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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9663-8.txt b/9663-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69c517 --- /dev/null +++ b/9663-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4950 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Domnei, by James Branch Cabell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Domnei + +Author: James Branch Cabell + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9663] +Release Date: January, 2006 +First Posted: October 14, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMNEI *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + +Domnei + +A Comedy of Woman-Worship + +By + +JAMES BRANCH CABELL + +1920 + + + + + + +"_En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa_." + + +TO + +SARAH READ McADAMS + +IN GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION + + + + +"The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and habits, +which prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a +lady, and by which he strove to prove to her his love, and to merit +hers in return, was expressed, in the language of the Troubadours, by a +single word, by the word _domnei_, a derivation of _domna_, which may +be regarded as an alteration of the Latin _domina_, lady, mistress." + +--C. C. FAURIEL, +_History of Provencal Poetry_. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +A PREFACE + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +THE ARGUMENT + + +PART ONE--PERION + + I HOW PERION WAS UNMASKED + + II HOW THE VICOMTE WAS VERY GAY + + III HOW MELICENT WOOED + + IV HOW THE BISHOP AIDED PERION + + V HOW MELICENT WEDDED + + +PART TWO--MELICENT + + VI HOW MELICENT SOUGHT OVERSEA + + VII HOW PERION WAS FREED + + VIII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS AMUSED + + IX HOW TIME SPED IN HEATHENRY + + X HOW DEMETRIOS WOOED + + +PART THREE--DEMETRIOS + + XI HOW TIME SPED WITH PERION + + XII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS TAKEN + + XIII HOW THEY PRAISED MELICENT + + XIV HOW PERION BRAVED THEODORET. + + XV HOW PERION FOUGHT + + XVI HOW DEMETRIOS MEDITATED. + + XVII HOW A MINSTREL CAME + + XVIII HOW THEY CRIED QUITS + + XIX HOW FLAMBERGE WAS LOST + + XX HOW PERION GOT AID + + +PART FOUR--AHASUERUS + + XXI HOW DEMETRIOS HELD HIS CHATTEL + + XXII HOW MISERY HELD NACUMERA. + + XXIII HOW DEMETRIOS CRIED FAREWELL + + XXIV HOW ORESTES RULED + + XXV HOW WOMEN TALKED TOGETHER + + XXVI HOW MEN ORDERED MATTERS + + XXVII HOW AHASUERUS WAS CANDID + +XXVIII HOW PERION SAW MELICENT + + XXIX HOW A BARGAIN WAS CRIED + + XXX HOW MELICENT CONQUERED + +THE AFTERWORD + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + +A Preface + +By +Joseph Hergesheimer + + +It would be absorbing to discover the present feminine attitude toward +the profoundest compliment ever paid women by the heart and mind of men +in league--the worshipping devotion conceived by Plato and elevated to +a living faith in mediaeval France. Through that renaissance of a +sublimated passion _domnei_ was regarded as a throne of alabaster by +the chosen figures of its service: Melicent, at Bellegarde, waiting for +her marriage with King Theodoret, held close an image of Perion made of +substance that time was powerless to destroy; and which, in a life of +singular violence, where blood hung scarlet before men's eyes like a +tapestry, burned in a silver flame untroubled by the fate of her body. +It was, to her, a magic that kept her inviolable, perpetually, in spite +of marauding fingers, a rose in the blanched perfection of its early +flowering. + +The clearest possible case for that religion was that it transmuted the +individual subject of its adoration into the deathless splendor of a +Madonna unique and yet divisible in a mirage of earthly loveliness. It +was heaven come to Aquitaine, to the Courts of Love, in shapes of vivid +fragrant beauty, with delectable hair lying gold on white samite worked +in borders of blue petals. It chose not abstractions for its faith, but +the most desirable of all actual--yes, worldly--incentives: the sister, +it might be, of Count Emmerick of Poictesme. And, approaching beatitude +not so much through a symbol of agony as by the fragile grace of a +woman, raising Melicent to the stars, it fused, more completely than in +any other aspiration, the spirit and the flesh. + +However, in its contact, its lovers' delight, it was no more than a +slow clasping and unclasping of the hands; the spirit and flesh, +merged, became spiritual; the height of stars was not a figment.... +Here, since the conception of _domnei_ has so utterly vanished, the +break between the ages impassable, the sympathy born of understanding +is interrupted. Hardly a woman, to-day, would value a sigh the passion +which turned a man steadfastly away that he might be with her forever +beyond the parched forest of death. Now such emotion is held strictly +to the gains, the accountability, of life's immediate span; women have +left their cloudy magnificence for a footing on earth; but--at least in +warm graceful youth--their dreams are still of a Perion de la Forêt. +These, clear-eyed, they disavow; yet their secret desire, the most +Elysian of all hopes, to burn at once with the body and the soul, mocks +what they find. + +That vision, dominating Mr. Cabell's pages, the record of his revealed +idealism, brings specially to _Domnei_ a beauty finely escaping the +dusty confusion of any present. It is a book laid in a purity, a +serenity, of space above the vapors, the bigotry and engendered spite, +of dogma and creed. True to yesterday, it will be faithful of +to-morrow; for, in the evolution of humanity, not necessarily the turn +of a wheel upward, certain qualities have remained at the center, +undisturbed. And, of these, none is more fixed than an abstract love. + +Different in men than in women, it is, for the former, an instinct, a +need, to serve rather than be served: their desire is for a shining +image superior, at best, to both lust and maternity. This +consciousness, grown so dim that it is scarcely perceptible, yet still +alive, is not extinguished with youth, but lingers hopeless of +satisfaction through the incongruous years of middle age. There is +never a man, gifted to any degree with imagination, but eternally +searches for an ultimate loveliness not disappearing in the circle of +his embrace--the instinctively Platonic gesture toward the only +immortality conceivable in terms of ecstasy. + +A truth, now, in very low esteem! With the solidification of society, +of property, the bond of family has been tremendously exalted, the mere +fact of parenthood declared the last sanctity. Together with this, +naturally, the persistent errantry of men, so vulgarly misunderstood, +has become only a reprehensible paradox. The entire shelf of James +Branch Cabell's books, dedicated to an unquenchable masculine idealism, +has, as well, a paradoxical place in an age of material sentimentality. +Compared with the novels of the moment, _Domnei_ is an isolated, a +heroic fragment of a vastly deeper and higher structure. And, of its +many aspects, it is not impossible that the highest, rising over even +its heavenly vision, is the rare, the simple, fortitude of its +statement. + +Whatever dissent the philosophy of Perion and Melicent may breed, no +one can fail to admire the steady courage with which it is upheld. +Aside from its special preoccupation, such independence in the face of +ponderable threat, such accepted isolation, has a rare stability in a +world treacherous with mental quicksands and evasions. This is a valor +not drawn from insensibility, but from the sharpest possible +recognition of all the evil and Cyclopean forces in existence, and a +deliberate engagement of them on their own ground. Nothing more, in +that direction, can be asked of Mr. Cabell, of anyone. While about the +story itself, the soul of Melicent, the form and incidental writing, it +is no longer necessary to speak. + +The pages have the rich sparkle of a past like stained glass called to +life: the Confraternity of St. Médard presenting their masque of +Hercules; the claret colored walls adorned with gold cinquefoils of +Demetrios' court; his pavilion with porticoes of Andalusian copper; +Theodoret's capital, Megaris, ruddy with bonfires; the free port of +Narenta with its sails spread for the land of pagans; the +lichen-incrusted glade in the Forest of Columbiers; gardens with the +walks sprinkled with crocus and vermilion and powdered mica ... all are +at once real and bright with unreality, rayed with the splendor of an +antiquity built from webs and films of imagined wonder. The past is, at +its moment, the present, and that lost is valueless. Distilled by time, +only an imperishable romantic conception remains; a vision, where it is +significant, animated by the feelings, the men and women, which only, +at heart, are changeless. + +They, the surcharged figures of _Domnei_, move vividly through their +stone galleries and closes, in procession, and--a far more difficult +accomplishment--alone. The lute of the Bishop of Montors, playing as he +rides in scarlet, sounds its Provençal refrain; the old man Theodoret, +a king, sits shabbily between a prie-dieu and the tarnished hangings of +his bed; Mélusine, with the pale frosty hair of a child, spins the +melancholy of departed passion; Ahasuerus the Jew buys Melicent for a +hundred and two minae and enters her room past midnight for his act of +abnegation. And at the end, looking, perhaps, for a mortal woman, +Perion finds, in a flesh not unscarred by years, the rose beyond +destruction, the high silver flame of immortal happiness. + +So much, then, everything in the inner questioning of beings condemned +to a glimpse of remote perfection, as though the sky had opened on a +city of pure bliss, transpires in _Domnei_; while the fact that it is +laid in Poictesme sharpens the thrust of its illusion. It is by that +much the easier of entry; it borders--rather than on the clamor of +mills--on the reaches men explore, leaving' weariness and dejection for +fancy--a geography for lonely sensibilities betrayed by chance into the +blind traps, the issueless barrens, of existence. + +JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER. + + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +_And Norman_ Nicolas _at hearté meant +(Pardie!) some subtle occupation +In making of his Tale of Melicent, +That stubbornly desiréd Perion. +What perils for to rollen up and down, +So long process, so many a sly cautel, +For to obtain a silly damosel!_ + +--THOMAS UPCLIFFE. + + +Nicolas de Caen, one of the most eminent of the early French writers of +romance, was born at Caen in Normandy early in the 15th century, and +was living in 1470. Little is known of his life, apart from the fact +that a portion of his youth was spent in England, where he was +connected in some minor capacity with the household of the Queen +Dowager, Joan of Navarre. In later life, from the fact that two of his +works are dedicated to Isabella of Portugal, third wife to Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, it is conjectured that Nicolas was attached to +the court of that prince . . . . Nicolas de Caen was not greatly +esteemed nor highly praised by his contemporaries, or by writers of the +century following, but latterly has received the recognition due to his +unusual qualities of invention and conduct of narrative, together with +his considerable knowledge of men and manners, and occasional +remarkable modernity of thought. His books, therefore, apart from the +interest attached to them as specimens of early French romance, and in +spite of the difficulties and crudities of the unformed language in +which they are written, are still readable, and are rich in instructive +detail concerning the age that gave them birth . . . . Many romances +are attributed to Nicolas de Caen. Modern criticism has selected four +only as undoubtedly his. These are--(1) _Les Aventures d'Adhelmar de +Nointel_, a metrical romance, plainly of youthful composition, +containing some seven thousand verses; (2) _Le Roy Amaury_, well known +to English students in Watson's spirited translation; (3) _Le Roman de +Lusignan_, a re-handling of the Melusina myth, most of which is wholly +lost; (4) _Le Dizain des Reines_, a collection of quasi-historical +_novellino_ interspersed with lyrics. Six other romances are known to +have been written by Nicolas, but these have perished; and he is +credited with the authorship of _Le Cocu Rouge_, included by Hinsauf, +and of several Ovidian translations or imitations still unpublished. +The Satires formerly attributed to him Bülg has shown to be spurious +compositions of 17th century origin. + +--E. Noel Codman, +_Handbook of Literary Pioneers._ + +Nicolas de Caen est un représentant agréable, naïf, et expressif de cet +âge que nous aimons à nous représenter de loin comme l'âge d'or du bon +vieux temps ... Nicolas croyait à son Roy et à sa Dame, il croyait +surtout à son Dieu. Nicolas sentait que le monde était semé à chaque +pas d'obscurités et d'embûches, et que l'inconnu était partout; partout +aussi était le protecteur invisible et le soutien; à chaque souffle qui +frémissait, Nicolas croyait le sentir comme derrière le rideau. Le ciel +par-dessus ce Nicolas de Caen était ouvert, peuplé en chaque point de +figures vivantes, de patrons attentifs et manifestes, d'une invocation +directe. Le plus intrépide guerrier alors marchait dans un mélange +habituel de crainte et de confiance, comme un tout petit enfant. A +cette vue, les esprits les plus émancipés d'aujourd'hui ne sauraient +s'empêcher de crier, en tempérant leur sourire par le respect: _Sancta +simplicitas!_ + +--Paul Verville, +_Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen._ + + + + +THE ARGUMENT + +_"Of how, through Woman-Worship, knaves compound +With honoure; Kings reck not of their domaine; +Proud Pontiffs sigh; & War-men world-renownd, +Toe win one Woman, all things else disdaine: +Since Melicent doth in herselfe contayne +All this world's Riches that may farre be found. + +"If Saphyres ye desire, her eies are plaine; +If Rubies, loe, hir lips be Rubyes sound; +If Pearles, hir teeth be Pearles, both pure & round; +If Yvorie, her forehead Yvory weene; +If Gold, her locks with finest Gold abound; +If Silver, her faire hands have Silver's sheen. + +"Yet that which fayrest is, but Few beholde, +Her Soul adornd with vertues manifold."_ + +--SIR WILLIAM ALLONBY. + + +THE ROMANCE OF LUSIGNAN OF +THAT FORGOTTEN MAKER IN THE +FRENCH TONGUE, MESSIRE NICOLAS +DE CAEN. HERE BEGINS THE TALE +WHICH THEY OF POICTESME NARRATE +CONCERNING DAME MELICENT, +THAT WAS DAUGHTER TO +THE GREAT COUNT MANUEL. + + + + + +PART ONE + + +PERION +_How Perion, that stalwart was and gay, +Treadeth with sorrow on a holiday, +Since Melicent anon must wed a king: +How in his heart he hath vain love-longing, +For which he putteth life in forfeiture, +And would no longer in such wise endure; +For writhing Perion in Venus' fire +So burneth that he dieth for desire._ + + + + +1. + + +_How Perion Was Unmasked_ + +Perion afterward remembered the two weeks spent at Bellegarde as in +recovery from illness a person might remember some long fever dream +which was all of an intolerable elvish brightness and of incessant +laughter everywhere. They made a deal of him in Count Emmerick's +pleasant home: day by day the outlaw was thrust into relations of mirth +with noblemen, proud ladies, and even with a king; and was all the +while half lightheaded through his singular knowledge as to how +precariously the self-styled Vicomte de Puysange now balanced himself, +as it were, upon a gilded stepping-stone from infamy to oblivion. + +Now that King Theodoret had withdrawn his sinister presence, young +Perion spent some seven hours of every day alone, to all intent, with +Dame Melicent. There might be merry people within a stone's throw, +about this recreation or another, but these two seemed to watch +aloofly, as royal persons do the antics of their hired comedians, +without any condescension into open interest. They were together; and +the jostle of earthly happenings might hope, at most, to afford them +matter for incurious comment. + +They sat, as Perion thought, for the last time together, part of an +audience before which the Confraternity of St. Médard was enacting a +masque of _The Birth of Hercules_. The Bishop of Montors had returned +to Bellegarde that evening with his brother, Count Gui, and the +pleasure-loving prelate had brought these mirth-makers in his train. +Clad in scarlet, he rode before them playing upon a lute--unclerical +conduct which shocked his preciser brother and surprised nobody. + +In such circumstances Perion began to speak with an odd purpose, +because his reason was bedrugged by the beauty and purity of Melicent, +and perhaps a little by the slow and clutching music to whose progress +the chorus of Theban virgins was dancing. When he had made an end of +harsh whispering, Melicent sat for a while in scrupulous appraisement +of the rushes. The music was so sweet it seemed to Perion he must go +mad unless she spoke within the moment. + +Then Melicent said: + +"You tell me you are not the Vicomte de Puysange. You tell me you are, +instead, the late King Helmas' servitor, suspected of his murder. You +are the fellow that stole the royal jewels--the outlaw for whom half +Christendom is searching--" + +Thus Melicent began to speak at last; and still he could not intercept +those huge and tender eyes whose purple made the thought of heaven +comprehensible. + +The man replied: + +"I am that widely hounded Perion of the Forest. The true vicomte is the +wounded rascal over whose delirium we marvelled only last Tuesday. Yes, +at the door of your home I attacked him, fought him--hah, but fairly, +madame!--and stole his brilliant garments and with them his papers. +Then in my desperate necessity I dared to masquerade. For I know enough +about dancing to estimate that to dance upon air must necessarily prove +to everybody a disgusting performance, but pre-eminently unpleasing to +the main actor. Two weeks of safety till the _Tranchemer_ sailed I +therefore valued at a perhaps preposterous rate. To-night, as I have +said, the ship lies at anchor off Manneville." + +Melicent said an odd thing, asking, "Oh, can it be you are a less +despicable person than you are striving to appear!" + +"Rather, I am a more unmitigated fool than even I suspected, since when +affairs were in a promising train I have elected to blurt out, of all +things, the naked and distasteful truth. Proclaim it now; and see the +late Vicomte de Puysange lugged out of this hall and after appropriate +torture hanged within the month." And with that Perion laughed. + +Thereafter he was silent. As the masque went, Amphitryon had newly +returned from warfare, and was singing under Alcmena's window in the +terms of an aubade, a waking-song. "_Rei glorios, verais lums e +clardatz--" Amphitryon had begun. Dame Melicent heard him through. + +And after many ages, as it seemed to Perion, the soft and brilliant and +exquisite mouth was pricked to motion. + +"You have affronted, by an incredible imposture and beyond the reach of +mercy, every listener in this hall. You have injured me most deeply of +all persons here. Yet it is to me alone that you confess." + +Perion leaned forward. You are to understand that, through the +incurrent necessities of every circumstance, each of them spoke in +whispers, even now. It was curious to note the candid mirth on either +side. Mercury was making his adieux to Alcmena's waiting-woman in the +middle of a jig. + +"But you," sneered Perion, "are merciful in all things. Rogue that I +am, I dare to build on this notorious fact. I am snared in a hard +golden trap, I cannot get a guide to Manneville, I cannot even procure +a horse from Count Emmerick's stables without arousing fatal +suspicions; and I must be at Manneville by dawn or else be hanged. +Therefore I dare stake all upon one throw; and you must either save or +hang me with unwashed hands. As surely as God reigns, my future rests +with you. And as I am perfectly aware, you could not live comfortably +with a gnat's death upon your conscience. Eh, am I not a seasoned +rascal?" + +"Do not remind me now that you are vile," said Melicent. "Ah, no, not +now!" + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" he sternly answered. "There you have the +catalogue of all my rightful titles. And besides, it pleases me, for a +reason I cannot entirely fathom, to be unpardonably candid and to fling +my destiny into your lap. To-night, as I have said, the _Tranchemer_ +lies off Manneville; keep counsel, get me a horse if you will, and +to-morrow I am embarked for desperate service under the harried Kaiser +of the Greeks, and for throat-cuttings from which I am not likely ever +to return. Speak, and I hang before the month is up." + +Dame Melicent looked at him now, and within the moment Perion was +repaid, and bountifully, for every folly and misdeed of his entire +life. + +"What harm have I ever done you, Messire de la Forêt, that you should +shame me in this fashion? Until to-night I was not unhappy in the +belief I was loved by you. I may say that now without paltering, since +you are not the man I thought some day to love. You are but the rind of +him. And you would force me to cheat justice, to become a hunted +thief's accomplice, or else to murder you!" + +"It comes to that, madame." + +"Then I must help you preserve your life by any sorry stratagems you +may devise. I shall not hinder you. I will procure you a guide to +Manneville. I will even forgive you all save one offence, since +doubtless heaven made you the foul thing you are." The girl was in a +hot and splendid rage. "For you love me. Women know. You love me. You!" + +"Undoubtedly, madame." + +"Look into my face! and say what horrid writ of infamy you fancied was +apparent there, that my nails may destroy it." + +"I am all base," he answered, "and yet not so profoundly base as you +suppose. Nay, believe me, I had never hoped to win even such scornful +kindness as you might accord your lapdog. I have but dared to peep at +heaven while I might, and only as lost Dives peeped. Ignoble as I am, I +never dreamed to squire an angel down toward the mire and filth which +is henceforward my inevitable kennel." + +"The masque is done," said Melicent, "and yet you talk, and talk, and +talk, and mimic truth so cunningly--Well, I will send some trusty +person to you. And now, for God's sake!--nay, for the fiend's love who +is your patron!--let me not ever see you again, Messire de la Forêt." + + + + +2. + + +_How the Vicomte Was Very Gay_ + +There was dancing afterward and a sumptuous supper. The Vicomte de +Puysange was generally accounted that evening the most excellent of +company. He mingled affably with the revellers and found a prosperous +answer for every jest they broke upon the projected marriage of Dame +Melicent and King Theodoret; and meanwhile hugged the reflection that +half the realm was hunting Perion de la Forêt in the more customary +haunts of rascality. The springs of Perion's turbulent mirth were that +to-morrow every person in the room would discover how impudently every +person had been tricked, and that Melicent deliberated even now, and +could not but admire, the hunted outlaw's insolence, however much she +loathed its perpetrator; and over this thought in particular Perion +laughed like a madman. + +"You are very gay to-night, Messire de Puysange," said the Bishop of +Montors. + +This remarkable young man, it is necessary to repeat, had reached +Bellegarde that evening, coming from Brunbelois. It was he (as you have +heard) who had arranged the match with Theodoret. The bishop himself +loved his cousin Melicent; but, now that he was in holy orders and +possession of her had become impossible, he had cannily resolved to +utilise her beauty, as he did everything else, toward his own +preferment. + +"Oh, sir," replied Perion, "you who are so fine a poet must surely know +that _gay_ rhymes with _to-day_ as patly as _sorrow_ goes with +_to-morrow_." + +"Yet your gay laughter, Messire de Puysange, is after all but breath: +and _breath_ also"--the bishop's sharp eyes fixed Perion's--"has a +hackneyed rhyme." + +"Indeed, it is the grim rhyme that rounds off and silences all our +rhyming," Perion assented. "I must laugh, then, without rhyme or +reason." + +Still the young prelate talked rather oddly. "But," said he, "you have +an excellent reason, now that you sup so near to heaven." And his +glance at Melicent did not lack pith. + +"No, no, I have quite another reason," Perion answered; "it is that +to-morrow I breakfast in hell." + +"Well, they tell me the landlord of that place is used to cater to each +according to his merits," the bishop, shrugging, returned. + +And Perion thought how true this was when, at the evening's end, he was +alone in his own room. His life was tolerably secure. He trusted +Ahasuerus the Jew to see to it that, about dawn, one of the ship's +boats would touch at Fomor Beach near Manneville, according to their +old agreement. Aboard the _Tranchemer_ the Free Companions awaited +their captain; and the savage land they were bound for was a thought +beyond the reach of a kingdom's lamentable curiosity concerning the +whereabouts of King Helmas' treasure. The worthless life of Perion was +safe. + +For worthless, and far less than worthless, life seemed to Perion as he +thought of Melicent and waited for her messenger. He thought of her +beauty and purity and illimitable loving-kindness toward every person +in the world save only Perion of the Forest. He thought of how clean +she was in every thought and deed; of that, above all, he thought, and +he knew that he would never see her any more. + +"Oh, but past any doubting," said Perion, "the devil caters to each +according to his merits." + + + + +3. + + +_How Melicent Wooed_ + +Then Perion knew that vain regret had turned his brain, very certainly, +for it seemed the door had opened and Dame Melicent herself had come, +warily, into the panelled gloomy room. It seemed that Melicent paused +in the convulsive brilliancy of the firelight, and stayed thus with +vaguely troubled eyes like those of a child newly wakened from sleep. + +And it seemed a long while before she told Perion very quietly that she +had confessed all to Ayrart de Montors, and had, by reason of de +Montors' love for her, so goaded and allured the outcome of their +talk--"ignobly," as she said,--that a clean-handed gentleman would come +at three o'clock for Perion de la Forêt, and guide a thief toward +unmerited impunity. All this she spoke quite levelly, as one reads +aloud from a book; and then, with a signal change of voice, Melicent +said: "Yes, that is true enough. Yet why, in reality, do you think I +have in my own person come to tell you of it?" + +"Madame, I may not guess. Hah, indeed, indeed," Perion cried, because +he knew the truth and was unspeakably afraid, "I dare not guess!" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea----" she began, but her +sweet voice trailed and died into silence. He heard the crepitations of +the fire, and even the hurried beatings of his own heart, as against a +terrible and lovely hush of all created life. "Then take me with you." + +Perion had never any recollection of what he answered. Indeed, he +uttered no communicative words, but only foolish babblements. + +"Oh, I do not understand," said Melicent. "It is as though some spell +were laid upon me. Look you, I have been cleanly reared, I have never +wronged any person that I know of, and throughout my quiet, sheltered +life I have loved truth and honour most of all. My judgment grants you +to be what you are confessedly. And there is that in me more masterful +and surer than my judgment, that which seems omniscient and lightly +puts aside your confessings as unimportant." + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" young Perion answered. "There you have +the catalogue of all my rightful titles fairly earned." + +"And even if I believed you, I think I would not care! Is that not +strange? For then I should despise you. And even then, I think, I would +fling my honour at your feet, as I do now, and but in part with +loathing, I would still entreat you to make of me your wife, your +servant, anything that pleased you . . . . Oh, I had thought that when +love came it would be sweet!" + +Strangely quiet, in every sense, he answered: + +"It is very sweet. I have known no happier moment in my life. For you +stand within arm's reach, mine to touch, mine to possess and do with as +I elect. And I dare not lift a finger. I am as a man that has lain for +a long while in a dungeon vainly hungering for the glad light of +day--who, being freed at last, must hide his eyes from the dear +sunlight he dare not look upon as yet. Ho, I am past speech unworthy of +your notice! and I pray you now speak harshly with me, madame, for when +your pure eyes regard me kindly, and your bright and delicate lips have +come thus near to mine, I am so greatly tempted and so happy that I +fear lest heaven grow jealous!" + +"Be not too much afraid--" she murmured. + +"Nay, should I then be bold? and within the moment wake Count Emmerick +to say to him, very boldly, 'Beau sire, the thief half Christendom is +hunting has the honour to request your sister's hand in marriage'?" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea. Take me with you." + +"Indeed the feat would be worthy of me. For you are a lady tenderly +nurtured and used to every luxury the age affords. There comes to woo +you presently an excellent and potent monarch, not all unworthy of your +love, who will presently share with you many happy and honourable +years. Yonder is a lawless naked wilderness where I and my fellow +desperadoes hope to cheat offended justice and to preserve +thrice-forfeited lives in savagery. You bid me aid you to go into this +country, never to return! Madame, if I obeyed you, Satan would protest +against pollution of his ageless fires by any soul so filthy." + +"You talk of little things, whereas I think of great things. Love is +not sustained by palatable food alone, and is not served only by those +persons who go about the world in satin." + +"Then take the shameful truth. It is undeniable I swore I loved you, +and with appropriate gestures, too. But, dompnedex, madame! I am past +master in these specious ecstasies, for somehow I have rarely seen the +woman who had not some charm or other to catch my heart with. I confess +now that you alone have never quickened it. My only purpose was through +hyperbole to wheedle you out of a horse, and meanwhile to have my +recreation, you handsome jade!--and that is all you ever meant to me. I +swear to you that is all, all, all!" sobbed Perion, for it appeared +that he must die. "I have amused myself with you, I have abominably +tricked you--" + +Melicent only waited with untroubled eyes which seemed to plumb his +heart and to appraise all which Perion had ever thought or longed for +since the day that Perion was born; and she was as beautiful, it seemed +to him, as the untroubled, gracious angels are, and more compassionate. + +"Yes," Perion said, "I am trying to lie to you. And even at lying I +fail." + +She said, with a wonderful smile: + +"Assuredly there were never any other persons so mad as we. For I must +do the wooing, as though you were the maid, and all the while you +rebuff me and suffer so that I fear to look on you. Men say you are no +better than a highwayman; you confess yourself to be a thief: and I +believe none of your accusers. Perion de la Forêt," said Melicent, and +ballad-makers have never shaped a phrase wherewith to tell you of her +voice, "I know that you have dabbled in dishonour no more often than an +archangel has pilfered drying linen from a hedgerow. I do not guess, +for my hour is upon me, and inevitably I know! and there is nothing +dares to come between us now." + +"Nay,--ho, and even were matters as you suppose them, without any +warrant,--there is at least one silly stumbling knave that dares as +much. Saith he: 'What is the most precious thing in the world?--Why, +assuredly, Dame Melicent's welfare. Let me get the keeping of it, then. +For I have been entrusted with a host of common priceless things--with +youth and vigour and honour, with a clean conscience and a child's +faith, and so on--and no person alive has squandered them more +gallantly. So heartward ho! and trust me now, my timorous yoke-fellow, +to win and squander also the chiefest jewel of the world.' Eh, thus he +chuckles and nudges me, with wicked whisperings. Indeed, madame, this +rascal that shares equally in my least faculty is a most pitiful, +ignoble rogue! and he has aforetime eked out our common livelihood by +such practices as your unsullied imagination could scarcely depicture. +Until I knew you I had endured him. But you have made of him a horror. +A horror, a horror! a thing too pitiful for hell!" + +Perion turned away from her, groaning. He flung himself into a chair. +He screened his eyes as if before some physical abomination. + +The girl kneeled close to him, touching him. + +"My dear, my dear! then slay for me this other Perion of the Forest." + +And Perion laughed, not very mirthfully. + +"It is the common usage of women to ask of men this little labour, +which is a harder task than ever Hercules, that mighty-muscled king of +heathenry, achieved. Nay, I, for all my sinews, am an attested +weakling. The craft of other men I do not fear, for I have encountered +no formidable enemy save myself; but that same midnight stabber +unhorsed me long ago. I had wallowed in the mire contentedly enough +until you came.... Ah, child, child! why needed you to trouble me! for +to-night I want to be clean as you are clean, and that I may not ever +be. I am garrisoned with devils, I am the battered plaything of every +vice, and I lack the strength, and it may be, even the will, to leave +my mire. Always I have betrayed the stewardship of man and god alike +that my body might escape a momentary discomfort! And loving you as I +do, I cannot swear that in the outcome I would not betray you too, to +this same end! I cannot swear--Oh, now let Satan laugh, yet not +unpitifully, since he and I, alone, know all the reasons why I may not +swear! Hah, Madame Melicent!" cried Perion, in his great agony, "you +offer me that gift an emperor might not accept save in awed gratitude; +and I refuse it." Gently he raised her to her feet. "And now, in God's +name, go, madame, and leave the prodigal among his husks." + +"You are a very brave and foolish gentleman," she said, "who chooses to +face his own achievements without any paltering. To every man, I think, +that must be bitter work; to the woman who loves him it is impossible." + +Perion could not see her face, because he lay prone at the feet of +Melicent, sobbing, but without any tears, and tasting very deeply of +such grief and vain regret as, he had thought, they know in hell alone; +and even after she had gone, in silence, he lay in this same posture +for an exceedingly long while. + +And after he knew not how long a while, Perion propped his chin between +his hands and, still sprawling upon the rushes, stared hard into the +little, crackling fire. He was thinking of a Perion de la Forêt that +once had been. In him might have been found a fit mate for Melicent had +this boy not died very long ago. + +It is no more cheerful than any other mortuary employment, this +disinterment of the person you have been, and are not any longer; and +so did Perion find his cataloguing of irrevocable old follies and +evasions. + +Then Perion arose and looked for pen and ink. It was the first letter +he ever wrote to Melicent, and, as you will presently learn, she never +saw it. + +In such terms Perion wrote: + +"Madame--It may please you to remember that when Dame Mélusine and I +were interrogated, I freely confessed to the murder of King Helmas and +the theft of my dead master's jewels. In that I lied. For it was my +manifest duty to save the woman whom, as I thought, I loved, and it was +apparent that the guilty person was either she or I. + +"She is now at Brunbelois, where, as I have heard, the splendour of her +estate is tolerably notorious. I have not ever heard she gave a thought +to me, her cat's-paw. Madame, when I think of you and then of that +sleek, smiling woman, I am appalled by my own folly. I am aghast by my +long blindness as I write the words which no one will believe. To what +avail do I deny a crime which every circumstance imputed to me and my +own confession has publicly acknowledged? + +"But you, I think, will believe me. Look you, madame, I have nothing to +gain of you. I shall not ever see you any more. I go into a perilous +and an eternal banishment; and in the immediate neighbourhood of death +a man finds little sustenance for romance. Take the worst of me: a +gentleman I was born, and as a wastrel I have lived, and always very +foolishly; but without dishonour. I have never to my knowledge--and God +judge me as I speak the truth!--wronged any man or woman save myself. +My dear, believe me! believe me, in spite of reason! and understand +that my adoration and misery and unworthiness when I think of you are +such as I cannot measure, and afford me no judicious moment wherein to +fashion lies. For I shall not see you any more. + +"I thank you, madame, for your all-unmerited kindnesses, and, oh, I +pray you to believe!" + + + + +4. + + +_How the Bishop Aided Perion_ + +Then at three o'clock, as Perion supposed, someone tapped upon the +door. Perion went out into the corridor, which was now unlighted, so +that he had to hold to the cloak of Ayrart de Montors as the young +prelate guided Perion through the complexities of unfamiliar halls and +stairways into an inhospitable night. There were ready two horses, and +presently the men were mounted and away. + +Once only Perion shifted in the saddle to glance back at Bellegarde, +black and formless against an empty sky; and he dared not look again, +for the thought of her that lay awake in the Marshal's Tower, so near +at hand as yet, was like a dagger. With set teeth he followed in the +wake of his taciturn companion. The bishop never spoke save to growl +out some direction. + +Thus they came to Manneville and, skirting the town, came to Fomor +Beach, a narrow sandy coast. It was dark in this place and very still +save for the encroachment of the tide. Yonder were four little lights, +lazily heaving with the water's motion, to show them where the +_Tranchemer_ lay at anchor. It did not seem to Perion that anything +mattered. + +"It will be nearing dawn by this," he said. + +"Ay," Ayrart de Montors said, very briefly; and his tone evinced his +willingness to dispense with further conversation. Perion of the Forest +was an unclean thing which the bishop must touch in his necessity, but +could touch with loathing only, as a thirsty man takes a fly out of his +drink. Perion conceded it, because nothing would ever matter any more; +and so, the horses tethered, they sat upon the sand in utter silence +for the space of a half hour. + +A bird cried somewhere, just once, and with a start Perion knew the +night was not quite so murky as it had been, for he could now see a +broken line of white, where the tide crept up and shattered and ebbed. +Then in a while a light sank tipsily to the water's level and presently +was bobbing in the darkness, apart from those other lights, and it was +growing in size and brilliancy. + +Said Perion, "They have sent out the boat." + +"Ay," the bishop answered, as before. + +A sort of madness came upon Perion, and it seemed that he must weep, +because everything fell out so very ill in this world. + +"Messire de Montors, you have aided me. I would be grateful if you +permitted it." + +De Montors spoke at last, saying crisply: + +"Gratitude, I take it, forms no part of the bargain. I am the kinsman +of Dame Melicent. It makes for my interest and for the honour of our +house that the man whose rooms she visits at night be got out of +Poictesme--" + +Said Perion, "You speak in this fashion of the most lovely lady God has +made--of her whom the world adores!" + +"Adores!" the bishop answered, with a laugh; "and what poor gull am I +to adore an attested wanton?" Then, with a sneer, he spoke of Melicent, +and in such terms as are not bettered by repetition. + +Perion said: + +"I am the most unhappy man alive, as surely as you are the most +ungenerous. For, look you, in my presence you have spoken infamy of +Dame Melicent, though knowing I am in your debt so deeply that I have +not the right to resent anything you may elect to say. You have just +given me my life; and armoured by the fire-new obligation, you +blaspheme an angel, you condescend to buffet a fettered man--" + +But with that his sluggish wits had spied an honest way out of the +imbroglio. + +Perion said then, "Draw, messire! for, as God lives, I may yet +repurchase, at this eleventh hour, the privilege of destroying you." + +"Heyday! but here is an odd evincement of gratitude!" de Montors +retorted; "and though I am not particularly squeamish, let me tell you, +my fine fellow, I do not ordinarily fight with lackeys." + +"Nor are you fit to do so, messire. Believe me, there is not a lackey +in this realm--no, not a cut-purse, nor any pander--who would not in +meeting you upon equal footing degrade himself. For you have slandered +that which is most perfect in the world; yet lies, Messire de Montors, +have short legs; and I design within the hour to insure the calumny +against an echo." + +"Rogue, I have given you your very life within the hour--" + +"The fact is undeniable. Thus I must fling the bounty back to you, so +that we sorry scoundrels may meet as equals." Perion wheeled toward the +boat, which was now within the reach of wading. "Who is among you? +Gaucelm, Roger, Jean Britauz--" He found the man he sought. "Ahasuerus, +the captain that was to have accompanied the Free Companions oversea is +of another mind. I cede my leadership to Landry de Bonnay. You will +have the kindness to inform him of the unlooked-for change, and to +tender your new captain every appropriate regret and the dying +felicitations of Perion de la Forêt." + +He bowed toward the landward twilight, where the sand hillocks were +taking form. + +"Messire de Montors, we may now resume our vigil. When yonder vessel +sails there will be no conceivable happening that can keep breath +within my body two weeks longer. I shall be quit of every debt to you. +You will then fight with a man already dead if you so elect; but +otherwise--if you attempt to flee this place, if you decline to cross +swords with a lackey, with a convicted thief, with a suspected +murderer, I swear upon my mother's honour! I will demolish you without +compunction, as I would any other vermin." + +"Oh, brave, brave!" sneered the bishop, "to fling away your life, and +perhaps mine too, for an idle word--" But at that he fetched a sob. "How +foolish of you! and how like you!" he said, and Perion wondered at this +prelate's voice. + +"Hey, gentlemen!" cried Ayrart de Montors, "a moment if you please!" He +splashed knee-deep into the icy water, wading to the boat, where he +snatched the lantern from the Jew's hands and fetched this light +ashore. He held it aloft, so that Perion might see his face, and Perion +perceived that, by some wonder-working, the person in man's attire who +held this light aloft was Melicent. It was odd that Perion always +remembered afterward most clearly of all the loosened wisp of hair the +wind tossed about her forehead. + +"Look well upon me, Perion," said Melicent. "Look well, ruined +gentleman! look well, poor hunted vagabond! and note how proud I am. +Oh, in all things I am very proud! A little I exult in my high station +and in my wealth, and, yes, even in my beauty, for I know that I am +beautiful, but it is the chief of all my honours that you love me--and +so foolishly!" + +"You do not understand--!" cried Perion. + +"Rather I understand at last that you are in sober verity a lackey, an +impostor, and a thief, even as you said. Ay, a lackey to your honour! +an imposter that would endeavour--and, oh, so very vainly!--to +impersonate another's baseness! and a thief that has stolen another +person's punishment! I ask no questions; loving means trusting; but I +would like to kill that other person very, very slowly. I ask no +questions, but I dare to trust the man I know of, even in defiance of +that man's own voice. I dare protest the man no thief, but in all +things a madly honourable gentleman. My poor bruised, puzzled boy," said +Melicent, with an odd mirthful tenderness, "how came you to be +blundering about this miry world of ours! Only be very good for my sake +and forget the bitterness; what does it matter when there is happiness, +too?" + +He answered nothing, but it was not because of misery. + +"Come, come, will you not even help me into the boat?" said Melicent. +She, too, was glad. + + + + +5. + + +_How Melicent Wedded_ + +"That may not be, my cousin." + +It was the real Bishop of Montors who was speaking. His company, some +fifteen men in all, had ridden up while Melicent and Perion looked +seaward. The bishop was clothed, in his habitual fashion, as a +cavalier, showing in nothing as a churchman. He sat a-horseback for a +considerable while, looking down at them, smiling and stroking the +pommel of his saddle with a gold-fringed glove. It was now dawn. + +"I have been eavesdropping," the bishop said. His voice was tender, for +the young man loved his kinswoman with an affection second only to that +which he reserved for Ayrart de Montors. "Yes, I have been +eavesdropping for an instant, and through that instant I seemed to see +the heart of every woman that ever lived; and they differed only as +stars differ on a fair night in August. No woman ever loved a man +except, at bottom, as a mother loves her child: let him elect to build +a nation or to write imperishable verses or to take purses upon the +highway, and she will only smile to note how breathlessly the boy goes +about his playing; and when he comes back to her with grimier hands she +is a little sorry, and, if she think it salutary, will pretend to be +angry. Meanwhile she sets about the quickest way to cleanse him and to +heal his bruises. They are more wise than we, and at the bottom of +their hearts they pity us more stalwart folk whose grosser wits +require, to be quite sure of anything, a mere crass proof of it; and +always they make us better by indomitably believing we are better than +in reality a man can ever be." + +Now Ayrart de Montors dismounted. + +"So much for my sermon. For the rest, Messire de la Forêt, I perfectly +recognised you on the day you came to Bellegarde. But I said nothing. +For that you had not murdered King Helmas, as is popularly reported, I +was certain, inasmuch as I happen to know he is now at Brunbelois, +where Dame Mélusine holds his person and his treasury. A terrible, +delicious woman! begotten on a water-demon, people say. I ask no +questions. She is a close and useful friend to me, and through her aid +I hope to go far. You see that I am frank. It is my nature." The bishop +shrugged. "In a phrase, I accepted the Vicomte de Puysange, although it +was necessary, of course, to keep an eye upon your comings in and your +goings out, as you now see. And until this the imposture amused me. But +this"--his hand waved toward the _Tranchemer_--"this, my fair friends, +is past a jest." + +"You talk and talk," cried Perion, "while I reflect that I love the +fairest lady who at any time has had life upon earth." + +"The proof of your affection," the bishop returned, "is, if you will +permit the observation, somewhat extraordinary. For you propose, I +gather, to make of her a camp-follower, a soldier's drab. Come, come, +messire! you and I are conversant with warfare as it is. Armies do not +conduct encounters by throwing sugar-candy at one another. What home +have you, a landless man, to offer Melicent? What place is there for +Melicent among your Free Companions?" + +"Oh, do I not know that!" said Perion. He turned to Melicent, and long +and long they gazed upon each other. + +"Ignoble as I am," said Perion, "I never dreamed to squire an angel +down toward the mire and filth which for a while as yet must be my +kennel. I go. I go alone. Do you bid me return?" + +The girl was perfectly calm. She took a ring of diamonds from her hand, +and placed it on his little finger, because the others were too large. + +"While life endures I pledge you faith and service, Perion. There is no +need to speak of love." + +"There is no need," he answered. "Oh, does God think that I will live +without you!" + +"I suppose they will give me to King Theodoret. The terrible old man +has set my body as the only price that will buy him off from ravaging +Poictesme, and he is stronger in the field than Emmerick. Emmerick is +afraid of him, and Ayrart here has need of the King's friendship in +order to become a cardinal. So my kinsmen must make traffic of my eyes +and lips and hair. But first I wed you, Perion, here in the sight of +God, and I bid you return to me, who am your wife and servitor for ever +now, whatever lesser men may do." + +"I will return," he said. + +Then in a little while she withdrew her lips from his lips. + + +"Cover my face, Ayrart. It may be I shall weep presently. Men must not +see the wife of Perion weep. Cover my face, for he is going now, and I +cannot watch his going." + + + + + +PART TWO + + +MELICENT + +_Of how through love is Melicent upcast +Under a heathen castle at the last: +And how a wicked lord of proud degree, +Demetrios, dwelleth in this country, +Where humbled under him are all mankind: +How to this wretched woman he hath mind, +That fallen is in pagan lands alone, +In point to die, as presently is shown._ + + + + +6. + + +_How Melicent Sought Oversea_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how love began +between Perion of the Forest, who was a captain of mercenaries, and +young Melicent, who was daughter to the great Dom Manuel, and sister to +Count Emmerick of Poictesme. They tell also how Melicent and Perion +were parted, because there was no remedy, and policy demanded she +should wed King Theodoret. + +And the tale tells how Perion sailed with his retainers to seek +desperate service under the harried Kaiser of the Greeks. + +This venture was ill-fated, since, as the Free Companions were passing +not far from Masillia, their vessel being at the time becalmed, they +were attacked by three pagan galleys under the admiralty of the +proconsul Demetrios. Perion's men, who fought so hardily on land, were +novices at sea. They were powerless against an adversary who, from a +great distance, showered liquid fire upon their vessel. + +Then Demetrios sent little boats and took some thirty prisoners from +the blazing ship, and made slaves of all save Ahasuerus the Jew, whom +he released on being informed of the lean man's religion. It was a +customary boast of this Demetrios that he made war on Christians only. + +And presently, as Perion had commanded, Ahasuerus came to Melicent. + +The princess sat in a high chair, the back of which was capped with a +big lion's head in brass. It gleamed above her head, but was less +glorious than her bright hair. + +Ahasuerus made dispassionate report. "Thus painfully I have delivered, +as my task was, these fine messages concerning Faith and Love and Death +and so on. Touching their rationality I may reserve my own opinion. I +am merely Perion's echo. Do I echo madness? This madman was my loved +and honoured master once, a lord without any peer in the fields where +men contend in battle. To-day those sinews which preserved a throne are +dedicated to the transportation of luggage. Grant it is laughable. I do +not laugh." + +"And I lack time to weep," said Melicent. + +So, when the Jew had told his tale and gone, young Melicent arose and +went into a chamber painted with the histories of Jason and Medea, +where her brother Count Emmerick hid such jewels as had not many equals +in Christendom. + +She did not hesitate. She took no thought for her brother, she did not +remember her loved sisters: Ettarre and Dorothy were their names, and +they also suffered for their beauty, and for the desire it quickened in +the hearts of men. Melicent knew only that Perion was in captivity and +might not look for aid from any person living save herself. + +She gathered in a blue napkin such emeralds as would ransom a pope. She +cut short her marvellous hair and disguised herself in all things as a +man, and under cover of the ensuing night slipped from the castle. At +Manneville she found a Venetian ship bound homeward with a cargo of +swords and armour. + +She hired herself to the captain of this vessel as a servant, calling +herself Jocelin Gaignars. She found no time--wherein to be afraid or to +grieve for the estate she was relinquishing, so long as Perion lay in +danger. + +Thus the young Jocelin, though not without hardship and odd by-ends of +adventure here irrelevant, came with time's course into a land of +sunlight and much wickedness where Perion was. + +There the boy found in what fashion Perion was living and won the +dearly purchased misery of seeing him, from afar, in his deplorable +condition, as Perion went through the outer yard of Nacumera laden with +chains and carrying great logs toward the kitchen. This befell when +Jocelin had come into the hill country, where the eyrie of Demetrios +blocked a crag-hung valley as snugly as a stone chokes a gutter-pipe. + +Young Jocelin had begged an audience of this heathen lord and had +obtained it--though Jocelin did not know as much--with ominous +facility. + + + + +7. + + +_How Perion Was Freed_ + +Demetrios lay on a divan within the Court of Stars, through which you +passed from the fortress into the Women's Garden and the luxurious +prison where he kept his wives. This court was circular in form and was +paved with red and yellow slabs, laid alternately, like a chess-board. +In the centre was a fountain, which cast up a tall thin jet of water. A +gallery extended around the place, supported by columns that had been +painted scarlet and were gilded with fantastic designs. The walls were +of the colour of claret and were adorned with golden cinquefoils +regularly placed. From a distance they resembled stars, and so gave the +enclosure its name. + +Demetrios lay upon a long divan which was covered with crimson, and +which encircled the court entirely, save for the apertures of the two +entrances. Demetrios was of burly person, which he by ordinary, as +to-day, adorned resplendently; of a stature little above the common +size, and disproportionately broad as to his chest and shoulders. It +was rumoured that he could bore an apple through with his forefinger +and had once killed a refractory horse with a blow of his naked fist; +nor looking on the man, did you presume to question the report. His +eyes were large and insolent, coloured like onyxes; for the rest, he +had a handsome surly face which was disfigured by pimples. + +He did not speak at all while Jocelin explained that his errand was to +ransom Perion. Then, "At what price?" Demetrios said, without any sign +of interest; and Jocelin, with many encomiums, displayed his emeralds. + +"Ay, they are well enough," Demetrios agreed. "But then I have a +superfluity of jewels." + +He raised himself a little among the cushions, and in this moving the +figured golden stuff in which he was clothed heaved and glittered like +the scales of a splendid monster. He leisurely unfastened the great +chrysoberyl, big as a hen's egg, which adorned his fillet. + +"Look you, this is of a far more beautiful green than any of your +trinkets, I think it is as valuable also, because of its huge size. +Moreover, it turns red by lamplight--red as blood. That is an admirable +colour. And yet I do not value it. I think I do not value anything. So +I will make you a gift of this big coloured pebble, if you desire it, +because your ignorance amuses me. Most people know Demetrios is not a +merchant. He does not buy and sell. That which he has he keeps, and +that which he desires he takes." + +The boy was all despair. He did not speak. He was very handsome as he +stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and +gold. + +"You do not value my poor chrysoberyl? You value your friend more? It +is a page out of Theocritos--'when there were golden men of old, when +friends gave love for love.' And yet I could have sworn--Come now, a +wager," purred Demetrios. "Show your contempt of this bauble to be as +great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for +the next passer-by to pick up, and I will credit your sincerity. Do +that and I will even name my price for Perion." + +The boy obeyed him without hesitation. Turning, he saw the horrid +change in the intent eyes of Demetrios, and quailed before it. But +instantly that flare of passion flickered out. + +Demetrios gently said: + +"A bargain is a bargain. My wives are beautiful, but their caresses +annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. I have long thought it +would perhaps amuse me if I possessed a Christian wife who had eyes +like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. A man tires +very soon of ebony and amber.... Procure me such a wife and I will +willingly release this Perion and all his fellows who are yet alive." + +"But, seignior,"--and the boy was shaken now,--"you demand of me an +impossibility!" + +"I am so hardy as to think not. And my reason is that a man throws from +the elbow only, but a woman with her whole arm." + +There fell a silence now. + +"Why, look you, I deal fairly, though. Were such a woman here-- +Demetrios of Anatolia's guest--I verily believe I would not hinder her +departure, as I might easily do. For there is not a person within many +miles of this place who considers it wholesome to withstand me. Yet +were this woman purchasable, I would purchase. And--if she refused--I +would not hinder her departure; but very certainly I would put Perion +to the Torment of the Waterdrops. It is so droll to see a man go mad +before your eyes, I think that I would laugh and quite forget the +woman." + +She said, "O God, I cry to You for justice!" + +He answered: + +"My good girl, in Nacumera the wishes of Demetrios are justice. But we +waste time. You desire to purchase one of my belongings? So be it. I +will hear your offer." + +Just once her hands had gripped each other. Her arms fell now as if +they had been drained of life. She spoke in a dull voice. + +"Seignior, I offer Melicent who was a princess. I cry a price, +seignior, for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's tender body +without any blemish. I cry a price for youth and happiness and honour. +These you may have for playthings, seignior, with everything which I +possess, except my heart, for that is dead." + +Demetrios asked, "Is this true speech?" + +She answered: + +"It is as sure as Love and Death. I know that nothing is more sure than +these, and I praise God for my sure knowledge." + +He chuckled, saying, "Platitudes break no bones." + +So on the next day the chains were filed from Perion de la Forêt and +all his fellows, save the nine unfortunates whom Demetrios had +appointed to fight with lions a month before this, when he had +entertained the Soldan of Bacharia. These men were bathed and perfumed +and richly clad. + +A galley of the proconsul's fleet conveyed them toward Christendom and +set the twoscore slaves of yesterday ashore not far from Megaris. The +captain of the galley on departure left with Perion a blue napkin, +wherein were wrapped large emeralds and a bit of parchment. + +Upon this parchment was written: + +"Not these, but the body of Melicent, who was once a princess, +purchased your bodies. Yet these will buy you ships and men and swords +with which to storm my house where Melicent now is. Come if you will +and fight with Demetrios of Anatolia for that brave girl who loved a +porter as all loyal men should love their Maker and customarily do not. +I think it would amuse us." + +Then Perion stood by the languid sea which +severed him from Melicent and cried: + +"O God, that hast permitted this hard bargain, trade now with me! now +barter with me, O Father of us all! That which a man has I will give." + +Thus he waited in the clear sunlight, with no more wavering in his face +than you may find in the next statue's face. Both hands strained toward +the blue sky, as though he made a vow. If so, he did not break it. + +And now no more of Perion. + + * * * * * + +At the same hour young Melicent, wrapped all about with a +flame-coloured veil and crowned with marjoram, was led by a spruce boy +toward a threshold, over which Demetrios lifted her, while many people +sang in a strange tongue. And then she paid her ransom. + +"Hymen, O Hymen!" they sang. "Do thou of many names and many temples, +golden Aphrodite, be propitious to this bridal! Now let him first +compute the glittering stars of midnight and the grasshoppers of a +summer day who would count the joys this bridal shall bring about! Hymen, +O Hymen, rejoice thou in this bridal!" + + + + +8. + + +_How Demetrios Was Amused_ + +Now Melicent abode in the house of Demetrios, whom she had not seen +since the morning after he had wedded her. A month had passed. As yet +she could not understand the language of her fellow prisoners, but +Halaon, a eunuch who had once served a cardinal in Tuscany, informed +her the proconsul was in the West Provinces, where an invading force +had landed under Ranulph de Meschines. + +A month had passed. She woke one night from dreams of Perion--what else +should women dream of?--and found the same Ahasuerus that had brought +her news of Perion's captivity, so long ago, attendant at her bedside. + +He seemed a prey to some half-scornful mirth. In speech, at least, the +man was of entire discretion. "The Splendour of the World desires your +presence, madame." Thus the Jew blandly spoke. + +She cried, aghast at so much treachery, "You had planned this!" + +He answered: + +"I plan always. Oh, certainly, I must weave always as the spider +does.... Meanwhile time passes. I, like you, am now the servitor of +Demetrios. I am his factor now at Calonak. I buy and sell. I estimate +ounces. I earn my wages. Who forbids it?" Here the Jew shrugged. "And +to conclude, the Splendour of the World desires your presence, madame." + +He seemed to get much joy of this mouth-filling periphrasis as +sneeringly he spoke of their common master. + + * * * * * + +Now Melicent, in a loose robe of green Coan stuff shot through and +through with a radiancy like that of copper, followed the thin, smiling +Jew Ahasuerus. She came thus with bare feet into the Court of Stars, +where the proconsul lay on the divan as though he had not ever moved +from there. To-night he was clothed in scarlet, and barbaric ornaments +dangled from his pierced ears. These glittered now that his head moved +a little as he silently dismissed Ahasuerus from the Court of Stars. + +Real stars were overhead, so brilliant and (it seemed) so near they +turned the fountain's jet into a spurt of melting silver. The moon was +set, but there was a flaring lamp of iron, high as a man's shoulder, +yonder where Demetrios lay. + +"Stand close to it, my wife," said the proconsul, "in order that I may +see my newest purchase very clearly." + +She obeyed him; and she esteemed the sacrifice, however unendurable, +which bought for Perion the chance to serve God and his love for her by +valorous and commendable actions to be no cause for grief. + +"I think with those old men who sat upon the walls of Troy," Demetrios +said, and he laughed because his voice had shaken a little. "Meanwhile +I have returned from crucifying a hundred of your fellow worshippers," +Demetrios continued. His speech had an odd sweetness. "Ey, yes, I +conquered at Yroga. It was a good fight. My horse's hoofs were red at +its conclusion. My surviving opponents I consider to have been +deplorable fools when they surrendered, for people die less painfully +in battle. There was one fellow, a Franciscan monk, who hung six hours +upon a palm tree, always turning his head from one side to the other. +It was amusing." + +She answered nothing. + +"And I was wondering always how I would feel were you nailed in his +place. It was curious I should have thought of you.... But your white +flesh is like the petals of a flower. I suppose it is as readily +destructible. I think you would not long endure." + +"I pray God hourly that I may not!" said tense Melicent. + +He was pleased to have wrung one cry of anguish from this lovely +effigy. He motioned her to him and laid one hand upon her naked breast. +He gave a gesture of distaste. + +Demetrios said: + +"No, you are not afraid. However, you are very beautiful. I thought +that you would please me more when your gold hair had grown a trifle +longer. There is nothing in the world so beautiful as golden hair. Its +beauty weathers even the commendation of poets." + +No power of motion seemed to be in this white girl, but certainly you +could detect no fear. Her clinging robe shone like an opal in the +lamplight, her body, only partly veiled, was enticing, and her visage +was very lovely. Her wide-open eyes implored you, but only as those of +a trapped animal beseech the mercy for which it does not really hope. +Thus Melicent waited in the clear lamplight, with no more wavering in +her face than you may find in the next statue's face. + +In the man's heart woke now some comprehension of the nature of her +love for Perion, of that high and alien madness which dared to make of +Demetrios of Anatolia's will an unavoidable discomfort, and no more. +The prospect was alluring. The proconsul began to chuckle as water +pours from a jar, and the gold in his ears twinkled. + +"Decidedly I shall get much mirth of you. Go back to your own rooms. I +had thought the world afforded no adversary and no game worthy of +Demetrios. I have found both. Therefore, go back to your own rooms," he +gently said. + + + + +9. + + +_How Time Sped in Heathenry_ + +On the next day Melicent was removed to more magnificent apartments, +and she was lodged in a lofty and spacious pavilion, which had three +porticoes builded of marble and carved teakwood and Andalusian copper. +Her rooms were spread with gold-worked carpets and hung with tapestries +and brocaded silks figured with all manner of beasts and birds in their +proper colours. Such was the girl's home now, where only happiness was +denied to her. Many slaves attended Melicent, and she lacked for +nothing in luxury and riches and things of price; and thereafter she +abode at Nacumera, to all appearances, as the favourite among the +proconsul's wives. + +It must be recorded of Demetrios that henceforth he scrupulously +demurred even to touch her. "I have purchased your body," he proudly +said, "and I have taken seizin. I find I do not care for anything which +can be purchased." + +It may be that the man was never sane; it is indisputable that the +mainspring of his least action was an inordinate pride. Here he had +stumbled upon something which made of Demetrios of Anatolia a temporary +discomfort, and which bedwarfed the utmost reach of his ill-doing into +equality with the molestations of a house-fly; and perception of this +fact worked in Demetrios like a poisonous ferment. To beg or once again +to pillage he thought equally unworthy of himself. "Let us have +patience!" It was not easily said so long as this fair Frankish woman +dared to entertain a passion which Demetrios could not comprehend, and +of which Demetrios was, and knew himself to be, incapable. + +A connoisseur of passions, he resented such belittlement tempestuously; +and he heaped every luxury upon Melicent, because, as he assured +himself, the heart of every woman is alike. + +He had his theories, his cunning, and, chief of all, an appreciation of +her beauty, as his abettors. She had her memories and her clean heart. +They duelled thus accoutred. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. Upon no less than three occasions did Callistion-- +the first wife of the proconsul and the mother of his elder son-- +attempt the life of Melicent; and thrice Demetrios spared the woman at +Melicent's entreaty. For Melicent (since she loved Perion) could +understand that it was love of Demetrios, rather than hate of her, +which drove the Dacian virago to extremities. + +Then one day about noon Demetrios came unheralded into Melicent's +resplendent prison. Through an aisle of painted pillars he came to her, +striding with unwonted quickness, glittering as he moved. His robe this +day was scarlet, the colour he chiefly affected. Gold glowed upon his +forehead, gold dangled from his ears, and about his throat was a broad +collar of gold and rubies. At his side was a cross-handled sword, in a +scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented. + +"Give thanks, my wife," Demetrios said, "that you are beautiful. For +beauty was ever the spur of valour." Then quickly, joyously, he told +her of how a fleet equipped by the King of Cyprus had been despatched +against the province of Demetrios, and of how among the invaders were +Perion of the Forest and his Free Companions. "Ey, yes, my porter has +returned. I ride instantly for the coast to greet him with appropriate +welcome. I pray heaven it is no sluggard or weakling that is come out +against me." + +Proudly, Melicent replied: + +"There comes against you a champion of noted deeds, a courteous and +hardy gentleman, pre-eminent at swordplay. There was never any man more +ready than Perion to break a lance or shatter a shield, or more eager +to succour the helpless and put to shame all cowards and traitors." + +Demetrios dryly said: + +"I do not question that the virtues of my porter are innumerable. +Therefore we will not attempt to catalogue them. Now Ahasuerus reports +that even before you came to tempt me with your paltry emeralds you +once held the life of Perion in your hands?" Demetrios unfastened his +sword. He grasped the hand of Melicent, and laid it upon the scabbard. +"And what do you hold now, my wife? You hold the death of Perion. I +take the antithesis to be neat." + +She answered nothing. Her seeming indifference angered him. Demetrios +wrenched the sword from its scabbard, with a hard violence that made +Melicent recoil. He showed the blade all covered with graved symbols of +which she could make nothing. + +"This is Flamberge," said the proconsul; "the weapon which was the +pride and bane of my father, famed Miramon Lluagor, because it was the +sword which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for unconquerable +Charlemagne. Clerks declare it is a magic weapon and that the man who +wields it is always unconquerable. I do not know. I think it is as +difficult to believe in sorcery as it is to be entirely sure that all +we know is not the sorcery of a drunken wizard. I very potently +believe, however, that with this sword I shall kill Perion." + +Melicent had plenty of patience, but astonishingly little, it seemed, +for this sort of speech. "I think that you talk foolishly, seignior. +And, other matters apart, it is manifest that you yourself concede +Perion to be the better swordsman, since you require to be abetted by +sorcery before you dare to face him." + +"So, so!" Demetrios said, in a sort of grinding whisper, "you think +that I am not the equal of this long-legged fellow! You would think +otherwise if I had him here. You will think otherwise when I have +killed him with my naked hands. Oh, very soon you will think +otherwise." + +He snarled, rage choking him, flung the sword at her feet and quitted +her without any leave-taking. He had ridden three miles from Nacumera +before he began to laugh. He perceived that Melicent at least respected +sorcery, and had tricked him out of Flamberge by playing upon his +tetchy vanity. Her adroitness pleased him. + +Demetrios did not laugh when he found the Christian fleet had been +ingloriously repulsed at sea by the Emir of Arsuf, and had never +effected a landing. Demetrios picked a quarrel with the victorious +admiral and killed the marplot in a public duel, but that was +inadequate comfort. + +"However," the proconsul reassured himself, "if my wife reports at all +truthfully as to this Perion's nature it is certain that this Perion +will come again." Then Demetrios went into the sacred grove upon the +hillsides south of Quesiton and made an offering of myrtle-branches, +rose-leaves and incense to Aphrodite of Colias. + + + + +10. + + +_How Demetrios Wooed_ + +Ahasuerus came and went at will. Nothing was known concerning this +soft-treading furtive man except by the proconsul, who had no +confidants. By his decree Ahasuerus was an honoured guest at Nacumera. +And always the Jew's eyes when Melicent was near him were as +expressionless as the eyes of a snake, which do not ever change. + +Once she told Demetrios that she feared Ahasuerus. + +"But I do not fear him, Melicent, though I have larger reason. For I +alone of all men living know the truth concerning this same Jew. +Therefore, it amuses me to think that he, who served my wizard father +in a very different fashion, is to-day my factor and ciphers over my +accounts." + +Demetrios laughed, and had the Jew summoned. + +This was in the Women's Garden, where the proconsul sat with Melicent +in a little domed pavilion of stone-work which was gilded with red gold +and crowned with a cupola of alabaster. Its pavement was of transparent +glass, under which were clear running waters wherein swam red and +yellow fish. + +Demetrios said: + +"It appears that you are a formidable person, Ahasuerus. My wife here +fears you." + +"Splendour of the Age," returned Ahasuerus, quietly, "it is notorious +that women have long hair and short wits. There is no need to fear a +Jew. The Jew, I take it, was created in order that children might +evince their playfulness by stoning him, the honest show their +common-sense by robbing him, and the religious display their piety by +burning him. Who forbids it?" + +"Ey, but my wife is a Christian and in consequence worships a Jew." +Demetrios reflected. His dark eyes twinkled. "What is your opinion +concerning this other Jew, Ahasuerus?" + +"I know that He was the Messiah, Lord." + +"And yet you do not worship Him." + +The Jew said: + +"It was not altogether worship He desired. He asked that men should +love Him. He does not ask love of me." + +"I find that an obscure saying," Demetrios considered. + +"It is a true saying, King of Kings. In time it will be made plain. +That time is not yet come. I used to pray it would come soon. Now I do +not pray any longer. I only wait." + +Demetrios tugged at his chin, his eyes narrowed, meditating. He +laughed. + +Demetrios said: + +"It is no affair of mine. What am I that I am called upon to have +prejudices concerning the universe? It is highly probable there are +gods of some sort or another, but I do not so far flatter myself as to +consider that any possible god would be at all interested in my opinion +of him. In any event, I am Demetrios. Let the worst come, and in +whatever baleful underworld I find myself imprisoned I shall maintain +myself there in a manner not unworthy of Demetrios." The proconsul +shrugged at this point. "I do not find you amusing, Ahasuerus. You may +go." + +"I hear, and I obey," the Jew replied. He went away patiently. + +Then Demetrios turned toward Melicent, rejoicing that his chattel had +golden hair and was comely beyond comparison with all other women he +had ever seen. + +Said Demetrios: + +"I love you, Melicent, and you do not love me. Do not be offended +because my speech is harsh, for even though I know my candour is +distasteful I must speak the truth. You have been obdurate too long, +denying Kypris what is due to her. I think that your brain is giddy +because of too much exulting in the magnificence of your body and in +the number of men who have desired it to their own hurt. I concede your +beauty, yet what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"I admit that my refrain is old. But it will presently take on a more +poignant meaning, because a hundred years from now you--even you, dear +Melicent!--and all the loveliness which now causes me to estimate life +as a light matter in comparison with your love, will be only a bone or +two. Your lustrous eyes, which are now more beautiful than it is +possible to express, will be unsavoury holes and a worm will crawl +through them; and what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"A hundred years from now should anyone break open our gilded tomb, he +will find Melicent to be no more admirable than Demetrios. One skull is +like another, and is as lightly split with a mattock. You will be as +ugly as I, and nobody will be thinking of your eyes and hair. Hail, +rain and dew will drench us both impartially when I lie at your side, +as I intend to do, for a hundred years and yet another hundred years. +You need not frown, for what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"Melicent, I offer love and a life that derides the folly of all other +manners of living; and even if you deny me, what will it matter a +hundred years from now?" + +His face was contorted, his speech had fervent bitterness, for even +while he wooed this woman the man internally was raging over his own +infatuation. + +And Melicent answered: + +"There can be no question of love between us, seignior. You purchased +my body. My body is at your disposal under God's will." + +Demetrios sneered, his ardours cooled. He said, "I have already told +you, my girl, I do not care for that which can be purchased." + +In such fashion Melicent abode among these odious persons as a lily +which is rooted in mire. She was a prisoner always, and when Demetrios +came to Nacumera--which fell about irregularly, for now arose much +fighting between the Christians and the pagans--a gem which he uncased, +admired, curtly exulted in, and then, jeering at those hot wishes in +his heart, locked up untouched when he went back to warfare. + +To her the man was uniformly kind, if with a sort of sneer she could +not understand; and he pillaged an infinity of Genoese and Venetian +ships--which were notoriously the richest laden--of jewels, veils, +silks, furs, embroideries and figured stuffs, wherewith to enhance the +comeliness of Melicent. It seemed an all-engulfing madness with this +despot daily to aggravate his fierce desire of her, to nurture his +obsession, so that he might glory in the consciousness of treading down +no puny adversary. + +Pride spurred him on as witches ride their dupes to a foreknown +destruction. "Let us have patience," he would say. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. "Let us have patience!" they said, also, but with +a meaning that was more sinister. + + + + + +PART THREE + + +DEMETRIOS + +_Of how Dame Melicent's fond lovers go +As comrades, working each his fellow's woe: +Each hath unhorsed the other of the twain, +And knoweth that nowhither 'twixt Ukraine +And Ormus roameth any lion's son +More eager in the hunt than Perion, +Nor any viper's sire more venomous +Through jealous hurt than is Demetrios._ + + + + +11. + + +_How Time Sped with Perion_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling of what befell +Perion de la Forêt after he had been ransomed out of heathenry. They +tell how he took service with the King of Cyprus. And the tale tells +how the King of Cyprus was defeated at sea by the Emir of Arsuf; and +how Perion came unhurt from that battle, and by land relieved the +garrison at Japhe, and was ennobled therefor; and was afterward called +the Comte de la Forêt. + +Then the King of Cyprus made peace with heathendom, and Perion left +him. Now Perion's skill in warfare was leased to whatsoever lord would +dare contend against Demetrios and the proconsul's magic sword +Flamberge: and Perion of the Forest did not inordinately concern +himself as to the merits of any quarrel because of which battalions +died, so long as he fought toward Melicent. Demetrios was pleased, and +thrilled with the heroic joy of an athlete who finds that he +unwittingly has grappled with his equal. + +So the duel between these two dragged on with varying fortunes, and the +years passed, and neither duellist had conquered as yet. Then King +Theodoret, third of that name to rule, and once (as you have heard) a +wooer of Dame Melicent, declared a crusade; and Perion went to him at +Lacre Kai. It was in making this journey, they say, that Perion passed +through Pseudopolis, and had speech there with Queen Helen, the delight +of gods and men: and Perion conceded this Queen was well-enough to look +at. + +"She reminds me, indeed, of that Dame Melicent whom I serve in this +world, and trust to serve in Paradise," said Perion. "But Dame Melicent +has a mole on her left cheek." + +"That is a pity," said an attendant lord. "A mole disfigures a pretty +woman." + +"I was speaking, messire, of Dame Melicent." + +"Even so," the lord replied, "a mole is a blemish." + +"I cannot permit these observations," said Perion. So they fought, and +Perion killed his opponent, and left Pseudopolis that afternoon. + +Such was Perion's way. + +He came unhurt to King Theodoret, who at once recognised in the famous +Comte de la Forêt the former Vicomte de Puysange, but gave no sign of +such recognition. + +"Heaven chooses its own instruments," the pious King reflected: "and +this swaggering Comte de la Forêt, who affects so many names has also +the name of being a warrior without any peer in Christendom. Let us +first conquer this infamous proconsul, this adversary of our Redeemer, +and then we shall see. It may be that heaven will then permit me to +detect this Comte de la Forêt in some particularly abominable heresy. +For this long-legged ruffian looks like a schismatic, and would +singularly grace a rack." + +So King Theodoret kissed Perion upon both cheeks, and created him +generalissimo of King Theodoret's forces. It was upon St. George's day +that Perion set sail with thirty-four ships of great dimensions and +admirable swiftness. + +"Do you bring me back Demetrios in chains," said the King, fondling +Perion at parting, "and all that I have is yours." + +"I mean to bring back my stolen wife, Dame Melicent," was Perion's +reply: "and if I can manage it I shall also bring you this Demetrios, +in return for lending me these ships and soldiers." + +"Do you think," the King asked, peevishly, "that monarchs nowadays fit +out armaments to replevin a woman who is no longer young, and who was +always stupid?" + +"I cannot permit these observations--" said Perion. + +Theodoret hastily explained that his was merely a general observation, +without any personal bearing. + + + + +12. + + +_How Demetrios Was Taken_ + +Thus it was that war awoke and raged about the province of Demetrios as +tirelessly as waves lapped at its shores. + +Then, after many ups and downs of carnage,[1: Nicolas de Caen gives +here a minute account of the military and naval evolutions, with a +fullness that verges upon prolixity. It appears expedient to omit all +this.] Perion surprised the galley of Demetrios while the proconsul +slept at anchor in his own harbour of Quesiton. Demetrios fought +nakedly against accoutred soldiers and had killed two of them with his +hands before he could be quieted by an admiring Perion. + +Demetrios by Perion's order was furnished with a sword of ordinary +attributes, and Perion ridded himself of all defensive armour. The two +met like an encounter of tempests, and in the outcome Demetrios was +wounded so that he lay insensible. + +Demetrios was taken as a prisoner toward the domains of King Theodoret. + +"Only you are my private capture," said Perion; "conquered by my own +hand and in fair fight. Now I am unwilling to insult the most valiant +warrior whom I have known by valuing him too cheaply, and I accordingly +fix your ransom as the person of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios bit his nails. + +"Needs must," he said at last. "It is unnecessary to inform you that +when my property is taken from me I shall endeavour to regain it. I +shall, before the year is out, lay waste whatever kingdom it is that +harbours you. Meanwhile I warn you it is necessary to be speedy in this +ransoming. My other wives abhor the Frankish woman who has supplanted +them in my esteem. My son Orestes, who succeeds me, will be guided by +his mother. Callistion has thrice endeavoured to kill Melicent. If any +harm befalls me, Callistion to all intent will reign in Nacumera, and +she will not be satisfied with mere assassination. I cannot guess what +torment Callistion will devise, but it will be no child's play--" + +"Hah, infamy!" cried Perion. He had learned long ago how cunning the +heathen were in such cruelties, and so he shuddered. + +Demetrios was silent. He, too, was frightened, because this despot +knew--and none knew better--that in his lordly house far oversea +Callistion would find equipment for a hundred curious tortures. + +"It has been difficult for me to tell you this," Demetrios then said, +"because it savours of an appeal to spare me. I think you will have +gleaned, however, from our former encounters, that I am not +unreasonably afraid of death. Also I think that you love Melicent. For +the rest, there is no person in Nacumera so untutored as to cross my +least desire until my death is triply proven. Accordingly, I who am +Demetrios am willing to entreat an oath that you will not permit +Theodoret to kill me." + +"I swear by God and all the laws of Rome--" cried Perion. + +"Ey, but I am not very popular in Rome," Demetrios interrupted. "I +would prefer that you swore by your love for Melicent. I would prefer +an oath which both of us may understand, and I know of none other." + +So Perion swore as Demetrios requested, and set about the conveyance of +Demetrios into King Theodoret's realm. + + + + +13. + + +_How They Praised Melicent_ + +The conqueror and the conquered sat together upon the prow of Perion's +ship. It was a warm, clear night, so brilliant that the stars were +invisible. Perion sighed. Demetrios inquired the reason. Perion said: + +"It is the memory of a fair and noble lady, Messire Demetrios, that +causes me to heave a sigh from my inmost heart. I cannot forget that +loveliness which had no parallel. Pardieu, her eyes were amethysts, her +lips were red as the berries of a holly tree. Her hair blazed in the +light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than milk; +the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch than +were her hands. There was never any person more delightful to gaze +upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love and +service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios gave his customary lazy shrug. Demetrios said: + +"She is still a brightly-coloured creature, moves gracefully, has a +sweet, drowsy voice, and is as soft to the touch as rabbit's fur. +Therefore, it is imperative that one of us must cut the other's throat. +The deduction is perfectly logical. Yet I do not know that my love for +her is any greater than my hatred. I rage against her patient tolerance +of me, and I am often tempted to disfigure, mutilate, even to destroy +this colourful, stupid woman, who makes me wofully ridiculous in my own +eyes. I shall be happier when death has taken the woman who ventures to +deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"When I first saw Dame Melicent the sea was languid, as if outworn by +vain endeavours to rival the purple of her eyes. Sea-birds were adrift +in the air, very close to her and their movements were less graceful +than hers. She was attired in a robe of white silk, and about her +wrists were heavy bands of silver. A tiny wind played truant in order +to caress her unplaited hair, because the wind was more hardy than I, +and dared to love her. I did not think of love, I thought only of the +noble deeds I might have done and had not done. I thought of my +unworthiness, and it seemed to me that my soul writhed like an eel in +sunlight, a naked, despicable thing, that was unworthy to render any +love and service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"When I first saw the girl she knew herself entrapped, her body mine, +her life dependent on my whim. She waved aside such petty +inconveniences, bade them await an hour when she had leisure to +consider them, because nothing else was of any importance so long as my +porter went in chains. I was an obstacle to her plans and nothing more; +a pebble in her shoe would have perturbed her about as much as I did. +Here at last, I thought, is genuine common-sense--a clear-headed +decision as to your actual desire, apart from man-taught ethics, and +fearless purchase of your desire at any cost. There is something not +unakin to me, I reflected, in the girl who ventures to deal in this +fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"Since she permits me to serve her, I may not serve unworthily. +To-morrow I shall set new armies afield. To-morrow it will delight me +to see their tents rise in your meadows, Messire Demetrios, and to see +our followers meet in clashing combat, by hundreds and thousands, so +mightily that men will sing of it when we are gone. To-morrow one of us +must kill the other. To-night we drink our wine in amity. I have not +time to hate you, I have not time to like or dislike any living person, +I must devote all faculties that heaven gave me to the love +and service of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"To-night we babble to the stars and dream vain dreams as other fools +have done before us. To-morrow rests--perhaps--with heaven; but, depend +upon it, Messire de la Forêt, whatever we may do to-morrow will be +foolishly performed, because we are both besotted by bright eyes and +lips and hair. I trust to find our antics laughable. Yet there is that +in me which is murderous when I reflect that you and she do not dislike +me. It is the distasteful truth that neither of you considers me to be +worth the trouble. I find such conduct irritating, because no other +persons have ever ventured to deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +"Demetrios, already your antics are laughable, for you pass blindly by +the revelation of heaven's splendour in heaven's masterwork; you ignore +the miracle; and so do you find only the stings of the flesh where I +find joy in rendering love and service to Dame Melicent." + +"Perion, it is you that play the fool, in not recognising that heaven +is inaccessible and doubtful. But clearer eyes perceive the not at all +doubtful dullness of wit, and the gratifying accessibility of every +woman when properly handled,--yes, even of her who dares to deal in +this fashion with Demetrios." + +Thus they would sit together, nightly, upon the prow of Perion's ship +and speak against each other in the manner of a Tenson, as these two +rhapsodised of Melicent until the stars grew lustreless before the sun. + + + + +14. + + +_How Perion Braved Theodoret_ + +The city of Megaris (then Theodoret's capital) was ablaze with bonfires +on the night that the Comte de la Forêt entered it at the head of his +forces. Demetrios, meanly clothed, his hands tied behind him, trudged +sullenly beside his conqueror's horse. Yet of the two the gloomier face +showed below the count's coronet, for Perion did not relish the +impendent interview with King Theodoret. They came thus amid much +shouting to the Hôtel d'Ebelin, their assigned quarters, and slept +there. + +Next morning, about the hour of prime, two men-at-arms accompanied a +fettered Demetrios into the presence of King Theodoret. Perion of the +Forest preceded them. He pardonably swaggered, in spite of his +underlying uneasiness, for this last feat, as he could not ignore, was +a performance which Christendom united to applaud. + +They came thus into a spacious chamber, very inadequately lighted. The +walls were unhewn stone. There was but one window, of uncoloured glass; +and it was guarded by iron bars. The floor was bare of rushes. On one +side was a bed with tattered hangings of green, which were adorned with +rampant lions worked in silver thread much tarnished; to the right hand +stood a _prie-dieu_. Between these isolated articles of furniture, and +behind an unpainted table sat, in a high-backed chair, a wizen and +shabbily-clad old man. This was Theodoret, most pious and penurious of +monarchs. In attendance upon him were Fra Battista, prior of the Grey +Monks, and Melicent's near kinsman, once the Bishop, now the Cardinal, +de Montors, who, as was widely known, was the actual monarch of this +realm. The latter was smartly habited as a cavalier and showed in +nothing like a churchman. + +The infirm King arose and came to meet the champion who had performed +what many generals of Christendom had vainly striven to achieve. He +embraced the conqueror of Demetrios as one does an equal. + +Said Theodoret: + +"Hail, my fair friend! you who have lopped the right arm of heathenry! +To-day, I know, the saints hold festival in heaven. I cannot recompense +you, since God alone is omnipotent. Yet ask now what you will, short of +my crown, and it is yours." The old man kissed the chief of all his +treasures, a bit of the True Cross, which hung upon his breast +supported by a chain of gold. + +"The King has spoken," Perion returned. "I ask the life of Demetrios." + +Theodoret recoiled, like a small flame which is fluttered by its +kindler's breath. He cackled thinly, saying: + +"A jest or so is privileged in this high hour. Yet we ought not to make +a jest of matters which concern the Church. Am I not right, Ayrart? Oh, +no, this merciless Demetrios is assuredly that very Antichrist whose +coming was foretold. I must relinquish him to Mother Church, in order +that he may be equitably tried, and be baptised--since even he may have +a soul--and afterward be burned in the market-place." + +"The King has spoken," Perion replied. "I too have spoken." + +There was a pause of horror upon the part of King Theodoret. He was at +first in a mere whirl. Theodoret said: + +"You ask, in earnest, for the life of this Demetrios, this arch-foe of +our Redeemer, this spawn of Satan, who has sacked more of my towns than +I have fingers on this wasted hand! Now, now that God has singularly +favoured me--!" Theodoret snarled and gibbered like a frenzied ape, and +had no longer the ability to articulate. + +"Beau sire, I fought the man because he infamously held Dame Melicent, +whom I serve in this world without any reservation, and trust to serve +in Paradise. His person, and this alone, will ransom Melicent." + +"You plan to loose this fiend!" the old King cried. "To stir up all +this butchery again!" + +"Sire, pray recall how long I have loved Melicent. Reflect that if you +slay Demetrios, Dame Melicent will be left destitute in heathenry. +Remember that she will be murdered through the hatred of this man's +other wives whom her inestimable beauty has supplanted." Thus Perion +entreated. + +All this while the cardinal and the proconsul had been appraising each +other. It was as though they two had been the only persons in the +dimly-lit apartment. They had not met before. "Here is my match," +thought each of these two; "here, if the world affords it, is my peer +in cunning and bravery." + +And each lusted for a contest, and with something of mutual +comprehension. + +In consequence they stinted pity for Theodoret, who unfeignedly +believed that whether he kept or broke his recent oath damnation was +inevitable. "You have been ill-advised--" he stammered. "I do not dare +release Demetrios--My soul would answer that enormity--But it was sworn +upon the Cross--Oh, ruin either way! Come now, my gallant captain," the +King barked. "I have gold, lands, and jewels--" + +"Beau sire, I have loved this my dearest lady since the time when both +of us were little more than children, and each day of the year my love +for her has been doubled. What would it avail me to live in however +lofty estate when I cannot daily see the treasure of my life?" + +Now the Cardinal de Montors interrupted, and his voice was to the ear +as silk is to the fingers. + +"Beau sire," said Ayrart de Montors, "I speak in all appropriate +respect. But you have sworn an oath which no man living may presume to +violate." + +"Oh, true, Ayrart!" the fluttered King assented. "This blusterer holds +me as in a vise." He turned to Perion again, fierce, tense and fragile, +like an angered cat. "Choose now! I will make you the wealthiest person +in my realm--My son, I warn you that since Adam's time women have been +the devil's peculiar bait. See now, I am not angry. Heh, I remember, +too, how beautiful she was. I was once tempted much as you are tempted. +So I pardon you. I will give you my daughter Ermengarde in marriage, I +will make you my heir, I will give you half my kingdom--" His voice +rose, quavering; and it died now, for he foreread the damnation of +Theodoret's soul while he fawned before this impassive Perion. + +"Since Love has taken up his abode within my heart," said Perion, +"there has not ever been a vacancy therein for any other thought. How +may I help it if Love recompenses my hospitality by afflicting me with +a desire which can neither subdue the world nor be subdued by it?" + +Theodoret continued like the rustle of dead leaves: + +"--Else I must keep my oath. In that event you may depart with this +unbeliever. I will accord you twenty-four hours wherein to accomplish +this. But, oh, if I lay hands upon either of you within the +twenty-fifth hour I will not kill my prisoner at once. For first I must +devise unheard-of torments--" + +The King's face was not agreeable to look upon. + +Yet Perion encountered it with an untroubled gaze until Battista spoke, +saying: + +"I promise worse. The Book will be cast down, the bells be tolled, and +all the candles snuffed--ah, very soon!" Battista licked his lips, +gingerly, just as a cat does. + +Then Perion was moved, since excommunication is more terrible than +death to any of the Church's loyal children, and he was now more +frightened than the King. And so Perion thought of Melicent a while +before he spoke. + +Said Perion: + +"I choose. I choose hell fire in place of riches and honour, and I +demand the freedom of Demetrios." + +"Go!" the King said. "Go hence, blasphemer. Hah, you will weep for this +in hell. I pray that I may hear you then, and laugh as I do now--" + +He went away, and was followed by Battista, who whispered of a +makeshift. The cardinal remained and saw to it that the chains were +taken from Demetrios. + +"In consequence of Messire de la Forêt's--as I must term it--most +unchristian decision," said the cardinal, "it is not impossible, +Messire the Proconsul, that I may head the next assault upon your +territory--" + +Demetrios laughed. He said: + +"I dare to promise your Eminence that reception you would most enjoy." + +"I had hoped for as much," the cardinal returned; and he too laughed. +To do him justice, he did not know of Battista's makeshift. + +The cardinal remained when they had gone. Seated in a king's chair, +Ayrart de Montors meditated rather wistfully upon that old time when +he, also, had loved Melicent whole-heartedly. It seemed a great while +ago, made him aware of his maturity. + +He had put love out of his life, in common with all other weaknesses +which might conceivably hinder the advancement of Ayrart de Montors. In +consequence, he had climbed far. He was not dissatisfied. It was a +man's business to make his way in the world, and he had done this. + +"My cousin is a brave girl, though," he said aloud, "I must certainly +do what I can to effect her rescue as soon as it is convenient to send +another expedition against Demetrios." + +Then the cardinal set about concoction of a moving sonnet in praise of +Monna Vittoria de' Pazzi. Desperation loaned him extraordinary +eloquence (as he complacently reflected) in addressing this obdurate +woman, who had held out against his love-making for six weeks now. + + + + +15. + + +_How Perion Fought_ + +Demetrios and Perion, by the quick turn of fortune previously recorded, +were allied against all Christendom. They got arms at the Hôtel +d'Ebelin, and they rode out of the city of Megaris, where the bonfires +lighted over-night in Perion's honour were still smouldering, amid loud +execrations. Fra Battista had not delayed to spread the news of King +Theodoret's dilemma. The burghers yelled menaces; but, knowing that an +endeavour to constrain the passage of these champions would prove +unwholesome for at least a dozen of the arrestors, they cannily +confined their malice to a vocal demonstration. + +Demetrios rode unhelmeted, intending that these snarling little people +of Megaris should plainly see the man whom they most feared and hated. + +It was Perion who spoke first. They had passed the city walls, and had +mounted the hill which leads toward the Forest of Sannazaro. Their road +lay through a rocky pass above which the leaves of spring were like +sparse traceries on a blue cupola, for April had not come as yet. + +"I meant," said Perion, "to hold you as the ransom of Dame Melicent. I +fear that is impossible. I, who am a landless man, have neither +servitors nor any castle wherein to retain you as a prisoner. I +earnestly desire to kill you, forthwith, in single combat; but when +your son Orestes knows that you are dead he will, so you report, kill +Melicent. And yet it may be you are lying." + +Perion was of a tall imperious person, and accustomed to command. He +had black hair, grey eyes which challenged you, and a thin pleasant +face which was not pleasant now. + +"You know that I am not a coward--." Demetrios began. + +"Indeed," said Perion, "I believe you to be the hardiest warrior in the +world." + +"Therefore I may without dishonour repeat to you that my death involves +the death of Melicent. Orestes hates her for his mother's sake. I +think, now we have fought so often, that each of us knows I do not fear +death. I grant I had Flamberge to wield, a magic weapon--" Demetrios +shook himself, like a dog coming from the water, for to consider an +extraneous invincibility was nauseous. "However! I who am Demetrios +protest I will not fight with you, that I will accept any insult rather +than risk my life in any quarrel extant, because I know the moment that +Orestes has made certain I am no longer to be feared he will take +vengeance on Dame Melicent." + +"Prove this!" said Perion, and with deliberation he struck Demetrios. +Full in the face he struck the swart proconsul, and in the ensuing +silence you could hear a feeble breeze that strayed about the +tree-tops, but you could hear nothing else. And Perion, strong man, the +willing scourge of heathendom, had half a mind to weep. + +Demetrios had not moved a finger. It was appalling. The proconsul's +countenance had throughout the hue of wood-ashes, but his fixed eyes +were like blown embers. + +"I believe that it is proved," said Demetrios, "since both of us are +still alive." He whispered this. + +"In fact the thing is settled," Perion agreed. "I know that nothing +save your love for Melicent could possibly induce you to decline a +proffered battle. When Demetrios enacts the poltroon I am the most +hasty of all men living to assert that the excellency of his reason is +indisputable. Let us get on! I have only five hundred sequins, but this +will be enough to buy your passage back to Quesiton. And inasmuch as we +are near the coast--" + +"I think some others mean to have a spoon in that broth," Demetrios +returned. "For look, messire!" Perion saw that far beneath them a +company of retainers in white and purple were spurring up the hill. "It +is Duke Sigurd's livery," said Perion. + +Demetrios forthwith interpreted and was amused by their common ruin. He +said, grinning: + +"Pious Theodoret has sworn a truce of twenty-four hours, and in +consequence might not send any of his own lackeys after us. But there +was nothing to prevent the dropping of a hint into the ear of his +brother in-law, because you servitors of Christ excel in these +distinctions." + +"This is hardly an opportunity for theological debate," Perion +considered. "And for the rest, time presses. It is your instant +business to escape." He gave his tiny bag of gold to his chief enemy. +"Make for Narenta. It is a free city and unfriendly to Theodoret. If I +survive I will come presently and fight with you for Melicent." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Demetrios equably returned. "Am I the +person to permit the man whom I most hate--you who have struck me and +yet live!