were Francis, the King Arthur of Europe, and the princess, +queen of beauty's unbounded realm. + +In front of the duke's pavilion was hung his shield, and by its side +stood his squire, fancifully dressed in rich colors. Behind ranged the +men of arms, whose lances formed a fence to hold in check the people +from far and wide, among whom the pick-purses, light-fingered scamps, +and sturdy beggars conscientiously circulated, plying themselves +assiduously. The fashion of the day prescribed carrying the purse and +the dagger dangling from the girdle, and many a good citizen departed +from the tourney without the one and with the other, and it is needless +to say which of the two articles the filcher left its owner. And none +was more enthusiastic or demonstrative of the features of the lists +than these rapacious riflers, who loudly cheered the merry monarch or +shouted for his gallant knights, while deftly cutting purse-cords or +despoiling honest country dames of brooches, clasps or other treasured +articles of adornment. + +Near the duke's pavilion, to the right, had been pitched a commodious +tent of yellow material, with ropes of the same color, and a fool's cap +crowning the pole in place of the customary banner. Over the entrance +was suspended the jester's gilded wand and a staff, from which hung a +blown bladder. Here were quartered the court jesters whom Francis had +commanded to be fittingly attired for the lists and to take part in the +general combat. In vain had Triboulet pleaded that they would occasion +more merriment if assigned to the king's box than doomed to the arena. + +"That may be," Francis had answered, "but on this occasion all the +people must witness your antics." + +"Antics!" Triboulet had shuddered. "An I should be killed, your +Majesty?" + +"Then it will be amusing to see you quiet for once in your life," had +been the laughing reply. + +And with this poor assurance the dwarf had been obliged to content +himself--not merrily, 'tis true, but with much inward disquietude, +secretly execrating his monarch for this revival of ancient and +barbarous practices. + +Now, in the rear of the jesters' pavilion, his face was yellow with +trepidation, as the armorer buckled on the iron plates about his +stunted figure, fastening and riveting them in such manner, he mentally +concluded he should never emerge from that frightful shell. + +"The worst of it is," dryly remarked the hunchback's valet as he +briskly plied his little hammer, "these clothes are so heavy you +couldn't run away if you wanted to." + +"Oh, that the duke were married and out of the kingdom!" Triboulet +fervently wished, and the fiery comments of Marot, Villot and those +other reckless spirits, who seemed to mind no more the prospect of +being spitted on a lance than if it were but a novel and not unpleasant +experience to look forward to, in no wise served to assuage his +heart-sinking. + +At the entrance of the pavilion stood Caillette, who had watched the +passing of _Bon Vouloir_ and now was gazing upward into a sea of faces +from whence came a hum of voices like the buzzing of unnumbered bees. + +"Certes," he commented, "the king makes much of this unmannered, +lumpish, beer-drinking noble who is going to wed the princess." + +"Caillette," said the low voice of the duke's jester at his elbow, +"would you see a woman undone?" + +"Why, _mon ami_!" lightly answered the French fool, "I've seen many +undone--by themselves." + +"Ah," returned the other, "I appeal to your chivalry, and you answer +with a jest." + +"How else," asked Caillette, with a peculiar smile that was at once +sweet and mournful, "can one take woman, save as a jest--a pleasant +mockery?" + +"Your irony precludes the test of friendship--the service I was about +to ask of you," retorted the duke's fool, gravely. + +"Test of friendship!" exclaimed the poet. "'Tis the only thing I +believe in. Love! What is it? A flame! a breath! Look out there--at +the flatterers and royal sycophants. Those are your emissaries of +love. Ye gods! into the breasts of what jack-a-dandies and parasites +has descended the unquenchable fire of Jove! Now as for +comradeship"--placing his hand affectionately on the other's +shoulder--"by Castor and Pollux, and all the other inseparables, 'tis +another thing. But expound this strange anomaly--a woman wronged. Who +is the woman?" + +"The Princess Louise!" + +Caillette glanced from the place where he stood to the center of the +stand and the white bower, inclining from which was a woman, haughty, +fair, beautiful; one whose face attracted the attention of the +multitude and who seemed not unhappy in being thus scrutinized and +admired. Shaking his head slowly, the court poet dropped his eyes and +studied the sand at his feet. + +"She looks not wronged," he said, dryly. "She appears to enjoy her +triumphs." + +"And yet, Caillette, 'tis all a farce," answered the duke's jester. + +"So have I--thought--on other occasions." + +And again his gaze flew upward, not, however, to the lady whom Francis +had gallantly chosen for Queen of Beauty, but, despite his alleged +cynicism, to a corner of the king's own box, where sat she who had once +been a laughing maid by his side and with whom he had played that +diverting pastoral, called "First Love." It was only an instant's +return into the farcical but joyous past, and a moment later he was +sharply recalled into the arid present by the words of his companion. + +"The man the Princess Louise is going to marry is no more Robert, the +Duke of Friedwald, than you are!" exclaimed the foreign fool. "He is +the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld, the so-called free baron of Hochfels. His +castle commands the road between the true duke and Francis' domains. +He made himself master of all the correspondence, conceived the plan to +come here himself and intends to carry off the true lord's bride. +Indeed, in private, he has acknowledged it all to me, and, failing to +corrupt me to his service, last night set an assassin to kill me." + +His listener, with folded arms and attentive mien, kept his eyes fixed +steadily upon the narrator, as if he doubted the evidence of his +senses. Without, the marshals had taken their places in the lists and +another stentorian dissonance greeted these officers of the field from +the good-humored gathering, which, basking in the anticipation of the +feast they knew would follow the pageantry, clapped their hands and +flung up their caps at the least provocation for rejoicing. Upon the +two jesters this scene of jubilation was lost, Caillette merely bending +closer to the other, with: + +"But why have you not denounced him to the king?" + +"Because of my foolhardiness in tacitly accepting at first this +free-booter as my master." + +Caillette shot a keen glance at the other and smiled. His eyes said: +"Foolhardiness! Was it not, rather, some other emotion? Had not the +princess leaned more than graciously toward her betrothed and--" + +"I thought him but some flimsy adventurer," went on the duke's fool, +hastily, "and told myself I would see the play played out, holding the +key to the situation, and--" + +"You underestimated him?" + +"Exactly. His plans were cunningly laid, and now--who am I that the +king should listen to me? At best, if I denounce him, they would +probably consider it a bit of pleasantry, or--madness." + +"Yes," reluctantly assented Caillette, Triboulet's words, "a fool in +love with the princess!" recurring to him; "it would be undoubtedly +even as you say." + +The duke's jester looked down thoughtfully. He had only half-expressed +to the French _plaisant_ the doubts which had assailed him since his +interview with Louis of Hochfels. Who could read the minds of +monarchs? The motives actuating them? Should he be able to convince +Francis of the deception practised upon him, was it altogether unlikely +that the king might not be brought to condone the offense for the sake +of an alliance with this bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld and the other +unconquerable free barons of the Austrian border against Charles +himself? Had not Francis in the past, albeit openly friendly with the +emperor, secretly courted the favor of the powerful German nobles in +Charles' own country? Had not his covenant with the infidel, Solyman, +been a covert attempt to undermine the emperor's power? + +From the day when, as young men, both had been aspirants for the +imperial throne of Germany and Francis had suffered defeat, the latter +had assiduously devoted himself to the retributory task of gaining the +ascendancy over his successful rival. And now, although the tempering +years had assuaged their erstwhile passions and each had professed to +eschew war and its violence, might not this temptation prove too great +for Francis to resist a last blow at the emperor's prestige? How easy +to affect disbelief of a fool, to overthrow the fabric of friendship +between Charles and himself, and at the same time apparently not +violate good faith or conscience! + +The voice of Caillette broke in upon his thoughts. + +"You will not then attempt to denounce him?" + +The fool hesitated. "Alone--out of favor with the king, I like not to +risk the outcome--but--if I may depend upon you--" + +"Did ever friend refuse such a call?" exclaimed Caillette, promptly. A +quick glance of gratitude flashed from the other's eyes. + +"There is one flaw in the free baron's position," resumed the duke's +fool, more confidently; "a fatal one 'twill prove, if it is possible to +carry out my plans. He thinks the emperor is in Austria, and his +followers guard the road through the mountains. He tells himself not +only are the emperor and the Duke of Friedwald too far distant to hear +of the pretender and interfere with the nuptials, but that he obviates +even the contingency of their learning of that matter at all by +controlling the way through which the messengers must go. Thus rests +he in double security--but an imaginary one." + +"What mean you?" asked Caillette, attentively, from his manner giving +fuller credence to the extraordinary news he had just learned. + +"That Charles, the emperor, is not in Austria, but in Aragon at +Saragossa, where he can be reached in time to prevent the marriage. +Just before my leaving, the emperor, to my certain knowledge, secretly +departed for Spain on matters pertaining to the governing of Aragon. +Charles plays a deep game in the affairs of Europe, though he works +ever silently and unobtrusively. Is he not always beforehand with your +king? When Francis was preparing the gorgeous field of the cloth of +gold for his English brother, did not Charles quietly leave for the +little isle, and there, without beat of drum, arrange his own affairs +before Henry was even seen by your pleasure-loving monarch? Yes; to +the impostor and to Francis, Charles is in Austria; to us--for now you +share my secret--is he in Spain, where by swift riding he may be found, +and yet interdict in this matter." + +"Then why--haven't you ere this fled to the emperor with the news?" + +"Last night I had determined to get away, when first I was assaulted by +an assassin of the impostor, and next detained by his troop and brought +back to the castle. I had even left on foot, trusting to excite less +suspicion, and hoping to find a horse on the way, but fortune was with +the pretender. So here am I, closely watched--and waiting," he added +grimly. + +The listener's demeanor was imperturbability itself. He knew why the +other had taken him into his confidence, and understood the silent +appeal as plainly as though words had uttered it. Perhaps he duly +weighed the perils of a flight without permission from the court of the +exacting and capricious monarch, and considered the hazards of the trip +itself through a wild and brigand-infested country. Possibly, the +thought of the princess moved him, for despite his irony, it was his +mocking fate to entertain in his breast, against his will, a covert +sympathy for the gentler sex; or, looking into the passionate face of +his companion, he may have been conscious of some bond of brotherhood, +a fellow-feeling that could not resist the call upon his good-will and +amicable efforts. The indifference faded from Caillette's face and +almost a boyish enthusiasm shone in his eyes. + +"_Mon ami_, I'll do it!" he exclaimed, lightly. "I'll ride to the +emperor for you." + +Silently the jester of the duke wrung his hand. "I've long sighed for +an adventure," laughed Caillette. "And here is the opportunity. +Caillette, a knight-errant! But"--his face falling--"the emperor will +look on me as a madman." + +"Nay," replied the duke's _plaisant_, "here is a letter. When he reads +it he will, at least, think the affair worth consideration. He knows +me, and trusts my fidelity, and will be assured I would not jest on +such a serious matter. Believe me, he will receive you as more than a +madman." + +"Why, then, 'twill be a rare adventure," commented the other. +"Wandering in the country; the beautiful country, where I was reared; +away from the madness of courts. Already I hear the wanton breezes +sighing in Sapphic softness and the forests' elegiac murmur. Tell me, +how shall I ride?" + +"As a knight to the border; thence onward as a minstrel. In Spain +there's always a welcome for a blithe singer." + +"'Tis fortunate I learned some Spanish love songs from a fair senora +who was in Charles' retinue the time he visited Francis," added +Caillette. "An I should fail?" he continued, more gravely. + +"You will not fail," was the confident reply. + +"I am of your mind, but things will happen--sometimes--and why do you +not speak to the princess herself--to warn her--" + +"Speak to her!" repeated the duke's jester, a shadow on his brow. +"When he has appealed to her, perhaps--when--" He broke off abruptly. +His tone was proud; in his eyes a look which Caillette afterward +understood. As it was, the latter nodded his head wisely. + +"A woman whose fancy is touched is--what she is," he commented, +generally. "Truly it would be a more thankless task, even, than +approaching the king. For women were ever creatures of caprice, not to +be governed by any court of logic, but by the whimsical, fantastic +rules of Marguerite's court. Court!" he exclaimed. "The word suggests +law; reason; where merit hath justice. Call it not Love's Court, but +love's caprice, or crochet. But look you, there's another channel to +the princess' mind--yonder black-browed maid--our ally in motley--when +she chooses to wear it--Jacqueline." + +"She likes me not," returned the fool. "Would she believe me in such +an important matter?" + +"I'm afraid not," tranquilly replied Caillette, "in view of the +improbability of your tale and the undoubted credentials held by this +pretender. For my part, to look at the fellow was almost enough. But +to the ladies, his brutality signifieth strength and power; and his +uncouthness, originality and genius. Marguerite, even, is prepossessed +in his favor and has written a platonic poem in his honor. As for the +princess"--pressing the other's arm gently--"do you not know, _mon +ami_, that women are all alike? There is but one they obey--the +king--that is as high as their ambitions can reach--and even him they +deceive. Why, the Countess d'Etampes--but this is no time for gossip. +We are fools, you and I, and love, my friend, is but broad farce at the +best." + +Even as he spoke thus, however, from the lists came the voices of the +well-instructed heralds, secretaries of the occasion, who had delved +deeply into the practices of the merry and ancient pastime: "Love of +ladies! For you and glory! Chivalry but fights for love. Look down, +fair eyes!" a peroration which was answered with many pieces of silver +from the galleries above, and which the gorgeously dressed officials +readily unbent to gather. Among the fair hands which rewarded this +perfunctory apostrophe to the tender passion none was more lavish in +offerings than those matrons and maids in the vicinity of the king. A +satirical smile again marred Caillette's face, but he kept his +reflections to himself, reverting to the business of the moment. + +"I should be off at once!" he cried. "But what can we do? The king +hath commanded all the jesters to appear in the tournament to-day, +properly armed and armored, the better to make sprightlier sport amid +the ponderous pastime of the knights. Here am I bound to shine on +horseback, willy-nilly. Yet this matter of yours is pressing. Stay! +I have it. I can e'en fall from my horse, by a ruse, retire from the +field, and fly southward." + +"Then will I wish you Godspeed, now," said the duke's fool. "Never was +a stancher heart than thine, Caillette, or a truer friend." + +"One word," returned the other, not without a trace of feeling which +even his cynicism could not hide. "Beware of the false duke in the +arena! It will be his opportunity to--" + +"I understand," answered the duke's fool, again warmly pressing +Caillette's hand, "but with the knowledge you are fleeing to Spain I +have no fear for the future. If we meet not after to-day--" + +"Why, life's but a span, and our friendship has been short, but sweet," +added the other. + +Now without sounded a flourish of trumpets and every glance was +expectantly down-turned from the crowded stand, as with a clatter of +hoofs and waving of plumes France's young chivalry dashed into the +lists, divided into two parties, took their respective places and, at a +signal from the musicians, started impetuously against one another. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DUKE ENTERS THE LISTS + +In that first "joyous and gentle passage of arms," wherein the weapons +were those "of courtesy," their points covered with small disks, +several knights broke their lances fairly, two horsemen of the side +wearing red plumes became unseated, and their opponents, designated as +the "white plumes," swept on intact. + +"Well done!" commented the king from his high tribunal, as the squires +and attendants began to clear the lists, assisting the fallen +belligerents to their tents. "We shall have another such memorable +field as that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch!" + +The following just, reduced to six combatants, three of the red plumes +and three of the white, was even yet more spirited than the first tilt, +for the former trio couched their lances with the determination to +retrieve the day for their party. In this encounter two of the whites +were unhorsed, thus placing the contention once more on an equal basis, +while in the third conflict the whites again suffered similar disaster, +and but one remained to redeem his party's lapse from an advantage +gained in the opening combat. + +All eyes were now fastened upon this single remnant of the white +fellowship in arms, who, to wrest victory from defeat, became obliged +to overcome each in turn of the trio of reds, a formidable task for one +who had already been successful in three stubborn matches. It was a +hero-making opportunity, but, alas! for the last of the little white +company. Like many another, he made a brave dash for honor and the +"bubble reputation"; the former slipped tantalizingly from his grasp, +and the latter burst and all its pretty colors dissolved in thin air. +Now he lay still on the sands and the king only remarked: + +"Certes, he possessed courage." + +And the words sounded like an epitaph, a not inglorious one, although +the hand that gripped the lance had failed. The defeated champion was +removed; the opportunity had passed; the multitude stoically accepted +the lame and impotent conclusion, and the tournament proceeded. + +Event followed event, and those court ladies who at first had professed +their nerves were weaker than their foremothers' now watched the arena +with sparkling eyes, no longer turning away at the thrilling moment of +contact. Taking their cue from the king, they were lavish in praise +and generous in approval, and at an unusual exhibition of skill the +stand grew bright with waving scarfs and handkerchiefs. Simultaneous +with such an animated demonstration from the galleries would come a +roar of approval from the peasantry below, crowded where best they +could find places, bespeaking for their part, likewise, an increasing +lust for the stirring pastime. + +In truth, the only dissatisfied onlookers were the quick-fingered +spoilers and rovers who, packed as close as dried dates in a basket by +the irresistible forward press of the people, found themselves suddenly +occupationless, without power to move their arms, or ply their hands. +Thus held in a mighty compress, temporary prisoners with their spoils +in their pockets, and cheap jewelry shining enticingly all about them, +they were obliged for the time to comport themselves like honest +citizens. But, although their bodies were in durance vile, their eyes +could roam covetously to a showy trinket on the broad bosom of some +buxom good-wife, or a gewgaw that hung from the neck of a red-cheeked +lass. + +"Ha!" muttered the scamp-student to his good spouse, "here are all the +jolly boys immersed to their necks, like prisoners buried in the sand +by the Arabs." + +"Hush!" she whispered, warningly. "See you yonder--the duke's fool; he +wears the arms of Charles, the emperor." + +"And there's the Duke of Friedwald himself," answered the ragged +scholar. "Look! the jesters are going to fight. They have arranged +them in two parties. Half of them go with the duke and his knights; +the other half with his Lordship's opponents." + +"But the duke's fool, by chance, is set against his master," she +mumbled, significantly. + +"Call you it chance?" he said in a low voice, and Nanette nudged him +angrily in the side with her elbow, so that he cried out, and attention +would have been called to them but for a ripple of laughter which +started on the edge of the crowd and was taken up by the serried ranks. + +"Ho! ho! Look at Triboulet!" shouted the delighted populace. "Ah, the +droll fellow!" + +All eyes were now bent to the arena, where, on a powerful nag, sat +perched the misshapen jester. With whip and spur he was vehemently +plying a horse that stubbornly stood as motionless as carven stone. +Thinking at the last moment of a plan for escape from the dangerous +features of the tourney, the hunchback had bribed one of the attendants +to fetch him a steed which for sullen obduracy surpassed any charger in +the king's stables. Fate, he was called, because nothing could move or +change him, and now, with head pushed forward and ears thrust back, he +proved himself beneath the blows and spurring of the seemingly excited +rider, worthy of this appellation. + +"Go on, Fate; go on!" exclaimed the apparently angry dwarf. "Will you +be balky now, when Triboulet has glory within his grasp? Miserable +beast! unhappy fate! When bright eyes are watching the great +Triboulet!" + +If not destined to score success with his lance, the dwarf at least had +won a victory through his comical situation and ready wit. Fair ladies +forgot his ugliness; the pages his ill-humor; the courtiers his +vindictive slyness; the monarch the disappointment of his failure to +worst the duke's fool, and all applauded the ludicrous figure, +shouting, waving his arms, struggling with inexorable destiny. +Finally, in despair, his hands fell to his side. + +"Oh, resistless necessity!" he cried. But in his heart he said: "It is +well. I am as safe as on a wooden horse. Here I stand. Let others +have their heads split or their bodies broken. Triboulet, like the +gods, views the carnage from afar." + +While this bit of unexpected comedy riveted the attention of the +spectators the duke and his followers had slowly ridden to their side +of the inclosure. Here hovered the squires, adjusting a stirrup, +giving a last turn to a strap, or testing a bridle or girth. Behind +stood the heralds, trumpeters and pursuivants in their bright garb of +office. At his own solicitation had the duke been assigned an active +part in the day's entertainment. The king, fearing for the safety of +his guest and the possible postponement of the marriage should any +injury befall him, had sought to dissuade him from his purpose, but the +other had laughed boisterously at the monarch's fears and sworn he +would break a lance for his lady love that day. Francis, too gallant a +knight himself to interpose further objection to an announcement so in +keeping with the traditions of the lists, thereupon had ordered the +best charger in his stables to be placed at the disposal of the +princess' betrothed, and again nodded his approbation upon the +appearance of the duke in the ring. But at least one person in that +vast assemblage was far from sharing the monarch's complaisant mood. + +If the mind of the duke's fool had heretofore been filled with +bitterness upon witnessing festal honors to a mere presumptuous free +baron, what now were his emotions at the reception accorded him? From +king to churl was he a gallant noble; he, a swaggerer, ill-born, a +terrorist of mountain passes. Even as the irony of the demonstration +swept over the jester, from above fell a flower, white as the box from +whence it was wafted. Downward it fluttered, a messenger of amity, +like a dove to his gauntlet. And with the favor went a smile from the +Lady of the Lists. But while _Bon Vouloir_ stood there, the symbol in +his hand and the applause ringing in his ears, into the tenor of his +thoughts, the consciousness of partly gratified ambition, there crept +an insinuating warning of danger. + +"My Lord," said the trooper with the red mustache, riding by the side +of his master, "the fool is plotting further mischief." + +"What mean you?" asked the free baron, frowning, as he turned toward +his side of the field. + +"Go slowly, my Lord, and I will tell you. I saw the fool and another +jester with their heads together," continued the trooper in a low tone. +"They were standing in front of the jesters' tent. You bade me watch +him. So I entered their pavilion at the back. Making pretext to be +looking for a gusset for an armor joint, I made my way near the +entrance. There, bending over barbet pieces, I overheard fragments of +their conversation. It even bore on your designs." + +"A conversation on my designs! He has then dared--" + +"All, my Lord. A scheming knave! After I had heard enough, I gathered +up a skirt of tassets--" + +"What did you hear?" said the other, impatiently. + +"A plan by which he hoped to let the emperor know--" + +A loud flourish of trumpets near them interrupted the free baron's +informer, and when the clarion tones had ceased it was the master who +spoke. "There's time but for a word now. Come to my tent afterward. +Meanwhile," he went on, hurriedly, "direct a lance at the fool--" + +"But, my Lord," expostulated the man, quickly, "the jesters only are to +oppose one another." + +"It will pass for an accident. Francis likes him not, and will clear +you of unknightly conduct, if--" He finished with a boldly significant +look, which was not lost upon his man. + +"Even if the leaden disk should fall from my lance and leave the point +bare?" said the trooper, hoarsely. + +"Even that!" responded the free baron, hastily. + +"_Laissez-aller!_" cried the marshals, giving the signal to begin. + +Above, in her white box, the princess turned pale. With bated breath +and parted lips, she watched the lines sweep forward, and, like two +great waves meeting, collide with a crash. The dust that arose seemed +an all-enshrouding mist. Beneath it the figures appeared, vague, +undefined, in a maze of uncertainty. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Louise, striving to penetrate the cloud; "he is +victorious!" + +"They have killed him!" said Jacqueline, at the same time staring +toward another part of the field. + +"Killed him!--what--" began the princess, now rosy with excitement. + +"No; he has won," added the maid, in the next breath, as a portion of +the obscuring mantle was swept aside. + +"Of course! Where are your eyes?" rejoined her mistress triumphantly. +"The duke, is one of the emperor's greatest knights." + +"In this case, Madam, it is but natural your sight should be better +than my own," half-mockingly returned the maid. + +And, in truth, the princess was right, for the king's guest, through +overwhelming strength and greater momentum, had lightly plucked from +his seat a stalwart adversary. Others of his following failed not in +the "attaint," and horses and troopers floundered in the sand. Apart +from the duke's victory, two especial incidents, one comic, stood out +in the confused picture. + +That which partook of the humorous aspect, and was seen and appreciated +by all, had for its central figure an unwilling actor, the king's +hunchback. Like the famous steed builded by the Greeks, Triboulet's +"wooden horse" contained unknown elements of danger, and even while the +jester was congratulating himself upon absolute immunity from peril the +nag started and quivered. At the flourish of the brass instruments his +ears, that had lain back, were now pricked forward; he had once, in his +palmy, coltish time, been a battle charger, and, perhaps, some memory +of those martial days, the waving of plumes and the clashing of arms, +reawoke his combative spirit of old. Or, possibly his brute +intelligence penetrated the dwarf's knavish pusillanimity, and, +changing his tactics that he might still range on the side of +perversity, resolved himself from immobility into a rampant agency of +motion. Furiously he dashed into the thick of the conflict, and +Triboulet, paralyzed with fear and dropping his lance, was borne +helplessly onward, execrating the nag and his capricious humor. + +Opposed to the hunchback rode Villot, who, upon reaching the dwarf and +observing his predicament, good-naturedly turned aside his point, but +was unable to avoid striking him with the handle as he rode by. To +Triboulet that blow, reechoing in the hollow depths of his steel shell, +sounded like the dissolution of the universe, and, not doubting his +last moment had come, mechanically he fell to earth, abandoning to its +own resources the equine Fate that had served him so ill. Striking the +ground, and, still finding consciousness had not deserted him, instinct +prompted him to demonstrate that if his armor was too heavy for him to +run away in, as the smithy-_valet de chambre_ had significantly +affirmed, yet he possessed the undoubted strength and ability to crawl. +Thus, amid the guffaws of the peasantry and the smiles of the nobles, +he swiftly scampered from beneath the horses' feet, hurriedly left the +scene of strife, and finally reached triumphantly the haven of his tent. + +The other incident, witnessed by Jacqueline, was of a more serious +nature. As the lines swept together, with the dust rising before, she +perceived that the duke's trooper had swerved from his course and was +bearing down upon the duke's fool. + +"Oh," she whispered to herself, "the master now retaliates on the +jester." And held her breath. + +Had he, too, observed these sudden perfidious tactics? Apparently. +Yet he seemed not to shun the issue. + +"Why does he not turn aside?" thought the maid. "He might yet do it. +A fool and a knight, forsooth!" + +But the fool pricked his horse deeply; it sprang to the struggle madly; +crash! like a thunderbolt, steed and rider leaped upon the trooper. +Then it was Jacqueline had murmured: "They have killed him!" not +doubting for a moment but that he had sped to destruction. + +A second swift glance, and through the veil, less obscure, she saw the +jester riding, unharmed, his lance unbroken. Had he escaped, after +all? And the trooper? He lay among the trampling horses' feet. She +saw him now. How had it all come about? Her mind was bewildered, but +in spite of the princess' assertion to the contrary, her sight seemed +unusually clear. + +"Good lance, fool!" cried a voice from the king's box. + +"The jester rides well," said another. "The knight's lance even passed +over his head, while the fool's struck fairly with terrific force." + +"But why did he select the jester as an adversary?" continued the first +speaker. + +"Mistakes will happen in the confusion of a _melee_--and he has paid +for his error," was the answer. And Jacqueline knew that none would be +held accountable for the treacherous assault. + +Now the fool had dismounted and she observed that he was bending over +another jester who had been unhorsed. "Why," she murmured to herself +in surprise, "Caillette! As good a soldier as a fool. Who among the +jesters could have unseated him?" + +But her wonderment would have increased, could she have overheard the +conversation between the duke's fool and Caillette, as the former +lifted the other from the sands and assisted him to walk, or rather +limp, to the jesters' pavilion. + +"Did I not tell you to beware of the false duke?" muttered Caillette, +not omitting a parenthesis of deceptive groans. + +"Ah, if it had only been he, instead," began the fool. + +"Why," interrupted the seemingly injured man, "think you to stand up +against the boar of Hochfels?" + +"I would I might try!" said the other quickly. + +"Your success with the trooper has turned your head," laughed +Caillette, softly. "One last word. Look to yourself and fear not for +me. Mine injuries--which I surmise are internal as they are not +visible--will excuse me for the day. Nor shall I tarry at the palace +for the physician, but go straight on without bolus, simples or pills, +a very Mercury for speed. Danger will I eschew and a pretty maid shall +hold me no longer than it takes to give her a kiss in passing. Here +leave me at the tent. Turn back to the field, or they will suspect. +Trust no one, and--you'll mind it not in a friend, one who would serve +you to the end?--forget the princess! Serve her, save her, as you +will, but, remember, women are but creatures of the moment. Adieu, +_mon ami_!" + +And Caillette turned as one in grievous physical pain to an attendant, +bidding him speedily remove the armor, while the duke's fool, more +deeply stirred than he cared to show, moved again to the lists. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CHAPLET FOR THE DUKE + +Loud rang encomium and blessing on the king, as the people that night +crowded in the rear courtyard around the great tables set in the open +air, and groaning beneath viands, nutritious and succulent. What swain +or yokel had not a meed of praise for the monarch when he beheld this +burden of good cheer, and, at the end of each board, elevated a little +and garlanded with roses, a rotund and portly cask of wine, with a +spigot projecting hospitably tablewards? + +Forgotten were the tax-lists under which the commonalty labored; it was +"Hosanna" for Francis, and not a plowman nor tiller of the soil +bethought himself that he had fully paid for the snack and sup that +night. How could he, having had no one to think for him; for then +Rousseau had not lived, Voltaire was unborn, and the most daring +approach to lese-majesty had been Rabelais' jocose: "The wearers of the +crown and scepter are born under the same constellation as those of cap +and bells." + +Upon the green, smoking torches illumined the people and the +surroundings; beneath a great oven, the bright coals cast a vivid glow +far and near. Close to the broad face of a cask--round and large like +that of a full-fed host presiding at the head of the board--sat the +Franciscan monk, whose gluttonous eye wandered from quail to partridge, +thence onward to pastry or pie, with the spigot at the end of the orbit +of observation. Nor as it made this comprehensive survey did his +glance omit a casual inventory of the robust charms of a bouncing maid +on the opposite side of the table. Scattered amid the honest, +good-natured visages of the trusting peasants were the pinched +adventurers from Paris, the dwellers of that quarter sacred to +themselves. Yonder plump, frisky dame seemed like the lamb; the gaunt +knave by her side, the wolf. + +At length the company could eat no more, although there yet remained a +void for drinking, and as the cups went circling and circling, their +laughter mingled with the distant strains of music from the great, +gorgeously lighted pavilion, where the king and his guests were +assembled to close the tourney fittingly with the celebration of the +final event--the awarding of the prize for the day. + +"Can you tell me, good sir, to whom the umpires of the field have given +their judgment?" said a townsman to his country neighbor. + +"Did you not hear the king of arms decide the Duke of Friedwald was the +victor?" answered the other. + +"A decision of courtesy, perhaps?" insinuated the Parisian. + +"Nay; two spears he broke, and overcame three adversaries during the +day. Fairly he won the award." + +"I wish we might see the presentation," interrupted a maid, pertly, her +longing eyes straying to the bright lights afar. + +"Presentation!" repeated the countryman. "Did we not witness the +sport? A fig for the presentation! Give me the cask and a juicy +haunch, with a lass like yourself to dance with after, and the nobles +are welcome to the sight of the prize and all the ceremony that goes +with it." + +Within the king's pavilion, the spectacle alluded to, regretfully by +the girl and indifferently by the man, was at that moment being +enacted. Upon a throne of honor, the lady of the tournament, attended +by two maids, looked down on a brilliant assemblage, through which now +approached the king and the princess' betrothed. The latter seemed +somewhat thoughtful; his eye had but encountered that of the duke's +fool, whose gaze expressed a disdainful confidence the other fain would +have fathomed. But for that unfortunate meeting in the lists which had +sealed the lips of the only person who had divined the hidden danger, +the free baron would now have been master of the _plaisant's_ designs. +Above, in the palace, the trooper with the red mustaches lay on his +couch unconscious. + +For how long? The court physician could not say. The soldier might +remain insensible for hours. Thus had the jester served himself with +that stroke better than he knew, and he of Hochfels bit his lip and +fumed inwardly, but to no purpose. Not that he believed the peril to +be great, but the fact he could not grasp it goaded him, and he cursed +the trooper for a dolt and a poltroon that a mere fool should have +vanquished him. And so he had left him, with a last look of disgust at +the silent lips that could not do his bidding, and had proceeded to the +royal pavilion, where the final act of the day's drama--more momentous +than the king or other spectators realized--was to be performed; an act +in which he would have appeared with much complacency, but that his +chagrin preyed somewhat on his vanity. + +But his splendid self-control and audacity revealed to the courtly +assemblage no trace of what was passing in his mind. He walked by the +king's side as one not unaccustomed to such exalted company, nor +overwhelmed by sudden honors. His courage was superb; his demeanor +that of one born to command; in him seemed exemplified a type of brute +strength and force denoting a leader--whether of an army or a band of +swashbucklers. As the monarch and the free baron drew near, the +princess slowly, gracefully arose, while now grouped around the throne +stood the heralds and pursuivants of the lists. In her hand Louise +held the gift, covered with a silver veil, an end of which was carried +by each of the maids. + +"Fair Lady of the Tournament," said the king, "this gallant knight is +_Bon Vouloir_, whom you have even heard proclaimed the victor of the +day." + +"Approach, _Bon Vouloir_!" commanded the Queen of Love. + +The maids uncovered the gift, the customary chaplet of beaten gold, +and, as the free baron bowed his head, the princess with a firm hand +fulfilled the functions of her office. Rising, _Bon Vouloir_, amid the +exclamations of the court, claimed the privilege that went with the +bauble. A moment he looked at the princess; she seemed to bend beneath +his regard; then leaning forward, deliberately rather than ardently, he +touched her cheek with his lips. Those who watched the Queen of Love +closely observed her face become paler and her form tremble; but in a +moment she was again mistress of herself, her features prouder and +colder than before. + +"Did you notice how he melted the ice of her nature?" whispered Diane, +with a malicious little laugh, to the countess. + +"And yet 'twas not his--warmth that did it," wisely answered the +favorite of the king. + +"His coldness, then," laughed the other, as the musicians began to +play, and the winner of the chaplet led the princess to the dance. "Is +it not so, Sire?" she added, turning to the king, who at that moment +approached. + +"He, indeed, forgot a part of the ceremony," graciously assented +Francis. + +"A part of the ceremony, your Majesty?" questioned Diane. + +"To kiss the two damsels of the princess; and one of them was worthy of +casual courtesy," he added, musingly. + +"Which, Sire?" asked the countess, quickly. + +"The dark-browed maid," returned the monarch, thoughtfully. "Where did +I notice her last?" + +And then he remembered. It was she who, he suspected, had laughed that +night in Fools' hall. Recalling the circumstance, the king looked +around for her, but she had drawn back. + +"Is it your pleasure to open the festivities, Sire?" murmured the +favorite, and, without further words, Francis acquiesced, proffering +his arm to his companion. + +Masque, costume ball, ballet, it was all one to the king and the court, +who never wearied of the diverting vagaries of the dance. Now studying +that pantomimic group of merrymakers, in the rhythmical expression of +action and movement could almost be read the influence and relative +positions of the fair revelers. The countess, airy and vivacious, +perched, as it were, lightly yet securely on the arm of the throne; +Diane, fearless, confident of the future through the dauphin; +Catharine, proud of her rank, undisturbed in her own exalted place as +wife of the dauphin; Marguerite, mixture of saint and sinner, a soft +heart that would oft-times turn the king from a hard purpose. + +"There! I've danced enough," said a panting voice, and Jacqueline, +breathless, paused before the duke's fool, who stood a motionless +spectator of the revelry. In his rich costume of blue and white, the +figure of the foreign jester presented a fair and striking appearance, +but his face, proud and composed, was wanting in that spirit which +animated the features of his fellows in motley. + +"One more turn, fair Jacqueline?" suggested Marot, her partner in the +dance. + +"Not one!" she answered. + +"Is that a dismissal?" he asked, lightly. + +"'Tis for you to determine," retorted the maid. + +"Modesty forbids I should interpret it to my desires," he returned, +laughing, as he disappeared. + +Tall, seeming straighter than usual, upon each cheek a festal rose, she +stood before the duke's _plaisant_, inscrutable, as was her fashion, +the scarf about her shoulders just stirring from the effects of the +dance, and her lips parted to her hurried breathing. + +"How did you like the ceremony?" she asked, quietly. "And did you +know," she went on, without noticing the dark look in his eyes or +awaiting his response, "the lance turned upon you to-day was not a +'weapon of courtesy'?" + +"You mean it was directed by intention?" he asked indifferently. + +"Not only that," she answered. "I mean that the disk had been removed +and the point left bare." + +"A mistake, of course," he said, with a peculiar smile. + +A look of impatience crossed her face, but she gazed at him intently +and her eyes held his from the floor where they would have strayed. + +"Are you stupid, or do you but profess to be?" she demanded. "Before +the tilt I noticed the duke and his trooper talking together. When +they separated the latter, unobserved as he thought, struck the point +of his weapon against his stirrup. The disk fell to the ground." + +"Your glance is sharp, Jacqueline," he retorted, slowly. "Thank you +for the information." + +Her eyes kindled; an angry retort seemed about to spring from her lips. +It was with difficulty she controlled herself to answer calmly a moment +later. + +"You mean it can serve you nothing? Perhaps you are right. To-day you +were lucky. To-morrow you may be--what? To-day you defended yourself +well and it was a good lance you bore. Had it been any other jester, +the king would have praised him. Because it was you, no word has been +spoken. If anything, your success has annoyed him. Several of the +court spoke of it; he answered not; 'tis the signal to ignore it, +and--you!" + +"Then are you courageous to brave public opinion and hold converse with +me," he replied, with a smile. + +"Public opinion!" she exclaimed with flashing eyes. "What would they +say of a jestress? Who is she? What is she?" + +She ended abruptly; bit her lips, showing her gleaming white teeth. +Then some emotion, more profound, swept over her expressive face; she +looked at him silently, and when she spoke her voice was more gentle. + +"I can not believe," she continued thoughtfully, "that the duke told +his trooper to do that. 