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diff --git a/41438-0.txt b/41438-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7972e95 --- /dev/null +++ b/41438-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7017 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41438 *** + + THE HEART OF PRINCESS OSRA + + By ANTHONY HOPE + + Author of "The Prisoner of Zenda" + + + + + In Preparation + + "PHROSO" + + By the Author of this Volume + + + + +[Illustration: "'KILL HIM FOR ME, THEN; KILL HIM FOR ME.'"--_Page 239._] + + + + + THE HEART OF + PRINCESS OSRA + + + BY + ANTHONY HOPE + + AUTHOR OF + "The Prisoner of Zenda" "The Dolly Dialogues" Etc. + + + _with numerous full-page illustrations_ + BY + H. C. EDWARDS + + + New York and London + Frederick A. Stokes Company + PUBLISHERS + + + + + Copyright, 1895, 1896 + By A. H. Hawkins + + Copyright, 1896 + By Frederick A. Stokes Company + + Copyright, 1895, 1896 + By S. S. McClure, Limited + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE. + + I. The Happiness of Stephen the Smith 1 + + II. The Wager of the Marquis de Mérosailles 51 + + III. The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse 79 + + IV. The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman 100 + + V. The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein 131 + + VI. The Device of Giraldo the Painter 175 + + VII. The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau 201 + + VIII. The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg 226 + + IX. The Victory of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim 258 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE. + + "'Kill him for me, then; kill him for me'" _Frontispiece_ + + "'Take her and be happy'" 11 + + "Stephen stood on the threshold with his staff in his hand" 37 + + The physician receives Princess Osra 56 + + "'Madame, if you will, you can do me a great service'" 101 + + "With either hand he drew a silver-mounted pistol" 114 + + "She asked the officer why a throng of people hastened + to the city" 118 + + "'My lord, where is the Princess?'" 160 + + "He drove his sword into his body, and the Count gave + back before it" 165 + + "He walked with his head down and his eyes on the ground" 171 + + "He took it and drained it" 204 + + "On either side of it sat the priest of the village and the + Miller of Hofbau" 215 + + "'Forgive me, forgive me!'" 252 + + "A young man sprang up, and, with a low bow, drew + aside to let her pass" 259 + + "'You are the beauty of the world,' he answered smiling" 263 + + + + + The Heart of Princess Osra. + + CHAPTER I. + + The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. + + +"Stephen! Stephen! Stephen!" + +The impatient cry was heard through all the narrow gloomy street, where +the old richly-carved house-fronts bowed to meet one another and left +for the eye's comfort only a bare glimpse of blue. It was, men said, the +oldest street in Strelsau, even as the sign of the "Silver Ship" was the +oldest sign known to exist in the city. For when Aaron Lazarus the Jew +came there, seventy years before, he had been the tenth man in unbroken +line that took up the business; and now Stephen Nados, his apprentice +and successor, was the eleventh. Old Lazarus had made a great business +of it, and had spent his savings in buying up the better part of the +street; but since Jews then might hold no property in Strelsau, he had +taken all the deeds in the name of Stephen Nados; and when he came to +die, being unable to carry his houses or his money with him, having no +kindred, and caring not a straw for any man or woman alive save Stephen, +he bade Stephen let the deeds be, and, with a last curse against the +Christians (of whom Stephen was one, and a devout one), he kissed the +young man, and turned his face to the wall and died. Therefore Stephen +was a rich man, and had no need to carry on the business, though it +never entered his mind to do anything else; for half the people who +raised their heads at the sound of the cry were Stephen's tenants, and +paid him rent when he asked for it; a thing he did when he chanced to +remember, and could tear himself away from chasing a goblet or +fashioning a little silver saint; for Stephen loved his craft more than +his rents; therefore, again, he was well liked in the quarter. + +"Stephen! Stephen!" cried Prince Henry, impatiently hammering on the +closed door with his whip. "Plague take the man! Is he dead?" + +The men in the quarter went on with their work; the women moved idly to +the doors; the girls came out into the street and clustered here and +there, looking at the Prince. For although he was not so handsome as +that scamp Rudolf, his brother, who had just come back from his travels +with half a dozen wild stories spurring after him, yet Henry was a +comely youth, as he sat on his chestnut mare, with his blue eyes full of +impatience, and his chestnut curls fringing his shoulders. So the girls +clustered and looked. Moreover Stephen the smith must come soon, and the +sight of him was worth a moment's waiting; for he buried himself all day +in his workshop, and no laughing challenge could lure him out. + +"Though, in truth," said one of the girls, tossing her head, "it's +thankless work to spend a glance on either, for they do not return it. +Now when Rudolf comes----" + +She broke off with a laugh, and her comrades joined in it. Rudolf left +no debts of that sort unpaid, however deep he might be in the books of +Stephen Nados and of the others who furnished his daily needs. + +Presently Stephen came, unbolting his door with much deliberation, and +greeting Prince Henry with a restrained courtesy. He was not very well +pleased to see his guest, for it was a ticklish moment with the +nose of Saint Peter, and Stephen would have liked to finish the job +uninterrupted. Still, the Prince was a prince, a gentleman, and a +friend, and Stephen would not be uncivil to him. + +"You ride early to-day, sir," he observed, patting the chestnut mare. + +"I have a good reason," answered Henry. "The Lion rages to-day." + +Stephen put up his hand to shelter his eyes from a ray of sunshine that +had evaded the nodding walls and crept in; it lit up his flaxen hair, +which he wore long and in thick waves, and played in his yellow beard; +and he looked very grave. For when the Lion raged, strange and alarming +things might happen in the city of Strelsau. The stories of his last fit +of passion were yet hardly old. + +"What has vexed the King?" he asked; for he knew that Prince Henry spoke +of his father, Henry surnamed the Lion, now an old man, yet as fierce as +when he had been young. "Is it your brother again?" + +"For a marvel, no. It is myself, Stephen. And he is more furious with me +than he has ever been with Rudolf; aye, even more than he was at all the +stories that followed my brother home." + +"And what is the cause of it all, sir, and how is it in my power to +help?" + +"That you will find out very soon," said the Prince with a bitter laugh. +"You will be sent for to the palace in an hour, Stephen." + +"If it is about the King's ring, the ring is not finished," said +Stephen. + +"It is not about the ring. Yet indeed it is, in a way, about a ring. For +you are to be married, Stephen. This very day you are to be married." + +"I think not, sir," said Stephen mildly. "For it is a thing that a man +himself hears about if it be true." + +"But the King thinks so; Stephen, have you remarked, among my sister +Osra's ladies, a certain dark lady, with black hair and eyes? I cannot +describe her eyes." + +"But you can tell me her name, sir," suggested Stephen, who was a +practical man. + +"Her name? Oh, her name is Hilda--Hilda von Lauengram." + +"Aye, I know the Countess Hilda. I have made a bracelet for her." + +"She is the most beautiful creature alive!" cried Prince Henry, in a +sudden rapture and so loudly (being carried away by his passion) that +the girls heard him and wondered of whom he spoke with so great an +enthusiasm. + +"To those to whom she seems such," observed Stephen. "But, pray, how am +I concerned in all this, sir?" + +The Prince's smile grew more bitter as he answered: + +"Why, you are to marry her. It was an idle suggestion of Osra's, made in +jest; my father is pleased to approve of it in earnest." + +Then he bent in his saddle and went on in a hurried urgent whisper: "I +love her better than my life, Stephen--better than heaven; and my faith +and word are pledged to her; and last night I was to have fled with +her--for I knew better than to face the old Lion--but Osra found her +making preparations and we were discovered. Then Osra was scornful, and +the King mad, and Rudolf laughed; and when they talked of what was to be +done to her, Osra came in with her laughing suggestion. It caught the +King's angry fancy, and he swore that it should be so. And, since the +Archbishop is away, he has bidden the Bishop of Modenstein be at the +palace at twelve to-day, and you will be brought there also, and you +will be married to her. But, by heavens, I'll have your blood if you +are!" With this sudden outbreak of fury the Prince ended. Yet a moment +later, he put out his hand to the smith, saying: "It's not your fault, +man." + +"That's true enough," said the smith; "for I have no desire to marry +her; and it is not fitting that a lady of her birth should mate with a +smith; she is of a great house, and she would hate and despise me." + +Prince Henry was about to assent when his eye chanced to fall on Stephen +the smith. Now the smith was a very handsome man--handsomer, many said, +than Prince Rudolf himself, whom no lady could look on without +admiration; he stood six feet and two inches in his flat working shoes; +he was very broad, and could leap higher and hurl a stone farther than +any man in Strelsau. Moreover he looked kind and gentle, yet was reputed +to grow angry at times, and then to be very dangerous. Therefore Prince +Henry, knowing (or thinking that he knew) the caprices of women, and how +they are caught by this and that, was suddenly seized with a terrible +fear that the Countess Hilda might not despise Stephen the smith. Yet he +did not express his fear, but said that it was an impossible thing that +a lady of the Countess's birth (for the House of Lauengram was very +noble) should wed a silversmith, even though he were as fine a fellow as +his good friend Stephen; to which gracious speech Stephen made no reply, +but stood very thoughtful, with his hand on the neck of the chestnut +mare. But at last he said: "In any case it cannot be, for I am bound +already." + +"A wife? Have you a wife?" cried the Prince eagerly. + +"No; but my heart is bound," said Stephen the smith. + +"The King will make little of that. Yet who is she? Is she any of these +girls who stand looking at us?" + +"No, she is none of these," answered Stephen, smiling as though such an +idea were very ludicrous. + +"And are you pledged to her?" + +"I to her, but not she to me." + +"But does she love you?" + +"I think it most unlikely," said Stephen the smith. + +"The Lion will care nothing for this," groaned the Prince despondently. +"They will send for you in half an hour. For heaven's sake spare her, +Stephen!" + +"Spare her, sir?" + +"Do not consent to marry her, however urgently the King may command +you." + +The smith shook his head, smiling still. Prince Henry rode sorrowfully +away, spending not a glance on the bevy of girls who watched him go; and +Stephen, turning into his house, shut the door, and with one great sigh +set to work again on the nose of Saint Peter. + +"For anyhow," said he, "a man can work." And after a long pause he +added, "I never thought to tell any one; but if I must, I must." + +Now, sure enough, when the clock on the Cathedral wanted a quarter of an +hour of noon, two of the King's Guard came and bade Stephen follow them +with all haste to the palace; and since they were very urgent and no +time was to be lost, he followed them as he was, in his apron, without +washing his hands or getting rid of the dust that hung about him from +his work. However he had finished Saint Peter's nose and all had gone +well with it, so that he went in a contented frame of mind, determined +to tell the whole truth to King Henry the Lion sooner than be forced +into a marriage with the Countess Hilda von Lauengram. + +The Lion sat in his great chair; he was a very thin old man, with a face +haggard and deeply lined; his eyes, set far back in his head, glowed and +glowered, and his fingers pulled his sparse white beard. On his right +Prince Rudolf lolled on a low seat, smiling at the play; on his left sat +that wonderfully fair lady, the Princess Osra, then in the first bloom +of her young beauty; and she was smiling scornfully. Prince Henry stood +before his father, and some yards from him was the Countess Hilda, +trembling and tearful, supported by one of her companions; and finally, +since the Archbishop was gone to Rome to get himself a Scarlet Hat, the +Bishop of Modenstein, a young man of noble family, was there, most +richly arrayed in choicest lace and handsomest vestments, ready to +perform the ceremony. Prince Rudolf had beckoned the Bishop near him, +and was jesting with him in an undertone. The Bishop laughed as a man +laughs who knows he should not laugh but cannot well help himself; for +Rudolf owned a pretty wit, although it was sadly unrestrained. + +The King's fury, having had a night and a morning to grow cool in, had +now settled into a cold ironical mood, which argued no less resolution +than his first fierce wrath. There was a grim smile on his face as he +addressed the smith, who, having bowed to the company, was standing +between the Countess and Prince Henry. + +"The House of Elphberg," said the King, with mocking graciousness, "well +recognises your worth, Stephen, my friend. We are indebted to you----" + +"It's a thousand crowns or more from Prince Rudolf alone, sire," +interrupted Stephen, with a bow to the Prince he named. + +"For much faithful service," pursued the King, while Rudolf laughed +again. "I have therefore determined to reward you with the hand of a +lady who is, it may be, above your station, but in no way above your +worth. Behold her! Is she not handsome? On my word, I envy you, smith. +She is beautiful, young, high-born. You are lucky, smith. Nay, no +thanks. It is but what you deserve--and no more than she deserves. Take +her and be happy," and he ended with a snarling laugh, as he waved his +lean veined hand towards the unhappy Countess, and fixed his sneering +eyes on the face of his son Henry, who had turned pale as death, but +neither spoke nor moved. + +[Illustration: "'TAKE HER AND BE HAPPY.'"--_Page 11._] + +The Bishop of Modenstein--he was of the House of Hentzau, many of which +have been famous in history--lifted up his hands in horror at Rudolf's +last whispered jest, and then, advancing with a bow to the King, asked +if he were now to perform his sacred duties. + +"Aye, get on with it," growled the Lion, not heeding the Countess's sobs +or the entreaty in his son's face. And the Princess Osra sat unmoved, +the scornful smile still on her lips; it seemed as though she had no +pity for a brother who could stoop, or for a girl who had dared to soar +too high. + +"Wait, wait!" said Stephen the smith. "Does this lady love me, sire?" + +"Aye, she loves you enough for the purpose, smith," grinned the King. +"Do not be uneasy." + +"May I ask her if she loves me, sire?" + +"Why, no, smith. Your King's word must be enough for you." + +"And your Majesty says that she loves me?" + +"I do say so, smith." + +"Then," said Stephen, "I am very sorry for her; for as there's a heaven +above us, sire, I do not love her." + +Prince Rudolf laughed; Osra's smile broadened in greater scorn; the +Countess hid her face in her companion's bosom. The old King roared out +a gruff burst. "Good, good!" he chuckled. "But it will come with +marriage, smith; for with marriage love either comes or goes--eh, son +Rudolf?--and since in this case it cannot go, you must not doubt, friend +Stephen, that it will come." And he threw himself back in his chair, +greatly amused that a smith, when offered the hand of a Countess, should +hesitate to take it. He had not thought of so fine a humiliation as this +for the presumptuous girl. + +"That might well be, sire," admitted Stephen, "were it not that I most +passionately love another." + +"Our affections," said the King, "are unruly things, smith, and must be +kept in subjection; is it not so, son Rudolf?" + +"It should be so, sire," answered the merry Prince. + +But the Princess Osra, whose eyes had been scanning Stephen's figure, +here broke suddenly into the conversation. + +"Are you pledged to her whom you love so passionately?" she asked. + +"I have not ventured to tell her of my love, madame," answered he, +bowing low. + +"Then there is no harm done," observed Prince Rudolf. "The harm lies in +the telling, not in the loving." + +"Tell us something about her," commanded the Princess; and the King, who +loved sport most when it hurt others, chimed in: "Aye, let's hear about +her whom you prefer to this lady. In what shop does she work, smith? Or +does she sell flowers? Or is she a serving-girl? Come, listen, Countess, +and hear about your rival." + +Prince Henry took one step forward in uncontrolled anger; but he could +not meet the savage mirth in the old man's eyes, and, sinking into a +chair, spread his hand across his face. But Stephen, regarding the King +with placid good-humour, began to speak of her whom he loved so +passionately. And his voice was soft as he spoke. + +"She works in no shop, sire," said he, "nor does she sell flowers, nor +is she a serving-girl; though I would not care if she were. But one day, +when the clouds hung dark over our street, she came riding down it, and +another girl with her. The two stopped before my door, and, seeing them, +I came out----" + +"It is more than you do for me," remarked Prince Rudolf. + +Stephen smiled, but continued his story. "I came out; and she whom I +love gave me a bracelet to mend. And I, looking at her rather than at +the bracelet, said, 'But already it is perfect.' But she did not hear, +for, when she had given me the bracelet, she rode on again at once and +took no more notice of me than of the flies that were crawling up my +wall. That was the first and is the last time that I have spoken to her +until this day. But she was so beautiful that there and then I swore +that, until I had found means and courage to tell her my love, and until +she had thrice refused it, I would marry no other maiden nor speak a +word of love." + +"It seems to me," said Prince Rudolf, "that the oath has some prudence +in it; for if she prove obdurate, friend Stephen, you will then be able +to go elsewhere; many lovers swear more intemperately." + +"But they do not keep their oaths," said Stephen, with a shrewd look at +the Prince. + +"You had best let him alone, my son," said the old King. "He knows what +all the country knows of its future King." + +"Then he may go and hang with all the country," said the Prince +peevishly. + +But the Princess Osra leant a little forward towards Stephen, and the +Countess Hilda also looked covertly out from the folds of her friend's +dress at Stephen. And the Princess said: + +"Was she then so beautiful, this girl?" + +"As the sun in heaven, madame," said the smith. + +"As beautiful as my pretty sister?" asked Rudolf in careless jest. + +"Yes, as beautiful, sir," answered Stephen. + +"Then," said the cruel old King, "very much more beautiful than this +Countess?" + +"Of that you must ask your son Henry, sire," said Stephen discreetly. + +"Nevertheless," said the King, "you must put up with the Countess. We +cannot all have what we want in this world, can we, son Henry?" and he +chuckled again most maliciously. + +"Not, sire, till my lady has thrice refused me," the smith reminded the +King. + +"Then she must be quick about it. For we all, and my lord Bishop here, +are waiting. Send for her, Stephen--by heaven, I have a curiosity to see +her!" + +"And, by heaven! so have I," added Prince Rudolf with a merry smile. +"And poor Henry here may be cured by the sight." + +The Princess Osra leant a little further forward, and said gently: + +"Tell us her name, and we will send for her. Indeed I also would like to +see her." + +"But if she refuses, I shall be worse off than I am now; and if she says +yes, still I must marry the Countess," objected the smith. + +"Nay," said the King, "if she does not refuse you three times, you shall +not marry the Countess, but shall be free to try your fortune with the +girl;" for the smith had put the old Lion in a better temper, and he +thought he was to witness more sport. + +"Since your Majesty is so good, I must tell her name," said Stephen, +"though I had rather have declared my love to herself alone." + +"It is the pleasantest way," said Prince Rudolf, "but the thing can be +done in the presence of others also." + +"You must tell us her name that we may send for her," said the Princess, +her eyes wandering now from the Countess to the smith, and back to the +Countess again. + +"Well, then," said Stephen sturdily, "the lady who came riding down the +street and took away my heart with her is called Osra, and her father is +named Henry." + +A moment or two passed before they understood what the smith had said. +Then the old King fell into a fit of laughter, half choked by coughing; +Prince Rudolf clapped his hands in merry mockery, and a deep flush +spread over the face of the Princess; while the Countess, her companion, +and the younger Prince seemed too astonished to do anything but stare. +As for Stephen, having said what he had to say, he held his peace--a +thing in him which many men, and women also, would do well to imitate; +and, if they cannot, let them pray for the grace that is needful. Heaven +is omnipotent. + +The old King, having recovered from his fit of laughing, looked round on +the smith with infinite amusement, and, turning to his daughter, he +said: "Come, Osra, you have heard the declaration. It remains only for +you to satisfy our good friend's conscience by refusing him three times. +For then he will be free to do our pleasure and make the Countess Hilda +happy." + +The heart of women is, as it would seem, a strange thing; for the +Princess Osra, hearing what the smith had said and learning that he had +fallen passionately in love with her on the mere sight of her beauty, +suddenly felt a tenderness for him and a greater admiration than she had +entertained before; and although she harboured no absurd idea of +listening to his madness, or of doing anything in the world but laugh at +it as it deserved, yet there came on her a strange dislike of the +project that she had herself, in sport, suggested: namely, that the +smith should be married immediately to the Countess Hilda by the Lord +Bishop of Modenstein. The fellow, this smith, had an eye for true +beauty, it seemed. It would be hard to tie him down to this dusky, +black-maned girl; for so the Princess described the lady whom her +brother loved, she herself being, like most of the Elphbergs, rather red +than black in color. Accordingly, when the King spoke to her, she said +fretfully: + +"Am I to be put to refuse the hand of such a fellow as this? Why, to +refuse him is a stain on my dignity!" And she looked most haughty. + +"Yet you must grant him so much because of his oath," said the King. + +"Well, then, I refuse him," said she tartly, and she turned her eyes +away from him. + +"That is once," said Stephen the smith calmly, and he fixed his eyes on +the Princess's face. She felt his gaze, her eyes were drawn back to his, +and she exclaimed angrily: + +"Yes, I refuse him," and again she looked away. But he looked still more +intently at her, waiting for the third refusal. + +"It is as easy to say no three times as twice," said the King. + +"For a man, sire," murmured Prince Rudolf; for he was very learned in +the perilous knowledge of a woman's whims, and, maybe, read something of +what was passing in his sister's heart. Certainly he looked at her and +laughed, and said to the King: + +"Sire, I think this smith is a clever man, for what he really desires is +to wed the Countess, and to do it without disobliging my brother. +Therefore he professes this ridiculous passion, knowing well that Osra +will refuse him, and that he will enjoy the great good fortune of +marrying the Countess against his will. Thus he will obey you and be +free from my brother's anger. In truth, you're a crafty fellow, Master +Stephen!" + +"There is no craft, sir," said Stephen. "I have told nothing but the +truth." + +But the King swore a loud oath, crying: "Aye, that there is! Rudolf has +hit the mark. Yet I do not grudge him his good luck. Refuse him, Osra, +and make him happy." + +But the dark flush came anew on the Princess's face, for now she did not +know whether the smith really loved her or whether he had been making a +jest of her in order to save himself in the eyes of her brother Henry, +and it became very intolerable to her to suppose that the smith desired +the Countess, and had lied in what he said about herself, making a tool +of her. Again, it was hardly more tolerable to give him to the Countess, +in case he truly loved herself; so that her mind was very greatly +disturbed, and she was devoured with eagerness to know the reality of +the smith's feelings towards her; for, although he was only a smith, yet +he was a wonderfully handsome man--in truth, it was curious that she had +not paid attention to his looks before. Thus she was reluctant to refuse +him a third time, when the Bishop of Modenstein stood there, waiting +only for her word to marry him to the Countess; and she rose suddenly +from her seat and walked towards the door of the room, and, when she had +almost reached the door, she turned her head over her shoulder and cast +one smile at Stephen the smith. As she glanced, the blush again mounted +to her face, making her so lovely that her father wondered, and she said +in arch softness: "I'll refuse him the third time some other day; two +denials are enough for one day," and with that she passed through the +door and vanished from their sight. + +The King and Rudolf, who had seen the glance that she cast at Stephen, +fell to laughing again, swearing to one another that a woman was a woman +all the world over, whereat the lips of the Bishop twitched. + +"But the marriage can't go on," cried Rudolf at last. + +"Let it rest for to-day," said the King, whose anger was past. "Let it +rest. The Countess shall be guarded; and, since this young fool" (and he +pointed to his son Henry) "will not wander while she is caged, let him +go where he will. Then as soon as Osra has refused the smith a third +time, we will send for the Bishop." + +"And what am I to do, sire?" asked Stephen the smith. + +"Why, my son-in-law that would be," chuckled the King, "you may go back +to where you came from till I send for you again." + +So Stephen, having thanked the King, went back home, and, sitting down +to the chasing of a cup, became very thoughtful; for it seemed to him +that the Countess had been hardly treated, and that the Prince deserved +happiness, and that the Princess was yet more lovely than his eyes had +found her before. + +Thus, in his work and his meditations, the afternoon wore away fast. So +goes time when hand and head are busy. + + * * * * * + +The Princess Osra walked restlessly up and down the length of her +bed-chamber. Dinner was done and it was eight o'clock, and, the season +being late October, it had grown dark. She had come thither to be alone; +yet, now that she was alone, she could not rest. He was an absurd +fellow--that smith! Yes, she thought him fully as handsome as her +brother Rudolf. But what did Henry find to love in the black-brown +Hilda? She could not understand a man caring for such a colour; a +blackamoor would serve as well! Ah, what had that silly smith meant? It +must have been a trick, as Rudolf said. Yet when he spoke first of her +riding down the street, there was a look in his eyes that a man can +hardly put there of his own will. Did the silly fellow then really----? +Nay, that was absurd; she prayed that it might not be true, for she +would not have the poor fool unhappy. Nay, he was no fool. It was a +trick, then! How dared the insolent knave use her for his tricks? Was +there no other maiden in Strelsau whose name would have served? Must he +lay his tongue to the name of a daughter of the Elphbergs? The fellow +deserved flogging, if it were a trick. Ah, was it a trick? Or was it the +truth? Oh, in heaven's name, which was it? And the Princess tore the +delicate silk of her ivory fan to shreds, and flung the naked sticks +with a clatter on the floor. + +"I can't rest till I know," she cried, as she came to a stand before a +long mirror let into the panel of the wall, and saw herself at full +length in it. As she looked a smile came, parting her lips, and she +threw her head back as she said: "I will go and ask the smith what he +meant." And she smiled again at her own face in triumphant daring; for +when she looked, she thought, "I know what he meant! Yet I will hear +from himself what he meant." + +Stephen the smith sat alone in his house; his apprentices were gone, and +he himself neither worked nor supped, but sat still and idle by his +hearth. The street was silent also, for it rained and nobody was about. +Then suddenly came a light timid rap at the door; so light was it that +the smith doubted if he had really heard, but it came again and he rose +leisurely and opened the door. Even as he did so a slight tall figure +slipped by him, an arm pulled him back, the door was pushed close again, +and he was alone inside the house with a lady wrapped in a long +riding-cloak, and so veiled that nothing of her face could be seen. + +"Welcome, madame," said Stephen the smith; and he drew a chair forward +and bowed to his visitor. He was not wearing his apron now, but was +dressed in a well-cut suit of brown cloth and had put on a pair of silk +stockings. He might have been expecting visitors, so carefully had he +arrayed himself. + +"Do you know who I am?" asked the veiled lady. + +"Since I was a baby, madame," answered the smith, "I have known the sun +when I saw it, even though clouds dimmed its face." + +A corner of the veil was drawn down, and one eye gleamed in frightened +mirth. + +"Nobody knows I have come," said Osra. "And you do not know why I have +come." + +"Is it to answer me for the third time?" asked he, drawing a step +nearer, yet observing great deference in his manner. + +"It is not to answer at all, but to ask. But I am very silly to have +come. What is it to me what you meant?" + +"I cannot conceive that it could be anything, madame," said Stephen, +smiling. + +"Yet some think her beautiful--my brother Henry, for example." + +"We must respect the opinions of Princes," observed the smith. + +"Must we share them?" she asked, drawing the veil yet a little aside. + +"We can share nothing--we humble folk--with Princes or Princesses, +madame." + +"Yet we can make free with their names, though humbler ones would serve +as well." + +"No other would have served at all, madame." + +"Then you meant it?" she cried in sudden half-serious eagerness. + +"Nay, but what, madame?" + +"I don't care whether you meant it or not." + +"Alas! I know it so well, that I marvel you have come to tell me." + +The Princess rose and began to walk up and down as she had in her own +chamber. Stephen stood regarding her as though God had made his eyes for +that one purpose. + +"The thing is nothing," she declared petulantly, "but I have a fancy to +ask it. Stephen, was it a trick, or--or was it really so? Come, answer +me! I can't spend much time on it." + +"It is not worth a thought to you. If you say no a third time, all will +be well." + +"You will marry the Countess?" + +"Can I disobey the King, madame?" + +"I am very sorry for her," said the Princess. "A lady of her rank should +not be forced to marry a silversmith." + +"Indeed I thought so all along. Therefore----" + +"You played the trick?" she cried in unmistakable anger. + +Stephen made no answer for a time, then he said softly: "If she loves +the Prince and he her, why should they not marry?" + +"Because his birth is above hers." + +"I am glad, then, that I am of no birth, for I can marry whom I will." + +"Are you so happy and so free, Stephen?" sighed the Princess; and there +was no more of the veil left than served to frame the picture of her +face. + +"So soon as you have refused me the third time, madame," bowed the +smith. + +"Will you not answer me?" cried the Princess; and she smiled no more, +but was as eager as though she were asking some important question. + +"Bring the Countess here to-morrow at this time," said Stephen, "and I +will answer." + +"You wish, perhaps, to make a comparison between us?" she asked +haughtily. + +"I cannot be compelled to answer except on my own terms," said the +smith. "Yet if you will refuse me once again, the thing will be +finished." + +"I will refuse you," she cried, "when I please." + +"But you will bring the Countess, madame?" + +"I am very sorry for her. I have behaved ill to her, Stephen, though I +meant only to jest." + +"There is room for amends, madame," said he. + +The Princess looked long and curiously in his face, but he met her +glance with a quiet smile. + +"It grows late," said he, "and you should not be here longer, madame. +Shall I escort you to the palace?" + +"And have every one asking with whom Stephen the smith walks? No, I will +go as I came. You have not answered me, Stephen." + +"And you have not refused me, madame." + +"Will you answer me to-morrow when I come with the Countess?" + +"Yes, I will answer then." + +The Princess had drawn near to the door; now Stephen opened it for her +to pass out; and as she crossed the threshold, she said: + +"And I will refuse you then--perhaps;" with which she darted swiftly +down the dark, silent, shining street, and was gone; and Stephen, having +closed the door, passed his hand twice over his brow, sighed thrice, +smiled once, and set about the preparation of his supper. + +On the next night, as the Cathedral clock struck nine, there arose a +sudden tumult and excitement in the palace. King Henry the Lion was in +such a rage as no man had ever seen him in before; even Rudolf, his son, +did not dare to laugh at him; courtiers, guards, attendants, lackeys, +ran wildly to and fro in immense fear and trepidation. A little later, +and a large company of the King's Guard filed out, and, under the +command of various officers, scattered themselves through the whole of +Strelsau, while five mounted men rode at a gallop to each of the five +gates of the city, bearing commands that the gates should be closed, and +no man, woman, or child be allowed to pass out without an order under +the hand of the King's Marshal. And the King swore by heaven, and by +much else, that he would lay them--that is to say, the persons whose +disappearance caused all this hubbub--by the heels, and that they should +know that there was life in the Lion yet; whereat Prince Rudolf looked +as serious as he could contrive to look--for he was wonderfully +amused--and called for more wine. And the reason of the whole thing was +no other than this, that the room of the Princess Osra was empty, and +the room of the Countess Hilda was empty, and nobody had set eyes on +Henry, the King's son, for the last two hours or more. Now these facts +were, under the circumstances of the case, enough to upset a man of a +temper far more equable than was old King Henry the Lion. + +Through all the city went the Guards, knocking at every door, disturbing +some at their suppers, some from their beds, some in the midst of +revelry, some who toiled late for a scanty livelihood. When the doors +were not opened briskly, the Guard without ceremony broke them in; they +ransacked every crevice and cranny of every house, and displayed the +utmost zeal imaginable; nay, one old lady they so terrified that she had +a fit there where she lay in bed, and did not recover for the best part +of a month. And thus, having traversed all the city and set the whole +place in stir and commotion, they came at last to the street where +Stephen lived, and to the sign of the "Silver Ship," where he carried on +the business bequeathed to him by Aaron Lazarus the Jew. + +"Rat, tat, tat!" came thundering on the door from the sword-hilt of the +Sergeant in command of the party. + +There was no answer; no light shone from the house, for the window was +closely shuttered. Again the Sergeant hammered on the door. + +"This pestilent smith is gone to bed," he cried in vexation. "But we +must leave no house unsearched. Come, we must break in the door!" and he +began to examine the door, and found that it was a fine solid door, of +good oak and clamped with iron. + +"Phew, we shall have a job with this door!" he sighed. "Why, in the +devil's name, doesn't the fellow answer? Stephen, Stephen! Ho, there! +Stephen!" + +Yet no answer came from the inside of the house. + +But at this moment another sound struck sharp on the ears of the +Sergeant and his men. It was the noise of flames crackling; from the +house next to Stephen's (which belonged to him, but was inhabited by a +fruit-seller) there welled out smoke in volumes from every window; and +the fruit-seller and his family appeared at the windows calling for aid. +Seeing this, the Sergeant blew very loudly the whistle that he carried +and cried "Fire!" and bade his men run and procure a ladder; for plainly +the fruit-seller's house was on fire, and it was a more urgent matter to +rescue men and women from burning than to find the Countess and the +Prince. Presently the ladder came, and a great crowd of people, roused +by the whistle and the cries of fire, came also; and then the door of +Stephen's house was opened, and Stephen himself, looking out, asked what +was the matter. Being told that the next house was on fire, he turned +very grave--for the house was his--and waited for a moment to watch the +fruit-seller and his family being brought down the ladder, which task +was safely and prosperously accomplished. But the Sergeant said to him: +"The fire may well spread, and if there is anyone in your house, it +would be prudent to get them out." + +"That is well thought of," said Stephen approvingly. "I was working late +with three apprentices, and they are still in the house." And he put his +head in at his door and called: "You had better come out, lads, the fire +may spread." But the Sergeant turned away again and busied himself in +putting the fire out. + +Then three lads, one being very tall, came out of Stephen's house, clad +in their leather breeches, their aprons, and the close-fitting caps that +apprentices wore; and for a moment they stood watching the fire at the +fruit-seller's. Then, seeing that the fire was burning low--which it did +very quickly--they did not stay till the attention of the Sergeant was +released from it, but, accompanied by Stephen, turned down the street, +and, going along at a brisk rate, rounded the corner and came into the +open space in front of the Cathedral. + +"The gates will be shut, I fear," said the tallest apprentice. "How came +the fire, Stephen?" + +"It was three or four trusses of hay, sir, and a few crowns to repair +his scorched paint. Shall we go to the gate?" + +"Yes, we must try the gate," said Prince Henry, gathering the hand of +the Countess into his; and the third apprentice walked silently by +Stephen's side. Yet once as she went, she said softly: + +"So it was no trick, Stephen?" + +"No trick, but the truth, madame," said Stephen. + +"I do not know," said Osra, "how I am to return to the palace in these +clothes." + +"Let us get your brother and the Countess away first," counselled the +smith. + +Now when they came to the nearest gate it was shut; but at the moment a +troop of mounted men rode up, having been sent by the King to scour the +country round, in case the fugitives should have escaped already from +the city. And the Commandant of the company bore an order from the +King's Marshal for the opening of the gate. Seeing this, Stephen the +smith went up to him and began to talk to him, the three apprentices +standing close by. The Commandant knew Stephen well, and was pleased to +talk with him while the gates were opened and the troopers filed +through. Stephen kept close by him till the troopers were all through. +Then he turned and spoke to the apprentices, and they nodded assent. The +Commandant checked his horse for an instant when he was half-way through +the gate, and bent down and took Stephen's hand to shake it in farewell. +Stephen took his hand with marvellous friendliness, and held it, and +would not let him go. But the apprentices edged cautiously nearer and +nearer the gate. + +"Enough, man, enough!" laughed the Commandant. "We are not parting for +ever." + +"I trust not, sir, I trust not," said Stephen earnestly, still holding +his hand. + +"Come, let me go. See, the gate-warden wants to shut the gate!" + +"True!" said Stephen. "Good-bye then, sir. Hallo, hallo! stop, stop! Oh, +the young rascals!" + +For even as Stephen spoke, two of the apprentices had darted through the +half-closed gate, and run swiftly forward into the gloom of the night. +Stephen swore an oath. + +"The rogues!" he cried. "They were to have worked all night to finish an +image of Our Lady! And now I shall see no more of them till to-morrow! +They shall pay for their prank then, by heaven they shall!" But the +Commandant laughed. + +"I am sorry I can't catch them for you, friend Stephen," said he, "but I +have other fish to fry. Well, boys will be boys. Don't be too hard on +them when they return." + +"They must answer for what they do," said Stephen; and the Commandant +rode on and the gates were shut. + +Then the Princess Osra said: + +"Will they escape, Stephen?" + +"They have money in their purses, love in their hearts, and an angry +King behind them. I should travel quickly, madame, if I were so placed." + +The Princess looked through the grating of the gate. + +"Yes," she said, "they have all those. How happy they must be, Stephen! +But what am I to do?" + +Stephen made no answer and they walked back in silence to his house. It +may be that they were wondering whether Prince Henry and the Countess +would escape. Yet it may be that they thought of something else. When +they reached the house, Stephen bade the Princess go into the inner room +and resume her own dress that she might return to the palace, and that +it might not be known where she had been nor how she had aided her +brother to evade the King's prohibition; and when she, still strangely +silent, went in as he bade her, he took his great staff in his hand, and +stood on the threshold of the house, his head nearly touching the lintel +and his shoulders filling almost all the space between door-post and +door-post. + +[Illustration: "STEPHEN STOOD ON THE THRESHOLD WITH HIS STAFF IN HIS +HAND."