--to fight alone against some twenty adversaries! Oh, no, I +shall remain, since after all, there are only twenty." + +"I was mistaken in you," Perion replied, "for I had thought you loved +Dame Melicent as I do. I find too late that you would estimate your +private honour as set against her welfare." + +The two men looked upon each other. Long and long they looked, and the +heart of each was elated. "I comprehend," Demetrios said. He clapped +spurs to his horse and fled as a coward would have fled. This was one +occasion in his life when he overcame his pride, and should in +consequence be noted. + +The heart of Perion was glad. + +"Oh, but at times," said Perion, "I wish that I might honourably love +this infamous and lustful pagan." + +Afterward Perion wheeled and met Duke Sigurd's men. Then like a reaper +cutting a field of wheat Sire Perion showed the sun his sword and went +about his work, not without harvesting. + +In that narrow way nothing could be heard but the striking of blows on +armour and the clash of swords which bit at one another. The Comte de +la Forêt, for once, allowed himself the privilege of fighting in anger. +He went without a word toward this hopeless encounter, as a drunkard to +his bottle. First Perion killed Ruggiero of the Lamberti and after that +Perion raged as a wolf harrying sheep. Six other stalwart men he cut +down, like a dumb maniac among tapestries. His horse was slain and lay +blocking the road, making a barrier behind which Perion fought. Then +Perion encountered Giacomo di Forio, and while the two contended Gulio +the Red very warily cast his sword like a spear so that it penetrated +Perion's left shoulder and drew much blood. This hampered the lone +champion. Marzio threw a stone which struck on Perion's crest and broke +the fastenings of Perion's helmet. Instantly Giacomo gave him three +wounds, and Perion stumbled, the sunlight glossing his hair. He fell +and they took him. They robbed the corpses of their surcoats, which +they tore in strips. They made ropes of this bloodied finery, and with +these ropes they bound Perion of the Forest, whom twenty men had +conquered at last. + +He laughed feebly, like a person bedrugged; but in the midst of this +superfluous defiance Perion swooned because of many injuries. He knew +that with fair luck Demetrios had a sufficient start. The heart of +Perion exulted, thinking that Melicent was saved. + +It was the happier for him he was not ever destined to comprehend the +standards of Demetrios. + + + + +16. + + +_How Demetrios Meditated_ + +Demetrios came without any hindrance into Narenta, a free city. He +believed his Emperor must have sent galleys toward Christendom to get +tidings of his generalissimo, but in this city of merchants Demetrios +heard no report of them. Yet in the harbour he found a trading-ship +prepared for traffic in the country of the pagans; the sail was naked +to the wind, the anchor chain was already shortened at the bow. +Demetrios bargained with the captain of this vessel, and in the outcome +paid him four hundred sequins. In exchange the man agreed to touch at +the Needle of Ansignano that afternoon and take Demetrios aboard. Since +the proconsul had no passport, he could not with safety endeavour to +elude those officers of the Tribunal who must endorse the ship's +passage at Piaja. + +Thus about sunset Demetrios waited the ship's coming, alone upon the +Needle. This promontory is like a Titan's finger of black rock thrust +out into the water. The day was perishing, and the querulous sea before +Demetrios was an unresting welter of gold and blood. + +He thought of how he had won safely through a horde of dangers, and the +gross man chuckled. He considered that unquestioned rulership of every +person near Demetrios which awaited him oversea, and chiefly he thought +of Melicent whom he loved even better than he did the power to sneer at +everything the world contained. And the proconsul chuckled. + +He said, aloud: + +"I owe very much to Messire de la Forêt. I owe far more than I can +estimate. For, by this, those lackeys will have slain Messire de la +Forêt or else they will have taken Messire de la Forêt to King +Theodoret, who will piously make an end of this handsome idiot. Either +way, I shall enjoy tranquillity and shall possess my Melicent until I +die. Decidedly, I owe a deal to this self-satisfied tall fool." + +Thus he contended with his irritation. It may be that the man was never +sane; it is certain that the mainspring of his least action was an +inordinate pride. Now hatred quickened, spreading from a flicker of +distaste; and his faculties were stupefied, as though he faced a +girdling conflagration. It was not possible to hate adequately this +Perion who had struck Demetrios of Anatolia and perhaps was not yet +dead; nor could Demetrios think of any sufficing requital for this +Perion who dared to be so tall and handsome and young-looking when +Demetrios was none of these things, for this Perion whom Melicent had +loved and loved to-day. And Demetrios of Anatolia had fought with a +charmed sword against a person such as this, safe as an angler matched +against a minnow; Demetrios of Anatolia, now at the last, accepted alms +from what had been until to-day a pertinacious gnat. Demetrios was +physically shaken by disgust at the situation, and in the sunset's +glare his swarthy countenance showed like that of Belial among the +damned. + +"The life of Melicent hangs on my safe return to Nacumera.... Ey, what +is that to me!" the proconsul cried aloud. "The thought of Melicent is +sweeter than the thought of any god. It is not sweet enough to bribe me +into living as this Perion's debtor." + +So when the ship touched at the Needle, a half-hour later, that spur of +rock was vacant. Demetrios had untethered his horse, had thrown away +his sword and other armour, and had torn his garments; afterward he +rolled in the first puddle he discovered. Thus he set out afoot, in +grimy rags--for no one marks a beggar upon the highway--and thus he +came again into the realm of King Theodoret, where certainly nobody +looked for Demetrios to come unarmed. + +With the advantage of a quiet advent, as was quickly proven, he found +no check for a notorious leave-taking. + + + + +17. + + +_How a Minstrel Came_ + +Demetrios came to Megaris where Perion lay fettered in the Castle of +San' Alessandro, then a new building. Perion's trial, condemnation, and +so on, had consumed the better part of an hour, on account of the +drunkenness of one of the Inquisitors, who had vexatiously impeded +these formalities by singing love-songs; but in the end it had been +salutarily arranged that the Comte de la Forêt be torn apart by four +horses upon the St. Richard's day ensuing. + +Demetrios, having gleaned this knowledge in a pothouse, purchased a +stout file, a scarlet cap and a lute. Ambrogio Bracciolini, head-gaoler +at the fortress--so the gossips told Demetrios--had been a jongleur in +youth, and minstrels were always welcome guests at San' Alessandro. + +The gaoler was a very fat man with icy little eyes. Demetrios took his +measure to a hair's breadth as this Bracciolini straddled in the +doorway. + +Demetrios had assumed an admirable air of simplicity. + +"God give you joy, messire," he said, with a simper; "I come bringing a +precious balsam which cures all sorts of ills, and heals the troubles +both of body and mind. For what is better than to have a pleasant +companion to sing and tell merry tales, songs and facetious histories?" + +"You appear to be something of a fool," Bracciolini considered, "but +all do not sleep who snore. Come, tell me what are your +accomplishments." + +"I can play the lute, the violin, the flageolet, the harp, the syrinx +and the regals," the other replied; "also the Spanish penola that is +struck with a quill, the organistrum that a wheel turns round, the wait +so delightful, the rebeck so enchanting, the little gigue that chirps +up on high, and the great horn that booms like thunder." + +Bracciolini said: + +"That is something. But can you throw knives into the air and catch +them without cutting your fingers? Can you balance chairs and do tricks +with string? or imitate the cries of birds? or throw a somersault and +walk on your head? Ha, I thought not. The Gay Science is dying out, and +young practitioners neglect these subtile points. It was not so in my +day. However, you may come in." + +So when night fell Demetrios and Bracciolini sat snug and sang of love, +of joy, and arms. The fire burned bright, and the floor was well +covered with gaily tinted mats. White wines and red were on the table. + +Presently they turned to canzons of a more indecorous nature. Demetrios +sang the loves of Douzi and Ishtar, which the gaoler found remarkable. +He said so and crossed himself. "Man, man, you must have been afishing +in the mid-pit of hell to net such filth." + +"I learned that song in Nacumera," said Demetrios, "when I was a +prisoner there with Messire de la Forêt. It was a favourite song with +him." + +"Ay?" said Bracciolini. He looked at Demetrios very hard, and +Bracciolini pursed his lips as if to whistle. The gaoler scented from +afar a bribe, but the face of Demetrios was all vacant cheerfulness. + +Bracciolini said, idly: + +"So you served under him? I remember that he was taken by the heathen. +A woman ransomed him, they say." + +Demetrios, able to tell a tale against any man, told now the tale of +Melicent's immolation, speaking with vivacity and truthfulness in all +points save that he represented himself to have been one of the +ransomed Free Companions. + +Bracciolini's careful epilogue was that the proconsul had acted +foolishly in not keeping the emeralds. + +"He gave his enemy a weapon against him," Bracciolini said, and waited. + +"Oh, but that weapon was never used. Sire Perion found service at once, +under King Bernart, you will remember. Therefore Sire Perion hid away +these emeralds against future need--under an oak in Sannazaro, he told +me. I suppose they lie there yet." + +"Humph!" said Bracciolini. He for a while was silent. Demetrios sat +adjusting the strings of the lute, not looking at him. + +Bracciolini said, "There were eighteen of them, you tell me? and all +fine stones?" + +"Ey?--oh, the emeralds? Yes, they were flawless, messire. The smallest +was larger than a robin's egg. But I recall another song we learned at +Nacumera--" + +Demetrios sang the loves of Lucius and Fotis. Bracciolini grunted, +"Admirable" in an abstracted fashion, muttered something about the +duties of his office, and left the room. Demetrios heard him lock the +door outside and waited stolidly. + +Presently Bracciolini returned in full armour, a naked sword in his +hand. + +"My man,"--and his voice rasped--"I believe you to be a rogue. I +believe that you are contriving the escape of this infamous Comte de la +Forêt. I believe you are attempting to bribe me into conniving at +his escape. I shall do nothing of the sort, because, in the first +place, it would be an abominable violation of my oath of office, and in +the second place, it would result in my being hanged." + +"Messire, I swear to you--!" Demetrios cried, in excellently feigned +perturbation. + +"And in addition, I believe you have lied to me throughout. I do not +believe you ever saw this Comte de la Forêt. I very certainly do not +believe you are a friend of this Comte de la Forêt's, because in +that event you would never have been mad enough to admit it. The +statement is enough to hang you twice over. In short, the only thing I +can be certain of is that you are out of your wits." + +"They say that I am moonstruck," Demetrios answered; "but I will tell +you a secret. There is a wisdom lies beyond the moon, and it is because +of this that the stars are glad and admirable." + +"That appears to me to be nonsense," the gaoler commented; and he went +on: "Now I am going to confront you with Messire de la Forêt. If your +story prove to be false, it will be the worse for you." + +"It is a true tale. But sensible men close the door to him who always +speaks the truth." + +"These reflections are not to the purpose," Bracciolini submitted, and +continued his argument: "In that event Messire de la Forêt will +undoubtedly be moved by your fidelity in having sought out him whom all +the rest of the world has forsaken. You will remember that this same +fidelity has touched me to such an extent that I am granting you an +interview with your former master. Messire de la Forêt will naturally +reflect that a man once torn in four pieces has no particular use for +emeralds. He will, I repeat, be moved. In his emotion, in his +gratitude, in mere decency, he will reveal to you the location of those +eighteen stones, all flawless. If he should not evince a sufficiency of +such appropriate and laudable feeling, I tell you candidly, it will be +the worse for you. And now get on!" + +Bracciolini pointed the way and Demetrios cringed through the door. +Bracciolini followed with drawn sword. The corridors were deserted. The +head-gaoler had seen to that. + +His position was simple. Armed, he was certainly not afraid of any +combination between a weaponless man and a fettered one. If this +jongleur had lied, Bracciolini meant to kill him for his insolence. +Bracciolini's own haphazard youth had taught him that a jongleur had no +civil rights, was a creature to be beaten, robbed, or stabbed with +impunity. + +Upon the other hand, if the vagabond's tale were true, one of two +things would happen. Either Perion would not be brought to tell where +the emeralds were hidden, in which event Bracciolini would kill the +jongleur for his bungling; or else the prisoner would tell everything +necessary, in which event Bracciolini would kill the jongleur for +knowing more than was convenient. This Bracciolini had an honest +respect for gems and considered them to be equally misplaced when under +an oak or in a vagabond's wallet. + +Consideration of such avarice may well have heartened Demetrios when +the well-armoured gaoler knelt in order to unlock the door of Perion's +cell. As an asp leaps, the big and supple hands of the proconsul +gripped Bracciolini's neck from behind, and silenced speech. + +Demetrios, who was not tall, lifted the gaoler as high as possible, +lest the beating of armoured feet upon the slabs disturb any of the +other keepers, and Demetrios strangled his dupe painstakingly. The +keys, as Demetrios reflected, were luckily attached to the belt of this +writhing thing, and in consequence had not jangled on the floor. It was +an inaudible affair and consumed in all some ten minutes. Then with the +sword of Bracciolini Demetrios cut Bracciolini's throat. In such +matters Demetrios was thorough. + + + + +18. + + +_How They Cried Quits_ + +Demetrios went into Perion's cell and filed away the chains of Perion +of the Forest. Demetrios thrust the gaoler's corpse under the bed, and +washed away all stains before the door of the cell, so that no awkward +traces might remain. Demetrios locked the door of an unoccupied +apartment and grinned as Old Legion must have done when Judas fell. + +More thanks to Bracciolini's precautions, these two got safely from the +confines of San' Alessandro, and afterward from the city of Megaris. +They trudged on a familiar road. Perion would have spoken, but +Demetrios growled, "Not now, messire." They came by night to that pass +in Sannazaro which Perion had held against a score of men-at-arms. + +Demetrios turned. Moonlight illuminated the warriors' faces and showed +the face of Demetrios as sly and leering. It was less the countenance +of a proud lord than a carved head on some old waterspout. + +"Messire de la Forêt," Demetrios said, "now we cry quits. Here our ways +part till one of us has killed the other, as one of us must surely do." + +You saw that Perion was tremulous with fury. "You knave," he said, +"because of your pride you have imperilled your accursed life--your +life on which the life of Melicent depends! You must need delay and +rescue me, while your spawn inflicted hideous infamies on Melicent! Oh, +I had never hated you until to-night!" + +Demetrios was pleased. + +"Behold the increment," he said, "of the turned cheek and of the +contriving of good for him that had despitefully used me! Be satisfied, +O young and zealous servitor of Love and Christ. I am alone, unarmed +and penniless, among a people whom I have never been at pains even to +despise. Presently I shall be taken by this vermin, and afterward I +shall be burned alive. Theodoret is quite resolved to make of me a +candle which will light his way to heaven." + +"That is true," said Perion; "and I cannot permit that you be killed by +anyone save me, as soon as I can afford to kill you." + +The two men talked together, leagued against entire Christendom. +Demetrios had thirty sequins and Perion no money at all. Then Perion +showed the ring which Melicent had given him, as a love-token, long +ago, when she was young and ignorant of misery. He valued it as he did +nothing else. + +Perion said: + +"Oh, very dear to me is this dear ring which once touched a finger of +that dear young Melicent whom you know nothing of! Its gold is my lost +youth, the gems of it are the tears she has shed because of me. Kiss +it, Messire Demetrios, as I do now for the last time. It is a favour +you have earned." + +Then these two went as mendicants--for no one marks a beggar upon the +highway--into Narenta, and they sold this ring, in order that Demetrios +might be conveyed oversea, and that the life of Melicent might be +preserved. They found another vessel which was about to venture into +heathendom. Their gold was given to the captain; and, in exchange, the +bargain ran, his ship would touch at Assignano, a little after the +ensuing dawn, and take Demetrios aboard. + +Thus the two lovers of Melicent foreplanned the future, and did not +admit into their accounting vagarious Dame Chance. + + + + +19. + + +_How Flamberge Was Lost_ + +These hunted men spent the following night upon the Needle, since there +it was not possible for an adversary to surprise them. Perion's was the +earlier watch, until midnight, and during this time Demetrios slept. +Then the proconsul took his equitable turn. When Perion awakened the +hour was after dawn. + +What Perion noted first, and within thirty feet of him, was a tall +galley with blue and yellow sails. He perceived that the promontory was +thronged with heathen sailors, who were unlading the ship of various +bales and chests. Demetrios, now in the costume of his native country, +stood among them giving orders. And it seemed, too, to Perion, in the +moment of waking, that Dame Mélusine, whom Perion had loved so long +ago, also stood among them; yet, now that Perion rose and faced +Demetrios, she was not visible anywhere, and Perion wondered dimly over +his wild dream that she had been there at all. But more importunate +matters were in hand. + +The proconsul grinned malevolently. + +"This is a ship that once was mine," he said. "Do you not find it droll +that Euthyclos here should have loved me sufficiently to hazard his +life in order to come in search of me? Personally, I consider it +preposterous. For the rest, you slept so soundly, Messire de la Forêt, +that I was unwilling to waken you. Then, too, such was the advice of a +person who has some influence with the waterfolk, people say, and who +was perhaps the means of bringing this ship hither so opportunely. I do +not know. She is gone now, you see, intent as always on her own ends. +Well, well! her ways are not our ways, and it is wiser not to meddle +with them." + +But Perion, unarmed and thus surrounded, understood only that he was +lost. + +"Messire Demetrios," said Perion, "I never thought to ask a favour of +you. I ask it now. For the ring's sake, give me at least a knife, +Messire Demetrios. Let me die fighting." + +"Why, but who spoke of fighting? For the ring's sake, I have caused the +ship to be rifled of what valuables they had aboard. It is not much, +but it is all I have. And you are to accept my apologies for the +somewhat miscellaneous nature of the cargo, Messire de la +Forêt--consisting, as it does, of armours and gems, camphor and +ambergris, carpets of raw silk, teakwood and precious metals, rugs of +Yemen leather, enamels, and I hardly know what else besides. For +Euthyclos, as you will readily understand, was compelled to masquerade +as a merchant-trader." + +Perion shook his head, and declared: "You offer enough to make me a +wealthy man. But I would prefer a sword." + +At that Demetrios grimaced, saying, "I had hoped to get off more +cheaply." He unbuckled the crosshandled sword which he now wore and +handed it to Perion. "This is Flamberge," Demetrios continued--"that +magic blade which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for +Charlemaigne. It was with this sword that I slew my father, and this +sword is as dear to me as your ring was to you. The man who wields it +is reputed to be unconquerable. I do not know about that, but in any +event I yield Flamberge to you as a free gift. I might have known it +was the only gift you would accept." His swart face lighted. "Come +presently and fight with me for Melicent. Perhaps it will amuse me to +ride out to battle and know I shall not live to see the sunset. Already +it seems laughable that you will probably kill me with this very sword +which I am touching now." + +The champions faced each other, Demetrios in a half-wistful mirth, and +Perion in half-grudging pity. Long and long they looked. + +Demetrios shrugged. Demetrios said: + +"For such as I am, to love is dangerous. For such as I am, nor fire nor +meteor hurls a mightier bolt than Aphrodite's shaft, or marks its +passage by more direful ruin. But you do not know Euripides?--a +fidgety-footed liar, Messire the Comte, who occasionally blunders into +the clumsiest truths. Yes, he is perfectly right; all things this +goddess laughingly demolishes while she essays haphazard flights about +the world as unforeseeably as travels a bee. And, like the bee, she +wilfully dispenses honey, and at other times a wound." + +Said Perion, who was no scholar: + +"I glory in our difference. For such as I am, love is sufficient proof +that man was fashioned in God's image." + +"Ey, there is no accounting for a taste in aphorisms," Demetrios +replied. He said, "Now I embark." Yet he delayed, and spoke with +unaccustomed awkwardness. "Come, you who have been generous till this! +will you compel me to desert you here--quite penniless?" + +Said Perion: + +"I may accept a sword from you. I do accept it gladly. But I may not +accept anything else." + +"That would have been my answer. I am a lucky man," Demetrios said, "to +have provoked an enemy so worthy of my opposition. We two have fought +an honest and notable duel, wherein our weapons were not made of steel. +I pray you harry me as quickly as you may; and then we will fight with +swords till I am rid of you or you of me." + +"Assuredly, I shall not fail you," answered Perion. + +These two embraced and kissed each other. Afterward Demetrios went into +his own country, and Perion remained, girt with the magic sword +Flamberge. It was not all at once Perion recollected that the wearer of +Flamberge is unconquerable, if ancient histories are to be believed, +for in deduction Perion was leisurely. + +Now on a sudden he perceived that Demetrios had flung control of the +future to Perion, as one gives money to a sot, entirely prescient of +how it will be used. Perion had his moment of bleak rage. + +"I will not cog the dice to my advantage any more than you!" said +Perion. He drew the sword of Charlemaigne and brandished it and cast it +as far as even strong Perion could cast, and the sea swallowed it. "Now +God alone is arbiter!" cried Perion, "and I am not afraid." + +He stood a pauper and a friendless man. Beside his thigh hung a +sorcerer's scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented, but it was +emptied of power. Yet Perion laughed exultingly, because he was elate +with dreams of the future. And for the rest, he was aware it is less +grateful to remember plaudits than to recall the exercise of that in us +which is not merely human. + + + + +20. + + +_How Perion Got Aid_ + +Then Perion turned from the Needle of Assignano, and went westward into +the Forest of Columbiers. He had no plan. He wandered in the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered, as a beast does in watchful +care of hunters. + +He came presently to a glade which the sunlight flooded without +obstruction. There was in this place a fountain, which oozed from under +an iron-coloured boulder incrusted with grey lichens and green moss. +Upon the rock a woman sat, her chin propped by one hand, and she +appeared to consider remote and pleasant happenings. She was clothed +throughout in white, with metal bands about her neck and arms; and her +loosened hair, which was coloured like straw, and was as pale as the +hair of children, glittered about her, and shone frostily where it lay +outspread upon the rock behind her. + +She turned toward Perion without any haste or surprise, and Perion saw +that this woman was Dame Mélusine, whom he had loved to his own hurt +(as you have heard) when Perion served King Helmas. She did not speak +for a long while, but she lazily considered Perion's honest face in a +sort of whimsical regret for the adoration she no longer found there. + +"Then it was really you," he said, in wonder, "whom I saw talking with +Demetrios when I awakened to-day." + +"You may be sure," she answered, "that my talking was in no way +injurious to you. Ah, no, had I been elsewhere, Perion, I think you +would by this have been in Paradise." Then Mélusine fell again to +meditation. "And so you do not any longer either love or hate me, +Perion?" Here was an odd echo of the complaint Demetrios had made. + +"That I once loved you is a truth which neither of us, I think, may +ever quite forget," said Perion, very quiet. "I alone know how utterly +I loved you--no, it was not I who loved you, but a boy that is dead +now. King's daughter, all of stone, O cruel woman and hateful, O sleek, +smiling traitress! to-day no man remembers how utterly I loved you, for +the years are as a mist between the heart of the dead boy and me, so +that I may no longer see the boy's heart clearly. Yes, I have forgotten +much. ...Yet even to-day there is that in me which is faithful to you, +and I cannot give you the hatred which your treachery has earned." + +Mélusine spoke shrewdly. She had a sweet, shrill voice. + +"But I loved you, Perion--oh, yes, in part I loved you, just as one +cannot help but love a large and faithful mastiff. But you were +tedious, you annoyed me by your egotism. Yes, my friend, you think too +much of what you owe to Perion's honour; you are perpetually squaring +accounts with heaven, and you are too intent on keeping the balance in +your favour to make a satisfactory lover." You saw that Mélusine was +smiling in the shadow of her pale hair. "And yet you are very droll +when you are unhappy," she said, as of two minds. + +He replied: + +"I am, as heaven made me, a being of mingled nature. So I remember +without distaste old happenings which now seem scarcely credible. I +cannot quite believe that it was you and I who were so happy when youth +was common to us... O Mélusine, I have almost forgotten that if the +world were searched between the sunrise and the sunsetting the Mélusine +I loved would not be found. I only know that a woman has usurped the +voice of Mélusine, and that this woman's eyes also are blue, and that +this woman smiles as Mélusine was used to smile when I was young. I +walk with ghosts, king's daughter, and I am none the happier." + +"Ay, Periori," she wisely answered, "for the spring is at hand, intent +upon an ageless magic. I am no less comely than I was, and my heart, I +think, is tenderer. You are yet young, and you are very beautiful, my +brave mastiff... And neither of us is moved at all! For us the spring +is only a dotard sorcerer who has forgotten the spells of yesterday. I +think that it is pitiable, although I would not have it otherwise." She +waited, fairy-like and wanton, seeming to premeditate a delicate +mischief. + +He declared, sighing, "No, I would not have it otherwise." + +Then presently Mélusine arose. She said: + +"You are a hunted man, unarmed--oh, yes, I know. Demetrios talked +freely, because the son of Miramon Lluagor has good and ancient reasons +to trust me. Besides, it was not for nothing that Pressina was my +mother, and I know many things, pilfering light from the past to shed +it upon the future. Come now with me to Brunbelois. I am too deeply in +your debt, my Perion. For the sake of that boy who is dead--as you tell +me--you may honourably accept of me a horse, arms, and a purse, because +I loved that boy after my fashion." + +"I take your bounty gladly," he replied; and he added conscientiously: +"I consider that I am not at liberty to refuse of anybody any honest +means of serving my lady Melicent." + +Mélusine parted her lips as if about to speak, and then seemed to think +better of it. It is probable she was already informed concerning +Melicent; she certainly asked no questions. Mélusine only shrugged, +and laughed afterward, and the man and the woman turned toward +Brunbelois. At times a shaft of sunlight would fall on her pale hair +and convert it into silver, as these two went through the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered. + + + + + +PART FOUR + +AHASUERUS + + + + _Of how a knave hath late compassion +On Melicent's forlorn condition; +For which he saith as ye shall after hear: +"Dame, since that game we play costeth too dear, +My truth I plight, I shall you no more grieve +By my behest, and here I take my leave +As of the fairest, truest and best wife +That ever yet I knew in all my life."_ + + + + +21. + + +_How Demetrios Held His Chattel_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how Demetrios +returned into the country of the pagans and found all matters there as +he had left them. They relate how Melicent was summoned. + +And the tale tells how upon the stairway by which you descended from +the Women's Garden to the citadel--people called it the Queen's +Stairway, because it was builded by Queen Rudabeh very long ago when +the Emperor Zal held Nacumera--Demetrios waited with a naked sword. +Below were four of his soldiers, picked warriors. This stairway was of +white marble, and a sphinx carved in green porphyry guarded each +balustrade. + +"Now that we have our audience," Demetrios said, "come, let the games +begin." + +One of the soldiers spoke. It was that Euthyclos who (as you have +heard) had ventured into Christendom at the hazard of his life to +rescue the proconsul. Euthyclos was a man of the West Provinces and had +followed the fortunes of Demetrios since boyhood. + +"King of the Age," cried Euthyclos, "it is grim hearing that we must +fight with you. But since your will is our will, we must endure this +testing, although we find it bitter as aloes and hot as coals. Dear +lord and master, none has put food to his lips for whose sake we would +harm you willingly, and we shall weep to-night when your ghost passes +over and through us." + +Demetrios answered: + +"Rise up and leave this idleness! It is I that will clip the ends of my +hair to-night for the love of you, my stalwart knaves. Such weeping as +is done your wounds will perform." + +At that they addressed themselves to battle, and Melicent perceived she +was witnessing no child's play. The soldiers had attacked in unison, +and before the onslaught Demetrios stepped lightly back. But his sword +flashed as he moved, and with a grunt Demetrios, leaning far forward, +dug deep into the throat of his foremost assailant. The sword +penetrated and caught in a link of the gold chain about the fellow's +neck, so that Demetrios was forced to wrench the weapon free, twisting +it, as the dying man stumbled backward. Prostrate, the soldier did not +cry out, but only writhed and gave a curious bubbling noise as his soul +passed. + +"Come," Demetrios said, "come now, you others, and see what you can win +of me. I warn you it will be dearly purchased." + +And Melicent turned away, hiding her eyes. She was obscurely conscious +that a wanton butchery went on, hearing its blows and groans as if from +a great distance, while she entreated the Virgin for deliverance from +this foul place. + +Then a hand fell upon Melicent's shoulder, rousing her. It was +Demetrios. He breathed quickly, but his voice was gentle. + +"It is enough," he said. "I shall not greatly need Flamberge when I +encounter that ruddy innocent who is so dear to you." + +He broke off. Then he spoke again, half jeering, half wistful. Said +Demetrios: + +"I had hoped that you would look on and admire my cunning at swordplay. +I was anxious to seem admirable somehow in your eyes ... I failed. I +know very well that I shall always fail. I know that Nacumera will +fall, that some day in your native land people will say, 'That aged +woman yonder was once the wife of Demetrios of Anatolia, who was +pre-eminent among the heathen.' Then they will tell of how I cleft the +head of an Emperor who had likened me to Priapos, and how I dragged his +successor from behind an arras where he hid from me, to set him upon +the throne I did not care to take; and they will tell how for a while +great fortune went with me, and I ruled over much land, and was dreaded +upon the wide sea, and raised the battlecry in cities that were not my +own, fearing nobody. But you will not think of these matters, you will +think only of your children's ailments, of baking and sewing and +weaving tapestries, and of directing little household tasks. And the +spider will spin her web in my helmet, which will hang as a trophy in +the hall of Messire de la Forêt." + +Then he walked beside her into the Women's Garden, keeping silence for +a while. He seemed to deliberate, to reach a decision. All at once +Demetrios began to tell of that magnanimous contest which he had fought +out in Theodoret's country with Perion of the Forest. + +"To do the long-legged fellow simple justice," said the proconsul, as +epilogue, "there is no hardier knight alive. I shall always wonder +whether or no I would have spared him had the water-demon's daughter +not intervened in his behalf. Yes, I have had some previous dealings +with her. Perhaps the less said concerning them, the better." Demetrios +reflected for a while, rather sadly; then his swart face cleared. "Give +thanks, my wife, that I have found an enemy who is not unworthy of me. +He will come soon, I think, and then we will fight to the death. I +hunger for that day." + +All praise of Perion, however worded, was as wine to Melicent. +Demetrios saw as much, noted how the colour in her cheeks augmented +delicately, how her eyes grew kindlier. It was his cue. Thereafter +Demetrios very often spoke of Perion in that locked palace where no +echo of the outer world might penetrate except at the proconsul's will. +He told Melicent, in an unfeigned admiration, of Perion's courage and +activity, declaring that no other captain since the days of those +famous generals, Hannibal and Joshua, could lay claim to such +preeminence in general estimation; and Demetrios narrated how the Free +Companions had ridden through many kingdoms at adventure, serving many +lords with valour and always fighting applaudably. To talk of Perion +delighted Melicent: it was with such bribes that Demetrios purchased +where his riches did not avail; and Melicent no longer avoided him. + +There is scope here for compassion. The man's love, if it be possible +so to call that force which mastered him, had come to be an incessant +malady. It poisoned everything, caused him to find his statecraft +tedious, his power profitless, and his vices gloomy. But chief of all +he fretted over the standards by which the lives of Melicent and Perion +were guided. Demetrios thought these criteria comely, he had discovered +them to be unshakable, and he despairingly knew that as long as he +trusted in the judgment heaven gave him they must always appear to him +supremely idiotic. To bring Melicent to his own level or to bring +himself to hers was equally impossible. There were moments when he +hated her. + +Thus the months passed, and the happenings of another year were +chronicled; and as yet neither Perion nor Ayrart de Montors came to +Nacumera, and the long plain before the citadel stayed tenantless save +for the jackals crying there at night. + +"I wonder that my enemies do not come," Demetrios said. "It cannot be +they have forgotten you and me. That is impossible." He frowned and +sent spies into Christendom. + + + + +22. + + +_How Misery Held Nacumera_ + +Then one day Demetrios came to Melicent, and he was in a surly rage. + +"Rogues all!" he grumbled. "Oh, I am wasted in this paltry age. Where +are the giants and tyrants, and stalwart single-hearted champions of +yesterday? Why, they are dead, and have become rotten bones. I will +fight no longer. I will read legends instead, for life nowadays is no +longer worthy of love or hatred." + +Melicent questioned him, and he told how his spies reported that the +Cardinal de Montors could now not ever head an expedition against +Demetrios' territories. The Pope had died suddenly in the course of the +preceding October, and it was necessary to name his successor. The +College of Cardinals had reached no decision after three days' +balloting. Then, as is notorious, Dame Mélusine, as always hand in +glove with Ayrart de Montors, held conference with the bishop who +inspected the cardinals' dinner before it was carried into the +apartments where these prelates were imprisoned together until, in +edifying seclusion from all worldly influences, they should have +prayerfully selected the next Pope. + +The Cardinal of Genoa received on the fourth day a chicken stuffed with +a deed to the palaces of Monticello and Soriano; the Cardinal of Parma +a similarly dressed fowl which made him master of the bishop's +residence at Porto with its furniture and wine-cellar; while the +Cardinals Orsino, Savelli, St. Angelo and Colonna were served with food +of the same ingratiating sort. Such nourishment cured them of +indecision, and Ayrart de Montors had presently ascended the papal +throne under the title of Adrian VII, servant to the servants of God. +His days of military captaincy were over. Demetrios deplored the loss +of a formidable adversary, and jeered at the fact that the vicarship of +heaven had been settled by six hens. But he particularly fretted over +other news his spies had brought, which was the information that Perion +had wedded Dame Mélusine, and had begotten two lusty children--Bertram +and a daughter called Blaniferte--and now enjoyed the opulence and +sovereignty of Brunbelois. + +Demetrios told this unwillingly. He turned away his eyes in speaking, +and doggedly affected to rearrange a cushion, so that he might not see +the face of Melicent. She noted his action and was grateful. + +Demetrios said, bitterly, "It is an old and tawdry history. He has +forgotten you, Melicent, as a wise man will always put aside the dreams +of his youth. To Cynara the Fates accord but a few years; a wanton Lyce +laughs, cheats her adorers, and outlives the crow. There is an +unintended moral here--" Demetrios said, "Yet you do not forget." + +"I know nothing as to this Perion you tell me of. I only know the +Perion I loved has not forgotten," answered Melicent. + +And Demetrios, evincing a twinge like that of gout, demanded her +reasons. It was a May morning, very hot and still, and Demetrios sat +with his Christian wife in the Court of Stars. + +Said Melicent, "It is not unlikely that the Perion men know to-day has +forgotten me and the service which I joyed to render Perion. Let him +who would understand the mystery of the Crucifixion first become a +lover! I pray for old sake's sake that Perion and his lady may taste of +every prosperity. Indeed, I do not envy her. Rather I pity her, because +last night I wandered through a certain forest hand-in-hand with a +young Perion, whose excellencies she will never know as I know them in +our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with dreams?" The swart man +grinned. + +Melicent said: + +"Now it is always twilight in these woods, and the light there is +neither green nor gold, but both colours intermingled. It is like a +friendly cloak for all who have been unhappy, even very long ago. +Iseult is there, and Thisbe, too, and many others, and they are not +severed from their lovers now.. Sometimes Dame Venus passes, riding +upon a panther, and low-hanging leaves clutch at her tender flesh. Then +Perion and I peep from a coppice, and are very glad and a little +frightened in the heart of our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with madness?" He showed no +sign of mirth. + +Melicent said: + +"Ah, no, the Perion whom Mélusine possesses is but a man--a very happy +man, I pray of God and all His saints. I am the luckier, who may not +ever lose the Perion that to-day is mine alone. And though I may not +ever touch this younger Perion's hands--and their palms were as hard as +leather in that dear time now overpast--or see again his honest and +courageous face, the most beautiful among all the faces of men and +women I have ever seen, I do not grieve immeasurably, for nightly we +walk hand-in-hand in our own woods." + +Demetrios said, "Ay; and then night passes, and dawn comes to light my +face, which is the most hideous to you among all the faces of men and +women!" + +But Melicent said only: + +"Seignior, although the severing daylight endures for a long while, I +must be brave and worthy of Perion's love--nay, rather, of the love he +gave me once. I may not grieve so long as no one else dares enter into +our own woods." + +"Now go," cried the proconsul, when she had done, and he had noted her +soft, deep, devoted gaze at one who was not there; "now go before I +slay you!" And this new Demetrios whom she then saw was featured like a +devil in sore torment. + +Wonderingly Melicent obeyed him. + +Thought Melicent, who was too proud to show her anguish: "I could have +borne aught else, but this I am too cowardly to bear without complaint. +I am a very contemptible person. I ought to love this Mélusine, who no +doubt loves her husband quite as much as I love him--how could a woman +do less?--and yet I cannot love her. I can only weep that I, robbed of +all joy, and with no children to bewail me, must travel very tediously +toward death, a friendless person cursed by fate, while this Mélusine +laughs with her children. She has two children, as Demetrios reports. I +think the boy must be the more like Perion. I think she must be very +happy when she lifts that boy into her lap." + +Thus Melicent; and her full-blooded husband was not much more +light-hearted. He went away from Nacumera shortly, in a shaking rage +which robbed him of his hands' control, intent to kill and pillage, +and, in fine, to make all other persons share his misery. + + + + +23. + + +_How Demetrios Cried Farewell_ + +And then one day, when the proconsul had been absent some six weeks, +Ahasuerus fetched Dame Melicent into the Court of Stars. Demetrios lay +upon the divan supported by many pillows, as though he had not ever +stirred since that first day when an unfettered Melicent, who was a +princess then, exulted in her youth and comeliness. + +"Stand there," he said, and did not move at all, "that I may see my +purchase." + +And presently he smiled, though wryly. Demetrios said next: + +"Of my own will I purchased misery. Yea, and death also. It is +amusing.... Two days ago, in a brief skirmish, a league north of Calonak, +the Prankish leader met me hand to hand. He has endeavoured to do this +for a long while. I also wished it. Nothing could be sweeter than to +feel the horse beneath me wading in his blood, I thought.. Ey, well, he +dismounted me at the first encounter, though I am no weakling. I cannot +understand quite how it happened. Pious people will say some deity was +offended, but, for my part, I think my horse stumbled. It does not seem +to matter now. What really matters, more or less, is that it would +appear the man broke my backbone as one snaps a straw, since I cannot +move a limb of me." + +"Seignior," said Melicent, "you mean that you are dying!" + +He answered, "Yes; but it is a trivial discomfort, now I see that it +grieves you a little." + +She spoke his name some three times, sobbing. It was in her mind even +then how strange the happening was that she should grieve for +Demetrios. + +"O Melicent," he harshly said, "let us have done with lies! That +Frankish captain who has brought about my death is Perion de la Forêt. +He has not ever faltered in the duel between us since your paltry +emeralds paid for his first armament.--Why, yes, I lied. I always hoped +the man would do as in his place I would have done. I hoped in vain. +For many long and hard-fought years this handsome maniac has been +assailing Nacumera, tirelessly. Then the water-demon's daughter, that +strange and wayward woman of Brunbelois, attempted to ensnare him. And +that too was in vain. She failed, my spies reported--even Dame +Mélusine, who had not ever failed before in such endeavours." + +"But certainly the foul witch failed!" cried Melicent. A glorious +change had come into her face, and she continued, quite untruthfully, +"Nor did I ever believe that this vile woman had made Perion prove +faithless." + +"No, the fool's lunacy is rock, like yours. _En cor gentil domnei per +mort no passa_, as they sing in your native country.... Ey, how +indomitably I lied, what pains I took, lest you should ever know of +this! And now it does not seem to matter any more.... The love this man +bears for you," snarled Demetrios, "is sprung of the High God whom we +diversely worship. The love I bear you is human, since I, too, am only +human." And Demetrios chuckled. "Talk, and talk, and talk! There is no +bird in any last year's nest." + +She laid her hand upon his unmoved hand, and found it cold and swollen. +She wept to see the broken tyrant, who to her at least had been not all +unkind. + +He said, with a great hunger in his eyes: + +"So likewise ends the duel which was fought between us two. I would +salute the victor if I could. ... Ey, Melicent, I still consider you +and Perion are fools. We have a not intolerable world to live in, and +common-sense demands we make the most of every tidbit this world +affords. Yet you can find in it only an exercising-ground for +infatuation, and in all its contents--pleasures and pains alike--only +so many obstacles for rapt insanity to override. I do not understand +this mania; I would I might have known it, none the less. Always I +envied you more than I loved you. Always my desire was less to win the +love of Melicent than to love Melicent as Melicent loved Perion. I was +incapable of this. Yet I have loved you. That was the reason, I +believe, I put aside my purchased toy." It seemed to puzzle him. + +"Fair friend, it is the most honourable of reasons. You have done +chivalrously. In this, at least, you have done that which would be not +unworthy of Perion de la Forêt." A woman never avid for strained +subtleties, it may be that she never understood, quite, why Demetrios +laughed. + +He said: + +"I mean to serve you now, as I had always meant to serve you some day. +Ey, yes, I think I always meant to give you back to Perion as a free +gift. Meanwhile to see, and to writhe in seeing your perfection, has +meant so much to me that daily I have delayed such a transfiguration of +myself until to-morrow." The man grimaced. "My son Orestes, who will +presently succeed me, has been summoned. I will order that he conduct +you at once into Perion's camp--yonder by Quesiton. I think I shall not +live three days." + +"I would not leave you, friend, until--" + +His grin was commentary and completion equally. Demetrios observed: + +"A dead dog has no teeth wherewith to serve even virtue. Oh, no, my +women hate you far too greatly. You must go straightway to this Perion, +while Demetrios of Anatolia is alive, or else not ever go." + +She had no words. She wept, and less for joy of winning home to Perion +at last than for her grief that Demetrios was dying. Woman-like, she +could remember only that the man had loved her in his fashion. And, +woman-like, she could but wonder at the strength of Perion. + +Then Demetrios said: + +"I must depart into a doubtful exile. I have been powerful and valiant, +I have laughed loud, I have drunk deep, but heaven no longer wishes +Demetrios to exist. I am unable to support my sadness, so near am I to +my departure from all I have loved. I cry farewell to all diversions +and sports, to well-fought battles, to furred robes of vair and of +silk, to noisy merriment, to music, to vain-gloriously coloured gems, +and to brave deeds in open sunlight; for I desire--and I entreat of +every person--only compassion and pardon. + +"Chiefly I grieve because I must leave Melicent behind me, unfriended +in a perilous land, and abandoned, it may be, to the malice of those +who wish her ill. I was a noted warrior, I was mighty of muscle, and I +could have defended her stoutly. But I lie broken in the hand of +Destiny. It is necessary I depart into the place where sinners, whether +crowned or ragged, must seek for unearned mercy. I cry farewell to all +that I have loved, to all that I have injured; and so in chief to you, +dear Melicent, I cry farewell, and of you in chief I crave compassion +and pardon. + +"O eyes and hair and lips of Melicent, that I have loved so long, I do +not hunger for you now. Yet, as a dying man, I cry to the clean soul of +Melicent--the only adversary that in all my lifetime I who was once +Demetrios could never conquer. A ravening beast was I, and as a beast I +raged to see you so unlike me. And now, a dying beast, I cry to you, +but not for love, since that is overpast. I cry for pity that I have +not earned, for pardon which I have not merited. Conquered and +impotent, I cry to you, O soul of Melicent, for compassion and pardon. + +"Melicent, it may be that when I am dead, when nothing remains of +Demetrios except his tomb, you will comprehend I loved, even while I +hated, what is divine in you. Then since you are a woman, you will lift +your lover's face between your hands, as you have never lifted my face, +Melicent, and you will tell him of my folly merrily; yet since you are +a woman, you will sigh afterward, and you will not deny me compassion +and pardon." + +She gave him both--she who was prodigal of charity. Orestes came, with +Ahasuerus at his heels, and Demetrios sent Melicent into the Women's +Garden, so that father and son might talk together. She waited in this +place for a half-hour, just as the proconsul had commanded her, obeying +him for the last time. It was strange to think of that. + + * * * * * + +It was not gladness which Melicent knew for a brief while. Rather, it +was a strange new comprehension of the world. To Melicent the world +seemed very lovely. + +Indeed, the Women's Garden on this morning lacked nothing to delight +each sense. Its hedges were of flowering jessamine; its walkways were +spread with new sawdust tinged with crocus and vermilion and with mica +beaten into a powder; and the place was rich in fruit-bearing trees and +welling waters. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the right +hand and to the left. Dog-headed apes, sacred to the moon, were +chattering in the trees. There was a statue in this place, carved out +of black stone, in the likeness of a woman, having enamelled eyes and +three rows of breasts, with the lower part of her body confined in a +sheath; and upon the glistening pedestal of this statue chameleons +sunned themselves with distended throats. Round about Melicent were +nodding armaments of roses and gillyflowers and narcissi and amaranths, +and many violets and white lilies, and other flowers of all kinds and +colours. + +To Melicent the world seemed very lovely. Here was a world created by +Eternal Love that people might serve love in it not all unworthily. +Here were anguishes to be endured, and time and human frailty and +temporal hardship--all for love to mock at; a sea or two for love to +sever, a man-made law or so for love to override, a shallow wisdom for +love to deny, in exultance that these ills at most were only corporal +hindrances. This done, you have earned the right to come--come +hand-in-hand--to heaven whose liege-lord was Eternal Love. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + +She sat on a stone bench. She combed her golden hair, not heeding the +more coarse gray hairs which here and there were apparent nowadays. A +peacock came and watched her with bright, hard, small eyes; and he +craned his glistening neck this way and that way, as though he were +wondering at this other shining and gaily coloured creature, who seemed +so happy. + +She did not dare to think of seeing Perion again. Instead, she made +because of him a little song, which had not any words, so that it is +not possible here to retail this song. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + + + + +24. + + +_How Orestes Ruled_ + +Melicent returned into the Court of Stars; and as she entered, Orestes +lifted one of the red cushions from Demetrios' face. The eyes of +Ahasuerus, who stood by negligently, were as expressionless as the eyes +of a snake. + +"The great proconsul laid an inconvenient mandate upon me," said +Orestes. "The great proconsul has been removed from us in order that +his splendour may enhance the glories of Elysium." + +She saw that the young man had smothered his own father in the flesh as +Demetrios lay helpless; and knew thereby that Orestes was indeed the +son of Demetrios. + +"Go," this Orestes said thereafter; "go, and remember I am master +here." + +Said Melicent, "And by which door?" A little hope there was as yet. + +But he, as half in shame, had pointed to the entrance of the Women's +Garden. "I have no enmity against you, outlander. Yet my mother desires +to talk with you. Also there is some bargaining to be completed with +Ahasuerus here." + +Then Melicent knew what had prompted the proconsul's murder. It seemed +unfair Callistion should hate her with such bitterness; yet Melicent +remembered certain thoughts concerning Dame Mélusine, and did not +wonder at Callistion's mania half so much as did Callistion's son. + +"I must endure discomfort and, it may be, torture for a little longer," +said Melicent, and laughed whole-heartedly. "Oh, but to-day I find a +cure for every ill," said Melicent; and thereupon she left Orestes as a +princess should. + +But first she knelt by that which yesterday had been her master. + +"I have no word of praise or blame to give you in farewell. You were +not admirable, Demetrios. But you depart upon a fearful journey, and in +my heart there is just memory of the long years wherein according to +your fashion you were kind to me. A bargain is a bargain. I sold with +open eyes that which you purchased. I may not reproach you." + +Then Melicent lifted the dead face between her hands, as mothers caress +their boys in questioning them. + +"I would I had done this when you were living," said Melicent, "because +I understand now that you loved me in your fashion. And I pray that you +may know I am the happiest woman in the world, because I think this +knowledge would now gladden you. I go to slavery, Demetrios, where I +was queen, I go to hardship, and it may be that I go to death. But I +have learned this assuredly--that love endures, that the strong knot +which unites my heart and Perion's heart can never be untied. Oh, +living is a higher thing than you or I had dreamed! And I have in my +heart just pity, poor Demetrios, for you who never found the love of +which I must endeavour to be worthy. A curse was I to you unwillingly, +as you--I now believe--have been to me against your will. So at the +last I turn anew to bargaining, and cry--in your deaf ears--_Pardon for +pardon, O Demetrios!_" + +Then Melicent kissed pitiable lips which would not ever sneer again, +and, rising, passed into the Women's Garden, proudly and unafraid. + +Ahasuerus shrugged so patiently that she was half afraid. Then, as a +cloud passes, she saw that all further buffetings would of necessity be +trivial. + +For Perion, as she now knew, was very near to her--single of purpose, +clean of hands, and filled with such a love as thrilled her with +delicious fears of her own poor unworthiness. + + + + +25. + + +_How Women Talked Together_ + +Dame Melicent walked proudly through the Women's Garden, and presently +entered a grove of orange trees, the most of which were at this season +about their flowering. In this place was an artificial pool by which +the trees were nourished. On its embankment sprawled the body of young +Diophantus, a child of some ten years of age, Demetrios' son by +Tryphera. Orestes had strangled Diophantus in order that there might be +no rival to Orestes' claims. The lad lay on his back, and his left arm +hung elbow-deep in the water, which swayed it gently. + +Callistion sat beside the corpse and stroked its limp right hand. She +had hated the boy throughout his brief and merry life. She thought now +of his likeness to Demetrios. + +She raised toward Melicent the dilated eyes of one who has just come +from a dark place. Callistion said: + +"And so Demetrios is dead. I thought I would be glad when I said that. +Hah, it is strange I am not glad." + +She rose, as though with hard effort, as a decrepit person might have +done. You saw that she was dressed in a long gown of black, pleated to +the knees, having no clasp or girdle, and bare of any ornamentation +except a gold star on each breast. + +Callistion said: + +"Now, through my son, I reign in Nacumera. There is no person who dares +disobey me. Therefore, come close to me that I may see the beauty which +besotted this Demetrios, whom, I think now, I must have loved." + +"Oh, gaze your fill," said Melicent, "and know that had you possessed a +tithe of my beauty you might have held the heart of Demetrios." For it +was in Melicent's mind to provoke the woman into killing her before +worse befell. + +But Callistion only studied the proud face for a long while, and knew +there was no lovelier person between two seas. For time here had +pillaged very sparingly; and if Dame Melicent had not any longer the +first beauty of her girlhood, Callistion had nowhere seen a woman more +handsome than this hated Frankish thief. + +Callistion said: + +"No, I was not ever so beautiful as you. Yet this Demetrios loved me +when I, too, was lovely. You never saw the man in battle. I saw him, +single-handed, fight with Abradas and three other knaves who stole me +from my mother's home--oh, very long ago! He killed all four of them. +He was like a horrible unconquerable god when he turned from that +finished fight to me. He kissed me then--blood-smeared, just as he +was.... I like to think of how he laughed and of how strong he was." + +The woman turned and crouched by the dead boy, and seemed painstakingly +to appraise her own reflection on the water's surface. + +"It is gone now, the comeliness Demetrios was pleased to like. I would +have waded Acheron--singing--rather than let his little finger ache. He +knew as much. Only it seemed a trifle, because your eyes were bright +and your fair skin was unwrinkled. In consequence the man is dead. Oh, +Melicent, I wonder why I am so sad!" + +Callistion's meditative eyes were dry, but those of Melicent were not. +And Melicent came to the Dacian woman, and put one arm about her in that +dim, sweet-scented place, saying, "I never meant to wrong you." + +Callistion did not seem to heed. Then Callistion said: + +"See now! Do you not see the difference between us!" These two were +kneeling side by side, and each looked into the water. + +Callistion said: + +"I do not wonder that Demetrios loved you. He loved at odd times many +women. He loved the mother of this carrion here. But afterward he would +come back to me, and lie asprawl at my feet with his big crafty head +between my knees; and I would stroke his hair, and we would talk of the +old days when we were young. He never spoke of you. I cannot pardon +that." + +"I know," said Melicent. Their cheeks touched now. + +"There is only one master who could teach you that drear knowledge--" + +"There is but one, Callistion." + +"The man would be tall, I think. He would, I know, have thick, brown, +curling hair--" + +"He has black hair, Callistion. It glistens like a raven's wing." + +"His face would be all pink and white, like yours--" + +"No, tanned like yours, Callistion. Oh, he is like an eagle, very +resolute. His glance bedwarfs you. I used to be afraid to look at him, +even when I saw how foolishly he loved me--" + +"I know," Callistion said. "All women know. Ah, we know many things--" + +She reached with her free arm across the body of Diophantus and +presently dropped a stone into the pool. She said: + +"See how the water ripples. There is now not any reflection of my poor +face or of your beauty. All is as wavering as a man's heart.... And now +your beauty is regathering like coloured mists. Yet I have other +stones." + +"Oh, and the will to use them!" said Dame Melicent. + +"For this bright thieving beauty is not any longer yours. It is mine +now, to do with as I may elect--as yesterday it was the plaything of +Demetrios.... Why, no! I think I shall not kill you. I have at hand +three very cunning Cheylas--the men who carve and reshape children into +such droll monsters. They cannot change your eyes, they tell me. That +is a pity, but I can have one plucked out. Then I shall watch my +Cheylas as they widen your mouth from ear to ear, take out the +cartilage from your nose, wither your hair till it will always be like +rotted hay, and turn your skin--which is like velvet now--the colour of +baked mud. They will as deftly strip you of that beauty which has +robbed me as I pluck up this blade of grass.... Oh, they will make you +the most hideous of living things, they assure me. Otherwise, as they +agree, I shall kill them. This done, you may go freely to your lover. I +fear, though, lest you may not love him as I loved Demetrios." + +And Melicent said nothing. + +"For all we women know, my sister, our appointed curse. To love the +man, and to know the man loves just the lips and eyes Youth lends to +us--oho, for such a little while! Yes, it is cruel. And therefore we +are cruel--always in thought and, when occasion offers, in the deed." + +And Melicent said nothing. For of that mutual love she shared with +Perion, so high and splendid that it made of grief a music, and wrung a +new sustainment out of every cross, as men get cordials of bitter +herbs, she knew there was no comprehension here. + + + + +26. + + +_How Men Ordered Matters_ + +Orestes came into the garden with Ahasuerus and nine other attendants. +The master of Nacumera did not speak a syllable while his retainers +seized Callistion, gagged her, and tied her hands with cords. They +silently removed her. One among them bore on his shoulders the slim +corpse of Diophantus, which was interred the same afternoon (with every +appropriate ceremony) in company with that of his father. Orestes had +the nicest sense of etiquette. + +This series of swift deeds was performed with such a glib precipitancy +that if was as though the action had been rehearsed a score of times. +The garden was all drowsy peace now that Orestes spread his palms in a +gesture of deprecation. A little distance from him, Ahasuerus with his +forefinger drew upon the water's surface designs which appeared to +amuse the Jew. + +"She would have killed you, Melicent," Orestes said, "though all +Olympos had marshalled in interdiction. That would have been +irreligious. Moreover, by Hercules! I have not time to choose sides +between snarling women. He who hunts with cats will catch mice. I aim +more highly. And besides, by an incredible forced march, this Comte de +la Forêt and all his Free Companions are battering at the gates of +Nacumera--" + +Hope blazed. "You know that were I harmed he would spare no one. Your +troops are all at Calonak. Oh, God is very good!" said Melicent. + +"I do not asperse the deities of any nation. It is unlucky. None the +less, your desires outpace your reason. Grant that I had not more than +fifty men to defend the garrison, yet Nacumera is impregnable except by +starvation. We can sit snug a month. Meanwhile our main force is at +Calonak, undoubtedly. Yet my infatuated father had already recalled +these troops, in order that they might escort you into Messire de la +Forêt's camp. Now I shall use these knaves quite otherwise. They will +arrive within two days, and to the rear of Messire de la Forêt, who is +encamped before an impregnable fortress. To the front unscalable walls, +and behind him, at a moderate computation, three swords to his one. All +this in a valley from which Daedalos might possibly escape, but +certainly no other man. I count this Perion of the Forest as already +dead." + +It was a lumbering Orestes who proclaimed each step in his enchained +deductions by the descent of a blunt forefinger upon the palm of his +left hand. Demetrios had left a son but not an heir. + +Yet the chain held. Melicent tested every link and found each obdurate. +She foresaw it all. Perion would be surrounded and overpowered. "And +these troops come from Calonak because of me!" + +"Things fall about with an odd patness, as you say. It should teach you +not to talk about divinities lightly. Also, by this Jew's advice, I +mean to further the gods' indisputable work. You will appear upon the +walls of Nacumera at dawn to-morrow, in such a garb as you wore in your +native country when the Comte de la Forêt first saw you. Ahasuerus +estimates this Perion will not readily leave pursuit of you in that +event, whatever his lieutenants urge, for you are very beautiful." + +Melicent cried aloud, "A bitter curse this beauty has been to me, and +to all men who have desired it." + +"But I do not desire it," said Orestes. "Else I would not have sold it +to Ahasuerus. I desire only the governorship of some province on the +frontier where I may fight daily with stalwart adversaries, and ride +past the homes of conquered persons who hate me. Ahasuerus here assures +me that the Emperor will not deny me such employment when I bring him +the head of Messire de la Forêt. The raids of Messire de la Forêt have +irreligiously annoyed our Emperor for a long while." + +She muttered, "Thou that once wore a woman's body--!" + +"--And I take Ahasuerus to be shrewd in all respects save one. For he +desires trivialities. A wise man knows that woman are the sauce and not +the meat of life; Ahasuerus, therefore, is not wise. And in consequence +I do not lack a handsome bribe for this Bathyllos whom our good +Emperor--misguided man!--is weak enough to love; my mother goes in +chains; and I shall get my province." + +Here Orestes laughed. And then the master of Nacumera left Dame +Melicent alone with Ahasuerus. + + + + +27. + + +_How Ahasuerus Was Candid_ + +When Orestes had gone, the Jew remained unmoved. He continued to dabble +his finger-tips in the water as one who meditates. Presently he dried +them on either sleeve so that he seemed to embrace himself. + +Said he, "What instruments we use at need!" + +She said, "So you have purchased me, Ahasuerus?" + +"Yes, for a hundred and two minae. That is a great sum. You are not as +the run of women, though. I think you are worth it." + +She did not speak. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the +right hand and to the left. She was considering the beauty of these +gardens which seemed to sleep under a dome of hard, polished blue--the +beauty of this cloistered Nacumera, wherein so many infamies writhed +and contended like a nest of little serpents. + +"Do you remember, Melicent, that night at Fomor Beach when you snatched +a lantern from my hand? Your hand touched my hand, Melicent." + +She answered, "I remember." + +"I first of all saw that it was a woman who was aiding Perion to +escape. I considered Perion a lucky man, for I had seen the woman's +face." + +She remained silent. + +"I thought of this woman very often. I thought of her even more +frequently after I had talked with her at Bellegarde, telling of +Perion's captivity.... Melicent," the Jew said, "I make no songs, no +protestations, no phrases. My deeds must speak for me. Concede that I +have laboured tirelessly." He paused, his gaze lifted, and his lips +smiled. His eyes stayed mirthless. "This mad Callistion's hate of you, +and of the Demetrios who had abandoned her, was my first +stepping-stone. By my advice a tiny wire was fastened very tightly +around the fetlock of a certain horse, between the foot and the heel, +and the hair was smoothed over this wire. Demetrios rode that horse in +his last battle. It stumbled, and our terrible proconsul was thus +brought to death. Callistion managed it. Thus I betrayed Demetrios." + +Melicent said, "You are too foul for hell to swallow." And Ahasuerus +manifested indifference to this imputed fault. + +"Thus far I had gone hand-in-hand with an insane Callistion. Now our +ways parted. She desired only to be avenged on you, and very crudely. +That did not accord with my plan. I fell to bargaining. I purchased +with--O rarity of rarities!--a little rational advice and much gold as +well. Thus in due season I betrayed Callistion. Well, who forbids it?" + +She said: + +"God is asleep. Therefore you live, and I--alas!--must live for a +while longer." + +"Yes, you must live for a while longer--oh, and I, too, must live for a +while longer!" the Jew returned. His voice had risen in a curious +quavering wail. It was the first time Melicent ever knew him to display +any emotion. + +But the mood passed, and he said only: + +"Who forbids it? In any event, there is a venerable adage concerning +the buttering of parsnips. So I content myself with asking you to +remember that I have not ever faltered. I shall not falter now. You +loathe me. Who forbids it? I have known from the first that you +detested me, and I have always considered your verdict to err upon the +side of charity. Believe me, you will never loathe Ahasuerus as I do. +And yet I coddle this poor knave sometimes--oh, as I do to-day!" he +said. + +And thus they parted. + + + + +28. + + +_How Perion Saw Melicent_ + +The manner of the torment of Melicent was this: A little before dawn +she was conducted by Ahasuerus and Orestes to the outermost turrets of +Nacumera, which were now beginning to take form and colour. Very +suddenly a flash of light had flooded the valley, the big crimson sun +was instantaneously apparent as though he had leaped over the bleeding +night-mists. Darkness and all night's adherents were annihilated. +Pelicans and geese and curlews were in uproar, as at a concerted +signal. A buzzard yelped thrice like a dog, and rose in a long spiral +from the cliff to Melicent's right hand. He hung motionless, a speck in +the clear zenith, uncannily anticipative. Warmth flooded the valley. + +Now Melicent could see the long and narrow plain beneath her. It was +overgrown with a tall coarse grass which, rippling in the dawn-wind, +resembled moving waters from this distance, save where clumps of palm +trees showed like islands. Farther off, the tents of the Free +Companions were as the white, sharp teeth of a lion. Also she could +see--and did not recognise--the helmet-covered head of Perion catch and +reflect the sunrays dazzlingly, where he knelt in the shimmering grass +just out of bowshot. + +Now Perion could see a woman standing, in the new-born sunlight, under +many gaily coloured banners. The maiden was attired in a robe of white +silk, and about her wrists were heavy bands of silver. Her hair blazed +in the light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than +milk; the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch +than were her hands. There was never anywhere a person more delightful +to gaze upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love +and service to Dame Melicent. This much could Perion know, whose fond +eyes did not really see the woman upon the battlements but, instead, +young Melicent as young Perion had first beheld her walking by the sea +at Bellegarde. + +Thus Perion, who knelt in adoration of that listless girl, all white +and silver, and gold, too, where her blown hair showed like a halo. +Desirable and lovelier than words may express seemed Melicent to Perion +as she stood thus in lonely exaltation, and behind her, glorious +banners fluttered, and the blue sky took on a deeper colour. What +Perion saw was like a church window when the sun shines through it. +Ahasuerus perfectly understood the baiting of a trap. + +Perion came into the open plain before the castle and called on her +dear name three times. Then Perion, naked to his enemies, and at the +disposal of the first pagan archer that chose to shoot him down, sang +cheerily the waking-song which Melicent had heard a mimic Amphitryon +make in Dame Alcmena's honour, very long ago, when people laughed and +Melicent was young and ignorant of misery. + +Sang Perion, "_Rei glorios, verais lums e clardatz--_" or, in other +wording: + +"Thou King of glory, veritable light, all-powerful deity! be pleased to +succour faithfully my fair, sweet friend. The night that severed us has +been long and bitter, the darkness has been shaken by bleak winds, but +now the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, be of good heart! We have been tormented long +enough by evil dreams. Be of good heart, for the dawn is approaching! +The east is astir. I have seen the orient star which heralds day. I +discern it clearly, for now the dawn is near at hand." + +The song was no great matter; but the splendid futility of its +performance amid such touch-and-go surroundings Melicent considered to +be august. And consciousness of his words' poverty, as Perion thus +lightly played with death in order to accord due honour to the lady he +served, was to Dame Melicent in her high martyrdom as is the twist of a +dagger in an already fatal wound; and made her love augment. + +Sang Perion: + +"My fair sweet friend, it is I, your servitor, who cry to you, _Be of +good heart!_ Regard the sky and the stars now growing dim, and you will +see that I have been an untiring sentinel. It will presently fare the +worse for those who do not recognise that the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, since you were taken from me I have not ever +been of a divided mind. I have kept faith, I have not failed you. +Hourly I have entreated God and the Son of Mary to have compassion upon +our evil dreams. And now the dawn is near at hand." + +"My poor, bruised, puzzled boy," thought Melicent, as she had done so +long ago, "how came you to be blundering about this miry world of ours? +And how may I be worthy?" + +Orestes spoke. His voice disturbed the woman's rapture thinly, like the +speech of a ghost, and she remembered now that a bustling world was her +antagonist. + +"Assuredly," Orestes said, "this man is insane. I will forthwith +command my archers to despatch him in the middle of his caterwauling. +For at this distance they cannot miss him." + +But Ahasuerus said: + +"No, seignior, not by my advice. If you slay this Perion of the Forest, +his retainers will speedily abandon a desperate siege and retreat to +the coast. But they will never retreat so long as the man lives and +sways them, and we hold Melicent, for, as you plainly see, this +abominable reprobate is quite besotted with love of her. His death +would win you praise; but the destruction of his armament will purchase +you your province. Now in two days at most our troops will come, and +then we will slay all the Free Companions." + +"That is true," said Orestes, "and it is remarkable how you think of +these things so quickly." + +So Orestes was ruled by Ahasuerus, and Perion, through no merit of his +own, departed unharmed. + +Then Melicent was conducted to her own apartments; and eunuchs guarded +her, while the battle was, and men she had not ever seen died by the +score because her beauty was so great. + + + + +29. + + +_How a Bargain Was Cried_ + +Now about sunset Melicent knelt in her oratory and laid all her grief +before the Virgin, imploring counsel. + +This place was in reality a chapel, which Demetrios had builded for +Melicent in exquisite enjoyment. To furnish it he had sacked towns she +never heard of, and had rifled two cathedrals, because the notion that +the wife of Demetrios should own a Christian chapel appeared to him +amusing. The Virgin, a masterpiece of Pietro di Vicenza, Demetrios had +purchased by the interception of a free city's navy. It was a painted +statue, very handsome. + +The sunlight shone on Melicent through a richly coloured window wherein +were shown the sufferings of Christ and the two thieves. This siftage +made about her a welter of glowing and intermingling colours, above +which her head shone with a clear halo. + +This much Ahasuerus noted. He said, "You offer tears to Miriam of +Nazara. Yonder they are sacrificing a bull to Mithras. But I do not +make either offering or prayer to any god. Yet of all persons in +Nacumera I alone am sure of this day's outcome." Thus spoke the Jew +Ahasuerus. + +The woman stood erect now. She asked, "What of the day, Ahasuerus?" + +"It has been much like other days that I have seen. The sun rose +without any perturbation. And now it sinks as usual. Oh, true, there +has been fighting. The sky has been clouded with arrows, and horses, +nicer than their masters, have screamed because these soulless beasts +were appalled by so much blood. Many women have become widows, and +divers children are made orphans, because of two huge eyes they never +saw. Puf! it is an old tale." + +She said, "Is Perion hurt?" + +"Is the dog hurt that has driven a cat into a tree? Such I estimate to +be the position of Orestes and Perion. Ah, no, this Perion who was my +captain once is as yet a lord without any peer in the fields where men +contend in battle. But love has thrust him into a bag's end, and his +fate is certain." + +She spoke her steadfast resolution. "And my fate, too. For when Perion +is trapped and slain I mean to kill myself." + +"I am aware of that," he said. "Oh, women have these notions! Yet when +the hour came, I think, you would not dare. For I know your beliefs +concerning hell's geography, and which particular gulf of hell is +reserved for all self-murderers." + +Then Melicent waited for a while. She spoke later without any apparent +emotion. "And how should I fear hell who crave a bitterer fate! Listen, +Ahasuerus! I know that you desire me as a plaything very greatly. The +infamy in which you wade attests as much. Yet you have schemed to no +purpose if Perion dies, because the ways of death are always open. I +would die many times rather than endure the touch of your finger. +Ahasuerus, I have not any words wherewith to tell you of my loathing--" + +"Turn then to bargaining," he said, and seemed aware of all her +thoughts. "Oh, to a hideous bargain. Let Perion be warned of those +troops that will to-morrow outflank him. Let him escape. There is yet +time. Do this, dark hungry man, and I will live." She shuddered here. +"Yes, I will live and be obedient in all things to you, my purchaser, +until you shall have wearied of me, or, at the least, until God has +remembered." + +His careful eyes were narrowed. "You would bribe me as you once bribed +Demetrios? And to the same purpose? I think that fate excels less in +invention than in cruelty." + +She bitterly said, "Heaven help me, and what other wares have I to +vend!" + +He answered: + +"None. No woman has in this black age; and therefore comfort you, my +girl." + +She hurried on. "Therefore anew I offer Melicent, who was a princess +once. I cry a price for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's +tender body without any blemish. I have no longer youth and happiness +and honour to afford you as your toys. These three have long been +strangers to me. Oh, very long! Yet all I have I offer for one +charitable deed. See now how near you are to victory. Think now how +gloriously one honest act would show in you who have betrayed each +overlord you ever served." + +He said: + +"I am suspicious of strange paths, I shrink from practising unfamiliar +virtues. My plan is fixed. I think I shall not alter it." + +"Ah, no, Ahasuerus! think instead how beautiful I am. There is no +comelier animal in all this big lewd world. Indeed I cannot count how +many men have died because I am a comely animal--" She smiled as one +who is too tired to weep. "That, too, is an old tale. Now I abate in +value, it appears, very lamentably. For I am purchasable now just by +one honest deed, and there is none who will barter with me." + +He returned: + +"You forget that a freed Perion would always have a sonorous word or +two to say in regard to your bargainings. Demetrios bargained, you may +remember. Demetrios was a dread lord. It cost him daily warfare to +retain you. Now I lack swords and castles--I who dare love you much as +Demetrios did--and I would be able to retain neither Melicent nor +tranquil existence for an unconscionable while. Ah, no! I bear my +former general no grudge. I merely recognise that while Perion lives he +will not ever leave pursuit of you. I would readily concede the potency +of his spurs, even were there need to look on you a second time--It +happens that there is no need! Meanwhile I am a quiet man, and I abhor +dissension. For the rest, I do not think that you will kill yourself, +and so I think I shall not alter my fixed plan." + +He left her, and Melicent prayed no more. To what end, she reflected, +need she pray, when there was no hope for Perion? + + + + +30. + + +_How Melicent Conquered_ + +Into Melicent's bedroom, about two o'clock in the morning, came +Ahasuerus the Jew. She sat erect in bed and saw him cowering over a +lamp which his long glistening fingers shielded, so that the lean face +of the man floated upon a little golden pool in the darkness. She +marvelled that this detestable countenance had not aged at all since +her first sight of it. + +He smoothly said: + +"Now let us talk. I have loved you for some while, fair Melicent." + +"You have desired me," she replied. + +"Faith, I am but as all men, whatever their age. Why, what the devil! +man may have Javeh's breath in him, but even Scripture proves that man +was made of clay." The Jew now puffed out his jaws as if in +recollection. "_You are a handsome piece of flesh_, I thought when I +came to you at Bellegarde, telling of Perion's captivity. I thought no +more than this, because in my time I have seen a greater number of +handsome women than you would suppose. Thereafter, on account of an odd +reason which I had, I served Demetrios willingly enough. This son of +Miramon Lluagor was able to pay me well, in a curious coinage. So I +arranged the bungling snare Demetrios proposed--too gross, I thought +it, to trap any woman living. Ohé, and why should I not lay an open and +frank springe for you? Who else was a king's bride-to-be, young, +beautiful, and blessed with wealth and honour and every other comfort +which the world affords?" Now the Jew made as if to fling away a robe +from his gaunt person. "And you cast this, all this, aside as nothing. +I saw it done." + +"Ah, but I did it to save Perion," she wisely said. + +"Unfathomable liar," he returned, "you boldly and unscrupulously bought +of life the thing which you most earnestly desired. Nor Solomon nor +Periander has won more. And thus I saw that which no other man has +seen. I saw the shrewd and dauntless soul of Melicent. And so I loved +you, and I laid my plan--" + +She said, "You do not know of love--" + +"Yet I have builded him a temple," the Jew considered. He continued, +with that old abhorrent acquiescence, "Now, a temple is admirable, but +it is not builded until many labourers have dug and toiled waist-deep +in dirt. Here, too, such spatterment seemed necessary. So I played, in +fine, I played a cunning music. The pride of Demetrios, the jealousy of +Callistion, and the greed of Orestes--these were as so many stops of +that flute on which I played a cunning deadly music. Who forbids it?" + +She motioned him, "Go on." Now she was not afraid. + +"Come then to the last note of my music! You offer to bargain, saying, +_Save Perion and have my body as your chattel_. I answer _Click_! The +turning of a key solves all. Accordingly I have betrayed the castle of +Nacumera, I have this night admitted Perion and his broad-shouldered +men. They are killing Orestes yonder in the Court of Stars even while I +talk with you." Ahasuerus laughed noiselessly. "Such vanity does not +become a Jew, but I needs must do the thing with some magnificence. +Therefore I do not give Sire Perion only his life. I give him also +victory and much throat-cutting and an impregnable rich castle. Have I +not paid the price, fair Melicent? Have I not won God's masterpiece +through a small wire, a purse, and a big key?" + +She answered, "You have paid." + +He said: + +"You will hold to your bargain? Ah, you have but to cry aloud, and you +are rid of me. For this is Perion's castle." + +She said, "Christ help me! You have paid my price." + +Now the Jew raised his two hands in very horrible mirth. Said he: + +"Oh, I am almost tempted to praise Javeh, who created the invincible +soul of Melicent. For you have conquered: you have gained, as always, +and at whatever price, exactly that which you most desired, and you do +not greatly care about anything else. So, because of a word said you +would arise and follow me on my dark ways if I commanded it. You will +not weight the dice, not even at this pinch, when it would be so easy! +For Perion is safe; and nothing matters in comparison with that, and +you will not break faith, not even with me. You are inexplicable, you +are stupid, and you are resistless. Again I see my Melicent, who is not +just a pair of purple eyes and so much lovely flesh." + +His face was as she had not ever known it now, and very tender. +Ahasuerus said: + +"My way to victory is plain enough. And yet there is an obstacle. For +my fancy is taken by the soul of Melicent, and not by that handsome +piece of flesh which all men--even Perion, madame!--have loved so long +with remarkable infatuation. Accordingly I had not ever designed that +the edifice on which I laboured should be the stable of my lusts. +Accordingly I played my cunning music--and accordingly I give you +Perion. I that am Ahasuerus win for you all which righteousness and +honour could not win. At the last it is I who give you Perion, and it +is I who bring you to his embrace. He must still be about his +magnanimous butchery, I think, in the Court of Stars." + +Ahasuerus knelt, kissing her hand. + +"Fair Melicent, such abominable persons as Demetrios and I are fatally +alike. We may deny, deride, deplore, or even hate, the sanctity of any +noble lady accordingly as we elect; but there is for us no possible +escape from worshipping it. Your wind-fed Ferions, who will not ever +acknowledge what sort of world we live in, are less quick to recognise +the soul of Melicent. Such is our sorry consolation. Oh, you do not +believe me yet. You will believe in the oncoming years. Meanwhile, O +all-enduring and all-conquering! go now to your last labour; and--if +my Brother dare concede as much--do you now conquer Perion." + +Then he vanished. She never saw him any more. + +She lifted the Jew's lamp. She bore it through the Women's Garden, +wherein were many discomfortable shadows and no living being. She came +to its outer entrance. Men were fighting there. She skirted a hideous +conflict, and descended the Queen's Stairway, which led (as you have +heard) toward the balcony about the Court of Stars. She found this +balcony vacant. + +Below her men were fighting. To the farther end of the court Orestes +sprawled upon the red and yellow slabs--which now for the most part +were red--and above him towered Perion of the Forest. The conqueror had +paused to cleanse his sword upon the same divan Demetrios had occupied +when Melicent first saw the proconsul; and as Perion turned, in the act +of sheathing his sword, he perceived the dear familiar denizen of all +his dreams. A tiny lamp glowed in her hand quite steadily. + +"O Melicent," said Perion, with a great voice, "my task is done. Come +now to me." + +She instantly obeyed whose only joy was to please Perion. Descending +the enclosed stairway, she thought how like its gloom was to the +temporal unhappiness she had passed through in serving Perion. + +He stood a dripping statue, for he had fought horribly. She came to +him, picking her way among the slain. He trembled who was fresh from +slaying. A flood of torchlight surged and swirled about them, and +within a stone's cast Perion's men were despatching the wounded. + +These two stood face to face and did not speak at all. + +I think that he knew disappointment first. He looked to find the girl +whom he had left on Fomor Beach. + +He found a woman, the possessor still of a compelling beauty. Oh, yes, +past doubt: but this woman was a stranger to him, as he now knew with +an odd sense of sickness. Thus, then, had ended the quest of Melicent. +Their love had flouted Time and Fate. These had revenged this +insolence, it seemed to Perion, by an ironical conversion of each rebel +into another person. For this was not the girl whom Perion had loved in +far red-roofed Poictesme; this was not the girl for whom Perion had +fought ten minutes since: and he--as Perion for the first time +perceived--was not and never could be any more the Perion that girl had +bidden return to her. It were as easy to evoke the Perion who had loved +Mélusine.... + +Then Perion perceived that love may be a power so august as to bedwarf +consideration of the man and woman whom it sways. He saw that this is +reasonable. I cannot justify this knowledge. I cannot even tell you +just what great secret it was of which Perion became aware. Many men +have seen the sunrise, but the serenity and awe and sweetness of this +daily miracle, the huge assurance which it emanates that the beholder +is both impotent and greatly beloved, is not entirely an affair of the +sky's tincture. And thus it was with Perion. He knew what he could not +explain. He knew such joy and terror as none has ever worded. A curtain +had lifted briefly; and the familiar world which Perion knew, for the +brief instant, had appeared to be a painting upon that curtain. + +Now, dazzled, he saw Melicent for the first time.... + +I think he saw the lines already forming in her face, and knew that, +but for him, this woman, naked now of gear and friends, had been +to-night a queen among her own acclaiming people. I think he worshipped +where he did not dare to love, as every man cannot but do when starkly +fronted by the divine and stupendous unreason of a woman's choice, +among so many other men, of him. And yet, I think that Perion recalled +what Ayrart de Montors had said of women and their love, so long ago:-- +"They are more wise than we; and always they make us better by +indomitably believing we are better than in reality a man can ever be." + +I think that Perion knew, now, de Montors had been in the right. The +pity and mystery and beauty of that world wherein High God had-- +scornfully?--placed a smug Perion, seemed to the Comte de la Forêt, I +think, unbearable. I think a new and finer love smote Perion as a sword +strikes. + +I think he did not speak because there was no scope for words. I know +that he knelt (incurious for once of victory) before this stranger who +was not the Melicent whom he had sought so long, and that all +consideration of a lost young Melicent departed from him, as mists +leave our world when the sun rises. + +I think that this was her high hour of triumph. + +CAETERA DESUNT + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +_These lives made out of loves that long since were +Lives wrought as ours of earth and burning air, +Was such not theirs, the twain I take, and give +Out of my life to make their dead life live +Some days of mine, and blow my living breath +Between dead lips forgotten even of death? +So many and many of old have given my twain +Love and live song and honey-hearted pain._ + + +Thus, rather suddenly, ends our knowledge of the love-business between +Perion and Melicent. For at this point, as abruptly as it began, the +one existing chronicle of their adventures makes conclusion, like a bit +of interrupted music, and thereby affords conjecture no inconsiderable +bounds wherein to exercise itself. Yet, in view of the fact that +deductions as to what befell these lovers afterward can at best result +in free-handed theorising, it seems more profitable in this place to +speak very briefly of the fragmentary _Roman de Lusignan_, since the +history of Melicent and Perion as set forth in this book makes no +pretensions to be more than a rendering into English of this +manuscript, with slight additions from the earliest known printed +version of 1546. + + + + +2 + + +M. Verville, in his monograph on Nicolas de + +Caen,[1: Paul Verville, _Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen_, p. 112 +(Rouen, 1911)] considers it probable that the _Roman de Lusignan_ was +printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion at about the same time Mansion +published the _Dizain des Reines_. This is possible; but until a copy +of the book is discovered, our sole authority for the romance must +continue to be the fragmentary MS. No. 503 in the Allonbian Collection. + +Among the innumerable manuscripts in the British Museum there is +perhaps none which opens a wider field for guesswork. In its entirety +the _Roman de Lusignan_ was, if appearances are to be trusted, a +leisured and ambitious handling of the Melusina legend; but in the +preserved portion Melusina figures hardly at all. We have merely the +final chapters of what would seem to have been the first half, or +perhaps the first third, of the complete narrative; so that this +manuscript account of Melusina's beguilements breaks off, +fantastically, at a period by many years anterior to a date which those +better known versions of Jean d'Arras and Thuring von Ringoltingen +select as the only appropriate starting-point. + +By means of a few elisions, however, the episodic story of Melicent +and of the men who loved Melicent has been disembedded from what +survives of the main narrative. This episode may reasonably be +considered as complete in itself, in spite of its precipitous +commencement; we are not told anything very definite concerning +Perion's earlier relations with Melusina, it is true, but then they are +hardly of any especial importance. And speculations as to the tale's +perplexing chronology, or as to the curious treatment of the Ahasuerus +legend, wherein Nicolas so strikingly differs from his precursors, +Matthew Paris and Philippe Mouskes, or as to the probable course of +latter incidents in the romance (which must almost inevitably have +reached its climax in the foundation of the house of Lusignan by +Perion's son Raymondin and Melusina) are more profitably left to M. +Verville's ingenuity. + + + + +3 + + +One feature, though, of this romance demands particular comment. The +happenings of the Melicent-episode pivot remarkably upon _domnei_--upon +chivalric love, upon the _Frowendienst_ of the minnesingers, or upon +"woman-worship," as we might bunglingly translate a word for which in +English there is no precisely equivalent synonym. Therefore this +English version of the Melicent-episode has been called _Domnei_, at +whatever price of unintelligibility. + +For there is really no other word or combination of words which seems +quite to sum up, or even indicate this precise attitude toward life. +_Domnei_ was less a preference for one especial woman than a code of +philosophy. "The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and +habits," writes Charles Claude Fauriel,[1: _Histoire de la littérature +provençale_, p. 330 (Adler's translation, New York, 1860)] "which +prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a lady, and +by which he strove to prove to her his love and to merit hers in +return, was expressed by the single word _domnei_." + +And this, of course, is true enough. Yet _domnei_ was even more than a +complication of opinions and affections and habits: it was also a +malady and a religion quite incommunicably blended. + +Thus you will find that Dante--to cite only the most readily accessible +of mediaeval amorists--enlarges as to _domnei_ in both these last-named +aspects impartially. _Domnei_ suspends all his senses save that of +sight, makes him turn pale, causes tremors in his left side, and sends +him to bed "like a little beaten child, in tears"; throughout you have +the manifestations of _domnei_ described in terms befitting the +symptoms of a physical disease: but as concerns the other aspect, Dante +never wearies of reiterating that it is domnei which has turned his +thoughts toward God; and with terrible sincerity he beholds in Beatrice +de'Bardi the highest illumination which Divine Grace may permit to +humankind. "This is no woman; rather it is one of heaven's most radiant +angels," he says with terrible sincerity. + +With terrible sincerity, let it be repeated: for the service of domnei +was never, as some would affect to interpret it, a modish and ordered +affectation; the histories of Peire de Maënzac, of Guillaume de +Caibestaing, of Geoffrey Rudel, of Ulrich von Liechtenstein, of the +Monk of Pucibot, of Pons de Capdueilh, and even of Peire Vidal and +Guillaume de Balaun, survive to prove it was a serious thing, a stark +and life-disposing reality. En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa, as +Nicolas himself declares. The service of domnei involved, it in fact +invited, anguish; it was a martyrdom whereby the lover was uplifted to +saintship and the lady to little less than, if anything less than, +godhead. For it was a canon of domnei, it was the very essence of +domnei, that the woman one loves is providentially set between her +lover's apprehension, and God, as the mobile and vital image and +corporeal reminder of heaven, as a quick symbol of beauty and holiness, +of purity and perfection. In her the lover views--embodied, apparent to +human sense, and even accessible to human enterprise--all qualities of +God which can be comprehended by merely human faculties. It is +precisely as such an intermediary that Melicent figures toward Perion, +and, in a somewhat different degree, toward Ahasuerus--since Ahasuerus +is of necessity apart in all things from the run of humanity. + +Yet instances were not lacking in the service of _domnei_ where worship +of the symbol developed into a religion sufficing in itself, and became +competitor with worship of what the symbol primarily represented--such +instances as have their analogues in the legend of Ritter Tannhäuser, +or in Aucassin's resolve in the romance to go down into hell with "his +sweet mistress whom he so much loves," or (here perhaps most perfectly +exampled) in Arnaud de Merveil's naïve declaration that whatever +portion of his heart belongs to God heaven holds in vassalage to +Adelaide de Beziers. It is upon this darker and rebellious side of +_domnei_, of a religion pathetically dragged dustward by the luxuriance +and efflorescence of over-passionate service, that Nicolas has touched +in depicting Demetrios. + + + + +4 + + +Nicolas de Caen, himself the servitor _par amours_ of Isabella of +Burgundy, has elsewhere written of _domne_i (in his _Le Roi Amaury_) in +terms such as it may not be entirely out of place to transcribe here. +Baalzebub, as you may remember, has been discomfited in his endeavours +to ensnare King Amaury and is withdrawing in disgust. + +"A pest upon this _domnei_!"[1: Quoted with minor alterations from +Watson's version] the fiend growls. "Nay, the match is at an end, and I +may speak in perfect candour now. I swear to you that, given a man +clear-eyed enough to see that a woman by ordinary is nourished much as +he is nourished, and is subjected to every bodily infirmity which he +endures and frets beneath, I do not often bungle matters. But when a +fool begins to flounder about the world, dead-drunk with adoration of +an immaculate woman--a monster which, as even the man's own judgment +assures him, does not exist and never will exist--why, he becomes as +unmanageable as any other maniac when a frenzy is upon him. For then +the idiot hungers after a life so high-pitched that his gross faculties +may not so much as glimpse it; he is so rapt with impossible dreams +that he becomes oblivious to the nudgings of his most petted vice; and +he abhors his own innate and perfectly natural inclination to +cowardice, and filth, and self-deception. He, in fine, affords me and +all other rational people no available handle; and, in consequence, he +very often flounders beyond the reach of my whisperings. There may be +other persons who can inform you why such blatant folly should thus be +the master-word of evil, but for my own part, I confess to ignorance." + +"Nay, that folly, as you term it, and as hell will always term it, is +alike the riddle and the masterword of the universe," the old king +replies.... + +And Nicolas whole-heartedly believed that this was true. We do not +believe this, quite, but it may be that we are none the happier for our +dubiety. + + +EXPLICIT + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +I. LES AMANTS DE MELICENT, Traduction moderne, annotée et procedée d'un +notice historique sur Nicolas de Caen, par l'Abbé. * * * A Paris. Pour +Iaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Iaques, M. D. XLVI. Avec +Privilège du Roy. The somewhat abridged reprint of 1788 was believed to +be the first version printed in French, until the discovery of this +unique volume in 1917. + +II. ARMAGEDDON; or the Great Day of the Lord's Judgement: a Parcenesis +to Prince Henry--MELICENT; an heroicke poeme intended, drawne from +French bookes, the First Booke, by Sir William Allonby. London. Printed +for Nathaniel Butler, dwelling at the _Pied Bull_, at Saint Austen's +Gate. 1626. + +III. PERION UNO MELICENT, zum erstenmale aus dem Franzôsischen ins +Deutsche ubersetzt, von J. H. G. Lowe. Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1823. + +IV. Los NEGOCIANTES DO DON PERION, publicado por Plancher-Seignot. Rio +de Janiero, 1827. The translator's name is not given. The preface is +signed R. L. + +V. LA DONNA DI DEMETRIO, Historia piacevole e morale, da Antonio +Checino. Milan, 1833. + +VI. PRINDSESSES MELICENT, oversat af Le Roman de Lusignan, og udgivna +paa Dansk vid R. Knôs. Copenhagen, 1840. + +VII. ANTIQUAe FABULAe ET COMEDIAe, edid. G. Rask. Göttingen, 1852. Vol. +II, p. 61 _et seq_. "DE FIDE MELICENTIS"--an abridged version of the +romance. + +VIII. PERION EN MELICENT, voor de Nederlandsche Jeugduiitgegeven door +J. M. L. Wolters. Groningen, 1862. + +IX. NOUVELLES FRANCOISES EN PROSE DU XIVE ET DE XVE SIÈCLE, Les textes +anciens, édités et annotés par MM. Armin et Moland. Lyons, 1880. Vol. +IV, p. 89 et seq., "LE ROMAN DE LA BELLE MELICENT"--a much condensed +form of the story. + +X. THE SOUL OF MELICENT, by James Branch Cabell. Illustrated in colour +by Howard Pyle. New York, 1913. This rendering was made, of course, +before the discovery of the 1546 version, and so had not the benefit of +that volume's interesting variants from the abridgment of 1788. + +XI. CINQ BALLADES DE NICOLAS DE CAEN, traduites en verse du Roman de +Lusignan, par Mme. Adolpe Galland, et mises en musique par Raoul +Bidoche. Paris, 1898. + +XII. LE LIURE DE MÉLUSINE en fracoys, par Jean d'Arras. Geneva, 1478. + +XIII. HISTORIA DE LA LINDA MELOSYNA. Tolosa, 1489. + +XIV. EEN SAN SONDERLINGKE SCHONE ENDE WONDERLIKE HISTORIE, die men +warachtich kout te syne ende autentick sprekende van eenre vrouwen +gheheeten Mélusine. Tantwerpen, 1500. + +XV. DIE HISTORI ODER GESCHICHT VON DER EDLE UND SCHÖNEN MELUSINA. +Augsburg, 1547. + +XVI. L'HISTOIRE DE MÉLUSINE, fille du roy d'Albanie et de dame +Pressine, revue et mise en meilleur langage que par cy devant. Lyons, +1597. + +XVII. LE ROMAN DE MÉLUSINE, princesse de Lusignan, avec l'histoire de +Geoffry, surnommé à la Grand Dent, par Nodot. Paris, 1700. + +XVIII. KRONYKE KRATOCHWILNE, o ctné a slech netné Panne Meluzijne. +Prag, 1760. + +XIX. WUNDERBARE GESCHICHTE VON DER EDELN UND SCHÔNEN MELUSINA, welche +eine Tochter des König Helmus und ein Meerwunder gewesen ist. Nurnberg, +without date: reprinted in Marbach's VOLKS BÜCHER, Leipzig, 1838. + + + + +BOOKS _by_ MR. CABELL + + +_Biography:_ + +BEYOND LIFE + +DOMNEI (_The Soul of Melicent_) + +CHIVALRY + +JURGEN + +THE LINE OF LOVE + +GALLANTRY + +THE CERTAIN HOUR + +THE CORDS OF VANITY + +FROM THE HIDDEN WAY + +THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK + +THE EAGLE'S SHADOW + +THE CREAM OF THE JEST + +_Genealogy:_ + +BRANCH OF ABINGDON + +BRANCHIANA + +THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Domnei, by James Branch Cabell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMNEI *** + +***** This file should be named 9663-8.txt or 9663-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/6/9663/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/9663-8.zip b/9663-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..86481e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/9663-8.zip diff --git a/9663.txt b/9663.