'Tis too infamous. The man must have acted on +his own responsibility. The duke could not, would not, countenance +such baseness." + +"You have a good opinion of him, gentle mistress," he said in a tone +that exasperated her. + +"Who has not?" she retorted, sharply. "He is as brave as he is +distinguished. Farewell. If you served him better, and yourself less, +you--" + +"Would serve myself better in the end?" he interrupted, satirically. +"Thanks, good Jacqueline. A woman makes an excellent counselor." + +Disdainfully she smiled; her face grew cold; her figure looked never +more erect and inflexible. + +"Why," she remarked, "here am I wasting time talking when the music is +playing and every one is dancing. Even now I see a courtier +approaching who has thrice importuned me." And the jestress vanished +in the throng as abruptly as she had appeared. + +Thoughtfully the duke's fool looked, not after her, but toward a far +end of the pavilion, where he last had seen the princess and her +betrothed. + +"Caillette should now be well on his way," he told himself. "No one +has yet missed him, or if they do notice his absence they will +attribute it to his injuries." + +This thought lent him confidence; the implied warnings of the maid +passed unheeded from his mind; indeed, he had scarcely listened to +them. Amid stronger passions, he felt the excitement of the subtile +game he and the free baron were playing; the blind conviction of a +gambler that he should yet win seized him, dissipating in a measure +more violent thoughts. + +He began to calculate other means to make assurance doubly sure; an +intricate realm of speculation, considering the safeguards the boar of +Hochfels had placed about himself. To offset the triumphs of the +king's guest there occurred to the jester the comforting afterthought +that the greater the other's successes now the more ignominious would +be his downfall. The free baron had not hesitated to use any means to +obliterate his one foeman from the scene; and he repeated to himself +that he would meet force with cunning, and duplicity with stealth, +spinning such a web as lay within his own capacity and resources. But +in estimating the moves before him, perhaps in his new-found trust, he +overlooked the strongest menace to his success--a hazard couched within +himself. + +Outspreading from the pavilion's walls were floral bowers with myriad +lights that shone through the leaves and foliage, where tiny fragrant +fountains tinkled, or diminutive, fairy-like waterfalls fell amid +sweet-smelling plants. Green, purple, orange, red, had been the colors +chosen in these dainty retreats for such of the votaries of the Court +of Love as should, from time to time, care to exchange the merry-making +within for the languorous rest without. It was yet too early, however, +for the sprightly devotees to abandon the lively pleasures of the +dance, so that when the duke's fool abstractedly entered the balmy, +crimson nook, at first he thought himself alone. + +Around him, carmine, blood-warm flowers exhaled a commingling +redolence; near him a toy-like fountain whispered very softly and +confidentially. Through the foliage the figures moved and moved; on +the air the music fell and rose, thin in orchestration, yet brightly +penetrating in sparkling detail. Buoyant were the violins; sportive +the flutes; all alive the gitterns; blithesome the tripping arpeggios +that crisply fell from the strings of the joyous harps. + +The rustling of a gown admonished him he was not alone, and, looking +around, amid the crimson flowers, to his startled gaze, appeared the +face of her of whom he was thinking; above the broad, white brow shone +the radiance of hair, a gold that was almost bronze in that dim light; +through the green tangle of shrubbery, a silver slipper. + +"Ah, it is you, fool?" she said languidly. It may be, he contrasted +the indifference of her tones now with the unconscious softness of her +voice when she had addressed him on another occasion--in another +garden; for his face flushed, and he would have turned abruptly, when-- + +"Oh, you may remain," she added, carelessly. "The duke has but left +me. He received a message that the man hurt in the lists was most +anxious to see him." + +Into the whirl of his reflections her words insinuated themselves. Why +had the free baron gone to the trooper? What made his presence so +imperative at the bedside of the soldier that he had abruptly abandoned +the festivities? Surely, more than mere anxiety for the man's welfare. +The jester looked at the princess for the answer to these questions; +but her face was cold, smiling, unresponsive. In the basin of the +fountain tiny fish played and darted, and as his eyes turned from her +to them they appeared as swift and illusive as his own surging fancies. + +"The--duke, Madam, is most solicitous about his men," he said, in a +voice which sounded strangely calm. + +"A good leader has always in mind the welfare of his soldiers," she +replied, briefly. + +Her hand played among the blossoms. Over the flowers she looked at +him. Her features and arms were of the sculptured roundness of marble, +but the reflection of the roses bathed her in the warm hue of life. As +he met her gaze the illumined pages of a book seemed turning before his +eyes. Did she remember? + +She could not but perceive his emotion; the tribute of a glance beyond +control, despite the proud immobility of his features. + +"Sit here, fool," she said, not unkindly, "and you may tell me more +about the duke. His exploits--of that battle when he saved the life of +the emperor." + +The jester made no move to obey, but, looking down, answered coldly: +"The duke, Madam, likes not to have his poor deeds exploited." + +"Poor deeds!" she returned, and seemed about to reply more sharply when +something in his face held her silent. + +Leaning her head on her hand, she appeared to forget his presence; +motionless save for a foot that waved to and fro, betraying her +restless mood. The sound of her dress, the swaying of the foot, held +his attention. In that little bower the air was almost stifling, laden +with the perfume of many flowers. Even the song of the birds grew +fainter. Only the tiny fountain, more assertive than ever, became +louder and louder. The princess breathed deeply; half-arose; a vine +caught in her hair; she stooped to disentangle it; then held herself +erect. + +"How close it is in here!" she murmured, arranging the tress the plant +had disturbed. "Go to the door, fool, and see if you can find your +master." + +Involuntarily he had stepped toward her, as though to assist her, but +now stopped. His face changed; he even laughed. That last word, from +her lips, seemed to break the spell of self-control that held him. + +"My master!" he said in a hard, scoffing tone. "Whom mean you? The +man who left you to go to the soldier? That blusterer, my master! +That swaggering trooper!" + +Her inertness vanished; the sudden anger and wonderment in her eyes met +the passion in his. + +"How dare you--dare you--" she began. + +"He is neither my master, nor the duke; but a mere free-booter, a +mountain terrorist!" + +Pride and contempt replaced her surprise, but indignation still +remained. His audacity in coming to her with this falsehood; his +hardihood in maintaining it, admitted of but one explanation. By her +complaisance in the past she had fanned the embers of a passion which +now burst beyond control. She realized how more than fair she looked +that evening--had she not heard it from many?--had not the eyes of the +king's guest told her?--and she believed that this lie must have sprung +to the jester's lips while he was regarding her. + +As the solution crossed her mind, revealing the _plaisant_, a desperate +and despicable, as well as lowly wooer, her face relaxed. In the +desire to test her conclusion, she laughed quietly, musically. Cruelly +kind, smiled the princess. + +"You are mad," she breathed softly. "You are mad--because--because +you--" + +He started, studying her eagerly. He fancied he read relenting +softness in her gaze; a flash of memory into a past, where glamour and +romance, and the heart-history of the rose made up life's desideratum. +Wherein existence was but an allegory of love's quest, and the goal, +its consummation. Had she not bent sedulously over the rose of the +poet? Had not her breath come quickly, eagerly? Could he not feel it +yet, sweet and warm on his cheek? Into the past, having gone so far, +he stepped now boldly, as though to grasp again those illusive colors +and seize anew the intangible substance. He was but young, when +shadows seem solid, when dreams are corporeal stuff, and fantasies, +rock-like strata of reality. + +So he knelt before her. "Yes," he said, "I love you!" + +And thus remained, pale, motionless, all resentment or jealousy +succeeded by a stronger emotion, a feeling chivalric that bent itself +to a glad thraldom, the desire but to serve her--to save her. His +heart beat faster; he raised his head proudly. + +"Listen, Princess," he began. "Though I meant it not, I fear I have +greatly wronged you. I have much to ask your pardon for; much to tell +you. It is I--I--" + +The words died on his lips. From the princess' face all softness had +suddenly vanished. Her gaze passed him, cold, haughty. Across the +illusory positiveness of his world--immaterial, psychological, +ghostly--an intermediate orb--a tangible shadow was thrown. Behind him +stood the free baron and the king. Quickly the fool sprang to his feet. + +"Princess!" exclaimed the hoarse voice of the master of Hochfels. + +"My Lord?" + +For a moment neither spoke, and then the clear, cold voice of the +princess broke the silence. + +"Are all the fools in your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" she said. + +The king's countenance lightened; he turned his accusing glance upon +the fool. As in a dream stood the latter; the words he would have +uttered remained unspoken. But briefly the monarch surveyed him, +satirically, darkly; then turning, with a gesture, summoned an +attendant. Not until the hands of two soldiers fell upon him did the +fool betray any emotion. Then his face changed, and the stunned look +in his eyes gave way to an expression of such unbridled feeling that +involuntarily the king stepped back and the free baron drew his sword. +But neither had the monarch need for apprehension, nor the princess' +betrothed use for his weapon. Some emotion, deeper than anger, +replaced the savage turmoil of the jester's thoughts, as with a last +fixed look at the princess he mechanically suffered himself to be led +away. Louise's gaze perforce followed him, and when the canvas fell +and he had disappeared she passed a hand across her brow. + +"Are you satisfied, my Lord?" said the king to the free baron. + +"The knave has received his just deserts, Sire," replied the other, +and, stepping to the princess' side, raised her hand to his lips. + +"_Mere de Dieu!_" cried the monarch, passing his arm in a friendly +manner over the free baron's shoulder and addressing Louise. "You will +find Robert of Friedwald worthy of your high trust, cousin." + +Without, they were soon whispering it. The attendant, who was the +Count of Cross, breathed what he knew to the Duke of Montmorency, who +told Du Bellays, who related the story to Diane de Poitiers, who +embellished it for Villot, who carried it to Jacqueline. + +"Triboulet has his wish," said the poet-fool, half-regretfully. "There +is one jester the less." + +"Where have they taken him?" asked the girl, steadily. + +"Where--but to the keep!" + +"That dungeon of the old castle?" + +"Well," he returned significantly, "a fool and his jests--alas!--are +soon parted. Let us make merry, therefore, while we may. For what +would you? Come, mistress--the dance--" + +"No! no! no!" she exclaimed, so passionately he gazed at her in +surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AN EARLY-MORNING VISIT + +In a mood of contending thought, the free baron left his apartments the +next morning and traversed the tapestry-hung corridor leading toward +the servants' and soldiers' quarters. He congratulated himself that +the incident of the past night had precipitated a favorable climax in +one source of possible instability, and that the fool who had opposed +him had been summarily removed from the field of action. Confined +within the four walls of the castle dungeon, there was scant likelihood +he would cause further trouble and annoyance. Francis' strong prison +house would effectively curb any more interference with, or dabbling +in, the affairs of the master of the Vulture's Nest. + +Following the exposure of the jester's weakness, his passion for his +mistress, Francis, as Villot told Jacqueline, had immediately ordered +the fool into strictest confinement, the donjon of the ancient +structure. In that darkened cell he had rested over night and there he +would no doubt remain indefinitely. The king's guest had not been +greatly concerned with the jester's quixotic love for the princess, +being little disposed to jealousy. He was no sighing solicitant for +woman's favor; higher allurements than woman's eyes, or admiration for +his inamorata, moved him--that edge of appetite for power, conquest +hunger, an itching palm for a kingdom. His were the unscrupulous +soldier's rather than the eager true-love's dreams. + +But to offset his satisfaction that the jester lay under restraint he +took in bad part the trooper's continued insensibility which deprived +him of the much-desired information. When he had repaired to the +bedside of the soldier the night before he had only his trip for his +pains, as the man had again sunk into unconsciousness shortly before +his coming. Thus the free baron was still in ignorance of the person +to whom the fool had betrayed him. The fact that there still roamed an +unfettered some one who possessed the knowledge of his identity caused +him to knit his brows and look glum. + +These jesters were daring fellows; several of them had borne arms, as, +for example, Clement Marot, who had been taken prisoner with Francis at +the battle of Pavia. Brusquet had been a hanger-on of the camp at +Avignon; Villot, a Paris student; Caillette had received the spirited +education of a soldier in the household of his benefactor, Diane's +father. And as for the others--how varied had been their +careers!--lives of hazard and vicissitude; scapegraces and +adventurers--existing literally by their wits. + +To what careless or wanton head had his secret been confined? What use +would the rashling make of it? Daringly attempt to approach the throne +with this startling budget of information; impulsively seek the +princess; or whisper it over his cups among the _femmes de chambre_, +laundresses or scullery maids? + +"If the soldier should never speak?" thought the free baron out of +humor, as he drew near the trooper's door. "What a nest of suspicion +may be growing! The wasps may be breeding. A whisper may become an +ominous threat. Is not the danger even greater than it was before, +when I could place my hand on my foeman? The man must speak!--must!" + +With a firm step the king's guest entered the chamber of the injured +soldier. Upon a narrow bed lay the trooper, his mustachios appearing +unusually red and fierce against his now yellow, washed-out complexion. +As the free baron drew near the couch a tall figure arose from the side +of the bed. + +"How is your patient, doctor?" said the visitor, shortly. + +"Low," returned the other, laconically. This person wore a black gown; +a pair of huge, broad-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of a thin, +long nose, and in his claw-like fingers he held a vial, the contents of +which he stirred slowly. His aspect was that of living sorrow and +melancholy. + +"Has he been conscious again?" asked the caller. + +"He has e'en lain as you see him," replied the wearer of the black robe. + +"Humph!" commented the free baron, attentively regarding the motionless +and silent figure. + +"I urged upon him the impropriety of sending for you at the +festivities," resumed the man, sniffing at the vial, "but he became +excited, swore he would leave the bed and brain me with mine own pestle +if I ventured to hinder him. So I consented to convey his request." + +"And when I arrived he was still as a log," supplemented the visitor, +gloomily. + +"Alas, yes; although I tried to keep him up, giving him specifics and +carminatives and bleeding him once." + +"Bleeding him!" cried the false duke, angrily, glowering upon the +impassive and woebegone countenance of the medical attendant. "As if +he had not bled enough from his hurts! Quack of an imposter! You have +killed him!" + +"As for that," retorted the man in a sing-song voice, "no one can tell +whether a medicine be antidote or poison, unless as leechcraft and +chirurgery point out--" + +"His days are numbered," quoth the free baron to himself, staring +downward. But as he spoke he imagined he saw the red mustachios move, +while one eye certainly glared with intelligent hatred upon the doctor +and turned with anxious solicitude upon his master. The latter +immediately knelt by the bedside and laid his hand upon the already +cold one of the soldier. + +"Speak!" he said. + +It was the command of an officer to a trooper, an authoritative +bidding, and seemed to summon a last rallying energy from the failing +heart. The man's gaze showed that he understood. From the free +baron's eye flashed a glance of savage power and force. + +"Speak!" he repeated, cruelly, imperatively. + +The mustachios quivered; the leader bent his head low, so low his face +almost touched the soldier's. A voice--was it a voice, so faint it +sounded?--breathed a few words: + +"The emperor--Spain--Caillette gone!" + +Quickly the free baron sprang to his feet. The soldier seemed to fall +asleep; his face calm and tranquil as a campaigner's before the bivouac +fire at the hour of rest; the ugliness of his features glossed by a +new-found dignity; only his mustachios strangely fierce, vivid, +formidable, against the peace and pallor of his countenance. The leech +looked at him; stopped stirring the drug; leaned over him; straightened +himself; took the vial once more from the table and threw the medicine +out of the window. Then he methodically began gathering up bottles and +other receptacles, which he placed neatly in a handbag. The free baron +passed through the door, leaving the cheerless practitioner still +gravely engaged in getting together his small belongings. + +Soberly the king's guest walked down the echoing stairway out into the +open air of the court. The emperor in Spain? It seemed not unlikely. +Charles spent much of his time in that country, nor was it improbable +he had gone there quietly, without flourish of trumpet, for some +purpose of his own. His ways were not always manifest; his personality +and mind-workings were characterized by concealment. If the emperor +had gone to Spain, a messenger, riding post-haste, could reach Charles +in time to enable that monarch to interpose in the nuptials and +override the confidence the free baron had established for himself in +the court of Francis. An impediment offered by Charles would be +equivalent to the abandonment of the entire marital enterprise. + +Pausing before a massive arched doorway that led into a wing of the +castle where the free baron knew the jesters and certain of the +gentlemen of the chamber lodged, the master of Hochfels, in answer to +his inquiries from a servant, learned that Caillette had not been in +his apartments since the day before; that he had ridden from the +tournament, ostensibly to return to his rooms, but nothing had been +heard of him since. And the oddest part of it was, as the old woman +volubly explained when the free baron had pushed his way into the +tastefully furnished chambers of the absent fool, the jester had been +desperately wounded; had groaned much when the duke's _plaisant_ had +assisted him from the field, and had been barely able to mount his +horse with the assistance of a squire. + +Meditatively, while absorbing this prattle, the visitor gazed about +him. The bed had been unslept in, and here and there were evidences of +a hasty and unpremeditated leave-taking. Upon an open desk lay a +half-finished poem, obviously intended for no eyes save the writer's. +Several dainty missives and a lace handkerchief, with a monogram, +invited the unscrupulous and prying glance of the inquisitive +newsmonger. + +But as these details offered nothing additional to the one great germ +of information embodied in the loquacity of the narrator, the free +baron turned silently away, breaking the thread of her volubility by +unceremoniously disappearing. No further doubt remained in his mind +that the duke's _plaisant_ had sent a comrade in motley to the emperor, +and, as he would not have inspired a mere fool's errand, Charles +without question was in Spain, several days nearer to the court of the +French monarch than the princess' betrothed had presumed. Caillette +had now been four-and-twenty hours on his journey; it would be useless +to attempt pursuit, as the jester was a gallant horseman, trained to +the hunt. Such a man would be indefatigable in the saddle, and the +other realized that, strive as he might, he could never overcome the +handicap. + +Then of what avail was one fool in the dungeon, with a second--on the +road? Should he abandon his quest, be driven from his purpose by a +nest of motley meddlers? The idea never seriously entered his mind; he +would fight it out doggedly upon the field of deception. But how? As +surely as the sun rose and set, before many days had come and gone the +hand of Charles would be thrust between him and his projects. +Circumspect, suspicious, was the emperor; he would investigate, and +investigation meant the downfall of the structure of falsehood that had +been erected with such skill and painstaking by the subtile architect. +The maker had pride in his work, and, to see it totter and tumble, was +a misfortune he would avert with his life--or fall with it. + +As he had no intention, however, of being buried beneath the wreckage +of his endeavors, he sought to prop the weakening fabric of invention +and mendacity by new shuffling or pretense. Should a disgraced fool be +his undoing? From that living entombment should his foeman in cap and +bells yet indirectly summon the force to bend him to the dust, or send +him to the hangman's knot? + +Step by step the king's guest had left the palace behind him, until the +surrounding shrubbery shut it from view, but the path, sweeping onward +with graceful curve, brought him suddenly to a beautiful chateau. Lost +in thought, he gazed within the flowering ground, at the ornate +architecture, the marble statues and the little lake, in whose pellucid +depths were mirrored a thousand beauties of that chosen spot--an +improved Eden of the landscape gardener wherein resided the Countess +d'Etampes. + +"Why," thought the free baron, brightening abruptly, "that chance which +served me last night, which forced the trooper to speak to-day, now has +led my stupid feet to the soothsayer." + +Within a much begilt and gorgeous bower, he soon found himself awaiting +patiently the coming of the favorite. Upon a tiny chair of gold, too +fragile for his bulk, the caller meanwhile inspected the ceilings and +walls of this dainty domicile, mechanically striving to decipher a +painted allegory of Venus and Mars, or Helen and Paris, or the countess +and Francis--he could not decide precisely its purport--when she who +had succeeded Chateaubriant floated into the room, dressed in some +diaphanous stuff, a natural accompaniment to the other decorations; her +dishabille a positive note of modesty amid the vivid colorings and +graceful poses of those tributes to love with which Primaticcio and +other Italian artists had adorned this bower. + +"How charming of you!" vaguely murmured the lady, sinking lightly upon +a settee. "What an early riser you must be, Duke." + +Although it was then but two hours from noon, the visitor confessed +himself open to criticism in this regard. "And you, as well, Madam," +he added, "must plead guilty of the same fault. One can easily see you +have been out in the garden, and," he blundered on, "stolen the tints +from the roses." + +Sharply the countess looked at him, but read only an honest attempt at +a compliment. + +"Why," she said, "you are becoming as great a flatterer as the rest of +them. But confess now, you did not call to tell me that?" + +The free baron looked from her through the folding doors into a +retiring apartment, set with arabesque designs, and adorned with inlaid +tables bearing statues of alabaster and enamel. Purposely he waited +before he replied, and was gratified to see how curiously she regarded +him when again his glance returned to her. + +"No, Madam," he answered, taking credit to himself for his diplomacy, +"it is not necessary that truth should be premeditated. I had a +serious purpose in seeking you. Of all the court you alone can assist +me; it is to you, only, I can look for aid. Knowing you generous, I +have ventured to come." + +"What a serious preamble," smiled the lady. "How grave must be the +matter behind it!" + +"The service I ask must be from the king," he went on, with seeming +embarrassment. + +"Then why not go to his Majesty?" she interrupted, with the suggestion +of a frown. + +"Because I should fail," he retorted, frankly. "The case is one +wherein a messenger--like yourself--a friend--may I so call you?--would +win, while I, a rough soldier, should but make myself ridiculous, the +laughing stock of the court." + +"You interest me," she laughed. "It must be a pressing emergency when +you honor me--so early in the day." + +"It is, Madam," he replied. "Very pressing to me. I want the wedding +day changed." + +"Changed!" she exclaimed, staring at him. "Deferred?" + +"No; hastened, Madam. It is too long to wait. Go to the king; ask him +to shorten the interval; to set the day sooner. I beg of you, Madam!" + +His voice was hard and harsh. It seemed almost a demand he laid upon +her. Had he been less blunt or coercive, had he employed a more +honeyed appeal, she would not have felt so moved in his behalf. In the +atmosphere of adulation and blandishment to which she was accustomed, +the free baron offered a marked contrast to the fine-spoken courtiers, +and she leaned back and surveyed him as though he were a type of the +lords of creation she had not yet investigated. + +"Oh, this is delicious!" purred the countess. "Samson in the toils! +His locks shorn by our fair Delilah!" + +The thick-set soldier arose; muscular, well-knit, virile. "I fear I am +detaining you, Madam," he said, coldly. + +"No; you're not," she answered, merrily. "Won't you be seated--please! +I should have known," she could not resist adding, "that love is as +sensitive as impatient." + +"I see, Madam, that you have your mind made up to refuse me, and +therefore--" + +"Refuse," repeated the favorite, surveying this unique petitioner with +rising amusement. "How do you read my mind so well?" + +"Then you haven't determined to refuse me?" And he stepped toward her +quickly. + +"No, I haven't," she answered, throwing back her head, like a spoiled +child. "On the contrary, I will be your messenger, your advocate, and +will plead your cause, and will win your case, and the king shall say +'yes,' and you shall have your princess whene'er you list. All this I +promise faithfully to do and perform. And now, if you want to leave me +so sullenly, go!" + +But the free baron dropped awkwardly to his knee, took her little hand +in his massive one and raised it to his lips. "Madam, you overwhelm +me," he murmured. + +"That is all very well," she commented, reflectively, "but what about +the princess? What will she say when--" + +"It shall be my task to persuade her. I am sure she will consent," +returned the suitor. + +"Oh, you're sure of that?" observed the lady. "You have some faith in +your own powers of persuasion--in certain quarters!" + +"Not in my powers, Madam, but in the princess' amiability." + +"Perhaps you have spoken to her already?" asked the countess. + +"No, Madam; without your assistance, of what use would be her +willingness?" + +"What a responsibility you place on my weak shoulders!" cried the +other. "However, I will not shift the burden. I will go to his +Majesty at once. And do you"--gaily--"go to the princess." + +"At your command!" he replied, and took his departure. + +Without the inclosure of the chateau gardens, the free baron began to +review the events of the morning with complacency and satisfaction, +but, as he took up the threads of his case and examined them more +narrowly, his peace of mind was darkened with the shadow of a new +disquietude. What if Francis, less easily cozened than the countess, +should find his suspicions aroused? What if the princess, who had +immediately dismissed the fool's denouncement of the free baron as an +ebullition of blind jealousy--after informing her betrothed of the mad +accusation--should see in his request equivocal circumstances? Or, was +the countess--like many of her sisters--given to second thoughts, and +would this after-reverie dampen the ardor of her impetuous promise? + +"But," thought the king's guest, banishing these assailing doubts, +"there never yet was victory assured before the battle had been fought, +and, with renewed precautions, defeat is most unlikely." + +By the time he had reached this conclusion he had arrived at the +princess' door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A NEW DISCOVERY + +The dim rays of a candle glimmered within a cubical space, whereof the +sides consisted of four stone walls, and a ceiling and floor of the +same substantial material. For furnishings were provided a +three-legged stool, a bundle of straw and--the tallow dip. One of the +walls was pierced by a window, placed almost beyond the range of +vision; the outlook limited by day to a bit of blue sky or a patch of +verdant field, with the depressing suggestion of a barrier to this +outer world, three feet in thickness, massively built of stone and +mortar, hardened through the centuries. At night these pictures faded +and the Egyptian darkness within became partly dispelled through the +brave efforts of the small wick; or when this half-light failed, a far +star without, struggling in the depths of the palpable obscure, +appeared the sole relief. + +But now the few inches of candle had only begun to eke out its brief +period of transition and the solitary occupant of the cell could for +some time find such poor solace as lay in the companionship of the tiny +yellow flame. With his arms behind him, the duke's fool moved as best +he might to and fro within the narrow confines of his jail; the events +which had led to his incarceration were so recent he had hardly yet +brought himself to realize their full significance. Neither Francis' +anger nor the free baron's covert satisfaction during the scene +following their abrupt appearance in the bower of roses had greatly +weighed upon him; but not so the attitude of the princess. + +How vividly all the details stood out in his brain! The sudden +transitions of her manner; her seeming interest in his passionate +words; her eyes, friendly, tender, as he had once known them; then +portentous silence, frozen disdain. What latent energy in the free +baron's look had invested her words with his spirit? Had the adduction +of his mind compelled hers to his bidding, or had she but spoken from +herself? Into the marble-like pallor of her face a faint flush had +seemed to insinuate itself, but the words had dropped easily from her +lips: "Are all the fools of your country so presumptuous, my Lord?" + +Above the other distinctive features of that tragic night, to the +_plaisant_ this question had reiterated itself persistently in the +solitude of his cell. True, he had forgotten he was only a jester; but +had it not been the memory of her soft glances that had hurried him on +to the avowal? She had no fault to be condoned; the fool was the sole +culprit. From her height, could she not have spared him the scorn and +contempt of her question? Over and over, through the long hours he had +asked himself that, and, as he brooded, the idealization with which he +had adorned her fell like an enshrouding drapery to the dust; of the +vestment of fancy nothing but tatters remained. + +A voice without, harsh, abrupt, broke in upon the jester's thoughts. +The prisoner started, listened intently, a gleam of fierce satisfaction +momentarily creeping into his eyes. If love was dead, a less exalted +feeling still remained. + +"How does the fool take his imprisonment?" asked the arrogant voice. + +"Quietly, my Lord," was the jailer's reply. + +"He is inclined to talk over much?" + +"Not at all," answered the man. + +A brief command followed; a key was inserted in the lock, and, with a +creaking of bolts and groaning of hinges, the warder swung back the +iron barrier. Upon the threshold stood the commanding figure of the +free baron. A moment he remained thus, and then, with an authoritative +gesture to the man, stepped inside. The turnkey withdrew to a discreet +distance, where he remained within call, yet beyond the range of +ordinary conversation. Immovably the king's guest gazed upon the +jester, who, unabashed, calmly endured the scrutiny. + +"Well, fool," began the free baron, bluntly, "how like you your +quarters? You fought me well; in truth very well. But you labored +under a disadvantage, for one thing is certain: a jester in love is +doubly--a fool." + +"Is that what you have come to say?" asked the plaisant, his bright +glance fastened on the other's confident face. + +"I came--to return the visit you once made me," easily retorted the +master of Hochfels. "By this time you have probably learned I am an +opponent to be feared." + +"As one fears the assassin's knife, or a treacherous onslaught," said +the fool. + +"Did I not say, when you left that night, the truce was over?" returned +the king's guest, frowning. + +"True," was the ironical answer. "Forewarned; forearmed. And that +sort of warfare was to be expected from the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"Well," unreservedly replied the free baron, who for reasons of his own +chose not