--_Page 37._] + +When he had stood there a little while, the same Sergeant of the Guard, +recollecting (now that the fire at the fruit-seller's was out) that he +had never searched the house of the smith, came again with his four men, +and told Stephen to stand aside and allow him to enter the house. + +"For I must search it," he said, "or my orders will not be performed." + +"Those whom you seek are not here," said Stephen. + +"That I must see for myself," answered the Sergeant. "Come, smith, stand +aside." + +When the Princess heard the voices outside, she put her head round the +door of the inner room, and cried in great alarm to Stephen: + +"They must not come in, Stephen. At any cost they must not come in!" + +"Do not be afraid, madame, they shall not come in," said he. + +"I heard a voice in the house," exclaimed the Sergeant. + +"It is nothing uncommon to hear in a house," said Stephen, and he +grasped more firmly his great staff. + +"Will you make way for us?" demanded the Sergeant. "For the last time, +will you make way?" + +Stephen's eyes kindled; for though he was a man of peace, yet his +strength was great and he loved sometimes to use it; and above all, he +loved to use it now at the bidding and in protection of his dear +Princess. So he answered the Sergeant from between set teeth: + +"Over my dead body you can come in." + +Then the Sergeant drew his sword and his men set their halberds in rest, +and the Sergeant, crying, "In the King's name!" came at Stephen with +drawn sword and struck fiercely at him. But Stephen let the great staff +drop on the Sergeant's shoulder, and the Sergeant's arm fell powerless +by his side. Thereupon the Guards cried aloud, and people began to come +out of their houses, seeing that there was a fight at Stephen's door. +And Stephen's eyes gleamed, and when the Guards thrust at him, he struck +at them, and two of them he stretched senseless on the ground; for his +height and reach were such that he struck them before they could come +near enough to touch him, and having no firearms they could not bring +him down. + +The Princess, now fully dressed in her own garments, came out into the +outer room, and stood there looking at Stephen. Her bosom rose and fell, +and her eyes grew dim as she looked; and growing very eager, and being +very much moved, she kept murmuring to herself, "I have not said no +thrice!" And she spent no thought on the Countess or her brother, nor on +how she was to return undetected to the palace, but saw only the figure +of Stephen on the threshold, and heard only the cries of the Guards who +assaulted him. It seemed to her a brave thing to have such a man to +fight for her, and to offer his life to save her shame. + +Old King Henry was not a patient man, and when he had waited two hours +without news of son, daughter, or Countess, he flew into a mighty +passion and sent one for his horse, and another for Rudolf's horse, and +a third for Rudolf himself; and he drank a draught of wine, and called +to Rudolf to accompany him, that they might see for themselves what the +lazy hounds of Guards were doing, that they had not yet come up with the +quarry. Prince Rudolf laughed and yawned and wished his brother at the +devil, but mounted his horse and rode with the King. Thus they traversed +the city, riding swiftly, the old King furiously upbraiding every +officer and soldier whom he met; then they rode to the gate; and all the +gate-wardens said that nobody had gone out, save that one gate-warden +admitted that two apprentices of Stephen the silversmith had contrived +to slip out when the gates were open to let the troopers pass. But the +King made nothing of it, and, turning with his son, rode up the street +where Stephen lived. Here they came suddenly into the midst of a crowd, +that filled all the roadway, and would hardly let the horses move even +at a foot's pace. The King cried out angrily, "What is this tumult?" + +Then the people knew him, and, since common folk are always anxious to +serve and commend themselves to the great, a score began all at once to +tell him what had happened, some starting with the fire, some going +straight to the fight; and the King could not make head or tail of the +babel of voices and different stories. And Prince Rudolf dropped his +reins and sat on his horse laughing. But the King, his patience being +clean gone, drew his sword and cried fiercely, "Make way!" and set his +spurs to his horse, not recking whether he hurt any man in life or limb. +Thus he gained a passage through the crowd, and came near to Stephen's +house, Prince Rudolf following in his wake, still greatly amused at all +that was happening. + +But the sight they saw there arrested even Prince Rudolf's smiles, and +he raised himself in his stirrups with a sudden cry of wonder. For four +more of the Guard had come, and there were now six standing round the +doorway, and three lay stretched on the ground; but Stephen the smith +still stood on the threshold, with his staff in his hand. Blood flowed +from a wound in his head, but he twirled the staff to and fro, and was +not weary, and none of the Guard dared to rush in and close with him. +Thus he had held the threshold for an hour; yet the Princess Osra could +not escape unless he could drive off the Guard for a few moments, and +this he hoped to do, thinking that they might draw off and wait for +reinforcements; but in any case he had sworn that they should not pass. +And Osra did not pray him to let them pass, but stood motionless in the +middle of the room behind him, her hands clasped, her face rigid, and +her eyes all aflame with admiration of his strength and his courage. + +Thus matters were when the old King and Prince Rudolf broke through the +crowd that ringed the house round, and the King cried out, asking what +was the meaning of all that he saw. + +But when the King heard that Stephen the smith resisted the officers, +would not suffer his house to be searched, had stretched three of the +Guards senseless on the ground, and still more than held his own, he +fell into a great rage; he roared out on them all, calling them cowards, +and, before his son or any one else could stop him, he drew his sword, +and dug his spurs into his horse; the horse bounded forward and knocked +down one of the Guards who stood round Stephen. Then the King, neither +challenging Stephen to yield, nor giving him time to stand aside, being +carried away by passion, raised his sword and rode full at him. And the +Princess from within caught sight of his face, and she fell on her knees +with a moan and hid her face. Then Stephen saw that it was the King and +none other who rode against him; and even had the King given him time, +it may be that he would not have yielded, for he was a very resolute +man, and he had pledged his promise to Osra the Princess. But he had no +time for thought, for the King was on him in the space of a second, and +he could do nothing but drop the staff that he held, and stand +defenceless in the doorway; for he would neither strike the King nor +yield the passage. But the King, in his fury not heeding that Stephen +had dropped his staff, drew back his arm and lunged with his sword, and +thrust the smith through the chest; and Stephen reeled and fell on one +knee, and his blood flowed out on the stone of the doorstep. Then the +King reined in his horse, and sat looking down on Stephen; but Rudolf +leapt to the ground, and came and caught hold of Stephen, supporting +him, and asking, "What does it mean, man, what does it mean?" + +Then Stephen, being very faint with his wound, said with difficulty: +"Come in alone--you and the King alone." + +Prince Rudolf looked at the King, who sheathed his sword and dismounted +from his horse; the Prince supported Stephen inside the house, and the +King followed them, shutting the door on all the people outside. + +Then King Henry saw his daughter, crouching now in the middle of the +room, her face hidden in her hands. Surprise and wonder banished his +rage and he could not do more than gasp her name, while the Prince, who +knelt supporting Stephen, cried to her, asking how she came there; but +she answered nothing. She took her hands from her face and looked at +Stephen; and when she saw that he was hurt and bleeding, she fell to +sobbing and hid her face again. And she did not know whether she would +have him live or die; for if he lived he could not be hers, and if he +died her heart would ache sorely for him. Then Stephen, being supported +by the arms of Prince Rudolf, made shift to speak, and he told the King +how, at his persuasion, the Princess had brought the Countess thither; +how he himself had contrived the presence of the Prince at the same +time, how again the Princess had been prevailed upon to aid the lovers; +how they assumed the disguise of apprentices; and how, hearing the +arrival of the Guard, they had escaped out into the street; and lastly, +how that the Prince and the Countess had got out of the city. But he +said nothing of the fire at the fruit-seller's, nor of how he himself +had bribed the fruit-seller to set the hay on fire, speaking to him from +the back windows of the house, and flinging a purse of gold pieces +across to him; nor did this ever become known to the King. And when +Stephen had said his say, he fell back very faint in the arms of the +Prince; and the Prince tore a scarf from his waist, and tried to staunch +the blood from Stephen's wound. But the old King, who was a hard man, +smiled grimly. + +"Indeed he has tricked us finely, this smith, and he is a clever +fellow," said he; "but unless he would rather hang than bleed to death, +let his wound be, Rudolf. For by heaven, if you cure him, I will hang +him." + +"Do not be afraid, sire," said Stephen; "the Prince cannot cure me. You +still strike straight, though you are hard on seventy." + +"Straight enough for a rascal like you," said the King well pleased; and +he added, "Hold the fellow easily, Rudolf, I would not have him suffer." +And this was, they say, the only time in all his life that Henry the +Lion shewed a sign of pity to any man. + +But Stephen was now very faint, and he cast his eyes towards the +Princess; and Rudolf followed his eyes. Now Rudolf had an affection for +Stephen, and he loved his sister, and was a man of soft heart; so he +cried gently to Osra, "Come, sister, and help me with him." And she +rose, and came and sat down by the wall, and gathered Stephen's head +into her lap; and there he lay, looking up at her, with a smile on his +lips. But still he bled, and his blood stained the white cloak that she +wore over her robe; and her tears dropped on his face. But Rudolf took +his father by the arm, and led him a little way off, saying: + +"What matter, sire? The girl is young, and the man is dying. Let them +be." + +The old King, grumbling, let himself be led away; and perhaps even he +was moved, for he forgot Prince Henry and the Countess, and did not +think of sending men in pursuit of them, for which reason they obtained +a fair and long start in their flight. + +Then Stephen, looking up at Osra, said: + +"Do not weep, madame. They will escape now, and they will be happy." + +"I was not weeping for them," said the Princess. + +Stephen was silent for a little, and then he said: + +"In very truth it was no trick, madame; it was even as I said, from the +first day that you rode along the street here; it was always the same in +my heart, and would always have been, however long I had lived." + +"I do not doubt it, Stephen; and it is not for doubt of it that I weep," +said she. + +Then, after a little while, he said: + +"Do you weep, madame, because I am dying?" + +"Yes, I weep for that." + +"Would you have me live, madame?" he asked. + +"No, I would not--no--but I do not know," she said. + +Then Stephen the smith smiled, and his smile was happy. + +"Yet," said he, "it would make small difference to the Princess Osra +whether Stephen the smith lived or died." + +At this, although he lay there a dying man, a sudden flush of red spread +all over her cheeks, and she turned her eyes away from his, and would +not meet his glance; she made him no answer, and he said again: + +"What can it concern the Princess whether I live or die?" + +Still the blush burnt on her cheek, and still she had no answer to give +to Stephen, as he lay dying with his head on her lap. And a bright gleam +came into his eyes, and he tried to move a hand towards her hand; and +she, seeing the effort, put out her hand and held his; and he whispered +very low, for he could hardly speak: + +"You have not yet refused me three times, madame." + +At that her eyes came back to his, and their eyes dwelt long on one +another. And for a moment it seemed to them that all things became +possible, life and joy and love. Yet since all could not be, they were +content that none should be. + +Then the Princess bent low over his head, and she whispered to him: + +"No, I have not refused you thrice, Stephen." + +His lips just moved once again, and, being very near him, she heard: + +"And you will not?" he said. + +"No," said she, and she kissed his lips, and he smiled and turned on his +side; and he nestled his head, as it were cosily, on her lap, and he +said no more. + +Thus died Stephen the silversmith of Strelsau, happy in his death +because Osra the Princess had not refused him thrice. And she laid him +gently on the ground, and rose, and went across to where the King sat +with Rudolf. + +"Sire, he is dead," said she. + +"It is well," said the King. And he bade Rudolf go and cause all the +people to leave the streets, and return to their houses; and when all +the streets were cleared, the Princess veiled herself, and her brother +mounted her on his horse, and thus she rode back to the palace; and none +knew that she had been in the house of Stephen the silversmith. + +And after many months Prince Henry, who had made good his escape and +married the lady whom he loved, was reconciled to his father and +returned to the city of Strelsau. And when he heard how Stephen had +died, he raised a stately monument over him, and had carved on it his +name, and the day and year in which he had died; and underneath he +caused to be engraved the words, "From a Friend to a Friend." But when +this monument had stood three days in its place, there came thither a +lady closely veiled; she prayed on her knees by the monument for a long +while, and then rose and stood regarding it; and her eyes rested on the +last words that Prince Henry had written on the stone. Then she came +nearer, and kissed the words, and, when she had kissed them, she +whispered softly, "From a Lover to a Lover"; and, having whispered this, +she turned away and went back to the palace, and came no more to the +tomb, for fear that the people should remark her coming. Yet often in +the days that followed she would open the window of her bed-chamber by +night, and she would whisper to the silent trusty darkness, that holds +secrets and comforts sore hearts: + +"Not thrice, Stephen, not thrice!" + +Therefore it may be that there had been a sweet madness in her heart, +and that Stephen the silversmith had done a great thing, a thing that +would appear impossible, before he died. And, as Prince Rudolf said, +what matter? For the girl was young, and the dream was sweet, and the +man was dead, and in death at last are all men equal. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + The Wager of the Marquis de Mérosailles. + + +In the year 1734, as spring began, there arrived at Strelsau a French +nobleman of high rank and great possessions, endowed also with many +accomplishments. He came to visit Prince Rudolf, whose acquaintance he +had made while the Prince was at Paris in the course of his travels. +King Henry received M. de Mérosailles--for such was his name--most +graciously, and sent a guard of honour to conduct him to the Castle of +Zenda, where the Prince was then staying in company with his sister +Osra. There the Marquis, on his arrival, was greeted with much joy by +Prince Rudolf, who found his sojourn in the country somewhat irksome and +was glad of the society of a friend with whom he could talk, and sport, +and play at cards. All these things he did with M. de Mérosailles, and a +great friendship arose between the young men, so that they spoke very +freely to one another at all times, and most of all when they had drunk +their wine and sat together in the evening in Prince Rudolf's chamber +that looked across the moat towards the gardens; for the new _château_ +that now stands on the site of these gardens was not then built. And one +night M. de Mérosailles made bold to ask the Prince how it fell out that +his sister the Princess, a lady of such great beauty, seemed sad, and +shewed no pleasure in the society of any gentleman, but treated all +alike with coldness and disdain. Prince Rudolf, laughing, answered that +girls were strange creatures, and that he had ceased to trouble his head +about them (of his heart he said nothing) and he finished by exclaiming: +"On my honour, I doubt if she so much as knows you are here, for she has +not looked at you once since your arrival!" And he smiled maliciously, +for he knew that the Marquis was not accustomed to be neglected by +ladies, and would take it ill that even a Princess should be unconscious +of his presence. In this he calculated rightly, for M. de Mérosailles +was greatly vexed, and, twisting his glass in his fingers, he said: + +"If she were not a Princess, and your sister, sir, I would engage to +make her look at me." + +"I am not hurt by her looking at you," rejoined the Prince: for that +evening he was very merry. "A look is no great thing." + +The Marquis, being no less merry, and knowing that Rudolf had not the +regard for his dignity that a Prince should have, threw out carelessly: + +"A kiss is more, sir." + +"It is a great deal more," laughed the Prince, tugging his moustache. + +"Are you ready for a wager, sir?" asked M. de Mérosailles, leaning +across the table towards him. + +"I'll lay you a thousand crowns to a hundred that you do not gain a +kiss, using what means you will, save force." + +"I'll take that wager, sir," cried the Marquis. "But it shall be three, +not one." + +"Have a care," said the Prince. "Don't go too near the flame, my lord! +There are some wings in Strelsau singed at that candle." + +"Indeed the light is very bright," assented the Marquis courteously. +"That risk I must run, though, if I am to win my wager. It is to be +three then, and by what means I will, save force?" + +"Even so," said Rudolf, and he laughed again. For he thought the wager +harmless, since by no device could M. de Mérosailles win so much as one +kiss from the Princess Osra, and the wager stood at three. But he did +not think how he wronged his sister by using her name lightly, being in +all such matters a man of careless mind. + +But the Marquis, having made his wager, set himself steadily to win it. +Therefore he brought forth the choicest clothes from his wardrobe, and +ornaments, and perfumes; and he laid fine presents at the Princess's +feet; and he waylaid her wherever she went, and was profuse of glances, +sighs, and hints; and he wrote sonnets, as fine gentlemen used in those +days, and lyrics and pastorals, wherein she figured under charming +names. These he bribed the Princess's waiting-women to leave in their +mistress's chamber. Moreover he looked now sorrowful, now passionate, +and he ate nothing at dinner, but drank his wine in wild gulps, as +though he sought to banish sadness. So that, in a word, there was no +device in Cupid's armoury that the Marquis de Mérosailles did not +practise in the endeavour to win a look from the Princess Osra. But no +look came, and he got nothing from her but cold civility. Yet she had +looked at him when he looked not--for Princesses are much like other +maidens--and thought him a very pretty gentleman, and was highly amused +by his extravagance. Yet she did not believe it to witness any true +devotion to her, but thought it mere gallantry. + +Then, one day, M. de Mérosailles, having tried all else that he could +think of, took to his bed. He sent for a physician, and paid him a high +fee to find the seeds of a rapid and fatal disease in him: and he made +his body-servant whiten his face and darken his room; and he groaned +very pitifully, saying that he was sick, and that he was glad of it; for +death would be better far than the continued disdain of the Princess +Osra. And all this, being told by the Marquis's servants to the +Princess's waiting-women, reached Osra's ears, and caused her much +perturbation. For she now perceived that the passion of the Marquis was +real and deep, and she became very sorry for him: the longer the face of +the rascally physician grew the more sad the Princess became: she walked +up and down, bewailing the terrible effects of her beauty, wishing that +she were not so fair, and mourning very tenderly for the sad plight of +the unhappy Marquis. + +Through all Prince Rudolf looked on, but was bound by his wager not to +undeceive her; moreover he found much entertainment in the matter, and +swore that it was worth three times a thousand crowns. + +At last the Marquis sent by the mouth of his physician a very humble and +pitiful message to the Princess, in which he spoke of himself as near to +death, hinted at the cruel cause of his condition, and prayed her of +compassion to visit him in his chamber, and speak a word of comfort, or +at least let him look on her face: for the brightness of her eyes, he +said, might cure even what it had caused. + +[Illustration: THE PHYSICIAN RECEIVES PRINCESS OSRA.--_Page 56._] + +Deceived by this appeal, Princess Osra agreed to go; moved by some +strange impulse, she put on her choicest array, dressed her hair most +splendidly, and came into the chamber looking like a goddess. There lay +the Marquis, white as a ghost and languid on his pillows; and they were +left, as they thought, alone. Then Osra sat down and began to talk very +gently and kindly to him, glancing only at the madness which brought him +to his sad state, and imploring him to summon his resolution, and +conquer his sickness for his friends' sake at home in France, and for +the sake of her brother, who loved him. + +"There is nobody who loves me," said the Marquis petulantly; and when +Osra cried out at this, he went on, "For the love of those whom I do not +love is nothing to me, and the only soul alive I love----." There he +stopped, but his eyes, fixed on Osra's face, ended the sentence for him. +And she blushed, and looked away. Then thinking the moment was come, he +burst suddenly into a flood of protestations and self-reproach, cursing +himself for a fool and a presumptuous madman, pitifully craving her +pardon, and declaring that he did not deserve her kindness, and yet that +he could not live without it, and that anyhow he would be dead soon, and +thus cease to trouble her. But she, being thus passionately assailed, +showed such sweet tenderness and compunction and pity, that M. de +Mérosailles came very near to forgetting that he was playing a comedy, +and threw himself into his part with eagerness, redoubling his +vehemence, and feeling now full half of what he said. For the Princess +was to his eyes far more beautiful in her softer mood. Yet he remembered +his wager, and, at last, when she was nearly in tears and ready, as it +seemed, to do anything to give him comfort, he cried desperately: + +"Ah, leave, leave me! Leave me to die alone! Yet, for pity's sake, +before you go, and before I die, give me your forgiveness, and let your +lips touch my forehead in token of it. Then I shall die in peace." + +At that the Princess blushed still more, and her eyes were wet, and +shone, for she was deeply touched at his misery and at the sad prospect +of the death for love of so gallant a gentleman. Thus she could scarcely +speak for emotion; and the Marquis seeing her emotion was himself deeply +affected; and she rose from her chair, and bent over him, and whispered +comfort to him. Then she leant down, and very lightly touched his +forehead with her lips; he felt her eyelashes, which were wet with +tears, brush the skin of his forehead; and then she sobbed and covered +her face with her hands. Indeed his state seemed to her most pitiful. + +Thus M. de Mérosailles had won one of his three kisses; yet, strange to +tell, there was no triumph in him, but now he perceived the baseness of +his device; and the sweet kindness of the Princess, working together +with the great beauty of her softened manner, so affected him that he +thought no more of his wager and could not endure to carry on his +deception; nothing would serve his turn but to confess to the Princess +what he had done, humbling himself in the dust before her, and +entreating her to pardon him and let him find forgiveness. + +Impelled by these feelings, after he had lain still a few moments +listening to the Princess weeping, he leapt suddenly out of bed, showing +himself fully dressed under the bed-gown which he now eagerly tore off; +and he rubbed all the white he could from his cheeks, and then he fell +on his knees before the Princess, crying to her that he had played the +meanest trick on her, and that he was a scoundrel, and no gentleman, and +that unless she forgave him he should in very truth die; nay, that he +would not consent to live unless he could win from her pardon for his +deceit. And in all this he was now absolutely in earnest, wondering only +how he had not been as passionately enamoured of her from the first as +he had feigned himself to be. For a man in love can never conceive +himself out of it, nor he that is out of it in it; for if he can, he is +half way to the one or the other, however little he may know it. + +At first the Princess sat as though she were turned to stone: but when +he finished his confession, and she understood the trick that had been +played on her, and how not only her kiss, but also her tears, had been +won from her by fraud, and when she thought, as she did, that the +Marquis was playing another trick on her, and that there was no more +truth or honesty in his present protestations than in those which went +before, she fell into great shame and into a great rage; her eyes +flashed like the eyes of her father himself, as she rose to her feet and +looked down on M. de Mérosailles as he knelt imploring her. Now her face +turned pale from red, and she set her lips, and she drew her gown close +round her, lest his touch should defile it (so the unhappy gentleman +understood her gesture) and she picked her steps daintily round him, for +fear she should happen to come in contact with so foul a thing. Thus she +walked to the door, and, having reached it, she turned and said to him: + +"Your death may blot out the insult--nothing less." And with her head +held high, and her whole air full of scorn, she swept out of the room, +leaving the Marquis on his knees. He started up to follow her, but dared +not; he flung himself on the bed in a paroxysm of shame and vexation, +and now of love also, and he cried out loud: + +"Then my death shall blot it out, since nothing else will serve!" + +He was in a desperate mood. For a long time he lay there, and then, +having risen, dressed himself in a sombre suit of black, and buckled his +sword by his side, and, having put on his riding boots and summoned his +servant, bade him saddle his horse. "For," said he to himself, "I will +ride into the forest, and there kill myself; and perhaps when I am dead +the Princess will forgive, and will believe in my love, and grieve a +little for me." + +Now as he went from his chamber to cross the moat by the drawbridge, he +encountered Prince Rudolf returning from hawking. They met full in the +centre of the bridge, and the Prince, seeing M. de Mérosailles dressed +all in black from the feather in his hat to his boots, called out +mockingly: + +"Who is to be buried to-day, my lord, and whither do you ride to the +funeral? It cannot be yourself, for I see that you are marvellously +recovered of your sickness." + +"But it is myself," answered the Marquis, coming near, and speaking low +that the servants and the falconers might not overhear. "I ride, sir, to +my own funeral." + +"The jest is still afoot, then?" asked the Prince. "Yet I do not see my +sister at the window to watch you go, and I warrant you have made no way +with your wager yet." + +"A thousand curses on my wager!" cried the Marquis. "Yes, I have made +way with the accursed thing, and that is why I now go to my death." + +"What, has she kissed you?" cried the Prince, with a merry astonished +laugh. + +"Yes, sir, she has kissed me once, and therefore I go to die." + +"I have heard of many a better reason, then," answered the Prince. + +By now the Prince had dismounted, and he stood by M. de Mérosailles in +the middle of the bridge, and heard from him how the trick had +prospered. At this he was much tickled, and, alas, he was even more +diverted when the penitence of the Marquis was revealed to him, and was +most of all moved to merriment when it appeared that the Marquis, having +gone too near the candle, had been caught by its flame, and was so +terribly singed and scorched that he could not bear to live. And while +they talked on the bridge the Princess looked out on them from a lofty +narrow window, but neither of them saw her. But when the Prince had done +laughing, he put his arm through his friend's and bade him not be a +fool, but come in and toast the Princess's kiss in a draught of wine. +"For," he said, "though you will never get the other two, yet it is a +brave exploit to have got one." + +But the Marquis shook his head, and his air was so resolute, and so full +of sorrow, that not only was Rudolf alarmed for his reason, but Princess +Osra also, at the window, wondered what ailed him and why he wore such a +long face; and now she noticed that he was dressed all in black, and +that his horse waited for him across the bridge. + +"Not," said she, "that I care what becomes of the impudent rogue!" Yet +she did not leave the window, but watched very intently to see what M. +de Mérosailles would do. + +For a long while he talked with Rudolf on the bridge, Rudolf seeming +more serious than he was wont to be; and at last the Marquis bent to +kiss the Prince's hand, and the Prince raised him and kissed him on +either cheek; then the Marquis went and mounted his horse, and rode off, +slowly and unattended, into the glades of the forest of Zenda; but the +Prince, with a shrug of the shoulders and a frown on his brow, entered +under the portcullis, and disappeared from his sister's view. + +Upon this the Princess, assuming an air of great carelessness, walked +down from the room where she was, and found her brother, sitting still +in his boots and drinking wine; and she said: + +"M. de Mérosailles has taken his leave then?" + +"Even so, madame," rejoined Rudolf. + +Then she broke into a fierce attack on the Marquis, and on her brother +also; for a man, said she, is known by his friends, and what a man +Rudolf must be to have a friend like the Marquis de Mérosailles! + +"Most brothers," she said in fiery temper, "would make him answer for +what he has done with his life. But you laugh, nay, I daresay you had a +hand in it." + +As to this last charge the Prince had the discretion to say nothing; he +chose rather to answer the first part of what she said, and shrugging +his shoulders again rejoined: + +"The fool saves me the trouble, for he has gone off to kill himself." + +"To kill himself?" she said, half incredulous, but also half believing, +because of the Marquis's gloomy looks and black clothes. + +"To kill himself," repeated Rudolf. "For in the first place you are +angry, so he cannot live; in the second he has behaved like a rogue, so +he cannot live; and in the third place you are so lovely, sister, that +he cannot live; and in the first, second, and third places he is a fool, +so he cannot live." And the Prince finished his flagon of wine with +every sign of ill-humour in his manner. + +"He is well dead," she cried. + +"Oh, as you please," said he. "He is not the first brave man who has +died on your account." And he rose and strode out of the room very +surlily; for he had a great friendship for M. de Mérosailles, and had no +patience with men who let love make dead bones of them. + +The Princess Osra, being left alone, sat for a little time in deep +thought. There rose before her mind the picture of M. de Mérosailles +riding mournfully through the gloom of the forest to his death. And +although his conduct had been all and more than all that she had called +it, yet it seemed hard that he should die for it. Moreover, if he now in +truth felt what he had before feigned, the present truth was an +atonement for the past treachery; and she said to herself that she could +not sleep quietly that night if the Marquis killed himself in the +forest. Presently she wandered slowly up to her chamber, and looked in +the mirror, and murmured low, "Poor fellow!" and then with sudden speed +she attired herself for riding, and commanded her horse to be saddled, +and darted down the stairs and across the bridge, and mounted, and, +forbidding any one to accompany her, rode away into the forest, +following the marks of the hoofs of M. de Mérosailles's horse. It was +then late afternoon, and the slanting rays of the sun, striking through +the tree-trunks, reddened her face as she rode along, spurring her +horse, and following hard on the track of the forlorn gentleman. But +what she intended to do if she came up with him she did not think. + +When she had ridden an hour or more, she saw his horse tethered to a +trunk; and there was a ring of trees and bushes near, encircling an open +grassy spot. Herself dismounting, and fastening her horse by the +Marquis's horse, she stole up, and saw M. de Mérosailles sitting on the +ground, his drawn sword lying beside him; and his back was towards her. +She held her breath and waited a few moments. Then he took up the sword +and felt the point and also the edge of it, and sighed deeply; and the +Princess thought that this sorrowful mood became him better than any she +had seen him in before. Then he rose to his feet, and took his sword by +the blade beneath the hilt, and turned the point of it towards his +heart. But Osra, fearing that the deed would be done immediately, called +out eagerly, "My lord, my lord!" and M. de Mérosailles turned round with +a great start. When he saw her, he stood in astonishment, his hand still +holding the blade of the sword. And, standing just on the other side of +the trees, she said: + +[Illustration: "SHE SAW M. DE MÉROSAILLES SITTING ON THE +GROUND."--_Page 66._] + +"Is your offence against me to be cured by adding an offence against +Heaven and the Church?" + +And she looked on him with great severity, yet her cheek was flushed, +and after a while she did not meet his glance. + +"How came you here, madame?" he asked in wonder. + +"I heard," she said, "that you meditated this great sin, and I rode +after you to forbid it." + +"Can you forbid what you cause?" he asked. + +"I am not the cause of it," she said, "but your own trickery." + +"It is true. I am not worthy to live," cried the Marquis, smiting the +hilt of his sword on the ground. "I pray you, madame, leave me alone to +die. For I cannot tear myself from the world so long as I see your +face." And as he spoke he knelt on one knee, as though he were doing +homage to her. + +The Princess caught at the bough of the tree under which she stood, and +pulled the bough down, so that its leaves half hid her face, and the +Marquis saw little more than her eyes from among the foliage. Thus being +better able to speak to him, she said softly: + +"And dare you die, unforgiven?" + +"I had prayed for forgiveness before you found me, madame," said he. + +"Of heaven, my lord?" + +"Of heaven, madame. For of heaven I dare to ask it." + +The bough swayed up and down; now Osra's gleaming hair, and now her +cheek, and always her eyes were seen through the leaves. And presently +the Marquis heard a voice asking: + +"Does heaven forgive unasked?" + +"Indeed, no," he said, wondering. + +"And," she said, "are we poor mortals kinder than heaven?" + +The Marquis rose, and took a step or two towards where the bough swayed +up and down, and then knelt again. + +"A great sinner," said he, "cannot believe himself forgiven." + +"Then he wrongs the power of which he seeks forgiveness; for forgiveness +is divine." + +"Then I will ask it, and, if I obtain it, I shall die happy." + +Again the bough swayed: and Osra said: + +"Nay, if you will die, you may die unforgiven." + +M. de Mérosailles hearing these words sprang to his feet, and came +towards the bough, until he was so close that he touched the green +leaves; through them the eyes of Osra gleamed: the sun's rays struck on +her eyes, and they danced in the sun; and her cheeks were reddened by +the same or some other cause. And the evening was very still, and there +were no sounds in the forest. + +"I cannot believe that you forgive. The crime is so great," said he. + +"It was great: yet I forgive." + +"I cannot believe it," said he again, and he looked at the point of his +sword, and then he looked through the leaves at the Princess. + +"I cannot do more than say that if you will live, I will forgive. And we +will forget." + +"By heaven, no," he whispered. "If I must forget to be forgiven, then I +will remember and be unforgiven." + +The faintest laugh reached him from among the foliage. + +"Then I will forget, and you shall be forgiven," said she. + +The Marquis put up his hand, and held a leaf aside, and he said again: + +"I cannot believe myself forgiven. Is there no token of forgiveness?" + +"Pray, my lord, do not put the leaves aside." + +"I still must die, unless I have sure warrant of forgiveness." + +"Ah, you try to make me think that!" + +"By heaven, it is true!" And again he pointed his sword at his heart, +and he swore on his honour that unless she gave him a token he would +still kill himself. + +"Oh," said the Princess with great petulance, "I wish I had not come!" + +"Then I should have been dead by now--dead, unforgiven." + +"But you will still die!" + +"Yes, I must still die, unless----" + +"Sheathe your sword, my lord. The sun strikes it, and it dazzles my +eyes." + +"That cannot be: for your eyes are brighter than sun and sword +together." + +"Then I must shade them with the leaves." + +"Yes, shade them with the leaves," he whispered. "Madame, is there no +token of forgiveness?" + +In the silence that followed his eyes spoke, at last she said: + +"Why did you swear on your honour?" + +"Because it is an oath that I cannot break." + +"Indeed I wish that I had not come," sighed Princess Osra. + +Again came silence. The bough was pressed down for an instant; then it +swayed swiftly up again; and its leaves brushed the cheek of M. de +Mérosailles. And he laughed loudly and joyfully. + +"Something touched my cheek," said he. + +"It must have been a leaf," said Princess Osra. + +"Ah, a leaf!" + +"I think so," said Princess Osra. + +"Then it was a leaf of the Tree of Life," said M. de Mérosailles. + +"I wish some one would set me on my horse," said Osra. + +"That you may ride back to the castle--alone?" + +"Yes, unless you would relieve my brother's anxiety." + +"It would be courteous to do that much," said the Marquis. + +So they mounted, and rode back through the forest. + +In an hour the Princess had come, and in the space of something over two +hours they returned; yet during all this time they spoke hardly a word: +and although the sun was now set, yet the glow remained on the face and +in the eyes of Princess Osra; while M. de Mérosailles, being forgiven, +rode with a smile on his lips. + +But when they came to the castle, Prince Rudolf ran out to meet them, +and he cried almost before he reached them: + +"Hasten, hasten! There is not a moment to lose, if the Marquis values +life or liberty!" And when he came to them he told them that a +waiting-woman had been false to M. de Mérosailles and, after taking his +money, had hid herself in his chamber, and seen the first kiss that the +Princess gave him, and, having made some pretext to gain a holiday, had +gone to the King, who was hunting near, and betrayed the whole matter to +him. + +"And one of my gentlemen," he continued, "has ridden here to tell me. In +an hour the Guards will be here, and if the King catches you, my lord, +you will hang as sure as I live." + +The Princess turned very pale, but M. de Mérosailles said haughtily, "I +ask your pardon, sir, but the King dares not hang me. For I am a +gentleman and a subject of the King of France." + +"Man, man!" cried Rudolf. "The Lion will hang you first, and think of +all that afterwards! Come now, it is dusk. You shall dress yourself as +my groom, and I will ride to the frontier, and you shall ride behind me, +and thus you may get safe away. I cannot have you hanged over such a +trifle." + +"I would have given my life willingly for what you call a trifle, sir," +said the Marquis with a bow to Osra. + +"Then have the trifle and life too," said Rudolf derisively. "Come in +with me, and I will give you your livery!" + +When the Prince and M. de Mérosailles came out again on the drawbridge +the evening had fallen, and it was dark; their horses stood at the end +of the bridge, and by the horses stood the Princess. + +"Quick!" said she. "For a peasant who came in, bringing a load of wood, +saw a troop of men coming over the crown of the hill, and he says they +are the King's Guard." + +"Mount, man!" cried the Prince to M. de Mérosailles, who was now dressed +as a groom. "Perhaps we can get clear, or perhaps they will not dare to +stop me." + +But the Marquis hesitated a little, for he did not like to run away; but +the Princess ran a little forward and, shading her eyes with her hand, +cried, "See there! I see the gleam of steel in the dark. They have +reached the top of the hill, and are riding down." + +Then Prince Rudolf sprang on his horse, calling again to M. de +Mérosailles, "Quick, quick! Your life hangs on it!" + +Then at last the Marquis, though he was most reluctant to depart, was +about to spring on his horse, when the Princess turned and glided back +swiftly to them. And--let it be remembered that evening had fallen thick +and black--she came to her brother and put out her hand, and grasped his +hand, and said: + +"My lord, I forgive your wrong, and I thank you for your courtesy, and I +wish you farewell." + +Prince Rudolf, astonished, gazed at her without speaking. But she, +moving very quickly in spite of the darkness, ran to where M. de +Mérosailles was about to spring on his horse, and she flung one arm +lightly about his neck, and she said: + +"Farewell, dear brother, God preserve you. See that no harm comes to my +good friend, M. de Mérosailles." And she kissed him lightly on the +cheek. Then she suddenly gave a loud cry of dismay, exclaiming, "Alas, +what have I done? Ah, what have I done?" and she hid her face in her two +hands. + +Prince Rudolf burst into a loud short laugh, yet he said nothing to his +sister, but again urged the Marquis to mount his horse. And the Marquis, +who was in a sad tumult of triumph and of woe, leapt up; and they rode +out, and turning their faces towards the forest, set spurs to their +horses and vanished at a breakneck speed into the glades. And no sooner +were they gone than the troopers of the King's Guard clattered at a +canter up to the end of the bridge, where the Princess Osra stood. But +when their captain saw the Princess, he drew rein. + +"What is your errand, sir?" she asked most coldly and haughtily. + +"Madame, we are ordered to bring the Marquis de Mérosailles alive or +dead into the King's presence, and we have information that he is in the +castle, unless, indeed, he were one of the horsemen who rode away just +now." + +"The horsemen you saw were my brother the Prince and his groom," said +Osra. "But if you think that M. de Mérosailles is in the castle, pray +search the castle from keep to cellar; and if you find him, carry him to +my father, according to your orders." + +Then the troopers dismounted in great haste, and ransacked the castle +from keep to cellar; and they found the clothes of the Marquis, and the +white powder with which he had whitened his face, but the Marquis they +did not find. So the captain came again to the Princess, who still stood +at the end of the bridge, and said: + +"Madame, he is not in the castle." + +"Is he not?" said she, and turned away, and, walking to the middle of +the bridge, looked down into the water of the moat. + +"Was it in truth the Prince's groom who rode with him, madame?" asked +the captain, following her. + +"In truth, sir, it was so dark," answered the Princess, "that I could +not myself clearly distinguish the man's face." + +"One was the Prince, for I saw you embrace him, madame." + +"You do well to conclude that that was my brother," said Osra, smiling a +little. + +"And to the other, madame, you gave your hand." + +"And now I give it to you," said she with haughty insolence. "And if to +my father's servant, why not to my brother's?" And she held out her hand +that he might kiss it, and turned away from him, and looked down into +the water again. + +"But we found M. de Mérosailles's clothes in the castle!" persisted the +captain. + +"He may well have left something of his in the castle," said the +Princess. + +"I will ride after them!" cried the captain. + +"I doubt if you will catch them," smiled the Princess; for by now the +pair had been gone half an hour, and the frontier was but ten miles from +the castle, and they could not be overtaken. Yet the captain rode off +with his men, and pursued till he met Prince Rudolf returning alone, +having seen M. de Mérosailles safe on his way. And Rudolf had paid the +sum of a thousand crowns to the Marquis, so that the fugitive was well +provided for his journey, and, travelling with many relays of horses, +made good his escape from the clutches of King Henry. + +But the Princess Osra stayed a long time looking down at the water in +the moat. Sometimes she sighed, and then, again, she frowned, and, +although nobody was there, and it was very dark into the bargain, more +than once she blushed. And at last she turned to go into the castle. +But, as she went, she murmured softly to herself: + +"Why I kissed him the first time I know; it was in pity. And why I +kissed him the second time I know; it was in forgiveness. But why I +kissed him the third time, or what that kiss meant," said Osra, "heaven +knows." + +And she went in with a smile on her lips. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse. + + +"Seeing that my father Henry is dead, and that I am King; seeing also +that I am no longer a bachelor, but a married man"--and here he bowed to +Margaret of Tuscany, his newly wedded wife; "and seeing that Osra's +turned twenty years of age--why, we are all to be sober folk at Strelsau +from this day forward, and we are to play no more pranks. Here's a +pledge to it!" + +And having said this, King Rudolf III. took a deep draught of wine. + +At this moment the ushers announced that the Lord Harry Culverhouse had +come to take his leave of their Majesties and of the Princess. This +gentleman had accompanied the Embassy that came from England to +congratulate the King on his marriage, and he had stayed some months in +Strelsau, very eagerly acceding to the King's invitation to prolong his +visit. For such were his folly and headstrong passion, that he had +fallen most desperately in love with the fair face of Princess Osra, and +could not endure to live out of her presence. Yet now he came to bid +farewell, and when he was ushered in, Rudolf received him with much +graciousness, and made him a present of his own miniature set in +diamonds, while the Queen gave him her miniature set in the lid of a +golden casket. In return, Lord Harry prayed the King to accept a +richly-mounted sword, and the Queen an ivory fan, painted by the +greatest artist of France and bearing her cipher in jewels. Then he came +to Princess Osra, and she, having bidden him farewell, said: + +"I am a poor maid, my lord, and I can give no great gift, but take this +pin from my hair and keep it for my sake." + +And she drew out a golden pin from her hair, a long and sharp pin, +bearing for its head her cipher in brilliants, and she gave it to him, +smiling. + +But he, bowing low and then falling on his knee, offered her a box of +red morocco leather, and when she opened it she saw a necklace of rubies +of great splendour. The Princess flushed red, seeing that the gift was +most costly. And she would fain have refused it, and held it out again +to Lord Harry. But he turned swiftly away, and, bowing once more, +withdrew. Then the Princess said to her brother, "It is too costly." + +The King, seeing how splendid the gift was, frowned a little, and then +said: + +"He must be a man of very great wealth. They are rich in England. I am +sorry the gift is so great, but we cannot refuse it without wounding his +honour." + +So the Princess set the ruby necklace with her other jewels, and thought +for a day or two that Lord Harry was no wiser than other men, and then +forgot him. + +Now Lord Harry Culverhouse, on leaving the King's presence, had mounted +his horse, which was a fine charger and splendidly equipped, and ridden +alone out of Strelsau; for he had dismissed all his servants and +despatched them with suitable gratuities to their own country. He rode +through the afternoon, and in the evening he reached a village fifteen +miles away; here he stopped at a cottage, and an old man came out and +escorted him in. A bundle lay on the table in the little parlour of the +cottage. + +"Here are the clothes, my lord," said the old man, laying his hand on +the bundle. + +"And here are mine," answered Lord Harry. "And the horse stands ready +for you." With this he began to pull off the fine clothes in which he +had had audience of the King, and he opened the bundle and put on the +old and plain suit which it contained. Then he held out his hand to the +old man, saying, "Give me the five crowns, Solomon, and our bargain is +complete." + +Then Solomon the Jew gave him five crowns and bade him farewell, and he +placed the crowns in his purse and walked out of the cottage, possessing +nothing in the world saving his old clothes, five crowns, and the golden +pin that had fastened the ruddy hair of Princess Osra. For everything +else that he had possessed, his lands and houses in England, his horses +and carriages, his money, his clothes, and all that was his, he had +bartered with Solomon the Jew, in order that he might buy the ruby +necklace which he had given to Princess Osra. Such was the strange +madness wrought in him by her face. + +It was now late evening, and he walked to and fro all night. In the +morning he went to the shop of a barber and, in return for one of his +crowns, the barber cropped his long curls short and shaved off his +moustaches, and gave him a dye with which he stained his complexion to a +darker tint; and he made his face dirty, and soiled his hands and +roughened the skin of them by chafing them on some flints which lay by +the roadside. Then, changing a second crown, he bought a loaf of bread, +and set off to trudge to Strelsau, for in Strelsau was Osra, and he +would not be anywhere else in the world. And when he had arrived there, +he went to a sergeant of the King's Guard, and prevailed on him by a +present of three crowns to enlist him as a trooper, and this the +sergeant, having found that Lord Harry could ride and knew how to use +his sword, agreed to do. Thus Lord Harry became a trooper in the Guard +of King Rudolf, having for all his possessions, save what the King's +stores afforded him, a few pence and the golden pin that had fastened +the hair of Princess Osra. But nobody knew him, except Solomon the Jew, +and he, having made a good profit, held his peace, both then and +afterwards. + +Many a day Lord Harry mounted guard at the palace, and often he saw the +King, with the Queen, ride out and back; but they did not notice the +face of the trooper. Sometimes he saw the Princess also, but she did not +look at him, although he could not restrain himself from looking at her; +but since every man looked at her she had grown accustomed to being +gazed at and took no heed of it. But once she wore the ruby necklace, +and the breath of the trooper went quick and eager when he saw it on her +neck; and a sudden flush of colour spread over all his face, so that the +Princess, chancing to glance at him in passing, and seeing the colour +beneath and through the dye that stained him, was greatly astonished, +and she reined in her horse for an instant and looked very intently at +him; yet she rode on again in silence. + +That evening there came to the quarters of the King's Guard a +waiting-woman, who asked to see the trooper who had mounted guard at the +west gate of the palace that day; and when he came the woman held out to +him a box of red morocco leather, saying, "It is for you." + +But he answered, "It is not for me," and, turning away, left her. And +this happened on three evenings. Then, on the fourth day, it was again +his turn to mount guard at the palace; and when he had sat there on his +horse for an hour, the Princess Osra rode out from under the portico; +she rode alone and the ruby necklace was on her neck; and she said: + +"I am going to ride outside the city by the river bank. Let a trooper +follow me some way behind." And she signed with her hand to Lord Harry, +and he rode after her through the streets, and out of the Western Gate; +and they turned along the bank of the river. When they had gone three or +four miles from the city, Osra halted, and beckoned to Lord Harry to +approach her; and he came. But when she was about to speak to him and +tell him that she knew him, a sudden new madness came on him; he seized +her bridle, and dug his spurs deep into his horse's flanks, and the +horse bounded forward at a gallop. In alarm the Princess cried out, but +he did not heed her. Along the bank they galloped: and when they met any +one, which happened seldom (for the place was remote, and it was now +evening), he bade her cover her face, and she obeyed, twisting her lace +handkerchief about her face. Thus they rode till they came at nightfall +to a bluff of rock high above the stream. Here Lord Harry suddenly +checked the horses, flung himself from his saddle, and bade the Princess +dismount. She obeyed, and stood facing him, pale with fear and +apprehension, but wearing a proud and scornful air. And he cried: + +"Is it not well you should die? For you live but to madden men and drive +them to sin and folly." + +"Nay," said she, "to men of good heart beauty leads to goodness. From +yourself come the sin and folly, my lord;" and she laid hold of the ruby +necklace and broke the clasp of it, and flung it on the ground before +him. He took no heed of it, but seized her hand, and drew her to the +edge of the bluff, saying: + +"The world will be safer if I fling you down." + +Then she looked in his face, and a sudden pity entered into her heart, +and she said very gently: + +"Sit down, my lord, and let me put my hands on your brow, for I think +you are in a fever." + +He sat down, all trembling and shaking like a man with ague, and she +stripped off her gauntlets, and took his forehead between her hands; and +he lay there quiet with his head between her hands. Presently his eyes +closed, and he slept. But Osra did not know what to do, for darkness had +fallen, and she dared not leave him alone there by the river. So she sat +where she was, and in an hour, the night being fine and not cold, she +grew weary; her hands fell away from his brow, and she sank back on the +green turf, pillowing her head on a curved arm, and there she slept with +the mad lord by her and the ruby necklace lying near them. + +At midnight Lord Harry Culverhouse awoke, and saw Princess Osra sleeping +peacefully, with a smile on her lips such as decks a child's in sleep. +He rose and stood up on his feet, looking at her: and he heard nothing +but the sound of the horses cropping the grass a little way off. Then he +drew near her and gazed long on her face: and she opened her eyes and +saw him; she smiled at him, and she said: + +"Even here I am guarded by one of the gentlemen who guard me in the +palace." And she closed her eyes again and turned to sleep. + +A shiver ran through him. He dug his nails into the palms of his hands, +and, turning, walked swiftly up and down on the bluff by the side of the +river, while Osra slept. + +Presently he fell on his knees beside her, beginning to murmur in a +rapid rush of words: but he did not now curse her beauty, but blessed +God for it, and blessed Him also for the preservation of his own honour. +Thus he spent the night till day was near: then he bent over Osra, and +looked once more on her: and he took up the ruby necklace and laid it +lightly about her neck. Feeling the touch of it, cool and wet from the +dew, she again opened her eyes, and, putting her knuckles in them, she +rubbed gently; and she gasped a gentle yawn, saying: "Heigho, I am +sleepy!" and sat up. And she said: + +"Are you not sleepy, my lord?" + +"I am on watch, madame," said Lord Harry Culverhouse. + +As the Princess sat up, the ruby necklace fell from her neck into her +lap. Seeing it, she held it up to him, saying: + +"Take it again, and go to your own home. I am sure you gave too great a +price for it." + +He smiled, for she did not know how great the price was, and he asked: + +"Must I, in my turn, give back the pin that fastened your hair?" + +"No, keep the pin--it is worth nothing," she smiled. "Is it safe for me +to go to sleep a little longer?" + +"Who would harm you, madame? Even I have not harmed you." + +"You!" said she, with a little laugh. "You would not harm me." + +And she lay down again and closed her eyes. + +Then Lord Harry Culverhouse sat down on the ground, resting his chin on +his knees, and clasping his hands about his shins, and he cursed himself +bitterly not now because he meditated any harm to her--for his hot fury +was past, and he would have died before a hair of her head should be +hurt--but because of the evil that his wild and reckless madness had +brought upon her. For he knew that soon there would be a pursuit, and +that, if she and he were found there, it would become known who he was, +and her fame would suffer injurious rumours by reason of what he had +done. Therefore he made up his mind what he must next do, and he +abandoned all the dreams that had led him into the foolish adventure on +which he had embarked, and put from him the wickedness that had filled +his heart when first he carried her to the bluff over the river. He rose +on to his knees, and prayed that if his deed were a sin--for it seemed +to him to be a necessary thing--then that it might be forgiven, but +that, in any case, no hurt or harm should befall the Princess Osra by +reason of anything that he had done. Finally he commended his soul to +God. Then he took the ruby necklace in his hand and, holding it, walked +to the edge of the bluff. + +But at this instant the sound of the hoofs of a horse struck on his ear; +the sound was loud and close, and he had no more time than to turn round +before a horse was reined in suddenly by him, and a man leapt from it +and ran at him and grappled with him. And Lord Harry perceived that the +man was the King. For when Osra did not return, search parties had been +sent out; the King himself headed one, and, having the best horse and +being urged on by love and fear for his sister, he had outridden all the +rest and had chanced to come alone where Osra and Lord Harry were; and +he gripped Lord Harry furiously, cursing him for a scoundrel and +demanding what he had done to the Princess. Then Lord Harry said: + +"Do you not know me, sire? I am Harry Culverhouse." + +Greatly astonished, the King loosed his hold and fell back a pace, for +he could not understand what he heard, but yet knew the voice of his +friend. Then, looking down, he beheld Osra sleeping peacefully as a +child on the ground, with her cloak spread under her, that she might +take no harm from the damp. But Lord Harry caught him by the arm, +crying: + +"Are there others coming after you?" + +"Aye," said the King, "many others. The whole of the Guard are roused, +and seek her high and low in the city and outside. But how came you +here, man?" + +Then Lord Harry told the King what he had done, speaking very briefly +and hastily, but yet sparing nothing; and when he told him how he had +carried off the Princess, the King's hand flew to the hilt of his sword. +But Lord Harry said "Not yet," and continued to tell the King how Osra +had pitied him, how he had watched by her, and how she had slept again, +bidding him keep the pin. Then glancing at Osra, he lowered his voice +and spoke very quick and urgently, and the King held out his hand and +shook Lord Harry's hand, asking: "Is there no other way?" But Lord Harry +shook his head; then he kissed the King's hand; next he went and kissed +Osra's hand very softly, and looked for the last time on her face; and +he drew the golden pin from his purse and he put it gently and deftly +among her hair. Then taking the ruby necklace in his own hand and +clenching it tight, he said to King Rudolf: + +"Sire, there are some in the city that knew me before, but have not +known me since I have been in your Guard, because I have altered my +face. Take care that you so alter it that they do not know me again." + +The King's breath caught in his throat, for he had loved Lord Harry +Culverhouse, and he asked again: + +"Is there no other way?" + +"Hark!" said the other, "I hear the horses of your Guard drawing near; I +hear them to east and west and north; and do you not see shapes riding +there to the south, across the river? If I ride from here alive, I shall +be taken, and the truth must be known. For my sake and hers, strike, +sire." + +The King took Lord Harry Culverhouse by the arm and drew him to him, +saying: + +"Must it be so, Harry? And we have lived as friends together!" + +"The sound of the hoofs is very near, sire." + +The King drew himself up to his height, and he raised his hat from his +head, and bowed low to Lord Harry Culverhouse, and he said: + +"Now praise be to God for the restoration of this gentleman to a sound +mind, and may Christ grant him mercy for the sake of his honourable +death!" + +And he drew his sword from its sheath, and came up to Lord Harry +Culverhouse, who stood on the edge of the bluff. The King raised his +sword and struck with all his strength; the head split under the blow, +and Lord Harry Culverhouse fell dead from the bluff into the river, +holding the ruby necklace in his clenched hand. But the King shivered, +and a short sob burst from him. + +On this instant there arose an eager glad cry, and twenty of the Guard +rushed forward, greeting the King and rejoiced to see the Princess. +Roused by the noise of their coming, she sat up again, rubbing her eyes, +and cried: + +"Where is he? Where is Lord Harry?" + +And she looked round on the troopers, and they gazed on her, much +astonished at hearing what she said. But Rudolf came to her and took her +hand, saying: + +"Why, Osra, you have been dreaming! There is no Lord Harry here. Lord +Harry Culverhouse is far off in his own country. Did that rascal of a +trooper frighten you?" + +Her eyes grew wide in wonder; but before she could speak he turned to +the Guard, saying: + +"By heaven's pleasure I came in time to prevent any harm, except the +loss of a necklace my sister wore. For as I rode up, I saw a fellow +stooping down by her and fumbling with the clasp of her necklace. He was +one of your troop, and had ridden out behind her, and he must have +carried her off by force: now he was endeavouring to rob her, and as I +rode up to him he sprang away from her, holding her necklace in his +hand: but I leapt down from my horse and ran at him, and he retreated in +fear. Then I drew my sword, and drove him back to the edge of the bluff: +and then I split his skull, and he fell into the river, still holding +the necklace. But, thanks to God, the Princess is not hurt. Let search +be made for the fellow's body, for perhaps the necklace will be still in +his hand." + +But one cried, "How came they here?" + +"Ah, sister," said the King, fixing his eyes on Osra, "how came you +here?" + +Reading in the King's eyes the answer that he would have, she said: + +"The trooper compelled me to come hither with him, and he threatened to +kill me if I would not give him my necklace. But I refused: then he drew +a knife and menaced me with it, and I fell into a swoon, and knew no +more until I awoke and found you here; and now I see that my necklace is +gone." + +"Bring her horse," the King commanded, "and ride in front and behind. We +will return to the city at the best speed we may." + +Then he mounted the Princess on her horse, and rode by her side, +supporting her with his arm: and the troopers were some way off in front +and behind. But the Princess felt the pin again in her hair, and putting +up her hand she pulled it out, and she said: + +"He has given me back my pin." + +"Of whom do you speak?" asked the King. + +"Of Lord Harry Culverhouse. Is he indeed dead, Rudolf?" + +"Are you indeed still dreaming?" answered the King with a laugh. "What +had that fellow to do with Harry Culverhouse?" + +"But the pin?" she cried. + +"My wife set it in your hair, before you started, for she wished to +replace the one you gave to Lord Harry." + +"She did not touch my hair to-day!" cried the Princess. + +"Aye, but she did," said he. + +The Princess suddenly fell to sobbing; and she said: + +"Tell me the truth, tell me the truth. Surely it was in truth Lord Harry +Culverhouse?" + +Then Rudolf drew very close to her, and said softly: + +"Sweet sister, the noble gentleman whom we knew, he whom I loved, and +who loved you in chivalrous deference, went from us two months ago. Be +not troubled about him, for now all is well with him. But there was an +unhappy man with you, who was not our Harry Culverhouse, and who had +murderous and mad thoughts in his heart. Yet at the end he also died as +readily and as nobly as our dear friend himself would have died for your +sake. I pray you ask no more of him, but be contented to know that +though he died by the sword yet he died in peace and willingly. But of +our dear friend, as we knew him, think as much as you will, for the love +of an honest gentleman is a good thing to think of." + +The Princess Osra, hearing this, laid her hand in her brother's hand, +and for a long while she did not speak. Then she said: + +"But our friend will not come again, Rudolf?" + +"No, you will never see our friend again," answered the King. + +"Then when you see him--for I think you will see him once again--lay +this pin in his hand, and bid him take and keep it for the sake of the +love I bear him: perhaps he will hear you." + +"It may be, I cannot tell," said the King. + +"And if he has the necklace," said she, "pray him to give that to you, +and sell it, Rudolf, and give the value of it in gifts to the poor. Yes, +to all that are unhappy and afflicted, even as the poor man who was with +me to-night." + +"So be it, Osra," said the King, and he kissed her. But she burst again +suddenly into passionate weeping, calling God to witness that her face +was a curse to her and a curse to her friends, and praying the King to +suffer her to take the veil in a convent, that she might trouble honest +men no more. Thus he brought her in a sad plight to the palace, and gave +her into the arms of his wife, still sobbing bitterly. And he himself +took the pin, and when the body of the mad trooper was found, with his +own hand he covered the face, and put the pin in the hand from which he +took the ruby necklace: and he sold the necklace, and used the proceeds +of it as his sister had desired. + +Thus the madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse, which was bred in him by the +beauty of the Princess Osra, worked its way with him, and brought him +first into peril of great villainy, and at last to death. And his name +passed no more on the lips of any in Strelsau, nor between King Rudolf +and his sister, while the story that the King had told to the troopers +was believed by all, and none save the King knew what Lord Harry +Culverhouse had done in his madness. But Osra mourned for him, and for a +long while she would not go abroad, nor receive any of the princes or +nobles who came to the Court, but lay still sick and full of grief, +bewailing the harm that she had wrought. Yet, as time passed, she grew +again happy, for she was young, and the world was sweet to her: and +then, as King Rudolf had bidden her, she remembered Lord Harry +Culverhouse as he had been before his madness came upon him. Yet still +more did she remember how, even in his madness, he had done her no harm, +but had watched beside her through the night, and had, as morning +dawned, entreated death at the hands of the King, preferring to die +rather than that the talk of a single idle tongue should fall foully on +her name. Therefore she mourned for him with secret tears. + +But he, although no monument marked his grave, and although men spoke +only of the mad trooper who had robbed the Princess, yet slept soundly +and at peace: and his right hand lay clenched upon his heart, and in it +the golden pin that had fastened the ruddy hair of Princess Osra. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman. + + +"I am tired of men," cried Princess Osra, "and of suitors, and of +princes. I will go to Zenda and ride in the forest all alone." + +"You will meet men even there," said the King. + +"How do you know that, sire?" she asked with a smile. + +"At least I have found it impossible to avoid meeting women anywhere." + +"I do not think it is the same thing," observed Osra, smiling again. + +The King said no more, but let her go her own way; and to Zenda she +went, and rode in the forest all alone, meeting for many days no man at +all, though, perhaps, she thought a little of those whom she had met, +and (who can tell?) now and then of one whom she should some day meet. +For the mind loves to entertain itself with such idle musings, and they +are hardly conscious till a sudden smile or a beat of the heart betrays +them to the abashed thinker. Just in this manner a flush had chanced to +rise to Osra's cheek one day as she rode in a reverie, being above ten +miles from the Castle and on the very edge of the kingdom's frontier, +which skirts the extremity of the forest on the east. Breaking off her +thoughts, half ashamed of them, she looked up and saw a very fine and +powerful horse tethered to a tree a few yards away, saddled and bridled. +Then she said to herself with a sigh, "Alas, here is a man as my brother +said!" And she shook her head very sorrowfully. + +The next instant she saw, as she had foreboded, a man approaching her; +indeed, the matter was as bad as could be, for he was young and +handsome, finely dressed, carrying a good sword by his side and a brace +of pistols mounted in silver in his belt. He held a feathered hat in his +hand, and, advancing with a deep bow, knelt on one knee by the +Princess's horse, saying: + +"Madame, if you will, you can do me a great service." + +"If it be in my power, sir," she answered--for since fate compelled her +to meet a man, she would not show him rudeness--"I am at your service." + +"You see my horse there, madame? He is as dear as my life to me; and I +fear I shall lose him, unless I have your aid," and he rose and stood +looking at the Princess. + +"Why, what threatens him?" she asked. + +"I will tell you, madame. I come from across the frontier, from a +secluded village nearly ten miles from here. There I live with my +mother, whom I support. There is a rich fellow there, a farmer, Otho by +name, who is, saving your presence, a plaguey boastful fellow. And he is +to-day to be betrothed." + +"Do you also love the lady?" asked Osra, thinking she had come at the +cause of his trouble. + +"Not I, madame. But this Otho boasted and vaunted so intolerably of her +beauty, and of his own prowess and attraction, that last night I, led +away by emulation (nay, I am ashamed to say that I had also drunk +a flask of wine) wagered with him my horse against a thousand +crowns--though the horse is worth two thousand--that I would bring with +me to the feast a girl handsomer than his Lotta. But now it is eleven +o'clock, and the feast is at one o'clock, and I have no girl to show, +ugly or handsome. And if I lose my horse I must hang myself, for I +cannot live without him." + +"You cannot live without your horse?" she asked in surprise. + +"At least, madame," he answered in some confusion, "his loss would go +near to breaking my heart." + +"But is this Lotta so handsome that you can find none to surpass her?" + +"She is, indeed, wonderfully handsome. In the village they call her the +most beautiful girl in the world." + +"Then, sir, it seems to me that your wager was most improvident and +rash. For you are certain to lose it." + +"Alas, yes!" he answered in great distress. "I am certain to lose; for +there are, I think, only two ladies in the world who could save me, and +one would not." + +"Two ladies? Who are they?" + +"Madame," said he, "before you came in sight, I sat desolate and +despairing on the ground, and what I said to myself was, 'If what men +say is true, there is only one lady who could save me. But how shall I, +poor Christian Hantz, come at the Princess Osra? And would she put on a +country girl's dress and go to the feast with me? Alas, it is +impossible! And there is no other lady in the world beautiful enough.' +But then----" + +"Well, sir, what then?" asked Osra, playing with her whip and smothering +a smile. + +"Then, madame," said Christian, "I looked up and I saw you, and I cried, +'A fig for the Princess Osra! For here is a lady more beautiful than all +they tell of Princess Osra; I will throw myself at her feet and pray her +in pity to help me.'" + +Still Osra hid her smile, and so busy was she with this task that she +did not perceive that Christian also hid a smile; but she thought that +he did not know her, whereas he had seen her several times, and had this +day tracked her in the forest, knowing that she was accustomed to ride +there. + +"But where," she asked, "would the lady who went with you get the dress +you speak of?" + +"At my mother's cottage, madame, where my mother would wait on her." + +"And when could she be back at this spot?" + +"By five in the afternoon, madame. I would myself escort her." + +"And why, sir, should she rescue you from the straits into which your +folly has led you?" + +"Alas, madame, for no reason, unless, by a divine miracle, she should +prove as kind as she is beautiful." + +"You have a rash tongue, sir, in other matters than the making of +wagers." And she looked at him. For she was very sorely tempted to do +what he prayed of her; and she said: + +"Has the Princess Osra ever ridden through your village?" + +"Never, madame." + +"But some there may know her face, and then they will think nothing of +mine." + +"It is unlikely that any one there should have seen even a picture of +her, for they are quiet folk and do not go abroad." + +"Besides, in a peasant's dress--" began Osra meditatively. But she +stopped, blushing and laughing. And Christian caught her hand and kissed +it, crying: + +"For heaven's sake, come, madame!" + +He was so earnest, and his earnestness so became his bronzed face and +bright eyes, that Osra could not deny him, but she swore him to secrecy, +and agreed to ride with him, blaming herself all the while very greatly, +and blaming yet more that Fate which would not allow her to be quit of +the troublesome race of men even in the recesses of the forest of Zenda. + +Turning their horses, therefore, towards the frontier, they set them at +a smart canter, for there was little time to lose if they were to come +to the feast by one o'clock; and shortly before noon, having struck a +bye-path through the trees, they came on a small cottage that stood +apart and by itself; and a hill rose from it. + +"On the other side of the hill lies the village, madame," said +Christian, jumping from his horse. "And this is my cottage. Hallo, +there, mother!" + +An old woman came out, neatly and cleanly clad. Christian ran up to her, +spoke to her briefly, and brought her to Osra. The worthy dame, +bewildered by the appearance and stately air of the Princess, did +nothing but curtsey and murmur incoherent thanks, but Osra, now caught +by the excitement of the enterprise, clapped her hands, crying: + +"Quick, quick, or we shall be too late!" + +So Christian lifted her down and led away the horses to a shed behind +the cottage. But the old woman led Osra in, and took her to the bedroom, +where lay a dress such as the peasant girls wore. Osra took up the +skirt, and looked at it curiously. + +"Must I indeed wear this?" she asked. "And I am somewhat tall, mother!" + +The old woman said that nothing would serve save the dress, and Osra +sighed. Yet as there was no help for it, she suffered the old woman to +help her in getting it on. + +So the door was shut, and Christian sat smiling in the sun outside, well +pleased at the success of his audacious scheme, and feeling Otho's +crowns already in his pocket. + +Still less did he doubt of this most desirable result when the door of +the cottage again opened and Osra came out, blushing, and yet biting her +lips to keep back her laughter. Her hair was plaited in two long plaits; +she wore a white bodice, and over it a jacket of black velvet, and a red +skirt hung full from her waist to but a very little below her knee; then +came hose of red also--for it was a holiday, and the best of all was +worn--and stout square-toed shoes. Osra in her heart loved all except +the shoes, yet she declared that she loathed all except the shoes. And +Christian, with eyes cast most demurely on the ground, prayed her to +forgive the sad necessity, yet assured her that Lotta would die of envy +that very day. + +"Let us go then," said Osra. "For the sooner we go, the sooner will it +be done, and I can get rid of these ridiculous clothes. Heaven have +mercy on me and grant that I may meet none who know me!" + +They were mounting the hill now, the old woman standing at the cottage +door and watching. When they reached the top Osra saw a small village +nestling in the valley below, and the sound of music struck on her ear. +At this a sudden fear seized her, and putting out her hand she caught +Christian by the sleeve, saying: + +"Will they know me?" + +"Not they, madame," said he. But as he spoke his eyes fell on a ring +that the Princess wore, a gem engraved with the Royal Arms. "Not they, +if you conceal that ring;" and for a moment he looked in her face, and +he smiled. + +Osra uttered a little cry, as she hastily plucked the ring from her +finger, and gave it to him, saying: + +"Keep it safe, and do not forget to give it me again." + +But she would not meet his glance, for she began from now to suspect +that he knew who she was. + +The sound of music came from a solid square-built house that stood on +the outskirts of the village, and coming nearer they saw a long table +spread in the shade near the house, and a company of men and women +seated at it. The Princess was somewhat comforted to find that the +girls' dresses were in all respects like her own, though hers seemed +newer and more handsome; therefore she took courage, and put her arm +inside Christian's arm, saying: + +"Since I have accepted the part, I will play it. Come, sir, let us go +and challenge Lotta. Your horse is at stake!" + +"He is in no danger," said Christian, "and I am worth a thousand +crowns." And his eyes most plainly added the reason which led him to +these comfortable conclusions. + +Now at this moment Otho, having toasted the company and accepted their +good wishes, was standing up before them all, Lotta standing by him, her +hand in his; and he vowed (as was but right) all manner of love and +devotion to her, and declared that she was the prettiest girl in the +world; in truth she was very pretty, being, although low of stature, +most admirably formed, having golden hair, the pinkest of cheeks and +large blue eyes that followed a man about in a most appealing and +distracting manner. So that Otho had good reason to be content, and +would have come to no harm, had it not been for that old extravagance of +lovers which will not allow this world to hold more than one pretty +girl--the truth being, of course, quite otherwise. But, led on by this +infatuation, Otho cried: + +"I dare any man to find so pretty a girl! As for Master Christian whose +wager you heard--why, this evening his fine horse shall feed in my +stable!" + +"Softly, friend Otho, softly," came to the ears of the feasters from +behind the trees. "Mistress Lotta is very pretty, but I have here a girl +whom some think handsome. Well, this worthy company shall judge." And +Christian came from the shelter of the trees leading Osra by the hand, +and he set her opposite to Lotta, where all could see her. And all +looked and beheld her with amazement. But none spoke. So they rested for +a long while, Christian smiling and Osra's eyes being set on Lotta, +while Otho did nothing but gaze at Osra. + +Presently a low murmur began to run along the table. "Who is she?" asked +some one, but none could answer. "Who is she?" called an old man to +Christian, but he answered, "What's that to you? Is she not fairer?" And +when the others asked whence she came, he made the same answer. But one +young fellow leant from his place and plucked Christian's sleeve, +saying, "Is she promised to you?" and at this Christian frowned, +answering, "At least she is not for you," while Osra, overhearing, +blushed mightily. Then Otho, still saying nothing, suddenly lugged out a +great purse of money, and flung it violently into the middle of the +table with a curse, and Christian with a mocking lift of his hat, came +forward, and, taking it, tossed it up and down in his hand, crying, "Is +it fair weight, neighbour Otho?" Otho did not heed him, but turned +suddenly to Lotta and put his arm round her waist, saying: + +"Aye, it is true. The devil must have sent her, but it is true. Yet you +are pretty too, my lass." For Lotta, after looking at all the company +and at Osra, had been so sorely wounded in her pride and robbed of her +triumph, that, poor child, she had begun to weep, hiding her face in her +hands, and Otho was trying to comfort her, though, lover as he was, he +could not for the life of him declare that she was more beautiful than +the girl whom Christian had brought. And they all moved from their +places and came to stand round Osra. But she, after a moment, caught +from Christian the bag that he tossed so exultantly, crying to him: +"I'll be your debtor for it;" and bursting through the ring, she ran +round the table and came to Lotta, and, pulling the girl's hands down +from her face, she thrust the bag into her hands, and began to talk to +her, whispering low, and looking into her frightened eyes with shining +eyes. + +"Ah, my dear," said Osra, "see, he still loves you, dear. Ah, why did I +come? But I am going away, yes, now, and I shall never come here again. +I do harm wherever I go! Yes, but you'll be the prettiest girl in the +village always! Otho, Otho, kiss her, Otho! Tell her that you love her, +Otho. Don't stand there dumb. Oh, how stupid men are! Don't you see what +she wants? Yes, do it again. I never saw anybody so pretty, Otho. Yes, +yes, dear, keep the bag. It's from me; you must keep it, and buy pretty +clothes and be prettier than ever, for Otho's sake, because he loves +you." + +By the time the Princess Osra had ended her consolations, behold she was +very nearly crying herself! But Lotta put her arms round the Princess's +neck and kissed her, because she said that Otho still loved her; and in +her gratitude for this, she forgot thanks for the bag of crowns, or even +to wonder who this girl was that could give away a thousand crowns. But +in this the rest of the company were not like her, and an eager +murmuring marked the excitement with which they watched the scene; and +they cried to Christian: + +"Look after your crowns;" and thought him mad when he shook his head +jauntily, answering: + +"Let Otho do what he will with them." + +Then, their interest growing more and more intense, they crowded round +the Princess, scanning her very closely; and she was in great fear that +she would be known, and also in some embarrassment from the ardent +glances and free comments of the simple countrymen, who were accustomed +to say what they thought with more plainness than were the gentlemen of +the Court. So that at length, fairly alarmed, she gave Lotta a last +hasty kiss, and made her way to Christian, crying: "Take me away." + +"Aye, madame," said he, and he put her arm in his and turned away. But +all the company followed him, staring and gossiping and crowding, so +that Lotta and Otho were left alone at the feast which Otho had +provided, with nothing to console them but one another's love and the +happily recovered thousand crowns. And the crowd pressed hard on Osra +and Christian, being full of eagerness to see where the girl went and +what became of her. Thus they reached the top of the hill and came in +sight of Christian's cottage. But now Christian suddenly loosed Osra's +arm and, turning round, faced the throng of inquisitive folk; with +either hand he drew a silver-mounted pistol from his belt; and when he +had cocked the pair, he pointed them at his friends and neighbours, +saying in a quiet and pleasant voice: "I shall count to twenty. Any one +who means to be within range when I come to twenty had best now order +his coffin." + +[Illustration: "WITH EITHER HAND HE DREW A SILVER-MOUNTED +PISTOL."