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18809f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/9663.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4950 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Domnei, by James Branch Cabell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Domnei + +Author: James Branch Cabell + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9663] +Release Date: January, 2006 +First Posted: October 14, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMNEI *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + +Domnei + +A Comedy of Woman-Worship + +By + +JAMES BRANCH CABELL + +1920 + + + + + + +"_En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa_." + + +TO + +SARAH READ McADAMS + +IN GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION + + + + +"The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and habits, +which prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a +lady, and by which he strove to prove to her his love, and to merit +hers in return, was expressed, in the language of the Troubadours, by a +single word, by the word _domnei_, a derivation of _domna_, which may +be regarded as an alteration of the Latin _domina_, lady, mistress." + +--C. C. FAURIEL, +_History of Provencal Poetry_. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +A PREFACE + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +THE ARGUMENT + + +PART ONE--PERION + + I HOW PERION WAS UNMASKED + + II HOW THE VICOMTE WAS VERY GAY + + III HOW MELICENT WOOED + + IV HOW THE BISHOP AIDED PERION + + V HOW MELICENT WEDDED + + +PART TWO--MELICENT + + VI HOW MELICENT SOUGHT OVERSEA + + VII HOW PERION WAS FREED + + VIII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS AMUSED + + IX HOW TIME SPED IN HEATHENRY + + X HOW DEMETRIOS WOOED + + +PART THREE--DEMETRIOS + + XI HOW TIME SPED WITH PERION + + XII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS TAKEN + + XIII HOW THEY PRAISED MELICENT + + XIV HOW PERION BRAVED THEODORET. + + XV HOW PERION FOUGHT + + XVI HOW DEMETRIOS MEDITATED. + + XVII HOW A MINSTREL CAME + + XVIII HOW THEY CRIED QUITS + + XIX HOW FLAMBERGE WAS LOST + + XX HOW PERION GOT AID + + +PART FOUR--AHASUERUS + + XXI HOW DEMETRIOS HELD HIS CHATTEL + + XXII HOW MISERY HELD NACUMERA. + + XXIII HOW DEMETRIOS CRIED FAREWELL + + XXIV HOW ORESTES RULED + + XXV HOW WOMEN TALKED TOGETHER + + XXVI HOW MEN ORDERED MATTERS + + XXVII HOW AHASUERUS WAS CANDID + +XXVIII HOW PERION SAW MELICENT + + XXIX HOW A BARGAIN WAS CRIED + + XXX HOW MELICENT CONQUERED + +THE AFTERWORD + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + +A Preface + +By +Joseph Hergesheimer + + +It would be absorbing to discover the present feminine attitude toward +the profoundest compliment ever paid women by the heart and mind of men +in league--the worshipping devotion conceived by Plato and elevated to +a living faith in mediaeval France. Through that renaissance of a +sublimated passion _domnei_ was regarded as a throne of alabaster by +the chosen figures of its service: Melicent, at Bellegarde, waiting for +her marriage with King Theodoret, held close an image of Perion made of +substance that time was powerless to destroy; and which, in a life of +singular violence, where blood hung scarlet before men's eyes like a +tapestry, burned in a silver flame untroubled by the fate of her body. +It was, to her, a magic that kept her inviolable, perpetually, in spite +of marauding fingers, a rose in the blanched perfection of its early +flowering. + +The clearest possible case for that religion was that it transmuted the +individual subject of its adoration into the deathless splendor of a +Madonna unique and yet divisible in a mirage of earthly loveliness. It +was heaven come to Aquitaine, to the Courts of Love, in shapes of vivid +fragrant beauty, with delectable hair lying gold on white samite worked +in borders of blue petals. It chose not abstractions for its faith, but +the most desirable of all actual--yes, worldly--incentives: the sister, +it might be, of Count Emmerick of Poictesme. And, approaching beatitude +not so much through a symbol of agony as by the fragile grace of a +woman, raising Melicent to the stars, it fused, more completely than in +any other aspiration, the spirit and the flesh. + +However, in its contact, its lovers' delight, it was no more than a +slow clasping and unclasping of the hands; the spirit and flesh, +merged, became spiritual; the height of stars was not a figment.... +Here, since the conception of _domnei_ has so utterly vanished, the +break between the ages impassable, the sympathy born of understanding +is interrupted. Hardly a woman, to-day, would value a sigh the passion +which turned a man steadfastly away that he might be with her forever +beyond the parched forest of death. Now such emotion is held strictly +to the gains, the accountability, of life's immediate span; women have +left their cloudy magnificence for a footing on earth; but--at least in +warm graceful youth--their dreams are still of a Perion de la Foret. +These, clear-eyed, they disavow; yet their secret desire, the most +Elysian of all hopes, to burn at once with the body and the soul, mocks +what they find. + +That vision, dominating Mr. Cabell's pages, the record of his revealed +idealism, brings specially to _Domnei_ a beauty finely escaping the +dusty confusion of any present. It is a book laid in a purity, a +serenity, of space above the vapors, the bigotry and engendered spite, +of dogma and creed. True to yesterday, it will be faithful of +to-morrow; for, in the evolution of humanity, not necessarily the turn +of a wheel upward, certain qualities have remained at the center, +undisturbed. And, of these, none is more fixed than an abstract love. + +Different in men than in women, it is, for the former, an instinct, a +need, to serve rather than be served: their desire is for a shining +image superior, at best, to both lust and maternity. This +consciousness, grown so dim that it is scarcely perceptible, yet still +alive, is not extinguished with youth, but lingers hopeless of +satisfaction through the incongruous years of middle age. There is +never a man, gifted to any degree with imagination, but eternally +searches for an ultimate loveliness not disappearing in the circle of +his embrace--the instinctively Platonic gesture toward the only +immortality conceivable in terms of ecstasy. + +A truth, now, in very low esteem! With the solidification of society, +of property, the bond of family has been tremendously exalted, the mere +fact of parenthood declared the last sanctity. Together with this, +naturally, the persistent errantry of men, so vulgarly misunderstood, +has become only a reprehensible paradox. The entire shelf of James +Branch Cabell's books, dedicated to an unquenchable masculine idealism, +has, as well, a paradoxical place in an age of material sentimentality. +Compared with the novels of the moment, _Domnei_ is an isolated, a +heroic fragment of a vastly deeper and higher structure. And, of its +many aspects, it is not impossible that the highest, rising over even +its heavenly vision, is the rare, the simple, fortitude of its +statement. + +Whatever dissent the philosophy of Perion and Melicent may breed, no +one can fail to admire the steady courage with which it is upheld. +Aside from its special preoccupation, such independence in the face of +ponderable threat, such accepted isolation, has a rare stability in a +world treacherous with mental quicksands and evasions. This is a valor +not drawn from insensibility, but from the sharpest possible +recognition of all the evil and Cyclopean forces in existence, and a +deliberate engagement of them on their own ground. Nothing more, in +that direction, can be asked of Mr. Cabell, of anyone. While about the +story itself, the soul of Melicent, the form and incidental writing, it +is no longer necessary to speak. + +The pages have the rich sparkle of a past like stained glass called to +life: the Confraternity of St. Medard presenting their masque of +Hercules; the claret colored walls adorned with gold cinquefoils of +Demetrios' court; his pavilion with porticoes of Andalusian copper; +Theodoret's capital, Megaris, ruddy with bonfires; the free port of +Narenta with its sails spread for the land of pagans; the +lichen-incrusted glade in the Forest of Columbiers; gardens with the +walks sprinkled with crocus and vermilion and powdered mica ... all are +at once real and bright with unreality, rayed with the splendor of an +antiquity built from webs and films of imagined wonder. The past is, at +its moment, the present, and that lost is valueless. Distilled by time, +only an imperishable romantic conception remains; a vision, where it is +significant, animated by the feelings, the men and women, which only, +at heart, are changeless. + +They, the surcharged figures of _Domnei_, move vividly through their +stone galleries and closes, in procession, and--a far more difficult +accomplishment--alone. The lute of the Bishop of Montors, playing as he +rides in scarlet, sounds its Provencal refrain; the old man Theodoret, +a king, sits shabbily between a prie-dieu and the tarnished hangings of +his bed; Melusine, with the pale frosty hair of a child, spins the +melancholy of departed passion; Ahasuerus the Jew buys Melicent for a +hundred and two minae and enters her room past midnight for his act of +abnegation. And at the end, looking, perhaps, for a mortal woman, +Perion finds, in a flesh not unscarred by years, the rose beyond +destruction, the high silver flame of immortal happiness. + +So much, then, everything in the inner questioning of beings condemned +to a glimpse of remote perfection, as though the sky had opened on a +city of pure bliss, transpires in _Domnei_; while the fact that it is +laid in Poictesme sharpens the thrust of its illusion. It is by that +much the easier of entry; it borders--rather than on the clamor of +mills--on the reaches men explore, leaving' weariness and dejection for +fancy--a geography for lonely sensibilities betrayed by chance into the +blind traps, the issueless barrens, of existence. + +JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER. + + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +_And Norman_ Nicolas _at hearte meant +(Pardie!) some subtle occupation +In making of his Tale of Melicent, +That stubbornly desired Perion. +What perils for to rollen up and down, +So long process, so many a sly cautel, +For to obtain a silly damosel!_ + +--THOMAS UPCLIFFE. + + +Nicolas de Caen, one of the most eminent of the early French writers of +romance, was born at Caen in Normandy early in the 15th century, and +was living in 1470. Little is known of his life, apart from the fact +that a portion of his youth was spent in England, where he was +connected in some minor capacity with the household of the Queen +Dowager, Joan of Navarre. In later life, from the fact that two of his +works are dedicated to Isabella of Portugal, third wife to Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, it is conjectured that Nicolas was attached to +the court of that prince . . . . Nicolas de Caen was not greatly +esteemed nor highly praised by his contemporaries, or by writers of the +century following, but latterly has received the recognition due to his +unusual qualities of invention and conduct of narrative, together with +his considerable knowledge of men and manners, and occasional +remarkable modernity of thought. His books, therefore, apart from the +interest attached to them as specimens of early French romance, and in +spite of the difficulties and crudities of the unformed language in +which they are written, are still readable, and are rich in instructive +detail concerning the age that gave them birth . . . . Many romances +are attributed to Nicolas de Caen. Modern criticism has selected four +only as undoubtedly his. These are--(1) _Les Aventures d'Adhelmar de +Nointel_, a metrical romance, plainly of youthful composition, +containing some seven thousand verses; (2) _Le Roy Amaury_, well known +to English students in Watson's spirited translation; (3) _Le Roman de +Lusignan_, a re-handling of the Melusina myth, most of which is wholly +lost; (4) _Le Dizain des Reines_, a collection of quasi-historical +_novellino_ interspersed with lyrics. Six other romances are known to +have been written by Nicolas, but these have perished; and he is +credited with the authorship of _Le Cocu Rouge_, included by Hinsauf, +and of several Ovidian translations or imitations still unpublished. +The Satires formerly attributed to him Buelg has shown to be spurious +compositions of 17th century origin. + +--E. Noel Codman, +_Handbook of Literary Pioneers._ + +Nicolas de Caen est un representant agreable, naif, et expressif de cet +age que nous aimons a nous representer de loin comme l'age d'or du bon +vieux temps ... Nicolas croyait a son Roy et a sa Dame, il croyait +surtout a son Dieu. Nicolas sentait que le monde etait seme a chaque +pas d'obscurites et d'embuches, et que l'inconnu etait partout; partout +aussi etait le protecteur invisible et le soutien; a chaque souffle qui +fremissait, Nicolas croyait le sentir comme derriere le rideau. Le ciel +par-dessus ce Nicolas de Caen etait ouvert, peuple en chaque point de +figures vivantes, de patrons attentifs et manifestes, d'une invocation +directe. Le plus intrepide guerrier alors marchait dans un melange +habituel de crainte et de confiance, comme un tout petit enfant. A +cette vue, les esprits les plus emancipes d'aujourd'hui ne sauraient +s'empecher de crier, en temperant leur sourire par le respect: _Sancta +simplicitas!_ + +--Paul Verville, +_Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen._ + + + + +THE ARGUMENT + +_"Of how, through Woman-Worship, knaves compound +With honoure; Kings reck not of their domaine; +Proud Pontiffs sigh; & War-men world-renownd, +Toe win one Woman, all things else disdaine: +Since Melicent doth in herselfe contayne +All this world's Riches that may farre be found. + +"If Saphyres ye desire, her eies are plaine; +If Rubies, loe, hir lips be Rubyes sound; +If Pearles, hir teeth be Pearles, both pure & round; +If Yvorie, her forehead Yvory weene; +If Gold, her locks with finest Gold abound; +If Silver, her faire hands have Silver's sheen. + +"Yet that which fayrest is, but Few beholde, +Her Soul adornd with vertues manifold."_ + +--SIR WILLIAM ALLONBY. + + +THE ROMANCE OF LUSIGNAN OF +THAT FORGOTTEN MAKER IN THE +FRENCH TONGUE, MESSIRE NICOLAS +DE CAEN. HERE BEGINS THE TALE +WHICH THEY OF POICTESME NARRATE +CONCERNING DAME MELICENT, +THAT WAS DAUGHTER TO +THE GREAT COUNT MANUEL. + + + + + +PART ONE + + +PERION +_How Perion, that stalwart was and gay, +Treadeth with sorrow on a holiday, +Since Melicent anon must wed a king: +How in his heart he hath vain love-longing, +For which he putteth life in forfeiture, +And would no longer in such wise endure; +For writhing Perion in Venus' fire +So burneth that he dieth for desire._ + + + + +1. + + +_How Perion Was Unmasked_ + +Perion afterward remembered the two weeks spent at Bellegarde as in +recovery from illness a person might remember some long fever dream +which was all of an intolerable elvish brightness and of incessant +laughter everywhere. They made a deal of him in Count Emmerick's +pleasant home: day by day the outlaw was thrust into relations of mirth +with noblemen, proud ladies, and even with a king; and was all the +while half lightheaded through his singular knowledge as to how +precariously the self-styled Vicomte de Puysange now balanced himself, +as it were, upon a gilded stepping-stone from infamy to oblivion. + +Now that King Theodoret had withdrawn his sinister presence, young +Perion spent some seven hours of every day alone, to all intent, with +Dame Melicent. There might be merry people within a stone's throw, +about this recreation or another, but these two seemed to watch +aloofly, as royal persons do the antics of their hired comedians, +without any condescension into open interest. They were together; and +the jostle of earthly happenings might hope, at most, to afford them +matter for incurious comment. + +They sat, as Perion thought, for the last time together, part of an +audience before which the Confraternity of St. Medard was enacting a +masque of _The Birth of Hercules_. The Bishop of Montors had returned +to Bellegarde that evening with his brother, Count Gui, and the +pleasure-loving prelate had brought these mirth-makers in his train. +Clad in scarlet, he rode before them playing upon a lute--unclerical +conduct which shocked his preciser brother and surprised nobody. + +In such circumstances Perion began to speak with an odd purpose, +because his reason was bedrugged by the beauty and purity of Melicent, +and perhaps a little by the slow and clutching music to whose progress +the chorus of Theban virgins was dancing. When he had made an end of +harsh whispering, Melicent sat for a while in scrupulous appraisement +of the rushes. The music was so sweet it seemed to Perion he must go +mad unless she spoke within the moment. + +Then Melicent said: + +"You tell me you are not the Vicomte de Puysange. You tell me you are, +instead, the late King Helmas' servitor, suspected of his murder. You +are the fellow that stole the royal jewels--the outlaw for whom half +Christendom is searching--" + +Thus Melicent began to speak at last; and still he could not intercept +those huge and tender eyes whose purple made the thought of heaven +comprehensible. + +The man replied: + +"I am that widely hounded Perion of the Forest. The true vicomte is the +wounded rascal over whose delirium we marvelled only last Tuesday. Yes, +at the door of your home I attacked him, fought him--hah, but fairly, +madame!--and stole his brilliant garments and with them his papers. +Then in my desperate necessity I dared to masquerade. For I know enough +about dancing to estimate that to dance upon air must necessarily prove +to everybody a disgusting performance, but pre-eminently unpleasing to +the main actor. Two weeks of safety till the _Tranchemer_ sailed I +therefore valued at a perhaps preposterous rate. To-night, as I have +said, the ship lies at anchor off Manneville." + +Melicent said an odd thing, asking, "Oh, can it be you are a less +despicable person than you are striving to appear!" + +"Rather, I am a more unmitigated fool than even I suspected, since when +affairs were in a promising train I have elected to blurt out, of all +things, the naked and distasteful truth. Proclaim it now; and see the +late Vicomte de Puysange lugged out of this hall and after appropriate +torture hanged within the month." And with that Perion laughed. + +Thereafter he was silent. As the masque went, Amphitryon had newly +returned from warfare, and was singing under Alcmena's window in the +terms of an aubade, a waking-song. "_Rei glorios, verais lums e +clardatz--" Amphitryon had begun. Dame Melicent heard him through. + +And after many ages, as it seemed to Perion, the soft and brilliant and +exquisite mouth was pricked to motion. + +"You have affronted, by an incredible imposture and beyond the reach of +mercy, every listener in this hall. You have injured me most deeply of +all persons here. Yet it is to me alone that you confess." + +Perion leaned forward. You are to understand that, through the +incurrent necessities of every circumstance, each of them spoke in +whispers, even now. It was curious to note the candid mirth on either +side. Mercury was making his adieux to Alcmena's waiting-woman in the +middle of a jig. + +"But you," sneered Perion, "are merciful in all things. Rogue that I +am, I dare to build on this notorious fact. I am snared in a hard +golden trap, I cannot get a guide to Manneville, I cannot even procure +a horse from Count Emmerick's stables without arousing fatal +suspicions; and I must be at Manneville by dawn or else be hanged. +Therefore I dare stake all upon one throw; and you must either save or +hang me with unwashed hands. As surely as God reigns, my future rests +with you. And as I am perfectly aware, you could not live comfortably +with a gnat's death upon your conscience. Eh, am I not a seasoned +rascal?" + +"Do not remind me now that you are vile," said Melicent. "Ah, no, not +now!" + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" he sternly answered. "There you have the +catalogue of all my rightful titles. And besides, it pleases me, for a +reason I cannot entirely fathom, to be unpardonably candid and to fling +my destiny into your lap. To-night, as I have said, the _Tranchemer_ +lies off Manneville; keep counsel, get me a horse if you will, and +to-morrow I am embarked for desperate service under the harried Kaiser +of the Greeks, and for throat-cuttings from which I am not likely ever +to return. Speak, and I hang before the month is up." + +Dame Melicent looked at him now, and within the moment Perion was +repaid, and bountifully, for every folly and misdeed of his entire +life. + +"What harm have I ever done you, Messire de la Foret, that you should +shame me in this fashion? Until to-night I was not unhappy in the +belief I was loved by you. I may say that now without paltering, since +you are not the man I thought some day to love. You are but the rind of +him. And you would force me to cheat justice, to become a hunted +thief's accomplice, or else to murder you!" + +"It comes to that, madame." + +"Then I must help you preserve your life by any sorry stratagems you +may devise. I shall not hinder you. I will procure you a guide to +Manneville. I will even forgive you all save one offence, since +doubtless heaven made you the foul thing you are." The girl was in a +hot and splendid rage. "For you love me. Women know. You love me. You!" + +"Undoubtedly, madame." + +"Look into my face! and say what horrid writ of infamy you fancied was +apparent there, that my nails may destroy it." + +"I am all base," he answered, "and yet not so profoundly base as you +suppose. Nay, believe me, I had never hoped to win even such scornful +kindness as you might accord your lapdog. I have but dared to peep at +heaven while I might, and only as lost Dives peeped. Ignoble as I am, I +never dreamed to squire an angel down toward the mire and filth which +is henceforward my inevitable kennel." + +"The masque is done," said Melicent, "and yet you talk, and talk, and +talk, and mimic truth so cunningly--Well, I will send some trusty +person to you. And now, for God's sake!--nay, for the fiend's love who +is your patron!--let me not ever see you again, Messire de la Foret." + + + + +2. + + +_How the Vicomte Was Very Gay_ + +There was dancing afterward and a sumptuous supper. The Vicomte de +Puysange was generally accounted that evening the most excellent of +company. He mingled affably with the revellers and found a prosperous +answer for every jest they broke upon the projected marriage of Dame +Melicent and King Theodoret; and meanwhile hugged the reflection that +half the realm was hunting Perion de la Foret in the more customary +haunts of rascality. The springs of Perion's turbulent mirth were that +to-morrow every person in the room would discover how impudently every +person had been tricked, and that Melicent deliberated even now, and +could not but admire, the hunted outlaw's insolence, however much she +loathed its perpetrator; and over this thought in particular Perion +laughed like a madman. + +"You are very gay to-night, Messire de Puysange," said the Bishop of +Montors. + +This remarkable young man, it is necessary to repeat, had reached +Bellegarde that evening, coming from Brunbelois. It was he (as you have +heard) who had arranged the match with Theodoret. The bishop himself +loved his cousin Melicent; but, now that he was in holy orders and +possession of her had become impossible, he had cannily resolved to +utilise her beauty, as he did everything else, toward his own +preferment. + +"Oh, sir," replied Perion, "you who are so fine a poet must surely know +that _gay_ rhymes with _to-day_ as patly as _sorrow_ goes with +_to-morrow_." + +"Yet your gay laughter, Messire de Puysange, is after all but breath: +and _breath_ also"--the bishop's sharp eyes fixed Perion's--"has a +hackneyed rhyme." + +"Indeed, it is the grim rhyme that rounds off and silences all our +rhyming," Perion assented. "I must laugh, then, without rhyme or +reason." + +Still the young prelate talked rather oddly. "But," said he, "you have +an excellent reason, now that you sup so near to heaven." And his +glance at Melicent did not lack pith. + +"No, no, I have quite another reason," Perion answered; "it is that +to-morrow I breakfast in hell." + +"Well, they tell me the landlord of that place is used to cater to each +according to his merits," the bishop, shrugging, returned. + +And Perion thought how true this was when, at the evening's end, he was +alone in his own room. His life was tolerably secure. He trusted +Ahasuerus the Jew to see to it that, about dawn, one of the ship's +boats would touch at Fomor Beach near Manneville, according to their +old agreement. Aboard the _Tranchemer_ the Free Companions awaited +their captain; and the savage land they were bound for was a thought +beyond the reach of a kingdom's lamentable curiosity concerning the +whereabouts of King Helmas' treasure. The worthless life of Perion was +safe. + +For worthless, and far less than worthless, life seemed to Perion as he +thought of Melicent and waited for her messenger. He thought of her +beauty and purity and illimitable loving-kindness toward every person +in the world save only Perion of the Forest. He thought of how clean +she was in every thought and deed; of that, above all, he thought, and +he knew that he would never see her any more. + +"Oh, but past any doubting," said Perion, "the devil caters to each +according to his merits." + + + + +3. + + +_How Melicent Wooed_ + +Then Perion knew that vain regret had turned his brain, very certainly, +for it seemed the door had opened and Dame Melicent herself had come, +warily, into the panelled gloomy room. It seemed that Melicent paused +in the convulsive brilliancy of the firelight, and stayed thus with +vaguely troubled eyes like those of a child newly wakened from sleep. + +And it seemed a long while before she told Perion very quietly that she +had confessed all to Ayrart de Montors, and had, by reason of de +Montors' love for her, so goaded and allured the outcome of their +talk--"ignobly," as she said,--that a clean-handed gentleman would come +at three o'clock for Perion de la Foret, and guide a thief toward +unmerited impunity. All this she spoke quite levelly, as one reads +aloud from a book; and then, with a signal change of voice, Melicent +said: "Yes, that is true enough. Yet why, in reality, do you think I +have in my own person come to tell you of it?" + +"Madame, I may not guess. Hah, indeed, indeed," Perion cried, because +he knew the truth and was unspeakably afraid, "I dare not guess!" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea----" she began, but her +sweet voice trailed and died into silence. He heard the crepitations of +the fire, and even the hurried beatings of his own heart, as against a +terrible and lovely hush of all created life. "Then take me with you." + +Perion had never any recollection of what he answered. Indeed, he +uttered no communicative words, but only foolish babblements. + +"Oh, I do not understand," said Melicent. "It is as though some spell +were laid upon me. Look you, I have been cleanly reared, I have never +wronged any person that I know of, and throughout my quiet, sheltered +life I have loved truth and honour most of all. My judgment grants you +to be what you are confessedly. And there is that in me more masterful +and surer than my judgment, that which seems omniscient and lightly +puts aside your confessings as unimportant." + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" young Perion answered. "There you have +the catalogue of all my rightful titles fairly earned." + +"And even if I believed you, I think I would not care! Is that not +strange? For then I should despise you. And even then, I think, I would +fling my honour at your feet, as I do now, and but in part with +loathing, I would still entreat you to make of me your wife, your +servant, anything that pleased you . . . . Oh, I had thought that when +love came it would be sweet!" + +Strangely quiet, in every sense, he answered: + +"It is very sweet. I have known no happier moment in my life. For you +stand within arm's reach, mine to touch, mine to possess and do with as +I elect. And I dare not lift a finger. I am as a man that has lain for +a long while in a dungeon vainly hungering for the glad light of +day--who, being freed at last, must hide his eyes from the dear +sunlight he dare not look upon as yet. Ho, I am past speech unworthy of +your notice! and I pray you now speak harshly with me, madame, for when +your pure eyes regard me kindly, and your bright and delicate lips have +come thus near to mine, I am so greatly tempted and so happy that I +fear lest heaven grow jealous!" + +"Be not too much afraid--" she murmured. + +"Nay, should I then be bold? and within the moment wake Count Emmerick +to say to him, very boldly, 'Beau sire, the thief half Christendom is +hunting has the honour to request your sister's hand in marriage'?" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea. Take me with you." + +"Indeed the feat would be worthy of me. For you are a lady tenderly +nurtured and used to every luxury the age affords. There comes to woo +you presently an excellent and potent monarch, not all unworthy of your +love, who will presently share with you many happy and honourable +years. Yonder is a lawless naked wilderness where I and my fellow +desperadoes hope to cheat offended justice and to preserve +thrice-forfeited lives in savagery. You bid me aid you to go into this +country, never to return! Madame, if I obeyed you, Satan would protest +against pollution of his ageless fires by any soul so filthy." + +"You talk of little things, whereas I think of great things. Love is +not sustained by palatable food alone, and is not served only by those +persons who go about the world in satin." + +"Then take the shameful truth. It is undeniable I swore I loved you, +and with appropriate gestures, too. But, dompnedex, madame! I am past +master in these specious ecstasies, for somehow I have rarely seen the +woman who had not some charm or other to catch my heart with. I confess +now that you alone have never quickened it. My only purpose was through +hyperbole to wheedle you out of a horse, and meanwhile to have my +recreation, you handsome jade!--and that is all you ever meant to me. I +swear to you that is all, all, all!" sobbed Perion, for it appeared +that he must die. "I have amused myself with you, I have abominably +tricked you--" + +Melicent only waited with untroubled eyes which seemed to plumb his +heart and to appraise all which Perion had ever thought or longed for +since the day that Perion was born; and she was as beautiful, it seemed +to him, as the untroubled, gracious angels are, and more compassionate. + +"Yes," Perion said, "I am trying to lie to you. And even at lying I +fail." + +She said, with a wonderful smile: + +"Assuredly there were never any other persons so mad as we. For I must +do the wooing, as though you were the maid, and all the while you +rebuff me and suffer so that I fear to look on you. Men say you are no +better than a highwayman; you confess yourself to be a thief: and I +believe none of your accusers. Perion de la Foret," said Melicent, and +ballad-makers have never shaped a phrase wherewith to tell you of her +voice, "I know that you have dabbled in dishonour no more often than an +archangel has pilfered drying linen from a hedgerow. I do not guess, +for my hour is upon me, and inevitably I know! and there is nothing +dares to come between us now." + +"Nay,--ho, and even were matters as you suppose them, without any +warrant,--there is at least one silly stumbling knave that dares as +much. Saith he: 'What is the most precious thing in the world?--Why, +assuredly, Dame Melicent's welfare. Let me get the keeping of it, then. +For I have been entrusted with a host of common priceless things--with +youth and vigour and honour, with a clean conscience and a child's +faith, and so on--and no person alive has squandered them more +gallantly. So heartward ho! and trust me now, my timorous yoke-fellow, +to win and squander also the chiefest jewel of the world.' Eh, thus he +chuckles and nudges me, with wicked whisperings. Indeed, madame, this +rascal that shares equally in my least faculty is a most pitiful, +ignoble rogue! and he has aforetime eked out our common livelihood by +such practices as your unsullied imagination could scarcely depicture. +Until I knew you I had endured him. But you have made of him a horror. +A horror, a horror! a thing too pitiful for hell!" + +Perion turned away from her, groaning. He flung himself into a chair. +He screened his eyes as if before some physical abomination. + +The girl kneeled close to him, touching him. + +"My dear, my dear! then slay for me this other Perion of the Forest." + +And Perion laughed, not very mirthfully. + +"It is the common usage of women to ask of men this little labour, +which is a harder task than ever Hercules, that mighty-muscled king of +heathenry, achieved. Nay, I, for all my sinews, am an attested +weakling. The craft of other men I do not fear, for I have encountered +no formidable enemy save myself; but that same midnight stabber +unhorsed me long ago. I had wallowed in the mire contentedly enough +until you came.... Ah, child, child! why needed you to trouble me! for +to-night I want to be clean as you are clean, and that I may not ever +be. I am garrisoned with devils, I am the battered plaything of every +vice, and I lack the strength, and it may be, even the will, to leave +my mire. Always I have betrayed the stewardship of man and god alike +that my body might escape a momentary discomfort! And loving you as I +do, I cannot swear that in the outcome I would not betray you too, to +this same end! I cannot swear--Oh, now let Satan laugh, yet not +unpitifully, since he and I, alone, know all the reasons why I may not +swear! Hah, Madame Melicent!" cried Perion, in his great agony, "you +offer me that gift an emperor might not accept save in awed gratitude; +and I refuse it." Gently he raised her to her feet. "And now, in God's +name, go, madame, and leave the prodigal among his husks." + +"You are a very brave and foolish gentleman," she said, "who chooses to +face his own achievements without any paltering. To every man, I think, +that must be bitter work; to the woman who loves him it is impossible." + +Perion could not see her face, because he lay prone at the feet of +Melicent, sobbing, but without any tears, and tasting very deeply of +such grief and vain regret as, he had thought, they know in hell alone; +and even after she had gone, in silence, he lay in this same posture +for an exceedingly long while. + +And after he knew not how long a while, Perion propped his chin between +his hands and, still sprawling upon the rushes, stared hard into the +little, crackling fire. He was thinking of a Perion de la Foret that +once had been. In him might have been found a fit mate for Melicent had +this boy not died very long ago. + +It is no more cheerful than any other mortuary employment, this +disinterment of the person you have been, and are not any longer; and +so did Perion find his cataloguing of irrevocable old follies and +evasions. + +Then Perion arose and looked for pen and ink. It was the first letter +he ever wrote to Melicent, and, as you will presently learn, she never +saw it. + +In such terms Perion wrote: + +"Madame--It may please you to remember that when Dame Melusine and I +were interrogated, I freely confessed to the murder of King Helmas and +the theft of my dead master's jewels. In that I lied. For it was my +manifest duty to save the woman whom, as I thought, I loved, and it was +apparent that the guilty person was either she or I. + +"She is now at Brunbelois, where, as I have heard, the splendour of her +estate is tolerably notorious. I have not ever heard she gave a thought +to me, her cat's-paw. Madame, when I think of you and then of that +sleek, smiling woman, I am appalled by my own folly. I am aghast by my +long blindness as I write the words which no one will believe. To what +avail do I deny a crime which every circumstance imputed to me and my +own confession has publicly acknowledged? + +"But you, I think, will believe me. Look you, madame, I have nothing to +gain of you. I shall not ever see you any more. I go into a perilous +and an eternal banishment; and in the immediate neighbourhood of death +a man finds little sustenance for romance. Take the worst of me: a +gentleman I was born, and as a wastrel I have lived, and always very +foolishly; but without dishonour. I have never to my knowledge--and God +judge me as I speak the truth!--wronged any man or woman save myself. +My dear, believe me! believe me, in spite of reason! and understand +that my adoration and misery and unworthiness when I think of you are +such as I cannot measure, and afford me no judicious moment wherein to +fashion lies. For I shall not see you any more. + +"I thank you, madame, for your all-unmerited kindnesses, and, oh, I +pray you to believe!" + + + + +4. + + +_How the Bishop Aided Perion_ + +Then at three o'clock, as Perion supposed, someone tapped upon the +door. Perion went out into the corridor, which was now unlighted, so +that he had to hold to the cloak of Ayrart de Montors as the young +prelate guided Perion through the complexities of unfamiliar halls and +stairways into an inhospitable night. There were ready two horses, and +presently the men were mounted and away. + +Once only Perion shifted in the saddle to glance back at Bellegarde, +black and formless against an empty sky; and he dared not look again, +for the thought of her that lay awake in the Marshal's Tower, so near +at hand as yet, was like a dagger. With set teeth he followed in the +wake of his taciturn companion. The bishop never spoke save to growl +out some direction. + +Thus they came to Manneville and, skirting the town, came to Fomor +Beach, a narrow sandy coast. It was dark in this place and very still +save for the encroachment of the tide. Yonder were four little lights, +lazily heaving with the water's motion, to show them where the +_Tranchemer_ lay at anchor. It did not seem to Perion that anything +mattered. + +"It will be nearing dawn by this," he said. + +"Ay," Ayrart de Montors said, very briefly; and his tone evinced his +willingness to dispense with further conversation. Perion of the Forest +was an unclean thing which the bishop must touch in his necessity, but +could touch with loathing only, as a thirsty man takes a fly out of his +drink. Perion conceded it, because nothing would ever matter any more; +and so, the horses tethered, they sat upon the sand in utter silence +for the space of a half hour. + +A bird cried somewhere, just once, and with a start Perion knew the +night was not quite so murky as it had been, for he could now see a +broken line of white, where the tide crept up and shattered and ebbed. +Then in a while a light sank tipsily to the water's level and presently +was bobbing in the darkness, apart from those other lights, and it was +growing in size and brilliancy. + +Said Perion, "They have sent out the boat." + +"Ay," the bishop answered, as before. + +A sort of madness came upon Perion, and it seemed that he must weep, +because everything fell out so very ill in this world. + +"Messire de Montors, you have aided me. I would be grateful if you +permitted it." + +De Montors spoke at last, saying crisply: + +"Gratitude, I take it, forms no part of the bargain. I am the kinsman +of Dame Melicent. It makes for my interest and for the honour of our +house that the man whose rooms she visits at night be got out of +Poictesme--" + +Said Perion, "You speak in this fashion of the most lovely lady God has +made--of her whom the world adores!" + +"Adores!" the bishop answered, with a laugh; "and what poor gull am I +to adore an attested wanton?" Then, with a sneer, he spoke of Melicent, +and in such terms as are not bettered by repetition. + +Perion said: + +"I am the most unhappy man alive, as surely as you are the most +ungenerous. For, look you, in my presence you have spoken infamy of +Dame Melicent, though knowing I am in your debt so deeply that I have +not the right to resent anything you may elect to say. You have just +given me my life; and armoured by the fire-new obligation, you +blaspheme an angel, you condescend to buffet a fettered man--" + +But with that his sluggish wits had spied an honest way out of the +imbroglio. + +Perion said then, "Draw, messire! for, as God lives, I may yet +repurchase, at this eleventh hour, the privilege of destroying you." + +"Heyday! but here is an odd evincement of gratitude!" de Montors +retorted; "and though I am not particularly squeamish, let me tell you, +my fine fellow, I do not ordinarily fight with lackeys." + +"Nor are you fit to do so, messire. Believe me, there is not a lackey +in this realm--no, not a cut-purse, nor any pander--who would not in +meeting you upon equal footing degrade himself. For you have slandered +that which is most perfect in the world; yet lies, Messire de Montors, +have short legs; and I design within the hour to insure the calumny +against an echo." + +"Rogue, I have given you your very life within the hour--" + +"The fact is undeniable. Thus I must fling the bounty back to you, so +that we sorry scoundrels may meet as equals." Perion wheeled toward the +boat, which was now within the reach of wading. "Who is among you? +Gaucelm, Roger, Jean Britauz--" He found the man he sought. "Ahasuerus, +the captain that was to have accompanied the Free Companions oversea is +of another mind. I cede my leadership to Landry de Bonnay. You will +have the kindness to inform him of the unlooked-for change, and to +tender your new captain every appropriate regret and the dying +felicitations of Perion de la Foret." + +He bowed toward the landward twilight, where the sand hillocks were +taking form. + +"Messire de Montors, we may now resume our vigil. When yonder vessel +sails there will be no conceivable happening that can keep breath +within my body two weeks longer. I shall be quit of every debt to you. +You will then fight with a man already dead if you so elect; but +otherwise--if you attempt to flee this place, if you decline to cross +swords with a lackey, with a convicted thief, with a suspected +murderer, I swear upon my mother's honour! I will demolish you without +compunction, as I would any other vermin." + +"Oh, brave, brave!" sneered the bishop, "to fling away your life, and +perhaps mine too, for an idle word--" But at that he fetched a sob. "How +foolish of you! and how like you!" he said, and Perion wondered at this +prelate's voice. + +"Hey, gentlemen!" cried Ayrart de Montors, "a moment if you please!" He +splashed knee-deep into the icy water, wading to the boat, where he +snatched the lantern from the Jew's hands and fetched this light +ashore. He held it aloft, so that Perion might see his face, and Perion +perceived that, by some wonder-working, the person in man's attire who +held this light aloft was Melicent. It was odd that Perion always +remembered afterward most clearly of all the loosened wisp of hair the +wind tossed about her forehead. + +"Look well upon me, Perion," said Melicent. "Look well, ruined +gentleman! look well, poor hunted vagabond! and note how proud I am. +Oh, in all things I am very proud! A little I exult in my high station +and in my wealth, and, yes, even in my beauty, for I know that I am +beautiful, but it is the chief of all my honours that you love me--and +so foolishly!" + +"You do not understand--!" cried Perion. + +"Rather I understand at last that you are in sober verity a lackey, an +impostor, and a thief, even as you said. Ay, a lackey to your honour! +an imposter that would endeavour--and, oh, so very vainly!--to +impersonate another's baseness! and a thief that has stolen another +person's punishment! I ask no questions; loving means trusting; but I +would like to kill that other person very, very slowly. I ask no +questions, but I dare to trust the man I know of, even in defiance of +that man's own voice. I dare protest the man no thief, but in all +things a madly honourable gentleman. My poor bruised, puzzled boy," said +Melicent, with an odd mirthful tenderness, "how came you to be +blundering about this miry world of ours! Only be very good for my sake +and forget the bitterness; what does it matter when there is happiness, +too?" + +He answered nothing, but it was not because of misery. + +"Come, come, will you not even help me into the boat?" said Melicent. +She, too, was glad. + + + + +5. + + +_How Melicent Wedded_ + +"That may not be, my cousin." + +It was the real Bishop of Montors who was speaking. His company, some +fifteen men in all, had ridden up while Melicent and Perion looked +seaward. The bishop was clothed, in his habitual fashion, as a +cavalier, showing in nothing as a churchman. He sat a-horseback for a +considerable while, looking down at them, smiling and stroking the +pommel of his saddle with a gold-fringed glove. It was now dawn. + +"I have been eavesdropping," the bishop said. His voice was tender, for +the young man loved his kinswoman with an affection second only to that +which he reserved for Ayrart de Montors. "Yes, I have been +eavesdropping for an instant, and through that instant I seemed to see +the heart of every woman that ever lived; and they differed only as +stars differ on a fair night in August. No woman ever loved a man +except, at bottom, as a mother loves her child: let him elect to build +a nation or to write imperishable verses or to take purses upon the +highway, and she will only smile to note how breathlessly the boy goes +about his playing; and when he comes back to her with grimier hands she +is a little sorry, and, if she think it salutary, will pretend to be +angry. Meanwhile she sets about the quickest way to cleanse him and to +heal his bruises. They are more wise than we, and at the bottom of +their hearts they pity us more stalwart folk whose grosser wits +require, to be quite sure of anything, a mere crass proof of it; and +always they make us better by indomitably believing we are better than +in reality a man can ever be." + +Now Ayrart de Montors dismounted. + +"So much for my sermon. For the rest, Messire de la Foret, I perfectly +recognised you on the day you came to Bellegarde. But I said nothing. +For that you had not murdered King Helmas, as is popularly reported, I +was certain, inasmuch as I happen to know he is now at Brunbelois, +where Dame Melusine holds his person and his treasury. A terrible, +delicious woman! begotten on a water-demon, people say. I ask no +questions. She is a close and useful friend to me, and through her aid +I hope to go far. You see that I am frank. It is my nature." The bishop +shrugged. "In a phrase, I accepted the Vicomte de Puysange, although it +was necessary, of course, to keep an eye upon your comings in and your +goings out, as you now see. And until this the imposture amused me. But +this"--his hand waved toward the _Tranchemer_--"this, my fair friends, +is past a jest." + +"You talk and talk," cried Perion, "while I reflect that I love the +fairest lady who at any time has had life upon earth." + +"The proof of your affection," the bishop returned, "is, if you will +permit the observation, somewhat extraordinary. For you propose, I +gather, to make of her a camp-follower, a soldier's drab. Come, come, +messire! you and I are conversant with warfare as it is. Armies do not +conduct encounters by throwing sugar-candy at one another. What home +have you, a landless man, to offer Melicent? What place is there for +Melicent among your Free Companions?" + +"Oh, do I not know that!" said Perion. He turned to Melicent, and long +and long they gazed upon each other. + +"Ignoble as I am," said Perion, "I never dreamed to squire an angel +down toward the mire and filth which for a while as yet must be my +kennel. I go. I go alone. Do you bid me return?" + +The girl was perfectly calm. She took a ring of diamonds from her hand, +and placed it on his little finger, because the others were too large. + +"While life endures I pledge you faith and service, Perion. There is no +need to speak of love." + +"There is no need," he answered. "Oh, does God think that I will live +without you!" + +"I suppose they will give me to King Theodoret. The terrible old man +has set my body as the only price that will buy him off from ravaging +Poictesme, and he is stronger in the field than Emmerick. Emmerick is +afraid of him, and Ayrart here has need of the King's friendship in +order to become a cardinal. So my kinsmen must make traffic of my eyes +and lips and hair. But first I wed you, Perion, here in the sight of +God, and I bid you return to me, who am your wife and servitor for ever +now, whatever lesser men may do." + +"I will return," he said. + +Then in a little while she withdrew her lips from his lips. + + +"Cover my face, Ayrart. It may be I shall weep presently. Men must not +see the wife of Perion weep. Cover my face, for he is going now, and I +cannot watch his going." + + + + + +PART TWO + + +MELICENT + +_Of how through love is Melicent upcast +Under a heathen castle at the last: +And how a wicked lord of proud degree, +Demetrios, dwelleth in this country, +Where humbled under him are all mankind: +How to this wretched woman he hath mind, +That fallen is in pagan lands alone, +In point to die, as presently is shown._ + + + + +6. + + +_How Melicent Sought Oversea_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how love began +between Perion of the Forest, who was a captain of mercenaries, and +young Melicent, who was daughter to the great Dom Manuel, and sister to +Count Emmerick of Poictesme. They tell also how Melicent and Perion +were parted, because there was no remedy, and policy demanded she +should wed King Theodoret. + +And the tale tells how Perion sailed with his retainers to seek +desperate service under the harried Kaiser of the Greeks. + +This venture was ill-fated, since, as the Free Companions were passing +not far from Masillia, their vessel being at the time becalmed, they +were attacked by three pagan galleys under the admiralty of the +proconsul Demetrios. Perion's men, who fought so hardily on land, were +novices at sea. They were powerless against an adversary who, from a +great distance, showered liquid fire upon their vessel. + +Then Demetrios sent little boats and took some thirty prisoners from +the blazing ship, and made slaves of all save Ahasuerus the Jew, whom +he released on being informed of the lean man's religion. It was a +customary boast of this Demetrios that he made war on Christians only. + +And presently, as Perion had commanded, Ahasuerus came to Melicent. + +The princess sat in a high chair, the back of which was capped with a +big lion's head in brass. It gleamed above her head, but was less +glorious than her bright hair. + +Ahasuerus made dispassionate report. "Thus painfully I have delivered, +as my task was, these fine messages concerning Faith and Love and Death +and so on. Touching their rationality I may reserve my own opinion. I +am merely Perion's echo. Do I echo madness? This madman was my loved +and honoured master once, a lord without any peer in the fields where +men contend in battle. To-day those sinews which preserved a throne are +dedicated to the transportation of luggage. Grant it is laughable. I do +not laugh." + +"And I lack time to weep," said Melicent. + +So, when the Jew had told his tale and gone, young Melicent arose and +went into a chamber painted with the histories of Jason and Medea, +where her brother Count Emmerick hid such jewels as had not many equals +in Christendom. + +She did not hesitate. She took no thought for her brother, she did not +remember her loved sisters: Ettarre and Dorothy were their names, and +they also suffered for their beauty, and for the desire it quickened in +the hearts of men. Melicent knew only that Perion was in captivity and +might not look for aid from any person living save herself. + +She gathered in a blue napkin such emeralds as would ransom a pope. She +cut short her marvellous hair and disguised herself in all things as a +man, and under cover of the ensuing night slipped from the castle. At +Manneville she found a Venetian ship bound homeward with a cargo of +swords and armour. + +She hired herself to the captain of this vessel as a servant, calling +herself Jocelin Gaignars. She found no time--wherein to be afraid or to +grieve for the estate she was relinquishing, so long as Perion lay in +danger. + +Thus the young Jocelin, though not without hardship and odd by-ends of +adventure here irrelevant, came with time's course into a land of +sunlight and much wickedness where Perion was. + +There the boy found in what fashion Perion was living and won the +dearly purchased misery of seeing him, from afar, in his deplorable +condition, as Perion went through the outer yard of Nacumera laden with +chains and carrying great logs toward the kitchen. This befell when +Jocelin had come into the hill country, where the eyrie of Demetrios +blocked a crag-hung valley as snugly as a stone chokes a gutter-pipe. + +Young Jocelin had begged an audience of this heathen lord and had +obtained it--though Jocelin did not know as much--with ominous +facility. + + + + +7. + + +_How Perion Was Freed_ + +Demetrios lay on a divan within the Court of Stars, through which you +passed from the fortress into the Women's Garden and the luxurious +prison where he kept his wives. This court was circular in form and was +paved with red and yellow slabs, laid alternately, like a chess-board. +In the centre was a fountain, which cast up a tall thin jet of water. A +gallery extended around the place, supported by columns that had been +painted scarlet and were gilded with fantastic designs. The walls were +of the colour of claret and were adorned with golden cinquefoils +regularly placed. From a distance they resembled stars, and so gave the +enclosure its name. + +Demetrios lay upon a long divan which was covered with crimson, and +which encircled the court entirely, save for the apertures of the two +entrances. Demetrios was of burly person, which he by ordinary, as +to-day, adorned resplendently; of a stature little above the common +size, and disproportionately broad as to his chest and shoulders. It +was rumoured that he could bore an apple through with his forefinger +and had once killed a refractory horse with a blow of his naked fist; +nor looking on the man, did you presume to question the report. His +eyes were large and insolent, coloured like onyxes; for the rest, he +had a handsome surly face which was disfigured by pimples. + +He did not speak at all while Jocelin explained that his errand was to +ransom Perion. Then, "At what price?" Demetrios said, without any sign +of interest; and Jocelin, with many encomiums, displayed his emeralds. + +"Ay, they are well enough," Demetrios agreed. "But then I have a +superfluity of jewels." + +He raised himself a little among the cushions, and in this moving the +figured golden stuff in which he was clothed heaved and glittered like +the scales of a splendid monster. He leisurely unfastened the great +chrysoberyl, big as a hen's egg, which adorned his fillet. + +"Look you, this is of a far more beautiful green than any of your +trinkets, I think it is as valuable also, because of its huge size. +Moreover, it turns red by lamplight--red as blood. That is an admirable +colour. And yet I do not value it. I think I do not value anything. So +I will make you a gift of this big coloured pebble, if you desire it, +because your ignorance amuses me. Most people know Demetrios is not a +merchant. He does not buy and sell. That which he has he keeps, and +that which he desires he takes." + +The boy was all despair. He did not speak. He was very handsome as he +stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and +gold. + +"You do not value my poor chrysoberyl? You value your friend more? It +is a page out of Theocritos--'when there were golden men of old, when +friends gave love for love.' And yet I could have sworn--Come now, a +wager," purred Demetrios. "Show your contempt of this bauble to be as +great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for +the next passer-by to pick up, and I will credit your sincerity. Do +that and I will even name my price for Perion." + +The boy obeyed him without hesitation. Turning, he saw the horrid +change in the intent eyes of Demetrios, and quailed before it. But +instantly that flare of passion flickered out. + +Demetrios gently said: + +"A bargain is a bargain. My wives are beautiful, but their caresses +annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. I have long thought it +would perhaps amuse me if I possessed a Christian wife who had eyes +like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. A man tires +very soon of ebony and amber.... Procure me such a wife and I will +willingly release this Perion and all his fellows who are yet alive." + +"But, seignior,"--and the boy was shaken now,--"you demand of me an +impossibility!" + +"I am so hardy as to think not. And my reason is that a man throws from +the elbow only, but a woman with her whole arm." + +There fell a silence now. + +"Why, look you, I deal fairly, though. Were such a woman here-- +Demetrios of Anatolia's guest--I verily believe I would not hinder her +departure, as I might easily do. For there is not a person within many +miles of this place who considers it wholesome to withstand me. Yet +were this woman purchasable, I would purchase. And--if she refused--I +would not hinder her departure; but very certainly I would put Perion +to the Torment of the Waterdrops. It is so droll to see a man go mad +before your eyes, I think that I would laugh and quite forget the +woman." + +She said, "O God, I cry to You for justice!" + +He answered: + +"My good girl, in Nacumera the wishes of Demetrios are justice. But we +waste time. You desire to purchase one of my belongings? So be it. I +will hear your offer." + +Just once her hands had gripped each other. Her arms fell now as if +they had been drained of life. She spoke in a dull voice. + +"Seignior, I offer Melicent who was a princess. I cry a price, +seignior, for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's tender body +without any blemish. I cry a price for youth and happiness and honour. +These you may have for playthings, seignior, with everything which I +possess, except my heart, for that is dead." + +Demetrios asked, "Is this true speech?" + +She answered: + +"It is as sure as Love and Death. I know that nothing is more sure than +these, and I praise God for my sure knowledge." + +He chuckled, saying, "Platitudes break no bones." + +So on the next day the chains were filed from Perion de la Foret and +all his fellows, save the nine unfortunates whom Demetrios had +appointed to fight with lions a month before this, when he had +entertained the Soldan of Bacharia. These men were bathed and perfumed +and richly clad. + +A galley of the proconsul's fleet conveyed them toward Christendom and +set the twoscore slaves of yesterday ashore not far from Megaris. The +captain of the galley on departure left with Perion a blue napkin, +wherein were wrapped large emeralds and a bit of parchment. + +Upon this parchment was written: + +"Not these, but the body of Melicent, who was once a princess, +purchased your bodies. Yet these will buy you ships and men and swords +with which to storm my house where Melicent now is. Come if you will +and fight with Demetrios of Anatolia for that brave girl who loved a +porter as all loyal men should love their Maker and customarily do not. +I think it would amuse us." + +Then Perion stood by the languid sea which +severed him from Melicent and cried: + +"O God, that hast permitted this hard bargain, trade now with me! now +barter with me, O Father of us all! That which a man has I will give." + +Thus he waited in the clear sunlight, with no more wavering in his face +than you may find in the next statue's face. Both hands strained toward +the blue sky, as though he made a vow. If so, he did not break it. + +And now no more of Perion. + + * * * * * + +At the same hour young Melicent, wrapped all about with a +flame-coloured veil and crowned with marjoram, was led by a spruce boy +toward a threshold, over which Demetrios lifted her, while many people +sang in a strange tongue. And then she paid her ransom. + +"Hymen, O Hymen!" they sang. "Do thou of many names and many temples, +golden Aphrodite, be propitious to this bridal! Now let him first +compute the glittering stars of midnight and the grasshoppers of a +summer day who would count the joys this bridal shall bring about! Hymen, +O Hymen, rejoice thou in this bridal!" + + + + +8. + + +_How Demetrios Was Amused_ + +Now Melicent abode in the house of Demetrios, whom she had not seen +since the morning after he had wedded her. A month had passed. As yet +she could not understand the language of her fellow prisoners, but +Halaon, a eunuch who had once served a cardinal in Tuscany, informed +her the proconsul was in the West Provinces, where an invading force +had landed under Ranulph de Meschines. + +A month had passed. She woke one night from dreams of Perion--what else +should women dream of?--and found the same Ahasuerus that had brought +her news of Perion's captivity, so long ago, attendant at her bedside. + +He seemed a prey to some half-scornful mirth. In speech, at least, the +man was of entire discretion. "The Splendour of the World desires your +presence, madame." Thus the Jew blandly spoke. + +She cried, aghast at so much treachery, "You had planned this!" + +He answered: + +"I plan always. Oh, certainly, I must weave always as the spider +does.... Meanwhile time passes. I, like you, am now the servitor of +Demetrios. I am his factor now at Calonak. I buy and sell. I estimate +ounces. I earn my wages. Who forbids it?" Here the Jew shrugged. "And +to conclude, the Splendour of the World desires your presence, madame." + +He seemed to get much joy of this mouth-filling periphrasis as +sneeringly he spoke of their common master. + + * * * * * + +Now Melicent, in a loose robe of green Coan stuff shot through and +through with a radiancy like that of copper, followed the thin, smiling +Jew Ahasuerus. She came thus with bare feet into the Court of Stars, +where the proconsul lay on the divan as though he had not ever moved +from there. To-night he was clothed in scarlet, and barbaric ornaments +dangled from his pierced ears. These glittered now that his head moved +a little as he silently dismissed Ahasuerus from the Court of Stars. + +Real stars were overhead, so brilliant and (it seemed) so near they +turned the fountain's jet into a spurt of melting silver. The moon was +set, but there was a flaring lamp of iron, high as a man's shoulder, +yonder where Demetrios lay. + +"Stand close to it, my wife," said the proconsul, "in order that I may +see my newest purchase very clearly." + +She obeyed him; and she esteemed the sacrifice, however unendurable, +which bought for Perion the chance to serve God and his love for her by +valorous and commendable actions to be no cause for grief. + +"I think with those old men who sat upon the walls of Troy," Demetrios +said, and he laughed because his voice had shaken a little. "Meanwhile +I have returned from crucifying a hundred of your fellow worshippers," +Demetrios continued. His speech had an odd sweetness. "Ey, yes, I +conquered at Yroga. It was a good fight. My horse's hoofs were red at +its conclusion. My surviving opponents I consider to have been +deplorable fools when they surrendered, for people die less painfully +in battle. There was one fellow, a Franciscan monk, who hung six hours +upon a palm tree, always turning his head from one side to the other. +It was amusing." + +She answered nothing. + +"And I was wondering always how I would feel were you nailed in his +place. It was curious I should have thought of you.... But your white +flesh is like the petals of a flower. I suppose it is as readily +destructible. I think you would not long endure." + +"I pray God hourly that I may not!" said tense Melicent. + +He was pleased to have wrung one cry of anguish from this lovely +effigy. He motioned her to him and laid one hand upon her naked breast. +He gave a gesture of distaste. + +Demetrios said: + +"No, you are not afraid. However, you are very beautiful. I thought +that you would please me more when your gold hair had grown a trifle +longer. There is nothing in the world so beautiful as golden hair. Its +beauty weathers even the commendation of poets." + +No power of motion seemed to be in this white girl, but certainly you +could detect no fear. Her clinging robe shone like an opal in the +lamplight, her body, only partly veiled, was enticing, and her visage +was very lovely. Her wide-open eyes implored you, but only as those of +a trapped animal beseech the mercy for which it does not really hope. +Thus Melicent waited in the clear lamplight, with no more wavering in +her face than you may find in the next statue's face. + +In the man's heart woke now some comprehension of the nature of her +love for Perion, of that high and alien madness which dared to make of +Demetrios of Anatolia's will an unavoidable discomfort, and no more. +The prospect was alluring. The proconsul began to chuckle as water +pours from a jar, and the gold in his ears twinkled. + +"Decidedly I shall get much mirth of you. Go back to your own rooms. I +had thought the world afforded no adversary and no game worthy of +Demetrios. I have found both. Therefore, go back to your own rooms," he +gently said. + + + + +9. + + +_How Time Sped in Heathenry_ + +On the next day Melicent was removed to more magnificent apartments, +and she was lodged in a lofty and spacious pavilion, which had three +porticoes builded of marble and carved teakwood and Andalusian copper. +Her rooms were spread with gold-worked carpets and hung with tapestries +and brocaded silks figured with all manner of beasts and birds in their +proper colours. Such was the girl's home now, where only happiness was +denied to her. Many slaves attended Melicent, and she lacked for +nothing in luxury and riches and things of price; and thereafter she +abode at Nacumera, to all appearances, as the favourite among the +proconsul's wives. + +It must be recorded of Demetrios that henceforth he scrupulously +demurred even to touch her. "I have purchased your body," he proudly +said, "and I have taken seizin. I find I do not care for anything which +can be purchased." + +It may be that the man was never sane; it is indisputable that the +mainspring of his least action was an inordinate pride. Here he had +stumbled upon something which made of Demetrios of Anatolia a temporary +discomfort, and which bedwarfed the utmost reach of his ill-doing into +equality with the molestations of a house-fly; and perception of this +fact worked in Demetrios like a poisonous ferment. To beg or once again +to pillage he thought equally unworthy of himself. "Let us have +patience!" It was not easily said so long as this fair Frankish woman +dared to entertain a passion which Demetrios could not comprehend, and +of which Demetrios was, and knew himself to be, incapable. + +A connoisseur of passions, he resented such belittlement tempestuously; +and he heaped every luxury upon Melicent, because, as he assured +himself, the heart of every woman is alike. + +He had his theories, his cunning, and, chief of all, an appreciation of +her beauty, as his abettors. She had her memories and her clean heart. +They duelled thus accoutred. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. Upon no less than three occasions did Callistion-- +the first wife of the proconsul and the mother of his elder son-- +attempt the life of Melicent; and thrice Demetrios spared the woman at +Melicent's entreaty. For Melicent (since she loved Perion) could +understand that it was love of Demetrios, rather than hate of her, +which drove the Dacian virago to extremities. + +Then one day about noon Demetrios came unheralded into Melicent's +resplendent prison. Through an aisle of painted pillars he came to her, +striding with unwonted quickness, glittering as he moved. His robe this +day was scarlet, the colour he chiefly affected. Gold glowed upon his +forehead, gold dangled from his ears, and about his throat was a broad +collar of gold and rubies. At his side was a cross-handled sword, in a +scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented. + +"Give thanks, my wife," Demetrios said, "that you are beautiful. For +beauty was ever the spur of valour." Then quickly, joyously, he told +her of how a fleet equipped by the King of Cyprus had been despatched +against the province of Demetrios, and of how among the invaders were +Perion of the Forest and his Free Companions. "Ey, yes, my porter has +returned. I ride instantly for the coast to greet him with appropriate +welcome. I pray heaven it is no sluggard or weakling that is come out +against me." + +Proudly, Melicent replied: + +"There comes against you a champion of noted deeds, a courteous and +hardy gentleman, pre-eminent at swordplay. There was never any man more +ready than Perion to break a lance or shatter a shield, or more eager +to succour the helpless and put to shame all cowards and traitors." + +Demetrios dryly said: + +"I do not question that the virtues of my porter are innumerable. +Therefore we will not attempt to catalogue them. Now Ahasuerus reports +that even before you came to tempt me with your paltry emeralds you +once held the life of Perion in your hands?" Demetrios unfastened his +sword. He grasped the hand of Melicent, and laid it upon the scabbard. +"And what do you hold now, my wife? You hold the death of Perion. I +take the antithesis to be neat." + +She answered nothing. Her seeming indifference angered him. Demetrios +wrenched the sword from its scabbard, with a hard violence that made +Melicent recoil. He showed the blade all covered with graved symbols of +which she could make nothing. + +"This is Flamberge," said the proconsul; "the weapon which was the +pride and bane of my father, famed Miramon Lluagor, because it was the +sword which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for unconquerable +Charlemagne. Clerks declare it is a magic weapon and that the man who +wields it is always unconquerable. I do not know. I think it is as +difficult to believe in sorcery as it is to be entirely sure that all +we know is not the sorcery of a drunken wizard. I very potently +believe, however, that with this sword I shall kill Perion." + +Melicent had plenty of patience, but astonishingly little, it seemed, +for this sort of speech. "I think that you talk foolishly, seignior. +And, other matters apart, it is manifest that you yourself concede +Perion to be the better swordsman, since you require to be abetted by +sorcery before you dare to face him." + +"So, so!" Demetrios said, in a sort of grinding whisper, "you think +that I am not the equal of this long-legged fellow! You would think +otherwise if I had him here. You will think otherwise when I have +killed him with my naked hands. Oh, very soon you will think +otherwise." + +He snarled, rage choking him, flung the sword at her feet and quitted +her without any leave-taking. He had ridden three miles from Nacumera +before he began to laugh. He perceived that Melicent at least respected +sorcery, and had tricked him out of Flamberge by playing upon his +tetchy vanity. Her adroitness pleased him. + +Demetrios did not laugh when he found the Christian fleet had been +ingloriously repulsed at sea by the Emir of Arsuf, and had never +effected a landing. Demetrios picked a quarrel with the victorious +admiral and killed the marplot in a public duel, but that was +inadequate comfort. + +"However," the proconsul reassured himself, "if my wife reports at all +truthfully as to this Perion's nature it is certain that this Perion +will come again." Then Demetrios went into the sacred grove upon the +hillsides south of Quesiton and made an offering of myrtle-branches, +rose-leaves and incense to Aphrodite of Colias. + + + + +10. + + +_How Demetrios Wooed_ + +Ahasuerus came and went at will. Nothing was known concerning this +soft-treading furtive man except by the proconsul, who had no +confidants. By his decree Ahasuerus was an honoured guest at Nacumera. +And always the Jew's eyes when Melicent was near him were as +expressionless as the eyes of a snake, which do not ever change. + +Once she told Demetrios that she feared Ahasuerus. + +"But I do not fear him, Melicent, though I have larger reason. For I +alone of all men living know the truth concerning this same Jew. +Therefore, it amuses me to think that he, who served my wizard father +in a very different fashion, is to-day my factor and ciphers over my +accounts." + +Demetrios laughed, and had the Jew summoned. + +This was in the Women's Garden, where the proconsul sat with Melicent +in a little domed pavilion of stone-work which was gilded with red gold +and crowned with a cupola of alabaster. Its pavement was of transparent +glass, under which were clear running waters wherein swam red and +yellow fish. + +Demetrios said: + +"It appears that you are a formidable person, Ahasuerus. My wife here +fears you." + +"Splendour of the Age," returned Ahasuerus, quietly, "it is notorious +that women have long hair and short wits. There is no need to fear a +Jew. The Jew, I take it, was created in order that children might +evince their playfulness by stoning him, the honest show their +common-sense by robbing him, and the religious display their piety by +burning him. Who forbids it?" + +"Ey, but my wife is a Christian and in consequence worships a Jew." +Demetrios reflected. His dark eyes twinkled. "What is your opinion +concerning this other Jew, Ahasuerus?" + +"I know that He was the Messiah, Lord." + +"And yet you do not worship Him." + +The Jew said: + +"It was not altogether worship He desired. He asked that men should +love Him. He does not ask love of me." + +"I find that an obscure saying," Demetrios considered. + +"It is a true saying, King of Kings. In time it will be made plain. +That time is not yet come. I used to pray it would come soon. Now I do +not pray any longer. I only wait." + +Demetrios tugged at his chin, his eyes narrowed, meditating. He +laughed. + +Demetrios said: + +"It is no affair of mine. What am I that I am called upon to have +prejudices concerning the universe? It is highly probable there are +gods of some sort or another, but I do not so far flatter myself as to +consider that any possible god would be at all interested in my opinion +of him. In any event, I am Demetrios. Let the worst come, and in +whatever baleful underworld I find myself imprisoned I shall maintain +myself there in a manner not unworthy of Demetrios." The proconsul +shrugged at this point. "I do not find you amusing, Ahasuerus. You may +go." + +"I hear, and I obey," the Jew replied. He went away patiently. + +Then Demetrios turned toward Melicent, rejoicing that his chattel had +golden hair and was comely beyond comparison with all other women he +had ever seen. + +Said Demetrios: + +"I love you, Melicent, and you do not love me. Do not be offended +because my speech is harsh, for even though I know my candour is +distasteful I must speak the truth. You have been obdurate too long, +denying Kypris what is due to her. I think that your brain is giddy +because of too much exulting in the magnificence of your body and in +the number of men who have desired it to their own hurt. I concede your +beauty, yet what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"I admit that my refrain is old. But it will presently take on a more +poignant meaning, because a hundred years from now you--even you, dear +Melicent!--and all the loveliness which now causes me to estimate life +as a light matter in comparison with your love, will be only a bone or +two. Your lustrous eyes, which are now more beautiful than it is +possible to express, will be unsavoury holes and a worm will crawl +through them; and what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"A hundred years from now should anyone break open our gilded tomb, he +will find Melicent to be no more admirable than Demetrios. One skull is +like another, and is as lightly split with a mattock. You will be as +ugly as I, and nobody will be thinking of your eyes and hair. Hail, +rain and dew will drench us both impartially when I lie at your side, +as I intend to do, for a hundred years and yet another hundred years. +You need not frown, for what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"Melicent, I offer love and a life that derides the folly of all other +manners of living; and even if you deny me, what will it matter a +hundred years from now?" + +His face was contorted, his speech had fervent bitterness, for even +while he wooed this woman the man internally was raging over his own +infatuation. + +And Melicent answered: + +"There can be no question of love between us, seignior. You purchased +my body. My body is at your disposal under God's will." + +Demetrios sneered, his ardours cooled. He said, "I have already told +you, my girl, I do not care for that which can be purchased." + +In such fashion Melicent abode among these odious persons as a lily +which is rooted in mire. She was a prisoner always, and when Demetrios +came to Nacumera--which fell about irregularly, for now arose much +fighting between the Christians and the pagans--a gem which he uncased, +admired, curtly exulted in, and then, jeering at those hot wishes in +his heart, locked up untouched when he went back to warfare. + +To her the man was uniformly kind, if with a sort of sneer she could +not understand; and he pillaged an infinity of Genoese and Venetian +ships--which were notoriously the richest laden--of jewels, veils, +silks, furs, embroideries and figured stuffs, wherewith to enhance the +comeliness of Melicent. It seemed an all-engulfing madness with this +despot daily to aggravate his fierce desire of her, to nurture his +obsession, so that he might glory in the consciousness of treading down +no puny adversary. + +Pride spurred him on as witches ride their dupes to a foreknown +destruction. "Let us have patience," he would say. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. "Let us have patience!" they said, also, but with +a meaning that was more sinister. + + + + + +PART THREE + + +DEMETRIOS + +_Of how Dame Melicent's fond lovers go +As comrades, working each his fellow's woe: +Each hath unhorsed the other of the twain, +And knoweth that nowhither 'twixt Ukraine +And Ormus roameth any lion's son +More eager in the hunt than Perion, +Nor any viper's sire more venomous +Through jealous hurt than is Demetrios._ + + + + +11. + + +_How Time Sped with Perion_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling of what befell +Perion de la Foret after he had been ransomed out of heathenry. They +tell how he took service with the King of Cyprus. And the tale tells +how the King of Cyprus was defeated at sea by the Emir of Arsuf; and +how Perion came unhurt from that battle, and by land relieved the +garrison at Japhe, and was ennobled therefor; and was afterward called +the Comte de la Foret. + +Then the King of Cyprus made peace with heathendom, and Perion left +him. Now Perion's skill in warfare was leased to whatsoever lord would +dare contend against Demetrios and the proconsul's magic sword +Flamberge: and Perion of the Forest did not inordinately concern +himself as to the merits of any quarrel because of which battalions +died, so long as he fought toward Melicent. Demetrios was pleased, and +thrilled with the heroic joy of an athlete who finds that he +unwittingly has grappled with his equal. + +So the duel between these two dragged on with varying fortunes, and the +years passed, and neither duellist had conquered as yet. Then King +Theodoret, third of that name to rule, and once (as you have heard) a +wooer of Dame Melicent, declared a crusade; and Perion went to him at +Lacre Kai. It was in making this journey, they say, that Perion passed +through Pseudopolis, and had speech there with Queen Helen, the delight +of gods and men: and Perion conceded this Queen was well-enough to look +at. + +"She reminds me, indeed, of that Dame Melicent whom I serve in this +world, and trust to serve in Paradise," said Perion. "But Dame Melicent +has a mole on her left cheek." + +"That is a pity," said an attendant lord. "A mole disfigures a pretty +woman." + +"I was speaking, messire, of Dame Melicent." + +"Even so," the lord replied, "a mole is a blemish." + +"I cannot permit these observations," said Perion. So they fought, and +Perion killed his opponent, and left Pseudopolis that afternoon. + +Such was Perion's way. + +He came unhurt to King Theodoret, who at once recognised in the famous +Comte de la Foret the former Vicomte de Puysange, but gave no sign of +such recognition. + +"Heaven chooses its own instruments," the pious King reflected: "and +this swaggering Comte de la Foret, who affects so many names has also +the name of being a warrior without any peer in Christendom. Let us +first conquer this infamous proconsul, this adversary of our Redeemer, +and then we shall see. It may be that heaven will then permit me to +detect this Comte de la Foret in some particularly abominable heresy. +For this long-legged ruffian looks like a schismatic, and would +singularly grace a rack." + +So King Theodoret kissed Perion upon both cheeks, and created him +generalissimo of King Theodoret's forces. It was upon St. George's day +that Perion set sail with thirty-four ships of great dimensions and +admirable swiftness. + +"Do you bring me back Demetrios in chains," said the King, fondling +Perion at parting, "and all that I have is yours." + +"I mean to bring back my stolen wife, Dame Melicent," was Perion's +reply: "and if I can manage it I shall also bring you this Demetrios, +in return for lending me these ships and soldiers." + +"Do you think," the King asked, peevishly, "that monarchs nowadays fit +out armaments to replevin a woman who is no longer young, and who was +always stupid?" + +"I cannot permit these observations--" said Perion. + +Theodoret hastily explained that his was merely a general observation, +without any personal bearing. + + + + +12. + + +_How Demetrios Was Taken_ + +Thus it was that war awoke and raged about the province of Demetrios as +tirelessly as waves lapped at its shores. + +Then, after many ups and downs of carnage,[1: Nicolas de Caen gives +here a minute account of the military and naval evolutions, with a +fullness that verges upon prolixity. It appears expedient to omit all +this.] Perion surprised the galley of Demetrios while the proconsul +slept at anchor in his own harbour of Quesiton. Demetrios fought +nakedly against accoutred soldiers and had killed two of them with his +hands before he could be quieted by an admiring Perion. + +Demetrios by Perion's order was furnished with a sword of ordinary +attributes, and Perion ridded himself of all defensive armour. The two +met like an encounter of tempests, and in the outcome Demetrios was +wounded so that he lay insensible. + +Demetrios was taken as a prisoner toward the domains of King Theodoret. + +"Only you are my private capture," said Perion; "conquered by my own +hand and in fair fight. Now I am unwilling to insult the most valiant +warrior whom I have known by valuing him too cheaply, and I accordingly +fix your ransom as the person of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios bit his nails. + +"Needs must," he said at last. "It is unnecessary to inform you that +when my property is taken from me I shall endeavour to regain it. I +shall, before the year is out, lay waste whatever kingdom it is that +harbours you. Meanwhile I warn you it is necessary to be speedy in this +ransoming. My other wives abhor the Frankish woman who has supplanted +them in my esteem. My son Orestes, who succeeds me, will be guided by +his mother. Callistion has thrice endeavoured to kill Melicent. If any +harm befalls me, Callistion to all intent will reign in Nacumera, and +she will not be satisfied with mere assassination. I cannot guess what +torment Callistion will devise, but it will be no child's play--" + +"Hah, infamy!" cried Perion. He had learned long ago how cunning the +heathen were in such cruelties, and so he shuddered. + +Demetrios was silent. He, too, was frightened, because this despot +knew--and none knew better--that in his lordly house far oversea +Callistion would find equipment for a hundred curious tortures. + +"It has been difficult for me to tell you this," Demetrios then said, +"because it savours of an appeal to spare me. I think you will have +gleaned, however, from our former encounters, that I am not +unreasonably afraid of death. Also I think that you love Melicent. For +the rest, there is no person in Nacumera so untutored as to cross my +least desire until my death is triply proven. Accordingly, I who am +Demetrios am willing to entreat an oath that you will not permit +Theodoret to kill me." + +"I swear by God and all the laws of Rome--" cried Perion. + +"Ey, but I am not very popular in Rome," Demetrios interrupted. "I +would prefer that you swore by your love for Melicent. I would prefer +an oath which both of us may understand, and I know of none other." + +So Perion swore as Demetrios requested, and set about the conveyance of +Demetrios into King Theodoret's realm. + + + + +13. + + +_How They Praised Melicent_ + +The conqueror and the conquered sat together upon the prow of Perion's +ship. It was a warm, clear night, so brilliant that the stars were +invisible. Perion sighed. Demetrios inquired the reason. Perion said: + +"It is the memory of a fair and noble lady, Messire Demetrios, that +causes me to heave a sigh from my inmost heart. I cannot forget that +loveliness which had no parallel. Pardieu, her eyes were amethysts, her +lips were red as the berries of a holly tree. Her hair blazed in the +light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than milk; +the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch than +were her hands. There was never any person more delightful to gaze +upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love and +service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios gave his customary lazy shrug. Demetrios said: + +"She is still a brightly-coloured creature, moves gracefully, has a +sweet, drowsy voice, and is as soft to the touch as rabbit's fur. +Therefore, it is imperative that one of us must cut the other's throat. +The deduction is perfectly logical. Yet I do not know that my love for +her is any greater than my hatred. I rage against her patient tolerance +of me, and I am often tempted to disfigure, mutilate, even to destroy +this colourful, stupid woman, who makes me wofully ridiculous in my own +eyes. I shall be happier when death has taken the woman who ventures to +deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"When I first saw Dame Melicent the sea was languid, as if outworn by +vain endeavours to rival the purple of her eyes. Sea-birds were adrift +in the air, very close to her and their movements were less graceful +than hers. She was attired in a robe of white silk, and about her +wrists were heavy bands of silver. A tiny wind played truant in order +to caress her unplaited hair, because the wind was more hardy than I, +and dared to love her. I did not think of love, I thought only of the +noble deeds I might have done and had not done. I thought of my +unworthiness, and it seemed to me that my soul writhed like an eel in +sunlight, a naked, despicable thing, that was unworthy to render any +love and service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"When I first saw the girl she knew herself entrapped, her body mine, +her life dependent on my whim. She waved aside such petty +inconveniences, bade them await an hour when she had leisure to +consider them, because nothing else was of any importance so long as my +porter went in chains. I was an obstacle to her plans and nothing more; +a pebble in her shoe would have perturbed her about as much as I did. +Here at last, I thought, is genuine common-sense--a clear-headed +decision as to your actual desire, apart from man-taught ethics, and +fearless purchase of your desire at any cost. There is something not +unakin to me, I reflected, in the girl who ventures to deal in this +fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"Since she permits me to serve her, I may not serve unworthily. +To-morrow I shall set new armies afield. To-morrow it will delight me +to see their tents rise in your meadows, Messire Demetrios, and to see +our followers meet in clashing combat, by hundreds and thousands, so +mightily that men will sing of it when we are gone. To-morrow one of us +must kill the other. To-night we drink our wine in amity. I have not +time to hate you, I have not time to like or dislike any living person, +I must devote all faculties that heaven gave me to the love +and service of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"To-night we babble to the stars and dream vain dreams as other fools +have done before us. To-morrow rests--perhaps--with heaven; but, depend +upon it, Messire de la Foret, whatever we may do to-morrow will be +foolishly performed, because we are both besotted by bright eyes and +lips and hair. I trust to find our antics laughable. Yet there is that +in me which is murderous when I reflect that you and she do not dislike +me. It is the distasteful truth that neither of you considers me to be +worth the trouble. I find such conduct irritating, because no other +persons have ever ventured to deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +"Demetrios, already your antics are laughable, for you pass blindly by +the revelation of heaven's splendour in heaven's masterwork; you ignore +the miracle; and so do you find only the stings of the flesh where I +find joy in rendering love and service to Dame Melicent." + +"Perion, it is you that play the fool, in not recognising that heaven +is inaccessible and doubtful. But clearer eyes perceive the not at all +doubtful dullness of wit, and the gratifying accessibility of every +woman when properly handled,--yes, even of her who dares to deal in +this fashion with Demetrios." + +Thus they would sit together, nightly, upon the prow of Perion's ship +and speak against each other in the manner of a Tenson, as these two +rhapsodised of Melicent until the stars grew lustreless before the sun. + + + + +14. + + +_How Perion Braved Theodoret_ + +The city of Megaris (then Theodoret's capital) was ablaze with bonfires +on the night that the Comte de la Foret entered it at the head of his +forces. Demetrios, meanly clothed, his hands tied behind him, trudged +sullenly beside his conqueror's horse. Yet of the two the gloomier face +showed below the count's coronet, for Perion did not relish the +impendent interview with King Theodoret. They came thus amid much +shouting to the Hotel d'Ebelin, their assigned quarters, and slept +there. + +Next morning, about the hour of prime, two men-at-arms accompanied a +fettered Demetrios into the presence of King Theodoret. Perion of the +Forest preceded them. He pardonably swaggered, in spite of his +underlying uneasiness, for this last feat, as he could not ignore, was +a performance which Christendom united to applaud. + +They came thus into a spacious chamber, very inadequately lighted. The +walls were unhewn stone. There was but one window, of uncoloured glass; +and it was guarded by iron bars. The floor was bare of rushes. On one +side was a bed with tattered hangings of green, which were adorned with +rampant lions worked in silver thread much tarnished; to the right hand +stood a _prie-dieu_. Between these isolated articles of furniture, and +behind an unpainted table sat, in a high-backed chair, a wizen and +shabbily-clad old man. This was Theodoret, most pious and penurious of +monarchs. In attendance upon him were Fra Battista, prior of the Grey +Monks, and Melicent's near kinsman, once the Bishop, now the Cardinal, +de Montors, who, as was widely known, was the actual monarch of this +realm. The latter was smartly habited as a cavalier and showed in +nothing like a churchman. + +The infirm King arose and came to meet the champion who had performed +what many generals of Christendom had vainly striven to achieve. He +embraced the conqueror of Demetrios as one does an equal. + +Said Theodoret: + +"Hail, my fair friend! you who have lopped the right arm of heathenry! +To-day, I know, the saints hold festival in heaven. I cannot recompense +you, since God alone is omnipotent. Yet ask now what you will, short of +my crown, and it is yours." The old man kissed the chief of all his +treasures, a bit of the True Cross, which hung upon his breast +supported by a chain of gold. + +"The King has spoken," Perion returned. "I ask the life of Demetrios." + +Theodoret recoiled, like a small flame which is fluttered by its +kindler's breath. He cackled thinly, saying: + +"A jest or so is privileged in this high hour. Yet we ought not to make +a jest of matters which concern the Church. Am I not right, Ayrart? Oh, +no, this merciless Demetrios is assuredly that very Antichrist whose +coming was foretold. I must relinquish him to Mother Church, in order +that he may be equitably tried, and be baptised--since even he may have +a soul--and afterward be burned in the market-place." + +"The King has spoken," Perion replied. "I too have spoken." + +There was a pause of horror upon the part of King Theodoret. He was at +first in a mere whirl. Theodoret said: + +"You ask, in earnest, for the life of this Demetrios, this arch-foe of +our Redeemer, this spawn of Satan, who has sacked more of my towns than +I have fingers on this wasted hand! Now, now that God has singularly +favoured me--!" Theodoret snarled and gibbered like a frenzied ape, and +had no longer the ability to articulate. + +"Beau sire, I fought the man because he infamously held Dame Melicent, +whom I serve in this world without any reservation, and trust to serve +in Paradise. His person, and this alone, will ransom Melicent." + +"You plan to loose this fiend!" the old King cried. "To stir up all +this butchery again!" + +"Sire, pray recall how long I have loved Melicent. Reflect that if you +slay Demetrios, Dame Melicent will be left destitute in heathenry. +Remember that she will be murdered through the hatred of this man's +other wives whom her inestimable beauty has supplanted." Thus Perion +entreated. + +All this while the cardinal and the proconsul had been appraising each +other. It was as though they two had been the only persons in the +dimly-lit apartment. They had not met before. "Here is my match," +thought each of these two; "here, if the world affords it, is my peer +in cunning and bravery." + +And each lusted for a contest, and with something of mutual +comprehension. + +In consequence they stinted pity for Theodoret, who unfeignedly +believed that whether he kept or broke his recent oath damnation was +inevitable. "You have been ill-advised--" he stammered. "I do not dare +release Demetrios--My soul would answer that enormity--But it was sworn +upon the Cross--Oh, ruin either way! Come now, my gallant captain," the +King barked. "I have gold, lands, and jewels--" + +"Beau sire, I have loved this my dearest lady since the time when both +of us were little more than children, and each day of the year my love +for her has been doubled. What would it avail me to live in however +lofty estate when I cannot daily see the treasure of my life?" + +Now the Cardinal de Montors interrupted, and his voice was to the ear +as silk is to the fingers. + +"Beau sire," said Ayrart de Montors, "I speak in all appropriate +respect. But you have sworn an oath which no man living may presume to +violate." + +"Oh, true, Ayrart!" the fluttered King assented. "This blusterer holds +me as in a vise." He turned to Perion again, fierce, tense and fragile, +like an angered cat. "Choose now! I will make you the wealthiest person +in my realm--My son, I warn you that since Adam's time women have been +the devil's peculiar bait. See now, I am not angry. Heh, I remember, +too, how beautiful she was. I was once tempted much as you are tempted. +So I pardon you. I will give you my daughter Ermengarde in marriage, I +will make you my heir, I will give you half my kingdom--" His voice +rose, quavering; and it died now, for he foreread the damnation of +Theodoret's soul while he fawned before this impassive Perion. + +"Since Love has taken up his abode within my heart," said Perion, +"there has not ever been a vacancy therein for any other thought. How +may I help it if Love recompenses my hospitality by afflicting me with +a desire which can neither subdue the world nor be subdued by it?" + +Theodoret continued like the rustle of dead leaves: + +"--Else I must keep my oath. In that event you may depart with this +unbeliever. I will accord you twenty-four hours wherein to accomplish +this. But, oh, if I lay hands upon either of you within the +twenty-fifth hour I will not kill my prisoner at once. For first I must +devise unheard-of torments--" + +The King's face was not agreeable to look upon. + +Yet Perion encountered it with an untroubled gaze until Battista spoke, +saying: + +"I promise worse. The Book will be cast down, the bells be tolled, and +all the candles snuffed--ah, very soon!" Battista licked his lips, +gingerly, just as a cat does. + +Then Perion was moved, since excommunication is more terrible than +death to any of the Church's loyal children, and he was now more +frightened than the King. And so Perion thought of Melicent a while +before he spoke. + +Said Perion: + +"I choose. I choose hell fire in place of riches and honour, and I +demand the freedom of Demetrios." + +"Go!" the King said. "Go hence, blasphemer. Hah, you will weep for this +in hell. I pray that I may hear you then, and laugh as I do now--" + +He went away, and was followed by Battista, who whispered of a +makeshift. The cardinal remained and saw to it that the chains were +taken from Demetrios. + +"In consequence of Messire de la Foret's--as I must term it--most +unchristian decision," said the cardinal, "it is not impossible, +Messire the Proconsul, that I may head the next assault upon your +territory--" + +Demetrios laughed. He said: + +"I dare to promise your Eminence that reception you would most enjoy." + +"I had hoped for as much," the cardinal returned; and he too laughed. +To do him justice, he did not know of Battista's makeshift. + +The cardinal remained when they had gone. Seated in a king's chair, +Ayrart de Montors meditated rather wistfully upon that old time when +he, also, had loved Melicent whole-heartedly. It seemed a great while +ago, made him aware of his maturity. + +He had put love out of his life, in common with all other weaknesses +which might conceivably hinder the advancement of Ayrart de Montors. In +consequence, he had climbed far. He was not dissatisfied. It was a +man's business to make his way in the world, and he had done this. + +"My cousin is a brave girl, though," he said aloud, "I must certainly +do what I can to effect her rescue as soon as it is convenient to send +another expedition against Demetrios." + +Then the cardinal set about concoction of a moving sonnet in praise of +Monna Vittoria de' Pazzi. Desperation loaned him extraordinary +eloquence (as he complacently reflected) in addressing this obdurate +woman, who had held out against his love-making for six weeks now. + + + + +15. + + +_How Perion Fought_ + +Demetrios and Perion, by the quick turn of fortune previously recorded, +were allied against all Christendom. They got arms at the Hotel +d'Ebelin, and they rode out of the city of Megaris, where the bonfires +lighted over-night in Perion's honour were still smouldering, amid loud +execrations. Fra Battista had not delayed to spread the news of King +Theodoret's dilemma. The burghers yelled menaces; but, knowing that an +endeavour to constrain the passage of these champions would prove +unwholesome for at least a dozen of the arrestors, they cannily +confined their malice to a vocal demonstration. + +Demetrios rode unhelmeted, intending that these snarling little people +of Megaris should plainly see the man whom they most feared and hated. + +It was Perion who spoke first. They had passed the city walls, and had +mounted the hill which leads toward the Forest of Sannazaro. Their road +lay through a rocky pass above which the leaves of spring were like +sparse traceries on a blue cupola, for April had not come as yet. + +"I meant," said Perion, "to hold you as the ransom of Dame Melicent. I +fear that is impossible. I, who am a landless man, have neither +servitors nor any castle wherein to retain you as a prisoner. I +earnestly desire to kill you, forthwith, in single combat; but when +your son Orestes knows that you are dead he will, so you report, kill +Melicent. And yet it may be you are lying." + +Perion was of a tall imperious person, and accustomed to command. He +had black hair, grey eyes which challenged you, and a thin pleasant +face which was not pleasant now. + +"You know that I am not a coward--." Demetrios began. + +"Indeed," said Perion, "I believe you to be the hardiest warrior in the +world." + +"Therefore I may without dishonour repeat to you that my death involves +the death of Melicent. Orestes hates her for his mother's sake. I +think, now we have fought so often, that each of us knows I do not fear +death. I grant I had Flamberge to wield, a magic weapon--" Demetrios +shook himself, like a dog coming from the water, for to consider an +extraneous invincibility was nauseous. "However! I who am Demetrios +protest I will not fight with you, that I will accept any insult rather +than risk my life in any quarrel extant, because I know the moment that +Orestes has made certain I am no longer to be feared he will take +vengeance on Dame Melicent." + +"Prove this!" said Perion, and with deliberation he struck Demetrios. +Full in the face he struck the swart proconsul, and in the ensuing +silence you could hear a feeble breeze that strayed about the +tree-tops, but you could hear nothing else. And Perion, strong man, the +willing scourge of heathendom, had half a mind to weep. + +Demetrios had not moved a finger. It was appalling. The proconsul's +countenance had throughout the hue of wood-ashes, but his fixed eyes +were like blown embers. + +"I believe that it is proved," said Demetrios, "since both of us are +still alive." He whispered this. + +"In fact the thing is settled," Perion agreed. "I know that nothing +save your love for Melicent could possibly induce you to decline a +proffered battle. When Demetrios enacts the poltroon I am the most +hasty of all men living to assert that the excellency of his reason is +indisputable. Let us get on! I have only five hundred sequins, but this +will be enough to buy your passage back to Quesiton. And inasmuch as we +are near the coast--" + +"I think some others mean to have a spoon in that broth," Demetrios +returned. "For look, messire!" Perion saw that far beneath them a +company of retainers in white and purple were spurring up the hill. "It +is Duke Sigurd's livery," said Perion. + +Demetrios forthwith interpreted and was amused by their common ruin. He +said, grinning: + +"Pious Theodoret has sworn a truce of twenty-four hours, and in +consequence might not send any of his own lackeys after us. But there +was nothing to prevent the dropping of a hint into the ear of his +brother in-law, because you servitors of Christ excel in these +distinctions." + +"This is hardly an opportunity for theological debate," Perion +considered. "And for the rest, time presses. It is your instant +business to escape." He gave his tiny bag of gold to his chief enemy. +"Make for Narenta. It is a free city and unfriendly to Theodoret. If I +survive I will come presently and fight with you for Melicent." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Demetrios equably returned. "Am I the +person to permit the man whom I most hate--you who have struck me and +yet live!