to challenge the affront, "in those two instances you were +not worsted. And as for the trooper who attacked you--I know not +whether your lance or the doctor's lancet is responsible for his taking +off. But you met him with true attaint. You would have made a good +soldier. It is to be regretted you did not place your fortune with +mine--but it is too late now." + +"Yes," answered the _plaisant_, "it is too late." + +Louis of Hochfels gave him a sharp look. "You cling yet to some +forlorn hope?" + +To the fool came the vision of a brother jester speeding southward, +ever southward. The free baron smiled. + +"Caillette, perhaps?" he suggested. For a moment he enjoyed his +triumph, watching the expression of the fool's countenance, whereon he +fancied he read dismay and astonishment. + +"You know then?" said the _plaisant_ finally. + +"That you sent him to the emperor? Yes." + +In the fool's countenance, or his manner, the king's guest sought +confirmation of the dying trooper's words. Also, was he fencing for +such additional information as he might glean, and for this purpose had +he come. Had the emperor really gone to Spain? The soldier's +assurance had been so faint, sometimes the free baron wondered if he +had heard aright, or if he had correctly interpreted the meager message. + +"And you--of course--detained Caillette?" remarked the prisoner, with +an effort at indifference, his heart beating violently the while. + +"No," slowly returned the other. "He got away." + +Into his eyes the fool gazed closely, as if to read and test this +unexpected statement. + +"Got away!" he repeated. "How, since you knew?" + +"Because I learned too late," quietly replied the free baron. "He was +four-and-twenty hours gone when I found out. Too great a start to be +overcome." + +"Why should you tell me this--unless it is a lie?" coolly asked the +jester. + +"A lie!" exclaimed the visitor, frowning. + +"Yes, like your very presence in Francis' court," added the fool, +fearlessly. + +In the silence ensuing the passion slowly faded from the countenance of +the king's guest. He remembered he had not yet ascertained what he +wished to know. + +"Such recriminations from you remind me of a bird beating its wings +against the bars of its cage," at length came the unruffled response. +"Why should I lie? There is no need for it. You sent Caillette; he is +on his way now, for all of me. For"--leading to the thread of what he +sought--"why should I have stopped him? He embarked on a hopeless +chase. How can he reach Austria and the emperor in time to prevent the +marriage?" + +The jester's swift questioning glance was not lost upon the speaker, +who, after a pause, continued. "Had I known, I am not sure I would +have prevented his departure. What better way to dispose of him than +to let him go on a mad-cap journey? Besides, you must have forgotten +about the passes. How could you expect him to get by my sentinels? It +will attract less attention to have him stopped there than here." + +All this, spoken brusquely, was accompanied by frank, insolent looks +which beneath their seeming openness concealed an intentness of purpose +and a shrewd penetration. Only the first abrupt change in the fool's +look, a slight one though it was, betrayed the jester to his caller. +In that swiftly passing gleam, as the free baron spoke of Austria, and +not of Spain, the other read full confirmation of what he desired to +know. + +"He will do his best," commented the jester, carelessly. + +"And man can do no more," retorted the king's guest. "Many a battle +has been thus bravely lost." + +He had hoped to provoke from the _plaisant_ some further expression of +self-content in his plans for the future, but the other had become +guarded. + +What if he offered the fool clemency? asked the princess' betrothed of +himself. If the jester had confidence in the future he would naturally +rather remain in the narrow confines of his dark chamber than consider +proposals from one whom he believed he would yet overcome. The free +baron began to enjoy this strategic duplicity of language; the +environing dangers lent zest to equivocation; the seduction of finding +himself more potent than forces antagonistic became intoxicating to his +egotism. + +"Why," he said, patronizingly, surveying the slender figure of the +fool, "a good man should die by the sword rather than go to the +scaffold. What if I were to overlook Caillette and the rest? He is +harmless,"--more shrewdly; "let him go. As for the princess--well, +you're young; in the heyday for such nonsense. I have never yet +quarreled seriously with man for woman's sake. There are many graver +causes for contention--a purse, or a few acres of land; right royal +warfare. If I get the king to forgive you, and the princess to +overlook your offense, will you well and truthfully serve me?" + +"Never!" answered the fool, promptly. + +"He is sure the message will reach Charles in Spain," mentally +concluded the king's guest. "Yet," he continued aloud in a tone of +mockery, "you did not hesitate to betray your master yourself. Why, +then, will you not betray him to me?" + +"To him I will answer, not to you," returned the jester, calmly. + +A contemptuous smile crossed the free baron's face. + +"And tell him how you dared look up to his mistress? That you sought +to save her from another, while you yourself poured your own burning +tale into her ear? Two things I most admire in nature," went on the +free baron, with emphasis. "A dare-devil who stops not for man or +Satan, and--an honest man. You take but a compromising middle course; +and will hang, a hybrid, from some convenient limb." + +"But not without first knowing that you, too, in all likelihood, will +adorn an equally suitable branch, my Lord of the thieves' rookery," +said the jester, smiling. + +Louis of Hochfels responded with an ugly look. His bloodshot eyes took +fire beneath the provocation. + +"Fool, you expect your duke will intervene!" he exclaimed. "Not when +he has been told all by the king, or the princess," he sneered. "Do +you think she cares? You, a motley fool; a theme for jest between us." + +"But when she learns about you?" retorted the plaisant, significantly. + +"She will e'en be mistress of my castle." + +"Castle?" laughed the Jester. "A robber's aery! a footpad's retreat! +A rifler of the roads become a great lord? You of royal blood! Then +was your father a king of thieves!" + +The free baron's face worked fearfully; the kingly part of him had been +a matter of fanatical pride; through it did he believe he was destined +to power and honors. But before the cutting irony of the _plaisant_, +that which is heaven-born--self-control--dropped from him; the mad, +brutal rage of the peasant surged in his veins. + +Infuriate his hand sought his sword, but before he could draw it the +fool, anticipating his purpose, had rushed upon him with such +impetuosity and suddenness that the king's guest, in spite of his bulk +and strength, was thrust against the wall. Like a grip of iron, the +jester's fingers were buried in his opponent's throat. For one so +youthful and slender in build, his power was remarkable, and, strive as +he might, the princess' betrothed could not shake him off. Although +his arms pressed with crushing force about the figure of the fool, the +hand at his throat never relaxed. He endeavored to thrust the +_plaisant_ from him, but, like a tiger, the jester clung; to and fro +they swayed; to the free baron, suffocated by that gauntlet of steel, +the room was already going around; black spots danced before his eyes. +He strove to reach for the dagger that hung from his girdle, but it was +held between them. Perhaps the muscles of the king's guest had been +weakened by the excesses of Francis' court, yet was he still a mighty +tower of strength, and, mad with rage, by a last supreme effort he +finally managed to tear himself loose, hurling the fool violently from +him into the arms of the jailer, who, attracted by the sound of the +struggle, at that moment rushed into the cell. This keeper, himself a +burly, herculean soldier, promptly closed with the prisoner. + +Breathless, exhausted, the free baron marked the conflict now +transferred to the turnkey and the jester. The former held the fool at +a decided disadvantage, as he had sprung upon the back of the jester +and was also unweakened by previous efforts. But still the fool +contended fiercely, striving to turn so as to grapple with his +assailant, and wonderingly the free baron for a moment watched that +exhibition of virility and endurance. During the wrestling the +jester's doublet had been torn open and suddenly the gaze of the king's +guest fell, as if fascinated, upon an object which hung from his neck. + +Bending forward, he scrutinized more closely that which had attracted +his attention and then started back. Harshly he laughed, as though a +new train of thought had suddenly assailed him, and looked earnestly +into the now pale face of the nearly helpless fool. + +"Why," he cried, "here's a different complication!" + +And stooping suddenly, he grasped the stool from the floor and brought +it down with crushing force upon the _plaisant's_ head. A cowardly, +brutal blow; and at once the prisoner's grasp relaxed, and he lay +motionless in the arms of the warder, who placed him on the straw. + +"I think the knave's dead, my Lord," remarked the man, panting from his +exertion. + +"That makes the comedy only the stronger," replied the free baron +curtly, as he knelt by the side of the prostrate figure and thrust his +hand under the torn doublet. Having procured possession of the object +which chance had revealed to him, he arose and, without further word, +left the cell. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TIDINGS FROM THE COURT + +When Brusquet, the jester, fled from the camp at Avignon, where he had +presumed to practise medicine, to the detriment of the army, some one +said: "Fools and cats have nine lives," and the revised proverb had +been accepted at court. It was this saying the turnkey muttered when +he bent over the prostrate figure of the duke's _plaisant_ after the +free baron had departed. Thus one of the fabled sources of existence +was left the fool, and again it seemed the proverb would be realized. + +Day after day passed, and still the vital spark burned; perhaps it +wavered, but in this extremity the jester had not been entirely +neglected; but who had befriended him, assisting the spirit and the +flesh to maintain their unification, he did not learn until some time +later. Youth and a strong constitution were also a shield against the +final change, and when he began to mend, and his heart-beats grew +stronger, even the jailer, his erstwhile assailant, the most callous of +his several keepers, exhibited a stony interest in this unusual +convalescence. + +The touch of a hand was the _plaisant's_ first impression of returning +consciousness, and then into his throbbing brain crept the outlines of +the prison walls and the small window that grudgingly admitted the +light. To his confused thoughts these surroundings recalled the +struggle with the free baron and the jailer. As across a dark chasm, +he saw the face of the false duke, whereon wonder and conviction had +given way to brutal rage, and, with the memory of that treacherous +blow, the fool half-started from his couch. + +A low voice carried him back from the past to a vague cognizance of a +woman's form, standing at the head of the bed, and two grave, dark eyes +looking down upon him which he strove in vain to interrogate with his +own. He would have spoken, but the soothing pressure of the hand upon +his forehead restrained him, and, turning to the wall, sleep overcame +him; a slumber long, sound and restorative. Motionless the figure +remained, listening for some time to his deep breathing and then stole +away as silently as she had come. + +Amid a solitude like that of a catacomb the hours ran their course; the +day grew old, and eventide replaced the waning flush in the west. The +shadows deepened into night, and the first kisses of morn again merged +into the brighter prime. Near the cell the only sound had been the +footstep of the warder, or the scampering of a rat, but now from afar +seemed to come a faint whispering, like the murmur of the ocean. It +was the voice of awakened nature; the wind and the trees; the whir of +birds' wings, or the sound of other living creatures in the forest hard +by. A song of life and buoyancy, it breathed just audibly its cheering +intonation about the prison bars, when the captive once more stirred +and gazed around him. As he did so, the figure of the woman, who had +again noiselessly entered the cell, stepped forward and stood near the +couch. + +"Are you better?" she asked. + +He raised himself on his elbow, surprised at the unexpected appearance +of his visitor. + +"Jacqueline!" he said, wonderingly, recognizing the features of the +joculatrix. "I must have been unconscious all night." And he stared +from her toward the window. + +"Yes," she returned with a peculiar smile; "all night." And bending +over him, she held a receptacle to his lips from which he mechanically +drank a broth, warm and refreshing, the while he endeavored to account +for the strangeness of her presence in the cell. She placed the bowl +on the floor and then, straightening her slim figure, again regarded +him. + +"You are improving fast," she commented, reflectively. + +"Thanks to your sovereign mixture," he answered, lifting a hand to his +bandaged head, and striving to collect his scattered ideas which +already seemed to flow more consecutively. The pain which had racked +his brow had grown perceptibly less since his last deep slumber, and a +grateful warmth diffused itself in his veins with a growing assurance +of physical relief. "But may I ask how you came here?" he continued, +perplexity mingling with the sense of temporary languor that stole over +him. + +"I heard the duke tell the king you had attacked him and he had struck +you down," she replied, after a pause. + +His face darkened; his head throbbed once more; with his fingers he +idly picked at the straw. + +"And the king, of course, believed," he said. "Oh, credulous king!" he +added scornfully. "Was ever a monarch so easily befooled? A judge of +men? No; a ruler who trusts rather to fortune and blind destiny. +Unlike Charles, he looks not through men, but at them." + +"Think no more of it," she broke in, hastily, seeing the effect of her +words. + +"Nay, good Jacqueline," quickly retorted the jester; "the truth, I pray +you. Believe me, I shall mend the sooner for it. What said the +duke--as he calls himself?" + +"Why, he shook his head ruefully," answered the girl, not noticing his +reservation. "'Your Majesty,' he said, 'for the memory of bygone +quibbles I sought him, but found him not--alack!--on the stool of +repentance.'" + +About the fool's mouth quivered the grim suggestion of a half-smile. + +"He is the best jester of us all," he muttered. "And then?" fastening +his eyes upon hers. + +"'No sooner, Sire,' went on the duke, 'had I entered the cell than he +rushed upon me, and, it grieves me, I used the wit-snapper roughly.' +So"--folding her hands before her and gazing at the _plaisant_--"I e'en +came to see if you were killed." + +"You came," he said. "Yes; but how?" + +"What matters it?" she answered. "Perhaps it was magic, and the +cell-doors flew open at my touch." + +"I can almost believe it," he returned. + +And his glance fell thoughtfully from her to the couch. Before the +assault he had lain at night upon the straw on the floor, and this +unhoped-for immunity from the dampness of the stones or the scampering +of occasional rats suggested another starting point for mental inquiry. +She smiled, reading the interrogation on his face. + +"One of the turnkeys furnished the bed," she remarked, shrewdly. "Do +you like it?" + +"It is a better couch than I have been accustomed to," he replied, in +no wise misled by her response, and surmising that her solicitation had +procured him this luxury. "Nevertheless, the night has seemed +strangely long." + +"It has been long," she returned, moving toward the window. "A week +and more." + +Surprise, incredulity, were now written upon his features. That such +an interval should have elapsed since the evening of the free baron's +visit appeared incredible. He could not see her countenance as she +spoke; only her figure; the upper portion bright, the lower fading into +the deep shadows beneath the aperture in the wall. + +"You tell me I have lain here a week?" he asked finally, recalling +obscure memories of faintly-seen faces and voices heard as from afar. + +"And more," she repeated. + +For some moments he remained silent, passing from introspection to a +current of thought of which she could know nothing; the means he had +taken to thwart the ambitious projects of the king's guest. + +"Has Caillette returned?" he continued, with ill-disguised eagerness. + +"Caillette?" she answered, lifting her brows at the abruptness of the +inquiry. "Has he been away? I had not noticed. I do not know." + +"Then is he still absent," said the jester, decisively. "Had he come +back, you would have heard." + +Quickly she looked at him. Caillette!--Spain!--these were the words he +had often uttered in his delirium. Although he seemed much better and +the hot flush had left his cheeks, his fantasy evidently remained. + +"A week and over!" resumed the fool, more to himself than to his +companion. "But he still may return before the duke is wedded." + +"And if he did return?" she asked, wishing to humor him. + +"Then the duke is not like to marry the princess," he burst out. + +"Not like--to marry!" she replied, suddenly, and moved toward him. Her +clear eyes were full upon him; closely she studied his worn features. +"Not like--but he has married her!" + +The jester strove to spring to his feet, but his legs seemed as relaxed +as his brain was dazed. + +"Has married!--impossible!" he exclaimed fiercely. + +"They were wedded two days since," she went on quietly, possibly +regretting that surprise, or she knew not what, had made her speak. + +"Wedded two days since!" + +He repeated it to himself, striving to realize what it meant. Did it +mean anything? He remembered how mockingly the jestress' face had +shone before him in the past; how derisive was her irony. From Fools' +hall to the pavilion of the tournament had she flouted him. + +"Wedded two days since!" + +"You must have your drollery," he said, unsteadily, at length. + +She did not reply, and he continued to question her with his eyes. +Quite still she remained, save for an almost imperceptible movement of +breathing. Against the dull beams from the aperture above, her hair +darkly framed her face, pale, dim with half-lights, illusory. When he +again spoke his voice sounded new to his own ears. + +"How could the princess have been married? Even if I have lain here as +long as you say, the day for the wedding was set for at least a week +from now." + +"But changed!" she responded, unexpectedly. + +"Changed!" he cried, sitting on the edge of the couch, and regarding +her as though he doubted he had heard aright. "Why should it have been +changed?" + +"Because the duke became a most impatient suitor," she answered. +"Daily he grew more eager. Finally, to attain his end, he importuned +the countess. She laughed, but good-naturedly acceded to his request, +and, in turn importuned the king--who generously yielded. It has been +a rare laughing matter at court--that the duke, who appeared the least +passionate adorer, should really have been such a restless one." + +"Dolt that I have been!" exclaimed the jester, with more anger, it +seemed to the girl, than jealousy. "He knew about Caillette, but +professed to be ignorant that the emperor was in Spain. And I believed +his words; thought I was holding something from him; let myself imagine +he could not penetrate my designs. While all the time he was +intriguing with the king's favorite and felt the sense of his own +security. What a cat's paw he made of me! And so he--they are gone, +Jacqueline?" + +"Yes," she returned, surprised at his language, and, for the first +time, wondering if the duke's wooing admitted of other complications +than she had suspected. "They are on their way to the duke's kingdom." + +"His kingdom!" said the fool, with derision. "But go on. Tell me +about it, Jacqueline. Their parting with the court? How they set out +on their journey. All, Jacqueline; all!" + +"They were married in the Chapelle de la Trinite," responded the girl, +hesitating. Then with an odd side look, she went on rapidly: "The +bridal party made an imposing cavalcade: the princess in her litter, +behind a number of maids on horseback. At the castle gates several +pages, dressed as Cupids, sent silver arrows after the bridal train. +'Hymen; Io Hymen!' cried the throng. 'Godspeed!' exclaimed Queen +Marguerite, and threw a parchment, tied with a golden ribbon, into the +princess' litter; an epithalamium, in verse, written in her own fair +hand. '_Esto perpetua_!' murmured the red cardinal. Besides the +groom's own men, the king sent a strong escort to the border, and thus +it was a numerous company that rode from the castle, with colors flying +and the princess' handkerchief fluttering from her litter a last +farewell." + +"A last farewell!" repeated the fool. "A splendent picture, +Jacqueline. They all shouted _Te Deum_, and none stood there to warn +her." + +"To warn!" retorted the jestress. "Not a maid but envied her that +spectacle; the magnificence and splendor!" + +"But not what will follow," he said, and, lying back on his couch, +closed his eyes. + +Rapidly the scene passed before him; the false duke at the head of the +cavalcade, elate, triumphant; the princess in her litter, brilliant, +dazzling; the laughter, the hurried adieus; tears and smiles; the smart +sayings of the jesters, a bride their legitimate prey, her blushes the +delight of the facetious nobles; the complacency of the pleasure-loving +king--all floated before his eyes like the figment of a dream. How +mocking the pomp and glitter! For the princess, what an awakening was +to ensue! The free baron must have known the emperor was in Spain, and +had met the fool's stratagem with a final masterly manoeuver. The bout +was over; the first great bout; but in the next--would there be a next? +Jacqueline's words now implied a doubt. + +"You are soon to leave here," she said. "For Paris." + +Seated on the stool, her hands crossed over her knees, Jacqueline +seemed no longer a creature of indefinite or ambiguous purpose. On the +contrary, her profile was rimmed in light, and very matter-of-fact and +serious it seemed. + +"Why am I to leave for Paris?" he remarked, absently. + +"Because they are going to take you there," she returned, "to be tried +as a heretic." He started and again sat up. "In your room was found a +book by Calvin. Of course," she went on, "you will deny it belonged to +you?" + +"What would that avail?" he said, indifferently. "But have the +followers of Luther, or Calvin, no friends in Francis' court?" + +"Have they in Charles' domains?" she asked quickly. + +"The Protestants in Germany are a powerful body; the emperor is forced +to bear with them." + +"Here they have no friends--openly," she went on. +"Secretly--Marguerite, Marot; others perhaps. But these will not serve +you; could not, if they would. Besides, this heresy of which you are +accused is but a pretext to get rid of you." + +"And how, good Jacqueline, has the king treated the new sect?" + +She held her hand suddenly to her throat; her face went paler, as from +some tragic recollection. + +"Oh," she answered, "do not speak of it!" + +"They burned them?" he persisted. + +"Before Notre Dame!" + +Her voice was low; her eyes shone deep and gleaming. + +"You are sorry, then, for those vile heretics?" asked the fool, +curiously. + +She raised her head, half-resentfully. "Their souls need no one's +pity," she retorted, proudly. + +"And you think mine is soon like to be beyond earthly caring?" + +Her glance became impatient. "Most like," she returned, curtly. + +"But what excuse does the king give for his cruelty?" he continued, +musingly. + +"They threw down the sacred images in one of the churches. Now a +heretic need expect no mercy. They are placed in cages--hung from +beams--over the fire. The court was commanded to witness the +spectacle--the king jested--the countess laughed, but her features were +white--" Here the girl buried her face in her hands. Soon, however, +she looked up, brushing back the hair from her brow. "Marguerite has +interposed, but she is only a feather in the balance." Abruptly she +arose. "Would you escape such a fate?" she said. + +He remained silent, thinking that if the mission to the emperor +miscarried, his own position might, indeed, be past mending. If the +exposure of the free baron were long delayed, the fool's assurance in +his own ultimate release might prove but vain expectation. In Paris +the trial would doubtless not be protracted. From the swift tribunal +to the slow fire constituted no complicated legal process, and appeal +there was none, save to the king, from whom might be expected little +mercy, less justice. + +"Escape!" the jester answered, dwelling on these matters. "But how?" + +"By leaving this prison," she answered, lowering her voice. + +He glanced significantly at the walls, the windows and the door, beyond +which could be heard the tread of the jailer and the clanking of the +keys hanging from his girdle. + +"I would have done that long since, Jacqueline, if I had had my will," +he replied. + +"Are you strong enough to attempt it?" she remarked, doubtfully, +scanning the thin face before her. + +"Your words shall make me so," he retorted, and looking into his +glittering eyes, she almost believed him. + +"Not to-day, but to-morrow," the girl added, thoughtfully. "Perhaps +then--" + +"I shall be ready," he broke in impatiently. "What must I do?" + +"Not drink this wine I have brought, but give it to the turnkey in the +morning. Invite him to share it, but take none yourself, feigning +sudden illness. He will not refuse, being always sharp-set for a cup. +Nothing can be done with the other jailers, but this one is a thirsty +soul, ever ready to bargain for a dram. Your couch cost I know not how +many flagons. Although he drinks many tankards and pitchers every day, +yet will this small bottle make him drowsy. You will leave while he is +sleeping." + +"In the daylight, mistress?" he asked, eagerly. "Why not wait--" + +"No," she said, decisively; "there is no other way. This turnkey is +only a day watchman. It is dangerous, but the best plan that suggested +itself. I know many unfrequented corridors and passages through the +old part of the castle the king has not rebuilt, and a road at the +back, now little used, that runs through the wood and thicket down the +hill. It is a desperate chance, but--" + +"The danger of remaining is more desperate," he interrupted, quickly. +"Besides, we shall not fail. It is in the book of fate." His +expression changed; became fierce, eager. "Are you, indeed, the +arbiter of that fate; the sorceress Triboulet feared?" + +"You are thinking of the duke," she answered, with a frown, "and that +if you escape--" + +"Truly, you are a sorceress," he replied, with a smile. "I confess +life has grown sweet." + +She moved abruptly toward the door. "Nay, I meant not to offend you," +he spoke up, more gently. + +"It is your own fortunes you ever injure," she retorted, gazing coldly +back at him. + +"One moment, sweet Jacqueline. Why did you not go with the princess?" + +Her face changed; grew dark; from eyes, deep and gloomy, she shot a +quick glance upon him. + +"Perhaps--because I like the court too well to leave it," she answered +mockingly, and, vouchsafing no further word, quickly vanished. It was +only when she had gone the jester suddenly remembered he had forgotten +to thank her for what she had done in the past or what she proposed +doing on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +JACQUELINE'S QUEST + +"Truly, are you a right proper fool; for a man, merry in adversity, is +as wise as Master Rabelais. Many the time have I heard him say a fit +of laughter drives away the devil, while the groans of flagellating +saints seem as music to Beelzebub's ears. Thus, a wit-cracker is the +demon's enemy, and the band of Pantagruel, an evangelical brotherhood, +that with tankard and pot sends the arch-fiend back to the bottomless +pit." + +And the fool's jailer, seated on the stool within the cell, stretched +out his legs and uplifted the bottle to his lips, while, judging from +the draft he took and assuming the verity of the theory he advanced, +the prince of darkness at that moment must have fled a considerable +distance into his chosen realms. + +"Ah, you know the great philosopher, then?" commented the jester from +the couch, closely watching the sottish, intemperate face of his +keeper, and running his glance over the unwieldy form which bade fair +to outrival one of the wine butts in the castle cellar. + +"Know him!" exclaimed this lowly votary. "I have e'en been admitted to +his table--at the foot, 'tis true--when the brave fellows of Pantagruel +were at it. Not for my wit was I thus honored"--the _plaisant_ made a +dissenting gesture, the irony of which passed over the head of the +speaker--"but because a giant flagon appeared but a child's toy in my +hands. The followers of Pantagruel fell on both sides, like wheat +before the blade of the reaper, until Doctor Rabelais and myself only +were left. From the head to the foot of the table the great man +looked. How my heart swelled with pride! 'Swine of Epicurus, are you +still there?' he said. And then--and then--" + +With a crash the bottle fell from the hand of the keeper to the stone +floor. The massive body swayed on the small stool; his eyes stupidly +shut and opened. + +"Swine of Epicurus," he repeated. "Swine--" and followed the bottle, +rolling gently from the stool. He made but one motion, to extend his +huge bulk more comfortably, and then was still. + +"Why," thought the fool, "if Jacqueline fails me not, all may yet be +well." + +But even as he thus reflected the door of the cell opened, and a face +white as a lily, looked in. Her glance passed hastily to the +motionless figure and an expression of satisfaction crossed her +features. + +"The keys!" she said, and the jester, bending over the prostrate +jailer, detached them from his girdle. + +"Lock the door when we leave," she continued. "The other keeper does +not come to relieve him for six hours." + +"It would be an offset for the many times he has locked me in," +answered the fool. "A scurvy trick; yet, as Master Rabelais says, +Pantagruelians select not their bed." + +"Is this a time for jesting?" exclaimed the girl, impatiently. + +"He has been treating me to Gargantuan discourse, Jacqueline," said the +fool, humbly. "I was but answering him in kind." + +"And by delay increasing our danger!" + +"Our danger!" He started. + +Since she had first broached the subject of escape but one sweet and +all-absorbing idea had possessed him--retaliation. Liberty was the +means to that end, and every other thought and consideration had given +way to this desire. He had fallen asleep with the free baron's dark +features imaged on his fevered brain; when he had awakened the morbid +fantasy had not left him. But now, at her words, in her presence, a +new light was suddenly shed upon the enterprise, and he paused +abruptly, even as he turned to leave the cell. With growing wonder she +watched his altered features. + +"Well," she exclaimed, impatiently, "why do you stand there?" + +"Should I escape, you, Jacqueline, would remain to bear the brunt," he +said, reflectively. "The jailer, when he awakes, will tell the story: +who brought the wine; who succored the prisoner. To go, but one course +is open." And he glanced down upon the prostrate man. "To silence him +forever!" + +She started and half-shrank from him. "Could you do it?" + +He shook his head. "In fair contest, I would have slain him. But +now--it is not he, but I, who am helpless. And yet what is such a +sot's life worth? Nothing. Everything. Farewell, sweet jestress; I +must trust to other means, and--thank you." + +The outstretched hand she seemed not to see, but tapped the floor of +the cell yet more impatiently with her foot, as was her fashion when +angered. Here was the prison door open, and the captive enamored of +confinement; at the culminating point conjuring reasons why he should +not flee. To have gone thus far; to have eliminated the jailer, and +then to draw back, with the keys in his hand--truly no scene in a +comedy could be more extravagant. The girl laughed nervously. + +"What egotists men are!" she said. "Good Sir Jester, in offering you +liberty I am serving myself; myself, you understand!" she repeated. +"Let us hasten on, lest in defeating your own purpose, you defeat mine." + +"What will you answer when he"--indicating the drugged +turnkey--"accuses you?" + +"Was ever such perversity!" was all she deigned to reply, biting her +lip. + +"You are somewhat wilful yourself, Jacqueline," he retorted, with that +smile which so exasperated her. + +"Listen," she said at length, slowly, impressively. "You need have no +fear for me when you go. I tell you that more danger remains to me by +your staying than in your going; that your obstinacy leaves me +unprotected; that your compliance would be a boon to me. By the memory +of my mother, by the truth of this holy book"--drawing a little volume +passionately from her bosom--"I swear to what I have told you." +Eagerly her eyes met his searching gaze, and he read in their depths +only truth and candor. "I have a quest for you. It concerns my life, +my happiness. All I have done for you has been for this end." + +Her eyes fell, but she raised them again quickly. "Will you accept a +mission from one who is not--a princess?" + +"Name her not!" exclaimed the jester sharply. And then, recovering +himself, added, less brusquely: "What is it you want, mistress?" + +"This is no time nor place to tell it," she went on rapidly, seeing by +his face that his dogged humor had melted before her appeal, "but soon, +before we part, you shall know all; what it is I wish to intrust in +your hands." + +A moment she waited. "Your argument is unanswerable, Jacqueline," he +said finally. "I own myself puzzled, but I believe you, so--have your +way." + +"This cloak then"--handing him a garment she had brought with +her--"throw it over you," she continued hurriedly. "If we meet any one +it may serve as a disguise. And here is a sword," bringing forth a +weapon that she had carried concealed beneath a flowing mantle. "Can +you use it?" + +"I can but try, Jacqueline," he replied, fastening the girdle about his +waist and half-drawing and then thrusting the blade back into the +scabbard. "It seems a priceless weapon," he added, his eye lingering +on the richly inlaid hilt, "and has doubtless been wielded by a gallant +hand." + +"Speak not of that," she retorted, sharply, a strange flash in her +eyes. "He who handled it was the bravest, noblest--" She broke off +abruptly, and they left the cell, he locking the door behind him. + +Down the dimly lighted passage she walked rapidly, while the jester +tractably and silently followed. His strength, he found, had come back +to him; the joys of freedom imparted new elasticity to his limbs; that +narrow, cheerless way looked brighter than a royal gallery, or Francis' +_Salle des Fetes_. Before him floated the light figure of the +jestress, moving faster and ever faster down the dark corridor, now +veering to the right or left, again ascending or descending well-worn +steps; a tortuous route through the heart of the ancient fortress, +whose mystery seemed dread and covert as that of a prison house. +Confidently, knowing well the puzzling interior plan of the old pile, +she traversed the labyrinth that was to lead them without, finally +pausing before a small door, which she tried. + +"Usually it is unlocked," she said, in surprise. "I never knew it +fastened before." + +"Is that our only way out?" + +"The only safe way. Perhaps one of the keys--" + +But he had already knelt before the door and the young girl watched him +with obvious anxiety. He vainly essayed all the keys, save one, and +that he now strove to fit to the lock. It slipped in snugly and the +stubborn bolt shot back. + +Entering, he closed the door behind them and hastily looked around, +discovering that they stood in a crypt, the central part of which was +occupied by a burial vault. In the crypt chapels were a number of +statues, in marble and bronze, most of them rude, antique, yet not of +indifferent workmanship, especially one before which the jestress, in +spite of the exigency of the moment, stopped as if impelled by an +irresistible impulse. This monument, so read the inscription, had been +erected by the renowned Constable of Dubrois to his young and faithful +consort, Anne. + +But a part of a minute the girl gazed, with a new and softened +expression, upon the marble likeness of the last fair mistress of the +castle, and then hurriedly crossed the old mosaic pavement, reaching a +narrow flight of stairs, which she swiftly ascended. A door that +yielded to the fool's shoulder led into a deserted court, on one side +of which were the crumbling walls of the chapel. Here several dark +birds perched uncannily on the dead branch of a massive oak that had +been shattered by lightning. In its desolation the oak might have been +typical of the proud family, once rulers of the castle, whose corporeal +strength had long since mingled with the elements. + +This open space the two fugitives quickly traversed, passing through a +high-arched entrance to an olden bridge that spanned a moat. Long ago +had the feudal gates been overthrown by Francis; yet above the keystone +appeared, not the salamander, the king's heraldic emblem, but the +almost illegible device of the old constable. Beyond the great ditch +outstretched a rolling country on which the jester gazed with eager +eyes, while his companion swiftly led the way to a clump of willow and +aspen on the other side of the moat. Beneath the spreading branches +were tethered two horses, saddled and bridled. Wonderingly he glanced +from them to her. + +"From whence did you conjure them, gentle mistress?" asked the fool. + +"Some one I knew placed them there." + +"But why--two horses, good Jacqueline?" + +"Because I am minded to show you the path through the wood," she +replied. "You might mistake it and then my purpose would not be +served. Give me your hand, sir. I am wont to have my own way." And +as he reluctantly extended his palm she placed her foot upon it, +springing lightly to the saddle. "'Tis but a canter through the +forest. The day is glorious, and 'twill be rare sport." + +Already had she gathered in the reins and turned her horse, galloping +down a road that swept through a grove of poplar and birch, and he, +after a moment's hesitation, rode after her. Like one born to the +chase, she kept her seat, her lithe figure swaying to the movements of +the steed. Soon the brighter green of her gown fluttered amid the +somber-tinted pines and elms, as the younger forest growth merged into +a stern array of primeval monarchs. Here reigned an austere silence--a +stillness that now became the more startlingly broken. + +"Jacqueline!" said the fool, spurring toward her. "Do you hear?" + +"The hunters? Yes," she replied. + +"They are coming this way." + +"Perhaps it were better to draw back from the road," she suggested, +calmly. + +"Do you draw back to the castle!" he returned, quickly, his brow +overcast. + +"And miss the hunt? Not I, Monsieur Spoil-Sport." + +"But if they find you with me?" + +She only tossed her head wilfully and did not answer. + +Nearer came the hue and cry of the chase. A heavy-horned buck sprang +into the road and vanished like a flash into the timber on the other +side. Shortly afterward, in a compact bunch, with heads downbent and +stiffened tails, the pack, a howling, discordant mass, swept across the +narrow, open space. + +"Quick!" exclaimed the jester, and they turned their horses into the +underbrush. + +Scarcely had they done so when, closely following the dogs, appeared +the first of the hunters, mounted on a splendid charger, with housings +of rose-velvet. + +"_Pardieu!