--_Page 114._] + +At this a great grumbling arose among them; yet they knew Christian, and +did not wait till he had counted, but one and all turned tail and ran +down the hill much quicker than they had come up. But one or two +fellows, resentful and malicious because of their disappointment, as +soon as they found themselves out of range, turned round and shouted: + +"Aye, he is ready with his pistol, is Christian. We know him. +Highwayman! Whom did you last rob?" And Christian went red as the frock +that Osra wore. But she turned questioning eyes on him. + +"Yes," said he sullenly. "They say highwayman; it is true. I am a +robber. That is why I said, madame, that I could not live without my +horse." + +"Come," said Osra, "let us go to the cottage." + +So they returned together to the cottage, saying nothing. There Osra put +on her own clothes again, and having bidden farewell to the old woman +who asked no questions of her, mounted her horse. Then Christian said: + +"Shall I ride with you, madame?" + +She bowed her head in assent. + +Till they entered the forest the Princess did not speak. But then she +sighed, saying: + +"I am sorry that I went with you. For if you had lost your horse maybe +you would have ceased from your way of life. It is better to lose a +horse than to be hanged." + +"Madame," said he, "you speak prudently. Yet I had rather be hanged than +lose him." + +"I am in your debt a thousand crowns," said she, and, stopping her +horse, she wrote for him an order for a thousand crowns, and she signed +it with her own name, Osra, and gave it to him. He received it bowing +very low. + +"You knew me all the time?" she asked. + +"Yes, madame," said he. They had now come to where he had first met her. + +"Why do you live by robbery?" she asked. + +"For the love of the same thing that made you come with me to-day, +madame." + +"But could you not find what you love in the King's service?" + +"I do not like service, madame," said Christian. "I love to be free." + +She paused for a moment, and then said in a lower tone: + +"Could you not endure my service, sir?" + +"In that I shall now live and die, madame," said he, and she felt his +eyes upon her. + +Again in silence they rode on; it was evening now, and had grown dark, +and presently the lantern in the tower of the keep of Zenda became +visible. Then Osra drew rein. + +"For my sake," said she, "rob no more." + +"What you command, madame, is my law. And here is your ring." + +"Keep the ring," she said. "But when I can serve you, you shall send it +back to me, and ask what you will in return for it." + +"There is nothing," said he, very low, and looking away from her, "that +I would take in exchange for it." + +"A foolish man or only a foolish speech?" she asked as lightly as she +could, with one fleeting glance at his face. + +"A foolish man, madame, it may be, but a true speech," and he bent +bareheaded in his saddle and raised her hand to his lips. And, still +bareheaded, he turned away and rode back at a canter into the forest. +But the Princess Osra rode on to the Castle, wondering greatly at what +she had done that day. + +Yet she could not be very sorry that she had saved his horse for him, +and she trusted that Otho and Lotta would be happy, and she thought that +one man was, after all, as good flesh and blood as another, and then +that she was a Princess and he a robber, and that his eyes had been over +bold. Yet there was deference in them also. + +"It is a great pity that he should be a robber," sighed the Princess, as +she reached the Castle. + + * * * * * + +The Princess Osra's carriage was within two miles of Strelsau when she +put her head out of the window and asked the officer who rode by the +wheel why such a throng of people hastened to the city. + +[Illustration: "SHE ASKED THE OFFICER WHY A THRONG OF PEOPLE HASTENED TO +THE CITY."--_Page 118._] + +"It is nothing, madame," answered he, saluting. "It is only that two +rogues are to be hanged to-day." + +"What pleasure is there in seeing men hanged?" asked Osra scornfully. "I +wish I had not come to-day." And she drew her head back in disgust. Then +she called: "Go slowly, and do not let me get into the middle of the +wild beasts who go to gloat over men being hanged." + +So the horses were checked to a walk, and thus the carriage proceeded +slowly towards Strelsau. But presently the Princess put her head out of +the window again and asked: + +"Who are to be hanged to-day, sir?" + +"The noted highwayman, Sigismund Kohl, madame," said the officer. "He +robbed the Archbishop's coach in the forest of Zenda; but they pursued +him over the frontier and tracked him to the cottage of the other rogue, +who had a part in many previous robberies, though not in this. The +second fellow hid Kohl, and tried to put off the officers, but they +caught them both, and both are to be hanged." + +"It seems hard," said Osra, "to hang the one who only sheltered his +friend. He could do no less." + +"Nay, madame, he richly deserves it. Besides his previous robberies, he +is gravely suspected of a most foul murder. For a few weeks ago he was +in company with a girl, and she seemed to have money and to spare, and +was mighty pretty too, they say. Now he can give no account of what has +become of her; but they have found all the clothes she wore hidden away +in his house, and he says his mother bought the clothes. But they are a +girl's clothes, not an old woman's. It looks black; but luckily the +other matter is enough to hang him on. His mother's clothes, in faith! +Would an old woman, who died three weeks ago, have bought a new red +frock and smart red stockings for herself?" + +"A red frock? Red stockings? And the mother is dead? Dead of what?" + +"Of a chill, madame, such as carries old people off suddenly. Yes, it +looks black, and so the people think, for when the pair were brought +into the city, though the rascals cheered Kohl who had only robbed the +Archbishop, they pelted and came near to killing Christian Hantz." + +The Princess's face went pale, and she sank back, murmuring "Christian +Hantz!" But in another moment she cried: + +"At what hour is the hanging?" + +"At noon, madame; that is, half an hour from now." + +Then the Princess cried in a loud urgent tone: + +"Faster, faster! Drive at top speed!" The officers looked at her in +wonder; but she cried: "A hundred crowns to the coachman if he brings me +to the place before noon! Quick, quick!" For she was all on fire at the +thought that Christian Hantz was to be hanged, not for any new robbery +but because he had sheltered his friend. And she knew how the red skirt +and the red stockings came in his house; her breath caught in her +throat, as she thought how he had suffered stoning and execration rather +than betray her secret. And she cried out to herself as she was carried +along, "But the ring! Why did he not send the ring?" + +By now they were at the gates of the city, and now within them. The +officer and the two men who were with him rode forward to clear the road +for the Princess. Thus they made their way on, until they came to the +street which leads from the West Gate to the Cathedral, and could see +the gibbet that had been raised before the prison, between the Cathedral +and the Palace. But here the whole street was blocked with people, and +the officer could not get the carriage through, for the folk were thick +as swarming bees all across the roadway, and even if they would have +moved, they could not; so the carriage came to a dead stand, while the +officer said to Princess Osra: + +"Madame, it is useless, we cannot get through them." Osra sprang from +the carriage, and she said: + +"You have two men with you, sir. For God's sake, gentlemen, bring me +through to the foot of the scaffold. I care not if it costs me my life." + +"Nor we, madame, though it costs us ours, since it is your pleasure," +they said, as every man in the city would have said for the Princess +Osra. And the two men went ahead, while Osra followed with the officer; +and pushing and struggling, and dodging in and out, aye, and when need +was, hitting, and buffeting, and kicking, the three took her through +into the square of the Cathedral. And the clock in the great tower +struck noon. + +As the bell boomed a cry went up from the thronged square; the body of a +man shot from the scaffold to the top of the gibbet and hung there. The +people cried aloud, some cheering, some also groaning and weeping. + +"Who is it, who is it?" asked the Princess. + +"It is Sigismund Kohl, madame," said the officer. + +"Then on, on, on!" she commanded, and again they struggled forward. Now +a louder and fiercer cry rang out as a man was brought forward on the +scaffold, in his shirt and breeches. A priest was with him, holding a +crucifix before his eyes. King Rudolf, who sat at a window of his +palace, asked why they delayed to string the rascal up; and one of his +gentlemen answered: + +"Sire, the priest begged a few minutes' delay. For the obstinate rogue +will not confess to the murder of the girl, and therefore cannot receive +absolution, and the priest is loth to have him hanged without it." + +"He shall be hanged without it, unless his conscience act quickly," said +the King. But a moment later, he asked: + +"What is the tumult in the corner of the square? There is a fight there. +Let it be seen to." + +Indeed there was a fight; for the three with Osra were bent on getting +through, and the crowd would not let them through; and they struck at +the crowd, and the crowd at them. But suddenly some one, peering past +the Guards, exclaimed: "The Princess Osra, the Princess!" Then the blows +ceased, and the crowd began slowly to give back, making way for Osra. +And she walked between walls of people, yet did not seem to see or to +take heed of any of them; her eyes were glued to the man on the +scaffold. For even now the priest, who had held the crucifix, turned +sorrowfully away, and signed with his hand to the hangman. + +Again the people shouted fiercely for Christian's death; and he, +stepping forward, gave himself into the executioner's hands. Those who +were near him saw that there was a smile on his lips, and, as the +hangman took hold of him, he kissed a little packet which he held in his +right hand. But the people shrieked loudly: "Murderer, murderer! Where +is the girl?" At this, stung beyond endurance, Christian cried, so +loudly that his voice rose above the clamour: + +"I am no murderer, I did not touch a hair of her head." + +"Then where is she, where is she?" they shouted. + +"I do not know," said he; and he added in a low tone, kissing his little +packet again: "Wherever she is, God in his graciousness send her joy." +And he turned to the executioner, saying, "Get on, man." But then he +looked as it were for the last time on the living sea of faces round +him, and suddenly, out of all of them, he saw one. + +What Christian saw the King saw also, and he rose from his chair with an +oath and a laugh. + +"This sister of mine is a wonderful wench," said he. "Come, let us see +why she will not have this rascal hanged. Run, some one, and tell them +not to string him up till I give the word." + +The King walked out of the palace and came into the square, the Guard +parting the people before him; and Osra, seeing him coming, stood now +quite still, blushing and smiling, although she was very ashamed and +panted sorely. + +Then the King came and faced her, saying nothing, but lifting his +eyebrows and smiling whimsically; but at last he whispered: + +"What, was there a man in the forest, Osra?" + +And she answered: "Do not ask me that, sire, but ask Christian Hantz +what is in the packet which he kissed as the hangman took hold of him." + +"He is not only a robber, but a murderer also, though he will not own to +it." + +"No, he is no murderer," said she. "Look in the packet." + +"Then come and look with me," said the King, and taking her hand he led +her up on to the scaffold in the sight of all the people, who wondered +and laughed; for they always laughed at the ways of the Princess Osra. +But she flew straight across to Christian, who fell on one knee with the +rope round his neck. + +"Give me the packet," she cried, and she tore it open. And in it she +found her order for a thousand crowns and the gem engraved with the +Royal Arms. For an instant she looked at Christian, and then she said: + +"You have not got money for the order? Yet my name is good for a +thousand crowns." + +"To me, madame, it was better than fifty thousand." + +"But," she broke out eagerly; "you should have sent the ring. I could +have saved you." + +"But you would have kept it in return for the service, madame." + +"Aye, sir, that was the bargain," said Osra, with a little low laugh. + +"I knew it. And I preferred to die with it rather than live without it." + +"Another foolish speech!" + +"Yes, for the man is foolish, madame." + +"And they cry to you, 'Where is the girl?' And you do not answer, but +die under a foul charge!" + +To this Christian Hantz made no answer at all, unless it were one to +murmur mournfully: + +"And, madame, they have taken from me the red skirt and----" + +The Princess Osra suddenly turned from him, and went to the King, who +had stood regarding her; and she knelt down before him, saying: + +"Sire and dear brother, pardon this man. He did but shelter his friend, +and he will rob no more." + +"I might forgive him his robberies, if he would take service in my +army." + +"Yes, in my regiment of Guards!" she cried. + +"But how shall I forgive that foul murder, of which he is certainly +guilty? For where, sister, is the pretty girl, of whom no traces can be +found saving her dress, her red skirt, and----?" + +"Sire, these things--I pray you, sire, let your gentlemen stand back a +little." + +"Stand back, then, gentlemen," said the King. + +"These things, sire, were, by a strange chance, in the little parcel +that the poor man kissed. Though why he kissed it, I do not know." + +The King took Osra's order for a thousand crowns, and also the gem +engraved with the Royal Arms; he looked at them and at his sister. + +"Therefore, sire," said she, "I ask life and pardon for the most +courteous gentleman in your dominions. For he prized my ring above his +life and my secret above his honour. Sire, such men should live and not +die." + +The King turned to his officers, and said: + +"Gentlemen, the Princess knows that the girl is alive and well and has +no complaint against this man. For he might not in honour tell who or +where she was. And, for the rest, he did but shelter his friend, and my +sister is surety that he will rob no more. May he live?" + +When they heard this, they all declared that Christian should live, and +they went into the crowd and told the people that the girl was found. +Then the people suddenly veered round and began to cheer Christian, and +some cried, "Who is the girl?" and laughed merrily, conceiving that it +was a love affair on which Christian had been engaged; and because he +preferred to die under an imputation of murder rather than endanger his +love's reputation, he became a hero with them; and when they heard he +was not to die, they dispersed in the utmost good temper, cheering him +and the King, and above all the Princess Osra, whom they loved. + +But she went again to Christian, and bade the hangman take the rope off +his neck. + +"Will you serve in my regiment of Guards, sir?" she asked. "Or is +service still irksome to you?" + +"I will serve you, madame," said Christian. + +"And since you will need equipment, get money for this order," and she +gave him again the order. + +"I must needs obey you, madame, though reluctantly." + +"It is well, sir. I trust you will serve me faithfully. I bid you +farewell, sir," and she bowed slightly, and turned as if to leave him. +And he said nothing, but stood looking at her, so that presently she +blushed, saying: + +"They will let you have those things now, sir." + +Christian bowed very low, and, raising himself again, looked at her +ring. + +"Nay, I cannot do that," said Princess Osra. "But you will see it now +and then, and, now and then, maybe, you can touch it." And she put the +ring on her finger and held out her hand to him. He knelt and kissed the +ring and then her hand; but he looked very glum. And the Princess +laughed openly at him, her eyes dancing in delight and amusement. But he +still looked more as though he were going to be hanged than he had any +time before in the day. So that the King, pointing at him, said to Osra: + +"An ungrateful dog! Upon my soul he looks as though he were sorry not to +be hanged! Do you call that courtesy?" + +But the Princess laughed softly and rubbed the ring on her finger, as +she answered: + +"Aye, sire, I call that the best of courtesy." + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. + + +In the days of Rudolf III. there stood on the hill opposite the Castle +of Zenda, and on the other side of the valley in which the town lies, on +the site where the _château_ of Tarlenheim now is situated, a fine and +strong castle belonging to Count Nikolas of Festenburg. He was a noble +of very old and high family, and had great estates; his house being, +indeed, second only to the Royal House in rank and reputation. He +himself was a young man of great accomplishments, of a domineering +temper, and of much ambition; and he had gained distinction in the wars +that marked the closing years of the reign of King Henry the Lion. With +King Rudolf he was not on terms of cordial friendship, for he despised +the King's easy manners and carelessness of dignity, while the King had +no love for a gentleman whose one object seemed to be to surpass and +outshine him in the eyes of his people, and who never rested from +extending and fortifying his castle until it threatened to surpass Zenda +itself both in strength and magnificence. Moreover Nikolas, although +maintaining a state ample and suitable to his rank, was yet careful and +prudent, while Rudolf spent all that he received and more besides, so +that the Count grew richer and the King poorer. But in spite of these +causes of difference, the Count was received at Court with apparent +graciousness, and no open outburst of enmity had yet occurred, the pair +being, on the contrary, often together, and sharing their sports and +pastimes with one another. + +Now most of these diversions were harmless, or, indeed, becoming and +proper, but there was one among them full of danger to a man of hot head +and ungoverned impulse such as King Rudolf was. And this one was +diceing, in which the King took great delight, and in which the Count +Nikolas was very ready to encourage him. The King, who was generous and +hated to win from poor men or those who might be playing beyond their +means in order to give him pleasure, was delighted to find an opponent +whose purse was as long or longer than his own, and thus gradually came +to pass many evenings with the boxes in Nikolas's company. And the more +evenings he passed the deeper he fell into the Count's debt; for the +King drank wine, while the Count was content with small beer, and when +the King was losing he doubled his stakes, whereas the Count took in +sail if the wind seemed adverse. Thus always and steadily the debt grew, +till at last Rudolf dared not reckon how large it had become, nor did he +dare to disclose it to his advisers. For there were great public burdens +already imposed by reason of King Henry's wars, and the citizens of +Strelsau were not in a mood to bear fresh exaction, nor to give their +hard earnings for the payment of the King's gambling debts; in fine, +although they loved the Elphbergs well enough, they loved their money +more. Thus the King had no resource except in his private possessions, +and these were of no great value, saving the Castle and estate of Zenda. + +At length, when they had sat late one night and the throws had gone all +the evening against the King and for Nikolas, the King flung himself +back in his chair, drained his glass, and said impatiently: + +"I am weary of the game! Come, my lord, let us end it." + +"I would not urge you, sire, a moment beyond what you desire. I play but +for your pleasure." + +"Then my pleasure has been your profit," said the King with a vexed +laugh, "for I believe I am stripped of my last crown. What is my debt?" + +The Count, who had the whole sum reckoned on his tablets, took them out, +and shewed the King the amount of the debt. + +"I cannot pay it," said Rudolf. "I would play you again, to double the +debt or wipe it out, but I have nothing of value enough to stake." + +The desire which had been nursed for long in the Count's heart now saw +the moment of its possible realisation. + +He leant over the table, and, smoothing his beard with his hand, said +gently: + +"The amount is no more than half the value of your Majesty's Castle and +demesne of Zenda." + +The King started and forced a laugh. + +"Aye, Zenda spoils the prospect from Festenburg, does it?" said he. "But +I will not risk Zenda. An Elphberg without Zenda would seem like a man +robbed of his wife. We have had it since we have had anything or been +anything. I should not seem King without it." + +"As you will, sire. Then the debt stands?" He looked full and keenly +into the King's eyes, asking without words, "How will you pay it?" and +adding without words, "Paid it must be." And the King read the unspoken +words in the eyes of Count Nikolas. + +The King took up his glass, but finding it empty flung it angrily on the +floor, where it shivered into fragments at Count Nikolas's feet; and he +shifted in his chair and cursed softly under his breath. Nikolas sat +with the dice-box in his hand and a smile on his lips; for he knew that +the King could not pay, and therefore must play, and he was in the vein, +and did not doubt of winning from the King Zenda and its demesne. Then +he would be the greatest lord in the kingdom, and hold for his own a +kingdom within the kingdom, and the two strongest places in all the +land. And a greater prize might then dangle in reach of his grasp. + +"The devil spurs and I gallop," said the King at last. And he took up +the dice-box and rattled it. + +"Fortune will smile on you this time, sire, and I shall not grieve at +it," said Count Nikolas with a courteous smile. + +"Curses on her!" cried the King. "Come, my lord, a quick ending to it! +One throw, and I am a free man, or you are master of my castle." + +"One throw let it be, sire, for it grows late," assented Nikolas with a +careless air; and they both raised the boxes and rattled the dice inside +them. The King threw; his throw was a six and a five, and a sudden gleam +of hope lit up his eyes; he leant forward in his chair, gripping the +elbows of it with his hands; his cheeks flushed and his breath came +quickly. With a bow Count Nikolas raised his hand and threw. The dice +fell and rolled on the table. The King sank back; and the Count said +with a smile of apology and a shrug of his shoulders: + +"Indeed I am ashamed. For I cannot be denied to-night." + +For Count Nikolas of Festenburg had thrown sixes, and thereby won from +the King the Castle and demesne of Zenda. + +He rose from his chair, and, having buckled on his sword that had lain +on the table by him, and taking his hat in his hand, stood looking down +on the King with a malicious smile on his face. And he said with a look +that had more mockery than respect in it: + +"Have I your Majesty's leave to withdraw? For ere day dawn, I have +matters to transact in Strelsau, and I would be at my Castle of Zenda +to-night." + +Then King Rudolf took a sheet of paper and wrote an order that the +Castle, and all that was in it, and all the demesne should be +surrendered to Count Nikolas of Festenburg on his demand, and he gave +the paper to Nikolas. Then he rose up and held out his hand, which +Nikolas kissed, smiling covertly, and the King said with grace and +dignity: + +"Cousin, my Castle has found a more worthy master. God give you joy of +it." + +And he motioned with his hand to be left alone. Then, when the Count had +gone, he sat down in his chair again, and remained there till it was +full day, neither moving nor yet sleeping. There he was found by his +gentlemen when they came to dress him, but none asked him what had +passed. + +Count Nikolas, now Lord of Zenda, did not so waste time, and the matters +that he had spoken of did not keep him long in Strelsau; but in the +early morning he rode out, the paper which the King had written in his +belt. + +First he rode with all speed to his own house of Festenburg, and there +he gathered together all his followers, servants, foresters, and armed +retainers, and he told them that they were to ride with him to Zenda, +for that Zenda was now his and not the King's. At this they were greatly +astonished, but they ate the fine dinner and drank the wine which he +provided, and in the evening they rode down the hill very merry, and +trotted, nearly a hundred strong, through the town, making a great +noise, so that they disturbed the Bishop of Modenstein, who was lying +that night at the inn in the course of a journey from his See to the +Capital; but nobody could tell the Bishop why they rode to Zenda, and +presently the Bishop, being wearied with travelling, went to his bed. + +Now King Rudolf, in his chagrin and dismay, had himself forgotten, or +had at least neglected to warn the Count of Festenburg, that his sister +Princess Osra was residing at the Castle of Zenda; for it was her +favourite resort, and she often retired from the Court and spent many +days there alone. There she was now with two of her ladies, a small +retinue of servants, and no more than half a dozen Guards; and when +Count Nikolas came to the gate, it being then after nine, she had gone +to her own chamber, and sat before the mirror, dressed in a loose white +gown, with her ruddy hair unbound and floating over her shoulders. She +was reading an old story book, containing tales of Helen of Troy, of +Cleopatra, of Berenice, and other lovely ladies, very elegantly related +and embellished with fine pictures. And the Princess, being very much +absorbed in the stories, did not hear nor notice the arrival of the +Count's company, but continued to read, while Nikolas roused the +watchmen, and the bridge was let down, and the steward summoned. Then +Nikolas took the steward aside, and shewed him the King's order, bearing +the King's seal, and the steward, although both greatly astonished and +greatly grieved, could not deny the letter or the seal, but declared +himself ready to obey and to surrender the Castle; and the sergeant in +command of the Guard said the same; but, they added, since the Princess +was in the Castle, they must inform her of the matter, and take her +commands. + +"Aye, do," said Nikolas, sitting down in the great hall. "Tell her not +to be disturbed, but to give me the honour of being her host for as long +as she will, and say that I will wait on her, if it be her pleasure." + +But he smiled to think of the anger and scorn with which Osra would +receive the tidings when the steward delivered them to her. + +In this respect the event did not fall short of his expectations, for +she was so indignant and aghast that, thinking of nothing but the +tidings, she flung away the book and cried: "Send the Count here to me," +and stood waiting for him there in her chamber, in her white gown and +with her hair unbound and flowing down over her shoulders. And when he +came she cried: "What is this, my lord?" and listened to his story with +parted lips and flashing eyes, and thus read the King's letter and saw +the King's seal. And her eyes filled with tears, but she dashed them +away with her hand. Then the Count said, bowing to her as mockingly as +he had bowed to her brother: + +"It is the fortune of the dice, madame." + +"Yes, my lord, as you play the game," said she. + +His eyes were fixed on her, and it seemed to him that she was more +beautiful in her white gown and with her hair unbound over her +shoulders, than he had ever felt her to be before, and he eyed her +closely. Suddenly she looked at him, and for a moment he averted his +eyes; but he looked again and her eyes met his. For several moments she +stood rigid and motionless. Then she said: + +"My lord, the King has lost the Castle of Zenda, which is the home and +cradle of our House. It was scarcely the King's alone to lose. Have I no +title in it?" + +"It was the King's, madame, and now it is mine," smiled Nikolas. + +"Well, then, it is yours," said she, and taking a step towards him, she +said: "Have you a mind to venture it again, my lord?" + +"I would venture it only against a great stake," said he, smiling still, +while his eyes were fixed on her face and marked every change in the +colour of her cheeks. + +"I can play dice as well as the King," she cried. "Are we not all +gamblers, we Elphbergs?" And she laughed bitterly. + +"But what would your stake be?" he asked sneeringly. + +Princess Osra's face was now very pale, but her voice did not tremble +and she did not flinch; for the honour of her House and of the throne +was as sacred to her as her salvation, and more than her happiness. + +"A stake, my lord," said she, "that many gentlemen have thought above +any castle in preciousness." + +"Of what do you speak?" he asked, and his voice quivered a little, as a +man's does in excitement. "For, pardon me, madame, but what have you of +such value?" + +"I have what the poorest girl has, and it is of the value that it +pleased God to make it and pleases men to think it," said Osra. "And all +of it I will stake against the King's Castle of Zenda and its demesne." + +Count Nikolas's eyes flashed and he drew nearer to her; he took his +dice-box from his pocket, and he held it up before her, and he whispered +in an eager hoarse voice: + +"Name this great stake, madame; what is it?" + +"It is myself, my lord," said Princess Osra. + +"Yourself?" he cried wondering, though he had half guessed. + +"Aye. To be the Lord of Zenda is much. Is it not more to be husband to +the King's sister?" + +"It is more," said he, "when the King's sister is the Princess Osra." +And he looked at her now with open admiration. But she did not heed his +glance, but with face pale as death she seized a small table and drew it +between them and cried: "Throw then, my lord! We know the stakes." + +"If you win, Zenda is yours. If I win, you are mine." + +"Yes, I and Zenda also," said she. "Throw, my lord!" + +"Shall we throw thrice, madame, or once, or how often?" + +"Thrice, my lord," she answered, tossing back her hair behind her neck, +and holding one hand to her side. "Throw first," she added. + +The Count rattled the box; and the throw was seven. Osra took the box +from him, looked keenly and defiantly in his eyes, and threw. + +"Fortune is with you, madame," said he, biting his lips. "For a five and +a four make nine, or I err greatly." + +He took the box from her; his hand shook, but hers was firm and steady; +and again he threw. + +"Ah, it is but five," said he impatiently, and a frown settled on his +brow. + +"It is enough, my lord," said Osra; and pointed to the dice that she had +thrown, a three and a one. + +The Count's eyes gleamed again; he sprang towards her, and was about to +seize the box. But he checked himself suddenly, and bowed, saying: + +"Throw first this time, I pray you, madame, if it be not disagreeable to +you." + +"I do not care which way it is," said Osra, and she shook and made her +third cast. When she lifted the box, the face of the dice showed seven. +A smile broadened on the Count's lips, for he thought surely he could +beat seven, he that had beaten eleven and thereby won the Castle of +Zenda, which now he staked against the Princess Osra. But his eyes were +very keenly and attentively on her, and he held the box poised, +shoulder-high, in his right hand. + +Then a sudden faintness and sickness seized on the Princess, and the +composure that had hitherto upheld her failed; she could not meet his +glance, nor could she bear to see the fall of the dice; but she turned +away her head before he threw, and stood thus with averted face. But he +kept attentive eyes on her, and drew very near to the table so that he +stood right over it. And the Princess Osra caught sight of her own face +in the mirror, and started to see herself pallid and ghastly, and her +features drawn as though she were suffering some great pain. Yet she +uttered no sound. + +The dice rattled in the box; they rattled on the table; there was a +pause while a man might quickly count a dozen; and then Count Nikolas of +Festenburg cried out in a voice that trembled and tripped over the +words: + +"Eight, eight, eight!" + +But before the last of the words had left his shaking lips, the Princess +Osra faced round on him like lightning. She raised her hand so that the +loose white sleeve fell back from her rounded arm, and her eyes flashed, +and her lips curled as she outstretched her arm at him, and cried: + +"Foul play!" + +For, as she watched her own pale face in the mirror--the mirror which +Count Nikolas had not heeded--she had seen him throw, she had seen him +stand for an instant over the dice he had thrown with gloomy and +maddened face; and then she had seen a slight swift movement of his left +hand, as his fingers deftly darted down and touched one of the dice and +turned it. And all this she had seen before he had cried eight. +Therefore now she turned on him, and cried, "Foul play!" and before he +could speak, she darted by him towards the door. But he sprang forward, +and caught her by the arm above the wrist and gripped her, and his +fingers bit into the flesh of her arm, as he gasped, "You lie! Where are +you going?" But her voice rang out clear and loud in answer: + +"I am going to tell all the world that Zenda is ours again, and I am +going to publish in every city in the kingdom that Count Nikolas of +Festenburg is a common cheat and rogue, and should be whipped at the +cart's tail through the streets of Strelsau. For I saw you in the +mirror, my lord, I saw you in the mirror!" And she ended with a wild +laugh that echoed through the room. + +Still he gripped her arm, and she did not flinch; for an instant he +looked full in her eyes; covetousness, and desire, and shame, came all +together upon him, and over-mastered him, and he hissed between set +teeth: + +"You shan't! By God, you shan't!" + +"Aye, but I will, my lord," said Osra. "It is a fine tale for the King +and for your friends in Strelsau." + +An instant longer he held her where she was; and he gasped and licked +his lips. Then he suddenly dragged her with him towards a couch; seizing +up a coverlet that lay on the couch he flung it around her, and he +folded it tight about her, and he drew it close over her face. She could +not cry out nor move. He lifted her up and swung her over his shoulder, +and, opening the door of the room, dashed down the stairs towards the +great hall. + +In the great hall were six of the King's Guard, and some of the servants +of the Castle, and many of the people who had come with Count Nikolas; +they all sprang to their feet when they saw them. He took no heed of +them, but rushed at a run through the hall, and out under the portcullis +and across the bridge, which had not been raised since he entered. There +at the end of the bridge a lackey held his horse; and he leapt on his +horse, setting one hand on the saddle, and still holding Osra; and then +he cried aloud: + +"My men follow me! To Festenburg!" + +And all his men ran out, the King's Guard doing nothing to hinder them, +and jumping on their horses and setting them at a gallop, hurried after +the Count. He, riding furiously, turned towards the town of Zenda, and +the whole company swept down the hill, and, reaching the town, clattered +and dashed through it at full gallop, neither drawing rein nor turning +to right or left; and again they roused the Bishop of Modenstein, and he +turned in his bed, wondering what the rush of mounted men meant. But +they, galloping still, climbed the opposite hill and came to the Castle +of Festenburg with their horses spent and foundered. In they all +crowded, close on one another's heels; the bridge was drawn up; and +there in the entrance they stood looking at one another, asking mutely +what their master had done, and who was the lady whom he carried wrapped +in the coverlet. But he ran on till he reached the stairs, and he +climbed them, and entering a room in the gate-tower, looking over the +moat, he laid the Princess Osra on a couch, and standing over her he +smote one hand upon the other, and he swore loudly: + +"Now, as God lives, Zenda I will have, and her I will have, and it shall +be her husband whom she must, if she will, proclaim a cheat in +Strelsau!" + +Then he bent down and lifted the coverlet from her face. But she did not +stir nor speak, nor open her eyes. For she had fallen into a swoon as +they rode, and did not know what had befallen her, nor where she had +been brought, nor that she was now in the Castle of Festenburg, and in +the power of a desperate man. Thus she lay still and white, while Count +Nikolas stood over her and bit his nails in rage. And it was then just +on midnight. + +On being disturbed for the third time, the Bishop of Modenstein, whose +temper was hot and cost him continual prayers and penances from the +mastery it strove to win over him, was very impatient; and since he was +at once angry and half asleep, it was long before he could or would +understand the monstrous news with which his terrified host came +trembling and quaking to his bedside in the dead of the night. A +servant-girl, stammered the frightened fellow, had run down half dressed +and panting from the Castle of Zenda, and declared that whether they +chose to believe her or not--and, indeed, she could hardly believe such +a thing herself, although she had seen it with her own eyes from her own +window--yet Count Nikolas of Festenburg had come to the Castle that +evening, had spoken with Princess Osra, and now (they might call her a +liar if they chose) had carried off the Princess with him on his horse +to Festenburg, alive or dead none knew, and the men-servants were amazed +and terrified, and the soldiers were at their wits' end, talking big and +threatening to bring ten thousand men from Strelsau and to leave not one +stone upon another at Festenburg, and what not. But all the while and +for all their big talk nothing was done; and the Princess was at +Festenburg, alive or dead or in what strait none knew. And, finally, +nobody but one poor servant-girl had had the wit to run down and rouse +the town. + +The Bishop of Modenstein sat up in his bed and he fairly roared at the +innkeeper: + +"Are there no men, then, who can fight in the town, fool?" + +"None, none, my lord--not against the Count. Count Nikolas is a terrible +man. Please God, he has not killed the Princess by now." + +"Saddle my horse," said the Bishop, "and be quick with it." + +And he leapt out of bed with sparkling eyes. For the Bishop was a young +man, but a little turned of thirty, and he was a noble of the old House +of Hentzau. Now some of the Hentzaus (of whom history tells us of many) +have been good, and some have been bad; and the good fear God, while the +bad do not; but neither the good nor the bad fear anything in the world +besides. Hence, for good or ill, they do great deeds and risk their +lives as another man risks a penny. So the Bishop, leaving his bed, +dressed himself in breeches and boots, and set a black hat with a violet +feather on his head, and, staying to put on nothing else but his shirt +and his cloak over it, in ten minutes was on his horse at the door of +the inn. For a moment he looked at a straggling crowd that had gathered +there; then with a toss of his head and a curl of his lip he told them +what he thought of them, saying openly that he thanked heaven they were +not of his diocese, and in an instant he was galloping through the +streets of the town towards the Castle of Festenburg, with his sword by +his side and a brace of pistols in the holsters of the saddle. Thus he +left the gossipers and vapourers behind, and rode alone as he was up the +hill, his blood leaping and his heart beating quick; for, as he went, he +said to himself: + +"It is not often a Churchman has a chance like this." + +On the stroke of half-past twelve he came to the bridge of the Castle +moat, and the bridge was up. But the Bishop shouted, and the watchman +came out and stood in the gateway across the moat, and, the night being +fine and clear, he presented an excellent aim. + +"My pistol is straight at your head," cried the Bishop, "let down the +bridge. I am Frederick of Hentzau; that is, I am the Bishop of +Modenstein, and I charge