--to fight alone against some twenty adversaries! Oh, no, I +shall remain, since after all, there are only twenty." + +"I was mistaken in you," Perion replied, "for I had thought you loved +Dame Melicent as I do. I find too late that you would estimate your +private honour as set against her welfare." + +The two men looked upon each other. Long and long they looked, and the +heart of each was elated. "I comprehend," Demetrios said. He clapped +spurs to his horse and fled as a coward would have fled. This was one +occasion in his life when he overcame his pride, and should in +consequence be noted. + +The heart of Perion was glad. + +"Oh, but at times," said Perion, "I wish that I might honourably love +this infamous and lustful pagan." + +Afterward Perion wheeled and met Duke Sigurd's men. Then like a reaper +cutting a field of wheat Sire Perion showed the sun his sword and went +about his work, not without harvesting. + +In that narrow way nothing could be heard but the striking of blows on +armour and the clash of swords which bit at one another. The Comte de +la Foret, for once, allowed himself the privilege of fighting in anger. +He went without a word toward this hopeless encounter, as a drunkard to +his bottle. First Perion killed Ruggiero of the Lamberti and after that +Perion raged as a wolf harrying sheep. Six other stalwart men he cut +down, like a dumb maniac among tapestries. His horse was slain and lay +blocking the road, making a barrier behind which Perion fought. Then +Perion encountered Giacomo di Forio, and while the two contended Gulio +the Red very warily cast his sword like a spear so that it penetrated +Perion's left shoulder and drew much blood. This hampered the lone +champion. Marzio threw a stone which struck on Perion's crest and broke +the fastenings of Perion's helmet. Instantly Giacomo gave him three +wounds, and Perion stumbled, the sunlight glossing his hair. He fell +and they took him. They robbed the corpses of their surcoats, which +they tore in strips. They made ropes of this bloodied finery, and with +these ropes they bound Perion of the Forest, whom twenty men had +conquered at last. + +He laughed feebly, like a person bedrugged; but in the midst of this +superfluous defiance Perion swooned because of many injuries. He knew +that with fair luck Demetrios had a sufficient start. The heart of +Perion exulted, thinking that Melicent was saved. + +It was the happier for him he was not ever destined to comprehend the +standards of Demetrios. + + + + +16. + + +_How Demetrios Meditated_ + +Demetrios came without any hindrance into Narenta, a free city. He +believed his Emperor must have sent galleys toward Christendom to get +tidings of his generalissimo, but in this city of merchants Demetrios +heard no report of them. Yet in the harbour he found a trading-ship +prepared for traffic in the country of the pagans; the sail was naked +to the wind, the anchor chain was already shortened at the bow. +Demetrios bargained with the captain of this vessel, and in the outcome +paid him four hundred sequins. In exchange the man agreed to touch at +the Needle of Ansignano that afternoon and take Demetrios aboard. Since +the proconsul had no passport, he could not with safety endeavour to +elude those officers of the Tribunal who must endorse the ship's +passage at Piaja. + +Thus about sunset Demetrios waited the ship's coming, alone upon the +Needle. This promontory is like a Titan's finger of black rock thrust +out into the water. The day was perishing, and the querulous sea before +Demetrios was an unresting welter of gold and blood. + +He thought of how he had won safely through a horde of dangers, and the +gross man chuckled. He considered that unquestioned rulership of every +person near Demetrios which awaited him oversea, and chiefly he thought +of Melicent whom he loved even better than he did the power to sneer at +everything the world contained. And the proconsul chuckled. + +He said, aloud: + +"I owe very much to Messire de la Foret. I owe far more than I can +estimate. For, by this, those lackeys will have slain Messire de la +Foret or else they will have taken Messire de la Foret to King +Theodoret, who will piously make an end of this handsome idiot. Either +way, I shall enjoy tranquillity and shall possess my Melicent until I +die. Decidedly, I owe a deal to this self-satisfied tall fool." + +Thus he contended with his irritation. It may be that the man was never +sane; it is certain that the mainspring of his least action was an +inordinate pride. Now hatred quickened, spreading from a flicker of +distaste; and his faculties were stupefied, as though he faced a +girdling conflagration. It was not possible to hate adequately this +Perion who had struck Demetrios of Anatolia and perhaps was not yet +dead; nor could Demetrios think of any sufficing requital for this +Perion who dared to be so tall and handsome and young-looking when +Demetrios was none of these things, for this Perion whom Melicent had +loved and loved to-day. And Demetrios of Anatolia had fought with a +charmed sword against a person such as this, safe as an angler matched +against a minnow; Demetrios of Anatolia, now at the last, accepted alms +from what had been until to-day a pertinacious gnat. Demetrios was +physically shaken by disgust at the situation, and in the sunset's +glare his swarthy countenance showed like that of Belial among the +damned. + +"The life of Melicent hangs on my safe return to Nacumera.... Ey, what +is that to me!" the proconsul cried aloud. "The thought of Melicent is +sweeter than the thought of any god. It is not sweet enough to bribe me +into living as this Perion's debtor." + +So when the ship touched at the Needle, a half-hour later, that spur of +rock was vacant. Demetrios had untethered his horse, had thrown away +his sword and other armour, and had torn his garments; afterward he +rolled in the first puddle he discovered. Thus he set out afoot, in +grimy rags--for no one marks a beggar upon the highway--and thus he +came again into the realm of King Theodoret, where certainly nobody +looked for Demetrios to come unarmed. + +With the advantage of a quiet advent, as was quickly proven, he found +no check for a notorious leave-taking. + + + + +17. + + +_How a Minstrel Came_ + +Demetrios came to Megaris where Perion lay fettered in the Castle of +San' Alessandro, then a new building. Perion's trial, condemnation, and +so on, had consumed the better part of an hour, on account of the +drunkenness of one of the Inquisitors, who had vexatiously impeded +these formalities by singing love-songs; but in the end it had been +salutarily arranged that the Comte de la Foret be torn apart by four +horses upon the St. Richard's day ensuing. + +Demetrios, having gleaned this knowledge in a pothouse, purchased a +stout file, a scarlet cap and a lute. Ambrogio Bracciolini, head-gaoler +at the fortress--so the gossips told Demetrios--had been a jongleur in +youth, and minstrels were always welcome guests at San' Alessandro. + +The gaoler was a very fat man with icy little eyes. Demetrios took his +measure to a hair's breadth as this Bracciolini straddled in the +doorway. + +Demetrios had assumed an admirable air of simplicity. + +"God give you joy, messire," he said, with a simper; "I come bringing a +precious balsam which cures all sorts of ills, and heals the troubles +both of body and mind. For what is better than to have a pleasant +companion to sing and tell merry tales, songs and facetious histories?" + +"You appear to be something of a fool," Bracciolini considered, "but +all do not sleep who snore. Come, tell me what are your +accomplishments." + +"I can play the lute, the violin, the flageolet, the harp, the syrinx +and the regals," the other replied; "also the Spanish penola that is +struck with a quill, the organistrum that a wheel turns round, the wait +so delightful, the rebeck so enchanting, the little gigue that chirps +up on high, and the great horn that booms like thunder." + +Bracciolini said: + +"That is something. But can you throw knives into the air and catch +them without cutting your fingers? Can you balance chairs and do tricks +with string? or imitate the cries of birds? or throw a somersault and +walk on your head? Ha, I thought not. The Gay Science is dying out, and +young practitioners neglect these subtile points. It was not so in my +day. However, you may come in." + +So when night fell Demetrios and Bracciolini sat snug and sang of love, +of joy, and arms. The fire burned bright, and the floor was well +covered with gaily tinted mats. White wines and red were on the table. + +Presently they turned to canzons of a more indecorous nature. Demetrios +sang the loves of Douzi and Ishtar, which the gaoler found remarkable. +He said so and crossed himself. "Man, man, you must have been afishing +in the mid-pit of hell to net such filth." + +"I learned that song in Nacumera," said Demetrios, "when I was a +prisoner there with Messire de la Foret. It was a favourite song with +him." + +"Ay?" said Bracciolini. He looked at Demetrios very hard, and +Bracciolini pursed his lips as if to whistle. The gaoler scented from +afar a bribe, but the face of Demetrios was all vacant cheerfulness. + +Bracciolini said, idly: + +"So you served under him? I remember that he was taken by the heathen. +A woman ransomed him, they say." + +Demetrios, able to tell a tale against any man, told now the tale of +Melicent's immolation, speaking with vivacity and truthfulness in all +points save that he represented himself to have been one of the +ransomed Free Companions. + +Bracciolini's careful epilogue was that the proconsul had acted +foolishly in not keeping the emeralds. + +"He gave his enemy a weapon against him," Bracciolini said, and waited. + +"Oh, but that weapon was never used. Sire Perion found service at once, +under King Bernart, you will remember. Therefore Sire Perion hid away +these emeralds against future need--under an oak in Sannazaro, he told +me. I suppose they lie there yet." + +"Humph!" said Bracciolini. He for a while was silent. Demetrios sat +adjusting the strings of the lute, not looking at him. + +Bracciolini said, "There were eighteen of them, you tell me? and all +fine stones?" + +"Ey?--oh, the emeralds? Yes, they were flawless, messire. The smallest +was larger than a robin's egg. But I recall another song we learned at +Nacumera--" + +Demetrios sang the loves of Lucius and Fotis. Bracciolini grunted, +"Admirable" in an abstracted fashion, muttered something about the +duties of his office, and left the room. Demetrios heard him lock the +door outside and waited stolidly. + +Presently Bracciolini returned in full armour, a naked sword in his +hand. + +"My man,"--and his voice rasped--"I believe you to be a rogue. I +believe that you are contriving the escape of this infamous Comte de la +Foret. I believe you are attempting to bribe me into conniving at +his escape. I shall do nothing of the sort, because, in the first +place, it would be an abominable violation of my oath of office, and in +the second place, it would result in my being hanged." + +"Messire, I swear to you--!" Demetrios cried, in excellently feigned +perturbation. + +"And in addition, I believe you have lied to me throughout. I do not +believe you ever saw this Comte de la Foret. I very certainly do not +believe you are a friend of this Comte de la Foret's, because in +that event you would never have been mad enough to admit it. The +statement is enough to hang you twice over. In short, the only thing I +can be certain of is that you are out of your wits." + +"They say that I am moonstruck," Demetrios answered; "but I will tell +you a secret. There is a wisdom lies beyond the moon, and it is because +of this that the stars are glad and admirable." + +"That appears to me to be nonsense," the gaoler commented; and he went +on: "Now I am going to confront you with Messire de la Foret. If your +story prove to be false, it will be the worse for you." + +"It is a true tale. But sensible men close the door to him who always +speaks the truth." + +"These reflections are not to the purpose," Bracciolini submitted, and +continued his argument: "In that event Messire de la Foret will +undoubtedly be moved by your fidelity in having sought out him whom all +the rest of the world has forsaken. You will remember that this same +fidelity has touched me to such an extent that I am granting you an +interview with your former master. Messire de la Foret will naturally +reflect that a man once torn in four pieces has no particular use for +emeralds. He will, I repeat, be moved. In his emotion, in his +gratitude, in mere decency, he will reveal to you the location of those +eighteen stones, all flawless. If he should not evince a sufficiency of +such appropriate and laudable feeling, I tell you candidly, it will be +the worse for you. And now get on!" + +Bracciolini pointed the way and Demetrios cringed through the door. +Bracciolini followed with drawn sword. The corridors were deserted. The +head-gaoler had seen to that. + +His position was simple. Armed, he was certainly not afraid of any +combination between a weaponless man and a fettered one. If this +jongleur had lied, Bracciolini meant to kill him for his insolence. +Bracciolini's own haphazard youth had taught him that a jongleur had no +civil rights, was a creature to be beaten, robbed, or stabbed with +impunity. + +Upon the other hand, if the vagabond's tale were true, one of two +things would happen. Either Perion would not be brought to tell where +the emeralds were hidden, in which event Bracciolini would kill the +jongleur for his bungling; or else the prisoner would tell everything +necessary, in which event Bracciolini would kill the jongleur for +knowing more than was convenient. This Bracciolini had an honest +respect for gems and considered them to be equally misplaced when under +an oak or in a vagabond's wallet. + +Consideration of such avarice may well have heartened Demetrios when +the well-armoured gaoler knelt in order to unlock the door of Perion's +cell. As an asp leaps, the big and supple hands of the proconsul +gripped Bracciolini's neck from behind, and silenced speech. + +Demetrios, who was not tall, lifted the gaoler as high as possible, +lest the beating of armoured feet upon the slabs disturb any of the +other keepers, and Demetrios strangled his dupe painstakingly. The +keys, as Demetrios reflected, were luckily attached to the belt of this +writhing thing, and in consequence had not jangled on the floor. It was +an inaudible affair and consumed in all some ten minutes. Then with the +sword of Bracciolini Demetrios cut Bracciolini's throat. In such +matters Demetrios was thorough. + + + + +18. + + +_How They Cried Quits_ + +Demetrios went into Perion's cell and filed away the chains of Perion +of the Forest. Demetrios thrust the gaoler's corpse under the bed, and +washed away all stains before the door of the cell, so that no awkward +traces might remain. Demetrios locked the door of an unoccupied +apartment and grinned as Old Legion must have done when Judas fell. + +More thanks to Bracciolini's precautions, these two got safely from the +confines of San' Alessandro, and afterward from the city of Megaris. +They trudged on a familiar road. Perion would have spoken, but +Demetrios growled, "Not now, messire." They came by night to that pass +in Sannazaro which Perion had held against a score of men-at-arms. + +Demetrios turned. Moonlight illuminated the warriors' faces and showed +the face of Demetrios as sly and leering. It was less the countenance +of a proud lord than a carved head on some old waterspout. + +"Messire de la Foret," Demetrios said, "now we cry quits. Here our ways +part till one of us has killed the other, as one of us must surely do." + +You saw that Perion was tremulous with fury. "You knave," he said, +"because of your pride you have imperilled your accursed life--your +life on which the life of Melicent depends! You must need delay and +rescue me, while your spawn inflicted hideous infamies on Melicent! Oh, +I had never hated you until to-night!" + +Demetrios was pleased. + +"Behold the increment," he said, "of the turned cheek and of the +contriving of good for him that had despitefully used me! Be satisfied, +O young and zealous servitor of Love and Christ. I am alone, unarmed +and penniless, among a people whom I have never been at pains even to +despise. Presently I shall be taken by this vermin, and afterward I +shall be burned alive. Theodoret is quite resolved to make of me a +candle which will light his way to heaven." + +"That is true," said Perion; "and I cannot permit that you be killed by +anyone save me, as soon as I can afford to kill you." + +The two men talked together, leagued against entire Christendom. +Demetrios had thirty sequins and Perion no money at all. Then Perion +showed the ring which Melicent had given him, as a love-token, long +ago, when she was young and ignorant of misery. He valued it as he did +nothing else. + +Perion said: + +"Oh, very dear to me is this dear ring which once touched a finger of +that dear young Melicent whom you know nothing of! Its gold is my lost +youth, the gems of it are the tears she has shed because of me. Kiss +it, Messire Demetrios, as I do now for the last time. It is a favour +you have earned." + +Then these two went as mendicants--for no one marks a beggar upon the +highway--into Narenta, and they sold this ring, in order that Demetrios +might be conveyed oversea, and that the life of Melicent might be +preserved. They found another vessel which was about to venture into +heathendom. Their gold was given to the captain; and, in exchange, the +bargain ran, his ship would touch at Assignano, a little after the +ensuing dawn, and take Demetrios aboard. + +Thus the two lovers of Melicent foreplanned the future, and did not +admit into their accounting vagarious Dame Chance. + + + + +19. + + +_How Flamberge Was Lost_ + +These hunted men spent the following night upon the Needle, since there +it was not possible for an adversary to surprise them. Perion's was the +earlier watch, until midnight, and during this time Demetrios slept. +Then the proconsul took his equitable turn. When Perion awakened the +hour was after dawn. + +What Perion noted first, and within thirty feet of him, was a tall +galley with blue and yellow sails. He perceived that the promontory was +thronged with heathen sailors, who were unlading the ship of various +bales and chests. Demetrios, now in the costume of his native country, +stood among them giving orders. And it seemed, too, to Perion, in the +moment of waking, that Dame Melusine, whom Perion had loved so long +ago, also stood among them; yet, now that Perion rose and faced +Demetrios, she was not visible anywhere, and Perion wondered dimly over +his wild dream that she had been there at all. But more importunate +matters were in hand. + +The proconsul grinned malevolently. + +"This is a ship that once was mine," he said. "Do you not find it droll +that Euthyclos here should have loved me sufficiently to hazard his +life in order to come in search of me? Personally, I consider it +preposterous. For the rest, you slept so soundly, Messire de la Foret, +that I was unwilling to waken you. Then, too, such was the advice of a +person who has some influence with the waterfolk, people say, and who +was perhaps the means of bringing this ship hither so opportunely. I do +not know. She is gone now, you see, intent as always on her own ends. +Well, well! her ways are not our ways, and it is wiser not to meddle +with them." + +But Perion, unarmed and thus surrounded, understood only that he was +lost. + +"Messire Demetrios," said Perion, "I never thought to ask a favour of +you. I ask it now. For the ring's sake, give me at least a knife, +Messire Demetrios. Let me die fighting." + +"Why, but who spoke of fighting? For the ring's sake, I have caused the +ship to be rifled of what valuables they had aboard. It is not much, +but it is all I have. And you are to accept my apologies for the +somewhat miscellaneous nature of the cargo, Messire de la +Foret--consisting, as it does, of armours and gems, camphor and +ambergris, carpets of raw silk, teakwood and precious metals, rugs of +Yemen leather, enamels, and I hardly know what else besides. For +Euthyclos, as you will readily understand, was compelled to masquerade +as a merchant-trader." + +Perion shook his head, and declared: "You offer enough to make me a +wealthy man. But I would prefer a sword." + +At that Demetrios grimaced, saying, "I had hoped to get off more +cheaply." He unbuckled the crosshandled sword which he now wore and +handed it to Perion. "This is Flamberge," Demetrios continued--"that +magic blade which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for +Charlemaigne. It was with this sword that I slew my father, and this +sword is as dear to me as your ring was to you. The man who wields it +is reputed to be unconquerable. I do not know about that, but in any +event I yield Flamberge to you as a free gift. I might have known it +was the only gift you would accept." His swart face lighted. "Come +presently and fight with me for Melicent. Perhaps it will amuse me to +ride out to battle and know I shall not live to see the sunset. Already +it seems laughable that you will probably kill me with this very sword +which I am touching now." + +The champions faced each other, Demetrios in a half-wistful mirth, and +Perion in half-grudging pity. Long and long they looked. + +Demetrios shrugged. Demetrios said: + +"For such as I am, to love is dangerous. For such as I am, nor fire nor +meteor hurls a mightier bolt than Aphrodite's shaft, or marks its +passage by more direful ruin. But you do not know Euripides?--a +fidgety-footed liar, Messire the Comte, who occasionally blunders into +the clumsiest truths. Yes, he is perfectly right; all things this +goddess laughingly demolishes while she essays haphazard flights about +the world as unforeseeably as travels a bee. And, like the bee, she +wilfully dispenses honey, and at other times a wound." + +Said Perion, who was no scholar: + +"I glory in our difference. For such as I am, love is sufficient proof +that man was fashioned in God's image." + +"Ey, there is no accounting for a taste in aphorisms," Demetrios +replied. He said, "Now I embark." Yet he delayed, and spoke with +unaccustomed awkwardness. "Come, you who have been generous till this! +will you compel me to desert you here--quite penniless?" + +Said Perion: + +"I may accept a sword from you. I do accept it gladly. But I may not +accept anything else." + +"That would have been my answer. I am a lucky man," Demetrios said, "to +have provoked an enemy so worthy of my opposition. We two have fought +an honest and notable duel, wherein our weapons were not made of steel. +I pray you harry me as quickly as you may; and then we will fight with +swords till I am rid of you or you of me." + +"Assuredly, I shall not fail you," answered Perion. + +These two embraced and kissed each other. Afterward Demetrios went into +his own country, and Perion remained, girt with the magic sword +Flamberge. It was not all at once Perion recollected that the wearer of +Flamberge is unconquerable, if ancient histories are to be believed, +for in deduction Perion was leisurely. + +Now on a sudden he perceived that Demetrios had flung control of the +future to Perion, as one gives money to a sot, entirely prescient of +how it will be used. Perion had his moment of bleak rage. + +"I will not cog the dice to my advantage any more than you!" said +Perion. He drew the sword of Charlemaigne and brandished it and cast it +as far as even strong Perion could cast, and the sea swallowed it. "Now +God alone is arbiter!" cried Perion, "and I am not afraid." + +He stood a pauper and a friendless man. Beside his thigh hung a +sorcerer's scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented, but it was +emptied of power. Yet Perion laughed exultingly, because he was elate +with dreams of the future. And for the rest, he was aware it is less +grateful to remember plaudits than to recall the exercise of that in us +which is not merely human. + + + + +20. + + +_How Perion Got Aid_ + +Then Perion turned from the Needle of Assignano, and went westward into +the Forest of Columbiers. He had no plan. He wandered in the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered, as a beast does in watchful +care of hunters. + +He came presently to a glade which the sunlight flooded without +obstruction. There was in this place a fountain, which oozed from under +an iron-coloured boulder incrusted with grey lichens and green moss. +Upon the rock a woman sat, her chin propped by one hand, and she +appeared to consider remote and pleasant happenings. She was clothed +throughout in white, with metal bands about her neck and arms; and her +loosened hair, which was coloured like straw, and was as pale as the +hair of children, glittered about her, and shone frostily where it lay +outspread upon the rock behind her. + +She turned toward Perion without any haste or surprise, and Perion saw +that this woman was Dame Melusine, whom he had loved to his own hurt +(as you have heard) when Perion served King Helmas. She did not speak +for a long while, but she lazily considered Perion's honest face in a +sort of whimsical regret for the adoration she no longer found there. + +"Then it was really you," he said, in wonder, "whom I saw talking with +Demetrios when I awakened to-day." + +"You may be sure," she answered, "that my talking was in no way +injurious to you. Ah, no, had I been elsewhere, Perion, I think you +would by this have been in Paradise." Then Melusine fell again to +meditation. "And so you do not any longer either love or hate me, +Perion?" Here was an odd echo of the complaint Demetrios had made. + +"That I once loved you is a truth which neither of us, I think, may +ever quite forget," said Perion, very quiet. "I alone know how utterly +I loved you--no, it was not I who loved you, but a boy that is dead +now. King's daughter, all of stone, O cruel woman and hateful, O sleek, +smiling traitress! to-day no man remembers how utterly I loved you, for +the years are as a mist between the heart of the dead boy and me, so +that I may no longer see the boy's heart clearly. Yes, I have forgotten +much. ...Yet even to-day there is that in me which is faithful to you, +and I cannot give you the hatred which your treachery has earned." + +Melusine spoke shrewdly. She had a sweet, shrill voice. + +"But I loved you, Perion--oh, yes, in part I loved you, just as one +cannot help but love a large and faithful mastiff. But you were +tedious, you annoyed me by your egotism. Yes, my friend, you think too +much of what you owe to Perion's honour; you are perpetually squaring +accounts with heaven, and you are too intent on keeping the balance in +your favour to make a satisfactory lover." You saw that Melusine was +smiling in the shadow of her pale hair. "And yet you are very droll +when you are unhappy," she said, as of two minds. + +He replied: + +"I am, as heaven made me, a being of mingled nature. So I remember +without distaste old happenings which now seem scarcely credible. I +cannot quite believe that it was you and I who were so happy when youth +was common to us... O Melusine, I have almost forgotten that if the +world were searched between the sunrise and the sunsetting the Melusine +I loved would not be found. I only know that a woman has usurped the +voice of Melusine, and that this woman's eyes also are blue, and that +this woman smiles as Melusine was used to smile when I was young. I +walk with ghosts, king's daughter, and I am none the happier." + +"Ay, Periori," she wisely answered, "for the spring is at hand, intent +upon an ageless magic. I am no less comely than I was, and my heart, I +think, is tenderer. You are yet young, and you are very beautiful, my +brave mastiff... And neither of us is moved at all! For us the spring +is only a dotard sorcerer who has forgotten the spells of yesterday. I +think that it is pitiable, although I would not have it otherwise." She +waited, fairy-like and wanton, seeming to premeditate a delicate +mischief. + +He declared, sighing, "No, I would not have it otherwise." + +Then presently Melusine arose. She said: + +"You are a hunted man, unarmed--oh, yes, I know. Demetrios talked +freely, because the son of Miramon Lluagor has good and ancient reasons +to trust me. Besides, it was not for nothing that Pressina was my +mother, and I know many things, pilfering light from the past to shed +it upon the future. Come now with me to Brunbelois. I am too deeply in +your debt, my Perion. For the sake of that boy who is dead--as you tell +me--you may honourably accept of me a horse, arms, and a purse, because +I loved that boy after my fashion." + +"I take your bounty gladly," he replied; and he added conscientiously: +"I consider that I am not at liberty to refuse of anybody any honest +means of serving my lady Melicent." + +Melusine parted her lips as if about to speak, and then seemed to think +better of it. It is probable she was already informed concerning +Melicent; she certainly asked no questions. Melusine only shrugged, +and laughed afterward, and the man and the woman turned toward +Brunbelois. At times a shaft of sunlight would fall on her pale hair +and convert it into silver, as these two went through the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered. + + + + + +PART FOUR + +AHASUERUS + + + + _Of how a knave hath late compassion +On Melicent's forlorn condition; +For which he saith as ye shall after hear: +"Dame, since that game we play costeth too dear, +My truth I plight, I shall you no more grieve +By my behest, and here I take my leave +As of the fairest, truest and best wife +That ever yet I knew in all my life."_ + + + + +21. + + +_How Demetrios Held His Chattel_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how Demetrios +returned into the country of the pagans and found all matters there as +he had left them. They relate how Melicent was summoned. + +And the tale tells how upon the stairway by which you descended from +the Women's Garden to the citadel--people called it the Queen's +Stairway, because it was builded by Queen Rudabeh very long ago when +the Emperor Zal held Nacumera--Demetrios waited with a naked sword. +Below were four of his soldiers, picked warriors. This stairway was of +white marble, and a sphinx carved in green porphyry guarded each +balustrade. + +"Now that we have our audience," Demetrios said, "come, let the games +begin." + +One of the soldiers spoke. It was that Euthyclos who (as you have +heard) had ventured into Christendom at the hazard of his life to +rescue the proconsul. Euthyclos was a man of the West Provinces and had +followed the fortunes of Demetrios since boyhood. + +"King of the Age," cried Euthyclos, "it is grim hearing that we must +fight with you. But since your will is our will, we must endure this +testing, although we find it bitter as aloes and hot as coals. Dear +lord and master, none has put food to his lips for whose sake we would +harm you willingly, and we shall weep to-night when your ghost passes +over and through us." + +Demetrios answered: + +"Rise up and leave this idleness! It is I that will clip the ends of my +hair to-night for the love of you, my stalwart knaves. Such weeping as +is done your wounds will perform." + +At that they addressed themselves to battle, and Melicent perceived she +was witnessing no child's play. The soldiers had attacked in unison, +and before the onslaught Demetrios stepped lightly back. But his sword +flashed as he moved, and with a grunt Demetrios, leaning far forward, +dug deep into the throat of his foremost assailant. The sword +penetrated and caught in a link of the gold chain about the fellow's +neck, so that Demetrios was forced to wrench the weapon free, twisting +it, as the dying man stumbled backward. Prostrate, the soldier did not +cry out, but only writhed and gave a curious bubbling noise as his soul +passed. + +"Come," Demetrios said, "come now, you others, and see what you can win +of me. I warn you it will be dearly purchased." + +And Melicent turned away, hiding her eyes. She was obscurely conscious +that a wanton butchery went on, hearing its blows and groans as if from +a great distance, while she entreated the Virgin for deliverance from +this foul place. + +Then a hand fell upon Melicent's shoulder, rousing her. It was +Demetrios. He breathed quickly, but his voice was gentle. + +"It is enough," he said. "I shall not greatly need Flamberge when I +encounter that ruddy innocent who is so dear to you." + +He broke off. Then he spoke again, half jeering, half wistful. Said +Demetrios: + +"I had hoped that you would look on and admire my cunning at swordplay. +I was anxious to seem admirable somehow in your eyes ... I failed. I +know very well that I shall always fail. I know that Nacumera will +fall, that some day in your native land people will say, 'That aged +woman yonder was once the wife of Demetrios of Anatolia, who was +pre-eminent among the heathen.' Then they will tell of how I cleft the +head of an Emperor who had likened me to Priapos, and how I dragged his +successor from behind an arras where he hid from me, to set him upon +the throne I did not care to take; and they will tell how for a while +great fortune went with me, and I ruled over much land, and was dreaded +upon the wide sea, and raised the battlecry in cities that were not my +own, fearing nobody. But you will not think of these matters, you will +think only of your children's ailments, of baking and sewing and +weaving tapestries, and of directing little household tasks. And the +spider will spin her web in my helmet, which will hang as a trophy in +the hall of Messire de la Foret." + +Then he walked beside her into the Women's Garden, keeping silence for +a while. He seemed to deliberate, to reach a decision. All at once +Demetrios began to tell of that magnanimous contest which he had fought +out in Theodoret's country with Perion of the Forest. + +"To do the long-legged fellow simple justice," said the proconsul, as +epilogue, "there is no hardier knight alive. I shall always wonder +whether or no I would have spared him had the water-demon's daughter +not intervened in his behalf. Yes, I have had some previous dealings +with her. Perhaps the less said concerning them, the better." Demetrios +reflected for a while, rather sadly; then his swart face cleared. "Give +thanks, my wife, that I have found an enemy who is not unworthy of me. +He will come soon, I think, and then we will fight to the death. I +hunger for that day." + +All praise of Perion, however worded, was as wine to Melicent. +Demetrios saw as much, noted how the colour in her cheeks augmented +delicately, how her eyes grew kindlier. It was his cue. Thereafter +Demetrios very often spoke of Perion in that locked palace where no +echo of the outer world might penetrate except at the proconsul's will. +He told Melicent, in an unfeigned admiration, of Perion's courage and +activity, declaring that no other captain since the days of those +famous generals, Hannibal and Joshua, could lay claim to such +preeminence in general estimation; and Demetrios narrated how the Free +Companions had ridden through many kingdoms at adventure, serving many +lords with valour and always fighting applaudably. To talk of Perion +delighted Melicent: it was with such bribes that Demetrios purchased +where his riches did not avail; and Melicent no longer avoided him. + +There is scope here for compassion. The man's love, if it be possible +so to call that force which mastered him, had come to be an incessant +malady. It poisoned everything, caused him to find his statecraft +tedious, his power profitless, and his vices gloomy. But chief of all +he fretted over the standards by which the lives of Melicent and Perion +were guided. Demetrios thought these criteria comely, he had discovered +them to be unshakable, and he despairingly knew that as long as he +trusted in the judgment heaven gave him they must always appear to him +supremely idiotic. To bring Melicent to his own level or to bring +himself to hers was equally impossible. There were moments when he +hated her. + +Thus the months passed, and the happenings of another year were +chronicled; and as yet neither Perion nor Ayrart de Montors came to +Nacumera, and the long plain before the citadel stayed tenantless save +for the jackals crying there at night. + +"I wonder that my enemies do not come," Demetrios said. "It cannot be +they have forgotten you and me. That is impossible." He frowned and +sent spies into Christendom. + + + + +22. + + +_How Misery Held Nacumera_ + +Then one day Demetrios came to Melicent, and he was in a surly rage. + +"Rogues all!" he grumbled. "Oh, I am wasted in this paltry age. Where +are the giants and tyrants, and stalwart single-hearted champions of +yesterday? Why, they are dead, and have become rotten bones. I will +fight no longer. I will read legends instead, for life nowadays is no +longer worthy of love or hatred." + +Melicent questioned him, and he told how his spies reported that the +Cardinal de Montors could now not ever head an expedition against +Demetrios' territories. The Pope had died suddenly in the course of the +preceding October, and it was necessary to name his successor. The +College of Cardinals had reached no decision after three days' +balloting. Then, as is notorious, Dame Melusine, as always hand in +glove with Ayrart de Montors, held conference with the bishop who +inspected the cardinals' dinner before it was carried into the +apartments where these prelates were imprisoned together until, in +edifying seclusion from all worldly influences, they should have +prayerfully selected the next Pope. + +The Cardinal of Genoa received on the fourth day a chicken stuffed with +a deed to the palaces of Monticello and Soriano; the Cardinal of Parma +a similarly dressed fowl which made him master of the bishop's +residence at Porto with its furniture and wine-cellar; while the +Cardinals Orsino, Savelli, St. Angelo and Colonna were served with food +of the same ingratiating sort. Such nourishment cured them of +indecision, and Ayrart de Montors had presently ascended the papal +throne under the title of Adrian VII, servant to the servants of God. +His days of military captaincy were over. Demetrios deplored the loss +of a formidable adversary, and jeered at the fact that the vicarship of +heaven had been settled by six hens. But he particularly fretted over +other news his spies had brought, which was the information that Perion +had wedded Dame Melusine, and had begotten two lusty children--Bertram +and a daughter called Blaniferte--and now enjoyed the opulence and +sovereignty of Brunbelois. + +Demetrios told this unwillingly. He turned away his eyes in speaking, +and doggedly affected to rearrange a cushion, so that he might not see +the face of Melicent. She noted his action and was grateful. + +Demetrios said, bitterly, "It is an old and tawdry history. He has +forgotten you, Melicent, as a wise man will always put aside the dreams +of his youth. To Cynara the Fates accord but a few years; a wanton Lyce +laughs, cheats her adorers, and outlives the crow. There is an +unintended moral here--" Demetrios said, "Yet you do not forget." + +"I know nothing as to this Perion you tell me of. I only know the +Perion I loved has not forgotten," answered Melicent. + +And Demetrios, evincing a twinge like that of gout, demanded her +reasons. It was a May morning, very hot and still, and Demetrios sat +with his Christian wife in the Court of Stars. + +Said Melicent, "It is not unlikely that the Perion men know to-day has +forgotten me and the service which I joyed to render Perion. Let him +who would understand the mystery of the Crucifixion first become a +lover! I pray for old sake's sake that Perion and his lady may taste of +every prosperity. Indeed, I do not envy her. Rather I pity her, because +last night I wandered through a certain forest hand-in-hand with a +young Perion, whose excellencies she will never know as I know them in +our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with dreams?" The swart man +grinned. + +Melicent said: + +"Now it is always twilight in these woods, and the light there is +neither green nor gold, but both colours intermingled. It is like a +friendly cloak for all who have been unhappy, even very long ago. +Iseult is there, and Thisbe, too, and many others, and they are not +severed from their lovers now.. Sometimes Dame Venus passes, riding +upon a panther, and low-hanging leaves clutch at her tender flesh. Then +Perion and I peep from a coppice, and are very glad and a little +frightened in the heart of our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with madness?" He showed no +sign of mirth. + +Melicent said: + +"Ah, no, the Perion whom Melusine possesses is but a man--a very happy +man, I pray of God and all His saints. I am the luckier, who may not +ever lose the Perion that to-day is mine alone. And though I may not +ever touch this younger Perion's hands--and their palms were as hard as +leather in that dear time now overpast--or see again his honest and +courageous face, the most beautiful among all the faces of men and +women I have ever seen, I do not grieve immeasurably, for nightly we +walk hand-in-hand in our own woods." + +Demetrios said, "Ay; and then night passes, and dawn comes to light my +face, which is the most hideous to you among all the faces of men and +women!" + +But Melicent said only: + +"Seignior, although the severing daylight endures for a long while, I +must be brave and worthy of Perion's love--nay, rather, of the love he +gave me once. I may not grieve so long as no one else dares enter into +our own woods." + +"Now go," cried the proconsul, when she had done, and he had noted her +soft, deep, devoted gaze at one who was not there; "now go before I +slay you!" And this new Demetrios whom she then saw was featured like a +devil in sore torment. + +Wonderingly Melicent obeyed him. + +Thought Melicent, who was too proud to show her anguish: "I could have +borne aught else, but this I am too cowardly to bear without complaint. +I am a very contemptible person. I ought to love this Melusine, who no +doubt loves her husband quite as much as I love him--how could a woman +do less?--and yet I cannot love her. I can only weep that I, robbed of +all joy, and with no children to bewail me, must travel very tediously +toward death, a friendless person cursed by fate, while this Melusine +laughs with her children. She has two children, as Demetrios reports. I +think the boy must be the more like Perion. I think she must be very +happy when she lifts that boy into her lap." + +Thus Melicent; and her full-blooded husband was not much more +light-hearted. He went away from Nacumera shortly, in a shaking rage +which robbed him of his hands' control, intent to kill and pillage, +and, in fine, to make all other persons share his misery. + + + + +23. + + +_How Demetrios Cried Farewell_ + +And then one day, when the proconsul had been absent some six weeks, +Ahasuerus fetched Dame Melicent into the Court of Stars. Demetrios lay +upon the divan supported by many pillows, as though he had not ever +stirred since that first day when an unfettered Melicent, who was a +princess then, exulted in her youth and comeliness. + +"Stand there," he said, and did not move at all, "that I may see my +purchase." + +And presently he smiled, though wryly. Demetrios said next: + +"Of my own will I purchased misery. Yea, and death also. It is +amusing.... Two days ago, in a brief skirmish, a league north of Calonak, +the Prankish leader met me hand to hand. He has endeavoured to do this +for a long while. I also wished it. Nothing could be sweeter than to +feel the horse beneath me wading in his blood, I thought.. Ey, well, he +dismounted me at the first encounter, though I am no weakling. I cannot +understand quite how it happened. Pious people will say some deity was +offended, but, for my part, I think my horse stumbled. It does not seem +to matter now. What really matters, more or less, is that it would +appear the man broke my backbone as one snaps a straw, since I cannot +move a limb of me." + +"Seignior," said Melicent, "you mean that you are dying!" + +He answered, "Yes; but it is a trivial discomfort, now I see that it +grieves you a little." + +She spoke his name some three times, sobbing. It was in her mind even +then how strange the happening was that she should grieve for +Demetrios. + +"O Melicent," he harshly said, "let us have done with lies! That +Frankish captain who has brought about my death is Perion de la Foret. +He has not ever faltered in the duel between us since your paltry +emeralds paid for his first armament.--Why, yes, I lied. I always hoped +the man would do as in his place I would have done. I hoped in vain. +For many long and hard-fought years this handsome maniac has been +assailing Nacumera, tirelessly. Then the water-demon's daughter, that +strange and wayward woman of Brunbelois, attempted to ensnare him. And +that too was in vain. She failed, my spies reported--even Dame +Melusine, who had not ever failed before in such endeavours." + +"But certainly the foul witch failed!" cried Melicent. A glorious +change had come into her face, and she continued, quite untruthfully, +"Nor did I ever believe that this vile woman had made Perion prove +faithless." + +"No, the fool's lunacy is rock, like yours. _En cor gentil domnei per +mort no passa_, as they sing in your native country.... Ey, how +indomitably I lied, what pains I took, lest you should ever know of +this! And now it does not seem to matter any more.... The love this man +bears for you," snarled Demetrios, "is sprung of the High God whom we +diversely worship. The love I bear you is human, since I, too, am only +human." And Demetrios chuckled. "Talk, and talk, and talk! There is no +bird in any last year's nest." + +She laid her hand upon his unmoved hand, and found it cold and swollen. +She wept to see the broken tyrant, who to her at least had been not all +unkind. + +He said, with a great hunger in his eyes: + +"So likewise ends the duel which was fought between us two. I would +salute the victor if I could. ... Ey, Melicent, I still consider you +and Perion are fools. We have a not intolerable world to live in, and +common-sense demands we make the most of every tidbit this world +affords. Yet you can find in it only an exercising-ground for +infatuation, and in all its contents--pleasures and pains alike--only +so many obstacles for rapt insanity to override. I do not understand +this mania; I would I might have known it, none the less. Always I +envied you more than I loved you. Always my desire was less to win the +love of Melicent than to love Melicent as Melicent loved Perion. I was +incapable of this. Yet I have loved you. That was the reason, I +believe, I put aside my purchased toy." It seemed to puzzle him. + +"Fair friend, it is the most honourable of reasons. You have done +chivalrously. In this, at least, you have done that which would be not +unworthy of Perion de la Foret." A woman never avid for strained +subtleties, it may be that she never understood, quite, why Demetrios +laughed. + +He said: + +"I mean to serve you now, as I had always meant to serve you some day. +Ey, yes, I think I always meant to give you back to Perion as a free +gift. Meanwhile to see, and to writhe in seeing your perfection, has +meant so much to me that daily I have delayed such a transfiguration of +myself until to-morrow." The man grimaced. "My son Orestes, who will +presently succeed me, has been summoned. I will order that he conduct +you at once into Perion's camp--yonder by Quesiton. I think I shall not +live three days." + +"I would not leave you, friend, until--" + +His grin was commentary and completion equally. Demetrios observed: + +"A dead dog has no teeth wherewith to serve even virtue. Oh, no, my +women hate you far too greatly. You must go straightway to this Perion, +while Demetrios of Anatolia is alive, or else not ever go." + +She had no words. She wept, and less for joy of winning home to Perion +at last than for her grief that Demetrios was dying. Woman-like, she +could remember only that the man had loved her in his fashion. And, +woman-like, she could but wonder at the strength of Perion. + +Then Demetrios said: + +"I must depart into a doubtful exile. I have been powerful and valiant, +I have laughed loud, I have drunk deep, but heaven no longer wishes +Demetrios to exist. I am unable to support my sadness, so near am I to +my departure from all I have loved. I cry farewell to all diversions +and sports, to well-fought battles, to furred robes of vair and of +silk, to noisy merriment, to music, to vain-gloriously coloured gems, +and to brave deeds in open sunlight; for I desire--and I entreat of +every person--only compassion and pardon. + +"Chiefly I grieve because I must leave Melicent behind me, unfriended +in a perilous land, and abandoned, it may be, to the malice of those +who wish her ill. I was a noted warrior, I was mighty of muscle, and I +could have defended her stoutly. But I lie broken in the hand of +Destiny. It is necessary I depart into the place where sinners, whether +crowned or ragged, must seek for unearned mercy. I cry farewell to all +that I have loved, to all that I have injured; and so in chief to you, +dear Melicent, I cry farewell, and of you in chief I crave compassion +and pardon. + +"O eyes and hair and lips of Melicent, that I have loved so long, I do +not hunger for you now. Yet, as a dying man, I cry to the clean soul of +Melicent--the only adversary that in all my lifetime I who was once +Demetrios could never conquer. A ravening beast was I, and as a beast I +raged to see you so unlike me. And now, a dying beast, I cry to you, +but not for love, since that is overpast. I cry for pity that I have +not earned, for pardon which I have not merited. Conquered and +impotent, I cry to you, O soul of Melicent, for compassion and pardon. + +"Melicent, it may be that when I am dead, when nothing remains of +Demetrios except his tomb, you will comprehend I loved, even while I +hated, what is divine in you. Then since you are a woman, you will lift +your lover's face between your hands, as you have never lifted my face, +Melicent, and you will tell him of my folly merrily; yet since you are +a woman, you will sigh afterward, and you will not deny me compassion +and pardon." + +She gave him both--she who was prodigal of charity. Orestes came, with +Ahasuerus at his heels, and Demetrios sent Melicent into the Women's +Garden, so that father and son might talk together. She waited in this +place for a half-hour, just as the proconsul had commanded her, obeying +him for the last time. It was strange to think of that. + + * * * * * + +It was not gladness which Melicent knew for a brief while. Rather, it +was a strange new comprehension of the world. To Melicent the world +seemed very lovely. + +Indeed, the Women's Garden on this morning lacked nothing to delight +each sense. Its hedges were of flowering jessamine; its walkways were +spread with new sawdust tinged with crocus and vermilion and with mica +beaten into a powder; and the place was rich in fruit-bearing trees and +welling waters. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the right +hand and to the left. Dog-headed apes, sacred to the moon, were +chattering in the trees. There was a statue in this place, carved out +of black stone, in the likeness of a woman, having enamelled eyes and +three rows of breasts, with the lower part of her body confined in a +sheath; and upon the glistening pedestal of this statue chameleons +sunned themselves with distended throats. Round about Melicent were +nodding armaments of roses and gillyflowers and narcissi and amaranths, +and many violets and white lilies, and other flowers of all kinds and +colours. + +To Melicent the world seemed very lovely. Here was a world created by +Eternal Love that people might serve love in it not all unworthily. +Here were anguishes to be endured, and time and human frailty and +temporal hardship--all for love to mock at; a sea or two for love to +sever, a man-made law or so for love to override, a shallow wisdom for +love to deny, in exultance that these ills at most were only corporal +hindrances. This done, you have earned the right to come--come +hand-in-hand--to heaven whose liege-lord was Eternal Love. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + +She sat on a stone bench. She combed her golden hair, not heeding the +more coarse gray hairs which here and there were apparent nowadays. A +peacock came and watched her with bright, hard, small eyes; and he +craned his glistening neck this way and that way, as though he were +wondering at this other shining and gaily coloured creature, who seemed +so happy. + +She did not dare to think of seeing Perion again. Instead, she made +because of him a little song, which had not any words, so that it is +not possible here to retail this song. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + + + + +24. + + +_How Orestes Ruled_ + +Melicent returned into the Court of Stars; and as she entered, Orestes +lifted one of the red cushions from Demetrios' face. The eyes of +Ahasuerus, who stood by negligently, were as expressionless as the eyes +of a snake. + +"The great proconsul laid an inconvenient mandate upon me," said +Orestes. "The great proconsul has been removed from us in order that +his splendour may enhance the glories of Elysium." + +She saw that the young man had smothered his own father in the flesh as +Demetrios lay helpless; and knew thereby that Orestes was indeed the +son of Demetrios. + +"Go," this Orestes said thereafter; "go, and remember I am master +here." + +Said Melicent, "And by which door?" A little hope there was as yet. + +But he, as half in shame, had pointed to the entrance of the Women's +Garden. "I have no enmity against you, outlander. Yet my mother desires +to talk with you. Also there is some bargaining to be completed with +Ahasuerus here." + +Then Melicent knew what had prompted the proconsul's murder. It seemed +unfair Callistion should hate her with such bitterness; yet Melicent +remembered certain thoughts concerning Dame Melusine, and did not +wonder at Callistion's mania half so much as did Callistion's son. + +"I must endure discomfort and, it may be, torture for a little longer," +said Melicent, and laughed whole-heartedly. "Oh, but to-day I find a +cure for every ill," said Melicent; and thereupon she left Orestes as a +princess should. + +But first she knelt by that which yesterday had been her master. + +"I have no word of praise or blame to give you in farewell. You were +not admirable, Demetrios. But you depart upon a fearful journey, and in +my heart there is just memory of the long years wherein according to +your fashion you were kind to me. A bargain is a bargain. I sold with +open eyes that which you purchased. I may not reproach you." + +Then Melicent lifted the dead face between her hands, as mothers caress +their boys in questioning them. + +"I would I had done this when you were living," said Melicent, "because +I understand now that you loved me in your fashion. And I pray that you +may know I am the happiest woman in the world, because I think this +knowledge would now gladden you. I go to slavery, Demetrios, where I +was queen, I go to hardship, and it may be that I go to death. But I +have learned this assuredly--that love endures, that the strong knot +which unites my heart and Perion's heart can never be untied. Oh, +living is a higher thing than you or I had dreamed! And I have in my +heart just pity, poor Demetrios, for you who never found the love of +which I must endeavour to be worthy. A curse was I to you unwillingly, +as you--I now believe--have been to me against your will. So at the +last I turn anew to bargaining, and cry--in your deaf ears--_Pardon for +pardon, O Demetrios!_" + +Then Melicent kissed pitiable lips which would not ever sneer again, +and, rising, passed into the Women's Garden, proudly and unafraid. + +Ahasuerus shrugged so patiently that she was half afraid. Then, as a +cloud passes, she saw that all further buffetings would of necessity be +trivial. + +For Perion, as she now knew, was very near to her--single of purpose, +clean of hands, and filled with such a love as thrilled her with +delicious fears of her own poor unworthiness. + + + + +25. + + +_How Women Talked Together_ + +Dame Melicent walked proudly through the Women's Garden, and presently +entered a grove of orange trees, the most of which were at this season +about their flowering. In this place was an artificial pool by which +the trees were nourished. On its embankment sprawled the body of young +Diophantus, a child of some ten years of age, Demetrios' son by +Tryphera. Orestes had strangled Diophantus in order that there might be +no rival to Orestes' claims. The lad lay on his back, and his left arm +hung elbow-deep in the water, which swayed it gently. + +Callistion sat beside the corpse and stroked its limp right hand. She +had hated the boy throughout his brief and merry life. She thought now +of his likeness to Demetrios. + +She raised toward Melicent the dilated eyes of one who has just come +from a dark place. Callistion said: + +"And so Demetrios is dead. I thought I would be glad when I said that. +Hah, it is strange I am not glad." + +She rose, as though with hard effort, as a decrepit person might have +done. You saw that she was dressed in a long gown of black, pleated to +the knees, having no clasp or girdle, and bare of any ornamentation +except a gold star on each breast. + +Callistion said: + +"Now, through my son, I reign in Nacumera. There is no person who dares +disobey me. Therefore, come close to me that I may see the beauty which +besotted this Demetrios, whom, I think now, I must have loved." + +"Oh, gaze your fill," said Melicent, "and know that had you possessed a +tithe of my beauty you might have held the heart of Demetrios." For it +was in Melicent's mind to provoke the woman into killing her before +worse befell. + +But Callistion only studied the proud face for a long while, and knew +there was no lovelier person between two seas. For time here had +pillaged very sparingly; and if Dame Melicent had not any longer the +first beauty of her girlhood, Callistion had nowhere seen a woman more +handsome than this hated Frankish thief. + +Callistion said: + +"No, I was not ever so beautiful as you. Yet this Demetrios loved me +when I, too, was lovely. You never saw the man in battle. I saw him, +single-handed, fight with Abradas and three other knaves who stole me +from my mother's home--oh, very long ago! He killed all four of them. +He was like a horrible unconquerable god when he turned from that +finished fight to me. He kissed me then--blood-smeared, just as he +was.... I like to think of how he laughed and of how strong he was." + +The woman turned and crouched by the dead boy, and seemed painstakingly +to appraise her own reflection on the water's surface. + +"It is gone now, the comeliness Demetrios was pleased to like. I would +have waded Acheron--singing--rather than let his little finger ache. He +knew as much. Only it seemed a trifle, because your eyes were bright +and your fair skin was unwrinkled. In consequence the man is dead. Oh, +Melicent, I wonder why I am so sad!" + +Callistion's meditative eyes were dry, but those of Melicent were not. +And Melicent came to the Dacian woman, and put one arm about her in that +dim, sweet-scented place, saying, "I never meant to wrong you." + +Callistion did not seem to heed. Then Callistion said: + +"See now! Do you not see the difference between us!" These two were +kneeling side by side, and each looked into the water. + +Callistion said: + +"I do not wonder that Demetrios loved you. He loved at odd times many +women. He loved the mother of this carrion here. But afterward he would +come back to me, and lie asprawl at my feet with his big crafty head +between my knees; and I would stroke his hair, and we would talk of the +old days when we were young. He never spoke of you. I cannot pardon +that." + +"I know," said Melicent. Their cheeks touched now. + +"There is only one master who could teach you that drear knowledge--" + +"There is but one, Callistion." + +"The man would be tall, I think. He would, I know, have thick, brown, +curling hair--" + +"He has black hair, Callistion. It glistens like a raven's wing." + +"His face would be all pink and white, like yours--" + +"No, tanned like yours, Callistion. Oh, he is like an eagle, very +resolute. His glance bedwarfs you. I used to be afraid to look at him, +even when I saw how foolishly he loved me--" + +"I know," Callistion said. "All women know. Ah, we know many things--" + +She reached with her free arm across the body of Diophantus and +presently dropped a stone into the pool. She said: + +"See how the water ripples. There is now not any reflection of my poor +face or of your beauty. All is as wavering as a man's heart.... And now +your beauty is regathering like coloured mists. Yet I have other +stones." + +"Oh, and the will to use them!" said Dame Melicent. + +"For this bright thieving beauty is not any longer yours. It is mine +now, to do with as I may elect--as yesterday it was the plaything of +Demetrios.... Why, no! I think I shall not kill you. I have at hand +three very cunning Cheylas--the men who carve and reshape children into +such droll monsters. They cannot change your eyes, they tell me. That +is a pity, but I can have one plucked out. Then I shall watch my +Cheylas as they widen your mouth from ear to ear, take out the +cartilage from your nose, wither your hair till it will always be like +rotted hay, and turn your skin--which is like velvet now--the colour of +baked mud. They will as deftly strip you of that beauty which has +robbed me as I pluck up this blade of grass.... Oh, they will make you +the most hideous of living things, they assure me. Otherwise, as they +agree, I shall kill them. This done, you may go freely to your lover. I +fear, though, lest you may not love him as I loved Demetrios." + +And Melicent said nothing. + +"For all we women know, my sister, our appointed curse. To love the +man, and to know the man loves just the lips and eyes Youth lends to +us--oho, for such a little while! Yes, it is cruel. And therefore we +are cruel--always in thought and, when occasion offers, in the deed." + +And Melicent said nothing. For of that mutual love she shared with +Perion, so high and splendid that it made of grief a music, and wrung a +new sustainment out of every cross, as men get cordials of bitter +herbs, she knew there was no comprehension here. + + + + +26. + + +_How Men Ordered Matters_ + +Orestes came into the garden with Ahasuerus and nine other attendants. +The master of Nacumera did not speak a syllable while his retainers +seized Callistion, gagged her, and tied her hands with cords. They +silently removed her. One among them bore on his shoulders the slim +corpse of Diophantus, which was interred the same afternoon (with every +appropriate ceremony) in company with that of his father. Orestes had +the nicest sense of etiquette. + +This series of swift deeds was performed with such a glib precipitancy +that if was as though the action had been rehearsed a score of times. +The garden was all drowsy peace now that Orestes spread his palms in a +gesture of deprecation. A little distance from him, Ahasuerus with his +forefinger drew upon the water's surface designs which appeared to +amuse the Jew. + +"She would have killed you, Melicent," Orestes said, "though all +Olympos had marshalled in interdiction. That would have been +irreligious. Moreover, by Hercules! I have not time to choose sides +between snarling women. He who hunts with cats will catch mice. I aim +more highly. And besides, by an incredible forced march, this Comte de +la Foret and all his Free Companions are battering at the gates of +Nacumera--" + +Hope blazed. "You know that were I harmed he would spare no one. Your +troops are all at Calonak. Oh, God is very good!" said Melicent. + +"I do not asperse the deities of any nation. It is unlucky. None the +less, your desires outpace your reason. Grant that I had not more than +fifty men to defend the garrison, yet Nacumera is impregnable except by +starvation. We can sit snug a month. Meanwhile our main force is at +Calonak, undoubtedly. Yet my infatuated father had already recalled +these troops, in order that they might escort you into Messire de la +Foret's camp. Now I shall use these knaves quite otherwise. They will +arrive within two days, and to the rear of Messire de la Foret, who is +encamped before an impregnable fortress. To the front unscalable walls, +and behind him, at a moderate computation, three swords to his one. All +this in a valley from which Daedalos might possibly escape, but +certainly no other man. I count this Perion of the Forest as already +dead." + +It was a lumbering Orestes who proclaimed each step in his enchained +deductions by the descent of a blunt forefinger upon the palm of his +left hand. Demetrios had left a son but not an heir. + +Yet the chain held. Melicent tested every link and found each obdurate. +She foresaw it all. Perion would be surrounded and overpowered. "And +these troops come from Calonak because of me!" + +"Things fall about with an odd patness, as you say. It should teach you +not to talk about divinities lightly. Also, by this Jew's advice, I +mean to further the gods' indisputable work. You will appear upon the +walls of Nacumera at dawn to-morrow, in such a garb as you wore in your +native country when the Comte de la Foret first saw you. Ahasuerus +estimates this Perion will not readily leave pursuit of you in that +event, whatever his lieutenants urge, for you are very beautiful." + +Melicent cried aloud, "A bitter curse this beauty has been to me, and +to all men who have desired it." + +"But I do not desire it," said Orestes. "Else I would not have sold it +to Ahasuerus. I desire only the governorship of some province on the +frontier where I may fight daily with stalwart adversaries, and ride +past the homes of conquered persons who hate me. Ahasuerus here assures +me that the Emperor will not deny me such employment when I bring him +the head of Messire de la Foret. The raids of Messire de la Foret have +irreligiously annoyed our Emperor for a long while." + +She muttered, "Thou that once wore a woman's body--!" + +"--And I take Ahasuerus to be shrewd in all respects save one. For he +desires trivialities. A wise man knows that woman are the sauce and not +the meat of life; Ahasuerus, therefore, is not wise. And in consequence +I do not lack a handsome bribe for this Bathyllos whom our good +Emperor--misguided man!--is weak enough to love; my mother goes in +chains; and I shall get my province." + +Here Orestes laughed. And then the master of Nacumera left Dame +Melicent alone with Ahasuerus. + + + + +27. + + +_How Ahasuerus Was Candid_ + +When Orestes had gone, the Jew remained unmoved. He continued to dabble +his finger-tips in the water as one who meditates. Presently he dried +them on either sleeve so that he seemed to embrace himself. + +Said he, "What instruments we use at need!" + +She said, "So you have purchased me, Ahasuerus?" + +"Yes, for a hundred and two minae. That is a great sum. You are not as +the run of women, though. I think you are worth it." + +She did not speak. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the +right hand and to the left. She was considering the beauty of these +gardens which seemed to sleep under a dome of hard, polished blue--the +beauty of this cloistered Nacumera, wherein so many infamies writhed +and contended like a nest of little serpents. + +"Do you remember, Melicent, that night at Fomor Beach when you snatched +a lantern from my hand? Your hand touched my hand, Melicent." + +She answered, "I remember." + +"I first of all saw that it was a woman who was aiding Perion to +escape. I considered Perion a lucky man, for I had seen the woman's +face." + +She remained silent. + +"I thought of this woman very often. I thought of her even more +frequently after I had talked with her at Bellegarde, telling of +Perion's captivity.... Melicent," the Jew said, "I make no songs, no +protestations, no phrases. My deeds must speak for me. Concede that I +have laboured tirelessly." He paused, his gaze lifted, and his lips +smiled. His eyes stayed mirthless. "This mad Callistion's hate of you, +and of the Demetrios who had abandoned her, was my first +stepping-stone. By my advice a tiny wire was fastened very tightly +around the fetlock of a certain horse, between the foot and the heel, +and the hair was smoothed over this wire. Demetrios rode that horse in +his last battle. It stumbled, and our terrible proconsul was thus +brought to death. Callistion managed it. Thus I betrayed Demetrios." + +Melicent said, "You are too foul for hell to swallow." And Ahasuerus +manifested indifference to this imputed fault. + +"Thus far I had gone hand-in-hand with an insane Callistion. Now our +ways parted. She desired only to be avenged on you, and very crudely. +That did not accord with my plan. I fell to bargaining. I purchased +with--O rarity of rarities!--a little rational advice and much gold as +well. Thus in due season I betrayed Callistion. Well, who forbids it?" + +She said: + +"God is asleep. Therefore you live, and I--alas!--must live for a +while longer." + +"Yes, you must live for a while longer--oh, and I, too, must live for a +while longer!" the Jew returned. His voice had risen in a curious +quavering wail. It was the first time Melicent ever knew him to display +any emotion. + +But the mood passed, and he said only: + +"Who forbids it? In any event, there is a venerable adage concerning +the buttering of parsnips. So I content myself with asking you to +remember that I have not ever faltered. I shall not falter now. You +loathe me. Who forbids it? I have known from the first that you +detested me, and I have always considered your verdict to err upon the +side of charity. Believe me, you will never loathe Ahasuerus as I do. +And yet I coddle this poor knave sometimes--oh, as I do to-day!" he +said. + +And thus they parted. + + + + +28. + + +_How Perion Saw Melicent_ + +The manner of the torment of Melicent was this: A little before dawn +she was conducted by Ahasuerus and Orestes to the outermost turrets of +Nacumera, which were now beginning to take form and colour. Very +suddenly a flash of light had flooded the valley, the big crimson sun +was instantaneously apparent as though he had leaped over the bleeding +night-mists. Darkness and all night's adherents were annihilated. +Pelicans and geese and curlews were in uproar, as at a concerted +signal. A buzzard yelped thrice like a dog, and rose in a long spiral +from the cliff to Melicent's right hand. He hung motionless, a speck in +the clear zenith, uncannily anticipative. Warmth flooded the valley. + +Now Melicent could see the long and narrow plain beneath her. It was +overgrown with a tall coarse grass which, rippling in the dawn-wind, +resembled moving waters from this distance, save where clumps of palm +trees showed like islands. Farther off, the tents of the Free +Companions were as the white, sharp teeth of a lion. Also she could +see--and did not recognise--the helmet-covered head of Perion catch and +reflect the sunrays dazzlingly, where he knelt in the shimmering grass +just out of bowshot. + +Now Perion could see a woman standing, in the new-born sunlight, under +many gaily coloured banners. The maiden was attired in a robe of white +silk, and about her wrists were heavy bands of silver. Her hair blazed +in the light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than +milk; the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch +than were her hands. There was never anywhere a person more delightful +to gaze upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love +and service to Dame Melicent. This much could Perion know, whose fond +eyes did not really see the woman upon the battlements but, instead, +young Melicent as young Perion had first beheld her walking by the sea +at Bellegarde. + +Thus Perion, who knelt in adoration of that listless girl, all white +and silver, and gold, too, where her blown hair showed like a halo. +Desirable and lovelier than words may express seemed Melicent to Perion +as she stood thus in lonely exaltation, and behind her, glorious +banners fluttered, and the blue sky took on a deeper colour. What +Perion saw was like a church window when the sun shines through it. +Ahasuerus perfectly understood the baiting of a trap. + +Perion came into the open plain before the castle and called on her +dear name three times. Then Perion, naked to his enemies, and at the +disposal of the first pagan archer that chose to shoot him down, sang +cheerily the waking-song which Melicent had heard a mimic Amphitryon +make in Dame Alcmena's honour, very long ago, when people laughed and +Melicent was young and ignorant of misery. + +Sang Perion, "_Rei glorios, verais lums e clardatz--_" or, in other +wording: + +"Thou King of glory, veritable light, all-powerful deity! be pleased to +succour faithfully my fair, sweet friend. The night that severed us has +been long and bitter, the darkness has been shaken by bleak winds, but +now the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, be of good heart! We have been tormented long +enough by evil dreams. Be of good heart, for the dawn is approaching! +The east is astir. I have seen the orient star which heralds day. I +discern it clearly, for now the dawn is near at hand." + +The song was no great matter; but the splendid futility of its +performance amid such touch-and-go surroundings Melicent considered to +be august. And consciousness of his words' poverty, as Perion thus +lightly played with death in order to accord due honour to the lady he +served, was to Dame Melicent in her high martyrdom as is the twist of a +dagger in an already fatal wound; and made her love augment. + +Sang Perion: + +"My fair sweet friend, it is I, your servitor, who cry to you, _Be of +good heart!_ Regard the sky and the stars now growing dim, and you will +see that I have been an untiring sentinel. It will presently fare the +worse for those who do not recognise that the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, since you were taken from me I have not ever +been of a divided mind. I have kept faith, I have not failed you. +Hourly I have entreated God and the Son of Mary to have compassion upon +our evil dreams. And now the dawn is near at hand." + +"My poor, bruised, puzzled boy," thought Melicent, as she had done so +long ago, "how came you to be blundering about this miry world of ours? +And how may I be worthy?" + +Orestes spoke. His voice disturbed the woman's rapture thinly, like the +speech of a ghost, and she remembered now that a bustling world was her +antagonist. + +"Assuredly," Orestes said, "this man is insane. I will forthwith +command my archers to despatch him in the middle of his caterwauling. +For at this distance they cannot miss him." + +But Ahasuerus said: + +"No, seignior, not by my advice. If you slay this Perion of the Forest, +his retainers will speedily abandon a desperate siege and retreat to +the coast. But they will never retreat so long as the man lives and +sways them, and we hold Melicent, for, as you plainly see, this +abominable reprobate is quite besotted with love of her. His death +would win you praise; but the destruction of his armament will purchase +you your province. Now in two days at most our troops will come, and +then we will slay all the Free Companions." + +"That is true," said Orestes, "and it is remarkable how you think of +these things so quickly." + +So Orestes was ruled by Ahasuerus, and Perion, through no merit of his +own, departed unharmed. + +Then Melicent was conducted to her own apartments; and eunuchs guarded +her, while the battle was, and men she had not ever seen died by the +score because her beauty was so great. + + + + +29. + + +_How a Bargain Was Cried_ + +Now about sunset Melicent knelt in her oratory and laid all her grief +before the Virgin, imploring counsel. + +This place was in reality a chapel, which Demetrios had builded for +Melicent in exquisite enjoyment. To furnish it he had sacked towns she +never heard of, and had rifled two cathedrals, because the notion that +the wife of Demetrios should own a Christian chapel appeared to him +amusing. The Virgin, a masterpiece of Pietro di Vicenza, Demetrios had +purchased by the interception of a free city's navy. It was a painted +statue, very handsome. + +The sunlight shone on Melicent through a richly coloured window wherein +were shown the sufferings of Christ and the two thieves. This siftage +made about her a welter of glowing and intermingling colours, above +which her head shone with a clear halo. + +This much Ahasuerus noted. He said, "You offer tears to Miriam of +Nazara. Yonder they are sacrificing a bull to Mithras. But I do not +make either offering or prayer to any god. Yet of all persons in +Nacumera I alone am sure of this day's outcome." Thus spoke the Jew +Ahasuerus. + +The woman stood erect now. She asked, "What of the day, Ahasuerus?" + +"It has been much like other days that I have seen. The sun rose +without any perturbation. And now it sinks as usual. Oh, true, there +has been fighting. The sky has been clouded with arrows, and horses, +nicer than their masters, have screamed because these soulless beasts +were appalled by so much blood. Many women have become widows, and +divers children are made orphans, because of two huge eyes they never +saw. Puf! it is an old tale." + +She said, "Is Perion hurt?" + +"Is the dog hurt that has driven a cat into a tree? Such I estimate to +be the position of Orestes and Perion. Ah, no, this Perion who was my +captain once is as yet a lord without any peer in the fields where men +contend in battle. But love has thrust him into a bag's end, and his +fate is certain." + +She spoke her steadfast resolution. "And my fate, too. For when Perion +is trapped and slain I mean to kill myself." + +"I am aware of that," he said. "Oh, women have these notions! Yet when +the hour came, I think, you would not dare. For I know your beliefs +concerning hell's geography, and which particular gulf of hell is +reserved for all self-murderers." + +Then Melicent waited for a while. She spoke later without any apparent +emotion. "And how should I fear hell who crave a bitterer fate! Listen, +Ahasuerus! I know that you desire me as a plaything very greatly. The +infamy in which you wade attests as much. Yet you have schemed to no +purpose if Perion dies, because the ways of death are always open. I +would die many times rather than endure the touch of your finger. +Ahasuerus, I have not any words wherewith to tell you of my loathing--" + +"Turn then to bargaining," he said, and seemed aware of all her +thoughts. "Oh, to a hideous bargain. Let Perion be warned of those +troops that will to-morrow outflank him. Let him escape. There is yet +time. Do this, dark hungry man, and I will live." She shuddered here. +"Yes, I will live and be obedient in all things to you, my purchaser, +until you shall have wearied of me, or, at the least, until God has +remembered." + +His careful eyes were narrowed. "You would bribe me as you once bribed +Demetrios? And to the same purpose? I think that fate excels less in +invention than in cruelty." + +She bitterly said, "Heaven help me, and what other wares have I to +vend!" + +He answered: + +"None. No woman has in this black age; and therefore comfort you, my +girl." + +She hurried on. "Therefore anew I offer Melicent, who was a princess +once. I cry a price for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's +tender body without any blemish. I have no longer youth and happiness +and honour to afford you as your toys. These three have long been +strangers to me. Oh, very long! Yet all I have I offer for one +charitable deed. See now how near you are to victory. Think now how +gloriously one honest act would show in you who have betrayed each +overlord you ever served." + +He said: + +"I am suspicious of strange paths, I shrink from practising unfamiliar +virtues. My plan is fixed. I think I shall not alter it." + +"Ah, no, Ahasuerus! think instead how beautiful I am. There is no +comelier animal in all this big lewd world. Indeed I cannot count how +many men have died because I am a comely animal--" She smiled as one +who is too tired to weep. "That, too, is an old tale. Now I abate in +value, it appears, very lamentably. For I am purchasable now just by +one honest deed, and there is none who will barter with me." + +He returned: + +"You forget that a freed Perion would always have a sonorous word or +two to say in regard to your bargainings. Demetrios bargained, you may +remember. Demetrios was a dread lord. It cost him daily warfare to +retain you. Now I lack swords and castles--I who dare love you much as +Demetrios did--and I would be able to retain neither Melicent nor +tranquil existence for an unconscionable while. Ah, no! I bear my +former general no grudge. I merely recognise that while Perion lives he +will not ever leave pursuit of you. I would readily concede the potency +of his spurs, even were there need to look on you a second time--It +happens that there is no need! Meanwhile I am a quiet man, and I abhor +dissension. For the rest, I do not think that you will kill yourself, +and so I think I shall not alter my fixed plan." + +He left her, and Melicent prayed no more. To what end, she reflected, +need she pray, when there was no hope for Perion? + + + + +30. + + +_How Melicent Conquered_ + +Into Melicent's bedroom, about two o'clock in the morning, came +Ahasuerus the Jew. She sat erect in bed and saw him cowering over a +lamp which his long glistening fingers shielded, so that the lean face +of the man floated upon a little golden pool in the darkness. She +marvelled that this detestable countenance had not aged at all since +her first sight of it. + +He smoothly said: + +"Now let us talk. I have loved you for some while, fair Melicent." + +"You have desired me," she replied. + +"Faith, I am but as all men, whatever their age. Why, what the devil! +man may have Javeh's breath in him, but even Scripture proves that man +was made of clay." The Jew now puffed out his jaws as if in +recollection. "_You are a handsome piece of flesh_, I thought when I +came to you at Bellegarde, telling of Perion's captivity. I thought no +more than this, because in my time I have seen a greater number of +handsome women than you would suppose. Thereafter, on account of an odd +reason which I had, I served Demetrios willingly enough. This son of +Miramon Lluagor was able to pay me well, in a curious coinage. So I +arranged the bungling snare Demetrios proposed--too gross, I thought +it, to trap any woman living. Ohe, and why should I not lay an open and +frank springe for you? Who else was a king's bride-to-be, young, +beautiful, and blessed with wealth and honour and every other comfort +which the world affords?" Now the Jew made as if to fling away a robe +from his gaunt person. "And you cast this, all this, aside as nothing. +I saw it done." + +"Ah, but I did it to save Perion," she wisely said. + +"Unfathomable liar," he returned, "you boldly and unscrupulously bought +of life the thing which you most earnestly desired. Nor Solomon nor +Periander has won more. And thus I saw that which no other man has +seen. I saw the shrewd and dauntless soul of Melicent. And so I loved +you, and I laid my plan--" + +She said, "You do not know of love--" + +"Yet I have builded him a temple," the Jew considered. He continued, +with that old abhorrent acquiescence, "Now, a temple is admirable, but +it is not builded until many labourers have dug and toiled waist-deep +in dirt. Here, too, such spatterment seemed necessary. So I played, in +fine, I played a cunning music. The pride of Demetrios, the jealousy of +Callistion, and the greed of Orestes--these were as so many stops of +that flute on which I played a cunning deadly music. Who forbids it?" + +She motioned him, "Go on." Now she was not afraid. + +"Come then to the last note of my music! You offer to bargain, saying, +_Save Perion and have my body as your chattel_. I answer _Click_! The +turning of a key solves all. Accordingly I have betrayed the castle of +Nacumera, I have this night admitted Perion and his broad-shouldered +men. They are killing Orestes yonder in the Court of Stars even while I +talk with you." Ahasuerus laughed noiselessly. "Such vanity does not +become a Jew, but I needs must do the thing with some magnificence. +Therefore I do not give Sire Perion only his life. I give him also +victory and much throat-cutting and an impregnable rich castle. Have I +not paid the price, fair Melicent? Have I not won God's masterpiece +through a small wire, a purse, and a big key?" + +She answered, "You have paid." + +He said: + +"You will hold to your bargain? Ah, you have but to cry aloud, and you +are rid of me. For this is Perion's castle." + +She said, "Christ help me! You have paid my price." + +Now the Jew raised his two hands in very horrible mirth. Said he: + +"Oh, I am almost tempted to praise Javeh, who created the invincible +soul of Melicent. For you have conquered: you have gained, as always, +and at whatever price, exactly that which you most desired, and you do +not greatly care about anything else. So, because of a word said you +would arise and follow me on my dark ways if I commanded it. You will +not weight the dice, not even at this pinch, when it would be so easy! +For Perion is safe; and nothing matters in comparison with that, and +you will not break faith, not even with me. You are inexplicable, you +are stupid, and you are resistless. Again I see my Melicent, who is not +just a pair of purple eyes and so much lovely flesh." + +His face was as she had not ever known it now, and very tender. +Ahasuerus said: + +"My way to victory is plain enough. And yet there is an obstacle. For +my fancy is taken by the soul of Melicent, and not by that handsome +piece of flesh which all men--even Perion, madame!--have loved so long +with remarkable infatuation. Accordingly I had not ever designed that +the edifice on which I laboured should be the stable of my lusts. +Accordingly I played my cunning music--and accordingly I give you +Perion. I that am Ahasuerus win for you all which righteousness and +honour could not win. At the last it is I who give you Perion, and it +is I who bring you to his embrace. He must still be about his +magnanimous butchery, I think, in the Court of Stars." + +Ahasuerus knelt, kissing her hand. + +"Fair Melicent, such abominable persons as Demetrios and I are fatally +alike. We may deny, deride, deplore, or even hate, the sanctity of any +noble lady accordingly as we elect; but there is for us no possible +escape from worshipping it. Your wind-fed Ferions, who will not ever +acknowledge what sort of world we live in, are less quick to recognise +the soul of Melicent. Such is our sorry consolation. Oh, you do not +believe me yet. You will believe in the oncoming years. Meanwhile, O +all-enduring and all-conquering! go now to your last labour; and--if +my Brother dare concede as much--do you now conquer Perion." + +Then he vanished. She never saw him any more. + +She lifted the Jew's lamp. She bore it through the Women's Garden, +wherein were many discomfortable shadows and no living being. She came +to its outer entrance. Men were fighting there. She skirted a hideous +conflict, and descended the Queen's Stairway, which led (as you have +heard) toward the balcony about the Court of Stars. She found this +balcony vacant. + +Below her men were fighting. To the farther end of the court Orestes +sprawled upon the red and yellow slabs--which now for the most part +were red--and above him towered Perion of the Forest. The conqueror had +paused to cleanse his sword upon the same divan Demetrios had occupied +when Melicent first saw the proconsul; and as Perion turned, in the act +of sheathing his sword, he perceived the dear familiar denizen of all +his dreams. A tiny lamp glowed in her hand quite steadily. + +"O Melicent," said Perion, with a great voice, "my task is done. Come +now to me." + +She instantly obeyed whose only joy was to please Perion. Descending +the enclosed stairway, she thought how like its gloom was to the +temporal unhappiness she had passed through in serving Perion. + +He stood a dripping statue, for he had fought horribly. She came to +him, picking her way among the slain. He trembled who was fresh from +slaying. A flood of torchlight surged and swirled about them, and +within a stone's cast Perion's men were despatching the wounded. + +These two stood face to face and did not speak at all. + +I think that he knew disappointment first. He looked to find the girl +whom he had left on Fomor Beach. + +He found a woman, the possessor still of a compelling beauty. Oh, yes, +past doubt: but this woman was a stranger to him, as he now knew with +an odd sense of sickness. Thus, then, had ended the quest of Melicent. +Their love had flouted Time and Fate. These had revenged this +insolence, it seemed to Perion, by an ironical conversion of each rebel +into another person. For this was not the girl whom Perion had loved in +far red-roofed Poictesme; this was not the girl for whom Perion had +fought ten minutes since: and he--as Perion for the first time +perceived--was not and never could be any more the Perion that girl had +bidden return to her. It were as easy to evoke the Perion who had loved +Melusine.... + +Then Perion perceived that love may be a power so august as to bedwarf +consideration of the man and woman whom it sways. He saw that this is +reasonable. I cannot justify this knowledge. I cannot even tell you +just what great secret it was of which Perion became aware. Many men +have seen the sunrise, but the serenity and awe and sweetness of this +daily miracle, the huge assurance which it emanates that the beholder +is both impotent and greatly beloved, is not entirely an affair of the +sky's tincture. And thus it was with Perion. He knew what he could not +explain. He knew such joy and terror as none has ever worded. A curtain +had lifted briefly; and the familiar world which Perion knew, for the +brief instant, had appeared to be a painting upon that curtain. + +Now, dazzled, he saw Melicent for the first time.... + +I think he saw the lines already forming in her face, and knew that, +but for him, this woman, naked now of gear and friends, had been +to-night a queen among her own acclaiming people. I think he worshipped +where he did not dare to love, as every man cannot but do when starkly +fronted by the divine and stupendous unreason of a woman's choice, +among so many other men, of him. And yet, I think that Perion recalled +what Ayrart de Montors had said of women and their love, so long ago:-- +"They are more wise than we; and always they make us better by +indomitably believing we are better than in reality a man can ever be." + +I think that Perion knew, now, de Montors had been in the right. The +pity and mystery and beauty of that world wherein High God had-- +scornfully?--placed a smug Perion, seemed to the Comte de la Foret, I +think, unbearable. I think a new and finer love smote Perion as a sword +strikes. + +I think he did not speak because there was no scope for words. I know +that he knelt (incurious for once of victory) before this stranger who +was not the Melicent whom he had sought so long, and that all +consideration of a lost young Melicent departed from him, as mists +leave our world when the sun rises. + +I think that this was her high hour of triumph. + +CAETERA DESUNT + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +_These lives made out of loves that long since were +Lives wrought as ours of earth and burning air, +Was such not theirs, the twain I take, and give +Out of my life to make their dead life live +Some days of mine, and blow my living breath +Between dead lips forgotten even of death? +So many and many of old have given my twain +Love and live song and honey-hearted pain._ + + +Thus, rather suddenly, ends our knowledge of the love-business between +Perion and Melicent. For at this point, as abruptly as it began, the +one existing chronicle of their adventures makes conclusion, like a bit +of interrupted music, and thereby affords conjecture no inconsiderable +bounds wherein to exercise itself. Yet, in view of the fact that +deductions as to what befell these lovers afterward can at best result +in free-handed theorising, it seems more profitable in this place to +speak very briefly of the fragmentary _Roman de Lusignan_, since the +history of Melicent and Perion as set forth in this book makes no +pretensions to be more than a rendering into English of this +manuscript, with slight additions from the earliest known printed +version of 1546. + + + + +2 + + +M. Verville, in his monograph on Nicolas de + +Caen,[1: Paul Verville, _Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen_, p. 112 +(Rouen, 1911)] considers it probable that the _Roman de Lusignan_ was +printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion at about the same time Mansion +published the _Dizain des Reines_. This is possible; but until a copy +of the book is discovered, our sole authority for the romance must +continue to be the fragmentary MS. No. 503 in the Allonbian Collection. + +Among the innumerable manuscripts in the British Museum there is +perhaps none which opens a wider field for guesswork. In its entirety +the _Roman de Lusignan_ was, if appearances are to be trusted, a +leisured and ambitious handling of the Melusina legend; but in the +preserved portion Melusina figures hardly at all. We have merely the +final chapters of what would seem to have been the first half, or +perhaps the first third, of the complete narrative; so that this +manuscript account of Melusina's beguilements breaks off, +fantastically, at a period by many years anterior to a date which those +better known versions of Jean d'Arras and Thuring von Ringoltingen +select as the only appropriate starting-point. + +By means of a few elisions, however, the episodic story of Melicent +and of the men who loved Melicent has been disembedded from what +survives of the main narrative. This episode may reasonably be +considered as complete in itself, in spite of its precipitous +commencement; we are not told anything very definite concerning +Perion's earlier relations with Melusina, it is true, but then they are +hardly of any especial importance. And speculations as to the tale's +perplexing chronology, or as to the curious treatment of the Ahasuerus +legend, wherein Nicolas so strikingly differs from his precursors, +Matthew Paris and Philippe Mouskes, or as to the probable course of +latter incidents in the romance (which must almost inevitably have +reached its climax in the foundation of the house of Lusignan by +Perion's son Raymondin and Melusina) are more profitably left to M. +Verville's ingenuity. + + + + +3 + + +One feature, though, of this romance demands particular comment. The +happenings of the Melicent-episode pivot remarkably upon _domnei_--upon +chivalric love, upon the _Frowendienst_ of the minnesingers, or upon +"woman-worship," as we might bunglingly translate a word for which in +English there is no precisely equivalent synonym. Therefore this +English version of the Melicent-episode has been called _Domnei_, at +whatever price of unintelligibility. + +For there is really no other word or combination of words which seems +quite to sum up, or even indicate this precise attitude toward life. +_Domnei_ was less a preference for one especial woman than a code of +philosophy. "The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and +habits," writes Charles Claude Fauriel,[1: _Histoire de la litterature +provencale_, p. 330 (Adler's translation, New York, 1860)] "which +prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a lady, and +by which he strove to prove to her his love and to merit hers in +return, was expressed by the single word _domnei_." + +And this, of course, is true enough. Yet _domnei_ was even more than a +complication of opinions and affections and habits: it was also a +malady and a religion quite incommunicably blended. + +Thus you will find that Dante--to cite only the most readily accessible +of mediaeval amorists--enlarges as to _domnei_ in both these last-named +aspects impartially. _Domnei_ suspends all his senses save that of +sight, makes him turn pale, causes tremors in his left side, and sends +him to bed "like a little beaten child, in tears"; throughout you have +the manifestations of _domnei_ described in terms befitting the +symptoms of a physical disease: but as concerns the other aspect, Dante +never wearies of reiterating that it is domnei which has turned his +thoughts toward God; and with terrible sincerity he beholds in Beatrice +de'Bardi the highest illumination which Divine Grace may permit to +humankind. "This is no woman; rather it is one of heaven's most radiant +angels," he says with terrible sincerity. + +With terrible sincerity, let it be repeated: for the service of domnei +was never, as some would affect to interpret it, a modish and ordered +affectation; the histories of Peire de Maenzac, of Guillaume de +Caibestaing, of Geoffrey Rudel, of Ulrich von Liechtenstein, of the +Monk of Pucibot, of Pons de Capdueilh, and even of Peire Vidal and +Guillaume de Balaun, survive to prove it was a serious thing, a stark +and life-disposing reality. En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa, as +Nicolas himself declares. The service of domnei involved, it in fact +invited, anguish; it was a martyrdom whereby the lover was uplifted to +saintship and the lady to little less than, if anything less than, +godhead. For it was a canon of domnei, it was the very essence of +domnei, that the woman one loves is providentially set between her +lover's apprehension, and God, as the mobile and vital image and +corporeal reminder of heaven, as a quick symbol of beauty and holiness, +of purity and perfection. In her the lover views--embodied, apparent to +human sense, and even accessible to human enterprise--all qualities of +God which can be comprehended by merely human faculties. It is +precisely as such an intermediary that Melicent figures toward Perion, +and, in a somewhat different degree, toward Ahasuerus--since Ahasuerus +is of necessity apart in all things from the run of humanity. + +Yet instances were not lacking in the service of _domnei_ where worship +of the symbol developed into a religion sufficing in itself, and became +competitor with worship of what the symbol primarily represented--such +instances as have their analogues in the legend of Ritter Tannhaeuser, +or in Aucassin's resolve in the romance to go down into hell with "his +sweet mistress whom he so much loves," or (here perhaps most perfectly +exampled) in Arnaud de Merveil's naive declaration that whatever +portion of his heart belongs to God heaven holds in vassalage to +Adelaide de Beziers. It is upon this darker and rebellious side of +_domnei_, of a religion pathetically dragged dustward by the luxuriance +and efflorescence of over-passionate service, that Nicolas has touched +in depicting Demetrios. + + + + +4 + + +Nicolas de Caen, himself the servitor _par amours_ of Isabella of +Burgundy, has elsewhere written of _domne_i (in his _Le Roi Amaury_) in +terms such as it may not be entirely out of place to transcribe here. +Baalzebub, as you may remember, has been discomfited in his endeavours +to ensnare King Amaury and is withdrawing in disgust. + +"A pest upon this _domnei_!"[1: Quoted with minor alterations from +Watson's version] the fiend growls. "Nay, the match is at an end, and I +may speak in perfect candour now. I swear to you that, given a man +clear-eyed enough to see that a woman by ordinary is nourished much as +he is nourished, and is subjected to every bodily infirmity which he +endures and frets beneath, I do not often bungle matters. But when a +fool begins to flounder about the world, dead-drunk with adoration of +an immaculate woman--a monster which, as even the man's own judgment +assures him, does not exist and never will exist--why, he becomes as +unmanageable as any other maniac when a frenzy is upon him. For then +the idiot hungers after a life so high-pitched that his gross faculties +may not so much as glimpse it; he is so rapt with impossible dreams +that he becomes oblivious to the nudgings of his most petted vice; and +he abhors his own innate and perfectly natural inclination to +cowardice, and filth, and self-deception. He, in fine, affords me and +all other rational people no available handle; and, in consequence, he +very often flounders beyond the reach of my whisperings. There may be +other persons who can inform you why such blatant folly should thus be +the master-word of evil, but for my own part, I confess to ignorance." + +"Nay, that folly, as you term it, and as hell will always term it, is +alike the riddle and the masterword of the universe," the old king +replies.... + +And Nicolas whole-heartedly believed that this was true. We do not +believe this, quite, but it may be that we are none the happier for our +dubiety. + + +EXPLICIT + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +I. LES AMANTS DE MELICENT, Traduction moderne, annotee et procedee d'un +notice historique sur Nicolas de Caen, par l'Abbe. * * * A Paris. Pour +Iaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Iaques, M. D. XLVI. Avec +Privilege du Roy. The somewhat abridged reprint of 1788 was believed to +be the first version printed in French, until the discovery of this +unique volume in 1917. + +II. ARMAGEDDON; or the Great Day of the Lord's Judgement: a Parcenesis +to Prince Henry--MELICENT; an heroicke poeme intended, drawne from +French bookes, the First Booke, by Sir William Allonby. London. Printed +for Nathaniel Butler, dwelling at the _Pied Bull_, at Saint Austen's +Gate. 1626. + +III. PERION UNO MELICENT, zum erstenmale aus dem Franzosischen ins +Deutsche ubersetzt, von J. H. G. Lowe. Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1823. + +IV. Los NEGOCIANTES DO DON PERION, publicado por Plancher-Seignot. Rio +de Janiero, 1827. The translator's name is not given. The preface is +signed R. L. + +V. LA DONNA DI DEMETRIO, Historia piacevole e morale, da Antonio +Checino. Milan, 1833. + +VI. PRINDSESSES MELICENT, oversat af Le Roman de Lusignan, og udgivna +paa Dansk vid R. Knos. Copenhagen, 1840. + +VII. ANTIQUAe FABULAe ET COMEDIAe, edid. G. Rask. Goettingen, 1852. Vol. +II, p. 61 _et seq_. "DE FIDE MELICENTIS"--an abridged version of the +romance. + +VIII. PERION EN MELICENT, voor de Nederlandsche Jeugduiitgegeven door +J. M. L. Wolters. Groningen, 1862. + +IX. NOUVELLES FRANCOISES EN PROSE DU XIVE ET DE XVE SIECLE, Les textes +anciens, edites et annotes par MM. Armin et Moland. Lyons, 1880. Vol. +IV, p. 89 et seq., "LE ROMAN DE LA BELLE MELICENT"--a much condensed +form of the story. + +X. THE SOUL OF MELICENT, by James Branch Cabell. Illustrated in colour +by Howard Pyle. New York, 1913. This rendering was made, of course, +before the discovery of the 1546 version, and so had not the benefit of +that volume's interesting variants from the abridgment of 1788. + +XI. CINQ BALLADES DE NICOLAS DE CAEN, traduites en verse du Roman de +Lusignan, par Mme. Adolpe Galland, et mises en musique par Raoul +Bidoche. Paris, 1898. + +XII. LE LIURE DE MELUSINE en fracoys, par Jean d'Arras. Geneva, 1478. + +XIII. HISTORIA DE LA LINDA MELOSYNA. Tolosa, 1489. + +XIV. EEN SAN SONDERLINGKE SCHONE ENDE WONDERLIKE HISTORIE, die men +warachtich kout te syne ende autentick sprekende van eenre vrouwen +gheheeten Melusine. Tantwerpen, 1500. + +XV. DIE HISTORI ODER GESCHICHT VON DER EDLE UND SCHOeNEN MELUSINA. +Augsburg, 1547. + +XVI. L'HISTOIRE DE MELUSINE, fille du roy d'Albanie et de dame +Pressine, revue et mise en meilleur langage que par cy devant. Lyons, +1597. + +XVII. LE ROMAN DE MELUSINE, princesse de Lusignan, avec l'histoire de +Geoffry, surnomme a la Grand Dent, par Nodot. Paris, 1700. + +XVIII. KRONYKE KRATOCHWILNE, o ctne a slech netne Panne Meluzijne. +Prag, 1760. + +XIX. WUNDERBARE GESCHICHTE VON DER EDELN UND SCHONEN MELUSINA, welche +eine Tochter des Koenig Helmus und ein Meerwunder gewesen ist. Nurnberg, +without date: reprinted in Marbach's VOLKS BUeCHER, Leipzig, 1838. + + + + +BOOKS _by_ MR. CABELL + + +_Biography:_ + +BEYOND LIFE + +DOMNEI (_The Soul of Melicent_) + +CHIVALRY + +JURGEN + +THE LINE OF LOVE + +GALLANTRY + +THE CERTAIN HOUR + +THE CORDS OF VANITY + +FROM THE HIDDEN WAY + +THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK + +THE EAGLE'S SHADOW + +THE CREAM OF THE JEST + +_Genealogy:_ + +BRANCH OF ABINGDON + +BRANCHIANA + +THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Domnei, by James Branch Cabell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMNEI *** + +***** This file should be named 9663.txt or 9663.