_" muttered the _plaisant_, "I owe the king no thanks, but he +rides well. Do you not think so, Jacqueline?" + +Her answering gaze was puzzling. After Francis rode many lords and +ladies, a stream of color crossing the road; riding habits faced with +gold; satin doublets covered with _rivieres_ of diamonds; torsades +wherein gold became the foil to precious stones. So near was the +gorgeous cavalcade--the grand falconer, whippers-in, and the bearers of +hooded birds mingling with the courtiers immediately behind the +king--the escaped prisoner and the jestress could hear the panting of +horses. Fleeting, transient, it passed; fainter sounded the din of +hounds and horn; now it almost died away in the distance. The last +couple had scarcely vanished before the fool and his companion left +their ambush. + +"You ride farther, Jacqueline?" he said. + +"A little farther." + +"It will be far to return," he protested. + +"I have no fear," she answered, tranquilly. + +Again he let her have her way, as one would yield to a wilful child. +On and on they sped; past the place where the deer-run crossed the +broader path; through an ever-varying forest; now on one side, a rocky +basin overrun with trees and shrubs; again, on the other hand, a great +gorge, in whose depths flowed a whispering stream. Yonder appeared the +gray walls of an ancient monastery, one part only of which was +habitable; a turn in the road swallowed it up as though abruptly to +complete the demolition time was slowly to bring about. On and on, +until the way became wilder and the wood more overgrown with bushes and +tangled shrubbery, when she suddenly stopped her horse. + +He understood; at last they were to part. And, remembering what he +owed to her, the Jester suddenly found himself regretting that here +their paths separated forever. Swiftly his mind flew back to their +first meeting; when she had flouted him in Fools' hall. A perverse, +capricious maid. How she had ever crossed him, and yet--nursed him. + +Attentively he regarded her. The customary pallor of her face had +given way to a faint tint; her eyes were humid, dewy-bright; beneath +the little cap, the curling tresses would have been the despair of +those later-day reformers, the successors of Calvinists and Lutherans. + +"A will-o'-the-wisp," he thought. "A man might follow and never grasp +her." + +Did she read what he felt? That mingled gratitude and perplexity? Her +clear eyes certainly seemed to have a peculiar mastery over the +thoughts of others. Now they expressed only mockery. + +"The greater danger is over," she said, quietly. "From now on there is +less fear of your being taken." + +"Thanks to you!" he answered, searching her with his glance. + +Here he doubted not she would make known the quest of which she had +spoken. Whatever it might be, he would faithfully requite her; even to +making his own purpose subservient to it. + +"It is now time," she said, demurely, "to acquaint you with the +mission. Of course, you will accept it?" + +"Can you ask?" he answered, earnestly. + +"You promise?" + +"To serve you with my life." + +"Then we had better go on," she continued. + +"But, Mademoiselle, I thought--" + +"That we were to part here? Not at all. I am not yet ready to leave +you. In fact, good Master Jester, I am going with you. _I_ am the +quest; _I_ am the mission. Are you sorry you promised?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SECRET OF THE JESTRESS + +She, the quest, the mission! With growing amazement he gazed at her, +but she returned his look, as though enjoying his surprise. + +"You do not seem overpleased with the prospect of my company?" she +observed. "Or perhaps you fear I may encumber you?" With mock irony. +"Confess, the service is more onerous than you expected?" + +Beneath her flushed, yet smiling face lay a nervous earnestness he +could divine, but not fathom. + +"Different, certainly," he answered, brusquely. + +Her eyes flashed. "How complimentary you are!" + +"For your own sake--" + +"My sake!" she exclaimed, passionately. Her little hand closed +fiercely; proudly her eyes burned into his. "Think you I have taken +this step idly? That it is but the caprice of a moment? Oh, no; no! +It was necessary to flee from the court. But to whom could a woman +turn? Not to any of the court--tools of the king. One person only was +there; he whose life was as good as forfeited. Do you understand?" + +"That my life belongs to you? Yes. But that you should leave the +court--where you have influence, friends--" + +"Influence! friends!" + +He was startled by the bitterness of her voice. + +"Tell me, Jacqueline--why do you wish to go?" he said, wonderingly. + +"Because I wish to," she returned, briefly, and stroked the shining +neck of her horse. + +Indeed, how could she apprise him of events which were now the talk of +the court? How Francis, evincing a sudden interest as strong as it was +unexpected, had exchanged Triboulet for herself, and the princess, at +the king's request, had taken the buffoon with her, and left the girl +behind. The jestress' welcome to the household of the Queen of +Navarre; a subsequent bewildering shower of gifts; the complacent, +although respectful, attentions of the king. How she had endured these +advances until no course remained save the one she had taken. No; she +could not tell the duke's fool all this. + +Between _folle_ and fugitive fell a mutual reserve. Did he divine some +portion of the truth? Are there moments when the mind, tuned to a +tension, may almost feel what another experiences? Why had the girl +not gone with her mistress? He remembered she had evaded this question +when he had asked it. Looking at her, for the first time it crossed +his mind she would be held beautiful; an odd, strange beauty, imperious +yet girlish, and the conviction crept over him there might be more than +a shadow of excuse for her mad flight. + +Beneath his scrutiny her face grew cold, disdainful. "Like all men," +she said, sharply, as though to stay the trend of his thoughts, "you +are prodigal in promises, but chary in fulfilment." + +"Where is it your pleasure to go?" he asked quietly. + +"That we shall speak of hereafter," she answered, haughtily. + +"Forward then." + +"I can ride on alone," she demurred, "if--" + +"Nay; 'tis I who crave the quest," he returned, gravely. + +Her face broke into smiles, "What a devoted cavalier!" she exclaimed. +"Come, then. Let us ride out into the world. At least, it is bright +and shining--to-day. Do you fear to follow me, sir? Or do you believe +with the hunchback that I am an enchantress and cast over whom I will +the spell of _diablerie_?" + +"You may be an enchantress, mistress, but the spell you cast is not +_diablerie_," he answered in the same tone. + +"Fine words!" she said, mockingly. "But it remains to be seen into +what a world I am going to lead you!" And rode on. + +The rush of air, the swift motion, the changing aspect of nature were +apparently not without their effect on her spirits, for as they +galloped along she appeared to forget their danger, the certainty of +pursuit and the possibility of capture. Blithesome she continued; +called his attention to a startled hare; pointed with her whip to a +red-eyed boar that sullenly retreated at their approach; laughed when +an overhanging branch swept her little cap from her head and merrily +thanked him when he hastily dismounted and returned it to her. + +"You see, fool, what a burden I am like to prove!" she said, +readjusting the cap, and, ere he could answer, had passed on, as if +challenging him to a test of speed. + +"Have a care!" he cried warningly, as they came to a rough stretch of +ancient highway, but she seemed not to hear him. + +That she could ride in such madcap fashion, seemingly oblivious of the +gravity of their desperate fortunes, was not ill-pleasing to the +jester; no timorous companion, shrinking from phantoms, he surmised she +would prove. Thus mile after mile they covered and the shadows had +reached their minimum length, when, coming to a clear pool of water, +they drew rein to refresh themselves from the provisions in the +saddle-bags. Bread and wine--sumptuous fare for poor fugitives--they +ate and drank with keen relish. Dreamily she watched the green insects +skimming over the surface of the shimmering water. On the bank swayed +the rushes, as though making obeisance to a single gorgeous lily, set +like a queen in the center of this little shining kingdom. + +"Was the repast to your liking?" she asked, suddenly looking from the +pool to him. + +"Entirely, fair Jacqueline. The wine was excellent. Hunger gave it +bouquet, and appetite aged it. Never did bread taste so wholesome, and +as for the service--" + +"It was perfect--lacking grand master, grand chamberlain, grand +marshals, grand everybody," she laughed. + +In the reflected glow from pool and shining leaves, her eyes were so +full of light he could but wonder if this were the same person who had +so gravely stood by his bedside in the cell. That she should thus seem +carelessly to dismiss all thought of danger appeared the more +surprising, because he knew she was not one to lull herself with the +assurance of a false security. To him her bright eyes said: "I am in +your care. Be yours the task now." And thus interpreting, he broke in +upon her thoughts. + +"Having dined and wined so well, shall we go on, Jacqueline?" + +To which she at once assented by rising, and soon they had left the +principality of the lily far in the distance. Now the road so narrowed +he fell behind. The character of the country had changed; some time +ago they had passed out of the wild forest, and had begun to traverse a +great, level plain, broken with stubble. As far as the eye could +reach, no other human figures were visible; the land outstretched, +apparently without end; no habitations dotted the landscape, and, the +sole signs of life, wheeling birds of prey, languidly floated in the +air. At length she glanced around. Was it to reassure herself the +jester rode near; that she had not, unattended, entered that forbidding +territory? Then she paused abruptly and the fool approached. + +"By this time the turnkey should be relieved," she said. + +"But not released," he answered, holding up the keys which he yet wore +at his girdle. "They will have to come a long distance to find them," +he continued, and threw the keys far away upon the sward. + +"They may not think of following on this road at all," she returned. +"It is the old castle thoroughfare, long since disused." + +"And leads where?" + +"Southward, to the main road." + +"How came you to know it?" he asked, quickly. + +"How--because I lived in the castle before the king built the palace +and the new thoroughfare," she answered slowly. + +"You lived in the castle, then, when it was the residence of the proud +Constable of Dubrois? You must have been but a child," he added, +reflectively. + +"Yes; but children may have long memories." + +"In your case, certainly. How well you knew all the passages and +corridors of the castle!" + +She responded carelessly and changed the conversation. The +thoroughfare broadening, for the remainder of the day they pressed +forward side by side. But a single human figure, during all those +hours, they encountered, and that when the afternoon had fairly worn +away. For some time they had pursued their journey silently, when at a +turn in the road the horse of the jester shied and started back. + +At the same time an unclean, offensive-looking monk in Franciscan +attire arose suddenly out of the stubble by the wayside. In his hand +he held a heavy staff, newly cut from the forest, a stock which in his +brawny arms seemed better adapted for a weapon than as a prop for his +sturdy frame. From the rope girdle about his waist depended a rosary +whose great beads would have served the fingers of a Cyclops, and a +most diminutive, leathern-bound prayer-book. At the appearance of the +fool and his companion, he opened an enormous mouth, and in a voice +proportionately large began to whine right vigorously: + +"Charity, good people, for the Mother Church! Charity in the name of +the Holy Mother! In the name of the saints, the apostles and the +evangelists! St. John, St. Peter, St.--" Then broke off suddenly, +staring stupidly at the jester. + +"The duke's fool!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? A plague +upon it! You have as many lives as a monk." + +"Call you yourself a monk, rascal?" asked the jester, contemptuously. + +"At times. Charity, good fool!" the canting rogue again began to +whine, edging nearer. "Charity, mistress! For the sake of the +prophets and the disciples! The seven sacraments, the feast of the +Pentecost and the Passover! In the name of the holy Fathers! St. +Sebastian! St. Michael! St.--" + +But the fugitives had already sped on, and the unregenerate knave +turned his pious eloquence into an unhallowed channel of oaths, waving +his staff menacingly after them. + +"I fear me," said the jester, when they had put a goodly distance +between themselves and the solitary figure, "yonder brother craves +almsgiving with his voice, and enforces the bounty with his staff. Woe +betide the good Samaritan who falls within reach of his pilgrim's prop." + +"You knew him?" she asked. + +"I had the doubtful pleasure," he answered. "He was hired to kill me." + +"Why?" in surprise. + +"Because the--duke wanted me out of the way." + +She asked no further questions, although he could see by her brow she +was thinking deeply. Was the duke then no better than a common +assassin? She frowned, then gave an impatient exclamation. + +"It is inexplicable," she said, and rode the faster. + +The jester, too, was silent, but his mind dwelt upon the future and its +hazards. He little liked their meeting with the false monk. Why was +the Franciscan traveling in their direction? Had others of that band +of pillagers, street-fools and knave-minstrels, formerly infesting the +neighborhood of the palace, gone that way? He did not believe the monk +would long pursue a solitary pilgrimage, for varlets of that kind have +common haunts and byways. The encounter suggested hazard ahead as well +as the danger of pursuit from the palace. But this apprehension of a +new source of peril he kept from his companion; since go on they must, +there was no need to disquiet her further. + +The mystic silver light of the day had now become golden; the sky, +brilliant, many-colored, overdomed the vast, sullen earth; between two +roseate streamers a whitish crescent unobtrusively was set. Seemingly +misplaced in a sanguinary sea, passionless it lay, but as the ocean of +light grew dull the crescent kindled. Over a thick patch of pine trees +in the distance myriads of dark birds hovered and screamed in chorus. +Now they circled restlessly above that shaded spot; then darted off, a +cloud against the sky, and returned with renewed cawing and discord. +As the riders approached the din abruptly ceased, the creatures +mysteriously and suddenly vanishing into the depths of the thicket +below. + +In the fading light, fool and jestress drew rein, and, moved by the +same purpose, looked about them. On the one hand was the deserted, +desolate plain over which lay a sullen, gathering mist; on the other, +the sombrous obscurity of the wood. Everywhere, an ominous silence, +and overhead the crescent growing in luster. + +"Do you see any sign of house or inn?" said the girl, peering afar down +the road, which soon lost itself in the general monotony of the +landscape. + +"None, mistress; the country seems alike barren of farmhouse or tavern." + +"What shall we do? I am full weary," she confessed. + +"The forest offers the best protection," he reluctantly suggested. +Little as he favored delay, he realized the wisdom of sparing their +horses. Moreover, her appeal was irresistible. + +She gazed half-dubiously into that woody depth. "Why not rest by the +wayside--in the moonlight?" + +"I like not the open road," he answered. "But if you fear the +darkness--" + +For answer she guided her horse to the verge of the forest and lightly +sprang to the ground. Upon a grassy knoll, but a little way within, he +spread his cloak. + +"There, Jacqueline, is your couch," he said. + +"But you?" she asked. "To rob you thus of your cloak seems +ill-comradeship." + +"The cloak is yours," he returned. "As it is, you will find it but a +hard bed." + +"It will seem soft as down," she replied, and seated herself on the +hillock. In the gloom he could just distinguish the outline of her +figure, with her elbow on her knee, and her hair blacker than the +shadows themselves. A long-drawn, moaning sound, coming without +warning behind her, caused the girl to turn. + +"What is that?" she said, quickly. + +"The wind, Jacqueline. It is rising." + +As he spoke, like a monster it entered the forest; about them branches +waved and tossed: a friendly star seen through the boughs lost itself +behind a cloud. Yet no rain fell and the air seemed hot and dry, +despite the mists which clung to the ground. A crash of thunder or a +flash of lightning would have relieved that sighing dolor which filled +the little patch of timber with its melancholy sounds. + +Suddenly, above the plaint and murmur of wind and forest, the low, +clear voice of the girl arose; the melody was no ballad, arietta or +pastoral, such as he had before heard from her lips, but a simple hymn, +the setting by Calvin. The jester started. How came she to know that +forbidden music? Not only to know, but to sing it as he had never +heard it sung before. Sweetly it vibrated, her waywardness sunk in its +swelling rhythm; its melody freighted with the treasure of her trust. +As he listened he felt she was betraying to him the hidden well of her +faith; the secret of her religion; that she, his companion, was +proclaiming herself a heretic, and, therefore, doubly an outcast. + +A stanza, and the melody died away on the wings of the tempest. His +heart was beating violently; he looked expectantly toward her. Even +more gently, like a lullaby to the turbulent night, the full-measured +cadence of the majestic psalm was again heard. Then another voice, +deeper, fuller, blended with that of the first singer. Unwavering, she +continued the song, as though it had been the most natural matter he +should join his voice with hers. Fainter fell the harmony; then ceased +altogether--a hymn destined to become interwoven with terrible +memories, the tragic massacre of the Huguenots on the ill-fated night +of St. Bartholomew. Again prevailed the tristful dirge of the pines. + +"You sing well, mistress," said the jester, softly. "Is it true you +are one of a hated sect?" + +"As true as that you did not deny the heretic volume found in your +room," she replied. + +A silence ensued between them. "It was Marot placed the horses there +for us," she said, at length. "He, too, is a heretic, and would have +saved you." + +Thereafter the silence remained unbroken for some moments, and then-- + +"God keep you, mistress," he said. + +"God keep you," she answered, softly. + +Soon her deep breathing told him she was sleeping, and, as he listened, +in fancy he could hear the faint echoes of her voice, accompanied by +the sighing wind. How intrepid had she seemed; how helpless was she +now; and, as he bent over her, divining yet not seeing, he asked +himself whence had come this faith in him, that like a child she +slumbered amid the unrest of nature? What had her life been, who her +friends, that she should thus have chosen a jester as comrade? What +had driven her forth from the court to nameless hazards? Had he +surmised correctly? Was it-- + +"The king," she murmured, with sudden restlessness in her sleep. + +"The king," she repeated, with aversion. + +In the jester's breast upleaped a fierce anger. This was the +art-loving monarch who burned the fathers and brothers of the new +faith; this, the righteous ruler who condemned men to death for +psalm-singing or for listening to grave discourse; this the Christian +king, the brilliant patron of science and learning. + +The storm had sighed itself to rest, the stars had come out, but +leaning with his back against a tree, the fool still kept vigil. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT + +Experiencing no further inconvenience than the ordinary vicissitudes of +traveling without litter or cavalcade, several days of wandering slowly +passed. Few people they met, and those, for the most part, various +types of vagabonds and nomads; some wild and savage, roaming like +beasts from place to place; others, harmless, mere bedraggled birds of +passage. In this latter class were the vagrant-entertainers, with +dancing rooster or singing dog, who stopped at every peasant's door. +To the shrill piping of the flageolet, these merry stragglers added a +step of their own, and won a crust for themselves, a bone for the dog +or a handful of grain for the performing fowl. + +In those days when court ladies rode in carved and gilded coaches, and +their escorts on horses covered with silken, jeweled nets, the modest +appearance of the jestress and her companion was not calculated to +attract especial attention from the yokels and honest peasantry; +although their steeds, notwithstanding their unpretentious housings, +might still excite the cupidity of highway rogues. As it minimized +their risk from this latter class, the young girl was content to wear +the cap of the jestress, piquantly perched upon her dark curls, thereby +suggesting an indefinable affinity with vagrancy and the itinerant +fraternity. + +Not only had she donned the symbol of her office, but she endeavored to +act up to it, accepting the sweet with the sour, with ever a jest at +discomfort and concealing weariness with a smile. Often the fool +wondered at her endurance and her calm courage in the face of peril, +for although they met with no misadventures, each day seemed fraught +with jeopardy. Perhaps it was fortunate their attire, somewhat +travel-stained, appeared better suited to the character of poor, +migratory wearers of the cap and bells than to the more magnificent +roles of _fou du roi_ or _folle de la reine_. But although they had +gone far, the jester knew they had not yet traveled beyond the reach of +Francis' arm, and that, while the king might reconcile himself to the +escape of the _plaisant_, he would not so easily tire in seeking the +maid. + +Once they slept in the fields; again, beside an old ruined shrine, in +the shadow of an ancient cross; the third night, on the bank of a +stream, when it rained, and she shivered until dawn with no word of +complaint. Fortunately the sun arose, bright and warm, drying the +garments that clung to her slender figure, At the peasants' houses they +paused no longer than necessary to procure food and drink, and, not to +awaken suspicion, she preferred paying them with a song of the people +rather than from the well-filled purse she had brought with her. + +And as the fool listened to a sprightly, contagious carol and noted its +effect on clod and hind, he wondered if this could be the same voice he +had heard, uplifted in one of Master Calvin's psalms in the solitude of +the forest. She had the gift of music, and, sometimes on the journey, +would break out with a catch or madrigal by Marot, Caillette, or +herself. It appeared a brave effort to bear up under continued +hardship--insufficient rest and sharp riding--and the jester reproached +himself for thus taxing her strength; but often, when he suggested a +pause, she would shake her head wilfully, assert she was not tired, and +ride but the faster. + +"No, no!" she would say; "if we would escape, we must keep on. We can +rest afterward." + +"Where do you wish to go?" he asked her once. + +"There is time enough yet to speak of that," she returned, evasively. + +"You have some plan, mistress?" + +"Perhaps." + +This answer forbade his further questioning; offended, possibly, his +sense of that confidence which is due comrade to comrade, but she +became immediately so propitiative and sweetly dependent--the +antithesis to that self-reliance her response implied--he thought no +more of it, but remained content with her reticence. Half-shyly, she +looked at him beneath her dark lashes, as if to read how deeply he was +annoyed, and, seeing his face clear, laughed lightly. + +"What are you laughing at, mistress?" he said. + +"If I knew I could tell," she replied. + +Toward sundown on the fourth day they came to a lonely inn, set in a +clearing on the verge of a forest. They had ridden late in the +moonlight the night before, and all that morning and afternoon almost +without resting, and the first sight of the solitary hostelry was not +unwelcome to the weary fugitives. A second inspection of the place, +however, awakened misgivings. The building seemed the better adapted +for a fortress than a tavern, being heavily constructed with massive +doors and blinds, and loopholes above. A brightly painted sign, The +Rooks' Haunt, waved cheerily, it is true, above the door, as though to +disarm suspicion, but the isolated situation of the inn, and the +depressing sense of the surrounding wilderness, might well cause the +wayfarer to hesitate whether to tarry there or continue his journey. + +A glance at the pale face and unnaturally bright eyes of the girl +brought the jester, however, to a quick decision. Springing from his +horse, he held out his hand to assist her, but, overcome by weakness, +or fatigue, she would have fallen had he not sustained her. Quickly +she recovered, and with a faint flush mantling her white cheek, +withdrew from his grasp, while at the same time the landlord of the +tavern came forward to welcome his guests. + +In appearance mine host was round and jovial; his bulk bespoke hearty +living; his rosy face reflected good cheer; his stentorian voice, +free-and-easy hospitality. His eyes constituted the only setback to +this general impression of friendliness and fellow-feeling; they were +small, twinkling, glassy. + +"Good even to you, gentle folk," he said. "You tarry for the night, I +take it?" + +"If you have suitable accommodations," answered the jester, reassured +by the man's aspect and manner. + +"The Rooks' Haunt never yet turned away a weary traveler," answered the +landlord. "You come from the palace?" + +"Yes," briefly, as a lad led away their horses. + +"And have done well? Reaped a harvest from the merry lords and ladies?" + +"There were many others there for that purpose," returned the jester, +following the proprietor to the door of the hostelry. + +"True. Still I'll warrant your fair companion cozened the silver +pieces from the pockets of the gentry." And, smiling knowingly, he +ushered them into the principal living room of the tavern. + +It was a smoke-begrimed apartment, with tables next to the wall, and +rough chairs and benches for the guests. Heavy pine rafters spanned +the ceiling; the floor was sprinkled with sand; from a chain hung a +wrought-iron frame for candles. Upon a shelf a row of battered +tankards, suggesting many a bout, shone dully, like a line of war-worn +troopers, while a great pewter pitcher, the worse for wear, commanded +the disreputable array. + +In this room was gathered a nondescript company: mountebanks and +buffoons; rogues unclassified, drinking and dicing; a robust vagrant, +at whose feet slept a performing boar, with a ring--badge of +servitude--through its nose; a black-bearded, shaggy-haired Spanish +troubadour, with attire so ragged and worn as to have lost its +erstwhile picturesque characteristics. This last far from +prepossessing worthy half-started from his seat upon the appearance of +fool and jestress; stared at them, and then resumed his place and the +ballad he had been singing: + + "Within the garden of Beaucaire + He met her by a secret stair, + Said Aucassin, 'My love, my pet, + These old confessors vex me so! + They threaten all the pains of hell + Unless I give you up, _ma belle_,'-- + Said Aucassin to Nicolette." + + +Watching the nimble fingers of the shabby minstrel with pitiably +childish expression of amusement, a half-imbecile morio leaned upon the +table. His huge form, for he was a giant among stalwart men, and his +great moon-shaped head made him at once an object hideous and miserable +to contemplate. But the poor creature seemed unaware of his own +deformities, and smiled contentedly and patted the table caressingly to +the sprightly rhythm. + +Gazing upon this choice assemblage, the _plaisant_ was vaguely +conscious that some of the curious and uncommon faces seemed familiar, +and the picture of the Franciscan monk whom they had overtaken on the +road recurred to him, together with the misgivings he had experienced +upon parting from that canting knave. He half-expected to see Nanette; +to hear her voice, and was relieved that the gipsy on this occasion did +not make one of the unwonted gathering. The landlord, observing the +fool's discriminating gaze, and reading something of what was passing +in his mind, reassuringly motioned the new-comers to an unoccupied +corner, and by his manner sought to allay such mistrust as the +appearance of his guests was calculated to inspire. + +"We have to take those that come," he said, deprecatorily. "The +rascals have money. It is as good as any lord's. Besides, whate'er +they do without, here must they behave. And--for their credit--they +are docile as children; ruled by the cook's ladle. You will find that, +though there be ill company, you will partake of good fare. If I say +it myself, there's no better master of the flesh pots outside of Paris +than at this hostelry. The rogues eat as well as the king's gentlemen. +Feasting, then fasting, is their precept." + +"At present we have a leaning for the former, good host," carelessly +answered the fool. "Though the latter will, no doubt, come later." + +"For which reason it behooves a man to eat, drink and be merry while he +may," retorted the other. "What say you to a carp on the spit, with +shallots, and a ham boiled with pistachios?" + +"The ham, if it be ready. Our appetites are too sharp to wait for the +fish." + +"Then shall you have with it a cold teal from the marshes, and I'll +warrant such a repast as you have not tasted this many a day. Because +a man lives in a retired spot, it does not follow he may not be an +epicure," he went on, "and in my town days I was considered a good +fellow among gourmands." His eyes twinkled; he studied the new-comers +a moment, and then vanished kitchenward. + +His self-praise as a provider of creature comforts proved not ill +deserved; the viands, well prepared, were soon set before them; a +serving lad filled their glasses from a skin of young but sound wine he +bore beneath his arm, and, under the influence of this cheer, the young +girl's cheek soon lost its pallor. In the past she had become +accustomed to rough as well as gentle company; so now it was disdain, +not fear, she experienced in that uncouth gathering; the same sort of +contempt she had once so openly expressed for Master Rabelais, +whipper-in for all gluttons, wine-bibbers and free-livers. + +As the darkness gathered without, the merriment increased within. Over +the scene the dim light cast an uncertain luster. Indefatigably the +dicers pursued their pastime, with now and then an audible oath, or +muttered imprecation, which belied that docility mine host had boasted +of. The troubadour played and the morio yet listened. Several of a +group who had been singing now sat in sullen silence. Suddenly one of +them muttered a broken sentence and his fellows immediately turned +their eyes toward the corner where were fool and jestress. This ripple +of interest did not escape the young girl's attention, who said +uneasily: + +"Why do those men look at us?" + +"One of them spoke to the others," replied the jester. "He called +attention to something." + +"What do you suppose it was?" she asked curiously. + +"_Gladius gemmatus!_" ["The jeweled sword."] + +Whence came the voice? Near the couple, in a shadow, sat a woebegone +looking man who had been holding a book so close to his eyes as to +conceal his face. Now he permitted the volume to fall and the jester +uttered an exclamation of surprise, as he looked upon those pinched, +worn, but well-remembered features. + +"The scamp-student!" he said. + +Immediately the reader buried his head once more behind the book and +spoke aloud in Latin as though quoting some passage which he followed +with his finger; "Did you understand?" + +"Yes," answered the _plaisant_, apparently speaking to the jestress, +whose face wore a puzzled expression. + +The scamp-student laid the volume on the table. "These men are outlaws +and intend to kill you for your jeweled sword," he continued in the +language of Horace. + +"Why do you tell me this?" asked the fool in the same tongue, now +addressing directly the scholar. + +"Because you spared my life once; I would serve you now." + +"What's all this monk's gibberish about?" cried an angry voice, as the +master of the boar stepped toward them. + +"A discussion between two scholars," readily answered the scamp-student. + +"Why don't you talk in a language we understand?" grumbled the man. + +"Latin is the tongue of learning," was the humble response. + +"I like not the sound of it," retorted the other, as he retired. From +a distance, however, he continued to cast suspicious glances in their +direction. Bewildered, the girl looked from one of the alleged +controverters to the other. Who was this starveling the jester seemed +to know? Again were they conversing in the language of the monastery, +and their colloquy led to a conclusion as unexpected as it was +startling. + +"What if we leave the inn now?" asked the jester. + +"They would prevent you." + +"Who is the leader?" + +"The man with the boar," answered the scamp-student. "But it is the +morio who usually kills their victims." + +The jester glanced at the colossal monster, repugnant in deformity, and +then at the girl, who was tapping impatiently on the table with her +white fingers. The fool's color came and went; what human strength +might stand against that frightful prodigy of nature? + +"Is there no way to escape?" he asked. + +"Alas! I can but warn; not advise," said the scholar. "Already the +leader suspects me." + +A half-shiver ran through him. In the presence of actual and seemingly +assured death he had appeared calm, resigned, a Socrates in +temperament; before the mere prospect of danger the apprehensive +thief-and-fugitive elements of his nature uprose. He would meet, when +need be, the grim-visaged monster of dissolution with the dignity of a +stoic, but by habit disdained not to dodge the shadow with the +practised agility of a filcher and scamp. So the lower part of his +moral being began to cower; he glanced furtively at the company. + +"Yes; I am sure I have put my own neck in it," he muttered. "I must +devise a way to save it. I have it. We must seem to quarrel." And +rising, he closed his book deliberately. + +"Fool!" he said in a sharp voice. "Your argument is as scurvy as your +Latin. Thou, a philosopher! A bookless, shallow dabbler! So I treat +you and your reasonings!" + +Whereupon, with a quick gesture, he threw the dregs of his glass in the +face of the jester. So suddenly and unexpectedly was it done, the +other sprang angrily from his seat and half drew his sword. A moment +they stood thus, the fool with his hand menacingly upon the hilt; the +scamp-scholar continuing to confront him with undiminished volubility. + +[Illustration: He threw the dregs of his glass in the face of the +jester.] + +"A smatterer! an ignoramus! a dunce!" he repeated in high-pitched tones +to the amusement of the company. + +"Make a ring for the two monks, my masters," cried the man with the +boar. "Then let each state his case with bludgeon or dagger." + +"With bludgeon or dagger!" echoed the excited voice of the morio, whose +appearance had undergone a transformation. The indescribable vacancy +with which he had listened to the minstrel was replaced by an +expression of revolting malignity. + +The jestress half-arose, her face once more white, her dark eyes +fastened on the fool. But the latter, realizing the purpose of the +affront, and the actual service the scamp-student had rendered him, +unexpectedly thrust back his blade. + +"I'll not fight a puny bookworm," he said, and resumed his seat, +although his cheek was flushed. + +"You bear a brave sword, fool, for one so loath to draw," sneered the +master of the boar. + +Disappointed at this tame outcome of an affair which had so spirited a +beginning, the company, with derisive scoffing and muttered sarcasm, +resumed their places; all save the morio, who stood glaring upon the +jester. + +"Stab! stab!" he muttered through his dry lips, and at that moment the +troubadour played a few chords on his instrument. The passion faded +from the creature's face; quietly he turned and sought the chair +nearest to the minstrel. + +"Sing, master," he said. + +"_Diable_, thou art an insatiable monster!" grumbled the troubadour. + +"Insatiable," smilingly repeated the strange being. + + "If you went also, _ma douce miette_! + The joys of heaven I'd forego + To have you with me there below,'-- + Said Aucassin to Nicolette." + +softly sang the troubadour. + +Over the gathering a marked constraint appeared to fall. More soberly +the men shook their dice; the scamp-student took up his book, but even +Horace seemed not to absorb his undivided attention; a mountebank +attempted several tricks, but failed to amuse his spectators. The +candles, burning low, began to drip, and the servant silently replaced +them. Beneath lowering brows the master of the boar moodily regarded +the young girl, whose face seemed cold and disdainful in the flickering +light. The _plaisant_ addressed a remark to her, but she did not +answer, and silently he watched the shadow on the floor, of the +chandelier swinging to and fro, like a waving sword. + +"Will you have something more, good fool?" said the insinuating and +unexpected voice of the host at the _plaisant's_ elbow. + +"Nothing." + +"You were right not to draw," continued the boniface with a sharp look. +"What could a jester do with the blade? I'll warrant you do not know +how to use it?" + +"Nay," answered the fool; "I know how to use it not--and save my neck." + +Mine host nodded approvingly. "Ha! a merry fellow," he said. "Come; +drink again. 