you, if you are a dutiful son of the Church, to +obey me. The pistol is full at your head." + +The watchman knew the Bishop, but he also knew the Count his master. + +"I dare not let down the bridge without an order from my lord," he +faltered. + +"Then before you can turn round, you're a dead man," said the Bishop. + +"Will you hold me harmless with my lord, if I let it down?" + +"Aye, he shall not hurt you. But if you do not immediately let it down, +I'll shoot you first and refuse you Christian burial afterwards. Come, +down with it." + +So the watchman, fearing that, if he refused, the Bishop would spare +neither body nor soul, but would destroy the one and damn the other, let +down the bridge, and the Bishop, leaping from his horse, ran across with +his drawn sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. Walking into the +hall, he found a great company of Count Nikolas's men, drinking with one +another, but talking uneasily and seeming alarmed. And the Bishop raised +the hand that held the sword above his head in the attitude of +benediction, saying, "Peace be with you!" + +Most of them knew him by his face, and all knew him as soon as a comrade +whispered his name, and they sprang to their feet, uncovering their +heads and bowing. And he said: + +"Where is your master the Count?" + +"The Count is upstairs, my lord," they answered. "You cannot see him +now." + +"Nay, but I will see him," said the Bishop. + +"We are ordered to let none pass," said they, and although their manner +was full of respect, they spread themselves across the hall, and thus +barred the way to the staircase that rose in the corner of the hall. But +the Bishop faced them in great anger, crying: + +"Do you think I do not know what has been done? Are you all, then, +parties in this treachery? Do you all want to swing from the turrets of +the Castle when the King comes with a thousand men from Strelsau?" + +At this they looked at him and at one another with great uneasiness; for +they knew that the King had no mercy when he was roused, and that he +loved his sister above everybody in the world. And the Bishop stepped up +close to their rank. Then one of them drew his sword half-way from its +scabbard. But the Bishop, perceiving this, cried: + +"Do you all do violence to a lady, and dare to lay hands on the King's +sister? Aye, and here is a fellow that would strike a Bishop of God's +Church!" And he caught the fellow a buffet with the flat of his sword, +that knocked him down, "Let me pass, you rogues," said the Bishop. "Do +you think you can stop a Hentzau?" + +"Let us go and tell the Count that my lord the Bishop is here," cried +the house-steward, thinking that he had found a way out of the +difficulty; for they dared neither to touch the Bishop nor yet to let +him through; and the steward turned to run towards the staircase. But +the Bishop sprang after him, quick as an arrow, and, dropping the pistol +from his left hand, caught him by the shoulder and hurled him back. "I +want no announcing," he said. "The Church is free to enter everywhere." +And he burst through them at the point of the sword, reckless now what +might befall him so that he made his way through. But they did not +venture to cut him down; for they knew that nothing but death would stop +him, and for their very souls' sake they dared not kill him. So he, +kicking one and pushing another and laying about him with the flat of +his sword and with his free hand, and reminding them all the while of +their duty to the Church and of his sacred character, at last made his +way through and stood alone, unhurt, at the foot of the staircase, while +they cowered by the walls or looked at him in stupid helplessness and +bewilderment. And the Bishop swiftly mounted the stairs. + +At this instant in the room in the gate-tower of the Castle overlooking +the moat there had fallen a moment of dead silence. Here Count Nikolas +had raised the Princess, set her on a couch, and waited till her +faintness and fright were gone. Then he had come near to her, and in +brief harsh tones told her his mind. For him, indeed, the dice were now +cast; in his fury and fear he had dared all. He was calm now, with the +calmness of a man at a great turn of fate. That room, he told her, she +should never leave alive, save as his promised wife, sworn and held to +secrecy and silence by the force of that bond and of her oath. If he +killed her he must die, whether by his own hand or the King's mattered +little. But he would die for a great cause and in a great venture. "I +shall not be called a cheating gamester, madame," said he, a smile on +his pale face. "I choose death sooner than disgrace. Such is my choice. +What is yours? It stands between death and silence; and no man but your +husband will dare to trust your silence." + +"You do not dare to kill me," said she defiantly. + +"Madame, I dare do nothing else. They may write 'murderer' on my tomb; +they shall not throw 'cheat' in my living face." + +"I will not be silent," cried Osra, springing to her feet. "And rather +than be your wife I would die a thousand times. For a cheat you are--a +cheat--a cheat!" Her voice rose, till he feared that she would be heard, +if any one chanced to listen, even from so far off as the hall. Yet he +made one more effort, seeking to move her by an appeal to which women +are not wont to be insensible. + +"A cheat, yes!" said he. "I, Nikolas of Festenburg, am a cheat. I say +it, though no other man shall while I live to hear him. But to gain what +stake?" + +"Why, my brother's Castle of Zenda." + +"I swear to you it was not," he cried, coming nearer to her. "I did not +fear losing on the cast, but I could not endure not to win. Not my +stake, madame, but yours lured me to my foul play. Have you your face, +and yet do not know to what it drives men?" + +"If I have a fair face, it should inspire fair deeds," said she. "Do not +touch me, sir, do not touch me. I loathe breathing the same air with +you, or so much as seeing your face. Aye, and I can die. Even the women +of our House know how to die." + +At her scorn and contempt a great rage came upon him, and he gripped the +hilt of his sword, and drew it from the scabbard. But she stood still, +facing him with calm eyes. Her lips moved for a moment in prayer, but +she did not shrink. + +"I pray you," said he in trembling speech, mastering himself for an +instant, "I pray you!" But he could say no more. + +"I will cry your cheating in all Strelsau," said she. + +"Then commend your soul to God. For in one minute you shall die." + +Still she stood motionless; and he began to come near to her, his sword +now drawn in his hand. Having come within the distance from which he +could strike her, he paused and gazed into her eyes. She answered him +with a smile. Then there was for an instant the utter stillness in the +room; and in that instant the Bishop of Modenstein set his foot on the +staircase and came running up. On a sudden Osra heard the step, and a +gleam flashed in her eye. The Count heard it also, and his sword was +arrested in its stroke. A smile came on his face. He was glad at the +coming of some one whom he might kill in fight; for it turned him sick +to butcher her unresisting. Yet he dared not let her go, to cry his +cheating in the streets of Strelsau. The steps came nearer. + +He dropped his sword on the floor and sprang upon her. A shriek rang +out, but he pressed his hand on her mouth and seized her in his arms. +She had no strength to resist, and he carried her swiftly across the +room to a door in the wall. He pulled the door open--it was very heavy +and massive--and he flung her down roughly on the stone floor of a +little chamber, square and lofty, having but one small window high up, +through which the moonlight scarcely pierced. She fell with a moan of +pain. Unheeding, he turned on his heel and shut the door. And, as he +turned, he heard a man throw himself against the door of the room. It +also was strong and twice the man hurled himself with all his force +against it. At last it strained and gave way; and the Bishop of +Modenstein burst into the room breathless. And he saw no trace of the +Princess's presence, but only Count Nikolas standing sword in hand in +front of the door in the wall with a sneering smile on his face. + +The Bishop of Modenstein never loved to speak afterwards of what +followed, saying always that he rather deplored than gloried in it, and +that when a man of sacred profession was forced to use the weapons of +this world it was a matter of grief to him, not of vaunting. But the +King compelled him by urgent requests to describe the whole affair, +while the Princess was never weary of telling all that she knew, or of +blessing all bishops for the sake of the Bishop of Modenstein. Yet the +Bishop blamed himself; perhaps, if the truth were known, not for the +necessity that drove him to do what he did, as much as for a secret and +ashamed joy which he detected in himself. For certainly, as he burst +into the room now, there was no sign of reluctance or unwillingness in +his face; he took off his feathered hat, bowed politely to the Count, +and resting the point of his sword on the floor, asked: + +"My lord, where is the Princess?" + +[Illustration: "'MY LORD, WHERE IS THE PRINCESS?'"--_Page 160._] + +"What do you want here, and who are you?" cried the Count with a +blasphemous oath. + +"When we were boys together, you knew Frederick of Hentzau. Do you not +now know the Bishop of Modenstein?" + +"Bishop! This is no place for bishops. Get back to your prayers, my +lord." + +"It wants some time yet before matins," answered the Bishop. "My lord, +where is the Princess?" + +"What do you want with her?" + +"I am here to escort her wherever it may be her pleasure to go." + +He spoke confidently, but he was in his heart alarmed and uneasy because +he had not found the Princess. + +"I do not know where she is," said Nikolas of Festenburg. + +"My lord, you lie," said the Bishop of Modenstein. + +The Count had wanted nothing but an excuse for attacking the intruder. +He had it now, and an angry flush mounted in his cheeks as he walked +across to where the Bishop stood. + +Shifting his sword, which he had picked up again, to his left hand, he +struck the Bishop on the face with his gloved hand. The Bishop smiled +and turned the other cheek to Count Nikolas, who struck again with all +his force, so that he reeled back, catching hold of the open door to +avoid falling, and the blood started dull red under the skin of his +face. But he still smiled, and bowed, saying: + +"I find nothing about the third blow in Holy Scripture." + +At this instant the Princess Osra, who had been half stunned by the +violence with which Nikolas had thrown her on the floor, came to her +full senses and, hearing the Bishop's voice, she cried out loudly for +help. He, hearing her, darted in an instant across the room, and was at +the door of the little chamber before the Count could stop him. He +pulled the door open and Osra sprang out to him, saying: + +"Save me! Save me!" + +"You are safe, madame, have no fear," answered the Bishop. And turning +to the Count, he continued: "Let us go outside, my lord, and discuss +this matter. Our dispute will disturb and perhaps alarm the Princess." + +And a man might have read the purpose in his eyes, though his manner and +words were gentle; for he had sworn in his heart that the Count should +not escape. + +But the Count cared as little for the presence of the Princess as he had +for her dignity, her honour, or her life: and now that she was no longer +wholly at his mercy, but there was a new chance that she might escape, +his rage and the fear of exposure lashed him to fury, and, without more +talking, he made at the Bishop, crying: + +"You first, and then her! I'll be rid of the pair of you?" + +The Bishop faced him, standing between Princess Osra and his assault, +while she shrank back a little, sheltering herself behind the heavy +door. For although she had been ready to die without fear, yet the sight +of men fighting frightened her, and she veiled her face with her hands, +and waited in dread to hear the sound of their swords clashing. But the +Bishop looked very happy, and, setting his hat on his head with a jaunty +air, he stood on guard. For ten years or more he had not used his sword, +but the secret of its mastery seemed to revive, fresh and clear in his +mind, and let his soul say what it would, his body rejoiced to be at the +exercise again, so that his blood kindled and his eyes gleamed in the +glee of strife. Thus he stepped forward, guarding himself, and thus he +met the Count's impetuous onset; he neither flinched nor gave back, but +finding himself holding his own, he pressed on and on, not violently +attacking and yet never resting, and turning every thrust with a wrist +of iron. And while Osra now gazed with wide eyes and close-held breath, +and Count Nikolas muttered oaths and grew more furious, the Bishop +seemed as gay as when he talked to the King, more gaily, may be, than +Bishops should. Again his eye danced as in the days when he had been +called the wildest of the Hentzaus. And still he drove Count Nikolas +back and back. + +Now behind the Count was a window, which he himself had caused to be +enlarged and made low and wide, in order that he might look from it over +the surrounding country; in time of war it was covered with a close and +strong iron grating. But now the grating was off and the window open, +and beneath the window was a fall of fifty feet or hard upon it into the +moat below. The Count, looking into the Bishop's face, and seeing him +smile, suddenly recollected the window, and fancied it was the Bishop's +design to drive him on to it so that he could give back no more; and, +since he knew by now that the Bishop was his master with the sword, a +despairing rage settled upon him; determining to die swiftly, since die +he must, he rushed forward, making a desperate lunge at his enemy. But +the Bishop parried the lunge, and, always seeming to be about to run the +Count through the body, again forced him to retreat till his back was +close to the opening of the window. Here Nikolas stood, his eyes glaring +like a madman's; then a sudden devilish smile spread over his face. + +"Will you yield yourself, my lord?" cried the Bishop, putting a +restraint on the wicked impulse to kill the man, and lowering his point +for an instant. + +[Illustration: "HE DROVE HIS SWORD INTO HIS BODY, AND THE COUNT GAVE +BACK BEFORE IT."--_Page 165_] + +In that short moment the Count made his last throw; for all at once, as +it seemed, and almost in one motion, he thrust and wounded the Bishop in +the left side of his body, high in the chest near the shoulder, and, +though the wound was slight, the blood flowed freely; then drawing back +his sword, he seized it by the blade half-way up and flung it like a +javelin at the Princess, who stood still by the door, breathlessly +watching the fight. By an ace it missed her head, and it pinned a tress +of her hair to the door and quivered deep-set in the wood of the door. +When the Bishop of Modenstein saw this, hesitation and mercy passed out +of his heart, and though the man had now no weapon, he thought of +sparing him no more than he would have spared any cruel and savage +beast, but he drove his sword into his body, and the Count, not being +able to endure the thrust without flinching, against his own will gave +back before it. Then came from his lips a loud cry of dismay and +despair; for at the same moment that the sword was in him he, staggering +back, fell wounded to death through the open window. The Bishop looked +out after him, and Princess Osra heard the sound of a great splash in +the water of the moat below; for very horror she sank against the door, +seeming to be held up more by the sword that had pinned her hair than by +her own strength. Then came up through the window, from which the Bishop +still looked with a strange smile, the clatter of a hundred feet, +running to the gate of the Castle. The bridge was let down; the confused +sound of many men talking, of whispers, of shouts, and of cries of +horror, mounted up through the air. For the Count's men in the hall also +had heard the splash, and run out to see what it was, and there they +beheld the body of their master, dead in the moat; their eyes were wide +open, and they could hardly lay their tongues to the words as they +pointed to the body and whispered to one another, very low: "The Bishop +has killed him--the Bishop has killed him." But the Bishop saw them from +the window, and leant out, crying: + +"Yes, I have killed him. So perish all such villains!" + +When they looked up, and saw in the moonlight the Bishop's face, they +were amazed. But he hastily drew his head in, so that they might not see +him any more. For he knew that his face had been fierce, and exultant, +and joyful. Then, dropping his sword, he ran across to the Princess; he +drew the Count's sword, which was wet with his own blood, out of the +door, releasing the Princess's hair; and, seeing that she was very +faint, he put his arm about her, and led her to the couch; she sank upon +it, trembling and white as her white gown, and murmuring: "Fearful, +fearful!" and she clutched his arm, and for a long while she would not +let him go; and her eyes were fixed on the Count's sword that lay on the +floor by the entrance of the little room. + +"Courage, madame," said the Bishop softly. "All danger is past. The +villain is dead, and you are with the most devoted of your servants." + +"Yes, yes," she said, and pressed his arm and shivered. "Is he really +dead?" + +"He is dead. God have mercy on him," said the Bishop. + +"And you killed him?" + +"I killed him. If it were a sin, pray God forgive me!" + +Up through the window still came the noise of voices and the stir of men +moving; for they were recovering the body of the Count from the moat; +yet neither Osra nor the Bishop noticed any longer what was passing; he +was intent on her, and she seemed hardly yet herself; but suddenly, +before he could interpose, she threw herself off the couch and on to her +knees in front of him, and, seizing hold of his hand, she kissed first +the episcopal ring that he wore and then his hand. For he was both +Bishop and a gallant gentleman, and a kiss she gave him for each; and +after she had kissed his hand, she held it in both of hers as though for +safety's sake she clung to it. But he raised her hastily, crying to her +not to kneel before him, and, throwing away his hat, he knelt before +her, kissing her hands many times. She seemed now recovered from her +bewilderment and terror; for as she looked down on him kneeling, she was +half-way between tears and smiles, and with curving lips but wet shining +eyes, she said very softly: + +"Ah, my lord, who made a bishop of you?" And her cheeks grew in an +instant from dead white into sudden red, and her hand moved over his +head as if she would fain have touched him with it. And she bent down +ever so little towards him. Yet, perhaps, it was nothing; any lady, who +had seen how he bore himself, and knew that it was in her cause, for her +honour and life, might well have done the same. + +The Bishop of Modenstein made no immediate answer; his head was still +bowed over her hand, and after a while he kissed her hand again; and he +felt her hand press his. Then, suddenly, as though in alarm, she drew +her hand away, and he let it go easily. Then he raised his eyes and met +the glance of hers, and he smiled; and Osra also smiled. For an instant +they were thus. Then the Bishop rose to his feet, and he stood before +her with bent head and eyes that sought the ground in becoming humility. + +"It is by God's infinite goodness and divine permission that I hold my +sacred office." said he. "I would that I were more worthy of it! But +to-day I have taken pleasure in the killing of a man." + +"And in the saving of a lady, sir," she added softly, "who will ever +count you among her dearest friends and the most gallant of her +defenders. Is God angry at such a deed as that?" + +"May He forgive us all our sins," said the Bishop gravely; but what +other sins he had in his mind he did not say, nor did the Princess ask +him. + +Then he gave her his arm, and they two walked together down the stairs +into the hall; the Bishop, having forgotten both his hat and his sword, +was bare-headed and had no weapon in his hand. The Count's men were all +collected in the hall, being crowded round a table that stood by the +wall; for on the table lay the body of Count Nikolas of Festenburg, and +it was covered with a horse-cloth that one of the servants had thrown +over it. But when the men saw the Princess and the Bishop, they made way +for them and stood aside, bowing low as they passed. + +"You bow now," said Osra, "but, before, none of you would lift a finger +for me. To my lord the Bishop alone do I owe my life; and he is a +Churchman, while you were free to fight for me. For my part, I do not +envy your wives such husbands;" and with a most scornful air she passed +between their ranks, taking great and ostentatious care not to touch one +of them even with the hem of her gown. At this they grew red and +shuffled on their feet; and one or two swore under their breath, and +thanked God their wives were not such shrews, being indeed very much +ashamed of themselves, and very uneasy at thinking what these same wives +of theirs would say to them when the thing came to be known. But Osra +and the Bishop passed over the bridge, and he set her on his horse. The +summer morning had just dawned, clear and fair, so that the sun caught +her ruddy hair as she mounted in her white gown. But the Bishop took the +bridle of the horse and led it at a foot's pace down the hill and into +the town. + +Now by this time the news of what had chanced had run all through the +town, and the people were out in the streets, gossiping and guessing. +And when they saw the Princess Osra safe and sound and smiling, and the +Bishop in his shirt--for he had given his cloak to her--leading the +horse, they broke into great cheering. The men cheered the Princess, +while the women thrust themselves to the front rank of the crowd, and +blessed the Bishop of Modenstein. But he walked with his head down and +his eyes on the ground, and would not look up, even when the women cried +out in great fear and admiration on seeing that his shirt was stained +with his blood and with the blood of Nikolas of Festenburg that had +spurted out upon it. But one thing the Princess heard, which sent her +cheeks red again; for a buxom girl glanced merrily at her, and made bold +to say in a tone that the Princess could not but hear: + +[Illustration: "HE WALKED WITH HIS HEAD DOWN AND HIS EYES ON THE +GROUND."--_Page 171._] + +"By the Saints, here's waste! If he were not a Churchman, now!" And her +laughing eye travelled from the Princess to him, and back to the +Princess again. + +"Shall we go a little faster?" whispered Osra, bending down to the +Bishop. But the girl only thought that she whispered something else, and +laughed the more. + +At last they passed the town, and with a great crowd still following +them, came to the Castle. At the gate of it the Bishop stopped and aided +the Princess to alight. Again he knelt and kissed her hand, saying only: + +"Madame, farewell!" + +"Farewell, my lord," said Osra softly; and she went hastily into the +Castle, while the Bishop returned to his inn in the town, and though the +people stood round the inn the best part of the day, calling and +watching for him, he would not shew himself. + +In the evening of that day the King, having heard the tidings of the +crime of Count Nikolas, came in furious haste with a troop of horse from +Strelsau. And when he heard how Osra had played at dice with the Count, +and staking herself against the Castle of Zenda had won it back, he was +ashamed, and swore an oath that he would play dice no more, which oath +he faithfully observed. But in the morning of the next day he went to +Festenburg, where he flogged soundly every man who had not run away +before his coming; and all the possessions of Count Nikolas he +confiscated, and he pulled down the Castle of Festenburg, and filled up +the moat that had run round its walls. + +Then he sent for the Bishop of Modenstein, and thanked him, offering to +him all the demesne of Count Nikolas; but the Bishop would not accept +it, nor any mark of the King's favour, not even the Order of the Red +Rose. Therefore the King granted the ground on which the Castle stood, +and all the lands belonging to it, to Francis of Tarlenheim, +brother-in-law to the wife of Prince Henry, who built the _château_ +which now stands there and belongs to the same family to this day. + +But the Bishop of Modenstein, having been entertained by the King with +great splendour for two days, would not stay longer, but set out to +pursue his journey, clad now in his ecclesiastical garments. And +Princess Osra sat by her window, leaning her head on her hand, and +watching him till the trees of the forest hid him; and once, when he was +on the edge of the forest, he turned his face for an instant, and looked +back at her where she sat watching in the window. Thus he went to +Strelsau; and when he was come there, he sent immediately for his +confessor, and the confessor, having heard him, laid upon him a severe +penance, which he performed with great zeal, exactness, and contrition. +But whether the penance were for killing Count Nikolas of Festenburg +(which in a layman, at least, would have seemed but a venial sin) or for +what else, who shall say? + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + The Device of Giraldo the Painter. + + +When the twenty-first birthday of the Princess Osra approached, her +brother King Rudolf, desiring to make her a present, summoned from his +home at Verona, in Italy, a painter of very high fame, by name Giraldo, +and commanded him to paint a portrait of the Princess, to be her +brother's gift to her. This command Giraldo carried out, the Princess +giving him every opportunity of studying her features and grudging no +time that was spent by her in front of his easel; and the picture, when +finished, being pronounced to be as faithful as beautiful the reputation +of Giraldo was greatly enhanced by the painting of it. Thus it followed +that in many cases, when foreign Princes had heard the widespread +praises of Osra's beauty, they sent orders to Giraldo to execute for +them, and despatch with all speed, miniatures or other portraits of the +Princess, that they might judge for themselves whether she were in truth +as lovely as report said; and they sent Giraldo large sums of money in +recompense, adding not seldom some further donation on the express term +and condition that Giraldo should observe absolute fidelity in his +representation and not permit himself the least flattery. For some +desired themselves to court her, and others intended their sons to ask +her hand, if the evidence of Giraldo's portraits satisfied their hopes. +So Giraldo, although but two or three years above thirty, grew in both +fame and wealth, and was very often indebted to the Princess for the +favour of a visit to his house, that he might again correct his memory +of her face. + +Now what several Princes had done before, it chanced that the King of +Glottenberg also did; and Giraldo, to all appearance much pleased, +accepted the command, and prayed the Princess to visit him; for, he +said, this picture was to be larger and more elaborate than the rest, +and therefore needed more study of her. So the Princess went many times, +and the portrait destined for the King of Glottenberg (who was said to +be seeking a suitable alliance for his eldest son) grew before her eyes +into the most perfect and beautiful presentment of her which the skill +of Giraldo had ever accomplished, surpassing even that first picture +which he had painted by King Rudolf's command. The King made no doubt +that, so soon as the picture had reached the Court of Glottenberg, an +embassy would come from there to demand the hand of his sister for the +Crown Prince, a proposal which he would have received with much pleasure +and gratification. + +"I do not think," said Osra, tossing her head, "that any such embassy +will come, sire. For four or five pictures have been already painted by +Signor Giraldo in like manner, but no embassies have come. It seems that +my poor features do not find approval in the Courts of Europe." + +Her tone, it must be confessed, was full of contempt. For the Princess +Osra knew that she was beautiful, as indeed all beautiful ladies are, by +the benevolence of heaven, permitted to know. How much greater mischief +might they work, if such knowledge were denied them! + +"That's true enough," cried Rudolf. "And I do not understand the meaning +of it. But it will not be so at Glottenberg. For my good brother the +King has eyes in his head, and his son sees no less well. I met them on +my travels, and I can speak to it. Most certainly an embassy will come +from Glottenberg before we are a month older!" + +Yet, strange to say, the same thing followed on the despatch of the +portrait (which Giraldo sent by a certain trusty messenger, whom he was +accustomed to employ) as had happened before; no embassy came, and the +King of Glottenberg excused himself from paying a visit to Strelsau, +which he and his son had promised on the invitation of King Rudolf. +Therefore Rudolf was very vexed, and Osra also, thinking herself +scorned, was very sore at heart, although she bore herself more proudly +than before. But, being very greatly disturbed in her mind concerning +her beauty, she went herself again to Giraldo and charged him to paint +her once more. + +"This picture," she said, "is for my own eyes, and mine alone. +Therefore, signor, paint it faithfully, and spare me not. For if a woman +be ugly, it is well she should know it, and it seems that nobody in the +kingdom will tell me the truth, although I get hints enough of it from +abroad." And she frowned and flushed and was very sadly out of temper, +as any beautiful lady would most naturally be in such a case. + +Giraldo bowed very low, seeking to hide the sudden red that dyed his +cheek, and to conceal the great joy which the command of the Princess +gave him. For by reason of having painted the Princess so often, of +having studied her face so curiously, and of having spent so much time +in her company, listening to her conversation, and enjoying her wit and +grace, this hapless young man had become so deeply and desperately her +lover, that he no longer cared to use his brush in the service of any +other lady or lord, but stayed at Strelsau solely that he might again +and again depict the face that he loved; and, save when she sat before +him, he seemed now unable to ply his art at all, and had he not received +so many commands for pictures of her, he would have sat all day long +idle, thinking of her; which, indeed, was what he did in the intervals +between his labour on her portraits. But she, not imagining such +presumption and folly on his part, thought that he was glad merely +because she would pay him well; so she promised him more and more, if he +would but paint her faithfully. And he gave her his word that he would +paint her in every respect most faithfully. + +"I desire to know," said she, "what I am in truth like; for my mirror +says one thing, and the King of Glottenberg----" + +But here she stopped, remembering that such matters were not fit for +Giraldo's ears. Yet he must have understood, for a strange, cunning, +exultant smile came on his lips as he turned away and set himself to mix +the colours on his palette. Thus he began this last picture and the +Princess came every day and stayed long, so that Giraldo might be able +to render her likeness in every most minute respect with perfect +fidelity. + +"For," she thought resentfully, "either I have no eyes, or they have +none in Glottenberg." + +When she had been visiting Giraldo thus for hard on a month, and the +picture was nearly finished, and was at once the most lovely and the +most faithful of all that Giraldo had painted, it chanced that letters +came to the King from a nobleman of France who was well known to him, +and had known the Princess well also, the Marquis de Mérosailles. And +the Marquis wrote to the King in the greatest indignation and scorn, +upbraiding the King and saying: + +"What is this, sire? Do you keep a madman at your Court, and call him a +painter? I have been at Glottenberg; and when I spoke there, as it is my +humble duty and true delight to speak everywhere, of the incomparable +beauty of your Majesty's sister the Princess Osra, the King, his son, +and all the company, did nothing but laugh. I fought three duels with +gentlemen of the Court on this account, and two of them I, heaven +helping me, wounded, and one, by some devil's trick, wounded me. After +this, the matter coming to the King's ear, he sent for me, and excused +the laughter by showing me a picture done by a rascal called Giraldo at +your Court, the picture was named after your Majesty's most matchless +sister; but, as I am a true son of the Church, it was like the devil's +daughter, and, on my honour and conscience, it squinted most +villainously. I pray you, sire, find out the meaning of this thing; and +receive most humble duty and homage from your devoted servant, and, +since your graciousness so wills it, most obliged and obedient friend, +Henri Marquis de Mérosailles. I kiss the hand of the Princess." + +When King Rudolf had read this letter, he grew very thoughtful, and, +unknown to Giraldo, he sent and caught the messenger whom Giraldo was +wont to entrust with the pictures, and who carried the picture of which +M. de Mérosailles wrote to Glottenberg; and the King interrogated the +messenger most closely, but got nothing from him, save that he himself +never beheld the pictures which he carried, but received them most +carefully packed from Giraldo, and so delivered them without undoing the +coverings, and then by Giraldo's strict orders returned at once, and did +not wait until the recipient had inspected the picture. So that the +fellow did not know anything about the picture that had gone to +Glottenberg, except that it was certainly the same as Giraldo had +entrusted to his hands. But the King was not satisfied, and, learning +that his sister was at that moment at Giraldo's house, being painted +afresh by him, he called half-a-dozen of his gentlemen, and set out on +horseback for the place where Giraldo lived in the street that runs from +the Cathedral towards the western gate of Strelsau. To this day the +house stands there. + +The Princess sat and Giraldo painted. Behind the Princess was a window, +looking on to the street, and behind Giraldo was a second door, which +led into an inner room. On Giraldo's easel stood the nearly finished +picture; Giraldo's eyes were alight both with love and with triumph, as +he turned from the Princess to the picture, and from the picture to the +Princess again; and she, seeing something of his admiration, said with a +blush: + +"Is it indeed faithful, signor?" For it seemed even to herself a +marvellously lovely picture. + +"No, madame," answered he. "For my imperfect hand cannot be faithful to +perfection." + +"I pray you, do not flatter me. Have you indeed shewn every fault of my +face?" + +"If there be a fault in your face, madame, there it is also in my +picture," said Giraldo. + +The Princess was silent for a moment, then she said: + +"It is better, is it not, than the picture you painted for the King of +Glottenberg?" + +Giraldo painted a stroke or two before he answered carelessly: + +"Indeed, madame, it is more faithful than that which the King of +Glottenberg has." + +"Then less beautiful?" asked Osra with a petulant smile. + +"Nay, I do not say that; not less beautiful," he answered. + +"Perhaps he would like this one better, and give me his in exchange; for +I never saw his after it was finished. I think I will ask the King to +write to him." + +Giraldo had turned round suddenly as the Princess made this suggestion; +she had spoken half in sport, half in continuing chagrin at the +blindness shewn by the Court of Glottenberg. Now he stood staring at her +with wide-open alarmed eyes; and he dropped his brushes on to the floor. + +"What ails you, signor?" she cried. "I did but suggest exchanging the +pictures." + +He tried to regain his composure, as he stooped to pick up his brushes. + +"The King of Glottenberg's picture is the best for him to have," said he +sullenly. "This one, madame, I painted for you yourself, and for you +alone." + +"I pay the price and can do what I will with the picture," returned the +Princess haughtily. "If I desire, I will give it to the King of +Glottenberg." + +Giraldo had now turned very pale, and, forgetful of the picture, stood +gazing fixedly at the Princess. For he could no longer hold down in +secrecy and silence the passion that possessed him, but it was declared +in his eyes and in the trembling of his limbs; so that the Princess rose +from her chair and shrank away from him in alarm, regretting that she +had dismissed her ladies, in order to be less restrained in talk with +the painter; and she tried to cry out, that they might hear her where +they were in an adjoining room, but her cry froze on her lips at the +sight of Giraldo's passion. And he cried in a hoarse whisper: + +"He shall not have the picture, he shall not have it!" As he spoke he +moved nearer to the Princess, who still shrank away from him, being now +in very great alarm, and thinking that surely he had run mad. Yet she +looked at him, and, looking, saw whence his madness came; and she felt +pity for him, and held out her clasped hands towards him, saying in a +very soft voice, and with eyes that grew sad and tender: + +"Ah, signor, signor, am I always to have lovers, and never a friend?" + +At this the unfortunate painter was overcome, and dropping his head +between his hands he gave a deep half-stifled sob, and then he cried: + +"God's curse on me, for having slandered the beauty that I love!" And +then he sobbed again. + +But the Princess wondered greatly what he meant by his strange cry, and +turned her eyes again on him in bewildered questioning; saying, as she +pointed to the picture: + +"There is no slander here, signor, unless too much praise be slander." + +Giraldo made her no answer in words, but, springing towards her, caught +her by the wrist, and drew her across the room to the door behind his +easel. With feverish haste he unlocked it and passed through. The +Princess, although now free from his grip, followed him in a strange +fascination. Giraldo drew the door close behind him; and at that moment +the Princess gave a cry, half a scream, half laughter. For facing her +she saw, each on its easel, three, four, five, six pictures of herself, +each beautiful and painted most lovingly; and the last of the six was +the picture that had been painted by order of the King of Glottenberg. +For she knew it by the attire, although the face had not been finished +when she had last seen it. A sudden enlightenment pierced her mind, and +she knew that Giraldo had not sent the pictures for which she had sat to +him, but kept them himself, and sent others to his patrons. This strange +conviction found its sure confirmation in a seventh easel which stood +apart from the rest, on the other side of the room; for it supported +what was in all respects a copy of the portrait on which Giraldo was now +engaged, save that by cunning touches he had imparted to the face an +alien and fearful aspect; for here, although the features had their +shape and perfect grace, yet it was the face of a devil that looked out +of the canvas, a face that a man would not have gazing at him from the +wall on to the bed where he sought to sleep. + +But when Giraldo saw her eyes fixed on this picture, he cried: + +"That is for you--the other is mine. Are they not your features? The +King of Glottenberg should not have even your features. But you shall +have them, and if a devil looks out through such a fair mask, is it not +so with all fair women that lead men to destruction? There is your true +picture, Princess Osra!" And he flung himself on a couch with a mad cry +of rage, and then a groan of despair. + +The Princess Osra looked at him, and at the beautiful pictures, and then +at the picture that was like her and yet like a devil. First she pitied +the painter, and then marvelled at the wonderful mad skill, which so +transformed her without drawing a line that could be called untrue. Thus +thinking, she stood for a while, grave and puzzled. But then the humour +struck her, as it struck her House always in great things and in small; +it seemed to her most ludicrous that the pictures should all be resting +here in Giraldo's house, while the Princes who had commanded portraits +of her had received nothing but distorted parodies of her face, to the +end that they might be disgusted and, abandoning the alliance they had +projected, leave her still at Strelsau, to be painted times out of +number and most fruitlessly by this mad painter. And these thoughts +gaining the mastery over the others, in spite of the sad plight of +unhappy Signor Giraldo, her lips curved into a bow, her eyes gleamed in +dancing merriment, and a moment later she broke into a glad gleeful +laugh, that rose and rippled, and fell to soft delighted murmurings. As +she looked again at the picture that was like her and also like a devil, +her mirth grew and grew at the ingenuity of the work and the mocking +devilry so cunningly made out of her face. Small wonder was it to her +now that the embassies had not come. + +The Princess Osra thus stood laughing, and presently Signor Giraldo +looked up. When he had listened and looked for a few moments, his wild +mood caught the infection from her, so that, springing to his feet, he +also began to laugh loudly, like a man who cannot restrain his +amusement, but is carried away by it beyond all bounds and restraints. +Thus Giraldo laughed loudly, long, and fiercely; for there was madness +in his laugh. And the Princess heard the madness; even while she still +laughed, her eyes opened in wonder; alarm came on her face, her merry +laugh quivered, trembled, choked in her throat, and at last died away +into dumbness; yet her lips hung apart frozen in the shape of laughter, +while no laughter came. But as