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/6/9663/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Domnei + +Author: James Branch Cabell et al + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9663] +[This file was first posted on October 14, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DOMNEI *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + +Domnei + +A Comedy of Woman-Worship + +By + +JAMES BRANCH CABELL + +1920 + + + + + + +"_En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa_." + + +TO + +SARAH READ McADAMS + +IN GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION + + + + +"The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and habits, +which prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a +lady, and by which he strove to prove to her his love, and to merit +hers in return, was expressed, in the language of the Troubadours, by a +single word, by the word _domnei_, a derivation of _domna_, which may +be regarded as an alteration of the Latin _domina_, lady, mistress." + +--C. C. FAURIEL, +_History of Provencal Poetry_. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +A PREFACE + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +THE ARGUMENT + + +PART ONE--PERION + + I HOW PERION WAS UNMASKED + + II HOW THE VICOMTE WAS VERY GAY + + III HOW MELICENT WOOED + + IV HOW THE BISHOP AIDED PERION + + V HOW MELICENT WEDDED + + +PART TWO--MELICENT + + VI HOW MELICENT SOUGHT OVERSEA + + VII HOW PERION WAS FREED + + VIII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS AMUSED + + IX HOW TIME SPED IN HEATHENRY + + X HOW DEMETRIOS WOOED + + +PART THREE--DEMETRIOS + + XI HOW TIME SPED WITH PERION + + XII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS TAKEN + + XIII HOW THEY PRAISED MELICENT + + XIV HOW PERION BRAVED THEODORET. + + XV HOW PERION FOUGHT + + XVI HOW DEMETRIOS MEDITATED. + + XVII HOW A MINSTREL CAME + + XVIII HOW THEY CRIED QUITS + + XIX HOW FLAMBERGE WAS LOST + + XX HOW PERION GOT AID + + +PART FOUR--AHASUERUS + + XXI HOW DEMETRIOS HELD HIS CHATTEL + + XXII HOW MISERY HELD NACUMERA. + + XXIII HOW DEMETRIOS CRIED FAREWELL + + XXIV HOW ORESTES RULED + + XXV HOW WOMEN TALKED TOGETHER + + XXVI HOW MEN ORDERED MATTERS + + XXVII HOW AHASUERUS WAS CANDID + +XXVIII HOW PERION SAW MELICENT + + XXIX HOW A BARGAIN WAS CRIED + + XXX HOW MELICENT CONQUERED + +THE AFTERWORD + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + +A Preface + +By +Joseph Hergesheimer + + +It would be absorbing to discover the present feminine attitude toward +the profoundest compliment ever paid women by the heart and mind of men +in league--the worshipping devotion conceived by Plato and elevated to +a living faith in mediaeval France. Through that renaissance of a +sublimated passion _domnei_ was regarded as a throne of alabaster by +the chosen figures of its service: Melicent, at Bellegarde, waiting for +her marriage with King Theodoret, held close an image of Perion made of +substance that time was powerless to destroy; and which, in a life of +singular violence, where blood hung scarlet before men's eyes like a +tapestry, burned in a silver flame untroubled by the fate of her body. +It was, to her, a magic that kept her inviolable, perpetually, in spite +of marauding fingers, a rose in the blanched perfection of its early +flowering. + +The clearest possible case for that religion was that it transmuted the +individual subject of its adoration into the deathless splendor of a +Madonna unique and yet divisible in a mirage of earthly loveliness. It +was heaven come to Aquitaine, to the Courts of Love, in shapes of vivid +fragrant beauty, with delectable hair lying gold on white samite worked +in borders of blue petals. It chose not abstractions for its faith, but +the most desirable of all actual--yes, worldly--incentives: the sister, +it might be, of Count Emmerick of Poictesme. And, approaching beatitude +not so much through a symbol of agony as by the fragile grace of a +woman, raising Melicent to the stars, it fused, more completely than in +any other aspiration, the spirit and the flesh. + +However, in its contact, its lovers' delight, it was no more than a +slow clasping and unclasping of the hands; the spirit and flesh, +merged, became spiritual; the height of stars was not a figment.... +Here, since the conception of _domnei_ has so utterly vanished, the +break between the ages impassable, the sympathy born of understanding +is interrupted. Hardly a woman, to-day, would value a sigh the passion +which turned a man steadfastly away that he might be with her forever +beyond the parched forest of death. Now such emotion is held strictly +to the gains, the accountability, of life's immediate span; women have +left their cloudy magnificence for a footing on earth; but--at least in +warm graceful youth--their dreams are still of a Perion de la Foret. +These, clear-eyed, they disavow; yet their secret desire, the most +Elysian of all hopes, to burn at once with the body and the soul, mocks +what they find. + +That vision, dominating Mr. Cabell's pages, the record of his revealed +idealism, brings specially to _Domnei_ a beauty finely escaping the +dusty confusion of any present. It is a book laid in a purity, a +serenity, of space above the vapors, the bigotry and engendered spite, +of dogma and creed. True to yesterday, it will be faithful of +to-morrow; for, in the evolution of humanity, not necessarily the turn +of a wheel upward, certain qualities have remained at the center, +undisturbed. And, of these, none is more fixed than an abstract love. + +Different in men than in women, it is, for the former, an instinct, a +need, to serve rather than be served: their desire is for a shining +image superior, at best, to both lust and maternity. This +consciousness, grown so dim that it is scarcely perceptible, yet still +alive, is not extinguished with youth, but lingers hopeless of +satisfaction through the incongruous years of middle age. There is +never a man, gifted to any degree with imagination, but eternally +searches for an ultimate loveliness not disappearing in the circle of +his embrace--the instinctively Platonic gesture toward the only +immortality conceivable in terms of ecstasy. + +A truth, now, in very low esteem! With the solidification of society, +of property, the bond of family has been tremendously exalted, the mere +fact of parenthood declared the last sanctity. Together with this, +naturally, the persistent errantry of men, so vulgarly misunderstood, +has become only a reprehensible paradox. The entire shelf of James +Branch Cabell's books, dedicated to an unquenchable masculine idealism, +has, as well, a paradoxical place in an age of material sentimentality. +Compared with the novels of the moment, _Domnei_ is an isolated, a +heroic fragment of a vastly deeper and higher structure. And, of its +many aspects, it is not impossible that the highest, rising over even +its heavenly vision, is the rare, the simple, fortitude of its +statement. + +Whatever dissent the philosophy of Perion and Melicent may breed, no +one can fail to admire the steady courage with which it is upheld. +Aside from its special preoccupation, such independence in the face of +ponderable threat, such accepted isolation, has a rare stability in a +world treacherous with mental quicksands and evasions. This is a valor +not drawn from insensibility, but from the sharpest possible +recognition of all the evil and Cyclopean forces in existence, and a +deliberate engagement of them on their own ground. Nothing more, in +that direction, can be asked of Mr. Cabell, of anyone. While about the +story itself, the soul of Melicent, the form and incidental writing, it +is no longer necessary to speak. + +The pages have the rich sparkle of a past like stained glass called to +life: the Confraternity of St. Medard presenting their masque of +Hercules; the claret colored walls adorned with gold cinquefoils of +Demetrios' court; his pavilion with porticoes of Andalusian copper; +Theodoret's capital, Megaris, ruddy with bonfires; the free port of +Narenta with its sails spread for the land of pagans; the +lichen-incrusted glade in the Forest of Columbiers; gardens with the +walks sprinkled with crocus and vermilion and powdered mica ... all are +at once real and bright with unreality, rayed with the splendor of an +antiquity built from webs and films of imagined wonder. The past is, at +its moment, the present, and that lost is valueless. Distilled by time, +only an imperishable romantic conception remains; a vision, where it is +significant, animated by the feelings, the men and women, which only, +at heart, are changeless. + +They, the surcharged figures of _Domnei_, move vividly through their +stone galleries and closes, in procession, and--a far more difficult +accomplishment--alone. The lute of the Bishop of Montors, playing as he +rides in scarlet, sounds its Provencal refrain; the old man Theodoret, +a king, sits shabbily between a prie-dieu and the tarnished hangings of +his bed; Melusine, with the pale frosty hair of a child, spins the +melancholy of departed passion; Ahasuerus the Jew buys Melicent for a +hundred and two minae and enters her room past midnight for his act of +abnegation. And at the end, looking, perhaps, for a mortal woman, +Perion finds, in a flesh not unscarred by years, the rose beyond +destruction, the high silver flame of immortal happiness. + +So much, then, everything in the inner questioning of beings condemned +to a glimpse of remote perfection, as though the sky had opened on a +city of pure bliss, transpires in _Domnei_; while the fact that it is +laid in Poictesme sharpens the thrust of its illusion. It is by that +much the easier of entry; it borders--rather than on the clamor of +mills--on the reaches men explore, leaving' weariness and dejection for +fancy--a geography for lonely sensibilities betrayed by chance into the +blind traps, the issueless barrens, of existence. + +JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER. + + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +_And Norman_ Nicolas _at hearte meant +(Pardie!) some subtle occupation +In making of his Tale of Melicent, +That stubbornly desired Perion. +What perils for to rollen up and down, +So long process, so many a sly cautel, +For to obtain a silly damosel!_ + +--THOMAS UPCLIFFE. + + +Nicolas de Caen, one of the most eminent of the early French writers of +romance, was born at Caen in Normandy early in the 15th century, and +was living in 1470. Little is known of his life, apart from the fact +that a portion of his youth was spent in England, where he was +connected in some minor capacity with the household of the Queen +Dowager, Joan of Navarre. In later life, from the fact that two of his +works are dedicated to Isabella of Portugal, third wife to Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, it is conjectured that Nicolas was attached to +the court of that prince . . . . Nicolas de Caen was not greatly +esteemed nor highly praised by his contemporaries, or by writers of the +century following, but latterly has received the recognition due to his +unusual qualities of invention and conduct of narrative, together with +his considerable knowledge of men and manners, and occasional +remarkable modernity of thought. His books, therefore, apart from the +interest attached to them as specimens of early French romance, and in +spite of the difficulties and crudities of the unformed language in +which they are written, are still readable, and are rich in instructive +detail concerning the age that gave them birth . . . . Many romances +are attributed to Nicolas de Caen. Modern criticism has selected four +only as undoubtedly his. These are--(1) _Les Aventures d'Adhelmar de +Nointel_, a metrical romance, plainly of youthful composition, +containing some seven thousand verses; (2) _Le Roy Amaury_, well known +to English students in Watson's spirited translation; (3) _Le Roman de +Lusignan_, a re-handling of the Melusina myth, most of which is wholly +lost; (4) _Le Dizain des Reines_, a collection of quasi-historical +_novellino_ interspersed with lyrics. Six other romances are known to +have been written by Nicolas, but these have perished; and he is +credited with the authorship of _Le Cocu Rouge_, included by Hinsauf, +and of several Ovidian translations or imitations still unpublished. +The Satires formerly attributed to him Buelg has shown to be spurious +compositions of 17th century origin. + +--E. Noel Codman, +_Handbook of Literary Pioneers._ + +Nicolas de Caen est un representant agreable, naif, et expressif de cet +age que nous aimons a nous representer de loin comme l'age d'or du bon +vieux temps ... Nicolas croyait a son Roy et a sa Dame, il croyait +surtout a son Dieu. Nicolas sentait que le monde etait seme a chaque +pas d'obscurites et d'embuches, et que l'inconnu etait partout; partout +aussi etait le protecteur invisible et le soutien; a chaque souffle qui +fremissait, Nicolas croyait le sentir comme derriere le rideau. Le ciel +par-dessus ce Nicolas de Caen etait ouvert, peuple en chaque point de +figures vivantes, de patrons attentifs et manifestes, d'une invocation +directe. Le plus intrepide guerrier alors marchait dans un melange +habituel de crainte et de confiance, comme un tout petit enfant. A +cette vue, les esprits les plus emancipes d'aujourd'hui ne sauraient +s'empecher de crier, en temperant leur sourire par le respect: _Sancta +simplicitas!_ + +--Paul Verville, +_Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen._ + + + + +THE ARGUMENT + +_"Of how, through Woman-Worship, knaves compound +With honoure; Kings reck not of their domaine; +Proud Pontiffs sigh; & War-men world-renownd, +Toe win one Woman, all things else disdaine: +Since Melicent doth in herselfe contayne +All this world's Riches that may farre be found. + +"If Saphyres ye desire, her eies are plaine; +If Rubies, loe, hir lips be Rubyes sound; +If Pearles, hir teeth be Pearles, both pure & round; +If Yvorie, her forehead Yvory weene; +If Gold, her locks with finest Gold abound; +If Silver, her faire hands have Silver's sheen. + +"Yet that which fayrest is, but Few beholde, +Her Soul adornd with vertues manifold."_ + +--SIR WILLIAM ALLONBY. + + +THE ROMANCE OF LUSIGNAN OF +THAT FORGOTTEN MAKER IN THE +FRENCH TONGUE, MESSIRE NICOLAS +DE CAEN. HERE BEGINS THE TALE +WHICH THEY OF POICTESME NARRATE +CONCERNING DAME MELICENT, +THAT WAS DAUGHTER TO +THE GREAT COUNT MANUEL. + + + + + +PART ONE + + +PERION +_How Perion, that stalwart was and gay, +Treadeth with sorrow on a holiday, +Since Melicent anon must wed a king: +How in his heart he hath vain love-longing, +For which he putteth life in forfeiture, +And would no longer in such wise endure; +For writhing Perion in Venus' fire +So burneth that he dieth for desire._ + + + + +1. + + +_How Perion Was Unmasked_ + +Perion afterward remembered the two weeks spent at Bellegarde as in +recovery from illness a person might remember some long fever dream +which was all of an intolerable elvish brightness and of incessant +laughter everywhere. They made a deal of him in Count Emmerick's +pleasant home: day by day the outlaw was thrust into relations of mirth +with noblemen, proud ladies, and even with a king; and was all the +while half lightheaded through his singular knowledge as to how +precariously the self-styled Vicomte de Puysange now balanced himself, +as it were, upon a gilded stepping-stone from infamy to oblivion. + +Now that King Theodoret had withdrawn his sinister presence, young +Perion spent some seven hours of every day alone, to all intent, with +Dame Melicent. There might be merry people within a stone's throw, +about this recreation or another, but these two seemed to watch +aloofly, as royal persons do the antics of their hired comedians, +without any condescension into open interest. They were together; and +the jostle of earthly happenings might hope, at most, to afford them +matter for incurious comment. + +They sat, as Perion thought, for the last time together, part of an +audience before which the Confraternity of St. Medard was enacting a +masque of _The Birth of Hercules_. The Bishop of Montors had returned +to Bellegarde that evening with his brother, Count Gui, and the +pleasure-loving prelate had brought these mirth-makers in his train. +Clad in scarlet, he rode before them playing upon a lute--unclerical +conduct which shocked his preciser brother and surprised nobody. + +In such circumstances Perion began to speak with an odd purpose, +because his reason was bedrugged by the beauty and purity of Melicent, +and perhaps a little by the slow and clutching music to whose progress +the chorus of Theban virgins was dancing. When he had made an end of +harsh whispering, Melicent sat for a while in scrupulous appraisement +of the rushes. The music was so sweet it seemed to Perion he must go +mad unless she spoke within the moment. + +Then Melicent said: + +"You tell me you are not the Vicomte de Puysange. You tell me you are, +instead, the late King Helmas' servitor, suspected of his murder. You +are the fellow that stole the royal jewels--the outlaw for whom half +Christendom is searching--" + +Thus Melicent began to speak at last; and still he could not intercept +those huge and tender eyes whose purple made the thought of heaven +comprehensible. + +The man replied: + +"I am that widely hounded Perion of the Forest. The true vicomte is the +wounded rascal over whose delirium we marvelled only last Tuesday. Yes, +at the door of your home I attacked him, fought him--hah, but fairly, +madame!--and stole his brilliant garments and with them his papers. +Then in my desperate necessity I dared to masquerade. For I know enough +about dancing to estimate that to dance upon air must necessarily prove +to everybody a disgusting performance, but pre-eminently unpleasing to +the main actor. Two weeks of safety till the _Tranchemer_ sailed I +therefore valued at a perhaps preposterous rate. To-night, as I have +said, the ship lies at anchor off Manneville." + +Melicent said an odd thing, asking, "Oh, can it be you are a less +despicable person than you are striving to appear!" + +"Rather, I am a more unmitigated fool than even I suspected, since when +affairs were in a promising train I have elected to blurt out, of all +things, the naked and distasteful truth. Proclaim it now; and see the +late Vicomte de Puysange lugged out of this hall and after appropriate +torture hanged within the month." And with that Perion laughed. + +Thereafter he was silent. As the masque went, Amphitryon had newly +returned from warfare, and was singing under Alcmena's window in the +terms of an aubade, a waking-song. "_Rei glorios, verais lums e +clardatz--" Amphitryon had begun. Dame Melicent heard him through. + +And after many ages, as it seemed to Perion, the soft and brilliant and +exquisite mouth was pricked to motion. + +"You have affronted, by an incredible imposture and beyond the reach of +mercy, every listener in this hall. You have injured me most deeply of +all persons here. Yet it is to me alone that you confess." + +Perion leaned forward. You are to understand that, through the +incurrent necessities of every circumstance, each of them spoke in +whispers, even now. It was curious to note the candid mirth on either +side. Mercury was making his adieux to Alcmena's waiting-woman in the +middle of a jig. + +"But you," sneered Perion, "are merciful in all things. Rogue that I +am, I dare to build on this notorious fact. I am snared in a hard +golden trap, I cannot get a guide to Manneville, I cannot even procure +a horse from Count Emmerick's stables without arousing fatal +suspicions; and I must be at Manneville by dawn or else be hanged. +Therefore I dare stake all upon one throw; and you must either save or +hang me with unwashed hands. As surely as God reigns, my future rests +with you. And as I am perfectly aware, you could not live comfortably +with a gnat's death upon your conscience. Eh, am I not a seasoned +rascal?" + +"Do not remind me now that you are vile," said Melicent. "Ah, no, not +now!" + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" he sternly answered. "There you have the +catalogue of all my rightful titles. And besides, it pleases me, for a +reason I cannot entirely fathom, to be unpardonably candid and to fling +my destiny into your lap. To-night, as I have said, the _Tranchemer_ +lies off Manneville; keep counsel, get me a horse if you will, and +to-morrow I am embarked for desperate service under the harried Kaiser +of the Greeks, and for throat-cuttings from which I am not likely ever +to return. Speak, and I hang before the month is up." + +Dame Melicent looked at him now, and within the moment Perion was +repaid, and bountifully, for every folly and misdeed of his entire +life. + +"What harm have I ever done you, Messire de la Foret, that you should +shame me in this fashion? Until to-night I was not unhappy in the +belief I was loved by you. I may say that now without paltering, since +you are not the man I thought some day to love. You are but the rind of +him. And you would force me to cheat justice, to become a hunted +thief's accomplice, or else to murder you!" + +"It comes to that, madame." + +"Then I must help you preserve your life by any sorry stratagems you +may devise. I shall not hinder you. I will procure you a guide to +Manneville. I will even forgive you all save one offence, since +doubtless heaven made you the foul thing you are." The girl was in a +hot and splendid rage. "For you love me. Women know. You love me. You!" + +"Undoubtedly, madame." + +"Look into my face! and say what horrid writ of infamy you fancied was +apparent there, that my nails may destroy it." + +"I am all base," he answered, "and yet not so profoundly base as you +suppose. Nay, believe me, I had never hoped to win even such scornful +kindness as you might accord your lapdog. I have but dared to peep at +heaven while I might, and only as lost Dives peeped. Ignoble as I am, I +never dreamed to squire an angel down toward the mire and filth which +is henceforward my inevitable kennel." + +"The masque is done," said Melicent, "and yet you talk, and talk, and +talk, and mimic truth so cunningly--Well, I will send some trusty +person to you. And now, for God's sake!--nay, for the fiend's love who +is your patron!--let me not ever see you again, Messire de la Foret." + + + + +2. + + +_How the Vicomte Was Very Gay_ + +There was dancing afterward and a sumptuous supper. The Vicomte de +Puysange was generally accounted that evening the most excellent of +company. He mingled affably with the revellers and found a prosperous +answer for every jest they broke upon the projected marriage of Dame +Melicent and King Theodoret; and meanwhile hugged the reflection that +half the realm was hunting Perion de la Foret in the more customary +haunts of rascality. The springs of Perion's turbulent mirth were that +to-morrow every person in the room would discover how impudently every +person had been tricked, and that Melicent deliberated even now, and +could not but admire, the hunted outlaw's insolence, however much she +loathed its perpetrator; and over this thought in particular Perion +laughed like a madman. + +"You are very gay to-night, Messire de Puysange," said the Bishop of +Montors. + +This remarkable young man, it is necessary to repeat, had reached +Bellegarde that evening, coming from Brunbelois. It was he (as you have +heard) who had arranged the match with Theodoret. The bishop himself +loved his cousin Melicent; but, now that he was in holy orders and +possession of her had become impossible, he had cannily resolved to +utilise her beauty, as he did everything else, toward his own +preferment. + +"Oh, sir," replied Perion, "you who are so fine a poet must surely know +that _gay_ rhymes with _to-day_ as patly as _sorrow_ goes with +_to-morrow_." + +"Yet your gay laughter, Messire de Puysange, is after all but breath: +and _breath_ also"--the bishop's sharp eyes fixed Perion's--"has a +hackneyed rhyme." + +"Indeed, it is the grim rhyme that rounds off and silences all our +rhyming," Perion assented. "I must laugh, then, without rhyme or +reason." + +Still the young prelate talked rather oddly. "But," said he, "you have +an excellent reason, now that you sup so near to heaven." And his +glance at Melicent did not lack pith. + +"No, no, I have quite another reason," Perion answered; "it is that +to-morrow I breakfast in hell." + +"Well, they tell me the landlord of that place is used to cater to each +according to his merits," the bishop, shrugging, returned. + +And Perion thought how true this was when, at the evening's end, he was +alone in his own room. His life was tolerably secure. He trusted +Ahasuerus the Jew to see to it that, about dawn, one of the ship's +boats would touch at Fomor Beach near Manneville, according to their +old agreement. Aboard the _Tranchemer_ the Free Companions awaited +their captain; and the savage land they were bound for was a thought +beyond the reach of a kingdom's lamentable curiosity concerning the +whereabouts of King Helmas' treasure. The worthless life of Perion was +safe. + +For worthless, and far less than worthless, life seemed to Perion as he +thought of Melicent and waited for her messenger. He thought of her +beauty and purity and illimitable loving-kindness toward every person +in the world save only Perion of the Forest. He thought of how clean +she was in every thought and deed; of that, above all, he thought, and +he knew that he would never see her any more. + +"Oh, but past any doubting," said Perion, "the devil caters to each +according to his merits." + + + + +3. + + +_How Melicent Wooed_ + +Then Perion knew that vain regret had turned his brain, very certainly, +for it seemed the door had opened and Dame Melicent herself had come, +warily, into the panelled gloomy room. It seemed that Melicent paused +in the convulsive brilliancy of the firelight, and stayed thus with +vaguely troubled eyes like those of a child newly wakened from sleep. + +And it seemed a long while before she told Perion very quietly that she +had confessed all to Ayrart de Montors, and had, by reason of de +Montors' love for her, so goaded and allured the outcome of their +talk--"ignobly," as she said,--that a clean-handed gentleman would come +at three o'clock for Perion de la Foret, and guide a thief toward +unmerited impunity. All this she spoke quite levelly, as one reads +aloud from a book; and then, with a signal change of voice, Melicent +said: "Yes, that is true enough. Yet why, in reality, do you think I +have in my own person come to tell you of it?" + +"Madame, I may not guess. Hah, indeed, indeed," Perion cried, because +he knew the truth and was unspeakably afraid, "I dare not guess!" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea----" she began, but her +sweet voice trailed and died into silence. He heard the crepitations of +the fire, and even the hurried beatings of his own heart, as against a +terrible and lovely hush of all created life. "Then take me with you." + +Perion had never any recollection of what he answered. Indeed, he +uttered no communicative words, but only foolish babblements. + +"Oh, I do not understand," said Melicent. "It is as though some spell +were laid upon me. Look you, I have been cleanly reared, I have never +wronged any person that I know of, and throughout my quiet, sheltered +life I have loved truth and honour most of all. My judgment grants you +to be what you are confessedly. And there is that in me more masterful +and surer than my judgment, that which seems omniscient and lightly +puts aside your confessings as unimportant." + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" young Perion answered. "There you have +the catalogue of all my rightful titles fairly earned." + +"And even if I believed you, I think I would not care! Is that not +strange? For then I should despise you. And even then, I think, I would +fling my honour at your feet, as I do now, and but in part with +loathing, I would still entreat you to make of me your wife, your +servant, anything that pleased you . . . . Oh, I had thought that when +love came it would be sweet!" + +Strangely quiet, in every sense, he answered: + +"It is very sweet. I have known no happier moment in my life. For you +stand within arm's reach, mine to touch, mine to possess and do with as +I elect. And I dare not lift a finger. I am as a man that has lain for +a long while in a dungeon vainly hungering for the glad light of +day--who, being freed at last, must hide his eyes from the dear +sunlight he dare not look upon as yet. Ho, I am past speech unworthy of +your notice! and I pray you now speak harshly with me, madame, for when +your pure eyes regard me kindly, and your bright and delicate lips have +come thus near to mine, I am so greatly tempted and so happy that I +fear lest heaven grow jealous!" + +"Be not too much afraid--" she murmured. + +"Nay, should I then be bold? and within the moment wake Count Emmerick +to say to him, very boldly, 'Beau sire, the thief half Christendom is +hunting has the honour to request your sister's hand in marriage'?" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea. Take me with you." + +"Indeed the feat would be worthy of me. For you are a lady tenderly +nurtured and used to every luxury the age affords. There comes to woo +you presently an excellent and potent monarch, not all unworthy of your +love, who will presently share with you many happy and honourable +years. Yonder is a lawless naked wilderness where I and my fellow +desperadoes hope to cheat offended justice and to preserve +thrice-forfeited lives in savagery. You bid me aid you to go into this +country, never to return! Madame, if I obeyed you, Satan would protest +against pollution of his ageless fires by any soul so filthy." + +"You talk of little things, whereas I think of great things. Love is +not sustained by palatable food alone, and is not served only by those +persons who go about the world in satin." + +"Then take the shameful truth. It is undeniable I swore I loved you, +and with appropriate gestures, too. But, dompnedex, madame! I am past +master in these specious ecstasies, for somehow I have rarely seen the +woman who had not some charm or other to catch my heart with. I confess +now that you alone have never quickened it. My only purpose was through +hyperbole to wheedle you out of a horse, and meanwhile to have my +recreation, you handsome jade!--and that is all you ever meant to me. I +swear to you that is all, all, all!" sobbed Perion, for it appeared +that he must die. "I have amused myself with you, I have abominably +tricked you--" + +Melicent only waited with untroubled eyes which seemed to plumb his +heart and to appraise all which Perion had ever thought or longed for +since the day that Perion was born; and she was as beautiful, it seemed +to him, as the untroubled, gracious angels are, and more compassionate. + +"Yes," Perion said, "I am trying to lie to you. And even at lying I +fail." + +She said, with a wonderful smile: + +"Assuredly there were never any other persons so mad as we. For I must +do the wooing, as though you were the maid, and all the while you +rebuff me and suffer so that I fear to look on you. Men say you are no +better than a highwayman; you confess yourself to be a thief: and I +believe none of your accusers. Perion de la Foret," said Melicent, and +ballad-makers have never shaped a phrase wherewith to tell you of her +voice, "I know that you have dabbled in dishonour no more often than an +archangel has pilfered drying linen from a hedgerow. I do not guess, +for my hour is upon me, and inevitably I know! and there is nothing +dares to come between us now." + +"Nay,--ho, and even were matters as you suppose them, without any +warrant,--there is at least one silly stumbling knave that dares as +much. Saith he: 'What is the most precious thing in the world?--Why, +assuredly, Dame Melicent's welfare. Let me get the keeping of it, then. +For I have been entrusted with a host of common priceless things--with +youth and vigour and honour, with a clean conscience and a child's +faith, and so on--and no person alive has squandered them more +gallantly. So heartward ho! and trust me now, my timorous yoke-fellow, +to win and squander also the chiefest jewel of the world.' Eh, thus he +chuckles and nudges me, with wicked whisperings. Indeed, madame, this +rascal that shares equally in my least faculty is a most pitiful, +ignoble rogue! and he has aforetime eked out our common livelihood by +such practices as your unsullied imagination could scarcely depicture. +Until I knew you I had endured him. But you have made of him a horror. +A horror, a horror! a thing too pitiful for hell!" + +Perion turned away from her, groaning. He flung himself into a chair. +He screened his eyes as if before some physical abomination. + +The girl kneeled close to him, touching him. + +"My dear, my dear! then slay for me this other Perion of the Forest." + +And Perion laughed, not very mirthfully. + +"It is the common usage of women to ask of men this little labour, +which is a harder task than ever Hercules, that mighty-muscled king of +heathenry, achieved. Nay, I, for all my sinews, am an attested +weakling. The craft of other men I do not fear, for I have encountered +no formidable enemy save myself; but that same midnight stabber +unhorsed me long ago. I had wallowed in the mire contentedly enough +until you came.... Ah, child, child! why needed you to trouble me! for +to-night I want to be clean as you are clean, and that I may not ever +be. I am garrisoned with devils, I am the battered plaything of every +vice, and I lack the strength, and it may be, even the will, to leave +my mire. Always I have betrayed the stewardship of man and god alike +that my body might escape a momentary discomfort! And loving you as I +do, I cannot swear that in the outcome I would not betray you too, to +this same end! I cannot swear--Oh, now let Satan laugh, yet not +unpitifully, since he and I, alone, know all the reasons why I may not +swear! Hah, Madame Melicent!" cried Perion, in his great agony, "you +offer me that gift an emperor might not accept save in awed gratitude; +and I refuse it." Gently he raised her to her feet. "And now, in God's +name, go, madame, and leave the prodigal among his husks." + +"You are a very brave and foolish gentleman," she said, "who chooses to +face his own achievements without any paltering. To every man, I think, +that must be bitter work; to the woman who loves him it is impossible." + +Perion could not see her face, because he lay prone at the feet of +Melicent, sobbing, but without any tears, and tasting very deeply of +such grief and vain regret as, he had thought, they know in hell alone; +and even after she had gone, in silence, he lay in this same posture +for an exceedingly long while. + +And after he knew not how long a while, Perion propped his chin between +his hands and, still sprawling upon the rushes, stared hard into the +little, crackling fire. He was thinking of a Perion de la Foret that +once had been. In him might have been found a fit mate for Melicent had +this boy not died very long ago. + +It is no more cheerful than any other mortuary employment, this +disinterment of the person you have been, and are not any longer; and +so did Perion find his cataloguing of irrevocable old follies and +evasions. + +Then Perion arose and looked for pen and ink. It was the first letter +he ever wrote to Melicent, and, as you will presently learn, she never +saw it. + +In such terms Perion wrote: + +"Madame--It may please you to remember that when Dame Melusine and I +were interrogated, I freely confessed to the murder of King Helmas and +the theft of my dead master's jewels. In that I lied. For it was my +manifest duty to save the woman whom, as I thought, I loved, and it was +apparent that the guilty person was either she or I. + +"She is now at Brunbelois, where, as I have heard, the splendour of her +estate is tolerably notorious. I have not ever heard she gave a thought +to me, her cat's-paw. Madame, when I think of you and then of that +sleek, smiling woman, I am appalled by my own folly. I am aghast by my +long blindness as I write the words which no one will believe. To what +avail do I deny a crime which every circumstance imputed to me and my +own confession has publicly acknowledged? + +"But you, I think, will believe me. Look you, madame, I have nothing to +gain of you. I shall not ever see you any more. I go into a perilous +and an eternal banishment; and in the immediate neighbourhood of death +a man finds little sustenance for romance. Take the worst of me: a +gentleman I was born, and as a wastrel I have lived, and always very +foolishly; but without dishonour. I have never to my knowledge--and God +judge me as I speak the truth!--wronged any man or woman save myself. +My dear, believe me! believe me, in spite of reason! and understand +that my adoration and misery and unworthiness when I think of you are +such as I cannot measure, and afford me no judicious moment wherein to +fashion lies. For I shall not see you any more. + +"I thank you, madame, for your all-unmerited kindnesses, and, oh, I +pray you to believe!" + + + + +4. + + +_How the Bishop Aided Perion_ + +Then at three o'clock, as Perion supposed, someone tapped upon the +door. Perion went out into the corridor, which was now unlighted, so +that he had to hold to the cloak of Ayrart de Montors as the young +prelate guided Perion through the complexities of unfamiliar halls and +stairways into an inhospitable night. There were ready two horses, and +presently the men were mounted and away. + +Once only Perion shifted in the saddle to glance back at Bellegarde, +black and formless against an empty sky; and he dared not look again, +for the thought of her that lay awake in the Marshal's Tower, so near +at hand as yet, was like a dagger. With set teeth he followed in the +wake of his taciturn companion. The bishop never spoke save to growl +out some direction. + +Thus they came to Manneville and, skirting the town, came to Fomor +Beach, a narrow sandy coast. It was dark in this place and very still +save for the encroachment of the tide. Yonder were four little lights, +lazily heaving with the water's motion, to show them where the +_Tranchemer_ lay at anchor. It did not seem to Perion that anything +mattered. + +"It will be nearing dawn by this," he said. + +"Ay," Ayrart de Montors said, very briefly; and his tone evinced his +willingness to dispense with further conversation. Perion of the Forest +was an unclean thing which the bishop must touch in his necessity, but +could touch with loathing only, as a thirsty man takes a fly out of his +drink. Perion conceded it, because nothing would ever matter any more; +and so, the horses tethered, they sat upon the sand in utter silence +for the space of a half hour. + +A bird cried somewhere, just once, and with a start Perion knew the +night was not quite so murky as it had been, for he could now see a +broken line of white, where the tide crept up and shattered and ebbed. +Then in a while a light sank tipsily to the water's level and presently +was bobbing in the darkness, apart from those other lights, and it was +growing in size and brilliancy. + +Said Perion, "They have sent out the boat." + +"Ay," the bishop answered, as before. + +A sort of madness came upon Perion, and it seemed that he must weep, +because everything fell out so very ill in this world. + +"Messire de Montors, you have aided me. I would be grateful if you +permitted it." + +De Montors spoke at last, saying crisply: + +"Gratitude, I take it, forms no part of the bargain. I am the kinsman +of Dame Melicent. It makes for my interest and for the honour of our +house that the man whose rooms she visits at night be got out of +Poictesme--" + +Said Perion, "You speak in this fashion of the most lovely lady God has +made--of her whom the world adores!" + +"Adores!" the bishop answered, with a laugh; "and what poor gull am I +to adore an attested wanton?" Then, with a sneer, he spoke of Melicent, +and in such terms as are not bettered by repetition. + +Perion said: + +"I am the most unhappy man alive, as surely as you are the most +ungenerous. For, look you, in my presence you have spoken infamy of +Dame Melicent, though knowing I am in your debt so deeply that I have +not the right to resent anything you may elect to say. You have just +given me my life; and armoured by the fire-new obligation, you +blaspheme an angel, you condescend to buffet a fettered man--" + +But with that his sluggish wits had spied an honest way out of the +imbroglio. + +Perion said then, "Draw, messire! for, as God lives, I may yet +repurchase, at this eleventh hour, the privilege of destroying you." + +"Heyday! but here is an odd evincement of gratitude!" de Montors +retorted; "and though I am not particularly squeamish, let me tell you, +my fine fellow, I do not ordinarily fight with lackeys." + +"Nor are you fit to do so, messire. Believe me, there is not a lackey +in this realm--no, not a cut-purse, nor any pander--who would not in +meeting you upon equal footing degrade himself. For you have slandered +that which is most perfect in the world; yet lies, Messire de Montors, +have short legs; and I design within the hour to insure the calumny +against an echo." + +"Rogue, I have given you your very life within the hour--" + +"The fact is undeniable. Thus I must fling the bounty back to you, so +that we sorry scoundrels may meet as equals." Perion wheeled toward the +boat, which was now within the reach of wading. "Who is among you? +Gaucelm, Roger, Jean Britauz--" He found the man he sought. "Ahasuerus, +the captain that was to have accompanied the Free Companions oversea is +of another mind. I cede my leadership to Landry de Bonnay. You will +have the kindness to inform him of the unlooked-for change, and to +tender your new captain every appropriate regret and the dying +felicitations of Perion de la Foret." + +He bowed toward the landward twilight, where the sand hillocks were +taking form. + +"Messire de Montors, we may now resume our vigil. When yonder vessel +sails there will be no conceivable happening that can keep breath +within my body two weeks longer. I shall be quit of every debt to you. +You will then fight with a man already dead if you so elect; but +otherwise--if you attempt to flee this place, if you decline to cross +swords with a lackey, with a convicted thief, with a suspected +murderer, I swear upon my mother's honour! I will demolish you without +compunction, as I would any other vermin." + +"Oh, brave, brave!" sneered the bishop, "to fling away your life, and +perhaps mine too, for an idle word--" But at that he fetched a sob. "How +foolish of you! and how like you!" he said, and Perion wondered at this +prelate's voice. + +"Hey, gentlemen!" cried Ayrart de Montors, "a moment if you please!" He +splashed knee-deep into the icy water, wading to the boat, where he +snatched the lantern from the Jew's hands and fetched this light +ashore. He held it aloft, so that Perion might see his face, and Perion +perceived that, by some wonder-working, the person in man's attire who +held this light aloft was Melicent. It was odd that Perion always +remembered afterward most clearly of all the loosened wisp of hair the +wind tossed about her forehead. + +"Look well upon me, Perion," said Melicent. "Look well, ruined +gentleman! look well, poor hunted vagabond! and note how proud I am. +Oh, in all things I am very proud! A little I exult in my high station +and in my wealth, and, yes, even in my beauty, for I know that I am +beautiful, but it is the chief of all my honours that you love me--and +so foolishly!" + +"You do not understand--!" cried Perion. + +"Rather I understand at last that you are in sober verity a lackey, an +impostor, and a thief, even as you said. Ay, a lackey to your honour! +an imposter that would endeavour--and, oh, so very vainly!--to +impersonate another's baseness! and a thief that has stolen another +person's punishment! I ask no questions; loving means trusting; but I +would like to kill that other person very, very slowly. I ask no +questions, but I dare to trust the man I know of, even in defiance of +that man's own voice. I dare protest the man no thief, but in all +things a madly honourable gentleman. My poor bruised, puzzled boy," said +Melicent, with an odd mirthful tenderness, "how came you to be +blundering about this miry world of ours! Only be very good for my sake +and forget the bitterness; what does it matter when there is happiness, +too?" + +He answered nothing, but it was not because of misery. + +"Come, come, will you not even help me into the boat?" said Melicent. +She, too, was glad. + + + + +5. + + +_How Melicent Wedded_ + +"That may not be, my cousin." + +It was the real Bishop of Montors who was speaking. His company, some +fifteen men in all, had ridden up while Melicent and Perion looked +seaward. The bishop was clothed, in his habitual fashion, as a +cavalier, showing in nothing as a churchman. He sat a-horseback for a +considerable while, looking down at them, smiling and stroking the +pommel of his saddle with a gold-fringed glove. It was now dawn. + +"I have been eavesdropping," the bishop said. His voice was tender, for +the young man loved his kinswoman with an affection second only to that +which he reserved for Ayrart de Montors. "Yes, I have been +eavesdropping for an instant, and through that instant I seemed to see +the heart of every woman that ever lived; and they differed only as +stars differ on a fair night in August. No woman ever loved a man +except, at bottom, as a mother loves her child: let him elect to build +a nation or to write imperishable verses or to take purses upon the +highway, and she will only smile to note how breathlessly the boy goes +about his playing; and when he comes back to her with grimier hands she +is a little sorry, and, if she think it salutary, will pretend to be +angry. Meanwhile she sets about the quickest way to cleanse him and to +heal his bruises. They are more wise than we, and at the bottom of +their hearts they pity us more stalwart folk whose grosser wits +require, to be quite sure of anything, a mere crass proof of it; and +always they make us better by indomitably believing we are better than +in reality a man can ever be." + +Now Ayrart de Montors dismounted. + +"So much for my sermon. For the rest, Messire de la Foret, I perfectly +recognised you on the day you came to Bellegarde. But I said nothing. +For that you had not murdered King Helmas, as is popularly reported, I +was certain, inasmuch as I happen to know he is now at Brunbelois, +where Dame Melusine holds his person and his treasury. A terrible, +delicious woman! begotten on a water-demon, people say. I ask no +questions. She is a close and useful friend to me, and through her aid +I hope to go far. You see that I am frank. It is my nature." The bishop +shrugged. "In a phrase, I accepted the Vicomte de Puysange, although it +was necessary, of course, to keep an eye upon your comings in and your +goings out, as you now see. And until this the imposture amused me. But +this"--his hand waved toward the _Tranchemer_--"this, my fair friends, +is past a jest." + +"You talk and talk," cried Perion, "while I reflect that I love the +fairest lady who at any time has had life upon earth." + +"The proof of your affection," the bishop returned, "is, if you will +permit the observation, somewhat extraordinary. For you propose, I +gather, to make of her a camp-follower, a soldier's drab. Come, come, +messire! you and I are conversant with warfare as it is. Armies do not +conduct encounters by throwing sugar-candy at one another. What home +have you, a landless man, to offer Melicent? What place is there for +Melicent among your Free Companions?" + +"Oh, do I not know that!" said Perion. He turned to Melicent, and long +and long they gazed upon each other. + +"Ignoble as I am," said Perion, "I never dreamed to squire an angel +down toward the mire and filth which for a while as yet must be my +kennel. I go. I go alone. Do you bid me return?" + +The girl was perfectly calm. She took a ring of diamonds from her hand, +and placed it on his little finger, because the others were too large. + +"While life endures I pledge you faith and service, Perion. There is no +need to speak of love." + +"There is no need," he answered. "Oh, does God think that I will live +without you!" + +"I suppose they will give me to King Theodoret. The terrible old man +has set my body as the only price that will buy him off from ravaging +Poictesme, and he is stronger in the field than Emmerick. Emmerick is +afraid of him, and Ayrart here has need of the King's friendship in +order to become a cardinal. So my kinsmen must make traffic of my eyes +and lips and hair. But first I wed you, Perion, here in the sight of +God, and I bid you return to me, who am your wife and servitor for ever +now, whatever lesser men may do." + +"I will return," he said. + +Then in a little while she withdrew her lips from his lips. + + +"Cover my face, Ayrart. It may be I shall weep presently. Men must not +see the wife of Perion weep. Cover my face, for he is going now, and I +cannot watch his going." + + + + + +PART TWO + + +MELICENT + +_Of how through love is Melicent upcast +Under a heathen castle at the last: +And how a wicked lord of proud degree, +Demetrios, dwelleth in this country, +Where humbled under him are all mankind: +How to this wretched woman he hath mind, +That fallen is in pagan lands alone, +In point to die, as presently is shown._ + + + + +6. + + +_How Melicent Sought Oversea_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how love began +between Perion of the Forest, who was a captain of mercenaries, and +young Melicent, who was daughter to the great Dom Manuel, and sister to +Count Emmerick of Poictesme. They tell also how Melicent and Perion +were parted, because there was no remedy, and policy demanded she +should wed King Theodoret. + +And the tale tells how Perion sailed with his retainers to seek +desperate service under the harried Kaiser of the Greeks. + +This venture was ill-fated, since, as the Free Companions were passing +not far from Masillia, their vessel being at the time becalmed, they +were attacked by three pagan galleys under the admiralty of the +proconsul Demetrios. Perion's men, who fought so hardily on land, were +novices at sea. They were powerless against an adversary who, from a +great distance, showered liquid fire upon their vessel. + +Then Demetrios sent little boats and took some thirty prisoners from +the blazing ship, and made slaves of all save Ahasuerus the Jew, whom +he released on being informed of the lean man's religion. It was a +customary boast of this Demetrios that he made war on Christians only. + +And presently, as Perion had commanded, Ahasuerus came to Melicent. + +The princess sat in a high chair, the back of which was capped with a +big lion's head in brass. It gleamed above her head, but was less +glorious than her bright hair. + +Ahasuerus made dispassionate report. "Thus painfully I have delivered, +as my task was, these fine messages concerning Faith and Love and Death +and so on. Touching their rationality I may reserve my own opinion. I +am merely Perion's echo. Do I echo madness? This madman was my loved +and honoured master once, a lord without any peer in the fields where +men contend in battle. To-day those sinews which preserved a throne are +dedicated to the transportation of luggage. Grant it is laughable. I do +not laugh." + +"And I lack time to weep," said Melicent. + +So, when the Jew had told his tale and gone, young Melicent arose and +went into a chamber painted with the histories of Jason and Medea, +where her brother Count Emmerick hid such jewels as had not many equals +in Christendom. + +She did not hesitate. She took no thought for her brother, she did not +remember her loved sisters: Ettarre and Dorothy were their names, and +they also suffered for their beauty, and for the desire it quickened in +the hearts of men. Melicent knew only that Perion was in captivity and +might not look for aid from any person living save herself. + +She gathered in a blue napkin such emeralds as would ransom a pope. She +cut short her marvellous hair and disguised herself in all things as a +man, and under cover of the ensuing night slipped from the castle. At +Manneville she found a Venetian ship bound homeward with a cargo of +swords and armour. + +She hired herself to the captain of this vessel as a servant, calling +herself Jocelin Gaignars. She found no time--wherein to be afraid or to +grieve for the estate she was relinquishing, so long as Perion lay in +danger. + +Thus the young Jocelin, though not without hardship and odd by-ends of +adventure here irrelevant, came with time's course into a land of +sunlight and much wickedness where Perion was. + +There the boy found in what fashion Perion was living and won the +dearly purchased misery of seeing him, from afar, in his deplorable +condition, as Perion went through the outer yard of Nacumera laden with +chains and carrying great logs toward the kitchen. This befell when +Jocelin had come into the hill country, where the eyrie of Demetrios +blocked a crag-hung valley as snugly as a stone chokes a gutter-pipe. + +Young Jocelin had begged an audience of this heathen lord and had +obtained it--though Jocelin did not know as much--with ominous +facility. + + + + +7. + + +_How Perion Was Freed_ + +Demetrios lay on a divan within the Court of Stars, through which you +passed from the fortress into the Women's Garden and the luxurious +prison where he kept his wives. This court was circular in form and was +paved with red and yellow slabs, laid alternately, like a chess-board. +In the centre was a fountain, which cast up a tall thin jet of water. A +gallery extended around the place, supported by columns that had been +painted scarlet and were gilded with fantastic designs. The walls were +of the colour of claret and were adorned with golden cinquefoils +regularly placed. From a distance they resembled stars, and so gave the +enclosure its name. + +Demetrios lay upon a long divan which was covered with crimson, and +which encircled the court entirely, save for the apertures of the two +entrances. Demetrios was of burly person, which he by ordinary, as +to-day, adorned resplendently; of a stature little above the common +size, and disproportionately broad as to his chest and shoulders. It +was rumoured that he could bore an apple through with his forefinger +and had once killed a refractory horse with a blow of his naked fist; +nor looking on the man, did you presume to question the report. His +eyes were large and insolent, coloured like onyxes; for the rest, he +had a handsome surly face which was disfigured by pimples. + +He did not speak at all while Jocelin explained that his errand was to +ransom Perion. Then, "At what price?" Demetrios said, without any sign +of interest; and Jocelin, with many encomiums, displayed his emeralds. + +"Ay, they are well enough," Demetrios agreed. "But then I have a +superfluity of jewels." + +He raised himself a little among the cushions, and in this moving the +figured golden stuff in which he was clothed heaved and glittered like +the scales of a splendid monster. He leisurely unfastened the great +chrysoberyl, big as a hen's egg, which adorned his fillet. + +"Look you, this is of a far more beautiful green than any of your +trinkets, I think it is as valuable also, because of its huge size. +Moreover, it turns red by lamplight--red as blood. That is an admirable +colour. And yet I do not value it. I think I do not value anything. So +I will make you a gift of this big coloured pebble, if you desire it, +because your ignorance amuses me. Most people know Demetrios is not a +merchant. He does not buy and sell. That which he has he keeps, and +that which he desires he takes." + +The boy was all despair. He did not speak. He was very handsome as he +stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and +gold. + +"You do not value my poor chrysoberyl? You value your friend more? It +is a page out of Theocritos--'when there were golden men of old, when +friends gave love for love.' And yet I could have sworn--Come now, a +wager," purred Demetrios. "Show your contempt of this bauble to be as +great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for +the next passer-by to pick up, and I will credit your sincerity. Do +that and I will even name my price for Perion." + +The boy obeyed him without hesitation. Turning, he saw the horrid +change in the intent eyes of Demetrios, and quailed before it. But +instantly that flare of passion flickered out. + +Demetrios gently said: + +"A bargain is a bargain. My wives are beautiful, but their caresses +annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. I have long thought it +would perhaps amuse me if I possessed a Christian wife who had eyes +like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. A man tires +very soon of ebony and amber.... Procure me such a wife and I will +willingly release this Perion and all his fellows who are yet alive." + +"But, seignior,"--and the boy was shaken now,--"you demand of me an +impossibility!" + +"I am so hardy as to think not. And my reason is that a man throws from +the elbow only, but a woman with her whole arm." + +There fell a silence now. + +"Why, look you, I deal fairly, though. Were such a woman here-- +Demetrios of Anatolia's guest--I verily believe I would not hinder her +departure, as I might easily do. For there is not a person within many +miles of this place who considers it wholesome to withstand me. Yet +were this woman purchasable, I would purchase. And--if she refused--I +would not hinder her departure; but very certainly I would put Perion +to the Torment of the Waterdrops. It is so droll to see a man go mad +before your eyes, I think that I would laugh and quite forget the +woman." + +She said, "O God, I cry to You for justice!" + +He answered: + +"My good girl, in Nacumera the wishes of Demetrios are justice. But we +waste time. You desire to purchase one of my belongings? So be it. I +will hear your offer." + +Just once her hands had gripped each other. Her arms fell now as if +they had been drained of life. She spoke in a dull voice. + +"Seignior, I offer Melicent who was a princess. I cry a price, +seignior, for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's tender body +without any blemish. I cry a price for youth and happiness and honour. +These you may have for playthings, seignior, with everything which I +possess, except my heart, for that is dead." + +Demetrios asked, "Is this true speech?" + +She answered: + +"It is as sure as Love and Death. I know that nothing is more sure than +these, and I praise God for my sure knowledge." + +He chuckled, saying, "Platitudes break no bones." + +So on the next day the chains were filed from Perion de la Foret and +all his fellows, save the nine unfortunates whom Demetrios had +appointed to fight with lions a month before this, when he had +entertained the Soldan of Bacharia. These men were bathed and perfumed +and richly clad. + +A galley of the proconsul's fleet conveyed them toward Christendom and +set the twoscore slaves of yesterday ashore not far from Megaris. The +captain of the galley on departure left with Perion a blue napkin, +wherein were wrapped large emeralds and a bit of parchment. + +Upon this parchment was written: + +"Not these, but the body of Melicent, who was once a princess, +purchased your bodies. Yet these will buy you ships and men and swords +with which to storm my house where Melicent now is. Come if you will +and fight with Demetrios of Anatolia for that brave girl who loved a +porter as all loyal men should love their Maker and customarily do not. +I think it would amuse us." + +Then Perion stood by the languid sea which +severed him from Melicent and cried: + +"O God, that hast permitted this hard bargain, trade now with me! now +barter with me, O Father of us all! That which a man has I will give." + +Thus he waited in the clear sunlight, with no more wavering in his face +than you may find in the next statue's face. Both hands strained toward +the blue sky, as though he made a vow. If so, he did not break it. + +And now no more of Perion. + + * * * * * + +At the same hour young Melicent, wrapped all about with a +flame-coloured veil and crowned with marjoram, was led by a spruce boy +toward a threshold, over which Demetrios lifted her, while many people +sang in a strange tongue. And then she paid her ransom. + +"Hymen, O Hymen!" they sang. "Do thou of many names and many temples, +golden Aphrodite, be propitious to this bridal! Now let him first +compute the glittering stars of midnight and the grasshoppers of a +summer day who would count the joys this bridal shall bring about! Hymen, +O Hymen, rejoice thou in this bridal!" + + + + +8. + + +_How Demetrios Was Amused_ + +Now Melicent abode in the house of Demetrios, whom she had not seen +since the morning after he had wedded her. A month had passed. As yet +she could not understand the language of her fellow prisoners, but +Halaon, a eunuch who had once served a cardinal in Tuscany, informed +her the proconsul was in the West Provinces, where an invading force +had landed under Ranulph de Meschines. + +A month had passed. She woke one night from dreams of Perion--what else +should women dream of?--and found the same Ahasuerus that had brought +her news of Perion's captivity, so long ago, attendant at her bedside. + +He seemed a prey to some half-scornful mirth. In speech, at least, the +man was of entire discretion. "The Splendour of the World desires your +presence, madame." Thus the Jew blandly spoke. + +She cried, aghast at so much treachery, "You had planned this!" + +He answered: + +"I plan always. Oh, certainly, I must weave always as the spider +does.... Meanwhile time passes. I, like you, am now the servitor of +Demetrios. I am his factor now at Calonak. I buy and sell. I estimate +ounces. I earn my wages. Who forbids it?" Here the Jew shrugged. "And +to conclude, the Splendour of the World desires your presence, madame." + +He seemed to get much joy of this mouth-filling periphrasis as +sneeringly he spoke of their common master. + + * * * * * + +Now Melicent, in a loose robe of green Coan stuff shot through and +through with a radiancy like that of copper, followed the thin, smiling +Jew Ahasuerus. She came thus with bare feet into the Court of Stars, +where the proconsul lay on the divan as though he had not ever moved +from there. To-night he was clothed in scarlet, and barbaric ornaments +dangled from his pierced ears. These glittered now that his head moved +a little as he silently dismissed Ahasuerus from the Court of Stars. + +Real stars were overhead, so brilliant and (it seemed) so near they +turned the fountain's jet into a spurt of melting silver. The moon was +set, but there was a flaring lamp of iron, high as a man's shoulder, +yonder where Demetrios lay. + +"Stand close to it, my wife," said the proconsul, "in order that I may +see my newest purchase very clearly." + +She obeyed him; and she esteemed the sacrifice, however unendurable, +which bought for Perion the chance to serve God and his love for her by +valorous and commendable actions to be no cause for grief. + +"I think with those old men who sat upon the walls of Troy," Demetrios +said, and he laughed because his voice had shaken a little. "Meanwhile +I have returned from crucifying a hundred of your fellow worshippers," +Demetrios continued. His speech had an odd sweetness. "Ey, yes, I +conquered at Yroga. It was a good fight. My horse's hoofs were red at +its conclusion. My surviving opponents I consider to have been +deplorable fools when they surrendered, for people die less painfully +in battle. There was one fellow, a Franciscan monk, who hung six hours +upon a palm tree, always turning his head from one side to the other. +It was amusing." + +She answered nothing. + +"And I was wondering always how I would feel were you nailed in his +place. It was curious I should have thought of you.... But your white +flesh is like the petals of a flower. I suppose it is as readily +destructible. I think you would not long endure." + +"I pray God hourly that I may not!" said tense Melicent. + +He was pleased to have wrung one cry of anguish from this lovely +effigy. He motioned her to him and laid one hand upon her naked breast. +He gave a gesture of distaste. + +Demetrios said: + +"No, you are not afraid. However, you are very beautiful. I thought +that you would please me more when your gold hair had grown a trifle +longer. There is nothing in the world so beautiful as golden hair. Its +beauty weathers even the commendation of poets." + +No power of motion seemed to be in this white girl, but certainly you +could detect no fear. Her clinging robe shone like an opal in the +lamplight, her body, only partly veiled, was enticing, and her visage +was very lovely. Her wide-open eyes implored you, but only as those of +a trapped animal beseech the mercy for which it does not really hope. +Thus Melicent waited in the clear lamplight, with no more wavering in +her face than you may find in the next statue's face. + +In the man's heart woke now some comprehension of the nature of her +love for Perion, of that high and alien madness which dared to make of +Demetrios of Anatolia's will an unavoidable discomfort, and no more. +The prospect was alluring. The proconsul began to chuckle as water +pours from a jar, and the gold in his ears twinkled. + +"Decidedly I shall get much mirth of you. Go back to your own rooms. I +had thought the world afforded no adversary and no game worthy of +Demetrios. I have found both. Therefore, go back to your own rooms," he +gently said. + + + + +9. + + +_How Time Sped in Heathenry_ + +On the next day Melicent was removed to more magnificent apartments, +and she was lodged in a lofty and spacious pavilion, which had three +porticoes builded of marble and carved teakwood and Andalusian copper. +Her rooms were spread with gold-worked carpets and hung with tapestries +and brocaded silks figured with all manner of beasts and birds in their +proper colours. Such was the girl's home now, where only happiness was +denied to her. Many slaves attended Melicent, and she lacked for +nothing in luxury and riches and things of price; and thereafter she +abode at Nacumera, to all appearances, as the favourite among the +proconsul's wives. + +It must be recorded of Demetrios that henceforth he scrupulously +demurred even to touch her. "I have purchased your body," he proudly +said, "and I have taken seizin. I find I do not care for anything which +can be purchased." + +It may be that the man was never sane; it is indisputable that the +mainspring of his least action was an inordinate pride. Here he had +stumbled upon something which made of Demetrios of Anatolia a temporary +discomfort, and which bedwarfed the utmost reach of his ill-doing into +equality with the molestations of a house-fly; and perception of this +fact worked in Demetrios like a poisonous ferment. To beg or once again +to pillage he thought equally unworthy of himself. "Let us have +patience!" It was not easily said so long as this fair Frankish woman +dared to entertain a passion which Demetrios could not comprehend, and +of which Demetrios was, and knew himself to be, incapable. + +A connoisseur of passions, he resented such belittlement tempestuously; +and he heaped every luxury upon Melicent, because, as he assured +himself, the heart of every woman is alike. + +He had his theories, his cunning, and, chief of all, an appreciation of +her beauty, as his abettors. She had her memories and her clean heart. +They duelled thus accoutred. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. Upon no less than three occasions did Callistion-- +the first wife of the proconsul and the mother of his elder son-- +attempt the life of Melicent; and thrice Demetrios spared the woman at +Melicent's entreaty. For Melicent (since she loved Perion) could +understand that it was love of Demetrios, rather than hate of her, +which drove the Dacian virago to extremities. + +Then one day about noon Demetrios came unheralded into Melicent's +resplendent prison. Through an aisle of painted pillars he came to her, +striding with unwonted quickness, glittering as he moved. His robe this +day was scarlet, the colour he chiefly affected. Gold glowed upon his +forehead, gold dangled from his ears, and about his throat was a broad +collar of gold and rubies. At his side was a cross-handled sword, in a +scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented. + +"Give thanks, my wife," Demetrios said, "that you are beautiful. For +beauty was ever the spur of valour." Then quickly, joyously, he told +her of how a fleet equipped by the King of Cyprus had been despatched +against the province of Demetrios, and of how among the invaders were +Perion of the Forest and his Free Companions. "Ey, yes, my porter has +returned. I ride instantly for the coast to greet him with appropriate +welcome. I pray heaven it is no sluggard or weakling that is come out +against me." + +Proudly, Melicent replied: + +"There comes against you a champion of noted deeds, a courteous and +hardy gentleman, pre-eminent at swordplay. There was never any man more +ready than Perion to break a lance or shatter a shield, or more eager +to succour the helpless and put to shame all cowards and traitors." + +Demetrios dryly said: + +"I do not question that the virtues of my porter are innumerable. +Therefore we will not attempt to catalogue them. Now Ahasuerus reports +that even before you came to tempt me with your paltry emeralds you +once held the life of Perion in your hands?" Demetrios unfastened his +sword. He grasped the hand of Melicent, and laid it upon the scabbard. +"And what do you hold now, my wife? You hold the death of Perion. I +take the antithesis to be neat." + +She answered nothing. Her seeming indifference angered him. Demetrios +wrenched the sword from its scabbard, with a hard violence that made +Melicent recoil. He showed the blade all covered with graved symbols of +which she could make nothing. + +"This is Flamberge," said the proconsul; "the weapon which was the +pride and bane of my father, famed Miramon Lluagor, because it was the +sword which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for unconquerable +Charlemagne. Clerks declare it is a magic weapon and that the man who +wields it is always unconquerable. I do not know. I think it is as +difficult to believe in sorcery as it is to be entirely sure that all +we know is not the sorcery of a drunken wizard. I very potently +believe, however, that with this sword I shall kill Perion." + +Melicent had plenty of patience, but astonishingly little, it seemed, +for this sort of speech. "I think that you talk foolishly, seignior. +And, other matters apart, it is manifest that you yourself concede +Perion to be the better swordsman, since you require to be abetted by +sorcery before you dare to face him." + +"So, so!" Demetrios said, in a sort of grinding whisper, "you think +that I am not the equal of this long-legged fellow! You would think +otherwise if I had him here. You will think otherwise when I have +killed him with my naked hands. Oh, very soon you will think +otherwise." + +He snarled, rage choking him, flung the sword at her feet and quitted +her without any leave-taking. He had ridden three miles from Nacumera +before he began to laugh. He perceived that Melicent at least respected +sorcery, and had tricked him out of Flamberge by playing upon his +tetchy vanity. Her adroitness pleased him. + +Demetrios did not laugh when he found the Christian fleet had been +ingloriously repulsed at sea by the Emir of Arsuf, and had never +effected a landing. Demetrios picked a quarrel with the victorious +admiral and killed the marplot in a public duel, but that was +inadequate comfort. + +"However," the proconsul reassured himself, "if my wife reports at all +truthfully as to this Perion's nature it is certain that this Perion +will come again." Then Demetrios went into the sacred grove upon the +hillsides south of Quesiton and made an offering of myrtle-branches, +rose-leaves and incense to Aphrodite of Colias. + + + + +10. + + +_How Demetrios Wooed_ + +Ahasuerus came and went at will. Nothing was known concerning this +soft-treading furtive man except by the proconsul, who had no +confidants. By his decree Ahasuerus was an honoured guest at Nacumera. +And always the Jew's eyes when Melicent was near him were as +expressionless as the eyes of a snake, which do not ever change. + +Once she told Demetrios that she feared Ahasuerus. + +"But I do not fear him, Melicent, though I have larger reason. For I +alone of all men living know the truth concerning this same Jew. +Therefore, it amuses me to think that he, who served my wizard father +in a very different fashion, is to-day my factor and ciphers over my +accounts." + +Demetrios laughed, and had the Jew summoned. + +This was in the Women's Garden, where the proconsul sat with Melicent +in a little domed pavilion of stone-work which was gilded with red gold +and crowned with a cupola of alabaster. Its pavement was of transparent +glass, under which were clear running waters wherein swam red and +yellow fish. + +Demetrios said: + +"It appears that you are a formidable person, Ahasuerus. My wife here +fears you." + +"Splendour of the Age," returned Ahasuerus, quietly, "it is notorious +that women have long hair and short wits. There is no need to fear a +Jew. The Jew, I take it, was created in order that children might +evince their playfulness by stoning him, the honest show their +common-sense by robbing him, and the religious display their piety by +burning him. Who forbids it?" + +"Ey, but my wife is a Christian and in consequence worships a Jew." +Demetrios reflected. His dark eyes twinkled. "What is your opinion +concerning this other Jew, Ahasuerus?" + +"I know that He was the Messiah, Lord." + +"And yet you do not worship Him." + +The Jew said: + +"It was not altogether worship He desired. He asked that men should +love Him. He does not ask love of me." + +"I find that an obscure saying," Demetrios considered. + +"It is a true saying, King of Kings. In time it will be made plain. +That time is not yet come. I used to pray it would come soon. Now I do +not pray any longer. I only wait." + +Demetrios tugged at his chin, his eyes narrowed, meditating. He +laughed. + +Demetrios said: + +"It is no affair of mine. What am I that I am called upon to have +prejudices concerning the universe? It is highly probable there are +gods of some sort or another, but I do not so far flatter myself as to +consider that any possible god would be at all interested in my opinion +of him. In any event, I am Demetrios. Let the worst come, and in +whatever baleful underworld I find myself imprisoned I shall maintain +myself there in a manner not unworthy of Demetrios." The proconsul +shrugged at this point. "I do not find you amusing, Ahasuerus. You may +go." + +"I hear, and I obey," the Jew replied. He went away patiently. + +Then Demetrios turned toward Melicent, rejoicing that his chattel had +golden hair and was comely beyond comparison with all other women he +had ever seen. + +Said Demetrios: + +"I love you, Melicent, and you do not love me. Do not be offended +because my speech is harsh, for even though I know my candour is +distasteful I must speak the truth. You have been obdurate too long, +denying Kypris what is due to her. I think that your brain is giddy +because of too much exulting in the magnificence of your body and in +the number of men who have desired it to their own hurt. I concede your +beauty, yet what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"I admit that my refrain is old. But it will presently take on a more +poignant meaning, because a hundred years from now you--even you, dear +Melicent!--and all the loveliness which now causes me to estimate life +as a light matter in comparison with your love, will be only a bone or +two. Your lustrous eyes, which are now more beautiful than it is +possible to express, will be unsavoury holes and a worm will crawl +through them; and what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"A hundred years from now should anyone break open our gilded tomb, he +will find Melicent to be no more admirable than Demetrios. One skull is +like another, and is as lightly split with a mattock. You will be as +ugly as I, and nobody will be thinking of your eyes and hair. Hail, +rain and dew will drench us both impartially when I lie at your side, +as I intend to do, for a hundred years and yet another hundred years. +You need not frown, for what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"Melicent, I offer love and a life that derides the folly of all other +manners of living; and even if you deny me, what will it matter a +hundred years from now?" + +His face was contorted, his speech had fervent bitterness, for even +while he wooed this woman the man internally was raging over his own +infatuation. + +And Melicent answered: + +"There can be no question of love between us, seignior. You purchased +my body. My body is at your disposal under God's will." + +Demetrios sneered, his ardours cooled. He said, "I have already told +you, my girl, I do not care for that which can be purchased." + +In such fashion Melicent abode among these odious persons as a lily +which is rooted in mire. She was a prisoner always, and when Demetrios +came to Nacumera--which fell about irregularly, for now arose much +fighting between the Christians and the pagans--a gem which he uncased, +admired, curtly exulted in, and then, jeering at those hot wishes in +his heart, locked up untouched when he went back to warfare. + +To her the man was uniformly kind, if with a sort of sneer she could +not understand; and he pillaged an infinity of Genoese and Venetian +ships--which were notoriously the richest laden--of jewels, veils, +silks, furs, embroideries and figured stuffs, wherewith to enhance the +comeliness of Melicent. It seemed an all-engulfing madness with this +despot daily to aggravate his fierce desire of her, to nurture his +obsession, so that he might glory in the consciousness of treading down +no puny adversary. + +Pride spurred him on as witches ride their dupes to a foreknown +destruction. "Let us have patience," he would say. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. "Let us have patience!" they said, also, but with +a meaning that was more sinister. + + + + + +PART THREE + + +DEMETRIOS + +_Of how Dame Melicent's fond lovers go +As comrades, working each his fellow's woe: +Each hath unhorsed the other of the twain, +And knoweth that nowhither 'twixt Ukraine +And Ormus roameth any lion's son +More eager in the hunt than Perion, +Nor any viper's sire more venomous +Through jealous hurt than is Demetrios._ + + + + +11. + + +_How Time Sped with Perion_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling of what befell +Perion de la Foret after he had been ransomed out of heathenry. They +tell how he took service with the King of Cyprus. And the tale tells +how the King of Cyprus was defeated at sea by the Emir of Arsuf; and +how Perion came unhurt from that battle, and by land relieved the +garrison at Japhe, and was ennobled therefor; and was afterward called +the Comte de la Foret. + +Then the King of Cyprus made peace with heathendom, and Perion left +him. Now Perion's skill in warfare was leased to whatsoever lord would +dare contend against Demetrios and the proconsul's magic sword +Flamberge: and Perion of the Forest did not inordinately concern +himself as to the merits of any quarrel because of which battalions +died, so long as he fought toward Melicent. Demetrios was pleased, and +thrilled with the heroic joy of an athlete who finds that he +unwittingly has grappled with his equal. + +So the duel between these two dragged on with varying fortunes, and the +years passed, and neither duellist had conquered as yet. Then King +Theodoret, third of that name to rule, and once (as you have heard) a +wooer of Dame Melicent, declared a crusade; and Perion went to him at +Lacre Kai. It was in making this journey, they say, that Perion passed +through Pseudopolis, and had speech there with Queen Helen, the delight +of gods and men: and Perion conceded this Queen was well-enough to look +at. + +"She reminds me, indeed, of that Dame Melicent whom I serve in this +world, and trust to serve in Paradise," said Perion. "But Dame Melicent +has a mole on her left cheek." + +"That is a pity," said an attendant lord. "A mole disfigures a pretty +woman." + +"I was speaking, messire, of Dame Melicent." + +"Even so," the lord replied, "a mole is a blemish." + +"I cannot permit these observations," said Perion. So they fought, and +Perion killed his opponent, and left Pseudopolis that afternoon. + +Such was Perion's way. + +He came unhurt to King Theodoret, who at once recognised in the famous +Comte de la Foret the former Vicomte de Puysange, but gave no sign of +such recognition. + +"Heaven chooses its own instruments," the pious King reflected: "and +this swaggering Comte de la Foret, who affects so many names has also +the name of being a warrior without any peer in Christendom. Let us +first conquer this infamous proconsul, this adversary of our Redeemer, +and then we shall see. It may be that heaven will then permit me to +detect this Comte de la Foret in some particularly abominable heresy. +For this long-legged ruffian looks like a schismatic, and would +singularly grace a rack." + +So King Theodoret kissed Perion upon both cheeks, and created him +generalissimo of King Theodoret's forces. It was upon St. George's day +that Perion set sail with thirty-four ships of great dimensions and +admirable swiftness. + +"Do you bring me back Demetrios in chains," said the King, fondling +Perion at parting, "and all that I have is yours." + +"I mean to bring back my stolen wife, Dame Melicent," was Perion's +reply: "and if I can manage it I shall also bring you this Demetrios, +in return for lending me these ships and soldiers." + +"Do you think," the King asked, peevishly, "that monarchs nowadays fit +out armaments to replevin a woman who is no longer young, and who was +always stupid?" + +"I cannot permit these observations--" said Perion. + +Theodoret hastily explained that his was merely a general observation, +without any personal bearing. + + + + +12. + + +_How Demetrios Was Taken_ + +Thus it was that war awoke and raged about the province of Demetrios as +tirelessly as waves lapped at its shores. + +Then, after many ups and downs of carnage,[1: Nicolas de Caen gives +here a minute account of the military and naval evolutions, with a +fullness that verges upon prolixity. It appears expedient to omit all +this.] Perion surprised the galley of Demetrios while the proconsul +slept at anchor in his own harbour of Quesiton. Demetrios fought +nakedly against accoutred soldiers and had killed two of them with his +hands before he could be quieted by an admiring Perion. + +Demetrios by Perion's order was furnished with a sword of ordinary +attributes, and Perion ridded himself of all defensive armour. The two +met like an encounter of tempests, and in the outcome Demetrios was +wounded so that he lay insensible. + +Demetrios was taken as a prisoner toward the domains of King Theodoret. + +"Only you are my private capture," said Perion; "conquered by my own +hand and in fair fight. Now I am unwilling to insult the most valiant +warrior whom I have known by valuing him too cheaply, and I accordingly +fix your ransom as the person of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios bit his nails. + +"Needs must," he said at last. "It is unnecessary to inform you that +when my property is taken from me I shall endeavour to regain it. I +shall, before the year is out, lay waste whatever kingdom it is that +harbours you. Meanwhile I warn you it is necessary to be speedy in this +ransoming. My other wives abhor the Frankish woman who has supplanted +them in my esteem. My son Orestes, who succeeds me, will be guided by +his mother. Callistion has thrice endeavoured to kill Melicent. If any +harm befalls me, Callistion to all intent will reign in Nacumera, and +she will not be satisfied with mere assassination. I cannot guess what +torment Callistion will devise, but it will be no child's play--" + +"Hah, infamy!" cried Perion. He had learned long ago how cunning the +heathen were in such cruelties, and so he shuddered. + +Demetrios was silent. He, too, was frightened, because this despot +knew--and none knew better--that in his lordly house far oversea +Callistion would find equipment for a hundred curious tortures. + +"It has been difficult for me to tell you this," Demetrios then said, +"because it savours of an appeal to spare me. I think you will have +gleaned, however, from our former encounters, that I am not +unreasonably afraid of death. Also I think that you love Melicent. For +the rest, there is no person in Nacumera so untutored as to cross my +least desire until my death is triply proven. Accordingly, I who am +Demetrios am willing to entreat an oath that you will not permit +Theodoret to kill me." + +"I swear by God and all the laws of Rome--" cried Perion. + +"Ey, but I am not very popular in Rome," Demetrios interrupted. "I +would prefer that you swore by your love for Melicent. I would prefer +an oath which both of us may understand, and I know of none other." + +So Perion swore as Demetrios requested, and set about the conveyance of +Demetrios into King Theodoret's realm. + + + + +13. + + +_How They Praised Melicent_ + +The conqueror and the conquered sat together upon the prow of Perion's +ship. It was a warm, clear night, so brilliant that the stars were +invisible. Perion sighed. Demetrios inquired the reason. Perion said: + +"It is the memory of a fair and noble lady, Messire Demetrios, that +causes me to heave a sigh from my inmost heart. I cannot forget that +loveliness which had no parallel. Pardieu, her eyes were amethysts, her +lips were red as the berries of a holly tree. Her hair blazed in the +light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than milk; +the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch than +were her hands. There was never any person more delightful to gaze +upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love and +service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios gave his customary lazy shrug. Demetrios said: + +"She is still a brightly-coloured creature, moves gracefully, has a +sweet, drowsy voice, and is as soft to the touch as rabbit's fur. +Therefore, it is imperative that one of us must cut the other's throat. +The deduction is perfectly logical. Yet I do not know that my love for +her is any greater than my hatred. I rage against her patient tolerance +of me, and I am often tempted to disfigure, mutilate, even to destroy +this colourful, stupid woman, who makes me wofully ridiculous in my own +eyes. I shall be happier when death has taken the woman who ventures to +deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"When I first saw Dame Melicent the sea was languid, as if outworn by +vain endeavours to rival the purple of her eyes. Sea-birds were adrift +in the air, very close to her and their movements were less graceful +than hers. She was attired in a robe of white silk, and about her +wrists were heavy bands of silver. A tiny wind played truant in order +to caress her unplaited hair, because the wind was more hardy than I, +and dared to love her. I did not think of love, I thought only of the +noble deeds I might have done and had not done. I thought of my +unworthiness, and it seemed to me that my soul writhed like an eel in +sunlight, a naked, despicable thing, that was unworthy to render any +love and service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"When I first saw the girl she knew herself entrapped, her body mine, +her life dependent on my whim. She waved aside such petty +inconveniences, bade them await an hour when she had leisure to +consider them, because nothing else was of any importance so long as my +porter went in chains. I was an obstacle to her plans and nothing more; +a pebble in her shoe would have perturbed her about as much as I did. +Here at last, I thought, is genuine common-sense--a clear-headed +decision as to your actual desire, apart from man-taught ethics, and +fearless purchase of your desire at any cost. There is something not +unakin to me, I reflected, in the girl who ventures to deal in this +fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"Since she permits me to serve her, I may not serve unworthily. +To-morrow I shall set new armies afield. To-morrow it will delight me +to see their tents rise in your meadows, Messire Demetrios, and to see +our followers meet in clashing combat, by hundreds and thousands, so +mightily that men will sing of it when we are gone. To-morrow one of us +must kill the other. To-night we drink our wine in amity. I have not +time to hate you, I have not time to like or dislike any living person, +I must devote all faculties that heaven gave me to the love +and service of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"To-night we babble to the stars and dream vain dreams as other fools +have done before us. To-morrow rests--perhaps--with heaven; but, depend +upon it, Messire de la Foret, whatever we may do to-morrow will be +foolishly performed, because we are both besotted by bright eyes and +lips and hair. I trust to find our antics laughable. Yet there is that +in me which is murderous when I reflect that you and she do not dislike +me. It is the distasteful truth that neither of you considers me to be +worth the trouble. I find such conduct irritating, because no other +persons have ever ventured to deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +"Demetrios, already your antics are laughable, for you pass blindly by +the revelation of heaven's splendour in heaven's masterwork; you ignore +the miracle; and so do you find only the stings of the flesh where I +find joy in rendering love and service to Dame Melicent." + +"Perion, it is you that play the fool, in not recognising that heaven +is inaccessible and doubtful. But clearer eyes perceive the not at all +doubtful dullness of wit, and the gratifying accessibility of every +woman when properly handled,--yes, even of her who dares to deal in +this fashion with Demetrios." + +Thus they would sit together, nightly, upon the prow of Perion's ship +and speak against each other in the manner of a Tenson, as these two +rhapsodised of Melicent until the stars grew lustreless before the sun. + + + + +14. + + +_How Perion Braved Theodoret_ + +The city of Megaris (then Theodoret's capital) was ablaze with bonfires +on the night that the Comte de la Foret entered it at the head of his +forces. Demetrios, meanly clothed, his hands tied behind him, trudged +sullenly beside his conqueror's horse. Yet of the two the gloomier face +showed below the count's coronet, for Perion did not relish the +impendent interview with King Theodoret. They came thus amid much +shouting to the Hotel d'Ebelin, their assigned quarters, and slept +there. + +Next morning, about the hour of prime, two men-at-arms accompanied a +fettered Demetrios into the presence of King Theodoret. Perion of the +Forest preceded them. He pardonably swaggered, in spite of his +underlying uneasiness, for this last feat, as he could not ignore, was +a performance which Christendom united to applaud. + +They came thus into a spacious chamber, very inadequately lighted. The +walls were unhewn stone. There was but one window, of uncoloured glass; +and it was guarded by iron bars. The floor was bare of rushes. On one +side was a bed with tattered hangings of green, which were adorned with +rampant lions worked in silver thread much tarnished; to the right hand +stood a _prie-dieu_. Between these isolated articles of furniture, and +behind an unpainted table sat, in a high-backed chair, a wizen and +shabbily-clad old man. This was Theodoret, most pious and penurious of +monarchs. In attendance upon him were Fra Battista, prior of the Grey +Monks, and Melicent's near kinsman, once the Bishop, now the Cardinal, +de Montors, who, as was widely known, was the actual monarch of this +realm. The latter was smartly habited as a cavalier and showed in +nothing like a churchman. + +The infirm King arose and came to meet the champion who had performed +what many generals of Christendom had vainly striven to achieve. He +embraced the conqueror of Demetrios as one does an equal. + +Said Theodoret: + +"Hail, my fair friend! you who have lopped the right arm of heathenry! +To-day, I know, the saints hold festival in heaven. I cannot recompense +you, since God alone is omnipotent. Yet ask now what you will, short of +my crown, and it is yours." The old man kissed the chief of all his +treasures, a bit of the True Cross, which hung upon his breast +supported by a chain of gold. + +"The King has spoken," Perion returned. "I ask the life of Demetrios." + +Theodoret recoiled, like a small flame which is fluttered by its +kindler's breath. He cackled thinly, saying: + +"A jest or so is privileged in this high hour. Yet we ought not to make +a jest of matters which concern the Church. Am I not right, Ayrart? Oh, +no, this merciless Demetrios is assuredly that very Antichrist whose +coming was foretold. I must relinquish him to Mother Church, in order +that he may be equitably tried, and be baptised--since even he may have +a soul--and afterward be burned in the market-place." + +"The King has spoken," Perion replied. "I too have spoken." + +There was a pause of horror upon the part of King Theodoret. He was at +first in a mere whirl. Theodoret said: + +"You ask, in earnest, for the life of this Demetrios, this arch-foe of +our Redeemer, this spawn of Satan, who has sacked more of my towns than +I have fingers on this wasted hand! Now, now that God has singularly +favoured me--!" Theodoret snarled and gibbered like a frenzied ape, and +had no longer the ability to articulate. + +"Beau sire, I fought the man because he infamously held Dame Melicent, +whom I serve in this world without any reservation, and trust to serve +in Paradise. His person, and this alone, will ransom Melicent." + +"You plan to loose this fiend!" the old King cried. "To stir up all +this butchery again!" + +"Sire, pray recall how long I have loved Melicent. Reflect that if you +slay Demetrios, Dame Melicent will be left destitute in heathenry. +Remember that she will be murdered through the hatred of this man's +other wives whom her inestimable beauty has supplanted." Thus Perion +entreated. + +All this while the cardinal and the proconsul had been appraising each +other. It was as though they two had been the only persons in the +dimly-lit apartment. They had not met before. "Here is my match," +thought each of these two; "here, if the world affords it, is my peer +in cunning and bravery." + +And each lusted for a contest, and with something of mutual +comprehension. + +In consequence they stinted pity for Theodoret, who unfeignedly +believed that whether he kept or broke his recent oath damnation was +inevitable. "You have been ill-advised--" he stammered. "I do not dare +release Demetrios--My soul would answer that enormity--But it was sworn +upon the Cross--Oh, ruin either way! Come now, my gallant captain," the +King barked. "I have gold, lands, and jewels--" + +"Beau sire, I have loved this my dearest lady since the time when both +of us were little more than children, and each day of the year my love +for her has been doubled. What would it avail me to live in however +lofty estate when I cannot daily see the treasure of my life?" + +Now the Cardinal de Montors interrupted, and his voice was to the ear +as silk is to the fingers. + +"Beau sire," said Ayrart de Montors, "I speak in all appropriate +respect. But you have sworn an oath which no man living may presume to +violate." + +"Oh, true, Ayrart!" the fluttered King assented. "This blusterer holds +me as in a vise." He turned to Perion again, fierce, tense and fragile, +like an angered cat. "Choose now! I will make you the wealthiest person +in my realm--My son, I warn you that since Adam's time women have been +the devil's peculiar bait. See now, I am not angry. Heh, I remember, +too, how beautiful she was. I was once tempted much as you are tempted. +So I pardon you. I will give you my daughter Ermengarde in marriage, I +will make you my heir, I will give you half my kingdom--" His voice +rose, quavering; and it died now, for he foreread the damnation of +Theodoret's soul while he fawned before this impassive Perion. + +"Since Love has taken up his abode within my heart," said Perion, +"there has not ever been a vacancy therein for any other thought. How +may I help it if Love recompenses my hospitality by afflicting me with +a desire which can neither subdue the world nor be subdued by it?" + +Theodoret continued like the rustle of dead leaves: + +"--Else I must keep my oath. In that event you may depart with this +unbeliever. I will accord you twenty-four hours wherein to accomplish +this. But, oh, if I lay hands upon either of you within the +twenty-fifth hour I will not kill my prisoner at once. For first I must +devise unheard-of torments--" + +The King's face was not agreeable to look upon. + +Yet Perion encountered it with an untroubled gaze until Battista spoke, +saying: + +"I promise worse. The Book will be cast down, the bells be tolled, and +all the candles snuffed--ah, very soon!" Battista licked his lips, +gingerly, just as a cat does. + +Then Perion was moved, since excommunication is more terrible than +death to any of the Church's loyal children, and he was now more +frightened than the King. And so Perion thought of Melicent a while +before he spoke. + +Said Perion: + +"I choose. I choose hell fire in place of riches and honour, and I +demand the freedom of Demetrios." + +"Go!" the King said. "Go hence, blasphemer. Hah, you will weep for this +in hell. I pray that I may hear you then, and laugh as I do now--" + +He went away, and was followed by Battista, who whispered of a +makeshift. The cardinal remained and saw to it that the chains were +taken from Demetrios. + +"In consequence of Messire de la Foret's--as I must term it--most +unchristian decision," said the cardinal, "it is not impossible, +Messire the Proconsul, that I may head the next assault upon your +territory--" + +Demetrios laughed. He said: + +"I dare to promise your Eminence that reception you would most enjoy." + +"I had hoped for as much," the cardinal returned; and he too laughed. +To do him justice, he did not know of Battista's makeshift. + +The cardinal remained when they had gone. Seated in a king's chair, +Ayrart de Montors meditated rather wistfully upon that old time when +he, also, had loved Melicent whole-heartedly. It seemed a great while +ago, made him aware of his maturity. + +He had put love out of his life, in common with all other weaknesses +which might conceivably hinder the advancement of Ayrart de Montors. In +consequence, he had climbed far. He was not dissatisfied. It was a +man's business to make his way in the world, and he had done this. + +"My cousin is a brave girl, though," he said aloud, "I must certainly +do what I can to effect her rescue as soon as it is convenient to send +another expedition against Demetrios." + +Then the cardinal set about concoction of a moving sonnet in praise of +Monna Vittoria de' Pazzi. Desperation loaned him extraordinary +eloquence (as he complacently reflected) in addressing this obdurate +woman, who had held out against his love-making for six weeks now. + + + + +15. + + +_How Perion Fought_ + +Demetrios and Perion, by the quick turn of fortune previously recorded, +were allied against all Christendom. They got arms at the Hotel +d'Ebelin, and they rode out of the city of Megaris, where the bonfires +lighted over-night in Perion's honour were still smouldering, amid loud +execrations. Fra Battista had not delayed to spread the news of King +Theodoret's dilemma. The burghers yelled menaces; but, knowing that an +endeavour to constrain the passage of these champions would prove +unwholesome for at least a dozen of the arrestors, they cannily +confined their malice to a vocal demonstration. + +Demetrios rode unhelmeted, intending that these snarling little people +of Megaris should plainly see the man whom they most feared and hated. + +It was Perion who spoke first. They had passed the city walls, and had +mounted the hill which leads toward the Forest of Sannazaro. Their road +lay through a rocky pass above which the leaves of spring were like +sparse traceries on a blue cupola, for April had not come as yet. + +"I meant," said Perion, "to hold you as the ransom of Dame Melicent. I +fear that is impossible. I, who am a landless man, have neither +servitors nor any castle wherein to retain you as a prisoner. I +earnestly desire to kill you, forthwith, in single combat; but when +your son Orestes knows that you are dead he will, so you report, kill +Melicent. And yet it may be you are lying." + +Perion was of a tall imperious person, and accustomed to command. He +had black hair, grey eyes which challenged you, and a thin pleasant +face which was not pleasant now. + +"You know that I am not a coward--." Demetrios began. + +"Indeed," said Perion, "I believe you to be the hardiest warrior in the +world." + +"Therefore I may without dishonour repeat to you that my death involves +the death of Melicent. Orestes hates her for his mother's sake. I +think, now we have fought so often, that each of us knows I do not fear +death. I grant I had Flamberge to wield, a magic weapon--" Demetrios +shook himself, like a dog coming from the water, for to consider an +extraneous invincibility was nauseous. "However! I who am Demetrios +protest I will not fight with you, that I will accept any insult rather +than risk my life in any quarrel extant, because I know the moment that +Orestes has made certain I am no longer to be feared he will take +vengeance on Dame Melicent." + +"Prove this!" said Perion, and with deliberation he struck Demetrios. +Full in the face he struck the swart proconsul, and in the ensuing +silence you could hear a feeble breeze that strayed about the +tree-tops, but you could hear nothing else. And Perion, strong man, the +willing scourge of heathendom, had half a mind to weep. + +Demetrios had not moved a finger. It was appalling. The proconsul's +countenance had throughout the hue of wood-ashes, but his fixed eyes +were like blown embers. + +"I believe that it is proved," said Demetrios, "since both of us are +still alive." He whispered this. + +"In fact the thing is settled," Perion agreed. "I know that nothing +save your love for Melicent could possibly induce you to decline a +proffered battle. When Demetrios enacts the poltroon I am the most +hasty of all men living to assert that the excellency of his reason is +indisputable. Let us get on! I have only five hundred sequins, but this +will be enough to buy your passage back to Quesiton. And inasmuch as we +are near the coast--" + +"I think some others mean to have a spoon in that broth," Demetrios +returned. "For look, messire!" Perion saw that far beneath them a +company of retainers in white and purple were spurring up the hill. "It +is Duke Sigurd's livery," said Perion. + +Demetrios forthwith interpreted and was amused by their common ruin. He +said, grinning: + +"Pious Theodoret has sworn a truce of twenty-four hours, and in +consequence might not send any of his own lackeys after us. But there +was nothing to prevent the dropping of a hint into the ear of his +brother in-law, because you servitors of Christ excel in these +distinctions." + +"This is hardly an opportunity for theological debate," Perion +considered. "And for the rest, time presses. It is your instant +business to escape." He gave his tiny bag of gold to his chief enemy. +"Make for Narenta. It is a free city and unfriendly to Theodoret. If I +survive I will come presently and fight with you for Melicent." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Demetrios equably returned. "Am I the +person to permit the man whom I most hate--you who have struck me and +yet live!