'Twill make you sleep." + +"I have better medicine than that," retorted the jester, and yawned. + +"Ah, weariness. I'll warrant you'll rest like a log," he added, as he +moved away. + +At that some one who had been listening laughed, but the fool did not +look up. A great clock began to strike with harsh clangor and +Jacqueline suddenly arose. At the same time the minstrel, stretching +his arms, strolled to the door and out into the open air. + +"Good-night, mistress," said the harsh voice of the master of the boar, +as his glittering eyes dwelt upon her graceful figure. + +The girl responded coldly, and, amid a hush from the company, made her +way to the stairs, which she slowly mounted, preceded by the lad who +had waited upon them, and followed by the jester. + +"A craven fellow for so trim a maid," continued he of the boar, as they +disappeared. "She has eyes like friar's lanterns. What a decoy she'd +make for the lords in Paris!" + +"Yes," assented the landlord, "a pitfall to pill 'em and poll 'em." + +At the end of the passage the guide of jestress and fool paused before +a door. "Your room, mistress," he said. "And yonder is yours, Master +Jester." Then placing the candle on a stand and vouchsafing no further +words, he shuffled off in the darkness, leaving the two standing there. + +"Lock your door this night, Jacqueline," whispered the fool. + +"You submit over-easily to an affront," was her scornful retort, +turning upon the jester. + +"Perhaps," he replied, phlegmatically. "Yet forget not the bolt." + +"It were more protection than you are apt to prove," she answered, and, +quickly entering the room closed hard the door. + +A moment he stood in indecision; then rapped lightly. + +"Jacqueline," he said, in a low voice. + +There was no answer. + +"Jacqueline!" + +The bolt shot sharply into place, fastening the door. No other +response would she make, and the jester, after waiting in vain for her +to speak, turned and made his way to his own chamber, adjoining hers. + +Weary as the young girl was, she did not retire at once, but going to +the window, threw wide open the blinds. Bright shone the moon, and, +leaning forth, she gazed upon clearing and forest sleeping beneath the +soft glamour. A beautiful, yet desolate scene, with not a living +object visible--yes, one, and she suddenly drew back, for there, +motionless in the full light, and gazing steadfastly toward her room, +stood a figure in whom she recognized the Spanish troubadour. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN UNEQUAL CONFLICT + +Surveying his room carefully in the dim light of a candle, the fool +discovered he stood in a small apartment, with a single window, whose +barren furnishings consisted of a narrow couch, a chair and a massive +wardrobe. Unlike the chamber assigned to Jacqueline, the door was +without key or bolt; a significant fact to the jester, in view of the +warning he had received. Nor was it possible to move wardrobe or bed, +the first being too heavy and the last being screwed to the floor, had +the occupant desired to barricade himself from the anticipated danger +without. A number of suspicious stains enhanced the gruesome character +of the room, and as these appeared to lead to the wardrobe, the jester +carried his investigation to a more careful survey of that imposing +piece of furniture. Opening the door, although he could not find the +secret of the mechanism, the fool concluded that the floor of this +ponderous wooden receptacle was a trap through which the body of the +victim could be secretly lowered. + +This brief exploration of his surroundings occupied but a few moments, +and then, after blowing out the candle and heaping the clothes together +on the bed into some resemblance of a human figure lying there, the +jester drew his sword and softly crept down the passage toward the +stairs, at the head of which he paused and listened. He could hear the +voices and see the shadows of the men below, and, with beating heart, +descended a few steps that he might catch what they were saying. +Crouching against the wall, with bated breath, he heard first the +landlord's tones. + +"Well, rogues, what say you to another sack of wine?" asked the host, +cheerily. + +"It will serve--while we wait," ominously answered the master of the +boar. + +"Haven't we waited long enough?" said an impatient voice. + +"Tut! tut! young blood," growled another, reprovingly. "Would you +disturb him at his prayers?" + +"The landlord is right," spoke up the leader. "We have the night +before us. Bring the wine." + +In stentorian tones the host called the serving-man, and soon from the +clinking of cups, the clearing of throats, and the exclamations of +satisfaction, foully expressed, the listening jester knew that the skin +had been circulated and the tankards filled. One man even began to +sing again an equivocal song, but was stopped by a warning imprecation +to which he ill-naturedly responded with a half-defiant curse. + +"Knaves! knaves!" cried the reproachful voice of the landlord. "Can +you not drink together like honest men?" + +This mild expostulation of the host seemed not without its effect, for +the impending quarrel passed harmlessly away. + +"Where, think you, he got the sword?" asked one of the gathering, +reverting to the enterprise in hand. + +"Stole it, most likely," replied the leader. "It is booty from the +palace." + +"And therefore is doubly fair spoils," laughed another. + +"Remember, rogues," interrupted the host, "one-third is my allotted +portion. Else we fall out." + +"Art so solicitous, thou corpulent scrimp!" grumbled he of the boar. +"Have you not always had the hulking share? Pass the wine!" + +"Foul names break no bones," laughed the host. "You were always a +churlish, ungentle knave. There's the wine, an it's not better than +your temper, beshrew me for the enemy of true hospitality. But to show +I am none such, here's something to sup withal; prime head of calf. +Bolt and swig, as ye will." + +The rattle of dishes and the play of forks succeeded this good-natured +suggestion. It was truly evident mine host commanded the good will and +the services of the band by appealing to their appetites. An esculent +roast or pungent stew was his cure for uprising or rebellion; a +high-seasoned ragout or fricassee became a sovereign remedy against +treachery or defection. He could do without them, for knaves were +plentiful, but they could not so easily dispense with this fat master +of the board who had a knack in turning his hand at marvelous and +savory messes, for which he charged such full reckoning that his third +of the spoils, augmented by subsequent additions, was like to become +all. + +A wave of anger against this unwieldy hypocrite and well-fed malefactor +swept over the jester. The man's assumed heartiness, his manner of +joviality and good-fellowship, were only the mask of moral turpitude +and blackest purpose. But for the lawless scholar, the fool would +probably have retired to his bed with full confidence in the probity +and honesty of the greatest delinquent of them all. + +"What shall we do with the girl?" asked one of the outlaws, +interrupting this trend of thought in the listener's mind. + +"Serve her the same as the fool," answered the landlord, carelessly. + +"But she's a handsome wench," retorted the leader, thoughtfully. +"Straight as a poplar; eyes like a sloe. With the boar and the jade, I +should do well, when I become tired resting here." + +"If she's as easily tamed as the boar?" suggested the host, +significantly. + +"Devil take me, if her nails are as long as his tusks," retorted the +follow, with a coarse laugh. + +"An I had a hostelry in town, she could bait the nobles thither," +commented the host, thoughtfully. + +"Give her to the scamp-student," remarked the fellow who had first +spoken. + +"Nay, since Nanette ran off with a street singer and left me +spouseless, I have made a vow of celibacy," hastily answered the piping +voice of the lank scholar. + +A series of loud guffaws greeted the scamp-student's declaration, while +the subsequent rough humor of the knaves made the listener's cheek burn +with indignation. Yet forced to listen he was, knowing that the +slightest movement on his part would quickly seal the fate of himself +and the young girl. But every fiber of his being revoked against that +ribald talk; he bit his lip hard, hearing her name bandied about by +miscreants and wretches of the lowest type, and even welcomed a +startling change in the discourse, occasioned by the leader. + +"Enough, rogues. We must settle with the jester first. Afterward, it +will be time enough to deal with the maid. Hast done feeding and +tippling yet, morio?" + +"Yes, master," said the suspiciously muffled voice of the imbecile. + +"Here's the knife then. You shall have another tankard when you come +back." + +"Another tankard!" muttered the creature. + +At these significant words, knowing that the crucial moment had come, +the jester retreated rapidly, and, making his way down the passage, +stood in a dark corner near his room. As of one accord the voices +ceased below; a heavy creaking announced the approach of the morio; +nearer and nearer, first on the stairs, then in the upper corridor. +From where he remained concealed the fool dimly discerned the figure of +the would-be assassin. + +At the door of the jestress' room it paused. The fool lifted his +blade; the form passed on. Before the chamber of the _plaisant_ its +movements became more stealthy; it bent and listened. Should the +jester spring upon it now? A strange loathing made him hesitate, and, +before he had time to carry his purpose into execution, the creature, +throwing aside further pretense of caution, swung back the door and +launched himself across the apartment. A heavy blow, swiftly followed +by another; afterward, the stillness of death. + +Every moment the jester expected an outcry; the announcement of the +fruitlessness of the attack, but the morio made no sound. The silence +became oppressive; the _plaisant_ felt almost irresistibly impelled +toward that terrible chamber, when with heavy, lumbering step, the +creature reappeared, traversed the hall like a huge automaton and +mechanically descended the stairs. Recovering from his surprise, the +fool again resumed his position commanding the scene below, and +breathlessly awaited the sequel to the singular pantomime he had +witnessed. + +"Well, is it done?" asked the harsh voice of the master of the boar. + +"Yes; done!" was the submissive answer. + +"Good! Now to get the sword." + +"Not so fast," broke in the landlord. "Do you kill, morio, without +drawing blood? Look at his dagger." + +The leader took the blade, examined it, and then began to call down +curses on the head of the imbecile monster. "Clean, save for a thread +of cotton," he cried angrily. "You never went near him." + +"Yes, yes, master!" replied the creature, eagerly. + +"Then, perhaps, you strangled him?" suggested the man. + +"No; stab! stab!" reiterated the morio, in an almost imploring tone, +shrinking from the glances cast upon him. + +"Bah! You stabbed the bed, fool; not the man," roughly returned the +other. "The rogue has guessed our purpose and left the room," he +continued, addressing the others. "But he's skulking somewhere. Well, +knaves, here's a little coursing for us all. Up with you, morio, and +find him. Perhaps, though, he may prefer to come down." And the +leader called out: "Give yourself up, rascal, or it will be the worse +for you." + +To this paradoxical threat no answer was returned. Standing in the +shadow at the head of the stairs, the jester only gripped tighter the +hilt of the coveted sword, while across his vision flashed the picture +of the young girl, left helpless, alone! What mercy would they show? +The coarse words of the master of the boar and the gibing, loose +responses of the company recurred to him, and, setting his jaw firmer, +the plaisant peered, with gleaming eyes, down into the semi-gloom. + +"You won't answer?" cried the leader, after a short interval. "Smell +him out then, rogues." + +Knife in hand, the others at his heels, the morio slowly made his way +up the stairs. Goaded by the taunts of the outlaws, his face was +distorted with ferocity; through his lips came a fierce, sibilant +breathing; in the dim light his colossal figure and enormous head +seemed in no wise human, but rather a murderous phantasm. With head +rolling from side to side, stabbing in the air with his knife, he +continued to approach,--an object calculated to strike terror into any +breast. + +"Oh! oh!" murmured a voice behind the jester, and, turning, he saw +Jacqueline. Disturbed by the tumult and the loud voices, the jestress +had left her room to learn the cause of the unusual din, and now, with +her dark hair a cloud around her, stood gazing fearfully over the +fool's shoulder. + +At the sound of the young girl's voice, so near, the _plaisant's_ hand, +which for the moment had been unsteady, became suddenly steel. Almost +impatiently he awaited the coming of the morio; at last he drew near, +but, as if instinctively realizing the presence of danger, paused, his +arm ceasing to strike, but remaining stationary in the air. + +"Go on!" impatiently shouted those behind him. + +At the command the creature sprang forward furiously, when the sword of +the jester shot out; once, twice! From the morio's grip fell the +dagger; over his face the lust for killing was replaced by a look of +surprise; with a single moan, he threw both arms on high, and, +tottering like an oak, the monster fell backward with a crash, carrying +with him the rogues behind. Imprecations, threats and cries of pain +ensued; several knaves went limping away from the struggling group; one +lay prostrate as the morio himself; the master of the boar rubbed his +shoulder, anathematizing roundly the cause of the disaster. + +"I think my arm's put out!" he said. "Is the creature dead?" he added, +viciously. + +"Dead as a herring," answered the landlord, bending over the motionless +figure. + +"Beshrew me, I thought the jester was a craven," growled he of the +boar. "What does it mean?" + +"That he saw the snare and spread another," replied the host. + +"Go back to your room, mistress," whispered the plaisant to the young +girl, "and lock yourself in." + +"Nay; I'll not leave you," she replied. "Do you think they will +return?" she added in a voice she strove to make firm. + +"I am certain of it. Go, I beg you--to your window and call out. It +is a slender hope, but the best we have. Fear not; I can hold the +stairs yet a while." + +A moment she hesitated, then glided away. At the same time he of the +boar grasped a sword in his left hand, and, with his right hanging +useless, rushed up the stairs. + +"Oh, there you are, my nimble wit-cracker!" he cried, as the jester +stepped boldly out. "'Twas a pretty piece of foolery you played on the +monster and us, but quip for quirk, my merry wag!" And, so speaking, +he directed a violent thrust which, had it taken effect, would, indeed, +have made good the leader's threat. + +But the _plaisant_ stepped aside, the blow grazed his shoulder, while +his own blade, by a rapid counter, passed through the throat of his +antagonist. With a shriek, the blood gushing from the wound, the +master of the boar fell lifeless on the stairs, his sword clattering +downward. At that gruesome sight, his fellows paused irresolute, and, +seeing their indecision, the jester rushed headlong upon them, striking +fiercely, when their hesitation turned into panic and the knaves fairly +fled. Below, the irate landlord stamped and fumed, cuffing and +striking as he moved among them with threats and abuse. + +"White-livered varlets! Pigeon-hearted rogues! Unmanned by a motley +fool! A witling the lords beat with their slippers! Because of a +chance blow against an imbecile, or a disabled man, you hesitate. A +fig for them! What if they be dead? The spoil will be the greater for +the rest." + +Thus exhorted, the knaves once more took heart and gathered for the +attack. Glaves were provided for those in front, and the _plaisant_ +waited, grimly determined, yet liking little the aspect of those +terrible weapons and feeling the end of the unequal contest was not far +distant, when a light hand was laid on his arm. + +"Follow me quickly," said Jacqueline. "We may yet escape. Don't +question me, but come!" she went on hurriedly. + +Impressed by her earnestness, the jester, after a moment's hesitation, +obeyed. She led him to her room, closed and locked the door--but not +before a scampering of feet and sound of voices told them the rogues +had gained the upper passage--and drew him hastily to the window. + +"See," she said eagerly. "A ladder!" + +"And at the foot of the ladder, our horses!" he exclaimed, in surprise. +"Who has done this?" + +Her response was interrupted by a hand at their door and a clamor +without, followed by heavy blows. + +"Quick, Jacqueline!" he cried, and helped her to the long ladder, set, +as it seemed, providentially against the wall. + +"Can you do it?" he asked, yet holding her hand. Her eyes gave him +answer, and he released her, watching her descend. + +The door quivered beneath the general onslaught of the now exultant +outlaws, and, as a glave shattered the panel the jester threw himself +over the casement. A deafening hubbub ensued; the door suddenly gave +way, and the band rushed into the room. At the same time the +_plaisant_ ran down the ladder and sprang to the ground at the young +girl's side. From above came exclamations of wonder and amazement, +mingled with invective. + +"They're gone!" cried one. + +"Here they are!" exclaimed another, looking down from the window. + +The jester at once seized the means of descent, but not before the man +who had discovered them was on the upper rounds; a quick effort on the +fool's part, and ladder and rogue toppled over together. The +enterprising knave lay motionless where he fell. + +"_Vrai Dieu_! He wanted to come down," said an approving voice. + +Turning, the jester beheld the Spanish troubadour, who was composedly +engaged in placing bundles of straw against the wall of the inn. + +"I don't think he'll bother you any more," continued the minstrel in +his deep tones. "If you'll ride down the road, I'll join you in a +moment." + +So saying, he knelt before the combustible accumulation he had been +diligently heaping together and struck a spark which, seizing on the +dry material, immediately kindled into a great flame. + +"What are you doing, villain?" roared the landlord from the window, +discovering the forks of fire, already leaping and crackling about the +tavern. + +"Only making a bonfire of a foul nest," lightly answered the minstrel, +standing back as though to admire his handiwork. "Your vile hostelry +burns well, my dissembling host." + +"Hell-dog! varlet!" screamed the proprietor, overwhelmed with +consternation. + +"Is it thus you greet your guests?" replied the troubadour, throwing +another bundle of straw upon the already formidable conflagration. +"You were not wont to be so discourteous, my prince of bonifaces." + +But recovering from his temporary stupor, the landlord, without reply, +disappeared from the window. + +"Now may we safely leave the flames to the wind," commented the +minstrel, as he sprang upon a small nag which had been fastened to a +shed near by. "As we have burned the roof over our heads," he +continued, addressing the wondering jester and his companion, who had +already mounted and were waiting, "let us seek another hostelry." + +Swiftly the trio rode forth from the tavern yard, out into the moonlit +road. + +"Not so quickly, my friends," commented the troubadour. "As I fastened +the doors and blinds without, we may proceed leisurely, for it will be +some time before mine host and his friends can batter their way from +the inn. Besides, it goes against the grain to run so precipitously +from my fire. Such a beautiful _auto da fe_, as we say in Spain." + +"Who are you, sir?" asked the fool. + +The minstrel laughed, and answered in his natural voice. + +"Don't you know me, _mon ami_?" he said, gaily. "What a jest this will +be at court? How it will amuse the king--" + +"Caillette!" exclaimed the _plaisant_, loudly. "Caillette!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DESERTED HUT + +"Himself!" laughed the minstrel. "Did I not tell you I should become a +Spanish troubadour?" Then, reaching out his hand, he added seriously: +"Right pleased am I to meet you. But how came you here?" + +"I have fled from the keep of the old castle, where I lay charged with +heresy," answered the jester, returning the hearty grip. + +"The keep!" exclaimed Caillette in surprise. "You are fortunate not to +have been brought to trial," he added, thoughtfully. "Few get through +that seine, and his Holiness, the pope, I understand, has ordered the +meshes made yet smaller." + +They had paused on the brow of a hill, commanding the view of road and +tavern. Dazed, the young girl had listened to the greeting between the +two men. This ragged, beard-begrown troubadour, the graceful, elegant +Caillette of Francis' court? It seemed incredible. At the same time, +through her mind passed the memory of the _plaisant's_ reiterated +exclamation in prison: "Caillette--in Spain!"--words she had attributed +to fever, not imagining they had any foundation in fact. + +But now this unexpected encounter abruptly dispelled her first +supposition and opened a new field for speculation. Certainly had he +been on a mission of some kind, somewhere, but what his errand she +could not divine. A diplomat in tatters, serving a fellow-jester. +Fools had oft intruded themselves in great events ere this, but not +those who wore the motley; heretofore had the latter been content with +the posts of entertainers, leaving to others the more precarious +offices of intrigant. + +But if she was surprised at Caillette's unexpected presence and +disguise, that counterfeit troubadour had been no less amazed to see +her, the joculatrix of the princess, in the mean garb of a wayside +_ministralissa_, wandering over the country like one born to the +nomadic existence. That she had a nature as free as air and the spirit +of a gipsy he well believed, but that she would forego the security of +the royal household for the discomforts and dangers of a vagrant life +he could not reconcile to that other part of her character which he +knew must shrink from the actualities of the straggler's lot. He had +watched her at the inn; how she held herself; how she was a part of, +and yet apart from, that migratory company; and what he had seen had +but added to his curiosity. + +"Have you left the court, mistress?" he now asked abruptly. + +"Yes," she answered, curtly. + +Caillette gazed at her and her eyes fell. Then put out with herself +and him, she looked up boldly. + +"Why not?" she demanded. + +"Why not, indeed?" he repeated, gently, although obviously wondering. + +The constraint that ensued between them was broken by a new aspect of +the distant conflagration. Fanned by the breeze, the flames had +ignited the thatched roof of the hostelry and fiery forks shot up into +the sky, casting a fierce glow over the surrounding scene. Through the +glare, many birds, unceremoniously routed from their nests beneath the +eaves, flew distractedly. Before the tavern, now burning on all sides, +could be distinguished a number of figures, frantically running hither +and thither, while above the crackling of the flames and the clamorous +cries of the birds was heard the voice of the proprietor, alternately +pleading with the knaves to save the tavern and execrating him who had +applied the torch. + +"_Cap de Dieu_! the landlord will snare no more travelers," said +Caillette. "My horse had become road-worn and perforce I had tarried +there sufficient while to know the company and the host. When you +walked in with this fair maid, I could hardly believe my eyes. 'Twas a +nice trap, and the landlord an unctuous fellow for a villain. Assured +that you could not go out as you came, I e'en prepared a less +conventional means of exit." + +He had scarcely finished this explanation when, with a shower of sparks +and a mighty crash, the heavy roof fell. A lambent flame burst from +the furnace; grew brighter, until the clouds became rose-tinted; a +glory as brilliant as short-lived, for soon the blaze subsided, the +glow swiftly faded, and the sky again darkened. + +"It is over," murmured Caillette; and, as they touched their horses, +leaving the smoldering ruins behind them, he added: "But how came the +scamp-student to serve you? I was watching closely, and listening, +too; so caught how 'twas done." + +"I spared his life once," answered the jester. + +"And he remembered? 'Tis passing strange from such a rogue. A clever +device, to warn you in Latin that his friends intended to kill one or +both of you for the jeweled sword." + +"Why," spoke up the young girl, her attention sharply arrested, "was it +not a mere discussion of some kind? And--the quarrel?" + +"A pretense on the rogue's part to avert the suspicion of the master of +the boar. I could but marvel"--to the jester--"at your forbearance." + +"I fear me Jacqueline had the right to a poor opinion of her squire," +replied the duke's fool. "Nor do I blame her," he laughed, "in +esteeming a stout bolt more protection than a craven blade." + +But the girl did not answer. Through her brain flashed the +recollection of her cold disdain; her scornful words; her abrupt +dismissal of the jester at her door. Weighing what she had said and +done with what he had not said and done, she turned to him quickly, +impulsively. Through the semi-darkness she saw the smile around his +mouth and the quizzical look with which he was regarding her. +Whereupon her courage failed. She bit her lip and remained silent. +They had now passed the brow of the hill; on each side of the highway +the forests parted wider and wider, and the thoroughfare was bathed in +a white light. + +As they rode along on this clearly illumined highway, Caillette glanced +interrogatively at the _plaisant_. The outcome of his journey--should +he speak now? Or later--when they were alone? Heretofore neither had +made reference to it; Caillette, perhaps, because his mind had been +surprised into another train of thought by this unexpected encounter; +the duke's fool because the result of the journey was no longer +momentous. Since the other had left, conditions were different. The +good-natured scoffing and warnings of his fellow-jester had proved not +unwarranted. + +The answer of the duke's fool to his companion's glance was a direct +inquiry. + +"You found the emperor?" he said. + +"Yes; and presented your message with some misgiving." + +"And did he treat it with the scant consideration you expected?" + +"On the contrary. His Majesty read it not once, but twice, and changed +color." + +"And then?" + +The narrator paused and furtively surveyed the jestress. Her face was +pale, emotionless; as they sped on, she seemed riding through no +volition of her own, the while she was vaguely conscious of the +dialogue of her companions. + +"Whatever magic your letter contained," resumed Caillette, "it seemed +convincing to Charles. 'My brother Francis must be strangely credulous +to be so cozened by an impostor,' quoth he, with a gleam of humor in +his gaze." + +"Impostor!" It was the young girl who spoke, interrupting, in her +surprise, the troubadour's story. + +"You did not know, mistress?" said Caillette. + +"No," she answered, and listened the closer. + +"When I left, two messages the emperor gave me," went on the other; +"one for the king, the other for you." And taking from his doublet a +document, weighted with a ponderous disk, the speaker handed it to the +duke's fool, who silently thrust it in his breast. "Moreover, +unexpectedly, but as good fortune would have it, his Majesty was even +then completing preparations for a journey through France to the +Netherlands, owing to unlooked-for troubles in that part of his +domains, and had already despatched his envoys to the king. Charles +assured me that he would still further hasten his intended visit to the +Low Countries and come at once. Meanwhile his communication to the +king"--tapping his breast--"will at least delay the nuptials, and, with +the promise of the emperor's immediate arrival, the marriage can not +occur." + +"It has occurred," said the jester. + +The other uttered a quick exclamation. "Then have I failed in my +errand," he muttered, blankly. "But the king--had he no suspicion?" + +"It was through the Countess d'Etampes the monarch was led to change +the time for the festivities," spoke up Jacqueline, involuntarily. + +"She!" exclaimed the poet, with a gesture of half-aversion. For some +time they went on without further words; then suddenly Caillette drew +rein. + +"This news makes it the more necessary I should hasten to the king," he +said. "The emperor's message--Francis should receive it at once. +Here, therefore, must I leave you. Or, why do you not return with +me?"--addressing the jester. "The letter from Charles will exonerate +you and Francis will reward you in proportion to the injuries you have +suffered. What say you, mistress?" + +"That I will never go back," she answered, briefly, and looked away. + +Caillette's perplexity was relieved by the _plaisant_. "Farewell, if +you must leave," said the latter. "We meet again, I trust." + +"The fates willing," returned the poet. "Farewell, and good fortune go +with you both." And wheeling abruptly, he rode slowly back. The +jester and the girl watched him disappear over the road they had come. + +"A true friend," said the _plaisant_, as Caillette vanished in the +gloom. + +"You regret not returning with him, perhaps?" she observed quickly. +"Honors and offices of preferment are not plentiful." + +"I want none of them from Francis," he returned, as they started slowly +on their way. + +The road before them descending gradually, passed through a gulch, +where the darkness was greater, and such light as sifted through the +larch and poplar trees rested in variable spots on the earth. Overhead +the somber obscurity appeared touched with a veil of shimmer or sheen +like diamond dust floating through the mask of night. Their horses but +crept along; the girl bent forward wearily; heretofore the excitement +and danger had sustained her, but now the reaction from all she had +endured bore down upon her. She thought of calling to the fool; of +craving the rest she so needed; but a feeling of pride, or constraint, +held her silent. Before her the shadows danced illusively; the film of +brightness changed and shifted; then all glimmering and partial shade +were swallowed up in a black chasm. + +Riding near, the jester observed her form sway from side to side, and +spurred forward. In a moment he had clasped her waist, then lifted her +from the saddle and held her before him. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried. + +She offered no resistance; her head remained motionless on his breast. +Sedulously he bent over her; the warm breath reassured him; tired +nature had simply succumbed. Irresolute he paused, little liking the +sequestered gulch for a resting-place; divining the prickly thicket and +almost impenetrable brushwood that lined the road. An unhealthy miasma +seemed to ascend from below and clog the air; through the tangle of +forest, phosphorus gleamed and glowworms flitted here and there. + +Gathering the young form gently to him, the jester rode slowly on, and +the horse of his companion followed. So he went, he knew not how long; +listening to her breathing that came, full and deep; half-fearing, +half-wondering at that relaxation. For the first time he forgot about +the emperor and his purpose; the free baron and the desires of sweet +avengement. He thought only of her he held; how courageous yet alone +she was in the world; how she had planned the service which won her the +right to his protection; her flight from Francis--but where? To whom +could she go? To whom could she turn? Unconscious she lay in his arms +in that deep sleep, or heavy inertia following exhaustion, her pale +face against his shoulder; and as the young _plaisant_ bent over her +his heart thrilled with protecting tenderness. + +"Why, what other maid," he thought, "would ride on until she dropped? +Would meet discomfort at every turn with a jest or a merry stave?" + +And, but for him, whom else had she? This young girl, had she not +become his burden of responsibility; his moral obligation? For the +first time he seemed to realize how the fine tendrils of her nature had +touched his; touched and clung, ever so gently but fast. Her fine +scorn for dissimulation; her answering integrity; the true adjustment +of her instinct--all had been revealed to him under the test of +untoward circumstances. + +He saw her, too, secretly and silently cherishing a new faith in her +bosom, amid a throng, lax and infirm of purpose, and wonderment gave +way to another emotion, as his mind leaped from that past, with its +covert, inner life, to the untrammeled moment when she had thrown off +the mask in the solitude of the forest. Had some deeper chord of his +nature been struck then? Their aspirations of a kindred hope had +mingled in the majestic psalm; a larger harmony, remote from roundelay, +or sparkling cadenza, that drew him to this Calvin maid. A solemn +earnestness fell upon his spirits; the starlight bathed his brow, and +he found the mystery of the night and nature inexplicably beautiful. + +Afar the bell of some wanderer from the herd tinkled drowsily, arousing +him from his reverie. The horses were ascending; the road emerged into +a plain, set with bracken and gorse, with here and there a single tree, +whose inclining trunk told of storms braved for many seasons. Near the +highway, in the shadow of a poplar, stood a shepherd's hut, apparently +deserted and isolated from human kind. The fool reined the horse, +which for some time had been moving painfully, and at that abrupt +cessation of motion the jestress looked up with a start. + +Meeting his eyes, at first she did not withdraw her own; questioningly, +her bewildered gaze encountered his; then, with a quick movement, she +released herself from his arm and sprang to the ground. He, too, +immediately dismounted. She felt very wide-awake now, as though the +sudden consciousness of that encircling grasp, or something in his +glance before she slipped from him, had startled away the torpor of +somnolence. + +"You fainted, or fell asleep, mistress," he said, quietly. + +"Yes--I remember--in the gorge." + +"It was impossible to stop there, so--I rode on. But here, in this +shepherd's hut, we may find shelter." + +And turning the horses, he would have led them to the door, but the +animals held back; then stood stock-still. Striding to the hut, the +jester stepped in, but quickly sprang to one side, and as he did so +some creature shot out of the door and disappeared in the gloom. + +"A wolf!" exclaimed the _plaisant_. + +Entering the hut once more, he struck a light. In a corner lay furze +and firewood, and from this store he drew, heaping the combustible +material on the hearth, until a cheering blaze fairly illumined the +worn and dilapidated interior. Near the fireplace were a pot and +kettle, whose rusted appearance bespoke long disuse; but a trencher and +porridge spoon on a stool near by seemed waiting the coming of the +master. A couch of straw had been the lonely shepherd's bed--and later +the lodgment of his enemy, the wolf. Above it, on the wall, hung a +small crucifix of wood. For the fugitives this mean abode appeared no +indifferent shelter, and it was with satisfaction the jester arranged a +couch for the girl, before the fire, a rude pallet, yet-- + +"Here you may rest, Jacqueline, without fear of being disturbed again +this night," he said. + +She sank wearily upon the straw; then gave him her hand gratefully. +Her face looked rosy in the reflection from the hearth; a comforting +sense of warmth crept over her as she lay in front of the blaze; her +eyes were languorous with the luxury of the heat after a chilling ride. +Drawing the cloak to her chin, she smiled faintly. Was it at his +solicitude? He noticed how her hair swept from the saddle pillowing +her head, to the earth; and, sitting there on the stool, wondering, +perhaps, at its abundance, or half-dreaming, he forgot he yet held her +hand. Gently she withdrew it, and he started; then, realizing how he +had been staring at her, with somewhat vacant gaze, perhaps, but +fixedly, he made a motion to rise, when her voice detained him. + +"Why did you not tell me it was not a discussion with the +scamp-student?" she asked. "Why did you let me imagine that you--" +Her eyes said the rest. "You should not have permitted me to--to think +it," she reiterated. + +He was silent. She closed her eyes; but in a moment her lashes +uplifted. Her glance flashed once more upon him. + +"And I should not have thought it," she said. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried, starting up. + +She did not answer; indeed, seemed sleeping; her face turned from him. + +Through the open doorway a streak of red in the east heralded the +coming glory of the morn. "Peep, peep," twittered a bird on the roof +of the hovel. From the poplar it was answered by a more melodious +phrase, a song of welcome to the radiant dawn. A moment the jester +listened, his head raised to the growing splendor of the heavens, then +threw himself on the earthen floor of the hut and was at once overcome +with sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TALE OF THE SWORD + +The slanting rays of the sinking sun shot athwart the valley, glanced +from the tile roofs of the homes of the peasantry, and illumined the +lofty towers of a great manorial chateau. To the rider, approaching by +the road that crossed the smiling pasture and meadow lands, the edifice +set on a mount--another of Francis' transformations from the gloomy +fortress home--appeared regal and splendid, compared with the humbler +houses of the people lying prostrate before it. Viewed from afar, the +town seemed to abase itself in the presence of the architectural +preeminence of that monarch of buildings. Even the sun, when it +withdrew its rays from the miscellaneous rabble of shops and dwellings, +yet lingered proudly upon the noble structure above, caressing its +imposing and august outlines and surrounding it with the glamour of the +afterglow, when the sun sank to rest. + +Into the little town, at the foot of the big house, rode shortly before +nightfall the jester and his companion. During the day the young girl +had seemed diffident and constrained; she who had been all vivacity and +life, on a sudden kept silence, or when she did speak, her tongue had +lost its sharpness. The weapons of her office, bright sarcasm and +irony, or laughing persiflage, were sheathed; her fine features were +thoughtful; her dark eyes introspective. In the dazzling sunshine, the +memory of their ride through the gorge; the awakening at the shepherd's +hut; something in his look then, something in his accents later, when +he spoke her name while she professed to sleep--seemed, perhaps, +unreal, dream-like. + +His first greeting that morning had been a swift, almost questioning, +glance, before which she had looked away. In her face was the +freshness of dawn; the grace of spring-tide. Overhead sang a lark; at +their feet a brook whispered; around them solitude, vast, infinite. He +spoke and she answered; her reserve became infectious; they ate their +oaten cakes and drank their wine, each strongly conscious of the +presence of the other. Then he rose, saddled their horses, and +assisted her to mount. She appeared over-anxious to leave the +shepherd's hut; the jester, on the other hand, cast a backward glance +at the poplar, the hovel, the brook. A crisp, clear caroling of birds +followed them as they turned from the lonely spot. + +So they rode, pausing betimes to rest, and even then she had little to +say, save once when they stopped at a rustic bridge which spanned a +stream. Both were silent, regarding the horses splashing in the water +and clouding its clear depths with the yellow mud from its bed. From +the cool shadows beneath the planks where she was standing, tiny fish, +disturbed by this unwonted invasion, shot forth like darts and vanished +into the opaque patches. Half-dreamily watching this exodus of +flashing life from covert nook and hole, she said unexpectedly: + +"Who is it that has wedded the princess?" + +For a moment he did not answer; then briefly related the story. + +"And why did you not tell me this before?" she asked when he had +finished. + +"Would you have credited me--then?" he replied, with a smile. + +Quickly she looked at him. Was there that in her eyes which to him +robbed memory of its sting? At their feet the water leaped and +laughed; curled around the stones, and ran on with dancing bubbles. +Perhaps he returned her glance too readily; perhaps the recollection of +the ride the night before recurred over-vividly to her, for she gazed +suddenly away, and he wondered in what direction her thoughts tended, +when she said with some reserve: + +"Shall we go on?" + +They had not long left the brook and the bridge, when from afar they +caught sight of the regal chateau and the clustering progeny of +red-roofed houses at its base. At once they drew rein. + +"Shall we enter the town, or avoid it by riding over the mead?" said +the _plaisant_. + +"What danger would there be in going on?" she asked. "Whom might we +meet?" + +Thoughtfully he regarded the shining towers of the royal residence. +"No one, I think," he at length replied, and they went on. + +Around the town ran a great wall, with watch-towers and a deep moat, +but no person questioned their right to the freedom of the place; a +sleepy soldier at the gate merely glancing indifferently at them as +they passed beneath the heavy archway. Gabled houses, with a tendency +to incline from the perpendicular, overlooked the winding street; dull, +round panes of glass stared at them, fraught with mystery and the +possibility of spying eyes behind; but the thoroughfare in that +vicinity appeared deserted, save for an old woman seated in a doorway. +Before this grandam, whose lack-luster eyes were fastened steadfastly +before her, the fool paused and asked the direction of the inn. + +"Follow your nose, if nature gave you a straight one," cried a jeering +voice from the other side of the thoroughfare. "If it be crooked, a +blind man and a dog were a better guide." + +The speaker, a squat, misshapen figure, had emerged from a passage +turning into the street, and now stood, twirling a fool's head on a +stick and gazing impudently at the new-comers. The crone whom the +_plaisant_ had addressed remained motionless as a statue. + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the oddity who had volunteered this malapert response +to the jester's inquiry, "yonder sign-post"--pointing to the aged +dame--"has lost its fingers--or rather its ears. Better trust to your +nose." + +"Triboulet!" exclaimed Jacqueline. + +"Is it you, lady-bird?" said the surprised dwarf, recognizing in turn +the maid. "And with the _plaisant_," staring hard at the fool. Then a +cunning look gradually replaced the wonder depicted on his features. +"You are fleeing from the court; I, toward it," he remarked, jocosely. + +"What mean you, fool?" demanded the horseman, sternly. + +"That I have run away from the duke, fool," answered the hunchback. +"The foreign lord dared to beat me--Triboulet--who has only been beaten +by the king. Sooner or later must I have fled, in any event, for what +is Triboulet without the court; or the court, without Triboulet?" his +indignation merging into arrogant vainglory. + +"When did you leave the--duke?" asked the other, slowly. + +"Several days ago," replied the dwarf, gazing narrowly at his +questioner. "Down the road. He should be far away by this time." + +Suspiciously the duke's jester regarded the hunchback and then glanced +dubiously toward the gate through which they had entered the town. He +had experienced Triboulet's duplicity and malice, yet in this instance +was disposed to give credence to his story, because he doubted not that +Louis of Hochfels would make all haste out of Francis' kingdom. Nor +did it appear unreasonable that Triboulet should pine for the +excitement of his former life; the pleasures and gaiety which prevailed +at Fools' hall. If the hunchback's information were true, they need +now have little fear of overtaking the free baron and his following, as +not far beyond the chateau-town the main road broke into two parts, the +one continuing southward and the other branching off to the east. + +While the horseman was thus reflecting, Triboulet, like an imp, began +to dance before them, slapping his crooked knees with his enormous +hands. + +"A good joke, my master and mistress in motley," he cried. "The king +was weak enough to exchange his dwarf for a demoiselle; the latter has +fled; the monarch has neither one nor the other; therefore is he, +himself, the fool. And thou, mistress, art also worthy of the madcap +bells," he added, his distorted face upturned to the jestress. + +"How so?" she asked, not concealing the repugnance he inspired. + +"Because you prefer a fool's cap to a king's crown," he answered, +looking significantly at her companion. "Wherein you but followed the +royal preference for head-coverings. Ho! ho! I saw which way the wind +blew; how the monarch's eyes kindled when they rested on you; how the +wings of Madame d'Etampes's coif fluttered like an angry butterfly. +Know you what was whispered at court? The reason the countess pleaded +for an earlier marriage for the duke? That the princess might leave +the sooner--and take the jestress, her maid, with her. But the king +met her manoeuver with another. He granted the favorite's request--but +kept the jestress." + +"Silence, rogue!" commanded the duke's fool, wheeling his horse toward +the dwarf. + +"And then for her to turn from a throne-room to a dungeon," went on +Triboulet, satirically, as he retreated. "As Brusquet wrote; 'twas: + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch and a jestress fair; + A jestress fair, I ween!'--" + + +But ere the hunchback could finish this scurrilous doggerel of the +court, over which, doubtless, many loose witlings had laughed, the +girl's companion placed his hand on his sword and started toward the +dwarf. The words died on Triboulet's lips; hastily he dodged into a +narrow space between two houses, where he was safe from pursuit. +Jacqueline's face had become flushed; her lips were compressed; the +countenance of the duke's _plaisant_ seemed paler than its wont. + +"Little monster!" he muttered. + +But the hunchback, in his retreat, was now regarding neither the +horseman nor the young girl. His glittering eyes, as if fascinated, +rested on the weapon of the _plaisant_. + +"What a fine blade you've got there!" he said curiously. "Much better +than a wooden sword. Jeweled, too, by the holy bagpipe! And a coat of +arms!"--more excitedly--"yes, the coat of arms of the great Constable +of Dubrois. As proud a sword as that of the king. Where did you get +it?" And in his sudden interest, the dwarf half-ventured from his +place of refuge. + +"Answer him not!" said the girl, hastily. + +"Was it you, mistress, gave it him?" he asked, with a sudden, sharp +look. + +Her contemptuous gaze was her only reply. + +"By the dust of kings, when last I saw it, the haughty constable +himself it was who wore it," continued Triboulet. "Aye, when he defied +Francis to his face. I can see him now, a rich surcoat over his gilded +armor; the queen-mother, an amorous Dulcinea, gazing at him, with all +her soul in her eyes; the brilliant company startled; even the king +overawed. 'Twas I broke the spell, while the monarch and the court +were silent, not daring to speak." + +"You!" From the young woman's eyes flashed a flame of deepest hatred. + +The hunchback shrank back; then laughed. "I, Triboulet!" he boasted. +"'Ha!' said I, 'he's greater than the king!' whereupon Francis frowned, +started, and answered the constable, refusing his claim. Not long +thereafter the constable died in Spain, and I completed the jest. +'So,' said I, 'he is less than a man.' And the king, who remembered, +laughed." + +"Let us go," said the jestress, very white. + +Silently the _plaisant_ obeyed, and Triboulet once more ventured forth. +"Momus go with you!" he called out after them. And then: + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch and a jestress fair;'" + + +More quickly they rode on. Furtively, with suppressed rage in his +heart, the duke's fool regarded his companion. Her face was cold and +set, and as his glance rested on its pale, pure outline, beneath his +breath he cursed Brusquet, Triboulet and all their kind. He understood +now--too well--the secret of her flight. What he had heretofore been +fairly assured of was unmistakably confirmed. The sight of the tavern +which they came suddenly upon and the appearance of the innkeeper +interrupted this dark trend of thought, and, springing from his horse, +the jester helped the girl to dismount. + +The house, being situated in the immediate proximity of the grand +chateau, received a certain patronage from noble lords and ladies. +This trade had given the proprietor such an opinion of his hostelry +that common folk were not wont to be overwhelmed with welcome. In the +present instance the man showed a disposition to scrutinize too closely +the modest attire of the new-comers and the plain housings of their +chargers, when the curt voice of the jester recalled him sharply from +this forward occupation. + +With a shade less of disrespect, the proprietor bade them follow him; +rooms were given them, and, in the larger of the two chambers, the +_plaisant_, desiring to avoid the publicity of the dining and tap-room, +ordered their supper to be served. + +During the repast the girl scarcely spoke; the capon she hardly +touched; the claret she merely sipped. Once when she held the glass to +her lips, he noticed her hand trembled just a little, and then, when +she set down the goblet, how it closed, almost fiercely. Beneath her +eyes shadows seemed to gather; above them her glance shone ominously. + +"Oh," she said at length, as though giving utterance to some thought, +which, pent-up, she could no longer control; "the irony; the tragedy of +it!" + +"What, Jacqueline?" he asked, gently, although he felt the blood +surging in his head. + + "'_Morbleu_! A merry monarch'--" + +she began, and broke off abruptly, rising to her feet, with a gesture +of aversion, and moving restlessly across the room. "After all these +years! After all that had gone before!" + +"What has gone before, Jacqueline?" + +"Nothing," she answered; "nothing." + +For some time he sat with his sword across his knees, thinking deeply. +She went to the window and looked out. When she spoke again her voice +had regained its self-command. + +"A dark night," she said, mechanically. + +"Jacqueline," he asked, glancing up from the blade, "why in the crypt +that day we escaped did you pause at that monument?" + +Quickly she turned, gazing at him from the half-darkness in which she +stood. + +"Did you see to whom the monument was erected?" she asked in a low +voice. + +"To the wife of the constable. But what was Anne, Duchess of Dubrois, +to you?" + +"She was the last lady of the castle," said the girl softly. + +Again he surveyed the jeweled emblem on the sword, mocking reminder of +a glory gone beyond recall. + +"And how was it, mistress, the castle was confiscated by the king?" he +continued, after a pause. + +"Shall I tell you the story?" she asked, her voice hardening. + +"If you will," he answered. + +"Triboulet's description of the scene where the constable braved the +king, insisting on his rights, was true," she observed, proudly. + +"But why had the noble wearer of this sword been deprived of his +feudality and tenure?" + +"Because he was strong and great, and the king feared him; because he +was noble and handsome, and the queen-regent loved him. It was not her +hand only, Louise of Savoy, Francis' mother, offered, but--the throne." + +"The throne!" said the wondering fool. + +Quickly she crossed the room and leaned upon the table. In the glimmer +of the candles her face was soft and tender. He thought he had never +seen a sweeter or more womanly expression. + +"But he refused it," she continued, "for he loved only the memory of +his wife, Lady Anne. She, a perfect being. The other--what?" + +On her features shone a fine contempt. + +"Then followed the endless persecution and spite of a woman scorned," +she continued, rapidly. "One by one, his honors were wrested from him. +He who had borne the flag triumphantly through Italy was deprived of +the government of Milan and replaced by a brother of Madame de +Chateaubriant, then favorite of the king. His castle, lands, were +confiscated, until, driven to despair, he fled and allied himself with +the emperor. 'Traitor,' they called him. He, a Bayard." + +A moment she stood, an exalted look on her features; tall, erect; then +stepped toward him and took the sword. With a bright and radiant +glance she surveyed it; pressed the hilt to her lips, and with both +hands held it to her bosom. As if fascinated, the fool watched her. +Her countenance was upturned; a moment, and it fell; a dark shadow +crossed it; beneath her lashes her eyes were like night. + +"But he failed because Charles, the emperor, failed him," she said, +almost mechanically, "and broken in spirit, met his death miserably in +exile. Yet his cause was just; his memory is dearer than that of a +conqueror. She, the queen-mother, is dead; God alone may deal with +her." + +More composed, she resumed her place in the chair on the other side of +the table, the sword across her arm. + +"And how came you, mistress," he asked, regarding her closely, "in the +pleasure palace built by Francis?" + +"When the castle was taken, all who had not fled were a gamekeeper and +his little girl--myself. The latter"--ironically--"pleased some of the +court ladies. They commended her wit, and gradually was she advanced +to the high position she occupied when you arrived," with a strange +glance across the board at her listener. + +"And the gamekeeper--your father--is dead?" + +"Long since." + +"The constable had no children?" + +"Yes; a girl who, it is believed, died with him in Spain." + +The entrance of the servant to remove the dishes interrupted their +further conversation. As the door opened, from below came the voices +of new-comers, the impatient call of tipplers for ale, the rattle of +dishes in the kitchen. Wrapped in the recollections the conversation +had evoked, to Jacqueline the din passed unnoticed, and when the +rosy-cheeked lass had gone--it was the jester who first spoke. + +"What a commentary on the mockery of fate that the sword of such a man, +so illustrious, so unfortunate, should be intrusted to a fool!" + +"Why," she said, looking at him, her arms on the table, "you drew it +bravely, and--once--more bravely--kept it sheathed." + +His face flushed. She half smiled; then placed the blade on the board +before him. + +"There it is." + +Above the sword he reached over, as if to place his hand on hers, but +she quickly rose. Absently he returned the weapon to his girdle. She +took a step or two from him, nervously; lifted her hand to her brow and +breathed deeply. + +"How tired I feel!" she said. + +Immediately he got up. "You are worn out from the journey," he +observed, quickly. + +But he knew it was not the journey that had most affected her. + +"I will leave you," he went on. "Have you everything you need?" + +"Everything," she answered carelessly. + +He walked to the door. The light was on his face; hers remained shaded. + +"Good-night," she said. + +"Good-night, Jacqueline, Duchess of Dubrois," he answered, and, +turning, disappeared down the corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DWARF MAKES AN EARLY CALL + +From one of the watch-towers of the town rang the clear note of a +trumpet, a tribute of melody, occasioned by the awakening in the east. +As the last clarion tones reechoed over the sleeping village, a crimson +rim appeared above the horizon and soon the entire wheel of the chariot +of the sun-god rolled up out of the illimitable abyss and began its +daily race across the sky. The stolid bugler yawned, tucked his +trumpet under his arm, and, having perfunctorily performed the duties +of his office, tramped downward with more alacrity than he had toiled +upward. + +About the same time the sleepy guard at the town gate was relieved by +an equally drowsy-appearing trooper; here and there windows were flung +open, and around the well in the small public square the maids began to +congregate. In the tap-room of the tavern the landlord moved about, +setting to rights the tables and chairs, or sprinkling fresh sand on +the floor. The place had a stale, close odor, as though not long since +vacated by an inabstinent company, a supposition further borne out by +the disorder of the furniture, and the evidence the gathering had not +been over-nice about spilling the contents of their toss-pots. The +host had but opened the front door, permitting the fresh, invigorating +air from without to enter, when the duke's _plaisant_, his cloak over +his arm, descended the stairs, and, addressing the landlord, asked when +he and his companion could be provided with breakfast. + +"Breakfast!" grumbled the proprietor. "The maids are hardly up and the +fires must yet be started. It will be an hour or more before you can +be served." + +The jester appeared somewhat dissatisfied, but contented himself with +requesting the other to set about the meal at once. + +"You ride forth early," answered the man, in an aggrieved tone. + +The _plaisant_ made no reply as he strode to the door and looked out; +noted sundry signs of awakening life down the narrow street, and then +returned to the tap-room. + +"You had a noisy company here last night, landlord?" he vouchsafed, +glancing around the room and recalling the laughter and shouts he had +heard below until a late hour. + +"Noisy company!" retorted the innkeeper. "A goodly company that ate +and drank freely. Distinguished company that paid freely. The king's +own guards who are acting as escort to Robert, the Duke of Friedwald, +and his bride, the princess. Noisy company, forsooth." + +The young man started. "The king's guards!" he said. "What are they +doing here?" + +The other vigorously rubbed the top of a table with a damp cloth. +"Acting as escort to the duke, as I told you," he replied. + +"The duke is here, also?" + +"Yes; at the chateau. The princess had become weary of travel; +besides, had sprained her ankle, I heard, and would have it the +cavalcade should tarry a few days. They e'en stopped at my door," he +went on ostentatiously, "and called for a glass of wine for the +princess. 'Tis true she took it with a frown, but the hardships of +journeying do not agree with grand folks." + +These last words the jester, absorbed in thought, did not hear. With +his back to the man, he stood gazing through the high window, +apparently across the street. But between the two houses on the other +side of the thoroughfare was a considerable open space, and through +this, far away, on the mount, could be seen the chateau. The sunlight +shone bright on turret and spire; its walls were white and glistening; +its outlines, graceful and airy as a fabric of imagination. + +"And yet it was a handsome cavalcade," continued the proprietor, his +predilection for pomp overcoming his churlishness. "The princess on a +steed with velvet housings, set with precious stones. Her ladies +attired in eastern silks. Behind the men of arms; Francis' troops in +rich armor; the duke's soldiers more simply arrayed. At the head of +the procession rode--" + +"Have the horses brought out at once." + +Thus brusquely interrupted, the innkeeper stared blankly at his guest, +who had left the window and now stood in the center of the room +confronting him. "And the breakfast?" asked the man. + +"I have changed my mind and do not want it," was the curt response. + +The host shrugged his shoulders disagreeably, as the plaisant turned +and ascended the stairs. "Unprofitable travelers," muttered the +landlord, following with his gaze the retreating figure. + +Hastily making his way to the room of the young girl, the jester +knocked on the door. + +"Are you awake, Jacqueline?" + +"Yes," answered a voice within. + +"We must ride forth as soon as possible. The duke is at the chateau." + +"At the chateau!" she exclaimed in surprise. Then after a pause: "And +Triboulet saw us. He will tell that you are here. I will come down at +once. Wait," she added, as an afterthought seized her. + +He heard her step to the window. "I think the gates of the chateau are +open," she said. "I am not sure; it is so far." + +"Do you see any one on the road leading down?" + +"No," came the answer. + +"Nor could I. But perhaps they have already passed." + +Again the jester returned to the tap-room, where he found the landlord +polishing the pewter tankards. + +"The horses?" said the fool sharply. + +"The stable boy will bring them to the door," was the response, and the +innkeeper held a pot in the air and leisurely surveyed the shining +surface. + +"The reckoning?" + +Deliberately the man replaced the receptacle on the table, and, +pressing his thumbs together, began slowly to calculate: "Bottle of +wine, ten sous; capon, twenty sous; two rooms--" when the jester took +from his coat the purse the young girl had given him, and, selecting a +coin, threw it on the board. At the sight of the purse and its golden +contents the countenance of the proprietor mollified; his price +forthwith varied with his changed estimate of his guest's condition. +"Two rooms, fifty sous; fodder, forty sous"--he went on. "That would +make--" + +"Keep the coin," said the _plaisant_, "and have the stable boy make +haste." + +With new alacrity, the innkeeper thrust the pistole into a leathern +pouch he carried at his girdle. A guest who paid so well could afford +to be eccentric, and if he and the young lady chose to travel without +breakfast, it was obviously not for the purpose of economy. Therefore, +exclaiming something about "a lazy rascal that needed stirring up," the +now interested landlord was about to go to the barn himself, when, with +a loud clattering, a party of horsemen rode up to the tavern; the door +burst open and Triboulet, followed by a tall, rugged-looking man and a +party of troopers, entered the hall. + +Swiftly the jester glanced around him; the room had no other door than +that before which the troopers were crowded; he was fairly caught in a +trap. Remorsefully his thoughts flew to the young girl and the trust +she had imposed in him. How had he rewarded that confidence? By a +temerity which made this treachery on the part of the hunchback +possible. Even now before him stood Triboulet, bowing ironically. + +"I trust you are well?" jeered the dwarf, and with a light, dancing +step began to survey the other from side to side. "And the lady--is +she also well this morning? How pleased you both were to see me +yesterday!" assuming an insolent, albeit watchful, pose. "So you +believed I had run away from the duke? As if he could get on without +me. What would be a honeymoon without Triboulet! The maids of honor +would die of ennui. One day they trick me out with true-lovers' knots! +the next, give me a Cupid's head for a wand. Leave the duke!" he +repeated, bombastically. "Triboulet could not be so unkind." + +"Enough of this buffoonery!" said a decisive voice, and the dwarf drew +back, not without a grimace, to make room for a person of soldierly +mien, who now pushed his way to the front. Over his doublet this +gentleman wore a somewhat frayed, but embroidered, cloak; his broad hat +was fringed with gold that had lost its luster; his countenance, deeply +burned, seemed that of an old campaigner. He regarded the fool +courteously, yet haughtily. + +"Your sword, sir!" he commanded, in the tone of one accustomed to being +obeyed. + +"To whom should I give it?" asked the duke's jester. + +"To the Vicomte de Gruise, commandant of the town. I have a writ for +your arrest as a heretic." + +"Who has lodged this information against me?" + +"Triboulet. That is, he procured the duke's signature to the writ." + +"And you think the duke a party to this farce, my Lord?" said the fool, +with assumed composure. "It has not occurred to you that before the +day is over all the village will be laughing at the spectacle of their +commandant--pardon me--being led by the nose by a jester?" + +The officer's sun-burned face became yet redder; he frowned, then +glanced suspiciously at Triboulet, whose reputation was France-wide. + +"This man was the duke's fool," screamed the dwarf, "and was imprisoned +by order of the king. His companion who is here with him was formerly +jestress to the princess. She is a sorceress and bewitched the +monarch. Then her fancy seized upon the heretic, and, by her dark art, +she opened the door of the cell for him. Together they fled; she from +the court, he from prison." + +The commandant looked curiously from the hunchback to the accused. If +this were acting, the dwarf was indeed a master of the art. + +"Besides, his haste to leave the village," eagerly went on Triboulet. +"Why was he dressed at this hour? Ask the landlord if he did not seem +unduly hurried?" + +At this appeal the innkeeper, who had been an interested spectator, now +became a not unwilling witness. + +"It is true he seemed hurried," he answered. "When he first came down +he ordered breakfast. I happened to mention the duke was at the +chateau, whereupon he lost his appetite with suspicious suddenness, +called for his horses, and was for riding off with all haste." + +From the commandant's expression this testimony apparently removed any +doubts he may have entertained. Above the heads of the troopers massed +in the doorway the duke's _plaisant_ saw Jacqueline, standing on the +stairs, with wide-open, dark eyes fastened upon him. Involuntarily he +lifted his hand to his heart; across the brief space glance melted into +glance. + +Persecuted Calvin maid--had not her fate been untoward enough without +this new disaster? Had not the king wrought sufficient ill to her and +hers in the past? Would she be sent back to the court; the monarch? +For himself he had no thought, but for her, who was nobler even than +her birthright. He had been thrice a fool who had not heeded +portentous warnings--the sight of Triboulet, the clamor of the +troopers--and had failed to flee during the night. As he realized the +penalty of his negligence would fall so heavily upon her, a cry of rage +burst from the fool's lips and he sprang toward his aggressors. The +young girl became yet whiter; a moment she clung to the baluster; then +started to descend the stairs. A dozen swords flashed before her eyes. + +She drew in her breath sharply, when as if by some magic, the anger +faded from the face of the duke's fool; the hand he had raised to his +breast fell to his side; his blade remained sheathed. + +"Your pardon, my Lord," he said to the commandant. "I have no +intention of resisting the authority of the law, but if you will grant +me a few moments' private audience in this room, I promise to convince +you the Duke of Friedwald never signed that writ." + +"Let him convince the council that examines heretics," laughed +Triboulet. "I'll warrant they'll make short work of his arguments." + +"I will give you my sword, sir," went on the jester. "Afterward, if +you are satisfied, you shall return it to me. If you are not, on my +word as a man of honor, I will go with you without more ado." + +"A Calvinist, a jester, a man of honor!" cried the dwarf. + +But narrowly the vicomte regarded the speaker. "_Pardieu_!" he +exclaimed gruffly. "Keep your sword! I promise you I can look to my +own safety." And in spite of Triboulet's remonstrance, he waved back +the troopers and closed the door upon the _plaisant_ and himself. + +Outside the dwarf stormed and stamped. "The jester is desperate. It +is the noble count who is a nonny. Open, fool-soldiers!" + +This command not being obeyed by the men who guarded the entrance, the +dwarf began to abuse them. A considerable interval elapsed; the +hunchback, who dared not go into the room himself, compromised by +kneeling before the keyhole; at the foot of the stairs stood the girl, +her strained gaze fastened upon the door. + +"They must be near the window," muttered Triboulet in a disappointed +tone, rising. "What can they be about? Surely will he try to kill the +commandant." + +But even as he spoke the door was suddenly thrown open and the vicomte +appeared on the threshold. + +"Clear the hall!" he commanded sharply to the surprised soldiers. "If +I mistake not," he went on, addressing the duke's jester, "your horses +are at the door." + +"You are going to let them go?" burst forth Triboulet. + +"I trust you and this fair lady"--turning to the wondering girl, who +now stood expectantly at the side of the foreign fool--"will not harbor +this incident against our hospitality," went on the vicomte, without +heeding the dwarf. + +"The king will hang you!" exclaimed Triboulet, his face black with +disappointment and rage, as he witnessed the _plaisant_ and the +jestress leave the tavern together. "Let them go and you must answer +to the king. One is a heretic who threw down a cross; the other I +charge with being a sorceress." + +A terrible arraignment in those days, yet the vicomte was apparently +deaf. Hat in hand, he waved them adieu; the steeds sprang forward, +past the soldiers, and down the street. + +"After them!" cried the dwarf to the troopers, "Dolts! Joltheads!" + +Whereupon one of the men, angered at this baiting, reaching out with +his iron boot, caught the dwarf such a sharp blow he staggered and +fell, striking his head so violently he lay motionless on the walk. At +the same time, far above, a body of troopers might have been seen +issuing from the gates of the chateau and leisurely wending their way +downward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN ENCOUNTER AT THE BRIDGE + +Some part of the interview with the commandant which had resulted in +their release the jester told his companion as they sped down the +sloping plain in the early silvery light which transformed the +dew-drops and grassy moisture into veils of mist. Behind them the +chateau was slowly fading from view; the town had already disappeared. +Around them the singing of the birds, the cooing of the cushat doves +and the buzzing of the bees, mingled in dreamy cadence. On each side +stretched the plain which, washed by recent heavy rains, was now +spangled with new-grown flowers; here, far apart in sequestered beauty; +there, clustering companionably in a mass of color. + +"Upon the strength of the letter from the emperor, the vicomte took the +responsibility of allowing us to depart," explained the fool. "In it +his Majesty referred to his message to the king, to the part played by +him who took the place of the duke, and what he was pleased to term my +services to Francis and himself." + +So much the _plaisant_ related, but he did not add that the commandant, +with Triboulet's words in mind, had at first demurred about permitting +the jestress to go. "_Vrai Dieu_!" that person had exclaimed. "If +what the dwarf said be true? To cross the king!--and yet," he had +added cynically, "it sounds most unlike. Did Aladdin flee from the +genii of the lamp? Such a magician is Francis. Chateaux, +gardens--'tis clearly an invention of Triboulet's!" And the fallacy of +this conclusion the duke's _plaisant_ had not sought to demonstrate. + +Without question, the young girl listened, but when he had finished her +features hardened. Intuitively she divined a gap in the narrative; +herself! From the dwarf's slur to Caillette's gentle look of surprise +constituted a natural span for reflection. And the duke's fool, seeing +her face turn cold, attributed it, perhaps, to another reason. Her +story recurred to him; she was no longer a nameless jestress; an +immeasurable distance separated a mere _plaisant_ from the survivor of +one of the noblest, if most unfortunate, families of France. She had +not answered the night before when he had addressed her as the daughter +of the constable; motionless as a statue had she gazed after him; and, +remembering the manner of their parting, he now looked at her curiously. + +"All's well that ends well," he said, "but I must crave indulgence, +Lady Jacqueline, for having brought you into such peril." + +She flushed. "Do you persist in that foolishness?" she returned +quickly. + +"Do you deny the right to be so called?" + +"Did I not tell you--the constable's daughter is dead?" + +"To the world! But to the fool--may he not serve her?" + +His face was expectant; his voice, light yet earnest. Her answer was +half-sad, half-bright, as though her tragedy, like those acted dramas, +had its less somber lines. And in the stage versions of those dark, +mournful pieces were not the softer bits introduced with cap and bell? +The fool's stick and the solemn march of irresistible and lowering +destiny went hand in hand. Everywhere the tinkle of the tiny bells. + +"Poor service!" she retorted. "A discredited mistress!" + +"One I am minded for," he replied, a sudden flash in his eyes. + +She looked away; her lips curved. + +"For how long?" she said, half-mockingly, and touched her horse before +he could reply. + +What words had her action checked on his lips? A moment was he +disconcerted, then riding after her, he smiled, thinking how once he +had carelessly passed her by; how he had looked upon her but as a +wilful child. + +A child, forsooth! His pulses throbbed fast. Life had grown strangely +sweet, as though from her look, when she had stood on the stairs, he +had drawn new zest. To serve her seemed a happiness that drowned all +other ills; a selfish bond of subordination. Her misfortunes dignified +her; her worn gown was dearer in his eyes than courtly splendor; the +disorder of her hair more becoming than nets of gold and coifs of +jewels. He forgot their danger; the broad plain lay like a pleasure +garden before them; fairer in natural beauty than Francis' conventional +parks. + +And she, too, had ceased to remember the dwarf's words, for the joy of +youth is strong, and the sunshine and air were rarely intoxicating. +There was a stirring rhythm in the movement of the steeds; noiselessly +their hoofs beat upon the soft earth and tender mosses. The rains +which elsewhere had flooded the lowlands here but enlivened the vernal +freshness of the scene. The air was full of floating thistle-down; a +cloud of insects dancing in the light, parted to let them pass. + +At the sight of a bush, white with flowers, she uttered an exclamation +of pleasure, and broke off a branch covered with fragrant blossoms, as +they rode by. Out of the depths of this store-house of sweets a +plundering humming-bird flashed and vanished, a jewel from nature's +crown! She held the branch to her face and he glanced at her covertly; +she was all jestress again. The cadence of that measured motion shaped +itself to an ancient lyric in keeping with the song of birds, the blue +sky, and the wild roses. + + "Hark! hark! + Pretty lark! + Little heedest thou my pain." + +He bent his head listening; he could scarcely hear the words. Was it a +sense of new security that moved her; the reaction of their narrow +escape; the knowledge they were leaving the chateau and all danger +behind them? + + "Hark! hark! + Pretty lark!