her laugh thus ended in mute horror, his +grew louder yet and wilder, and its peal rang through the room, as he +gasped between his spasms of horrid mirth, "You, you, you!" and pointed +at the picture which he had touched to devilishness. But she shrank +away, and stood crouched against the wall; for she knew now that he was +mad, but did not know to what his fury might next lead him. Then he +caught up a knife that lay on the sill of the window, and, now smiling +as though in grim quiet amusement, strode across to the row of pictures, +and reached up to them, knife in hand. But Osra suddenly sprang forward, +crying: + +"Do not hurt them." + +"These?" he asked, turning to her with a sneer. "These? I'll destroy +them all, for they are no longer beautiful to me, but that one only is +beautiful, because it is true." And he wrenched his arm away from the +detaining hand she had laid upon it. Falling back in terror, she watched +him cutting and slashing each of the pictures, until the face was +utterly destroyed. And she feared that when he had finished with the +pictures, he would turn upon her; therefore she flung herself on the +couch, hiding her face for fear of some horrible fate; she murmured low +to herself, "Not my face, O God, not my face!" and she pressed her face +down into the cushions of the couch, while he, muttering and grumbling +to himself, cut the pictures into strips and ribbons, and strewed the +fragments at his feet on the floor. This done, he turned to the devil's +face that he loved, and poured out to it, as though it had been a cruel +idol he worshipped, a flood of wild passionate reproachful words, that +Osra shivered to hear, and the purport of which she dared tell none, +though for all her prayers she could not herself forget one of them. + +At last he came to her again, and plucked her roughly and rudely from +the couch where she lay, and dragged her behind him back to the door +again and through it; and they stood together in front of the last +picture, whose paint was still wet from his hand. The painted face +smiled down on the trembling pale girl with its smile of careless serene +dignity, so that now even to herself it seemed hardly to be her picture. +For it was the true presentment of a King's daughter, and she no better +than a helpless frightened girl. It seemed to reproach her; and suddenly +she drew herself to her height, and turned on Giraldo, saying: "You +shall not touch it." + +She stept forward, so that she stood between him and the picture, +raising her hand, and forbidding him to approach it with his knife. And +now the picture seemed more to be hers, although while it smiled she +frowned. + +But at this moment there came through the window that opened on the +street the clatter of horses' hoofs. At the sound Giraldo arrested the +motion that he had already made to fling himself on the Princess; +whether to kill her, or only to thrust her away from in front of the +picture she did not know. Running to the window, he looked out, and +called in seeming glee: "It is the King come to see my pictures!" And he +looked proud and happy. Going to the door of the room, he flung it open, +and stood there waiting for the King and the gentlemen who attended the +King. They were not long in coming, for Rudolf was full of anger, +impatience, and curiosity, and ran swiftly up the staircase. His +gentlemen pressed into the room behind him, and Giraldo drew back, +keeping his face to the King and bowing again and again. But the King +and the rest saw the knife in his hand; and ragged strips of painted +canvas hung here and there on his clothes, while the Princess, pale and +proud, stood guarding the picture on the easel. The King, in spite of +his wonder, was not turned from the purpose which had brought him to the +painter's house, but with a quick step darted up to Giraldo and thrust +the letter of the Marquis de Mérosailles into his hand, bidding him in a +sharp peremptory tone to read it and give what explanation he could of +the contents. Giraldo fell to reading it, while the King turned to his +sister in order to ask her why she seemed agitated, and stood so +obstinately in front of her own picture; but at that instant one of the +gentlemen, whose name was Ladislas, gave a cry of surprise; for he had +looked through the door into the inner room, and seen the havoc and +destruction that Giraldo had made, and also the strange and terrible +picture which alone had escaped the knife. The King, wondering, followed +Ladislas to the threshold of the inner room and passed it, while his +gentlemen, full of curiosity, crowded close on his heels after him. + +The Princess Osra, thinking herself safe, found her anger and terror +pass away as her mirth had passed before. Now she felt in her heart that +pity which borders on tenderness, and which she could never refuse to a +man who loved her, let the folly of his love and of the extravagances +into which it drove him be as great as it would. Turning towards +Giraldo, she saw him fretting his puckered brow with his hand, and +vainly seeking to compel his disordered brain to understand M. de +Mérosailles' letter. So she was very sorry for him, and, knowing the +sudden hot temper to which the careless King was subject, she glided +swiftly across to the painter, and whispered: "Escape and hide. Hide for +a few days. He will be furious now, but he will soon forget. Don't wait +now, but escape, signor. Some harm will happen to you here;" and in her +eager pleading with him she laid her hand on his arm, and looked up in +his face with imploring eyes. But he looked at her with dazed vacant +stare, muttering, "I cannot read the letter;" then a wistful smile came +on his face, and he thrust the letter towards her, saying: "Madame, will +you read it for me?" And at that moment they heard the King swear an +angry oath; for he had seen the mad picture of his sister. + +"No, no, not now," whispered Osra, beseeching Giraldo. "Not now, signor. +Listen, the King is angry! Escape now, and we will read the letter +afterwards." She was as earnest as though she had loved him and were +praying him to save himself for the sake of her love. + +Giraldo looked into her softened eyes; suddenly giving a little cry, as +if a great joy had come to him unexpectedly and contrary to all +likelihood, he dropped M. de Mérosailles' letter, and sprang to where +his brushes lay on the floor; seizing them and his palette, he gave +another swift glance at the Princess, and then, turning to the picture, +began to paint with marvellous dexterity and deftness and with the +sudden confidence of a man inspired to the work. As he worked, his brow +grew smoother, the tension of his strained face relaxed, happiness +dawned in his eyes, and a smile broke on his lips; and Osra watched him +with a tender sorrowful gaze. Still he painted, and he was painting when +the King burst in from the other room in a great rage, carrying his +sword drawn in his hand; for he had sworn by Our Lady and St. Peter to +kill the rogue who had done the Princess such wrong and so slandered her +beauty. And his gentlemen came in with him, all very ready to see +Giraldo killed, but each eager that the King should leave the task to +him. Yet when they entered and saw Giraldo painting as though he were +rapt by some ecstasy and had forgotten all that had passed, nay, even +their very presence, they paused in unwilling and constrained +hesitation. Osra raised her hand to bid them stay still where they were, +and not interfere with Giraldo's painting. For now she desired above all +things on earth that he should be left to finish his task. For he +thought that he had read more than pity and more than tenderness in +Osra's eyes; he had seemed to see love there, and thus he had cried out +in joy, and thus he was now painting as never had even he, for all his +skill, painted before. His unerring hand, moving lightly to and fro, +imparted the sweetness of his delusive vision to the canvas, so that the +eyes of the portrait glowed with wonderful and beautiful love and +gentleness. Presently Giraldo began to sing very softly to himself a +sweet happy old song, that peasants sang to peasant girls in the fields +outside his native Verona on summer evenings. His head was thrown back +in triumph and exultation as he sang and worked, tasting the luxury of +love, and glorying in the tribute that his genius paid to her whom he +loved. Thus came a moment of great joy to the soul of Giraldo the +painter; for a man's love and a man's work are, when they seem to +prosper, of all things the sweetest, and their union in one his life's +consummation. + +It was done. He laid down the brush, and drew back a step, looking at +what he had done. The Princess came softly and slowly, as though +attracted against her will, and she stood by him; for she saw that this +picture was now, beyond all compare, the most perfect and beautiful of +all that he or any other man had painted of her; and she loved him for +thus glorifying her. But, before many moments had gone by, a sudden +start and shiver ran through Giraldo's body. The spell of his entranced +ecstasy broke; his eyes fell from the masterpiece that he had made, and +wandered to those who stood about him--to the gentlemen who did not know +whether to wonder or to laugh, to the angry face of the King and the +naked sword in his hand, at last to Osra, whose eyes were still on the +picture. His exultation vanished, and with it went, as it seemed to +them, his madness. Reason dawned for a moment in his eyes, but was +quenched in an instant by shame and despair. For he knew that all there +had seen that other picture and knew now what he had done; and suddenly +with a stifled cry he flung himself full length on the floor at Osra's +feet. + +"Let us wait," said she gently. "He will be himself again soon." + +But the King was too angry to listen. + +"He has made us fools before half Europe," he cried angrily, "and he +shall not live to talk of it. And you--have you seen the picture +yonder?" + +"Yes, I have seen it," said she. "But he does not now think that picture +like me, but this one." And she turned to the gentlemen, and desired +them to raise Giraldo and lay him on a couch, and they obeyed. Then she +knelt by his head; and, after a while he opened his eyes, seeming sound +of sense in everything except that he believed she loved him, so that he +began to whisper to her as lovers whisper to their loves, very tenderly +and low. And the King, with his gentlemen, stood a little way off. But +the Princess said nothing to Giraldo, neither refusing his love, nor yet +saying what was false; yet she suffered him to talk to her, and to reach +up his hand and gently touch a lock of hair that strayed on her +forehead. And he, sighing in utter happiness and contentment, closed his +eyes again, and lay back very quietly on the couch. + +"Let us go," said she rising. "I will send a physician." And she bade +one of the gentlemen lock the inner room, and give her the key, and she +and the King and they all then departed, and sent his servants to tend +Giraldo; and Osra caused the King's physician also to be summoned. But +Giraldo did no more than linger some few days alive; for the most of +them he was in a high fever, his brain being wild; and he raved about +the Princess, sometimes railing at her, sometimes praising her; yet once +or twice he awoke, calm and happy as he had been when she knelt by him, +and having for his only delusion the thought that she still knelt there +and was breathing words of love into his ear. And in this last merciful +error, in respect of which the physicians humoured him, one day a week +later, he passed away and was at peace. + +Then the Princess came, attended by one gentleman in whom she placed +confidence, and she destroyed the evil picture that Giraldo had painted, +and having caused a fire to be made, burnt up the pieces of it, and all +the ruins of the pictures that Giraldo had destroyed. But that on which +he had last worked so happily, and with such a triumph of art, she +carried with her to the palace; and presently she caused copies to be +made of it, and sent one to each of the Princes by whom Giraldo had been +commanded to paint her picture, and with it the money he had received, +the whole of which was found untouched in a cabinet in his house. But +the picture itself she hung in her own chamber, and would often look at +it, feeling great sorrow for the fate of Giraldo the painter. + +Yet King Rudolf could not be prevailed upon to pity the young man, +saying that for his part he should have to be mad before the love of a +woman should drive him mad; and he cursed Giraldo for an insolent knave, +declaring that he did well to die of his own accord. And because M. de +Mérosailles had gallantly defended his sister's beauty in three duels, +he sent him by the hand of a high officer his Order of the Red Rose, +which M. de Mérosailles wore with great pride at the Court of +Versailles. + +But when the copies of the last picture reached the Courts to which they +were addressed, together with the money and a brief history of Giraldo's +mad doings, the Princes turned their thoughts again to the matter of the +alliance, and several embassies set out for Strelsau; so that Princess +Osra said, with a smile that was half-sad, half-amused, and very +whimsical: + +"I am much troubled by reason of the loss of Signor Giraldo my painter." + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau. + + +There is a swift little river running by the village of Hofbau, and on +the river is a mill, kept in the days of King Rudolf III. by a sturdy +fellow who lived there all alone; the King knew him, having alighted at +his house for a draught of beer as he rode hunting, and it was of him +the King spoke when he said to the Queen, "There is, I believe, but one +man in the country whom Osra could not move, and he is the Miller of +Hofbau." But although he addressed the Queen, it was his sister at whom +he aimed his speech. The Princess herself was sitting by, and when she +heard the King she said: + +"In truth I do not desire to move any man. What but trouble comes of it? +Yet who is this miller?" + +The King told her where the miller might be found, and he added: "If you +convert him to the love of women you shall have the finest bracelet in +Strelsau." + +"There is nothing, sire, so remote from my thoughts or desires as to +convert your miller," said Osra scornfully. + +In this, at the moment, she spoke truthfully; but being left alone for +some days at the Castle of Zenda, which is but a few miles from Hofbau, +she found the time hang very heavy on her hands; indeed she did not know +what to do with herself for weariness; and for this reason, and none +other at all, one day she ordered her horse and rode off with a single +groom into the forest. Coming, as the morning went on, to a wide road, +she asked the groom where it led. "To Hofbau, madame," he answered. "It +is not more than a mile further on." Osra waited a few moments, then she +said: "I will ride on and see the village, for I have been told that it +is pretty. Wait here till I return," and she rode on, smiling a little, +and with a delicate tint of colour in her cheeks. + +Before long she saw the river and the mill on the river; and, coming to +the mill, she saw the miller sitting before his door, smoking a long +pipe. She called out to him, asking him to sell her a glass of milk. + +"You can have it for the asking," said the miller. He was a good-looking +fair fellow, and wore a scarlet cap. "There is a pail of it just inside +the door behind me." Yet he did not rise, but lay there, lolling +luxuriously in the sun. For he did not know Osra, never having been to +Strelsau in his life, and to Zenda three or four times only, and that +when the Princess was not there. Moreover--though this, as must be +allowed, is not to the purpose--he had sworn never again to go so far +afield. + +Being answered in this manner, and at the same time desiring the milk, +the Princess had no choice but to dismount. + +This she did, and passed by the miller, pausing a moment to look at him +with bright curious eyes, that flashed from under the brim of her +wide-rimmed feathered hat; but the miller blinked lazily up at the sun +and took no heed of her. + +Osra passed on, found the pail, poured out a cup of milk, and drank it. +Then, refilling the cup, she carried it to the miller. + +"Will you not have some?" said she with a smile. + +"I was too lazy to get it," said the miller; and he held out his hand, +but did not otherwise change his position. + +Osra's brow puckered and her cheek flushed as she bent down, holding the +cup of milk so that the miller could reach it. He took and drained it, +gave it back to her, and put his pipe in his mouth again. Osra sat down +by him and watched him. He puffed and blinked away, never so much as +looking at her. + +[Illustration: "HE TOOK IT AND DRAINED IT."--_Page 204._] + +"What have you for dinner?" asked she presently. + +"A piece of cold pie," said he. "There's enough for two, if you're +hungry." + +"Would you not like it better hot?" + +"Oh, aye; but I cannot weary myself with heating it." + +"I'll heat it," said the Princess; and, rising, she went into the house, +and made up the fire, which was almost burnt out; then she heated the +pie, and set the room in order, and laid the table, and drew a large jug +of beer from the cask. Next she placed an arm-chair ready for the +miller, and put the jug by it; then she filled the pipe from the bowl of +tobacco and set a cushion in the chair. All this while she hummed a +tune, and from time to time smiled gayly. Lastly, she arranged a chair +by the elbow of the miller's chair; then she went out and told him that +his dinner was ready; and he stumbled to his feet with a sigh of +laziness, and walked before her into the house. + +"May I come?" cried she. + +"Aye, there is enough for two," said the Miller of Hofbau without +looking round. + +So she followed him in. He sank into the arm-chair and sat there, for a +moment surveying the room which was so neat, and the table so daintily +laid, and the pie so steaming hot. And he sighed, saying: + +"It was like this before poor mother died." And he fell to on a great +portion of pie with which Osra piled his plate. + +When he had finished eating--which thing did not happen for some +time--she held the jug while he took a long draught; then she brought a +coal in the tongs and held it while he lit his pipe from it; then she +sat down by him. For several moments he puffed, and then at last he +turned his head and looked at Princess Osra; she drooped her long lashes +and cast down her eyes; next she lifted her eyes and glanced for an +instant at the miller; and, finally, she dropped her eyes again and +murmured shyly: "What is it, sir? Why do you look at me?" + +"You seem to be a handy wench," observed the miller. "The pie was +steaming hot and yet not burnt, the beer was well frothed but not shaken +nor thickened, and the pipe draws well. Where does your father dwell?" + +"He is dead, sir," said Princess Osra very demurely. + +"And your mother?" pursued the miller. + +"She also is dead." + +"There is small harm in that," said the miller thoughtfully; and Osra +turned away her head to hide her smile. + +"Are you not very lonely, living here all by yourself?" she asked a +moment later. + +"Indeed I have to do everything for myself," said the miller sadly. + +"And there is nobody to--to care for you?" + +"No, nor to look after my comfort," said the miller. "Have you any +kindred?" + +"I have two brothers, sir; but they are married now, and have no need of +me." + +The miller laid down his pipe and, setting his elbow on the table, faced +Princess Osra. + +"H'm!" said he. "And is it likely you will ride this way again?" + +"I may chance to do so," said Osra, and now there was a glance of +malicious triumph in her eyes; she was thinking already how the bracelet +would look on her arm. + +"Ah!" said the miller. And after a pause he added: "If you do, come half +an hour before dinner, and you can lend a hand in making it ready. Where +did you get those fine clothes?" + +"My mistress gave them to me," answered Osra. "She has cast them off." + +"And that horse you rode?" + +"It is my master's; I have it to ride when I do my mistress's errands." + +"Will your master and mistress do anything for you if you leave your +service?" + +"I have been promised a present if----" said Osra, and she paused in +apparent confusion. + +"Aye," said the miller, nodding sagaciously, as he rose slowly from the +arm-chair. "Will you be this way again in a week or so?" he asked. + +"I think it is very likely," answered the Princess Osra. + +"Then look in," said the miller. "About half an hour before dinner." He +nodded his head again very significantly at Osra, and, turning away, +went to his work, as a man goes who would far rather sit still in the +sun. But just as he reached the door he turned his head and asked: "Are +you sturdy?" + +"I am strong enough, I think," said she. + +"A sack of flour is a heavy thing for a man to lift by himself," +remarked the miller, and with that he passed through the door and left +her alone. + +Then she cleared the table, put the pie--or what was left--in the +larder, set the room in order, refilled the pipe, stood the jug handy by +the cask, and, with a look of great satisfaction on her face, tripped +out to where her horse was, mounted, and rode away. + +The next week--and the interval had seemed long to her, and no less long +to the Miller of Hofbau--she came again, and so the week after; and in +the week following that she came twice; and on the second of these two +days, after dinner, the miller did not go off to his sacks, but he +followed her out of the house, pipe in hand, when she went to mount her +horse, and as she was about to mount, he said: + +"Indeed you're a handy wench." + +"You say much of my hands, but nothing of my face," remarked Princess +Osra. + +"Of your face?" repeated the miller in some surprise. "What should I say +of your face?" + +"Well, is it not a comely face?" said Osra, turning towards him that he +might be better able to answer her question. + +The miller regarded her for some minutes, then a slow smile spread on +his lips. + +"Oh, aye, it is well enough," said he. Then he laid a floury finger on +her arm as he continued: "If you come next week--why, it is but half a +mile to church! I'll have the cart ready and bid the priest be there. +What's your name?" For he had not hitherto asked Osra's name. + +"Rosa Schwartz," said she, and her face was all alight with triumph and +amusement. + +"Yes, I shall be very comfortable with you," said the miller. "We will +be at the church an hour before noon, so that there may be time +afterwards for the preparation of dinner." + +"That will be on Thursday in next week?" asked Osra. + +"Aye, on Thursday," said the miller, and he turned on his heel. But in a +minute he turned again, saying: "Give me a kiss, then, since we are to +be man and wife," and he came slowly towards her, holding his arms open. + +"Nay, the kiss will wait till Thursday. Maybe there will be less flour +on your face then." And with a laugh she dived under his outstretched +arms and made her escape. The day being warm, the miller did not put +himself out by pursuing her, but stood where he was, with a broad +comfortable smile on his lips; and so he watched her ride away. + +Now, as she rode, the Princess was much occupied in thinking of the +Miller of Hofbau. Elated and triumphant as she was at having won from +him a promise of marriage, she was yet somewhat vexed that he had not +shown a more passionate affection, and this thought clouded her brow for +full half an hour. But then her face cleared. "Still waters run deep," +she said to herself. "He is not like these Court gallants, who have +learnt to make love as soon as they learn to walk, and cannot talk to a +woman without bowing and grimacing and sighing at every word. The miller +has a deep nature, and surely I have won his heart, or he would not take +me for his wife. Poor miller! I pray that he may not grieve very +bitterly when I make the truth known to him!" And then, at the thought +of the grief of the miller, her face was again clouded; but it again +cleared when she considered of the great triumph that she had won, and +how she would enjoy a victory over the King, and would have the finest +bracelet in all Strelsau as a gift from him. Thus she arrived at the +Castle in the height of merriment and exultation. + +It chanced that the King came to Zenda that night, to spend a week +hunting the boar in the forest; and when Osra, all blushing and +laughing, told him of her success with the Miller of Hofbau he was +greatly amused, and swore that no such girl ever lived, and applauded +her, renewing his promise of the bracelet; and he declared that he would +himself ride with her to Hofbau on the wedding-day, and see how the poor +miller bore his disappointment. + +"Indeed I do not see how you are going to excuse yourself to him," he +laughed. + +"A purse of five hundred crowns must do that office for me," said she. + +"What, will crowns patch a broken heart?" + +"His broken heart must heal itself, as men's broken hearts do, brother!" + +"In truth, sister, I have known them cure themselves. Let us hope it may +be so with the Miller of Hofbau." + +"At the worst I have revenged the wrongs of women on him. It is +unendurable that any man should scorn us, be he king or miller." + +"It is indeed very proper that he should suffer great pangs," said the +King, "in spite of his plaster of crowns. I shall love to see the stolid +fellow sighing and moaning like a lovesick courtier." + +So they agreed to ride together to the miller's at Hofbau on the day +appointed for the wedding, and both of them waited with impatience for +it. But, with the bad luck that pursues mortals (even though they be +princes) in this poor world, it happened that early in the morning of +the Thursday a great officer came riding post-haste from Strelsau to +take the King's commands on high matters of State; and, although Rudolf +was sorely put out of temper by this untoward interruption, yet he had +no alternative but to transact the business before he rode to the +miller's at Hofbau. So he sat fretting and fuming, while long papers +were read to him, and the Princess walked up and down the length of the +drawbridge, fretting also; for before the King could escape from his +affairs, the hour of the wedding was already come, and doubtless the +Miller of Hofbau was waiting with the priest in the church. Indeed it +was one o'clock or more before Osra and the King set out from Zenda, and +they had then a ride of an hour and a half; and all this when Osra +should have been at the miller's at eleven o'clock. + +"Poor man, he will be half mad with waiting and with anxiety for me!" +cried Osra. "I must give him another hundred crowns on account of it." +And she added, after a pause, "I pray he may not take it too much to +heart, Rudolf." + +"We must try to prevent him doing himself any mischief in his despair," +smiled the King. + +"Indeed it is a serious matter," pouted the Princess, who thought the +King's smile out of place. + +"It was not so when you began it," said her brother; and Osra was +silent. + +Then about half-past two they came in sight of the mill. Now the King +dismounted, while they were still several hundred yards away, and tied +his horse to a tree in a clump by the wayside; and when they came near +to the mill he made a circuit and approached from the side, and, +creeping along to the house, hid himself behind a large water-butt, +which stood just under the window; from that point he could hear what +passed inside the house, and could see if he stood erect. But Osra rode +up to the front of the mill, as she had been accustomed, and, getting +down from her horse, walked up to the door. The miller's cart stood in +the yard of the mill, but the horse was not in the shafts, and neither +the miller nor anybody else was to be seen about; and the door of the +house was shut. + +"He must be waiting at the church," said she. "But I will look in and +make sure. Indeed I feel half afraid to meet him." And her heart was +beating rapidly and her face was rather pale as she walked up to the +door; for she feared what the miller might do in the passion of his +disappointment at learning who she was and that she could not be his +wife. "I hope the six hundred crowns will comfort him," she said, as she +laid her hand on the latch of the door; and she sighed, her heart being +heavy for the miller, and, maybe a little heavy also for the guilt that +lay on her conscience for having deceived him. + +Now when she lifted the latch and opened the door, the sight that met +her eyes was this: The table was strewn with the remains of a brave +dinner; two burnt-out pipes lay beside the plates. A smaller table was +in front of the fire; on it stood a very large jug, entirely empty, but +bearing signs of having been full not so long ago; and on either side of +it, each in an arm-chair, sat the priest of the village and the Miller +of Hofbau; both of them were sleeping very contentedly, and snoring +somewhat as they slept. The Princess, smitten by remorse at the +spectacle, said softly: + +[Illustration: "ON EITHER SIDE OF IT SAT THE PRIEST OF THE VILLAGE AND +THE MILLER OF HOFBAU."--_Page 215._] + +"Poor fellow, he grew weary of waiting, and hungry, and was compelled to +take his dinner; and, like the kind man he is, he has entertained the +priest, and kept him here, so that no time should be lost when I +arrived. Indeed I am afraid the poor man loves me very much. Well, +miller, or lord, or prince--they are all the same. Heigh-ho! Why did I +deceive him?" And she walked up to the miller's chair, leant over the +back of it, and lightly touched his red cap with her fingers. He put up +his hand and brushed with it, as though he brushed away a fly, but gave +no other sign of awakening. + +The King called softly from behind the water-butt under the window: + +"Is he there, Osra? Is he there?" + +"The poor man has fallen asleep in weariness," she answered. "But the +priest is here, ready to marry us. Oh, Rudolf, I am so sorry for what I +have done!" + +"Girls are always mighty sorry, after it is done," remarked the King. +"Wake him up, Osra." + +At this moment the Miller of Hofbau sat up in his chair and gave a great +sneeze; and by this sound the priest also was awakened. Osra came +forward and stood between them. The miller looked at her, and tilted his +red cap forward in order that he might scratch his head. Then he looked +across to the priest, and said: + +"It is she, Father. She has come." + +The priest rubbed his hands together, and smiled uncomfortably. + +"We waited two hours," said he, glancing at the clock. "See, it is three +o'clock now." + +"I am sorry you waited so long," said Osra, "but I could not come +before. And--and now that I am come, I cannot----" But here she paused +in great distress and confusion, not knowing how to break her sad +tidings to the Miller of Hofbau. + +The miller drew his legs up under his chair, and regarded Osra with a +grave air. + +"You should have been here at eleven," said he. "I went to the church at +eleven, and the priest was there, and my cousin Hans to act as my groom, +and my cousin Gertrude to be your maid. There we waited hard on two +hours. But you did not come." + +"I am very sorry," pleaded Princess Osra. The King laughed low to +himself behind the water-butt, being much amused at her distress and her +humility. + +"And now that you are come," pursued the miller, scratching his head +again, "I do not know what we are to do." He looked again at the priest, +seeking counsel. + +At this the Princess Osra, thinking that an opportunity had come, took +the purse of six hundred crowns from under her cloak, and laid it on the +table. + +"What is this?" said the miller, for the first time showing some +eagerness. + +"They are for you," said Osra as she watched him while he unfastened the +purse. Then he poured the crowns out on the table, and counted them one +by one, till he had told all the six hundred. Then he raised his hands +above his head, let them fall again, sighed slightly, and looked across +at the priest. + +"I warned you not to be in such a hurry, friend miller," remarked the +priest. + +"I waited two hours," said the miller plaintively, "and you know that +she is a handy wench, and very fond of me." + +He began to gather up the crowns and return them to the purse. + +"I trust I am a handy wench," said Osra, smiling, yet still very +nervous, "and, indeed, I have a great regard for the miller, but----" + +"Nay, he does not mean you," interrupted the priest. + +"Six hundred," sighed the miller, "and Gertrude has but two hundred! +Still she is a handy wench and very sturdy. I doubt if you could lift a +sack by yourself, as she can." And he looked doubtfully at Osra's +slender figure. + +"I do not know why you talk of Gertrude," said the Princess petulantly. +"What is Gertrude to me?" + +"Why, I take it that she is nothing at all to you," answered the priest, +folding his hands on his lap and smiling placidly. "Still, for my part, +I bade him wait a little longer." + +"I waited two hours," said the miller. "And Gertrude urged me, saying +that you would not come, and that she would look after me better than +you, being one of the family. And she said it was hard that she should +have no husband, while her own cousin married a stranger. And since it +was all the same to me, provided I got a handy and sturdy wench----" + +"What?" cried the Princess Osra; and the King was so interested that he +rose up from behind the water-butt, and, leaning his elbows on the +window-sill, looked in and saw all that happened. + +"It being," pursued the Miller of Hofbau, "all the same to me, so that I +got what I wanted, why, when you did not come----" + +"He married his cousin," said the priest. + +A sudden roar of laughter came from the window. All three turned round, +but the King ducked his head and crouched again behind the water-butt +before they saw him. + +"Who was that?" cried the priest. + +"A lad that came to hold my horse," answered Osra hastily, and then she +turned fiercely on the miller. + +"And that," she said, "was all you wanted! I thought you loved me." + +"Aye, I liked you very well," said the miller. "You are a handy----" A +stamp of her foot drowned the rest. "But you should have come in time," +he went on. + +"And this Gertrude--is she pretty?" demanded Osra. + +"Gertrude is well enough," said the miller. "But she has only two +hundred crowns." And he put the purse, now full again, on the table with +a resigned sigh. + +"And you shall have no more," cried Osra, snatching up her purse in +great rage. "And you and Gertrude may----" + +"What of Gertrude?" came at this moment from the door of the room where +the sacks were. The Princess turned round swift as the wind, and she saw +in the doorway a short and very broad girl, with a very wide face and +straggling hair; the girl's nose was very flat, and her eyes were small; +but her great mouth smiled good-humouredly and, as the Princess looked, +she let slip to the ground a sack of flour that she had been carrying on +her sturdy back. + +"Aye, Gertrude is well enough," said the miller, looking at her +contentedly. "She is very strong and willing." + +Then, while Gertrude stood wondering and staring with wide eyes in the +doorway, the Princess swept up to the miller, and leant over him, and +cried: + +"Look at my face, look at my face! What manner of face is it?" + +"It is well enough," said the miller. "But Gertrude is----" + +There was a crash on the floor, and the six hundred crowns rolled out of +the purse, and scattered, spinning and rolling hither and thither all +over the floor and into every corner of the room. And Princess Osra +cried: "Have you no eyes?" and then she turned away; for her lip was +quivering, and she would not have the miller see it. But she turned from +the miller only to face Gertrude his wife; Gertrude's small eyes +brightened with sudden intelligence. + +"Ah, you're the other girl!" said Gertrude with much amusement. "And was +that your dowry? It is large! I am glad you did not come in time. But +see, I'll pick it up for you. Nay, don't take on. I dare say you'll find +another husband." + +She passed by Osra, patting her on the shoulder kindly as she went, and +then fell on her knees and began to pick up the crowns, crawling after +them all over the floor, and holding up her apron to receive the +recovered treasure. And Princess Osra stood looking at her. + +"Aye, you'll find another husband," nodded the priest encouragingly. + +"Aye, you'll find another husband," assented the miller placidly. "And +just as one girl is pretty nearly as good as another--if she is handy +and sturdy--so one husband is as good as another, if he can keep a house +over you." + +Princess Osra said nothing. But Gertrude, having picked up the crowns, +came to her with a full apron, saying: + +"Hold your lap, and I'll pour them in. They'll get you a good husband." + +Princess Osra suddenly bent and kissed Gertrude's cheek, and she said +gently: + +"I hope you have got a good husband, my dear; but let him do some work +for himself. And keep the six hundred crowns as a present from me, for +he will value you more with eight hundred than with two." + +The eyes of all three were fixed on her in wonder and almost in fear, +for her tone and manner were now different. Then she turned to the +miller, and she bit her lip and dashed her hand across her eyes, and she +said: + +"And you, miller, are the only sensible man I have found in all the +kingdom. Therefore good luck and a good wife to you." And she gave a +little short laugh, and turned and walked out of the cottage, leaving +them all spellbound in wonder. But the miller rose from his chair and +ran to the door, and when he reached it the King was just lifting Osra +on to her horse; the miller knew the King, and stood there with eyes +wide and cheeks bulged in wonder; but he could gasp out no more than +"The King, the King!" before Rudolf and Osra were far away. And they +could, none of them, neither the miller, nor Gertrude, nor the priest, +tell what the matter meant, until one day King Rudolf rode again to the +mill at Hofbau, and, having sent for the priest, told the three enough +of the truth, saying that the affair was the outcome of a jest at Court; +and he made each of them a handsome present, and vowed them to secrecy +by their fealty and attachment to his person and his honour. + +"So she would not have married me, anyhow?" asked the miller. + +"I think not, friend," answered Rudolf with a laugh. + +"Then we are but quits and all is well. Gertrude, the jug, my lass!" + +And so, indeed, it seemed to the King that they were but quits, and so +he said to the Princess Osra. But he declared that she had so far +prevailed with the miller as to make him desire marriage as an excellent +and useful thing in itself, although she had not persuaded him that it +was of great moment whom a man married. Therefore he was very anxious to +give her the bracelet which he had promised, and more than once prayed +her to accept it. But Osra saw the laugh that lurked in the King's eye, +and would not consent to have the bracelet, and for a long while she did +not love to speak of the Miller of Hofbau. Yet once, when the King on +some occasion cried out very impatiently that all men were fools, she +said: + +"Sire, you forget the Miller of Hofbau." And she blushed, and laughed, +and turned her eyes away. + +One other thing she did which very greatly puzzled Queen Margaret, and +all the ladies of the Court, and all the waiting-women, and all the +serving-maids, and, in fine, every person high or low who saw or heard +of it, except the King only. For in winter evenings she took her +scissors and her needle, and she cut strips of ribbon, each a foot long +and a couple of inches broad; on each of them she embroidered a motto or +legend; and she affixed the ribbons bearing the legend to each and every +one of the mirrors in each of her chambers at Strelsau, at Zenda, and at +the other royal residences. And her waiting-women noticed that, whenever +she had looked in the mirror and smiled at her own image or shewn other +signs of pleasure in it, she would then cast her eyes up to the legend, +and seem to read it, and blush a little, and laugh a little, and sigh a +little; the reason for which things they could by no means understand. + +For the legend was but this: + + "_Remember the Miller of Hofbau._" + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg. + + +It was the spring of the year when Ludwig, Prince of Glottenberg, came +courting the Princess Osra; for his father had sought the most beautiful +lady of a Royal House in Europe, and had found none equal to Osra. +Therefore the Prince came to Strelsau with a great retinue, and was +lodged in the White Palace, which stood on the outskirts of the city, +where the public gardens now are (for the Palace itself was sacked and +burnt by the people in the rising of 1848). Here Ludwig stayed many +days, coming every day to the King's palace to pay his respects to the +King and Queen, and to make his court to the Princess. King Rudolf had +received him with the utmost friendship, and was, for reasons of State +then of great moment but now of vanished interest, as eager for the +match as was the King of Glottenberg himself; and he grew very impatient +with his sister when she hesitated to accept Ludwig's hand, alleging +that she felt for him no more than a kindly esteem, and, what was as +much to the purpose, that he felt no more for her. For although the +Prince possessed most courteous and winning manners, and was very +accomplished both in learning and in exercises, yet he was a grave and +pensive young man, rather stately than jovial, and seemed in the +Princess's eyes (accustomed as they were to catch and check ardent +glances), to perform his wooing more as a duty of his station than on +the impulse of any passion. Finding in herself also no such sweet +ashamed emotions as had before now invaded her heart on account of +lesser men, she grew grave and troubled. At last she said to the King: + +"Brother, is this love? For I had as lief he were away as here, and when +he is here he kisses my hand as though it were a statue's hand; and--and +I feel as though