--to fight alone against some twenty adversaries! Oh, no, I +shall remain, since after all, there are only twenty." + +"I was mistaken in you," Perion replied, "for I had thought you loved +Dame Melicent as I do. I find too late that you would estimate your +private honour as set against her welfare." + +The two men looked upon each other. Long and long they looked, and the +heart of each was elated. "I comprehend," Demetrios said. He clapped +spurs to his horse and fled as a coward would have fled. This was one +occasion in his life when he overcame his pride, and should in +consequence be noted. + +The heart of Perion was glad. + +"Oh, but at times," said Perion, "I wish that I might honourably love +this infamous and lustful pagan." + +Afterward Perion wheeled and met Duke Sigurd's men. Then like a reaper +cutting a field of wheat Sire Perion showed the sun his sword and went +about his work, not without harvesting. + +In that narrow way nothing could be heard but the striking of blows on +armour and the clash of swords which bit at one another. The Comte de +la Foret, for once, allowed himself the privilege of fighting in anger. +He went without a word toward this hopeless encounter, as a drunkard to +his bottle. First Perion killed Ruggiero of the Lamberti and after that +Perion raged as a wolf harrying sheep. Six other stalwart men he cut +down, like a dumb maniac among tapestries. His horse was slain and lay +blocking the road, making a barrier behind which Perion fought. Then +Perion encountered Giacomo di Forio, and while the two contended Gulio +the Red very warily cast his sword like a spear so that it penetrated +Perion's left shoulder and drew much blood. This hampered the lone +champion. Marzio threw a stone which struck on Perion's crest and broke +the fastenings of Perion's helmet. Instantly Giacomo gave him three +wounds, and Perion stumbled, the sunlight glossing his hair. He fell +and they took him. They robbed the corpses of their surcoats, which +they tore in strips. They made ropes of this bloodied finery, and with +these ropes they bound Perion of the Forest, whom twenty men had +conquered at last. + +He laughed feebly, like a person bedrugged; but in the midst of this +superfluous defiance Perion swooned because of many injuries. He knew +that with fair luck Demetrios had a sufficient start. The heart of +Perion exulted, thinking that Melicent was saved. + +It was the happier for him he was not ever destined to comprehend the +standards of Demetrios. + + + + +16. + + +_How Demetrios Meditated_ + +Demetrios came without any hindrance into Narenta, a free city. He +believed his Emperor must have sent galleys toward Christendom to get +tidings of his generalissimo, but in this city of merchants Demetrios +heard no report of them. Yet in the harbour he found a trading-ship +prepared for traffic in the country of the pagans; the sail was naked +to the wind, the anchor chain was already shortened at the bow. +Demetrios bargained with the captain of this vessel, and in the outcome +paid him four hundred sequins. In exchange the man agreed to touch at +the Needle of Ansignano that afternoon and take Demetrios aboard. Since +the proconsul had no passport, he could not with safety endeavour to +elude those officers of the Tribunal who must endorse the ship's +passage at Piaja. + +Thus about sunset Demetrios waited the ship's coming, alone upon the +Needle. This promontory is like a Titan's finger of black rock thrust +out into the water. The day was perishing, and the querulous sea before +Demetrios was an unresting welter of gold and blood. + +He thought of how he had won safely through a horde of dangers, and the +gross man chuckled. He considered that unquestioned rulership of every +person near Demetrios which awaited him oversea, and chiefly he thought +of Melicent whom he loved even better than he did the power to sneer at +everything the world contained. And the proconsul chuckled. + +He said, aloud: + +"I owe very much to Messire de la Foret. I owe far more than I can +estimate. For, by this, those lackeys will have slain Messire de la +Foret or else they will have taken Messire de la Foret to King +Theodoret, who will piously make an end of this handsome idiot. Either +way, I shall enjoy tranquillity and shall possess my Melicent until I +die. Decidedly, I owe a deal to this self-satisfied tall fool." + +Thus he contended with his irritation. It may be that the man was never +sane; it is certain that the mainspring of his least action was an +inordinate pride. Now hatred quickened, spreading from a flicker of +distaste; and his faculties were stupefied, as though he faced a +girdling conflagration. It was not possible to hate adequately this +Perion who had struck Demetrios of Anatolia and perhaps was not yet +dead; nor could Demetrios think of any sufficing requital for this +Perion who dared to be so tall and handsome and young-looking when +Demetrios was none of these things, for this Perion whom Melicent had +loved and loved to-day. And Demetrios of Anatolia had fought with a +charmed sword against a person such as this, safe as an angler matched +against a minnow; Demetrios of Anatolia, now at the last, accepted alms +from what had been until to-day a pertinacious gnat. Demetrios was +physically shaken by disgust at the situation, and in the sunset's +glare his swarthy countenance showed like that of Belial among the +damned. + +"The life of Melicent hangs on my safe return to Nacumera.... Ey, what +is that to me!" the proconsul cried aloud. "The thought of Melicent is +sweeter than the thought of any god. It is not sweet enough to bribe me +into living as this Perion's debtor." + +So when the ship touched at the Needle, a half-hour later, that spur of +rock was vacant. Demetrios had untethered his horse, had thrown away +his sword and other armour, and had torn his garments; afterward he +rolled in the first puddle he discovered. Thus he set out afoot, in +grimy rags--for no one marks a beggar upon the highway--and thus he +came again into the realm of King Theodoret, where certainly nobody +looked for Demetrios to come unarmed. + +With the advantage of a quiet advent, as was quickly proven, he found +no check for a notorious leave-taking. + + + + +17. + + +_How a Minstrel Came_ + +Demetrios came to Megaris where Perion lay fettered in the Castle of +San' Alessandro, then a new building. Perion's trial, condemnation, and +so on, had consumed the better part of an hour, on account of the +drunkenness of one of the Inquisitors, who had vexatiously impeded +these formalities by singing love-songs; but in the end it had been +salutarily arranged that the Comte de la Foret be torn apart by four +horses upon the St. Richard's day ensuing. + +Demetrios, having gleaned this knowledge in a pothouse, purchased a +stout file, a scarlet cap and a lute. Ambrogio Bracciolini, head-gaoler +at the fortress--so the gossips told Demetrios--had been a jongleur in +youth, and minstrels were always welcome guests at San' Alessandro. + +The gaoler was a very fat man with icy little eyes. Demetrios took his +measure to a hair's breadth as this Bracciolini straddled in the +doorway. + +Demetrios had assumed an admirable air of simplicity. + +"God give you joy, messire," he said, with a simper; "I come bringing a +precious balsam which cures all sorts of ills, and heals the troubles +both of body and mind. For what is better than to have a pleasant +companion to sing and tell merry tales, songs and facetious histories?" + +"You appear to be something of a fool," Bracciolini considered, "but +all do not sleep who snore. Come, tell me what are your +accomplishments." + +"I can play the lute, the violin, the flageolet, the harp, the syrinx +and the regals," the other replied; "also the Spanish penola that is +struck with a quill, the organistrum that a wheel turns round, the wait +so delightful, the rebeck so enchanting, the little gigue that chirps +up on high, and the great horn that booms like thunder." + +Bracciolini said: + +"That is something. But can you throw knives into the air and catch +them without cutting your fingers? Can you balance chairs and do tricks +with string? or imitate the cries of birds? or throw a somersault and +walk on your head? Ha, I thought not. The Gay Science is dying out, and +young practitioners neglect these subtile points. It was not so in my +day. However, you may come in." + +So when night fell Demetrios and Bracciolini sat snug and sang of love, +of joy, and arms. The fire burned bright, and the floor was well +covered with gaily tinted mats. White wines and red were on the table. + +Presently they turned to canzons of a more indecorous nature. Demetrios +sang the loves of Douzi and Ishtar, which the gaoler found remarkable. +He said so and crossed himself. "Man, man, you must have been afishing +in the mid-pit of hell to net such filth." + +"I learned that song in Nacumera," said Demetrios, "when I was a +prisoner there with Messire de la Foret. It was a favourite song with +him." + +"Ay?" said Bracciolini. He looked at Demetrios very hard, and +Bracciolini pursed his lips as if to whistle. The gaoler scented from +afar a bribe, but the face of Demetrios was all vacant cheerfulness. + +Bracciolini said, idly: + +"So you served under him? I remember that he was taken by the heathen. +A woman ransomed him, they say." + +Demetrios, able to tell a tale against any man, told now the tale of +Melicent's immolation, speaking with vivacity and truthfulness in all +points save that he represented himself to have been one of the +ransomed Free Companions. + +Bracciolini's careful epilogue was that the proconsul had acted +foolishly in not keeping the emeralds. + +"He gave his enemy a weapon against him," Bracciolini said, and waited. + +"Oh, but that weapon was never used. Sire Perion found service at once, +under King Bernart, you will remember. Therefore Sire Perion hid away +these emeralds against future need--under an oak in Sannazaro, he told +me. I suppose they lie there yet." + +"Humph!" said Bracciolini. He for a while was silent. Demetrios sat +adjusting the strings of the lute, not looking at him. + +Bracciolini said, "There were eighteen of them, you tell me? and all +fine stones?" + +"Ey?--oh, the emeralds? Yes, they were flawless, messire. The smallest +was larger than a robin's egg. But I recall another song we learned at +Nacumera--" + +Demetrios sang the loves of Lucius and Fotis. Bracciolini grunted, +"Admirable" in an abstracted fashion, muttered something about the +duties of his office, and left the room. Demetrios heard him lock the +door outside and waited stolidly. + +Presently Bracciolini returned in full armour, a naked sword in his +hand. + +"My man,"--and his voice rasped--"I believe you to be a rogue. I +believe that you are contriving the escape of this infamous Comte de la +Foret. I believe you are attempting to bribe me into conniving at +his escape. I shall do nothing of the sort, because, in the first +place, it would be an abominable violation of my oath of office, and in +the second place, it would result in my being hanged." + +"Messire, I swear to you--!" Demetrios cried, in excellently feigned +perturbation. + +"And in addition, I believe you have lied to me throughout. I do not +believe you ever saw this Comte de la Foret. I very certainly do not +believe you are a friend of this Comte de la Foret's, because in +that event you would never have been mad enough to admit it. The +statement is enough to hang you twice over. In short, the only thing I +can be certain of is that you are out of your wits." + +"They say that I am moonstruck," Demetrios answered; "but I will tell +you a secret. There is a wisdom lies beyond the moon, and it is because +of this that the stars are glad and admirable." + +"That appears to me to be nonsense," the gaoler commented; and he went +on: "Now I am going to confront you with Messire de la Foret. If your +story prove to be false, it will be the worse for you." + +"It is a true tale. But sensible men close the door to him who always +speaks the truth." + +"These reflections are not to the purpose," Bracciolini submitted, and +continued his argument: "In that event Messire de la Foret will +undoubtedly be moved by your fidelity in having sought out him whom all +the rest of the world has forsaken. You will remember that this same +fidelity has touched me to such an extent that I am granting you an +interview with your former master. Messire de la Foret will naturally +reflect that a man once torn in four pieces has no particular use for +emeralds. He will, I repeat, be moved. In his emotion, in his +gratitude, in mere decency, he will reveal to you the location of those +eighteen stones, all flawless. If he should not evince a sufficiency of +such appropriate and laudable feeling, I tell you candidly, it will be +the worse for you. And now get on!" + +Bracciolini pointed the way and Demetrios cringed through the door. +Bracciolini followed with drawn sword. The corridors were deserted. The +head-gaoler had seen to that. + +His position was simple. Armed, he was certainly not afraid of any +combination between a weaponless man and a fettered one. If this +jongleur had lied, Bracciolini meant to kill him for his insolence. +Bracciolini's own haphazard youth had taught him that a jongleur had no +civil rights, was a creature to be beaten, robbed, or stabbed with +impunity. + +Upon the other hand, if the vagabond's tale were true, one of two +things would happen. Either Perion would not be brought to tell where +the emeralds were hidden, in which event Bracciolini would kill the +jongleur for his bungling; or else the prisoner would tell everything +necessary, in which event Bracciolini would kill the jongleur for +knowing more than was convenient. This Bracciolini had an honest +respect for gems and considered them to be equally misplaced when under +an oak or in a vagabond's wallet. + +Consideration of such avarice may well have heartened Demetrios when +the well-armoured gaoler knelt in order to unlock the door of Perion's +cell. As an asp leaps, the big and supple hands of the proconsul +gripped Bracciolini's neck from behind, and silenced speech. + +Demetrios, who was not tall, lifted the gaoler as high as possible, +lest the beating of armoured feet upon the slabs disturb any of the +other keepers, and Demetrios strangled his dupe painstakingly. The +keys, as Demetrios reflected, were luckily attached to the belt of this +writhing thing, and in consequence had not jangled on the floor. It was +an inaudible affair and consumed in all some ten minutes. Then with the +sword of Bracciolini Demetrios cut Bracciolini's throat. In such +matters Demetrios was thorough. + + + + +18. + + +_How They Cried Quits_ + +Demetrios went into Perion's cell and filed away the chains of Perion +of the Forest. Demetrios thrust the gaoler's corpse under the bed, and +washed away all stains before the door of the cell, so that no awkward +traces might remain. Demetrios locked the door of an unoccupied +apartment and grinned as Old Legion must have done when Judas fell. + +More thanks to Bracciolini's precautions, these two got safely from the +confines of San' Alessandro, and afterward from the city of Megaris. +They trudged on a familiar road. Perion would have spoken, but +Demetrios growled, "Not now, messire." They came by night to that pass +in Sannazaro which Perion had held against a score of men-at-arms. + +Demetrios turned. Moonlight illuminated the warriors' faces and showed +the face of Demetrios as sly and leering. It was less the countenance +of a proud lord than a carved head on some old waterspout. + +"Messire de la Foret," Demetrios said, "now we cry quits. Here our ways +part till one of us has killed the other, as one of us must surely do." + +You saw that Perion was tremulous with fury. "You knave," he said, +"because of your pride you have imperilled your accursed life--your +life on which the life of Melicent depends! You must need delay and +rescue me, while your spawn inflicted hideous infamies on Melicent! Oh, +I had never hated you until to-night!" + +Demetrios was pleased. + +"Behold the increment," he said, "of the turned cheek and of the +contriving of good for him that had despitefully used me! Be satisfied, +O young and zealous servitor of Love and Christ. I am alone, unarmed +and penniless, among a people whom I have never been at pains even to +despise. Presently I shall be taken by this vermin, and afterward I +shall be burned alive. Theodoret is quite resolved to make of me a +candle which will light his way to heaven." + +"That is true," said Perion; "and I cannot permit that you be killed by +anyone save me, as soon as I can afford to kill you." + +The two men talked together, leagued against entire Christendom. +Demetrios had thirty sequins and Perion no money at all. Then Perion +showed the ring which Melicent had given him, as a love-token, long +ago, when she was young and ignorant of misery. He valued it as he did +nothing else. + +Perion said: + +"Oh, very dear to me is this dear ring which once touched a finger of +that dear young Melicent whom you know nothing of! Its gold is my lost +youth, the gems of it are the tears she has shed because of me. Kiss +it, Messire Demetrios, as I do now for the last time. It is a favour +you have earned." + +Then these two went as mendicants--for no one marks a beggar upon the +highway--into Narenta, and they sold this ring, in order that Demetrios +might be conveyed oversea, and that the life of Melicent might be +preserved. They found another vessel which was about to venture into +heathendom. Their gold was given to the captain; and, in exchange, the +bargain ran, his ship would touch at Assignano, a little after the +ensuing dawn, and take Demetrios aboard. + +Thus the two lovers of Melicent foreplanned the future, and did not +admit into their accounting vagarious Dame Chance. + + + + +19. + + +_How Flamberge Was Lost_ + +These hunted men spent the following night upon the Needle, since there +it was not possible for an adversary to surprise them. Perion's was the +earlier watch, until midnight, and during this time Demetrios slept. +Then the proconsul took his equitable turn. When Perion awakened the +hour was after dawn. + +What Perion noted first, and within thirty feet of him, was a tall +galley with blue and yellow sails. He perceived that the promontory was +thronged with heathen sailors, who were unlading the ship of various +bales and chests. Demetrios, now in the costume of his native country, +stood among them giving orders. And it seemed, too, to Perion, in the +moment of waking, that Dame Melusine, whom Perion had loved so long +ago, also stood among them; yet, now that Perion rose and faced +Demetrios, she was not visible anywhere, and Perion wondered dimly over +his wild dream that she had been there at all. But more importunate +matters were in hand. + +The proconsul grinned malevolently. + +"This is a ship that once was mine," he said. "Do you not find it droll +that Euthyclos here should have loved me sufficiently to hazard his +life in order to come in search of me? Personally, I consider it +preposterous. For the rest, you slept so soundly, Messire de la Foret, +that I was unwilling to waken you. Then, too, such was the advice of a +person who has some influence with the waterfolk, people say, and who +was perhaps the means of bringing this ship hither so opportunely. I do +not know. She is gone now, you see, intent as always on her own ends. +Well, well! her ways are not our ways, and it is wiser not to meddle +with them." + +But Perion, unarmed and thus surrounded, understood only that he was +lost. + +"Messire Demetrios," said Perion, "I never thought to ask a favour of +you. I ask it now. For the ring's sake, give me at least a knife, +Messire Demetrios. Let me die fighting." + +"Why, but who spoke of fighting? For the ring's sake, I have caused the +ship to be rifled of what valuables they had aboard. It is not much, +but it is all I have. And you are to accept my apologies for the +somewhat miscellaneous nature of the cargo, Messire de la +Foret--consisting, as it does, of armours and gems, camphor and +ambergris, carpets of raw silk, teakwood and precious metals, rugs of +Yemen leather, enamels, and I hardly know what else besides. For +Euthyclos, as you will readily understand, was compelled to masquerade +as a merchant-trader." + +Perion shook his head, and declared: "You offer enough to make me a +wealthy man. But I would prefer a sword." + +At that Demetrios grimaced, saying, "I had hoped to get off more +cheaply." He unbuckled the crosshandled sword which he now wore and +handed it to Perion. "This is Flamberge," Demetrios continued--"that +magic blade which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for +Charlemaigne. It was with this sword that I slew my father, and this +sword is as dear to me as your ring was to you. The man who wields it +is reputed to be unconquerable. I do not know about that, but in any +event I yield Flamberge to you as a free gift. I might have known it +was the only gift you would accept." His swart face lighted. "Come +presently and fight with me for Melicent. Perhaps it will amuse me to +ride out to battle and know I shall not live to see the sunset. Already +it seems laughable that you will probably kill me with this very sword +which I am touching now." + +The champions faced each other, Demetrios in a half-wistful mirth, and +Perion in half-grudging pity. Long and long they looked. + +Demetrios shrugged. Demetrios said: + +"For such as I am, to love is dangerous. For such as I am, nor fire nor +meteor hurls a mightier bolt than Aphrodite's shaft, or marks its +passage by more direful ruin. But you do not know Euripides?--a +fidgety-footed liar, Messire the Comte, who occasionally blunders into +the clumsiest truths. Yes, he is perfectly right; all things this +goddess laughingly demolishes while she essays haphazard flights about +the world as unforeseeably as travels a bee. And, like the bee, she +wilfully dispenses honey, and at other times a wound." + +Said Perion, who was no scholar: + +"I glory in our difference. For such as I am, love is sufficient proof +that man was fashioned in God's image." + +"Ey, there is no accounting for a taste in aphorisms," Demetrios +replied. He said, "Now I embark." Yet he delayed, and spoke with +unaccustomed awkwardness. "Come, you who have been generous till this! +will you compel me to desert you here--quite penniless?" + +Said Perion: + +"I may accept a sword from you. I do accept it gladly. But I may not +accept anything else." + +"That would have been my answer. I am a lucky man," Demetrios said, "to +have provoked an enemy so worthy of my opposition. We two have fought +an honest and notable duel, wherein our weapons were not made of steel. +I pray you harry me as quickly as you may; and then we will fight with +swords till I am rid of you or you of me." + +"Assuredly, I shall not fail you," answered Perion. + +These two embraced and kissed each other. Afterward Demetrios went into +his own country, and Perion remained, girt with the magic sword +Flamberge. It was not all at once Perion recollected that the wearer of +Flamberge is unconquerable, if ancient histories are to be believed, +for in deduction Perion was leisurely. + +Now on a sudden he perceived that Demetrios had flung control of the +future to Perion, as one gives money to a sot, entirely prescient of +how it will be used. Perion had his moment of bleak rage. + +"I will not cog the dice to my advantage any more than you!" said +Perion. He drew the sword of Charlemaigne and brandished it and cast it +as far as even strong Perion could cast, and the sea swallowed it. "Now +God alone is arbiter!" cried Perion, "and I am not afraid." + +He stood a pauper and a friendless man. Beside his thigh hung a +sorcerer's scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented, but it was +emptied of power. Yet Perion laughed exultingly, because he was elate +with dreams of the future. And for the rest, he was aware it is less +grateful to remember plaudits than to recall the exercise of that in us +which is not merely human. + + + + +20. + + +_How Perion Got Aid_ + +Then Perion turned from the Needle of Assignano, and went westward into +the Forest of Columbiers. He had no plan. He wandered in the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered, as a beast does in watchful +care of hunters. + +He came presently to a glade which the sunlight flooded without +obstruction. There was in this place a fountain, which oozed from under +an iron-coloured boulder incrusted with grey lichens and green moss. +Upon the rock a woman sat, her chin propped by one hand, and she +appeared to consider remote and pleasant happenings. She was clothed +throughout in white, with metal bands about her neck and arms; and her +loosened hair, which was coloured like straw, and was as pale as the +hair of children, glittered about her, and shone frostily where it lay +outspread upon the rock behind her. + +She turned toward Perion without any haste or surprise, and Perion saw +that this woman was Dame Melusine, whom he had loved to his own hurt +(as you have heard) when Perion served King Helmas. She did not speak +for a long while, but she lazily considered Perion's honest face in a +sort of whimsical regret for the adoration she no longer found there. + +"Then it was really you," he said, in wonder, "whom I saw talking with +Demetrios when I awakened to-day." + +"You may be sure," she answered, "that my talking was in no way +injurious to you. Ah, no, had I been elsewhere, Perion, I think you +would by this have been in Paradise." Then Melusine fell again to +meditation. "And so you do not any longer either love or hate me, +Perion?" Here was an odd echo of the complaint Demetrios had made. + +"That I once loved you is a truth which neither of us, I think, may +ever quite forget," said Perion, very quiet. "I alone know how utterly +I loved you--no, it was not I who loved you, but a boy that is dead +now. King's daughter, all of stone, O cruel woman and hateful, O sleek, +smiling traitress! to-day no man remembers how utterly I loved you, for +the years are as a mist between the heart of the dead boy and me, so +that I may no longer see the boy's heart clearly. Yes, I have forgotten +much. ...Yet even to-day there is that in me which is faithful to you, +and I cannot give you the hatred which your treachery has earned." + +Melusine spoke shrewdly. She had a sweet, shrill voice. + +"But I loved you, Perion--oh, yes, in part I loved you, just as one +cannot help but love a large and faithful mastiff. But you were +tedious, you annoyed me by your egotism. Yes, my friend, you think too +much of what you owe to Perion's honour; you are perpetually squaring +accounts with heaven, and you are too intent on keeping the balance in +your favour to make a satisfactory lover." You saw that Melusine was +smiling in the shadow of her pale hair. "And yet you are very droll +when you are unhappy," she said, as of two minds. + +He replied: + +"I am, as heaven made me, a being of mingled nature. So I remember +without distaste old happenings which now seem scarcely credible. I +cannot quite believe that it was you and I who were so happy when youth +was common to us... O Melusine, I have almost forgotten that if the +world were searched between the sunrise and the sunsetting the Melusine +I loved would not be found. I only know that a woman has usurped the +voice of Melusine, and that this woman's eyes also are blue, and that +this woman smiles as Melusine was used to smile when I was young. I +walk with ghosts, king's daughter, and I am none the happier." + +"Ay, Periori," she wisely answered, "for the spring is at hand, intent +upon an ageless magic. I am no less comely than I was, and my heart, I +think, is tenderer. You are yet young, and you are very beautiful, my +brave mastiff... And neither of us is moved at all! For us the spring +is only a dotard sorcerer who has forgotten the spells of yesterday. I +think that it is pitiable, although I would not have it otherwise." She +waited, fairy-like and wanton, seeming to premeditate a delicate +mischief. + +He declared, sighing, "No, I would not have it otherwise." + +Then presently Melusine arose. She said: + +"You are a hunted man, unarmed--oh, yes, I know. Demetrios talked +freely, because the son of Miramon Lluagor has good and ancient reasons +to trust me. Besides, it was not for nothing that Pressina was my +mother, and I know many things, pilfering light from the past to shed +it upon the future. Come now with me to Brunbelois. I am too deeply in +your debt, my Perion. For the sake of that boy who is dead--as you tell +me--you may honourably accept of me a horse, arms, and a purse, because +I loved that boy after my fashion." + +"I take your bounty gladly," he replied; and he added conscientiously: +"I consider that I am not at liberty to refuse of anybody any honest +means of serving my lady Melicent." + +Melusine parted her lips as if about to speak, and then seemed to think +better of it. It is probable she was already informed concerning +Melicent; she certainly asked no questions. Melusine only shrugged, +and laughed afterward, and the man and the woman turned toward +Brunbelois. At times a shaft of sunlight would fall on her pale hair +and convert it into silver, as these two went through the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered. + + + + + +PART FOUR + +AHASUERUS + + + + _Of how a knave hath late compassion +On Melicent's forlorn condition; +For which he saith as ye shall after hear: +"Dame, since that game we play costeth too dear, +My truth I plight, I shall you no more grieve +By my behest, and here I take my leave +As of the fairest, truest and best wife +That ever yet I knew in all my life."_ + + + + +21. + + +_How Demetrios Held His Chattel_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how Demetrios +returned into the country of the pagans and found all matters there as +he had left them. They relate how Melicent was summoned. + +And the tale tells how upon the stairway by which you descended from +the Women's Garden to the citadel--people called it the Queen's +Stairway, because it was builded by Queen Rudabeh very long ago when +the Emperor Zal held Nacumera--Demetrios waited with a naked sword. +Below were four of his soldiers, picked warriors. This stairway was of +white marble, and a sphinx carved in green porphyry guarded each +balustrade. + +"Now that we have our audience," Demetrios said, "come, let the games +begin." + +One of the soldiers spoke. It was that Euthyclos who (as you have +heard) had ventured into Christendom at the hazard of his life to +rescue the proconsul. Euthyclos was a man of the West Provinces and had +followed the fortunes of Demetrios since boyhood. + +"King of the Age," cried Euthyclos, "it is grim hearing that we must +fight with you. But since your will is our will, we must endure this +testing, although we find it bitter as aloes and hot as coals. Dear +lord and master, none has put food to his lips for whose sake we would +harm you willingly, and we shall weep to-night when your ghost passes +over and through us." + +Demetrios answered: + +"Rise up and leave this idleness! It is I that will clip the ends of my +hair to-night for the love of you, my stalwart knaves. Such weeping as +is done your wounds will perform." + +At that they addressed themselves to battle, and Melicent perceived she +was witnessing no child's play. The soldiers had attacked in unison, +and before the onslaught Demetrios stepped lightly back. But his sword +flashed as he moved, and with a grunt Demetrios, leaning far forward, +dug deep into the throat of his foremost assailant. The sword +penetrated and caught in a link of the gold chain about the fellow's +neck, so that Demetrios was forced to wrench the weapon free, twisting +it, as the dying man stumbled backward. Prostrate, the soldier did not +cry out, but only writhed and gave a curious bubbling noise as his soul +passed. + +"Come," Demetrios said, "come now, you others, and see what you can win +of me. I warn you it will be dearly purchased." + +And Melicent turned away, hiding her eyes. She was obscurely conscious +that a wanton butchery went on, hearing its blows and groans as if from +a great distance, while she entreated the Virgin for deliverance from +this foul place. + +Then a hand fell upon Melicent's shoulder, rousing her. It was +Demetrios. He breathed quickly, but his voice was gentle. + +"It is enough," he said. "I shall not greatly need Flamberge when I +encounter that ruddy innocent who is so dear to you." + +He broke off. Then he spoke again, half jeering, half wistful. Said +Demetrios: + +"I had hoped that you would look on and admire my cunning at swordplay. +I was anxious to seem admirable somehow in your eyes ... I failed. I +know very well that I shall always fail. I know that Nacumera will +fall, that some day in your native land people will say, 'That aged +woman yonder was once the wife of Demetrios of Anatolia, who was +pre-eminent among the heathen.' Then they will tell of how I cleft the +head of an Emperor who had likened me to Priapos, and how I dragged his +successor from behind an arras where he hid from me, to set him upon +the throne I did not care to take; and they will tell how for a while +great fortune went with me, and I ruled over much land, and was dreaded +upon the wide sea, and raised the battlecry in cities that were not my +own, fearing nobody. But you will not think of these matters, you will +think only of your children's ailments, of baking and sewing and +weaving tapestries, and of directing little household tasks. And the +spider will spin her web in my helmet, which will hang as a trophy in +the hall of Messire de la Foret." + +Then he walked beside her into the Women's Garden, keeping silence for +a while. He seemed to deliberate, to reach a decision. All at once +Demetrios began to tell of that magnanimous contest which he had fought +out in Theodoret's country with Perion of the Forest. + +"To do the long-legged fellow simple justice," said the proconsul, as +epilogue, "there is no hardier knight alive. I shall always wonder +whether or no I would have spared him had the water-demon's daughter +not intervened in his behalf. Yes, I have had some previous dealings +with her. Perhaps the less said concerning them, the better." Demetrios +reflected for a while, rather sadly; then his swart face cleared. "Give +thanks, my wife, that I have found an enemy who is not unworthy of me. +He will come soon, I think, and then we will fight to the death. I +hunger for that day." + +All praise of Perion, however worded, was as wine to Melicent. +Demetrios saw as much, noted how the colour in her cheeks augmented +delicately, how her eyes grew kindlier. It was his cue. Thereafter +Demetrios very often spoke of Perion in that locked palace where no +echo of the outer world might penetrate except at the proconsul's will. +He told Melicent, in an unfeigned admiration, of Perion's courage and +activity, declaring that no other captain since the days of those +famous generals, Hannibal and Joshua, could lay claim to such +preeminence in general estimation; and Demetrios narrated how the Free +Companions had ridden through many kingdoms at adventure, serving many +lords with valour and always fighting applaudably. To talk of Perion +delighted Melicent: it was with such bribes that Demetrios purchased +where his riches did not avail; and Melicent no longer avoided him. + +There is scope here for compassion. The man's love, if it be possible +so to call that force which mastered him, had come to be an incessant +malady. It poisoned everything, caused him to find his statecraft +tedious, his power profitless, and his vices gloomy. But chief of all +he fretted over the standards by which the lives of Melicent and Perion +were guided. Demetrios thought these criteria comely, he had discovered +them to be unshakable, and he despairingly knew that as long as he +trusted in the judgment heaven gave him they must always appear to him +supremely idiotic. To bring Melicent to his own level or to bring +himself to hers was equally impossible. There were moments when he +hated her. + +Thus the months passed, and the happenings of another year were +chronicled; and as yet neither Perion nor Ayrart de Montors came to +Nacumera, and the long plain before the citadel stayed tenantless save +for the jackals crying there at night. + +"I wonder that my enemies do not come," Demetrios said. "It cannot be +they have forgotten you and me. That is impossible." He frowned and +sent spies into Christendom. + + + + +22. + + +_How Misery Held Nacumera_ + +Then one day Demetrios came to Melicent, and he was in a surly rage. + +"Rogues all!" he grumbled. "Oh, I am wasted in this paltry age. Where +are the giants and tyrants, and stalwart single-hearted champions of +yesterday? Why, they are dead, and have become rotten bones. I will +fight no longer. I will read legends instead, for life nowadays is no +longer worthy of love or hatred." + +Melicent questioned him, and he told how his spies reported that the +Cardinal de Montors could now not ever head an expedition against +Demetrios' territories. The Pope had died suddenly in the course of the +preceding October, and it was necessary to name his successor. The +College of Cardinals had reached no decision after three days' +balloting. Then, as is notorious, Dame Melusine, as always hand in +glove with Ayrart de Montors, held conference with the bishop who +inspected the cardinals' dinner before it was carried into the +apartments where these prelates were imprisoned together until, in +edifying seclusion from all worldly influences, they should have +prayerfully selected the next Pope. + +The Cardinal of Genoa received on the fourth day a chicken stuffed with +a deed to the palaces of Monticello and Soriano; the Cardinal of Parma +a similarly dressed fowl which made him master of the bishop's +residence at Porto with its furniture and wine-cellar; while the +Cardinals Orsino, Savelli, St. Angelo and Colonna were served with food +of the same ingratiating sort. Such nourishment cured them of +indecision, and Ayrart de Montors had presently ascended the papal +throne under the title of Adrian VII, servant to the servants of God. +His days of military captaincy were over. Demetrios deplored the loss +of a formidable adversary, and jeered at the fact that the vicarship of +heaven had been settled by six hens. But he particularly fretted over +other news his spies had brought, which was the information that Perion +had wedded Dame Melusine, and had begotten two lusty children--Bertram +and a daughter called Blaniferte--and now enjoyed the opulence and +sovereignty of Brunbelois. + +Demetrios told this unwillingly. He turned away his eyes in speaking, +and doggedly affected to rearrange a cushion, so that he might not see +the face of Melicent. She noted his action and was grateful. + +Demetrios said, bitterly, "It is an old and tawdry history. He has +forgotten you, Melicent, as a wise man will always put aside the dreams +of his youth. To Cynara the Fates accord but a few years; a wanton Lyce +laughs, cheats her adorers, and outlives the crow. There is an +unintended moral here--" Demetrios said, "Yet you do not forget." + +"I know nothing as to this Perion you tell me of. I only know the +Perion I loved has not forgotten," answered Melicent. + +And Demetrios, evincing a twinge like that of gout, demanded her +reasons. It was a May morning, very hot and still, and Demetrios sat +with his Christian wife in the Court of Stars. + +Said Melicent, "It is not unlikely that the Perion men know to-day has +forgotten me and the service which I joyed to render Perion. Let him +who would understand the mystery of the Crucifixion first become a +lover! I pray for old sake's sake that Perion and his lady may taste of +every prosperity. Indeed, I do not envy her. Rather I pity her, because +last night I wandered through a certain forest hand-in-hand with a +young Perion, whose excellencies she will never know as I know them in +our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with dreams?" The swart man +grinned. + +Melicent said: + +"Now it is always twilight in these woods, and the light there is +neither green nor gold, but both colours intermingled. It is like a +friendly cloak for all who have been unhappy, even very long ago. +Iseult is there, and Thisbe, too, and many others, and they are not +severed from their lovers now.. Sometimes Dame Venus passes, riding +upon a panther, and low-hanging leaves clutch at her tender flesh. Then +Perion and I peep from a coppice, and are very glad and a little +frightened in the heart of our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with madness?" He showed no +sign of mirth. + +Melicent said: + +"Ah, no, the Perion whom Melusine possesses is but a man--a very happy +man, I pray of God and all His saints. I am the luckier, who may not +ever lose the Perion that to-day is mine alone. And though I may not +ever touch this younger Perion's hands--and their palms were as hard as +leather in that dear time now overpast--or see again his honest and +courageous face, the most beautiful among all the faces of men and +women I have ever seen, I do not grieve immeasurably, for nightly we +walk hand-in-hand in our own woods." + +Demetrios said, "Ay; and then night passes, and dawn comes to light my +face, which is the most hideous to you among all the faces of men and +women!" + +But Melicent said only: + +"Seignior, although the severing daylight endures for a long while, I +must be brave and worthy of Perion's love--nay, rather, of the love he +gave me once. I may not grieve so long as no one else dares enter into +our own woods." + +"Now go," cried the proconsul, when she had done, and he had noted her +soft, deep, devoted gaze at one who was not there; "now go before I +slay you!" And this new Demetrios whom she then saw was featured like a +devil in sore torment. + +Wonderingly Melicent obeyed him. + +Thought Melicent, who was too proud to show her anguish: "I could have +borne aught else, but this I am too cowardly to bear without complaint. +I am a very contemptible person. I ought to love this Melusine, who no +doubt loves her husband quite as much as I love him--how could a woman +do less?--and yet I cannot love her. I can only weep that I, robbed of +all joy, and with no children to bewail me, must travel very tediously +toward death, a friendless person cursed by fate, while this Melusine +laughs with her children. She has two children, as Demetrios reports. I +think the boy must be the more like Perion. I think she must be very +happy when she lifts that boy into her lap." + +Thus Melicent; and her full-blooded husband was not much more +light-hearted. He went away from Nacumera shortly, in a shaking rage +which robbed him of his hands' control, intent to kill and pillage, +and, in fine, to make all other persons share his misery. + + + + +23. + + +_How Demetrios Cried Farewell_ + +And then one day, when the proconsul had been absent some six weeks, +Ahasuerus fetched Dame Melicent into the Court of Stars. Demetrios lay +upon the divan supported by many pillows, as though he had not ever +stirred since that first day when an unfettered Melicent, who was a +princess then, exulted in her youth and comeliness. + +"Stand there," he said, and did not move at all, "that I may see my +purchase." + +And presently he smiled, though wryly. Demetrios said next: + +"Of my own will I purchased misery. Yea, and death also. It is +amusing.... Two days ago, in a brief skirmish, a league north of Calonak, +the Prankish leader met me hand to hand. He has endeavoured to do this +for a long while. I also wished it. Nothing could be sweeter than to +feel the horse beneath me wading in his blood, I thought.. Ey, well, he +dismounted me at the first encounter, though I am no weakling. I cannot +understand quite how it happened. Pious people will say some deity was +offended, but, for my part, I think my horse stumbled. It does not seem +to matter now. What really matters, more or less, is that it would +appear the man broke my backbone as one snaps a straw, since I cannot +move a limb of me." + +"Seignior," said Melicent, "you mean that you are dying!" + +He answered, "Yes; but it is a trivial discomfort, now I see that it +grieves you a little." + +She spoke his name some three times, sobbing. It was in her mind even +then how strange the happening was that she should grieve for +Demetrios. + +"O Melicent," he harshly said, "let us have done with lies! That +Frankish captain who has brought about my death is Perion de la Foret. +He has not ever faltered in the duel between us since your paltry +emeralds paid for his first armament.--Why, yes, I lied. I always hoped +the man would do as in his place I would have done. I hoped in vain. +For many long and hard-fought years this handsome maniac has been +assailing Nacumera, tirelessly. Then the water-demon's daughter, that +strange and wayward woman of Brunbelois, attempted to ensnare him. And +that too was in vain. She failed, my spies reported--even Dame +Melusine, who had not ever failed before in such endeavours." + +"But certainly the foul witch failed!" cried Melicent. A glorious +change had come into her face, and she continued, quite untruthfully, +"Nor did I ever believe that this vile woman had made Perion prove +faithless." + +"No, the fool's lunacy is rock, like yours. _En cor gentil domnei per +mort no passa_, as they sing in your native country.... Ey, how +indomitably I lied, what pains I took, lest you should ever know of +this! And now it does not seem to matter any more.... The love this man +bears for you," snarled Demetrios, "is sprung of the High God whom we +diversely worship. The love I bear you is human, since I, too, am only +human." And Demetrios chuckled. "Talk, and talk, and talk! There is no +bird in any last year's nest." + +She laid her hand upon his unmoved hand, and found it cold and swollen. +She wept to see the broken tyrant, who to her at least had been not all +unkind. + +He said, with a great hunger in his eyes: + +"So likewise ends the duel which was fought between us two. I would +salute the victor if I could. ... Ey, Melicent, I still consider you +and Perion are fools. We have a not intolerable world to live in, and +common-sense demands we make the most of every tidbit this world +affords. Yet you can find in it only an exercising-ground for +infatuation, and in all its contents--pleasures and pains alike--only +so many obstacles for rapt insanity to override. I do not understand +this mania; I would I might have known it, none the less. Always I +envied you more than I loved you. Always my desire was less to win the +love of Melicent than to love Melicent as Melicent loved Perion. I was +incapable of this. Yet I have loved you. That was the reason, I +believe, I put aside my purchased toy." It seemed to puzzle him. + +"Fair friend, it is the most honourable of reasons. You have done +chivalrously. In this, at least, you have done that which would be not +unworthy of Perion de la Foret." A woman never avid for strained +subtleties, it may be that she never understood, quite, why Demetrios +laughed. + +He said: + +"I mean to serve you now, as I had always meant to serve you some day. +Ey, yes, I think I always meant to give you back to Perion as a free +gift. Meanwhile to see, and to writhe in seeing your perfection, has +meant so much to me that daily I have delayed such a transfiguration of +myself until to-morrow." The man grimaced. "My son Orestes, who will +presently succeed me, has been summoned. I will order that he conduct +you at once into Perion's camp--yonder by Quesiton. I think I shall not +live three days." + +"I would not leave you, friend, until--" + +His grin was commentary and completion equally. Demetrios observed: + +"A dead dog has no teeth wherewith to serve even virtue. Oh, no, my +women hate you far too greatly. You must go straightway to this Perion, +while Demetrios of Anatolia is alive, or else not ever go." + +She had no words. She wept, and less for joy of winning home to Perion +at last than for her grief that Demetrios was dying. Woman-like, she +could remember only that the man had loved her in his fashion. And, +woman-like, she could but wonder at the strength of Perion. + +Then Demetrios said: + +"I must depart into a doubtful exile. I have been powerful and valiant, +I have laughed loud, I have drunk deep, but heaven no longer wishes +Demetrios to exist. I am unable to support my sadness, so near am I to +my departure from all I have loved. I cry farewell to all diversions +and sports, to well-fought battles, to furred robes of vair and of +silk, to noisy merriment, to music, to vain-gloriously coloured gems, +and to brave deeds in open sunlight; for I desire--and I entreat of +every person--only compassion and pardon. + +"Chiefly I grieve because I must leave Melicent behind me, unfriended +in a perilous land, and abandoned, it may be, to the malice of those +who wish her ill. I was a noted warrior, I was mighty of muscle, and I +could have defended her stoutly. But I lie broken in the hand of +Destiny. It is necessary I depart into the place where sinners, whether +crowned or ragged, must seek for unearned mercy. I cry farewell to all +that I have loved, to all that I have injured; and so in chief to you, +dear Melicent, I cry farewell, and of you in chief I crave compassion +and pardon. + +"O eyes and hair and lips of Melicent, that I have loved so long, I do +not hunger for you now. Yet, as a dying man, I cry to the clean soul of +Melicent--the only adversary that in all my lifetime I who was once +Demetrios could never conquer. A ravening beast was I, and as a beast I +raged to see you so unlike me. And now, a dying beast, I cry to you, +but not for love, since that is overpast. I cry for pity that I have +not earned, for pardon which I have not merited. Conquered and +impotent, I cry to you, O soul of Melicent, for compassion and pardon. + +"Melicent, it may be that when I am dead, when nothing remains of +Demetrios except his tomb, you will comprehend I loved, even while I +hated, what is divine in you. Then since you are a woman, you will lift +your lover's face between your hands, as you have never lifted my face, +Melicent, and you will tell him of my folly merrily; yet since you are +a woman, you will sigh afterward, and you will not deny me compassion +and pardon." + +She gave him both--she who was prodigal of charity. Orestes came, with +Ahasuerus at his heels, and Demetrios sent Melicent into the Women's +Garden, so that father and son might talk together. She waited in this +place for a half-hour, just as the proconsul had commanded her, obeying +him for the last time. It was strange to think of that. + + * * * * * + +It was not gladness which Melicent knew for a brief while. Rather, it +was a strange new comprehension of the world. To Melicent the world +seemed very lovely. + +Indeed, the Women's Garden on this morning lacked nothing to delight +each sense. Its hedges were of flowering jessamine; its walkways were +spread with new sawdust tinged with crocus and vermilion and with mica +beaten into a powder; and the place was rich in fruit-bearing trees and +welling waters. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the right +hand and to the left. Dog-headed apes, sacred to the moon, were +chattering in the trees. There was a statue in this place, carved out +of black stone, in the likeness of a woman, having enamelled eyes and +three rows of breasts, with the lower part of her body confined in a +sheath; and upon the glistening pedestal of this statue chameleons +sunned themselves with distended throats. Round about Melicent were +nodding armaments of roses and gillyflowers and narcissi and amaranths, +and many violets and white lilies, and other flowers of all kinds and +colours. + +To Melicent the world seemed very lovely. Here was a world created by +Eternal Love that people might serve love in it not all unworthily. +Here were anguishes to be endured, and time and human frailty and +temporal hardship--all for love to mock at; a sea or two for love to +sever, a man-made law or so for love to override, a shallow wisdom for +love to deny, in exultance that these ills at most were only corporal +hindrances. This done, you have earned the right to come--come +hand-in-hand--to heaven whose liege-lord was Eternal Love. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + +She sat on a stone bench. She combed her golden hair, not heeding the +more coarse gray hairs which here and there were apparent nowadays. A +peacock came and watched her with bright, hard, small eyes; and he +craned his glistening neck this way and that way, as though he were +wondering at this other shining and gaily coloured creature, who seemed +so happy. + +She did not dare to think of seeing Perion again. Instead, she made +because of him a little song, which had not any words, so that it is +not possible here to retail this song. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + + + + +24. + + +_How Orestes Ruled_ + +Melicent returned into the Court of Stars; and as she entered, Orestes +lifted one of the red cushions from Demetrios' face. The eyes of +Ahasuerus, who stood by negligently, were as expressionless as the eyes +of a snake. + +"The great proconsul laid an inconvenient mandate upon me," said +Orestes. "The great proconsul has been removed from us in order that +his splendour may enhance the glories of Elysium." + +She saw that the young man had smothered his own father in the flesh as +Demetrios lay helpless; and knew thereby that Orestes was indeed the +son of Demetrios. + +"Go," this Orestes said thereafter; "go, and remember I am master +here." + +Said Melicent, "And by which door?" A little hope there was as yet. + +But he, as half in shame, had pointed to the entrance of the Women's +Garden. "I have no enmity against you, outlander. Yet my mother desires +to talk with you. Also there is some bargaining to be completed with +Ahasuerus here." + +Then Melicent knew what had prompted the proconsul's murder. It seemed +unfair Callistion should hate her with such bitterness; yet Melicent +remembered certain thoughts concerning Dame Melusine, and did not +wonder at Callistion's mania half so much as did Callistion's son. + +"I must endure discomfort and, it may be, torture for a little longer," +said Melicent, and laughed whole-heartedly. "Oh, but to-day I find a +cure for every ill," said Melicent; and thereupon she left Orestes as a +princess should. + +But first she knelt by that which yesterday had been her master. + +"I have no word of praise or blame to give you in farewell. You were +not admirable, Demetrios. But you depart upon a fearful journey, and in +my heart there is just memory of the long years wherein according to +your fashion you were kind to me. A bargain is a bargain. I sold with +open eyes that which you purchased. I may not reproach you." + +Then Melicent lifted the dead face between her hands, as mothers caress +their boys in questioning them. + +"I would I had done this when you were living," said Melicent, "because +I understand now that you loved me in your fashion. And I pray that you +may know I am the happiest woman in the world, because I think this +knowledge would now gladden you. I go to slavery, Demetrios, where I +was queen, I go to hardship, and it may be that I go to death. But I +have learned this assuredly--that love endures, that the strong knot +which unites my heart and Perion's heart can never be untied. Oh, +living is a higher thing than you or I had dreamed! And I have in my +heart just pity, poor Demetrios, for you who never found the love of +which I must endeavour to be worthy. A curse was I to you unwillingly, +as you--I now believe--have been to me against your will. So at the +last I turn anew to bargaining, and cry--in your deaf ears--_Pardon for +pardon, O Demetrios!_" + +Then Melicent kissed pitiable lips which would not ever sneer again, +and, rising, passed into the Women's Garden, proudly and unafraid. + +Ahasuerus shrugged so patiently that she was half afraid. Then, as a +cloud passes, she saw that all further buffetings would of necessity be +trivial. + +For Perion, as she now knew, was very near to her--single of purpose, +clean of hands, and filled with such a love as thrilled her with +delicious fears of her own poor unworthiness. + + + + +25. + + +_How Women Talked Together_ + +Dame Melicent walked proudly through the Women's Garden, and presently +entered a grove of orange trees, the most of which were at this season +about their flowering. In this place was an artificial pool by which +the trees were nourished. On its embankment sprawled the body of young +Diophantus, a child of some ten years of age, Demetrios' son by +Tryphera. Orestes had strangled Diophantus in order that there might be +no rival to Orestes' claims. The lad lay on his back, and his left arm +hung elbow-deep in the water, which swayed it gently. + +Callistion sat beside the corpse and stroked its limp right hand. She +had hated the boy throughout his brief and merry life. She thought now +of his likeness to Demetrios. + +She raised toward Melicent the dilated eyes of one who has just come +from a dark place. Callistion said: + +"And so Demetrios is dead. I thought I would be glad when I said that. +Hah, it is strange I am not glad." + +She rose, as though with hard effort, as a decrepit person might have +done. You saw that she was dressed in a long gown of black, pleated to +the knees, having no clasp or girdle, and bare of any ornamentation +except a gold star on each breast. + +Callistion said: + +"Now, through my son, I reign in Nacumera. There is no person who dares +disobey me. Therefore, come close to me that I may see the beauty which +besotted this Demetrios, whom, I think now, I must have loved." + +"Oh, gaze your fill," said Melicent, "and know that had you possessed a +tithe of my beauty you might have held the heart of Demetrios." For it +was in Melicent's mind to provoke the woman into killing her before +worse befell. + +But Callistion only studied the proud face for a long while, and knew +there was no lovelier person between two seas. For time here had +pillaged very sparingly; and if Dame Melicent had not any longer the +first beauty of her girlhood, Callistion had nowhere seen a woman more +handsome than this hated Frankish thief. + +Callistion said: + +"No, I was not ever so beautiful as you. Yet this Demetrios loved me +when I, too, was lovely. You never saw the man in battle. I saw him, +single-handed, fight with Abradas and three other knaves who stole me +from my mother's home--oh, very long ago! He killed all four of them. +He was like a horrible unconquerable god when he turned from that +finished fight to me. He kissed me then--blood-smeared, just as he +was.... I like to think of how he laughed and of how strong he was." + +The woman turned and crouched by the dead boy, and seemed painstakingly +to appraise her own reflection on the water's surface. + +"It is gone now, the comeliness Demetrios was pleased to like. I would +have waded Acheron--singing--rather than let his little finger ache. He +knew as much. Only it seemed a trifle, because your eyes were bright +and your fair skin was unwrinkled. In consequence the man is dead. Oh, +Melicent, I wonder why I am so sad!" + +Callistion's meditative eyes were dry, but those of Melicent were not. +And Melicent came to the Dacian woman, and put one arm about her in that +dim, sweet-scented place, saying, "I never meant to wrong you." + +Callistion did not seem to heed. Then Callistion said: + +"See now! Do you not see the difference between us!" These two were +kneeling side by side, and each looked into the water. + +Callistion said: + +"I do not wonder that Demetrios loved you. He loved at odd times many +women. He loved the mother of this carrion here. But afterward he would +come back to me, and lie asprawl at my feet with his big crafty head +between my knees; and I would stroke his hair, and we would talk of the +old days when we were young. He never spoke of you. I cannot pardon +that." + +"I know," said Melicent. Their cheeks touched now. + +"There is only one master who could teach you that drear knowledge--" + +"There is but one, Callistion." + +"The man would be tall, I think. He would, I know, have thick, brown, +curling hair--" + +"He has black hair, Callistion. It glistens like a raven's wing." + +"His face would be all pink and white, like yours--" + +"No, tanned like yours, Callistion. Oh, he is like an eagle, very +resolute. His glance bedwarfs you. I used to be afraid to look at him, +even when I saw how foolishly he loved me--" + +"I know," Callistion said. "All women know. Ah, we know many things--" + +She reached with her free arm across the body of Diophantus and +presently dropped a stone into the pool. She said: + +"See how the water ripples. There is now not any reflection of my poor +face or of your beauty. All is as wavering as a man's heart.... And now +your beauty is regathering like coloured mists. Yet I have other +stones." + +"Oh, and the will to use them!" said Dame Melicent. + +"For this bright thieving beauty is not any longer yours. It is mine +now, to do with as I may elect--as yesterday it was the plaything of +Demetrios.... Why, no! I think I shall not kill you. I have at hand +three very cunning Cheylas--the men who carve and reshape children into +such droll monsters. They cannot change your eyes, they tell me. That +is a pity, but I can have one plucked out. Then I shall watch my +Cheylas as they widen your mouth from ear to ear, take out the +cartilage from your nose, wither your hair till it will always be like +rotted hay, and turn your skin--which is like velvet now--the colour of +baked mud. They will as deftly strip you of that beauty which has +robbed me as I pluck up this blade of grass.... Oh, they will make you +the most hideous of living things, they assure me. Otherwise, as they +agree, I shall kill them. This done, you may go freely to your lover. I +fear, though, lest you may not love him as I loved Demetrios." + +And Melicent said nothing. + +"For all we women know, my sister, our appointed curse. To love the +man, and to know the man loves just the lips and eyes Youth lends to +us--oho, for such a little while! Yes, it is cruel. And therefore we +are cruel--always in thought and, when occasion offers, in the deed." + +And Melicent said nothing. For of that mutual love she shared with +Perion, so high and splendid that it made of grief a music, and wrung a +new sustainment out of every cross, as men get cordials of bitter +herbs, she knew there was no comprehension here. + + + + +26. + + +_How Men Ordered Matters_ + +Orestes came into the garden with Ahasuerus and nine other attendants. +The master of Nacumera did not speak a syllable while his retainers +seized Callistion, gagged her, and tied her hands with cords. They +silently removed her. One among them bore on his shoulders the slim +corpse of Diophantus, which was interred the same afternoon (with every +appropriate ceremony) in company with that of his father. Orestes had +the nicest sense of etiquette. + +This series of swift deeds was performed with such a glib precipitancy +that if was as though the action had been rehearsed a score of times. +The garden was all drowsy peace now that Orestes spread his palms in a +gesture of deprecation. A little distance from him, Ahasuerus with his +forefinger drew upon the water's surface designs which appeared to +amuse the Jew. + +"She would have killed you, Melicent," Orestes said, "though all +Olympos had marshalled in interdiction. That would have been +irreligious. Moreover, by Hercules! I have not time to choose sides +between snarling women. He who hunts with cats will catch mice. I aim +more highly. And besides, by an incredible forced march, this Comte de +la Foret and all his Free Companions are battering at the gates of +Nacumera--" + +Hope blazed. "You know that were I harmed he would spare no one. Your +troops are all at Calonak. Oh, God is very good!" said Melicent. + +"I do not asperse the deities of any nation. It is unlucky. None the +less, your desires outpace your reason. Grant that I had not more than +fifty men to defend the garrison, yet Nacumera is impregnable except by +starvation. We can sit snug a month. Meanwhile our main force is at +Calonak, undoubtedly. Yet my infatuated father had already recalled +these troops, in order that they might escort you into Messire de la +Foret's camp. Now I shall use these knaves quite otherwise. They will +arrive within two days, and to the rear of Messire de la Foret, who is +encamped before an impregnable fortress. To the front unscalable walls, +and behind him, at a moderate computation, three swords to his one. All +this in a valley from which Daedalos might possibly escape, but +certainly no other man. I count this Perion of the Forest as already +dead." + +It was a lumbering Orestes who proclaimed each step in his enchained +deductions by the descent of a blunt forefinger upon the palm of his +left hand. Demetrios had left a son but not an heir. + +Yet the chain held. Melicent tested every link and found each obdurate. +She foresaw it all. Perion would be surrounded and overpowered. "And +these troops come from Calonak because of me!" + +"Things fall about with an odd patness, as you say. It should teach you +not to talk about divinities lightly. Also, by this Jew's advice, I +mean to further the gods' indisputable work. You will appear upon the +walls of Nacumera at dawn to-morrow, in such a garb as you wore in your +native country when the Comte de la Foret first saw you. Ahasuerus +estimates this Perion will not readily leave pursuit of you in that +event, whatever his lieutenants urge, for you are very beautiful." + +Melicent cried aloud, "A bitter curse this beauty has been to me, and +to all men who have desired it." + +"But I do not desire it," said Orestes. "Else I would not have sold it +to Ahasuerus. I desire only the governorship of some province on the +frontier where I may fight daily with stalwart adversaries, and ride +past the homes of conquered persons who hate me. Ahasuerus here assures +me that the Emperor will not deny me such employment when I bring him +the head of Messire de la Foret. The raids of Messire de la Foret have +irreligiously annoyed our Emperor for a long while." + +She muttered, "Thou that once wore a woman's body--!" + +"--And I take Ahasuerus to be shrewd in all respects save one. For he +desires trivialities. A wise man knows that woman are the sauce and not +the meat of life; Ahasuerus, therefore, is not wise. And in consequence +I do not lack a handsome bribe for this Bathyllos whom our good +Emperor--misguided man!--is weak enough to love; my mother goes in +chains; and I shall get my province." + +Here Orestes laughed. And then the master of Nacumera left Dame +Melicent alone with Ahasuerus. + + + + +27. + + +_How Ahasuerus Was Candid_ + +When Orestes had gone, the Jew remained unmoved. He continued to dabble +his finger-tips in the water as one who meditates. Presently he dried +them on either sleeve so that he seemed to embrace himself. + +Said he, "What instruments we use at need!" + +She said, "So you have purchased me, Ahasuerus?" + +"Yes, for a hundred and two minae. That is a great sum. You are not as +the run of women, though. I think you are worth it." + +She did not speak. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the +right hand and to the left. She was considering the beauty of these +gardens which seemed to sleep under a dome of hard, polished blue--the +beauty of this cloistered Nacumera, wherein so many infamies writhed +and contended like a nest of little serpents. + +"Do you remember, Melicent, that night at Fomor Beach when you snatched +a lantern from my hand? Your hand touched my hand, Melicent." + +She answered, "I remember." + +"I first of all saw that it was a woman who was aiding Perion to +escape. I considered Perion a lucky man, for I had seen the woman's +face." + +She remained silent. + +"I thought of this woman very often. I thought of her even more +frequently after I had talked with her at Bellegarde, telling of +Perion's captivity.... Melicent," the Jew said, "I make no songs, no +protestations, no phrases. My deeds must speak for me. Concede that I +have laboured tirelessly." He paused, his gaze lifted, and his lips +smiled. His eyes stayed mirthless. "This mad Callistion's hate of you, +and of the Demetrios who had abandoned her, was my first +stepping-stone. By my advice a tiny wire was fastened very tightly +around the fetlock of a certain horse, between the foot and the heel, +and the hair was smoothed over this wire. Demetrios rode that horse in +his last battle. It stumbled, and our terrible proconsul was thus +brought to death. Callistion managed it. Thus I betrayed Demetrios." + +Melicent said, "You are too foul for hell to swallow." And Ahasuerus +manifested indifference to this imputed fault. + +"Thus far I had gone hand-in-hand with an insane Callistion. Now our +ways parted. She desired only to be avenged on you, and very crudely. +That did not accord with my plan. I fell to bargaining. I purchased +with--O rarity of rarities!--a little rational advice and much gold as +well. Thus in due season I betrayed Callistion. Well, who forbids it?" + +She said: + +"God is asleep. Therefore you live, and I--alas!--must live for a +while longer." + +"Yes, you must live for a while longer--oh, and I, too, must live for a +while longer!" the Jew returned. His voice had risen in a curious +quavering wail. It was the first time Melicent ever knew him to display +any emotion. + +But the mood passed, and he said only: + +"Who forbids it? In any event, there is a venerable adage concerning +the buttering of parsnips. So I content myself with asking you to +remember that I have not ever faltered. I shall not falter now. You +loathe me. Who forbids it? I have known from the first that you +detested me, and I have always considered your verdict to err upon the +side of charity. Believe me, you will never loathe Ahasuerus as I do. +And yet I coddle this poor knave sometimes--oh, as I do to-day!" he +said. + +And thus they parted. + + + + +28. + + +_How Perion Saw Melicent_ + +The manner of the torment of Melicent was this: A little before dawn +she was conducted by Ahasuerus and Orestes to the outermost turrets of +Nacumera, which were now beginning to take form and colour. Very +suddenly a flash of light had flooded the valley, the big crimson sun +was instantaneously apparent as though he had leaped over the bleeding +night-mists. Darkness and all night's adherents were annihilated. +Pelicans and geese and curlews were in uproar, as at a concerted +signal. A buzzard yelped thrice like a dog, and rose in a long spiral +from the cliff to Melicent's right hand. He hung motionless, a speck in +the clear zenith, uncannily anticipative. Warmth flooded the valley. + +Now Melicent could see the long and narrow plain beneath her. It was +overgrown with a tall coarse grass which, rippling in the dawn-wind, +resembled moving waters from this distance, save where clumps of palm +trees showed like islands. Farther off, the tents of the Free +Companions were as the white, sharp teeth of a lion. Also she could +see--and did not recognise--the helmet-covered head of Perion catch and +reflect the sunrays dazzlingly, where he knelt in the shimmering grass +just out of bowshot. + +Now Perion could see a woman standing, in the new-born sunlight, under +many gaily coloured banners. The maiden was attired in a robe of white +silk, and about her wrists were heavy bands of silver. Her hair blazed +in the light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than +milk; the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch +than were her hands. There was never anywhere a person more delightful +to gaze upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love +and service to Dame Melicent. This much could Perion know, whose fond +eyes did not really see the woman upon the battlements but, instead, +young Melicent as young Perion had first beheld her walking by the sea +at Bellegarde. + +Thus Perion, who knelt in adoration of that listless girl, all white +and silver, and gold, too, where her blown hair showed like a halo. +Desirable and lovelier than words may express seemed Melicent to Perion +as she stood thus in lonely exaltation, and behind her, glorious +banners fluttered, and the blue sky took on a deeper colour. What +Perion saw was like a church window when the sun shines through it. +Ahasuerus perfectly understood the baiting of a trap. + +Perion came into the open plain before the castle and called on her +dear name three times. Then Perion, naked to his enemies, and at the +disposal of the first pagan archer that chose to shoot him down, sang +cheerily the waking-song which Melicent had heard a mimic Amphitryon +make in Dame Alcmena's honour, very long ago, when people laughed and +Melicent was young and ignorant of misery. + +Sang Perion, "_Rei glorios, verais lums e clardatz--_" or, in other +wording: + +"Thou King of glory, veritable light, all-powerful deity! be pleased to +succour faithfully my fair, sweet friend. The night that severed us has +been long and bitter, the darkness has been shaken by bleak winds, but +now the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, be of good heart! We have been tormented long +enough by evil dreams. Be of good heart, for the dawn is approaching! +The east is astir. I have seen the orient star which heralds day. I +discern it clearly, for now the dawn is near at hand." + +The song was no great matter; but the splendid futility of its +performance amid such touch-and-go surroundings Melicent considered to +be august. And consciousness of his words' poverty, as Perion thus +lightly played with death in order to accord due honour to the lady he +served, was to Dame Melicent in her high martyrdom as is the twist of a +dagger in an already fatal wound; and made her love augment. + +Sang Perion: + +"My fair sweet friend, it is I, your servitor, who cry to you, _Be of +good heart!_ Regard the sky and the stars now growing dim, and you will +see that I have been an untiring sentinel. It will presently fare the +worse for those who do not recognise that the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, since you were taken from me I have not ever +been of a divided mind. I have kept faith, I have not failed you. +Hourly I have entreated God and the Son of Mary to have compassion upon +our evil dreams. And now the dawn is near at hand." + +"My poor, bruised, puzzled boy," thought Melicent, as she had done so +long ago, "how came you to be blundering about this miry world of ours? +And how may I be worthy?" + +Orestes spoke. His voice disturbed the woman's rapture thinly, like the +speech of a ghost, and she remembered now that a bustling world was her +antagonist. + +"Assuredly," Orestes said, "this man is insane. I will forthwith +command my archers to despatch him in the middle of his caterwauling. +For at this distance they cannot miss him." + +But Ahasuerus said: + +"No, seignior, not by my advice. If you slay this Perion of the Forest, +his retainers will speedily abandon a desperate siege and retreat to +the coast. But they will never retreat so long as the man lives and +sways them, and we hold Melicent, for, as you plainly see, this +abominable reprobate is quite besotted with love of her. His death +would win you praise; but the destruction of his armament will purchase +you your province. Now in two days at most our troops will come, and +then we will slay all the Free Companions." + +"That is true," said Orestes, "and it is remarkable how you think of +these things so quickly." + +So Orestes was ruled by Ahasuerus, and Perion, through no merit of his +own, departed unharmed. + +Then Melicent was conducted to her own apartments; and eunuchs guarded +her, while the battle was, and men she had not ever seen died by the +score because her beauty was so great. + + + + +29. + + +_How a Bargain Was Cried_ + +Now about sunset Melicent knelt in her oratory and laid all her grief +before the Virgin, imploring counsel. + +This place was in reality a chapel, which Demetrios had builded for +Melicent in exquisite enjoyment. To furnish it he had sacked towns she +never heard of, and had rifled two cathedrals, because the notion that +the wife of Demetrios should own a Christian chapel appeared to him +amusing. The Virgin, a masterpiece of Pietro di Vicenza, Demetrios had +purchased by the interception of a free city's navy. It was a painted +statue, very handsome. + +The sunlight shone on Melicent through a richly coloured window wherein +were shown the sufferings of Christ and the two thieves. This siftage +made about her a welter of glowing and intermingling colours, above +which her head shone with a clear halo. + +This much Ahasuerus noted. He said, "You offer tears to Miriam of +Nazara. Yonder they are sacrificing a bull to Mithras. But I do not +make either offering or prayer to any god. Yet of all persons in +Nacumera I alone am sure of this day's outcome." Thus spoke the Jew +Ahasuerus. + +The woman stood erect now. She asked, "What of the day, Ahasuerus?" + +"It has been much like other days that I have seen. The sun rose +without any perturbation. And now it sinks as usual. Oh, true, there +has been fighting. The sky has been clouded with arrows, and horses, +nicer than their masters, have screamed because these soulless beasts +were appalled by so much blood. Many women have become widows, and +divers children are made orphans, because of two huge eyes they never +saw. Puf! it is an old tale." + +She said, "Is Perion hurt?" + +"Is the dog hurt that has driven a cat into a tree? Such I estimate to +be the position of Orestes and Perion. Ah, no, this Perion who was my +captain once is as yet a lord without any peer in the fields where men +contend in battle. But love has thrust him into a bag's end, and his +fate is certain." + +She spoke her steadfast resolution. "And my fate, too. For when Perion +is trapped and slain I mean to kill myself." + +"I am aware of that," he said. "Oh, women have these notions! Yet when +the hour came, I think, you would not dare. For I know your beliefs +concerning hell's geography, and which particular gulf of hell is +reserved for all self-murderers." + +Then Melicent waited for a while. She spoke later without any apparent +emotion. "And how should I fear hell who crave a bitterer fate! Listen, +Ahasuerus! I know that you desire me as a plaything very greatly. The +infamy in which you wade attests as much. Yet you have schemed to no +purpose if Perion dies, because the ways of death are always open. I +would die many times rather than endure the touch of your finger. +Ahasuerus, I have not any words wherewith to tell you of my loathing--" + +"Turn then to bargaining," he said, and seemed aware of all her +thoughts. "Oh, to a hideous bargain. Let Perion be warned of those +troops that will to-morrow outflank him. Let him escape. There is yet +time. Do this, dark hungry man, and I will live." She shuddered here. +"Yes, I will live and be obedient in all things to you, my purchaser, +until you shall have wearied of me, or, at the least, until God has +remembered." + +His careful eyes were narrowed. "You would bribe me as you once bribed +Demetrios? And to the same purpose? I think that fate excels less in +invention than in cruelty." + +She bitterly said, "Heaven help me, and what other wares have I to +vend!" + +He answered: + +"None. No woman has in this black age; and therefore comfort you, my +girl." + +She hurried on. "Therefore anew I offer Melicent, who was a princess +once. I cry a price for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's +tender body without any blemish. I have no longer youth and happiness +and honour to afford you as your toys. These three have long been +strangers to me. Oh, very long! Yet all I have I offer for one +charitable deed. See now how near you are to victory. Think now how +gloriously one honest act would show in you who have betrayed each +overlord you ever served." + +He said: + +"I am suspicious of strange paths, I shrink from practising unfamiliar +virtues. My plan is fixed. I think I shall not alter it." + +"Ah, no, Ahasuerus! think instead how beautiful I am. There is no +comelier animal in all this big lewd world. Indeed I cannot count how +many men have died because I am a comely animal--" She smiled as one +who is too tired to weep. "That, too, is an old tale. Now I abate in +value, it appears, very lamentably. For I am purchasable now just by +one honest deed, and there is none who will barter with me." + +He returned: + +"You forget that a freed Perion would always have a sonorous word or +two to say in regard to your bargainings. Demetrios bargained, you may +remember. Demetrios was a dread lord. It cost him daily warfare to +retain you. Now I lack swords and castles--I who dare love you much as +Demetrios did--and I would be able to retain neither Melicent nor +tranquil existence for an unconscionable while. Ah, no! I bear my +former general no grudge. I merely recognise that while Perion lives he +will not ever leave pursuit of you. I would readily concede the potency +of his spurs, even were there need to look on you a second time--It +happens that there is no need! Meanwhile I am a quiet man, and I abhor +dissension. For the rest, I do not think that you will kill yourself, +and so I think I shall not alter my fixed plan." + +He left her, and Melicent prayed no more. To what end, she reflected, +need she pray, when there was no hope for Perion? + + + + +30. + + +_How Melicent Conquered_ + +Into Melicent's bedroom, about two o'clock in the morning, came +Ahasuerus the Jew. She sat erect in bed and saw him cowering over a +lamp which his long glistening fingers shielded, so that the lean face +of the man floated upon a little golden pool in the darkness. She +marvelled that this detestable countenance had not aged at all since +her first sight of it. + +He smoothly said: + +"Now let us talk. I have loved you for some while, fair Melicent." + +"You have desired me," she replied. + +"Faith, I am but as all men, whatever their age. Why, what the devil! +man may have Javeh's breath in him, but even Scripture proves that man +was made of clay." The Jew now puffed out his jaws as if in +recollection. "_You are a handsome piece of flesh_, I thought when I +came to you at Bellegarde, telling of Perion's captivity. I thought no +more than this, because in my time I have seen a greater number of +handsome women than you would suppose. Thereafter, on account of an odd +reason which I had, I served Demetrios willingly enough. This son of +Miramon Lluagor was able to pay me well, in a curious coinage. So I +arranged the bungling snare Demetrios proposed--too gross, I thought +it, to trap any woman living. Ohe, and why should I not lay an open and +frank springe for you? Who else was a king's bride-to-be, young, +beautiful, and blessed with wealth and honour and every other comfort +which the world affords?" Now the Jew made as if to fling away a robe +from his gaunt person. "And you cast this, all this, aside as nothing. +I saw it done." + +"Ah, but I did it to save Perion," she wisely said. + +"Unfathomable liar," he returned, "you boldly and unscrupulously bought +of life the thing which you most earnestly desired. Nor Solomon nor +Periander has won more. And thus I saw that which no other man has +seen. I saw the shrewd and dauntless soul of Melicent. And so I loved +you, and I laid my plan--" + +She said, "You do not know of love--" + +"Yet I have builded him a temple," the Jew considered. He continued, +with that old abhorrent acquiescence, "Now, a temple is admirable, but +it is not builded until many labourers have dug and toiled waist-deep +in dirt. Here, too, such spatterment seemed necessary. So I played, in +fine, I played a cunning music. The pride of Demetrios, the jealousy of +Callistion, and the greed of Orestes--these were as so many stops of +that flute on which I played a cunning deadly music. Who forbids it?" + +She motioned him, "Go on." Now she was not afraid. + +"Come then to the last note of my music! You offer to bargain, saying, +_Save Perion and have my body as your chattel_. I answer _Click_! The +turning of a key solves all. Accordingly I have betrayed the castle of +Nacumera, I have this night admitted Perion and his broad-shouldered +men. They are killing Orestes yonder in the Court of Stars even while I +talk with you." Ahasuerus laughed noiselessly. "Such vanity does not +become a Jew, but I needs must do the thing with some magnificence. +Therefore I do not give Sire Perion only his life. I give him also +victory and much throat-cutting and an impregnable rich castle. Have I +not paid the price, fair Melicent? Have I not won God's masterpiece +through a small wire, a purse, and a big key?" + +She answered, "You have paid." + +He said: + +"You will hold to your bargain? Ah, you have but to cry aloud, and you +are rid of me. For this is Perion's castle." + +She said, "Christ help me! You have paid my price." + +Now the Jew raised his two hands in very horrible mirth. Said he: + +"Oh, I am almost tempted to praise Javeh, who created the invincible +soul of Melicent. For you have conquered: you have gained, as always, +and at whatever price, exactly that which you most desired, and you do +not greatly care about anything else. So, because of a word said you +would arise and follow me on my dark ways if I commanded it. You will +not weight the dice, not even at this pinch, when it would be so easy! +For Perion is safe; and nothing matters in comparison with that, and +you will not break faith, not even with me. You are inexplicable, you +are stupid, and you are resistless. Again I see my Melicent, who is not +just a pair of purple eyes and so much lovely flesh." + +His face was as she had not ever known it now, and very tender. +Ahasuerus said: + +"My way to victory is plain enough. And yet there is an obstacle. For +my fancy is taken by the soul of Melicent, and not by that handsome +piece of flesh which all men--even Perion, madame!--have loved so long +with remarkable infatuation. Accordingly I had not ever designed that +the edifice on which I laboured should be the stable of my lusts. +Accordingly I played my cunning music--and accordingly I give you +Perion. I that am Ahasuerus win for you all which righteousness and +honour could not win. At the last it is I who give you Perion, and it +is I who bring you to his embrace. He must still be about his +magnanimous butchery, I think, in the Court of Stars." + +Ahasuerus knelt, kissing her hand. + +"Fair Melicent, such abominable persons as Demetrios and I are fatally +alike. We may deny, deride, deplore, or even hate, the sanctity of any +noble lady accordingly as we elect; but there is for us no possible +escape from worshipping it. Your wind-fed Ferions, who will not ever +acknowledge what sort of world we live in, are less quick to recognise +the soul of Melicent. Such is our sorry consolation. Oh, you do not +believe me yet. You will believe in the oncoming years. Meanwhile, O +all-enduring and all-conquering! go now to your last labour; and--if +my Brother dare concede as much--do you now conquer Perion." + +Then he vanished. She never saw him any more. + +She lifted the Jew's lamp. She bore it through the Women's Garden, +wherein were many discomfortable shadows and no living being. She came +to its outer entrance. Men were fighting there. She skirted a hideous +conflict, and descended the Queen's Stairway, which led (as you have +heard) toward the balcony about the Court of Stars. She found this +balcony vacant. + +Below her men were fighting. To the farther end of the court Orestes +sprawled upon the red and yellow slabs--which now for the most part +were red--and above him towered Perion of the Forest. The conqueror had +paused to cleanse his sword upon the same divan Demetrios had occupied +when Melicent first saw the proconsul; and as Perion turned, in the act +of sheathing his sword, he perceived the dear familiar denizen of all +his dreams. A tiny lamp glowed in her hand quite steadily. + +"O Melicent," said Perion, with a great voice, "my task is done. Come +now to me." + +She instantly obeyed whose only joy was to please Perion. Descending +the enclosed stairway, she thought how like its gloom was to the +temporal unhappiness she had passed through in serving Perion. + +He stood a dripping statue, for he had fought horribly. She came to +him, picking her way among the slain. He trembled who was fresh from +slaying. A flood of torchlight surged and swirled about them, and +within a stone's cast Perion's men were despatching the wounded. + +These two stood face to face and did not speak at all. + +I think that he knew disappointment first. He looked to find the girl +whom he had left on Fomor Beach. + +He found a woman, the possessor still of a compelling beauty. Oh, yes, +past doubt: but this woman was a stranger to him, as he now knew with +an odd sense of sickness. Thus, then, had ended the quest of Melicent. +Their love had flouted Time and Fate. These had revenged this +insolence, it seemed to Perion, by an ironical conversion of each rebel +into another person. For this was not the girl whom Perion had loved in +far red-roofed Poictesme; this was not the girl for whom Perion had +fought ten minutes since: and he--as Perion for the first time +perceived--was not and never could be any more the Perion that girl had +bidden return to her. It were as easy to evoke the Perion who had loved +Melusine.... + +Then Perion perceived that love may be a power so august as to bedwarf +consideration of the man and woman whom it sways. He saw that this is +reasonable. I cannot justify this knowledge. I cannot even tell you +just what great secret it was of which Perion became aware. Many men +have seen the sunrise, but the serenity and awe and sweetness of this +daily miracle, the huge assurance which it emanates that the beholder +is both impotent and greatly beloved, is not entirely an affair of the +sky's tincture. And thus it was with Perion. He knew what he could not +explain. He knew such joy and terror as none has ever worded. A curtain +had lifted briefly; and the familiar world which Perion knew, for the +brief instant, had appeared to be a painting upon that curtain. + +Now, dazzled, he saw Melicent for the first time.... + +I think he saw the lines already forming in her face, and knew that, +but for him, this woman, naked now of gear and friends, had been +to-night a queen among her own acclaiming people. I think he worshipped +where he did not dare to love, as every man cannot but do when starkly +fronted by the divine and stupendous unreason of a woman's choice, +among so many other men, of him. And yet, I think that Perion recalled +what Ayrart de Montors had said of women and their love, so long ago:-- +"They are more wise than we; and always they make us better by +indomitably believing we are better than in reality a man can ever be." + +I think that Perion knew, now, de Montors had been in the right. The +pity and mystery and beauty of that world wherein High God had-- +scornfully?--placed a smug Perion, seemed to the Comte de la Foret, I +think, unbearable. I think a new and finer love smote Perion as a sword +strikes. + +I think he did not speak because there was no scope for words. I know +that he knelt (incurious for once of victory) before this stranger who +was not the Melicent whom he had sought so long, and that all +consideration of a lost young Melicent departed from him, as mists +leave our world when the sun rises. + +I think that this was her high hour of triumph. + +CAETERA DESUNT + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +_These lives made out of loves that long since were +Lives wrought as ours of earth and burning air, +Was such not theirs, the twain I take, and give +Out of my life to make their dead life live +Some days of mine, and blow my living breath +Between dead lips forgotten even of death? +So many and many of old have given my twain +Love and live song and honey-hearted pain._ + + +Thus, rather suddenly, ends our knowledge of the love-business between +Perion and Melicent. For at this point, as abruptly as it began, the +one existing chronicle of their adventures makes conclusion, like a bit +of interrupted music, and thereby affords conjecture no inconsiderable +bounds wherein to exercise itself. Yet, in view of the fact that +deductions as to what befell these lovers afterward can at best result +in free-handed theorising, it seems more profitable in this place to +speak very briefly of the fragmentary _Roman de Lusignan_, since the +history of Melicent and Perion as set forth in this book makes no +pretensions to be more than a rendering into English of this +manuscript, with slight additions from the earliest known printed +version of 1546. + + + + +2 + + +M. Verville, in his monograph on Nicolas de + +Caen,[1: Paul Verville, _Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen_, p. 112 +(Rouen, 1911)] considers it probable that the _Roman de Lusignan_ was +printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion at about the same time Mansion +published the _Dizain des Reines_. This is possible; but until a copy +of the book is discovered, our sole authority for the romance must +continue to be the fragmentary MS. No. 503 in the Allonbian Collection. + +Among the innumerable manuscripts in the British Museum there is +perhaps none which opens a wider field for guesswork. In its entirety +the _Roman de Lusignan_ was, if appearances are to be trusted, a +leisured and ambitious handling of the Melusina legend; but in the +preserved portion Melusina figures hardly at all. We have merely the +final chapters of what would seem to have been the first half, or +perhaps the first third, of the complete narrative; so that this +manuscript account of Melusina's beguilements breaks off, +fantastically, at a period by many years anterior to a date which those +better known versions of Jean d'Arras and Thuring von Ringoltingen +select as the only appropriate starting-point. + +By means of a few elisions, however, the episodic story of Melicent +and of the men who loved Melicent has been disembedded from what +survives of the main narrative. This episode may reasonably be +considered as complete in itself, in spite of its precipitous +commencement; we are not told anything very definite concerning +Perion's earlier relations with Melusina, it is true, but then they are +hardly of any especial importance. And speculations as to the tale's +perplexing chronology, or as to the curious treatment of the Ahasuerus +legend, wherein Nicolas so strikingly differs from his precursors, +Matthew Paris and Philippe Mouskes, or as to the probable course of +latter incidents in the romance (which must almost inevitably have +reached its climax in the foundation of the house of Lusignan by +Perion's son Raymondin and Melusina) are more profitably left to M. +Verville's ingenuity. + + + + +3 + + +One feature, though, of this romance demands particular comment. The +happenings of the Melicent-episode pivot remarkably upon _domnei_--upon +chivalric love, upon the _Frowendienst_ of the minnesingers, or upon +"woman-worship," as we might bunglingly translate a word for which in +English there is no precisely equivalent synonym. Therefore this +English version of the Melicent-episode has been called _Domnei_, at +whatever price of unintelligibility. + +For there is really no other word or combination of words which seems +quite to sum up, or even indicate this precise attitude toward life. +_Domnei_ was less a preference for one especial woman than a code of +philosophy. "The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and +habits," writes Charles Claude Fauriel,[1: _Histoire de la litterature +provencale_, p. 330 (Adler's translation, New York, 1860)] "which +prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a lady, and +by which he strove to prove to her his love and to merit hers in +return, was expressed by the single word _domnei_." + +And this, of course, is true enough. Yet _domnei_ was even more than a +complication of opinions and affections and habits: it was also a +malady and a religion quite incommunicably blended. + +Thus you will find that Dante--to cite only the most readily accessible +of mediaeval amorists--enlarges as to _domnei_ in both these last-named +aspects impartially. _Domnei_ suspends all his senses save that of +sight, makes him turn pale, causes tremors in his left side, and sends +him to bed "like a little beaten child, in tears"; throughout you have +the manifestations of _domnei_ described in terms befitting the +symptoms of a physical disease: but as concerns the other aspect, Dante +never wearies of reiterating that it is domnei which has turned his +thoughts toward God; and with terrible sincerity he beholds in Beatrice +de'Bardi the highest illumination which Divine Grace may permit to +humankind. "This is no woman; rather it is one of heaven's most radiant +angels," he says with terrible sincerity. + +With terrible sincerity, let it be repeated: for the service of domnei +was never, as some would affect to interpret it, a modish and ordered +affectation; the histories of Peire de Maenzac, of Guillaume de +Caibestaing, of Geoffrey Rudel, of Ulrich von Liechtenstein, of the +Monk of Pucibot, of Pons de Capdueilh, and even of Peire Vidal and +Guillaume de Balaun, survive to prove it was a serious thing, a stark +and life-disposing reality. En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa, as +Nicolas himself declares. The service of domnei involved, it in fact +invited, anguish; it was a martyrdom whereby the lover was uplifted to +saintship and the lady to little less than, if anything less than, +godhead. For it was a canon of domnei, it was the very essence of +domnei, that the woman one loves is providentially set between her +lover's apprehension, and God, as the mobile and vital image and +corporeal reminder of heaven, as a quick symbol of beauty and holiness, +of purity and perfection. In her the lover views--embodied, apparent to +human sense, and even accessible to human enterprise--all qualities of +God which can be comprehended by merely human faculties. It is +precisely as such an intermediary that Melicent figures toward Perion, +and, in a somewhat different degree, toward Ahasuerus--since Ahasuerus +is of necessity apart in all things from the run of humanity. + +Yet instances were not lacking in the service of _domnei_ where worship +of the symbol developed into a religion sufficing in itself, and became +competitor with worship of what the symbol primarily represented--such +instances as have their analogues in the legend of Ritter Tannhaeuser, +or in Aucassin's resolve in the romance to go down into hell with "his +sweet mistress whom he so much loves," or (here perhaps most perfectly +exampled) in Arnaud de Merveil's naive declaration that whatever +portion of his heart belongs to God heaven holds in vassalage to +Adelaide de Beziers. It is upon this darker and rebellious side of +_domnei_, of a religion pathetically dragged dustward by the luxuriance +and efflorescence of over-passionate service, that Nicolas has touched +in depicting Demetrios. + + + + +4 + + +Nicolas de Caen, himself the servitor _par amours_ of Isabella of +Burgundy, has elsewhere written of _domne_i (in his _Le Roi Amaury_) in +terms such as it may not be entirely out of place to transcribe here. +Baalzebub, as you may remember, has been discomfited in his endeavours +to ensnare King Amaury and is withdrawing in disgust. + +"A pest upon this _domnei_!"[1: Quoted with minor alterations from +Watson's version] the fiend growls. "Nay, the match is at an end, and I +may speak in perfect candour now. I swear to you that, given a man +clear-eyed enough to see that a woman by ordinary is nourished much as +he is nourished, and is subjected to every bodily infirmity which he +endures and frets beneath, I do not often bungle matters. But when a +fool begins to flounder about the world, dead-drunk with adoration of +an immaculate woman--a monster which, as even the man's own judgment +assures him, does not exist and never will exist--why, he becomes as +unmanageable as any other maniac when a frenzy is upon him. For then +the idiot hungers after a life so high-pitched that his gross faculties +may not so much as glimpse it; he is so rapt with impossible dreams +that he becomes oblivious to the nudgings of his most petted vice; and +he abhors his own innate and perfectly natural inclination to +cowardice, and filth, and self-deception. He, in fine, affords me and +all other rational people no available handle; and, in consequence, he +very often flounders beyond the reach of my whisperings. There may be +other persons who can inform you why such blatant folly should thus be +the master-word of evil, but for my own part, I confess to ignorance." + +"Nay, that folly, as you term it, and as hell will always term it, is +alike the riddle and the masterword of the universe," the old king +replies.... + +And Nicolas whole-heartedly believed that this was true. We do not +believe this, quite, but it may be that we are none the happier for our +dubiety. + + +EXPLICIT + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +I. LES AMANTS DE MELICENT, Traduction moderne, annotee et procedee d'un +notice historique sur Nicolas de Caen, par l'Abbe. * * * A Paris. Pour +Iaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Iaques, M. D. XLVI. Avec +Privilege du Roy. The somewhat abridged reprint of 1788 was believed to +be the first version printed in French, until the discovery of this +unique volume in 1917. + +II. ARMAGEDDON; or the Great Day of the Lord's Judgement: a Parcenesis +to Prince Henry--MELICENT; an heroicke poeme intended, drawne from +French bookes, the First Booke, by Sir William Allonby. London. Printed +for Nathaniel Butler, dwelling at the _Pied Bull_, at Saint Austen's +Gate. 1626. + +III. PERION UNO MELICENT, zum erstenmale aus dem Franzosischen ins +Deutsche ubersetzt, von J. H. G. Lowe. Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1823. + +IV. Los NEGOCIANTES DO DON PERION, publicado por Plancher-Seignot. Rio +de Janiero, 1827. The translator's name is not given. The preface is +signed R. L. + +V. LA DONNA DI DEMETRIO, Historia piacevole e morale, da Antonio +Checino. Milan, 1833. + +VI. PRINDSESSES MELICENT, oversat af Le Roman de Lusignan, og udgivna +paa Dansk vid R. Knos. Copenhagen, 1840. + +VII. ANTIQUAe FABULAe ET COMEDIAe, edid. G. Rask. Goettingen, 1852. Vol. +II, p. 61 _et seq_. "DE FIDE MELICENTIS"--an abridged version of the +romance. + +VIII. PERION EN MELICENT, voor de Nederlandsche Jeugduiitgegeven door +J. M. L. Wolters. Groningen, 1862. + +IX. NOUVELLES FRANCOISES EN PROSE DU XIVE ET DE XVE SIECLE, Les textes +anciens, edites et annotes par MM. Armin et Moland. Lyons, 1880. Vol. +IV, p. 89 et seq., "LE ROMAN DE LA BELLE MELICENT"--a much condensed +form of the story. + +X. THE SOUL OF MELICENT, by James Branch Cabell. Illustrated in colour +by Howard Pyle. New York, 1913. This rendering was made, of course, +before the discovery of the 1546 version, and so had not the benefit of +that volume's interesting variants from the abridgment of 1788. + +XI. CINQ BALLADES DE NICOLAS DE CAEN, traduites en verse du Roman de +Lusignan, par Mme. Adolpe Galland, et mises en musique par Raoul +Bidoche. Paris, 1898. + +XII. LE LIURE DE MELUSINE en fracoys, par Jean d'Arras. Geneva, 1478. + +XIII. HISTORIA DE LA LINDA MELOSYNA. Tolosa, 1489. + +XIV. EEN SAN SONDERLINGKE SCHONE ENDE WONDERLIKE HISTORIE, die men +warachtich kout te syne ende autentick sprekende van eenre vrouwen +gheheeten Melusine. Tantwerpen, 1500. + +XV. DIE HISTORI ODER GESCHICHT VON DER EDLE UND SCHOENEN MELUSINA. +Augsburg, 1547. + +XVI. L'HISTOIRE DE MELUSINE, fille du roy d'Albanie et de dame +Pressine, revue et mise en meilleur langage que par cy devant. Lyons, +1597. + +XVII. LE ROMAN DE MELUSINE, princesse de Lusignan, avec l'histoire de +Geoffry, surnomme a la Grand Dent, par Nodot. Paris, 1700. + +XVIII. KRONYKE KRATOCHWILNE, o ctne a slech netne Panne Meluzijne. +Prag, 1760. + +XIX. WUNDERBARE GESCHICHTE VON DER EDELN UND SCHONEN MELUSINA, welche +eine Tochter des Koenig Helmus und ein Meerwunder gewesen ist. Nurnberg, +without date: reprinted in Marbach's VOLKS BUECHER, Leipzig, 1838. + + + + +BOOKS _by_ MR. CABELL + + +_Biography:_ + +BEYOND LIFE + +DOMNEI (_The Soul of Melicent_) + +CHIVALRY + +JURGEN + +THE LINE OF LOVE + +GALLANTRY + +THE CERTAIN HOUR + +THE CORDS OF VANITY + +FROM THE HIDDEN WAY + +THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK + +THE EAGLE'S SHADOW + +THE CREAM OF THE JEST + +_Genealogy:_ + +BRANCH OF ABINGDON + +BRANCHIANA + +THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DOMNEI *** + +This file should be named 7domn10.txt or 7domn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7domn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7domn10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Domnei + +Author: James Branch Cabell et al + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9663] +[This file was first posted on October 14, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DOMNEI *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Anuradha Valsa Raj, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + +Domnei + +A Comedy of Woman-Worship + +By + +JAMES BRANCH CABELL + +1920 + + + + + + +"_En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa_." + + +TO + +SARAH READ McADAMS + +IN GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION + + + + +"The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and habits, +which prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a +lady, and by which he strove to prove to her his love, and to merit +hers in return, was expressed, in the language of the Troubadours, by a +single word, by the word _domnei_, a derivation of _domna_, which may +be regarded as an alteration of the Latin _domina_, lady, mistress." + +--C. C. FAURIEL, +_History of Provencal Poetry_. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +A PREFACE + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +THE ARGUMENT + + +PART ONE--PERION + + I HOW PERION WAS UNMASKED + + II HOW THE VICOMTE WAS VERY GAY + + III HOW MELICENT WOOED + + IV HOW THE BISHOP AIDED PERION + + V HOW MELICENT WEDDED + + +PART TWO--MELICENT + + VI HOW MELICENT SOUGHT OVERSEA + + VII HOW PERION WAS FREED + + VIII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS AMUSED + + IX HOW TIME SPED IN HEATHENRY + + X HOW DEMETRIOS WOOED + + +PART THREE--DEMETRIOS + + XI HOW TIME SPED WITH PERION + + XII HOW DEMETRIOS WAS TAKEN + + XIII HOW THEY PRAISED MELICENT + + XIV HOW PERION BRAVED THEODORET. + + XV HOW PERION FOUGHT + + XVI HOW DEMETRIOS MEDITATED. + + XVII HOW A MINSTREL CAME + + XVIII HOW THEY CRIED QUITS + + XIX HOW FLAMBERGE WAS LOST + + XX HOW PERION GOT AID + + +PART FOUR--AHASUERUS + + XXI HOW DEMETRIOS HELD HIS CHATTEL + + XXII HOW MISERY HELD NACUMERA. + + XXIII HOW DEMETRIOS CRIED FAREWELL + + XXIV HOW ORESTES RULED + + XXV HOW WOMEN TALKED TOGETHER + + XXVI HOW MEN ORDERED MATTERS + + XXVII HOW AHASUERUS WAS CANDID + +XXVIII HOW PERION SAW MELICENT + + XXIX HOW A BARGAIN WAS CRIED + + XXX HOW MELICENT CONQUERED + +THE AFTERWORD + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + +A Preface + +By +Joseph Hergesheimer + + +It would be absorbing to discover the present feminine attitude toward +the profoundest compliment ever paid women by the heart and mind of men +in league--the worshipping devotion conceived by Plato and elevated to +a living faith in mediaeval France. Through that renaissance of a +sublimated passion _domnei_ was regarded as a throne of alabaster by +the chosen figures of its service: Melicent, at Bellegarde, waiting for +her marriage with King Theodoret, held close an image of Perion made of +substance that time was powerless to destroy; and which, in a life of +singular violence, where blood hung scarlet before men's eyes like a +tapestry, burned in a silver flame untroubled by the fate of her body. +It was, to her, a magic that kept her inviolable, perpetually, in spite +of marauding fingers, a rose in the blanched perfection of its early +flowering. + +The clearest possible case for that religion was that it transmuted the +individual subject of its adoration into the deathless splendor of a +Madonna unique and yet divisible in a mirage of earthly loveliness. It +was heaven come to Aquitaine, to the Courts of Love, in shapes of vivid +fragrant beauty, with delectable hair lying gold on white samite worked +in borders of blue petals. It chose not abstractions for its faith, but +the most desirable of all actual--yes, worldly--incentives: the sister, +it might be, of Count Emmerick of Poictesme. And, approaching beatitude +not so much through a symbol of agony as by the fragile grace of a +woman, raising Melicent to the stars, it fused, more completely than in +any other aspiration, the spirit and the flesh. + +However, in its contact, its lovers' delight, it was no more than a +slow clasping and unclasping of the hands; the spirit and flesh, +merged, became spiritual; the height of stars was not a figment.... +Here, since the conception of _domnei_ has so utterly vanished, the +break between the ages impassable, the sympathy born of understanding +is interrupted. Hardly a woman, to-day, would value a sigh the passion +which turned a man steadfastly away that he might be with her forever +beyond the parched forest of death. Now such emotion is held strictly +to the gains, the accountability, of life's immediate span; women have +left their cloudy magnificence for a footing on earth; but--at least in +warm graceful youth--their dreams are still of a Perion de la Forêt. +These, clear-eyed, they disavow; yet their secret desire, the most +Elysian of all hopes, to burn at once with the body and the soul, mocks +what they find. + +That vision, dominating Mr. Cabell's pages, the record of his revealed +idealism, brings specially to _Domnei_ a beauty finely escaping the +dusty confusion of any present. It is a book laid in a purity, a +serenity, of space above the vapors, the bigotry and engendered spite, +of dogma and creed. True to yesterday, it will be faithful of +to-morrow; for, in the evolution of humanity, not necessarily the turn +of a wheel upward, certain qualities have remained at the center, +undisturbed. And, of these, none is more fixed than an abstract love. + +Different in men than in women, it is, for the former, an instinct, a +need, to serve rather than be served: their desire is for a shining +image superior, at best, to both lust and maternity. This +consciousness, grown so dim that it is scarcely perceptible, yet still +alive, is not extinguished with youth, but lingers hopeless of +satisfaction through the incongruous years of middle age. There is +never a man, gifted to any degree with imagination, but eternally +searches for an ultimate loveliness not disappearing in the circle of +his embrace--the instinctively Platonic gesture toward the only +immortality conceivable in terms of ecstasy. + +A truth, now, in very low esteem! With the solidification of society, +of property, the bond of family has been tremendously exalted, the mere +fact of parenthood declared the last sanctity. Together with this, +naturally, the persistent errantry of men, so vulgarly misunderstood, +has become only a reprehensible paradox. The entire shelf of James +Branch Cabell's books, dedicated to an unquenchable masculine idealism, +has, as well, a paradoxical place in an age of material sentimentality. +Compared with the novels of the moment, _Domnei_ is an isolated, a +heroic fragment of a vastly deeper and higher structure. And, of its +many aspects, it is not impossible that the highest, rising over even +its heavenly vision, is the rare, the simple, fortitude of its +statement. + +Whatever dissent the philosophy of Perion and Melicent may breed, no +one can fail to admire the steady courage with which it is upheld. +Aside from its special preoccupation, such independence in the face of +ponderable threat, such accepted isolation, has a rare stability in a +world treacherous with mental quicksands and evasions. This is a valor +not drawn from insensibility, but from the sharpest possible +recognition of all the evil and Cyclopean forces in existence, and a +deliberate engagement of them on their own ground. Nothing more, in +that direction, can be asked of Mr. Cabell, of anyone. While about the +story itself, the soul of Melicent, the form and incidental writing, it +is no longer necessary to speak. + +The pages have the rich sparkle of a past like stained glass called to +life: the Confraternity of St. Médard presenting their masque of +Hercules; the claret colored walls adorned with gold cinquefoils of +Demetrios' court; his pavilion with porticoes of Andalusian copper; +Theodoret's capital, Megaris, ruddy with bonfires; the free port of +Narenta with its sails spread for the land of pagans; the +lichen-incrusted glade in the Forest of Columbiers; gardens with the +walks sprinkled with crocus and vermilion and powdered mica ... all are +at once real and bright with unreality, rayed with the splendor of an +antiquity built from webs and films of imagined wonder. The past is, at +its moment, the present, and that lost is valueless. Distilled by time, +only an imperishable romantic conception remains; a vision, where it is +significant, animated by the feelings, the men and women, which only, +at heart, are changeless. + +They, the surcharged figures of _Domnei_, move vividly through their +stone galleries and closes, in procession, and--a far more difficult +accomplishment--alone. The lute of the Bishop of Montors, playing as he +rides in scarlet, sounds its Provençal refrain; the old man Theodoret, +a king, sits shabbily between a prie-dieu and the tarnished hangings of +his bed; Mélusine, with the pale frosty hair of a child, spins the +melancholy of departed passion; Ahasuerus the Jew buys Melicent for a +hundred and two minae and enters her room past midnight for his act of +abnegation. And at the end, looking, perhaps, for a mortal woman, +Perion finds, in a flesh not unscarred by years, the rose beyond +destruction, the high silver flame of immortal happiness. + +So much, then, everything in the inner questioning of beings condemned +to a glimpse of remote perfection, as though the sky had opened on a +city of pure bliss, transpires in _Domnei_; while the fact that it is +laid in Poictesme sharpens the thrust of its illusion. It is by that +much the easier of entry; it borders--rather than on the clamor of +mills--on the reaches men explore, leaving' weariness and dejection for +fancy--a geography for lonely sensibilities betrayed by chance into the +blind traps, the issueless barrens, of existence. + +JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER. + + +CRITICAL COMMENT + +_And Norman_ Nicolas _at hearté meant +(Pardie!) some subtle occupation +In making of his Tale of Melicent, +That stubbornly desiréd Perion. +What perils for to rollen up and down, +So long process, so many a sly cautel, +For to obtain a silly damosel!_ + +--THOMAS UPCLIFFE. + + +Nicolas de Caen, one of the most eminent of the early French writers of +romance, was born at Caen in Normandy early in the 15th century, and +was living in 1470. Little is known of his life, apart from the fact +that a portion of his youth was spent in England, where he was +connected in some minor capacity with the household of the Queen +Dowager, Joan of Navarre. In later life, from the fact that two of his +works are dedicated to Isabella of Portugal, third wife to Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, it is conjectured that Nicolas was attached to +the court of that prince . . . . Nicolas de Caen was not greatly +esteemed nor highly praised by his contemporaries, or by writers of the +century following, but latterly has received the recognition due to his +unusual qualities of invention and conduct of narrative, together with +his considerable knowledge of men and manners, and occasional +remarkable modernity of thought. His books, therefore, apart from the +interest attached to them as specimens of early French romance, and in +spite of the difficulties and crudities of the unformed language in +which they are written, are still readable, and are rich in instructive +detail concerning the age that gave them birth . . . . Many romances +are attributed to Nicolas de Caen. Modern criticism has selected four +only as undoubtedly his. These are--(1) _Les Aventures d'Adhelmar de +Nointel_, a metrical romance, plainly of youthful composition, +containing some seven thousand verses; (2) _Le Roy Amaury_, well known +to English students in Watson's spirited translation; (3) _Le Roman de +Lusignan_, a re-handling of the Melusina myth, most of which is wholly +lost; (4) _Le Dizain des Reines_, a collection of quasi-historical +_novellino_ interspersed with lyrics. Six other romances are known to +have been written by Nicolas, but these have perished; and he is +credited with the authorship of _Le Cocu Rouge_, included by Hinsauf, +and of several Ovidian translations or imitations still unpublished. +The Satires formerly attributed to him Bülg has shown to be spurious +compositions of 17th century origin. + +--E. Noel Codman, +_Handbook of Literary Pioneers._ + +Nicolas de Caen est un représentant agréable, naïf, et expressif de cet +âge que nous aimons à nous représenter de loin comme l'âge d'or du bon +vieux temps ... Nicolas croyait à son Roy et à sa Dame, il croyait +surtout à son Dieu. Nicolas sentait que le monde était semé à chaque +pas d'obscurités et d'embûches, et que l'inconnu était partout; partout +aussi était le protecteur invisible et le soutien; à chaque souffle qui +frémissait, Nicolas croyait le sentir comme derrière le rideau. Le ciel +par-dessus ce Nicolas de Caen était ouvert, peuplé en chaque point de +figures vivantes, de patrons attentifs et manifestes, d'une invocation +directe. Le plus intrépide guerrier alors marchait dans un mélange +habituel de crainte et de confiance, comme un tout petit enfant. A +cette vue, les esprits les plus émancipés d'aujourd'hui ne sauraient +s'empêcher de crier, en tempérant leur sourire par le respect: _Sancta +simplicitas!_ + +--Paul Verville, +_Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen._ + + + + +THE ARGUMENT + +_"Of how, through Woman-Worship, knaves compound +With honoure; Kings reck not of their domaine; +Proud Pontiffs sigh; & War-men world-renownd, +Toe win one Woman, all things else disdaine: +Since Melicent doth in herselfe contayne +All this world's Riches that may farre be found. + +"If Saphyres ye desire, her eies are plaine; +If Rubies, loe, hir lips be Rubyes sound; +If Pearles, hir teeth be Pearles, both pure & round; +If Yvorie, her forehead Yvory weene; +If Gold, her locks with finest Gold abound; +If Silver, her faire hands have Silver's sheen. + +"Yet that which fayrest is, but Few beholde, +Her Soul adornd with vertues manifold."_ + +--SIR WILLIAM ALLONBY. + + +THE ROMANCE OF LUSIGNAN OF +THAT FORGOTTEN MAKER IN THE +FRENCH TONGUE, MESSIRE NICOLAS +DE CAEN. HERE BEGINS THE TALE +WHICH THEY OF POICTESME NARRATE +CONCERNING DAME MELICENT, +THAT WAS DAUGHTER TO +THE GREAT COUNT MANUEL. + + + + + +PART ONE + + +PERION +_How Perion, that stalwart was and gay, +Treadeth with sorrow on a holiday, +Since Melicent anon must wed a king: +How in his heart he hath vain love-longing, +For which he putteth life in forfeiture, +And would no longer in such wise endure; +For writhing Perion in Venus' fire +So burneth that he dieth for desire._ + + + + +1. + + +_How Perion Was Unmasked_ + +Perion afterward remembered the two weeks spent at Bellegarde as in +recovery from illness a person might remember some long fever dream +which was all of an intolerable elvish brightness and of incessant +laughter everywhere. They made a deal of him in Count Emmerick's +pleasant home: day by day the outlaw was thrust into relations of mirth +with noblemen, proud ladies, and even with a king; and was all the +while half lightheaded through his singular knowledge as to how +precariously the self-styled Vicomte de Puysange now balanced himself, +as it were, upon a gilded stepping-stone from infamy to oblivion. + +Now that King Theodoret had withdrawn his sinister presence, young +Perion spent some seven hours of every day alone, to all intent, with +Dame Melicent. There might be merry people within a stone's throw, +about this recreation or another, but these two seemed to watch +aloofly, as royal persons do the antics of their hired comedians, +without any condescension into open interest. They were together; and +the jostle of earthly happenings might hope, at most, to afford them +matter for incurious comment. + +They sat, as Perion thought, for the last time together, part of an +audience before which the Confraternity of St. Médard was enacting a +masque of _The Birth of Hercules_. The Bishop of Montors had returned +to Bellegarde that evening with his brother, Count Gui, and the +pleasure-loving prelate had brought these mirth-makers in his train. +Clad in scarlet, he rode before them playing upon a lute--unclerical +conduct which shocked his preciser brother and surprised nobody. + +In such circumstances Perion began to speak with an odd purpose, +because his reason was bedrugged by the beauty and purity of Melicent, +and perhaps a little by the slow and clutching music to whose progress +the chorus of Theban virgins was dancing. When he had made an end of +harsh whispering, Melicent sat for a while in scrupulous appraisement +of the rushes. The music was so sweet it seemed to Perion he must go +mad unless she spoke within the moment. + +Then Melicent said: + +"You tell me you are not the Vicomte de Puysange. You tell me you are, +instead, the late King Helmas' servitor, suspected of his murder. You +are the fellow that stole the royal jewels--the outlaw for whom half +Christendom is searching--" + +Thus Melicent began to speak at last; and still he could not intercept +those huge and tender eyes whose purple made the thought of heaven +comprehensible. + +The man replied: + +"I am that widely hounded Perion of the Forest. The true vicomte is the +wounded rascal over whose delirium we marvelled only last Tuesday. Yes, +at the door of your home I attacked him, fought him--hah, but fairly, +madame!--and stole his brilliant garments and with them his papers. +Then in my desperate necessity I dared to masquerade. For I know enough +about dancing to estimate that to dance upon air must necessarily prove +to everybody a disgusting performance, but pre-eminently unpleasing to +the main actor. Two weeks of safety till the _Tranchemer_ sailed I +therefore valued at a perhaps preposterous rate. To-night, as I have +said, the ship lies at anchor off Manneville." + +Melicent said an odd thing, asking, "Oh, can it be you are a less +despicable person than you are striving to appear!" + +"Rather, I am a more unmitigated fool than even I suspected, since when +affairs were in a promising train I have elected to blurt out, of all +things, the naked and distasteful truth. Proclaim it now; and see the +late Vicomte de Puysange lugged out of this hall and after appropriate +torture hanged within the month." And with that Perion laughed. + +Thereafter he was silent. As the masque went, Amphitryon had newly +returned from warfare, and was singing under Alcmena's window in the +terms of an aubade, a waking-song. "_Rei glorios, verais lums e +clardatz--" Amphitryon had begun. Dame Melicent heard him through. + +And after many ages, as it seemed to Perion, the soft and brilliant and +exquisite mouth was pricked to motion. + +"You have affronted, by an incredible imposture and beyond the reach of +mercy, every listener in this hall. You have injured me most deeply of +all persons here. Yet it is to me alone that you confess." + +Perion leaned forward. You are to understand that, through the +incurrent necessities of every circumstance, each of them spoke in +whispers, even now. It was curious to note the candid mirth on either +side. Mercury was making his adieux to Alcmena's waiting-woman in the +middle of a jig. + +"But you," sneered Perion, "are merciful in all things. Rogue that I +am, I dare to build on this notorious fact. I am snared in a hard +golden trap, I cannot get a guide to Manneville, I cannot even procure +a horse from Count Emmerick's stables without arousing fatal +suspicions; and I must be at Manneville by dawn or else be hanged. +Therefore I dare stake all upon one throw; and you must either save or +hang me with unwashed hands. As surely as God reigns, my future rests +with you. And as I am perfectly aware, you could not live comfortably +with a gnat's death upon your conscience. Eh, am I not a seasoned +rascal?" + +"Do not remind me now that you are vile," said Melicent. "Ah, no, not +now!" + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" he sternly answered. "There you have the +catalogue of all my rightful titles. And besides, it pleases me, for a +reason I cannot entirely fathom, to be unpardonably candid and to fling +my destiny into your lap. To-night, as I have said, the _Tranchemer_ +lies off Manneville; keep counsel, get me a horse if you will, and +to-morrow I am embarked for desperate service under the harried Kaiser +of the Greeks, and for throat-cuttings from which I am not likely ever +to return. Speak, and I hang before the month is up." + +Dame Melicent looked at him now, and within the moment Perion was +repaid, and bountifully, for every folly and misdeed of his entire +life. + +"What harm have I ever done you, Messire de la Forêt, that you should +shame me in this fashion? Until to-night I was not unhappy in the +belief I was loved by you. I may say that now without paltering, since +you are not the man I thought some day to love. You are but the rind of +him. And you would force me to cheat justice, to become a hunted +thief's accomplice, or else to murder you!" + +"It comes to that, madame." + +"Then I must help you preserve your life by any sorry stratagems you +may devise. I shall not hinder you. I will procure you a guide to +Manneville. I will even forgive you all save one offence, since +doubtless heaven made you the foul thing you are." The girl was in a +hot and splendid rage. "For you love me. Women know. You love me. You!" + +"Undoubtedly, madame." + +"Look into my face! and say what horrid writ of infamy you fancied was +apparent there, that my nails may destroy it." + +"I am all base," he answered, "and yet not so profoundly base as you +suppose. Nay, believe me, I had never hoped to win even such scornful +kindness as you might accord your lapdog. I have but dared to peep at +heaven while I might, and only as lost Dives peeped. Ignoble as I am, I +never dreamed to squire an angel down toward the mire and filth which +is henceforward my inevitable kennel." + +"The masque is done," said Melicent, "and yet you talk, and talk, and +talk, and mimic truth so cunningly--Well, I will send some trusty +person to you. And now, for God's sake!--nay, for the fiend's love who +is your patron!--let me not ever see you again, Messire de la Forêt." + + + + +2. + + +_How the Vicomte Was Very Gay_ + +There was dancing afterward and a sumptuous supper. The Vicomte de +Puysange was generally accounted that evening the most excellent of +company. He mingled affably with the revellers and found a prosperous +answer for every jest they broke upon the projected marriage of Dame +Melicent and King Theodoret; and meanwhile hugged the reflection that +half the realm was hunting Perion de la Forêt in the more customary +haunts of rascality. The springs of Perion's turbulent mirth were that +to-morrow every person in the room would discover how impudently every +person had been tricked, and that Melicent deliberated even now, and +could not but admire, the hunted outlaw's insolence, however much she +loathed its perpetrator; and over this thought in particular Perion +laughed like a madman. + +"You are very gay to-night, Messire de Puysange," said the Bishop of +Montors. + +This remarkable young man, it is necessary to repeat, had reached +Bellegarde that evening, coming from Brunbelois. It was he (as you have +heard) who had arranged the match with Theodoret. The bishop himself +loved his cousin Melicent; but, now that he was in holy orders and +possession of her had become impossible, he had cannily resolved to +utilise her beauty, as he did everything else, toward his own +preferment. + +"Oh, sir," replied Perion, "you who are so fine a poet must surely know +that _gay_ rhymes with _to-day_ as patly as _sorrow_ goes with +_to-morrow_." + +"Yet your gay laughter, Messire de Puysange, is after all but breath: +and _breath_ also"--the bishop's sharp eyes fixed Perion's--"has a +hackneyed rhyme." + +"Indeed, it is the grim rhyme that rounds off and silences all our +rhyming," Perion assented. "I must laugh, then, without rhyme or +reason." + +Still the young prelate talked rather oddly. "But," said he, "you have +an excellent reason, now that you sup so near to heaven." And his +glance at Melicent did not lack pith. + +"No, no, I have quite another reason," Perion answered; "it is that +to-morrow I breakfast in hell." + +"Well, they tell me the landlord of that place is used to cater to each +according to his merits," the bishop, shrugging, returned. + +And Perion thought how true this was when, at the evening's end, he was +alone in his own room. His life was tolerably secure. He trusted +Ahasuerus the Jew to see to it that, about dawn, one of the ship's +boats would touch at Fomor Beach near Manneville, according to their +old agreement. Aboard the _Tranchemer_ the Free Companions awaited +their captain; and the savage land they were bound for was a thought +beyond the reach of a kingdom's lamentable curiosity concerning the +whereabouts of King Helmas' treasure. The worthless life of Perion was +safe. + +For worthless, and far less than worthless, life seemed to Perion as he +thought of Melicent and waited for her messenger. He thought of her +beauty and purity and illimitable loving-kindness toward every person +in the world save only Perion of the Forest. He thought of how clean +she was in every thought and deed; of that, above all, he thought, and +he knew that he would never see her any more. + +"Oh, but past any doubting," said Perion, "the devil caters to each +according to his merits." + + + + +3. + + +_How Melicent Wooed_ + +Then Perion knew that vain regret had turned his brain, very certainly, +for it seemed the door had opened and Dame Melicent herself had come, +warily, into the panelled gloomy room. It seemed that Melicent paused +in the convulsive brilliancy of the firelight, and stayed thus with +vaguely troubled eyes like those of a child newly wakened from sleep. + +And it seemed a long while before she told Perion very quietly that she +had confessed all to Ayrart de Montors, and had, by reason of de +Montors' love for her, so goaded and allured the outcome of their +talk--"ignobly," as she said,--that a clean-handed gentleman would come +at three o'clock for Perion de la Forêt, and guide a thief toward +unmerited impunity. All this she spoke quite levelly, as one reads +aloud from a book; and then, with a signal change of voice, Melicent +said: "Yes, that is true enough. Yet why, in reality, do you think I +have in my own person come to tell you of it?" + +"Madame, I may not guess. Hah, indeed, indeed," Perion cried, because +he knew the truth and was unspeakably afraid, "I dare not guess!" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea----" she began, but her +sweet voice trailed and died into silence. He heard the crepitations of +the fire, and even the hurried beatings of his own heart, as against a +terrible and lovely hush of all created life. "Then take me with you." + +Perion had never any recollection of what he answered. Indeed, he +uttered no communicative words, but only foolish babblements. + +"Oh, I do not understand," said Melicent. "It is as though some spell +were laid upon me. Look you, I have been cleanly reared, I have never +wronged any person that I know of, and throughout my quiet, sheltered +life I have loved truth and honour most of all. My judgment grants you +to be what you are confessedly. And there is that in me more masterful +and surer than my judgment, that which seems omniscient and lightly +puts aside your confessings as unimportant." + +"Lackey, impostor, and thief!" young Perion answered. "There you have +the catalogue of all my rightful titles fairly earned." + +"And even if I believed you, I think I would not care! Is that not +strange? For then I should despise you. And even then, I think, I would +fling my honour at your feet, as I do now, and but in part with +loathing, I would still entreat you to make of me your wife, your +servant, anything that pleased you . . . . Oh, I had thought that when +love came it would be sweet!" + +Strangely quiet, in every sense, he answered: + +"It is very sweet. I have known no happier moment in my life. For you +stand within arm's reach, mine to touch, mine to possess and do with as +I elect. And I dare not lift a finger. I am as a man that has lain for +a long while in a dungeon vainly hungering for the glad light of +day--who, being freed at last, must hide his eyes from the dear +sunlight he dare not look upon as yet. Ho, I am past speech unworthy of +your notice! and I pray you now speak harshly with me, madame, for when +your pure eyes regard me kindly, and your bright and delicate lips have +come thus near to mine, I am so greatly tempted and so happy that I +fear lest heaven grow jealous!" + +"Be not too much afraid--" she murmured. + +"Nay, should I then be bold? and within the moment wake Count Emmerick +to say to him, very boldly, 'Beau sire, the thief half Christendom is +hunting has the honour to request your sister's hand in marriage'?" + +"You sail to-morrow for the fighting oversea. Take me with you." + +"Indeed the feat would be worthy of me. For you are a lady tenderly +nurtured and used to every luxury the age affords. There comes to woo +you presently an excellent and potent monarch, not all unworthy of your +love, who will presently share with you many happy and honourable +years. Yonder is a lawless naked wilderness where I and my fellow +desperadoes hope to cheat offended justice and to preserve +thrice-forfeited lives in savagery. You bid me aid you to go into this +country, never to return! Madame, if I obeyed you, Satan would protest +against pollution of his ageless fires by any soul so filthy." + +"You talk of little things, whereas I think of great things. Love is +not sustained by palatable food alone, and is not served only by those +persons who go about the world in satin." + +"Then take the shameful truth. It is undeniable I swore I loved you, +and with appropriate gestures, too. But, dompnedex, madame! I am past +master in these specious ecstasies, for somehow I have rarely seen the +woman who had not some charm or other to catch my heart with. I confess +now that you alone have never quickened it. My only purpose was through +hyperbole to wheedle you out of a horse, and meanwhile to have my +recreation, you handsome jade!--and that is all you ever meant to me. I +swear to you that is all, all, all!" sobbed Perion, for it appeared +that he must die. "I have amused myself with you, I have abominably +tricked you--" + +Melicent only waited with untroubled eyes which seemed to plumb his +heart and to appraise all which Perion had ever thought or longed for +since the day that Perion was born; and she was as beautiful, it seemed +to him, as the untroubled, gracious angels are, and more compassionate. + +"Yes," Perion said, "I am trying to lie to you. And even at lying I +fail." + +She said, with a wonderful smile: + +"Assuredly there were never any other persons so mad as we. For I must +do the wooing, as though you were the maid, and all the while you +rebuff me and suffer so that I fear to look on you. Men say you are no +better than a highwayman; you confess yourself to be a thief: and I +believe none of your accusers. Perion de la Forêt," said Melicent, and +ballad-makers have never shaped a phrase wherewith to tell you of her +voice, "I know that you have dabbled in dishonour no more often than an +archangel has pilfered drying linen from a hedgerow. I do not guess, +for my hour is upon me, and inevitably I know! and there is nothing +dares to come between us now." + +"Nay,--ho, and even were matters as you suppose them, without any +warrant,--there is at least one silly stumbling knave that dares as +much. Saith he: 'What is the most precious thing in the world?--Why, +assuredly, Dame Melicent's welfare. Let me get the keeping of it, then. +For I have been entrusted with a host of common priceless things--with +youth and vigour and honour, with a clean conscience and a child's +faith, and so on--and no person alive has squandered them more +gallantly. So heartward ho! and trust me now, my timorous yoke-fellow, +to win and squander also the chiefest jewel of the world.' Eh, thus he +chuckles and nudges me, with wicked whisperings. Indeed, madame, this +rascal that shares equally in my least faculty is a most pitiful, +ignoble rogue! and he has aforetime eked out our common livelihood by +such practices as your unsullied imagination could scarcely depicture. +Until I knew you I had endured him. But you have made of him a horror. +A horror, a horror! a thing too pitiful for hell!" + +Perion turned away from her, groaning. He flung himself into a chair. +He screened his eyes as if before some physical abomination. + +The girl kneeled close to him, touching him. + +"My dear, my dear! then slay for me this other Perion of the Forest." + +And Perion laughed, not very mirthfully. + +"It is the common usage of women to ask of men this little labour, +which is a harder task than ever Hercules, that mighty-muscled king of +heathenry, achieved. Nay, I, for all my sinews, am an attested +weakling. The craft of other men I do not fear, for I have encountered +no formidable enemy save myself; but that same midnight stabber +unhorsed me long ago. I had wallowed in the mire contentedly enough +until you came.... Ah, child, child! why needed you to trouble me! for +to-night I want to be clean as you are clean, and that I may not ever +be. I am garrisoned with devils, I am the battered plaything of every +vice, and I lack the strength, and it may be, even the will, to leave +my mire. Always I have betrayed the stewardship of man and god alike +that my body might escape a momentary discomfort! And loving you as I +do, I cannot swear that in the outcome I would not betray you too, to +this same end! I cannot swear--Oh, now let Satan laugh, yet not +unpitifully, since he and I, alone, know all the reasons why I may not +swear! Hah, Madame Melicent!" cried Perion, in his great agony, "you +offer me that gift an emperor might not accept save in awed gratitude; +and I refuse it." Gently he raised her to her feet. "And now, in God's +name, go, madame, and leave the prodigal among his husks." + +"You are a very brave and foolish gentleman," she said, "who chooses to +face his own achievements without any paltering. To every man, I think, +that must be bitter work; to the woman who loves him it is impossible." + +Perion could not see her face, because he lay prone at the feet of +Melicent, sobbing, but without any tears, and tasting very deeply of +such grief and vain regret as, he had thought, they know in hell alone; +and even after she had gone, in silence, he lay in this same posture +for an exceedingly long while. + +And after he knew not how long a while, Perion propped his chin between +his hands and, still sprawling upon the rushes, stared hard into the +little, crackling fire. He was thinking of a Perion de la Forêt that +once had been. In him might have been found a fit mate for Melicent had +this boy not died very long ago. + +It is no more cheerful than any other mortuary employment, this +disinterment of the person you have been, and are not any longer; and +so did Perion find his cataloguing of irrevocable old follies and +evasions. + +Then Perion arose and looked for pen and ink. It was the first letter +he ever wrote to Melicent, and, as you will presently learn, she never +saw it. + +In such terms Perion wrote: + +"Madame--It may please you to remember that when Dame Mélusine and I +were interrogated, I freely confessed to the murder of King Helmas and +the theft of my dead master's jewels. In that I lied. For it was my +manifest duty to save the woman whom, as I thought, I loved, and it was +apparent that the guilty person was either she or I. + +"She is now at Brunbelois, where, as I have heard, the splendour of her +estate is tolerably notorious. I have not ever heard she gave a thought +to me, her cat's-paw. Madame, when I think of you and then of that +sleek, smiling woman, I am appalled by my own folly. I am aghast by my +long blindness as I write the words which no one will believe. To what +avail do I deny a crime which every circumstance imputed to me and my +own confession has publicly acknowledged? + +"But you, I think, will believe me. Look you, madame, I have nothing to +gain of you. I shall not ever see you any more. I go into a perilous +and an eternal banishment; and in the immediate neighbourhood of death +a man finds little sustenance for romance. Take the worst of me: a +gentleman I was born, and as a wastrel I have lived, and always very +foolishly; but without dishonour. I have never to my knowledge--and God +judge me as I speak the truth!--wronged any man or woman save myself. +My dear, believe me! believe me, in spite of reason! and understand +that my adoration and misery and unworthiness when I think of you are +such as I cannot measure, and afford me no judicious moment wherein to +fashion lies. For I shall not see you any more. + +"I thank you, madame, for your all-unmerited kindnesses, and, oh, I +pray you to believe!" + + + + +4. + + +_How the Bishop Aided Perion_ + +Then at three o'clock, as Perion supposed, someone tapped upon the +door. Perion went out into the corridor, which was now unlighted, so +that he had to hold to the cloak of Ayrart de Montors as the young +prelate guided Perion through the complexities of unfamiliar halls and +stairways into an inhospitable night. There were ready two horses, and +presently the men were mounted and away. + +Once only Perion shifted in the saddle to glance back at Bellegarde, +black and formless against an empty sky; and he dared not look again, +for the thought of her that lay awake in the Marshal's Tower, so near +at hand as yet, was like a dagger. With set teeth he followed in the +wake of his taciturn companion. The bishop never spoke save to growl +out some direction. + +Thus they came to Manneville and, skirting the town, came to Fomor +Beach, a narrow sandy coast. It was dark in this place and very still +save for the encroachment of the tide. Yonder were four little lights, +lazily heaving with the water's motion, to show them where the +_Tranchemer_ lay at anchor. It did not seem to Perion that anything +mattered. + +"It will be nearing dawn by this," he said. + +"Ay," Ayrart de Montors said, very briefly; and his tone evinced his +willingness to dispense with further conversation. Perion of the Forest +was an unclean thing which the bishop must touch in his necessity, but +could touch with loathing only, as a thirsty man takes a fly out of his +drink. Perion conceded it, because nothing would ever matter any more; +and so, the horses tethered, they sat upon the sand in utter silence +for the space of a half hour. + +A bird cried somewhere, just once, and with a start Perion knew the +night was not quite so murky as it had been, for he could now see a +broken line of white, where the tide crept up and shattered and ebbed. +Then in a while a light sank tipsily to the water's level and presently +was bobbing in the darkness, apart from those other lights, and it was +growing in size and brilliancy. + +Said Perion, "They have sent out the boat." + +"Ay," the bishop answered, as before. + +A sort of madness came upon Perion, and it seemed that he must weep, +because everything fell out so very ill in this world. + +"Messire de Montors, you have aided me. I would be grateful if you +permitted it." + +De Montors spoke at last, saying crisply: + +"Gratitude, I take it, forms no part of the bargain. I am the kinsman +of Dame Melicent. It makes for my interest and for the honour of our +house that the man whose rooms she visits at night be got out of +Poictesme--" + +Said Perion, "You speak in this fashion of the most lovely lady God has +made--of her whom the world adores!" + +"Adores!" the bishop answered, with a laugh; "and what poor gull am I +to adore an attested wanton?" Then, with a sneer, he spoke of Melicent, +and in such terms as are not bettered by repetition. + +Perion said: + +"I am the most unhappy man alive, as surely as you are the most +ungenerous. For, look you, in my presence you have spoken infamy of +Dame Melicent, though knowing I am in your debt so deeply that I have +not the right to resent anything you may elect to say. You have just +given me my life; and armoured by the fire-new obligation, you +blaspheme an angel, you condescend to buffet a fettered man--" + +But with that his sluggish wits had spied an honest way out of the +imbroglio. + +Perion said then, "Draw, messire! for, as God lives, I may yet +repurchase, at this eleventh hour, the privilege of destroying you." + +"Heyday! but here is an odd evincement of gratitude!" de Montors +retorted; "and though I am not particularly squeamish, let me tell you, +my fine fellow, I do not ordinarily fight with lackeys." + +"Nor are you fit to do so, messire. Believe me, there is not a lackey +in this realm--no, not a cut-purse, nor any pander--who would not in +meeting you upon equal footing degrade himself. For you have slandered +that which is most perfect in the world; yet lies, Messire de Montors, +have short legs; and I design within the hour to insure the calumny +against an echo." + +"Rogue, I have given you your very life within the hour--" + +"The fact is undeniable. Thus I must fling the bounty back to you, so +that we sorry scoundrels may meet as equals." Perion wheeled toward the +boat, which was now within the reach of wading. "Who is among you? +Gaucelm, Roger, Jean Britauz--" He found the man he sought. "Ahasuerus, +the captain that was to have accompanied the Free Companions oversea is +of another mind. I cede my leadership to Landry de Bonnay. You will +have the kindness to inform him of the unlooked-for change, and to +tender your new captain every appropriate regret and the dying +felicitations of Perion de la Forêt." + +He bowed toward the landward twilight, where the sand hillocks were +taking form. + +"Messire de Montors, we may now resume our vigil. When yonder vessel +sails there will be no conceivable happening that can keep breath +within my body two weeks longer. I shall be quit of every debt to you. +You will then fight with a man already dead if you so elect; but +otherwise--if you attempt to flee this place, if you decline to cross +swords with a lackey, with a convicted thief, with a suspected +murderer, I swear upon my mother's honour! I will demolish you without +compunction, as I would any other vermin." + +"Oh, brave, brave!" sneered the bishop, "to fling away your life, and +perhaps mine too, for an idle word--" But at that he fetched a sob. "How +foolish of you! and how like you!" he said, and Perion wondered at this +prelate's voice. + +"Hey, gentlemen!" cried Ayrart de Montors, "a moment if you please!" He +splashed knee-deep into the icy water, wading to the boat, where he +snatched the lantern from the Jew's hands and fetched this light +ashore. He held it aloft, so that Perion might see his face, and Perion +perceived that, by some wonder-working, the person in man's attire who +held this light aloft was Melicent. It was odd that Perion always +remembered afterward most clearly of all the loosened wisp of hair the +wind tossed about her forehead. + +"Look well upon me, Perion," said Melicent. "Look well, ruined +gentleman! look well, poor hunted vagabond! and note how proud I am. +Oh, in all things I am very proud! A little I exult in my high station +and in my wealth, and, yes, even in my beauty, for I know that I am +beautiful, but it is the chief of all my honours that you love me--and +so foolishly!" + +"You do not understand--!" cried Perion. + +"Rather I understand at last that you are in sober verity a lackey, an +impostor, and a thief, even as you said. Ay, a lackey to your honour! +an imposter that would endeavour--and, oh, so very vainly!--to +impersonate another's baseness! and a thief that has stolen another +person's punishment! I ask no questions; loving means trusting; but I +would like to kill that other person very, very slowly. I ask no +questions, but I dare to trust the man I know of, even in defiance of +that man's own voice. I dare protest the man no thief, but in all +things a madly honourable gentleman. My poor bruised, puzzled boy," said +Melicent, with an odd mirthful tenderness, "how came you to be +blundering about this miry world of ours! Only be very good for my sake +and forget the bitterness; what does it matter when there is happiness, +too?" + +He answered nothing, but it was not because of misery. + +"Come, come, will you not even help me into the boat?" said Melicent. +She, too, was glad. + + + + +5. + + +_How Melicent Wedded_ + +"That may not be, my cousin." + +It was the real Bishop of Montors who was speaking. His company, some +fifteen men in all, had ridden up while Melicent and Perion looked +seaward. The bishop was clothed, in his habitual fashion, as a +cavalier, showing in nothing as a churchman. He sat a-horseback for a +considerable while, looking down at them, smiling and stroking the +pommel of his saddle with a gold-fringed glove. It was now dawn. + +"I have been eavesdropping," the bishop said. His voice was tender, for +the young man loved his kinswoman with an affection second only to that +which he reserved for Ayrart de Montors. "Yes, I have been +eavesdropping for an instant, and through that instant I seemed to see +the heart of every woman that ever lived; and they differed only as +stars differ on a fair night in August. No woman ever loved a man +except, at bottom, as a mother loves her child: let him elect to build +a nation or to write imperishable verses or to take purses upon the +highway, and she will only smile to note how breathlessly the boy goes +about his playing; and when he comes back to her with grimier hands she +is a little sorry, and, if she think it salutary, will pretend to be +angry. Meanwhile she sets about the quickest way to cleanse him and to +heal his bruises. They are more wise than we, and at the bottom of +their hearts they pity us more stalwart folk whose grosser wits +require, to be quite sure of anything, a mere crass proof of it; and +always they make us better by indomitably believing we are better than +in reality a man can ever be." + +Now Ayrart de Montors dismounted. + +"So much for my sermon. For the rest, Messire de la Forêt, I perfectly +recognised you on the day you came to Bellegarde. But I said nothing. +For that you had not murdered King Helmas, as is popularly reported, I +was certain, inasmuch as I happen to know he is now at Brunbelois, +where Dame Mélusine holds his person and his treasury. A terrible, +delicious woman! begotten on a water-demon, people say. I ask no +questions. She is a close and useful friend to me, and through her aid +I hope to go far. You see that I am frank. It is my nature." The bishop +shrugged. "In a phrase, I accepted the Vicomte de Puysange, although it +was necessary, of course, to keep an eye upon your comings in and your +goings out, as you now see. And until this the imposture amused me. But +this"--his hand waved toward the _Tranchemer_--"this, my fair friends, +is past a jest." + +"You talk and talk," cried Perion, "while I reflect that I love the +fairest lady who at any time has had life upon earth." + +"The proof of your affection," the bishop returned, "is, if you will +permit the observation, somewhat extraordinary. For you propose, I +gather, to make of her a camp-follower, a soldier's drab. Come, come, +messire! you and I are conversant with warfare as it is. Armies do not +conduct encounters by throwing sugar-candy at one another. What home +have you, a landless man, to offer Melicent? What place is there for +Melicent among your Free Companions?" + +"Oh, do I not know that!" said Perion. He turned to Melicent, and long +and long they gazed upon each other. + +"Ignoble as I am," said Perion, "I never dreamed to squire an angel +down toward the mire and filth which for a while as yet must be my +kennel. I go. I go alone. Do you bid me return?" + +The girl was perfectly calm. She took a ring of diamonds from her hand, +and placed it on his little finger, because the others were too large. + +"While life endures I pledge you faith and service, Perion. There is no +need to speak of love." + +"There is no need," he answered. "Oh, does God think that I will live +without you!" + +"I suppose they will give me to King Theodoret. The terrible old man +has set my body as the only price that will buy him off from ravaging +Poictesme, and he is stronger in the field than Emmerick. Emmerick is +afraid of him, and Ayrart here has need of the King's friendship in +order to become a cardinal. So my kinsmen must make traffic of my eyes +and lips and hair. But first I wed you, Perion, here in the sight of +God, and I bid you return to me, who am your wife and servitor for ever +now, whatever lesser men may do." + +"I will return," he said. + +Then in a little while she withdrew her lips from his lips. + + +"Cover my face, Ayrart. It may be I shall weep presently. Men must not +see the wife of Perion weep. Cover my face, for he is going now, and I +cannot watch his going." + + + + + +PART TWO + + +MELICENT + +_Of how through love is Melicent upcast +Under a heathen castle at the last: +And how a wicked lord of proud degree, +Demetrios, dwelleth in this country, +Where humbled under him are all mankind: +How to this wretched woman he hath mind, +That fallen is in pagan lands alone, +In point to die, as presently is shown._ + + + + +6. + + +_How Melicent Sought Oversea_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how love began +between Perion of the Forest, who was a captain of mercenaries, and +young Melicent, who was daughter to the great Dom Manuel, and sister to +Count Emmerick of Poictesme. They tell also how Melicent and Perion +were parted, because there was no remedy, and policy demanded she +should wed King Theodoret. + +And the tale tells how Perion sailed with his retainers to seek +desperate service under the harried Kaiser of the Greeks. + +This venture was ill-fated, since, as the Free Companions were passing +not far from Masillia, their vessel being at the time becalmed, they +were attacked by three pagan galleys under the admiralty of the +proconsul Demetrios. Perion's men, who fought so hardily on land, were +novices at sea. They were powerless against an adversary who, from a +great distance, showered liquid fire upon their vessel. + +Then Demetrios sent little boats and took some thirty prisoners from +the blazing ship, and made slaves of all save Ahasuerus the Jew, whom +he released on being informed of the lean man's religion. It was a +customary boast of this Demetrios that he made war on Christians only. + +And presently, as Perion had commanded, Ahasuerus came to Melicent. + +The princess sat in a high chair, the back of which was capped with a +big lion's head in brass. It gleamed above her head, but was less +glorious than her bright hair. + +Ahasuerus made dispassionate report. "Thus painfully I have delivered, +as my task was, these fine messages concerning Faith and Love and Death +and so on. Touching their rationality I may reserve my own opinion. I +am merely Perion's echo. Do I echo madness? This madman was my loved +and honoured master once, a lord without any peer in the fields where +men contend in battle. To-day those sinews which preserved a throne are +dedicated to the transportation of luggage. Grant it is laughable. I do +not laugh." + +"And I lack time to weep," said Melicent. + +So, when the Jew had told his tale and gone, young Melicent arose and +went into a chamber painted with the histories of Jason and Medea, +where her brother Count Emmerick hid such jewels as had not many equals +in Christendom. + +She did not hesitate. She took no thought for her brother, she did not +remember her loved sisters: Ettarre and Dorothy were their names, and +they also suffered for their beauty, and for the desire it quickened in +the hearts of men. Melicent knew only that Perion was in captivity and +might not look for aid from any person living save herself. + +She gathered in a blue napkin such emeralds as would ransom a pope. She +cut short her marvellous hair and disguised herself in all things as a +man, and under cover of the ensuing night slipped from the castle. At +Manneville she found a Venetian ship bound homeward with a cargo of +swords and armour. + +She hired herself to the captain of this vessel as a servant, calling +herself Jocelin Gaignars. She found no time--wherein to be afraid or to +grieve for the estate she was relinquishing, so long as Perion lay in +danger. + +Thus the young Jocelin, though not without hardship and odd by-ends of +adventure here irrelevant, came with time's course into a land of +sunlight and much wickedness where Perion was. + +There the boy found in what fashion Perion was living and won the +dearly purchased misery of seeing him, from afar, in his deplorable +condition, as Perion went through the outer yard of Nacumera laden with +chains and carrying great logs toward the kitchen. This befell when +Jocelin had come into the hill country, where the eyrie of Demetrios +blocked a crag-hung valley as snugly as a stone chokes a gutter-pipe. + +Young Jocelin had begged an audience of this heathen lord and had +obtained it--though Jocelin did not know as much--with ominous +facility. + + + + +7. + + +_How Perion Was Freed_ + +Demetrios lay on a divan within the Court of Stars, through which you +passed from the fortress into the Women's Garden and the luxurious +prison where he kept his wives. This court was circular in form and was +paved with red and yellow slabs, laid alternately, like a chess-board. +In the centre was a fountain, which cast up a tall thin jet of water. A +gallery extended around the place, supported by columns that had been +painted scarlet and were gilded with fantastic designs. The walls were +of the colour of claret and were adorned with golden cinquefoils +regularly placed. From a distance they resembled stars, and so gave the +enclosure its name. + +Demetrios lay upon a long divan which was covered with crimson, and +which encircled the court entirely, save for the apertures of the two +entrances. Demetrios was of burly person, which he by ordinary, as +to-day, adorned resplendently; of a stature little above the common +size, and disproportionately broad as to his chest and shoulders. It +was rumoured that he could bore an apple through with his forefinger +and had once killed a refractory horse with a blow of his naked fist; +nor looking on the man, did you presume to question the report. His +eyes were large and insolent, coloured like onyxes; for the rest, he +had a handsome surly face which was disfigured by pimples. + +He did not speak at all while Jocelin explained that his errand was to +ransom Perion. Then, "At what price?" Demetrios said, without any sign +of interest; and Jocelin, with many encomiums, displayed his emeralds. + +"Ay, they are well enough," Demetrios agreed. "But then I have a +superfluity of jewels." + +He raised himself a little among the cushions, and in this moving the +figured golden stuff in which he was clothed heaved and glittered like +the scales of a splendid monster. He leisurely unfastened the great +chrysoberyl, big as a hen's egg, which adorned his fillet. + +"Look you, this is of a far more beautiful green than any of your +trinkets, I think it is as valuable also, because of its huge size. +Moreover, it turns red by lamplight--red as blood. That is an admirable +colour. And yet I do not value it. I think I do not value anything. So +I will make you a gift of this big coloured pebble, if you desire it, +because your ignorance amuses me. Most people know Demetrios is not a +merchant. He does not buy and sell. That which he has he keeps, and +that which he desires he takes." + +The boy was all despair. He did not speak. He was very handsome as he +stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and +gold. + +"You do not value my poor chrysoberyl? You value your friend more? It +is a page out of Theocritos--'when there were golden men of old, when +friends gave love for love.' And yet I could have sworn--Come now, a +wager," purred Demetrios. "Show your contempt of this bauble to be as +great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for +the next passer-by to pick up, and I will credit your sincerity. Do +that and I will even name my price for Perion." + +The boy obeyed him without hesitation. Turning, he saw the horrid +change in the intent eyes of Demetrios, and quailed before it. But +instantly that flare of passion flickered out. + +Demetrios gently said: + +"A bargain is a bargain. My wives are beautiful, but their caresses +annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. I have long thought it +would perhaps amuse me if I possessed a Christian wife who had eyes +like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. A man tires +very soon of ebony and amber.... Procure me such a wife and I will +willingly release this Perion and all his fellows who are yet alive." + +"But, seignior,"--and the boy was shaken now,--"you demand of me an +impossibility!" + +"I am so hardy as to think not. And my reason is that a man throws from +the elbow only, but a woman with her whole arm." + +There fell a silence now. + +"Why, look you, I deal fairly, though. Were such a woman here-- +Demetrios of Anatolia's guest--I verily believe I would not hinder her +departure, as I might easily do. For there is not a person within many +miles of this place who considers it wholesome to withstand me. Yet +were this woman purchasable, I would purchase. And--if she refused--I +would not hinder her departure; but very certainly I would put Perion +to the Torment of the Waterdrops. It is so droll to see a man go mad +before your eyes, I think that I would laugh and quite forget the +woman." + +She said, "O God, I cry to You for justice!" + +He answered: + +"My good girl, in Nacumera the wishes of Demetrios are justice. But we +waste time. You desire to purchase one of my belongings? So be it. I +will hear your offer." + +Just once her hands had gripped each other. Her arms fell now as if +they had been drained of life. She spoke in a dull voice. + +"Seignior, I offer Melicent who was a princess. I cry a price, +seignior, for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's tender body +without any blemish. I cry a price for youth and happiness and honour. +These you may have for playthings, seignior, with everything which I +possess, except my heart, for that is dead." + +Demetrios asked, "Is this true speech?" + +She answered: + +"It is as sure as Love and Death. I know that nothing is more sure than +these, and I praise God for my sure knowledge." + +He chuckled, saying, "Platitudes break no bones." + +So on the next day the chains were filed from Perion de la Forêt and +all his fellows, save the nine unfortunates whom Demetrios had +appointed to fight with lions a month before this, when he had +entertained the Soldan of Bacharia. These men were bathed and perfumed +and richly clad. + +A galley of the proconsul's fleet conveyed them toward Christendom and +set the twoscore slaves of yesterday ashore not far from Megaris. The +captain of the galley on departure left with Perion a blue napkin, +wherein were wrapped large emeralds and a bit of parchment. + +Upon this parchment was written: + +"Not these, but the body of Melicent, who was once a princess, +purchased your bodies. Yet these will buy you ships and men and swords +with which to storm my house where Melicent now is. Come if you will +and fight with Demetrios of Anatolia for that brave girl who loved a +porter as all loyal men should love their Maker and customarily do not. +I think it would amuse us." + +Then Perion stood by the languid sea which +severed him from Melicent and cried: + +"O God, that hast permitted this hard bargain, trade now with me! now +barter with me, O Father of us all! That which a man has I will give." + +Thus he waited in the clear sunlight, with no more wavering in his face +than you may find in the next statue's face. Both hands strained toward +the blue sky, as though he made a vow. If so, he did not break it. + +And now no more of Perion. + + * * * * * + +At the same hour young Melicent, wrapped all about with a +flame-coloured veil and crowned with marjoram, was led by a spruce boy +toward a threshold, over which Demetrios lifted her, while many people +sang in a strange tongue. And then she paid her ransom. + +"Hymen, O Hymen!" they sang. "Do thou of many names and many temples, +golden Aphrodite, be propitious to this bridal! Now let him first +compute the glittering stars of midnight and the grasshoppers of a +summer day who would count the joys this bridal shall bring about! Hymen, +O Hymen, rejoice thou in this bridal!" + + + + +8. + + +_How Demetrios Was Amused_ + +Now Melicent abode in the house of Demetrios, whom she had not seen +since the morning after he had wedded her. A month had passed. As yet +she could not understand the language of her fellow prisoners, but +Halaon, a eunuch who had once served a cardinal in Tuscany, informed +her the proconsul was in the West Provinces, where an invading force +had landed under Ranulph de Meschines. + +A month had passed. She woke one night from dreams of Perion--what else +should women dream of?--and found the same Ahasuerus that had brought +her news of Perion's captivity, so long ago, attendant at her bedside. + +He seemed a prey to some half-scornful mirth. In speech, at least, the +man was of entire discretion. "The Splendour of the World desires your +presence, madame." Thus the Jew blandly spoke. + +She cried, aghast at so much treachery, "You had planned this!" + +He answered: + +"I plan always. Oh, certainly, I must weave always as the spider +does.... Meanwhile time passes. I, like you, am now the servitor of +Demetrios. I am his factor now at Calonak. I buy and sell. I estimate +ounces. I earn my wages. Who forbids it?" Here the Jew shrugged. "And +to conclude, the Splendour of the World desires your presence, madame." + +He seemed to get much joy of this mouth-filling periphrasis as +sneeringly he spoke of their common master. + + * * * * * + +Now Melicent, in a loose robe of green Coan stuff shot through and +through with a radiancy like that of copper, followed the thin, smiling +Jew Ahasuerus. She came thus with bare feet into the Court of Stars, +where the proconsul lay on the divan as though he had not ever moved +from there. To-night he was clothed in scarlet, and barbaric ornaments +dangled from his pierced ears. These glittered now that his head moved +a little as he silently dismissed Ahasuerus from the Court of Stars. + +Real stars were overhead, so brilliant and (it seemed) so near they +turned the fountain's jet into a spurt of melting silver. The moon was +set, but there was a flaring lamp of iron, high as a man's shoulder, +yonder where Demetrios lay. + +"Stand close to it, my wife," said the proconsul, "in order that I may +see my newest purchase very clearly." + +She obeyed him; and she esteemed the sacrifice, however unendurable, +which bought for Perion the chance to serve God and his love for her by +valorous and commendable actions to be no cause for grief. + +"I think with those old men who sat upon the walls of Troy," Demetrios +said, and he laughed because his voice had shaken a little. "Meanwhile +I have returned from crucifying a hundred of your fellow worshippers," +Demetrios continued. His speech had an odd sweetness. "Ey, yes, I +conquered at Yroga. It was a good fight. My horse's hoofs were red at +its conclusion. My surviving opponents I consider to have been +deplorable fools when they surrendered, for people die less painfully +in battle. There was one fellow, a Franciscan monk, who hung six hours +upon a palm tree, always turning his head from one side to the other. +It was amusing." + +She answered nothing. + +"And I was wondering always how I would feel were you nailed in his +place. It was curious I should have thought of you.... But your white +flesh is like the petals of a flower. I suppose it is as readily +destructible. I think you would not long endure." + +"I pray God hourly that I may not!" said tense Melicent. + +He was pleased to have wrung one cry of anguish from this lovely +effigy. He motioned her to him and laid one hand upon her naked breast. +He gave a gesture of distaste. + +Demetrios said: + +"No, you are not afraid. However, you are very beautiful. I thought +that you would please me more when your gold hair had grown a trifle +longer. There is nothing in the world so beautiful as golden hair. Its +beauty weathers even the commendation of poets." + +No power of motion seemed to be in this white girl, but certainly you +could detect no fear. Her clinging robe shone like an opal in the +lamplight, her body, only partly veiled, was enticing, and her visage +was very lovely. Her wide-open eyes implored you, but only as those of +a trapped animal beseech the mercy for which it does not really hope. +Thus Melicent waited in the clear lamplight, with no more wavering in +her face than you may find in the next statue's face. + +In the man's heart woke now some comprehension of the nature of her +love for Perion, of that high and alien madness which dared to make of +Demetrios of Anatolia's will an unavoidable discomfort, and no more. +The prospect was alluring. The proconsul began to chuckle as water +pours from a jar, and the gold in his ears twinkled. + +"Decidedly I shall get much mirth of you. Go back to your own rooms. I +had thought the world afforded no adversary and no game worthy of +Demetrios. I have found both. Therefore, go back to your own rooms," he +gently said. + + + + +9. + + +_How Time Sped in Heathenry_ + +On the next day Melicent was removed to more magnificent apartments, +and she was lodged in a lofty and spacious pavilion, which had three +porticoes builded of marble and carved teakwood and Andalusian copper. +Her rooms were spread with gold-worked carpets and hung with tapestries +and brocaded silks figured with all manner of beasts and birds in their +proper colours. Such was the girl's home now, where only happiness was +denied to her. Many slaves attended Melicent, and she lacked for +nothing in luxury and riches and things of price; and thereafter she +abode at Nacumera, to all appearances, as the favourite among the +proconsul's wives. + +It must be recorded of Demetrios that henceforth he scrupulously +demurred even to touch her. "I have purchased your body," he proudly +said, "and I have taken seizin. I find I do not care for anything which +can be purchased." + +It may be that the man was never sane; it is indisputable that the +mainspring of his least action was an inordinate pride. Here he had +stumbled upon something which made of Demetrios of Anatolia a temporary +discomfort, and which bedwarfed the utmost reach of his ill-doing into +equality with the molestations of a house-fly; and perception of this +fact worked in Demetrios like a poisonous ferment. To beg or once again +to pillage he thought equally unworthy of himself. "Let us have +patience!" It was not easily said so long as this fair Frankish woman +dared to entertain a passion which Demetrios could not comprehend, and +of which Demetrios was, and knew himself to be, incapable. + +A connoisseur of passions, he resented such belittlement tempestuously; +and he heaped every luxury upon Melicent, because, as he assured +himself, the heart of every woman is alike. + +He had his theories, his cunning, and, chief of all, an appreciation of +her beauty, as his abettors. She had her memories and her clean heart. +They duelled thus accoutred. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. Upon no less than three occasions did Callistion-- +the first wife of the proconsul and the mother of his elder son-- +attempt the life of Melicent; and thrice Demetrios spared the woman at +Melicent's entreaty. For Melicent (since she loved Perion) could +understand that it was love of Demetrios, rather than hate of her, +which drove the Dacian virago to extremities. + +Then one day about noon Demetrios came unheralded into Melicent's +resplendent prison. Through an aisle of painted pillars he came to her, +striding with unwonted quickness, glittering as he moved. His robe this +day was scarlet, the colour he chiefly affected. Gold glowed upon his +forehead, gold dangled from his ears, and about his throat was a broad +collar of gold and rubies. At his side was a cross-handled sword, in a +scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented. + +"Give thanks, my wife," Demetrios said, "that you are beautiful. For +beauty was ever the spur of valour." Then quickly, joyously, he told +her of how a fleet equipped by the King of Cyprus had been despatched +against the province of Demetrios, and of how among the invaders were +Perion of the Forest and his Free Companions. "Ey, yes, my porter has +returned. I ride instantly for the coast to greet him with appropriate +welcome. I pray heaven it is no sluggard or weakling that is come out +against me." + +Proudly, Melicent replied: + +"There comes against you a champion of noted deeds, a courteous and +hardy gentleman, pre-eminent at swordplay. There was never any man more +ready than Perion to break a lance or shatter a shield, or more eager +to succour the helpless and put to shame all cowards and traitors." + +Demetrios dryly said: + +"I do not question that the virtues of my porter are innumerable. +Therefore we will not attempt to catalogue them. Now Ahasuerus reports +that even before you came to tempt me with your paltry emeralds you +once held the life of Perion in your hands?" Demetrios unfastened his +sword. He grasped the hand of Melicent, and laid it upon the scabbard. +"And what do you hold now, my wife? You hold the death of Perion. I +take the antithesis to be neat." + +She answered nothing. Her seeming indifference angered him. Demetrios +wrenched the sword from its scabbard, with a hard violence that made +Melicent recoil. He showed the blade all covered with graved symbols of +which she could make nothing. + +"This is Flamberge," said the proconsul; "the weapon which was the +pride and bane of my father, famed Miramon Lluagor, because it was the +sword which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for unconquerable +Charlemagne. Clerks declare it is a magic weapon and that the man who +wields it is always unconquerable. I do not know. I think it is as +difficult to believe in sorcery as it is to be entirely sure that all +we know is not the sorcery of a drunken wizard. I very potently +believe, however, that with this sword I shall kill Perion." + +Melicent had plenty of patience, but astonishingly little, it seemed, +for this sort of speech. "I think that you talk foolishly, seignior. +And, other matters apart, it is manifest that you yourself concede +Perion to be the better swordsman, since you require to be abetted by +sorcery before you dare to face him." + +"So, so!" Demetrios said, in a sort of grinding whisper, "you think +that I am not the equal of this long-legged fellow! You would think +otherwise if I had him here. You will think otherwise when I have +killed him with my naked hands. Oh, very soon you will think +otherwise." + +He snarled, rage choking him, flung the sword at her feet and quitted +her without any leave-taking. He had ridden three miles from Nacumera +before he began to laugh. He perceived that Melicent at least respected +sorcery, and had tricked him out of Flamberge by playing upon his +tetchy vanity. Her adroitness pleased him. + +Demetrios did not laugh when he found the Christian fleet had been +ingloriously repulsed at sea by the Emir of Arsuf, and had never +effected a landing. Demetrios picked a quarrel with the victorious +admiral and killed the marplot in a public duel, but that was +inadequate comfort. + +"However," the proconsul reassured himself, "if my wife reports at all +truthfully as to this Perion's nature it is certain that this Perion +will come again." Then Demetrios went into the sacred grove upon the +hillsides south of Quesiton and made an offering of myrtle-branches, +rose-leaves and incense to Aphrodite of Colias. + + + + +10. + + +_How Demetrios Wooed_ + +Ahasuerus came and went at will. Nothing was known concerning this +soft-treading furtive man except by the proconsul, who had no +confidants. By his decree Ahasuerus was an honoured guest at Nacumera. +And always the Jew's eyes when Melicent was near him were as +expressionless as the eyes of a snake, which do not ever change. + +Once she told Demetrios that she feared Ahasuerus. + +"But I do not fear him, Melicent, though I have larger reason. For I +alone of all men living know the truth concerning this same Jew. +Therefore, it amuses me to think that he, who served my wizard father +in a very different fashion, is to-day my factor and ciphers over my +accounts." + +Demetrios laughed, and had the Jew summoned. + +This was in the Women's Garden, where the proconsul sat with Melicent +in a little domed pavilion of stone-work which was gilded with red gold +and crowned with a cupola of alabaster. Its pavement was of transparent +glass, under which were clear running waters wherein swam red and +yellow fish. + +Demetrios said: + +"It appears that you are a formidable person, Ahasuerus. My wife here +fears you." + +"Splendour of the Age," returned Ahasuerus, quietly, "it is notorious +that women have long hair and short wits. There is no need to fear a +Jew. The Jew, I take it, was created in order that children might +evince their playfulness by stoning him, the honest show their +common-sense by robbing him, and the religious display their piety by +burning him. Who forbids it?" + +"Ey, but my wife is a Christian and in consequence worships a Jew." +Demetrios reflected. His dark eyes twinkled. "What is your opinion +concerning this other Jew, Ahasuerus?" + +"I know that He was the Messiah, Lord." + +"And yet you do not worship Him." + +The Jew said: + +"It was not altogether worship He desired. He asked that men should +love Him. He does not ask love of me." + +"I find that an obscure saying," Demetrios considered. + +"It is a true saying, King of Kings. In time it will be made plain. +That time is not yet come. I used to pray it would come soon. Now I do +not pray any longer. I only wait." + +Demetrios tugged at his chin, his eyes narrowed, meditating. He +laughed. + +Demetrios said: + +"It is no affair of mine. What am I that I am called upon to have +prejudices concerning the universe? It is highly probable there are +gods of some sort or another, but I do not so far flatter myself as to +consider that any possible god would be at all interested in my opinion +of him. In any event, I am Demetrios. Let the worst come, and in +whatever baleful underworld I find myself imprisoned I shall maintain +myself there in a manner not unworthy of Demetrios." The proconsul +shrugged at this point. "I do not find you amusing, Ahasuerus. You may +go." + +"I hear, and I obey," the Jew replied. He went away patiently. + +Then Demetrios turned toward Melicent, rejoicing that his chattel had +golden hair and was comely beyond comparison with all other women he +had ever seen. + +Said Demetrios: + +"I love you, Melicent, and you do not love me. Do not be offended +because my speech is harsh, for even though I know my candour is +distasteful I must speak the truth. You have been obdurate too long, +denying Kypris what is due to her. I think that your brain is giddy +because of too much exulting in the magnificence of your body and in +the number of men who have desired it to their own hurt. I concede your +beauty, yet what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"I admit that my refrain is old. But it will presently take on a more +poignant meaning, because a hundred years from now you--even you, dear +Melicent!--and all the loveliness which now causes me to estimate life +as a light matter in comparison with your love, will be only a bone or +two. Your lustrous eyes, which are now more beautiful than it is +possible to express, will be unsavoury holes and a worm will crawl +through them; and what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"A hundred years from now should anyone break open our gilded tomb, he +will find Melicent to be no more admirable than Demetrios. One skull is +like another, and is as lightly split with a mattock. You will be as +ugly as I, and nobody will be thinking of your eyes and hair. Hail, +rain and dew will drench us both impartially when I lie at your side, +as I intend to do, for a hundred years and yet another hundred years. +You need not frown, for what will it matter a hundred years from now? + +"Melicent, I offer love and a life that derides the folly of all other +manners of living; and even if you deny me, what will it matter a +hundred years from now?" + +His face was contorted, his speech had fervent bitterness, for even +while he wooed this woman the man internally was raging over his own +infatuation. + +And Melicent answered: + +"There can be no question of love between us, seignior. You purchased +my body. My body is at your disposal under God's will." + +Demetrios sneered, his ardours cooled. He said, "I have already told +you, my girl, I do not care for that which can be purchased." + +In such fashion Melicent abode among these odious persons as a lily +which is rooted in mire. She was a prisoner always, and when Demetrios +came to Nacumera--which fell about irregularly, for now arose much +fighting between the Christians and the pagans--a gem which he uncased, +admired, curtly exulted in, and then, jeering at those hot wishes in +his heart, locked up untouched when he went back to warfare. + +To her the man was uniformly kind, if with a sort of sneer she could +not understand; and he pillaged an infinity of Genoese and Venetian +ships--which were notoriously the richest laden--of jewels, veils, +silks, furs, embroideries and figured stuffs, wherewith to enhance the +comeliness of Melicent. It seemed an all-engulfing madness with this +despot daily to aggravate his fierce desire of her, to nurture his +obsession, so that he might glory in the consciousness of treading down +no puny adversary. + +Pride spurred him on as witches ride their dupes to a foreknown +destruction. "Let us have patience," he would say. + +Meanwhile his other wives peered from screened alcoves at these two and +duly hated Melicent. "Let us have patience!" they said, also, but with +a meaning that was more sinister. + + + + + +PART THREE + + +DEMETRIOS + +_Of how Dame Melicent's fond lovers go +As comrades, working each his fellow's woe: +Each hath unhorsed the other of the twain, +And knoweth that nowhither 'twixt Ukraine +And Ormus roameth any lion's son +More eager in the hunt than Perion, +Nor any viper's sire more venomous +Through jealous hurt than is Demetrios._ + + + + +11. + + +_How Time Sped with Perion_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling of what befell +Perion de la Forêt after he had been ransomed out of heathenry. They +tell how he took service with the King of Cyprus. And the tale tells +how the King of Cyprus was defeated at sea by the Emir of Arsuf; and +how Perion came unhurt from that battle, and by land relieved the +garrison at Japhe, and was ennobled therefor; and was afterward called +the Comte de la Forêt. + +Then the King of Cyprus made peace with heathendom, and Perion left +him. Now Perion's skill in warfare was leased to whatsoever lord would +dare contend against Demetrios and the proconsul's magic sword +Flamberge: and Perion of the Forest did not inordinately concern +himself as to the merits of any quarrel because of which battalions +died, so long as he fought toward Melicent. Demetrios was pleased, and +thrilled with the heroic joy of an athlete who finds that he +unwittingly has grappled with his equal. + +So the duel between these two dragged on with varying fortunes, and the +years passed, and neither duellist had conquered as yet. Then King +Theodoret, third of that name to rule, and once (as you have heard) a +wooer of Dame Melicent, declared a crusade; and Perion went to him at +Lacre Kai. It was in making this journey, they say, that Perion passed +through Pseudopolis, and had speech there with Queen Helen, the delight +of gods and men: and Perion conceded this Queen was well-enough to look +at. + +"She reminds me, indeed, of that Dame Melicent whom I serve in this +world, and trust to serve in Paradise," said Perion. "But Dame Melicent +has a mole on her left cheek." + +"That is a pity," said an attendant lord. "A mole disfigures a pretty +woman." + +"I was speaking, messire, of Dame Melicent." + +"Even so," the lord replied, "a mole is a blemish." + +"I cannot permit these observations," said Perion. So they fought, and +Perion killed his opponent, and left Pseudopolis that afternoon. + +Such was Perion's way. + +He came unhurt to King Theodoret, who at once recognised in the famous +Comte de la Forêt the former Vicomte de Puysange, but gave no sign of +such recognition. + +"Heaven chooses its own instruments," the pious King reflected: "and +this swaggering Comte de la Forêt, who affects so many names has also +the name of being a warrior without any peer in Christendom. Let us +first conquer this infamous proconsul, this adversary of our Redeemer, +and then we shall see. It may be that heaven will then permit me to +detect this Comte de la Forêt in some particularly abominable heresy. +For this long-legged ruffian looks like a schismatic, and would +singularly grace a rack." + +So King Theodoret kissed Perion upon both cheeks, and created him +generalissimo of King Theodoret's forces. It was upon St. George's day +that Perion set sail with thirty-four ships of great dimensions and +admirable swiftness. + +"Do you bring me back Demetrios in chains," said the King, fondling +Perion at parting, "and all that I have is yours." + +"I mean to bring back my stolen wife, Dame Melicent," was Perion's +reply: "and if I can manage it I shall also bring you this Demetrios, +in return for lending me these ships and soldiers." + +"Do you think," the King asked, peevishly, "that monarchs nowadays fit +out armaments to replevin a woman who is no longer young, and who was +always stupid?" + +"I cannot permit these observations--" said Perion. + +Theodoret hastily explained that his was merely a general observation, +without any personal bearing. + + + + +12. + + +_How Demetrios Was Taken_ + +Thus it was that war awoke and raged about the province of Demetrios as +tirelessly as waves lapped at its shores. + +Then, after many ups and downs of carnage,[1: Nicolas de Caen gives +here a minute account of the military and naval evolutions, with a +fullness that verges upon prolixity. It appears expedient to omit all +this.] Perion surprised the galley of Demetrios while the proconsul +slept at anchor in his own harbour of Quesiton. Demetrios fought +nakedly against accoutred soldiers and had killed two of them with his +hands before he could be quieted by an admiring Perion. + +Demetrios by Perion's order was furnished with a sword of ordinary +attributes, and Perion ridded himself of all defensive armour. The two +met like an encounter of tempests, and in the outcome Demetrios was +wounded so that he lay insensible. + +Demetrios was taken as a prisoner toward the domains of King Theodoret. + +"Only you are my private capture," said Perion; "conquered by my own +hand and in fair fight. Now I am unwilling to insult the most valiant +warrior whom I have known by valuing him too cheaply, and I accordingly +fix your ransom as the person of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios bit his nails. + +"Needs must," he said at last. "It is unnecessary to inform you that +when my property is taken from me I shall endeavour to regain it. I +shall, before the year is out, lay waste whatever kingdom it is that +harbours you. Meanwhile I warn you it is necessary to be speedy in this +ransoming. My other wives abhor the Frankish woman who has supplanted +them in my esteem. My son Orestes, who succeeds me, will be guided by +his mother. Callistion has thrice endeavoured to kill Melicent. If any +harm befalls me, Callistion to all intent will reign in Nacumera, and +she will not be satisfied with mere assassination. I cannot guess what +torment Callistion will devise, but it will be no child's play--" + +"Hah, infamy!" cried Perion. He had learned long ago how cunning the +heathen were in such cruelties, and so he shuddered. + +Demetrios was silent. He, too, was frightened, because this despot +knew--and none knew better--that in his lordly house far oversea +Callistion would find equipment for a hundred curious tortures. + +"It has been difficult for me to tell you this," Demetrios then said, +"because it savours of an appeal to spare me. I think you will have +gleaned, however, from our former encounters, that I am not +unreasonably afraid of death. Also I think that you love Melicent. For +the rest, there is no person in Nacumera so untutored as to cross my +least desire until my death is triply proven. Accordingly, I who am +Demetrios am willing to entreat an oath that you will not permit +Theodoret to kill me." + +"I swear by God and all the laws of Rome--" cried Perion. + +"Ey, but I am not very popular in Rome," Demetrios interrupted. "I +would prefer that you swore by your love for Melicent. I would prefer +an oath which both of us may understand, and I know of none other." + +So Perion swore as Demetrios requested, and set about the conveyance of +Demetrios into King Theodoret's realm. + + + + +13. + + +_How They Praised Melicent_ + +The conqueror and the conquered sat together upon the prow of Perion's +ship. It was a warm, clear night, so brilliant that the stars were +invisible. Perion sighed. Demetrios inquired the reason. Perion said: + +"It is the memory of a fair and noble lady, Messire Demetrios, that +causes me to heave a sigh from my inmost heart. I cannot forget that +loveliness which had no parallel. Pardieu, her eyes were amethysts, her +lips were red as the berries of a holly tree. Her hair blazed in the +light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than milk; +the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch than +were her hands. There was never any person more delightful to gaze +upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love and +service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios gave his customary lazy shrug. Demetrios said: + +"She is still a brightly-coloured creature, moves gracefully, has a +sweet, drowsy voice, and is as soft to the touch as rabbit's fur. +Therefore, it is imperative that one of us must cut the other's throat. +The deduction is perfectly logical. Yet I do not know that my love for +her is any greater than my hatred. I rage against her patient tolerance +of me, and I am often tempted to disfigure, mutilate, even to destroy +this colourful, stupid woman, who makes me wofully ridiculous in my own +eyes. I shall be happier when death has taken the woman who ventures to +deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"When I first saw Dame Melicent the sea was languid, as if outworn by +vain endeavours to rival the purple of her eyes. Sea-birds were adrift +in the air, very close to her and their movements were less graceful +than hers. She was attired in a robe of white silk, and about her +wrists were heavy bands of silver. A tiny wind played truant in order +to caress her unplaited hair, because the wind was more hardy than I, +and dared to love her. I did not think of love, I thought only of the +noble deeds I might have done and had not done. I thought of my +unworthiness, and it seemed to me that my soul writhed like an eel in +sunlight, a naked, despicable thing, that was unworthy to render any +love and service to Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"When I first saw the girl she knew herself entrapped, her body mine, +her life dependent on my whim. She waved aside such petty +inconveniences, bade them await an hour when she had leisure to +consider them, because nothing else was of any importance so long as my +porter went in chains. I was an obstacle to her plans and nothing more; +a pebble in her shoe would have perturbed her about as much as I did. +Here at last, I thought, is genuine common-sense--a clear-headed +decision as to your actual desire, apart from man-taught ethics, and +fearless purchase of your desire at any cost. There is something not +unakin to me, I reflected, in the girl who ventures to deal in this +fashion with Demetrios." + +Said Perion: + +"Since she permits me to serve her, I may not serve unworthily. +To-morrow I shall set new armies afield. To-morrow it will delight me +to see their tents rise in your meadows, Messire Demetrios, and to see +our followers meet in clashing combat, by hundreds and thousands, so +mightily that men will sing of it when we are gone. To-morrow one of us +must kill the other. To-night we drink our wine in amity. I have not +time to hate you, I have not time to like or dislike any living person, +I must devote all faculties that heaven gave me to the love +and service of Dame Melicent." + +Demetrios said: + +"To-night we babble to the stars and dream vain dreams as other fools +have done before us. To-morrow rests--perhaps--with heaven; but, depend +upon it, Messire de la Forêt, whatever we may do to-morrow will be +foolishly performed, because we are both besotted by bright eyes and +lips and hair. I trust to find our antics laughable. Yet there is that +in me which is murderous when I reflect that you and she do not dislike +me. It is the distasteful truth that neither of you considers me to be +worth the trouble. I find such conduct irritating, because no other +persons have ever ventured to deal in this fashion with Demetrios." + +"Demetrios, already your antics are laughable, for you pass blindly by +the revelation of heaven's splendour in heaven's masterwork; you ignore +the miracle; and so do you find only the stings of the flesh where I +find joy in rendering love and service to Dame Melicent." + +"Perion, it is you that play the fool, in not recognising that heaven +is inaccessible and doubtful. But clearer eyes perceive the not at all +doubtful dullness of wit, and the gratifying accessibility of every +woman when properly handled,--yes, even of her who dares to deal in +this fashion with Demetrios." + +Thus they would sit together, nightly, upon the prow of Perion's ship +and speak against each other in the manner of a Tenson, as these two +rhapsodised of Melicent until the stars grew lustreless before the sun. + + + + +14. + + +_How Perion Braved Theodoret_ + +The city of Megaris (then Theodoret's capital) was ablaze with bonfires +on the night that the Comte de la Forêt entered it at the head of his +forces. Demetrios, meanly clothed, his hands tied behind him, trudged +sullenly beside his conqueror's horse. Yet of the two the gloomier face +showed below the count's coronet, for Perion did not relish the +impendent interview with King Theodoret. They came thus amid much +shouting to the Hôtel d'Ebelin, their assigned quarters, and slept +there. + +Next morning, about the hour of prime, two men-at-arms accompanied a +fettered Demetrios into the presence of King Theodoret. Perion of the +Forest preceded them. He pardonably swaggered, in spite of his +underlying uneasiness, for this last feat, as he could not ignore, was +a performance which Christendom united to applaud. + +They came thus into a spacious chamber, very inadequately lighted. The +walls were unhewn stone. There was but one window, of uncoloured glass; +and it was guarded by iron bars. The floor was bare of rushes. On one +side was a bed with tattered hangings of green, which were adorned with +rampant lions worked in silver thread much tarnished; to the right hand +stood a _prie-dieu_. Between these isolated articles of furniture, and +behind an unpainted table sat, in a high-backed chair, a wizen and +shabbily-clad old man. This was Theodoret, most pious and penurious of +monarchs. In attendance upon him were Fra Battista, prior of the Grey +Monks, and Melicent's near kinsman, once the Bishop, now the Cardinal, +de Montors, who, as was widely known, was the actual monarch of this +realm. The latter was smartly habited as a cavalier and showed in +nothing like a churchman. + +The infirm King arose and came to meet the champion who had performed +what many generals of Christendom had vainly striven to achieve. He +embraced the conqueror of Demetrios as one does an equal. + +Said Theodoret: + +"Hail, my fair friend! you who have lopped the right arm of heathenry! +To-day, I know, the saints hold festival in heaven. I cannot recompense +you, since God alone is omnipotent. Yet ask now what you will, short of +my crown, and it is yours." The old man kissed the chief of all his +treasures, a bit of the True Cross, which hung upon his breast +supported by a chain of gold. + +"The King has spoken," Perion returned. "I ask the life of Demetrios." + +Theodoret recoiled, like a small flame which is fluttered by its +kindler's breath. He cackled thinly, saying: + +"A jest or so is privileged in this high hour. Yet we ought not to make +a jest of matters which concern the Church. Am I not right, Ayrart? Oh, +no, this merciless Demetrios is assuredly that very Antichrist whose +coming was foretold. I must relinquish him to Mother Church, in order +that he may be equitably tried, and be baptised--since even he may have +a soul--and afterward be burned in the market-place." + +"The King has spoken," Perion replied. "I too have spoken." + +There was a pause of horror upon the part of King Theodoret. He was at +first in a mere whirl. Theodoret said: + +"You ask, in earnest, for the life of this Demetrios, this arch-foe of +our Redeemer, this spawn of Satan, who has sacked more of my towns than +I have fingers on this wasted hand! Now, now that God has singularly +favoured me--!" Theodoret snarled and gibbered like a frenzied ape, and +had no longer the ability to articulate. + +"Beau sire, I fought the man because he infamously held Dame Melicent, +whom I serve in this world without any reservation, and trust to serve +in Paradise. His person, and this alone, will ransom Melicent." + +"You plan to loose this fiend!" the old King cried. "To stir up all +this butchery again!" + +"Sire, pray recall how long I have loved Melicent. Reflect that if you +slay Demetrios, Dame Melicent will be left destitute in heathenry. +Remember that she will be murdered through the hatred of this man's +other wives whom her inestimable beauty has supplanted." Thus Perion +entreated. + +All this while the cardinal and the proconsul had been appraising each +other. It was as though they two had been the only persons in the +dimly-lit apartment. They had not met before. "Here is my match," +thought each of these two; "here, if the world affords it, is my peer +in cunning and bravery." + +And each lusted for a contest, and with something of mutual +comprehension. + +In consequence they stinted pity for Theodoret, who unfeignedly +believed that whether he kept or broke his recent oath damnation was +inevitable. "You have been ill-advised--" he stammered. "I do not dare +release Demetrios--My soul would answer that enormity--But it was sworn +upon the Cross--Oh, ruin either way! Come now, my gallant captain," the +King barked. "I have gold, lands, and jewels--" + +"Beau sire, I have loved this my dearest lady since the time when both +of us were little more than children, and each day of the year my love +for her has been doubled. What would it avail me to live in however +lofty estate when I cannot daily see the treasure of my life?" + +Now the Cardinal de Montors interrupted, and his voice was to the ear +as silk is to the fingers. + +"Beau sire," said Ayrart de Montors, "I speak in all appropriate +respect. But you have sworn an oath which no man living may presume to +violate." + +"Oh, true, Ayrart!" the fluttered King assented. "This blusterer holds +me as in a vise." He turned to Perion again, fierce, tense and fragile, +like an angered cat. "Choose now! I will make you the wealthiest person +in my realm--My son, I warn you that since Adam's time women have been +the devil's peculiar bait. See now, I am not angry. Heh, I remember, +too, how beautiful she was. I was once tempted much as you are tempted. +So I pardon you. I will give you my daughter Ermengarde in marriage, I +will make you my heir, I will give you half my kingdom--" His voice +rose, quavering; and it died now, for he foreread the damnation of +Theodoret's soul while he fawned before this impassive Perion. + +"Since Love has taken up his abode within my heart," said Perion, +"there has not ever been a vacancy therein for any other thought. How +may I help it if Love recompenses my hospitality by afflicting me with +a desire which can neither subdue the world nor be subdued by it?" + +Theodoret continued like the rustle of dead leaves: + +"--Else I must keep my oath. In that event you may depart with this +unbeliever. I will accord you twenty-four hours wherein to accomplish +this. But, oh, if I lay hands upon either of you within the +twenty-fifth hour I will not kill my prisoner at once. For first I must +devise unheard-of torments--" + +The King's face was not agreeable to look upon. + +Yet Perion encountered it with an untroubled gaze until Battista spoke, +saying: + +"I promise worse. The Book will be cast down, the bells be tolled, and +all the candles snuffed--ah, very soon!" Battista licked his lips, +gingerly, just as a cat does. + +Then Perion was moved, since excommunication is more terrible than +death to any of the Church's loyal children, and he was now more +frightened than the King. And so Perion thought of Melicent a while +before he spoke. + +Said Perion: + +"I choose. I choose hell fire in place of riches and honour, and I +demand the freedom of Demetrios." + +"Go!" the King said. "Go hence, blasphemer. Hah, you will weep for this +in hell. I pray that I may hear you then, and laugh as I do now--" + +He went away, and was followed by Battista, who whispered of a +makeshift. The cardinal remained and saw to it that the chains were +taken from Demetrios. + +"In consequence of Messire de la Forêt's--as I must term it--most +unchristian decision," said the cardinal, "it is not impossible, +Messire the Proconsul, that I may head the next assault upon your +territory--" + +Demetrios laughed. He said: + +"I dare to promise your Eminence that reception you would most enjoy." + +"I had hoped for as much," the cardinal returned; and he too laughed. +To do him justice, he did not know of Battista's makeshift. + +The cardinal remained when they had gone. Seated in a king's chair, +Ayrart de Montors meditated rather wistfully upon that old time when +he, also, had loved Melicent whole-heartedly. It seemed a great while +ago, made him aware of his maturity. + +He had put love out of his life, in common with all other weaknesses +which might conceivably hinder the advancement of Ayrart de Montors. In +consequence, he had climbed far. He was not dissatisfied. It was a +man's business to make his way in the world, and he had done this. + +"My cousin is a brave girl, though," he said aloud, "I must certainly +do what I can to effect her rescue as soon as it is convenient to send +another expedition against Demetrios." + +Then the cardinal set about concoction of a moving sonnet in praise of +Monna Vittoria de' Pazzi. Desperation loaned him extraordinary +eloquence (as he complacently reflected) in addressing this obdurate +woman, who had held out against his love-making for six weeks now. + + + + +15. + + +_How Perion Fought_ + +Demetrios and Perion, by the quick turn of fortune previously recorded, +were allied against all Christendom. They got arms at the Hôtel +d'Ebelin, and they rode out of the city of Megaris, where the bonfires +lighted over-night in Perion's honour were still smouldering, amid loud +execrations. Fra Battista had not delayed to spread the news of King +Theodoret's dilemma. The burghers yelled menaces; but, knowing that an +endeavour to constrain the passage of these champions would prove +unwholesome for at least a dozen of the arrestors, they cannily +confined their malice to a vocal demonstration. + +Demetrios rode unhelmeted, intending that these snarling little people +of Megaris should plainly see the man whom they most feared and hated. + +It was Perion who spoke first. They had passed the city walls, and had +mounted the hill which leads toward the Forest of Sannazaro. Their road +lay through a rocky pass above which the leaves of spring were like +sparse traceries on a blue cupola, for April had not come as yet. + +"I meant," said Perion, "to hold you as the ransom of Dame Melicent. I +fear that is impossible. I, who am a landless man, have neither +servitors nor any castle wherein to retain you as a prisoner. I +earnestly desire to kill you, forthwith, in single combat; but when +your son Orestes knows that you are dead he will, so you report, kill +Melicent. And yet it may be you are lying." + +Perion was of a tall imperious person, and accustomed to command. He +had black hair, grey eyes which challenged you, and a thin pleasant +face which was not pleasant now. + +"You know that I am not a coward--." Demetrios began. + +"Indeed," said Perion, "I believe you to be the hardiest warrior in the +world." + +"Therefore I may without dishonour repeat to you that my death involves +the death of Melicent. Orestes hates her for his mother's sake. I +think, now we have fought so often, that each of us knows I do not fear +death. I grant I had Flamberge to wield, a magic weapon--" Demetrios +shook himself, like a dog coming from the water, for to consider an +extraneous invincibility was nauseous. "However! I who am Demetrios +protest I will not fight with you, that I will accept any insult rather +than risk my life in any quarrel extant, because I know the moment that +Orestes has made certain I am no longer to be feared he will take +vengeance on Dame Melicent." + +"Prove this!" said Perion, and with deliberation he struck Demetrios. +Full in the face he struck the swart proconsul, and in the ensuing +silence you could hear a feeble breeze that strayed about the +tree-tops, but you could hear nothing else. And Perion, strong man, the +willing scourge of heathendom, had half a mind to weep. + +Demetrios had not moved a finger. It was appalling. The proconsul's +countenance had throughout the hue of wood-ashes, but his fixed eyes +were like blown embers. + +"I believe that it is proved," said Demetrios, "since both of us are +still alive." He whispered this. + +"In fact the thing is settled," Perion agreed. "I know that nothing +save your love for Melicent could possibly induce you to decline a +proffered battle. When Demetrios enacts the poltroon I am the most +hasty of all men living to assert that the excellency of his reason is +indisputable. Let us get on! I have only five hundred sequins, but this +will be enough to buy your passage back to Quesiton. And inasmuch as we +are near the coast--" + +"I think some others mean to have a spoon in that broth," Demetrios +returned. "For look, messire!" Perion saw that far beneath them a +company of retainers in white and purple were spurring up the hill. "It +is Duke Sigurd's livery," said Perion. + +Demetrios forthwith interpreted and was amused by their common ruin. He +said, grinning: + +"Pious Theodoret has sworn a truce of twenty-four hours, and in +consequence might not send any of his own lackeys after us. But there +was nothing to prevent the dropping of a hint into the ear of his +brother in-law, because you servitors of Christ excel in these +distinctions." + +"This is hardly an opportunity for theological debate," Perion +considered. "And for the rest, time presses. It is your instant +business to escape." He gave his tiny bag of gold to his chief enemy. +"Make for Narenta. It is a free city and unfriendly to Theodoret. If I +survive I will come presently and fight with you for Melicent." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Demetrios equably returned. "Am I the +person to permit the man whom I most hate--you who have struck me and +yet live!