--" + + +Boom! Far in the distance sounded the discharge of a cannon--its iron +voice the antithesis to the poet's dainty pastoral. As the report +reverberated over the valley, from the grass innumerable insects arose; +the din died away; the disturbed earth-dwellers sank back to earth +again. The song ceased from the young girl's lips, and, gazing quickly +back, she could just distinguish, above one of the parapets of the +chateau, a wreath, already nearly dissolved in the blue of the sky. +The jester, who had also turned in his saddle, met her look of inquiry. + +"It sounds like a signal of some kind--a salute, perhaps," he said. + +"Or a call to arms?" she suggested, and he made no answer. "It +means--pursuit!" + +Silent they rode on, but more rapidly. With pale face and composed +mien she kept by his side; her resolute expression reassured him, while +her glance said: "Do not fear for me." Gradually had they been +descending from the higher slopes of the country of which the +chateau-mount was the loftiest point and now were passing through the +lower stretches of land. + +Here, the highway ran above fields, inundated by recent rains, and +marshes converted into shining lakes. Out of the water uprose a grove +of trees, spectral-like; screaming wild-fowl skimmed the surface, or +circled above. The pastoral peace of the meadows, garden of the wild +flower and home of the song-bird, was replaced by a waste of desolation +and wilderness. Long they dashed on through the loneliness of that +land; a depressing flight--but more depressing than the abandoned and +forlorn aspect of the scene was the consciousness that their steeds had +become road-worn and were unable to respond. Long, long, they +continued this pace, a strained period of suspense, and then the fool +drew rein. + +"Look, Jacqueline," he said. "The river!" + +Before them, fed by the rivulets from the distant hills, the foaming +current threatened to overflow its banks. Already the rising waters +touched the flimsy wooden structure that spanned the torrent. +Contemplatively he regarded it, and then placing his hand for a moment +on hers, said encouragingly: + +"Perhaps, after all, we are borrowing trouble?" + +She shook her head. "If I could but think it," she answered. +Something seemed to rise in her throat. "A moment I forgot, and--was +not unhappy! But now I feel as though the end was closing about us." + +He tightened his grasp. "You are worn with fatigue; fanciful!" he +replied. + +"The end!" she repeated, passionately. "Yes; the end!" And threw off +his hand. "Look!" + +He followed her eyes. "Waving plumes!" he cried. "And drawing nearer! +Come, Jacqueline! let us ride on!" + +"How?" she answered, in a lifeless tone. "The bridge will not hold." + +For answer he turned his horse to it; proceeded slowly across. It +wavered and bent; her wide-opened eyes followed him; once she lifted +her hand to her breast, and then became conscious he stood on the +opposite bank, calling her to follow. She started; a strange smile was +on her lips, and touching her horse sharply, she obeyed. + +"Is it to death he has called me?" she asked herself. + +In her ears sounded the swash and eddying of the current; she closed +her eyes to keep from falling, when she felt a hand on the bridle, and +in a moment had reached the opposite shore. The jester made no motion +to remount, but remained at her horse's head, closely surveying the +road they had traveled. + +"Must we go on?" she said, mechanically. + +"Only one of them can cross at a time," he answered, without stirring. +"It is better to meet them here." + +"Oh," she spoke up, "if the waters would only rise a little more and +carry away the bridge." + +He glanced quickly around him, weighing the slender chance for success +if he made that last desperate stand, and then, grasping a loose plank, +began using it as a lever against one of the weakened supports of the +bridge. Soon the beam gave way, and the structure, now held but at the +middle and one side, had already begun to sag, when from around the +curve of the highway appeared Louis of Hochfels, and a dozen of his +followers. + +The free baron rode to the brim of the torrent, regarded the flood and +the bridge, and stopped. He was mounted on a black Spanish barb whose +glistening sides were flecked with foam; a cloak of cloth of gold fell +from his brawny shoulders; his heavy, red face looked out from beneath +a sombrero, fringed with the same metal. A gleam of grim recollection +shone from his bloodshot eyes as they rested on the fool. + +"Oh, there you are!" he shouted, with savage satisfaction. "Out of the +frying-pan into the fire! Or rather--for you escaped the fagots at +Notre Dame--out of the fire into the frying-pan!" + +Above the tumult of the torrent his stentorian tones were plainly +heard. Without response, the jester inserted the plank between the +structure and the middle support. The other, perceiving his purpose, +uttered an execration that was drowned by the current, and irresolutely +regarded the means of communication between the two shores, obviously +undetermined about trusting his great bulk to that fragile intermedium. +Here was a temporary check on which he had not calculated. But if he +demurred about crossing himself, the free baron did not long display +the same infirmity of purpose regarding his followers. + +"Over with you!" he cried angrily to them. "The lightest first! Fifty +pistoles to the first across!" And then, calling out to the fool: "In +half an hour, you, my fine wit-cracker, shall be hanging from a branch. +As for the maid, she is a witch, I am told--we will test her with +drowning." + +Tempted by their leader's offer, one of the troopers, a lank, +muscular-looking fellow, at once drove the spurs into his horse. Back +and forth moved the lever in the hands of the jester; the soldier was +midway on the bridge, when it sank suddenly to one side. A moment it +acted as a dam, then bridge, horse and rider were swept away with a +crash and carried downward with the driving flood. Vainly the trooper +sought to turn his steed toward the shore; the debris from the +structure soon swept him from his saddle. Striking out strongly, he +succeeded in catching a trailing branch from a tree on the bank, but +the torrent gripped his body fiercely, and, after a desperate struggle, +tore him away. + +As his helpless follower disappeared, the free baron gave a brief +command, and he and his troops posted rapidly down the bank. The young +girl breathed a sigh of relief; her eyes were yet full of awe from the +death struggle she had witnessed. Fascinated, her gaze had rested on +the drowning wretch; the pale face, the look of terror; but now she was +called to a realization of their own situation by the abrupt departure +of the squad on the opposite shore. + +"They have gone," she cried, in surprise, as the party vanished among +the trees. + +"But not far." The jester's glance was bent down the stream. "See, +where the torrent broadens. They expect to find a fording place." + +Once more they set forth; he knowing full well that the free baron and +his men, accustomed to the mountain torrents, unbridled by the melting +snows, would, in all likelihood, soon find a way to cross the freshet. +His mind misgave him that he had loosened the bridge at all. Would it +not have been better to force the conflict there, when he had the +advantage of position? But right or wrong, he had made his choice and +must abide by it. + +To add to his discomfiture, his horse, which at first had lagged, now +began to limp, and, as they proceeded, this lameness became more +apparent. With a twinge of heart, he plied the spur more strongly, and +the willing but broken creature responded as best it could. Again it +hastened its pace, seeming in a measure to recover strength and +endurance, then, without warning, lurched, fell to its knees and +quickly rolled over on its side. Jacqueline glanced back; the animal +lay motionless; the rider was vainly endeavoring to rise. Pale with +apprehension she returned, and, dismounting, stood at the head of the +prostrate animal. Determinedly the jester struggled, the perspiration +standing on his brow in beads. At length, breathing hard, he rested +his head on his elbow. + +"Here am I caught to stay, Jacqueline!" he said. "The horse is dead. +But you--you must still go on." + +With clasped hands she stood looking down at him. She scarcely knew +what he was saying; her mind seemed in a stupor; with apathetic eyes +she gazed down the road. But the accident had happened in a little +hollow, so that the outlook in either direction along the highway was +restricted. + +"My emperor is both chivalrous and noble," continued the _plaisant_, +quickly. "Go to him. You must not wait here longer. I did not tell +you, but I think the free baron will have no difficulty in crossing. +You have no time to lose. Go; and--good-by!" + +"But--he had a long way to ride--even if he could cross," she said +slowly, passing her hand over her brow. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried out, impatiently. + +She made no motion to leave, and, reading in her face her +determination, angered by his own helplessness, he strove violently to +release himself, until wrenching his foot in his frantic efforts, he +sank back with a groan. At that sound of pain, wrung from him in spite +of his fortitude, all her seeming apathy vanished. With a low cry, she +dropped on her knees in the road and swiftly took his head in her arms. + +It was he, not the young girl, who spoke first. He forgot all +peril--hers and his. He only knew her warm, young arms were about him; +that her heart was throbbing wildly. + +"Jacqueline!" he cried, passionately. "Jacqueline!" And threw an arm +about her, drawing her closer, closer. + +Did she hear him? She did not reply. Nor did she release him. She +did not even look down. But he felt her bosom rising and falling +faster than its wont. + +"Jacqueline," he repeated, "are you listening?" + +She stirred slightly; the pallor left her face. In her gaze shone a +light difficult to divine--pity, tenderness, a warmer passion? Where +had he seen it before? In the cell when he lay injured; in his waking +dreams? It seemed the sudden dawn of the full beauty of her eyes; a +half-remembered impression which now became real. Yet even as she +looked down his face changed; his eager glance grew dark; he listened +intently. + +The sound of horses' hoofs beat upon the air. + +"Jacqueline!--go!--there is yet time!" + +Abruptly she arose. He held out his hand for a last quick pressure; a +God-speed to this stanch maid-comrade of the motley. + +"God keep you, mistress!" + +Standing in the road, gazing up the hollow, she neither saw his hand +nor caught his words of farewell. An expression of bewilderment had +overspread her features; quickly she glanced in the opposite direction. + +"See! see!" she exclaimed, excitedly. + +But he was past response; overcome by pain, in a last desperate attempt +to regain his feet, he had lost consciousness. As he fell back, above +the hill in the direction she was looking, appeared the black plumes of +a band of horsemen. + +"No; they are not--" + +Her glance rested on the jester, lying there motionless, and hastening +to his side, she lifted his head and placed it in her lap. So the +troopers of the Emperor Charles--a small squad of outriders--found her +sitting in the road, her hair disordered about her, her face the whiter +against that black shroud. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN THE TENT OF THE EMPEROR + +On an eminence commanding the surrounding country an unwonted spectacle +that same day had presented itself to the astonished gaze of the +workers in a neighboring vineyard. Gleaming with crimson and gold, a +number of tents had appeared as by magic on the mount, the temporary +encampment of a rich and numerous cavalcade. But it was not the +splendent aspect of this unexpected bivouac itself so much as the +colors and designs of the flags and banners floating above which +aroused the wonderment of the tillers of the soil. Here gleamed no +salamander, with its legend, "In fire am I nourished; in fire I die," +but the less magniloquent and more dreaded coat of arms of the emperor, +the royal rival and one-time jailer of the proud French monarch. + +The sunlight, reflected from the golden tassels and ornamentation of +the tents, threw a flaming menace over the valley, and the peasants in +subdued tones talked of the sudden coming of the dreaded foeman. _Mere +de Dieu_! what did it portend! _Ventre Saint Gris_! were they going to +storm the fortresses of the king? Was an army following this +formidable retinue of nobles, soldiers and servants? + +Above, on the mount, as the sun climbed toward the meridian, was seated +in one of the largest of the tents a man of resolute and stern mien who +gazed reflectively toward the fertile plain outstretching in the +distance. His grizzled hair told of the after-prime of life; he was +simply, even plainly, dressed, although his garments were of fine +material, and from his neck hung a heavy chain of gold. His doublet +lacked the prolonged and grotesque peak, and was less puffed, slashed +and banded than the coat worn by those gallants of the day who looked +to Italy for the latest extravagances of fashion. His hat, lying +carelessly on the table at his elbow, was devoid of aigrette, jewels or +plume; a head-covering for the campaign rather than the court. Within +reach of his hand stood a heavy golden goblet of massive German +workmanship, the solid character of which contrasted with the drinking +vessels after Cellini's patterns affected by Francis. This he raised +to his lips, drank deeply, replaced the goblet on the table, and said +as much to himself as to those around him: + +"A fair land, this of our brother! Small wonder he likes to play the +host, even to his enemies. We may conquer him on the ensanguined +field, but he conquers us--or Henry of England!--on a field of cloth of +gold!" + +"But for your Majesty to put yourself in the king's power?" ventured a +courtier, who wore a begemmed torsade and a cloak of Genoa velvet. + +The monarch leaned back in his great chair and his face grew harsh. As +he sat there musing, his virility and iron figure gave him rather the +appearance of the soldier than the emperor. This impression his +surroundings further emphasized, for the walls of the tent were +covered, not with the gorgeous-colored Gobelins of the pleasure-loving +French, but with severe and stately tapestries from his native +Flanders, depicting in somber shades various scenes of martial triumph. +When he raised his head he cast a look of ominous displeasure upon the +last speaker. + +"Had he not once the English king beneath his roof?" answered the +monarch. "At Amboise, where we visited Francis some years ago, was +there any restraint put upon us?" + +A grim smile crossed his features at the recollection of the gorgeous +_fetes_ in his honor on that other occasion. Perhaps, too, he thought +of the excitements held out by those servitors of the king, the frail +and fair ladies of the court, for he added: + +"_Saints et saintes_! 'twas a palace of pleasure, not a dungeon, he +prepared for us. But enough of this! It is time we rode on. Let the +cavalcade, with the tents, follow behind." + +"Think you, your Majesty, if the princess be not yet married to the +bastard, she is like to espouse the true duke?" asked the courtier, as +a soldier left the tent to carry out the orders of the emperor. + +Charles arose abruptly. "Of a surety! He must have loved her greatly, +else--" + +The clattering of hoofs, drawing nearer, interrupted the emperor's +ruminations, and, wheeling sharply, he gazed without. A band of +horsemen appeared on the mount. + +"The outriders!" he said in surprise. "Why have they returned?" + +"They are bearing some one on a litter," answered the attendant noble, +"and--_cap de Dieu_--there is a woman with them!" + +As the troops approached, the emperor strode forward. Out in the +sunlight his face appeared older, more careworn, but although it cost +him an effort to walk, his step was unfaltering. A moment he surveyed +the men with peremptory glance, and then, casting one look at their +burden, uttered an exclamation. His surprise, however, was of short +duration. At once his features resumed their customary rigor. + +"What does this mean?" he asked, shortly, addressing the leader of the +soldiers. "Is he badly hurt?" + +"That I can not say, your Majesty," replied the man. "A horse fell +upon his leg, which is badly bruised, and there may be other injuries." + +"Where did you find him?" continued the emperor, still regarding the +pale face of the _plaisant_. + +"Not far from here, your Majesty. The woman was sitting in the road, +holding his head." + +Charles' glance swiftly sought the jestress and then returned. + +"They were being pursued, for shortly after we came a squad of men +appeared from the opposite direction. When they saw us they fled. The +woman insisted upon being brought here, when she learned of your +Majesty's presence." + +"Take the injured man into the next tent and see he has every care. As +for the woman, I will speak with her alone." + +"Your Majesty's orders to break camp--" began the courtier. + +"We have changed our mind and will remain here for the present." And +the emperor, without further words, turned and reentered his pavilion. + +With his hands behind him, he stood thoughtfully leaning against a +table; his countenance had become somber, morose. The twinges of pain +from a disease which afterward caused him to abdicate the throne and +relinquish all power and worldly vanities for a life of religious +meditation began to make themselves felt. Love--ambition--what were +they? The perishable flesh--was it the all-in-all? Those sudden pangs +of the body seemed like over-forward confessors abruptly admonishing +him. + +The jester and the woman--Francis and the princess--what had they +become to him now? Figures in an intangible, illusory dream. Deeply +religious, repentant, perhaps, for past misdeeds at such a moment as +this, the soldier-emperor stood before a silver crucifix. + +"_Credo in sanctum_," he murmured, with contrite glance. "How +repugnant is human glory! to conquer the earth; to barter what is +immortal! _Carnis resurrectionem--_" + +A shadow fell across the tapestry, and glancing from the blessed +symbol, he saw before him, kneeling on the rug, the figure of a woman. +For her it was an inauspicious interruption. With almost a frown, +Charles, recalled from an absorbing period of oblation and +self-examination, surveyed the young girl. The reflection of dark +colors from the hangings and tapestries softened the pallor of her +face; her hair hung about her in disorder; her figure, though meanly +garbed, was replete with youth and grace. Silent she continued in the +posture of a suppliant. + +"Well?" said the monarch finally, in a harsh voice. + +Slowly she lifted her head; her dark eyes rested on the ruler +steadfastly, fearlessly. "Your Majesty commanded my presence," she +answered. + +"Who are you?" he asked coldly. + +"I am called Jacqueline; my father was the Constable of Dubrois." + +Incredulity replaced every other emotion on the emperor's features, +and, approaching her, he gazed attentively into the countenance she so +frankly uplifted. With calmness she bore that piercing scrutiny; his +dark, troubled soul, looking out of his keen gray eyes, met an equally +lofty spirit. + +"The Constable of Dubrois! You, his daughter!" he repeated. + +His thoughts swiftly pierced the shadows of the past; that umbrageous +past, darkened with war and carnage; the memory of triumphs; the +bitterness of defeats! And studying her eyes, her face, as in a vision +he recalled the features, the bearing, of him who had held himself an +equal to his old rival, Francis. A red spot rose to his cheek as he +reviewed the martial, combative days; the game of arms he had played so +often with Francis--and won! Not always by daring, or courage--rather +by sagacity, clear-headedness, more potent than any other force! + +But a pang of bodily suffering reminded him of the present and its +ills, and the vainglory of brief exultation faded as quickly as it had +assailed him; involuntarily his glance sought the sacred emblem of +intercession. When he regarded her once more his face had resumed its +severe, uncompromising aspect. + +"The constable was a proud, haughty man," he said, brusquely. "Yea, +over-proud, in fact. You know why he fled to me?" + +"Yes, Sire," she answered, flushing resentfully. + +"To persuade me to espouse his cause against the king. Many times have +my good brother, Francis, and myself gone to war," he added, +reflectively and not without a certain complacency, "but then were we +engaged in troubles in the east; to keep the Mohammedans from +overrunning our Christian land. How could I oblige the constable by +fighting the heathen and the believers in the gospel in one breath? +Your father--for I am ready to believe him such, by the evidence of +your face, and, especially, your eyes--accused me of little faith. But +I had either to desert him, or Europe. His cause was lost; 'twas the +fortune of war; the fate of great families becomes subservient to that +of nations." + +He spoke as if rather presenting the case to himself than to her; as +though he sought to analyze his own action through the medium of time +and the trend of larger events. Attentively she watched him with deep, +serious eyes, and, catching her almost accusing look and knowing how, +perhaps, he shuffled with history, his brow grew darker; he was visibly +annoyed at her--his own conscience--he knew not what! + +"I did not complain, your Majesty," she said proudly. + +Her answer surprised him. Again he observed her attire; the pallor of +her face; the dark circles beneath her eyes. Grimly he marked these +signs of poverty; those marks of the weariness and privations she had +undergone. + +"Was it not your intention to seek me? To beg an asylum, perhaps?" he +went on, less sternly. + +"Not to beg, your Majesty! To ask, yes! But now--not that!" + +"_Vrai Dieu_!" muttered Charles. "There is the father over again! It +is strange this maiden clothed almost in rags should claim such +illustrious parentage," he continued to himself, as he walked +restlessly to and fro. "It is more strange I ask no other proofs than +herself--the evidence of my eyes! Where did you come from?" he added, +aloud, pausing before her. "The court of Francis?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"Why did you leave the king?" + +"Why--because--" Her hands clenched. The gray eyes continued to probe +her. "Because I hate him!" + +The emperor's face relaxed; a gleam of humor shone in his glance. +"Hate him whom so many of your sex love?" he replied. + +Through her tresses he saw her face turn red; passionately she arose. +"With your Majesty's permission, I will go." + +"Go?" he said abruptly. "Where can you go? You are somewhat quick of +temper, like--. Have I refused you aught? I could not serve your +father," he continued, taking her hand, and, not ungently, detaining +her, "but I may welcome his daughter--though necessity, the ruler of +kings, made me helpless in his behalf!" + +As in a flash her resentment faded. Half-paternally, half-severely, he +surveyed her. + +"Sit down here," he went on, indicating a low stool. "You are weary +and need refreshment." + +Silent she obeyed, and the emperor, touching a bell, gave a low command +to the servitor who appeared. In a few moments meat, fruits and wine +were set before her, and Charles, from his point of vantage--no throne +of gold, but a chair lined with Cordovan leather, watched her partake. +The pains had again left him; the monk gave way to the ruler; he +thought of no more phrases of the Credo, but with impassive face +listened to her story, or as much as she cared to relate. When she had +finished, for some time he offered no comment. + +"A strange tale," he said finally. "But what will our nobles do when +ladies take mere fools for knight-errants?" + +"He is no mere fool!" she spoke up, impulsively. + +The emperor shot a quick look at her from beneath his lowering brows. + +"I mean--he is brave--and has protected me many times," she explained +in some confusion. + +"And so you, knowing what you were, remained--with a poor jester--a +clown--rather than leave him to his fate?" continued Charles, +inexorably, recalling the words of the outriders. + +Her face became paler, but she held her head more proudly; the spirit +of the jestress sprang to her lips, "It is only kings, Sire, who fear +to cling to a forlorn cause!" + +His eyes grew dark and gloomy; morosely he bent his gaze upon her. No +one had ever before dared to speak to him like that, for Charles had no +love for jesters, and kept none in his court. Unsparing, iron-handed, +he had gone his way. But, perhaps, in her very fearlessness he +recognized a touch of his own inflexible nature. At any rate, his +sternness soon gave way to an expression of melancholy. + +"God alone knows the hearts of monarchs!" he said, somberly, and +directed his glance toward the crucifix. + +Moved by his unexpected leniency and the aspect of his cheerlessness, +she immediately repented of her response. He looked so old, and +melancholy, this great monarch. When he again turned to her his face +and manner expressed no further cognizance of her reply. + +"You need rest," he said, "and shall have a tent to yourself. Now go!" +he continued, placing his hand for a moment, not unkindly, on her head. +"I shall give orders for your entertainment. It will be rough +hospitality, but--you are used to that. I am not sorry, child, you +hate our brother Francis, if it has driven you to our court." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE DEBT OF NATURE + +Although the daughter of the constable received every attention +commensurate with the cheer of the camp, the day passed but slowly. +With more or less interest she viewed the diversified group of +soldiers, drawn by Charles from the various countries over which he +ruled: the brawny troops from Flanders; the alert-looking guards, +recruited from the mountains of Spain; the men of Friedwald, with +muscles tough as the fibers of the fir in their native forests. Even +the Orient--suggestive of many campaigns!--had been drawn upon, and the +bright-garbed olive-skinned attendants, moving among the tents of +purple or crimson, blended picturesquely with the more solid masses of +color. + +For the Flemish soldiery, who had brought the fool and herself to the +camp, the young girl had a nod and a word, but it was the men of +Friedwald who especially attracted her attention, and unconsciously she +found herself picturing the land that had fostered this stalwart and +rough soldiery. A rocky, rugged region, surely; with vast forests, +unbroken brush! Yonder armorer, polishing a joint of steel, seemed +like a survivor of that primeval epoch when the trees were roofs and +the ground the universal bed. Once or twice she passed him, curiously +noting his great beard and giant-like limbs. But he minded her not, +and this, perhaps, gave her courage to pause. + +"What sort of country is Friedwald?" she said, abruptly. + +"Wild," he answered. + +"Is the duke liked?" she went on. + +"Yes." + +"Do you know his--jester?" + +"No." + +For all the information he would volunteer, the man might have been +Doctor Rabelais' model for laconicism, and a moment she stood there +with a slight frown. Then she gazed at him meditatively; tap! tap! +went the tiny hammer in the mighty hand, and, laughing softly, she +turned. These men of Friedwald were not unpleasing in her eyes. + +Twice had she approached the tent wherein lay the fool, only to learn +that the emperor was with the duke's _plaisant_. "A slight relapse of +fever," had said the Italian leech, as he blocked the entrance and +stared at her with wicked, twinkling eyes. She need be under no +apprehension, he had added; but to her quick fancy his glance said: "A +maid wandering with a fool!" + +Apprehension? No; it could not be that she felt but a new sense of +loneliness; of that isolation which contact with strange faces +emphasized. What had come over her? she asked herself. She who had +been so self-sufficient; whose nature now seemed filled with sudden +yearnings and restlessness, impatience--she knew not what. She who +thought she had partaken so abundantly of life's cup abruptly +discovered renewed sources for disquietude. With welling heart she +watched the sun go down; the glory of the widely-radiating hues give +way to the pall of night. Upon her young shoulders the mantle of +darkness seemed to rest so heavily she bowed her head in her hands. + +"A maid and a fool! Ah, foolish maid!" whispered the wanton breeze. + +The pale light of the stars played upon her, and the dews fell, until +involuntarily shivering with the cold, she arose. As she walked by the +emperor's quarters she noticed a figure silhouetted on the canvas +walls; to and fro the shadow moved, shapeless, grotesque, yet eloquent +of life's vexation of spirit. Turning into her own tent, the jestress +lighted the wick of a silver lamp; a faint aroma of perfume swept +through the air. It seemed to soothe her--or was it but +weariness?--and shortly she threw herself on the silken couch and sank +to dreamless slumber. + +When she awoke, the bright-hued dome of the tent was aglow in the +morning sun; the reflected radiance bathed her face and form; her +heaviness of heart had taken wings. The little lamp was still burning, +but the fresh fragrance of dawn had replaced the subtile odor of the +oriental essence. Upon the rug a single streak of sunshine was +creeping toward her. In the brazier which had warmed her tent the +glowing bark and cinnamon had turned to cold, white ash. + +Through the girl's veins the blood coursed rapidly; a few moments she +lay in the rosy effulgence, restfully conscious that danger had fled +and that she was bulwarked by the emperor's favor, when a sudden +thought broke upon this half-wakeful mood, and caused her to spring, +all alert, from her couch. To dress, with her had never been a matter +of great duration. The hair of the joculatrix naturally rippled into +such waves as were the envy of the court ladies; her supple fingers +adjusted garment after garment with swift precision, while her figure +needed no device to lend grace to the investment. + +Soon, therefore, had she left her tent, making her way through the +awakening camp. In the royal kitchen the cook was bending over his +fires, while an assistant mixed a beverage of barley-water, yolks of +eggs and senna wine for Charles when he should become aroused. Those +courtiers, already astir, cast many glances in the girl's direction, as +she moved toward the tent of the fool. + +But if these gallants were sedulous, she was correspondingly +indifferent. Anxiety or loyalty--that stanchness of heart which braved +even the ironical eyes of the black-robed master of medicine--drove her +again to the ailing jester's tent, and, remembering how she had ridden +into camp--and into the august emperor's favor--these fondlings of +fortune looked significantly from one to the other. + +"A jot less fever, solicitous maid," said the leech in answer to the +inquiries of the jestress, and she endured the glance for the news, +although the former sent her away with her face aflame. + +"An the leech let her in, he'd soon have to let the patient out," spoke +up a gallant. "Her eyes are a sovereign remedy, where bolus, pills and +all vile potions might fail." + +"If this be a sample of Francis' damsels, I care not how long we are in +reaching the Low Countries," answered a second. + +To this the first replied in kind, but soon had these gallants matters +of more serious moment to divert them, for it began to be whispered +about that Louis of Hochfels had determined to push forward. The +unwonted activity in the camp ere long gave credence to the rumor; the +troopers commenced looking to their weapons; squires hurried here and +there, while near the tents stood the horses, saddled and bridled, +undergoing the scrutiny of the grooms. + +Some time, however, elapsed before the emperor himself appeared. +Nothing in the bead-roll, or devotional offering of the morning, had he +overlooked; the divers dishes that followed had been scrupulously +partaken of, and then only--as a man not to be hurried from the altar +or the table--had he emerged from his tent. His glance mechanically +swept the camp, noting the bustle and stir, the absence of disorder, +and finally rested on the girl. For a moment, from his look, it seemed +he might have forgotten her, and she who had involuntarily turned to +him so solicitously, on a sudden felt chilled, as confronted by a mask. +His voice, when at length he spoke, was hard, dry, matter-of-fact, and +it was Jacqueline whom he addressed. + +"You slept well?" + +"Yes, Sire," she answered. + +"And have already been to the fool's tent, I doubt not." + +The mask became half-quizzical, half-friendly, as her cheeks mantled +beneath his regard. Was it but quiet avengement against a jestress +whose tongue had been unsparing enough, even to him, the day before? +Certes, here stood now only a rosy maid, robbed of her spirit; or a +_folle_, struck witless, and Charles' face softened, but immediately +grew stern, as his mind abruptly passed from wandering jestress and +fleeing fool to matters of more moment. + +Under vow to the Virgin, the emperor had announced he would not draw +sword himself that day, but, seated beneath a canopy of velvet, +overlooking the valley, he so far compromised with conscience as +personally to direct the preparations for the conflict. On his sable +throne, surrounded by funereal hangings, how white and furrowed, how +harassed with many cares, he appeared in the glare of the morn to the +young girl! Was this he who held nearly all Europe in his palm? who +between martial commands talked of Holy Orders, the Apostolic See and +the Seven Sacraments to his priestly confessor? + +And from aloof she studied him, with new doubts and misgiving, her +thoughts running fast; and anon bent her eyes to the hill on the other +side of the valley. In her condition of mind, confused as before a +crisis, it was a distinct relief when toward noon word was brought that +the free baron was approaching. Soon, not far distant, the _cortege_ +of Louis of Hochfels was seen; at the front, flashing helmets and +breastplates; behind, a cavalcade of ladies on horseback and litters, +above which floated many flags and banners. + +Would he come on; would he turn back? Many opinions were rife. + +"Oh," cried a page with golden hair, "there will be no battle after +all." + +And truly, confronted by the aspect of the emperor's camp, the marauder +had at first hesitated; but if the dangers before him were great, those +behind were greater. Accordingly, leaving the cavalcade of the +princess, her maids and attendants, the free baron of Hochfels, +surrounded by his own trusted troops, dashed forward arrogantly into +the valley, bent upon sweeping aside even the opposition of Charles +himself. + +"Yonder's a daring knave, your Majesty," with some perturbation +observed the prelate who stood near the emperor's chair. + +"Certes, he tilts at fame, or death, with a bold lance," replied +Charles. "Would that Robert of Friedwald were there to cry him quits." + +While thus he spoke, as calm as though secluded in one of his monastery +retreats, weighing the affairs of state, nearer and nearer drew the +soldiers of the bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld; roughly calculating, a force +numerically as strong as the emperor's own guard. + +The young girl, her face now white and drawn, watched the approaching +band. Would Charles never give the signal? Imperturbable sat the +mounted troopers of the emperor, awaiting the word of command. At +length, when her breath began to come fast and sharp, Charles raised +his arm. In a solid, steady body, his men swept onward. The girl +strove to look away, but could not. + +Both bands, gaining in momentum, met with a crash. That nice symmetry +of form and orderliness of movement was succeeded by a tangle of men +and horses; the bristling array of lances had vanished, and swords and +weapons for hand-to-hand warfare threw a play of light amid the jumble +of troops and steeds, flags and banners. With sword red from carnage, +Louis of Hochfels drew his men around him, hurling them against the +firm front of Charles' veterans. It was the crucial moment; the +turning point in a struggle that could not be prolonged, but would be +rather sharp, short and decisive. If his men failed at the onset, all +was lost; if they gained but a little ascendancy now, their mastery of +the field became fairly assured. Great would be the reward for +success; the fruits of victory--the emperor himself. And savagely the +free baron cut down a stalwart trooper; his blade pierced the throat of +another. + +"Clear the way to Charles!" he cried, exultantly. "He is our guerdon." + +So terrible that rush, the guard of Spain on the right and the troops +of Flanders on the left began to give way; only the men of Friedwald +stood, but with the breaking of the forces on each side it was +inevitable they, too, must soon be overwhelmed. Involuntarily, as the +quick eye of the emperor detected this sign of impending disaster, he +half-started from his chair. His hand sought his side; in his eyes +shone a steely light. The prelate quickly crossed himself and raised +his head as if in prayer. + +"The penance, Sire," he murmured, but his voice trembled. + +Mechanically Charles replaced his blade. "Yea; better a kingdom lost," +he muttered, "than a broken vow." + +Yet, after so many battles won in the field and Diet; after titanic +contests with kings in Christendom, and Solyman in the east, to fall, +by the mockery of fate, into the grasp of a thieving mountain rifler-- + +"Ambition! power! we sow but the sand," whispered satiety. + +"Vainglory is a sleeveless errand," murmured the spirit of the +flagellant. + +Yet he gazed half-fiercely at his priestly adviser, when suddenly his +gloomy eye brightened; the inutility of ambition was forgotten; +unconsciously he clasped the arm of the joculatrix, who had drawn near. +His grip was like a gauntlet; even in her tense, strained mood she +winced. + +"The fight is not yet lost!" he exclaimed. As he spoke the figure of a +knight, fully armed, who had made his way through the avenue of tents, +was seen swiftly descending the hill. Upon his strong Arabian steed, +the rider's appearance and bearing signaled him as a soldier apart from +the rank and file of the guard. His coat-of-arms, that of the house of +Friedwald, was richly emblazoned upon the housings of his courser. +Whence had he come? The attendants and equerries had not seen him in +the camp. Only the taciturn armorer of Friedwald looked complacently +after him, stroking his great beard, as one well satisfied. As this +late-comer approached the scene of strife the flanks of the guard were +wavering yet more perilously. + +"A miracle, Sire!" cried the prelate. + +"But one that partakes more of earth than Heaven," retorted Charles, +with ready irony. + +"Who is he, Sire?" breathlessly asked the young girl. At her feet +whimpered the blue-eyed page, holding to her skirt, all his courage +gone. + +But ere he could answer--if he had seen fit to do so--from below, out +of the vortex, came the clamorous shouts: + +"The duke! The duke!" + +The master of the mountain pass heard also, and felt at that moment a +sudden thrill of premonition. The guerdon; the quittance; could it be +possible after all, the end was not far? He could not believe it, yet +a paroxysm of fury seized him; his strength became redoubled; wherever +his sword touched a trooper fell. + +But like a wave, recovering from the recoil, the soldiers of Friedwald +broke upon his doomed band with a force manifold augmented; broke and +carried the flanks with it, for the assaulting parties to the right and +left were dismayed by the strength unexpectedly hurled against the +center. The bulky Flemish, the lithe Spaniard, the lofty trooper of +Friedwald, overflowed the shattered line of the marauders. + +"Duke Robert!" and "Friedwald!" shouted the Austrian band. + +"Cowards! Would you give way?" cried the free baron, striking among +them. "Fools! Better the sword than the rope. Come!" + +But in his frenzied efforts to rally his men the master of Hochfels +found himself face to face with the leader of the already victorious +troops. At the sight of him the bastard paused; his breast rose and +fell with his labored breathing; his sword was dyed red, also his arms, +his clothes; from his forehead the blood ran down over his beard. His +eyes rolled like those of an animal; he seemed something inhuman; an +incarnation of baffled purpose. + +"If it is reprisal you want, Sir Duke, you shall have it," he panted. + +"Reprisal!" exclaimed Robert of Friedwald, scornfully. "The best you +can offer is your life." + +And with that they closed. Evading the strokes of his more bulky +antagonist, the younger man's sword repeatedly sought the vulnerable +part of the other's armor. The free baron's strength became exhausted; +his blows rang harmlessly, or struck the empty air. + +A sensation of pain admonished him of his own disability. About him +his band had melted away; doggedly had they given up their lives +beneath sword, mace and poniard. The ground was strewn with the slain; +riderless horses were galloping up the road. The free baron breathed +yet harder; before his eyes he seemed to see only blood. + +Of what avail had been his efforts? He had won the princess, but how +brief had been his triumphs! With a belief that was almost +superstition, he had imagined his destiny lay thronewards. But the +curse of his birth had been a ban to his efforts; the bitterness of +defeat smote him. He knew he was falling; his nerveless hand loosened +his blade. + +"I am sped!" he cried; "sped!" and released his hold, while the tide of +conflict appeared abruptly to sweep away. + +As he struck the earth an ornament that he had worn about his neck +became unfastened and dropped to the ground. But once he moved; to +raise himself on his elbow. + +"The hazard of the die!" he muttered, striving to see with eyes that +were growing blind. A rush of blood interrupted him, he fell back, +straightened out, and stirred no more. + +Now had the din of strife ceased altogether, when descending the slope +appeared a cavalcade, at the head of which rode a lady on a white +palfrey, followed by several maids and guarded by an escort of soldiers +who wore the king's own colors. A stricken procession it seemed as it +drew near, the faces of the women white with fear; the gay attire and +gorgeous trappings--a mockery on that ensanguined arena. + +Proudly proceeded the lady on the white horse, although in her eyes +shone a look of dread. It was an age when women were accustomed to +scenes of bloodshed, inured to conflicts in the lists; yet she +shuddered as her palfrey picked its way across that field. At the near +side of the hollow her glance singled out a motionless figure among +those lying where they had fallen, a thick-set man, whose face was +upturned to the sky. One look into those glassy eyes, so unresponsive +to her own, and she quickly dismounted and fell on her knees beside the +recumbent form. She took one of the cold hands in hers, but dropped it +with a scream. + +"Dead!" she cried; "dead!" + +The lady stared at that terribly repulsive face. For some moments she +seemed dazed; sat there dully, the onlookers forbearing to disturb her. +Then her gaze encountered that of him who had slain the free baron and +she sprang to her feet. On her features an expression of bewilderment +had been followed by one of recognition. + +"The duke's fool!" she exclaimed wildly. "He is dead, and you have +killed him! The fool has murdered his master." + +"It is true he is dead," answered the other, leaning heavily on his +sword and surveying the inanimate form, "but he was no master of mine." + +"That, Madame la Princesse, we will also affirm," broke in an austere +voice. + +Behind them rode the emperor, a dark figure among those bright gowns +and golden trappings, the saddle cloth and adornments of his steed +somber as his own garments. As he spoke he waved back the cavalcade, +and, in obedience to the gesture, the ladies, soldiers and attendants +withdrew to a discreet distance. Bitterly the princess surveyed the +monarch; overwrought, a torrent of reproaches sprang from her lips. + +"Why has your Majesty made war on my lord? Why have you countenanced +his enemies and harbored his murderers?" And then, drawing her figure +to its full height, her tawny hair falling in a cloud about her +shoulders: "Be sure, Sire, my kinsman, the king, will know how to +avenge my wrongs." + +"He can not, Madam," answered Charles coldly. "They are already +avenged." + +"Already avenged!" she exclaimed, with her gaze upon the prostrate +figure. + +"Yes, Madam. For he who hath injured you has paid the extreme penalty." + +"He who was my husband has been foully murdered!" she retorted, +vehemently. "What had the Duke of Friedwald done to bring upon himself +your Majesty's displeasure?" + +"Nothing," answered the emperor, more gently. + +"Nothing! And yet he lies there--dead!" + +"He who lies before you is not the duke, but Louis of Hochfels, the +bastard of Pfalz-Urfeld." + +"Ah," she cried, excitedly, "I see you have been listening to the false +fool, his murderer." + +An expression of annoyance appeared on the emperor's face. He liked +not to be crossed at any time by any one. + +"You have well called him the false fool, Madam," said Charles, curtly, +"for he is no true fool." + +"And yet he rode with your troops!" + +"To redeem his honor, Madam." + +"His honor!" + +With a scornful face she approached nearer to the monarch. + +"His honor! In God's name, what mean you?" + +"That the false fool, Madam, is himself the Duke of Friedwald!