it were. They say you know what love is. Is this love?" + +"There are many forms of love," smiled the King. "This is such love as a +Prince and a Princess may most properly feel." + +"I do not call it love at all," said Osra with a pout. + +When Prince Ludwig came next day to see her and told her with grave +courtesy that his pleasure lay in doing her will, she broke out: + +"I had rather it lay in watching my face," and then, ashamed, she turned +away from him. + +He seemed grieved and hurt at her words; it was with a sigh that he +said: "My life shall be spent in giving you joy." + +She turned round on him with flushed cheek and trembling lips: + +"Yes, but I had rather it were spent in getting joy from me." + +He cast down his eyes a moment, and then, taking her hand, kissed it. +But she drew it away sharply. So that afternoon they parted, he back to +his Palace, she to her chamber, where she sat, asking again: "Is this +love?" and crying: "He does not know love," and pausing, now and again, +before her mirror, to ask her pictured face why it would not unlock the +door of love. + +On another day she would be merry, or feign merriment, rallying him on +his sombre air and formal compliments, professing that for her part she +soon grew weary of such wooing, and loved to be easy and merry; for thus +she hoped to sting him, so that he would either disclose more warmth or +altogether forsake his pursuit. But he offered many apologies, blaming +nature that had made him grave, but assuring her of his deep affection +and respect. + +"Affection and respect!" murmured Osra with a little toss of her head. +"Oh, that I had not been born a Princess!" And yet, though she did not +love him, she thought him a very noble gentleman, and trusted to his +honour and sincerity in everything. Therefore, when he still persisted, +and Rudolf and the Queen urged her, telling her (the King mockingly, the +Queen with a touch of sadness) that she must not look to find in the +world such love as romantic girls dreamt of, at last she yielded; she +told her brother that she would marry Prince Ludwig; yet for a little +while she would not have the news proclaimed. So Rudolf went, alone and +privately, to the White Palace, and said to Ludwig: + +"Cousin, you have won the fairest lady in the world. Behold, her brother +says it!" + +Prince Ludwig bowed low, and taking the King's hand, pressed it, +thanking him for his help and approval, and expressing himself as most +grateful for the boon of the Princess's favour. + +"Will you not come with me and find her?" cried the King with a merry +look. + +"I have urgent business now," answered Ludwig. "Beg the Princess to +forgive me. This afternoon I will crave the honour of waiting on her +with my humble gratitude." + +King Rudolf looked at him, a smile curling on his lips; and he said, in +one of his gusts of impatience: + +"By heaven! is there another man in the world who would talk about +gratitude, and business, and the afternoon, when Osra of Strelsau sat +waiting for him?" + +"I mean no discourtesy," protested Ludwig, taking the King's arm, and +glancing at him with most friendly eyes. "Indeed, dear friend, I am +rejoiced and honoured. But this business of mine will not wait." + +So the King, frowning and grumbling and laughing, went back alone and +told the Princess that the happy wooer was most grateful, and would come +after his business was transacted that afternoon. But Osra, having given +her hand, would admit no fault in the man she had chosen, and thanked +the King for the message with great dignity. Then the King came to her, +and, sitting down by her, stroked her hair, saying softly: + +"You have had many lovers, sister Osra, and now comes a husband!" + +"Yes, now a husband," she murmured, catching swiftly at his hand; her +voice was half caught in a sudden sob. + +"So goes the world--our world," said the King, knitting his brows and +seeming to fall for a moment into a sad reverie. + +"I am frightened," she whispered. "Should I be frightened if I loved +him?" + +"I have been told so," said the King, smiling again. "But the fear has a +way of being mastered then." And he drew her to him, and gave her a +hearty brother's kiss, telling her to take courage. "You'll thaw the +fellow yet," said the King, "though, I grant you, he is icy enough." For +the King himself had been by no means what he called an icy man. + +But Osra was not satisfied, and sought to assuage the pain of her heart +by adorning herself most carefully for the Prince's coming, hoping to +fire him to love. For she thought that if he loved she might, although +since he did not she could not. And surely he did not, or all the tales +of love were false! Thus she came to receive him very magnificently +arrayed. There was a flush on her cheek and an uncertain, expectant, +fearful look in her eyes; thus she stood before him, as he fell on his +knee and kissed her hand. Then he rose and declared his thanks, and +promised his devotion; but as he spoke the flush faded and the light +died from her eyes; and when at last he drew near to her and offered to +kiss her cheek, her eyes were dead and her face pale and cold as she +suffered him to touch it. He was content to touch it but once, and +seemed not to know how cold it was; and so, after more talk of his +father's pleasure and his pride, he took his leave, promising to come +again the next day. She ran to the window when the door was closed on +him, and thence watched him mount his horse and ride away slowly, with +his head bent and his eyes downcast; yet he was a noble gentleman, +stately and handsome, kind and true. The tears came suddenly into her +eyes and blurred her sight as she leant watching from behind the hanging +curtains of the window. Though she dashed them away angrily, they came +again, and ran down her pale cold cheeks, mourning the golden vision +that seemed gone without fulfilment. + +That evening there came a gentleman from the Prince of Glottenberg, +carrying most humble excuses from his master, who (so he said) was +prevented from waiting on the Princess the next day by a certain very +urgent affair which took him from Strelsau, and would keep him absent +from the city all day long; and the gentleman delivered to Osra a letter +from the Prince, full of graceful and profound apologies, and pleading +an engagement that his honour would not let him break; for nothing short +of that, said he, should have kept him from her side. There followed +some lover's phrases, scantily worded and frigid in an assumed passion. +But Osra, smiling graciously, sent back a message, readily accepting all +that the Prince urged in excuse. And she told what had passed to the +King, with her head high in the air and a careless haughtiness, so that +even the King did not rally her, nor yet venture to comfort her, but +urged her to spend the day in riding with the Queen and him; for they +were setting out for Zenda, where the King was to hunt in the forest, +and she could ride some part of the way with them, and return in the +evening. And she, wishing that she had sent first to the Prince to bid +him not come, agreed to go with her brother; it was better far to go +than to wait at home for a lover who would not come. + +Thus the next morning they rode out, the King and Queen with their +retinue, the Princess attended by one of her Guard, named Christian +Hantz, who was greatly attached to her and most jealous in praise and +admiration of her. This fellow had taken it on himself to be very angry +with Prince Ludwig's coldness, but dared say nothing of it; yet, +impelled by his anger, he had set himself to watch the Prince very +closely; and thus he had, as he conceived, discovered something which +brought a twinkle into his eye and a triumphant smile to his lips as he +rode behind the Princess. Some fifteen miles she accompanied her +brother, and then, turning with Christian, took another way back to the +city. Alone she rode, her mind full of sad thoughts; while Christian, +behind, still wore his malicious smile. But presently, although she had +not commanded him, he quickened his pace and came up to her side, +relying for excuse on the favour which she always shewed him. + +"Well, Christian," said she, "have you something to say to me?" + +For answer he pointed to a small house standing among the trees, some +way from the road, and he said: + +"If I were Ludwig and not Christian, yet I would be here where Christian +is, and not there where Ludwig is," and he pointed still at the house. + +She faced round in anger at his daring to speak to her of the Prince, +but he was a bold fellow and would not be silenced now that he had begun +to speak; he knew also that she would bear much from him. So he leant +over towards her, saying: + +"By your bounty, madame, I have money, and he who has money can get +knowledge. So I know that the Prince is there. For fifty crowns I gained +a servant of his, and he told me." + +"I do not know why you should spy on the Prince," said Osra, "and I do +not care to know where the Prince is;" and she touched her horse with +the spur and cantered forward fast, leaving the little house behind. But +Christian persisted, partly in a foolish grudge against any man who +should win what was above his reach, partly in an honest anger that she, +whom he worshipped, should be treated lightly by another; and he forced +her to hear what he had learnt from the gossip of the Prince's groom, +telling it to her in hints and half-spoken sentences, yet so plainly +that she could not miss the gist of it. + +She rode the faster towards Strelsau, at first answering nothing; but at +last she turned on him fiercely, saying that he told a lie, and that she +knew it was a lie, since she knew where the Prince was, and what +business had taken him away; and she commanded Christian to be silent +and to speak neither to her nor to any one else of his false suspicions; +and she bade him very harshly to fall back and ride behind her again, +which he did, sullen yet satisfied. For he knew that his arrow had gone +home. On she rode, with her cheeks aflame and her heart beating, until +she came to Strelsau; having arrived at the Palace, she ran to her own +bedroom and flung herself on the bed. + +Here for an hour she lay; then, it being about six o'clock, she sat up, +pushing her disordered hair back from her hot aching brow. An agony of +humiliation had come upon her, and a fury of resentment against the +Prince, whose coldness seemed now to need no more explanation. Yet she +could hardly believe what she had been told of him, for though she had +not loved him, she had accorded to him her full trust. Rising, she paced +in pain about the room. She could not rest; she cried out in longing +that her brother were there, to aid her and find out the truth for her. +But he was away, and she had none to whom she could turn. So she strove +to master her anger and endure her suspense till the next day, but they +were too strong for her, and she cried: + +"I will go myself, I cannot sleep till I know. But I cannot go alone. +Who will go with me?" But she knew of none, for she would not take +Christian with her, and she shrank from speaking of the matter to any +gentlemen of the Court. Yet she must know. At last she sprang from the +chair into which she had sunk despondent, exclaiming: + +"He is a gentleman and my friend. He will go with me." And she sent +hastily for the Bishop of Modenstein, who was then in Strelsau, bidding +him come dressed for riding, with a sword, and on the best horse in his +stables. The Bishop came equipped as she bade him, and in very great +wonder. But when she told what she wanted, and what Christian had made +known to her, he grew grave, saying that they must wait and consult the +King, when he returned. + +"I will not wait an hour," she cried. "I cannot wait an hour." + +"Then I will ride and bring you word. You must not go," he urged. + +"Nay, if I go alone I will go," said she. "Yes, I will go, and myself +fling his falseness in his teeth." + +Finding her thus resolved, the Bishop knew that he could not turn her; +so, leaving her to prepare herself, he caught Christian Hantz, and +charged him to bring their horses to the most private gate of the +palace, which opened on a little by-street. Here Christian waited for +them with the horses, and they came presently, the Bishop wearing a +great slouched hat, and swaggering like a roystering trooper, while Osra +was closely veiled. The Bishop again imposed secrecy on Christian, and +then, they both being mounted, said to Osra: "If you will then, madame, +come," and thus they rode secretly out of the city, about seven in the +evening, the gate-wardens opening the gate at sight of the Royal Arms on +Osra's ring, which she gave to the Bishop in order that he might shew +it. + +In silence they rode a long way, going at a great speed; Osra's face was +set and rigid, for she felt now no shame at herself for going, nor any +fear of what she might find, but the injury to her pride swallowed every +other feeling; and at last she said, in short sharp words, to the Bishop +of Modenstein, having suddenly thrown the veil back from her face: + +"He shall not live if it prove true." + +The Bishop shook his head. His profession was peace; yet his blood also +was hot against the man who had put a slight on Princess Osra. + +"The King must know of it," he said. + +"The King! The King is not here to-night," said Osra; and she pricked +her horse and set him at a gallop. The moon, breaking suddenly in +brightness from behind a cloud, shewed the Bishop her face. Then she put +out her hand and caught him by the arm, whispering: "Are you my friend?" + +"Yes, madame," said he. She knew well that he was her friend. + +"Kill him for me, then; kill him for me." + +"I cannot kill him," said the Bishop. "I pray God it may prove untrue." + +"You are not my friend, if you will not kill him," said Osra; and she +turned her face away and rode yet more quickly. + +At last they came in sight of the little house standing back from the +road; and there was a light in one of the upper windows. The Bishop +heard a short gasp break from Osra's lips, as she pointed with her whip +to the window. Now his own breath came quick and fast; he prayed to God +that he might remember his sacred character and his vows, and not be led +into great and deadly sin, at the bidding of that proud and bitter face; +and he clenched his left hand and struck his brow with it. + +Thus then they came to the gate of the avenue of trees that led to the +house. Here, having dismounted and tied their horses to the gate-post, +they stood for an instant, and Osra again veiled her face. + +"Let me go alone, madame," he implored. + +"Give me your sword, and I will go alone," she answered. + +"Here, then, is the path," said the Bishop, and he led the way by the +moonlight that broke fitfully here and there through the trees. + +"He swore that all his life should be mine," she whispered. "Yet I knew +that he did not love me." + +The Bishop made her no answer; she looked for none and did not know that +she spoke the bitterness of her heart in words which he could hear. He +bowed his head and prayed again for her and for himself; for he had +found his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Thus, side by side now, +they came to the door of the house, and saw a gentleman standing in +front of the door, still but watchful. Osra knew that he was the +Prince's Chamberlain. + +When the Chamberlain saw them, he started violently and clapped a hand +to his sword; but Osra flung her veil on to the ground, and the Bishop +gripped his arm as with a vice. The Chamberlain looked at Osra and at +the Bishop, and half drew his sword. + +"This matter is too great for you, sir," said the Bishop. "It is a +quarrel of Princes. Stand aside," and before the Chamberlain could make +up his mind what to do Osra had passed by him and the Bishop had +followed her. + +Finding themselves in a narrow passage, they made out by the dim light +of a lamp a flight of stairs that rose from the furthest end of it. The +Bishop tried to pass the Princess, but she motioned him back, and walked +swiftly to the stairs. In silence they mounted, till they had reached +the top of the first stage; and facing them, eight or ten steps further +up, was a door. By the door stood a groom; this was the man who had +treacherously told Christian of his master's doings; but when he saw +suddenly what had come of his disloyal chattering, the fellow turned +white as a ghost and came tottering in stealthy silence down the stairs, +his finger on his lips. + +Neither of them spoke to him, nor he to them. They gave no thought to +him, his only thought was to escape as soon as he might; so he passed +them, and, going on, passed also the Chamberlain, who stood dazed at the +house-door, and so disappeared, intent on saving the life he had justly +forfeited. Thus the rogue vanished, and what became of him none knew or +cared. He showed his face no more at Glottenberg or Strelsau. + +"Hark, there are voices!" whispered Osra to the Bishop, raising her hand +above her head, as they two stood listening. + +The voices came from the door that faced them, the voice of a man and +the voice of a woman; Osra's glance at her companion told him that she +knew as well as he whose the man's voice was. + +"It is true, then," she breathed from between her teeth. "My God, it is +true!" + +The woman's voice spoke now, but the words were not audible. Then came +the Prince's: + +"For ever, in life or death, apart or together, for ever." + +The woman's answer came no more in words, but in deep low passionate +sobs which struck their ears like the distant cry of some brute creature +in pain that it cannot understand. Yet Osra's face was stern and cold, +and her lips curled scornfully when she saw the Bishop's look of pity. + +"Come, let us end it," said she, and with a firm step she began to mount +the stairs that lay between them and the door. + +Yet once again they paused outside the door, for it seemed as though the +Princess could not choose but listen to the passionate words of love +that pierced her ears like knives; yet they were all sad, speaking of +renunciation, not of happiness. + +But at last she heard her own name; then with a sudden start she caught +the Bishop's hand, for she could not listen longer. She staggered and +reeled as she whispered to him: + +"The door, the door, open the door!" + +The Bishop, his right hand being across his body and resting on the hilt +of his sword, laid his left upon the handle of the door, and turned it. +Then he flung the door open wide; at that instant Osra sprang past him, +her eyes gleaming like flames from her dead white face. And she stood +rigid on the threshold of the room, with the Bishop by her side. + +In the middle of the room stood the Prince of Glottenberg; strained in a +close embrace, clinging to him, supported by his arms, with head buried +in his breast, was a girl of slight and slender figure, graceful though +not tall; her body was still shaken by continual struggling sobs. The +Prince held her there as though against the world, but raised his head +and looked at the intruders with a grave sad air. There was no shame on +his face, and hardly surprise. Presently he took one arm from about the +lady, and, raising it, motioned to them to be still. Osra took one step +forward towards where the pair stood; the Bishop caught her sleeve, but +she shook him off. The lady looked up into the Prince's face; with a +sudden startled cry she clutched him closer, and turned a terrified face +over her shoulder. Then she moaned in great fear, and, reeling, fell +against the Prince; she would have sunk to the ground if he had not +upheld her, and her eyes closed and her lip dropped, as she swooned +away. But the Princess smiled, and, drawing herself to her full height, +stood watching while Ludwig bore the lady to a couch and laid her there. +Then, when he came back and faced her, she asked coldly and slowly: + +"Who is this woman, sir? Or is she one of those who have no names?" + +The Prince sprang forward, a sudden anger in his eyes; he raised his +hand as if he would have pressed it across her scornful mouth and kept +back her bitter words. But she did not flinch; pointing at him with her +finger, she cried to the Bishop in a ringing voice: + +"Kill him, my lord, kill him." + +And the sword of the Bishop of Modenstein was half way out of the +scabbard. + +"I would to God, my lord," said the Prince in low sad tones, "that God +would suffer you to kill me and me to take death at your hands. But +neither for you nor for me is the blow lawful. Let me speak to the +Princess." + +The Bishop still grasped his sword; for Osra's face and hand still +commanded him. But at the instant of his hesitation, while the +temptation was hot on him, there came from the couch where the lady lay +a low moan of great pain. She flung her arms out and turned, groaning +again, on her back and her head lay hanging over the side of the couch. +The Bishop's eyes met Ludwig's, and with a "God forgive me!" he let the +sword slip back, and, springing across the room, fell on his knees +beside the couch. He broke the gold chain round his neck and grasped the +crucifix which it carried in one hand, while with the other he raised +the lady's head, praying her to open her eyes, before whose closed lids +he held the sacred image; and he, who had come so near to great sin, now +prayed softly but fervently for her life and God's pity on her; for the +frailty her slight form showed could not withstand the shock of this +trial. + +"Who is she?" asked the Princess. + +But Ludwig's eyes had wandered back to the couch, and he answered only: + +"My God, it will kill her." + +"I care not," said Osra. But then came another low moan. "I care not," +said the Princess again. "Ah, she is in great suffering!" And her eyes +followed the Prince's. + +There was silence, save for the lady's low moans and the whispered +prayers of the Bishop of Modenstein. But the lady opened her eyes, and +in an instant, answering the summons, the Prince was by her side, +kneeling and holding her hand very tenderly; and he met a glance from +the Bishop across her prostrate body. The Prince bowed his head and one +sob burst from him. + +"Leave me alone with her for a little, sir," said the Bishop, and the +Prince, obeying, rose and withdrew into the bay of the window, while +Osra stood alone near the door by which she had entered. + +A few minutes passed, then Osra saw the Prince return to where the lady +was and kneel again beside her; and she saw that the Bishop was +preparing to perform his most sacred and sublime office; the lady's eyes +dwelt on him now in peace and restfulness, and she held Prince Ludwig's +hand in her small hand. But Osra would not kneel; she stood upright, +still and cold, as though she neither saw nor heard anything of what +passed; she would not pity nor forgive the woman, even if, as they +seemed to think, she lay dying. But she spoke once, asking in a harsh +voice: + +"Is there no physician in the house or near?" + +"None, madame," said the Prince. + +The Bishop began the office, and Osra stood, dimly hearing the words of +comfort, peace, and hope, dimly seeing the smile on the lady's face; for +gradually her eyes clouded with tears. Now her ears seemed to hear +nothing save the sad and piteous sobs that had shaken the girl as she +hung about Ludwig's neck. But she strove to drive away her softer +thoughts, fanning her fury when it burnt low, and telling herself again +of the insult that she had suffered. Thus she rested till the Bishop had +performed the office. But when he had finished it, he rose from his +knees and came to where Osra was. + +"It was your duty," she said, "but it is none of mine." + +"She will not live an hour," said he. "For she had an affection of the +heart, and this shock has killed her. Indeed I think she was half dead +for grief before we came." + +"Who is she?" broke again from Osra's lips. + +"Come and hear," said he, and she followed him obediently, yet +unwillingly, to the couch, and looked down at the lady. The lady looked +at her with wondering eyes, and then she smiled faintly, pressing the +Prince's hand, and whispering: + +"Yet she is so beautiful." And she seemed now wonderfully happy, so that +they three all watched her and were envious, although they were to live +and she to die. + +"Now God pardon her sin!" said the Princess Osra suddenly, and she fell +on her knees beside the couch, crying: "Surely God has pardoned her!" + +"Sin she has none, save what clings even to the purest in this world," +said the Bishop. "For what she has said to me I know to be true." + +Osra answered nothing, but gazed in questioning at the Prince, and he, +still holding the lady's hand, began to speak in a gentle voice: + +"Do not ask her name, madame. But from the first hour that we knew the +meaning of love we have loved one another. And had the issue rested in +my hands, I would have thrown to the winds all that kept me from her. I +remember when first I met her--ah, my sweet, do you remember? From that +day to this in soul she has been mine, and I hers in all my life. But +more could not be. Madame, you have asked what love is. Here is love. +Yet fate is stronger. Thus I came to Strelsau to woo, and she, left +alone, resolved to give herself to God." + +"How comes she here, then?" whispered Osra, and she laid one hand +timidly on the couch, near to the lady yet not so as to touch even her +garments. + +"She came here--" he began; but suddenly, to their amazement, the lady, +who had seemed dead, with an effort raised herself on her elbow, and +spoke in a quick eager whisper, as if she feared time and strength would +fail. + +"He is a great Prince," she said, "he must be a great King; God means +him for greatness, God forbid that I should be his ruin. Ah, what a +sweet dream he painted! But praise be to the Blessed Saints who kept me +strong. Yet at the last I was weak. I could not live without another +sight of his face; and so--I came. Next week I am--I was to take the +veil; and I came here to see him once again. God pardon me for it. But I +could not help it. Ah, madame, I know you, and I see now your beauty. +Have you known love?" + +"No," said Osra; and she moved her hand near to the lady's hand. + +"When he found me here, he prayed me again to do what he asked; and I +was half killed in denying it. But I prevailed, and we were even then +parting when you came. Why, why did I come?" For a moment her voice died +away in a low soft moan. But she made one more effort; clasping Osra's +hand in her delicate fingers, she whispered: "I am going. Be his wife." + +"No, no, no," whispered Osra, her face now close to the lady's. "You +must live; you must live and be happy." + +And then she kissed the lady's lips. The lady put out her arms and +clasped them round Osra's neck, and again she whispered softly in Osra's +ear. Neither Ludwig nor the Bishop heard what she said, but they heard +only that Osra sobbed. Presently the lady's arms relaxed a little in +their hold, and Osra, having kissed her again, rose and signed to Ludwig +to come nearer; while she, turning, gave her hand to the Bishop, and he +led her from the room, and, finding another room near, took her in +there, where she sat, silent and pale. + +Thus half an hour passed; then the Bishop stole out softly, and +presently returned, saying: + +"God has spared her the long painful path, and has taken her straight to +His rest." + +Osra heard him, half in a trance and as if she did not hear; she did not +know where he went nor what he did, nor anything that passed, until, as +it seemed after a long while, she looked up and saw Prince Ludwig +standing before her. He was composed and calm; but it seemed as if half +the life had gone out of his face. Osra rose slowly to her feet, +supporting herself on an arm of the chair on which she had sat; and, +when she had seen his face, she suddenly threw herself on the floor at +his feet, crying: + +"Forgive me, forgive me!" + +[Illustration: "'FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!'"--_Page 252._] + +"The guilt is mine," said he, "I did not trust you and did by stealth +what your nobility would have allowed me to do openly. The guilt is +mine." And he offered to raise her. But she rose, unaided, asking with +choking voice: + +"Is she dead?" + +"She is dead," said the Prince, and Osra, hearing it, covered her face +with her hands and blindly groped her way back to the chair, where she +sat, panting and exhausted. + +"To her I have said farewell, and now, madame, to you. Yet do not think +that I am a man without eyes for your beauty, or a heart to know your +worth. I seemed to you a fool and a churl. I grieved most bitterly, and +I wronged you bitterly. My excuse for all is now known. For though you +are more beautiful than she, yet true love is no wanderer; it gives a +beauty that it does not find, and forges a chain no charms can break. +Madame, farewell." + +She looked at him and saw the sad joy in his eyes, an exultation over +what had been, that what was could not destroy; and she knew that the +vision was still with him though his love was dead. Suddenly he seemed +to her a man she also might love and for whom she also, if need be, +might gladly die; yet not because she loved him, for she was asking +still in wonder: "What is this love?" + +"Madame, farewell," said he again, and, kneeling before her, he kissed +her hand. + +"I carry the body of my love," he went on, "back with me to my home, +there to mourn for her; and I shall come no more to Strelsau." + +Osra bent her eyes on his face as he knelt, and presently she said to +him in a whisper that was low for awe, not shame: + +"You heard what she bade me do?" + +"Yes, madame. I know her wish." + +"And you would do it?" she asked. + +"Madame, my struggle was fought before she died. But now you know that +my love was not yours." + +"That also I knew before, sir," and a slight bitter smile came on her +face. But she grew grave again and sat there, seeming to be pondering, +while Prince Ludwig waited. Then she suddenly leant forward and said: + +"If I loved I would wait for you to love. Now what is this love that I +cannot feel?" + +And then she sat again silent, but at last raised her eyes again to his, +saying in a voice that even in the stillness of the room he hardly +heard: + +"Now I nearly love you, for I have seen your love and know that you can +love; and I think that love must breed love, so that she who loves must +in God's time be beloved. Yet I----" She paused here, and for a moment +hid her face with her hand. "Yet I cannot," she went on. "Is it our Lord +Christ who bids us take the lower place? I cannot take it. He does not +so reign in my heart. For to my proud heart--ah, my heart so proud!--she +would be ever between us. I could not bear it. Yet I believe now that +with you I might one day find happiness." + +The Prince, though in that hour he could not think of love, was yet very +much moved by her new tenderness and felt that what had passed rather +drew them together than made any separation between them. And it seemed +to him that the dead lady's blessing was on his suit; so he said: + +"Madame, I would most faithfully serve you and you would be nearest and +dearest to me of all living women." + +She waited awhile, then she sighed heavily, looking in his face with an +air of wistful longing; and she knit her brows as though she were +puzzled. But at last, shaking her head, she said: + +"It is not enough." + +With this she rose and took him by the hand, and they two went back +together to where the Bishop of Modenstein still prayed beside the body +of the lady. + +Osra stood on one side of the body and stretched her hand out to the +Prince who stood on the other side. + +"See," said she, "she must be between us." And having kissed the dead +face once, she left the Prince there by the side of his love and herself +went out; and, turning her head, she saw that the Prince knelt again by +the corpse of his love. + +"He does not think of me," she said to the Bishop. + +"His thoughts are still with her, madame," he answered. + +It was late night now, and they rode swiftly and silently along the road +to Strelsau. On all the way they spoke to one another only a few words, +both being sunk deep in thought. But once Osra spoke, as they were +already near to Strelsau. For she turned suddenly to the Bishop, saying: + +"My lord, what is it? Do you know it?" + +"Yes, madame, I have known it," answered the Bishop. + +"Yet you are a Churchman!" + +"True, madame," said he, and he smiled sadly. + +She seemed to consider, fixing her eyes on his; but he turned his aside. + +"Could you not make me understand?" she asked. + +"Your lover, when he comes, will do that, madame," said he, and still he +kept his eyes averted. Osra wondered why he kept his eyes turned away; +yet presently a faint smile curved her lips, and she said: + +"It may be you might feel it, if you were not a Churchman. But I do not. +Many men have said they loved me, and I have felt something in my heart; +but not this." + +"It will come," said the Bishop. + +"Does it come then to every one?" + +"To most," he answered. + +"Heigho, will it ever come to me?" she sighed. + +With this they were at home. And Osra was for a long time very sorrowful +for the fate of the lady whom the Prince of Glottenberg had loved; yet, +since she saw Ludwig no more, and the joy of youth conquers sadness, she +ceased to mourn; but as she walked alone she would wonder more and more +what it might be, this great love that she did not feel. + +"For none will tell me, not even the Bishop of Modenstein," said she. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + The Victory of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim. + + +King Rudolf, being in the worst of humours, had declared in the presence +of all the Court that women were born to plague men and for no other +purpose whatsoever under heaven. Hearing this discourteous speech, the +Princess Osra rose and said that for her part she would go walking alone +by the river outside the city gates, where at least she would be +assailed by no more reproaches. For since she was irrevocably determined +to live and die unmarried, of what use or benefit was it to trouble her +with embassies, courting, or proposals from either the Grand Duke of +Mittenheim or anybody else? She was utterly weary of this matter of +love, and her mood would be unchanged though this new suitor were as +exalted as the King of France, as rich as Croesus himself, and as +handsome as the god Apollo. She did not desire a husband, and there was +an end of it. Thus she went out, while the Queen sighed, and the King +fumed, and the courtiers and ladies said to one another that these +dissensions made life very uncomfortable at Strelsau, the ladies further +adding that he would be a bold man who married Osra, although doubtless +she was not ill-looking. + +To the banks of the river outside the walls then Osra went; and as she +went she seemed to be thinking of nothing at all in the world, least of +all of whom she might chance to meet there on the banks of the river, +where in those busy hours of the day few came. Yet there was a strange +new light in her eyes, and there seemed a new understanding in her mind; +and when a young peasant wife came by, her baby in her arms, Osra +stopped her, and kissed the child and gave money, and then ran on in +unexplained confusion, laughing and blushing as though she had done +something which she did not wish to be seen. Then without reason her +eyes filled with tears, but she dashed them away and burst suddenly into +singing. And she was still singing when, from the long grass by the +river's edge, a young man sprang up, and, with a very low bow, drew +aside to let her pass. He had a book in his hand, for he was a student +at the University, and came there to pursue his learning in peace; his +plain brown clothes spoke of no wealth or station, though certainly they +set off a stalwart straight shape and seemed to match well with his +bright brown hair and hazel eyes. Very low this young man bowed and Osra +bent her head. The pace of her walk slowed, grew quicker, slowed again; +she was past him, and with a great sigh he lay down again. She turned, +he sprang up; she spoke coldly, yet kindly. + +[Illustration: "A YOUNG MAN SPRANG UP, AND, WITH A LOW BOW, DREW ASIDE +TO LET HER PASS."--_Page 259._] + +"Sir," said she, "I cannot but notice that you lie every day here by the +river with your book, and that you sigh. Tell me your trouble, and if I +can I will relieve it." + +"I am reading, madame," he answered, "of Helen of Troy, and I am sighing +because she is dead." + +"It is an old grief by now," said Osra, smiling. "Will none serve you +but Helen of Troy?" + +"If I were a Prince," said he, "I need not mourn." + +"No, sir?" + +"No, madame," he said, with another bow. + +"Farewell, sir." + +"Madame, farewell." + +So she went on her way, and saw him no more till the next day, nor after +that till the next day following; and then came an interval when she saw +him not, and the interval was no less than twenty-four hours; yet still +he read of Helen of Troy, and still sighed because she was dead, and he +no Prince. At last he tempted the longed-for question from Osra's shy +smiling lips. + +"Why would you not mourn, sir, if you were a Prince?" said she. "For +Princes and Princesses have their share of sighs." And with a very +plaintive sigh Osra looked at the rapid running river, as she waited for +his answer. + +"Because then I would go to Strelsau and so forget her." + +"But you are at Strelsau now!" she cried with wondering surprise. + +"Ah, but I am no Prince, madame," said he. + +"Can Princes alone--forget in Strelsau?" + +"How should a poor student dare to--forget in Strelsau?" As he spoke he +made bold to step near her and stood close, looking down into her face. +Without a word she turned and left him, going through the meadow with a +step that seemed to dance and yet led her to her own chamber, where she +could weep in quiet. + +"I know it now, I know it now," she whispered softly that night to the +tree which rose by her window. "Heigho, what am I to do? I cannot live, +no, and now I cannot die. Ah me, what am I to do? I wish I were a +peasant girl; but then perhaps he would not--ah, yes, but he would!" And +her low long laugh rippled in triumph through the night, blending +sweetly with the rustling of the leaves under a summer breeze; and she +stretched her white arms to heaven, imploring the kind God with prayers +that she dared not speak even to His pitiful ear. + +"Love knows no Princesses, my Princess." It was that she heard as she +fled from him next day. She should have rebuked him. But for that she +must have stayed; and to stay she had not dared. But she must rebuke +him. She would see him again in order to rebuke him. Yet all this while +she must be pestered with the court of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim! And +when she would not name a day on which the embassy should come, the King +flew into a passion, and declared that he himself would set a date for +it. Was his sister mad, he asked, that she would do nothing but walk +every day by the river's bank? "Surely I must be mad," thought Osra; for +no sane being could be at once so joyful and so piteously unhappy. + +Did he know what it was he asked? He seemed to know nothing of it. He +did not speak any more now of Princesses, only of his Princess, nor of +Queens, save of his heart's queen; and when his eyes asked love, they +asked as though none would refuse and there could be no cause for +refusal. He would have wooed his neighbour's daughter thus, and thus he +wooed the sister of King Rudolf. + +"Will you love me?" was his question, not, "Though you love, yet dare +you own your love?" He seemed to shut the whole world from her, leaving +nothing but her and him; and in a world that held none but her and him, +she could love, unblamed, untroubled, and with no trembling. + +"You forget who I am," she faltered once. + +"You are the beauty of the world," he answered smiling, and he kissed +her hand--a matter about which she could make no great ado, for it was +not the first time that he had kissed it. + +[Illustration: "'YOU ARE THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD,' HE ANSWERED +SMILING."