--to fight alone against some twenty adversaries! Oh, no, I +shall remain, since after all, there are only twenty." + +"I was mistaken in you," Perion replied, "for I had thought you loved +Dame Melicent as I do. I find too late that you would estimate your +private honour as set against her welfare." + +The two men looked upon each other. Long and long they looked, and the +heart of each was elated. "I comprehend," Demetrios said. He clapped +spurs to his horse and fled as a coward would have fled. This was one +occasion in his life when he overcame his pride, and should in +consequence be noted. + +The heart of Perion was glad. + +"Oh, but at times," said Perion, "I wish that I might honourably love +this infamous and lustful pagan." + +Afterward Perion wheeled and met Duke Sigurd's men. Then like a reaper +cutting a field of wheat Sire Perion showed the sun his sword and went +about his work, not without harvesting. + +In that narrow way nothing could be heard but the striking of blows on +armour and the clash of swords which bit at one another. The Comte de +la Forêt, for once, allowed himself the privilege of fighting in anger. +He went without a word toward this hopeless encounter, as a drunkard to +his bottle. First Perion killed Ruggiero of the Lamberti and after that +Perion raged as a wolf harrying sheep. Six other stalwart men he cut +down, like a dumb maniac among tapestries. His horse was slain and lay +blocking the road, making a barrier behind which Perion fought. Then +Perion encountered Giacomo di Forio, and while the two contended Gulio +the Red very warily cast his sword like a spear so that it penetrated +Perion's left shoulder and drew much blood. This hampered the lone +champion. Marzio threw a stone which struck on Perion's crest and broke +the fastenings of Perion's helmet. Instantly Giacomo gave him three +wounds, and Perion stumbled, the sunlight glossing his hair. He fell +and they took him. They robbed the corpses of their surcoats, which +they tore in strips. They made ropes of this bloodied finery, and with +these ropes they bound Perion of the Forest, whom twenty men had +conquered at last. + +He laughed feebly, like a person bedrugged; but in the midst of this +superfluous defiance Perion swooned because of many injuries. He knew +that with fair luck Demetrios had a sufficient start. The heart of +Perion exulted, thinking that Melicent was saved. + +It was the happier for him he was not ever destined to comprehend the +standards of Demetrios. + + + + +16. + + +_How Demetrios Meditated_ + +Demetrios came without any hindrance into Narenta, a free city. He +believed his Emperor must have sent galleys toward Christendom to get +tidings of his generalissimo, but in this city of merchants Demetrios +heard no report of them. Yet in the harbour he found a trading-ship +prepared for traffic in the country of the pagans; the sail was naked +to the wind, the anchor chain was already shortened at the bow. +Demetrios bargained with the captain of this vessel, and in the outcome +paid him four hundred sequins. In exchange the man agreed to touch at +the Needle of Ansignano that afternoon and take Demetrios aboard. Since +the proconsul had no passport, he could not with safety endeavour to +elude those officers of the Tribunal who must endorse the ship's +passage at Piaja. + +Thus about sunset Demetrios waited the ship's coming, alone upon the +Needle. This promontory is like a Titan's finger of black rock thrust +out into the water. The day was perishing, and the querulous sea before +Demetrios was an unresting welter of gold and blood. + +He thought of how he had won safely through a horde of dangers, and the +gross man chuckled. He considered that unquestioned rulership of every +person near Demetrios which awaited him oversea, and chiefly he thought +of Melicent whom he loved even better than he did the power to sneer at +everything the world contained. And the proconsul chuckled. + +He said, aloud: + +"I owe very much to Messire de la Forêt. I owe far more than I can +estimate. For, by this, those lackeys will have slain Messire de la +Forêt or else they will have taken Messire de la Forêt to King +Theodoret, who will piously make an end of this handsome idiot. Either +way, I shall enjoy tranquillity and shall possess my Melicent until I +die. Decidedly, I owe a deal to this self-satisfied tall fool." + +Thus he contended with his irritation. It may be that the man was never +sane; it is certain that the mainspring of his least action was an +inordinate pride. Now hatred quickened, spreading from a flicker of +distaste; and his faculties were stupefied, as though he faced a +girdling conflagration. It was not possible to hate adequately this +Perion who had struck Demetrios of Anatolia and perhaps was not yet +dead; nor could Demetrios think of any sufficing requital for this +Perion who dared to be so tall and handsome and young-looking when +Demetrios was none of these things, for this Perion whom Melicent had +loved and loved to-day. And Demetrios of Anatolia had fought with a +charmed sword against a person such as this, safe as an angler matched +against a minnow; Demetrios of Anatolia, now at the last, accepted alms +from what had been until to-day a pertinacious gnat. Demetrios was +physically shaken by disgust at the situation, and in the sunset's +glare his swarthy countenance showed like that of Belial among the +damned. + +"The life of Melicent hangs on my safe return to Nacumera.... Ey, what +is that to me!" the proconsul cried aloud. "The thought of Melicent is +sweeter than the thought of any god. It is not sweet enough to bribe me +into living as this Perion's debtor." + +So when the ship touched at the Needle, a half-hour later, that spur of +rock was vacant. Demetrios had untethered his horse, had thrown away +his sword and other armour, and had torn his garments; afterward he +rolled in the first puddle he discovered. Thus he set out afoot, in +grimy rags--for no one marks a beggar upon the highway--and thus he +came again into the realm of King Theodoret, where certainly nobody +looked for Demetrios to come unarmed. + +With the advantage of a quiet advent, as was quickly proven, he found +no check for a notorious leave-taking. + + + + +17. + + +_How a Minstrel Came_ + +Demetrios came to Megaris where Perion lay fettered in the Castle of +San' Alessandro, then a new building. Perion's trial, condemnation, and +so on, had consumed the better part of an hour, on account of the +drunkenness of one of the Inquisitors, who had vexatiously impeded +these formalities by singing love-songs; but in the end it had been +salutarily arranged that the Comte de la Forêt be torn apart by four +horses upon the St. Richard's day ensuing. + +Demetrios, having gleaned this knowledge in a pothouse, purchased a +stout file, a scarlet cap and a lute. Ambrogio Bracciolini, head-gaoler +at the fortress--so the gossips told Demetrios--had been a jongleur in +youth, and minstrels were always welcome guests at San' Alessandro. + +The gaoler was a very fat man with icy little eyes. Demetrios took his +measure to a hair's breadth as this Bracciolini straddled in the +doorway. + +Demetrios had assumed an admirable air of simplicity. + +"God give you joy, messire," he said, with a simper; "I come bringing a +precious balsam which cures all sorts of ills, and heals the troubles +both of body and mind. For what is better than to have a pleasant +companion to sing and tell merry tales, songs and facetious histories?" + +"You appear to be something of a fool," Bracciolini considered, "but +all do not sleep who snore. Come, tell me what are your +accomplishments." + +"I can play the lute, the violin, the flageolet, the harp, the syrinx +and the regals," the other replied; "also the Spanish penola that is +struck with a quill, the organistrum that a wheel turns round, the wait +so delightful, the rebeck so enchanting, the little gigue that chirps +up on high, and the great horn that booms like thunder." + +Bracciolini said: + +"That is something. But can you throw knives into the air and catch +them without cutting your fingers? Can you balance chairs and do tricks +with string? or imitate the cries of birds? or throw a somersault and +walk on your head? Ha, I thought not. The Gay Science is dying out, and +young practitioners neglect these subtile points. It was not so in my +day. However, you may come in." + +So when night fell Demetrios and Bracciolini sat snug and sang of love, +of joy, and arms. The fire burned bright, and the floor was well +covered with gaily tinted mats. White wines and red were on the table. + +Presently they turned to canzons of a more indecorous nature. Demetrios +sang the loves of Douzi and Ishtar, which the gaoler found remarkable. +He said so and crossed himself. "Man, man, you must have been afishing +in the mid-pit of hell to net such filth." + +"I learned that song in Nacumera," said Demetrios, "when I was a +prisoner there with Messire de la Forêt. It was a favourite song with +him." + +"Ay?" said Bracciolini. He looked at Demetrios very hard, and +Bracciolini pursed his lips as if to whistle. The gaoler scented from +afar a bribe, but the face of Demetrios was all vacant cheerfulness. + +Bracciolini said, idly: + +"So you served under him? I remember that he was taken by the heathen. +A woman ransomed him, they say." + +Demetrios, able to tell a tale against any man, told now the tale of +Melicent's immolation, speaking with vivacity and truthfulness in all +points save that he represented himself to have been one of the +ransomed Free Companions. + +Bracciolini's careful epilogue was that the proconsul had acted +foolishly in not keeping the emeralds. + +"He gave his enemy a weapon against him," Bracciolini said, and waited. + +"Oh, but that weapon was never used. Sire Perion found service at once, +under King Bernart, you will remember. Therefore Sire Perion hid away +these emeralds against future need--under an oak in Sannazaro, he told +me. I suppose they lie there yet." + +"Humph!" said Bracciolini. He for a while was silent. Demetrios sat +adjusting the strings of the lute, not looking at him. + +Bracciolini said, "There were eighteen of them, you tell me? and all +fine stones?" + +"Ey?--oh, the emeralds? Yes, they were flawless, messire. The smallest +was larger than a robin's egg. But I recall another song we learned at +Nacumera--" + +Demetrios sang the loves of Lucius and Fotis. Bracciolini grunted, +"Admirable" in an abstracted fashion, muttered something about the +duties of his office, and left the room. Demetrios heard him lock the +door outside and waited stolidly. + +Presently Bracciolini returned in full armour, a naked sword in his +hand. + +"My man,"--and his voice rasped--"I believe you to be a rogue. I +believe that you are contriving the escape of this infamous Comte de la +Forêt. I believe you are attempting to bribe me into conniving at +his escape. I shall do nothing of the sort, because, in the first +place, it would be an abominable violation of my oath of office, and in +the second place, it would result in my being hanged." + +"Messire, I swear to you--!" Demetrios cried, in excellently feigned +perturbation. + +"And in addition, I believe you have lied to me throughout. I do not +believe you ever saw this Comte de la Forêt. I very certainly do not +believe you are a friend of this Comte de la Forêt's, because in +that event you would never have been mad enough to admit it. The +statement is enough to hang you twice over. In short, the only thing I +can be certain of is that you are out of your wits." + +"They say that I am moonstruck," Demetrios answered; "but I will tell +you a secret. There is a wisdom lies beyond the moon, and it is because +of this that the stars are glad and admirable." + +"That appears to me to be nonsense," the gaoler commented; and he went +on: "Now I am going to confront you with Messire de la Forêt. If your +story prove to be false, it will be the worse for you." + +"It is a true tale. But sensible men close the door to him who always +speaks the truth." + +"These reflections are not to the purpose," Bracciolini submitted, and +continued his argument: "In that event Messire de la Forêt will +undoubtedly be moved by your fidelity in having sought out him whom all +the rest of the world has forsaken. You will remember that this same +fidelity has touched me to such an extent that I am granting you an +interview with your former master. Messire de la Forêt will naturally +reflect that a man once torn in four pieces has no particular use for +emeralds. He will, I repeat, be moved. In his emotion, in his +gratitude, in mere decency, he will reveal to you the location of those +eighteen stones, all flawless. If he should not evince a sufficiency of +such appropriate and laudable feeling, I tell you candidly, it will be +the worse for you. And now get on!" + +Bracciolini pointed the way and Demetrios cringed through the door. +Bracciolini followed with drawn sword. The corridors were deserted. The +head-gaoler had seen to that. + +His position was simple. Armed, he was certainly not afraid of any +combination between a weaponless man and a fettered one. If this +jongleur had lied, Bracciolini meant to kill him for his insolence. +Bracciolini's own haphazard youth had taught him that a jongleur had no +civil rights, was a creature to be beaten, robbed, or stabbed with +impunity. + +Upon the other hand, if the vagabond's tale were true, one of two +things would happen. Either Perion would not be brought to tell where +the emeralds were hidden, in which event Bracciolini would kill the +jongleur for his bungling; or else the prisoner would tell everything +necessary, in which event Bracciolini would kill the jongleur for +knowing more than was convenient. This Bracciolini had an honest +respect for gems and considered them to be equally misplaced when under +an oak or in a vagabond's wallet. + +Consideration of such avarice may well have heartened Demetrios when +the well-armoured gaoler knelt in order to unlock the door of Perion's +cell. As an asp leaps, the big and supple hands of the proconsul +gripped Bracciolini's neck from behind, and silenced speech. + +Demetrios, who was not tall, lifted the gaoler as high as possible, +lest the beating of armoured feet upon the slabs disturb any of the +other keepers, and Demetrios strangled his dupe painstakingly. The +keys, as Demetrios reflected, were luckily attached to the belt of this +writhing thing, and in consequence had not jangled on the floor. It was +an inaudible affair and consumed in all some ten minutes. Then with the +sword of Bracciolini Demetrios cut Bracciolini's throat. In such +matters Demetrios was thorough. + + + + +18. + + +_How They Cried Quits_ + +Demetrios went into Perion's cell and filed away the chains of Perion +of the Forest. Demetrios thrust the gaoler's corpse under the bed, and +washed away all stains before the door of the cell, so that no awkward +traces might remain. Demetrios locked the door of an unoccupied +apartment and grinned as Old Legion must have done when Judas fell. + +More thanks to Bracciolini's precautions, these two got safely from the +confines of San' Alessandro, and afterward from the city of Megaris. +They trudged on a familiar road. Perion would have spoken, but +Demetrios growled, "Not now, messire." They came by night to that pass +in Sannazaro which Perion had held against a score of men-at-arms. + +Demetrios turned. Moonlight illuminated the warriors' faces and showed +the face of Demetrios as sly and leering. It was less the countenance +of a proud lord than a carved head on some old waterspout. + +"Messire de la Forêt," Demetrios said, "now we cry quits. Here our ways +part till one of us has killed the other, as one of us must surely do." + +You saw that Perion was tremulous with fury. "You knave," he said, +"because of your pride you have imperilled your accursed life--your +life on which the life of Melicent depends! You must need delay and +rescue me, while your spawn inflicted hideous infamies on Melicent! Oh, +I had never hated you until to-night!" + +Demetrios was pleased. + +"Behold the increment," he said, "of the turned cheek and of the +contriving of good for him that had despitefully used me! Be satisfied, +O young and zealous servitor of Love and Christ. I am alone, unarmed +and penniless, among a people whom I have never been at pains even to +despise. Presently I shall be taken by this vermin, and afterward I +shall be burned alive. Theodoret is quite resolved to make of me a +candle which will light his way to heaven." + +"That is true," said Perion; "and I cannot permit that you be killed by +anyone save me, as soon as I can afford to kill you." + +The two men talked together, leagued against entire Christendom. +Demetrios had thirty sequins and Perion no money at all. Then Perion +showed the ring which Melicent had given him, as a love-token, long +ago, when she was young and ignorant of misery. He valued it as he did +nothing else. + +Perion said: + +"Oh, very dear to me is this dear ring which once touched a finger of +that dear young Melicent whom you know nothing of! Its gold is my lost +youth, the gems of it are the tears she has shed because of me. Kiss +it, Messire Demetrios, as I do now for the last time. It is a favour +you have earned." + +Then these two went as mendicants--for no one marks a beggar upon the +highway--into Narenta, and they sold this ring, in order that Demetrios +might be conveyed oversea, and that the life of Melicent might be +preserved. They found another vessel which was about to venture into +heathendom. Their gold was given to the captain; and, in exchange, the +bargain ran, his ship would touch at Assignano, a little after the +ensuing dawn, and take Demetrios aboard. + +Thus the two lovers of Melicent foreplanned the future, and did not +admit into their accounting vagarious Dame Chance. + + + + +19. + + +_How Flamberge Was Lost_ + +These hunted men spent the following night upon the Needle, since there +it was not possible for an adversary to surprise them. Perion's was the +earlier watch, until midnight, and during this time Demetrios slept. +Then the proconsul took his equitable turn. When Perion awakened the +hour was after dawn. + +What Perion noted first, and within thirty feet of him, was a tall +galley with blue and yellow sails. He perceived that the promontory was +thronged with heathen sailors, who were unlading the ship of various +bales and chests. Demetrios, now in the costume of his native country, +stood among them giving orders. And it seemed, too, to Perion, in the +moment of waking, that Dame Mélusine, whom Perion had loved so long +ago, also stood among them; yet, now that Perion rose and faced +Demetrios, she was not visible anywhere, and Perion wondered dimly over +his wild dream that she had been there at all. But more importunate +matters were in hand. + +The proconsul grinned malevolently. + +"This is a ship that once was mine," he said. "Do you not find it droll +that Euthyclos here should have loved me sufficiently to hazard his +life in order to come in search of me? Personally, I consider it +preposterous. For the rest, you slept so soundly, Messire de la Forêt, +that I was unwilling to waken you. Then, too, such was the advice of a +person who has some influence with the waterfolk, people say, and who +was perhaps the means of bringing this ship hither so opportunely. I do +not know. She is gone now, you see, intent as always on her own ends. +Well, well! her ways are not our ways, and it is wiser not to meddle +with them." + +But Perion, unarmed and thus surrounded, understood only that he was +lost. + +"Messire Demetrios," said Perion, "I never thought to ask a favour of +you. I ask it now. For the ring's sake, give me at least a knife, +Messire Demetrios. Let me die fighting." + +"Why, but who spoke of fighting? For the ring's sake, I have caused the +ship to be rifled of what valuables they had aboard. It is not much, +but it is all I have. And you are to accept my apologies for the +somewhat miscellaneous nature of the cargo, Messire de la +Forêt--consisting, as it does, of armours and gems, camphor and +ambergris, carpets of raw silk, teakwood and precious metals, rugs of +Yemen leather, enamels, and I hardly know what else besides. For +Euthyclos, as you will readily understand, was compelled to masquerade +as a merchant-trader." + +Perion shook his head, and declared: "You offer enough to make me a +wealthy man. But I would prefer a sword." + +At that Demetrios grimaced, saying, "I had hoped to get off more +cheaply." He unbuckled the crosshandled sword which he now wore and +handed it to Perion. "This is Flamberge," Demetrios continued--"that +magic blade which Galas made, in the old time's heyday, for +Charlemaigne. It was with this sword that I slew my father, and this +sword is as dear to me as your ring was to you. The man who wields it +is reputed to be unconquerable. I do not know about that, but in any +event I yield Flamberge to you as a free gift. I might have known it +was the only gift you would accept." His swart face lighted. "Come +presently and fight with me for Melicent. Perhaps it will amuse me to +ride out to battle and know I shall not live to see the sunset. Already +it seems laughable that you will probably kill me with this very sword +which I am touching now." + +The champions faced each other, Demetrios in a half-wistful mirth, and +Perion in half-grudging pity. Long and long they looked. + +Demetrios shrugged. Demetrios said: + +"For such as I am, to love is dangerous. For such as I am, nor fire nor +meteor hurls a mightier bolt than Aphrodite's shaft, or marks its +passage by more direful ruin. But you do not know Euripides?--a +fidgety-footed liar, Messire the Comte, who occasionally blunders into +the clumsiest truths. Yes, he is perfectly right; all things this +goddess laughingly demolishes while she essays haphazard flights about +the world as unforeseeably as travels a bee. And, like the bee, she +wilfully dispenses honey, and at other times a wound." + +Said Perion, who was no scholar: + +"I glory in our difference. For such as I am, love is sufficient proof +that man was fashioned in God's image." + +"Ey, there is no accounting for a taste in aphorisms," Demetrios +replied. He said, "Now I embark." Yet he delayed, and spoke with +unaccustomed awkwardness. "Come, you who have been generous till this! +will you compel me to desert you here--quite penniless?" + +Said Perion: + +"I may accept a sword from you. I do accept it gladly. But I may not +accept anything else." + +"That would have been my answer. I am a lucky man," Demetrios said, "to +have provoked an enemy so worthy of my opposition. We two have fought +an honest and notable duel, wherein our weapons were not made of steel. +I pray you harry me as quickly as you may; and then we will fight with +swords till I am rid of you or you of me." + +"Assuredly, I shall not fail you," answered Perion. + +These two embraced and kissed each other. Afterward Demetrios went into +his own country, and Perion remained, girt with the magic sword +Flamberge. It was not all at once Perion recollected that the wearer of +Flamberge is unconquerable, if ancient histories are to be believed, +for in deduction Perion was leisurely. + +Now on a sudden he perceived that Demetrios had flung control of the +future to Perion, as one gives money to a sot, entirely prescient of +how it will be used. Perion had his moment of bleak rage. + +"I will not cog the dice to my advantage any more than you!" said +Perion. He drew the sword of Charlemaigne and brandished it and cast it +as far as even strong Perion could cast, and the sea swallowed it. "Now +God alone is arbiter!" cried Perion, "and I am not afraid." + +He stood a pauper and a friendless man. Beside his thigh hung a +sorcerer's scabbard of blue leather, curiously ornamented, but it was +emptied of power. Yet Perion laughed exultingly, because he was elate +with dreams of the future. And for the rest, he was aware it is less +grateful to remember plaudits than to recall the exercise of that in us +which is not merely human. + + + + +20. + + +_How Perion Got Aid_ + +Then Perion turned from the Needle of Assignano, and went westward into +the Forest of Columbiers. He had no plan. He wandered in the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered, as a beast does in watchful +care of hunters. + +He came presently to a glade which the sunlight flooded without +obstruction. There was in this place a fountain, which oozed from under +an iron-coloured boulder incrusted with grey lichens and green moss. +Upon the rock a woman sat, her chin propped by one hand, and she +appeared to consider remote and pleasant happenings. She was clothed +throughout in white, with metal bands about her neck and arms; and her +loosened hair, which was coloured like straw, and was as pale as the +hair of children, glittered about her, and shone frostily where it lay +outspread upon the rock behind her. + +She turned toward Perion without any haste or surprise, and Perion saw +that this woman was Dame Mélusine, whom he had loved to his own hurt +(as you have heard) when Perion served King Helmas. She did not speak +for a long while, but she lazily considered Perion's honest face in a +sort of whimsical regret for the adoration she no longer found there. + +"Then it was really you," he said, in wonder, "whom I saw talking with +Demetrios when I awakened to-day." + +"You may be sure," she answered, "that my talking was in no way +injurious to you. Ah, no, had I been elsewhere, Perion, I think you +would by this have been in Paradise." Then Mélusine fell again to +meditation. "And so you do not any longer either love or hate me, +Perion?" Here was an odd echo of the complaint Demetrios had made. + +"That I once loved you is a truth which neither of us, I think, may +ever quite forget," said Perion, very quiet. "I alone know how utterly +I loved you--no, it was not I who loved you, but a boy that is dead +now. King's daughter, all of stone, O cruel woman and hateful, O sleek, +smiling traitress! to-day no man remembers how utterly I loved you, for +the years are as a mist between the heart of the dead boy and me, so +that I may no longer see the boy's heart clearly. Yes, I have forgotten +much. ...Yet even to-day there is that in me which is faithful to you, +and I cannot give you the hatred which your treachery has earned." + +Mélusine spoke shrewdly. She had a sweet, shrill voice. + +"But I loved you, Perion--oh, yes, in part I loved you, just as one +cannot help but love a large and faithful mastiff. But you were +tedious, you annoyed me by your egotism. Yes, my friend, you think too +much of what you owe to Perion's honour; you are perpetually squaring +accounts with heaven, and you are too intent on keeping the balance in +your favour to make a satisfactory lover." You saw that Mélusine was +smiling in the shadow of her pale hair. "And yet you are very droll +when you are unhappy," she said, as of two minds. + +He replied: + +"I am, as heaven made me, a being of mingled nature. So I remember +without distaste old happenings which now seem scarcely credible. I +cannot quite believe that it was you and I who were so happy when youth +was common to us... O Mélusine, I have almost forgotten that if the +world were searched between the sunrise and the sunsetting the Mélusine +I loved would not be found. I only know that a woman has usurped the +voice of Mélusine, and that this woman's eyes also are blue, and that +this woman smiles as Mélusine was used to smile when I was young. I +walk with ghosts, king's daughter, and I am none the happier." + +"Ay, Periori," she wisely answered, "for the spring is at hand, intent +upon an ageless magic. I am no less comely than I was, and my heart, I +think, is tenderer. You are yet young, and you are very beautiful, my +brave mastiff... And neither of us is moved at all! For us the spring +is only a dotard sorcerer who has forgotten the spells of yesterday. I +think that it is pitiable, although I would not have it otherwise." She +waited, fairy-like and wanton, seeming to premeditate a delicate +mischief. + +He declared, sighing, "No, I would not have it otherwise." + +Then presently Mélusine arose. She said: + +"You are a hunted man, unarmed--oh, yes, I know. Demetrios talked +freely, because the son of Miramon Lluagor has good and ancient reasons +to trust me. Besides, it was not for nothing that Pressina was my +mother, and I know many things, pilfering light from the past to shed +it upon the future. Come now with me to Brunbelois. I am too deeply in +your debt, my Perion. For the sake of that boy who is dead--as you tell +me--you may honourably accept of me a horse, arms, and a purse, because +I loved that boy after my fashion." + +"I take your bounty gladly," he replied; and he added conscientiously: +"I consider that I am not at liberty to refuse of anybody any honest +means of serving my lady Melicent." + +Mélusine parted her lips as if about to speak, and then seemed to think +better of it. It is probable she was already informed concerning +Melicent; she certainly asked no questions. Mélusine only shrugged, +and laughed afterward, and the man and the woman turned toward +Brunbelois. At times a shaft of sunlight would fall on her pale hair +and convert it into silver, as these two went through the high woods +that had never yet been felled or ordered. + + + + + +PART FOUR + +AHASUERUS + + + + _Of how a knave hath late compassion +On Melicent's forlorn condition; +For which he saith as ye shall after hear: +"Dame, since that game we play costeth too dear, +My truth I plight, I shall you no more grieve +By my behest, and here I take my leave +As of the fairest, truest and best wife +That ever yet I knew in all my life."_ + + + + +21. + + +_How Demetrios Held His Chattel_ + +It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how Demetrios +returned into the country of the pagans and found all matters there as +he had left them. They relate how Melicent was summoned. + +And the tale tells how upon the stairway by which you descended from +the Women's Garden to the citadel--people called it the Queen's +Stairway, because it was builded by Queen Rudabeh very long ago when +the Emperor Zal held Nacumera--Demetrios waited with a naked sword. +Below were four of his soldiers, picked warriors. This stairway was of +white marble, and a sphinx carved in green porphyry guarded each +balustrade. + +"Now that we have our audience," Demetrios said, "come, let the games +begin." + +One of the soldiers spoke. It was that Euthyclos who (as you have +heard) had ventured into Christendom at the hazard of his life to +rescue the proconsul. Euthyclos was a man of the West Provinces and had +followed the fortunes of Demetrios since boyhood. + +"King of the Age," cried Euthyclos, "it is grim hearing that we must +fight with you. But since your will is our will, we must endure this +testing, although we find it bitter as aloes and hot as coals. Dear +lord and master, none has put food to his lips for whose sake we would +harm you willingly, and we shall weep to-night when your ghost passes +over and through us." + +Demetrios answered: + +"Rise up and leave this idleness! It is I that will clip the ends of my +hair to-night for the love of you, my stalwart knaves. Such weeping as +is done your wounds will perform." + +At that they addressed themselves to battle, and Melicent perceived she +was witnessing no child's play. The soldiers had attacked in unison, +and before the onslaught Demetrios stepped lightly back. But his sword +flashed as he moved, and with a grunt Demetrios, leaning far forward, +dug deep into the throat of his foremost assailant. The sword +penetrated and caught in a link of the gold chain about the fellow's +neck, so that Demetrios was forced to wrench the weapon free, twisting +it, as the dying man stumbled backward. Prostrate, the soldier did not +cry out, but only writhed and gave a curious bubbling noise as his soul +passed. + +"Come," Demetrios said, "come now, you others, and see what you can win +of me. I warn you it will be dearly purchased." + +And Melicent turned away, hiding her eyes. She was obscurely conscious +that a wanton butchery went on, hearing its blows and groans as if from +a great distance, while she entreated the Virgin for deliverance from +this foul place. + +Then a hand fell upon Melicent's shoulder, rousing her. It was +Demetrios. He breathed quickly, but his voice was gentle. + +"It is enough," he said. "I shall not greatly need Flamberge when I +encounter that ruddy innocent who is so dear to you." + +He broke off. Then he spoke again, half jeering, half wistful. Said +Demetrios: + +"I had hoped that you would look on and admire my cunning at swordplay. +I was anxious to seem admirable somehow in your eyes ... I failed. I +know very well that I shall always fail. I know that Nacumera will +fall, that some day in your native land people will say, 'That aged +woman yonder was once the wife of Demetrios of Anatolia, who was +pre-eminent among the heathen.' Then they will tell of how I cleft the +head of an Emperor who had likened me to Priapos, and how I dragged his +successor from behind an arras where he hid from me, to set him upon +the throne I did not care to take; and they will tell how for a while +great fortune went with me, and I ruled over much land, and was dreaded +upon the wide sea, and raised the battlecry in cities that were not my +own, fearing nobody. But you will not think of these matters, you will +think only of your children's ailments, of baking and sewing and +weaving tapestries, and of directing little household tasks. And the +spider will spin her web in my helmet, which will hang as a trophy in +the hall of Messire de la Forêt." + +Then he walked beside her into the Women's Garden, keeping silence for +a while. He seemed to deliberate, to reach a decision. All at once +Demetrios began to tell of that magnanimous contest which he had fought +out in Theodoret's country with Perion of the Forest. + +"To do the long-legged fellow simple justice," said the proconsul, as +epilogue, "there is no hardier knight alive. I shall always wonder +whether or no I would have spared him had the water-demon's daughter +not intervened in his behalf. Yes, I have had some previous dealings +with her. Perhaps the less said concerning them, the better." Demetrios +reflected for a while, rather sadly; then his swart face cleared. "Give +thanks, my wife, that I have found an enemy who is not unworthy of me. +He will come soon, I think, and then we will fight to the death. I +hunger for that day." + +All praise of Perion, however worded, was as wine to Melicent. +Demetrios saw as much, noted how the colour in her cheeks augmented +delicately, how her eyes grew kindlier. It was his cue. Thereafter +Demetrios very often spoke of Perion in that locked palace where no +echo of the outer world might penetrate except at the proconsul's will. +He told Melicent, in an unfeigned admiration, of Perion's courage and +activity, declaring that no other captain since the days of those +famous generals, Hannibal and Joshua, could lay claim to such +preeminence in general estimation; and Demetrios narrated how the Free +Companions had ridden through many kingdoms at adventure, serving many +lords with valour and always fighting applaudably. To talk of Perion +delighted Melicent: it was with such bribes that Demetrios purchased +where his riches did not avail; and Melicent no longer avoided him. + +There is scope here for compassion. The man's love, if it be possible +so to call that force which mastered him, had come to be an incessant +malady. It poisoned everything, caused him to find his statecraft +tedious, his power profitless, and his vices gloomy. But chief of all +he fretted over the standards by which the lives of Melicent and Perion +were guided. Demetrios thought these criteria comely, he had discovered +them to be unshakable, and he despairingly knew that as long as he +trusted in the judgment heaven gave him they must always appear to him +supremely idiotic. To bring Melicent to his own level or to bring +himself to hers was equally impossible. There were moments when he +hated her. + +Thus the months passed, and the happenings of another year were +chronicled; and as yet neither Perion nor Ayrart de Montors came to +Nacumera, and the long plain before the citadel stayed tenantless save +for the jackals crying there at night. + +"I wonder that my enemies do not come," Demetrios said. "It cannot be +they have forgotten you and me. That is impossible." He frowned and +sent spies into Christendom. + + + + +22. + + +_How Misery Held Nacumera_ + +Then one day Demetrios came to Melicent, and he was in a surly rage. + +"Rogues all!" he grumbled. "Oh, I am wasted in this paltry age. Where +are the giants and tyrants, and stalwart single-hearted champions of +yesterday? Why, they are dead, and have become rotten bones. I will +fight no longer. I will read legends instead, for life nowadays is no +longer worthy of love or hatred." + +Melicent questioned him, and he told how his spies reported that the +Cardinal de Montors could now not ever head an expedition against +Demetrios' territories. The Pope had died suddenly in the course of the +preceding October, and it was necessary to name his successor. The +College of Cardinals had reached no decision after three days' +balloting. Then, as is notorious, Dame Mélusine, as always hand in +glove with Ayrart de Montors, held conference with the bishop who +inspected the cardinals' dinner before it was carried into the +apartments where these prelates were imprisoned together until, in +edifying seclusion from all worldly influences, they should have +prayerfully selected the next Pope. + +The Cardinal of Genoa received on the fourth day a chicken stuffed with +a deed to the palaces of Monticello and Soriano; the Cardinal of Parma +a similarly dressed fowl which made him master of the bishop's +residence at Porto with its furniture and wine-cellar; while the +Cardinals Orsino, Savelli, St. Angelo and Colonna were served with food +of the same ingratiating sort. Such nourishment cured them of +indecision, and Ayrart de Montors had presently ascended the papal +throne under the title of Adrian VII, servant to the servants of God. +His days of military captaincy were over. Demetrios deplored the loss +of a formidable adversary, and jeered at the fact that the vicarship of +heaven had been settled by six hens. But he particularly fretted over +other news his spies had brought, which was the information that Perion +had wedded Dame Mélusine, and had begotten two lusty children--Bertram +and a daughter called Blaniferte--and now enjoyed the opulence and +sovereignty of Brunbelois. + +Demetrios told this unwillingly. He turned away his eyes in speaking, +and doggedly affected to rearrange a cushion, so that he might not see +the face of Melicent. She noted his action and was grateful. + +Demetrios said, bitterly, "It is an old and tawdry history. He has +forgotten you, Melicent, as a wise man will always put aside the dreams +of his youth. To Cynara the Fates accord but a few years; a wanton Lyce +laughs, cheats her adorers, and outlives the crow. There is an +unintended moral here--" Demetrios said, "Yet you do not forget." + +"I know nothing as to this Perion you tell me of. I only know the +Perion I loved has not forgotten," answered Melicent. + +And Demetrios, evincing a twinge like that of gout, demanded her +reasons. It was a May morning, very hot and still, and Demetrios sat +with his Christian wife in the Court of Stars. + +Said Melicent, "It is not unlikely that the Perion men know to-day has +forgotten me and the service which I joyed to render Perion. Let him +who would understand the mystery of the Crucifixion first become a +lover! I pray for old sake's sake that Perion and his lady may taste of +every prosperity. Indeed, I do not envy her. Rather I pity her, because +last night I wandered through a certain forest hand-in-hand with a +young Perion, whose excellencies she will never know as I know them in +our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with dreams?" The swart man +grinned. + +Melicent said: + +"Now it is always twilight in these woods, and the light there is +neither green nor gold, but both colours intermingled. It is like a +friendly cloak for all who have been unhappy, even very long ago. +Iseult is there, and Thisbe, too, and many others, and they are not +severed from their lovers now.. Sometimes Dame Venus passes, riding +upon a panther, and low-hanging leaves clutch at her tender flesh. Then +Perion and I peep from a coppice, and are very glad and a little +frightened in the heart of our own woods." + +Said Demetrios, "Do you console yourself with madness?" He showed no +sign of mirth. + +Melicent said: + +"Ah, no, the Perion whom Mélusine possesses is but a man--a very happy +man, I pray of God and all His saints. I am the luckier, who may not +ever lose the Perion that to-day is mine alone. And though I may not +ever touch this younger Perion's hands--and their palms were as hard as +leather in that dear time now overpast--or see again his honest and +courageous face, the most beautiful among all the faces of men and +women I have ever seen, I do not grieve immeasurably, for nightly we +walk hand-in-hand in our own woods." + +Demetrios said, "Ay; and then night passes, and dawn comes to light my +face, which is the most hideous to you among all the faces of men and +women!" + +But Melicent said only: + +"Seignior, although the severing daylight endures for a long while, I +must be brave and worthy of Perion's love--nay, rather, of the love he +gave me once. I may not grieve so long as no one else dares enter into +our own woods." + +"Now go," cried the proconsul, when she had done, and he had noted her +soft, deep, devoted gaze at one who was not there; "now go before I +slay you!" And this new Demetrios whom she then saw was featured like a +devil in sore torment. + +Wonderingly Melicent obeyed him. + +Thought Melicent, who was too proud to show her anguish: "I could have +borne aught else, but this I am too cowardly to bear without complaint. +I am a very contemptible person. I ought to love this Mélusine, who no +doubt loves her husband quite as much as I love him--how could a woman +do less?--and yet I cannot love her. I can only weep that I, robbed of +all joy, and with no children to bewail me, must travel very tediously +toward death, a friendless person cursed by fate, while this Mélusine +laughs with her children. She has two children, as Demetrios reports. I +think the boy must be the more like Perion. I think she must be very +happy when she lifts that boy into her lap." + +Thus Melicent; and her full-blooded husband was not much more +light-hearted. He went away from Nacumera shortly, in a shaking rage +which robbed him of his hands' control, intent to kill and pillage, +and, in fine, to make all other persons share his misery. + + + + +23. + + +_How Demetrios Cried Farewell_ + +And then one day, when the proconsul had been absent some six weeks, +Ahasuerus fetched Dame Melicent into the Court of Stars. Demetrios lay +upon the divan supported by many pillows, as though he had not ever +stirred since that first day when an unfettered Melicent, who was a +princess then, exulted in her youth and comeliness. + +"Stand there," he said, and did not move at all, "that I may see my +purchase." + +And presently he smiled, though wryly. Demetrios said next: + +"Of my own will I purchased misery. Yea, and death also. It is +amusing.... Two days ago, in a brief skirmish, a league north of Calonak, +the Prankish leader met me hand to hand. He has endeavoured to do this +for a long while. I also wished it. Nothing could be sweeter than to +feel the horse beneath me wading in his blood, I thought.. Ey, well, he +dismounted me at the first encounter, though I am no weakling. I cannot +understand quite how it happened. Pious people will say some deity was +offended, but, for my part, I think my horse stumbled. It does not seem +to matter now. What really matters, more or less, is that it would +appear the man broke my backbone as one snaps a straw, since I cannot +move a limb of me." + +"Seignior," said Melicent, "you mean that you are dying!" + +He answered, "Yes; but it is a trivial discomfort, now I see that it +grieves you a little." + +She spoke his name some three times, sobbing. It was in her mind even +then how strange the happening was that she should grieve for +Demetrios. + +"O Melicent," he harshly said, "let us have done with lies! That +Frankish captain who has brought about my death is Perion de la Forêt. +He has not ever faltered in the duel between us since your paltry +emeralds paid for his first armament.--Why, yes, I lied. I always hoped +the man would do as in his place I would have done. I hoped in vain. +For many long and hard-fought years this handsome maniac has been +assailing Nacumera, tirelessly. Then the water-demon's daughter, that +strange and wayward woman of Brunbelois, attempted to ensnare him. And +that too was in vain. She failed, my spies reported--even Dame +Mélusine, who had not ever failed before in such endeavours." + +"But certainly the foul witch failed!" cried Melicent. A glorious +change had come into her face, and she continued, quite untruthfully, +"Nor did I ever believe that this vile woman had made Perion prove +faithless." + +"No, the fool's lunacy is rock, like yours. _En cor gentil domnei per +mort no passa_, as they sing in your native country.... Ey, how +indomitably I lied, what pains I took, lest you should ever know of +this! And now it does not seem to matter any more.... The love this man +bears for you," snarled Demetrios, "is sprung of the High God whom we +diversely worship. The love I bear you is human, since I, too, am only +human." And Demetrios chuckled. "Talk, and talk, and talk! There is no +bird in any last year's nest." + +She laid her hand upon his unmoved hand, and found it cold and swollen. +She wept to see the broken tyrant, who to her at least had been not all +unkind. + +He said, with a great hunger in his eyes: + +"So likewise ends the duel which was fought between us two. I would +salute the victor if I could. ... Ey, Melicent, I still consider you +and Perion are fools. We have a not intolerable world to live in, and +common-sense demands we make the most of every tidbit this world +affords. Yet you can find in it only an exercising-ground for +infatuation, and in all its contents--pleasures and pains alike--only +so many obstacles for rapt insanity to override. I do not understand +this mania; I would I might have known it, none the less. Always I +envied you more than I loved you. Always my desire was less to win the +love of Melicent than to love Melicent as Melicent loved Perion. I was +incapable of this. Yet I have loved you. That was the reason, I +believe, I put aside my purchased toy." It seemed to puzzle him. + +"Fair friend, it is the most honourable of reasons. You have done +chivalrously. In this, at least, you have done that which would be not +unworthy of Perion de la Forêt." A woman never avid for strained +subtleties, it may be that she never understood, quite, why Demetrios +laughed. + +He said: + +"I mean to serve you now, as I had always meant to serve you some day. +Ey, yes, I think I always meant to give you back to Perion as a free +gift. Meanwhile to see, and to writhe in seeing your perfection, has +meant so much to me that daily I have delayed such a transfiguration of +myself until to-morrow." The man grimaced. "My son Orestes, who will +presently succeed me, has been summoned. I will order that he conduct +you at once into Perion's camp--yonder by Quesiton. I think I shall not +live three days." + +"I would not leave you, friend, until--" + +His grin was commentary and completion equally. Demetrios observed: + +"A dead dog has no teeth wherewith to serve even virtue. Oh, no, my +women hate you far too greatly. You must go straightway to this Perion, +while Demetrios of Anatolia is alive, or else not ever go." + +She had no words. She wept, and less for joy of winning home to Perion +at last than for her grief that Demetrios was dying. Woman-like, she +could remember only that the man had loved her in his fashion. And, +woman-like, she could but wonder at the strength of Perion. + +Then Demetrios said: + +"I must depart into a doubtful exile. I have been powerful and valiant, +I have laughed loud, I have drunk deep, but heaven no longer wishes +Demetrios to exist. I am unable to support my sadness, so near am I to +my departure from all I have loved. I cry farewell to all diversions +and sports, to well-fought battles, to furred robes of vair and of +silk, to noisy merriment, to music, to vain-gloriously coloured gems, +and to brave deeds in open sunlight; for I desire--and I entreat of +every person--only compassion and pardon. + +"Chiefly I grieve because I must leave Melicent behind me, unfriended +in a perilous land, and abandoned, it may be, to the malice of those +who wish her ill. I was a noted warrior, I was mighty of muscle, and I +could have defended her stoutly. But I lie broken in the hand of +Destiny. It is necessary I depart into the place where sinners, whether +crowned or ragged, must seek for unearned mercy. I cry farewell to all +that I have loved, to all that I have injured; and so in chief to you, +dear Melicent, I cry farewell, and of you in chief I crave compassion +and pardon. + +"O eyes and hair and lips of Melicent, that I have loved so long, I do +not hunger for you now. Yet, as a dying man, I cry to the clean soul of +Melicent--the only adversary that in all my lifetime I who was once +Demetrios could never conquer. A ravening beast was I, and as a beast I +raged to see you so unlike me. And now, a dying beast, I cry to you, +but not for love, since that is overpast. I cry for pity that I have +not earned, for pardon which I have not merited. Conquered and +impotent, I cry to you, O soul of Melicent, for compassion and pardon. + +"Melicent, it may be that when I am dead, when nothing remains of +Demetrios except his tomb, you will comprehend I loved, even while I +hated, what is divine in you. Then since you are a woman, you will lift +your lover's face between your hands, as you have never lifted my face, +Melicent, and you will tell him of my folly merrily; yet since you are +a woman, you will sigh afterward, and you will not deny me compassion +and pardon." + +She gave him both--she who was prodigal of charity. Orestes came, with +Ahasuerus at his heels, and Demetrios sent Melicent into the Women's +Garden, so that father and son might talk together. She waited in this +place for a half-hour, just as the proconsul had commanded her, obeying +him for the last time. It was strange to think of that. + + * * * * * + +It was not gladness which Melicent knew for a brief while. Rather, it +was a strange new comprehension of the world. To Melicent the world +seemed very lovely. + +Indeed, the Women's Garden on this morning lacked nothing to delight +each sense. Its hedges were of flowering jessamine; its walkways were +spread with new sawdust tinged with crocus and vermilion and with mica +beaten into a powder; and the place was rich in fruit-bearing trees and +welling waters. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the right +hand and to the left. Dog-headed apes, sacred to the moon, were +chattering in the trees. There was a statue in this place, carved out +of black stone, in the likeness of a woman, having enamelled eyes and +three rows of breasts, with the lower part of her body confined in a +sheath; and upon the glistening pedestal of this statue chameleons +sunned themselves with distended throats. Round about Melicent were +nodding armaments of roses and gillyflowers and narcissi and amaranths, +and many violets and white lilies, and other flowers of all kinds and +colours. + +To Melicent the world seemed very lovely. Here was a world created by +Eternal Love that people might serve love in it not all unworthily. +Here were anguishes to be endured, and time and human frailty and +temporal hardship--all for love to mock at; a sea or two for love to +sever, a man-made law or so for love to override, a shallow wisdom for +love to deny, in exultance that these ills at most were only corporal +hindrances. This done, you have earned the right to come--come +hand-in-hand--to heaven whose liege-lord was Eternal Love. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + +She sat on a stone bench. She combed her golden hair, not heeding the +more coarse gray hairs which here and there were apparent nowadays. A +peacock came and watched her with bright, hard, small eyes; and he +craned his glistening neck this way and that way, as though he were +wondering at this other shining and gaily coloured creature, who seemed +so happy. + +She did not dare to think of seeing Perion again. Instead, she made +because of him a little song, which had not any words, so that it is +not possible here to retail this song. + +Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her. + + + + +24. + + +_How Orestes Ruled_ + +Melicent returned into the Court of Stars; and as she entered, Orestes +lifted one of the red cushions from Demetrios' face. The eyes of +Ahasuerus, who stood by negligently, were as expressionless as the eyes +of a snake. + +"The great proconsul laid an inconvenient mandate upon me," said +Orestes. "The great proconsul has been removed from us in order that +his splendour may enhance the glories of Elysium." + +She saw that the young man had smothered his own father in the flesh as +Demetrios lay helpless; and knew thereby that Orestes was indeed the +son of Demetrios. + +"Go," this Orestes said thereafter; "go, and remember I am master +here." + +Said Melicent, "And by which door?" A little hope there was as yet. + +But he, as half in shame, had pointed to the entrance of the Women's +Garden. "I have no enmity against you, outlander. Yet my mother desires +to talk with you. Also there is some bargaining to be completed with +Ahasuerus here." + +Then Melicent knew what had prompted the proconsul's murder. It seemed +unfair Callistion should hate her with such bitterness; yet Melicent +remembered certain thoughts concerning Dame Mélusine, and did not +wonder at Callistion's mania half so much as did Callistion's son. + +"I must endure discomfort and, it may be, torture for a little longer," +said Melicent, and laughed whole-heartedly. "Oh, but to-day I find a +cure for every ill," said Melicent; and thereupon she left Orestes as a +princess should. + +But first she knelt by that which yesterday had been her master. + +"I have no word of praise or blame to give you in farewell. You were +not admirable, Demetrios. But you depart upon a fearful journey, and in +my heart there is just memory of the long years wherein according to +your fashion you were kind to me. A bargain is a bargain. I sold with +open eyes that which you purchased. I may not reproach you." + +Then Melicent lifted the dead face between her hands, as mothers caress +their boys in questioning them. + +"I would I had done this when you were living," said Melicent, "because +I understand now that you loved me in your fashion. And I pray that you +may know I am the happiest woman in the world, because I think this +knowledge would now gladden you. I go to slavery, Demetrios, where I +was queen, I go to hardship, and it may be that I go to death. But I +have learned this assuredly--that love endures, that the strong knot +which unites my heart and Perion's heart can never be untied. Oh, +living is a higher thing than you or I had dreamed! And I have in my +heart just pity, poor Demetrios, for you who never found the love of +which I must endeavour to be worthy. A curse was I to you unwillingly, +as you--I now believe--have been to me against your will. So at the +last I turn anew to bargaining, and cry--in your deaf ears--_Pardon for +pardon, O Demetrios!_" + +Then Melicent kissed pitiable lips which would not ever sneer again, +and, rising, passed into the Women's Garden, proudly and unafraid. + +Ahasuerus shrugged so patiently that she was half afraid. Then, as a +cloud passes, she saw that all further buffetings would of necessity be +trivial. + +For Perion, as she now knew, was very near to her--single of purpose, +clean of hands, and filled with such a love as thrilled her with +delicious fears of her own poor unworthiness. + + + + +25. + + +_How Women Talked Together_ + +Dame Melicent walked proudly through the Women's Garden, and presently +entered a grove of orange trees, the most of which were at this season +about their flowering. In this place was an artificial pool by which +the trees were nourished. On its embankment sprawled the body of young +Diophantus, a child of some ten years of age, Demetrios' son by +Tryphera. Orestes had strangled Diophantus in order that there might be +no rival to Orestes' claims. The lad lay on his back, and his left arm +hung elbow-deep in the water, which swayed it gently. + +Callistion sat beside the corpse and stroked its limp right hand. She +had hated the boy throughout his brief and merry life. She thought now +of his likeness to Demetrios. + +She raised toward Melicent the dilated eyes of one who has just come +from a dark place. Callistion said: + +"And so Demetrios is dead. I thought I would be glad when I said that. +Hah, it is strange I am not glad." + +She rose, as though with hard effort, as a decrepit person might have +done. You saw that she was dressed in a long gown of black, pleated to +the knees, having no clasp or girdle, and bare of any ornamentation +except a gold star on each breast. + +Callistion said: + +"Now, through my son, I reign in Nacumera. There is no person who dares +disobey me. Therefore, come close to me that I may see the beauty which +besotted this Demetrios, whom, I think now, I must have loved." + +"Oh, gaze your fill," said Melicent, "and know that had you possessed a +tithe of my beauty you might have held the heart of Demetrios." For it +was in Melicent's mind to provoke the woman into killing her before +worse befell. + +But Callistion only studied the proud face for a long while, and knew +there was no lovelier person between two seas. For time here had +pillaged very sparingly; and if Dame Melicent had not any longer the +first beauty of her girlhood, Callistion had nowhere seen a woman more +handsome than this hated Frankish thief. + +Callistion said: + +"No, I was not ever so beautiful as you. Yet this Demetrios loved me +when I, too, was lovely. You never saw the man in battle. I saw him, +single-handed, fight with Abradas and three other knaves who stole me +from my mother's home--oh, very long ago! He killed all four of them. +He was like a horrible unconquerable god when he turned from that +finished fight to me. He kissed me then--blood-smeared, just as he +was.... I like to think of how he laughed and of how strong he was." + +The woman turned and crouched by the dead boy, and seemed painstakingly +to appraise her own reflection on the water's surface. + +"It is gone now, the comeliness Demetrios was pleased to like. I would +have waded Acheron--singing--rather than let his little finger ache. He +knew as much. Only it seemed a trifle, because your eyes were bright +and your fair skin was unwrinkled. In consequence the man is dead. Oh, +Melicent, I wonder why I am so sad!" + +Callistion's meditative eyes were dry, but those of Melicent were not. +And Melicent came to the Dacian woman, and put one arm about her in that +dim, sweet-scented place, saying, "I never meant to wrong you." + +Callistion did not seem to heed. Then Callistion said: + +"See now! Do you not see the difference between us!" These two were +kneeling side by side, and each looked into the water. + +Callistion said: + +"I do not wonder that Demetrios loved you. He loved at odd times many +women. He loved the mother of this carrion here. But afterward he would +come back to me, and lie asprawl at my feet with his big crafty head +between my knees; and I would stroke his hair, and we would talk of the +old days when we were young. He never spoke of you. I cannot pardon +that." + +"I know," said Melicent. Their cheeks touched now. + +"There is only one master who could teach you that drear knowledge--" + +"There is but one, Callistion." + +"The man would be tall, I think. He would, I know, have thick, brown, +curling hair--" + +"He has black hair, Callistion. It glistens like a raven's wing." + +"His face would be all pink and white, like yours--" + +"No, tanned like yours, Callistion. Oh, he is like an eagle, very +resolute. His glance bedwarfs you. I used to be afraid to look at him, +even when I saw how foolishly he loved me--" + +"I know," Callistion said. "All women know. Ah, we know many things--" + +She reached with her free arm across the body of Diophantus and +presently dropped a stone into the pool. She said: + +"See how the water ripples. There is now not any reflection of my poor +face or of your beauty. All is as wavering as a man's heart.... And now +your beauty is regathering like coloured mists. Yet I have other +stones." + +"Oh, and the will to use them!" said Dame Melicent. + +"For this bright thieving beauty is not any longer yours. It is mine +now, to do with as I may elect--as yesterday it was the plaything of +Demetrios.... Why, no! I think I shall not kill you. I have at hand +three very cunning Cheylas--the men who carve and reshape children into +such droll monsters. They cannot change your eyes, they tell me. That +is a pity, but I can have one plucked out. Then I shall watch my +Cheylas as they widen your mouth from ear to ear, take out the +cartilage from your nose, wither your hair till it will always be like +rotted hay, and turn your skin--which is like velvet now--the colour of +baked mud. They will as deftly strip you of that beauty which has +robbed me as I pluck up this blade of grass.... Oh, they will make you +the most hideous of living things, they assure me. Otherwise, as they +agree, I shall kill them. This done, you may go freely to your lover. I +fear, though, lest you may not love him as I loved Demetrios." + +And Melicent said nothing. + +"For all we women know, my sister, our appointed curse. To love the +man, and to know the man loves just the lips and eyes Youth lends to +us--oho, for such a little while! Yes, it is cruel. And therefore we +are cruel--always in thought and, when occasion offers, in the deed." + +And Melicent said nothing. For of that mutual love she shared with +Perion, so high and splendid that it made of grief a music, and wrung a +new sustainment out of every cross, as men get cordials of bitter +herbs, she knew there was no comprehension here. + + + + +26. + + +_How Men Ordered Matters_ + +Orestes came into the garden with Ahasuerus and nine other attendants. +The master of Nacumera did not speak a syllable while his retainers +seized Callistion, gagged her, and tied her hands with cords. They +silently removed her. One among them bore on his shoulders the slim +corpse of Diophantus, which was interred the same afternoon (with every +appropriate ceremony) in company with that of his father. Orestes had +the nicest sense of etiquette. + +This series of swift deeds was performed with such a glib precipitancy +that if was as though the action had been rehearsed a score of times. +The garden was all drowsy peace now that Orestes spread his palms in a +gesture of deprecation. A little distance from him, Ahasuerus with his +forefinger drew upon the water's surface designs which appeared to +amuse the Jew. + +"She would have killed you, Melicent," Orestes said, "though all +Olympos had marshalled in interdiction. That would have been +irreligious. Moreover, by Hercules! I have not time to choose sides +between snarling women. He who hunts with cats will catch mice. I aim +more highly. And besides, by an incredible forced march, this Comte de +la Forêt and all his Free Companions are battering at the gates of +Nacumera--" + +Hope blazed. "You know that were I harmed he would spare no one. Your +troops are all at Calonak. Oh, God is very good!" said Melicent. + +"I do not asperse the deities of any nation. It is unlucky. None the +less, your desires outpace your reason. Grant that I had not more than +fifty men to defend the garrison, yet Nacumera is impregnable except by +starvation. We can sit snug a month. Meanwhile our main force is at +Calonak, undoubtedly. Yet my infatuated father had already recalled +these troops, in order that they might escort you into Messire de la +Forêt's camp. Now I shall use these knaves quite otherwise. They will +arrive within two days, and to the rear of Messire de la Forêt, who is +encamped before an impregnable fortress. To the front unscalable walls, +and behind him, at a moderate computation, three swords to his one. All +this in a valley from which Daedalos might possibly escape, but +certainly no other man. I count this Perion of the Forest as already +dead." + +It was a lumbering Orestes who proclaimed each step in his enchained +deductions by the descent of a blunt forefinger upon the palm of his +left hand. Demetrios had left a son but not an heir. + +Yet the chain held. Melicent tested every link and found each obdurate. +She foresaw it all. Perion would be surrounded and overpowered. "And +these troops come from Calonak because of me!" + +"Things fall about with an odd patness, as you say. It should teach you +not to talk about divinities lightly. Also, by this Jew's advice, I +mean to further the gods' indisputable work. You will appear upon the +walls of Nacumera at dawn to-morrow, in such a garb as you wore in your +native country when the Comte de la Forêt first saw you. Ahasuerus +estimates this Perion will not readily leave pursuit of you in that +event, whatever his lieutenants urge, for you are very beautiful." + +Melicent cried aloud, "A bitter curse this beauty has been to me, and +to all men who have desired it." + +"But I do not desire it," said Orestes. "Else I would not have sold it +to Ahasuerus. I desire only the governorship of some province on the +frontier where I may fight daily with stalwart adversaries, and ride +past the homes of conquered persons who hate me. Ahasuerus here assures +me that the Emperor will not deny me such employment when I bring him +the head of Messire de la Forêt. The raids of Messire de la Forêt have +irreligiously annoyed our Emperor for a long while." + +She muttered, "Thou that once wore a woman's body--!" + +"--And I take Ahasuerus to be shrewd in all respects save one. For he +desires trivialities. A wise man knows that woman are the sauce and not +the meat of life; Ahasuerus, therefore, is not wise. And in consequence +I do not lack a handsome bribe for this Bathyllos whom our good +Emperor--misguided man!--is weak enough to love; my mother goes in +chains; and I shall get my province." + +Here Orestes laughed. And then the master of Nacumera left Dame +Melicent alone with Ahasuerus. + + + + +27. + + +_How Ahasuerus Was Candid_ + +When Orestes had gone, the Jew remained unmoved. He continued to dabble +his finger-tips in the water as one who meditates. Presently he dried +them on either sleeve so that he seemed to embrace himself. + +Said he, "What instruments we use at need!" + +She said, "So you have purchased me, Ahasuerus?" + +"Yes, for a hundred and two minae. That is a great sum. You are not as +the run of women, though. I think you are worth it." + +She did not speak. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the +right hand and to the left. She was considering the beauty of these +gardens which seemed to sleep under a dome of hard, polished blue--the +beauty of this cloistered Nacumera, wherein so many infamies writhed +and contended like a nest of little serpents. + +"Do you remember, Melicent, that night at Fomor Beach when you snatched +a lantern from my hand? Your hand touched my hand, Melicent." + +She answered, "I remember." + +"I first of all saw that it was a woman who was aiding Perion to +escape. I considered Perion a lucky man, for I had seen the woman's +face." + +She remained silent. + +"I thought of this woman very often. I thought of her even more +frequently after I had talked with her at Bellegarde, telling of +Perion's captivity.... Melicent," the Jew said, "I make no songs, no +protestations, no phrases. My deeds must speak for me. Concede that I +have laboured tirelessly." He paused, his gaze lifted, and his lips +smiled. His eyes stayed mirthless. "This mad Callistion's hate of you, +and of the Demetrios who had abandoned her, was my first +stepping-stone. By my advice a tiny wire was fastened very tightly +around the fetlock of a certain horse, between the foot and the heel, +and the hair was smoothed over this wire. Demetrios rode that horse in +his last battle. It stumbled, and our terrible proconsul was thus +brought to death. Callistion managed it. Thus I betrayed Demetrios." + +Melicent said, "You are too foul for hell to swallow." And Ahasuerus +manifested indifference to this imputed fault. + +"Thus far I had gone hand-in-hand with an insane Callistion. Now our +ways parted. She desired only to be avenged on you, and very crudely. +That did not accord with my plan. I fell to bargaining. I purchased +with--O rarity of rarities!--a little rational advice and much gold as +well. Thus in due season I betrayed Callistion. Well, who forbids it?" + +She said: + +"God is asleep. Therefore you live, and I--alas!--must live for a +while longer." + +"Yes, you must live for a while longer--oh, and I, too, must live for a +while longer!" the Jew returned. His voice had risen in a curious +quavering wail. It was the first time Melicent ever knew him to display +any emotion. + +But the mood passed, and he said only: + +"Who forbids it? In any event, there is a venerable adage concerning +the buttering of parsnips. So I content myself with asking you to +remember that I have not ever faltered. I shall not falter now. You +loathe me. Who forbids it? I have known from the first that you +detested me, and I have always considered your verdict to err upon the +side of charity. Believe me, you will never loathe Ahasuerus as I do. +And yet I coddle this poor knave sometimes--oh, as I do to-day!" he +said. + +And thus they parted. + + + + +28. + + +_How Perion Saw Melicent_ + +The manner of the torment of Melicent was this: A little before dawn +she was conducted by Ahasuerus and Orestes to the outermost turrets of +Nacumera, which were now beginning to take form and colour. Very +suddenly a flash of light had flooded the valley, the big crimson sun +was instantaneously apparent as though he had leaped over the bleeding +night-mists. Darkness and all night's adherents were annihilated. +Pelicans and geese and curlews were in uproar, as at a concerted +signal. A buzzard yelped thrice like a dog, and rose in a long spiral +from the cliff to Melicent's right hand. He hung motionless, a speck in +the clear zenith, uncannily anticipative. Warmth flooded the valley. + +Now Melicent could see the long and narrow plain beneath her. It was +overgrown with a tall coarse grass which, rippling in the dawn-wind, +resembled moving waters from this distance, save where clumps of palm +trees showed like islands. Farther off, the tents of the Free +Companions were as the white, sharp teeth of a lion. Also she could +see--and did not recognise--the helmet-covered head of Perion catch and +reflect the sunrays dazzlingly, where he knelt in the shimmering grass +just out of bowshot. + +Now Perion could see a woman standing, in the new-born sunlight, under +many gaily coloured banners. The maiden was attired in a robe of white +silk, and about her wrists were heavy bands of silver. Her hair blazed +in the light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than +milk; the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch +than were her hands. There was never anywhere a person more delightful +to gaze upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love +and service to Dame Melicent. This much could Perion know, whose fond +eyes did not really see the woman upon the battlements but, instead, +young Melicent as young Perion had first beheld her walking by the sea +at Bellegarde. + +Thus Perion, who knelt in adoration of that listless girl, all white +and silver, and gold, too, where her blown hair showed like a halo. +Desirable and lovelier than words may express seemed Melicent to Perion +as she stood thus in lonely exaltation, and behind her, glorious +banners fluttered, and the blue sky took on a deeper colour. What +Perion saw was like a church window when the sun shines through it. +Ahasuerus perfectly understood the baiting of a trap. + +Perion came into the open plain before the castle and called on her +dear name three times. Then Perion, naked to his enemies, and at the +disposal of the first pagan archer that chose to shoot him down, sang +cheerily the waking-song which Melicent had heard a mimic Amphitryon +make in Dame Alcmena's honour, very long ago, when people laughed and +Melicent was young and ignorant of misery. + +Sang Perion, "_Rei glorios, verais lums e clardatz--_" or, in other +wording: + +"Thou King of glory, veritable light, all-powerful deity! be pleased to +succour faithfully my fair, sweet friend. The night that severed us has +been long and bitter, the darkness has been shaken by bleak winds, but +now the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, be of good heart! We have been tormented long +enough by evil dreams. Be of good heart, for the dawn is approaching! +The east is astir. I have seen the orient star which heralds day. I +discern it clearly, for now the dawn is near at hand." + +The song was no great matter; but the splendid futility of its +performance amid such touch-and-go surroundings Melicent considered to +be august. And consciousness of his words' poverty, as Perion thus +lightly played with death in order to accord due honour to the lady he +served, was to Dame Melicent in her high martyrdom as is the twist of a +dagger in an already fatal wound; and made her love augment. + +Sang Perion: + +"My fair sweet friend, it is I, your servitor, who cry to you, _Be of +good heart!_ Regard the sky and the stars now growing dim, and you will +see that I have been an untiring sentinel. It will presently fare the +worse for those who do not recognise that the dawn is near at hand. + +"My fair sweet friend, since you were taken from me I have not ever +been of a divided mind. I have kept faith, I have not failed you. +Hourly I have entreated God and the Son of Mary to have compassion upon +our evil dreams. And now the dawn is near at hand." + +"My poor, bruised, puzzled boy," thought Melicent, as she had done so +long ago, "how came you to be blundering about this miry world of ours? +And how may I be worthy?" + +Orestes spoke. His voice disturbed the woman's rapture thinly, like the +speech of a ghost, and she remembered now that a bustling world was her +antagonist. + +"Assuredly," Orestes said, "this man is insane. I will forthwith +command my archers to despatch him in the middle of his caterwauling. +For at this distance they cannot miss him." + +But Ahasuerus said: + +"No, seignior, not by my advice. If you slay this Perion of the Forest, +his retainers will speedily abandon a desperate siege and retreat to +the coast. But they will never retreat so long as the man lives and +sways them, and we hold Melicent, for, as you plainly see, this +abominable reprobate is quite besotted with love of her. His death +would win you praise; but the destruction of his armament will purchase +you your province. Now in two days at most our troops will come, and +then we will slay all the Free Companions." + +"That is true," said Orestes, "and it is remarkable how you think of +these things so quickly." + +So Orestes was ruled by Ahasuerus, and Perion, through no merit of his +own, departed unharmed. + +Then Melicent was conducted to her own apartments; and eunuchs guarded +her, while the battle was, and men she had not ever seen died by the +score because her beauty was so great. + + + + +29. + + +_How a Bargain Was Cried_ + +Now about sunset Melicent knelt in her oratory and laid all her grief +before the Virgin, imploring counsel. + +This place was in reality a chapel, which Demetrios had builded for +Melicent in exquisite enjoyment. To furnish it he had sacked towns she +never heard of, and had rifled two cathedrals, because the notion that +the wife of Demetrios should own a Christian chapel appeared to him +amusing. The Virgin, a masterpiece of Pietro di Vicenza, Demetrios had +purchased by the interception of a free city's navy. It was a painted +statue, very handsome. + +The sunlight shone on Melicent through a richly coloured window wherein +were shown the sufferings of Christ and the two thieves. This siftage +made about her a welter of glowing and intermingling colours, above +which her head shone with a clear halo. + +This much Ahasuerus noted. He said, "You offer tears to Miriam of +Nazara. Yonder they are sacrificing a bull to Mithras. But I do not +make either offering or prayer to any god. Yet of all persons in +Nacumera I alone am sure of this day's outcome." Thus spoke the Jew +Ahasuerus. + +The woman stood erect now. She asked, "What of the day, Ahasuerus?" + +"It has been much like other days that I have seen. The sun rose +without any perturbation. And now it sinks as usual. Oh, true, there +has been fighting. The sky has been clouded with arrows, and horses, +nicer than their masters, have screamed because these soulless beasts +were appalled by so much blood. Many women have become widows, and +divers children are made orphans, because of two huge eyes they never +saw. Puf! it is an old tale." + +She said, "Is Perion hurt?" + +"Is the dog hurt that has driven a cat into a tree? Such I estimate to +be the position of Orestes and Perion. Ah, no, this Perion who was my +captain once is as yet a lord without any peer in the fields where men +contend in battle. But love has thrust him into a bag's end, and his +fate is certain." + +She spoke her steadfast resolution. "And my fate, too. For when Perion +is trapped and slain I mean to kill myself." + +"I am aware of that," he said. "Oh, women have these notions! Yet when +the hour came, I think, you would not dare. For I know your beliefs +concerning hell's geography, and which particular gulf of hell is +reserved for all self-murderers." + +Then Melicent waited for a while. She spoke later without any apparent +emotion. "And how should I fear hell who crave a bitterer fate! Listen, +Ahasuerus! I know that you desire me as a plaything very greatly. The +infamy in which you wade attests as much. Yet you have schemed to no +purpose if Perion dies, because the ways of death are always open. I +would die many times rather than endure the touch of your finger. +Ahasuerus, I have not any words wherewith to tell you of my loathing--" + +"Turn then to bargaining," he said, and seemed aware of all her +thoughts. "Oh, to a hideous bargain. Let Perion be warned of those +troops that will to-morrow outflank him. Let him escape. There is yet +time. Do this, dark hungry man, and I will live." She shuddered here. +"Yes, I will live and be obedient in all things to you, my purchaser, +until you shall have wearied of me, or, at the least, until God has +remembered." + +His careful eyes were narrowed. "You would bribe me as you once bribed +Demetrios? And to the same purpose? I think that fate excels less in +invention than in cruelty." + +She bitterly said, "Heaven help me, and what other wares have I to +vend!" + +He answered: + +"None. No woman has in this black age; and therefore comfort you, my +girl." + +She hurried on. "Therefore anew I offer Melicent, who was a princess +once. I cry a price for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's +tender body without any blemish. I have no longer youth and happiness +and honour to afford you as your toys. These three have long been +strangers to me. Oh, very long! Yet all I have I offer for one +charitable deed. See now how near you are to victory. Think now how +gloriously one honest act would show in you who have betrayed each +overlord you ever served." + +He said: + +"I am suspicious of strange paths, I shrink from practising unfamiliar +virtues. My plan is fixed. I think I shall not alter it." + +"Ah, no, Ahasuerus! think instead how beautiful I am. There is no +comelier animal in all this big lewd world. Indeed I cannot count how +many men have died because I am a comely animal--" She smiled as one +who is too tired to weep. "That, too, is an old tale. Now I abate in +value, it appears, very lamentably. For I am purchasable now just by +one honest deed, and there is none who will barter with me." + +He returned: + +"You forget that a freed Perion would always have a sonorous word or +two to say in regard to your bargainings. Demetrios bargained, you may +remember. Demetrios was a dread lord. It cost him daily warfare to +retain you. Now I lack swords and castles--I who dare love you much as +Demetrios did--and I would be able to retain neither Melicent nor +tranquil existence for an unconscionable while. Ah, no! I bear my +former general no grudge. I merely recognise that while Perion lives he +will not ever leave pursuit of you. I would readily concede the potency +of his spurs, even were there need to look on you a second time--It +happens that there is no need! Meanwhile I am a quiet man, and I abhor +dissension. For the rest, I do not think that you will kill yourself, +and so I think I shall not alter my fixed plan." + +He left her, and Melicent prayed no more. To what end, she reflected, +need she pray, when there was no hope for Perion? + + + + +30. + + +_How Melicent Conquered_ + +Into Melicent's bedroom, about two o'clock in the morning, came +Ahasuerus the Jew. She sat erect in bed and saw him cowering over a +lamp which his long glistening fingers shielded, so that the lean face +of the man floated upon a little golden pool in the darkness. She +marvelled that this detestable countenance had not aged at all since +her first sight of it. + +He smoothly said: + +"Now let us talk. I have loved you for some while, fair Melicent." + +"You have desired me," she replied. + +"Faith, I am but as all men, whatever their age. Why, what the devil! +man may have Javeh's breath in him, but even Scripture proves that man +was made of clay." The Jew now puffed out his jaws as if in +recollection. "_You are a handsome piece of flesh_, I thought when I +came to you at Bellegarde, telling of Perion's captivity. I thought no +more than this, because in my time I have seen a greater number of +handsome women than you would suppose. Thereafter, on account of an odd +reason which I had, I served Demetrios willingly enough. This son of +Miramon Lluagor was able to pay me well, in a curious coinage. So I +arranged the bungling snare Demetrios proposed--too gross, I thought +it, to trap any woman living. Ohé, and why should I not lay an open and +frank springe for you? Who else was a king's bride-to-be, young, +beautiful, and blessed with wealth and honour and every other comfort +which the world affords?" Now the Jew made as if to fling away a robe +from his gaunt person. "And you cast this, all this, aside as nothing. +I saw it done." + +"Ah, but I did it to save Perion," she wisely said. + +"Unfathomable liar," he returned, "you boldly and unscrupulously bought +of life the thing which you most earnestly desired. Nor Solomon nor +Periander has won more. And thus I saw that which no other man has +seen. I saw the shrewd and dauntless soul of Melicent. And so I loved +you, and I laid my plan--" + +She said, "You do not know of love--" + +"Yet I have builded him a temple," the Jew considered. He continued, +with that old abhorrent acquiescence, "Now, a temple is admirable, but +it is not builded until many labourers have dug and toiled waist-deep +in dirt. Here, too, such spatterment seemed necessary. So I played, in +fine, I played a cunning music. The pride of Demetrios, the jealousy of +Callistion, and the greed of Orestes--these were as so many stops of +that flute on which I played a cunning deadly music. Who forbids it?" + +She motioned him, "Go on." Now she was not afraid. + +"Come then to the last note of my music! You offer to bargain, saying, +_Save Perion and have my body as your chattel_. I answer _Click_! The +turning of a key solves all. Accordingly I have betrayed the castle of +Nacumera, I have this night admitted Perion and his broad-shouldered +men. They are killing Orestes yonder in the Court of Stars even while I +talk with you." Ahasuerus laughed noiselessly. "Such vanity does not +become a Jew, but I needs must do the thing with some magnificence. +Therefore I do not give Sire Perion only his life. I give him also +victory and much throat-cutting and an impregnable rich castle. Have I +not paid the price, fair Melicent? Have I not won God's masterpiece +through a small wire, a purse, and a big key?" + +She answered, "You have paid." + +He said: + +"You will hold to your bargain? Ah, you have but to cry aloud, and you +are rid of me. For this is Perion's castle." + +She said, "Christ help me! You have paid my price." + +Now the Jew raised his two hands in very horrible mirth. Said he: + +"Oh, I am almost tempted to praise Javeh, who created the invincible +soul of Melicent. For you have conquered: you have gained, as always, +and at whatever price, exactly that which you most desired, and you do +not greatly care about anything else. So, because of a word said you +would arise and follow me on my dark ways if I commanded it. You will +not weight the dice, not even at this pinch, when it would be so easy! +For Perion is safe; and nothing matters in comparison with that, and +you will not break faith, not even with me. You are inexplicable, you +are stupid, and you are resistless. Again I see my Melicent, who is not +just a pair of purple eyes and so much lovely flesh." + +His face was as she had not ever known it now, and very tender. +Ahasuerus said: + +"My way to victory is plain enough. And yet there is an obstacle. For +my fancy is taken by the soul of Melicent, and not by that handsome +piece of flesh which all men--even Perion, madame!--have loved so long +with remarkable infatuation. Accordingly I had not ever designed that +the edifice on which I laboured should be the stable of my lusts. +Accordingly I played my cunning music--and accordingly I give you +Perion. I that am Ahasuerus win for you all which righteousness and +honour could not win. At the last it is I who give you Perion, and it +is I who bring you to his embrace. He must still be about his +magnanimous butchery, I think, in the Court of Stars." + +Ahasuerus knelt, kissing her hand. + +"Fair Melicent, such abominable persons as Demetrios and I are fatally +alike. We may deny, deride, deplore, or even hate, the sanctity of any +noble lady accordingly as we elect; but there is for us no possible +escape from worshipping it. Your wind-fed Ferions, who will not ever +acknowledge what sort of world we live in, are less quick to recognise +the soul of Melicent. Such is our sorry consolation. Oh, you do not +believe me yet. You will believe in the oncoming years. Meanwhile, O +all-enduring and all-conquering! go now to your last labour; and--if +my Brother dare concede as much--do you now conquer Perion." + +Then he vanished. She never saw him any more. + +She lifted the Jew's lamp. She bore it through the Women's Garden, +wherein were many discomfortable shadows and no living being. She came +to its outer entrance. Men were fighting there. She skirted a hideous +conflict, and descended the Queen's Stairway, which led (as you have +heard) toward the balcony about the Court of Stars. She found this +balcony vacant. + +Below her men were fighting. To the farther end of the court Orestes +sprawled upon the red and yellow slabs--which now for the most part +were red--and above him towered Perion of the Forest. The conqueror had +paused to cleanse his sword upon the same divan Demetrios had occupied +when Melicent first saw the proconsul; and as Perion turned, in the act +of sheathing his sword, he perceived the dear familiar denizen of all +his dreams. A tiny lamp glowed in her hand quite steadily. + +"O Melicent," said Perion, with a great voice, "my task is done. Come +now to me." + +She instantly obeyed whose only joy was to please Perion. Descending +the enclosed stairway, she thought how like its gloom was to the +temporal unhappiness she had passed through in serving Perion. + +He stood a dripping statue, for he had fought horribly. She came to +him, picking her way among the slain. He trembled who was fresh from +slaying. A flood of torchlight surged and swirled about them, and +within a stone's cast Perion's men were despatching the wounded. + +These two stood face to face and did not speak at all. + +I think that he knew disappointment first. He looked to find the girl +whom he had left on Fomor Beach. + +He found a woman, the possessor still of a compelling beauty. Oh, yes, +past doubt: but this woman was a stranger to him, as he now knew with +an odd sense of sickness. Thus, then, had ended the quest of Melicent. +Their love had flouted Time and Fate. These had revenged this +insolence, it seemed to Perion, by an ironical conversion of each rebel +into another person. For this was not the girl whom Perion had loved in +far red-roofed Poictesme; this was not the girl for whom Perion had +fought ten minutes since: and he--as Perion for the first time +perceived--was not and never could be any more the Perion that girl had +bidden return to her. It were as easy to evoke the Perion who had loved +Mélusine.... + +Then Perion perceived that love may be a power so august as to bedwarf +consideration of the man and woman whom it sways. He saw that this is +reasonable. I cannot justify this knowledge. I cannot even tell you +just what great secret it was of which Perion became aware. Many men +have seen the sunrise, but the serenity and awe and sweetness of this +daily miracle, the huge assurance which it emanates that the beholder +is both impotent and greatly beloved, is not entirely an affair of the +sky's tincture. And thus it was with Perion. He knew what he could not +explain. He knew such joy and terror as none has ever worded. A curtain +had lifted briefly; and the familiar world which Perion knew, for the +brief instant, had appeared to be a painting upon that curtain. + +Now, dazzled, he saw Melicent for the first time.... + +I think he saw the lines already forming in her face, and knew that, +but for him, this woman, naked now of gear and friends, had been +to-night a queen among her own acclaiming people. I think he worshipped +where he did not dare to love, as every man cannot but do when starkly +fronted by the divine and stupendous unreason of a woman's choice, +among so many other men, of him. And yet, I think that Perion recalled +what Ayrart de Montors had said of women and their love, so long ago:-- +"They are more wise than we; and always they make us better by +indomitably believing we are better than in reality a man can ever be." + +I think that Perion knew, now, de Montors had been in the right. The +pity and mystery and beauty of that world wherein High God had-- +scornfully?--placed a smug Perion, seemed to the Comte de la Forêt, I +think, unbearable. I think a new and finer love smote Perion as a sword +strikes. + +I think he did not speak because there was no scope for words. I know +that he knelt (incurious for once of victory) before this stranger who +was not the Melicent whom he had sought so long, and that all +consideration of a lost young Melicent departed from him, as mists +leave our world when the sun rises. + +I think that this was her high hour of triumph. + +CAETERA DESUNT + + + + +THE AFTERWORD + + +_These lives made out of loves that long since were +Lives wrought as ours of earth and burning air, +Was such not theirs, the twain I take, and give +Out of my life to make their dead life live +Some days of mine, and blow my living breath +Between dead lips forgotten even of death? +So many and many of old have given my twain +Love and live song and honey-hearted pain._ + + +Thus, rather suddenly, ends our knowledge of the love-business between +Perion and Melicent. For at this point, as abruptly as it began, the +one existing chronicle of their adventures makes conclusion, like a bit +of interrupted music, and thereby affords conjecture no inconsiderable +bounds wherein to exercise itself. Yet, in view of the fact that +deductions as to what befell these lovers afterward can at best result +in free-handed theorising, it seems more profitable in this place to +speak very briefly of the fragmentary _Roman de Lusignan_, since the +history of Melicent and Perion as set forth in this book makes no +pretensions to be more than a rendering into English of this +manuscript, with slight additions from the earliest known printed +version of 1546. + + + + +2 + + +M. Verville, in his monograph on Nicolas de + +Caen,[1: Paul Verville, _Notice sur la vie de Nicolas de Caen_, p. 112 +(Rouen, 1911)] considers it probable that the _Roman de Lusignan_ was +printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion at about the same time Mansion +published the _Dizain des Reines_. This is possible; but until a copy +of the book is discovered, our sole authority for the romance must +continue to be the fragmentary MS. No. 503 in the Allonbian Collection. + +Among the innumerable manuscripts in the British Museum there is +perhaps none which opens a wider field for guesswork. In its entirety +the _Roman de Lusignan_ was, if appearances are to be trusted, a +leisured and ambitious handling of the Melusina legend; but in the +preserved portion Melusina figures hardly at all. We have merely the +final chapters of what would seem to have been the first half, or +perhaps the first third, of the complete narrative; so that this +manuscript account of Melusina's beguilements breaks off, +fantastically, at a period by many years anterior to a date which those +better known versions of Jean d'Arras and Thuring von Ringoltingen +select as the only appropriate starting-point. + +By means of a few elisions, however, the episodic story of Melicent +and of the men who loved Melicent has been disembedded from what +survives of the main narrative. This episode may reasonably be +considered as complete in itself, in spite of its precipitous +commencement; we are not told anything very definite concerning +Perion's earlier relations with Melusina, it is true, but then they are +hardly of any especial importance. And speculations as to the tale's +perplexing chronology, or as to the curious treatment of the Ahasuerus +legend, wherein Nicolas so strikingly differs from his precursors, +Matthew Paris and Philippe Mouskes, or as to the probable course of +latter incidents in the romance (which must almost inevitably have +reached its climax in the foundation of the house of Lusignan by +Perion's son Raymondin and Melusina) are more profitably left to M. +Verville's ingenuity. + + + + +3 + + +One feature, though, of this romance demands particular comment. The +happenings of the Melicent-episode pivot remarkably upon _domnei_--upon +chivalric love, upon the _Frowendienst_ of the minnesingers, or upon +"woman-worship," as we might bunglingly translate a word for which in +English there is no precisely equivalent synonym. Therefore this +English version of the Melicent-episode has been called _Domnei_, at +whatever price of unintelligibility. + +For there is really no other word or combination of words which seems +quite to sum up, or even indicate this precise attitude toward life. +_Domnei_ was less a preference for one especial woman than a code of +philosophy. "The complication of opinions and ideas, of affections and +habits," writes Charles Claude Fauriel,[1: _Histoire de la littérature +provençale_, p. 330 (Adler's translation, New York, 1860)] "which +prompted the chevalier to devote himself to the service of a lady, and +by which he strove to prove to her his love and to merit hers in +return, was expressed by the single word _domnei_." + +And this, of course, is true enough. Yet _domnei_ was even more than a +complication of opinions and affections and habits: it was also a +malady and a religion quite incommunicably blended. + +Thus you will find that Dante--to cite only the most readily accessible +of mediaeval amorists--enlarges as to _domnei_ in both these last-named +aspects impartially. _Domnei_ suspends all his senses save that of +sight, makes him turn pale, causes tremors in his left side, and sends +him to bed "like a little beaten child, in tears"; throughout you have +the manifestations of _domnei_ described in terms befitting the +symptoms of a physical disease: but as concerns the other aspect, Dante +never wearies of reiterating that it is domnei which has turned his +thoughts toward God; and with terrible sincerity he beholds in Beatrice +de'Bardi the highest illumination which Divine Grace may permit to +humankind. "This is no woman; rather it is one of heaven's most radiant +angels," he says with terrible sincerity. + +With terrible sincerity, let it be repeated: for the service of domnei +was never, as some would affect to interpret it, a modish and ordered +affectation; the histories of Peire de Maënzac, of Guillaume de +Caibestaing, of Geoffrey Rudel, of Ulrich von Liechtenstein, of the +Monk of Pucibot, of Pons de Capdueilh, and even of Peire Vidal and +Guillaume de Balaun, survive to prove it was a serious thing, a stark +and life-disposing reality. En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa, as +Nicolas himself declares. The service of domnei involved, it in fact +invited, anguish; it was a martyrdom whereby the lover was uplifted to +saintship and the lady to little less than, if anything less than, +godhead. For it was a canon of domnei, it was the very essence of +domnei, that the woman one loves is providentially set between her +lover's apprehension, and God, as the mobile and vital image and +corporeal reminder of heaven, as a quick symbol of beauty and holiness, +of purity and perfection. In her the lover views--embodied, apparent to +human sense, and even accessible to human enterprise--all qualities of +God which can be comprehended by merely human faculties. It is +precisely as such an intermediary that Melicent figures toward Perion, +and, in a somewhat different degree, toward Ahasuerus--since Ahasuerus +is of necessity apart in all things from the run of humanity. + +Yet instances were not lacking in the service of _domnei_ where worship +of the symbol developed into a religion sufficing in itself, and became +competitor with worship of what the symbol primarily represented--such +instances as have their analogues in the legend of Ritter Tannhäuser, +or in Aucassin's resolve in the romance to go down into hell with "his +sweet mistress whom he so much loves," or (here perhaps most perfectly +exampled) in Arnaud de Merveil's naïve declaration that whatever +portion of his heart belongs to God heaven holds in vassalage to +Adelaide de Beziers. It is upon this darker and rebellious side of +_domnei_, of a religion pathetically dragged dustward by the luxuriance +and efflorescence of over-passionate service, that Nicolas has touched +in depicting Demetrios. + + + + +4 + + +Nicolas de Caen, himself the servitor _par amours_ of Isabella of +Burgundy, has elsewhere written of _domne_i (in his _Le Roi Amaury_) in +terms such as it may not be entirely out of place to transcribe here. +Baalzebub, as you may remember, has been discomfited in his endeavours +to ensnare King Amaury and is withdrawing in disgust. + +"A pest upon this _domnei_!"[1: Quoted with minor alterations from +Watson's version] the fiend growls. "Nay, the match is at an end, and I +may speak in perfect candour now. I swear to you that, given a man +clear-eyed enough to see that a woman by ordinary is nourished much as +he is nourished, and is subjected to every bodily infirmity which he +endures and frets beneath, I do not often bungle matters. But when a +fool begins to flounder about the world, dead-drunk with adoration of +an immaculate woman--a monster which, as even the man's own judgment +assures him, does not exist and never will exist--why, he becomes as +unmanageable as any other maniac when a frenzy is upon him. For then +the idiot hungers after a life so high-pitched that his gross faculties +may not so much as glimpse it; he is so rapt with impossible dreams +that he becomes oblivious to the nudgings of his most petted vice; and +he abhors his own innate and perfectly natural inclination to +cowardice, and filth, and self-deception. He, in fine, affords me and +all other rational people no available handle; and, in consequence, he +very often flounders beyond the reach of my whisperings. There may be +other persons who can inform you why such blatant folly should thus be +the master-word of evil, but for my own part, I confess to ignorance." + +"Nay, that folly, as you term it, and as hell will always term it, is +alike the riddle and the masterword of the universe," the old king +replies.... + +And Nicolas whole-heartedly believed that this was true. We do not +believe this, quite, but it may be that we are none the happier for our +dubiety. + + +EXPLICIT + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +I. LES AMANTS DE MELICENT, Traduction moderne, annotée et procedée d'un +notice historique sur Nicolas de Caen, par l'Abbé. * * * A Paris. Pour +Iaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Iaques, M. D. XLVI. Avec +Privilège du Roy. The somewhat abridged reprint of 1788 was believed to +be the first version printed in French, until the discovery of this +unique volume in 1917. + +II. ARMAGEDDON; or the Great Day of the Lord's Judgement: a Parcenesis +to Prince Henry--MELICENT; an heroicke poeme intended, drawne from +French bookes, the First Booke, by Sir William Allonby. London. Printed +for Nathaniel Butler, dwelling at the _Pied Bull_, at Saint Austen's +Gate. 1626. + +III. PERION UNO MELICENT, zum erstenmale aus dem Franzôsischen ins +Deutsche ubersetzt, von J. H. G. Lowe. Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1823. + +IV. Los NEGOCIANTES DO DON PERION, publicado por Plancher-Seignot. Rio +de Janiero, 1827. The translator's name is not given. The preface is +signed R. L. + +V. LA DONNA DI DEMETRIO, Historia piacevole e morale, da Antonio +Checino. Milan, 1833. + +VI. PRINDSESSES MELICENT, oversat af Le Roman de Lusignan, og udgivna +paa Dansk vid R. Knôs. Copenhagen, 1840. + +VII. ANTIQUAe FABULAe ET COMEDIAe, edid. G. Rask. Göttingen, 1852. Vol. +II, p. 61 _et seq_. "DE FIDE MELICENTIS"--an abridged version of the +romance. + +VIII. PERION EN MELICENT, voor de Nederlandsche Jeugduiitgegeven door +J. M. L. Wolters. Groningen, 1862. + +IX. NOUVELLES FRANCOISES EN PROSE DU XIVE ET DE XVE SIÈCLE, Les textes +anciens, édités et annotés par MM. Armin et Moland. Lyons, 1880. Vol. +IV, p. 89 et seq., "LE ROMAN DE LA BELLE MELICENT"--a much condensed +form of the story. + +X. THE SOUL OF MELICENT, by James Branch Cabell. Illustrated in colour +by Howard Pyle. New York, 1913. This rendering was made, of course, +before the discovery of the 1546 version, and so had not the benefit of +that volume's interesting variants from the abridgment of 1788. + +XI. CINQ BALLADES DE NICOLAS DE CAEN, traduites en verse du Roman de +Lusignan, par Mme. Adolpe Galland, et mises en musique par Raoul +Bidoche. Paris, 1898. + +XII. LE LIURE DE MÉLUSINE en fracoys, par Jean d'Arras. Geneva, 1478. + +XIII. HISTORIA DE LA LINDA MELOSYNA. Tolosa, 1489. + +XIV. EEN SAN SONDERLINGKE SCHONE ENDE WONDERLIKE HISTORIE, die men +warachtich kout te syne ende autentick sprekende van eenre vrouwen +gheheeten Mélusine. Tantwerpen, 1500. + +XV. DIE HISTORI ODER GESCHICHT VON DER EDLE UND SCHÖNEN MELUSINA. +Augsburg, 1547. + +XVI. L'HISTOIRE DE MÉLUSINE, fille du roy d'Albanie et de dame +Pressine, revue et mise en meilleur langage que par cy devant. Lyons, +1597. + +XVII. LE ROMAN DE MÉLUSINE, princesse de Lusignan, avec l'histoire de +Geoffry, surnommé à la Grand Dent, par Nodot. Paris, 1700. + +XVIII. KRONYKE KRATOCHWILNE, o ctné a slech netné Panne Meluzijne. +Prag, 1760. + +XIX. WUNDERBARE GESCHICHTE VON DER EDELN UND SCHÔNEN MELUSINA, welche +eine Tochter des König Helmus und ein Meerwunder gewesen ist. Nurnberg, +without date: reprinted in Marbach's VOLKS BÜCHER, Leipzig, 1838. + + + + +BOOKS _by_ MR. CABELL + + +_Biography:_ + +BEYOND LIFE + +DOMNEI (_The Soul of Melicent_) + +CHIVALRY + +JURGEN + +THE LINE OF LOVE + +GALLANTRY + +THE CERTAIN HOUR + +THE CORDS OF VANITY + +FROM THE HIDDEN WAY + +THE RIVET IN GRANDFATHER'S NECK + +THE EAGLE'S SHADOW + +THE CREAM OF THE JEST + +_Genealogy:_ + +BRANCH OF ABINGDON + +BRANCHIANA + +THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DOMNEI *** + +This file should be named 8domn10.txt or 8domn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8domn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8domn10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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