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A MAID OF FRANCE + +"The Duke of Friedwald!" + +It was not the princess who thus exclaimed, but Jacqueline. Charles +had spoken loudly, and, drawn irresistibly to the scene, she had caught +his significant words at the moment she recognized, in his brave +accoutrements, him whom she had known as the duke's fool. + +When she had heard, above the din of the fray, the cries with which the +new-comer had been greeted, no suspicion of his identity had crossed +her mind. She had wondered, been puzzled at the unexpected appearance +of Robert, Duke of Friedwald, but that he and the ailing fool were one +and the same was wide from her field of speculation. In amazement, she +regarded the knight who had turned the tide of conflict, and then +started, noticing the colors he wore, a paltry yellow ribbon on his +arm, the badge of her office. Much she had not understood now appeared +plain. His assurance in Fools' hall; his reckless daring; his skill +with the sword. He was a soldier, not a jester; a lord, not a lord's +servant. + +Lost in no less wonder, the princess gazed from the free baron to +Charles, and back again to the lifeless form. Stooping, she looked +steadfastly into the face, as though she would read its secret. +Perhaps, too, as she studied those features, piece by piece she patched +together the scenes of the past. Her own countenance began to harden, +as though some part of that mask of death had fallen upon her, and when +she glanced once more at the emperor they saw she no longer doubted. +With forced self-control, she turned to the emperor. + +"Doubtless, it is some brave pastime," she said to Charles. "Will your +Majesty deign to explain?" + +"Nay," answered the emperor, dryly; "that thankless task I'll leave to +him who played the fool." + +Uncovering, the Duke of Friedwald approached. The excitement of the +contest over, his pallid features marked the effects of his recent +injuries, the physical strain under which he had labored. Her cold +eyes swept over him haughtily, inquiringly. + +"For the part I have played, Madam," he said, "I ask your forbearance. +If we both labored under a delusion, I have only regret--" + +"Regret!" Was it an outburst of grief, or wounded pride? He flushed, +but continued firmly: + +"Madame la Princesse, when first a marriage was proposed between us I +was younger in experience if not in years than I am now; more used to +the bivouac or hunters' camps than courts. And woman--" he +smiled--"well, she was a vague ideal. At times, she came to me when +sleeping before the huntsman's fire in the solitudes of the forest; +again, was reflected from the pages of classic lore. She seemed a part +of the woods and the streams, for by ancient art had she not been +turned into trees and running brooks? So she whispered in the boughs +and murmured among the rushes. Mere _Schwaermerei_. Do you care to +hear? 'Tis the only defense I can offer." + +Her contemptuous blue eyes remained fastened on him; she disdained to +answer. + +"It was a dreamer from brake and copse who went in the disguise of a +jester to be near her; to win her for himself--and then, declare his +identity. Well may you look scornful. Love!--it is not such a +romantic quality--at court. A momentary pastime, perhaps, but--a deep +passion--a passion stronger than rank, than death, than all--" + +Above the face of her whom he addressed his glance rested upon +Jacqueline, and he paused. The princess could but note, and a derisive +expression crept about her mouth. + +"Once I would have told you all," he resumed. "That night--when you +were Lady of the Lists. But--" + +He broke off abruptly, wishing to spare her the bitter memory of her +own acts. Did she remember that day, when she had been queen of the +chaplet? When she had crowned him whom now death and dishonor had +overtaken? + +"The rest, Madam, you know--save this." And stooping, he picked up the +ornament that had dropped from Louis of Hochfels' neck. "Here, +Princess, is the miniature you sent me. He, who used you so ill, stole +it from me in prison; through it, he recognized the fool for the duke; +with an assassin's blow he struck me down." + +A moment he looked at that fair painted semblance. Did it recall the +past too vividly? His face showed no pain; only tranquillity. His eye +was rather that of a connoisseur than a lover. He smiled gently; then +held it to her. + +Mechanically she let the portrait slip through her fingers, and it fell +to the moistened grass near the form of him who had wedded her. Then +she drew back her dress so that it might not touch the body at her feet. + +"Have I your Majesty's permission to withdraw?" she said, coldly. + +"If you will not accept our poor escort to the king," answered Charles. + +"My ladies and myself will dispense with so much honor, Sire," she +returned. + +"Such service as we can command is at your disposal, Madam," he +repeated. + +"It is not far distant to the chateau, Sire." + +"As you will," said the emperor. + +With no further word she bowed deeply, turned, and slowly retracing her +steps, mounted her horse, and rode away, followed by her maids and the +troopers of France. + +As she disappeared, without one backward glance, the duke gazed quickly +toward the spot where Jacqueline had been standing. He remembered the +young girl had heard his story; he had caught her eyes upon him while +he was telling it; very deep, serious, judicial, they seemed. Were +they weighing his past infatuation for the princess; holding the scales +to his acts? Swiftly he turned to her now, but she had vanished. Save +for rough nurses, companions in arms, moving here and there among the +wounded, he and the emperor stood alone. In the bushes a bird which +had left a nest of fledglings returned and caroled among the boughs; a +clarifying melody after the mad passions of the day. The elder man +noted the direction of the duke's glance, the yellow ribbon on his arm. + +"So it was a jestress, not a princess you found, thou dreamer," he +said, half-ironically. + +"The daughter of the Constable of Dubrois, Sire," was the reply. + +The emperor nodded. "The family colors have changed," he observed +dryly. + +"With fortune, Sire." + +"Truly," said Charles, "fortune is a jestress. She had like to play on +us this day. But your fever?" he added, abruptly, setting his horse's +head toward camp. + +"Is gone, Sire," answered the duke, riding by his side. + +"And your injuries?" + +"Were so slight they are forgotten." + +"Then is the breath of battle better medicine than nostrum or salve. +In youth, 'tis the sword-point; in age, turn we to the hilt-cross. But +this maid--have you won her?" + +The young man changed color. "Won her, Sire?" he replied. "That I +know not--no word has passed--" + +"No word," said the emperor, doubtingly. "A knight-errant and a +castleless maid!" + +The duke vouchsafed no answer. + +"Humph!" added Charles. "Thus do our plans come to naught. If you got +her, and wore her, what end would be served?" + +"No end of state, perhaps, Sire." + +"Why," observed the monarch, "the state and the faith--what else is +there? But go your way. How smooth it may be no man can tell." + +"Is the road like to be rougher than it has been, Sire?" + +"The maid belongs to France," answered Charles, "and France belongs to +the king." + +"The king!" exclaimed the duke, fiercely. + +Involuntarily had they drawn rein in the shade of a tiny thicket +overlooking the valley. Even from this slight exercise, bowed and +weary appeared the emperor's form. The hand which controlled his steed +trembled, but the lines of his face spoke of unweakened sinew of +spirit, the iron grip of a will that only death might loosen. + +"The king!" repeated the young man. "He is no king of mine, nor hers. +To you, Sire, only, I owe allegiance, or my life, at your need." + +A gentler expression softened the emperor's features, as a gleam of +sunshine forces itself into the somberest forest depths. + +"We have had our need," he said. "Not long since." + +His glance swept the outlook below. "Heaven watches over monarchs," he +added, turning a keen, satirical look on the other, "but through the +vigilance of our earthly servitors." + +The duke's response was interrupted by the appearance below of a +horseman, covered with dust, riding toward them, and urging his weary +steed up the incline with spur and voice. Deliberately the monarch +surveyed the new-comer. + +"What make you of yonder fellow?" he said. "He is not of the guard, +nor of the bastard's following." + +"His housings are the color of France, Sire." + +"Then can I make a shrewd guess of his purpose," observed the monarch. + +As he spoke the horseman drew nearer and a moment later had stopped +before the emperor. + +"A message from the king, Sire!" exclaimed the man, dismounting and +kneeling to present a formidable-looking document, with a great disk of +lead through which a silken string was drawn. + +Breaking the seal, the emperor opened the missive. "It is well," he +said at length, folding the parchment. "The king was even on his way +to the chateau to await our coming, when he met Caillette and received +our communication. Go you to the camp"--to the messenger--"where we +shall presently return." And as the man rode away: "The king begs we +will continue our journey at our leisure," he added, "and announces he +will receive us at the chateau." + +"And have I your permission to return to Friedwald, Sire?" asked the +other in a low voice. + +"Alone?" + +"Nay; I would conduct the constable's daughter there to safety." + +"And thus needlessly court Francis' resentment? Not yet." + +The young man said no word, but his face hardened. + +"Tut!" said the emperor, dryly, although not unkindly. "Where's fealty +now? Fine words; fine words! A slender chit of a maid, forsooth. +Without lands, without dowry; with naught--save herself." + +"Is she not enough, Sire?" + +"Francis is more easily disarmed in his own castle by his own +hospitality than in the battle-field," observed Charles, without +replying to this question. "In field have we conquered him; in palace +hath he conquered himself, and our friendship. Therefore you and the +maid return in our train to the king's court." + +"At your order, Sire." + +But the young man's voice was cold, ominous. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE FAVORITE IS ALARMED + +Thus it befell that both Robert of Friedwald and Jacqueline accompanied +the emperor to the little town, the scene of their late adventures, and +that they who had been fool and joculatrix rode once more through the +street they had ne'er expected to see again. The flags were flying; +cannon boomed; they advanced beneath wreaths of roses, the way paved +with flowers. Standing at the door of his inn, the landlord dropped +his jaw in amazement as his glance fell upon the jestress and her +companion behind the great emperor himself. His surprise, too, was +abruptly voiced by a ragged, wayworn person not far distant in the +crowd, whose fingers had been busy about the pockets of his neighbors; +fingers which had a deft habit of working by themselves, while his eyes +were bent elsewhere and his lips joined in the general acclaim; fingers +which like antennas seemed to have a special intelligence of their own. +Now those long weapons of abstraction and appropriation ceased their +deft work; he became all eyes. + +"Good lack! Who may the noble gentleman behind the emperor be?" he +exclaimed. "Surely 'tis the duke's fool." + +"And ride with the emperor?" said a burly citizen at his elbow. "'Tis +thou who art the fool." + +"Truly I think so," answered the other. "I see; believe; but may not +understand." + +At that moment the duke's gaze in passing chanced to rest upon the +pinched and over-curious face of the scamp-student; a gleam of +recollection shone in his glance. "_Gladius gemmatus!_" cried the +scholar, and a smile on the noble's countenance told him he had heard. +Turning the problem in his mind, the vagrant-philosopher forgot about +pilfering and the procession itself, when a soldier touched him roughly +on the shoulder. + +"Are you the scamp-student?" said the trooper. + +"Now they'll hang me with these spoils in my pockets," thought the +scholar. But as bravely as might be, he replied: "The former I am; the +latter I would be." + +"Then the Duke of Friedwald sent me to give you this purse," remarked +the man, suiting the action to the word. "He bade me say 'tis to take +the place of a bit of silver you once did not earn." And the trooper +vanished. + +"Well-a-day!" commented the burly citizen, regarding the gold pieces +and the philosopher in wonderment of his own. "You may be a fool, but +you must be an honest knave." + +At the chateau the meeting between the two monarchs was unreservedly +cordial on both sides. They spoke with satisfaction of the peace now +existing between them and of other matters social and political. The +emperor deplored deeply the untimely demise of Francis' son, Charles, +who had caught the infection of plague while sleeping at Abbeville. +Later the misalliance of the princess was cautiously touched upon. +That lady, said Francis gravely, to whom the gaieties of the court at +the present time could not fail to be distasteful, had left the chateau +immediately upon her return. Ever of a devout mind, she had repaired +to a convent and announced her intention of devoting herself, and her +not inconsiderable fortune, to a higher and more spiritual life. +Charles, who at that period of his lofty estates himself hesitated +between the monastery and the court, applauded her resolution, to which +the king perfunctorily and but half-heartedly responded. + +Shortly after, the emperor, fatigued by his journey, begged leave to +retire to his apartments, whither he went, accompanied by his "brother +of France" and followed by his attendants. At the door Francis, with +many expressions of good will, took leave of his royal guest for the +time being, and, turning, encountered the Duke of Friedwald. + +Francis, himself once accustomed to assume the disguise of an archer of +the royal guard the better to pursue his love follies among the people, +now gazed curiously upon one who had befooled the entire court. + +"You took your departure, my Lord," said the king, quietly, "without +waiting for the order of your going." + +"He who enacts the fool, your Majesty, without patent to office must +needs have good legs," replied the young man. "Else will he have his +fingers burnt." + +"Only his fingers?" returned the monarch with a smile, somewhat +sardonic. + +"Truly," thought the other, as Francis strode away, "the king regrets +the fool's escape from Notre Dame and the fagots." + +During the next day Charles called first for his leech and then for a +priest, but whether the former or the latter, or both, temporarily +assuaged the restlessness of mortal disease, that night he was enabled +to be present at the character dances given in his honor by the ladies +of the court in the great gallery of the chateau. + +At a signal from the cornet, gitterns, violas and pipes began to play, +and Francis and his august guest, accompanied by Queen Eleanor, and the +emperor's sister, Marguerite of Navarre, entered the hall, followed by +the dauphin and Catharine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers, the Duchesse +d'Etampes; marshal, chancellor and others of the king's friends and +counselors; courtiers, poets, jesters, philosophers; a goodly company, +such as few monarchs could summon at their beck and call. Charles' eye +lighted; even his austere nature momentarily kindled amid that +brilliant spectacle; Francis' palace of pleasure was an intoxicating +antidote to spleen or hypochondria. And when the court ladies, in a +dazzling band, appeared in the dance, led by the Duchesse d'Etampes, he +openly expressed his approval. + +"Ah, Madam," he said to the Queen of Navarre, "there is little of the +monastery about our good brother's court." + +"Did your Majesty expect we should cloister you?" she answered, with a +lively glance. + +He gazed meditatively upon the "Rose of Valois," or the "Pearl of the +Valois," as she was sometimes called; then a shadow fell upon him; the +futility of ambition; the emptiness of pleasure. In scanty attire, the +Duchesse d'Etampes, with the king, flashed before him; the former, all +beauty, all grace, her little feet trampling down care, so lightly. +Somberly he watched her, and sighed. Mentally he compared himself to +Francis; they had traveled the road of life together, discarding their +youth at the same turn of the highway; yet here was his French brother, +indefatigable in the pursuit of merriment, while his own soul sang +_miserere_ to the tune of Francis' fiddles. Yet, had he overheard the +conversation of the favorite and the king, the emperor's moodiness +would not, perhaps, have been unmixed with a stronger feeling. + +"Sire," the duchess was saying in her most persuasive manner, "while +you have Charles--once your keeper--in your power, here in the chateau, +you will surely punish him for the past and avenge yourself? You will +make him revoke the treaty of Madrid, or shut him up in one of Louis +XI's oubliettes?" + +"I will persuade him if I can," replied the king coldly, "but never +force him. My honor, Madam, is dearer to me than my interests." + +The favorite said no more of a cherished project, knowing Francis' +temper and his stubbornness when crossed. She merely shrugged her +white shoulders and watched him closely. The monarch had not scrupled +once to break his covenant with Charles, holding that treaties made +under duress, by _force majeure_, were legally void, while now-- But +the king was composed of contradictions, or--was her own influence +waning? + +She had observed a new expression cross his countenance when in the +retinue of the emperor he had noted the daughter of the constable; such +a tenderness as she remembered at Bayonne when the king had looked upon +her, the duchess, for the first time. When she next spoke her words +were the outcome of this train of thought. + +"To think the jestress, Jacqueline, should turn out the daughter of +that traitor, the Constable of Dubrois," she observed, keenly. + +"A traitor, certainly," said Francis, "but also a brave man. Perhaps +we pressed him too hard," he added retrospectively. "We were young in +years and hot-tempered." + +"Your Majesty remembers the girl--a dark-browed, bold creature?" +remarked the duchess, smiling amiably. + +"Dark-browed, perhaps, Madam; but I observed nothing bold in her +demeanor," answered the king. + +"What! a jestress and not bold! A girl who frequented Fools' hall; who +ran away from court with the _plaisant_!" She glanced at him +mischievously, like a wilful child, but before his frown the smile +faded; involuntarily she clenched her hands. + +"Madam," he replied cynically, "I have always noticed that women are +poor judges of their own sex." + +And conducting her to a seat, he raised her jeweled fingers +perfunctorily to his lips, and, wheeling abruptly, left her. + +"Ah!" thought Triboulet, ominously, who had been closely observing +them, "the king is much displeased." + +Had the duchess observed the monarch's lack of warmth? At any rate, +somewhat perplexedly she regarded the departing figure of the king; +then humming lightly, turned to a mirror to adjust a ringlet which had +fallen from the golden net binding her tresses. + +"_Mere de Dieu_! woman never held man--or king--by sighing," she +thought, and laughed, remembering the Countess of Chateaubriant; a +veritable Niobe when the monarch had sent her home. + +But Triboulet drew a wry face; his little heart was beating +tremulously; dark shadows crossed his mind. Two portentous stars had +appeared in the horoscope of his destiny: he who had been the foreign +fool; she who was the daughter of the constable. Almost fiercely the +hunchback surveyed the beautiful woman before him. With her downfall +would come his own, and he believed the king had wearied of her. How +hateful was her fair face to him at that moment! Already in +imagination he experienced the bitterness of the fall from his high +estates, and shudderingly looked back to his own lowly beginning: a +beggarly street-player of bagpipes; ragged, wretched, importuning +passers-by for coppers; reviled by every urchin. But she, meeting his +glance and reading his thought, only clapped her hands recklessly. + +"How unhappy you look," she said. + +"Madam, do you think the duke--" he began. + +"I think he will cut off your head," she exclaimed, and Triboulet +turned yellow; but a few moments later took heart, the duchess was so +lightsome. + +"By my sword--if I had one--our jestress has made a triumphant return," +commented Caillette as he stood with the Duke of Friedwald near one of +the windows, surveying the animated scene. "Already are some of the +ladies jealous as Barbary pigeons. Her appearance has been remarked by +the Duc de Montrin and other gentlemen in attendance, and--look! Now +the great De Guise approaches her. Here one belongs to everybody." + +The other did not answer and Caillette glanced quickly at him. "You +will not think me over-bold," he went on, after a moment's hesitation, +"if I mention what is being whispered--by them?" including in a look +and the uplifting of his eyebrows the entire court. The duke laid his +hand warmly on the shoulder of the poet-fool. "Is there not that +between us which precludes the question?" + +"I should not venture to speak about it," continued Caillette, meeting +the duke's gaze frankly, "but that you once honored me with your +confidence. That I was much puzzled when I met you and--our erstwhile +jestress--matters not. 'Twas for me to dismiss my wonderment, and not +strive to reconcile my neighbor's affairs. But when I hear every one +talking about my--friend, it is no gossip's task to come to him with +the unburdening of the prattle." + +"What are they saying, Caillette?" asked the duke, in his eyes a darker +look. + +"That you would wed this maid, but that the king will use his friendly +offices with Charles to prevent it." + +"And do they say why Francis will so use his influence?" continued the +other. + +"Because of the claim such a union might give an alien house to a vast +estate in France; the confiscated property of the Constable of Dubrois. +And--but the other reason is but babble, malice--what you will." And +Caillette's manner quickly changed from grave to frivolous. "Now, _au +revoir_; I'm off to Fools' hall," he concluded. "Whenever it becomes +dull for you, seek some of your old comrades there." And laughing, +Caillette disappeared. + +Thoughtfully the duke continued to observe the jestress. Between them +whirled the votaries of pleasure; before him swept the fragrance of +delicate perfumes; in his ears sounded the subtile enticement of soft +laughter. Her face wore a proud, self-reliant expression; her eyes +that look which had made her seem so illusive from the inception of +their acquaintance. And now, since his identity had been revealed, she +had seemed more puzzling to him than ever. When he had sought her +glance, her look had told him nothing. It was as though with the +doffing of the motley she had discarded its recollections. In a +tentative mood, he had striven to fathom her, but found himself at a +loss. She had been neither reserved, nor had she avoided him; to her +the past seemed a page, lightly read and turned. Had Caillette truly +said "now she belonged to the world"? + +Stepping upon one of the balconies overlooking the valley, the duke +gazed out over the tranquil face of nature, his figure drawn aside from +the flood of light within. Between heaven and earth, the chateau +reared its stately pile, and far downward those twinkling flashes +represented the town; yonder faint line, like a dark thread, the +encircling wall. Above the gate shone a glimmer from the narrow +casement of some officer's quarters; and the jester's misgivings when +they had ridden beneath the portcullis into the town for the first +time, recurred to him; also, the glad haste with which they had sped +away. + +Memories of dangers, of the free and untrammeled character of their +wandering, that day-to-day intimacy, and night-to-night consciousness +of her presence haunted him. Her loyalty, her fine sense of +comradeship, her inherent tenderness, had been revealed to him. Still +he seemed to feel himself the jester, in the gathering of fools, and +she a _ministralissa_, with dark, deep eyes that baffled him. + +The sound of voices near the window aroused him from this field of +speculation, voices that abruptly riveted his attention and held it: +the king's and Jacqueline's. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE FAVORITE IS REASSURED + +The young man's brow drew dark; tumultuous thoughts filled his brain; +Caillette's words, Brusquet's rhymes, confirming his own conviction, +rankled in his mind. This king dared arrogate a law absolute unto +himself; its statutes, his own caprices; its canons, his own +pretensions? The duke remembered the young girl's outburst against the +monarch and a feeling of hatred arose in his breast; his hand +involuntarily sought his sword, the blade of Francis' implacable enemy. + +"We have heard your story, my child, from our brother, the emperor," +the king was saying, "and although your father rebelled against his +monarch, we harbor it not against the daughter." + +"Sire," she answered, in a low tone, "I regret the emperor should have +acquainted you with this matter." + +"You have no cause for fear," Francis replied, misinterpreting her +words. She offered no response, and the duke, moving into the light, +observed the king was regarding the young girl intently, his tall +figure conspicuous above the courtiers. + +Flushed, Jacqueline looked down; the white-robed form, however, very +straight and erect; her hair, untrammeled with the extreme conventions +of the day; a single flower a spot of color amid its abundance. Even +the duchess--bejeweled, bedecked, tricked out--in her own mind had +pronounced the young girl beautiful, and there surely was no mistaking +the covert admiration of the monarch as his glance encompassed her. +Despite her assumed composure, it was obvious to the duke, however, +that only by a strong effort had she nerved herself to that evening's +task; the red hue on her cheeks, the brightness of her eyes, told of +the suppressed excitement her manner failed to betray. + +"Why should you leave with Charles?" continued Francis. "Perhaps were +we over-hasty in confiscating the castle of the constable. _Vrai +Dieu_," he added, meditatively. "Had he unbent but a little! +Marguerite told us we were driving him to despair, but the queen regent +and the rest of our counselors prevailed--" He broke off abruptly and +directed a bolder gaze to hers. "May not a monarch, Mademoiselle, undo +what he has done?" + +"Even a king can not give life to the dead," she replied, and her voice +sounded hard and unyielding. + +"No," he assented, moodily, "but it would not be impossible to restore +the castle--to his daughter." + +"Sire!" she exclaimed in surprise; then shook her head. "With your +Majesty's permission, I shall leave with the emperor." + +Francis made an impatient movement; her inflexibility recalled one who +long ago had renounced his fealty to the throne; her resistance kindled +the flame that had been smoldering in his breast. + +"But if I have pointed out to the emperor that your proper station is +here?" he went on. "If he recognizes that it would be to your +disadvantage to divert that destiny which lies in France?" + +His words were measured; his manner tinged with seeming paternal +interest; but, as through a mask, she discerned his face, cynical, +libidinous, the countenance of a Sybarite, not a king. The air became +stifling; the ribaldry of laughter enveloped her; instinctively she +glanced around, and her restless, troubled gaze fell upon the duke. + +What was it he read in her eyes? A confession of insecurity, fear; a +mute appeal? Before it all his doubts and misgivings vanished; the +look they exchanged was like that when she had stood on the staircase +in the inn. + +Upon the monarch, engrossed in his purpose, it was lost. If silence +give consent, then had she already acquiesced in a wish which, from a +king, became a demand. But Francis, ever complaisant, with an +inconsistent chivalry worthy of the subterfuge of his character, +desired to appear forbearing, indulgent. + +"For your own sake," he added, "must we refuse that permission you ask +of us." + +She did not answer, and, noting the direction of her gaze, the eager +expectancy written on her face, Francis turned sharply. At the same +time the duke stepped forward. + +The benignity faded from the king's manner; his countenance, which "at +no time would have made a man's fortune," became rancorous, caustic; +the corners of his mouth appeared almost updrawn to his nostrils. He +had little reason to care for the duke, and this interruption, so +flagrant, menacing almost, did not tend to enhance his regard. In +nowise daunted, the young man stood before him. + +"I trust, Sire, your Majesty will reconsider your decision?" + +With a strained look the young girl regarded them. To what new dangers +had she summoned him? Was not she, the duke, even the emperor himself, +in the power of the king, for the present at least? And knowing well +Francis' headstrong passions, his violence when crossed, it was not +strange at that moment her heart sank; she felt on the brink of an +abyss; a nameless peril toward which she had drawn the companion of her +flight. It seemed an endless interval before the monarch spoke. + +"Ah, you heard!" remarked Francis at length, satirically. + +"Inadvertently, Sire," answered the duke. His voice was steady, his +face pale, but in his blue eyes a glint as of fire came and went. +Self-assurance marked his bearing; dignity, pride. He looked not at +the young girl, but calmly met the scrutiny of the king. The latter +surveyed him from head to foot; then suddenly stared hard at a sword +whose hilt gleamed even brighter than his own, and was fashioned in a +form that recalled not imperfectly a hazard of other days. + +[Illustration: He looked not at the young girl, but calmly met the +scrutiny of the king.] + +"Where did you get that blade?" he asked, abruptly. + +"From the daughter of the Constable of Dubrois." + +"Why did she give it to you?" + +"To protect her, Sire." + +The monarch's countenance became more thoughtful; less acrimonious. +How the present seemed involved in the past! Were kings, then, +enmeshed in the web of their own acts? Were even the gods not exempt +from retributory justice? Those were days of superstition, when a +coincidence assumed the importance of inexorable destiny. + +"Once was it drawn against me," said Francis, reflectively. + +"I trust, Sire, it may never again be drawn by an enemy of your +Majesty." + +The king did not reply, but stood as a man who yet took counsel with +himself. + +"By what right," he asked, finally, "do you speak for the lady?" + + A moment the duke looked disconcerted. "By +what right?" + +Then swiftly he regarded the girl. As quickly--a flash it seemed--her +dark eyes made answer, their language more potent than words. He could +but understand; doubt and misgiving were forgotten; the hesitation +vanished from his manner. Hastily crossing to her side, he took her +hand and unresistingly it lay in his. His heart beat faster; her +sudden acquiescence filled him with wonder; at the same time, his task +seemed easier. To protect her now! The king coughed ironically, and +the duke turned from her to him. + +"By what right, your Majesty?" he said in a voice which sounded +different to Francis. "This lady is my affianced bride, Sire." + +Pique, umbrage, mingled in the expression which replaced all other +feeling on the king's countenance as he heard this announcement. With +manifest displeasure he looked from one to the other. + +"Is this true, Mademoiselle?" he asked, sternly. + +Her cheek was red, but she held herself bravely. + +"Yes, Sire," she said. + +A new emotion leaped to the duke's face as he heard her lips thus +fearlessly confirm the answer of her eyes. And so before the +monarch--in that court which Marguerite called the Court of Love--they +plighted their troth. + +Something in their manner, however, puzzled the observant king; an +exaltation, perhaps, uncalled for by the simple telling of a secret +understanding between them; that rapid interchange of glances; that +significance of manner when the duke stepped to her side. Francis bit +his lips. + +"_Ma foi!_" he exclaimed, sharply. "This is somewhat abrupt. How +long, my Lord, since she promised to be your wife?" + +"Since your Majesty spoke," returned the duke, tranquilly. + +"And before that?" + +"Before? I only knew that _I_ loved _her_, Sire." + +"And now you know, for the first time, that _she_ loves _you_?" added +the king, dryly. "But the emperor--are you not presuming overmuch that +he will give his consent? Or think you"--with fine irony--"that +marriages of state are made in Heaven?" + +"It was once my privilege, Sire, so to serve the emperor, as his +Majesty thought, that he bade me ask of him what I would, when I would. +Heretofore have I had nothing to ask; now, everything." + +Some of the asperity faded from Francis' glance. The situation +appealed to his strong penchant for merry _plaisanterie_. +Besides--such was his overweening pride--to hear a woman confess she +cared for another dampened his own ardor, instead of stimulating it. +"None but himself could be his parallel;" the royal lover could brook +no rival. Had she merely desired to marry the former fool--the +Countess of Chateaubriant had had a husband--but to love him! + +After all, she was but an audacious slip of a girl; a dark-browed, bold +gipsy; by nature, intended for the motley--yes, the Duchesse d'Etampes +was right. Then, he liked not her parentage; she was a constant +reminder of one who had been like to make vacant the throne of France, +and to destroy, root and branch, the proud house of Orleans. Moreover, +whispered avarice, he would save the castle for himself; a stately and +right royal possession. He had, indeed, been over-generous in +proffering it. Love, said reason, was unstable, flitting; woman, a +will-o'-the-wisp; but a castle--its noble solidity would endure. At +the same time, policy admonished the king that the duke was a subject +of his good brother, the emperor, and a rich, powerful noble withal. +So with such grace as he could command Francis greeted one whom he +preferred to regard as an ally rather than an enemy. + +"Truly, my Lord," he said not discourteously, masking in a courtly +manner his personal dislike for him whose sharp criticism he once had +felt in Fools' hall, "a nimble-witted jester was lost when you resumed +the dignity of your position. But," he added cautiously, as a sudden +thought moved him, "this lady has appeared somewhat unexpectedly; the +house of Friedwald is not an inconsequential one." + +"What mean you, Sire?" asked the young man, as the king paused. + +Francis studied him shrewdly. "Why," he replied at length, +hesitatingly, "there is that controversy of the Constable of Dubrois; +certain lands and a castle, long since rightly confiscated." + +"Your Majesty, there is another castle, and lands to spare, in a +distant country," returned the duke quickly. "These will suffice." + +"As you will," said the king in a livelier tone. "For the future, +command our good offices--since you have made us sponsor of your +fortunes." + +With which well-covered confession of his own defeat, Francis strode +away. As he turned, however, he caught the smile of the Duchesse +d'Etampes and crossed to her graciously. + +"Your dress becomes you well, Anne," he said. + +She glanced down at herself demurely; her lashes veiled a sudden gleam +of triumph. "How kind of you, Sire, to notice--my poor gown." + +"I was right," murmured Triboulet, joyfully, as he saw king and +favorite walking together. "No one will ever replace the duchess." + +Silent, hand in hand, the duke and the joculatrix stood upon the +balcony. Below them lay the earth, wrapped in hazy light. Behind +them, the court, with its glamour. + +"Have I done well, Jacqueline, to answer the king as I have done?" he +said finally. "Are you content to resign all--forever--here in France? +To go with me--" + +"Into a new world," she interrupted. "Once I asked you to take me, but +you hesitated, and were like to leave me behind you." + +"But now 'tis I who ask," he answered. + +"And I--who hesitate?" looking out over the valley, where the shadow of +a cloud crossed the land. + +"Do you hesitate, Jacqueline?" + +She turned. About her lips trembled the old fleeting smile. + +"What woman knows her mind, Sir Fool? Yet if it were not so--" + +"If it were not so?" he said, eagerly. + +Her eyes became grave on a sudden. "I might believe I had been of one +mind--long." + +"Jacqueline!--sweet jestress!--" + +He caught her suddenly in his arms, his fine young features aglow. +This then was the goal of his desires; a goal of delight, far, far +beyond all youthful dreams or early imaginings. With drooping eyelids, +she stood in his embrace; she, once so proud, so self-willed. He drew +her closer--kissed her hair!--the rose!-- + +She raised her head, and--sweeter still--he kissed her lips. + +Across the valley the shadow receded; vanished. In the full glory of +nightly splendor lay the earth, and as the mystic radiance lighted up a +world of beauty, it seemed at last they beheld their world; the light +more beautiful for the shade and the purple mists. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE ROSE*** + + +******* This file should be named 23675.txt or 23675.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23675 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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