--_Page 263._] + +But the embassy from the Grand Duke was to come in a week and to be +received with great pomp. The ambassador was already on the way, +carrying proposals and gifts. Therefore Osra went pale and sad down to +the river bank that day, having declared again to the King that she +would live and die unmarried. But the King had laughed cruelly. Surely +she needed kindness and consolation that sad day; yet Fate had kept for +her a crowning sorrow; for she found him also almost sad; at least she +could not tell whether he was sad or not. For he smiled and yet seemed +ill at ease, like a man who ventures a fall with fortune, hoping and +fearing. And he said to her: + +"Madame, in a week I return to my own country." + +She looked at him in silence with lips just parted. For her life she +could not speak; but the sun grew dark and the river changed its merry +tune to mournful dirges. + +"So the dream ends," said he. "So comes the awakening. But if life were +all a dream?" His eyes sought hers. + +"Yes," she whispered, "if life were all a dream, sir?" + +"Then I should dream of two dreamers whose dream was one, and in that +dream I should see them ride together at break of day from Strelsau." + +"Whither?" she murmured. + +"To Paradise," said he. "But the dream ends. If it did not end----" He +paused. + +"If it did not end?" a breathless longing whisper echoed. + +"If it did not end now, it should not end even with death," said he. + +"You see them in your dream? You see them riding?" + +"Aye, swiftly, side by side, they two alone, through the morning. None +is near; none knows." + +He seemed to be searching her face for something that yet he scarcely +hoped to find. + +"Their dream," said he, "brings them at last to a small cottage; it is +where they live." + +"They live?" + +"And work," he added. "For she keeps his home while he works." + +"What does she do?" asked Osra, with smiling wondering eyes. + +"She gets his supper for him when he comes home weary in the evening, +and makes a bright fire, and----" + +"Ah, and she runs to meet him at the door! Oh, farther than the door!" + +"But she has worked hard and is weary." + +"No, she is not weary," cried Osra. "It is for him she works!" + +"The wise say this is silly talk," said he. + +"The wise are fools then," cried Osra. + +"So the dream would please you, madame?" he asked. + +She had come not to know how she left him; somehow, while he still +spoke, she would suddenly escape by flight. He did not pursue, but let +her go. So now she returned to the city, her eyes filled with that +golden dream; she entered her home as though it had been some strange +Palace decked with unknown magnificence, and she an alien to it. For her +true home seemed now rather in the cottage of the dream, and she moved +unfamiliarly through the pomp that had been hers from birth. Her soul +was gone from it, while her body rested there; and life stopped for her +till she saw him again by the banks of the river. + +"In five days now I go," said he, and he smiled at her. She hid her face +in her hands. Still he smiled; but suddenly he sprang forward; for she +had sobbed. The summons had sounded; he was there; and who could sob +again when he was there, and his sheltering arm warded off all grief? +She looked up at him with shining eyes, whispering: + +"Do you go alone?" + +A great joy blazed confidently in his eyes as he whispered in answer: + +"I think I shall not go alone." + +"But how, how?" + +"I have two horses." + +"You! You have two horses?" + +"Yes, is it not riches? But we will sell them when we get to the +cottage." + +"To the cottage! Two horses!" + +"I would I had but one for both of us." + +"Yes." + +"But we should not go quick enough." + +"No." + +He took his hand from her waist and stood away from her. + +"You will not come?" he said. + +"If you doubt of my coming, I will not come. Ah, do not doubt of my +coming! For there is a great hoard of fears and black thoughts beating +at the door, and you must not open it." + +"And what can keep it shut, my Princess?" + +"I think your arm, my Prince," said she; and she flew to him. + +That evening King Rudolf swore that if a man were only firm enough and +kept his temper (which, by the way, the King had not done, though none +dared say so), he could bring any foolish girl to reason in good time. +For in the softest voice, and with the strangest smile flitting to her +face, the Princess Osra was pleased to bid the embassy come on the fifth +day from then. + +"They shall have their answer then," said she, flushing and smiling. + +"It is as much as any lady could say," the Court declared; and it was +reported through all Strelsau that the match was as good as made, and +that Osra was to be Grand Duchess of Mittenheim. + +"She's a sensible girl after all," cried Rudolf, all his anger gone. + +The dream began then, before they came to the cottage. Those days she +lived in its golden mists, that shut out all the cold world from her, +moving through space which held but one form, and time that stood still +waiting for one divine unending moment. And the embassy drew near to +Strelsau. + +It was night, the dead of night, and all was still in the Palace. But +the sentinel by the little gate was at his post, and the gate-warden +stood by the Western Gate of the city. Each was now alone, but to each, +an hour ago, a man had come stealthily and silently through the +darkness; and each was richer by a bag of gold than he had been before. +The gold was Osra's--how should a poor student, whose whole fortune was +two horses, scatter bags of gold? And other gold Osra had, aye, five +hundred crowns. Would not that be a brave surprise for the poor student? +And she, alone of all awake, stood looking round her room, entranced +with the last aspect of it. Over the city also she looked, but in the +selfishness of her joy did no more than kiss a hasty farewell to the +good city folk who loved her. Once she thought that maybe, some day, he +and she would steal together back to Strelsau, and sheltered by some +disguise watch the King ride in splendour through the streets. But if +not--why, what was Strelsau, and the people, and the rest? Ah, how long +the hours were, before those two horses stood by the little gate, and +the sentry and the gate-warden earned their bags of gold! So she passed +the hours, the last long lingering hours. + +There was a little tavern buried in the narrowest oldest street of the +city. Here the poor student had lodged; here, in the back room, a man +sat at a table, and two others stood before him. These two seemed +gentlemen, and their air spoke of military training. They stroked long +moustaches and smiled with an amusement that deference could not hide. +Both were booted and wore spurs, and the man sitting at the table gave +them orders. + +"You will meet the embassy," he said to one, "about ten o'clock. Bring +it to the place I have appointed, and wait there. Do not fail." + +The officer addressed bowed and retired. A minute later his horse's +hoofs clattered through the streets. Perhaps he also had a bag of gold, +for the gate-warden opened the Western Gate for him, and he rode at a +gallop along the river banks, till he reached the great woods that +stretch to within ten miles of Strelsau. + +"An hour after we are gone," said the man at the table to the other +officer, "go warily, find one of the King's servants, and hand him the +letter. Give no account of how you came by it, and say nothing of who +you are. All that is necessary is in the letter. When you have delivered +it, return here and remain in close hiding, till you hear from me +again." + +The second officer bowed. The man at the table rose and went out into +the street. He took his way to where the Palace rose, and then skirted +the wall of its gardens, till he came to the little gate. Here stood two +horses, and at their heads a man. + +"It is well. You may go," said the student; and he was left alone with +the horses. They were good horses for a student to possess. The thought +perhaps crossed their owner's mind, for he laughed softly as he looked +at them. Then he also fell to thinking that the hours were long; and a +fear came suddenly upon him that she would not come. It was in these +last hours that doubts crept in; and he was not with her to drive them +away. Would the great trial fail? Would she shrink at the last? But he +would not think it of her, and he was smiling again, when the clock of +the Cathedral struck two, telling him that no more than an hour now +parted her from him. For she would come; the Princess would come to him, +the student, led by the vision of that cottage in the dream. + +Would she come? She would come; she had risen from her knees and moved +to and fro in cautious silence, making her last preparations. She had +written a word of love for the brother she loved--for some day, of +course, Rudolf would forgive her--and she had ready all that she took +with her, the five hundred crowns, one ring that she would give her +lover, some clothes to serve till his loving labour furnished more. That +night she had wept and she had laughed; now she neither wept nor +laughed; but there was a high pride in her face and gait. She opened the +door of her room, and walked down the great staircase, under the eyes of +crowned Kings who hung framed upon the walls. And as she went she seemed +indeed their daughter. For her head was erect, and her lips set firm in +haughty dignity. Who dared to say that she did anything that a King's +daughter should not do? Should not a woman love? Love should be her +diadem. And so with this proud step she came through the gardens of the +Palace, looking neither to right nor left, nor behind, but with her face +set straight for the little gate; and she walked as she had been +accustomed to walk when all Strelsau looked on her, and hailed her as +its glory and its darling. + +The sentry slept, or seemed to sleep. Her face was not even veiled when +she opened the little gate; she would not veil her proud face, it was +his to look on now when he would; and thus she stood for an instant in +the gateway, while he sprang to her, and, kneeling, carried her hand to +his lips. + +"You are come?" he cried; for though he had believed, yet he wondered. + +"I am come," she smiled. "Is not the word of a Princess sure? Ah, how +could I not come?" + +"See, love," said he, rising, "day dawns in royal purple for you, and +golden love for me." + +"The purple is for my King and the love for me," she whispered, as he +led her to the horses. "Your fortune!" said she, pointing to them. "But +I also have brought a dowry. Fancy, five hundred crowns!" and her mirth +and happiness burst out in a laugh. It was so deliciously little, five +hundred crowns! + +She was mounted now and he stood by her. + +"Will you turn back?" he said. + +"You shall not make me angry," said she. "Come, mount." + +"Aye, I must mount," said he. "For if we were found here the King would +kill me." + +For the first time the peril of their enterprise seemed to strike into +her mind, and turned her cheek pale. + +"Ah, I forgot! In my happiness I forgot. Mount, mount! Oh, if he found +you!" + +He mounted. Once they clasped hands; then they rode swiftly for the +Western Gate. + +"Veil your face," he said, and since he bade her, she obeyed, saying: + +"But I can see you through the veil." + +The gate stood open, and the gate-warden was not there. They were out of +the city, the morning air blew cold and pure over the meadows from the +river. The horses stretched into an eager willing gallop. Osra tore her +veil from her face, and turned on him eyes of radiant triumph. + +"It is done," she cried, "it is done." + +"Yes, it is done, my Princess," said he. + +"And--and it is begun, my Prince," said she. + +"Yes, and it is begun," said he. + +She laughed aloud in absolute joy, and for a moment he also laughed. + +But then his face grew grave, and he said: + +"I pray you may never grieve for it." + +She looked at him with eyes wide in wonder; for an instant she seemed +puzzled; then she fell again to laughing. + +"Grieve for it!" said she, between her merry laughs. + +King Rudolf was a man who lay late in the morning, and he was not well +pleased to be roused when the clock had but just struck four. Yet he sat +up in his bed readily enough, for he imagined that the embassy from the +Grand Duke of Mittenheim must be nearer than he thought, and, sooner +than fail in any courtesy towards a Prince whose alliance he ardently +desired, he was ready to submit to much inconvenience. But his +astonishment was great, when, instead of any tidings from the embassy, +one of his gentlemen handed him a letter, saying that a servant had +received it from a stranger with instructions to carry it at once to the +King; when asked if an answer were desired from his Majesty, the +stranger had answered, "Not through me," and at once turned away and +quickly disappeared. The King, with a peevish oath at having been roused +for such a trifle broke the seal and fastenings of the letter, and +opened it; and he read: + +"Sire,--Your sister does not wait for the embassy, but chooses her own +lover. She has met a student of the University every day for the last +three weeks by the river bank." (The King started.) "This morning she +has fled with him on horseback along the Western Road. If you desire a +student for a brother-in-law, sleep again; if not, up and ride. Do not +doubt these tidings." + +There was no signature to the letter; yet the King, knowing his sister, +cried: + +"See whether the Princess is in the Palace. And in the meanwhile saddle +my horse, and let a dozen of the Guard be at the gate." + +The Princess was not in the Palace, but her women found the letter that +she had left, and brought it to the King. And the King read: "Brother, +whom I love best of all men in the world save one, I have left you to go +with that one. You will not forgive me now, but some day forgive me. +Nay, it is not I who have done it, but my love which is braver than I. +He is the sweetest gentleman alive, brother, and therefore he must be my +lord. Let me go, but still love me.--Osra." + +"It is true," said the King; "and the embassy will be here to-day!" For +a moment he seemed dazed. Yet he spoke nothing to anybody of what the +letters contained, but sent word to the Queen's apartments that he went +riding for pleasure. And he took his sword and his pistols; for he swore +that by his own hand and by that of no other man, this "sweetest +gentleman alive" should meet his death. But all, knowing that the +Princess was not in the Palace, guessed that the King's sudden haste +concerned her; and great wonder and speculation rose in the Palace, and +presently, as the morning advanced, spread from the Palace to its +environs, and from the environs to the rest of the city. For it was +reported that a sentinel who had stood guard that night was missing, and +that the gate-warden of the Western Gate was nowhere to be found, and +that a mysterious letter had come by an unknown hand to the King, and +lastly, that Princess Osra--their Princess--was gone, whether of her own +will or by some bold plot of seizure and kidnapping, none knew. Thus a +great stir grew in all Strelsau; men stood about the streets gossiping +when they should have gone to work, while women chattered instead of +sweeping their houses and dressing their children. So that when the King +rode out of the courtyard of the Palace at a gallop, with twelve of the +Guard behind, he could hardly make his way through the streets for the +people who crowded round him, imploring him to tell them where the +Princess was. When the King saw that the matter had become public, his +wrath was greater still, and he swore again that the student of the +University should pay the price of life for his morning ride with the +Princess. And when he darted through the gate and set his horse straight +along the Western Road, many of the people, neglecting all their +business as folk will for excitement's sake, followed him as they best +could, agog to see the thing to its end. + +"The horses are weary," said the student to the Princess, "we must let +them rest; we are now in the shelter of the wood." + +"But my brother may pursue you," she urged, "and if he came up with +you--ah, heaven forbid!" + +"He will not know you have gone for another three hours," smiled he. +"And here is a green bank where we can rest." + +So he aided her to dismount; then, saying he would tether the horses, he +led them away some distance, so that she could not see where he had +posted them; and he returned to her, smiling still. Then he took from +his pocket some bread, and breaking the loaf in two, gave her one half, +saying: + +"There is a spring just here; so we shall have a good breakfast." + +"Is this your breakfast?" she asked with a wondering laugh. Then she +began to eat, and cried directly: "How delicious this bread is! I would +have nothing else for breakfast"; and at this the student laughed. + +Yet Osra ate little of the bread she liked so well; presently she leant +against her lover's shoulder, and he put his arm round her; and they sat +for a little while in silence listening to the soft sounds that filled +the waking woods as day grew to fulness and the sun beat warm through +the sheltering foliage. + +"Don't you hear the trees?" Osra whispered to her lover. "Don't you hear +them? They are whispering for me what I dare not whisper." + +"What is it they whisper, sweet?" he asked; he himself did no more than +whisper. + +"The trees whisper, 'Love, love, love.' And the wind--don't you hear the +wind murmuring, 'Love, love, love'? And the birds sing, 'Love, love, +love.' Aye, all the world to-day is softly whispering, 'Love, love, +love.' What else should the great world whisper but my love? For my love +is greater than the world." And she suddenly hid her face in her hands; +and he could kiss no more than her hands, though her eyes gleamed at him +from between slim white fingers. + +But suddenly her hands dropped, and she leant forward as though she +listened. + +"What is that sound?" she asked, apprehension dawning in her eyes. + +"It is but another whisper, love!" said he. + +"Nay, but it sounds to me like--ah, like the noise of horses galloping." + +"It is but the stream, beating over stones." + +"Listen, listen, listen!" she cried springing to her feet. "They are +horses' hoofs! Ah, merciful God, it is the King!" And she caught him by +the hand and pulled him to his feet, looking at him with a face pale and +alarmed. + +"Not the King," said he. "He would not know yet. It is some one else. +Hide your face, dear lady, and all will be well." + +"It is the King," she cried. "Hark how they gallop on the road! It is my +brother. Love, he will kill you, love, he will kill you." + +"It is the King," said he, "I have been betrayed." + +"The horses, the horses!" she cried. "By your love for me, the horses!" + +He nodded his head, and, turning, disappeared among the trees. She stood +with clasped hands, heaving breast, and fearful eyes, awaiting his +return. Minutes passed and he did not come. She flung herself on her +knees, beseeching heaven for his life. At last he came alone, and he +bent over her, taking her hand. + +"My love," said he, "the horses are gone!" + +"Gone?" she cried, gripping his hand. + +"Aye. This love, my love, is a wonderful thing. For I forgot to tie +them, and they are gone. Yet what matter? For the King--yes, sweet, I +think now it is the King--will not be here for some minutes yet, and +those minutes I have still for love and life." + +"He will kill you," she said. + +"Yes," said he. + +She looked long in his eyes; then she threw her arms about his neck, +and, for the first time unasked, covered his face with kisses. + +"Kiss me, kiss me," said she; and he kissed her. Then she drew back a +little, but took his arm and set it round her waist. And she drew a +little knife from her girdle, and showed it to him. + +"If the King will not pardon us and let us love one another, I also will +die," said she, and her voice was quiet and happy. "Indeed, my love, I +should not grieve. Ah, do not tell me to live without you!" + +"Would you obey?" he asked. + +"Not in that," said she. + +Thus they stood, while the sound of the hoofs drew very near. But she +looked up at him and he looked at her; then she looked at the point of +the little dagger, and she whispered: + +"Keep your arm round me till I die." + +He bent his head and kissed her once again, saying: + +"My Princess, it is enough." + +And she, though she did not know why he smiled, yet smiled back at him. +For although life was sweet that day, yet such a death, with him, and to +prove her love for him, seemed well-nigh as sweet. Thus they awaited the +coming of the King. + + * * * * * + +King Rudolf and his Guards far outstripped the people who pursued them +from the city, and when they came to the skirt of the wood they divided +themselves into four parties, since, if they went all together, they +might easily miss the fugitives whom they sought. Of these four parties +one found nothing, another found the two horses, which the student +himself, who had hidden them, failed to find; the third party had not +gone far before they caught sight of the lovers, though the lovers did +not see them; and two of them remained to watch, and if need were to +intercept any attempted flight, while the other rode off to find the +King and bring him where Osra and the student were, as he had commanded. + +But the fourth party, with which the King was, though it did not find +the fugitives, found the embassy from the Grand Duke of Mittenheim; for +the ambassador, with all his train, was resting by the roadside, seeming +in no haste at all to reach Strelsau. When the King suddenly rode up at +great speed and came upon the embassy, an officer that stood by the +ambassador--whose name was Count Sergius of Antheim--stooped down and +whispered in his Excellency's ear; upon which he rose and advanced +towards the King, uncovering his head and bowing profoundly; for he +chose to assume that the King had ridden to meet him out of excessive +graciousness and courtesy towards the Grand Duke; so that he began, to +the impatient King's infinite annoyance, to make a very long and stately +speech, assuring his Majesty of the great hope and joy with which his +master awaited the result of the embassy; for, said he, since the King +was so zealous in his cause, his master could not bring himself to doubt +of success, and therefore most confidently looked to win for his bride +the most exalted and lovely lady in the world, the peerless Princess +Osra, the glory of the Court of Strelsau, and the brightest jewel in the +crown of the King her brother. Having brought this period to a +prosperous conclusion, Count Sergius took breath and began another that +promised to be fully as magnificent and not a whit less long. So that, +before it was well started, the King smote his hand on his thigh, and +roared: + +"Heavens, man, while you're making speeches, that rascal is carrying off +my sister!" + +Count Sergius, who was an elderly man of handsome presence and great +dignity, being thus rudely and strangely interrupted, showed great +astonishment and offence; but the officer by him covered his mouth with +his hand to hide a smile. For the moment that the King had spoken these +impetuous words he was himself overwhelmed with confusion; since the +last thing that he wished the Grand Duke's ambassador to know was that +the Princess, whom his master courted, had run away that morning with a +student of the University of Strelsau. Accordingly he began, very +hastily and with more regard for prudence than for truth, to tell Count +Sergius how a noted and bold criminal had that morning swooped down on +the Princess as she rode unattended outside the city and carried her +off; which seemed to the ambassador a very strange story. But the King +told it with great fervour, and he besought the Count to scatter his +attendants all through the wood, and seek the robber; yet he charged +them not to kill the man themselves but to keep him till he came. "For I +have sworn to kill him with my own hand," he cried. + +Now Count Sergius, however much astonished he might be, could do nothing +but accede to the King's request, and he sent off all his men to scour +the woods, and, mounting his horse, himself set out with them, showing +great zeal in the King's service, but still thinking the King's story a +very strange one. Thus the King was left alone with his two Guards and +with the officer who had smiled. + +"Will you not go also, sir?" asked the King. + +But at this moment a man galloped up at furious speed, crying: + +"We have found them, sire, we have found them!" + +"Then he hasn't five minutes to live!" cried the King in fierce joy, and +he lugged out his sword, adding: "The moment I set my eyes on him, I +will kill him. There is no need for words between me and him." + +At this speech the face of the officer grew suddenly grave and alarmed, +and he put spurs to his horse and hastened after the King, who had at +once dashed away in the direction in which the man had pointed; but the +King had got a start and kept it, so that the officer seemed terribly +frightened, and muttered to himself: + +"Heaven send that he does not kill him before he knows!" And he added +some very impatient words, concerning the follies of Princes, and, above +all, of Princes in love. + +Thus, while the ambassador and his men searched high and low for +the noted robber, and the King's men hunted for the student of the +University, the King, followed by two of his Guards at a distance of +about fifty yards (for his horse was better than theirs), came straight +to where Osra and her lover stood together; a few yards behind the +Guards came the officer; and he also had by now drawn his sword. But he +rode so eagerly that he overtook and passed the King's Guards, and got +within thirty yards of the King by the time that the King was within +twenty of the lovers. But the King let him get no nearer, for he dug his +spurs again into his horse's side, and the animal bounded forward, while +the King cried furiously to his sister: "Stand away from him!" + +The Princess did not heed, but stood in front of her lover (for the +student was wholly unarmed), holding up the little dagger in her hand. +The King laughed scornfully and angrily, thinking that Osra menaced him +with the weapon, and not supposing that it was herself for whom she +destined it. And, having reached them, the King leapt from his horse and +ran at them, with his sword raised to strike. Osra gave a cry of terror. +"Mercy!" she cried, "mercy!" But the King had no thought of mercy, and +he would certainly then and there have killed her lover, had not the +officer, gaining a moment's time by the King's dismounting, at this very +instant come galloping up; and, there being no leisure for any +explanation, he leant from his saddle as he dashed by, and, putting out +his hand, snatched the King's sword away from him, just as the King was +about to thrust it through his sister's lover. + +But the officer's horse was going so furiously that he could not stop it +for hard on forty yards; he narrowly escaped splitting his head against +a great bough that hung low across the grassy path, and he dropped first +his own sword and then the King's; but at last he brought his horse to a +standstill, and, leaping down, ran back towards where the swords lay. +But at the moment the King also ran towards them; for the fury that he +had been in before was as nothing to that which now possessed him. After +his sword was snatched from him he stood in speechless anger for a full +minute, but then had turned to pursue the man who had dared to treat him +with such insult; and now, in his desire to be at the officer, he had +come very near to forgetting the student. Just as the officer came to +where the King's sword lay and picked it up, the King in his turn +reached the officer's sword and picked up that. The King came with a +rush at the officer, who, seeing that the King was likely to kill him, +or he the King, if he stood his ground, turned tail and sped away at the +top of his speed through the forest; but as he went, thinking that the +time had come for plain speaking, he looked back over his shoulder and +shouted: + +"Sire, it's the Grand Duke himself!" + +The King stopped short in sudden amazement. + +"Is the man mad?" he asked. "Who is the Grand Duke?" + +"It's the Grand Duke, sire, who is with the Princess. You would have +killed him if I had not snatched your sword," said the officer, and he +also came to a halt, but he kept a very wary eye on King Rudolf. + +"I should certainly have killed him, let him be who he will," said the +King. "But why do you call him the Grand Duke?" + +The officer very cautiously approached the King, and, seeing that the +King made no threatening motion, he at last trusted himself so close +that he could speak to the King in a very low voice; and what he said +seemed to astonish, please, and amuse the King immensely. For he clapped +the officer on the back, laughed heartily, and cried; + +"A pretty trick! on my life, a pretty trick!" + +Now Osra and her lover had not heard what the officer had shouted to the +King, and when Osra saw her brother returning from among the trees alone +and with his sword, she still supposed that her lover must die; so she +turned and flung her arms round his neck, and clung to him for a moment, +kissing him. Then she faced the King, with a smile on her lips and the +little dagger in her hand. But the King came up, wearing a scornful +smile; and he asked her: + +"What is the dagger for, my wilful sister?" + +"For me, if you kill him," said she. + +"You will kill yourself, then, if I kill him?" + +"I would not live a moment after he was dead." + +"Faith, it is wonderful!" said the King with a shrug. "Then plainly, if +you cannot live without him, you must live with him. He is to be your +husband, not mine. Therefore take him, if you will." + +When Osra heard this, which, indeed, for joy and wonder she could hardly +believe, she dropped her dagger, and, running forward, fell on her knees +before her brother; catching his hand, she covered it with kisses, and +her tears mingled with her kisses. But the King let her go on, and stood +over her, laughing and looking at the student. Presently the student +began to laugh also, and he had just advanced a step towards King +Rudolf, when Count Sergius of Antheim, the Grand Duke's ambassador, came +out from among the trees, riding hotly and with great zeal after the +noted robber. But no sooner did the Count see the student, than he +stopped his horse, leapt down with a cry of wonder, and, running up to +the student, bowed very low and kissed his hand. So that when Osra +looked round from her kissing of her brother's hand, she beheld the +Grand Duke's ambassador kissing the hand of her lover. She sprang to her +feet in wonder. + +"Who are you?" she cried to the student, running in between him and the +ambassador. + +"Your lover and servant," said he. + +"And besides?" she said. + +"Why, in a month, your husband," laughed the King, taking her lover by +the hand. + +He clasped the King's hand, but turned at once to her, saying humbly: + +"Alas, I have no cottage!" + +"Who are you?" she whispered to him. + +"The man for whom you were ready to die, my Princess. Is it not enough?" + +"Yes, it is enough," said she; and she did not repeat her question. But +the King, with a short laugh, turned on his heel, and taking Count +Sergius by the arm walked off with him; and presently they called the +officer and learnt fully how the Grand Duke had come to Strelsau, and +how he had contrived to woo and win the Princess Osra, and finally to +carry her off from the Palace. + +It was an hour later when the whole of the two companies, that of the +King and that of the ambassador, were all gathered together again, and +had heard the story; so that when the King went to where Osra and the +Grand Duke walked together among the trees, and taking each by a hand +led them out, they were greeted with a great cheer; they mounted their +horses, which the Grand Duke now found without any difficulty, although +when the need of them seemed far greater the student could not contrive +to come upon them; and the whole company rode together out of the wood +and along the road towards Strelsau, the King being full of jokes and +hugely delighted with a trick that suited his merry fancy. But before +they had ridden far they met the great crowd which had come out from +Strelsau to learn what had happened to Princess Osra. And the King cried +out that the Grand Duke was to marry the Princess, while his Guards, who +had been with him, and the ambassador's people, spread themselves among +the crowd and told the story; and when they heard it, the Strelsau folk +were nearly beside themselves with amusement and delight, and thronged +round Osra, kissing her hands and blessing her. The King drew back and +let her and the Grand Duke ride alone together, while he followed with +Count Sergius. Thus moving at a very slow pace, they came in the +forenoon to Strelsau; but some one had galloped on ahead with the news, +and the Cathedral bells had been set ringing, the streets were full, and +the whole city given over to excitement and rejoicing. All the men were +that day in love with Princess Osra, and, what is more, they told their +sweethearts so; and these found no other revenge than to blow kisses and +fling flowers at the Grand Duke as he rode past with Osra by his side. +So they came back to the Palace, whence they had fled in the early +gleams of the morning's light. + +It was evening and the moon rose, fair and clear, over Strelsau. In the +streets there were sounds of merriment and rejoicing; every house was +bright with light; the King had sent out meat and wine for every soul in +the city that none might be sad or hungry or thirsty in all the city +that night; so that there was no small uproar. The King himself sat in +his arm-chair, toasting the bride and bridegroom in company with Count +Sergius of Antheim, whose dignity, somewhat wounded by the trick his +master had played on him, was healing quickly under the balm of King +Rudolf's graciousness. And the King said to Count Sergius: + +"My lord, were you ever in love?" + +"I was, sire," said the Count. + +"So was I," said the King. "Was it with the Countess, my lord?" + +Count Sergius's eyes twinkled demurely, but he answered: + +"I take it, sire, that it must have been with the Countess." + +"And I take it," said the King, "that it must have been with the Queen." + +Then they both laughed; and then they both sighed; and the King, +touching the Count's elbow, pointed out to the terrace of the Palace, on +to which the room where they were opened. For Princess Osra and her +lover were walking up and down together on this terrace. And the two +shrugged their shoulders, smiling. + +"With him," remarked the King, "it will have been with----" + +"The Countess, sire," discreetly interrupted Count Sergius of Antheim. + +"Why, yes, the Countess," said the King, and with a laugh they turned +back to their wine. + +But the two on the terrace also talked. + +"I do not yet understand it," said Princess Osra. "For on the first day +I loved you, and on the second day I loved you, and on the third and the +fourth and every day I loved you. Yet the first day was not like the +second, nor the second like the third, nor any day like any other. And +to-day, again, is unlike them all. Is love so various and full of +changes?" + +"Is it not?" he asked with a smile. "For while you were with the Queen, +talking of I know not what----" + +"Nor I indeed," said Osra hastily. + +"I was with the King, and he, saying that forewarned was forearmed, told +me very strange and pretty stories; of some a report had reached me +before----" + +"And yet you came to Strelsau?" + +"While of others I had not heard." + +"Or you would not have come to Strelsau?" + +The Grand Duke, not heeding these questions, proceeded to his +conclusion. + +"Love, therefore," said he, "is very various. For M. de Mérosailles----" + +"These are old stories," cried Osra, pretending to stop her ears. + +"Loved in one way, and Stephen the smith in another, and--the Miller of +Hofbau in a third." + +"I think," said Osra, "that I have forgotten the Miller of Hofbau. But +can one heart love in many different ways? I know that different men +love differently." + +"But cannot one heart love in different ways?" he smiled. + +"May be," said Osra thoughtfully, "one heart can have loved." But then +she suddenly looked up at him with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. +"No, no," she cried, "it was not love. It was----" + +"What was it?" + +"The courtiers entertained me till the King came," she said, with a +blushing laugh. And looking up at him again she whispered, "Yet I am +glad that you lingered for a little." + +At this moment she saw the King come out on to the terrace; with him was +the Bishop of Modenstein; and after the Bishop had been presented to the +Grand Duke, the King began to talk with the Grand Duke, while the Bishop +kissed Osra's hand and wished her joy. + +"Madame," said he, "once you asked me if I could make you understand +what love was. I take it you have no need for my lessons now. Your +teacher has come." + +"Yes, he has come," she said gently, looking at the Bishop with +friendliness. "But tell me, will he always love me?" + +"Surely he will," answered the Bishop. + +"And tell me," said Osra, "shall I always love him?" + +"Surely," said the Bishop, again most courteously. "Yet indeed, madame," +he continued, "it would seem almost enough to ask of heaven to love now +and now to be loved. For the years roll on, and youth goes, and even the +most incomparable beauty will yield its blossom when the season wanes; +yet that sweet memory may ever be fresh and young, a thing a man can +carry to his grave and raise as her best monument on his lady's tomb." + +"Ah, you speak well of love," said she. "I marvel that you speak so well +of love. For it is as you say; to-day in the wood it seemed to me that I +had lived enough, and that even Death was but Love's servant as Life is, +and both purposed solely for his better ornament." + +"Men have died because they loved you, madame, and some yet live who +love you," said the Bishop. + +"And shall I grieve for both, my lord--or for which?" + +"For neither, madame; the dead have gained peace, and they who live have +escaped forgetfulness." + +"But would they not be happier for forgetting?" + +"I do not think so," said the Bishop, and bowing low to her again, he +stood back, for he saw the King approaching with the Grand Duke; the +King took him by the arm and walked on with him; but Osra's face lost +the brief pensiveness that had come upon it as she talked with the +Bishop, and turning to her lover, she stretched out her hands to him, +saying: + +"I wish there was a cottage, and that you worked for bread, while I made +ready for you at the cottage, and then ran far, far, far down the road +to watch and wait for your coming." + +"Since a cottage was not too small, a palace will not be too large," +said he, catching her in his arms. + +Thus the heart of Princess Osra found its haven and its rest; for a +month later she was married to the Grand Duke of Mittenheim in the +Cathedral of Strelsau, having utterly refused to take any other place +for her wedding. Again she and he rode forth together through the +Western Gate; and the King rode with them on their way till they came to +the woods. Here he paused and all the crowd that accompanied him stopped +also; and they all waited till the sombre depths of the glades hid Osra +and her lover from their sight. Then, leaving them thus riding together +to their happiness, the people returned home, sad for the loss of their +darling Princess. But for consolation, and that their minds might the +less feel her absence, they had her name often on their lips; and the +poets and storytellers composed many stories about her, not grounded on +fact, as are those which have been here set forth, but the fabric of +idle imaginings, wrought to please the fancy of lovers or to wake the +memories of older folk. So that, if a stranger goes now to Strelsau, he +may be pardoned if it seem to him that all mankind was in love with +Princess Osra. Nay, and those stories so pass all fair bounds that if +you listen to them, you will come near to believing that the Princess +also had found some love for all the men who had given her their love. +Thus to many she is less a woman who once lived and breathed, than some +sweet image under whose name they fondly group all the virtues and the +charms of her whom they love best, each man fashioning for himself from +his own chosen model her whom he calls his Princess. Yet it may be that +for some of them who so truly loved her, her heart had a moment's +tenderness. Who shall tell all the short-lived dreams that come and go, +the promptings and stirrings of a vagrant inclination? And who would pry +too closely into these secret matters? May we not more properly give +thanks to heaven that the thing is as it is? For surely it makes greatly +for the increase of joy and entertainment in the world, and of courtesy +and true tenderness, that the heart of Princess Osra--or of what lady +you may choose, sir, to call by her name--should flutter in pretty +hesitation here and there and to and fro a little, before it flies on a +straight wing to its destined and desired home. And if you be not the +Prince for your Princess, why, sir, your case is a sad one. Yet there +have been many such, and still there is laughter as well as tears in the +tune to which the world spins round:-- + + But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, + And many a Garden by the Water blows. + +Wear your willow then, as the Marquis de Mérosailles wore his, lightly +and yet most courteously; or like the Bishop of Modenstein (for so some +say), with courage and self-mastery. That is, if wear it you must. You +remember what the Miller of Hofbau thought? + + + + + AN INTERESTING ANNOUNCEMENT. + +The most important work from the pen of ANTHONY HOPE since the +publication of "The Prisoner of Zenda," is to be entitled + +"PHROSO" + +and is to be issued early in 1897. + + +[Illustration] + +IT IS OF THE SAME GENERAL NATURE AS "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA," BUT +SURPASSES THE LATTER IN MANY RESPECTS. + +[Illustration] + +The hero is a young English lord of to-day--a man of the same stamp as +Rudolph Rassendyl; while the heroine is the lady Euphrosyne (Phroso) of +Neopolia and more than equals Flavia in courage, interest and charm. + +[Illustration] + +_Henry B. Weschler has spent nearly a year upon the numerous +illustrations, working from the model and making use of a collection of +Greek costumes, weapons, etc._ + +[Illustration] + +The book will be published at $1.50 and will be well printed and bound; +and an extraordinary success is expected by its publishers. + + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY, + NEW YORK. + + + + + Transcriber Notes: + +Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_. + +Passages in bold were indicated by =equal signs=. + +Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS. + +Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "oe". + +Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of +the speakers. Those words were retained as-is. + +The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus +the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in +the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the +same in the List of Illustrations and in the book. + +Errors in punctuation and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +unless otherwise noted. + +On page 17, a period was added after "Indeed I also would like to see her." + +On the illustration near page 37, the single quotation mark was replaced +with a double quotation mark. + +On page 57, a period was added after "the only soul alive I love----". + +On page 145, the comma after "Yet she uttered no sound" was replaced +with a period. + +On page 170, a period was added after "he set her on his horse". + +On page 292, "greated" was replaced with "greeted". + +On page 296, "aud" was replaced with "and". + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Heart of Princess Osra, by Anthony Hope + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41438 *** |